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Gubernatorial debate vs. 'Wife Swap' (where to watch/listen to debate #3)

by: matt

Sat Oct 14, 2006 at 13:21:07 PM EDT


CORRECTION by Matt: I said WOOD-TV where I should have said WZZM-TV - see correction below.

Governor Granholm and Amway Guy will face off for the third and final time Monday at 8PM. Unlike all previous debates, there will be a studio audience present. WXYZ-TV in Detroit (Southfield) will produce the thing and it's being offered to ABC and CBS affiliates around the state. According to WXYZ, the following stations WILL carry the debate:
WXYZ-TV 7 Detroit
WZZM-TV 13 Grand Rapids
WJRT-TV 12 Flint
WLNS-TV 6 Lansing
WWTV/WWUP-TV 9&10 Traverse City/Sault Ste. Marie
WSBT South Bend, IN
If the WXYZ's list is to be believed, that would mean the following CBS/ABC stations have decided that it is more important to air episodes of "Wife Swap" and "How I met Your Mother" than a live exchange between the two people who want to lead our state full of 10 million people for the next four years (BTW, how much MONEY do you think these stations have collected on gubernatorial TV ads so far?):
WWJ-TV 62 Detroit
WLAJ-TV 53 Lansing
WWMT-TV 3 Kalamazoo
WOTV-41 Battle Creek
WJMN-TV 3 Escanaba
WNEM-TV 5 Saginaw
WBKB-TV 11 Alpena
WBKP-TV  5 Calumet
WBUP-TV Ishpeming
WGTU/WGTQ-TV 29 & 8 Traverse City & Sault Ste. Marie
Live in Battle Creek? Too bad. Unless you can pull in WOOD-TV WZZM-TV on your super antenna or want to watch online, you're not going to be able to see the debate. But there's still "Wife Swap". Here's what WOTV has to say for itself:

Craig Cole, programming and operations director for WOTV, said the decision was reached by management teams at the two stations.

"We wanted to give some alternative programming options," Cole said.

Yeah, like "Wife Swap" and "How I met Your Mother." Need to have alternative programming options. It's not like there are enough other channels full of crap for people to watch on TV. Heavens no (snark). And please spare me the line about how you don't want to duplicate programming within markets. What a bunch of hooey. Make no mistake: this is about putting money and ratings before serving the public who owns the airwaves and generously provides them for free. If it were another news event - say a chemical spill, a verdict in the OJ trial, or another speech by George Bush standing in front of American flags and soldiers - try to tell me you wouldn't want to duplicate programming THEN. This is one of only three occasions the people of Michigan get a chance to hear from the candidates themselves (other than the miserable advertisments they buy on your stations and the 30 seconds you give them on the evening news). If I had my way, ALL local TV stations would be REQUIRED to carry gubernatorial debates. Heck, make cable carry 'em too! If the debate was the only option on TV, then perhaps people would finally begin to get a clue that electing a governor is some serious business.

Well, I won't hold my breath on any of that. What politician has the cohones to take on the TV stations that make or break them? Not many.

Ponder all of this in the context of the new University of Wisconsin study that showed local TV news in Detroit and Lansing only spent - on average - 30 seconds of every 30-minute newscast focusing on campaigns and elections. Makes you long for the day when high-quality Internet streaming video makes local TV obsolete. Hey, maybe someday Michiganliberal.com can set up its own TV station!

Radio?  Here, I must give credit where credit is due. Detroit's 50kw archrivals WJR (760AM) and WWJ (950AM) have BOTH agreed to carry the debate - along with WOOD radio 1300. They are to be comended for this. They have even managed to work it out with Michigan Radio (91.7 Ann Arbor, 91.1 Flint, 104.1 Grand Rapids) and WGVU Grand Rapids (88.5) to have public radio in on the deal too. Sadly, it looks like people up north are S.O.L. if they want to listen on radio.

Given the failure of Battle Creek's TV stations to adequately serve their viewers, the Battle Creek Enquirer has decided to offer the debate on its website. You will also (presumably) be able to hear it on Michigan Radio's live stream as well.

And of course...you'll always be more than welcome to offer your thoughts in real-time back here at good old Michlib!
matt :: Gubernatorial debate vs. 'Wife Swap' (where to watch/listen to debate #3)
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Oi. (0.00 / 0)
And pundits wonder why there is a serious dearth of political mobilization in America.

-- Signature! --

wife swap!? (0.00 / 0)
"wife swap"?  please don't tell me that is what i think it is...

Check out my mediocre blog.

Since you're interested... (4.00 / 1)
Here is ABC's home page for "Wife Swap". 

"Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never." - Winston S. Churchill

[ Parent ]
WOOD-TV and WOTV-41 (0.00 / 0)
I live by Gun Lake and from my front porch I can see the towers of WOOD-8, WOTV-41, WWMT-3, WZPX-43, WXMI-17 (Fox), and WXSP-27. Now FYI WOOD, WOTV, and WXSP are all owned by the same company! Since WOOD and WOTV are less than 8 miles appart and WOOD is actually taller and on a higher spot I don't understand your problem getting the VHF signal from 8 while having no problems with the UHF signal from 41. I thought that 41 would be carrying the debate not 8. But I noticed that 8 seems to be advertizing that it will be carrying the debate instead of 41. They must be taking the feed for the ABC stations and putting it on their stonger signal. I will check the listing tomorow and post it on my diary as to which of the GR stations are going to broadcast the debate. I have trouble getting WZZM since its tower is up near Grant and it is orientated to cover Muskegon, Oceana, Newaygo, Montcalm, and Kent Counties. I cannot believe that the WOOD/WOTV/WXSP behemith will not have the debate on one of their signals. Just be glad it isn't on the WXSP low power things.

WOOD-TV/WZZM-TV my bad (0.00 / 0)
I said WOOD-TV, when I meant to say WZZM-TV. See correction above. My mistake. You say WOOD is advertising the debate? that's the first I've heard of that.

"Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never." - Winston S. Churchill

[ Parent ]
Devos' new mantra (4.00 / 1)
Fire the gov...fire the gov...fire the gov.  Sadly a large portion of the elctorate loves their politics reduced to ten words or less.  let's turn the table.  Our side's mantra reduced to one word---(drumroll, please)  "INHERITANCE"  What did Gov Granholm inherit?  a 2 billion dollar deficit and a do-nothing (except fire partisan torpedoes) legislature.  What has she done with it?  (list accomplishments here) What did Dick inherit?  a multimillion dollar pyramid scheme that he seeks to impose on all of Michigan electorate.  Dick is comfy living in the rarified tip of that pyramid while his serfs comprise the  base.  He has "invested" (lobbied) to keep things good for the rich and crappy for the worker -- why would he do any differently as governor.

You're welcome.


Party? (0.00 / 0)
Are we having a debate party?

Putting conservatives in charge of our government makes about as much sense as GM hiring a CEO who hates cars.


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