Friday, April 25, 2008

John McLaughlin, the progenitor of TV's longest-running political talkfest, is taking his group to a new venue.

"The McLaughlin Group," which has been seen on, and produced at, NBC-owned WRC-TV of Washington, will move next week to WUSA-TV (Channel 9). The change ends McLaughlin's 26-year association with NBC. The roundtable show's Sunday-morning time slot, at 11:30 a.m., will not change.

The move follows a new agreement between CBS and McLaughlin's production company, Oliver Productions, said Allison Butler, managing producer of the weekly program. Butler said the change was "exclusively a business decision"; she declined to disclose details of the new agreement.

In addition to airing on WUSA, a CBS affiliate, the weekly chat show will be seen on WCBS in New York, ending its run on WNBC. "The McLaughlin Group" will continue on 315 PBS stations across the country.

McLaughlin, 81, also hosts a weekly interview program, "John McLaughlin's One on One," that will move to the two CBS stations and continue on PBS stations.

-- Paul Farhi