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Longest running foreign language show in the US, Finland Calling, is ending its run on WLUC on March


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source: http://www.uppermichiganssource.com/news/story.aspx?id=1171368#.VPUTS1PF8eA

 

I wonder if this is just a matter of the host and only person interested/linguistically qualified to do the show growing old and wanting to retire or if this is in anyway related to the new Sinclair ownership and cost cutting. (though even Barrington let the show continue and they weren't the best when it came to investing in their stations). Either way it is certainly an end of an era in Upper Michigan television.

 

show background : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WLUC-TV#Finland_Calling

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I think it was the host retiring after basically seeing the writing on the wall due to the purchase. He may have seen how quickly they cancelled Ralston Reports after the sale of KSNV was finalized. I think even if Sinclair wanted to keep the show running even on a semi regular basis (monthly/quarterly) they would be be hard pressed to find a skilled journalist in the area that spoke Finnish proficiently.

 

Michigan has the largest population that are of Finnish descent. Apparently there are only 700,000 of us in the US that has Finnish ancestry. According to the 2010 Census only 135,025 people speak a one of the Scandinavian languages at home. Wikipedia states out that figure 26,000 speak Finnish at home.

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Until the rise of Univision and Telemundo in the '90s, there were several Spanish-language public affairs programs on English-language stations.

 

WAGA for example had "Latin Atlanta", which lasted from 1975 to 1997 before being replaced by "The Georgia Gang." "Charlando" on WGN I think ran a little longer, and I was too young to recall any similar shows in Phoenix during my two years of residency there (1983-85).

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Until the rise of Univision and Telemundo in the '90s, there were several Spanish-language public affairs programs on English-language stations.

 

WAGA for example had "Latin Atlanta", which lasted from 1975 to 1997 before being replaced by "The Georgia Gang." "Charlando" on WGN I think ran a little longer, and I was too young to recall any similar shows in Phoenix during my two years of residency there (1983-85).

 

"Adelante, Chicago!" wasn't Spanish-language, but it was focused towards Spanish speakers who speak English and around the Latino community that was on WGN.

 

I don't recall any of that in South Florida though, since WLTV 23 and WSCV 51 were already prominent Spanish-language stations in the market.

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I don't recall any of that in South Florida though, since WLTV 23 and WSCV 51 were already prominent Spanish-language stations in the market.

Speaking of which...WTVJ was the first English-language station in the country with a weekly Spanish-language news program sometime in the '50s or '60s.
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Speaking of which...WTVJ was the first English-language station in the country with a weekly Spanish-language news program sometime in the '50s or '60s.

 

Oh yeah! WTVJ had a newscast in Spanish with Manolo Reyes back in the '50s, I think. Back when Ralph Renick was defining himself as the Dean of South Florida TV News.
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I don't recall any of that in South Florida though, since WLTV 23 and WSCV 51 were already prominent Spanish-language stations in the market.

 

WCIX I believe had a program Enfoque in the 80s.

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source: http://www.uppermichiganssource.com/news/story.aspx?id=1171368#.VPUTS1PF8eA

 

I wonder if this is just a matter of the host and only person interested/linguistically qualified to do the show growing old and wanting to retire or if this is in anyway related to the new Sinclair ownership and cost cutting. (though even Barrington let the show continue and they weren't the best when it came to investing in their stations). Either way it is certainly an end of an era in Upper Michigan television.

 

show background : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WLUC-TV#Finland_Calling

 

If this was a fully vested effort by WLUC to produce this show, it is a vestige of a long-gone era going away. Presumably, Carl Pellonpaa retired years ago and does this show, but is it as a full-fledged WLUC employee?

 

These days, shows like these mostly survive because of their producers, and their ability to broker time on the station. Many shows like these are often independently produced, or production responsibility is "sold" to the producer. In return, the show establishes a business relationship where the producer buys the airtime, and brokers some of it to advertisers of their choosing to fund production. Sometimes, the station will provide production services if the producer requests it, but it would either be at the standard production rates or part of the business arrangement to put the show on the air. If it's a public service effort, the time and resources are donated rather than sold.

 

Not to downplay this show and it's vast history, but stations rarely pick up small independent efforts at their choosing (like how they choose syndicated shows) BUT if the producer is willing to BUY the airtime, it's a different story. Unless they have money to burn, they'll buy cheap airtime on the weekends for their shows. This happens a lot with outdoors-type shows and church services.

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