ENTERTAINMENT NEWS | ‘Homeplate’ is back with new format

March 30, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

‘Homeplate’ is back with new format

YOUNGSTOWN

The second season of the “Homeplate” television program begins this weekend. “Homeplate” will air every Saturday at 7 a.m. on WYTV-33 and at 11:30 a.m. Sundays on MyYTV. Mark C. Peyko, Metro Monthly publisher, and Ron Flaviano, art director at The Morning Journal, are the program’s creators and producers.

“Homeplate” continues its celebration of locally-owned restaurants, food manufacturers and ethnic cooks, but has added local culture, history, health and fitness and home-design tips to the mix.

This season, “Homeplate” features an expanded format. Program hosts include Stephanie Shaw (“Homeplate: Main Course”), Helga Wengler and Mitch Lynch (“Homeplate Homestyle”) and Youngstown broadcast legend Sophia Brooks (“Expressions”). Arts and theater instructor Paula Jasper hosts “Explore the Mahoning Valley” and handles general voice work and narration.

Metro Monthly columnist John Webster (“The Wine Guy”) hosts a segment on wines, and Kevin Kralj and Kristy Regula will offer home-design tips. “Homeplate” will also include a weekly historical feature.

‘Civil War’ returns

KENT

Western Reserve PBS will air “The Civil War,” Ken Burns’ acclaimed documentary, from Sunday through April 7 at 8 p.m. The rebroadcast coincides with the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War on April 12. “The Civil War” received more than 40 major film and television awards and attracted an audience of 40 million during its premiere in September 1990.