LOS ANGELES (August 18, 2010) - The Parents Television Council™, the nation's most influential advocacy organization protecting children from graphic sex, violence and profanity in the media, announced Beth Oerman as the director of its new Rock Island grassroots chapter.

The Rock Island Chapter, Illinois' fourth chapter, will be the go-to source for information on how local youth can be affected by the media, what content they are being exposed to, and what people can do about it.

"My goal is to see the day when it is possible once again for families to sit down together and watch prime time television while not having to worry about the constant onslaught of sex, violence, and profane language. I plan to lead Rock Island residents to become instruments of change. Together we will make sure local broadcasters know that we care what is shown on our public airwaves and that we expect better," Oerman said.

Each PTC chapter has campaigns related to broadcast and cable television, movies, the Internet and video games. Oerman is particularly interested in exposing the dangers of adult video games and how easily youth can acquire them today.

"With video game violence being more real and explicit than ever, more needs to be done to safeguard children from purchasing these titles," said Oerman. "This fall, the U.S. Supreme Court will discuss whether states can pass laws to keep adult games out of the hands of youth. With the amount of explicit violence in these adult games, I believe parents need legislation like this to help us keep these titles out of the hands of children."

Oerman is a leader in her community. She is the founder and director of Read to Succeed, a local non-profit that promotes the fundamentals of reading by building a fun and safe atmosphere. Education has always been a passion for Oerman. She served previously as a library helper, tutor and classroom helper.

"Beth is a great addition to our growing network of successful grassroots chapters in Illinois. Parents and families are concerned about the harmful effect media content can have on our children and grandchildren. With Beth's leadership, passion and integrity, we look forward to seeing great success from our newly chartered Rock Island Chapter," said PTC President Tim Winter.

The Parents Television Council® (www.parentstv.org®) is a non-partisan education organization advocating responsible entertainment. It was founded in 1995 to ensure that children are not constantly assaulted by sex, violence and profanity on television and in other media. This national grassroots organization has more than 1.3 million members and 56 chapters across the United States, and works with television producers, broadcasters, networks and sponsors in an effort to stem the flow of harmful and negative messages targeted to children. The PTC™ also works with elected and appointed government officials to enforce broadcast decency standards. Most importantly, the PTC produces critical research and publications documenting the dramatic increase in sex, violence and profanity in entertainment. This information is provided free of charge so parents can make informed viewing choices for their own families.

Quad Cities-IA/IL -- Today, Larry Rosmilso, President & General Manager of WQAD and Kathleen DeBoeuf, Assistant General Manager of KLJB are proud to announce that the two stations will partner to bring a more locally-focused newscast to Quad Cities news viewers seven days a week at 9pm.

KLJB's Fox18 Nine O'clock News will be produced by WQAD in their Moline studios beginning Monday, September 6th and will expand Fox's current Sunday - Friday 9pm news to include Saturdays too. The newscast will feature anchor Kim Johnson and a to-be-named male anchor; WQAD Chief Meteorologist James Zahara; and sports with Amy Calderone. The weekend team includes anchor Rebecca Smith; meteorologist Cassie Heiter and sports with Matt Randazzo.

Said DeBoeuf, "We are thrilled with the opportunity to combine our resources with those of proven news leader, WQAD.  We are enthusiastic about the opportunity for growth this partnership will bring to us and our loyal 9PM news viewers."

"Fox is a great brand and KLJB 18 is a great station!" Rosmilso stated. "WQAD is pleased and proud that KLJB chose WQAD as the provider of their news product. This is a great partnership and most importantly, a great benefit for KLJB viewers in and around the Quad Cities."

Chimed in John Bain, Director of Programming for the Grant Group, "We are excited to be partnering with WQAD-TV to bring the best fair, balanced and local news to primetime at 9pm.  We have done a good job these past 10 ½ years and now teaming up with WQAD-TV will allow us to expand our resources and bring even more local news to our viewers."

"We are more than excited about this partnership with Fox 18," stated WQAD News Director Alan Baker. "We've been fortunate enough to be able to maintain a large local newsroom staff. We have the team and the talent and the resources to be able to sustain a partnership of this magnitude. We'll provide Fox 18 more locally focused news stories, and the Quad Cities' most accurate weather forecast with Chief Meteorologist James Zahara, a 20 year veteran of predicting Quad Cities weather."

The 9pm newscast on KLJB will carry the Fox 18 news brand and will feature reporters and news stories from all across the Quad Cities viewing area.

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Quad Cities IA/IL - President & General Manager Larry Rosmilso, along with representatives from Local TV, LLC, owner of WQAD, announced the decision to WQAD's full staff Thursday, July 22^nd at their studios in Moline

"This is an unprecedented investment in the station" stated Rosmilso. "In the next several months, we'll spend close to 2-million dollars to upgrade the equipment at the station, and no department will be untouched by the process."

The move to high definition news coverage will bring Quad Cities news viewers more stunning video pictures, clearer audio & enhanced live coverage from the field as everything from live trucks to cameras & edit gear, even most of the internal cables gets replaced. "Every piece of equipment in the building will be upgraded to handle high definition video and enhanced audio," reported Chief Engineer Rick Serre.

The announcement came right on the heels of WQAD's first High Definition production, Helping Haiti which aired on Wednesday night.  "We've had the HD cameras and an editor and we chose the Haiti project as our first experiment in HD news production" stated Alan Baker, WQAD News Director. "We were blown away at the quality of that first production. That's just a taste of what's to come."

The entire conversion process will take place in stages over the next several months. "We'll be keeping viewers on top of the progress as we hit each milestone," stated Baker.

WQAD is one of 20 mid-sized television stations owned by Local TV, LLC, part of Oak Hill Capital Partners and a consortium of investors who like TV and local news and believe in the future of both.

If you have been dreaming about a time when independent film features will return and make their presence known again in the Quad Cities, your dream just came true.   Backdoor Independent Film Café is new in town and will bring to the Quad Cities award winning independent feature films that represent leading filmmakers from around the world. 
Backdoor Independent Film Café is driven by a desire to provide diverse, inspirational and relevant entertainment.  We plan to give our audience a fresh experience and join the major players in the Iowa motion picture arena.

On Saturday July 3, 2010 Backdoor Independent Film Café will begin a series of Independent film screenings.  The first event will be hosted at the River Music Experience in downtown Davenport.   The second event in the series will be at the Figge Art Museum auditorium on Saturday July 31, 2010. 
Through events like the Backdoor Independent Film Series, Quad City residents will enjoy excellent, relevant storytelling in motion picture. 
Five feature films have been chosen for Saturday July 3, 2010:

Noon
Beneath Clouds - Australia (90 min)
Helen - UK (79 min)
2 p.m.
35 Shots of Rum - France (102 Min)
Beneath Clouds - Australia (90 min)
4 p.m.
35 Shots of Rum - France (102 Min)
Helen - UK (79 min)
6 p.m.
Beeswax - US (100 min)
Dear Lemon Lima - US (87 min)
8 p.m.
Beeswax - US (100 min)
Dear Lemon Lima - US (87 min)

Each feature has been especially picked for our local market and should leave everyone inspired to identify with a story or remember their own story. 
Life as we see it!
--

Tsitsi Bergman
Manager
Backdoor Independent Film Cafe
24041 183rd Street
Bettendorf Iowa 52722
backdoorifcafe.info@gmail.com
www.backdoorifcafe.com
563-271-6173