From Long Island Business News:
Public television station WLIW21 on Tuesday will air The Long Island Business Report, a half-hour show hosted by former CNBC and BusinessWeek anchor Jim Paymar.
The program, produced through a collaboration between the station and Rockville Centre-based Paymar Communications Group, is set to debut at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday and be replayed on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. and Sunday at 10:30 a.m.
Paymar during the show interviews a wide range of guests, examining various issues affecting Long Island. Other episodes would follow starting in the fall, provided that the show attracts sponsorship.
“It’s a premiere special,” said Paymar, a veteran business news anchor and correspondent who has covered stories ranging from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the rise of high-tech companies. “We hope to continue in the fall. The station is behind the project. It’s a matter of fundraising and getting sponsorships. We’ll be looking for funds from corporations, foundations and individuals who believe in public broadcasting and the type of program we’re doing.”
WLIW21 described the show as part of its “commitment to presenting the issues most important to Long Island residents and celebrating the Island’s unique people and places.”
WLIW21, whose parent company is WNET, has run programs such as Going Green Long Island, Leaving Long Island and Visions of Long Island.
The show is the latest example of increased coverage for Long Island, where CBS is gearing up to launch Long Island newscasts on WLNY weekdays from 7 to 9 a.m. and 9 to 10 p.m.
In the premiere episode, Long Island Association CEO Kevin Law discusses pensions; Lawrence Levy, executive dean at the National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University and a former Newsday editor, talks about government; and Rauch Foundation President Nancy Rauch Douzinas is interviewed regarding downtowns.
Paymar said the show would seek to be a forum for a wide range of voices, including legislators, entrepreneurs, educators and business people.
“There’s a multitude of people we’d like to get on the air, corporate people from Fortune 1000 companies on Long Island,” he said. “We’d like to get the county executives on from Nassau and Suffolk counties.”
But he added the show also would seek to speak with small business owners, a crucial part of the economy.
“This isn’t just going to be about big business,” Paymar said. “Most of the job creation in America comes from smaller businesses, not Fortune 500 or 1000 companies. We definitely will deal with small business.”
Although Paymar has been a Long Island resident for 20 years, he has worked at CNBC, WABC, WNBC, BusinessWeek, becoming one of the nation’s better known correspondents.
He appeared on CNBC’s “Business Center,” “Power Lunch” and “Market Wrap,” and when BusinessWeek was owned by McGraw-Hill, anchored the financial news broadcast to ABC radio networks.
“My problems, the issues I have, the attributes of Long Island are things I share with 3 million people who live here. I’m not an outsider,” Paymar said. “I’m a resident, a taxpayer.”
In addition to working as a corporate media trainer, Paymar today is president of the Molloy Business Channel, a Molloy College program teaching students to be anchors and correspondents.
“We hope to have CEOS on, entrepreneurs developing the next Microsoft or the next Apple,” Paymar said. “We’ve got some folks like that on Long Island. We’ve got tremendous research facilities on Long Island.”
Read more from Long Island Business News: