Steve Betchkal joined the News 18 team in
February of 2006 and is currently the Chief Photographer. He has been taping
news and life in the Chippewa
Valley for 25 years. If
you've watched TV news in northwestern Wisconsin,
you've seen his work.
Steve believes that great video lies at the heart of TV news, and his
commitment to telling stories with images and sound has won him more
than 60 state, regional, and national awards for excellence in videography.
"If it wasn't for video," he is fond of saying, "We'd call it
radio."
Steve attended college at Indiana University,
Lawrence University,
and UW-La Crosse, and worked in 3 National Parks before earning his degree in
biology at UW-Eau Claire. He is a lifelong naturalist and environmentalist,
with interests ranging from star-gazing and dragonfly watching to ornithology.
He loves to backpack and camp and has compiled a bird list of more than 600
species in 46 U.S.
states, and 900 species worldwide.
Steve is a published poet and author of All
of This and Robbins Too: A Guide to the 50 or So Best Places to Find Birds in
Wisconsin, and Make Birds Not
War: Step by Step Instructions for Saving the World a Birder at a Time.
He currently writes a column for the "Getting Out" section of the Eau
Claire Leader-Telegram, and "Wisconsin West" magazine. He has also
been published in "Free Verse," "Cabin Life"
and "BirdWatching." He also loves gardening and cooking,
and believes that life is too short for bad movies.
Originally from Racine, WI,
Steve moved to the Chippewa
Valley in 1986 when his wife
Julie was hired as a Special Ed Teacher. He has two sons, one a scientist in Denali
National Park in Alaska,
the other a strapping lad who loves conversation, politics, sports, and
backpacking. If they're the "last kids in the woods," Steve takes full credit
for it.
Send an email to Steve Betchkal.
Click here to read Steve's blog: Artist, Philosopher, Scientist, Camera Guy.
