Navigate History With Us
Join us as we travel to discover relics of the past from the Lehigh Valley and beyond! Season 1 will be airing on WLVT PBS39.
Discovering the Past
About the Show
History Diggers ventures out on location to join metal detectorists, bottle diggers, and other artifact hunters in pursuit of determining what was happening at the time and place relics are from. History comes alive as each piece comes with many questions to be answered: Who owned it? What was it for? Is it relevant to talk about today?
Our Guests
Dedication and Persistence
We are eager and very fortunate to get out and dig with fellow historical diggers! In season 1 we join Rick Weiner of 19th Century Bottle Diggers, and David "The Badger" Kern - one of the highest endurance diggers you'll find.
Pictured here, this trio just dug out an outhouse pit in Allentown and recovered seven late 19th century clay pipes. If you are a digger or detectorist and would like to be featured on the show, please contact us below!
The Finds
Each find has a story to tell. Relics include coins, bottles, buttons, Native American artifacts, jewelry, tools - the possibilities are truly endless. History Diggers - coupled with the talents and experience of our guests - can weave a tale from a forgotten time from these artifacts.
Sponsorship
Sponsorship opportunities are available. If your family or business would like to support a television show promoting the outdoors, learning about local history, research, and amateur archaeology, please reach out to us!
We are eager to complete this first season - airing to over 12 million households!
Who We Are
Damian Righi - Host
Damian is an avid metal detectorist and bottle digger. Professionally, he is an accomplished audio engineer and has mixed audio for professional sports and national political event broadcasts.
Damian is a music lover and composer. He served in the 307th Army Band as a trombonist / sound engineer, and is the recordist for the Allentown Symphony Orchestra and currently the Lead Tech at Blue Chip Sound.
Damian’s love of local history found a creative outlet with metal detecting. After finding a Lenape tomahawk head in 2015, he began bottle digging. The stories that come from the finds “make the show” for Damian, and his outgoing nature helps him to connect with his audience.
Jeff Frederick - Production
Jeff is a multi-emmy award winning
videographer/editor with over 20 years of television
production experience. He's currently on staff with
PBS39 in the Lehigh Valley, where he works on
documentaries, magazine programs, reality programs,
and music shows.
As a young man, he began his
career as a news videographer in Rock Island, Il. After this short stint in the Midwest, Jeff returned to
native soil and worked for various stations
throughout Pennsylvania.
Commercially, being a bit of a renaissance man, Jeff
has dabbled in a few things: voice-overs, writing,
producing, and even had a go at acting in commercials.
He's also done quite a bit of sports utility work. He's
hung cables, assembled cameras, and helped build
sets for many local sporting contests. Included are
games with the Philadelphia Eagles, Philadelphia
Phillies, and events with the PGA Tour and NHRA
racing.
