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Local TV show is going national
YOUNGSTOWN — Debor’ah Benton is taking her weekly television show to a national level.
“The Valley Gold Show With Debor’ah Benton” has been picked up by CoLours TV, a channel available on The Dish Network, a satellite TV provider. CoLours TV focuses on cultural, entertainment and educational programming for people of color, including the black, Hispanic, Asian and American Indian communities.
When the show premieres on CoLours on Dec. 14, it will have a new look, a new logo and a new name — “The Debor’ah Show.”
The format of the celebrity- driven talk and variety show will not change, but the appearance and other production values will be improved.
“The Debor’ah Show” will continue to air locally at noon Saturday on FOX Youngstown.
Dish Network subscribers nationwide can see the show at 6:30 p.m. Mondays and 2 a.m. Thursdays.
Benton said she is excited about the opportunity.
“It’s what I’ve been working toward these past five years,” she said. “Being seen nationally gives my guests more exposure and more reason to travel to Youngstown and be on the show. It expands our brand and will certainly help me sharpen my game because I’ll be seen in a much more competitive marketplace. And it provides my advertisers and sponsors with a national reach.”
Because Benton signed a nonexclusive contract with CoLours TV, she can also shop the show to other networks.
Benton said the improvements to the show will be noticeable.
“We’ve developed a new format that we feel is glitzier and gives it a faster pace,” she said. “And we are working with a set designer out of Akron who will be presenting some design plans to us very soon that we are hoping to implement.”
Benton said she is producing a new opening song for the show, which will begin featuring top local talent each week.
“The Debor’ah Show” will still be taped before a live and local audience at LinMar Strategies studio in the PNC Bank Building, downtown. LinMar is a broadcast production company owned by Benton and her husband, LaMarr.
The first episode for CoLours will feature guest stars Russell Thompkins Jr. and the New Stylistics.
CoLours TV was launched in 2001 on Dish Network, targeting multicultural America. Today it is in more than 17 million households, which account for more than 40 million viewers.
Benton, a graduate of East High School and Bowling Green State University, has worked in the television production field for years. She began to develop her own television show in 2003, which took to the air shortly thereafter.
Earlier this year, her show was picked up by Global Broadcasting Co., which will begin airing it in 16 European countries in January.