PITTSTON TWP.— Waverly resident Adriane Heine is, among other things, a community volunteer, social worker and journalist. And all of these roles come together in her new position as the host of WVIA’s upcoming television program “Stay Tuned.”
The monthly one-hour magazine-style show, showcasing stories from Northeastern Pennsylvania and the Central Susquehanna Valley, will premiere at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22 on WVIA-TV. Each show will feature five or six individual stories, approximately 10 minutes each.
“We see the news every day, but the news is a lot of negative stories.” Heine said, explaining the purpose of new program. “Once in a while there is a positive story, but this show is 100 percent positive stories about people and organizations in our local community that are doing great things, that are mostly helping people help themselves. There’s a mission to this show.”
WVIA President and CEO Tom Curra described the program as “a megaphone for change.”
“It’s good story-telling,” he said. “It’s powerful. I think people will be moved by what we are doing.”
Producer Kristin Doran explained the style of the show gives WVIA an opportunity that is lost in regular news broadcasts, which only allow for a couple minutes to tell a story. “Stay Tuned,” rather, delves into deeper issues the community struggles with, aiming to initiate change.
“Our intentions really are to use these stories to inspire compassion and empathy in a way that really could lead to progress,” she said. “I think that specifically in our area, it’s an easy choice to throw your hands up and say, ‘This problem, this issue is far larger than me, there’s nothing I can do about it,’ but the true fact is, there are people out there every day who are doing something to make things better, and that’s what we are choosing to spotlight, in an effort to inspire and inform.”
And according to Doran, Heine is the “perfect” candidate for the job.
“She has the right blend of compassion herself and knowledge. She’s not just a regular host who’s reading from a teleprompter. She really understands what we’re doing.”
Heine is a mother of three daughters, Danielle, 14; Lauren, 12 and Sarah, three. She works part time as an adoption specialist at Friendship House in Scranton and is on the board of directors at the Waverly Community House as chair of children’s programs. She also writes a monthly column for the Abington Journal, titled, “Parenting, Abington Style.”
She said ever since she was a young child, all she wanted to do with her life was help people.
“I was just always compelled to to work in a helping field,” she said. “That’s why I’m in social work. And this just feeds into it. …I get to host this show that’s all positive stories. On the news there’s a lot of stories that are sad and a lot of stories about people that do bad things. But this show gives credit where credit is due. People doing good things, and they get highlighted, they get to be the celebrities.”
