WORCESTER – Spectrum cable television has begun airing news 24 hours a day on Channels 1 and 776, but other local programs have been dropped.
Early last week, Spectrum stopped simulcasting “The Jim Polito Show” and “The Jordan Levy Show,” radio programs on WTAG 580-AM and 94.9-FM, and canceled such locally produced shows as “The Mayor’s Forum” with Joseph Petty and the “Hank Stolz Experience” to air news 24 hours a day.
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Spectrum has moved “Chamber Exchange, The TV Show,” with Tim Murray, president and CEO of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, from weekdays to weekends. Murray said his show, which features chamber members talking about issues pertaining to jobs and economic development, will appear at 1 p.m. on Sundays and be repeated at 7 p.m.
Mike Marcy, who became director of Spectrum News 1 Massachusetts this month after serving as director of local programming for Charter TV3 and “Worcester News Tonight” for 16 years, referred questions on the changes to Spectrum’s corporate communications team.
Tuesday night, Stacey Mitch, communications director for Spectrum Networks, emailed a statement she said was from Marcy, which read in part: “From time to time, our programming will change as we seek to provide content that resonates most with our viewers. Our programming will now include a robust lineup of hyperlocal news, stories and area-specific weather, as well as political and local sports coverage for our viewers across the region.”
The statement also said Spectrum will continue to air the high school football highlights show “Football Frenzy” on Friday nights during the fall and televise local high school and college sports.
“They’re going to all news,” Petty said. “So we’ll see if it works. I did like the local programs, though. We’ll see how this works out. Maybe after a few months, we’ll revisit it. We’ll talk to them and see what they think.”
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“The Mayor’s Forum” had aired on Charter TV3 at least since Murray was mayor in the early 2000s.
“I’m a little disappointed that they took it off,” Petty said, “but I’m going to see what the new venture brings.”
Petty said he’s trying to move his show to WCCA-TV, a public access station that Spectrum carries on Channel 194.
Polito’s show airs from 5 to 9 a.m. weekdays and Levy’s show airs from 3 to 6 p.m. weekdays on WTAG radio. Levy said Charter TV3 had simulcast his radio show for about 15 years.
“It doesn’t bother me at all,” Levy said. “I started just on radio. They simulcast us on their own. I’m a radio guy. I was never a television guy. I never worked for Charter. They just simulcast the shows. I still have my audience. It doesn’t make any difference to me.”
“It’s a decision made by Charter Communications,” said Sean Davey, who oversees WTAG as the Boston-area president of iHeartMedia. “They’re changing what they’re doing in Central Massachusetts and Worcester.”
Levy, a 73-year-old former Worcester mayor and city councilor, has hosted his radio show for 25 years. He signed a three-year contract extension in May.
“It’s either insanity or I’m having a lot of fun,” he said. “I think it’s both.”
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Spectrum did not pay WTAG to run the Polito and Levy shows. Davey said they ran as part of a promotional partnership.
Stolz, host of “Talk of the Commonwealth” on WCRN 830-AM and WPKZ 105.3-FM and 1280-AM, hosted his show on TV3 for 11 years and he’s sad to see it end.
“I had a wonderful time doing the show,” he said in an email, “and am sorry to see it end, but I am glad that Spectrum-Charter has added more reporters and gone to three newscasts a day.”
Stolz said he will continue to host “Central Mass. Chronicles,” which will be seen on Saturdays on Spectrum.
Until last week, “Worcester News Tonight” aired live news about Central Massachusetts at 6 and 10 p.m. each weekday. The shows were repeated a few times. Now Spectrum runs three half-hour live news programs, called “Spectrum News 1,” that are repeated throughout the day and night with news, sports and weather not only from Worcester, but also Chicopee and Pittsfield, communities where Spectrum has cable customers as well.
Murray said he believes Spectrum will eventually expand to more live newscasts.
“The focus on expanded local news,” Murray said, “is a good thing. In all my conversations as a resident and in my role at the chamber, people are clamoring for more local news stories and I think this is another venue to do that. The fact that they’re committing to doing that is a good sign for the region.”
Contact Bill Doyle at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BillDoyle15
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Category: WHY
