<p>Like the title said, how do you think the public reaction if a station by that same name were put on television that showed mostly predominantly white tv shows, hosted white award shows and basically did everything BET does, except geared specifically toward white persons? What is your opinion on this.</p>
<p>This is just something I've wondered about. To me it just seems like a double standard. I wouldn't approve of a station like this, mostly because of the name, but then again, I really don't like BET either. I don't think tv stations should be separated by race. And I just feel like there's too much of a double standard, why should BET be considered cultural while a hypothetical "WET" be considered racist by most people.</p>
<p>The title of a channel with an acronym that was “WET” would make me think of inappropriate material alone.</p>
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<p>Well, while this does not currently occur, television media at the time of the establishment of BET was in a de facto state of being geared towards America’s cultural majority. By “white persons,” what exactly do you mean? Quite a bit of diversity exists under the designation - and I speak here from a governmental standpoint - of “white.”</p>
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<p>TV Stations are free to choose their own mission, as long as there is no direct contradiction with existing FCC guidelines.</p>
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<p>Anything outside of the cultural norm is considered “cultural.” Things that emphasize the characteristics of the majority and extol them are generally not necessarily “racist,” though they often do garner such references.</p>
<p>LOL i agree with ksarmand and eastafrobeauty; in this day and age, i don’t think there is a certain “white culture” in this country. if there is, it certaintly isn’t prevalent enough for a WET to gain popularity and i honestly think that investing in such a thing might be a bad financial move. as ksarmand said, BET was created out of the fact that MTV had favored white artists in the early 80s, with the exception of the late MJ. BET grew out of the dawn of hip hop and the movement of a new culture and generation (as a whole) that happened to be popular amongst African Americans. in the 80s, creating BET was genius in terms of both marketing potential and exposing Hip Hop and R&B artists to the world. And that is why MTV gradually integrated its programming by making the move to establish MTVyo.</p>
<p>when my parents were growing up, they were grateful for what BET provided them. hip hop is a culture all by itself and this movement gave them a sense of belonging to something. other networks could not provide them with that experience. additionally, i think that the idea of a WET program has already been informally instituted in television as a whole. take a look at most of the television networks that are available on basic cable. if i’m correct, the vast majority of them feature sitcoms typically made up of white cast members. even to this day, that partially remains true but i can’t neglect that this nation, in terms of television, has come a LONG WAY. award shows, such as the grammys, have typically, until relatively recently, had awards geared generally towards the majority. </p>
<p>personally, i don’t watch BET, or TV in general for that matter, like that. i’m going off on a whim here, but i would say that the majority of african americans have shyed away from the network because of its poor management and lack of purposeful/attention-grabbing programs. the number of viewers BET gets daily is negligible in comparison to its counterparts and i predict that it will be the same if a WET gets established. i mean, every now and then, i’ll watch the “black movies” they show or see what’s on the countdown on 106 & Park and i always make sure to catch the Awards at the end of June every year lol but that’s about it… oh and the sunday morning gospel if i miss church =] .</p>
<p>in essence, the purpose of BET was, and still is, to present ALL youth, regardless of skin color, with a culture that society has historically neglected to show (the fact that BET has actually done this is debatable). this culture happens to be more narrowly defined than what one would consider a “white culture.”</p>
<p>to me, if there’s a “black entertainment television”, there can be a “white entertainment television”. both are equally wrong though. there’s no need to have separate race channels, especially since we already have mtv and vh1.</p>
<p>@quortneykolen: of course there can be a WET! absolutely! but referring to the OP’s question at hand, i don’t believe that it’ll be received well to TV viewers, considering the points that i labeled out in my previous post.</p>
<p>it’s not a matter of right and wrong, and definitely not a matter of black and white. it’s a matter of culture exposure to the american public. not until recently, mtv and vh1 have done a poor job at attracting a multicultural/multimusical audience, thus bringing the onset of BET.</p>
<p>The establishment of BET was not meant to isolate other racial groups. It was made to divulge elements of African American culture that was otherwise viewed with obscurity. It was established to give African Americans a sense of entitlement in American media and therefore a sense of identity.</p>
<p>It was irrelevant to this thread, but I (white) am really tired of the whining I see about affirmative action. I wanted others to see it. I thought it did a pretty good job of illustrating the historical problem.</p>
<p>I don’t think there would need to be a WET. Isn’t that like basically every other major television network besides the spanish Univision? Beisdes, BET is mostly garbage anyway. Sometimes watching it I feel like my IQ is going down. Ill watch it to see Everybody hates Chris or The Game, even a few movies now and then (like New Jack City) and once in a blue moon i’ll watch 106 and park. There’s just not enough documentaries, black news, panels, discussions, etc. due to a poorly managed network and keeping entertainment simple for simple minds to keep up with the ratings race. But you know, to each his own.</p>
<p>Although BET was established to bring about “cultural enlightenment”, its not working. Not efficiently anyway. BET is not what it used to be and its getting worse. </p>
<p>Good points. I understand why BET was created, but stemming off a little bit, wouldn’t you say in this day and age its become somewhat obsolete? Considering what you guys said about the current meshing of cultures, how would you feel if BET changed its name to something less racially geared such as “The Entertainment Channel”?
Also (because I honestly have no idea) does the BET awards give awards to white artists? I’ve never watched an award show before.</p>
<p>I do think BET has no real purpose in 2010. </p>
<p>American Culture is now very integrated in terms of Hip-Hop and Rap. Most of my friends are white and they listen to more rap than I do. Last year a group of my friends went to a Weezy concert. </p>
<p>Today people choose what they like ( Music: Rap, Hip-Hop, Country…etc and Clothing: Jordans, Timbalands, Vans, Converse) based on personal preference rather than lack of exposure.</p>
<p>Some of my white friends wear Jordons and Timbalands while I wear Converses and Uggs. Its all about personal preference.</p>
<p>When BET was formed, it had to lease time from the tiniest of markets in large cities. I recall it being available only after 2am on the UHF channels (This was before cable was prevalent). It may have been on for 4 hours, max and it was was non-stop vidoes with the cheesiest of commercials, which were repeated over and over. And yes, I watched it for the videos, bcause MTV did not broadcast videos of Black artists - and they were practically strong-armed to finally show Michael Jacksons videos.</p>
<p>Eventually BET got it’s own airspace. I liked watching Donnie Simpson. His show was the sort of the counterpart to Yo MTV Raps (Once MTV realized there was a Black market).</p>
<p>BET has has some Black lifestyle shows, like the one that features B Smith. For the very few, this is where one might suggest that BET is relevant. Ms Smith would lose out to Martha Stewart on mainstream TV. On BET, she has an audience.</p>
<p>BET is owned by Viacom, but no major investment is made. I’d suggest BET would be more viable if it protrayed a wide view rather than focusing on Hip-Hop. However it is what it is and I suppose Viacom is happy with the way it is now.</p>
<p>I suggest that mainstream TV is already WET, so why obsess on the tiny market that is BET? If you don’t like it, don’t watch it.</p>
<p>@punkchique: I wouldn’t feel anything if BET dropped the “B” because it has become, as you said, obsolete and as the other posters have agreed with me, it has failed to effectively serve its purpose. </p>
<p>I don’t think BET was intended to be racially geared because if you don’t know already, the African/Black race is extremely diverse throughout an entire spectrum of things (I believe this also holds true for Whites, Asians and Latinos)… just putting on the “B” serves no justice that the television station was specifically for Blacks. The “B” in BET was derived from the fact that a large portion of African Americans in this nation gravitated towards a particular genre of music and became patrons of the culture that grew out of it … a genre and culture that was overlooked by mainstream TV stations. That’s not to say that a few members from other races didn’t enjoy this music and followed its culture because that’s simply not true (exemplified by the coming up of White rappers/R&B artists and sold out concerts filled with White fans in the late 1980s and early 90s). Essentially, the creators of BET felt justified to openly market this explosive movement, (which happened to be heavily concentrated in the Black community and shunned away by America at large) out of the prior blacklisting of Hip Hop artists (who were primarily Black during its establishment) by mainstream TV stations. </p>
<p>To answer your last question, does Eminem count? lol Teena Marie was out there singing with Rick James the year before he croaked. The awards show is to award Hip Hop and R&B artists (regardless of race) for their accomplishments, as well as to shed light on the Black Musical Legends and affluent members of the Black community who have done extensive humanitarian work all over the world. To my knowledge, the above are often left in the shadows of mainstream media, unless the music artists are crossover artists (typically).</p>
(don’t have cable 
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