Alan Pergament

3 weeks ago | buffalonews.com | Alan Pergament

The cynic in me believes the initials should stand for Buffalo Toronto Plea for Money. That’s because the rebranding of WNED, WNED Classical, WBFO, WBFO The Bridge, WNED PBS Kids and WNED Create to include BTPM appears to be designed to highlight its ties with Toronto even more in an effort to increase fundraising from our neighbors to the north. Of course, Tom Calderone, the president and CEO of Buffalo Toronto Public Media had a different explanation in a news release.

4 weeks ago | buffalonews.com | Alan Pergament

My imitation of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star Larry David in a column several months ago struck a chord with some readers who have their own list of TV and radio annoyances. I probably annoyed several readers by waiting so long to list their annoyances. I got a special kick from the reader who listed me as one of her biggest annoyances. As the late Groucho Marx famously said, “I resemble that remark!”You can bet your life that I enjoyed some of my readers’ complaints.

1 month ago | buffalonews.com | Alan Pergament

Hollywood loves Hollywood stories. The latest examples are the fourth season of the Emmy-winning series “Hacks” starring Jean Smart as 70-year-old late night television host Deborah Vance and Seth Rogen as 40-something studio head Matt Remick, who is tasked at saving the movie industry in the Apple TV+ series “The Studio.”Vance and Remick couldn’t be more different in the ways they comically navigate the industry.

1 month ago | buffalonews.com | Alan Pergament

WKBW-TV (Channel 7) anchor Lia Lando and meteorologist Mary Beth Wrobel have been removed from the news staff listed on the station website. It indicates that they were part of the layoffs announced last month by the station’s owner, E.W. Scripps, that were to take place in April. The decline of WKBW-TV Channel 7 is a sad story that is affecting strong journalists at the station and hurts the community, Pergament says.

1 month ago | buffalonews.com | Alan Pergament

The cruel, inevitable comments arrived via email and social media after the recent announcement that E.W. Scripps, the owner of WKBW-TV (Channel 7), was cutting up to eight people at the station for financial reasons. “The big joke is that it was hard to believe they still had six people working there,” wrote one reader. “I’m sure all 27 of their viewers would notice their absences,” wrote another. “How much more can you cut?” wrote another.