Syracuse professor to star in series airing on National Home & Garden Channel

CNY Business Journal (1994-95), May 15, 1995 by Fitting, Beth

SYRACUSE--A local television company has produced a series that will help launch a national cable channel starring talent with household names like Willard Scott and Leslie Uggams.

Axxess Television Production, the video and television production division of Central New York Univisions Video Systems, Inc., produced, edited, and duplicated a 13-part series entitled "Winter Gardening" for the new Home and Garden cable network (HGTV).

A Syracuse University professor, Lawrence "Larry" Mason Jr., hosts the gardening series. Mason is a professor of photography at Syracuse University and an avid gardener. He is also a former picture editor and staff photographer at The Herald Co. in Syracuse. Mason's work appeared in The Herald-Journal and The Herald American.

Home and Garden, which is backed by Scripps-Howard Cable Company of Knoxville, Tenn., debuted Jan. 1 with nationally known stars and original programming. Some of the featured stars include Leslie Uggams, Spencer Christian, Willard Scott, and Cheers" star John Ratzenberger. The channel focuses on lifestyle programming.

Andy Robinson, production manager at Axxess, explained that Axxess obtained the opportunity to do the series partly because he "knew someone who knew someone" at HGTV. "A .year ago Ed Spray, another S.U. professor, left the university to become vice president of programming at HGTV," Robinson said. "He knew Larry Mason and Don Torrance, who had worked at a CBS affiliate in Washington, D.C. Don knew me and the work I was doing at Axxess. When Ed became interested in producing the winter-gardening segments, he contacted Don, who contacted Larry as a possible host, and Axxess for the production."

According to Robinson, "Most of this kind of work is done in the large metropolitan areas--New York, Chicago, and L.A.. When we got the chance to do this, we jumped at it. There aren't a lot of these kinds of jobs available locally."

He continues, "We've shown that the competence is here....They know they can get the quality they want on a reasonable budget."

Axxess has submitted five additional proposals for future "Winter Gardening" segments, plus two other specials. The Syracuse company recently produced a video for the Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce's Business of the Year awards dinner.

While the legal name of the parent company is Central New York Univisions Video Systems, Inc., it is more commonly known as Univisions Communications Group. The company consists of three business units: Univisions, a systems integrator and dealer for audio and visual electronic manufacturers; Axxess; and Triad, an electronics maintenance and service company. The company was started 18 years ago in Binghamton by Robert Romano, who is president. His partners are Theodore H. Northrup, chairman & CEO; David H. Northrup, Jr., vice chairman; and Ronald Teplitsky, executive vice president & CFO.