It’s been a little while since we’ve had an opportunity to look back and feature highlights from our recent broadcasts of high school sports on the Astound TV Network.

Now, here’s part one of our look back at the best plays and highlights of games and matches this winter on ATVN…

1. Astound Sports: Northampton vs. Liberty (12/22)
   
   
2. Astound Sports:   Saucon Valley vs Pen Argyl (12/22)
   
   
3. Astound Sports: Southern Lehigh vs. Salisbury (12/22)
   
   
4. Astound Sports: Parkland vs. Liberty (12/22)
   
   
5. Astound Sports:  Notre Dame vs. Southern Lehigh (1/23)
   
   

Check back to our website for more samples of the best plays from this winter’s high school sports seasons, along with more commentaries on local wrestling and basketball action. 

Also, keep referring back to our website for the latest schedule information on playoff basketball games and post-season wrestling matches on ATVN!

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

For over a hundred years some of the greatest video treasures of all time have been produced. Some have been lost in the sands of time and others, soon to be rediscovered, will become fan favorites for a whole new generation.

Each week we will feature just one of the many hidden gems that you can see on ATVN with insights and commentaries on classic television shows and legendary cinematic performances.

As part of the Astound TV Network’s celebration of Black History Month, here at the “Showplace” we are putting the spotlight on African American actors who excelled not just on the big and small screens but those who also inspired change with their courage and perseverance.

The Joe Louis Story is another great treasure in cinematic history.  It is not only an entertaining presentation of one of boxing’s most legendary figures but it also presents a cold, yet realistic view of the racism and discrimination that existed in the mid-20th century.

Louis would hold the honor of world heavyweight champion for 12 years, longer than any other boxer in history.

The 1953 biopic chronicles the life and challenges of Joe Louis.  As a teenager, Joe started hearing about the sport of boxing from his childhood friend, Jimmy, who persuaded him to train with a local manager.

An early dramatic scene in the film occurs when Joe’s mother discovers that her son has been boxing behind her back and without her permission.  Hilda Simms delivers a powerful message inspiring Joe to follow his dreams, regardless of the adversity and to use all his mind and strength to go after whatever he truly thinks is important to him.

In addition to relentless challenges of discrimination towards Louis exhibited in the film, his story recounts the brutal fighting schedule that he was put through, fighting as many as five professional fights within a four-week span.  A recurring theme throughout the film is dealing with the “two strikes” many African-Americans face in society.

A large portion of the film–and a key moment in Louis’ life–focus on his fight and the resulting fallout from his fight with Max Schmeling, who had direct ties to Adolf Hilter in the years leading up to World War II.

The movie also makes you feel like you are reliving the boxing matches with Louis in the ring.  The film incorporates real-life archival footage using the real boxers, juxtaposed with long, uncut takes of the boxing scenes, without enhanced sound effects or announcers’ voice-overs, highlighting more realistic views of watching a prize fight in person.

The beginning of the film begins uniquely with clips of boxing fans seen waiting for a fight to begin, only to cut to a scene in a newspaper room where two reporters are discussing a huge fight from earlier in the evening.  While the reporter who witnessed the fight wants to write the recap of the fight, the senior reporter intercedes and announces that he’s going to tell the “real story” of Joe Louis, as the opening credits quickly follow.

Paul Stewart was cast as the senior reporter who narrates the review of Joe’s “true” story. (Film buffs will recognize Stewart’s voice as he ushered the immortal lines, “Rosebud…I’ll tell you about, Rosebud” in Citizen Kane.)

Coley Wallace–who portrays Louis–was a former boxer himself and even defeated heavyweight prize fighter “Rocky” Marciano in a split decision before the former became an actor.  Ironically, Louis faced Marciano at the end of his career – that fight served as the movie’s climax.

Many famous names make appearances as themselves throughout the film, including boxer Shorty Linton, legendary jazz pianist Ellis Larkin and vocalist Anita Ellis, who was the real voice behind the great singing in the classic film, Gilda, and not Rita Hayworth, as was originally believed.

The film also stars James Johnson Edwards who portrays Louis’s confidante and manager, Jack “Chappie” Blackburn.  Edwards received acclaim for his role as Private Peter Moss, a black soldier in the 1949 film, Home of the Brave, in which his character experiences racial prejudices while fighting in the Pacific during WWII.

Robert Gordon, who directed the film, is also known to cinema fans as he portrayed a 13-year old Jackie Rabinowitz, the lead character in 1927’s The Jazz Singer – the first ever “talking” motion picture.

Be on the lookout for The Joe Louis Story, shown in a special presentation of the “ATVN Movie Vault Extra,” airing on the Astound TV Network.

To view the complete rundown of classic programming on ATVN, check out the weekly listings here.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

After Monday night’s thrilling double overtime Bethlehem Catholic victory on ATVN and before preparing for our final regular season high school sports event of the winter on Tuesday, I did a little reflecting back over the last couple of months…

In 1969, the Beatles formed an idea to “Get Back” to what they had done before their rise in fame with the way they would put their music together.

We had a similar idea at the ATVN studio this winter – to get back to putting our high school sports schedule together the way we did before COVID (and all the resulting after-effects) which slashed the way we had “normally” covered local sports the last few years.

  At the same time, we additionally tried to incorporate brand new elements for our viewers, and succeeded by including the following list of “first-time ever” events broadcast on our network:

• First-ever EPC girls basketball regular season game
• First-ever Colonial girls basketball regular season game
• First-ever Colonial League wrestling match 
• First-ever women’s wrestling match 
• First-ever girls basketball regular season doubleheader
• First Colonial baseball championship

And… we also featured:

• More Colonial League games than ever before
• More local schools than ever before
• Regular blog entries here on this website promoting women’s basketball and wrestling all season long

We accomplished all the above while still bringing our audience many of the most competitive games of the year, including the two down-to-the-wire games we brought you last Monday (and, for anyone who spends any time around high school kids will tell you, it’s not always easy to predict what 15-year-olds will be like or how well they’ll play on any given day).

Things were complicated a bit by some rather dramatic (and last-minute) changes in “traditional” scheduling by the local schools themselves as the officiating shortage is beginning to impact the scholastic sports landscape (more on this matter coming up later this year).

We have received a lot of great comments about what we were able to do this winter from our viewers and we were very happy that they took the time to share their opinions and positive thoughts about our new game plans with us.

We made some bold predictions several months ago about what we were looking to accomplish and a number of things had to go right in order for us to pull all of them off. 

Thanks to a great effort by a lot of different people, and judging by the positive responses from our viewers…we did it!

But speaking of offering “thanks…”

First, we could not have accomplished all of this without the incredible cooperation of the local schools and their athletic directors, administrators, coaches and staff.

To the teams and student athletes themselves for putting on some great performances, both with very competitive games and some great individual performances throughout the season.

Our crew had to deal with some radical changes in how we implemented our schedule and were amazingly flexible and accommodating to some new ways of doing things, in addition to doing their usual first-rate, quality job in bringing local sports home to our viewers.

Our own ATVN administration was unbelievably helpful and supportive in enabling us to build our broadcast schedule and maintain our ability to carry out our goal to broaden our local coverage and try to satisfy the needs of as many of our viewers as humanly possible.

We also had unbelievably good fortunes from a weather perspective, which not only reduced our “normal” number of postponed contests but also (not counting the issues raised by the officiating shortage) kept radical rescheduling to a minimum this winter…I’ll leave that up to you in terms of assigning credit for that one.

Last and certainly not least, in addition to everything we did “sports-wise,” our annual Dream Come True telethon raised a record amount of money this past winter and surpassed our total from two years ago by over $43,000.  Once again, all the credit for this goes to our viewers for participating and donating money to this great cause, along with all the behind-the-scenes personnel involved in putting the entire event together.

But much like a coach will do after a quality win, our celebration will be short-lived as we get ready for our next chapter and look ahead to making even more additions and bringing in new elements for the next sports season.

Before we do, I did want to extend one more heartfelt appreciation for everyone’s efforts and a sincere “thank you” to everyone involved in this process.

Now, let’s bring on the winter sports playoffs!!!

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

 For over a hundred years some of the greatest video treasures of all time have been produced. Some have been lost in the sands of time and others, soon to be rediscovered, will become fan favorites for a whole new generation.

 Each week we will feature just one of the many hidden gems that you can see on ATVN with insights and commentaries on classic television shows and legendary cinematic performances.

As part of the Astound TV Network’s celebration of Black History Month, here at the “Showplace” we are putting the spotlight on African American actors who excelled not just on the big and small screens but those who also inspired change with their courage and perseverance.

A proper examination of film and television history would not be complete without recognizing the efforts of Ethel Waters.

Born on October 31st, 1896, Ethel was abandoned by her mother and was raised in poverty by her grandmother in Chester, Pennsylvania.  She married at the age of 13 but her husband was abusive and so she left him to work as a maid in Philadelphia.

At the age of 17 she was invited to a costume party and was asked to sing two songs.  Her performance was so impressive that she soon received an offer to perform at the Lincoln Theater in Baltimore, followed by working on the vaudeville circuit and eventually became a major performer during the Harlem Renaissance in the early-1920s.

Even though there were many well-known female African-American singers during the Jazz Age, Waters was one of the first to record her songs on a record.

In 1920 she helped integrate the Broadway Theater District by becoming the first black woman to lead a stage production in “The Emperor Jones.”  She soon became the highest paid actress on Broadway…yet would struggle to find work in the cinema for several years.

In 1921, she became the highest paid African-American female singer in the world and, by 1928, was the nations’ highest paid female singer while performing on the Keith Vaudeville Circuit, earning a then-record salary of $1,250.  Even so, her compensation paled in comparison to many of her male counterparts in the entertainment industry.

Eventually, film offers would come to Waters.  Among her early cinematic performances includes Rufus Jones for President, which would feature a then-unknown child actor by the name of Sammy Davis, Jr.

Throughout the next two decades, she recorded many hit songs while continuing to perform on the stage and in movies…but she was not finished being a social pioneer.

Waters broke glass ceilings on television–TWICE!

She was the first African American–male or female–to star in her own variety show, “The Ethel Waters Show.”  This program pre-dated the show hosted by Nat King Cole, who many people often miscredit as the first black star of his own show.  

Waters also starred as the titular character, Beulah, on ABC from 1950 through 1952.  Waters would later quit her own show, calling the shameful stereotypes and poor depictions of black performers “degrading.”  Despite being a frequent guest star on many popular television shows throughout the 1950s and 60s, she would never pilot her own program again.

According to her biography, “I Touched A Sparrow,” Waters devoted the rest of her life to Christianity after attending a Billy Graham revival in 1957.  She toured with Graham off-and-on for nearly 20 years before she succumbed to cancer and kidney failure on September 1, 1977.

She was 80 years young.

While many episodes of Waters’ original shows have been lost, you can see some of Ethel’s earliest television appearances as a guest star on the Texaco Star Theater, which frequently airs on the Astound TV Network.

To view the complete rundown of classic programming on ATVN, check out the weekly listings here.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

Everyone has heard the statement “It’s never too late to start” at least once in their lifetime. Me, I have been told this all my athletic life.

In the early years of my life, wrestling was a year-round sport in my brother’s life, and it soon became a crucial part of my life. I would spend hours upon hours in a smelly gym just watching my big brother on the mat. As a child, I remember my parents letting me run up and down the gym hallways playing with random kids to try to release all my built-up energy. This continued until I was about four years old when my parents finally decided to take my point and put it into something more useful, aka sports.

Growing up, there were many sports I tried; the first being soccer. I loved running up and down the grass field trying to score goals every weekend. My parents then decided to add gymnastics and tee-ball into the mix. Little did I know in the fall of 2010, I would trade in soccer for my primary fall sport, field hockey, which lasted eleven years. I was lucky enough to be coached by my mom for five of those eleven years.

When I reached fourth grade, instead of sitting at my brother’s matches all day, I took up a winter sport and started playing basketball. Funny enough, in my first year of playing, we won the league championships. In the spring, I continued to do softball until seventh grade, when I decided to try out for the middle school club lacrosse team. Once I reached seventh grade, I had to start trying out for sports teams, but luckily I was able to continue playing field hockey in the fall and lacrosse in the spring. During the winter though, I missed being in the wrestling atmosphere, so I decided to hang up my basketball shoes and manage the middle school’s wrestling team.

In high school, I kept playing field hockey and managing wrestling but sadly gave up lacrosse. Since field hockey was my primary sport, I focused on getting better by doing spring/summer/winter leagues and going to clinics. I believed that field hockey was going to be the sport I would play in college. Who knew my junior year of high school would change my plans?

In my brother’s senior year of high school, he wrestled under one of Easton’s legends, JaMarr Billman. I had the privilege of managing the wrestling team under him during my first two years of high school. The fall of 2019 came, and I was done with my junior field hockey season. I was super excited to be back in the sweaty room cleaning the mats until I saw a Twitter post on the Easton Wrestling page saying, “Easton Wrestling sign-ups for this upcoming year…This is for both male and female HS wrestlers.”

I showed my parents this tweet right away. We talked all night about if I should go for it. My dad told me, “You are not nearly at the level of experience as these boys and they are going to be bigger than you, but you know it’s never too late to try.” He tells me til this day that he should have let me wrestle sooner. I was so excited to now be the one making the mats sweaty. I never let anything deter me from going to practice every day. I would get tossed around by my male teammates but that never stopped me. After a while, they started to embrace my presence there and helped me develop my wrestling technique.

Coach Billman never shied away from challenging me and teaching me, which to me meant everything. I lost every match that year, but I was grateful to be part of the team. That first season was over just like that, and it was time for our annual banquet. I remember sitting there during the award ceremony portion of the banquet when the Dick Rutt Memorial Award was being presented; an award for an individual who is hard-working and dedicated to the sport. My brother had won the award his senior year, so I was excited to see who the next recipient of it would be. All of the sudden, I heard my name being called. I was in shock, to say the least, and didn’t think I deserved it being only my first-year wrestling. I grabbed it and looked at it and was so proud to have been selected for it. In the back of my head, I did know that I had put my all into the season. After that moment I thought perhaps this would be my new primary sport.

The summertime came and I started to go to wrestling clubs. I went to one club by East Stroudsburg University, which is where I met my college coach, Coach Nieves. I would spend every Monday and Wednesday learning from him. It was my new love to where I would even go after field hockey practice. I worked hard in the room and, like any wrestler in front of a college coach, I wanted to make a good impression. After practice one day, Coach Nieves asked if I would be interested possibly in coming to wrestle at ESU. I remember thinking “Really, I only wrestled for one year. Why would you want me? I am not that high level.” Then he said to me, “Cam, I know you only wrestled for a year, but with your hard work and dedication mentality, you can be great at ESU.” Of course, I discussed this with my parents because I had only been wrestling one year and many college girl wrestlers have been wrestling since they were little. There would be some tough competition and being a student-athlete with a very demanding major, Athletic Training, would take a lot of dedication, effort, and time management as well. It was a big decision, but I wanted to take the chance.

On November 11th, 2020, I officially signed my letter of intent to pursue my athletic and academic career as a wrestler at East Stroudsburg University, and I could not have been more excited about the journey.

My first year in college did become quite the journey. I came into freshman year with a tear in my UCL; it happened while wrestling during the summer. Then not long into the semester, we started two-a-day workouts and the start of weight management. Sadly, due to Covid-19, our season was a bit disrupted, but we still found ways to get multiple workouts in a day. This all allowed me to get to know my future teammates more, so I appreciated that. In a blink of an eye, November came, and it was the start of our official season. Unfortunately, I didn’t make the starting lineup, but I continued working on my technique and getting better every day. There were many losses in my first season as a Warrior but also small victories of improvement every week. In one match, I ended up pinning a girl that had pinned me at the beginning of the season.

My regional tournament did not go as planned either, but Coach gave me some motivational words which got me pumped for my sophomore season. I did begin that next season strong until I developed back and shoulder problems, thus not allowing me to get many matches under my belt before winter break. Unfortunately, I am now out for the rest of the season due to these upper back issues. I hope to get better over the next couple of months so I can become stronger for next year. As many people say, “Wrestling is important, but your health is the most important”.

To any girl thinking about starting to wrestle, do it! It might seem scary at first, but it gets you into the best shape of your life. It teaches life lessons of hard work and dedication that will carry on with you throughout life and give you friendships that will last a lifetime. Most importantly, for anyone reading this article, I hope you remember, “IT’S NEVER TOO LATE TO TRY!”

Liberty Girls Basketball Head Coach Jarrett Carnes joined the Astound TV Network in 2022, contributing a regular “video blog” on the local hoops scene during the winter sports season and putting the spotlight on the top news, teams and players in the ATVN viewing area.

In his third podcast this winter, Coach Carnes reviews the first half of the high school basketball season in the Lehigh Valley and previews the final weeks of the regular season leading up to the league playoffs.

Check back for more of Coach Carnes’ insights and highlights on Eastern Pennsylvania girls basketball in a couple weeks!

******

PROGRAMMING NOTE:

You’ll be able to see Coach Carnes’s Liberty Hurricanes girls basketball program against Bethlehem Catholic, this Tuesday, January 31, live at 9:30pm on ATVN.

It will follow our live coverage of Northampton at Parkland girls basketball earlier that same evening. We will also have the undefeated Easton girls basketball team against Nazareth next Friday, February 3.

Make sure you bookmark and refer back to our broadcast schedule here on our website for all the exciting local sports action as we close out the final few weeks of the winter sports regular season before the playoffs get underway!

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

I have had the pleasure to be around a great number of championship ceremonies and “medal ceremonies,” where sports champions have their gold and silver medals draped around their necks after a winning season.

I have also had coaches tell me that these ceremonies are some of the most memorable moments of their entire career, and the exchanges between a head coach and their student-athletes are some of the most emotional and heart-telling conversations that one can experience.

Many coaches work with their students for many months, if not years…often starting before the students enter high school and spend incalculable amounts of hours working and training their kids which help them to reach their ultimate goal.

But I had a very unique experience when I and several representatives from Astound had the pleasure of attending the EPSEL Awards Ceremony this past week.

Astound was the sole sponsor of this year’s eSports league competition, which featured 15 different school districts in our coverage area and had 30 different teams participating.  The event was the Rocket League soc cer event, complete with student-athletes competing in virtual race cars.

The trophy and gold medal ceremony was held at Parkland High School in South Whitehall Township, which was appropriate since the Trojans had been one of the first to have an organized team…

And, for the second year in a row, they captured both the varsity and the JV level championships.

But when student-athletes, whose ages ran the gamut from freshman to senior levels, met at the Parkland High School conference center to get their medals from their head coach, they did something I had never before seen at a medal crowning ceremony…

They introduced themselves to each other!

The middle ceremony was the first time the participants actually got to meet each other in person and in fact, this was the first time that their head coach had seen his students face to face. Through the miracle of the internet, all previous conversations and meetings were done online.

Such is life for the most successful program of the hottest sport in the world right now.

These students worked together this past fall competing amongst the other best programs in Eastern Pennsylvania.  They did not discuss strategies in advance, they did not game plan each event and they didn’t even know their teammates’ real names.

But, to quote one of these athletes at the ceremony, they were “just that good.”

Truly, they were and enabled themselves to come up with a winning formula on the spot each time, culminating with a defended league championship.

In April, they will embark on a six-week state championship competition.  The finals are tentatively slated to take place at Harrisburg University near the state capitol.

But the other certainty is that eSports is here to stay and the ways and methods that student-athletes use to capture a title now-a-days is not like anything we have ever seen before.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

For over a hundred years some of the greatest video treasures of all time have been produced. Some have been lost in the sands of time and others, soon to be rediscovered, will become fan favorites for a whole new generation.

Each week we will feature just one of the many hidden gems that you can see on ATVN with insights and commentaries on classic television shows and legendary cinematic performances.

This winter, the Astound TV Network is debuting The Andy Griffith Show as part of a rotation of some of the best classic television shows of all-time on ATVN’s Classic TV Showcase.

Typically, when a show makes its first-ever appearance on our network I usually delve into my personal library of classic programs and/or do other research to find the early origins and facts about a sitcom’s very beginnings and behind-the-scenes challenges involved in just getting a show on the air.  Often, this reveals lengthy backstories of early versions of programs that sometimes vary quite a bit from what eventually becomes a successful entity.

However, I’m going to do something a little different for this week’s entry.

It’s pretty common knowledge that Griffith guest-starred on The Danny Thomas Show in a skit in which he played a hick sheriff in a fictional North Carolina town and had unconventional techniques in keeping law and order.  (In the skit, Thomas was arrested for speeding).

The response was so positive that Thomas helped create a spinoff series with Griffith in the starring role and the program was an instant success.

However, there are a number of “little known facts” (“LKFs”) about the popular program…and that’s what we will tackle in today’s blog entry.

1. Andy was NOT the “straight man” that he turned out to be.
   When you watch early episodes of the program, you’ll notice that Andy has most of the funny lines and, in fact, seems like just one of the other somewhat strange characters in the town.  Griffith had revealed in many interviews that after the first few episodes, he felt the show would be stronger if he was the “normal” one and at the center of all the craziness and quirky Mayberry citizens that were all around him.  In turn, he slowly suggested more of the funny bits should go to his supporting characters.
2. Don Knotts’s Barney Fife was never intended to be a regular character.
   It seems impossible to believe but Barney was only intended to be in the first episode, playing Andy’s cousin who he helps out by giving him a job.  Even after the quick developing chemistry between Griffith and Knotts was apparent after the first episode, only a single-season contract was offered to “Barney” and the original intent was to bring in different deputies throughout the show’s run. (Dick Van Dyke’s brother Jerry was offered the role to replace Knotts but turned it down.)
   Fortunately, this plan was abandoned and Knotts was offered a multi-year contract which lasted until he decided to leave after the fifth season.
3. Elinor Donahue WAS intended to be a long-serving cast member.
   The popular actress from Father’s Knows Best was the producers’ favorite for being the long-term love interest of Andy.  For creativity sake, they wanted to establish other characters on the show first (mainly Ronny Howard’s Opie and Francis Bavier’s Aunt Bee) before introducing her into the cast.  In the fourth episode Donahue made her debut and they even put her name in the show’s opening sequence (more on that in a moment).
   Unfortunately for Donahue, the delay in bringing her aboard hurt the chemistry that quickly developed amongst the cast.  Elinor revealed in later interviews that jokes originally intended for her wouldn’t “work” as well as they did for other cast members and Griffith would suggest giving her lines to other actors.  Eventually, Donahue asked to be removed from her long-term contract and left the show.
4. Speaking of the show’s theme song….
   Griffith actually became known for his singing before appearing on TV.  The popular instrumental theme song to his show actually had words written for Andy to sing.  Upon hearing “The Fishing Hole” with co-writer Earle Hagen whistling the melody in the background, the producers felt the non-vocal version was more appropriate to open the show.  However, Andy’s vocal rendition was added to a very popular vinyl record that was released early in the show’s run, which included “The Mayberry March,” “Sourwood Mountain,” “Aunt Bee’s Theme” and other popular songs used on the program.

There are many more “LKFs” about this show, like…

Did you know that is actually NOT Ronny Howard skipping the stone across the pond in the show’s opening sequence?

…but we’ll address that and other trivial bits in a future edition of “The Showplace.”

In the meantime, you can see The Andy Griffith Show, as part of a rotation of some of the best classic television shows of all-time on ATVN’s Classic TV Showcase, Tuesday at 12 noon on the Astound TV Network.

To view the complete rundown of classic programming on ATVN, check out the weekly listings here.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

We have been blessed to add several new guests to our “ATVN SportsTalk” show over the last year and I’m pleased to announce that Renee Washington will be making her debut on our program this Thursday, live at 7pm.

Renee graduated just a few years ago from Lehigh University, yet already has had some amazing experiences in her career!

She is a three-time All-American and Hall of Fame soccer player. Renee has worked with ESPN, Fox Sports, and MLB Network. She is the host of “Beyond the Headlines with Renee Washington” podcast, covering all things sports, music, and entertainment. She has also contributed to the “Daily Dive” covering the NLL, and “Swinging and Missing” covering Major League Baseball. She has covered all sports collegiately or professionally and most recently worked with the NBA, WNBA, NFL, NLL, MLS, and MLB.

Outside of reporting, Washington is also a motivational speaker, entrepreneur, small business owner and author. In December of 2020, she launched the organization “Planted, Not Buried” focused on empowering, educating, and inspiring others through access to resources, events, and more.
This past week she worked the Penn versus Harvard Men’s Basketball game for ESPN.

On this Thursday’s show we’ll be talking about all of those experiences as well as discussing some local college basketball in both the Lehigh and Delaware Valley regions.

Additionally, we’ll have insights on some of the recent developments locally so far this winter in the Lehigh Valley–including the controversial Emmaus vs. Pocono Mountain West game last weekend.

Be sure to tune in or set your DVDs for this Thursday’s “SportsTalk.”

********

And speaking of local sports…

We have a busy week – and will be breaking new ground – coming up over the next several days on ATVN!

In addition to having two Lafayette College basketball games, we will be presenting the first-ever regular season girls basketball game in our network’s history. Two of the top teams in our area, Emmaus and currently undefeated Easton, will face off against each other. Our “other” matchup Tuesday will be Whitehall versus Freedom–a game that the Pennsylvania Cable Network has selected to pick up our feed and broadcast across the Commonwealth.

We also will have our first-ever Colonial League wrestling broadcast, featuring Saucon Valley and Notre Dame–two schools who faced off in the state championship tournament last season.

In two weeks on “SportsTalk,” we will have District XI Chairman Bob Hartman on to preview this year’s revamped district wrestling playoff formula, discuss his hiring of former Elon University assistant Andy Marino as the new head coach of the Whitehall football team, and a number of other local issues that are affecting the sports communities in our coverage area.

Also coming up, more insights on the march for women’s wrestling as it looks to gain official sanctioning in Pennsylvania with commentary from our own Cameron Nunez, and another edition of “Coach Carnes’ Corner” focusing on the local women’s basketball landscape.

Don’t look now, but we are also already less than a month away from the winter league and district high school playoff contests getting underway, which means a TON more scholastic sports action coming to the Astound TV Network through the entire postseason for the next two months.

Make sure you bookmark and keep checking back to our website for more basketball game and wrestling match updates as we bring you even more “firsts” to our television audience this winter!

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

For over a hundred years some of the greatest video treasures of all time have been produced. Some have been lost in the sands of time and others, soon to be rediscovered, will become fan favorites for a whole new generation.

Each week we will feature just one of the many hidden gems that you can see on ATVN with insights and commentaries on classic television shows and legendary cinematic performances.

Several of its episodes ranked among the greatest comedy episodes of all-time.  In its comparatively short-run among classic television programs, it captured a whopping 15 Emmy Awards.  And it is regularly ranked among the best shows ever to come out of the 1960s.

What show are we talking about?

It’s The Dick Van Dyke Show.

The original premise for this highly successful sitcom was actually based on a failed pilot show starring television comedy writer Carl Reiner.  A key member of the writing dream-team that made up Sid Caeser’s Your Show of Shows (which also included Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Selma Diamond, Larry Gelbart and other genius scribes), Reiner created the idea for a show based on his own life.

Part-work based, part-home life…the idea of a story dealing with the hectic lifestyle of balancing a career and young family seemed perfect for an early 1960s audience.

The working title of the show was called “Head of the Family,” with Reiner’s character (then named Robbie Peetree) dealing with a zany staff of television comedy writers and then going home to deal with all the fun that comes with a newly-wed couple raising a young son.

Robbie’s wife, Laura, was played by Barbara Britton in the pilot and his son was played by Gary Morgan.  Robbie’s co-workers were portrayed by Morty Gunty and Sylvia Miles.  Robbie’s boss was played by Alan Sturdy, who, like the early years of The Dick Van Dyke Show, remained either off-screen or his face was not seen by the audience. (Ironically, Reiner took this role in the revamped format, but, after the first three years allowed HIS character to be seen on screen).

By his own admission in many interviews since that time, he said the original pilot had one major flaw:  he cast himself as the lead!

When all three networks passed on his pilot episode (which still exists today on YouTube), Reiner scrambled to rework the show, including spotting new talent for all the lead roles.

For the role of “himself,” he changed the character’s name to Rob Petrie and sought out the versatile actor/singer/dancer, Dick Van Dyke.  Many of Van Dyke’s “real life” interests spilled over into the “new” Rob Petrie character like pantomime, love of cowboys, old time radio show references, his “Stan Laurel” impressions, et al. Van Dyke’s multi-talented skills allowed Reiner to broaden the character to incorporate physical comedy, song-and-dance numbers and many other elements that the original pilot’s “Robbie” would never have attempted.

Rose Marie (“Sally Rogers”) was probably the most popular personality of all the main characters at this particular time.  She had starred in several films in the 1950s and had become a major attraction because of her hilarious Las Vegas stand-up routines.

For the “Buddy Sorrell” character, Reiner tried to liken this character to the real life, smart-mouth (as much as early-1960’s network censors would tolerate) antics of Mel Brooks.  Veteran jokeman Morey Amsterdam quickly bought into that characterization and instantly made the wise-cracking “Buddy” a likable supporting role on the program who always got quick laughs despite not always getting a ton of on-screen time.

For the role of his wife, Reiner remembered a talented young actress who Sid Caesar really liked and auditioned for his own show but passed on her because he felt the audience wouldn’t believe that he could have an on-screen daughter that was so pretty.

While Mary Tyler Moore’s political views were diametrically opposite her television husband in real life, their on-screen chemistry was magical.  Reiner quickly added more “home life” scenes to the pilot (and subsequent episodes) to build on that relationship which, Reiner correctly assumed, audiences would most closely bond with.

The revamped show did receive a ringing endorsement from CBS and was immediately added to the network’s fall schedule.  But the successes of this show’s new look were just beginning.  We’ll have more on the successes of this wildly popular show coming up in a future blog entry here at “The Showplace.”

In the meantime, you can see The Dick Van Dyke Show, as part of a rotation of some of the best classic television shows of all-time on ATVN’s Classic TV Showcase, Tuesdays at 12 noon on the Astound TV Network.

To view the complete rundown of classic programming on ATVN, check out the weekly listings here.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.