- [Joleene] Tonight on "WPBS Weekly Inside the Stories," we crack open the video vault as we celebrate 65 years on the air.

From yesterday to today, WPBS has made significant strides forward.

And we're in the kitchen with Johnny Spezzano of the Border Radio Station.

He teams up with Jake Ledoux of the North Harbor Beef Company to make delicious stuffed burgers perfect for the upcoming holiday.

Also out of Gananoque tonight, the music of Hayley Miller.

You don't wanna miss the raw message and powerful vocals she offers.

Your stories, your region, coming up right now on "WPBS Weekly Inside the Stories."

(bright music) - [Announcer] "WPBS Weekly Inside the Stories" is brought to you by the Watertown Oswego Small Business Development Center, the J.M.

McDonald Foundation, and the Dr. D. Susan Badenhausen Legacy Fund of the Northern New York Community Foundation, additional funding from the New York State Education Department.

- Good Tuesday evening, everyone, and welcome to this edition of "WPBS Weekly Inside the Stories."

I'm Joleene DesRosiers.

Tonight marks a milestone for WPBS, for as I stand here tonight, we represent the beginning of public television right here in the North Country, exactly 65 years ago.

WPBS has seen some major changes over the years, and thanks to you, our loyal viewers, we intend on being here for several more.

To give you an idea of how much we've changed, we'll take you on a time-travel trip down memory lane when everything was different.

(gentle music) - A lot has changed since WPBS, once WNPE, WNPI, broadcast its very first show back in 1958.

It was an educational program, and it aired on WWNY TV7, which at the time was known as WCNY TV.

In 1971, we joined the PBS system, and in 1978 found our forever home right here at 1056 Arsenal Street.

And in 1998, the FCC granted permission to change our call letters to WPBS.

Over the past 65 years, we've broadcast tens of thousands of educational and cultural programs.

And today our commitment to education and to informing and inspiring the people of the North Country and Eastern Ontario has never been greater.

Our attic is filled with archival tapes from the past 65 years.

We discovered one from the mid-80s that we thought would be fun to share.

While the video doesn't take us inside the station, it does show what our area looked like over 40 years ago.

(time-warping music) - Ooh, and traffic on Route 81 is incredible.

Hey, wait a minute, Karen, I wanna be in this picture.

This is what you would see if you were heading south on Route 81, exit 45 Arsenal Street.

If you took this exit heading south on Route 81, the next stop would take you to Arsenal Street and Public Television.

So why don't you come along with me, and I'll show you what you would see on beautiful Arsenal Street.

- Today you take the very same exit to head to the very same station where we all work to provide the finest educational public media content to everyone across Eastern Ontario and Northern New York.

- [Jeremy] Here we are on Arsenal Street.

Now from Route 81, we took a left heading towards Watertown, and this is Arsenal Street, all the fast food restaurants, a couple hotels, motels.

The whole place smells like one big hamburger.

We're going about 3/10 of a mile and heading towards the public television station.

Ooh, we're clipping along at a good pace.

And up on our left, you'll notice a Ford garage.

As we're coming in here, there's Burger King.

I'll go over there and have a burger.

And on your left there is our building, WNPE, WNPI.

Ta-da.

- Here we are again on Arsenal Street.

It's still two lanes in both directions and still 3/10 of a mile from the exit to the station.

Used to be Friendly's over there.

It's now, WellNow Care.

And we've got lots of new businesses as well as some of the old ones along here, auto parts and auto repair, groceries, restaurants.

With all the restaurants, one thing that hasn't changed about Arsenal Street, it still smells like one big hamburger.

(audience laughs) And we're coming up on the station.

The Ford dealer that used to be next door is not there anymore.

That's now a vacant lot.

(upbeat music) - [Jeremy] That's our Public Television sign.

- [Mark] And our sign is changed.

It looks very different, but the public media values that it represents are still the same.

- Okay, that was beautiful Arsenal Street.

Now I'm standing in front of our building, our home, if you will, for Public Television, WNPE, WNPI.

And guess what?

It's freezing out here.

So let's get back into the studio and join Halle, come on.

- It's not cold today.

In fact, it's beautiful outside.

But before we go back inside, let's take a moment to reminisce on the auctions, the people, and the programming that have happened here over the last 65 years, and one of the very first programs, "Science with Charlie."

Thank you so much for your loyal support.

(frenetic music) (gentle upbeat music) - If you'd like to make a donation or become a member of WPBS, please visit wpbstv.org and click the blue donate renew button at the top right of the page.

We are grateful for each and every one of you.

Because of you, we're able to bring you all of your favorite programming today and for many years to come.

Some of the programming that WPBS brings you is fresh and new, like the segment you're about to see.

"Johnny on Fire" is our very own cooking segment and features local radio host Johnny Spezzano.

Tonight he's cooking with fire with Jake Ledoux of the North Harbor Beef Company at Old McDonald's Farm in Sacket's Harbor.

Stuffed burgers are on the menu.

And with Canada Day and Independence Day just around the corner, what could be better for the upcoming holiday?

(gentle music) - Hey, come on.

(upbeat rock music) Hey, friends, welcome.

This is "Johnny on Fire."

I'm Johnny Spezzano.

And this is where we take great food, like the stuffed burgers we're gonna make here, and cook 'em on fire.

- Oh!

- Jake Ledoux from North Harbor Meat Company.

How are you?

- Good, sir.

How are you?

- Nice to see you.

And of course, part of North Harbor Dairy, part of Old McDonald's Farm.

- Yes, sir.

Absolutely, Robbins Family Grain.

- Yeah, and the Robbins family.

So you're ready to cook some burgers?

- Oh, born for it.

- We're gonna stuff 'em.

I mean, after all, we've got a holiday coming up.

Not only is it 4th of July.

It's also Canada Day.

- Yep.

- And what goes better with picnics?

Burgers.

- Burgers.

- Yeah.

So we're gonna be using your beef.

Tell me a little bit about your beef, and we are gonna go over the ingredients here in a second.

- Sure, sure, sure.

- But what beef is this?

- Wagyu.

So North Harbor Beef Company, we grow our own wagyu beef.

It's some beautiful marbling.

You'll see it in the steaks, and you're gonna taste it in these burgers.

- All right, of course, our other ingredients would be what we're gonna stuff our burgers with, something a little traditional.

We're going to do bacon, blue cheese, and a little bit of onion.

- Okay, okay.

- Which is good.

- [Johnny] And then we're going to be stuffing another burger, something a little bit wilder, bro.

We're gonna be using pineapple, ham, and Swiss cheese and some poblano peppers.

- I love that.

I love it.

- Let's learn a little bit more about what we're gonna be doing.

We're gonna be cutting up our ingredients that are gonna go inside our burger.

So we're gonna start by chopping some onion.

You wanna chop?

- Yeah, I'll chop.

- Wanna chop 'em?

I'll chop.

- All right.

- Chop with me.

And what we're gonna do is we're gonna put these on the fire and let 'em saute while we're completing the rest of the recipe.

I loved grilled onions on burgers.

I love to cook 'em up ahead of time and add things like barbecue sauce.

- Oh.

- Or honey mustard.

- You're speaking my language.

- And saute 'em all together.

- Speaking my language.

- And then it makes a great topping to go on top of your burger.

So onions are always great.

- [Jake] Kind of a kind of a staple, if you will.

- You gotta have some onion with your burger for sure.

Now tell me a little bit about wagyu beef.

I know it's more expensive, right?

- Yeah.

Like anything, it's a little bit of a specialty item.

We've kind of brought it up to the North Country.

You know, Angus is kind of our bread and butter, right?

- Of course.

- We started with Angus, and then we started with the wagyu, and that's like a Japanese breed.

- These look good, bud.

- Yeah, I'm not- So wagyu is a Japanese breed?

- Yes, yep.

It comes from Japan, and it's really known for its very fine marbling.

So you think of like granite, right, like a beautiful countertop.

You know, we call that marbling in the beef industry.

It's where you're fat kind of works its way through.

So you want like this really fine, like speckled marble.

- I'm glad you brought the good stuff.

- I tried, I tried.

- All right, so we're gonna saute our onions up.

You're gonna wanna add a little oil or a little butter to these just to kind of give 'em some fat.

We're gonna throw it in the fire right now, okay.

All right, so while our onions are sauteing, let's get the beef out.

- Okay.

- The wagyu.

I love this.

- Yeah, oh, it's- - I didn't know this was available locally.

- Well, you know, you try to bring stuff up, right?

Like, why can't we have this in upstate New York?

- Why can't we?

All right, well, I'm ready to dig in.

We're just gonna use our fingers.

Right here, why don't you grab this?

This is like a pound, right?

- Yep.

- All right, so you grab a pound.

You put it on your board.

And I'll grab one and put it on mine.

- Perfect.

- Start by making it into a ball, okay, and packing it together.

- Yep.

- This is fun.

Of course, I'm sure you guys are super busy over at Old McDonald's Farm this time of year?

- Of course, summer brings all of the summer work, right?

- Yes.

- But it's exciting.

It's good to be outside.

It's good to be out in the sun.

- You've been a farmer for just about your whole life.

Raised on a dairy farm or?

- No, no, came from kind of a part-time livestock operation, beef operation.

And then this is what I do every day- - Oh, I'm glad.

- All day.

- I'm glad you do.

- Yeah.

- So now we're gonna mush them down into like a little well, okay, and this is where we're gonna place our stuffing.

So I'm gonna do two of them here.

This beef is amazing.

- [Jake] I appreciate that.

- Like you said, the marbling that you can see with the fat, at least in this ground beef.

And then what we're gonna do is we're gonna grab, I'll split one with you.

- Okay.

- Because we're gonna make a top to go on top of these.

- [Jake] Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.

- [Johnny] So take that.

You might need to make a little room, Jake- - Yeah.

- To move these to the side.

See if these hold up here.

And these, we want to be thinner.

- Okay, something like that.

- [Johnny] Okay, so these are gonna be our tops.

- [Jake] Yep.

- All right, now we're ready to do some stuffing.

- Oh, man.

(upbeat music) - You ready?

- I'm ready, man.

- Okay, so we're gonna stuff like this.

- Okay.

- Okay.

Here's our ham and cheese, just like that.

Don't really need to go too crazy with our items.

- [Jake] Yeah, look at that.

- [Johnny] But look at this.

- Wow.

- It's gonna be some great flavors going together together.

Okay, you wanna do one?

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll do one.

- Just, okay.

- Now, is there an order?

Like, are are we putting... Should we mix up the order for another burger?

- It's your call, bro.

It's your burger.

You make it any way you want.

- [Jake] I'll put a little bit of these.

- [Johnny] Okay.

- On the bottom here.

- Okay.

- This is like some very like finesse type order.

- Yeah, do it up.

- [Jake] Okay.

- All right, now while you're doing that, I'm gonna start working on the next burger.

Okay, we're gonna use our sauteed onions.

- [Jake] Which look incredible.

- Right?

- Smell incredible.

- You wanna put some in your?

- Yeah, yeah, please.

Drop it right in.

- All right.

Look at that, just like that.

- [Jake] Fantastic.

- Okay, and we're gonna do blue cheese and bacon.

- Okay, okay.

- Come on.

How can that combination be bad?

I'm just gonna put the bacon in here for you.

- Go right ahead.

(Johnny laughs) - And we cooked up some bacon in advance.

Okay, great.

Now, just because I like a lot of cheese, let's take another piece of cheese and put it over the top of the pineapple, don't you think, on the Swiss?

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Do you want the whole cheese and cut?

- Of course, after we can always add Swiss on top, but I'm just gonna put a little more on the top.

Okay here, a little more for you too, bro.

- [Jake] Perfect, perfect.

- All right, now- - That's good coverage here.

- Next step is the top, okay.

So, all right, so you're gonna bring it over, and you're gonna set it right on top, okay.

Don't worry about pushing it together just yet.

- [Jake] Okay.

- Okay, there.

Now, we do wanna kind of seal it together.

So you're just gonna pinch- - He makes it look so easy.

- The sides together.

- These are stuffed burgers.

- These are stuffed burgers.

Now, you can cook these on your grill, and you wanna cook them at a lower heat than you may normally cook your burgers because they need to cook a little longer, okay.

Aren't these great?

- Oh my goodness.

- What a fun way, too, to have a burger.

This is true indulgence as we should enjoy for the 4th of July.

- Absolutely.

- And Canada Day.

- And they're customizable.

You can make a burger your way.

- Yes, you can.

So we're gonna cook these in a cast-iron skillet.

- Oh boy.

- Okay?

- I love it.

- We got the cast iron, okay.

(Jake whistles) So you wanna put your burger in there?

- Sure.

- Okay.

- [Jake] Hopefully we can keep this all together.

- All right, now Jake, I gotta warn you, the better you piece it together, the less likely of an emergency later, it falling apart, shredding.

(Jake laughs) I mean, it could happen.

This is TV.

- Okay.

- Oh boy.

- [Johnny] I mean, then you could even kind of pick it up and- - All right.

- Kind of pack it down if you want.

- [Jake] This is version two right here.

- I'm putting mine on this side.

- [Jake] Yep.

- [Johnny] That way we know- - Who's is whose?

- Yeah.

- Well, his will just look better.

- No, it'll be good.

So then again, a nice little pack.

And if you're able to thin it out a little bit, it'll cook that much better too, right?

- Yep.

- So kind of give it a little pat down.

- [Jake] Yep.

- Yeah, we can do this, okay.

All right, last piece of the puzzle, you're gonna want to season your ground beef.

So you might have a little salt and pepper or garlic.

We kind of put something together here, a little seasoning that we're gonna put on, okay.

- [Jake] Oh, that smells great.

- Yeah, and we are using wagyu.

- Wagyu.

- Okay.

All right, here they are.

Let's add 'em to the fire.

(Jake whistles) (upbeat music) Well, my friend- - Oh boy.

- The burgers- - Whoa.

- Are looking good.

- I guess so.

- Of course, you know.

we cooked 'em to about 125, 130 degrees, depending on how you like them.

- Yeah.

- Okay.

And here they are, whoo.

- Wow-wee.

- They smell good, that wagyu beef.

- Mm.

- Unbelievable.

It's so exciting that you brought this to the North Country.

- Well, we're excited that folks like yourself love great food, right?

- Is it available at Old McDonald's Farm?

- It is, it is available.

- So everybody knows about Old McDonald's Farm out in Sacket's Harbor.

- Absolutely.

You can order online, or you can pick it right up right at Old McDonald's.

- You told me you guys are also doing like, where people can order like a half a cow.

- [Jake] Yeah.

- Or even something about a gift box, what's that?

Or is it- - Sure.

- A monthly box?

- Like a sampler box.

Like a monthly box.

So we do sampler boxes.

You go by, you can get 20 pounds of wagyu, 10 pounds of steaks, roasts, all the good stuff.

Then you get 10 pounds of burgers.

You can make your own burgers, right?

And then we're working on and starting up doing a monthly subscription.

So now it's just, I know there's some other companies that do it all online.

- [Johnny] Take the stress out of it.

- Yeah, absolutely.

- And it's all local.

And that's what I love about this.

- We live here, we work here.

We're 20 minutes away from where these cattle were raised.

This is what we do.

And we've been here for a while.

We'd like to continue to be here for a long time.

- [Johnny] Well, you do good work.

- Well, we try.

- That's for sure.

- Can we build the burger together?

- Absolutely.

- Okay, I love this, Jake Ledoux.

Let's do it, let's build this burger together.

We can keep talking while we're doing it.

- Yeah.

- You know, I've got some beans for the side here for us.

- Okay, okay.

- And I've got some topping.

So grab... We'll build our burgers here.

- Okay.

- Grab a roll.

Open it up.

- Look at that.

- All right.

This one's yours, I can tell.

(laughs) - The poor structural integrity of the burger.

- No, it looks good.

It looks good.

Here we go.

- [Jake] Look at that.

- Okay.

- Yep.

- All right, now remember, you wanna cook 'em slow.

Cook 'em to the right temperature.

How do you wanna top it?

- [Jake] You know, I'm- - [Johnny] Gotta go for some on onions, some lettuce?

- Does lettuce and pineapple, do they go together?

- We don't know which one's which, either.

- That's true.

- Okay, this one has got the onion in it, so this is the bacon one.

- Okay.

Now this, yeah, this has got the pineapple.

- That's the pineapple, so let's put a piece of pineapple on it.

- Yeah.

- [Johnny] We'll add.

- [Jake] I love it.

I'm actually gonna take this.

I'm just gonna take that.

- Okay.

- Look at that.

- All right, okay.

- It's all about presentation, (Johnny laughs) all about presentation.

- All right, so I'm gonna do, since this is the bacon and blue cheese, we're gonna do some lettuce.

- Solid choice.

- [Johnny] And a little bit of onion.

- [Jake] Yep.

- Okay.

And see if we can... - [Jake] Oh, you can add a little bit.

(whistles) That is... - Now obviously you can add your ketchup, your aioli.

But I have to say, bro, I really am interested to see what this tastes like before I cover it with all that stuff.

- Yeah, no, me too.

There's gonna be a lot of good flavors here.

- We're gonna cut 'em in half.

Okay, we'll do both of 'em.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Okay.

Okay.

- Now are we gonna- - Yeah, we're gonna open 'em up and do the reveal for the camera.

- [Jake] Oh, boy.

Look at that.

- All right, wanna do the one-handed eat?

(Jake laughs) Can you do that?

- Yeah, we'll do this one.

- All right, so you've got the, you're trying the... Show 'em again.

This is the one with ham, peppers, poblano peppers, and pineapple with Swiss cheese.

- [Jake] Yes.

- And mine, oh my God.

- Mm.

You're a wizard.

You're a food wizard.

- Is it good?

- Oh my goodness.

- Mine's got the bacon, which, it's like mystery.

You know what I'm saying?

Like if I served this to someone, they wouldn't necessarily know it was stuffed right away until they took that bite, and they're like, "What did you do?"

- That's a pleasant surprise.

- Now I wanna try the other one.

We got two burgers.

Here we are just two dudes, just chowing down in the kitchen.

All right, this one with the pineapple.

- Oh boy.

Man, this is...

These burger's got some substance- - Aloha.

(Jake laughs) - Mm.

- I like it.

- Mm.

- [Johnny] It's got a little tanginess to it.

- Mm-hm, mm-hm.

- And we're just gonna keep being two guys eating burgers, Have a great holiday that's coming up.

Have a good summer.

And you can check me out on the "Dinner at Johnny's" podcast, and I'm also on the radio, and we're just eating.

- Yeah, man, these are fantastic.

Local beef, local radio show personality.

How can you go wrong?

- Thank you, guys.

Have a great holiday.. - Mm.

And thanks for watching "Johnny on Fire."

I like the pineapple one.

- [Jake] Yeah.

- [Johnny] You too?

It's a little different.

- [Jake] You know, you wouldn't think about it, right?

Like... - [Johnny] I don't know, I just thought, hey, why not Hawaiian vibe?

- Finally tonight we wrap things up with Hayley Miller, a standout vocalist from Gananoque.

The music of Hayley features powerful vocals with a heavy focus on mental health and interpersonal relationships.

Here she is tonight with her original tune "Tilted Throne."

(light percussion music) (wind blowing) (keyboard plinking) (door knocking) (painter laughs) - Mm.

(person chattering) (door slams) ♪ I have to go ♪ ♪ Which means you'll be here alone ♪ ♪ And I suppose you're not gonna like the unknown ♪ ♪ But don't you know you've got a tilted throne ♪ ♪ But I don't care ♪ ♪ 'Cause either way I'm gonna go ♪ ♪ The hatred in your heart fuels the fire in my lungs ♪ ♪ I try to scream from the top ♪ ♪ But I just stop ♪ ♪ Your words form a monster ♪ ♪ Making me bow down ♪ ♪ And I can't stand to face you ♪ ♪ Silence is simpler than truth ♪ ♪ Your throne sits uneven ♪ ♪ Your view of the world is skewed ♪ ♪ If you won't let me reach you ♪ ♪ Maybe walking away is the healthiest thing I could do ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ What can I say ♪ ♪ For you to see a different way ♪ ♪ Will you be all right ♪ ♪ 'Cause I know I don't wanna hide ♪ ♪ If I could say what's on my mind, I'd feel fine ♪ ♪ But I can't, so I know I just gotta go ♪ ♪ I know it's what you want ♪ ♪ I've tried to right your wrongs ♪ ♪ Tried to smother the flame ♪ ♪ But I just stop ♪ (dragon roars) ♪ Your words form a monster ♪ ♪ Making me bow down ♪ ♪ And I can't stand to face you ♪ ♪ Silence is simpler than truth ♪ ♪ Your throne sits uneven ♪ ♪ Your view of the world is skewed ♪ ♪ If you won't let me reach you ♪ ♪ Maybe walking away is the healthiest thing I could do ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ I wish I could fix your throne ♪ ♪ Oh, your tilted throne ♪ ♪ But I know ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ I know, I know that I can't ♪ ♪ So you'll stay alone on your tilted throne ♪ ♪ Your words form a monster ♪ (plates clatter) ♪ Form a monster ♪ ♪ Making me bow down ♪ ♪ And I can't stand to face you ♪ ♪ Silence is simpler than truth ♪ ♪ Your throne sits uneven ♪ ♪ Your view of the world's still skewed ♪ (wands chime) ♪ If you won't let me reach you ♪ ♪ Maybe walking away is the healthiest thing I can do ♪ ♪ On your tilted throne, throne ♪ ♪ On your tilted throne ♪ ♪ If you won't let me reach you ♪ ♪ Maybe walking away is the healthiest thing I could do ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ - That does it for us this Tuesday evening.

Please join us next time for a fresh look inside the stories.

With Canada Day and Independence Day just around the bend, what better way to celebrate than to test your knowledge with these beloved holidays?

And how well do you know your birds?

Mark Manske of the Adirondack Raptor educates the public on the value of these unique birds of prey.

Also the Thousand Islands Land Trust is a space for the public to enjoy fresh air and peace.

We'll tell you how.

Meantime, we wanna tell your story.

If you or someone in your community has something meaningful, historic, inspirational, or educational to share, please email us at wpbsweekly@wpbstv.org and let's share it with the region.

That is it for now, everyone.

Enjoy your evening, and we'll see you again soon.

Goodnight.

- [Announcer] "WPBS Weekly Inside the Stories" is brought to you by the Watertown Oswego Small Business Development Center, a free resource offering confidential business advice for those interested in starting or expanding their small business.

Serving Jefferson, Lewis, and Oswego Counties since 1986.

Online at watertown.nysbdc.org.

Additional funding provided by the J.M.

McDonald Foundation, the Dr. D. Susan Badenhausen Legacy Fund of the Northern New York Community Foundation, and the New York State Education Department.

♪ Oh ♪ ♪ I wish I could fix your throne ♪ ♪ Oh, your tilted throne ♪ ♪ But I know ♪ ♪ I know, I know that I can't ♪ ♪ So you'll stay alone ♪ ♪ On your tilted throne ♪ (gentle music)