Courtesy: Soul of the South Press Release

An ambitious new TV broadcast service targeting African Americans in the southern United States called the Soul of the South Network plans to spend at least $10 million by early next year to launch in at least 50 markets offering entertainment, sports, news and cultural programming.

Among cities where SSN plans to be available at launch are Atlanta, Memphis, Monroe (Louisiana), Orlando and Augusta (Georgia). It also plans to have affiliates in northern cities such as Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Detroit with large African-American population segments.

Organizers are said to be negotiating deals for studio library programming that features African Americans in a southern setting, as well as rights to regional and local sports such as football, basketball and baseball games from black colleges, universities and high schools in their key markets, according to Edwin Avent, chairman of the new network’s parent company, SSN Media Group.

Advent recently made a deal to sell his Heart & Soul Magazine publishing company based in Baltimore and has spent months negotiating acquisitions of stations, setting up affiliate relationships and partnering with technology companies. “South of the South Network will embody the heart of African-American culture,” said Advent, “and if we’re as successful as I believe we’ll be, viewers will turn to our network in record numbers because they’ll finally feel at home.”

The 2010 Census revealed that 57 percent of all African Americans live in the South, the highest percentage in more than 50 years. The black population of the South grew at the fastest rate since 1910 and the South was also the fastest-growing region in the country overall, seeing its population increase 14 percent. Atlanta replaced Chicago as the city with the second highest number of African-American residents after New York.

“We believe we will appeal to a mature thinking Southern audience who not only want to be entertained,” added Advent, “but also informed and kept abreast of the latest happenings in business, politics and culture. We’ll provide programming for millions of African-Americans whose voices are largely unheard. “

SSN also plans to do some original programming such as a hip hop music show, a program featuring family reunions and Drum Majors, about music at mostly black colleges, which they call their Dancing With the Stars.

Their first two shows will be Radioface, an unscripted comedy hosted by regional radio personalities; and Southern Soul Stories, which according to an announcement “explores the lives of African-American icons of the South and the events, large and small, that shaped the region.”

They also promise to air five hours a day of news, mostly originating from bureaus in southern state capitals such as Tallahassee, Florida; Jackson, Mississippi; Montgomery, Alabama; and Charlotte, North Carolina. SSN has contracted with INN News of Davenport, Iowa to support the news operations.

SSN is expected to own or control at least a dozen stations by launch, with others coming on board as affiliates. Those include full broadcast stations (who also have cable carriage), lower power stations and digital spectrum stations (where an existing station offers additional digital signals). The service will also be online and by the end of next year expects to offer a mobile phone distribution platform.

Along with Avent, those creating the new venture are co-founders Carl McCaskill, who serves as exec vp of business development and branding; and Larry Morton (who founded the Retro Network) and will now be president of the network.

SSN will be headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas based at the studio and production facilities of KKYK-TV, a TV full power TV station formerly part of Equity Broadcasting before it went bankrupt in 2008. SNN estimates it will have at least 100 employees by the time of the launch.

Other SSN executive include Jeff Burns Jr., formerly of Johnson Publishing, who heads marketing; Donald “Chip” Harwood of Princeton Media; and Ed Baruch of Allied Media, who is a consultant on distribution.

The new venture has acquired assets from Equity, including the C.A.S.H. system, which stands for Central Automated Satellite Headend. This allows them to program stations anywhere in the country from a single hub in Little Rock. SSN will sell local advertising in each market, and have news bureaus in many of them.

However, the signal will not actually be fed by satellite. Instead, it will use a computer server “cloud based system” to deliver its programming 24 hours a day.  Fusion Services of Davenport, Iowa, led by Jeff Lyle, handles master control and signal delivery.

SSN, which plans to showcase its line up at the broadcast upfront next May, said it will have a slate of charter advertisers by launch including airlines, automobile and healthcare companies, according to Frank Mercado, former head of the African Heritage Network (a TV syndicator). “We will get some of that and regional dollars by carving out a sub-sector that has different buying and behavioral patterns which will allow advertisers to focus their product marketing better. There will be no other network like ours.”

There are, however, other networks. Besides the BET network owned by Viacom, which is on cable TV, Bounce TV launched in September in major U.S. cities with a mix of movies, faith based shows and original programming. Its founders include Martin Luthur King III and former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young. It airs mostly on digital channels.

MGM is also trying to launch KIN TV, to join its digital channel offerings such as THIS TV. MGM’s partner in the venture is reportedly Lee Gaither, a media consultant who helped launch the TV One cable network.

Join Susan Bone and her daughter Alison Smith as they celebrate 10 years in business with a ribbon cutting of the Columbia County Chamber. They’re also making plans to help a local food bank…bring in 2 canned goods or 2 dollars and get a dozen roses for $10. They’re also holding a guitar pull ticket stop there coming up…and having lots of holiday deals on wreaths and other Christmas décor.

Courtesy: Willcox Hotel Press Release

The recently released November Conde´ Nast Traveler 2011 Readers’ Choice Awards lists The Willcox hotel in Aiken, S.C., among the Top 50 Best Small Hotel in the United States.

The Willcox was one of only three South Carolina hotels on the list and the only one outside of Charleston. In fact, of the 10 South Carolina properties listed among the magazine’s 180 Best Resorts, top 30 Best Small Resorts, 150 Best Hotels and 50 Best Small Hotels, The Willcox is the only establishment not along the coast.

According to the magazine, the winners were “sifted from more than 8 million votes cast in our annual Readers’ Choice Awards survey, swept up together to form travel’s apex of excellence. These awards reflect the combined opinions of 28,876 Conde´ Nast Traveler readers rating the cities, islands and hotels they visited in the past year. For its range and depth, the Readers’ Choice Awards are a unique and trusted source of advice globally, and that is thanks to America’s most discerning and demanding travelers.” The voters evaluated more than 11,000 cities, islands, hotels, resorts, airlines and cruise ships in the survey.

The Willcox was about to close its doors on January 1, 2010 but its sale to Geoff and Shannon Ellis, literally at the eleventh hour near midnight on New Year’s Eve 2009, saved the 113-year-old Aiken institution. Now, less than two years later, it is rated in the top 50 small hotels in the United States. Geoff Ellis, said when he saw the ranking, “This recognition is huge for us. It is very gratifying.”

“This success story belongs to our great staff and to so many wonderful people here in Aiken. Our staff has worked so hard to serve our guests and the people of Aiken have rallied around their beloved hotel. People tell us every day how much they love The Willcox and how happy they are that it is alive and thriving again. The Willcox belongs to Aiken, we’re just another in the line of its caretakers over its more than a century of service.

“In turn, we hope that Aiken is proud of the number of votes that came in from around the world, in essence choosing Aiken as a top destination. The city has won numerous recent awards for its quality of life and as a destination in itself. This recognition is certainly an award for Aiken as well as for our team. The Willcox is a big part of Aiken’s history and we will keep working to make sure it’s a big part of Aiken’s future.”

“…A child goes missing every 40 seconds in the U.S, over 2,100 per day,
In excess of 800,000 children are reported missing each year,

Another 500,000 go missing without ever being reported,

Approximately 60 percent of attempted abductions occur when a child is going to and from school or school-related activities….”

- U.S. Department of Justice

KID SAFE is an upbeat and positive workshop for children designed to empower children with the information and techniques to help keep them safe from abduction, assault, and abuse. In the KID SAFE workshops children will have the opportunity to learn and practice these techniques in a fun interactive and motivating setting. Our Workshops are costumed for different age groups, various environmental settings, and life situations of the children, but all KID SAFE workshops share the following concepts,

Awareness Training – recognizing safe and dangerous situations.

Stranger Safety – how to identify strangers.

Safety Zones and Touches – appropriate zones of safety and what is and is not appropriate touching for different adult in a child’s life.

Self Protection – physical and mental self protection techniques design for specifically children.

In our KID SAFE workshops, our certified instructors focus on the positive, thus building the students self esteem and confidence as well as the ability of awareness and self protection.

We create an atmosphere of “learning by doing” which mean the children will interactively participate and practice physical and verbal techniques.

Finally we present real situation and scenarios to better help the children relate to our information.