KELO busts the national corporate mold and goes local with a new music program, White Wall Sessions. Hatched last spring by filmmaker and adman Jeff Zueger and local musician Steve Zastrow, the thirty-minute show moves from Facebook to the small screen this weekend with performances by Zastrow, Burlap Wolf King, Jami Lynn, Condor, and The Tinder Box.
KELO will also be leveraging its assets by flying in Kevin Woster to tell fish stories between songs. Of course, to balance the ratings peril of putting Woster's face on television, KELO will make Trisha Murphy host and rescue the former Miss South Dakota from waving her lanky arms in feigned admiration for the dull designs of the Sioux Empire Home Builders.
I'm thrilled to see KELO creating real local programming to promote authentic South Dakota culture. They're airing the show Saturdays at 10:30 p.m. Central, which is a perfectly logical time to air... except for one thing: South Dakota Public Broadcasting is already filling that cultural need at that hour with No Cover No Mininum, 60 minutes of South Dakota music playing at 10 p.m.
Why counterprogram the very culture you're trying to promote? Why not cooperate with SDPB to give South Dakota a double dose of its finest musical artists? Saturday night on CBS is nothing but repeats and 48 Hours. Bump an hour of that slop, put White Wall Sessions on at nine, and expand it to a full hour! South Dakota musicians in prime time: everybody wins!
And you can still fill that Saturday 10:30 with local programming that won't compete with No Cover No Minimum. Resurrect the KELO collaboration with the South Dakota Blogosphere and create a Saturday night blogcast, featuring a rotating panel of South Dakota bloggers recapping the top stories of the week and giving the powers that be and each other what-for. I'll Skype in! Woster can moderate! It'll be great!
And don't forget the arts! Come support all the arts has to offer in South Dakota during Arts Equinox, South Dakota's Statewide Arts Conference September 16-18 at the Pierre Ramkota. Fun times, oh and great artists, presenter, speakers, performances ahead! Check http://www.sdarts.org for info and registration.
Thinking Condo is in fact Condor.
True, Chris! KELO has updated their text, and I have updated the post above!
And we should mention that Burlap Wolf King is Madison's own Thomas Hentges, yet another Madison artist making good.