A Syracuse-based political talk show is going national.<\/p>\n
\u201cBalancing Act with John Katko,\u201d hosted by former U.S. Rep. John Katko, has been picked up by the WORLD Channel, which is distributed by more than 188 PBS member stations across America. The retired Republican congressman will also post a new podcast and launch an expanded presence on YouTube.<\/p>\n
\u201cBalancing Act\u201d premiered last October<\/a> on WCNY-TV (Channel 24), a local PBS station in Syracuse, N.Y., with a six-episode pilot run. <\/p>\n Katko says his goal is to discuss national issues in politics and policy beyond partisan talking points, including AI regulation, redistricting, National Guard deployments, and the government shutdown<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are the most important issues of the day and it\u2019s about time we try and approach them as Americans, not just from the left and right,\u201d Katko said in a statement. \u201cWe\u2019re encouraged and motivated by the initial pilot run and ready to offer the show to a much wider audience on TV to create more ways for viewers to understand the most important issues of the day in a way that breaks the partisan divide.\u201d<\/p>\n Katko, 62, is a Republican who represented Central New York in Congress for eight years from 2015 to 2022. He was consistently ranked among the most bipartisan lawmakers in the House.<\/p>\n After leaving Congress, he began working as a lobbyist for HillEast Group<\/a> in Washington, D.C. His clients have included Syracuse University and Syracuse Hancock International Airport.<\/p>\n A rep for WCNY said Katko is not currently being paid for the series. Mitch Gelman, president and CEO of WCNY, told syracuse.com | The Post-Standard that Katko would disclose any potential conflicts of interest between his lobbying job and issues covered on the show.<\/p>\n \u201cBalancing Act with John Katko\u201d will air Saturdays and Sundays at 4 p.m. ET on WORLD starting this weekend, Nov. 1 and Nov. 2. Episodes can also be streamed on pbs.org and the free PBS App.<\/p>\n WORLD is a television network owned and operated by the WGBH Educational Foundation, primarily airing on PBS member stations\u2019 digital subchannels. Viewers can find their local WORLD channel at worldchannel.org<\/a> or wcny.org\/wheretowatch<\/a>.<\/p>\n Katko will continue to film \u201cBalancing Act\u201d at WCNY\u2019s studio in Syracuse.<\/p>\n \u201cAt a time when PBS funding is under attack, we felt like it was important to make a statement that today, despite the headwinds, we can offer post-partisan information and solutions to the issues dividing the U.S.,\u201d Gelman said Tuesday. \u201cIt\u2019s encouraging that after a short pilot run in our local market, there was demand to make this production universally accessible through our enhanced partnership with WORLD and to launch on digital platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n For more information, visit balancingactwithjohnkatko.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Syracuse-based political talk show is going national. \u201cBalancing Act with John Katko,\u201d hosted by former U.S. Rep.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262751,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[88,141542,92],"class_list":{"0":"post-262750","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-john-katko","10":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}