It's time once again to add up the numbers to see which of our 2017 programs were most popular with our online viewers. There's a little bit of everything in the list: History, ballot proposals, immigration, and of course, controversy. Here they are in ascending order:
#10 - The Dead-end out of America - Our look at how thousands of refugees have crosssed illegally into Canada through a dead-end Clinton County road. Original air date was November 3.
#9 - Journalist on Rural America's support for Trump - Chris Arnade was one of the first reporters to discover the impact candidate Donald Trump was having on "Middle America." The original air date was April 28.
#8 - Inside the State Education Building - Ah, this has been one of the clear favorites over the years and for good reason. Our Casey Seiler got a behind the scenes look at arguably one of the most beautiful buildings in all of Albany. The original air date was August of 2012.
#7 - Should New York have a Constitutional Convention? One of the top stories to dominate the political scene of 2017 was whether or not citizens should take a second look at parts of the constitution. The question appears on the ballot every 20 years. It was soundly defeated on Election Day. The original air date was October 13.
#6 - Wayne Barrett talks Donald Trump - One of the best New York City investigative journalists of his time, the longtime Village Voice reporter sat down with Matt Ryan for one of his last TV interviews to discuss his years covering real estate mogul Donald Trump. Barrett died just hours before Trump was inaugurated on January 19, 2017. Our interview took place in April of 2016.
#5 - NYS Medicaid Director on Afforadable Care Act - Jason Helgerson, the state's Medicaid Director, joined us right in the middle of the contentious healthcare debate in the summer of 2017. The podcast of this show was our most downloaded of 2017. The original air date was July 31.
#4 - Should cat declawing be illegal? Our feature story focused on legislation that would make New York the first state to ban the practice. The bill once again did not pass the legislature. The original air date was May 18.
#3 - Pataki v. Cuomo: '94 Race for Governor - Our documentary looks back at the David versus Goliath battle 23 years ago when a little-known Hudson Valley State Senator knocked off a Democratic titan. The original air date was August 25.
#2 - The Cuomo Bridge naming controversy - Our story from three weeks ago clearly interested a lot of people across the state. We interviewed a Hudson Valley man whose petition to change the name of the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge back to the Tappan Zee has over 100,000 people signed on.
and the most watched program of ours on NYNOW.og this year is...
#1 - Proposal 3 - Forest Preserve Land Bank Amendment - In an off-year election, ballot proposals generally receive more coverage but when we looked at the numbers from our show on Proposal 3 we were stunned. It was far and away the most watched program of ours from 2017. Ballot proposals can sometimes be tough to play on television. Clearly, though, there were a lot of people who wanted to know more about what they would be voting on and that makes us feel good.
Thanks for another great year and we'll see you in 2018!
