I’ve been watching this locally produced program for a long time, and I finally got the opportunity to sit in on a live taping in the studio of WATC TV in Atlanta.
The Gospel Music USA program started in August of 2013 with hosts Danny Jones and Mike LeFevre, two gentlemen who are very well known in gospel music and who also live within an hour or so of the WATC studio. Three years later, they brought Karen Peck Gooch on board and the lineup has remained the same ever since. This was the first taping for the new season – their 175th episode! Pat Mathison is the producer for the program.
The way the tapings are normally done is to film two different artists for two episodes each in a single afternoon, which takes care of 4 weekly shows. This session was to include Greater Vision and The Blackwood Brothers Quartet. Unfortunately, some bus issues kept Greater Vision from being able to make it to Atlanta, so two episodes were filmed with only The Blackwood Brothers. The shows include the singing of several songs by the artists and an interview segment. It was interesting to watch this process. In order to minimize the editing required after taping, the show is taped sequentially with set changes made during the times of the normal commercial breaks. They used “canned” applause at the appropriate times for the singers’ performances since they don’t normally have a large audience for these tapings. I enjoyed meeting my fellow audience members for this session – Joan and Tom Moretz, their daughter Marsha Brown, and Sandie Speer (yes, she is distantly related to the Speer family!).
These sessions will air on Saturdays, November 10th and 24th at 2:30 pm. Those of us in Atlanta can view the on-air WATC channel 57 based on cable/satellite providers. The station also offers a Watch Live online function from their website – http://watc.tv/watc-live/. Here is a list of other stations that carry the program:
- WATC Too, Channel 57.2, Atlanta, GA (broadcast only, no cable) Saturdays, 9:00 PM
- WGGS TV16, Greenville, SC Saturdays, 8:30 PM
- Sixteen Too, Channel 16.2, Greenville, SC Saturdays 2:00 PM
- WBPI TV 49, Augusta, GA Saturdays 5:00 PM
- WHDS TV41, Savannah, GA Saturdays 2:30 PM
- WKSY TV 21.4, Summerville, GA Saturdays 2:30 PM
- Country Roads TV, Florida
- Faith Unveiled Network, Victorville & LaGuna, California
- WBNA, Louisville, KY
Here are a few pictures from the session:
WATC also produces other shows that would be of interest to Southern Gospel fans: “Josh & Ashley” show featuring Josh & Ashley Franks is on Saturdays at 4:30 pm and Melvin Klaudt’s “Just Keep Singing” is on Sundays at 3:00 pm. I don’t know that these are shown on other stations, but they are available to be viewed during their timeslots via the http://watc.tv/watc-live/ link.
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