Sometime this summer, a new television service nicknamed ”The Cowboy Channel” will begin sending down the cable 24 hours of sagebrush melodies, menacing strangers, thundering hoofbeats and blazing sixguns.
The men behind the venture, officially the Cowboy Television Network, are Texas ”outlaw” singer Willie Nelson and his business associate of many years, Tex Mack Long, whose heroes have always been cowboys.
Long, a promoter for more than 30 years, started out promoting a Harlem Globetrotters tour in the Southwest and eventually moved into lining up tours for rock `n` roll performers and other musical groups. He soon crossed paths with Nelson and the two struck up a quick friendship.
That friendship soon will benefit all who have an appreciation for the legend of the American cowboy.
The new service ”may begin September 1, or it could be earlier,” Long said from his office in Spicewood, Texas, a short gallop from the Cowboy Channel`s headquarters in Austin. ”We`ve secured a basic operating agreement with another party that will give us access to a huge library (of films). It
(the launch date) will depend on how quickly we can work out licensing fees and things like that.”
Meanwhile, Long is roaming the Hollywood range to round up as much programming as possible. The Cowboy Channel`s lineup will include vintage Western TV shows such as ”Gunsmoke,” ”Bonanza” and ”Wagon Train”; B Westerns starring the likes of Bob Steele, Roy Rogers and Tex Ritter; and original projects.
”We`ll have about four hours a day devoted to Western music,” Long said. ”Willie will host a show every day called `The Songwriter.` He`ll have a guest on the show, and they`ll talk about the music.
”Some people say we`re going to be another Nashville Network, but we`re going to be far removed from what Nashville is.
”We also believe there is definitely room for new Western films. We think the American public will watch if they`re well-done and well-acted. I think the success of `Lonesome Dove` proved that. So we`ll be making new Westerns to air on the Cowboy Channel.”
Long said that Gene Autry`s old sidekick Pat Buttram will be the host when it comes time for a B Western.
Plans are to have as many people who were involved in the making of those films as possible on hand to discuss the movies. Thus far, said Long, they`ve put together a library of 600 B Westerns.
The response to the Cowboy Channel, according to Long, has been positive, and Autry has been a big booster of the network.
The new channel has met resistance above the Mason-Dixon line.
”Some of them tell us that the service will do well in the South and West, but not in the North,” Long said. ”The people who say that are the guys who never leave Madison Avenue and don`t really know what`s going on in America.”
Neither Long nor Nelson is discouraged by such an attitude. It helps to know, for instance, that the biggest country music station in America is in New York City.
For Long, the arrival of the Cowboy Channel will be the realization of a three-year dream. And he didn`t have to do a hard sell on Nelson to get the country legend involved.
”You have to understand that Willie and I have been partners in other ventures,” Long said. ”I just walked up to him, told him my idea and he said, `How do we get started?`
”I told him that the first thing we needed was some money. He picked up the phone and made a call and we had the money. Willie is very active on this thing on a daily basis. He`s very, very interested in bringing something like this to the American people.”
What do Long and Nelson see as the mission of the Cowboy Channel?
”To bring back the heroes,” Long said. ”We`ve had enough of the bad guys winning out and those movies where you can`t tell the good guys from the bad guys. I really think people-North, South, East or West-are looking for heroes.”
And if Long and Nelson have their way, the heroic Westerner will become so popular again, there will be a lot of mamas who won`t mind if their babies grow up to be cowboys.
Rick Kogan is on assignment.
