Michael has been an accomplished award-winning producer of television news and programming for nearly 30 years. In his current position of V.P. for Content Creation, he oversees the production of KVIE’s America’s Heartland, an award-winning national series on agriculture seen on more than 230 public television stations. The half-hour series is now in its fifth season.

Michael also manages all of KVIE’s local production content, including its successful weekly local ViewFinder series, which covers topics as diverse as regional history, the arts, health and medical research, and regional civic issues. He also works with local and regional producers to create quality content for KVIE and for distribution to other public television stations.

Michael has been involved in KVIE production efforts since the late 1990's. He produced two seasons of the successful series, Central Valley Chronicles. He also produced segments for KVIE’s national Money Moves series for PBS, statewide series California Heartland, and the documentary The Great Valley.

After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, with two B.A. degrees in Journalism and Rhetoric, Michael's career began in his hometown of Fresno, California, where he worked as a news anchor, reporter and bureau chief for the ABC and NBC affiliates. In 1985, Mike became a reporter at WWL-TV, the powerful CBS affiliate in New Orleans. He covered Louisiana's state legislative sessions for two years and again managed a satellite news bureau. Awards there included UPI’s “Best Breaking News Story.”

In 1987, Michael returned to his native Golden State to become a reporter/producer and then Managing Producer for News Travel Network. The company specialized in consumer travel reports to affiliates across the U.S. for their daily newscasts. His reporting took him to far-flung and fascinating places such as Bali, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Tahiti, and New Zealand, Europe and the U.S.

Michael’s varied career also includes producing for CNN, the Discovery Channel, and the Travel Channel. He also specialized in television business reporting for Business Now, a weekly half-our program which aired on ABC affiliates in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston and Washington, D.C.

Jim Finnerty
Show Producer

Jim Finnerty is an award winning producer and talent. In addition to national honors from the American Heart Association, the New York
Film Festival and the National Education Association, Jim’s work in broadcasting has been recognized with 7 Emmy Awards for news and public affairs.

An Illinois native, Jim’s background includes production and hosting work for the USA Network along with being the host and producer for the award winning nationally syndicated program, Travel Update. Jim has traveled extensively across the United States and has also covered stories overseas in such far flung destinations as Singapore, Korea, China, Greece and Belize.

Jim began his broadcast career as a news anchor in Champaign, Illinois. That was followed by anchor/producer credits for network affiliated stations in Cleveland, Columbus and Portland, Oregon. Jim has also been the host for award winning talk shows in Los Angeles and Sacramento as well as the host for two successful specials on earthquakes and internet connectivity for KTVU Television in San Francisco.

As the senior executive producer for CNX Media in San Francisco, Jim directed the broadcast teams that developed, produced and distributed nationally syndicated programming on health issues, personal finance and consumer travel. Jim was directly responsible for editorial supervision and creative decisions on syndicated daily television news inserts: Quicken.com Personal Finance Reports, HealthCentral Reports with Dr. Dean Edell and the Consumer Travel Reports.

Tyler Bastine
Associate Producer

Due to his father being in the Air Force, Tyler grew up in several different states, eventually residing in Santa Maria, California. In 2003, he earned his bachelor’s degree in Studio Art at Humboldt State University in Northern California. While attending college, Tyler first gained experience in the entertainment industry working as an intern for E! Entertainment Television’s Talk Soup. Shortly after graduating from Humboldt, he worked as a production designer for the award-winning independent film Grindhouse. In 2005, Tyler got on board KVIE through the internship program. After volunteering his time for several months as an intern for the production department, he was considered to be a valuable asset to the organization and was hired by KVIE. In addition to America’s Heartland, Tyler has worked on several other productions, including Viewfinder: The Golden Game and The Collectors II.

Mindy Yuen
Production Assistant

Mindy Yuen is a California native and in 2007 after earning her Bachelor of Arts degree in Media Communications at California State University Sacramento, she began to pursue her interest in TV. During college, Mindy obtained her first bit of experience in television while interning at KCRA Channel 3, the NBC News affiliate in Sacramento. Immediately following her college career, Mindy was hired at KVIE Public Television in administration and quickly made her way into the production department. She was the production assistant for season 9 of California Heartland, a local production of KVIE seen statewide. When California Heartland ended, Mindy freelanced for various TV production companies in the Sacramento area, one of which was The Idea Factory where she worked as a production assistant and coordinator on TV shows and commercials for HGTV Broadband, The Food Network, Your Health and The DIY Network. Mindy also worked for M Entertainment where she worked in post production for the TV show, Bringing it Home with Laura McIntosh, aired nationwide on ION Network. In 2009, Mindy happily returned to KVIE as the production assistant for America’s Heartland.

Steve Riggs
Videographer
Steve Riggs is a city slicker. Plain and simple. Native to Phoenix, AZ he is the right person to be behind the camera for an agriculture show. Having not grown up on a farm, Steve is able to capture the right angle and see the story from a city slickers perspective. Steve currently resides in the beautiful state of Utah. He graduated from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University where he studied Broadcast Journalism and Spanish. Steve worked in news in the Colorado Springs/Pueblo, CO area and in Salt Lake City. When he's not hanging onto the side of a combine, Steve also shoots for the History Channel, Military Channel, (among other channels), CNN, Oprah and a variety of business corporate clients. Whoever needs the right angle at the right time.

Steve has worked on Americas Heartland since Season 1. He has traveled to 46 out of the lower 48 states and to Asia and Africa with the show. Besides getting a great shot of a Holstein licking his camera lens, Steve enjoys telling the stories of our American farmers. Above all, this city slicker has seen first hand the care these men and woman take in providing quality food for his family and yours, the city slicker.