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Roy Walkenhorst joined Lightbridge Media in 1998. Since then, he has co-produced with his wife and partner Judy Brooks:
- HealingQuest, an ongoing series of half-hour programs for PBS stations on natural health and alternative/integrative medicine. HealingQuest was launched in October, 2003 and as of February 1, 2004 has cleared 93 stations and 53% of U.S. television households. Charter sponsors include Natrol Vitamins, Now Foods, and New Chapter herbal supplements. HealingQuest has also been licensed internationally in Australia, England, New Zealand, Thailand, Canada, Portugal, Israel and on Discovery Latin America.
- This Amazing World, a series of 24 half-hour programs on ancient mysteries natural wonders, and manmade marvels. The first 13 episodes were released in October, 2000, sponsored by Yahoo Travel, and cleared 64% of U.S. TV house-holds. This Amazing World has been licensed internationally in England, France, Canada, Hong Kong, Turkey and the Middle East.
- Age Power With Ken Dychtwald, a one-hour pledge special for PBS that was released in March, 2000, sponsored by Searle Pharmaceuticals, and cleared 78% of U.S. TV households.
- Cowboy Country, a series of 13 half-hour programs on the Old West then and now that has not yet been released to broadcasters yet but is being marketed by Time-Life to the home video market.
Among Walkenhorst's primary responsibilities are managing sponsorship sales, station clearances and international licensing.
Walkenhorst came to Lightbridge after 18 years as founder and president of News Travel Network. During his tenure the firm grew into the
world's largest producer of timely, consumer-oriented travel programming and built a library of more than 10,000 hours of video shot on location around the world.
NTN's first series was called the Consumer Travel Reports : 90-second segments designed for use five days a week within local
television newscasts. Launched in 1982, the Con-sumer Travel Reports aired for 20 years, becoming the longest-running news
inserts in U.S. television history.
Over the years they became a regular feature within newscasts on leading stations like WNBC, WCBS and WABC in New York; KABC and KNBC in LA;
WLS and WMAQ in Chicago; KRON and KGO in San Francisco; KSDK in St. Louis; and WSB in Atlanta.
NTN sent crews around the U.S. and around the world to shoot footage for the Con-sumer Travel Reports, and out of the library that
resulted NTN produced a wide variety of half-hour series. The first, entitled Rendezvous, was produced for The Discovery Channel,
nominated for a Cable ACE Award and licensed in many countries overseas.
Other NTN series included Bon Voyage, Holiday USA, The World's Weirdest Placesand Earth Journeys With Christopher Reeve,
which was nominated for a Cable ACE Award and an Environmental Media Award. In 1992 NTN launched a weekly day-and-date original
half-hour show called Weekend Travel Update which eventually was cleared on U.S. stations in 100 markets.
NTN also launched The e Report, five 90-second inserts per week on environmental issues. NTN's syndication sales division also expanded
by adding other news insert series including Dr. Dean Edell's Medical Reports, c/net Tech Reports, and Jack Hanna's Animal Tales.
NTN not only syndicated those series to stations across the country, but also advised on production and content.
By 1997, News Travel Network had become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Preview Travel, which successfully went public in November of 1997.
The proceeds from the IPO funded the expansion of Lightbridge.
Walkenhorst began his broadcast career at KCRA-TV in Sacramento, an NBC affiliate. From 1969 to 1980 he anchored and produced daily newscasts,
served as a general assignment reporter, and produced mini-documentary series and full-length docu-mentaries on Iran, Germany, Switzerland and
Holland along with various topics in California.
Before entering the television industry Walkenhorst worked as an assistant news editor at Newsday in New York and as a general assignment reporter at
the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. He has taught news writing and communication courses California State University, Sacramento; Chapman College; and American River College.
He holds a Master's Degree in Journalism from Columbia University in New York and a Bachelor's Degree in English from Washington University in St. Louis.
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