Right This Minute is an Americansyndicated television program that debuted on September 12, 2011. Produced by MagicDust Television in conjunction with television station groups Cox Media Group, Gray Television and the E. W. Scripps Company, it is a daily half-hour program that features both serious and offbeat viral videos plus interviews and stories behind the videos presented by a team of hosts. Full episodes of the show are also available on the show’s website, RightThisMinute.com.
Overview
The program showcases a broad mix of viral videos trending online, interviews with content creators as well as caught-on-tape footage of stories in the news; the videos and interviews are introduced by five hosts – Charity Bailey, Gayle Bass, Nick Calderone, Oli Pettigrew and Christian Vera. Steven Fabian left the show to work for the syndicated newsmagazine Inside Edition. On July 27, 2015, Beth Troutman left the show for WCNC-TV in Charlotte, NC to anchor its weeknight 6 and 11pm newscasts. Videos typically shown on Right This Minute include dashcam and security camera footage of criminal acts and police pursuits; freak accidents; people and animals displaying interesting talents; rescue footage; epic fails ; humorous or dangerous stunts; practical jokes; parodies; and original user-created content culled from various user-submitted video websites and sent directly to the program's website and mobile app. The program also features one or more interviews with those involved in a particular video in each episode. Some episodes include staff member Jessica Hord doing a craft project or preparing a recipe after which the finished food is tasted by some of the hosts. In a break from the usual format, after airing an Instagram video of magician John Stessel, he appeared live on the Right This Minute set and performed magic for the hosts. Episodes initially were one hour long, but as a result of a revamp of the series' format in 2012, it began producing two half-hour episodes daily, as well as two half-hour "best of" editions on weekends featuring segments shown during the weekday broadcasts. Some stations carrying the program choose to air both daily half-hour episodes as a one-hour block, while others choose to air only one of the episodes or split them into different time slots.
Production and distribution
Right This Minute is syndicated to stations across the country. Originally, it aired only on stations owned by originating partners Cox Media Group, Raycom Media and the E. W. Scripps Company. In 2013, MagicDust Television and the Raycom-Scripps-Cox consortium partnered with MGM Television to distribute the program to stations owned by other broadcasting companies. In April 2014, Fox Television Stations picked up RTM for broadcast on Fox's owned-and-operated stations in ten markets. Through additional station distribution deals, the show's national clearances grew to approximately 91% of U.S. television markets as a Monday through Friday strip. Rebroadcasts of the show aired on cable channel HLN from February to September 2014. During its first season, Right This Minute was produced at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. The program moved its production and operations to its current home in the Ahwatukee neighborhood of Phoenix. On January 19, 2016, it was announced that Disney–ABC Home Entertainment and Television Distribution will take over distribution of Right This Minute for the 2016–17 television season. As result of the change of distributor, the eightABC O&O stations picked up the program starting in fall 2016, replacing the one-season FABLife. Hamilton, Ontario's CHCH picked up the program for airing throughout Canada from September 12, 2016 to September 7, 2018.
