Paul Butler, General Manager of Earvin "Magic" Johnson’s new TV network ASPiRE TV, joined us this week on TSL Sports Talk to talk about ASPiRE becoming the new home to HBCU football’s live broadcasts. TSL Sports Talk host, Mark Gray, opened up the interview by asking Butler what the overall programming vision was behind ASPiRE TV.
Butler:
ASPiRE was really launched to build a void in the television space that Mr. Johnson was seeing and he was talking to many of his colleague and partners about the lack of positive images of African-Americans on television. When you think about what’s on television now and the need –particularly for young people- to really see images of themselves/images of people that they can and should aspire to be. There was just a lack of it and ASPiRE was really launched to fill that void and also, to feature the stories of the next generations of African-Americans. We hear a lot about the trouble we’re in as a community, and there are certainly real issues that we have to wrestle with. But there are a lot of things happening out there in the community, a lot of really important stories that need to be told with the next generation of voices and visionaries leading the front to make change in our community. So ASPiRE was really created for them and to highlight their stories.
Listen to the full interview above to hear about how the TV industry is receiving the launch of the new network and more.
TSL Sports Talk broadcasts live, every Thursday, 3-5PM. Follow us on twitter: @TSLSportsTalk or write us at: [email protected].
