Daily Pioneer News

PLATTEVILLE - As the Platteville community gears up for its feature on the "Discover Wisconsin" television show, residents may be glad to know the program's creative director is quite familiar with the city. In fact, he got his start in video production at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.

Chad Diedrick visited UW-Platteville March 16, sharing his experiences in video production and giving career advice to students in professor Rob Snyder's post-production class. Diedrick said filming for the Platteville "Discover Wisconsin" episode will begin this April and continue on selected dates over the next year. The episode is tentatively scheduled to air on Wisconsin Public Television in April 2006.

Diedrick graduated from UW-Platteville in 1994 with a degree in broadcast technology management. Some of the skills he uses today to help make "Discover Wisconsin" a success were first forged in UWP broadcast classes in the early 90s. "I guess I took a little bit away from every class that I was involved in at UWP. Even the general requirement classes helped a lot," he said.

As a student in the early 1990s, Diedrick worked for 91 FM WSUP, the student radio station; volunteered to help with the annual Badger Camp Telethon; and covered sporting events for the student-produced news program on TV-5. An internship in post-production spurred his interest in that area of television.

After graduation, Diedrick worked as a production assistant in the Green Bay area for a number of years, where he gained experience in non-linear video editing. In 2001, he was hired by Discover Mediaworks as an editor for the "Discover Wisconsin" television series, and since 2003 he has served as the company's creative director.

"I work very closely with our other producers, graphic artists, sound designers and editors to create a consistent feel for the show regardless of where we are off to. After our sales staff secures a destination for the episode, I'm their first contact in deciding what the content and feel of their show will be," Diedrick said.

The television show is just one part of the "Discover Wisconsin" package, Diedrick said. "When a community becomes involved with 'Discover Wisconsin,' they become part of the Discover Wisconsin Media Network," he said. "This is much more than the television show. Each destination receives promotion on our website, on 'Discover Wisconsin' Radio, which also airs in Platteville, at tradeshows that 'Discover Wisconsin' participates in or sponsors, and through other various public relation articles and news stories throughout the state."

As creative director, Diedrick is also responsible for the company's other corporate productions and television programs, including "Into the Outdoors," a children's program that has won two Emmy awards in its first four years of production, and "The Kitchens of Biro," a cooking show with a reality feel, in its first year. Discover Mediaworks, Inc., is based in Milwaukee, and "Discover Wisconsin" broadcasts weekly in more than a dozen media markets in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota. The show airs at 6:30 p.m., Saturdays on WKOW TV 27 (ABC) in Madison, and on KFXB TV 40 (Fox) in Dubuque, Iowa.

Contact: Rob Snyder, associate professor, UWP Department of Communication Technologies, 608-342-1630,snyderro@uwplatt.edu

Prepared by: Dan Lehnherr, UWP Public Relations, 608-342-1194, lehnherd@uwplatt.edu