Branson theater to air family-oriented show

BRANSON, Mo. -- Television watchers across the country are about to get a taste of a Branson theater's family-oriented brand of entertainment.

Performances of The Saturday Night Jubilee will be taped before live audiences and distributed through syndication beginning the end of this month. Several cable networks will air the show on Saturday nights.

The Saturday Night Jubilee, now playing at the White House Theatre, also will be on individual stations in some communities, including St. Louis and Joplin. Via satellite, the shows will go to viewers in Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, Mexico and Central and South America, said Don Holley, president of Premiere Video and Marketing, who will produce the show.

The show initially is expected to reach more than 68 million households. Beginning in the second quarter of 2003, the series will be broadcast to a wider audience of 100 million households.

Although several individual and short-run programs have been produced from the city before, the new shows could be the broadest television coverage from Branson.

"Branson has the type of high-quality entertainment that needs to be exposed throughout the country, and there's no better way to do that than through television," said Mayor Lou Schaefer.

"Right now, seven million people come to Branson every year, but soon almost 70 million will be able to see Branson in the comfort of their homes through Saturday Night Jubilee."

White House owner Bob Wehr said one reason he wants to produce a TV show is to help the career of Amanda Haffecke, a 14-year-old performer he manages. She recently recorded her first album in Nashville.

The show will air primarily in markets within an 800-mile radius of Branson, but it will go beyond that, Holley said.

The R.F.D. Network is carried on satellite and will soon be carried on Direct TV. America One Network is currently distributed to about 20.5 million households in 220 cities, including Fort Smith and Springdale, Ark. The Family Network goes to about 38 million households in major markets in the South and Midwest.