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The BBC World Service has announced plans to close ten of its foreign language services, almost all of them in Eastern Europe, in order to start an Arabic TV service in the Middle East. Is the move purely a response to marketplace considerations? Or are there other factors at work too? Bob puts the question to Jerry Timmins, who runs the organization's operations for Africa and the Middle East.
Have you been itching to watch Fox News personality Shepard Smith, but don't have the cable access necessary to tune him in? Don't worry - Shep and his Fox News cohorts could soon be coming to you free and over the air. Fox News is getting into the broadcast news business, if not with a new evening newscast, then at least with behind-the-scenes training of local news personnel. Brooke talks to TVNewser.com editor Brian Stelter about the changes in store.
Do you want to be on TV, but don't have the talent, time, connections, or money? Then reality TV might be the way to go. Still in need of a shortcut? Just fill out an application at RTVStar.com, a talent clearinghouse that offers casting directors a searchable database of aspiring Survivors and Apprentices. Bob talks to the website's creator, Brian Ostrovsky.
Fifty years ago this weekend, the nation's first "All-Girl" radio station went on the air in Memphis, Tennessee. Legendary music producer Sam Phillips launched WHER with cash he made selling Elvis Presley's record contract to RCA. To mark the golden anniversary, we present a shortened version of a radio documentary produced several years ago by The Kitchen Sisters.
When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf coast, radio stations throughout the region were devastated along with everything else. But an unprecedented collaboration emerged from the wreckage. Within hours of the storm, rival radio conglomerates Clear Channel and Entercom had formed United Radio Broadcasters of New Orleans, 75 miles away in Baton Rouge. It's been going 24/7 ever since. KERA's Bill Zeeble reports.
This month, millions of Muslims are following their break-the-fast meals with an evening in front of the TV, watching one of the dozens of mini-series broadcast throughout the Arab world for Ramadan. In recent years, the series have chased after viewers by taking on current events and historical allegory. Bob talks to political science professor As'ad Abu-Khalil about Ramadan's postprandial must-see TV.
Just as Arab-language broadcasters know that people stay in during Ramadan, American broadcasters assume that people go out on Saturday night. Once a time for testing offbeat and experimental shows, now Saturday is a wasteland of reruns, movies and college football. NBC executive Mitch Metcalf tells Brooke that in the cut-throat world of TV Monopoly, Saturday is Baltic Avenue. But cultural critic Steven Stark reminds us of some notable exceptions.
Over the past decade, satellite network Al Jazeera has made its share of enemies both here and abroad. A lot of criticism has come from U.S. officials and pundits, who, if they don't actually watch Al Jazeera, will soon no longer have the language barrier to blame. Early next year, the network will launch Al Jazeera International, a 24-hour English-language service. American University assistant professor Marwan Kraidy discusses its prospects with Bob.
