NATPE 2011: 'Maury's Faulhaber to EP Cunningham

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Complete Coverage: NATPE 2011

Paul Faulhaber, executive producer of NBC Universal's Maury, also will serve as the EP of Tribune's The Bill Cunningham Show, which launches this fall, said Sean Compton, Tribune Broadcasting's president of programming and entertainment at NATPE in Miami on Monday (Jan. 24).

NBC Universal will serve as the show's distributor and barter advertising sales representative, and Cunningham will be shot at NBC Universal's facilities in Connecticut, where Maury, Jerry Springer and Steve Wilkos also are shot.

The show thus far will air on Tribune's stations, covering approximately 40% of the U.S., as well as on stations in the Local TV and Raycom groups, bringing the show's total clearance past 60%. While Tribune would like to see the show cleared nationally, Compton says it's not necessary in order for the show to launch.

Tribune tested the talker last summer, shooting several episodes in Chicago and airing them on a few Tribune-owned stations. Bill, known as Willie, Cunningham is an Ohio-based radio deejay with his own long-running weekday show on Cincinnati's WLW-AM, as well as a nationally syndicated weekend show.

Paige Albiniak
Paige Albiniak

Contributing editor Paige Albiniak has been covering the business of television for more than 25 years. She is a longtime contributor to Next TV, Broadcasting + Cable and Multichannel News. She concurrently serves as editorial director for The Global Entertainment Marketing Academy of Arts & Sciences (G.E.M.A.). She has written for such publications as TVNewsCheck, The New York Post, Variety, CBS Watch and more. Albiniak was B+C’s Los Angeles bureau chief from September 2002 to 2004, and an associate editor covering Congress and lobbying for the magazine in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 - September 2002.