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Curtain Brought Down on Bronx TV Show

By JORDAN MOSS

BronxTalk AM, the two-hour daily TV show devoted to borough politics, issues and events, will end on May 5 and be replaced by a new show with rotating anchors. Gary Axelbank, the show’s creator and host for the last six years, announced the move in an e-mail.

Michael Knobbe, the public access station’s executive director, confirmed the decision. He said he made the change to get greater diversity on the air.

Axelbank disagreed with the decision, and many of his viewers are organizing to save the show.

Knobbe said a new show called OPEN will replace BronxTalk AM, and four people will share the hosting duties. Axelbank will continue to host two mornings a week. The other two anchors will take to the microphone on the other three days.

Axelbank’s show was a virtual neighborhood coffee shop, where residents and organizations would stop by to chat about everything from contentious neighborhood controversies, to cultural projects, sports, and community services.

BronxTalk AM aired from 10 a.m. to noon every morning and would repeat at the same times in the evening on channel 67. BRONXNET, a public access station, operates three channels – 67 through 70 – on the Cablevision system and provides training to Bronx residents. The station produces in-house programming like BronxTalk, Teens Talk 2 Glennis, Bronx Magazine and Ask the Bronx D.A., but also presents shows produced by Bronx residents trained at BRONXNET.

In commentary before the guests arrived on BronxTalk AM, Axelbank regularly held forth on Bronx issues, taking clear and forceful stands. In doing so, he occasionally ruffled feathers among borough politicians, particularly on the filtration plant which he vigorously opposed.

But Knobbe said Axelbank’s outspokenness had nothing to do with the decision. “If that were the case, he would have been off the air a long time ago,” Knobbe said, adding that Axelbank will still be getting a lot of air time with three shows a week. In addition to the two morning show slots, Axelbank will keep his half-hour BronxTalk PrimeTime show.

Knobbe also said BronxTalk AM was not self-supporting and that it was his understanding that “Gary Axelbank would get the funding for that show. That show was supposed to be self-sustaining and it never was.”

But Axelbank said he brought in the initial funding from underwriters to get the show going and that he was told future campaigns for underwriting would be handled by the station. He also said that the station failed to renew expiring contracts.

Paul Gentile, chairman of BRONXNET’s board said all efforts to bring revenue to the station are encouraged.

“Any statement by any person that they have been restricted in raising funding for our station is ludicrous,” he said. “Certainly, if Gary feels he can raise money for our station, he is unimpeded in that effort. It’s welcomed with our blessing.”

But the main issued cited by Knobbe and Gentile for the change was the desire to bring greater diversity to the morning show.

“It’s been six and a half years,” Knobbe said. “It’s time to present opportunities to develop new talents to present diversity and to bring to the Bronx a new level of engagement on TV through technology.”

Gentile said, “It makes good sense that there is more than one voice giving opinions, enlarging the base of people that tune in, and speak with us and speak with each other.”

Axelbank, a lifelong Bronxite who is white and Jewish, said he couldn’t change who he was, but said his show championed and showcased diversity. “We have supported people of every ethnicity on that show. We have presented every ethnicity.”

The two new hosts of the show are performance artist Rhina Valentin and Dr. Bob Lee of WBLS radio. A press release issued by the station said OPEN would develop new journalists and on-air talent and would include “segments that are shot on location … as well as vignettes, packages, and art capsules that are rolled in. Each show will include a major issue with comments from Bronx residents on the street, as well as specialty segments such as health, finance, education, sports and entertainment.”

The decision to cancel Axelbank’s show angered many fans.

“I think it’s terrible … a real loss for the community,” said Charles Shayne, executive director of the Kingsbridge Heights Community Center. “There are few outlets that allow for protracted discussions about community issues.”

Shayne wishes the station had reached out to listeners before pulling the plug. “They should have given some opportunity for community discussion about this,” he said.

Other community leaders have begun organizing to get the show reinstated. Bedford Park resident and Community Board 7 member Anthony Rivieccio circulated an e-mail advertising a “Support for Quality Community Television Walk” on May 5, the day the show is slated to end, at 9:30 a.m. beginning from the corner of Jerome Avenue and Kingsbridge Road.

Ronn Jordan, president of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, distributed a letter urging people to call Knobbe to tell him “that you find this cancellation disturbing and that we will boycott any ‘new’ show that is put on as a replacement.”

D. Lee Ezell, a Community Board 4 member who appeared on the show, said BronxTalk provided a rare soapbox to air local issues. “We couldn’t do massive distribution of newsletters,” she said. “The show serves as an organizing tool. … Why tamper with something that works?”

Heather Haddon contributed to this article.

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