News Writer
In a first-of-its-kind development for the gay and lesbian community, “Out & About Newspaper” has formed an alliance with the NewsChannel 5 Network to produce a new GLBT program, entitled “Out & About Today.” The NewsChannel 5 Network is comprised of WTVF, Nashville’s CBS affiliate, NewsChannel 5+, Cable Channel 50 and NewsChannel5.com.
Each show will air four times a month on NewsChannel 5+, featuring a format of news, business, and entertainment segments geared especially toward the gay and lesbian audience. The inaugural broadcast will feature an interview with Joe Solomonese, president of the national Human Rights Campaign (HRC). HRC is the nation’s largest gay and lesbian organization.
“This is the first time that we know of that a network affiliate has ever done anything like this,” said Jerry Jones, publisher of “Out & About Newspaper.” “We think this is a major step in opening another media forum for the gay and lesbian community of Nashville. The program will be locally produced and promoted, and we’d be delighted if Out & About Today helped to break similar media ground in other cities.”
Out & About Today will air primarily on weekends after 9:00 p.m. WTVF producers and “Out & About Newspaper” writers will be directly involved in the show’s production.
The show will be hosted by three members of the Nashville GLBT community; Brent Meredith, Jeremy Ryan and Pam Wheeler.
“Landmark, WTVF’s parent company, is promoting diversity and inclusiveness throughout the corporation,” said Debbie Turner, president and general manager of WTVF. “Within NewsChannel 5, we are focused on building an organization that embraces difference and where everyone feels included. Outside, we embrace numerous communities by providing forums for news specific to them. The GLBT community is important within Nashville and we hope that Out & About Today will be a program that they will find to be thoughtful and enjoyable.”
The format of Out & About Today will provide in-depth analysis and updates from the monthly print version of “Out & About Newspaper.”
“We view the show to be an extension of ‘Out & About Newspaper,’ with expanded features on news and information important to the gay and lesbian community in Nashville,” said Jones. “Among other things, we’ll be interviewing our writers about the stories that appear in the newspaper and we’ll also occasionally bring in the subjects of our stories.”
The first show will air on Saturday, June 11 at 9:30 p.m. and Sunday, June 12 at 10:00 p.m.
