Spencer Christian - Host
Spencer Christian, a broadcasting professional who has
been with ABC Television since 1986.
 He
joined KGO-TV, San Francisco as the weather anchor in January 1999. He moved to ABC7 after nearly 13
years with Good Morning America - based in New York - where he did the
national weather reports in addition to traveling throughout the United States
and abroad reporting on a wide range of topics from current events to human
interest stories.
Spencer's time in
New York actually spanned 22 years, Including 13 years at GMA and nine years at
WABC TV, the ABC owned station in New York, where he served as weatherman and
sportscaster from 1977 to 1986. For a brief time, Spencer also hosted WABC‑TV's
Good Morning New York.
Prior to his
years In New York, Spencer was weathercaster in Baltimore from 1975‑1977,
where he also hosted Spencer's World, a weekly, half-hour talk show. He
began his television career in 1971 in Richmond, Virginia, as a news reporter
covering state and local politics, the public school system, and landmark cases
for the Fourth US Circuit Court of Appeals.
While in Richmond,
he won the Better Life Award for his reports exposing abuses in Virginia's
nursing homes; and, in Baltimore, he won an Emmy Award for a special series of
reports entitled Does Anyone Here Speak English? focusing on declining
language skills among America's youth.
A veteran of the US
Army Reserves with a Bachelor of Arts Degree In English and a minor in
journalism from Hampton University, Spencer taught English at the Stony Brook
School in Long Island, New York, for one year before, launching his
television career.
He is a native of
Charles City, Virginia; and was inducted into the Virginia Communications
Hall of Fame in April 1993, and was named Virginian of the Year by the Virginia
Press Association in July 1993.
Spencer devotes a
good deal of his time to charitable and community-service organizations such as
the March of Dimes, Special Olympics, the American Cancer Society, Big Brothers,
Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America, the United Negro College Fund, the
Make-A-Wish Foundation, and others. In addition, he has served as the ABC
Network's spokesperson for children's literacy, and has worked as a mentor in a
number of service-to-youth programs. He has also had the honor of working with
Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter on Habitat for Humanity, and he was the emcee for
former President Carter's 75th birthday celebration in October 1999, in
Americas, Georgia. .
Spencer is the
author of a series of children's books under the general heading "Spencer
Christian's World of Wonders." The first four books are titled: "Can It Really
Rain Frogs?" "Shake, 'Rattle and Roll," "What Makes the Grand Canyon Grand?,"
and "Is There a Dinosaur In Your Backyard?" Education and literacy continue to
be among Spencer's passionate concerns.
A wine enthusiast
and collector since 1977, Spencer at one time maintained a private collection of
more than 1,600 bottles of fine Wine. From January 1995, to December 1999, he
hosted Spencer Christian's Wine Cellar, a lively and informative program
which aired on HGTV (Home arid Garden Television) and on the TV Food Network.
Spencer continues to be a serious wine enthusiast and visits California's wine
country regularly.
Spencer is also an avid sports fan. He played varsity
baseball in college and actually had a tryout With the Baltimore Orioles In
1968, his junior year in college.
David Baule - Exec. Producer & Director
 David
Baule joined Milwaukee Public TV in 1968.
He was the Instructional Chair of
the TV & Video Production Division at the Milwaukee Area Technical College,
and the computer network administrator for the television stations.
David has received numerous awards for the Tracks Ahead series,
as well as an Emmy for Technical Achievement. He is also responsible for
authoring the after market DVDs. "I have enjoyed trains since I was a
child," David says. "It has been great fun to combine work with my
hobby." He has been an avid American Flyer collector for many years, and
says that all the traveling means there isn't much time to work on his own
highrail layout. David holds degrees from Marquette and Iowa State
Universities. He enjoys bicycling, train collecting, computers,
traveling, and reading. David retired in 2006, but continues work on the
Tracks Ahead series.
John McKay - Videographer
 John
joined Milwaukee Public TV in 1981.
He is a production supervisor for
the television stations, and brings thirty years of experience to the
Tracks Ahead series. He has received an Emmy for his videography
on the Tracks Ahead series.
"Taping the series allowed me to
really become familiar with the new high definition digital technology," says
John. "It is truly amazing what you can see and do with this new
format." John holds degrees from the University of Wisconsin and
University of Miami. He enjoys riding his motorcycle and is an avid Pez
collector.
Gail Grzybowski - Audio Engineer
 Gail
joined Milwaukee Public TV in 1991. As a production engineer, her
primary responsibilities are field and post-production sound capture and
editing. She is responsible for the conversion of the audio in season 6
to the surround sound format. Gail says that she caught the audio bug at
age 7, after her father would bring home old reel-to-reel tape recorders from
garage sales.
She is a Wisconsin native and loves
to capture sound. "Ever since I was a little kid, I thought that sounds were
really a nifty thing," says Gail. "The job that I have has allowed me to
capture and manipulate sound to enhance the video story." She has
received two Emmy's for her work with sound engineering. Gail holds a
degree from the Milwaukee Area Technical College and has interned as several
recording studios in the Milwaukee and Chicago area. Gail is a musician
and is accomplished on several instruments, but loves the keyboard. She
is an animation enthusiast, and enjoys kayaking and biking, with an occasional
bungee jump thrown in.
Dan Jones - Producer/Writer
 Dan
Jones, one of the writers for Tracks Ahead, has been involved in
broadcast journalism for more than twenty years. He's been a videographer, a
producer, an anchorman, a reporter and a writer. He's won numerous awards for
his work, including an Emmy Award from the Chicago/Midwest Chapter of the
National Academy of Arts & Sciences. His favorite part of working on the
Tracks Ahead series is writing stories about historic logging
railroads. "I'm a student of history, and I'm always in awe of the incredible
amount of backbreaking work that our forefathers put into building this great
country."
Brooke Maroldi,
Producer/Writer
 Brooke
Maroldi has been a writer and independent documentary filmmaker for over 20
years. Working on Tracks Ahead is a way for her to relieve
some of the painful memories from when her mother sold the family’s Lionel
train set when she was away at college.
Ruth May,
Producer/Writer
 Ruth
Haas May started her career 25 years ago in St. Petersburg, Florida as a story
producer for the nationally syndicated program “PM Magazine.” Her extensive
resume includes the travel series “A World Away” for The Discovery Channel and
“Mystic Lands” for The Learning Channel. She especially enjoyed writing
“Denmark: Jewel of Europe” and “Scotland: Land of Legends” which received top
honors at The New York International Film Festival. Her favorite places to
travel include Canada, Paris, and her hometown of Spring Green, Wisconsin.
She loves living just minutes from the Amtrak depot where she can be seen
regularly hopping the train between Milwaukee and Chicago.
Gene Ferrara,
Producer/Writer
 A
native of Kent, Ohio, Gene studied TV-Radio production at Kent State
University. He worked as a club DJ in San Francisco from 1975 – 1980,
the golden age of “Disco.” He moved to Milwaukee in 1985 as a
producer/production manager for Taylor Video Productions and TREC productions,
and developed some of the country’s first real estate infomercials. The 90’s
brought Gene into the world of TV production technology sales augmented by
intermittent free-lance production of corporate marketing videos, multi-media
training development and commercial spot work. Gene is the founder of
The Allegro Institute, an organization dedicated to personal and
organizational development. Additionally, he is currently developing
long form documentaries about the economic and social challenges that face the
Milwaukee community.
Cara Hohner, Editor
 Cara
has been with the MPTV editing group and Tracks Ahead since September of
2005. With 13 years of professional editing experience, Cara is a seasoned
editor with a B.A. in Media Arts from New Jersey City University. Her past
experience includes serving as Chief Video Editor at a corporate production
company where she was awarded Telly and Communicator awards for her work on
several projects, from training videos to documentaries. Cara has also been
working as voice over talent for a variety of clients over the past few
years, including Tracks Ahead, and enjoyed a short stint of teaching at a
local technical college. In her spare time Cara usually enjoys traveling
with her husband Jeremy, photography, and playing and listening to music.
Jason
Pinkowski, Editor
 Jason
joined MPTV in September of 2005 as a member of the editing team. His
editing experience includes over 15 years working for post production houses
and corporate video clients. He holds an AS degree in Telecasting from the
Milwaukee Area Technical College.
Jason also has a connection to the hobby
of model railroading. His uncle was a huge model railroading fan with an
elaborate layout in his home. When Jason was a child, his uncle built he
and his brother a 16x16 ft layout in their basement. The layout included
some models of Milwaukee favorites such as Allis Chalmers and the Schlitz
Brewery.
Jason's hobbies include home brewing,
playing music and just relaxing with his wife Katie and their menagerie of
pets.
Thay Yang - Graphics
 Thay
joined Milwaukee Public Television in March 2000 as the station's Graphic
Coordinator. His responsibility is to create and design the station on
air look and identity through various types of media.
His background includes live broadcast news graphics and production for local
FOX and CBS station affiliates. He holds a bachelors degree in
Illustration and Visual Communication from the Milwaukee Institute of Art &
Design. Thay's hobbies are painting, drawing, fishing and most of all,
relaxing with his little girl and beautiful wife.
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