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SHOWS, PODCASTS, BOOKS, MUSIC & MORE!
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(2018-2020)
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My 8th TV series, Discovering WNY constituted two versions of the show that were broadcast on four regional WNY networks from 2017-2020 .
The initial version of the show was a travel and history interstitial series broadcast on WNED-PBS throughout the entirety of WNY and the Toronto/Southern Ontario region. The second version of the show was a small business series that was broadcast on three WNY commercial stations featuring interviews with the owners about the continuous daily issues of running your own small business as well as tours of some of the businesses. Due to the economic conditions the pandemic immediately forced on all small local businesses, I had to start focusing solely on the WNED-PBS version of the show and stop producing the small business profile series in March 2020 as most small businesses were fully or partially shut down throughout the reminder of 2020 and any in-person/on-site production simply became difficult to impossible to implement. But, like all unforeseen challenges, you have to see the silver lining, adjust your sails and keep heading toward higher ground and in early 2022, I began a new series solely devoted to my biggest passions. Small Towns... ~AA |
A Primer/Backstory
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Between the WNED-PBS version & the small business version of the show, this was an all-consuming job that literally took 16–20-hour days for a few years and honestly, there were many nights where it took me right through into the next day.
It was a true way for me to showcase all the various skill sets I've acquired over the last 30 years in the television and music industries as well as the three things I am really most passionate about in the world. Which is the environment, small businesses and the small towns that contain them. And although there's been a bit of a small-town resurgence as of late with the attempted rehabbing and repurposing from the devastating effects that the multitude of soul-and-planet-crushing-gigantic-mega-corps have had on Main Street USA, most towns are still struggling hard, hence their Mom & Pop shops are still struggling too. Western New York was particularly hit hard in and through the 70s and 80s and my family's restaurant along with tens of thousands of others here, suffered tremendously during that time period. So, in the years that followed, small towns, small businesses and all that they upheld has become one of my life's greatest passions. I hope you enjoy the shows! ~AA |
36 PBS WNED-TV
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A bit about...
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From 2017-2020 I created and released one video per month to WNED-PBS for the WNY and southern Ontario and Toronto markets, hence the 36 episodes you see above. 36 months equals 36 episodes.
A new series will be returning to the station sometime in 2022 with 12 new episodes every season. You can catch them on TV between the shows on WNED as they are spread throughout the programming grid each week. The interstitial (between the shows) episodes above were always an assorted grab-bag of at least, interesting-to-me regionally-based subjects on anything I want to showcase here in WNY and I truly enjoyed creating each and every one of them and I hope you enjoy watching them! ~AA |
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All songs written, performed & produced by A.A.
Conceived, created, directed & produced A.A. Filmed in Western NY & edited by A.A. © 1980-2022 All Rights Reserved
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154 SMALL BUSINESS
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A bit about...
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If you've already read my mission statement, then you would have learned that I come from a longtime, 32 year old family restaurant that was in operation here in WNY from 1968-2000.
It was a great run and it was my family's life through all those years and as you can imagine, small mom & pop shops are in my blood. And as I transitioned into this business, it became my goal to allow all small mom & pops the opportunity for as much exposure as I could possibly give them for as little money as I could possibly allow and still keep the lights on. In time, I eventually grew my sponsorship account opportunities from not just merely sponsoring my shows with small commercials or call-out cards, but to actually having them become a direct part of it with full half hours showcases of their businesses or even, in some cases, multiple half hours. From early 2018-early 2020, just when the pandemic just began to rear it's ugly head and most small businesses had to shut down, I was selling and producing this version of the show single-handedly. I sold and produced over 150 of these programs and 350+ sponsorship accounts to support it all. It was the most work I have ever done on anything! Period. And that's saying a lot if you know what I've done in the past. But it was a labor of love and these businesses can now use this content for as long as they have a business. There's some truly special episodes here and some amazingly candid and insightful conversations about entrepreneurship, life and all things following your passion into your career. These episodes were filmed and edited at a break-neck pace over a short period of time, with one day for filming and one for editing and mastering. Due to that fact, they all mostly have their production flaws as there was simply only so much time I could dedicate to each one without ending up in the hospital, which actually happened through overworking myself to death through this production period, but that's another story. I think the quirks of these shows just add to their home-spun charm and the very real experience of what it's like to own and operate a small business in this day and age when your back is always against the wall. You'll find all sorts of styles of shows here including the aforementioned, long-form interviews, full operational walk-throughs, narrated cinematic profiles or just a simple but still awesome, straight-up, single camera, one-shot, in-depth conversations about life and business and all manner of things. At the time, shows that simply filmed two people in deep conversation for a few hours (ala the Joe Rogan Podcast... or any Podcasts now) weren't all that popular and I was heavily criticized by the local WNY media and pretty much everyone I knew (and didn't know) for broadcasting simple, deeply personal conversations for a full half hour. But, I have since, now, been proven to be 100%-spot-on-correct with my gut intuition that this was in fact the way forward to the future of mass-media content. So #$% to all the personal and professional critics that panned me for the long-form content on the show! Time and public taste have proved you wrong and me... right! Sorry, but it has to be said now thank you very much! I saw it all coming from a country mile away back in the 2000's actually and as usual, the entire WNY market were as collectively blind as bats and as cynical and bitter as ever and I was beaten up over it for two full years. (I'm now sticking my tongue out to you! Lol...) I knew then, as everyone has since suddenly "discovered" (pun intended), that all you need to do is to let the conversation go and flow, see where it takes you, film it all, try to stay out of the way in editing and send it out to the Universe. Vindication is a truly beautiful thing sometimes and vindicated I am and it is a SWEEEET feeling my precious! Sweet indeed. ~AA |
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All songs written, performed & produced by A.A.
Conceived, created, directed & produced A.A. Filmed in Western NY & edited by A.A. © 1980-2022 All Rights Reserved
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155 SMALL BUSINESS
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A bit about...
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This is where the germ for the idea to expand the show sponsorships into half hour profiles truly began.
These sponsorship ad account campaigns ranged from simple multi-carded "call-outs" at the end of the PBS episodes or at the start and end of the commercial shows to eventually morphing into full-fledged, half hour programs profiling local WNY "Mom & Pop" businesses through interviews, business and full operational walk-throughs, narrated cinematic profiles or just a simple but awesome straight-up, single camera, in-depth conversation above life and business and all manner of things for a full half hour. It's a who's who of regional WNY small businesses in these commercials and you can still catch some of them online of Facebook, YouTube and even on some local TV channels. ~AA |
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All songs written, performed & produced by A.A.
Conceived, created, directed & produced A.A. Filmed in Western NY & edited by A.A. © 1980-2022 All Rights Reserved
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