On 40 years of LBC

LBC celebrated its birthday - the 40th - on August 23. It has been more than a decade since I last watched television, so I am no position to comment on anything as to how strong they are in the market now (at this point they are LBCI - international, to include their satellite channels). But no one, as in no one, can understate the seismic shift that occurred when LBC started broadcasting.

Prior to August 23rd 1985, the airwaves were basically locked between the "two" TeleLiban - Hazmieh and Tallet el Khayyat. One pro-Christian the other pro-Muslim. Then came the LBC hurricane. Not only "news" wise (obviously it was pro-Lebanese Forces, and legend goes its news anchors were paid in the same grade as a Captain in the Lebanese Forces - I have that info from a very liable source). But what LBC brought with it was Hunter, and Night Heat, Ton Amie Liliane, Medley (a foreign TV clip program by Bassem Christo), and the cinema analysis with Hyam Abou Chedid, then eventually Ahad 3al hawa with Riad Charara and Ahla bhal talle with May Matta (Matta was a new anchor who wanted to switch to entertainment), Nadi el Nawadi (which launched many local clubs - including the one from my village that made it to the finals), and the ubiquitous Studio el Fann (which migrated with TeleLiban along with the late maverick Simon Asmar), Laylet Hazz and Efta7 ya Semsom, then LBC - along with the unforgettable Dalida Baroud - later brought the first "sabah el kheir" (good morning) when they started broadcasting in the morning, eschewing the 2 P.M. onwards time which was prevalent for a long time in the Lebanese airwaves.

They transmitted Mar Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir's becoming a patriarch, and the opulent wedding of Sethrida and Samir Geagea (she now an MP and his still head of the Lebanese Forces now that he was out of prison). Along with her designer-wedding dress and the hymns from the Gibran Khalil Gibran texts. 

LBC was indeed, a master of many firsts. Again, I have no idea "where" they stand today in the market. But for a - very long while - their Midas touch transformed everything they touched into gold. For all these and much more building our collective memory, we salute them.

Elections 2022: Georges Khabbaz teams up with LBC

Just so that no one labels me too cynic. I am giving this the benefit of a doubt. Georges Khabbaz, who describes himself as Actor / Comedian / Director / Musician / Writer/ Producer has teamed up with LBC, one of our leading TV stations for a clip about the elections. Here's where opinions might be split:

You can either look at this as a lovely piece of copywriting, with a girl who does minimal moves in front of the camera, all shot in a nice olive grove - obviously in house shooting.

Or you can start from the opening sentence that goes "a bird cannot live without migrating" - sure he catches up with "but trees cannot live without planting roots", though seriously when you start like that, not sure the argument holds. Also, again, if you look at it from the point of you of someone who has been there and done that as a citizen, whatever Khabbaz is driving at makes little to no sense. Well, in the end he goes that "spring is coming back to Lebanon" - something that Exotica already did incredibly well only too recently,

Of course, the other interesting bit is how LBC is now supposed to be a TV for #change_2022 and all for the "revolution" (which is what whatever happened in October 2019 labelled itself, though it splintered into different directions and could not agree on anything for the elections).

Watch the ad here,

Media in Lebanon: "There's no truth in Beirut, only versions" Bill Farrell

Published originally on October 22, 2008 - this post still stands on its feet. Names have changed, some of these TV stations no longer exist, but the idea stands. One event, different interpretations, different versions, no truth.... What happened yesterday was interpreted in already several antagonistic ways.

In an recent email I have received, I got different interpretations of the Lebanese media about the same event. The original news is "A Lebanese citizen was killed by the flow of cars on the Beirut - Damascus road"... Now here's the different versions: For Al Manar (Either backed or totally owned by the Hezbollah depending on the different sources) "The martyrdom of a Lebanese in a Mossad attack on the Beirut - Damascus road," Future Television owned by the Hariri Family and holding a major grudge on Syria headlines "The remnants of the security apparatus kills a citizen known for his opposition to the Syrian occupation" (Syrians remained for 15 years in Lebanon after the end of the war, practically having a political "carte blanche" from major superpowers), for the LBC - itself anti-Syrian - it becomes "The death of a citizen supporting the majority under the wheels of a bus with a Syrian license plate" (The majority in this case refers to the current anti-Syrian parliamentary block) for NBN - totally pro-Syrian - the news is best avoided and the news is "The fall of the Berlin wall" then New TV which is heavily flavored with communist ideas "The colonial capitalist American powers kills a Lebanese citizen" and finally for Tele Liban, known to do nothing all day but rerun (its otherwise brilliant) archive... there are no headlines, only the archive.