Me On "Toni On"

"Toni On! New York" is a television program hosted by New York media personality Toni Senecal that covers New York's various attractions, stores, bars and dining spots, among other things. The show features historical tidbits from a local tour guide, as well as music commentary from Springsteen guitarist Steve Van Zandt and contributions from on-air personalities with various fields of expertise. I watch it regularly, and it's a great source of information for what to do in New York City. Ironically, I've only been in the city twice this year so far, and it's December.

Until recently, it was on a local commercial TV station, but it has since moved to WNYE-TV, a small Brooklyn-based UHF station owned by the city and, since WNYC-TV was sold to private interests in 1995, the last vestige of local public television in the metropolitan area, never mind the city. Senecal is still largely recycling earlier material - installments previously aired on commercial television have been revamped and re-edited - but the move to public TV has unquestionably helped the show. On commercial TV, Senecal and co-producer Tracy Shea held e-mail trivia contests that incorporated deals from sponsors, whose contributions were included in the show as tie-ins. (Full disclosure requires me to admit that I participated in almost all of her trivia contests; alas, I never won anything, not having the luck of the draw.)

Freed from such corporate connections, Senecal is now free to offer a show that's still entertaining but more informative and less crass and less reliant on sponsorship. Although there's still some of that - because this is American public television, "Toni On! New York" is still "made possible in part" by Chevrolet - the result is a much tighter and more focused show on the attractions and sights that make New York and its environs great. Newer segments, edited into the older ones, focus on the environs - New Jersey, Rockland County, and the like. I can hardly wait for Toni Senecal to start producing entirely new episodes from start to finish.

The change of station has made a good show even better, and without ratings to worry about, I predict that the 41-year-old Senecal should be a staple of local TV in the Big Apple for a long time.

Unless the city sells WNYE-TV, though.