Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Wednesday, April 22, 2015
The Weather Channel Tuesday signed a long-term deal with Dish Network, avoiding the type of tempest the network had last year with DirecTV, which took the network off the air for three tumultuous months.
This guarantees the Atlanta-based network will be available to Dish's 14 million subscribers for years to come. The Wall Street Journal reports the deal will not increase what the Weather Channel receives from Dish to carry the network.
Dish will also include the Weather Channel on its new Sling service, a low-cost access point to many cable channels via Web-enabled devices.
The Weather Channel was dropped recently by Verizon Wireless's FIOS TV service, which is carried by 5.6 million households.
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Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Ron Clark, the local educator who came to prominence a decade ago after appearances on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and a biopic about him starring Matthew Perry, will catch up with Oprah Winfrey this Saturday at 9 p.m. on "Where are They Now?"
Clark has built up his non-profit middle school Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta as an incubator/laboratory for his dynamic, distinctive teaching methodology. More than 10,000 educators have taken tours of his school. I have attended his graduations each year and it's really inspiring what he's done for these kids.
On the show, he says, "we're about how to truly get to the heart of being a great teacher. It's about the eye contact, the relationship, it's about how you question kids, it's about the movement. Teachers should have their hands above their waist at least 60 percent of the time, teachers should be happy, when you're in a good mood, studies have shown this students are going to be more likely to remember and believe what you say."
Oprah donated $365,000 to his academy back in 2008. I was there for the announcement:
And here's the TNT film about Clark before he opened the academy:
And here is Clark's first appearance on Oprah more than a decade ago:
This is Ron Clark Academy's promo video from 2013:
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Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Former Atlantan Don Lemon has become a water cooler topic for CNN as an anchor willing to speak his mind (and makes the occasional gaffe.)
GQ recently titled a story about Lemon, tongue in cheek: "Anchorman: The Legend of Don Lemon."
CNN boss Jeff Zucker moved him up to New York City in 2013, where Lemon now anchors the 10 p.m. show:
"Let me put it this way," says Jeff Zucker. "There's certainly a lot of interest in Don Lemon, and that's a good thing for Don and for CNN. You know, Don is a little bit of a lightning rod. Frankly, we needed a little bit of lightning."
The writer is flattered and flattering to Lemon, who comes across are reasonable and smart and willing to learn when he makes a mistake. The writer's take:
No, Don Lemon isn't Murrow or Cronkite. He may not be the steady, infallible news anchor America needs right now. But he sure feels like the anchor we deserve.
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