With any growing business, there are times along the road when you have to evaluate who you are. Make sure you are staying true to your business model or adjust to meet any changes in the landscape that may come along. All businesses do it. We are no different. Part of that process, is identifying who we are in the eyes of you, our viewers and readers. We still are amused sometimes at the fact that our message is foggy and some people, even the biggest fans, have trouble putting a label on exactly who it is that we are. The first six months of our journey at WSAV-TV have been interesting, to say the least. If I had a nickel for every time someone has stopped me on the street and said “Hey, news man!”, I’d be driving that new Range Rover right now. I left the 10:00pm news last June. Certainly it takes some time for people to get used to that, after all, I was there every night for five years. Still, it helped us understand, just a little bit, where we need to strengthen our message. It’s why we created the “Aren’t You the News Guy” commercial that has been running the last couple of months. If you haven’t seen it, take a peek right here.
With all of that in mind, I get asked all kinds of questions about what we do. About once a year, we share some time together and I remind the people who have been following us for a couple of years exactly who we are and what we are doing. It’s a refresher course for the long time fans, and a quick guide for the new ones. Either way, here are some things you may not know about Eat It and Like It.
1. We were a blog/television show long before we were in the newspaper. One of the two most common misconceptions about Eat It and Like It is that my following in the newspaper became strong enough to support a television show. Not true. Eat It and Like It started as a blog in February of 2011. The television show followed in September of that year. Within seven months of the premiere of the television show, we were nominated for our first EMMY Award. Shortly after that, the Savannah Morning News contacted me and asked if I’d be interested in writing a column once a week. “What do you want me to write about?”, I asked. “Anything you want.”, they said. Done and done. Join us for my TV show, Sunday mornings 7:30am on WSAV-TV.
2. The second most common misconception about Eat It and Like It is that we are all about fancy, gourmet, fru-fru food. Not true at all. If you’ve watched my television show you’ve seen me eating BBQ, burgers, and wings all over the place. Yes, you’ve also seen me go deep with sushi, foie gras and sweetbreads (no, didn’t eat those). The point being, we created this to explore diversity in the South. Not just the things that everyone thinks we eat here in the South all the time. Shrimp and Grits? Surrrrrre. But how about a duck breast on potato puree with a house smoked cherry glaze? Yes. It’s here in the South, waiting for you to Eat It and Like.
3. We don’t charge anyone to be on our television show. Never have, never will. One of the first things that came up when Eat It and Like It was being put together by myself and my business partner, Senea Crystal, was the fact that after twenty years in television news, there was no way I was going to go on TV and tell people to spend their money eating something I did not believe in. That wasn’t going to happen. There was no way Eat It and Like It would be a “pay to play” operation. Could we have taken a short cut and done that? Absolutely, but then our integrity would have immediately come into question. Instead, if you see something on our show, we like it. Very much. and we think you will too. Some of my happiest moments are when someone approaches me and says “I had no idea that place was even there and it was every bit as good as you said it was.” That’s the trust we’ve tried to earn.
4. We are not just about Savannah. We are about the South. We knew early on that if we focused exclusively on Savannah, we’d run out of material fairly quickly. That said, Savannah is too beautiful and diverse to ignore and, frankly, it is our home. Everyone that works on this show lives here by choice and has a passion for all of the things that make this area great. So while there are always great places to enjoy here or in the Low Country, we do travel a bit. Giving you some ideas on your next place to eat in Charleston, Augusta, Atlanta, or Florida. There will always be a Savannah element in our show, but we want to share a different South with you.
Thanks to everyone for your support. Bigger thanks to our sponsors.
See you on TV.
Jesse
