Local journalist Gene Marrano thinks business matters so much that he has created a new show with Blue Ridge PBS and named it—Bu$iness Matter$.
“Bu$iness Matter$ strives to explore that subject from a variety of viewpoints and scenarios – the big players, the up-and-coming, the look ahead; featuring interviews with the people helping to grow jobs, the economy, and the Blue Ridge region,” is how the station describes the show.
The show has been years in the making. It originally started out as an idea that Marrano and executive producer Lisa Fenderson, who he has known for 20 years, started talking about several years ago.
The title of the show has multiple meanings, which Marrano says was intended. “It can mean a lot of different things. It can mean we’re talking about business matters or it could mean business matters, business is the lifeblood of a community. If you don’t continue to grow an area, it gets stagnant and people end up leaving. You can take it a few different ways,” he says. The idea for the title came from the station, with Marrano suggesting the use of dollar signs in several of the letters. “When I do my introductions, I say ‘because business matters.’ It’s a good title.”
A skilled broadcaster, this isn’t Marrano’s first foray into television. He previously hosted a show on Cox Cable for eight years.
Coverage of local business is close to Marrano’s heart. When he isn’t hosting the show, he serves as the editor of Valley Business FRONT, a monthly magazine that covers all things business throughout the region, and is an anchor and reporter at WFIR, a local news talk radio station.
“Working at the radio station, I end up going to a lot of ribbon cuttings so I talk to a lot of economic development people,” he says. “A lot of people know me and seek me out to talk about business, which is one of the benefits of doing journalism in the area for the past 25 years. Things have been pretty dynamic here over the years, so I’ve just kept on top of it all. I’ve watched downtown Roanoke grow. I’ve watched the medical school pop up.”
Although the show is based in Roanoke, it also covers things that are going on in the New River Valley and Lynchburg.
“There are a lot of exciting things going on here. If you’re a young person and thinking about leaving the area, you should tune into the show to see what people are talking about as far as economic development and innovation,” Marrano advises. “With a half an hour, it’s more than a 30 second soundbite you’re going to see on the news. We have 27 minutes to really delve into a subject.”
Marrano readily acknowledges that now is an odd time to launch a new television show given all of the difficulties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The show is currently being filmed over Zoom, with Marrano in the studio and guests videoing in from their offices and homes. “Because of Zoom, we’re able to have panel discussions with three, four or five people on at the same time,” he explains. “Once we’re back in the studio in a month or so, I’d like to sit down with people one-on-one and really bring out their personalities.”
Aside from affecting the actual logistics of the show’s production, the pandemic is prominently featured in the show. “We’re talking about the challenges of working moms and the need for broadband expansion which was really exposed with all of the kids learning from home and parents working from home. We’ve talked about the need for regional cooperation to deal with COVID,” Marrano says. “Outdoor amenities were discussed with Virginia’s Blue Ridge and how people can be brought back to Roanoke. Almost every show we’ve done, if not every show we’ve done, some aspect COVID has been in the mix.”
The series premiered on April 2. The episode included Pete Eshelman and Julia Boas and Visit Virginia’s Blue Ridge’s Landon Howard and Catherine Fox. Discussions focused on the ways that Roanoke City officials are working to bring tourists back to the region, in addition to the ways they are trying to encourage locals to resume frequenting local shops, arts venues, sporting events, brewpubs and outdoor amenities.
The April 9 episode featured discussions with Brian Ball, secretary of commerce and trade for the Commonwealth of Virginia, and Joyce Waugh, president and CEO of the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce, on the state government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On April 16, the show will tackle local mentoring programs for high-tech startups with RAMP’s Mary Miller, the Roanoke-Blacksburg Technology Council’s John Phillips and QuickTech Medical’s Glenn Feit.
The April 23 episode will explore the challenges working mothers have faced during the pandemic with The Advancement Foundation’s Shannon Dominguez, United Way of Roanoke Valley’s Abby Hamilton, Elder Care Solutions’s Kim Whiter, Family Service of Roanoke Valley’s Karen Pillis and Holley Insurance’s Shanna Ferguson.
The show on working mothers, Marrano says, was especially informative for him. “Mothers have been especially impacted by the pandemic. You start to get a sense for how much people are struggling and the loss of productivity,” he remembers. “I’m not a single or working mom. I’m not home with my kid. The conversations I had served as an eye opener for me.”
His first one-on-one show will be filmed in a couple of weeks with Nancy Agee, the president and CEO of Carilion Clinic. “I’m excited about it,” he says.
So far, nine episodes have been taped. The station green-lighted the show to run from April to June.
If the show is renewed, he hopes to delve more into different niche industries. “Once we’ve picked off some of the low hanging fruit, I could talk to people in publishing or people who have written books or the smallest of the small businesses or maybe even someone who is a business coach,” he says. “There are a lot of neat people in the area doing really interesting things.”
Marrano reports that working with the station has been nice considering he was allowed to develop the show the way he wanted to.
“I know the idea of a business show can sound boring, but we’ve had some lively discussions. I think people will really like it,” Marrano says.
New episodes of the show launch Friday nights at 7 p.m. and re-air the following Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. “Friday nights, I have a pretty good lead-in with the PBS News Hour,” he jokes.
Information about the show and past episodes can be found on the Blue Ridge PBS website: https://www.blueridgepbs.org/local-productions/series/business-matters.
About the Author:
Aila Boyd is an educator and journalist who resides in Roanoke. She holds an MFA in Writing from Lindenwood University.
