TheGrio

TheGrio, styled as thegrio, is an American television network and website with news, opinion, entertainment and video content geared toward African-Americans.^[1]

TheGrio

Type	Digital broadcast television network
Country	United States
Broadcast area	United States
Affiliates	List of affiliates
Headquarters	Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Programming
Picture format	1080i master feed (cable and satellite distribution), reduced to 480i SDTV for most over-the-air affiliates
Ownership
Owner	Allen Media Group
Parent	Entertainment Studios
History
Launched	December 22, 2016; 7 years ago (2016-12-22)
Replaced	Black News Channel (after network purchase and merger into TheGrio TV)
Former names	Light TV (2016-2021)
Links
Website	thegrio.com thegriotv.com

History

TheGrio is to "focus on news and events that have a unique interest and pronounced impact within the national African Americans audience,"^[2] offering what co-founder and Executive Editor David Wilson feels "are underrepresented in existing national news outlets".

The website's name is derived from the word griot, the term for a West African oral historian and storyteller.^[3]

The website originally launched in June 2009 as a division of NBC News,^[4][5] it became a division of MSNBC in 2013. It was founded by the team who created the documentary film Meeting David Wilson. In 2014, it was sold to its founders.^[6] In June 2016, Byron Allen's Entertainment Studios acquired the site.^[7]

The TV channel was founded as Light TV in 2016 by reality television producer Mark Burnett and his wife, actress Roma Downey, as an inspirational network as part of his chairmanship of MGM Television, which operated the network. It was sold to Entertainment Studios in late 2020, and relaunched as TheGrio TV in January 2021, with a Black-specific programming focus.

After Entertainment Studios purchased the assets of the bankrupt Black News Channel in late July 2022, that network was merged into TheGrio TV on August 1, including the former's existing cable, satellite and advertiser supported on-demand streaming carriage, and plans to add more news and commentary to TheGrio TV's schedule.^[8]

Television network

Light TV (2015–2020)

The then-new over-the-top (OTT) faith-based channel was under development as early as September 2014 when MGM purchased 55% of One Three Media and LightWorkers Media, owned by Hearst Entertainment, Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, and consolidated them into United Artists Media Group.^[9] With MGM purchasing Hearst and Burnett and Downey's shares in UAMG, the channel was still a planned streaming service. However, Hearst and Burnett and Downey retained their stakes in the channel.^[10]

MGM announced the formation of Light TV on December 15, 2015, with a launch planned for December on thirteen major market stations owned by Fox Television Stations.^[11] The network launched on January 20, 2016^[12] with two stations, and the rest of the group's stations.

The network was intended to carry new and original content from LightWorkers as part of Burnett's chairmanship of MGM's television division, but never ended up carrying any new content, only featuring rerun and library content already seen on MGM's This TV (a film-oriented network) and MGM HD, along with low-cost barter programming such as Heartland, which was already in wide syndication across multiple channels, along with other generic inspirational or family-friendly content. By 2019, the network added paid programming which made up its late night and early morning schedule, reducing its programming commitment further.^[13]

TheGrio TV (2021–present)

Light TV and This TV were both sold by MGM TV in October 2020 to the Allen Media Group division of Entertainment Studios.^[14] On December 3, 2020, it was announced that the network would be relaunched as TheGrio.TV on January 15, 2021, carrying lifestyle and entertainment programming of interest to the Black American community as an extension of the website.^[15]

That same day, Light TV's satellite transponder space was taken over by Entertainment Studios, which stopped carrying programming in the interim and instead transmitted a test pattern promoting the launch of TheGrio (later a looping launch promo), while MGM continued to carry a stream of Light TV through the network's website. Fox Television Stations confirmed its stations would be a part of TheGrio's charter launch group, and much of its affiliate body transferred over through the month-long dark period, though some stations departed for other networks.^[16] The network officially relaunched as TheGrio on January 15, 2021, that year's Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and that same day MGM handed over the domain of Light TV to Entertainment Studios, ending the stream of Light TV.

Programming

TheGrio TV currently provides 16 hours of programming to its affiliated stations every day from 8:00 a.m. to midnight Eastern Time, with paid programming filling the remaining vacated hours.

From 2016 until 2021, TheGrio TV (as Light TV) featured several series and movies meant to fit the network's family-oriented approach, including content from the MGM film and TV library or acquired through outside sources.^[17][18] Infomercials were added to the Light TV lineup in 2019, occupying all of the overnight hours and into the early morning.

Current programming

Below is a current list of programming broadcast on TheGrio:^[19]

• America's Court with Judge Ross (November 1, 2021)
• Animal Rescue
• Comics Unleashed (November 1, 2021)
• The First Family (January 15, 2021)^[20]
• Jeremiah (November 1st)
• Justice With Judge Mablean (November 1, 2021)
• Mr. Box Office (January 15, 2021)^[20]
• Supreme Justice with Judge Karen Mills (November 1, 2021)
• TheGrio News with Eboni K. Williams
• TheGrio News with Marc Lamont Hill
• The Verdict with Judge Hatchett (November 1, 2021)
• Wild Times at the San Diego Zoo
• HBCU GO sports – coverage of college athletics at historically black colleges and universities, especially college football and the bands of those teams

Former programming

• The Adventures of Paddington Bear (2016–2019)
• All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series (December 22, 2016 – September 29, 2019)
• Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?^[11] (2016–2019, 2020–January 14, 2021)
• The Busy World of Richard Scarry (December 22, 2016 – October 2, 2020)
• The Country Mouse and the City Mouse Adventures (December 22, 2016 – October 2, 2020)
• Flipper
• Flipper – The New Adventures
• Franny's Feet (2017–September 30, 2019)
• Green Acres (2016–2018; October 1, 2019 – January 14, 2021)
• Heartland
• Heathcliff (October 6, 2018 – September 30, 2019)
• Highway to Heaven^[11] (December 22, 2016 – January 14, 2021)
• Inspector Gadget (December 22, 2016 – October 5, 2018 & October 1, 2019 – April 2020)
• It's About Time (October 5, 2019 – January 14, 2021)
• Madeline (December 22, 2016 – September 30, 2019)
• Mister Ed
• My Mother the Car (October 5, 2019 – January 14, 2021)
• Naturally Sadie (October 1, 2019 – April 2020)
• The Patty Duke Show (September 3, 2018 – January 14, 2021)
• The Pink Panther Show (December 24, 2016 – September 29, 2019)
• Sea Hunt
• Wimzie's House (December 22, 2016 – September 30, 2019)

Affiliates

As Light TV, the network space initially launched on subchannels of fourteen Fox and MyNetworkTV stations owned by Fox Television Stations, with most of the initial affiliates being owned-and-operated stations of the Fox Broadcasting Company.^[21] MGM then offered the network to stations outside the initial markets.^[22]

City	Station^[23]	Physical channel	Virtual channel	Owner (management company)	Date of affiliation	Notes
Alabama
Birmingham	WVTM-TV	7	13.4	Hearst Television	2021
Greensboro	WDVZ-CD	3	3.2	University of Alabama
Huntsville	WZDX	18	54.8	Tegna, Inc.
Tuscaloosa	WVUA	6	23.2	University of Alabama	June 1, 2017
Alaska
Anchorage	KAUU	7	5.5	Gray Television
Arizona
Phoenix	KSAZ-TV	10	10.4	Fox Television Stations	2017
Tucson	KTTU	19	18.5	Tegna, Inc
Arkansas
Harrison	K26GS-D	26	26.4	Reynolds Media, Inc.	2017
Little Rock	KTVV-LD	18	18.2	Larry Morton
California
Fresno	KAIL	7	7.2	Tri-State Christian Television	October 19, 2017
Los Angeles	KTTV	11	11.3	Fox Television Stations	2020
Sacramento	KCSO-LD	3	33.4	NBCUniversal	2018
Santa Barbara	KZDF-LD	8	8.3	HC2 Holdings	December 2017
Colorado
Sterling (Denver)	KCDO-TV	23.6, 34.6^[24]	10.1	E. W. Scripps Company	2017	KCDO-TV 3's display channel for Light TV is 10.1^[24]
District of Columbia
Washington	WRZB-LD	61	31.1	J. Christopher Blair (DC Broadcasting, Inc.)	2021
Florida
Pensacola	WBQP-CD	12	12.1	Watson Broadcasting Inc. of Pensacola, Florida (Vernon Watson)
Jacksonville	WJXX	10	25.6	Tegna, Inc.	2022
Miami	WSVN	7.2^[25]	7.2	Sunbeam Television	July 14, 2017^[26]
Orlando	WRBW	28	65.4	Fox Television Stations	2020
Tampa–St. Petersburg	WFTT-TV	25	62.5	Entravision Communications
Georgia
Atlanta	WAGA-TV	27	5.4	Fox Television Stations	2017
Hawaii
Honolulu	KWHE-TV	31	14.3	Family Broadcasting Corporation	2017
Idaho
Boise	KRID-LD	22	22.7	Karlo Maalouf^[27]	July 2017
Idaho Falls	KVUI	31	31.3	Ventura Broadcasting
Twin Falls	KTFT-LD	20	7.6	Tegna, Inc.		Previously on KXTF-DT3
Illinois
Chicago	WFLD	24	32.4	Fox Television Stations	2018
Marion	WTCT	30.5^[28]	27.3	Tri-State Christian Television
Oakwood Hills	WCHU-LD	7.2^[29]	59.2	Venture Technologies Group, LLC	December 2020	Relocated from WPWR-TV 50.3 and WFLD 32.4
Oswego (Chicago) Pekin (Peoria)	WTVK	39.3^[30]	59.3	Venture Technologies Group	2017
Indiana
Angola	WINM	12	12.3	Tri-State Christian Television	September 2017
Fort Wayne	WEIJ-LD	38.5^[31]	38.3
Indianapolis	WALV-CD	46	46.4	Tegna, Inc.
South Bend	WNDU-TV	27	16.4	Gray Television	January 31, 2022	Replaced QVC From 46.5 WHME-TV July 1, 2020 and Moved From WNDU-TV 16.4
Iowa
Des Moines	WOI-DT	5.10	5.8	Tegna, Inc.	2023
Kansas
Wichita	KAGW-CD	24	26.7	Great Plains Television
Kentucky
Lexington	WLJC-TV	7	65.2	Hour of Harvest
Louisville	WLKY	14	32.5	Hearst Television		Previously on WBNA-DT3
Louisiana
Baton Rouge	KPBN-LD	14	14.4	Pelican Broadcasting Network	January 1, 2018
Monroe	KMCT-TV	22	39.11	WGGS Inc.	May 1, 2021
New Orleans	WDSU	19	6.5	Hearst Television	October 5, 2021
Maine
Portland	WCSH	31	6.8	Tegna, Inc.
Maryland
Baltimore	WBAL-TV	12	11.4	Hearst Television	September 24, 2021
Massachusetts
Worcester (Boston)	WUTF-TV	19	27.4	Entravision Communications
Michigan
Detroit	WHNE-LD	3^[32]	3.1	Bridge Media Networks^[32] ^[33]	Since late August 2017
Traverse City-Cadillac	WMNN-LD	14^[33]	26.6		Since August 2017
Flint-Saginaw-Bay City	WJRT	12	12.3	Allen Media Group	January 1, 2024	Previously on WAQP and replaced Circle (TV network)
Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo	WTLJ	24	54.3	Tri-State Christian Television	2018
Minnesota
Minneapolis–Saint Paul	KMSP-TV	9	9.5	Fox Television Stations	2017
Mississippi
Jackson	WAPT	21	16.4	Hearst Television
Missouri
Kansas City	KSMO-TV	32.4^[34]	62.2	Gray Television	May 6, 2018
Springfield, Missouri	KRFT-LD	21	8.2	Craft Broadcasting	November 9, 2017^[35]
Nevada
Las Vegas	KDNU-LD	30	7.3	Bridge Media Networks	July 11, 2022	O&O station.
Reno	KTVN	11	2.2	Sarkes Tarzian, Inc.	2018
New Mexico
Albuquerque	KTVS-LD	36.1^[36]	36.1	Alpha Omega Broadcasting^[36]	October 2017^[37]	(physical and virtual) channel 36.3 is a simulcast of 36.1^[36]
New York
Albany	WNYA	13.4^[38]	51.2	Hubbard Broadcasting	November 1, 2017	Replaced Antenna TV
Jamestown	WNYB	26.5^[39]	26.3	Tri-State Christian Television	?
Buffalo	WBNF	15.5^[40]	15.3	Tri-State Christian Television
Syracuse	WWLF-LD	35.2^[41]	35.2	Metro TV, Inc.	September 1, 2021
New York City	WNYW	5.4	5.4	Fox Television Stations	December 2016
North Carolina
Charlotte	WJZY	25.7^[42]	46.5	Nexstar Media Group	2017
Ohio
Cincinnati	WBQC-LD ("Telemundo Cincinnati")	28	25.5	Elliot Block	2018
Mansfield	WMFD-TV	12	68.3	Mid-State Television, Inc.	2017
Marion	WOCB-CD	22.5^[43]	39.5	Central Ohio Assoc. of Chr. Broadcasters
Oklahoma
Oklahoma City	KOCO-TV	7	5.5	Hearst Television	2021
Oregon
Portland	KGW	26	8.6	Tegna, Inc.	2022
Pennsylvania
Johnstown	WWCP-TV	8	8.3	Cunningham Broadcasting (operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group)	2021
Philadelphia	WTXF-TV	31.5^[44]	29.3	Fox Television Stations	2017
Pittsburgh	WPKD-TV	11	19.5	CBS News and Stations	2021
South Carolina
Columbia	WLTX	15	19.8	Tegna, Inc.
Greenville	WGGS-TV	16.6^[45]	16.4	Carolina Christian Broadcasting	2017
Tennessee
Chattanooga	WRCB	3	3.2	Sarkes Tarzian, Inc.	2018
Nashville	WLLC-LD	42.3	42.3	JKB Associates	2021
Texas
Austin	KGBS-CD	19	19.5	HC2 Holdings	October 9, 2017
Bryan– College Station	KBTX-TV	16	3.4	Gray Television	2022
Dallas–Fort Worth	KDFI	27	27.5	Fox Television Stations	2017
Houston	KTXH	19	20.3		2020
Lubbock	KMYL-LD	22	14.2	Gray Television	February 6, 2022
San Antonio	KGMM-CD	24.4^[46]	24.2	CNZ Communications
Utah
Ogden	KULX-CD	14	10.5	NBCUniversal
Salt Lake City	KTMW	20	20.5
Virginia
Grundy	WLFG	49.4^[47]	68.2	Living Faith Ministries, Inc.	February 3, 2018
Washington
Seattle	KYMU-LD	6	6.2^[48]	Seattle 6 Broadcasting LLC	2019
Spokane	KSKN	36	22.5	Tegna, Inc.
Wisconsin
Milwaukee	WISN-TV	28	12.5	Hearst Television	September 30, 2021
Madison	WKOW	26	27.6	Allen Media Group	January, 2024

Former affiliates

Market	Station	Channel	Current owner	Years of affiliation	Notes
Chicago, Illinois	WPWR-TV	50.3	Fox Television Stations	2016-2018
Colorado Springs, Colorado	KWHS-LD	51.2^[49]	Christian Television Network	2017-2019	Replaced by CTN Lifestyle^[49]
Flint/Saginaw/Bay City	WAQP	48.5^[50]	49.3	2017-2023
Houston, Texas	KRIV-TV	26.2	Fox Television Stations	2017-2020	Decades and theGrio exchanged channel positions, with theGrio activated on KTXH-DT3 on launch day.^[51]
Las Vegas, Nevada	KGNG-LD	26.5	King Kong Broadcasting	2016-2023	Replaced by Central TV Las Vegas
Los Angeles, California	KCOP-TV	13.8 ^[52]	Fox Television Stations	2016-2020
Louisville	WBNA	21.3	Word Broadcasting Network	March 2017-?^[53]	Replaced by This TV
New Orleans, Louisiana	WHNO	20.2	Christian Television Network	2016-2018	Replaced by CTN Lifestyle
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma	KBZC-LD	42.2	HC2 Holdings	201?-2021	Replaced by CBN News Channel, and later paid programming
Orlando	WOFL	35.2	Fox Television Stations	2016-2020
Tampa Bay	WTOG	44.3^[54]	CBS News and Stations	2017-2021
Tulsa, Oklahoma	KWHB	47.2	Christian Television Network	2017-2019	Replaced by Dabl
	KGEB	53.2	GEB America	2019-2021	Replaced by Shop LC
Twin Falls	KXTF	35.3	Tri-State Christian Television	2016-2021	Replaced by Defy TV
Washington, D.C.	WDCA	20.4	Fox Television Stations	2017-2018	Was dropped due to channel share with sister station WTTG

References

1. Kee, Tameka (June 10, 2009). "Can NBCU's TheGrio.com Succeed Where RushmoreDrive.com Failed?". CBS News. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
2. Ham, Jon (August 10, 2009). "NBC’s theGrio.com needs diversity training". Carolina Journal Online.
3. Mayes, Julia (October 3, 2011). "Positively Black: NBC Launches The Grio". 4 NBC New York.
4. "The Grio Web Site". C-SPAN Video Library, August 20, 2012.
5. "TheGrio reveals annual Top 100 list". Today, February 4, 2013.
6. Jordan Chariton (August 14, 2014). "NBC News Selling TheGrio.com". TVNewser. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
7. Debbie Emery (June 14, 2016). "Byron Allen's Entertainment Studios Acquires TheGrio". TheWrap. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
8. "Black News Channel is now theGrio" (Press release). TheGrio. August 1, 2022. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
9. Busch, Mike Fleming Jr,Anita (September 22, 2014). "MGM Buys 55% Of Roma Downey And Mark Burnett's Empire; Relaunches United Artists". Deadline. Penske Business Media. Retrieved March 6, 2017.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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14. "Allen Media Group Buys Two Networks From MGM," from Deadline, 10/28/2020
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External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to TheGrio.

• Official website
• "MSNBC will air the world premiere of 'Meeting David Wilson,' Friday, April 11, 9 p.m. ET". NBC News. March 22, 2008.
• . NBC Universal Media Village. Archived from the original on October 5, 2013.