SYDNEY RIVER, N.S. — ECK News is East Coast Kids again and the Sakalauskas brothers are hoping it will lead to big things.
"(Instead of a newscast) now we travel around the island and learn about historic sites, go to restaurants and learn about things," said 11-year-old Liam.
"When we go travelling around Cape Breton, my favourite part is the learning new things and the food," said 10-year-old-Lucas.
East Coast Kids started three years ago when Lucas and Liam's father, Herbie Sakalauskas, was teaching in the applied media and communication arts program at Nova Scotia Community College Marconi Campus.
Broadcast on YouTube, the early videos feature the brothers reviewing Nerf guns, showing their fort and giving smoothie-making tutorials.
After seven videos, the brothers took a break from East Coast Kids, then the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the Nova Scotia government declared a state of emergency.
With stay at home orders in place, Sakalauskas and his sons decided to revamp East Coast Kids turning it into ECK News — a newscast filmed in their basement.
With weather, science and weird news bits, the brothers did segments on Cape Breton pizza, what keeps a polar bear warm and a special edition after the mass shooting in Nova Scotia, which featured musicians from around the world singing "Parting Glass."
The episodes gained thousands of views on YouTube and the attention of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who answered one of the brothers' questions about how to be a better public speaker, and CBRM Mayor Cecil Clarke, who dedicated a day to them.
The brothers have also started to gain some fans and have had strangers compliment them on their newscasts over the past four months.
"When we were filming the Cabot Trail episode, we stopped at the Dancing Goat and the lady who served them said she watched their newscast and told them they did a great job," Sakalauskas said.
"When we go travelling around Cape Breton, my favourite part is the learning new things and the food." — Lucas Sakalauskas
The Cabot Trail episode is the first travel show the Sakalauskas brothers have done since going back to the East Coast Kids brand and dropping the newscast style.
"I don't want to be a newscaster but for now it's still fun," Liam said.
Lucas added, "We're still little."
Moving to a travel show format that highlights Cape Breton, the videos includes drone video footage as well as the brothers interviewing people and exploring the sights, sounds and food of the island.
On their last episode, they toured the Fortress of Louisbourg and the brothers are hoping they can do future episodes at the Cape Breton Miners' Museum in Glace Bay and the Alexander Graham Bell Museum in Baddeck.
"I'm glad we did the fortress. We learned a lot about the history, about how (it was) destroyed and rebuilt and destroyed and rebuilt again," said Liam.
"I'm glad we got it all on camera because I could only remember a little bit of what we learned when we got home."
With scriptwriting help from the children's mother and stepmother, Herbie Sakalauskas aptly calls ECK News and East Coast Kids, "a family affair." And like many families, there can be some challenges when filming.
"Sometimes when we're on the road we can have little fights, but we're brothers. It always happens," said Lucas, matter of factly.
But for the most part, it's smooth sailing for the Sakalauskas brothers.
"It's good (working with my family) because you always have someone to go to if you need some help," Liam said.
With a couple of travel shows under their belts and plans in place for more Cape Breton episodes, Liam and Lucas are setting their sights on their next goal — taking the show outside of Cape Breton.
"I really want to go around the Atlantic Bubble and maybe then across Canada," said Lucas, who plans to keep his trademark phrase "dee-lish-ous" when reviewing food.
Along with the adventures of making a YouTube show with their father, the brothers agree one of the best parts of East Coast Kids is the reaction they get from viewers.
"When people watch it, it makes them happy," said Liam. "It makes everyone positive and makes them not think about what's going on in the world."
