Lori Casey, host of “Heartland Highways” on WEIU, has a new co-host.

Kate Pleasant will now work alongside Casey, an ironic job move for Pleasant because she had just finished writing about the fifth season.

“I actually worked as a reporter for a newspaper before I worked here,” Pleasant said. “And what I find ironic is that I had just finished writing an article on Heartland Highways and, ironically, a job turned up the next season, and here I was.”

Heartland Highways is a news show that takes viewers from place to place to seek out interesting people and places in small rural settings.

The show kicked off its new season Friday with a story on “burgoo,” a soup that takes a couple of days to make – by an entire community.

“I just really liked the idea that it was focused on a rural setting because I’m from a small town originally,” Pleasant said.

Heartland Highways is filmed through the months of May to November. Casey and Pleasant are the only crew members of the show.

“It’s a lot of work because it’s actually just the two of us. We are the crew; there is nobody else,” Pleasant said. “Lori and I, we shoot, edit, write and produce all of the shows and all the stories in the show.”

The only aspect they don’t have to worry about for the show is the press releases, which is the job of their public relations manager, Ke’an Rogers.

“I help send out the press releases for Heartland Highways,” Rogers said. “I’m also in charge of supervising the Web site, and I have a web master that helps update it.”

The length of time it takes to produce the stories for Heartland Highways varies, taking anywhere from a couple of hours to an entire day.

“We film everything in pieces,” Casey said. “We film the stories all separately, but for us to film one story, it can take three hours to one day. It depends on how much time we have to shoot and how large the area is.”

The show comprises 13 episodes a season, combining three stories into one full episode.

“We take those stories which we do, and make them six and a half to seven minutes long, and we put three of those into the show – and that’s an entire half-hour show,” Pleasant said.

Episodes air at 7 p..m. Fridays, and re-runs of the show take place at 4 p.m. on Sundays.

For those who missed the opening episode, it is available to watch on WEIU’s Web site at www.weiu.net.

Michael Schwader can be reached at 581-7942 or at mwschwader@eiu.edu.