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TV Producers Pitch Shows At Annual NATPE Gathering

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – From professional wrestlers to honky tonking country singers, they all gathered to pitch their shows at the Fontainebleau in Miami Beach for the annual National Association of Television Program Executives convention.

NATPE, as it's known, is the world's largest television conference and celebrated its 50th anniversary this year. It's also the shot many are looking for to get their shows into the spotlight.

Seven-foot-tall wrestler Titan and his friend Bushwhacker Luke were trying to sell their new wrestling show called TCW Wrestling.

"I'm the perfect billboard with my height," Titan said. "This is where we come to get this show noticed and on the air."

Country singer Rick Monroe was looking to revitalize America's honky tonk bars and nightclubs with his show pitch for "Honky Tonk Trip."

"I think this is the best place for me to sell this show because no one here is like me and no one is a hillbilly like me," Monroe said.

CBS held court with a poolside cabana where Arsenio Hall's return to late night television was being discussed. The show is reportedly 95 percent sold.

"There's a gentle breeze in the Miami air and I'm so glad to be back on CBS," Hall said Tuesday.

The three day convention, or schmooze fest, featured selling and showcasing that even attracted people from other broadcasting industries. Top radio DJ Elvis Duran, from Y100's Morning Show, was in on the television game.

"TV people are weird," Duran said. "I have a license to say this because radio people are weirder, so really, TV, music, radio, we are one and the same."

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