The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 55

Ahby. 12-E Comics. 14-E Crossword. 14-E Erma IOE Horoscope 14-E oection tv THURSDAY, i Dec. 15, 1983 i I i II u.

Ch. 4's Decision To Preempt China ft r.iiw eport Irks Viewers TV i "'f Vi i -inn i )in. mm mmmmmmmtmm "frit A V. ill 1 4 Dcana Deck Wins ACE award Staff photos by Robert Johnson Garry Shults, products specialist for RCA, checks out based UHF station hopes to be sign on the air by Christ-some of the newly installed equipment at Channel 39's mas weekend, if weather and Lady Luck cooperate. Gadeville transmitter and tower site.

The Murf reesboro- ebuf of Ch. 39 May-Be Gift To Mid-State for Christmas t' Jt I Ey DIANE BARTLEY The eye of the storm has blown over, but people are still talking about Channel 4's strange programming move that preempted an NBC report on China for a Louise Mandrell rerun. "Louise Mandrell: Diamonds, Gold and Platinum," aired last Thursday instead of Tom Brokow's "NBC White Paper" report on China, and viewers 200" of them, according to general manager Mike Kettenr-iiig) were upset about the move. THE "WHITE PAPER" report had been widely promoted by Brokow himself, the "Today" show and corporate sponsors and viewers awaiting the news documentary were sorely disappointed by the rather pitiful variety show substitute. As one angry viewer said, "I think it stinks that Channel 4 is not carrying the special on China.

What kind of management would let cheap entertainment replace a masterpiece on a country we know little about?" Some of Channel 4's own staffers were even embarrassed by upper management's move, saying the decision was a poor reflection on a station that publicly prides itself on news coverage. BUT THIS TIME money spoke louder than Brokow and viewers. Naturally the Mandrell special netted the station extra bucks because all advertising was local. (On NBC network shows, the station is only allowed a certain percentage of local advertising). Kettenring really didn't want to talk about that angle, however, saying instead that his choice of Mandrell over China was a "programming decision." "Based on the synopsis NBC provided before the program, we didn't think there was anything particularly new in the special," Kettenring said.

ON THE OTHER hand, he added, Channel 4 has a contract to air "X-number" of Mandrell specials, and he decided to preempt Brokow's report on China rather than some other network show. But 200 phone calls and letters "are not insignificant," he admitted, and the China program has been rescheduled for this Sunday, at 11 p.m. Missing Masterpiece' Speaking of irate viewers and missing programming: Channel 8 ran into embarrassing times last Sunday when the latest episode of "The Citadel" on "Masterpiece Theater" failed to make it onto the air. Instead viewers who had just been urged to send in pledges to the station's fund drive saw 20 minutes of an old "Nova" show, only to have that yanked for a rerun of a previous "Citadel" 4 v- stop movies during the rest of the day and evening. Some of the titles slated for the first few weeks include: Woody Allen's "Take the Money and Run," Steve McQueen in "Junior Bonner," "Cleopatra," "Fantastic Voyage," "Law and Disorder," "The King and "Our Man Flint" and James Caan's "Games." And there's also "Peyton Place," "Bikini Beach," "Doctor Doolitle," "David and Bathsheba," "Blon-die," "The Stepford Wives" and "The Agony and the Ecstasy." WHEN NOT airing movies, Channel 39 will go after "alternative viewing" in other ways, Anneke said.

In the mornings, while the network stations show news programs, Channel 39 will air children's shows liked "Speed Racer," "Popeye," "My Favorite Martian" and an educational show for preschoolers called "New Zoo Revue." Against soap operas in the early afternoons, there'll be "Dick Van Dyke" and "I Love Lucy," followed by after-school shows for kids like "Felix the Cat" and "Superfriends." At 5 p.m., Channel 39 goes back to the older kids and adults with "Hawaii followed at 6 p.m. by the game show "Joker's Wild" and at 6:30 p.m. by the re-centh re-released "Laugh-In." (Turn to page 7-E) neke hedged, "then certainly by the end of the year." AND WHEN that day comes, Middle Tennesseans can look forward to another alternative TV station, with a lineup ranging from "Hawaii Five-0" to "Lawrence Welk" and filled with plenty of movies in between. Movies, Anneke said, will be the station's special strength. Working on what he called "his mandate" to turn Channel 39 into the Channel, standing for Quality" Anneke said he has stocked nearly 1800 feature films.

"We literally bought the entire MGM film library," he said. "And the entire Viacom library and the entire 20th Century library and the World Vision library." "But we were going for quality." AS PART of that "commitment to quality," the station has purchased a Lexicon, "the doggoned-est thing," according to Anneke. The recently developed Lexicon can alter a movie's length, either expanding it or reducing it, by eliminating or increasing minute pauses. None of the original content is lost. "In other words," Anneke said, "we won't cut them up." The station has also set an innovative commercial style for its prime-time movie, with only two Ey DIANE BARTLEY If there really is a Santa Claus, Carlo Anneke knows exactly what he wants for Christmas: A new TV station for Middle Tennesseans.

"We hope to give a Christmas present to the community," said Anneke, general manager of Mur-freesboro's new WFYZ-Channel 39. But, he quickly added, any help from the weather, Santa or "someone higher up" will be greatly appreciated. ANNEKE ADMITTED Channel 39, the new UHF station that should be received clearly by the majority of Nashvillians, has had more than its share of trouble getting on the air. The original launch date of Oct. 1 has been revised so many times that An- neke now refuses to even "guesstimate" an actual date; "anything," he said, "could happen." "We could be unloading the new Marconi a film projector, and somebody might drop rt," he said, smiling slightly but certainly not laughing.

He remembers the time installers called to say the tower's anchors, packed in feet of poured concrete, had "bent" But if all goes as hoped for and if the rain just stops long enough to put the finishing touches on the tower Channel 39 plans to sign on the air by Christmas weekend. "And if not then," An MacPirkle Play's first producer Promotion director Andrew Davis explained the problem developed when a technician began running the tape marked "Citadel 4" and found "Nova" appearing on the monitor instead. As "Nova" rolled on, staffers combed the station for the true "Citadel when it was pronounced "missing," an earlier episode was put on in its place. APPARENTLY a not-too-alert technician failed to pre-tape the PBS transmission of the show. Davis apologized to viewers who were inconvenienced by the mix-up but said the station will try to borrow a copy of the missing "Citadel" from another PB6 station.

He said both "Citadel 4" and this week's "Citadel 5" will air back-to-back Sunday, beginning at 8 p.m. Top Cable Honors Nashville fared well in Monday (Turn to page 7-E) Carlo Anneke "Commitment to quality" four-minute breaks during each show. "Basically it's a movie in three acts, instead of the normal eight to 10," Anneke said. THREE MOVIES will air each day during the week, beginning with an early show at noon and including a prime-time 7 p.m. feature and a 10:30 p.m.

"late show." On weekends, Anneke has scheduled a "Family Theater" on Saturday mornings and practically non Restoration Sought for Beheaded Sarratt Sculpture Group to pv.r n. 1:1. r-U (1 By CLARA inEROXYMUS It probably started as a beer-inspired bit of daring, a prank carried out in an alcoholic sense of nutty fun. But it was vandalism of a particularly sickening kind, the mindless defacing of a work of art that had originally been a source of campus pride. It was an act that probably left the perpetrators feeling some shame the next day, but no one has yet come forward to admit the wrongdoing.

AN LNTERESTING sculptural work, commissioned among other pieces when Sarratt Center was built on the Vanderbilt University campus, stood for 10 years near Sarratt Center and Rand Terrace. Created by Lon Anthony of Memphis, the nearly 5-foot square piece in welded copper, is titled Eighteen Campus Types. It depicts a group of 18 clustered figures striding across campus, some of them carrying guitar cases and other instruments, all of them distinctive, humorous and individualistic. The long-legged figures of beaten copper are hollow, the molded heads are solid. One weekend a month ago, a party weekend around the campus, someone or probably a group of people who may have been a little drunk and mistakenly viewing such an act as enormously funny climbed the sculpture and twisted off 12 of the sculptured heads.

MOST STUDENTS are distressed about the destructive act The sculpture has been removed from its base and put in storage, and Sarratt administrators are hoping that those who took the wonderful heads will see fit to return them. The sculptor will refabricate the work if the heads are made available. "It was accessible to everybody who passed by on the campus," said a Sarratt staff member, "and while it wasn't unexpected that something might happen to this original work, we see it as an act that was malicious but not premeditated. And we'd like to have the heads returned so we can take the work back to Memphis and ask Lon Anthony to re-do his excellent sculpture." IT MAY BE that the vandals do not wish to own up to their impulsive participation. While it would be an act of character to do so, Sarratt officials are making it possible for the heads to be returned anonymously.

They can be returned to the Sarratt Center by placing them in the night deposit slot to the left of the Sarratt main desk and across from room 118. A i It 5 i imwt i Lon Anthony's copper sculpture, Eighteen Campus A month ago vandals twisted off 1 2 of the 1 8 heads; Types, stood on the Vanderbilt campus for 1 0 years, none have been returned. .1 ,1.