One of the most popular and visited news sites for Blacks, theGrio, owned by Byron Allen, recently announced a major expansion in program offerings: TheGrio.TV and a new podcast, ‘What’s In It For Us?’
TheGrio.TV is set to enter 100 million households during the Martin Luther King Day weekend. How? As of Jan. 15, 2021, Byron Allen is transitioning his newly-acquired MGM over-the-air broadcast network Light TV, into TheGrio.TV, a channel focused on African American-featured content.
With a slogan, “Our Culture Forever,” that not so subtly pays homage to the phrase “Wakanda Forever” made popular by the 2018 film Black Panther, TheGrio.TV is set to provide movies, sitcoms, dramas, concerts, talk shows, variety shows, game shows, news and lifestyle content into homes via over-the-air broadcast television stations, cable/telco/satellite platforms and free digital streaming.
Allen, the founder, chairman and CEO of Allen Media Group, acquired TheGrio.com in 2016. During his tenure, the sites number of active users has grown from less than 1 million to a peak this summer of over 10.5 million monthly active users.
“The Grio, which means ‘storyteller’ in Africa, is the first platform to offer an online digital news destination, a free streaming app providing local news, weather, sports, traffic and entertainment content geofenced to the user’s zip code, and an over-the-air broadcast television network,” said Allen.
“TheGrio.TV is especially important to me, as it will both serve and uplift all viewers,” he continued. “TheGrio.TV is the first and only 100-percent African American-owned and targeted broadcast television network and free digital platform – making us truly authentic, without being filtered or controlled by others outside of the community.”
In addition to TheGrio.TV, theGrio is expanding its podcast offerings with the addition of What’s In It For Us?, a new podcast that delves deeper into politics. The new podcast will be hosted by theGrio political contributors Dr. Christina Greer and Dr. Jason Johnson.
Dr. Greer and Dr. Johnson are both political science professors at Fordham University and Morgan State University, respectively. But even with their academic accolades, the hosts have been known to break down the most complex issues in ways that are both simple and funny. The website describes the new podcast as “your one-stop-shop to understanding the thick of our political world with a heavy dose of comedy.”
-theGrio