Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 14, 1995 TAG: 9510150001
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
In the control booth at Blue Ridge Public Television, a producer smelled trouble Friday morning.
The Roanoke studio was set for a taping of "Economic Developments," a home-grown TV talk show from Roanoke, except nobody turned on the TelePromTer. It was loaded with the script for the show's veteran host, Anne Piedmont, who also is head researcher at the Roanoke Valley Economic Development Partnership.
Unruffled by the mix-up before rolling cameras, Piedmont looked for her lines in the notes in her lap. But a concerned cameraman yelled "Bust!'' and the program had to be restarted.
"It's Friday the 13th," producer and director Carol Jennings said. "That's what it is."
For the next half hour, Piedmont led a near-flawless 24th episode of a talk show about jobs and industry. The show, entering its third season next month, was created to tell about the industrial marketing work of the partnership, which is 61 percent tax-supported, and to educate the public on business topics.
But its potential audience is much wider than the valley, because Blue Ridge Public Television's signal travels over the air and on cable to households scattered over 11,000 square miles in western Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia.
The station each month donates 30 minutes of studio time and use of its crew - services which would normally cost $350 - to produce "Economic Developments," because the program fits with its educational mission, said Jon Boettcher, vice president of programming.
"It's been a pretty good series for us," Boettcher said.
The job of host has fallen to Piedmont, a good-humored former newspaper reporter and public relations specialist, who was joined on earlier episodes by Beth Doughty, the partnership's executive director.
Piedmont said she realized it is a special interest program, but noted that recent episodes have covered headline-making developments, such as A.O. Smith Manufacturing's decision to put a factory in Botetourt County.
It has also been an occasional source of news. During the show taped Friday, a segment on business incubators that will air Sunday, Roanoke accountant Hope Player revealed that officials have begun a national search for an executive director for a proposed business incubator to open early next year in Roanoke. Player spearheaded the incubator project with Phil Sparks, acting chief of economic development for the city of Roanoke.
As for who watches, Piedmont tells of being recognized as a TV personality by an attendant at a gas station she frequents and of receiving word from her family that the show airs in Tennessee. Botetourt County Administrator Gerald Burgess, a past guest, said he "heard from all kinds of people in the community that happened to see it."
"Economic Developments" moves to a new noon time slot starting this weekend from its previous 3:30 p.m., when it competed with pro football. The program airs on the third Sunday of each month.
Now, Piedmont joked, "we're up against `[This Week with] David Brinkley.' So David is going to see his ratings suffer."
by CNB