Debmar Mercury Tests T.D. Jakes Talk Show On Tegna Media Stations

Tegna Media, and Debmar-Mercury, a subsidiary of Lionsgate will preview a T. D. Jakes-hosted one-hour daily daytime talk show across four TEGNA stations this summer.

Tegna Media, a station group of network affiliates reaching approximately one-third of all television households nationwide, and Debmar-Mercury will provide T.D. Jakes for four weeks from August 17 – September 11, 2015 in Dallas, Atlanta, Minneapolis, and Cleveland.

The Dallas pastor and businessman, who boasts a 30,000-member church, will tackle “socially relevant topics in the news” on the daytime talk show, the parties announced.

“In order to achieve success in daytime talk, you need to have a unique voice that lets you stand out in a crowded field as well as great built-in brand awareness. T.D. Jakes has volumes of both, with the strong potential to eventually break out and attract many new national viewers to network affiliates who are hungry for something different,”  Debmar-Mercury Co-Presidents Mort Marcus and Ira Bernstein commented in today’s announcement.

Among Jakes’ many recent successes are the No. 1 New York Times bestseller, Instinct: The Power to Unleash Your Inborn Drive. His next book, Destiny, is due in August.

The show, produced by distributor Debmar-Mercury, Tegna Media, 44 Blue Productions (Wahlburgers, daytime syndicated series Family Court with Judge Penny), Jakes’ TDJ Enterprises and EnLight Productions, will air from 3-4 PM on WFAA in Dallas and from 2-3 PM on WXIA in Atlanta, KARE in Minneapolis and WKYC in Cleveland.

Daytime talk producing veterans Gail Steinberg and Jack Mori will serve as showrunners. Steinberg was the force behind the original The Ricki Lake Show and has credits that include Geraldo and Montel; Jack Mori, the senior producer of The Oprah Winfrey Show, worked closely in developing the Dr. Oz talk show, as well as serving as co-executive producer of The Queen Latifah Show.