The convergence of video and audio content delivery took center stage in 2025, with a meshing of technology and consumer trends signaling a future that will see radio stations incorporate more of the elements long seen by TV industry productions. For MediaCo, the time has come to take an iconic audio brand and bring it to over-the-air TV.
Introducing “HOT 97 News,” a daily live national TV show “created at the intersection of journalism, hip-hop, conversation, and culture,” MediaCo says.
The program debuts in January 2026 and promises to bring audiences “a raw, unedited blend of breaking, hip hop and music news, entertainment, and unfiltered discussion, engaging the audience with stories through the cultural lens that has defined the HOT 97 brand for decades.”
Helming the news magazine are Lana Harris, Ronndell Smith and Producer Million Connally-Cooper. How can the program be viewed? “HOT 97 News” will broadcast and stream nationally across all HOT 97 TV and digital streaming platforms.
The program is part of the lineup of the “HOT 97 TV” programming that MediaCo is bringing to WHOT-66 in Atlanta, and this will see a localized “HOT 97 News — Atlanta” added to the lineup as a daily one-hour live news show focused exclusively on area entertainment and community headlines.
Harris, a metro Atlanta native, has worked as a reporter, correspondent, anchor, and digital creator at WANF-TV in Atlanta, WCNC-TV in Charlotte, WTLV-TV in Jacksonville’s “First Coast News,” and WLTX-TV in Columbia, SC. Most recently, she’s focused on social media content delivery.
Smith is an Atlanta-based comedian, host, and creative entrepreneur who has worked with social media news brand GAFollowers and has appeared on the reality TV series “Chrisley Knows Best.”
