Opinion: Must-see TV. It was awesome!

I tried to find the least goofy screenshot CREDIT SCREENSHOT FROM HATTEBERG’S PEOPLE YOUTUBE

By Gina Long

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In July, I received a phone call from a familiar voice.

I tried to place it. It wasn’t family, anyone in my friends circle, or a community member or leader.

But it was so achingly familiar. Comforting. The voice of someone you can trust. It was Walter Cronkite or Morgan Freeman.

Then the caller said, “Hi, this is Larry Hatteberg, and I would like to talk to you and Michael about the Hutchinson Tribune.”

I was gobsmacked to be called out of the blue by a Wichita broadcasting legend, who for decades came into people’s living rooms on KAKE and KPTS and has traveled Kansas sharing the stories of fascinating individuals, celebrating their unique experiences on “Hatteberg’s People.”

After an initial meeting at Metropolitan Coffee, Larry worked around our crazy schedules. He miked us both up during an editorial meeting, then Michael at a city council meeting and me at the Kansas State Fair, following us around as we worked our reporting assignments. I interviewed Susie Bernard at Bernard’s Pit Stop in the Cottonwood Court building. Hatteberg reminisced with her about interviewing her parents, Sam and Tollette, who owned the former Bernard’s on Highway 50 several decades ago.

I was reminded that the community is not a platted square. It is a constantly shifting mass of circles capturing each other’s orbits, merging, then pulling away and intersecting again.

We received a text in January telling us the episode would air the first or second week of February.

The first showing aired Thursday evening, with the rebroadcast today at 3:30 p.m. on PBS.

I had caught a nasty stomach bug and was at home on Thursday evening watching the show when my phone started going crazy. Messages from family and friends began pinging me on nearly every app.

I know that “Hatteberg’s People” is a Kansas cultural institution. Still, I did not realize just how many people around Kansas watch it on over-the-air television, that seemingly antiquated “appointment television” from the bygone era before on-demand streaming.

Hatteberg sent us the video clip and said it would be uploaded to his YouTube channel by the following day. I encourage everyone to follow his channel at www.hattebergspeople.com (it redirects to the YouTube channel) and poke around in it. Kansas is a state blessed with amazing people who do incredible things and whose stories deserve to be told.

The YouTube link to The Hutchinson Tribune segment is here, and as I stated previously, the replay will be on Super Bowl Sunday at 3:30.

Thank you, readers, for making these special moments possible.

Thank you, Larry Hatteberg, for telling our story.