Growing Bolder TV: Active Lifestyle Programming for PBS Stations
It's Not About Age; It's About Attitude
I fancy myself an amateur photographer — I have a fancy camera with a lot of bells and whistles, and slowly but surely, I’m learning what they all do.
Luckily, GB doesn’t count on me for important shoots. We call in the professionals for that — Roberto Gonzalez.
Growing Bolder Contributor Pat Williams
The news shocked us all — “Pat Williams Diagnosed With Multiple Myeloma.” In fact, when NBA.com published the breaking news, our lead Web developer saw it and sent it around via urgent email around 11pm.
By 9am the next morning, the entire Growing Bolder staff had come together to express our concern, our sadness and our empathy for Pat and his family.
He didn’t need it. Any of it. And we’d find that out in person soon enough.
First, a bit of a backstory. Pat Williams is an Orlando legend. He’s credited with bringing the city its first NBA franchise (the Orlando Magic.) He written a book for every year he’s been alive (70 and counting) and a devoted family, including 19 children, 14 of whom the Williams adopted.
He’s a walking inspiration who has more humility than he should, given his success. He’s quick to share the secrets to success that others have found (Michael Jordan, John Wooden, Bear Bryant) and equally fast at fostering ambition in up-and-coming leaders.
Pat is also a member of the Growing Bolder team — we spent hours with him in early 2011, working on a series of videos for Season 2 of Growing Bolder TV, shooting behind-the-scenes photographs and more.
And just weeks after wrapping our final video shoot, Pat visited his doctors for what he expected to be a normal checkup. In fact, it was.
Growing Bolder Hosts and Contributors
But when he had a second doctors visit, a more throughout corporate physical, doctors found something abnormal in the bloodwork.
Pat, who says he “thought his body was krypotine,” was about to find out that he was among the hundreds of thousands of people around the world that have faced or are facing cancer. [Read more...]
Rowdy Gaines
A three-time Olympic gold medalist, television analyst and founder of Rowdy’s Kidz charitable program, Rowdy Gaines offers motivational words of wisdom, through which he talks about his belief in the power of giving back, the importance of staying active and what he has learned in his decades of competitive swimming.
For more information, visit http://rowdygaines.com.
Pat Williams
The senior vice president of the NBA’s Orlando Magic, a motivational speaker and former Minor League baseball player, Pat Williams is also the author of nearly 70 books and an expert on pursuing passions. Pat shares wisdom from some of the biggest names in business as well as his own tips on Growing Bolder.
For more information, visit http://www.patwilliamsmotivate.com.
Dr. Dot Richardson
An orthopedic surgeon and the USA’s first-ever Olympic softball team captain, Dot shares her tips for breaking barriers. She brings personal stories (including having to pretend to be a boy to break into the sport she loves) and motivation for getting out of your comfort zone and going after your dreams.
For more information, visit http://www.dotrichardson.com.
Wendy Chioji joins the Growing Bolder team for Season 2, bringing a background in journalism and competitive sports to the set. Wendy worked in television news for 23 years, in markets including Abilene, Texas, Waco, Texas, Savannah, Georgia and Orlando, Florida.
A Stage 2 breast cancer survivor, Wendy is passionate about raising money and awareness about research and treatment for cancers of all types. She is also a major fundraiser for the Lance Armstrong Foundation and for the Tour of Hope. In addition to reporting for Growing Bolder, Wendy is a fitness professional — a certified personal trainer, yoga instructor and triathlon/cycling coach. She has competed in two Ironman triathlons and 17 Half Ironman events. She lives with her two cats, Pee Wee and Spalding.
There’s not a whole lot we keep secret at Growing Bolder. In fact, we have taken you inside our office (“The GB Wall of Fame“), shown you how we started our show (“GBTV Unplugged“), let you in on our embarrassing outtakes (“Bull Bloopers“) and much more.
But here are 10 things you may not know about us and our team.
We read the stories in the newspaper and see them on TV — a youth sports coach loses control and strikes a player, shoves an official or erupts in a profanity-laced tirade. Fortunately, most coaches are good-natured volunteers who just want to give back. The best are great role models intent on making a real difference — not just in a game but in a life.
We’re lucky enough to have such a person on our own team. Growing Bolder host Bill Shafer spends his days guiding the GB team and his nights and weekends molding lives on his son’s youth hockey team. We followed Coach Bill and his team as they battled for a spot in their league’s championship and discovered what they learned off the ice may be more important than any final score at the rink.
What is Growing Bolder? And why is what we do so important? Growing Bolder CEO Marc Middleton opens up about the power of believing that it’s never too late to smash some stereotypes and kick a little butt.
To see the full-length videos of the stories Marc mentioned in the video above, check out:
– Banana Battles Back
– Skydivers Over Sixty Smash World Record
– Whippin’ the Whippersnappers
– Masters Triathlon Championship
– Ruth1898′s Profile Page and Video Blogs
– Field of Dreams
– Row, Row, Row Your Boat
– Here They Come to Save the Day
– The Veterans of Motocross
– Romancing the Road
– Growing “Bull”der
– Ageless Art: Harold Garde
– 106-Year-Old Bowler Bill Hargrove
– 96-Year-Old Actress Mae Laborde
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Katy Widrick is the Executive Producer for Bolder Media Group and the “Growing Bolder” TV and Radio shows. In addition to overseeing production and broadcast of each episode, Katy heads up the social media efforts for Growing Bolder.
After getting her on-air start as a sports intern at WLVI-TV in Boston, Mass., Katy worked as a news producer at WSTM-TV/WSTQ-TV in Syracuse, NY, where she helped launch a new 10 p.m. newscast, and at WESH-TV in Orlando, Fla.
Katy is a graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and of The College of Arts and Sciences at Syracuse University. She holds a dual degree in broadcast journalism and policy studies.
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Jason Morrow is the Video Production Director and Chief Videographer for the Bolder Media Group and the “Growing Bolder” TV and Radio shows. His photojournalism work has been recognized with two Emmy Awards, five Emmy nominations, five National Press Photographer Awards and he contributed to a Peabody and a duPont-Columbia Award.
Jason got his start in the industry at KSPR-TV in Springfield, Missouri. He has also worked at KOLR-TV in Springfield, KTUL-TV in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and WESH-TV in Orlando, Florida.
Jason has also done freelance work for N*SYNC, Justin Timberlake, Mary J. Blige, and his work has appeared on ESPN, Access Hollywood, Dick Clark Productions and others.
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Bill Shafer is co-Founder and Executive Vice President of Bolder Media Group. A broadcast veteran of nearly three decades, he has been a news anchor, sportscaster and field reporter. But what he loves most is telling the stories of seemingly ordinary people whose lives reveal powerful lessons in courage, determination and inspiration.
Bill is active in the community, volunteering for a number of civic groups and organizations. He is a recipient of the Golden Leaf Award for Community Service and has been awarded with a distinguished Key to the City of Winter Springs, Florida. You’re just as likely to find him hosting an event for the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) as you are finding him behind the bench at an ice rink coaching a youth hockey team!
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Marc Middleton is Founder and CEO of Bolder Broadcasting and Bolder Media Group. Marc is an award-winning reporter whose work has been recognized with two Emmys and five Emmy nominations. Among his many assignments, he has covered the Olympics in Barcelona, Sydney and Athens.
Marc is a featured blogger on active lifestyle for the Hufffington Post and speaks regularly on social media in healthcare, marketing to boomers, the power of storytelling and positive aging. In his spare time, Marc enjoys painting and is a world record-holding masters swimmer. He lives in the Orlando, Florida, area with his wife, Jill, daughters, Kelsey and Quinn, and Naples, a yellow lab who flunked out of Canine Companions for Independence because of an over-developed toy drive.
