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In 1992 O&A host Roger Martin and I celebrated the first year of going Out and About with a special segment detailing the events of the first year. The segment was entitled “One One- Hundredth of a Century” and the ten minute compilation of clips from the previous year’s segments took us from our very humble first episode, right through episode 26. Who could have guessed that this modest compendium of clips would be just the first in a long line of Out and About adventures that would take us north to British Columbia, south to Arizona and New Mexico and as far east as Illinois. In the more than twenty five years of going “Out & About” we have learned that southern California offers an endless array of opportunities for travel and adventure, for exploration and education, and more than ever, an appreciation for everything we encounter from the mundane to the profound and all things in between. 
Our Out & About journeys began on a Catalina Cruise whale watching boat with
the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium. Though it was the very first segment we would
shoot, it was eventually edited into the third episode that aired. We always
traveled light: a small camcorder, tripod and external microphone. The Super
VHS format was our recording medium of choice, since it was compact and
inexpensive. We would videotape all of our footage in the field, including
interviews and B-roll, then edit onto ¾” tape, adding music, narration, credits
and titles to form a completed episode that could be aired. While shooting on
location we often rubbed shoulders with the local TV affiliates that covered the
same events like museum openings, art exhibits and the latest zoo attractions. I
noticed we always had a smaller camera than our competitors; the local stations
always possessed the latest state-of-the-art Betacam set ups which dwarfed our
Super VHS equipment. For decades this was our standard shooting method
until we graduated to a digital DVCam format where the camera was much
larger, and the tape much smaller. 
“Out & About” quickly found its way onto numerous of stations throughout the
Los Angeles area. The program was broadcast and distributed on ¾” format
tapes which were “bicycled” around, a term used to describe the process of
sending copies of a program from station to station, usually in some type of
rotation, and in groups of four so that a new episode could be shown each week.
This involved additional expenses as tapes needed to be purchased, copied and
mailed to numerous stations. Soon, the ¾” tapes were replaced with smaller,
less expensive tape formats like DVC Pro or DVCam, then later to DVD discs. As
the digital age swept over the broadcast industry the physical assets were no
longer needed since digital files uploaded to stations replaced tapes that were
shipped or sent by messenger. Soon many of our shows found their way onto
You Tube where they could continually play to a global audience. 
Although the bulk of our stories included places to explore, and art and museum
openings we didn’t shy away from serious subjects. There were episodes
covering the aftermath of the Northridge earthquake, and Roger joined
thousands in a city hall march when Occupy LA joined in the national protests
supporting the 99% movement in 2011. Out & About covered numerous UFO
shows, metaphysical events and searched for Bigfoot in Canada during their
annual Sasquatch Convention. Long before the internet became a breeding
ground for conspiracy theories we discovered that cable access TV was a mecca
for fringe programming and it gave us a chance to explore controversial
locations like the Area 51 in Nevada as well Roswell, New Mexico, long
considered ground zero for the modern UFO subculture. A highlight of our UFO-
themed episodes included an unforgettable interview with Travis Walton, known
for his alleged extra-terrestrial abduction as depicted in the feature film “Fire in
the Sky.” And we were lucky enough to include on our program some of
Hollywood’s past and present stars, including William Shatner, Lou Ferrigno,
Dee Wallace, Rick Baker, Bela Lugosi, Jr., Sara Karloff and “I Love Lucy” writers
Madelyn Pugh and Bob Caroll, Jr. Dignitaries of the art world who made
appearances with Roger include street artist Robbie Conal, Horton Plaza and
CityWalk architect Jon Jerde, urban architect Paolo Saleri of the famed Cosanti
and Arcosanti sites in Arizona, and world-renown artist Christo who shared with
us the symbiotic theme of his massive two-continent “Umbrellas Project.”
Pioneers of the scientific world making appearances include Primatologist Jane
Goodall, paleontologist and “Jurassic Park” advisor Jack Horner, astronauts and
American heroes Rick Searfoss and Mae Jemison of the Space Shuttle program,
Apollo 7 astronaut Walt Cunningham, Scott Carpenter, member of the original
Mercury 7 program and Apollo 17 astronaut Eugene Cernan, the last astronaut
to have walked on the moon, or as an optimist would say, the most recent one to
walk on the moon. 
The technology has shifted over the past two and a half decades. The large
bulky equipment has been replaced by small, lightweight cameras that capture
more exciting and dynamic images which are wearable on your sleeve or on top
of your head. There was a time when our modest camcorder was the smallest of
the cameras we would see at any event, but now it appears to be one of the
larger ones, almost too big and cumbersome for any practical use. But for our
determined group the obsession was never on the technology, but always on the
subject we were exploring. Wherever we were and whatever subject we
covered we treated it like it was the most important and interesting thing we had
ever seen. And although we eventually shifted to shooting on a digital format to
yield a sharper picture, we never wavered when it came to focusing on the
subject and the story which was always placed center stage.
Throughout our various travels we have been blessed with having a faithful crew
to accompany us and we acknowledge the small band of volunteers who have
been with us since the beginning. Friends like longtime location
manager Dianne Wohlleben, contributors like guest-host Konrad Monti who
often serve as Roger’s on-camera foil, and friend and colleague Ann Palmer.
And special thanks go out to Amanda
Martin, Roger’s frequent and very capable co-host. It has been and will continue
to be a privilege to have them along on our adventures. Over the years people
often ask us where we get the ideas for these shows, and occasionally we
worried that we would run out of ideas or events to cover. What began as a
modest project at Beverly Hills Television Station BHTV soon became an all-
encompassing obsession to discover interesting persons, places and activities,
and now after more than twenty-five years and 320 episodes, host Roger Martin
and myself continue to explore adventures and activities in and around Southern
California and the Southwest. Everything from the mundane to the profound and
all things in between.
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