| TV One to Begin Sunday Show Aimed at Black Politics |
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| Entertainment Archive | |||
| By David Bauder - AP Television Writer | |||
| Thursday, July 23, 2009 | |||
 CNN commentator Roland Martin will anchor “Washington Watch,” a new Black political show coming to TV One in September. Courtesy PhotoThe program, called “Washington Watch,” will aim to tap into “a new interest in politics and government due to the election of President Barack Obama,” said Johnathan Rodgers, TV One's president and CEO. The show is scheduled to debut on Sun., Sept. 27 at 11 a.m. EDT, and the show will be repeated each week at 5 p.m. Martin, who is also a CNN commentator, will interview newsmakers and members of the Congressional Black Caucus. April Ryan, White House correspondent for the American Urban Radio Networks, and Robert Traynham, Philadelphia Tribune columnist and Comcast host, will be regular panel members. TV One is in approximately 48 million homes, slightly fewer than half of the nation's TV homes. Rodgers said it dawned on him when TV One covered last year's Democratic convention and he saw many Black Caucus members walk up to the network's temporary rooftop studio for interviews, that these politicians have few outlets to talk about their issues and people have few places to hear them. “I hope to get smart, intelligent, entertaining conversation, but I put this under the public affairs arena. It doesn't have to be a ratings success,” Rodgers said. Despite the election of the nation's first Black president, many of TV One's older viewers - the network tends to attract an older audience than competitor Black Entertainment Television (BET) - wonder whether his administration will actively push a civil rights agenda and other issues that interest them, he said. “Barack Obama is truly the American president,” Rodgers said. “He is not the White American president or the Black American president. He is our president. A number of our viewers might have had a different expectation.” Martin said he hoped the show would reflect the state of Black America every week. While the show will be District-based, Martin said the concerns of people across the country would be reflected. He said he hopes to have viewers participate in the shows by suggesting questions and topics. “We want to be bottom up,” Martin said. “The problems I see right now from so many of these shows is that they are top down - these are the things that we think are important.” Rodgers said he initially wanted the show to first air in the late afternoon or evening, to distinguish it from the crowded field of Sunday morning public affairs shows, but said he was advised that premiering “Washington Watch” at that hour during football season would be “suicidal.”
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