BodyLove
 |
|
| Running time | 15 minutes |
|---|---|
| Country of origin |
 United States
|
| Language(s) | English |
| Home station | WJLD |
| Starring | Audrey Quinn Cheryl Hall James A. McCarty, Jr. |
| Created by | Dr. Connie Kohler |
| Executive producer(s) | Betsy Hunter |
| Recording studio | Boutwell Studios Birmingham, Alabama |
| Original release | 2002 – present |
| No. of series | 5 |
| No. of episodes | 80+ |
| Website | https://web.archive.org/web/20080707092824/http://www.soph.uab.edu/bodylove/ |
BodyLove is a radio soap opera in which the characters face common health problems and attempt to deal with them using practical solutions and healthier eating. Billed as "the soap opera that's good for you", BodyLove uses fictional drama to reach African American listeners with messages that promote healthy lifestyles. The program is based upon the principles of "entertainment-education" that have been recommended for reaching audiences not reached by traditional health education and health promotion messages.
The show is aimed at an African American audience which struggles with many of these health problems in disproportionate numbers. (For example, the diabetes death rate for blacks is more than double that for whites.) Betsy Hunter, executive director of the non-profit Media for Health, told The Birmingham News, "If you can't entertain, you can't possibly change health behavior."
In each weekly 15-minute episode, characters deal with a variety of health problems while trying to navigate personal relationships and deal with strains both financial and emotional. The drama revolves around characters who work and spend their time at a fictitious Birmingham, Alabama, beauty salon called "BodyLove".BodyLove focuses on the family of Vanessa Love, an African American woman in early middle-age who owns the salon and struggles with issues of diet, high blood pressure, weight gain, substance abuse, stress, and death. Vanessa is also raising three children with little help from her husband, a recovering alcoholic. The characters make progress through modest lifestyle changes.
BodyLove was created by Dr. Connie Kohler, a public-health professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The show began in 2002 as a single 10-episode series on Birmingham station WJLD (1400 AM). It quickly expanded in scope and affiliate coverage to a multi-year saga heard in all of Alabama's population centers.
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