''Back Porch Video'' was one of the first
cable television-based music video programs. It premiered on January 28, 1984 and was created with
Russ Gibb
Russel James Gibb (June 15, 1931 – April 30, 2019) was an American rock concert promoter, school teacher and disc jockey from Dearborn, Michigan, best known for his role in the "Paul is dead" phenomenon, a story he broke on radio station WKNR-F ...
, former owner of the
Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan.
Shown out of
Westinghouse's Group W Cable studios in
Dearborn, Michigan
Dearborn is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 109,976. Dearborn is the seventh most-populated city in Michigan and is home to the largest Muslim population in the United States pe ...
, Back Porch Video stayed on the air for the better part of 16 years.
What made Back Porch Video unique was that it was crewed and hosted primarily by area high school students; the document of which is found in 2020 on YouTube.
The program aired live in Dearborn from 10pm - 1am on Saturday nights. The show expanded to 9pm - 1am after about one year of cablecasting, adding additional hosts. The program saw a short run of three programs broadcast nationwide on Detroit's PBS station
WTVS
WTVS (channel 56) is a PBS member television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, owned by the Detroit Educational Television Foundation. Its main studios are located at the Riley Broadcast Center and HD Studios in Wixom, with an addit ...
Channel 56.
In 1985, Back Porch Video won a
CableACE Award.
References
{{Reflist
External links
YouTube channel of BPV producer Lance "Lenny" Rosol*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20111008064747/http://www.fourwaymirror.com/2009/07/back-porch-video-punk-youtube-gold-part.html Four Way Mirror - ''The Story of Back Porch Video (part two)''Four Way Mirror - ''Behind the Scenes of Back Porch Video with Mohawk Mat Hunt: The Misfits Meet Mrs. Gibb''
Local music television shows in the United States
Television in Detroit
1980s American television series
1990s American television series