You won’t be able to see the fight anywhere around the Triad unless you want to move into the Extended Stay Hotel up in Reidsville or maybe it’s Viva Roanoke-Lynchburg, Virginia and our old buddies at Channel 7. You won’t get this FREE programming at a Sports Bar or a Sports Restaurant, or on satellite or even over the internet. You can’t get the fight anywhere in this Stinkin’ town.
Sandra Hughes leaves Channel 2 and the place goes to Hell in a Handbasket. Sandra knows the MMA and what it means to people who are out here trying to survive as we wait for our Government Stimulus Check that Scott McClellan wants to have resended.(All checks sent to his address) Sandra knows the MMA, just ask Matt Hughes, Larry Hughes, Alan Hughes, or Howard Hughes. There’s no Channel 2 News without Sandra Hughes and the same goes for the MMA and our ole’ pal Kimbo Slice.
I received this E-mail today from Bill Tice who lives in Oak Ridge and he really has this thing broken down into details. Check this out:
For the first time in its nascent history, the sport of Mixed Martial Arts will be showcased in a live, prime-time event on national television. Cage fighter Kimbo Slice — featured prominently on the cover of ESPN Magazine — will headline the five-fight card of EliteXC Saturday Night Fights premiering this Saturday, May 31st on CBS. It should shape up to be a great night of action packed bouts that might enliven an otherwise moribund Saturday night. Unfortunately, thanks to the Puritan-minded management at CBS affiliate WFMY, it will not be shown ANYWHERE IN THE TRIAD AREA.
That’s right, WFMY, Channel 2 in Greensboro, OUR CBS affiliate has made the decision not to broadcast that event and instead preempt it with a rerun of a movie of the week. The reason for the decision? According to their programming department, the management “was not comfortable with the content of the event.” Keep in mind that this is the channel that has, in the past, broadcast boxing, NASCAR racing — in which drivers have been mangled and sometimes killed in ultaviolent crashes — and such wholesome family fare as “Big Brother” and other various debaucherous reality show offerings.
WFMY maintains that they have the community’s best interest at heart. If so, it would seem their standards are extremely conservative, even for North Carolina. It should be noted that all the other major CBS affiliates in NC — WRAL in Raleigh and WBTV in Charlotte — will be broadcasting the event. Even WDBJ Channel 7 in Roanoke and Lynchburg (home to the departed Rev. Jerry Falwell) has listed the event on their primetime schedule.
Is this really a case of WFMY policing their airwaves for inappropriate content or perhaps flexing their muscles as the most powerful affiliate in the Triad? It is interesting to note that the brass at WFMY will be watching the event on the feed they receive from CBS — it just won’t be shown to anyone else in the area. What in effect this means is that their entire Triad area is completely shut out from showing this. That’s right. Not even a sports bar or those residents with satellite service will be able to pick up the show due to the stringent blackout requirements imposed by the networks.
So unless another station opts to carry the CBS feed, no one in the surrounding Metro area will have the opportunity to see the event and judge for themselves. In essence, WFMY has opted to make a moralistic decision for the community, and as a result set a curious precedent, one that many should find alarming, even those who may not even be remotely interested in the sport of MMA.
Agree or disagree with Channel 2’s decision? Let them know what you think. Ask for station programming.
WFMY News 2 (Channel 2, CBS) & digtriad.com
1615 Phillips Avenue
Greensboro, NC 27405
(336) 379-9369
*****We should load up the GREENSBOROSports.com bus and drive on over to the WFMY studios and let them know we plan to join Kent Bates, Eric Chilton, Greg Carr, Jamie Baldwin, and Tanya Rivera and we can all watch the event together and order in some wings and neckbones from the TV Grille across the street from the station. Roadtrip anyone????? What do you say, we can jump over the bushes and look through the windows and tell them “The Sliceman” sent us. We are the part of the “HomeSlice Brigade”. This could turn out to be Saturday Night’s Main Event.*****