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I’ve known Jake Sasseville since high school, but since he’s about to launch his show, The Edge with Jake Sasseville, on national television, it was time to find out how he feels about it. The show started when he was a teenager doing a public-access talk show in Lewiston. In 2004, it moved to Portland’s Fox affiliate, Channel 23. Now 22 and living in New York, Sasseville is still at it. “Everyone has an American dream, this just happens to be mine. And I’m able to take America along with me for the ride,” he says. Just not Maine — yet.
The Edge, a behind-the-scenes look at how a young man produces, films, edits, and distributes his talk show, will air on 35 ABC stations around the country, right after Jimmy Kimmel Live!, another late-night talk show, starting February 14. But Portland’s ABC affiliate, WMTW (Channel 8), has declined to air the show, telling the Phoenix “it was simply a programming decision” for the station, which is owned by the national Hearst-Argyle Television chain.
People who are able to watch the show will see Jake interviewing celebrities, like on other talk shows, but will also get an exclusive look at his business meetings, with high profile advertising folks like Ford Motor Company, and see other aspects of how everything comes together.
Lori Voornas, a DJ at the Citadel-owned WJBQ (Q 97.9), who has had Sasseville on her show several times, writes in an e-mail, “I have seen the show and it’s great! WMTW would have to be nuts not to pick up this Maine-boy-done-good show!”
WMTW's online schedule says it shows infomercials at 1 am, which is when Sasseville's show would air. Sasseville is trying to mobilize the public to persuade WMTW to carry his show, but if that doesn’t succeed, other Maine stations have expressed interest in it. So there is hope. To support Sasseville’s efforts, go to www.JakeAfterJimmy.com and click on Maine to get to a petition form you can send the show's producers, who will pass it on to the station.
On the Web
Jake Sasseville: www.EdgeWithJake.com | www.JakeAfterJimmy.com
