The oft-forgotten part about standing on the shoulders of giants is that the climb up there can be a bit daunting. For the creators of GBH News Rooted, following in the indelible, Emmy Award-winning footsteps of the longest-running public television program for people of color (Say Brother, later called Basic Black) represented an opportunity as rich as it was important.
“This show has such a profound legacy,” says new host Paris Alston. “We had so many intergenerational conversations with viewers who were passionate about Say Brother [which was created in 1968] and Basic Black, and really excited about it not only coming back, but it coming back in a new, reimagined way.”
The process of rebuilding the show from the ground up began last year with a series of community listening sessions spearheaded by Lee Hill, Executive Editor for GBH News, with the assistance of Sandra Lopez Burke, Managing Director of Community and Government Relations, and Annie Shreffler, Audience Impact Director for GBH News. Travelling to Black communities throughout Boston and Massachusetts, including Brockton, Martha’s Vineyard, and Springfield, the team heard from a wide range of people to get a sense of the show they wanted to see. “Some of them were GBH loyalists, and others had never heard of us, let alone Basic Black,” says Hill. This approach, he adds, “was an extension of our larger strategy to build a newsroom without walls.”
Over the course of the listening sessions, current and prospective viewers affirmed the team’s vision for a digital-first program airing on YouTube , with episodes subsequently broadcast on television on GBH 2 on Tuesday at 7:30pm and Sunday at 12:30pm, as well as Friday at 7:30pm on GBH 44.
“I’ve never launched a show like this,” says Dan Lothian, Editor-in-Chief of GBH News and The World . “I was fighting my instincts at times, but the important thing was always to meet our audience where they are.”
They also left with three thematic pillars for the program: culture, intellect, and joy. “People want to see the full spectrum of what it is to be Black,” Hill says. “Not only the things that are ailing us, or how people of color in this country are stigmatized and getting the short end of the stick—though we’re still covering that, of course—but also stories that are cerebral, and stories that center the joys of being Black.”
“We want it to have breadth and depth, but we also want to make sure it’s a space where people feel warmth and inspiration,” adds Alston.
“The other thing we heard and took to heart was people’s desire to hear from more grassroots voices,” says Lothian. “We’ll still incorporate community leaders and activists, but we want to make sure we’re involving people we don’t hear from as much. Folks like to hear what their neighbors and people across town think of different issues.”
Having landed on a format, creative strategy, and more casual tone, they had to figure out a name for the program. While “GBH” and “News” captured their aims to make the show local and topical, “Rooted” reflected how it’s grounded in our interconnected communities, says Alston.
From there, they began filming segments and airing them on YouTube in order to develop an audience before the show’s April 8 broadcast premiere on GBH 2. The videos are as varied in topic as they are in tenor, with fun segments like “Labor of Love” (dubbed that by Paris), wherein she stops by a Black-owned business and tries her hand at their craft, appearing alongside discussion panels like “‘Bringing hell’ to Boston: Haitians react to border czar’s threat” and “What it’s like to be young and biracial in Massachusetts.”
Watching the show, it’s impossible not to be struck by the program’s newfound directness, as well as Alston’s unique charisma. Take, for instance, the opening seconds of the video on biracial identity: “Do either of you feel like you have ended racism with your existence?” Alston asks through a laugh. Possessing a special talent for putting people at ease on camera, she navigates weighty subjects with a much-appreciated levity and less-serious issues with game aplomb.
“Paris is so approachable when you see her on camera,” says Lothian. “Her authenticity comes through when she’s talking to people in-studio and on the street.” Equal parts intellectual, joyful, and naturally curious, Alston is a perfect fit for the content, adds Hill.
For Alston, interviewing people is one of her favorite parts of the job. “There’s always a moment where people hit their stride; it might not be their first answer, but when it happens, it’s magical,” she says. “I also just love making people laugh, especially when they least expect it.”
So far, audiences are responding to the new format and approach. “One of our goals,” says Hill, “was to double the audience of Basic Black’s last season. We’ve already quadrupled it with our online content alone.”
“Piercing the zeitgeist,” is an idea that Hill returns to repeatedly. “We knew we had to update our studio aesthetics and adopt a more direct style,” he says, “but those videos where we tap into timely conversations have been wildly successful.”
The results speak for themselves: segments on Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show , the Economic Blackout Boycott , and harmful synthetic hair products used by Black women generated nearly a million views collectively.
The early success “was a huge validation,” says Alston. “It’s not all about the numbers, but considering how much work we’re putting in behind the scenes, it helps to see it paying off.”
As the show hits airwaves, the team has no shortage of long-term goals, including getting out of the studio, holding live events, and bringing GBH News Rooted on the road. “We’d also like to return to one of the early staples of Say Brother, which is to have a live audience in-studio with us,” says Hill.
Most of the shows will take place in-studio, says Lothian, but they’ll include pre-produced segments with Paris interacting with communities across the Commonwealth. “One of the most beautiful things about Boston’s Black community—and other communities of color—is the diversity that exists within,” says Alston.
“People want to see a broader representation of the Black diaspora,” says Hill. “Not only what it means to be African American, but also Afro-Cuban, Haitian, Cape Verdean, Dominican, or other Caribbean or African immigrants.”
“Often, the public thinks of the Black community as monolithic,” says Lothian. “We want to make sure this show taps into the various elements and viewpoints within the Black diaspora.”
“Ultimately, we heard [in the listening sessions] that people want to feel more connected,” Hill says. “You may arrive at the Black experience from a different context—whether you were born in the U.S., the Caribbean, or Africa—but we all have common roots. The show speaks to the interconnectivity of what it means to be Black.”
Watch GBH News Rooted segments on YouTube , and full episodes here and on GBH 2 on Tuesdays at 7:30pm.
Looking to check out GBH News Rooted’s predecessor? The American Archive of Public Broadcasting, a collaboration between GBH Archives and the Library of Congress has added more than 300 interviews, segments, and episodes to their
Say Brother/Basic Black
special collection!
