Dish Nation

Dish Nation
Dish Nation logo
Genre	Comedy Satire News parody
Created by	Stu Weiss
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
Production
Location(s)	Dallas, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Seattle, Canada
Running time	22 minutes
Production company(s)	Bartholomew Productions Giant Bowling Pin Productions, Inc. Twentieth Television
Broadcast
Original channel	First-run syndication
Original airing	July 25, 2011 (2011-07-25) (test run) September 10, 2012 (Nationwide launch)
External links
Official Website

Dish Nation is a nightly entertainment and celebrity news program which attempts to satirize pop culture. Dish Nation features radio personalities from across the United States. It debuted on July 25, 2011 on Fox Television Stations.^[1] Filmed daily at their respective radio stations, the show highlights contrived on-air banter, satirical takes on Hollywood gossip, augmented with current popular music, animation and video footage.

Radio Personalities

The radio teams include The Rickey Smiley Morning Show, from Atlanta, heard on 50+ radio stations, featuring standup comic and theatrical star Rickey Smiley, Headkrack, Ebony Steele, Gary with da Tea and Rock-T; The nationally syndicated Kidd Kraddick in the Morning show, based in Dallas, Texas, joined Dish Nation for the second season starting in September 2012. KKITM was heard on 70+ radio stations and starred Kidd Kraddick until his death in July 2013, Kellie Rasberry, J-Si Chavez, Jenna Owens, and Big Al Mack. The Heidi & Frank Show from KLOS Los Angeles and Brooke and Jubal from KQMV Seattle are rotated weekly.

During the 2011 Dish Nation summer test, recording artist DJ Felli Fel and Jessi Malay of Los Angeles' KPWR were a part of the radio roundtable.^[2] Blaine Fowler & Allyson Martinek In The Morning on 96-3 WDVD in Detroit were also part of the original line up as was New York’s Scott & Todd, starring Scott Shannon and Todd Pettengill on WPLJ;^[3] The DJ Laz Morning Show was added to the show's second season.

Conception

Dish Nation was conceived in 2008 by broadcast marketing veteran and former radio DJ and TV weatherman, Stu Weiss.^[2] Greg Meidel, who oversaw Entertainment Tonight in its heyday and launched The Insider while head of CBS Domestic Television, green lighted the limited market test of Dish Nation, opting to evolve to every genre he oversaw at CBS.

Summer Test Run

On July 25, 2011, Dish Nation premiered in a limited test run in seven markets. With the help of Madeleine Smithberg, co-creator of the The Daily Show, the show kicked off as a fast-paced entertainment roundtable covering pop culture and celebrity news through four radio teams. The test show ran in the home markets where the radio shows were based, (New York, Atlanta, Detroit and Los Angeles) as well as in Baltimore, Washington, D.C. and Phoenix.^[4] Hosts for the test run included WPLJ's Scott Shannon and Todd Pettengill, WHTA's nationally syndicated Rickey Smiley Morning Show, featuring Ebony Steele, Gary With Da Tea, and HeadKrack, as well as WDVD's Fowler and Martinek. Recording artist DJ Felli Fel and Jessi Malay, with comedian Michael Bachmann, were the show's Los Angeles hosts. Dish Nation averaged a modest 0.9 rating/2 share for the six week test,^[2] but Fox saw promising growth. The show experienced an 11% increase in household ratings from the premiere week to the end of the six week test.^[5]

Dish Nation experienced other standout ratings successes, beating David Letterman in Atlanta and frequently coming in third in key demos and household ratings, though with the caveat that Atlanta's CBS affiliate is one of that network's weakest affiliate stations.^[5] The show's median age of viewers was 43.1, the lowest among all entertainment magazine shows, according to Twentieth (TMZ 43.7, Access Hollywood 52.3, Extra 54.2, The Insider 55.2, Entertainment Tonight 56.6, Inside Edition 58).^[2] However the show hasn't been always successful, the show has been canceled in the Houston and Austin markets.^[2]

Season One

Prior to the 2012 NATPE conference, 20th Century Fox announced Dish Nation would return for 52 week full series run to premiere September 10, 2012.^[6] After the rating success of its first 100 episodes, 20th Television announced on January 25, 2013 that Dish Nation was picked up for an unprecedented Season Two.^[7] Viewers "are constantly sharing with their friends that Dish Nation is the funniest show on television, resulting in new eyeballs watching the show and contributing to the continued upward trajectory of the ratings,” said Stephen Brown, EVP of programming and development at Twentieth Television.

On July 27th, 2013 Kidd Kraddick died in the New Orleans area while raising money for his charity Kidd's Kids; on July 29th Dish Nation paid tribute to him with a special broadcast.

Season Two

Season 2 officially began on September 09, 2013 with the cast of Rickey Smiley Morning Show from Atlanta, the remaining cast members of Kidd Kraddick in the Morning from Dallas and Heidi and Frank Show from Los Angeles. Many segments have changed and dropped throughout the season. In November of 2013 Dish Nation was renewed for a 3rd season.

Former Personalities

• "Scott and Todd in the Morning" (Scott Shannon, Todd Pettengill, Cooper Lawrence and Joseph Pardavilla), WPLJ New York.
• Jessie Malay, Krystal Bee, DJ Felli Fel and Michael Bachmann, KPWR Los Angeles.
• "Blaine and Allyson in the Morning"(Blaine Fowler and Allyson Martinek), WDVD Detroit.
• "The J Show" (J Niice and Showbiz Shelly), WBBM Chicago.
• "DJ Laz Morning Show"(DJ Laz and Lillian Rodgriguez), based in Miami and simulcasted in Los Angeles.
• "Ty Love NY" (Ty Bentil, Lulu and Lala), WNOW New York.
• Kidd Kraddick (died July 27th, 2013)

Sources

• "Dish Nation seeks to harness radio chatter for TV". LA Times. 

References

Further reading

• Albiniak, Paige (June 9, 2011). "Seven Fox Stations to Test Dish Nation This Summer". Adweek. 

External links

• Dish Nation official website