RedArmy.TV, a weekly TV show staffed entirely by volunteer Boro fans, will be back on TV for another season.
The show, which has seen the likes of Craig Hignett, Steve McClaren, Neil Maddison, world darts champ Glen Durrant and even the town mayor Dave Budd sit alongside fans on the now infamous Red Settee, has been re-commissioned for a second successive season by TV channel Made in Teesside.
The 30 minute programme, which started life as a YouTube channel, is currently gearing up for it’s 3rd series, sees fans air their views on performances, players and anything else Boro related. It also broadcasts hundreds of videos sent in by supporters from around the world, these have included former Boro stars such as Billy Ashcroft and now USA TV pundit Robbie Mustoe.
As well as attracting fans to vent, RedArmy.TV also brings in volunteers supporters and provides training in TV and media production helping them to develop both their personal and professional skills.
RedArmy.TV owner, and former Fox TV executive, Dave Roberts says, “This is the best part of RedArmy.TV. To see Boro fans with no media experience walk through the door and within weeks be producing a TV show gives great satisfaction. The entire RedArmy.TV team are Boro fan volunteers.”
The TV show proved so successful that it teamed up with Teesside University last season to give media students the opportunity to work in a real TV production environment.
Head of Made in Teesside, Tony Hazell adds, “We’re delighted to welcome another series of RedArmy.TV to Made in Teesside. The new channel has quickly established itself as part of Teesside life and RedArmy.TV has certainly helped that process since launch.
“We are introducing great changes to Made in Teesside to make it even better, and RedArmy.TV is to continue to play a major role. The Boro fans behind the show are doing a great job and it made perfect sense to see it continue on the TV channel for the new season.”
Roberts adds, “This day and age, anyone can open an online platform and call themselves a TV show or channel but being on ‘real’ TV provides us a prestigious position, one hundreds of Fan TV channels around the country can only dream of.
“To think it’s an entire team of volunteer Boro fans paving the way, just like we did with Boro TV so many years ago, is absolutely tremendous. It makes all the time, energy and money continually spent on RedArmy.TV so worth while.”
Any fans wanting to get involved with the programme for this coming season can attend an open evening this Wednesday 26 July at 6pm at the RedArmy.TV studio in Boho 5 in Middlesbrough.
Boro fans across Teesside can tune into RedArmy.TV on Made in Teesside every Thursday evening at 7.30pm from 3rd August, repeated Saturday mornings at 10am.
The channel can be found on Freeview Channel 7 or Virgin Media Channel 159.