LITTLE ROCK, AR -- (Marketwired) -- 08/08/13 -- On Monday, August 5, 2013, Soul of the South Evening News became the first regularly scheduled daily news broadcast aired by an African-American owned network. The pioneering newscast airs nightly at 7PM with an encore broadcast each night at 10PM CST.
The half hour news program, which will expand to an hour in early September, is the first of a 4-hour news show lineup planned by Soul of the South Television over the next three months. National News Director Tom Jacobs, a broadcast news veteran, leads the team that also includes Soul of the South Evening News Anchor, Roy Hobbs and former KMOV/St. Louis anchor, Vickie Newton.
"I was brought in to create the first African-American national nightly news broadcast in the history of television," said Jacobs. "I have waited my entire career for this opportunity, and we have assembled a team of television journalist worthy of our mission and our viewer's trust." An Emmy-award winning producer, Jacobs has developed and launched three news operations and three national magazine programs over the course of his forty-year career.
Anchored by Roy Hobbs, Soul of the South Evening News will focus on issues important to African-American Southerners and offer a unique perspective on developments from across the region. Ms. Newton will initially contribute special reports to the Soul of the South Evening News. Starting later this fall, she will debut as co-host of "Morning Call, the network's two-hour morning show. Capitol Eye, a Washington, D.C. based political talk show will launch in early October.
Jacobs noted that the ambitious slate of news programs is an exciting breakthrough for news-starved African-American viewers. African Americans stand out for their appetite for news programming. Almost seven out of 10 (69%) of African Americans said they watched television news "yesterday," according to a May 2012 Pew Research Center survey. That is sharply higher than 43% of Hispanics and 55% of Americans over all.
"Despite the compelling viewership numbers, African-American oriented television news programs have been rare," said Jacobs. "Soul of the South's four hours of news programming will fill a long existing void. The lives and issues impacting African-American Southerners will be our primary focus, but we will speak in a tone that welcomes all viewers."
Jacobs launched the Soul of the South news division with gavel-to-gavel coverage of the controversial "People vs George Zimmerman" trial, hosted by Vickie Newton. The network's coverage was praised by viewers for Ms. Newton thoughtful and clearheaded approach to the troubling details of Trayvon Martin's death.
In addition to 4-hours of news daily, Soul of the South features a lineup of African-American themed comedies, dramas and movies. The network will also provide news and weather cut-ins, and other programming designed to meet the needs of local markets and audiences.
Viewers will also be able to sample Soul of the South Evening News on the network's web site, http://www.soulofthesouth.tv/.
ABOUT Soul of the South Television
Soul of the South Television is a broadcast television network owned by SSN Funding, L.P., an Arkansas-based Limited Partnership, which also owns and operates Southern Soul Broadcasting, SSN Networks, Inc., and SSN Media Gateway, LLC. Headquartered in a 30,000 square foot state-of-the-art studio facility in Little Rock, the company has satellite offices in New York City, Chicago, Baltimore/DC and Philadelphia. Launched on May 27, 2013, Soul of the South Television is the only Minority Certified Enterprise to own and operate a national broadcast television network, local broadcast stations, a master facility and an uplink satellite/cloud technology center. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SouloftheSouthTelevision
Add to Digg Bookmark with del.icio.us Add to Newsvine
Carl McKaskill
917-647-3880
Email Contact
