The Minneapolis Star from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 25

HI A I AREETY The Minneapolis Star Wednesday, July 1979 IB John Carman WTCN's news fiasco a self-imposed disaster 1 lA -v i WTCN-TV (Channel 11) has itself to blame for a disastrous introduction to the high-stakes television news business. The born-agaln news station represents a near-perfect case history of how not to put together a successful and respected news operation. Now it's suffering the consequences: Morale in the Channel 11 newsroom is declining. One reporter, Laura Didlo, has been fired since "NewsCenter 11" premiered in March. Two newsmen, Fred Jordan and John Hudgens, have quit.

Others are said to be preparing tapes and resumes to search for new Jobs. The "NBC Nightly News." tradi delivering Channel 11 a 21 percent audience share during prime time. Viewers tune out by the thousands at 10 p.m. to watch their news elsewhere, leaving Channel 11 a mere 10 percent audience share. At 10:30, dials are flicked back to Channel 11 for "The Tonight Show," which registered a powerful 38 share.

The irony is that Channel 11 is failing on its own terms. WTCN-TV needed a strong and savvy news director who could act independently to assemble a top-quality staff and set a tone for news coverage. The station had no news tradition to limit its choices; its opportunity was so great that the station didn't even have to adhere to the standard news-weath- they hope Channel 11 never changes Its news operation. Not because they think the newscasts are good, but, sadly, because they watch it for laughs. Embarrassing technical blunders that plagued "NewsCenter 11" during its first week on the air have oeen reduced but not overcome.

Viewers on Monday night, for example, witnessed the spectacle of anchorman Jim Dyer reading a story about St. Paul to the accompaniment of a tape showing a new St. Louis Park legislator being sworn into office. Even a cursory examination of "NewsCenter ll's" May ratings indicates that viewers are actively hostile toward the WTCN-TV news. Nielsen figures show NBC tionally popular among Twin Cities viewers, plummeted to a paltry 10 percent share of the viewing audience In the first ratings book since Channel 1 1 became an NBC affiliate.

Lack of confidence in Channel 1 1 as a news station is unquestionably a major reason. Advertising sources report that Channel 11 coaxed reluctant advertisers to buy commercial time on "NewsCenter 11" by guaranteeing ratings levels that the station didn't achieve. According to sources, Channel 11 had to make up the difference by offering the advertisers free commercial time. That means the station's overconfi-dence cost it thousands of dollars. Some of Channel ll's regular viewers have been telling me that Jim Dyer Gil Amundson to draw conclusions that should have been reached by someone well-grounded in the idiosyncrasies of the Twin Cities market.

Final decisions were left to execu- Carman Turn to Page 2B er-sports format. It could have experimented with something more meaningful. But Channel 11 chose instead to make a big splash with a conventional format. It settled on a well-intentioned-but-weak leader in Gil Amundson. A Metromedia news consultant arrived from New York Film mogul proves he's a surprising Ladd By JERRY PARKER Ncwaday him: Jay Kanter and Gareth Wi-gan, both vice presidents that Ladd had brought Into the company.

Ladd's announcement said only that the demands of administrative duties "prevented him from giving as much as he would like to the production and marketing of motion pictures." "There's a suddenness in the announcement," said the 41 -year-old film executive, "but I've been thinking about it for a while." He and board Chairman Dennis Stanfill clashed over paying bonuses to a dozen production executives. When the chairman refused, "There were a couple of points today when I thought I'd like to have this job for about 30 seconds more," Alan Ladd Jr. said one afternoon in his office at 20th Century-Fox Pictures in Los Angeles. "There are other times," he continued, "when I ask myself: What else would I like to It was a late afternoon before it would be known whether "Alien," Fox's major bid for the summer movie business, would be a hit or miss. Ladd, who has been president of the motion picture company since 1976, was sipping tea in a comfortable corner of his den-like of ri h'li fC I 0X V0 ilJU ik I 1 1 I'sA I I W-V i WW fice.

He looked weary. He wouldn't be specific about what would make him want to give up the job that paid him $1.9 million in salary and bonuses last year. There had been, he said with a shrug, "a hassle here, a hassle there." Had he come up with an There's a suddenness in the announcement, but I've been thinking about it for a while. Alan Ladd Jr. S9 appealing, alternative vocation? Ladd, who is as laconic as the strong-and-sllent heroes his movie-star father played In the films of the 1940s and '50s, remained poker-faced and silent for several seconds.

"No," he said at last, very quietly. While Ladd spoke, rumors were circulating that his future was riding on the success or failure of "Alien." But "Alien" earned $23 million in its first five weeks, a personal triumph for Ladd akin to the glory he received for taking a chance on "Star Wars." The rumors that he was on shaky ground were buried under a pile of Variety headlines: "Alien Wows NY," "Alien Torrid 100G, Pitt." "Alien Smash $105,000 Frisco," "Allen Scorching $350,000 Chi." So the film industry was taken by surprise when Ladd announced recently that he planned to resign In December of 1980 and that two Ladd, Kanter and Wigan reportedly pooled their resources and paid the bonuses themselves. Despite differences with Stanfill, Ladd emphasized he was leaving of his ''own free will." Will he remain in the film industry? "Absolutely," said Ladd. "That's my whole life." The speculation running through the film capital was that Ladd, Kanter and Wigan would establish a film company similar to Orion, the company founded last year by a group of former United Artists executives, or that Ladd would increase his profits and reduce his Ladd Turn to Page SB Star Illustration by Kurt Carlnon The cosmic profits of movies such as 'Star Wars' and 'Men' have made Alan Ladd Jr. a management star old friends planned to leave with Budapest heartbreak: They hungered for good life Iggers Abroad There was one tense moment when she asked him to tell her about his apartment, but he had managed to brush her off with the remark that she would have to come over and see it sometime.

The first bottle of Egri Bikaver was followed by a second, and then by snifters of outrageously expensive Imported cognac. By the end of the evening, both of them were thoroughly drunk. The next Saturday she called him at his office. (Every other Saturday is a workday in Hungary.) Could Iggers Turn to Page 6B stood the importance of first Impressions. He met her in the lobby and escorted her upstairs.

She was beautiful and wore a striking dress that might have come from Vienna or Paris instead of from Budapest. The dining room, with its high ceilings and crystal chandeliers, was elegant, and yet it was a slightly faded elegance; Istvan sensed that the Hotel Gellert had seen better days. They seated themselves at a table and as they waited for a waiter to bring the menus they started to talk. It turned out that they both liked American novels and American films. No, she said, she hadn't read John Updike's "Rabbit, Run" yet, but she had seen it In the stores.

If he would remind her, she would lend him her copy of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." He ordered the goulash soup and the pork steak with peppers. She ordered the cold sour cherry soup and the Chateaubriand. Istvan gulped when he saw the price of the Chateaubriand, nearly $9, but he smiled pleasantly and told the waiter to be sure to bring them a bottle of Egri Bikaver as well. The waiter gave a curt nod and disappeared. The evening was wonderful.

The Chateaubriand was dry and tough, and the vegetables overcooked. In the magic of the moment, however, they hardly noticed. The Cypsy orchestra was bright and lively, the lead violinist a virtuoso. As he came by to serenade them, Istvan slipped a 100-forint note into his hand. By JEREMY IGGERS BUDAPEST, Hungary Istvan poured himself another glass of wine, draining the bottle.

As he looked around the dining room into the weary faces of the other diners his spirits only sank deeper. The Harmat on Korosi Street is a drab and dingy working-class restaurant, built in the stolid Soviet style of the '50s. On the floor near his table, Istvan noted with Indifference, someone had emptied an ashtray. Like many other Budapest restaurants, the Harmat had a Gypsy these were tired, aging, paunchy Gypsies, who sawed their way listlessly through short sets and took long breaks. Istvan picked at the remains of his dinner a pork steak, a sausage, bacon fat and greasy french fries but he had no appetite.

Life Is hard, Istvan thought, and in Hungary maybe It Is even a little bit harder. But he was luckier than most. He had a good job, a good income more than $200 a month and he had already managed to save enough to make the 50 percent deposit required to put his name on the waiting list for a new car. In five years, the car would be his. Of course, it wouldn't be a shiny black West German Mercedes-Benz like the bureaucrats and big-time Party members drive.

Still, a Polish FUt was a good little car. But Istvan's heart ached. As the orchestra droned on, he thought back to the first time he had met Ildiko. Jim Klobuchar She had answered his ad In the Wife Wanted column of the Magyar Nemes newspaper: Young man, 27, college-educated, good Income, apartment, interested in books and tra vei, seeks to meet young woman of similar age and background. Object matrimony.

Reply box xxxx. She was, she had written, 25 years old and lived In a three-room apartment In a high-rise with her mother and father. She said she worked as a clerk at the State Auto Insurance Agency and she enjoyed reading, cooking and travel. He wrote back in turn suggesting they meet for dinner at the Hotel Ccllert, the stately old hotel beside the Danube. It would be outrageously expensive, perhaps $20 or more for dinner for two, but Istvan under Jim Klobuchar Is on assignment In South America Gedtaey makes a dilly of a piddle.

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