All-black cable TV channel to launch next month

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Nov 25, 2004 | by Cecily Burt, STAFF WRITER

OAKLAND -- Oakland's African- American community was left without a television voice when Comcast Cable pulled the plug on Soul Beat a year ago this month.

KBLC-TV on Channel 78, which began airing earlier this year, has not been able to fill the gap with a mix of multicultural programs and faith-based broadcasts. Nor has TV-One, which replaced Soul Beat on Channel 29 but is not locally based.

But early next month, if all goes according to plan, a new, locally owned and operated all-black channel called OUR-TV will launch inaugural shows on cable public access Channel 26. The call letters stand for Opportunities in Urban Renaissance.

CEO Leonard Stephens said he hopes to sign the contract with Comcast on Wednesday, after which the new station should be on the air within a few days.

Although the station has many shows in the can and ready to go, it was forced to start small because none of Comcast's 11 leased access channels was available, Stephens said.

Andrew Johnson, Comcast's vice president of communications, confirmed the parties are scheduled to meet Wednesday to sign contracts for 13 1/2 hours of infomercial-style programming per week.

For OUR-TV to gain access to a 24-hour, leased-access channel, another station would have to drop out, Johnson said. Around-the- clock programming is also much more expensive and subject to more stringent federal regulations, Johnson said.

While it is waiting for a permanent home on the TV dial, OUR-TV will launch with a 1 1/2-hour time slot between 3:30 to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and a six-hour time slot Saturday mornings, 6 a.m. to noon.

It's far from ideal, but they'll make it work, said Stephens, who grew up in Oakland and laments the loss of Chuck Johnson and Soul Beat, Oakland's only black-owned and operated TV station.

Stephens, a consultant to manufacturing companies in Silicon Valley, got

involved with planning the new station when he was shopping around for a show that would air a golf aerobics tape his friend and African- American golf pro Bob Johnson had produced.

The fledgling station would have gone nowhere without the help and support of Oakland's pastors and religious community, who spread the word about the new station and enlisted volunteers who donated their technical expertise, said Barbara Whitfield, a former talk-show host and producer for Soul Beat who is now OUR-TV's programming director.

The station is planning to air an after-school youth dance party a couple of days a week called "The Beat is Going On" that will identify local teenagers and the schools they attend and include educational segments on black history.

"It's a brand-new beat with a whole lot of soul," Stephens said. "If we can get the kids' support, the parents will follow. There are a lot of baby boomers who miss Soul Beat, and we brought a lot of former Soul Beat folks over."

Once the station gets a permanent home, Stephens said it will offer a full range of half-hour and hourlong programming, from news, politics and community affairs to home, cooking, history and exercise shows. There will be a healthy blend of church programming, dance, music and education. Oakland Tribune reporter Chauncey Bailey, former Soul Beat news director, will host a local community affairs and news program.

Stephens said the station plans to keep the costs down to make sure the African-American community has access.

"Our goal is to make sure TV is affordable and accessible, that you don't have to be rich to be on TV," Stephens said. "We're trying to give business owners and small entertainers a chance to get some airtime, and we want to be a video soundboard for the community."

City Councilmember Larry Reid (Elmhurst-East Oakland) said it would be great if Oakland's African-American community had its own station, but its success will depend on community support and advertising. He pointed out that KBLC started out with programming devoted to the African-American community but had to incorporate other programming because it could not sell enough ads.

He also reminisced about the days when he would hurry home from school to watch "Soul Train" and his favorite dancers. He thinks the same will hold true for Oakland's teenagers, who will identify with a new generation of favorites on OUR-TV's dance show.

Whitfield said it's important to give African Americans a positive image of themselves. Soul Beat did that, and OUR-TV will do it too, she said.

"Soul Beat was an open avenue, especially for the wounded soldiers out here, because a lot of the older folks in the black community (have) low self-esteem," she said. "The station brought up the self- esteem of people.

"Right within this community there is a lot of talent, and it isn't just bad things happening in Oakland," Whitfield said.

OUR-TV is holding auditions this Saturday and next for youth dancers ages 16 to 24, 2 to 5 p.m., 2541 San Pablo Ave., Oakland.