Boo hoo! Say goodbye to Gia Gittleson, LA Magazine's effervescent Senior Editor/Guide Editor, who departs her position September 28 for nursing school.
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Spoke with Daisy Ruiz, producer of a new show called "Con Chile y Limon" for Spanish-language KWHY TV Channel 22. Airing at 5:30 p.m. weekdays, it spotlights "cool and interesting things to do in and around Los Angeles." She's looking for kid/family-friendly stuff and general ideas as well. "It doesn't have to be Latino-oriented, but if it is, all the better," she says. KWHY is owned by the Telemundo network/NBC Universal, a subsidiary of NBC.__________________________
Just learned of another Spanish-language show, this one called "Los Angeles en Vivo," which airs on KRCA Channel 62 at 12:30 p.m. weekdays, spotlighting things to do. Reporter Cecilia Gonzalez told me that the magazine format program previews Latino-oriented and/or family-oriented events as well as covers them. KRCA, owned by Liberman Broadcasting, used to broadcast Asian-language programming and home shopping but now airs Spanish-language programing along with some late night English-language infomercials.__________________________
My esteemed colleague Sabrina Skacan told me that A&E has cancelled its long-running "Breakfast with the Arts," replacing it with "Private Sessions," an hour-long show featuring contemporary music acts, which made its debut July 22.
According to this story I found in Broadcasting & Cable, "The series, hosted by VH1 Classics' Lynn Hoffman, will feature popular musical acts in performances taped in New York and interspersed with interview footage. With guests like 22-year-old pop singer Avril Lavigne, country star Toby Keith and classic-rock belter Meat Loaf, Sessions is aimed squarely at the 18-54 demo. A&E has slated 14 episodes for 2007. The move to swap Sessions for Breakfast, which favored jazz, classical and Broadway music, is consistent with A&E's recent strategy of targeting younger viewers with action-packed reality shows and high-profile acquired dramas like 'The Sopranos.'"
Great.
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Thanks to Carol Stevenson of Kevin/Ross Public Relations for passing on this info about a recent Bulldog Reporter report spotlighting Los Angeles Times science/health/medicine coverage. The piece quoted Science/Medicine editor Ashley Dunn as welcoming local and national pitches and saying that the paper's stories are syndicated through the Tribune-McClatchy news service.Dunn oversees the science/medicine desk for breaking news, clinical trends and enterprise stories. The Bulldog story also mentioned the following writers and their beats (email addresses all firstname.lastname@latimes.com):
Consumer-health features for the Monday Health section:
Tami Dennis and Rosie Mestel
Healthcare business providers and payers:
Lisa Girion
Healthcare business pharma and biotech:
Daniel Costello
Global warming:
Alan Zarembo
Psychology and biotech:
Denise Gellene
Genetics:
Karen Kaplan
Infectious diseases:
Jia-Rui Chong
General medicine:
Thomas. H. Maugh II
Space exploration:
John Johnson
More from this story: "These are the main areas they're responsible for," [Dunn] explains, but they often back up each other and any might be called on to write about a particular topic. "Alan Zarembo is covering global warming, but he won't do that forever," Dunn notes. "He'll do that for a year or so and move back to medicine. Denise is covering psychology, but she's also our expert in anything to do with pharmaceuticals. Some stories on pharma issues are beyond our skill level, so we turn to Denise." He adds that "we all sit together. You don't have to worry about getting it to just the right person. When someone sees something interesting, they flag it for others."
