News-Press from Fort Myers, Florida • Page 43

Dear 2D Parent Teen Horoscopes 2D Bridge 4D 5D TV Page NEWS-PRESS SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 1988 WHEELING AND DEALING Who will take over for Pat Sajak (right) in December on NBC's daytime version of 'Wheel of when the laid-back host moves to CBS for his own late-night talk show? It's too early to tell, but it won't be the show's creator, Merv Griffin, whose name has TODAY'S TIP We furnish tips and topics you can use to keep your style of living contemporary in our Saturday tour of the high-tech home3D OH FAITH surfaced in the rumor mill. Resumes of prospective talent are being collected, but no one has been given an official audition. ANN RODGERS-MELNICK Easter Sunday arrives one hour earlier this year letters' hits home Vietnam documentary tells soldiers' story By KATHRYN BAKER Associated Press Bruce Springsteen has turned down untold amounts of money for commercial use of his song, "Born in the U.S.A." He gave it to the makers of HBO's "Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam" for free. Filmmaker Bill Couturie edited thousands of feet of archival footage into a backdrop forthe letters in this 90-minute documentary, premiering Sunday on HBO. Besides Springsteen, the soundtrack includes vintage '60s rock from such artists as the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Marvin Gaye.

The letters are read of f-camera by a star-studded cast of voices, including Robert De Niro, Kathleen Turner and Michael J. Fox, who all donated their time. At a recent screening in New York, some members of the audience were so moved by the film they were unable to get out of their seats when it was over. The documentary is based on the book of the same name and plays on HBO throughout April. "Dear America" is different from other Vietnam movies in that it is told in the words of the vets themselves in the of ten strikingly eloquent letters they wrote to loved ones back home: Writes Army nurse Lynda Van Devanter, "I'm sick of facing, every day, a new bunch of children ripped to pieces.

They're just kids 1 8, 1 9 years old! It stinks! Whole lives ahead of them cut off. I'm sick to death of it. I've got to get out of here Couturie said his interviews with vets from an earlier project convinced him of the Importance of the letters, virtually the Only link between those in Vietnam and "the world." The other link was rock 'n' roll. The film is structured chronologically and punctuated by stark graphics describing the escalation of the conflict. The combination of music and pictures evokes the era, not just the war.

But above it all are the words. Couturie knew what he wanted In the reading of the letters a delicate balance of emotion that didn't go over the edgejnto melodrama. He found himself giving direction to the biggest names in acting including Martin Sheen, Sean Penn, Willem Dafoe and Brian Dennehy. Ellen Burstyn reads the last, most devastating letter, from a mother to a son who died in the conflict 1 5 years earlier. When Burstyn arrived at the studio, Couturie said, she brushed him off, Insisting brusquely that they just get on with it.

"My heart was sinking," he said. "I was going, oh, God, this woman has a lunch date or something and wants to get out of here, and this is the most crucial letter in the film, and I really blew it, I've picked the wrong person." She was not the wrong person. She had been rehearsing the letter on her own and couldn't discuss it, she had to just do it. "That's the only letter that was done In one take," Couturie said. "She went in and just nailed it.

It was an awesome performance." a John Mc of WHYS says his talk show deals with "everything from the profane ROBIN TINAY SALLIENews-Press to the profound." M0MPS' EMEMBER the old song "Get Me To the Church on That could be tricky this Sunday, which is both Easter Sunday and the first morning of Daylight Savings Time. The time change goes into effect at 2 a.m. Sunday, which means that people who forget to move their clocks forward one hour tonight may show up an hour late for services. This is the first time In United States history that the change to Daylight Time has fallen on the day that Catholics and Protestants celebrate Easter, though it has sometimes occured on Eastern Orthodox Easter, which falls a week or more later. Area pastors say they're not worried that people will show up late.

Very few churchgoers seem to have trouble remembering to set the clock forward. "I think we might have had one come in late in the last four years," said the Rev. Preston L. Day mon of Mt. Hermon Baptist Church in Fort Myers.

At the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Punta Gorda, the Rev. Vincent Scotto makes a point of announcing the impending time change from the pulpit two Sundays ahead of time and also printing a notice in the church bulletin. This is the second year that clocks will be set forward on the first Sunday of April. Until 1987, they were set forward on the last Sunday of April. Young senior pastor Riverside Baptist Church in east Fort Myers has named a new senior pastor, the Rev.

Tony Chester. "Senior" is a somewhat ironic title for Chester, 28, who graduated from seminary in 1 985. He had served as Riverside's youth minister under its previous pastor, the Rev. Perry Ellis, who left last year to start Southwest Florida Baptist Church. Originally from Rome, Chester attended nearby Berry College and went on to study for the ministry at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary in Memphis, Tenn.

Mid-America, while it receives no financial support from the Southern Baptist Convention, is closely associated with the more conservative wing of that denomination. After graduation, Chester interned down the street from the seminary at Bellevue Baptist Church, home pulpit of Southern Baptist Convention president the Rev. Adrian Rogers. Chester specialized in ministry to young singles, working with students at nearby colleges and medical schools. Chester hopes to attract more young people to Riverside, which has a membership of 2,500, but a weekly attendance that he admits is well below that.

"We're seeking to develop a ministry to everyone, no matter what age," he said. Handel's 'Messiah' Sunday evening a 60-voice choir and 1 2-piece orchestra will present 14 selections from the "Messiah," including excerpts from the Lenten and Easter portions of Handel's masterpiece, at the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Cape Coral. The service is at 6 p.m. The church is at 701 Mohawk Parkway. The concert Is free and open to the public.

Church notes The North Fort Myers Church of God on Pine Island Road will present a musical based on the life of Jesus, Sunday at 1 0:45 a.m. The Rev. Bobby Jones of First Baptist Church-Florence Villa in Winter Haven will be the guest preacher for the spring revival at Friendship Baptist Church, 2030 Palm Fort Myers. Services will be at 7:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

For more information, call 334-1557 or 334-7434. John and Romaine Woodhouse, a husband-and-wif gospel singing duo from Clearwater, will present a "Good News America God Loves You" crusade Friday through April 1 0 at Central Baptist Church, Fort Myers. The Woodhouses are a do-it-all duo, presenting both the sermon and the music at each service. Services will be held Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and on Sunday at 1 1 a.m.

and 7 p.m. A nursery will be provided. Central Baptist Church is at 3208 Central Ave. For more information, call 936-1054. Ana Rodgers-Melnlck is a News-Press staffwriter.

After soul-searching fails, new WHYS By FRANCES D.WILLIAMS News-Press Staff Writer fa)fi)(2l(S switches format York and St. Louis broadcasting it live, four out of 12 calls Ellery took were from Fort Myers listeners," he said. "Four listeners from Charlotte County called the Tim Coles show last week. "We're still keeping our local gospel-music program from 6 a.m. until 9 a.m.

on and we've added John Mc a talk show with no holds barred from 7 un living and buys into radio stations for the challenge, brought Willie Martin a man Micek described as the "dean of black music" to Fort Myers to evaluate the station's declining popularity. "Willie confirmed what we had already surmised; There just wasn't enough support In this area for what we were offering," Micek said. "Basically, we want to offer what we feel the community needs and wants, and our survey came up with a talk format." Micek said it's too early to tell how advertisers will respond to the new format, but listener feedback so far has been encouraging. "It's amazing. On the Jack Ellery show, with cities like Pittsburgh, Cleveland, New Southwest Florida's only all-soul radio station, 3WQ (1350 AM), is dead, ironically failing as it played the still-lively Motown sound.

Gone are the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight and the Pips, the Marvelettes, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Aretha Franklin and the Jackson Five, just to name a few. On March 1, they were replaced by an all-talk format with current shows hosted by the station's own John Mc and syndicated hosts such as Phil Donahue, Jack Ellery, Tim Coles and Jeff Keller. Bruce Micek, 45, one of the owners of the station, chose the new format, changed the station's call letters to WHYS, and is convinced the operation will enjoy new life in a Southwest Florida market he believes prefers talk over 'After careful consideration, it was determined that soul is not the most viable format for this area. The real earning potential of the station never -Bruce Micek of WHYS til 11 a.m. weekdays," Micek said.

"We're an ABC affiliate so we're ABC for the most part, but we value our local programs and hope to add to them as we grow." Mc a broadcaster who says he has spent 35 years behind the mike, said he's pleased with the response his show has been receiving. "It's an off-the-wall, extemporaneous trip through la-la land each day," Mc said. "We deal with everything from the profane to the profound everything from religion to your sex life." Now, Micek says, the next step will be to expand to 24-hour-a-day broadcasting. "This Is a new venture and it's exciting," Micek said. "We'll see how the all-talk format works." "After careful consideration, it was determined that soul is not the most viable format for this area," Micek said.

"The real earning potential of the station never materialized." Originally broadcasting as WCAI, the station became 3 WQ on May 12, 1987, with an adult-contemporary format But just a month later, the format was changed to almost non-stop soul music. "There was a problem in that the station was perceived in the white community as a black radio station," Micek said. "That, unfortunately, caused us problems with some advertisers, and advertising revenues are the station's lifeline." Micek, a St. Petersburg-based entrepreneur who sells jets for a Everything you always wanted to know Vietnamese kids surround a G.I. In a scene from HBO's "Dear America." about Peeps Peeps outsell Bunnies.

Yellow Is the best seller, then pink and white. But sales of white are up this year. How they're covered in sugar: The marshmallow is dropped onto a bed of sugar, then moved down a conveyor belt and into a wind tunnel, which finishes the job. Shelf life: Just Born exec David Shaffer says he has opened 5-year-old batches that were still fresh. Just Born Inc.

At Easter time, 250 million Peeps and Bunnies are on the market. That adds up to 11,837 marshmallow miles almost halfway round the equator! Calories: about 33 per Peep. No fat! No salt! Contents: sugar, corn syrup, gelatin, natural flavors, artificial color and rice bran wax (for the eyes). "Why, gosh," you say, biting off a chick's head and letting the marsh melt away from the mallow. "You're right." You nibble on a marshmallow Bunny's ear and your mind is flooded with Easter memories as sugar granules dance and sing upon the palate.

"Gee, I wish I knew the Peeps' curriculum vitae." Ah: Peeps and Bunnies are made in Bethlehem, by Rodda Candy a division of ByTOMGLIATTO Gannett News Service Peeps are more than just sugar-coated marshmallow chicks that turn up in the cellophane grass of Easter baskets. Aren't they also an unforgettable candy in our national snack subconscious, along with Pop-Tarts and gum? i I I 1 iM.