Montana Silversmiths’ Women of the PBR- #TAKEASECONDLOOK: Kate Harrison

September 19, 2018

This week we continue our look at another group that helps keep the PBR going: the Women of the PBR.

From wives, mothers and girlfriends, to stock contractors and broadcasters, the Women of the PBR play many important roles.

Today, we have a chat with PBR Broadcaster Kate Harrison about growing up in the Western lifestyle, being in broadcast, and fashion.

PBR.com: Welcome Kate, glad to have you with us! Let’s start off by talking about where you are from.

Kate Harrison: Southern California, born and raised! Which, when I say that, everyone automatically goes Los Angeles, you’re from the city, except you go 20 minutes out and it’s desert and horses and motorcycles. So that was my childhood.

PBR.com: So what was the town?

KH: Agua Dulce. We have one stop sign, no streetlights at all. We’re actually unincorporated, so anyone can elect themselves to be the town mayor. And this is only 40 miles outside of L.A.

PBR.com: How did you get introduced to PBR?

KH: My dad has always been a team roper. I started rodeoing when I was 7 and did everything: team roping, goat tying, barrel racing, pole bending, and the whole deal. Every single association. So I was gone every single weekend rodeoing, and then team roping during the week. And that was my childhood. And I grew up in the stunt business, so if I wasn’t at a rodeo, if I wasn’t trying to go to school when I could — got straight A’s, but I was usually on a set doing stunts somewhere. So, I grew up rodeoing and doubling little kids in Westerns. So I’ve known PBR since it started.  

PBR.com: Did you go to events?

KH: I remember every year, we’ve always gone to the NFR. So I remember Ty back when he was in pro-rodeo and I remember when they talked about starting the PBR because my dad would come home and talk about it. So it’s something that we’ve always watched, that was always on TV because Sundays were always PBR and football. Growing up around it my whole life, it’s really all I ever knew.

PBR.com: So when was your first event being on the broadcast team with the PBR?

KH: First one was Charlotte, three years ago.

PBR.com: What was that like for you?

KH: I completely overdid my makeup, I had way too much blush on my face. Because for me it’s a dream job. Growing up around rodeo, and then what I love to do is storytelling and journalism, so being able to combine the two and actually get to call it a job was a dream. I remember my first one I probably had double the amount of notes that I usually have. I had pictures of every guy, I had notes on all of them. I kept a binder with me because there was no way I was going to mess up on a name. I had listened to every PBR that had aired in the last two years because I wanted to know these names, I wanted to know the backstories. And then it went great. It went so well because for me it was like being home. I was so used to going on football fields for so long that walking to the arena for the first time and the smell of it, which sounds so crazy, but the smell of dirt is kind of like the smell of my childhood, my life. So it was kind of really neat. And I watched it back and completely toned down the blush after that.

PBR.com: When did broadcasting and journalism come into play for you?

KH: I knew I wanted to cover sports in the seventh grade. I always knew I loved storytelling because growing up in the stunt business it’s natural for people to go and try acting. I tried it. I can’t be anyone but myself. I’m just not good at it. So, since seventh grade, I knew I wanted to be in journalism and cover sports. And it started there and I was going to college rodeo and then got accepted to my dream school so then went that route and 10 years of really, really hard work to get here.

PBR.com: Tell us about the journey from that first event in Charlotte to now.

KH: It’s been the best. I’ve always said I want to do something that I love. Never did it for the paycheck, because Lord know, if anyone know the journalism business, you don’t get paid the first three years of the business. So I always wanted to do something that I loved. And every week, during the week I miss it, and then when I get here, I feel like I’m around family. So, it’s been fantastic. And I also came into such a machine. I think a lot of people don’t realize or if you come from mainstream sports where it’s just “oh bull riding, that thing you do in the backwoods and the dirt.” It’s like, no, actually. Walking into it, it’s the same production as any football game I’ve ever been to, any basketball game. And so that’s two goals that I’ve always had just being here, being around it. One, I want to make sure all of these guys’ stories are told and I always tell them that’s my job. I want people to get to know who you are under that helmet and under the vest. And two, I want people to realize this is a serious sport because they train just as hard, if not harder. And what I was thinking about was what makes this sport different, anyone can throw a football, maybe not do it good, but anyone can do it. Anyone can shoot a basketball, anyone can go to the golf course. Not just anyone can actually even get on a bull and overcome that fear, let alone even for a second ride the bull. So I think that’s what makes us so unique. Like we could take any of these guys and they could probably go play soccer, they could go play football. But you can’t take those guys and put any of them here. And I think that they don’t ever get enough props for it and that’s kind of part of my job is to bring light to that.

PBR.com: What do you do for fun?

KH: I rope almost every week, but what I love, love is interior decorating and fixing up homes. We want to start actually flipping houses. Right now we’re just doing ours because it’s an old, 1950s home that is completely original. So almost every weekend when I’m home, the truth, I’m caulking baseboards, cutting wood, you know. Painting bedrooms. We’re shiplapping the ceiling, so my life right now is caulking ceilings. But I love flipping houses, I think that is so fun. 

PBR.com:  Let’s talk about your fashion. Can you tell us a little about your personal style?

KH: You know, I’m still really working on that. I like a bit more sophisticated. Growing up I was always jeans and a t-shirt. And I think there is something to be said about that kind of simplicity. So I like the simplicity of every day being able to throw on jeans and a t-shirt, but then say when I’m doing shows, I like to bring like an element of sophistication. Some of the best comments I ever get are when people tell me, “I’d love my daughters to grow up and be like you.” That literally can make me cry. I think there is something to be said about being a role model. And if you’re in a platform to do it, why not do it.

PBR.com: So I assume that everyday style is jeans and a t-shirt and when you go to events you change it up?

KH: Yeah, and a lot of jackets! I’m a big leather jacket fan. And then when I get to events, I would say, I feel like I am going to have to create my own word for my style. I’m kind of eclectic but then I like to be a little bit more edgy. It’s like ranch, edgy, sophisticated style. And you know, that’s the other thing I kind of like about it because being on CBS, and being on right after/right before football, I kind of feel we have a spot to say, “Everyone thinks that we are probably going to be dressed every day in flannel or fringe with a cowboy hat, but no!”

PBR.com: So what is your favorite jewelry accessory?

KH: Probably a necklace and rings. I love rings, I love a lot of rings. And then a necklace, because I feel like a good statement piece, you can never go wrong. I tell you, one of my favorite things to do is jeans and a t-shirt and statement necklace. Because it just kind of ties it all together. 

PBR.com: Do you have any people who you tend to look to for their style?

KH: I’d like to say yes, but… I do look on social media, probably from friends, my sister is really good. And I have a couple close friends, I have one that was a Miss Rodeo California that just knows how to put pieces and colors together, and you pull it off. I’d never think to do that. So a lot of friends.

PBR.com: Tell us a little about the collection you picked. What drew you to the pieces?

KH: I picked it literally for the bolo. I like more kind of earthy, raw. I love vintage-feeling pieces or pieces with a story, so I like bolo because I like the metal with the leathers, with the stones and incorporating it all together. But then you still have your glitz and your bling. Because if I saw all those collections, I would probably grab one of each and find a way to throw them together. I like mixing pieces, mixing styles, wearing it a different way. I like this one because I love the stones. I’m a big stone person. Love the turquoise. I love kind of the Navajo feel or the earthy feel. So that’s what kind of blew it out of the park for me!

Be sure to catch next week’s Montana Silversmiths’ Women of the PBR as we talk with another of the Women of the PBR.

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