Centralia Media Consulting

Are you a television producer or journalist looking for help in putting together a show or article about the Centralia mine fire? Take advantage of the knowledge of Centralia I’ve gained as a reporter,  author and photographer over nearly four decades. In addition, I have a graduate training in documentary filmmaking from George Washington University and understand how you work.

I can make your job easier by helping you to find good people to interview, helping you arrange your visit, showing you where everything happened, and answering, on camera or off, your questions about Centralia, the mine fire, and what happened and why. I have a large archive of high-res images of Centralia from the 1970s and 1980s, showing among other things  how the town looked before it was demolished. These are available for licensing.  I have served well over two dozen clients during the past ten years. My rates are reasonable–$250 for a half day, $500 for a full day––and a good value. Interviews in my home in Harrisburg, Pa., are offered without cost.

My past clients include:

–Marvin Kreutner, Maximus Films, Munich, for episode on Centralia for the science magazine show Galileo on the ProSieben channel in Germany. Broadcast May 18, 2025.

–Joe Sapienza, director, Centralia: Pennsylvania’s Lost Town, feature length documentary. I advised him, appeared on camera, and licensed photos.

–Marina Laricova, Omsk TV, Omsk, Russian Federation, December 2-5, 2013. On-camera interviews, arranging interviews, images, tour and transportation. “I am very grateful to you for taking care of my project. We were glad to work with you.” Marina Laricova, correspondent.

–PPK Films, Moscow, Kristina Mettus, producer, August 2013. Tour, on-camera interview, and arranging interviews.

–“City on Fire” episode,  America Declassified, The Travel Channel, Indigo Films, Seth Isler, producer, July to December, 2013. First broadcast Dec. 1, 2013. Tour, on-camera interviews, arranging interviews. “Thank you for your help and follow-through with this story. I’m glad we met and got a chance to work together on this. I can honestly say that without your help, this story would have been a lot tougher to produce. You added so much to it on both sides of the camera.”–Seth Isler.

–Elena Rodina, correspondent, Russian State Television, March-April 2013. Tour.

–Diego Arias, Telemundo, February 6, 2013. Tour, on-camera interview, and images.

–Matt Danzico, BBC News, July 2012. Tour, on-camera interview, and images.

–Jaime Gonzalez, BBC Latin America, August 2012, tour, on-camera interview, and images.

–Earth Beat, Radio Netherlands Worldwide, Marijke Peters, Producer. March 2011. Phone interview and suggestions for other interviews.

—Journey to the Earth’s Core, Wall-to-Wall Media, London, U.K., broadcast on the History Channel, July 2010. Tour, on-camera interview and images. “Many thanks for everything… will come back to you to check facts later in the summer. Great working with you!”–Chris Lent, series editor.

–Micki Poklar, independent filmmaker, June 15, 2010. Tour.

–EXPLOSIV, RTL Television, Germany, February-March 2010. Tour, on-camera interview, arranging interviews, and images. “Without you and your help in finding an additional interview partner I couldn’t have produced the story as fast as I did.”–Daniela Hoffmann.

— How the Earth Was Made, Season 2, fall 2009. Pioneer Productions, Samantha Lambert,Broadcast on the History Channel. Images.

–VBS.TV, now part of Vice.com. Tour, on-camera interview, and images. Summer 2009.

—Life After People, Episode 6, ‘Bound and Buried,’ History Channel. Flight 33 Productions, Jeremy Chilvers. Tour, on-camera interview and images. February 2009.

–Evgeny Popov, Russian State Television, tour, on-camera interview, and images. January 2009. You can see it here.

—Rendez-vous//Brennpunkt, Swiss Radio DRS, Peter Voegeli, correspondent and editor. Tour and radio interview. July 2007.

—Underground Inferno, National Geographic Channel, Umesh Aggarwal and Rakhi Varma, tour and on-camera interview, 2007.

—The States: Episode 5, Pennsylvania, et al, History Channel. Natalie Artin was my contact. Quite a few images. Broadcast May 19, 2007.

—Unbelievable, Centralia, Fuji TV, Japan, on-camera interview at my home, broadcast May 10, 2007.

— The Town That Was, Chris Perkel and Georgie Roland, directors, 2006-2007. I was the consultant to this excellent feature-length documentary about Centralia, appeared on camera multiple times, and licensed images.

—Modern Marvels, Engineering Disasters #7, “Centralia Coal Mine Fire,” Actuality Productions, Beata Genin, producer. On-camera interview and images. First broadcast July 8, 2004.

—Inside Edition segment on the Centralia mine fire. Bill O’Reilly (yes, that one) was the reporter. His days as a Fox News commentator were in the future. The piece was broadcast ca. 1989, but I wasn’t keeping good records then so can’t say exactly.

—Centralia Fire, Tony Mussari, director. I was the consultant to this documentary about the Centralia mine fire, 1982. Narrated by Martin Sheen, part of PBS Matters of Life and Death series.