The Fox Television Stations group is going to find out if good radio makes for good television this summer with “Dish Nation,” a half-hour weeknight news show that will package camera clips from four radio drive time shows. Among the radio stars involved are Felli Fel of L.A. hip-hop KPWR-FM LA, Scott Shannon and Todd Pettengill of Hot AC WPLJ-FM NY, Rick Smiley of Urban WHTA-FM Atlanta and Blaine Fowler and Allyson Martinek of Hot AC WDVD-FM Detroit.
It’s some real firepower being brought to the table: Shannon and Pettengill will celebrate their 20th anniversary on WPLJ this summer; The Rick Smiley Morning Show features standup comic and theatrical star Rick Smiley, whose team is syndicated on over 60 radio stations; and recording artist DJ Felli Fel is also the soon to be announced new host of MTV’s “Pimp My Ride”.
“Dish Nation” will debut 7/25 for a six-week run on select Fox Television Stations including New York (WWOR, 6 PM), Los Angeles (KTTV, 6:30 PM), Washington DC (WTTG, 7 PM), Atlanta (WAGA, 12 AM), Phoenix (KSAZ, 10:30 PM), Detroit (WJBK, 12 AM), and Baltimore (WUTB, 6:30 PM).
It’s being billed as a fast paced, unscripted take on pop culture, celebrity scandals and salacious, headline grabbing conversations, is presented by four of the top radio teams in the country. Filmed daily at each of their radio studios, the show will highlight the day’s memorable and hilarious moments from their four-plus hour radio blocks. The blunt, no-holds-barred banter includes outrageous animation, images and video footage.
Dish Nation is distributed by Twentieth Television and will be produced by Studio City Productions.
RBR-TVBR observation: It’s a good idea that the first markets are well-aligned with the radio talent’s markets – it will be easy to get listeners converted over if they’re big fans of the radio shows. Like TMZ, this should be very fast-paced and hilarious, pulling the best of the best from these top radio shows. Sure, radio has tried this before with Howard Stern on E!, Don Imus on MSNBC and Dan Patrick on Fox Sports, but this is quite a stable of talent to be putting on one show daily.
