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CONTACT: Andrew J. Groveman |
Michele Gors |
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PEABODY PLACE ENTERTAINMENT Specialty Local TV Programming Daily – LIVE! from Peabody Place MEMPHIS, Tenn., Friday, July 19, 2002 — Peabody Place Entertainment and Retail Center has joined with WREG – News Channel 3 – creating a unique downtown television studio with streetscape viewing for the public. Scheduled for completion early this fall, the glass-enclosed studio will house custom state-of-the-art production equipment, a new set, and feature daily local programming – LIVE! From Peabody Place. This move back downtown renews a WREG (then-radio WREC) tradition dating back to 1929 and the basement of the Peabody Hotel. "We are extremely proud and honored to again have WREG a major part of our rapidly growing downtown," said Andrew J. Groveman, senior vice president of Memphis-based Belz Enterprises. "The involvement of WREG general manager Bob Eoff and all of the station's fine personalities will offer Peabody Place visitors another quality experience while visiting the Entertainment and Retail Center." Daily programming is scheduled to include a new news talk format weekdays from 9 a.m. until 10 a.m. hosted by the ever-popular Marybeth Conley along with co-host Alex Coleman. Expanding the 4:30 p.m. newscast, which has locally been the Number One program in this time period, will be an earlier "hard news" segment beginning at 4 p.m. April Thompson and Alex Coleman will continue to co-anchor this broadcast each Monday through Friday. Smith Howell, an octogenarian whose television and radio experience dates back to the early years of Mid-South broadcasting, is designing WREG-TV's new Peabody Place studio. Howell maintained a long-time association with legendary Memphis radio and television pioneer - Hoyt B. Wooten. As some may recall back in 1922, Wooten was granted Mississippi's first commercial radio license for a station he operated from his family home at Coldwater. [Howell is scheduled to attend the press conference set for 10 a.m., Friday, July 19, 2002 in the atrium of 150 Peabody Place, Memphis, Tennessee. He will also be available for interviews at that time.] "We are delighted to be returning to Peabody Place and to the downtown area," said Bob Eoff, general manager of WREG-TV and News Channel 3. "And with camera positions already in place throughout our new location, the possibilities are endless for even more community and viewer involvement from Peabody Place." "The legacy and vision of Hoyt Wooten, and his endless support for downtown Memphis, continues with this addition to our local broadcast facilities," said Eoff. WREG's remote studio will be located inside Peabody Place Entertainment and Retail Center. The studio's glass enclosed studio front will allow visitors casual side-walk viewing of LIVE! television programming from the indoor comfort of the Center's unique streetscape setting. The station's primary studios and broadcast facilities will remain located at 803 Channel 3 Drive in Memphis (www.wreg.com). Up-to-the-minute news, sports and weather information will be directly fed from WREG's headquarters on the banks of the Mississippi River to its Peabody Place studio facility. An additional seven and one-half hours of local programming is currently scheduled to be aired LIVE! each week from the Peabody Place studio. Peabody Place Entertainment and Retail Center is an indoor, multi-faceted entertainment and shopping complex set in a unique "streetscape" environment. Covering 300,000-square feet and adjacent to the Peabody Hotel, the Center is connected to three parking garages. It is located at 150 Peabody Place, between Second and Third Streets, in the heart of Downtown Memphis. Tenants include Jillian's, Isaac Hayes, Tower Records & Video, Muvico Peabody Place 22 Theaters, Gap-Gap Kids-Baby Gap. For additional information call (901) 261-PLAY. Headquartered in Memphis, Tenn., Belz Enterprises is a leading innovator in real estate development with interests throughout the South, including Peabody Place Entertainment and Retail Center at 150 Peabody Place. Throughout the United States, Belz develops, owns and/or manages more than 30 million square feet of industrial/warehouse/distribution centers, shopping centers, office buildings, mixed-use centers and corporate campuses. The company also owns a group of premier hotels including the Peabody Hotels in Memphis, Orlando and Little Rock.
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