Mike has been an accomplished award winning producer of television news and programming for more than 25 years.  He considers his participation in America's Heartland both the high point and the culmination of a varied career.

Mike has been involved in KVIE production efforts since the late 1990's.  He produced two seasons of the successful series, Central Valley Chronicles. He also produced segments for KVIE’s national Money Moves series for PBS, statewide series California Heartland and the documentary, The Great Valley.

After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, with two B.A. degrees in Journalism and Rhetoric, Mike's career began in his hometown of Fresno, California where he worked as a news anchor, reporter and bureau chief for ABC and NBC. In 1985 Mike became a reporter at WWL-TV, the powerful CBS affiliate in New Orleans. He covered Louisiana's state legislative sessions for two years and again managed a satellite news bureau. Awards there included UPI’s “Best Breaking News Story.”

In 1987, Mike returned to his native Golden State to become a reporter/producer and then Managing Producer for News Travel Network. The company specialized in consumer travel reports to affiliates across the U.S. for their daily newscasts. His reporting took him to far-flung and fascinating places such as Bali, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Tahiti, and New Zealand, Europe and the U.S.

Mike’s varied career also includes producing for CNN, the Discovery Channel, and the Travel Channel. More recently, Mike specialized in television business reporting for ABC’s Business Now for New York, Chicago, Boston and Washington, D.C. affiliates.

Corita has produced quality television and video marketing programs for more than 25 years. A native of southern California, she graduated from UC San Diego with a degree in history. She also studied at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Spain.

Corita began her career in television newsrooms in San Diego and San Francisco. In the mid-1980’s she ventured into travel television at San Francisco-based News Travel Network. As director of special projects, she produced long-form programming for the Discovery Channel, the Travel Channel, CNN, American Airlines and Northwest Airlines.

In 1994, Corita formed a full-service television and video marketing company. Her clients included the United States Department of Defense, Montana Tourism, America Online and the California State Assembly. Awards include Best Public Service Announcement from the American Heart Association and the Old West Trails award for promoting tourism in the American west.

More recently, Corita played an instrumental role in the creation and success of California Heartland, the highly regarded PBS television series spotlighting agriculture throughout the Golden State. Her role as executive producer helped the program achieve great reviews and wide viewership on PBS stations across California. She also served as executive producer for the popular RV-based public television travel series Experience America.

Corita is now acting as consulting producer for America’s Heartland, and will play a key role in managing information and other content for the show’s website.

Jim Finnerty
Show Producer

Jim Finnerty is an award winning producer and talent. In addition to national honors from the American Heart Association, the New York
Film Festival and the National Education Association, Jim’s work in broadcasting has been recognized with 7 Emmy Awards for news and public affairs.

An Illinois native, Jim’s background includes production and hosting work for the USA Network along with being the host and producer for the award winning nationally syndicated program, Travel Update. Jim has traveled extensively across the United States and has also covered stories overseas in such far flung destinations as Singapore, Korea, China, Greece and Belize.

Jim began his broadcast career as a news anchor in Champaign, Illinois. That was followed by anchor/producer credits for network affiliated stations in Cleveland, Columbus and Portland, Oregon. Jim has also been the host for award winning talk shows in Los Angeles and Sacramento as well as the host for two successful specials on earthquakes and internet connectivity for KTVU Television in San Francisco.

As the senior executive producer for CNX Media in San Francisco, Jim directed the broadcast teams that developed, produced and distributed nationally syndicated programming on health issues, personal finance and consumer travel. Jim was directly responsible for editorial supervision and creative decisions on syndicated daily television news inserts: Quicken.com Personal Finance Reports, HealthCentral Reports with Dr. Dean Edell and the Consumer Travel Reports.

Jennifer Iida
Program Coordinator

Jennifer is a Sacramento native and began her media communications studies at Sacramento State University before transferring to and graduating from the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida. A paid news internship with the CBS affiliate WCPX (now WKMG) Channel 6 in Orlando deepened her interest in broadcast journalism and led to a position as a medical producer for nightly newscasts as well as for a weekly Sunday morning half hour medical show. Jennifer eventually moved back to Sacramento to work at KOVR Channel 13 as an Associate News Producer. Her researching , interviewing and writing skills led to a decision to pursue a job with PBS. Jennifer is a also a segment producer and contributing reporter for America’s Heartland.

Tyler Bastine
Production Assistant

Due to his father being in the Air Force, Tyler grew up in several different states, eventually residing in Santa Maria, California. In 2003, he earned his bachelor’s degree in Studio Art at Humboldt State University in Northern California. While attending college, Tyler first gained experience in the entertainment industry working as an intern for E! Entertainment Television’s Talk Soup. Shortly after graduating from Humboldt, he worked as a production designer for the award-winning independent film Grindhouse. In 2005, Tyler got on board KVIE through the internship program. After volunteering his time for several months as an intern for the production department, he was considered to be a valuable asset to the organization and was hired by KVIE. In addition to America’s Heartland, Tyler has worked on several other productions, including Viewfinder: The Golden Game and The Collectors II.