Tuned In: Five new WQED shows replace 'On Q'
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WQED Multimedia launches a new era in local programming Monday when its weekday magazine show "On Q" gets replaced by five programs, each with its own title but featuring many of the personalities and topics previously seen on "On Q." Some viewers might see the changes as a round of musical chairs, but WQED vice president of production Darryl Ford Williams said the new approach is more ambitious.
"The amount of time it took for us to produce an entire week of 'On Q' is the work that goes into Monday night's show," she said of the new lineup. "When you look at the number of shoots and edits that go into Monday night, the only way we were able to deliver this really rich, deep quality level of production is we started over the summer."
WQED's local programs also are debuting a month later than "On Q" usually did as a way to give production teams a running head start. The production season will continue until early June, as it did with "On Q," and Ms. Williams said each night's program will deliver an average of 20 original episodes during a season that runs roughly 30 weeks.
Ms. Williams said the decision to make over local programming was based on internal analysis and a public opinion survey of "On Q" content. She said the station decided to go with five separate show titles as opposed to a single moniker, a la "On Q," because it felt forced to put a diversity of programming styles under a single umbrella title.
The new WQED 7:30 p.m. weekday lineup will be:
"Experience" (Monday): A documentary-style show, reported from the field, with a local focus on a single subject each week. For Monday's premiere, Chris Moore reports on the Marcellus Shale.
On Nov. 8, Michael Bartley reports on what's special about growing up in Greenfield, the first in a neighborhoods series that will reach beyond the city limits, Ms. Williams said. On Nov. 15, Tonia Caruso will tell the story of the Brookline neighborhood.
"We really had to make a special financial commitment and do long-range planning when we wanted to do a single-subject program because we've restructured how we use staff internally. It's the same mix of people assigned to different duties," Ms. Williams said. "We're not trying to fit a studio presence into that show. We're targeting as our Monday night goal to be field-based to improve the richness of that kind of single-subject storytelling in a way that we didn't have in our repertoire" with "On Q."
"Horizons" (Tuesday): WQED canceled the long-running "Black Horizons" after more than 40 years in favor of this broader based program that will cover topics beyond the African-American community to a diverse array of ethnic groups. Chris Moore continues as host with Minette Seate continuing as producer.
First Published October 29, 2010 12:00 am
