''Texas Country Reporter'' is a weekly

syndicated television Broadcast syndication is the practice of content owners leasing the right to broadcast their content to other television stations or radio stations, without having an official broadcast network to air it on. It is common in the United States whe ...

program hosted by J.B. Sauceda, which airs in all twenty-two

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

media markets, generally on weekends, and nationally on the satellite/cable channel

RFD-TV RFD-TV is an American pay television channel owned by Rural Media Group, Inc. The channel features programming devoted to rural issues, concerns and interests. The channel's name is a reference to Rural Free Delivery, the name for the United St ...

.Texas Country Reporter: Showtimes
Retrieved April 11, 2008. It is the longest running independently produced program in the nation, and has received over 30

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

awards.

History

''Texas Country Reporter,'' originally called ''4 Country Reporter,'' debuted in 1972 on

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

television station

KDFW KDFW (channel 4) is a television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, United States, serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned and operated by the Fox network through its Fox Television Stations division alongside KDFI (channel ...

(Channel 4, thus the name). It was first hosted by John McLean, then Jeff Rosser, Joe Miser and finally

Bob Phillips Robert Leon Phillips (born June 23, 1951) is an American television journalist best known for his long-running program '' Texas Country Reporter''. In 2005, Phillips was inducted into the Silver Circle of the Lone Star Chapter of the National A ...

. Phillips was a photographer and producer when the show first began. In 1986, Phillips left KDFW and began selling the show in syndication under the name ''Texas Country Reporter''. In the Dallas market, KDFW did not pick up the syndicated version, but rival station

WFAA WFAA (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, United States, serving as the American Broadcasting Company, ABC affiliate for the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Decatur, Texas, Decatur-li ...

did and named the show ''8 Country Reporter''. As of November 2017, Bob Phillips had taped more than two thousand episodes of the program."If It's in Texas, the Texas Country Reporter Has Seen It"
''The New York Times'', April 10, 2008. Retrieved April 11, 2008. In the 2021-2022 season, the show celebrated its 50th anniversary on the air. In 2021, ''Texas Country Reporter'' production company Phillips Productions was acquired by ''

Texas Monthly ''Texas Monthly'' (stylized as ''TexasMonthly'') is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas. Founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy, ''Texas Monthly'' chronicles life in contemporary Texas, writing on politics, the Natura ...

.'' Bob and Kelli Phillips stepped down from the program in September 2024. The series continued with new host J. B. Sauceda.

Format

''Texas Country Reporter'' airs 26 new episodes each season, from September through May. Each episode showcases Texas people and places, with an emphasis on rural areas and in a style similar to that of

Charles Kuralt Charles Bishop Kuralt (September 10, 1934 – July 4, 1997) was an American television, newspaper and radio journalist and author. He is most widely known for his long career with CBS, first for his "On the Road" segments on '' The CBS Evening ...

's ''On the Road'' for

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...

, who was Phillips' mentor when he first began his career. ''Texas Country Reporter'' posts selected segments to its YouTube page,Director Page: Texas Country Reporter
YouTube. Retrieved September 9, 2007. and some have been featured on local newscasts. Since 1996, the program has headlined an annual ''Texas Country Reporter'' Festival, with some of the people who have been highlighted on the show in attendance.
Retrieved September 9, 2007.
WaxahachieDowntown.com. Retrieved September 9, 2007. The festival was initially hosted in

Waxahachie Waxahachie ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ellis County, Texas, United States. Its population was 41,140 in 2020. The city was founded in 1850, and incorporated in 1871. Much of the employment is provided by a number of industries and by ...

from its inception until 2023. After a 1-year hiatus in 2024, show owner ''Texas Monthly'' announced it had entered into a partnership with the city of

Grand Prairie Grand Prairie is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Dallas, Tarrant, and Ellis counties with a small part extending into Johnson county. It is part of the Mid-Cities region in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It had a popul ...

to host the festival beginning in spring 2025. Phillips has authored several books and video series over the years including two cook books, two Texas guide books and, in 2016, "The Texas Country Reporter Collection," a video series that includes more than 22 hours of stories from the program. A three-DVD highlights set, ''Go! Stay! Eat!'', was released September 17, 2005. Two comprehensive video series have been released by Phillips' company, including "Best of Volume 1" and "Best of Volume 2".

Notable ''TCR'' segments

Individuals

* Matt Brown, a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

coach at Idalou High School, who is a gold and

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

winner in the

Parapan American Games The Parapan American Games is an international multi-sport event for athletes with physical disabilities held every four years after every Pan American Games. The first Games were held in 1999 in Mexico City, Mexico. The 2003 Parapan American Ga ...

. He lost his left leg, amputated above the knee, as a result of an industrial accident in 2005. *John Chadwell, a collector in

Wichita Falls Wichita Falls ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the principal city of the Wichita Falls metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses all of Archer, Clay, and Wichita Counties. According to ...

, is preserving artifacts from the former Wichita Falls Transportation Company, an independent truck production firm owned by Joseph A. Kemp, which was in business from 1911 to 1932. *Terry Gouley, ice sculptor in Midland, used a chain saw and chisels for his temporary creations popular for special occasions. *Maurice Jackson, in his 45th year of business in 2012 in

O'Donnell The O'Donnell dynasty ( or ''Ó Domhnaill,'' ''Ó Doṁnaill'' ''or Ua Domaill;'' meaning "descendant of Dónal") were the dominant Irish clan of the kingdom of Tyrconnell in Ulster in the north of medieval and early modern Ireland. Naming ...

, operates one of the last remaining full-service

gasoline station A filling station (also known as a gas station [] or petrol station []) is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold are gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Fuel dispensers are used to ...

s in the state of Texas. *Ryan Smith, law-school dropout at the age of twenty-five returned the

drive-in theater A drive-in theater/theatre or drive-in cinema is a form of movie theater, cinema structure consisting of a large outdoor movie screen, a projection booth, a concession stand, and a large parking area for automobiles. Within this enclosed area, c ...

Lubbock Lubbock ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Lubbock County. With a population of 272,086 in 2024, Lubbock is the 10th-most populous city in Texas and the 84th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the ...

; in 1948, his maternal grandfather, R. A. "Skeet" Noret, had opened a drive-in in Lubbock, also at the age of twenty-five. Noret also owned the Sky-Vue Drive-In in Lamesa, which closed in 2015 after a fire destroyed the concession stand. *Bill Walter Worrell (born c. 1935), western artist and sculptor with studios in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and along the

Llano River The Llano River ( ) is a tributary of the Colorado River, about long, in Texas in the United States. It drains part of the Edwards Plateau in Texas Hill Country northwest of Austin. Two spring-fed tributaries, the North and South Llano, stret ...

Art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

, near

Mason Mason may refer to: Occupations * Mason, brick mason, or bricklayer, a worker who lays bricks to assist in brickwork, or who lays any combination of stones, bricks, cinder blocks, or similar pieces * Stone mason, a craftsman in the stone-cutti ...

, Texas. Worrell has erected a unique personal "cemetery" which he calls the "Garden of Thorns", where he "buries" with engraved white wooden crosses his "thorns in the flesh" as he encounters them, such as Fear, Blame, and Shame.

Others

*Big Country Athletic Hall of Fame, operated by veteran sports announcer Al Pickett in Abilene honors local and regional excellence at the high school and collegiate levels in football, baseball, basketball, and golf; featured on TCR the weekend of August 3, 2013. *

Bracken Cave Bracken Cave is a cave located in southern Comal County, Texas, outside the city of San Antonio. The -wide crescent shaped opening to the cave lies at the bottom of a sinkhole, formed when the roof of the cave collapsed. It is the summer home t ...

near

Natural Bridge Caverns The Natural Bridge Caverns are the largest commercial caverns in the US state of Texas. The name is derived from the natural limestone slab bridge that spans the amphitheater setting of the cavern's entrance. The span was left suspended when a ...

north of

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

, home to one of two large bat colonies in Texas. Bats control the insect population, help to pollinate plants, and are a food source for other animals. * Bush Family Home State Historic Site on West Ohio Street in Midland, the only house in the United States where two U.S. Presidents, a First Lady, and a

governor of Florida The governor of Florida is the head of government of the U.S. state of Florida. The Governor (United States), governor is the head of the Government of Florida#Executive branch, executive branch of the government of Florida and is the comman ...

once resided. *Central Texas Tool Company, a fourth-generation non-computerized operation of the Carpenter family at 1410 Walnut Street in Abilene, specializes in pipe threading and the repair of oilfield equipment. *Ezell Aviation, operated by father and son Nelson and Chad Ezell in Breckenridge, restores abandoned old aircraft to flying status once again. * Collin Street Bakery in

Corsicana Corsicana is a city in and the county seat of Navarro County, Texas, United States. It is located on Interstate 45, 50 miles southeast of Dallas. Its population was 25,109 at the 2020 census. Corsicana is considered an important agribusiness ce ...

, known for its holiday treats, particularly fruitcake, aired December 22, 2007 *

Copano Bay Fishing Pier The Copano Bay Fishing Pier was a pier in Aransas County, Texas, United States used primarily for recreational fishing. The pier had two separate sections. One is long on the south side of the bay and the other is long on the north side. It was ...

, north of Rockport, is a 24-hour fishing bank on the former Copano Causeway, which was constructed in 1930. The 11-mile long Copano bridge was replaced in 1966 by a modern structure and dedicated to then U.S. President

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...

. Well lit, the pier is popular twenty-four hours a day. *Doc McGregor Collection, located within the

Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History The Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History is a science and history museum in Corpus Christi, Texas, near Corpus Christi Harbor Bridge and the waterfront. It was established in 1957. Among its many displays covering an area of over 40,000 ...

, is a massive restoration project of some 300,000 community photographs of all kinds taken in Corpus Christi from the 1930s through the 1950s. Photographer Ron Randolf has since 1987 been sorting the photographs into an orderly collection. *8 Track Museum, operated by Bucks Burnett at 2630 E Commerce Street in Dallas, has a collection of some three hundred

8-track tape The 8-track tape (formally Stereo 8; commonly called eight-track cartridge, eight-track tape, and eight-track) is a magnetic-tape sound recording technology that was popular from the mid-1960s until the early 1980s, when the compact cassette, ...

s. * Frontier Texas!, state-of-the-art western museum in Abilene, with focus on eight weather vanes in the shape of

bison A bison (: bison) is a large bovine in the genus ''Bison'' (from Greek, meaning 'wild ox') within the tribe Bovini. Two extant taxon, extant and numerous extinction, extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American ...

installed in 2013 in the courtyard. *Gil's Broiler & Manske Bakery in San Marcos, known for its charbroil hamburgers and the Manske roll, a large cinnamon treat formerly sold nationally but returned to local-only production. *Hotel El Capitan in downtown Van Horn, historic hotel underwent $2.5 million in renovations in 2013; episode depicts Van Horn as the center of a wheel from which spokes emanate to outlying historic sites and attractions in a remote desert area. *

Hueco Tanks State Historic Site Hueco Tanks is an area of low mountains and historic site in El Paso County, Texas, in the United States. It is located in a high-altitude desert basin between the Franklin Mountains to the west and the Hueco Mountains to the east. ''Hueco'' is ...

, TCR shows the isolation of the Hueco Mountains northeast of

El Paso El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

. The cracks in rocks and boulders trap rainwater to overcome drought conditions. The site is popular for a kind of rock climbing known as

bouldering Bouldering is a form of rock climbing that is performed on small rock formations or Climbing wall, artificial rock walls without the use of ropes or Climbing harness, harnesses. While bouldering can be done without any equipment, most climbers ...

. *Mi Tierra Café and Bakery in downtown San Antonio, founded in 1941, never closes. It was voted by TCR viewers in 2013 as having the best Mexican food in the state. *

Odessa Meteor Crater The Odessa Meteor Crater is a meteorite impact crater, crater in the southwestern part of Ector County, Texas, Ector County, southwest of the city of Odessa, Texas, Odessa of West Texas, United States. It is accessible approximately south of I ...

Museum and its curator, Tom Rodman *

Padre Island National Seashore Padre Island National Seashore (PINS) is a national seashore administered by the National Park Service, located on Padre Island off the coast of South Texas, USA. In contrast to South Padre Island, Texas, South Padre Island, known for its beach ...

, biologist Donna Shaver works to preserve the

sea turtle Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerh ...

, aired August 25, 2007 *Satin Strings, under its director, Todd Berridge, is known for the stirring emotional presentations it delivers at

Permian High School Permian High School is a public high school located in Odessa, Texas and is one of two high schools in the Ector County Independent School District. It was the subject of the book '' Friday Night Lights'', which in turn inspired a movie and TV ...

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

. The group has performed at presidential inaugurations and other national events. *Texas Basketball Museum, located in tiny

Carmine Carmine ()also called cochineal (when it is extracted from the Cochineal, cochineal insect), cochineal extract, crimson Lake pigment, lake, or carmine lake is a pigment of a bright-red color obtained from the aluminium coordination complex, compl ...

in Fayette County in southeastern Texas, is operated by coach Bob Springer, whose collection focuses on Texas players elevated into the professional ranks as well as high school teams with particular achievement. *Texas Church Project, five photographers, Jeremy Moore, David Brown, Lee Carmichael, Mike Castles, and Matt Magruder, wander about Texas photographing historic churches.

Notes