Amarillo educator, author and historian King Hill was honored at the Tuesday evening meeting of the Amarillo City Council, along with Brandy Sanchez, vice president and General Manager of KAMR and FOX 14, for their collaborative effort in producing “Panhandle Legends.”
The venture was a year-long production that included such notable figures in our local history as Frenchie McCormick, Joe Fortenberry, Bobby Lee and other notable well-known and not-so-well-known characters from the past, including Quanah Parker, who will be the last featured icon in the series in August.
The Certificate of Recognition from the Amarillo City Council was for “Panhandle Legends,” which recognized the series for highlighting the history, heritage and notable people in Amarillo and the surrounding areas; preserving and sharing the stories that shaped our community’s identity; and serving as a valuable educational resource with viewers, educational institutions, schools and teachers, using it to promote a greater understanding of local and regional history.
The certificate went on to commend the team for showcasing the city’s unique history and important role in the Texas Panhandle, honoring their meaningful contribution to memorialize history, culture, and civic pride through their achievements.
After the award presentation, Sanchez said Hill had brought the idea and project to the table. He was looking for a facilitator, essentially a collaborator to partner with him to produce the series, and Sanchez said she decided to make it her project.
“I worked alongside King for the next year while we integrated our team,” Sanchez said. “We have several people all across the TV station that worked on the project, which is beautiful. It’s not just a one-stop shop.”
She added: “It’s been a really nice collaborative effort across the station, and we’ve all learned a lot, which is a big piece of it. We’ve all learned things we did not know, and I have always felt like anytime there’s a way to further education for the Texas Panhandle, that it’s meant to be.”
From concept to classroom
Hill said that Sanchez was the brainchild of the project.
“She spent countless hours of her own time, as well as with her team at KAMR, to put it together,” he said. “And then, being as creative as she is, she pulled a team of her specialists together and really embraced the educational component. As a result, we’ve had all these schools that are using it in the classrooms, along with superintendents that put it into their curriculum.”
According to Hill, Sanchez was key to finding the resources and dealing with copyrights, and photographs or material that had to be signed off on to be used.
“She was inexhaustible in tracking down photos, resources,” Hill said, to which Sanchez replied, “It was definitely a skill set I did not have prior to the project.”
The producer put in as much as 20 hours of research a week into the series, which also included getting clearance for the assets, along with her legal team.
“It became a mission,” she said.
“It’s been embraced across 16 counties in the Texas Panhandle and South Plains,” Hill continued, “and so, it wasn’t just limited to a 60-second episode. It became an extension, with long form content, interviews, research — all of that Brandy put on the website, so it’s accessible to anyone 24/7 forever.”
Hill said that their hope was to further integrate it into school systems and teachers’ hands, which was why they housed the series an area that could let it live and breathe forever.
Sanchez added that there are some very quick digestible pieces, along with the half-hour longer version, so that a teacher could elaborate on one of the profiles in their classes and that script reads perfectly to what the profile was and how they impacted the Texas Panhandle.
“It has really had a good success rate,” Sanchez said. “It has a lot of play and has its own page.”
As for the future, the two said, “We may have some surprises coming. There are some things in the works for a larger spectrum of Texas adventures and historic figures.”
Hill has also been nominated by the Texas Legislature for the prestigious Project 1836 Award for “Panhandle Legends.”
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: ‘Panhandle Legends’ series honored by City Council
Reporting by Nell Williams, Amarillo Globe-News / Amarillo Globe-News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Nell Williams, Amarillo Globe-News | USA TODAY Network
