Article about BlueHighways TV in two of our local newspapers!

Gallatin couple launch TV program, network

Focus is on American roots music

Stan Hitchcock has been inducted into the National Traditional Music Hall of Fame and the Missouri Country Music Hall of Fame. / Deb Pinger/Hendersonville Star News

Written by Deb Pinger for the Gallatin News Examiner.

The best way to honor a memory is to share it.

That’s the idea that wakes up Gallatin resident Stan Hitchcock each morning, and it’s what sparked his interest in launching “The Stan Hitchcock Show,” a new half-hour television program on BlueHighways TV, the network he launched with his wife, Denise, in 2007. Premiering this month, and managed from BHTV’s headquarters in Hendersonville, the new show gives Stan the chance to travel memory lane and share the video he has collected during his career in American music and television.


Hitchcock is a legend in both cable television and country music. In the 1960s, as a teenager from the Ozark Mountains, he landed a major recording contract with Nashville’s Columbia Records. He moved to Music Row in ’62 and by 1966 he had his own cable TV show that quickly expanded to 150 markets. The show taught him the power of both music and television and how to listen to his audience.

According to Hitchcock, he laid down his guitar and picked up a network when, in 1983 he played a role in the founding of Country Music Television. In 1984, he was placed in charge of programming and directing the operations for the re-launched country music network, CMT. In 1991, CMT was sold to Group W and Stan took the knowledge of what his viewers wanted and started Americana Television Network.

The Hitchcocks had moved to Branson, Mo., and the new network focused on the country music and lifestyle coming out of Missouri. They sold ATN to Liberty Media in 1995 and returned to Sumner County.

From Blue Highway’s comfortable offices in the heart of old Hendersonville, Hitchcock reflected on his reasons for doing another TV show.

“I’ve been doing television since the ‘60s,” he said. “For many of my programs, I just sat, heart-to-heart, with my friends who are musicians to do what musicians do: play and sing and talk. I remember one night when Lefty Frizzell played his new song, ‘I Don’t Go Around Mirrors’ for me and Jeannie Seely. I thought, life just doesn’t get any better than this.”

Memory tape

The new show allows him to share those moments and more, from interviews with Charlie Daniels to Garth Brooks, from Keith Whitley to Marty Stewart. “This is me going into my archives to bring out the moments and music you don't hear on the radio. I didn’t want to keep the memories to myself,” he said.
The new “Stan Hitchcock Show” reflects the spirit of BlueHighways TV.

“It’s a lifestyle network that includes music but is more than that,” he said. “We go where ordinary people are doing extraordinary things.”

Programs cover the farming, nature and back roads lifestyles. More than a road, it’s a state of mind. And, music, though not star-driven, is a part of it.

“When I looked around, I saw there was a huge void in country music on television. I see commercial country, but not American roots music like bluegrass, blues, mountain music, Cajun music, gospel, folk, western and traditional country,” he said.

The entire network has the down-home feel of a Tennessee front porch.

The Hitchcocks, married 27 years, lived the early years of their marriage in Castalian Springs. Though they spent some years in Branson, Sumner County called them back to a farm near Gallatin.

“It was the people who drew me back.” said Denise. “I remember going to the grocery store and seeing an old friend who said, ‘Now Denise, where have you been?’ like I had been gone a few weeks. We just love it here.”

BlueHighways is an independent, multi-platform network delivered on cable and satellite in standard and high definition.

“Getting a TV Network on Cable TV is like trying to get a product on the grocery store shelves,” said Denise. “We are carried all around the world and all over the U.S., but not in Tennessee because Comcast won’t make the leap. We are trying to create a demand for it, locally.”

The network is watched in 176 countries. China has one of the largest “BlueHighways” audiences, with Japan a close second.

“During World War II, the Japanese heard old classic country music on the radio, and they loved it,” said Hitchcock. And, sharing the pleasure of it with the world is satisfying. According to Hitchcock, “It’s a mission.”

Visit http://www.bluehighwaystv.com/ to learn how to request it from your carrier.

Article in the Hendersonville Star News: http://www.tennessean.com/viewart/20121114/HENDERSONVILLE05/311140194/County-music-TV-legend-launches-new-show

Article in the Gallatin New Examiner: http://www.tennessean.com/viewart/20121116/GALLATIN01/311160045/Gallatin-couple-launch-TV-program-network