Hearst To Carry Aug. 3 Presidential Forum

Hearst Television Inc. said Tuesday that it will televise the Aug. 3 Voters First Forum, featuring GOP presidential candidates, in the 27 local Hearst markets across the United States. The forum is produced and hosted by the New Hampshires Union Leader newspaper and C-SPAN.

The two-hour forum will start at 7 p.m. ET at the Dana Center at St. Anselm College in Goffstown, N.H. Currently 14 candidates are scheduled to appear: Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, Lindsey Graham, Bobby Jindal, John Kasich, George Pataki, Rand Paul, Rick Perry, Marco Rubio, Rick Santorum and Scott Walker.

Jack Heath of Manchester’s WGIR-AM, host of the station’s New Hampshire Today program, will moderate the forum. Each candidate will have approximately five minutes to answer questions individually on the stage.

Hearst Television, collectively reaching nearly 21 million households, will provide the C-SPAN telecast to its stations for local broadcast. The forum will air on either the station’s primary or digital channel and will be streamed from its website. This enables broadcast-only viewers in these markets the opportunity of seeing the forum as part of Hearst Television’s ongoing Commitment 2016 initiative, which will include multiple debates at the national, regional and local levels, as well as other special political coverage leading up to November 2016.

Hearst Television reaches millions of viewers throughout key election states. Three Hearst stations serve viewers in the first three caucus and primary states: WMUR Manchester, N.H.; KCCI Des Moines, Iowa; and WYFF Greenville, S.C.

“This is an opportunity for us to provide our viewers a chance to see and hear from the large majority of the GOP candidates in advance of the first national debate,” said Emerson Coleman, VP, programming, at Hearst Television.  “There are more than two million households in the cities we serve that may not otherwise have the ability to view this important event on television.”

C-SPAN will carry the forum, in its entirety, on C-SPAN TV, C-SPAN Radio and via livestream on C-SPAN.org. In addition to C-SPAN, the Union Leader, WGIR-AM and St. Anselm, forum co-sponsors include I-Heart Networks; the Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gazette; KCRG Cedar Rapids; the Charleston (S.C.) Post & Courier; and WLXT Columbia, S.C.