Twenty years after106 & Park formed a era, BET is launching a brand new chapter inside Tyler Perry Studios, the place soundstages named for Black icons set the scene for106 & Sports activities.
“The recent cultural hub the place athleticism, id, and neighborhood collide is, in response to hosts Cam Newton and Ashley Nicole Moss, not a reboot however a brand new lane constructed on legacy, persona, and actual dialog.”
Supply: Sydney A. Foster for BET
Based on Ashley Nicole Moss, stepping onto the 106 stage is greater than one other internet hosting alternative; it’s a second she nonetheless hasn’t totally absorbed.
“It’s main,” Moss stated. “I feel Cam and I each, it was such an enormous a part of our upbringing. Me being from New York, clearly 106 and Park meant one thing slightly bit additional particular. All people who graced that set, graced that stage, I simply thought was the good.”
Supply: Sydney A. Foster for BET / Sydney A. Foster for BET
She added that becoming a member of the franchise nonetheless feels surreal.
“For me as somebody who’s needed to be on TV as a broadcaster my whole life, it was a dream job. And to simply be a part of not solely the BET household, however the 106 household, it’s very surreal. It’s a full-circle second, and it’s not one thing that I take calmly.”
Her co-host, Cam Newton, made it clear that though the present carries the legacy of a cultural basic, evaluating the 2 misses the purpose.
Cam Newton Rejects The Phrase “Rebrand”
Newton stated the connection between 106 & Park and 106 & Sports activities is symbolic, however they serve completely different worlds.
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“I wouldn’t contemplate it a rebrand,” he stated. “I simply would contemplate it a brand new alternative to showcase one thing, particularly on the platform of BET.”
He continued:
“I don’t assume that 106 ought to simply all the time be tied to what we’ve got as soon as recognized it to be. 106 & Sports activities won’t ever compete with 106 & Park as a result of it’s two completely different communities, two completely different goal audiences, and two various kinds of methods for consumption.”
Even so, the essence stays.
“Are there sure ideas or sure components which can be nonetheless the identical? Sure. It’s nonetheless Black as hell, which we love. It’s nonetheless cultural subjects. And it’s additionally the countdown methodology.”
Newton stated the respect for 106 & Park is foundational.
“We’ve got the utmost respect for the forefathers that got here with the 106 and Park tagline. However for us, utilizing the tagline of 106 and Sports activities assaults content material in a really completely different means.”
On Set at Tyler Perry Studios: HBCU College students, Administrators’ Cues, & Actual Viewers Vitality
Earlier than talking with the hosts, BOSSIP’s very personal Lauryn Bass attended the season finale taping at Tyler Perry Studios, the place BET invited HBCU and Atlanta-area faculty college students to expertise the manufacturing firsthand. From Clark Atlanta, Savannah State, Morehouse, and others, the spirit within the room was filled with pleasure.
The set got here alive with real-time reactions, countdown cues, and the choreography of reside tv. From administrators signaling when the group ought to cheer, chortle, or elevate the power, to viewers members getting an opportunity to community and work together straight with Newton and Moss between tapings, you could possibly really really feel the vibe of “Lights, Digital camera, Motion!”
Tyler Perry Studios offered a backdrop that matched the present’s cultural mission. Soundstages named after icons like Halle Berry and Denzel Washington framed an atmosphere the place younger Black creatives may witness how a present centered on sports activities and tradition is constructed from the bottom up.
Two attendees shared their reactions after spending practically a full day contained in the expertise.
Music artist Latasha Bailey stated the revival of the 106 model from a sports activities angle feels well timed.
“It’s been an amazing expertise. It’s good to see the 106 and Model come again,” she stated. “We’re used to 106 and Park, however to see it from a sports activities perspective, I feel it’s giving perhaps a recent thought for the folks which can be main sports activities fanatics.”
Bailey stated the lineup added to the thrill.
“It’s simply been expertise so far to see a few of your sports activities favorites, your Corridor of Famers, your newcomers, your folks which can be in between,” she shared. “I actually hope they get to come back again and do a brand new season as effectively, that it continues the best way 106 and Park did.”
Viewers member Ernest Owens echoed the sentiment, noting the power that carried from afternoon into night time.
“I loved being on set for 106 and Sports activities,” he stated. “Good hosts, good crowd, good friends popping out. It’s been expertise and I can’t wait to see when it comes on nationwide TV.”
He added that the earliest taping block stood out.
“I feel the primary set had the perfect power. We had greater stars. We had the tennis star, and we had the NBA star too. So it was a lot of enjoyable early within the morning.”
The taping showcased precisely what Newton and Moss later described: a present grounded in tradition, elevated by persona, and formed by its viewers. There have been even keepsakes that friends walked away with of cute sports activities trinkets.
Tyler Perry Studios Provides Weight To The Imaginative and prescient
Throughout our dialog, Ashley Nicole Moss credited Tyler Perry Studios with amplifying the present’s influence.
Supply: Sydney A. Foster for BET
“Tyler Perry Studios is totally phenomenal,” she stated. “What he’s been in a position to do with that land, and to drive in there and see the completely different sound phases named after outstanding Black folks within the leisure business: the Halle Berry studios, the Denzel Washington studios, it’s unbelievable.”
Newton linked much more personally with the situation.
“It is a dream come true,” he stated. “Particularly being from School Park. I bear in mind using Marta and seeing that piece of land. I by no means would have considered it that means.”
He stated Perry’s blueprint fuels his personal ambition.
“What Tyler Perry has been in a position to do is grant a person from Atlanta, Georgia, and Cam Newton, a North Star,” he stated. “If I’ve any questions, I can look proper below my nostril and say, Tyler Perry began from someplace.”
Friends Deliver Cultural Dialog, Historical past, & Humor
Moss highlighted two moments that seize why the present is resonating with viewers.
“One was simply the banter between Cam and Ocho Cinco, simply from a comedic facet,” she stated. “That unfiltered sort of dialog you used to get from 106 & Park that you simply actually can’t get anyplace else.”
However the present additionally pushes deeper cultural conversations.
“I completely liked after we had Ryan Howard on the present, and he gave us the historical past lesson on the Negro League,” Moss stated. “We had the dialog about why minorities don’t play baseball, why we don’t see as many Black faces within the sport as we as soon as did.”
She added that Taylor Townsend’s section introduced extra perception into obstacles in tennis.
“These forms of conversations..these are the moments the place I used to be like, see, that is what we’d like a present like this for. These are the conversations we aren’t having anyplace else.”
Different friends introduced the humor followers count on.
“If you see people who appear like you, it unlocks completely different ranges of your persona,” Moss stated. “That’s precisely what we acquired in that Ocho and Cam dialog, or after we had Boogie on the present and he was speaking about, ‘I undoubtedly dropped you,’ and the creator was like, ‘You ain’t dropped me.’ You don’t have these conversations all over the place.”
Supply: Sydney A. Foster for BET / Sydney A. Foster for BET
A New Cultural Dwelling For Sports activities Tv
106 & Sports activities extends the spirit of the unique 106 franchise with out attempting to recreate it. Newton and Moss are shaping an area that blends athlete perception, cultural storytelling, and comedic moments inside a format grounded in Black neighborhood.
106 & Sports activities is in its subsequent chapter, constructed with intention, rooted in legacy, and able to develop.
