The princess of Pop Culture

Local media personality brings trends to our town

For all you trend-seekers reading this, it must be kind of a drag to catch national Canadian shows like Steven and Chris on CBC, or Designer Guys on HGTV, or anything else that shares the latest fashions, styles, and trends in music, fitness, and technology, and see a lot of really cool things that, well, you can’t go to.

These shows are filmed in Toronto, or another large metropolis in this country, often featuring talented folks and material in these fields that can be sourced locally there, and then beamed out to the rest of the nation. Regardless of how fun these shows are to watch, or how inventive the ideas on display may be, wouldn’t it be a breath of fresh air to be able to see something like this which featured exclusively local tastes?

If so, then you might just want to start tuning into Bell Aliant’s Community One channel to catch the latest episode of Pop Culture.

Pop Culture is the brainchild of Katie Kelly, promotions director at both C100 and The Bounce radio stations here in Halifax. She says that, while she ran with the career in radio and marketing she found herself in for many years, her true passion was always television.

“I’ve always wanted to be on TV, or do something with TV,” says Kelly, who would volunteer at Eastlink and other multimedia outlets on her off-time. “Just, trying to build experience, right? Just trying to get my foot in the TV door, because it had been six years I’d been doing marketing, and you can’t just get a job in TV without any experience.”

“Then I found out about the Community One channel. It is new — it’s only about three years old,” says Kelly, who also volunteered co-hosting another show on that channel. When the producer of that show encouraged her to pursue a show of her own, she jumped at the chance. “So I wrote the Bell Aliant people, and was like, ‘how do I get a show?’”

Kelly pitched a show that would showcase everything Halifax had to offer when it came to all her favourite facets of popular culture — fashion, fitness, entertainment, and beauty — and after making a pilot with her friends and associates working in the industry, her show was green-lit for a 12-episode season.

“I always say Pop Culture is your one-stop shop for all things fashion, fitness, health, beauty, and entertainment in Atlantic Canada,” says Kelly. “Every episode features a taste from each of those.”

And these aren’t rinky-dink guests she’s sourcing to fill these roles, either; she gathers a lot of top-notch local talents and experts. Segments might include a cooking segment with a current contestant on MasterChef Canada one week, and a rundown on all the things happening on the runway with a world-class stylist from downtown Halifax.

“I have a hair salon in New York, so I’m there every two weeks, for two weeks. I get to see how go from the catwalk to the sidewalk,” says Fred Connors, owner and proprietor of FRED., a fusion salon and cafe in the North End. “I’m in the biggest city in North America, and — no one could dispute it — the most stylish city in North America, so I’m able to take everything that I see very intensely, both in my salon and on the streets, and bring it back to Halifax.”

“There are a lot of great ideas that come out of Halifax that would hold their own in any other larger market, and I think her vision is to share some of those ideas,” says Connors, who, even though he has a very tight schedule, is more than happy to help Kelly out on her show, since he himself started in community television 20 years ago, and relied on the experts of his day to help him out as well. “She has what she needs in order to give a little diversity to the show, and I get to play on TV for two hours, so we both benefit.”

The biggest thing that Kelly hopes she can give her viewers is a feeling that they don’t have to watch national style shows and only respond with wishes that they, too, could have something that cool in their own neighbourhood – they do, and she wants to show them.

“I hope people see Fred doing a beauty segment, and be like, ‘I really want Fred to do my makeup, or cut my hair.’ I hope that it inspires people to go see some of these people, and meet them,” says Kelly, who also hosts a weekly segment on CTV Morning Live. “It’s right in your backyard, so you have access to it.”

The second season of Pop Culture is currently being aired bi-weekly on Bell Aliant’s Community One channel, which can also be seen on-demand, or, if you’re not a Bell customer, online at http://communityone.bellaliant.ca under OnDemand and Entertainment.

And if you’re someone out there in Atlantic Canada, and you have an idea for a segment or a guest on the show (even if it’s you), Kelly wants to hear from you.

“I’m always open to segment ideas, new guests,” says Kelly. “Any local musicians that have music videos that they want to submit, would love to have those.”

Kelly can be reached at [email protected].