RIVR Media


RIVR Media is an American-based TV production company, specializing in reality and documentary programming. RIVR is responsible for Whale Wars, Trading Spaces, Fat Guys in the Woods, Renovation Realities, Friday Night Impossible with Jerry Rice, Escaping Polygamy, Going RV, Great American Heroes featuring Trace Adkins, Run My Renovation, and much more. It provides programming for cable networks, including A&E, HGTV, DIY Network, GAC, Lifetime Movie Network, MTV, Fine Living, Discovery Channel, Travel Channel, Weather Channel, History Channel, ESPN, Animal Planet, Game Show Network, TLC, Nickelodeon, Food Network, Court TV and TNN.
RIVR's production credits include documentaries, reality series, sitcoms, travel series, sports entertainment, and post-production services.
RIVR Media is partners Dee Haslam and Lori Golden-Stryer, and is located in Knoxville, Tennessee. Both Haslam and Stryer are for the company. After 20 years at RIVR, Rob Lundgren retired in 2019.

Company history

RIVR Media originally derives from Bagwell Communications, run by Ross Bagwell Sr. and Ross Bagwell Jr., a Knoxville Tennessee-based advertising agency. In 1985 Bagwell Communications formed a company named 'Cinetel Productions' and engaged with the cable network The Nashville Network to produce 415 episodes of I-40 Paradise.
Over the next ten years, Cinetel developed programs for A&E, the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, Travel Channel, Nickelodeon, and The Nashville Network. In 1994 Cinetel was sold to Scripps Howard, a national media company looking to launch HGTV. In 1998, Cinetel was renamed Scripps Productions. After the acquisition, the Bagwells formed a new company, Bagwell Entertainment LLC / Ross Television Productions, and continued producing programs for a variety of cable networks, including HGTV.
In 1999, Dee Haslam and business partner Rob Lundgren assumed control of Bagwell Entertainment renaming the company RIVR Media. In 2000 RIVR established RIVR Media Interactive--now RIVR Digital, which focuses on short form video production and marketing. In 2002 RIVR established RIVR Media Studios, a subsidiary focused on for-hire production and post-production services.

List of shows produced