The Anniston Star from Anniston, Alabama • Page 17

Sept 19, 1991 PagelB v. A. 1111 Your guide to entertainment and leisure Media I Choice cuto Battle of the bands: FM causing AM static By Mike Stedham Star Entarlainmant Writar mmmmm V'J, urn. Sting Music It should come as no surprise that British rock star Sting, who will bring his "Soul Cages" tour to Atlanta on Saturday and Birmingham on Tuesday, has collaborated with Italian conductor Claudio Abbado and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe on a new recording of Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" for Deutsche Grammophone, a major clasical label. Afterall, classical music is the only kind of music he listens to in his free time.

Now he has taken on the narration of Prokofiev's 1936 musical tale, using his natural speaking voice only for Peter and making up voices for the rest of the characters. See story on Page 5B. Call it the Balkanization of Calhoun County radio. Turn on a radio right now. Start at the far right-hand side of the dial, and slide down through the AM band.

Before you're halfway through, you'll have heard easy listening, gospel, news-talk, oldies, rap-soul and Christian programming all originating from local transmitters. Over on the FM band, you can find country, adult-contemporary and college rock. Never before have area listeners had such a variety of choices. As a result, the radio audience resembles the republics that used to make up the Soviet Union: separating into innumerable segments that are becoming smaller and smaller. But in a medium that depends on audience size to bring in revenue, can a market this small support such diversity? "Every station is on the line right now.

It's just a matter of who can survive," says J.J. Dark, general manager and co-owner of WDNG in Anniston. "There's just not the advertising dollars to support nine radio stations." "We're probably beyond the saturation point, because we've got two stations in serious financial trouble," says George Salmon, general manager of WOXR-AM and WKFN-FM (K-98) in Oxford. Although Salmon wouldn't identfy the stations he thinks are in trouble, he did add: "Somebody's going to get hurt, and it's going to be the AM radio stations." The overcrowding of the airwaves will be eased if the Federal Communications Commission allows WHMA-FM (Alabama 100) to move its frequency to Atlanta as it has requested, but the prospects of that are uncertain. "Good Lord only knows," says Tom Williams, WHMA general manager.

"It will or it won't." MEANWHILE, ANNISTON radio is going through the same kind of market shift experienced by most big cities 10 or 20 years ago. As they buy new cars and new radios, the listeners are turning in ever-increasing Or numbers to the FM band, where the music sounds better. i Area radio ratings figures are hard to come by. The most recent survey, taken last year, showed Alabama 100 and WQEN-FM (Q-104) of Gadsden dominating the radio market throughout northeast Alabama. But that study was made just after K- Art Sometimes an artist's big break can keep on breaking.

That's what has happened to William Kwamena-Poh, an African-born, Talladega College educated artist who has had his work displayed on "The Cosby Show." "In some ways it was a breakthrough because you keep telling the story over and over again," he says. See story on Page SB. 98 signed on and before Q-104 changed its music format. One good measure of FM's increasing i i dominance is among people who buy car radios. Dale Hamilton, owner of Hamilton Electronics, says Calhoun County buyers are almost exclusively concerned with FM I See Radlo8B Television Tonight is yet another night of season premieres on television as both "The Simpsons" and "Cheers" make their season debuts.

In Fox's animated comedy, "The Simpsons," Homer is committed to a rest home where his roomate believes he's Michael Jackson. Later, on NBC, Sam Malone gets "Cheers" off to a rollicking start when his passion for baby-making is dampened by thoughts of parental responsibility. If that isn't enough for you, Dabney Coleman makes his TV comeback with the season premiere of "Drexell's Class," a Fox comedy in which he stars as a convicted con man sentenced to teach the fifth grade. See story on Page 4B. Calhoun County's airwaves are filled with the sound of music these days.

Among those on the air are: Kim O'Brien of WHMA-FM, top left; Scott Morgan of WKFN-FM, above; and Diana Matheny of WDNG-AM, right. llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllillltllllillllllllll Music Daek In tlm Sept. 19, 1S1 Glenn Ford and Gene Tierney explore "The Secret of Convict Lake," showing at Anniston's Calhoun Theater. Anniston area radio listeners are tuning in WSPC to "Johnny Singer's Orchestra" at 9:30 p.m. on the Mutual Broadcasting System.

It's simply Simon at Oak Mountain By Mike Stedham Star Entartalnmant Wrltar rJWfta: Paul Simon. Saturday, 8 p.m. C. MountrJn Amphitheatre, Pelham. Ticks ts $22.75 1 $27.25 revi ved.

Cz'A 1-C00-277-17C3 or 835-3C52. Alsa z-Tzrlrz: Sunday, UNO Lakefront Arena. Orlsan3. $25 and $23. Call Paul Simon's recent concert before 750,000 fans in New York's Central Park was more than the return of a songwriter to his home town.

It was the celebration of one of America's premier musical talents, a man whose work has inspired and influenced generations. Simon and the 17-piece band that backed him that historic evening in New Yorlf will be playing before a somewhat smaller crowd Saturday night at the Oak Mountain Amphitheater in Pelham, just south of Birmingham. The concert, which starts at 8, is not a sellout and even a few reserved seats are still available. The songs featured on the "Born at the Right Time" tour, which began in January, give a full representation of Simon's career, with heavy emphasis on the rhythm-dominated music of his two most recent albums. If Saturday night's show sticks close to the play list from the Central Park concert, fans can expect to hear lively versions of "Graceland," "Call Me and "The Obvious Child" interspersed with such classics as "The Boxer" and "America." Although many of Simon's newer fans may date his interest in world music only as far back as 1987's "Graceland," his percussion-heavy touring band brings out the Latin American and African influences inherent in such songs as "Me and Julio" and "Late in the Evening." In fact, Simon's career from the start has been notable for Top of tho hoep Here are America's top entertainment picks, as determined by audience size and airplay.

TV show "NFL Monday Night Football" (ABC) Movit "Freddy's Dead" Robert Engtund (New Line Cinema) Video rtntal "Home Alone" (Fox Video) Video sale 1 "Home Alone" (Fox Video) Rock album Guns 'N Roses "Use Your Illusion (Geffen) County single Doug Stone "I Thought It Was You" (Epic) Jatz album Antonio Hart "For the First Time" (NovusRCA) Compiled from wire Mfvtc rapom in Queens, N.Y. At 13 he wrote his first song, "The Girl for It was at Parsons that Simon teamed up with a young singer named Art Garfunkel, and the two cemented their relationship while copying the close-harmony singing technique of the Everly Brothers. Despite several unsuccessful attempts to sell their sound to the big-time record producers in New York City, the duo paid $15 to make a demonstration record of "Hey School Girl," which was finally released by Sid Posner of BIG Records. Credited to "Tom and Jerry," the single sold 150,000 copies nationwide and was Simon's first taste of success. See Simon8B Paul Simon is bound for Birmingham his willingness to experiment with different types of music, ranging from folk to rock to salsa to soul.

And he has been more willing than most other rock stars of his generation to reinvent his sound as his musical horizons have broadened. SIMON'S CAREER began at Parsons Junior High School.