In the wake of Phil Donahue’s death on Aug. 18, two Franklin County residents remember the renowned television host known for hosting “The Phil Donahue Show,” describing memories of their time producing a show hosted by Donahue in 1985.

“A Citizens’ Summit,” a show co-produced by Shelburne Falls resident Pam Roberts and Colrain resident Edward Wierzbowski, was only an idea for the young documentary-makers when they lived together in Colrain, until they received a phone call from Donahue, accepting their invitation to host the show.

Roberts and Wierzbowski thought up the idea for “A Citizens’ Summit” in response to the lingering Cold War, with the idea to connect ordinary American citizens with citizens living in the former Soviet Union. They wanted to connect citizens from each nation through satellite radio and video so participants could talk and ask each other questions.

“We felt that if ordinary people in both countries could talk directly to one another, it might foster understanding and reduce tensions,” Roberts said.

Roberts, 75, and Wierzbowski, 76, met after high school when Wierzbowski returned from service during the Vietnam War in the early 1970s. The two had experience working in journalism and documentaries, and they decided to form a production company, The Documentary Group, from their house in Colrain. (The company is now known as Global American Television, and Wierzbowski serves as chief executive officer.) They produced freelance projects including advertisements, commercial and documentary work with their large, portable camera shooting black and white footage, including for “60 Minutes” on CBS and “Nightline” on ABC.

When the two thought of the idea for “A Citizens’ Summit,” they only had one host in mind for the job, Phil Donahue. Unbeknownst to Wierzbowski, Roberts decided to send a letter to Donahue’s team one day outlining their idea for the show. When the phone rang one day, Donahue was the last person Wierzbowski expected to hear on the phone saying he was interested in hosting the show.

“Phil Donahue was simply an amazing guy who wasn’t afraid to take risks and he decided to take a risk with us,” Wierzbowski said. “He was a genius and was doing things that other people couldn’t even figure out.”

Shortly after, Roberts and Wierzbowski met with Donahue and his team to discuss the logistics of the show and how they could make it work. With political tensions high between the United States and the Soviet Union, the group had a lot of things to consider. Luckily, Roberts and Wierzbowski had previously worked on a documentary in the Soviet Union and were able to connect with producers there.

One stipulation for Donahue agreeing to host was that the citizen participants needed to be randomized and not hand selected by any production teams involved. He was also able to secure Vladimir Pozner, a television host and journalist known for his work during the Cold War, to co-host the show alongside him.

The show had two filming locations, one in the United States and one in the Soviet Union; two studio audiences filled with random citizens of each nation, connected by a satellite system called a “space-bridge.” The space-bridge connected audio from each side and transmitted video of each audience that could be seen on a large screen. The U.S. audience was filmed at a studio owned by the television station affiliated with NBC, KING-TV, in Seattle, Washington, and the Soviet audience was filmed at a studio in Leningrad, now known as Saint Petersburg, Russia. Wierzbowski was in Leningrad, while Roberts was in Seattle, where each co-producer had to go out on the streets with other producers to find 200 random citizens who were willing to participate in the show.

“We tried to get a cross section of people — men, women, young, and old,” Roberts explained about finding participants.

Language translators from the United Nations were in each studio, translating questions and responses from citizens on each end of the space-bridge. Donahue was equipped with a microphone, interviewing participants in the studio and having them answer questions from the audience in the Soviet Union. Similarly, Pozner was in the studio in Leningrad, interviewing participants in the Soviet studio.

“It started okay, very cordial,” Wierzbowski recalled. “But Phil is Phil Donahue. He asked hard questions, he does controversial shows.”

Roberts and Wierzbowski recalled nerves and tensions fluctuating throughout the roughly three hours of filming, but when filming wrapped it felt like a big success. The 52-minute show was aired after editing the recording and was viewed by roughly 200 million people in the Soviet Union and roughly 20 million people in the United States, according to Wierzbowski.

“It was a big hit. It was newsworthy and groundbreaking,” Roberts said.

“We really had a free and open discussion and I was really excited about that,” Wierzbowski said. “That was successful enough and we immediately started talking about another show.”

Another show was shot, “Citizens’ Summit II, Women to Women,” in 1986, following the same format as the previous show, except only women were invited as participants. Different from the previous show, the American audience was gathered in a studio in Boston broadcasted from ABC affiliate WCVB-TV, also known as Channel 5, in Boston.

“It was so exciting to work with him,” Roberts said about working with Donahue. “He was a big star, but he didn’t act like one. He was friendly and down to earth, welcoming us into his home, entertaining us and the Soviets, meeting our kids. He really took a risk to make these programs when tension and suspicions were so high and I admire him for that.”

Footage of “A Citizen’s Summit” can be found online at youtube.com/results?search_query=a+citizens+summit.