It’ll be Republicans, Vivaldi, Democrats and Brahms on election night, Tuesday (11/2) on independent WADL-TV Detroit. The station is going with a unique mix of classical music and election results.
Beginning at 8:00 pm, WADL will present a two hour encore presentation of the station’s October 24th live, concert broadcast from Christ Church Cranbrook. That’s where the striking symphony musicians of Detroit performed Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” and Brahms’ “Symphony No.2 in D Major” to a standing room only crowd.
“Early in the evening, rather than broadcast a bunch of empty election night ballrooms and early projections, we want to offer viewers the opportunity to see and hear Detroit’s symphony musicians in a rare concert,” said Steve Antoniotti, Vice President and General Manager of WADL-TV38. Because of the contract dispute between the musicians and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the musicians are not performing at Orchestra Hall this season.
Beginning at 10:00 pm, WADL will broadcast election night results live from the newsroom of “The Oakland Press” until Midnight. The moderator will be TV personality, Attorney, TV/Radio Legal Analyst, Charlie Langton. Guests will include Oakland County Democratic Chair Frank Houston, Republican Party Chairman David Law and “Michigan Chronicle” Editor Bankole Thompson along with editors and reporters from the newspaper.
Oakland County is immediately north of Wayne County, where Detroit is located. The county seat is Pontiac, MI.
“We’re excited about this opportunity to showcase the quality of our political reporting beyond Oakland County,” commented Glenn Gilbert, Executive Editor of The Oakland Press. The newspaper’s live coverage of election results will also be carried on eleven COMCAST cable systems in Oakland County beginning at 9:00 pm and is being produced in partnership with CMNtv, a local access station.
This will be the first time that WADL, an independent, locally-owned station will be offering live election results.
“We are always looking for ways for our station to provide useful information and service to southeast Michigan. We recently added severe weather warnings, broadcast the first live concert by Detroit’s symphony musicians, and are now partnering with the Oakland Press for this important mid-term election,” according to Kevin Adell, CEO and owner of the station.
RBR-TVBR observation: Bravo! It would be rather pointless for WADL to offer yet another competing broadcast of election results focused on Detroit, so shifting to a focus on the suburban area is a creative move. As it happens, the Michigan 9th Congressional District race is one of the hot ones this year. The classical concert may also calm some people whose nerves have been frazzled by this intense election season.
