Monday, November 15th 2004
Contact QTV
415.431.5650
(San Francisco) —–
Local cable TV subscribers will get a ‘double dose’ of gay
television next Tuesday (Nov. 23rd) when the newly-created, COMCAST cable
backed OUT Spoken gay talk show and San Francisco’s long-running, commercial
gay television show, QTV Newsmagazine, will broadcast on the same night.
QTV Newsmagazine’s Executive Producer Rahn Fudge who—despite the many
hurdles- —has managed to at least keep his independent gay TV program visible for
more than nine years now and will start yet another round of monthly episodes of
the half-hour newsmagazine-style QTV for the next year on COMCAST. QTV
Newsmagazine with Rahn Fudge will debut at 9p.m. Earlier in the evening at
6:30p.m., producers of the new OUT Spoken television show will premiere their
gay talk show format for the first time. Both programs will air on local
COMCAST cable’s digital channel 11 on next Tuesday, November 23rd.
Fudge sees the ‘double dose’ of local gay television as precedent setting. “I
can’t remember the last time when local cable TV catered to the gay television
viewer like it will on next Tuesday. It really says something about
the ‘coming of age’ of television targeting gays from both a community and commercial
perspective”, points out Fudge.
QTV Newsmagazine, which started back in 1995, has evolved from being at one
time a hour-long weekly show to a short-run, half-hour ‘daily’ show to now a
monthly or ‘episodic’ broadcast whenever the money is there to support it.
Fudge admits the show has suffered with issues of broadcast consistency and
frequency due largely in part to fluctuating advertising support for the
concept of commercial gay television over the past few years.
However, as a
unique way to jump the constant financial hurdles, he and producers took the
show into cyberspace a few months ago with the help of Key West, Florida-based
UPLINK USA, Inc. and created a 24/7 streaming video ‘webcast’ of segments from
the show. The ‘webcast’ will soon feature both segments and full versions of
QTV as a result of the partnership. UPLINK USA, Inc., is a national website
development company headed by Paul Vizard who is chiefly responsible for
helping to manage and promote QTV’s news service called,
appropriately, QTV News. Already some 20 plus other gay-specific websites
currently carry the QTV News online news service feed.
According to Fudge, once the monthly broadcast versions of QTV Newsmagazine
are seen by local cable subscribers first then the shows re-broadcast
or ‘webcast’ on the official website for QTV which is located at
( www.qtvnews.tv ).
The move to debut the new season of QTV on the same night as OUT Spoken is
deliberate, says Fudge, to keep it simple for viewers to remember when and
where to catch an evening of local gay television in one sitting. “We’re
certainly not doing anything to compete with COMCAST’s OUT Spoken gay TV
show.
In fact, our new season premiere show will broadcast (after) their premiere.
If anything, we hope to work together on news and information stories that
will inevitably duplicate efforts to cover the local gay community. As I see it,
the more gay TV, the merrier”, reiterates Fudge. And, he adds, the fact that
OUT Spoken’s intent is more community-based than his commercially-driven aim
with QTV, it’ll become obvious to those watching that the two programs are on
different levels but just so happen to both be local gay TV efforts.
Inside the first episode of QTV Newsmagazine will be segments about the ever-
growing national gay marriage debate that recently played out here in San
Francisco. Also, the show has (not-seen-before-on-local-TV) footage of when
gay activists criss-crossed America with the so-called ‘Love Caravan’ marriage
equality journey, a local QTV news roundup of local HIV/AIDS events to include
recent Tenderloin Aids Resource Center and Positive Resource Center galas.
QTV cameras will take viewers inside a special Clift Hotel event where
local gays honored former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown for his efforts to
the community as well as show highlights of this year’s MACY’s Passport
Fashion Show benefiting various local HIV/AIDS charities.
If you have additional questions or comments please don’t hesitate to contact
QTV Newsmagazine directly at 415.431.5650. Please leave a detailed message if
necessary.