Issues important to rural Americans, farmers, ranchers, and senior citizens will be the sole focus in a new series of live, one-hour, primetime programs featuring presidential candidates leading up to the caucus in Iowa, and New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries. In announcing this coverage on June 17, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, Patrick Gottsch, Founder and President of Rural Media Group, said, “Rural America’s impact on national elections is undeniable. This is a tremendous opportunity for each candidate to address issues largely ignored by urban media, yet are so important to many of the citizens voting in these primaries.” He continued, "From day one, Rural Media Group's goal has been to reconnect city with country. We believe that this nation is at its best when urban and rural America understand each other's issues and perspectives, in order to work together resulting in a solution acceptable to all." Produced by Mediacom Connections Channel in conjunction with RFD-TV News, each program will offer individual candidates the opportunity to share their vision for rural America, while answering questions submitted by rural associations, organizations, and commodity groups. Questions will be solicited from grain, livestock, poultry, fruit, vegetable, and fiber producers, rural educators, FFA, and 4-H members, along with officials from small towns who have unique concerns about rural development, healthcare, and other challenges facing America's rural communities. Veteran farm broadcaster Orion Samuelson will serve as host. By focusing on rural and agriculture topics for the entire hour, each candidate will have ample time to address a wide variety of subjects typically not covered on a national network. Rural Town Hall will premiere in July and air on Monday evenings at 8:00 p.m. ET, and Thursday evenings at 10:00 p.m. ET. The program will be delivered to almost 50 million homes through the RFD-TV distribution on cable and satellite. In addition, RURAL RADIO on SiriusXM Channel 80 will simulcast each town hall to the SiriusXM 27-million plus subscribers. Rural Town Hall production will originate from a variety of locations in the State of Iowa or the RFD-TV studios on Music Row in Nashville, TN. In addition, the RFD-TV Rural Evening News broadcast at 7:30 p.m. ET and repeated at 11:30 p.m. ET, will cover political issues on a daily basis from the RFD-TV dedicated news bureau located in Washington, DC, and from reporters and mobile satellite trucks positioned around the country.
