Content area
Full Text
"Like It Is," the WABC-TV program airing Sundays at noon and produced and hosted by popular broadcast veteran, Gil Noble, is the longest-running Black community affairs program in New York City. Running for over 30 years, the hugely popular program has earned numerous awards, unending accolades and constant praise from all quarters of the African community and beyond. "Like It Is" consistently exposes its audience to the leaders, movers and shakers of the African world.
Viewer loyalty, the bedrock of television hosts, is locked tightly around Noble's program, possibly because it is the only one-hour-a-week program that focuses on the wholeness, issues and concerns of Black life, but also because the program provides news and information to a community starved of culturally relevant expressions. Black folks set their clocks and arrange their schedules around "Like It Is." In spite of the fact that many attend church at the 11 o'clock hour, the program maintains a huge and growing audience.
With this record of achievement, Gil Noble should rightfully be the darling of WABCTV. He isn't! Instead he continues to struggle upstream against a strong current of foot dragging and lack of needed technical support. Operating without a personal secretary, having his program preempted for various sports activities and experiencing difficulties getting a camera crew when needed are but a few of the difficulties that Noble faces continuously.
Interviews with heads of state from the African Diaspora, education experts, lawyers, activists, musicians, ministers, gang bangers, business persons and physicians are conducted by Noble with dignity, perception and grace. Noble engages his guests in discussions where it is obvious to viewers that he is interested in his guests' opinion. Unlike most TV hosts, Noble encourages his guests to express themselves without interruption and rude comments.
An excellent example of Noble's ability to bring the thoughts, hopes and vision of African heads of state into our homes was his interview with President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe back in 2000. Noble started the interview with the statement: "Some 180 heads of state from around the world came to New York this past week to take part in the United Nations Millennium Summit. Among the most controversial of those attending was Robert...