Why did WPNT cancel Mark Madden’s TV show?
Post-Gazette TV writer Rob Owen answers reader questions online every Friday in Tuned In Journal blog at post-gazette.com/tv. Here’s a selection of recent queries.
Q: I was just wondering if you happen to know why local sports personality/radio host Mark Madden had his TV show canceled on Channel 22 The Point? The program aired from September 2015-July 2016, Monday-Friday nights. I’m just assuming that it had something to do with ratings, as the show was just an edited rebroadcast of his radio program on 105.9 The X. I’ve never gotten a straight answer when I have asked around about this, so I thought you might have heard something that I did not.
— CHAD VIA EMAIL Rob: Shows are almost always canceled for financial reasons, often stemming from low ratings. In this case, there was also some executive turnover at WPNT with the guy who spearheaded an attempt to promote more local sports programming departing.
Host Madden says: “Boy, that’s old news. 22 was unhappy with the ratings. I wasn’t. But I had more reasonable expectations. A lot of the material was dated by the time it aired, especially re: hockey& baseball.”
Q: The channel beIN SPORTS (was 268 on Comcast) was in a dispute with juggernaut Comcast about payments. Now that channel has been eliminated from the Comcast menu.
It covered national and international motorcycle road racing as well as soccer and other sports and their coverage was excellent.
Can you tell us any other ways to view the beIN channel?
— PAUL, ALLISON PARK Rob: Not sure what is going on with this sports channel that is largely known for carrying soccer. In the past year beIN was dropped by Comcast, Verizon and DirecTV. It appears beIN is still available on DISH Network (Channel 392), but the beIN website is not particularly helpful in offering tips on how to get the channel.
Q: I visit on a daily basis various national TV forums on specific genres — TV news, game shows, etc. — as well as specific genre channels on YouTube. How do we know the factual and historical information posted on YouTube channels and TV forums in the replies — by the same individuals time and time again regarding these genres — to be accurate, honest and truthful when they use aliases instead of their real names and do not provide biographical details about themselves in their profiles? Also, at times that are amusing and entertaining, these genre “experts” even correct each other as to misinformation and even believe it themselves as correct after repeating the same information over time. — JIM, BROOKVILLE Rob: Easy answer: You don’t know that their information is accurate unless you can verify it with another source. It’s the difference between gossip in the public square and credible, accountable (not anonymous) reporting.