Mike Schneider On His New Outdoor Hiking Show, "On The Trail"

As a part of our "Newark at a Crossroads" series taped at NJIT, journalist Mike Schneider talks about his new series, "On The Trail" where he explores what New Jersey and New York have to offer outdoors.

9/27/16 #1897

Excerpt:

"Hi, I'm Steve Adubato. It is my pleasure, here at the beautiful campus of the New Jersey Institute of Technology, NJIT, at the Jim Wise Theatre to introduce my colleague and friend Mike Schneider, who is an icon. A... someone who we've all looked up to in this business for a long time. Before we talk about On The Trail which is a terrific PBS series that has premiered, we'll talk about it in a second, give me the other networks, come on! Which? You mean where I've been? Yeah. It's easier to list the ones where I haven't been! [laughter] Yeah. ABC. NBC? NBC. CBS local Channel Two, anchoring the news back in the 80's. Fox, before Ailes and a little bit after. Look at you, it's pre Ailes and after Ailes! [laughter] Exactly. I wasn't hired by him. We'll get into that later. Leave it alone. Yeah. Leave it alone Mike. It doesn't... yeah. And Bloomberg Television as well. Absolutely. And Mike... Mike is here to talk to us... people know Mike from his Terrific work on public television, but Mike is here to talk about this terrific series, the pilot we're about to see, On The Trail. Describe On The Trail real quick before we take a look at the clip. Basically, it's a glimpse at the near wilderness that exists at our doorstep here in the tristate area, ad how you can see some extraordinary things and have extraordinary experiences by just getting out there on the trail. Your idea, you came up with this? Yeah. Why? Because my wife one day looked at me and said I was looking at a lifetime of getting away from what we do for a living. And my biggest getaway was going out into nature and just losing myself for a while with her, and then she developed this love of the Appalachian Trail, all things Appalachian Trail, she'd read these trail blogs that would come in from these people doing the thur-hikes, these folks would go from Georgia to Maine or vice versa. And she would read the stories and these experiences and these amazing people, and she'd say, "This is some good stuff." I'd say, "Yeah, somebody should do this as a show" and she looked at me and she said... Somebody? [laughter] "Why don't you?" And I thought, "Yeah, why don't I?" That's how it all came to be. It's on... the pilot aired on NJTV, the public television station here in New Jersey, NJ... excuse me, WNET, WLIW, let's take a look at On The Trail with Mike Schneider. We set off, many have walked these paths, but to most, their wonders remain unknown around every bend..."