I got up, this morning, with the sunrise, brewed a pot of real coffee (with an extra scoop, for that fighting edge) walked down to the creek that runs in front of our old farm house and reflected on the beauty that God has created for us to enjoy. I went back in the house and got ready with a fresh laundered pair of Levi’s which seem to fit the worn seat of my rusty old ‘57 Chevy Pickup just about right as I drive the two lane backroads to my office located in a small town in the Tennessee mountains. This is how I choose to live and it may account for the driving force that makes me so determined to provide some good programming and entertainment for the friends and neighbors around the Country. We intend to create this good programming and entertainment by traveling on the Blue Highways to find the traditional lifestyles, music, art and culture still flourishing in the heart of the American people.

I am a product of the 50’s and 60’s, born and raised in the very center of the United States in small towns, old country churches, neighbors helping neighbors, flag waving, God fearing people where truth and beauty grow side by side in mountains, valleys, prairies and waterways that make up the interior and heart of this great country. Well it may sound a little old fashioned and out of step to you but we want to be marching to the sound of a different drummer because the music and programming being played all across the spectrum of television right now is mighty hard for us to dance to.

I come from people that are the "regular folk" of America. We are a people of resilience and fortitude. We believe that a job worth doing is worth doing well. We’re tough and we stick to it....you have to be tough to survive on a rocky hillside farm and raise a family, or to work in the factories of mid-America. I’m conditioned to survive in hard times and give thanks in good times. I’m a believer in keeping your word, even when it hurts, loving your neighbor even when their dog barks all night, making your home a gathering place for the teen age friends of your community and watching out for them just like your own children, of cooking for your friends after church on Sunday, of wading the spring fed creek in the summertime looking for that world class Smallmouth Bass that you just know lives in that next blue hole under the shade of that big oak tree. I believe that prayer works, faith is a motivator and ultimately hard work gets it done. I’m "regular folk", the "grassroots" of America, Scandinavian blood from Minneapolis, Scot Irish from Appalachia, German from Guttenburg, Iowa and the hill country of Texas Hispanic from California and Blacks from the Mississippi Delta. I’m the melting pot and the bread basket and I’m the first to volunteer for the rough jobs and unpopular wars that keeps this Nation free.

Yes, just "regular folk" that makes up the quilt work of cultures that call that great stretch of land from New York and Los Angeles home. It is this great mass of "regular folk" that are being ignored by present day television. We are small business owners, we own our property and it is paid for, or it was until we took out another mortgage to send the kids to college. We don’t ask a whole lot of our government except to be left alone, in pursuit of our independence and freedom. We are Cable, Dish or DirectTV users and we keep hoping that someone out there in Television Heaven will send us some programming that speaks to us, the "regular folk". We are loyal and support good family programming.

I have been involved in the creation process of television since 1962, first as a performer with one of the early syndicated television series from Nashville called, "The Stan Hitchcock Show" which was seen Nationwide for many years, and then heading up the team that founded the cable channel "Country Music Television" (CMT), and developing and running that Network from 1984 to 1991. Later, I founded and operated Americana Television Network (ATN) from 1992 to 1995 when it was sold to Liberty Media. Through this lengthy process of learning and defining just what the "regular folk" wanted to see out there in television land, I developed the concept that we follow today: "Good, Grassroots, Down To Earth, Back To Basics, Genuine and Uplifting Programming that speaks to folks of Integrity and Commitment." We "encourage as well as entertain." We are unashamedly "Patriotic and Spiritual". We believe that good music "soothes the soul, and gives comfort in the hard times." We believe in the "Folk Art" of America as an expression of the creative spirit so alive and vibrant. We love the "Folk Storytelling" that has preserved the Lifestyle of our Pioneer Ancestors in Appalachia and the American West. We believe that there are "Good Things Happening in America" that deserve to be told and celebrated. We have the hard rock determination to bring to the "regular folk", television that is good and solid in its content, beautiful to behold, and speaks to them in the language of Family, Neighbor and Friend.

So Why Are We Doing This? This is just a continuation of my lifelong commitment to good, wholesome family entertainment. This concept has deep roots in my life, from the old days of traveling hundreds of miles along Americas Blue Highways and backroads to do a show in the rain at a festival in West Virginia or Pennsylvania, to the early days of live broadcast television, and finally to the distribution of television programming via satellite and cable. This isn’t something I just dreamed up overnight...I have spent my life preparing for this Network. We know our Audience. We know our Concept. We have proven Programming Content. We have Integrity. We are Committed. We have the Team.

Through the years I have gathered together a group of friends and associates that are just as committed as I, and a heck of a lot more creative in the development of this Network. They represent many years in the development, production, creation, marketing and distribution of Networks. Together, we will prevail in our efforts to present to our audience programming of value and substance.

Why? Because we are a caring, committed people with a responsibility for providing good viewing in the homes of America. Because these "Regular Folk" still invite us into their living rooms, they turn us on, they pay their cable and dbs bills, and they expect us to be good stewards of tasteful and meaningful programming pieces that mean something. These "Regular Folk" want to be connected to something good, that they can trust and that they can enjoy together, as a family.

Why? Because that’s what we do, and that’s what we are BlueHighways TV, filling the need of the "Regular Folk".


Stan Hitchcock
Chairman/CEO