Biltmore's Turner serves the house special for cable viewers
By Luke Graham

Barbara Norton, left, of Biltmore Estate's landscaping department shows "Specialities of the House" host Robin Turner how to make a wreath from garden and yard materials.

If you like those home-decorating TV programs on cable, you've probably seen Robin Turner ('92) on some of the how-to vignettes for Biltmore Estate and Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse.

Turner is programming and production supervisor for Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N.C., and helped create the “Specialties of the Houses” series shown on HGTV. She hosts the program and also helps develop three-minute vignettes that turn into 60-second commercials with Lowe's sponsorship.

“The Biltmore/Lowe's opportunity came out of an idea to showcase the expertise at America's largest home, Biltmore Estate. We often get questions from our guests about how we do things - take care of the floors, china, repair fabrics, etc.,” she said. Constructed in the 1890s, Biltmore was the estate of George W. Vanderbilt.

Before working for Biltmore, Turner, a Broadcast Production Management major, held a variety of broadcast jobs.

“I went from the J-school to working in AM radio WSKY in Asheville. From there I moved to Saratoga Springs in upstate New York and worked for a production company, BNN (Broadcast News Networks, now known as Camera Planet),” Turner said. “BNN then moved to New York City, and I continued to work there, helping develop 'MTV News Unfiltered' - a half-hour show that featured viewer stories that were shot by the subjects themselves.”

While working for MTV, Turner produced news stories featuring events such as Ozzfest, Tibetan Freedom Concerts and the Grammys. Besides bringing pop-culture to America's youth, Turner also produced documentaries for CBS's “I Witness” and A&E's “Biography” and “Investigative Reports.”

Turner said being able to work on both sides of the camera has been advantageous over the years.

“The best advice that I got was to learn everything. I learned how to book talent, shoot, edit and write. That has been the best thing for my career - since I have gone from producing one-hour documentaries to three-minute news packages, to live events, to 30-second promos, to developing programming for a private company,” she said.

After working in New York for several years, in 1999 Turner had the opportunity to move back to her hometown of Asheville to work as news promotions producer at ABC affiliate WLOS-TV, then went to work for Biltmore Estate.

“The hardest part of my job is trying to narrow down the topic ideas for the vignettes each year. At Biltmore we maintain a 250-room mansion and face all the challenges of any homeowner, just on a larger scale. We also have over 8,000 acres of woodlands and gardens, so the topics for the HGTV viewers are endless,” she said.

Turner lives in Asheville with her husband, John Oswald ('92 Poly Sci), senior vice president at Mills Manufacturing Corp., and their twin boys, Carson and Harrison, 2. They are expecting a girl in September.

rturner@biltmore.com, robinoswald1@charter.net