The Minneapolis Star from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 1

ONE COLOE Single copy 2Q CorrrifH ltT MliMtH' Star and Trl Ceanjaay Friday, March 2, 1979 sed? (Just dial The Minneapolis Still confu lion, yielding a probable total pretax profit of more than $16 million. The first solid indication of how the money will be distributed will come sometime in June, when the Nielsen and Arbl-tron rating firms release their local audience measurements for the critical May sweep period. Local stations and advertisers will pay particular attention to rating figures for and celebrity blitzes. When the last balloon pops and the final network star boards a plane out of the Twin Cities, the 'TV stations will settle back into their true vocations: making money. The difference Is that the profits will be sliced In a new way.

Channels 4, 5, 9 and 11 will be battling for their 1979 Twin Cities television revenues well in excess of $50 mil to Channel 5. NBC moves from Channel to WTCN-TV (Channel 11). Channel 9 replaces Channel 11 as a non-affiliated station. CBS stays where it is, at WCCO-TV (Channel 4). If you're still confused, don't blame the stations.

They're in the midst of spending about $2 million to publicize the affiliation switches with billboards, direct mailings, print advertisements, special programs By JOHN CARMAN Minneapolis Star Stiff Writer Moving day, as KSTP-TV (Channel 5) like to call It, Is finally upon the commercial television stations in the Twin Cities. Station call letters won't match ingrained viewing habits starting Monday morning, when the local network realignment occurs. ABC moves from KMSP'-TV (Channel 9) local newscasts. The news programs are more than the stations' badges of identity; they generally outrank other local shows in audience size, and can account for most of a station's advertising income. How the affiliation shake-up will affect audience shares is a mystery.

The seemingly obvious outcome is that Channel 5, which triggered the affiliation switches last summer by deciding to end its longstanding allegiance to NBC, will be catapulted Into an indomitable position. KSTP will be aligned with the network that only last week scored the second-greatest ratings triumph in U.S. TV history. ABC, in fact, has been outpointing CBS and NBC in the national ratings since early 1976. KSTP is no ratings slouch itself, especially In the crucial local news slots.

The station has maintained a steady lead over its nearest rival, WCCO, at both 6 and 10 p.m. Its "Eyewitness News" at 10 p.m. has the highest audience-rating figure among the nation's top SO markets. KSTP president Stanley S. Hubbard yesterday contemplated the coupling of his station's news ratings ana Am, pnme-ume popularity and said.

Hubbard "Those audience numbers hit you right between the eyes. Boom, you Just take off!" A local advertising source yesterday reached the same conclusion, although he expressed it less buoyantly. "I think KSTP will be the dominant station in the market," he said, referring to Channel 5's anticipated strength across the broadcast day. Executives at WCCO dissent. The station has a distinguished record for news and public-service endeavors, and has pro-, grammed shrewdly during non-network time slots.

According to Nielsen statistics, WCCO has been maintaining a lead in overall station ratings from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m. KSTP, however, has been disadvantaged by its soon-to-end affiliation with the third-rated Stations Turn to Page 4A Str Illustration by Craig Macintosh 0 NTCOLOR The world's trouble spots U.S. plan may push unleaded fuel to $1 co Tanzania Somalia cSL Uganda Eritrea ins Rhodesia North Yemen 3 wKtviA Mozambique South Yemen A AA Zambia Morocco Uyf i I 7r Angola Polisario 1 Israel 77 Ethiopia Chad Tfg Vj) J- 1 Wdl Philippines VW bug's last year? Nobody can say By BRENDA INGERSOLL Minneapolis Star Staff Writer Thousands of Volkswagen-lovers across the nation are snapping up stiffly priced 1979 Beetle convertibles as "an investment," believing no more will be made, but they might wind up disappointed. They are people like Willmar, chiropractor Herman Ah-renholz, 58, and his wife, Hattie, 56, who bought one and stuck it in their shed for safekeeping.

"We plan to sell it later. 1 think it's a collector's item," said Ahrenholz. The Ahrenholzes and others like them believe their 1979 Beetle convertibles are valuable because they were told the cars represent the end of an era. But a company spokesman admitted yesterday that a 1980 Beetle convertible may yet be destined for the U.S. market.

"I can neither confirm nor deny that this Is the last year, because the demand for convertibles Is stronger than ever," said Herb Williamson, public relations manager for Volkswagen of America. "1980 Is a distinct possibility." Despite the company's apparent uncertainty about future production of the Beetle, salesmen contacted in the Twin Cities area, California, Manitoba, Wisconsin and Illinois have been led to believe that the 1979 convertible models are the end of the Beetle line. Hardtops have not been available in the United States since 1977. They are all telling prospective customers the 1979 beetle "is defi- vw Turn to Page 4A rl JM Iran "Jjl MBf (j India Yffi I Pakistan Guatemala Honduras Nicaragua El Salvador Argentina Chile From The Star'i News Services WASHINGTON The Energy Department today said it has adopted a new fuel-pricing plan that could let average gasoline prices Increase as much as 12.4 cents a gallon in the next two years and might help push unleaded gasoline prices to $1 a gallon within a year. A spokesman for the department's Energy Economic Regulatory Administration said the so-called "gasoline tilt" plan an alternative to removing controls on gasoline prices, which the administration has judged too politically unpopular for adoption takes effect immediately.

The "tilt" formula lets refiners add a larger part of increased crude oil and refinery operating costs to gasoline prices rather than to the price of other refined products such as home heating oil. Previously, because gasoline prices were regulated but other products weren't, added costs for crude oil and gasoline production were put. on other products; now they will go on gasoline. A spokesman said the formula will help hold down heating-oil costs and could conceivably lead to a reduction. The price increase under the formula comes on top of the recent 3-to 4-cent-a-gallon rise due to price hikes for crude oil imposed In December by members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Energy Secretary James Schle-singer said Wednesday unleaded Prices Turn to Page 4A Wars flare all around world and off In Lebanon. The crisis In Northern Ireland remains unsettled, although the situation is considerably calmer than it was. Basque separatists remain active In Spain. In Asia, the government of the Philippines still battles a Moslem separatist movement in its southern islands. Rebel action is still under way In Burma.

Guerrilla actlv- Conflict Turn to Page 4A East. The four-month-old war between Idi Amin's Uganda and neighboring Tanzania has intensified In east -central Africa. Another African nation, the former French colony of Chad, faces the possibility of civil war, according to diplomats there. Sporadic guerrilla violence continues In the Central American nations of Nicaragua, Honduras. El Salvador and Guatemala.

Palestinian guerrillas occasionally set off bombs Inside Israel, and Moslem-Christian violence continues on drawn into struggles that began outside their borders. These countries range In population from China's 8651 million to South Yemen's 1.7 million. In all, they make up about a quarter of the earth's 4.2 billion people. China's Invasion of Vietnam, which began Feb. 17, came on the heels of the Vietnamese Invasion of Cambodia and sent shock waves through world capitals.

North Yemen and South Yemen have been fighting for eight days In a strategic part of the Middle By ARTHUR L. CAVSHON Associated Prcaa LONDON War, guerrilla conflict, terrorism and other death-dealing strife afflict more than a score of nations In Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe. The most critical of them Is China's war with Vietnam a conflict that carries the threat of Soviet Intervention and the prospect of new worldwide tension. Other nations are involved in various disputes that could lead to conflict. Still others have been MS.

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