Hatteberg, Peters together again as ‘Hatteberg’s People’ returns to TV

Miss that banter between Larry Hatteberg and Susan Peters?

The two are joining forces again to anchor a weekly program on KPTS.

“Hatteberg’s People” is returning – this time as a 30-minute show starting at 7 p.m. on March 23. The first three shows in the series will have only Hatteberg. But after that, Peters will join him.

“KPTS approached me and wanted to know if I owned the series. And I do,” Hatteberg said. “I have all the old copies and newer copies since 1977 through my last day at KAKE in 2014. Since I owned it, I was interested in a half-hour show with the best of the stories.”

“Hatteberg’s People” was a regular feature on KAKE News for four decades. Hatteberg retired in November 2014 after a 51-year career at KAKE News. His “Hatteberg’s People” were ordinary people: Kansans who often did extraordinary things. He created what he named the “subjective camera.” He asked story subjects to look directly into the camera as they talked. Some of those people included Wichita’s last Holocaust survivor, a man who lived in a hole like an animal and Wichita’s disco dance queen from 1977.

Peters retired from KAKE in May 2016. She started her broadcasting career in 1978 at WHOI in Peoria, Ill., before coming to KWCH in Wichita in 1983. She accepted an anchor position at KFMB in San Diego in 1991 before returning to Wichita in 1995 as an anchor at KAKE. She was an anchor and reporter at both KWCH and KAKE.

Hatteberg said he wanted to rebroadcast the series, in part, to support public broadcasting.

“I am a huge fan of KPTS and believe in public broadcasting,” Hatteberg said. “I have been unhappy over the course of time that our federal government and state no longer support public television. I think it is an outrage. This was something I could do to help them along and make (things) better. Those videos are just sitting on a shelf at my house, and they aren’t helping anybody. I said, ‘Sure, let’s do this thing.’ ”

And KPTS is expecting good things to happen.

“ ‘Hatteberg’s People’ is a very human-interest program about the people of the greater Wichita community,” said Victor Hogstrom, the president and CEO of KPTS. “I think it will draw a great audience. We will have updates as a twist to the show, and he and Susan Peters will be co-hosting and chit-chatting.”

The revival of “Hatteberg’s People” is part of an effort KPTS is making to increase local viewership. Others shows include “One on One,” a 30-minute interview program hosted by Hogstrom to introduce south-central Kansas to notable personalities, and “Positively Kansas” with local journalists Sierra Scott and Jim Grawe.

“We are excited about it at KPTS,” Hogstrom said. “KPTS has not had local programming in recent years. We don’t have the money to hire new staff. We are working with what we have. We are working smart to establish local programs.”

This story was originally published March 13, 2017 at 6:43 AM with the headline "Hatteberg, Peters together again as ‘Hatteberg’s People’ returns to TV."