You'd think local Fox affiliate WSVN, innovators of the "If it bleeds it leads" local news format, would thrive on having a strip club located right next door to its studios. Though, last night the station aired what basically amounted to an on-air editorial against plans to put a strip club directly next door to their studios.
For years WSVN shared an island of North Bay Village with the studios of talk radio station WIOD. Reporter Patrick Fraiser notes that the call letters stood for "Wonderful Island of Dreams," but with the addition of the strip club quips it should stand for "Watch It Openly Deteriorate."
Back in 2003 Scott Greenwald bought WIOD's studio and started working on plans to develop the property. Now those plans include a strip club.
So, last night WSVN aired it's anti-strip club package which included images of rolled up dollar bills, cocaine, prostitutes and women grinding on polls. Scary shit!
"It's extremely dangerous," says Ed Ansin, owner of WSVN, who's interviewed in the package. "There are many instances, both with our station and elsewhere, of women in television being stalked, harassed, threatened. Having a strip club would certainly be a major problem in that regard."
Of course, what WSVN doesn't make clear is that they've long had problems with Greenwald's plans to develop his half of the island even before those plans involved a strip club.
Funny thing is, WSVN's island, also known as Broadcast Key, is just about the only place where a strip club in North Bay Village could legally be built. Back in 1994 North Bay Village barred nude dancing outright, but then changed their ordinances to allow for adult business just as long as they're 500 feet away from residential areas, parks, school, and places of worship. On the densely packed string of isles that make up North Bay Village that leaves the property next to WSVN's studios as the only option.
But hey, you'd think a station that thrives on covering murder and crime for ratings might actually welcome the strip club. They wouldn't even need to pay for gas to cover all the supposed crime a strip club attracts. They can just walk over. Seems like a win-win to us.
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