Latest news, weather, high school sports for Michigan’s Upper Peninsula

MARQUETTE -- For many, watching 'Discovering' every Monday night is a longstanding tradition or even a family ritual.  It's been decades since we were first able to see the U.P. through the eyes of the the man behind it all, Buck LeVasseur.

He's a man we all recognize today, but not exactly in a TV6 sports report.  Believe it or not, Discovering's Buck LeVasseur started at TV6 in 1976 working as a sports photographer but with big dreams to host an outdoors show.

In 1981, he got his chance.  He was armed with a camera and a name.

"Steve Asplund came up with the idea 'Discovering with Buck,' says LeVasseur.  "He knew I was kind of a snoop.  You know, that I was going to go out and discover something."

And he never looked back.

"Finding some of the waterfalls and all the places that I took viewers, that was the exciting thing.  I'd go to places and go, wow, I can't believe this!" LeVasseur says.

In the last 30 years, Buck has singlehandedly produced, written, shot and edited the 30-minute program.  He says it's become his way of life.

But he says it's the people he's met and those who have helped him along the way that have carved a place for "Discovering" in the hearts of many yoopers.

"You find them characters, you find them, you seek them out, and you find them," LeVasseur explains.  "And you put them on the air; folks talk about them for months, years, decades afterwards."

What about today?  What's next for Discovering?

"I've done it all, and I guess what I can say is when the Buckster is not in full capacity, then the show is not in full capacity," LeVasseur says.  "Believe me, I'm trying to get back there, sooner or later I will reach that pinnacle of back at it full, and then, more in the woods, more on the trails...more out in the places I've made a living out of, taking you to those incredible places."