“Minnesota Bound,” the state’s long-running outdoors program, is switching campsites.
The show has ended its 30-year run on KARE 11 and will start broadcasting next week on KSTP TV and KSTC TV, both owned by Hubbard Broadcasting.
Co-host Laura Schara made the announcement at the end of Dec. 28’s program.
“I’m really excited about the news, for sure,” she said Monday in a phone interview from Austin, Texas, where she lives part time. “Moving to a station that is locally owned, like we are, and that has a tradition of embracing the outdoors is really a great fit for us.”
Schara, who only learned of the change last week, said it’s her understanding that the decision was made by Ron Schara Productions, which puts out the show.
“Thirty years of outdoor storytelling is pretty remarkable, let alone on one television station,” Schara Productions CEO Scott Fransen said in a news release. “This move is the right step to broaden Minnesota Bound’s footprint and to continue our storytelling legacy for the next 30 years.”
The series was the brainchild of former Star Tribune columnist Ron Schara, who wanted to create an outdoor series that was deeper and more inspirational than just watching men haul bass into a boat and kill deer.
Those human-interest stories have helped generate more than 6 million views a year during much of the show’s run on KARE. The second-biggest draw is probably Schara’s black Labrador retrievers. At the most recent Minnesota State Fair, fans were more interested in getting pictures with the latest sidekick, Millie, than interacting with any of the humans.
