February’s Black History Month celebration draws attention from across the media spectrum.  While general-market media brands often see Black History Month (BHM) as an opportunity to “right the ship” and compensate for a lack of diverse content, African-American-targeted brands like AspireTV reflect on black historical legacy and achievement, alongside the series, specials and movies they regularly offer to the black community.  In any case, black audience expectations are elevated during BHM, and networks like AspireTV that serve those audiences year-round might feel a special obligation to raise the bar while reminding their audiences that black history is being made every day.

Viewers who happened to flip to public television on the morning of February 19, 1968, might be forgiven for not realizing they were watching a pivotal moment in television history.

Driverless cars?  Autonomous vehicles?  Call them what you will, if the non-stop chatter about them in the trade press is any indication, they are coming for us whether we like it or not -- and there’s not a dang thing any of us can do about it.

While Telemundo’s programming has focused largely on their wildly popular Super Series (multiple seasons with approximately 75 episodes each), action-packed Premium (limited) Series like Falco and El Recluso and reality competitions like Exatlón and the upcoming La Voz, there has been endless online chatter about Betty En NY.  The new comedy, first announced during the network’s Upfront presentation last May, is a reboot of the 1999 Colombian telenovela Yo Soy Betty, La Fea, which in turned inspired ABC’s Ugly Betty. This modernized and New York-set retelling is charming and hilarious with a star-making performance from its leading lady Elyfer Torres as the ordinary but lovable Betty.

Put aside the usual indicators of a strong economy -- a robust stock market, low unemployment -- for a moment.  Think about the people around you; friends, family, people you encounter on your commute.  Do they seem more stressed than they were even just a few years ago?

In recognition of Black History Month, this episode of the Insider InSites podcast brought together two talented MediaVillage journalists who shared their opinions and insights on the representation of people of color in advertising and media.  You'll want to hear the full conversation with Phil McKenzie (pictured top left), a cultural anthropologist and expert in influencer marketing, and Ainsley Andrade (pictured top right), an entertainment critic with a background in the arts.  While this text is an edited topline of the full conversation, I'm sharing it as a two-part article to allow those who prefer to read vs. listen to get as full a sense of their compelling comments as possible.  Listen to it all here (and please subscribe to all our Insider InSites episodes via Spotify, iHeartRadio, GooglePodcasts, Apple, Stitcher and TuneIn).