News-Press from Fort Myers, Florida • Page 83

INSIDE NEWS-PRESS SECTION DearAbby2F Horoscopes 2F Crossword 3F Day Breaks 3F Celebrations 3F Books 5F FEATURES EDITOR: HEIDI RINELLA, 335-0367 (Monday Friday, 9 a.m. 5 p.m.) SUNDAY, OCTOBER 10. 1993 I i- I. V. i SPORTS ANCHOR Name, age: Sherry Lowe, 29 Hometown: Phoenix, Ariz.

Background: Degree in journalism from Arizona State University. Spent a year as a print reporter, then moved into radio and later television. This is her fourth TV station, fifth year on air. Family: Single, two cats. Some family in Key West.

"I'll offer sports to people who don't know everything about sports; someone who doesn't necessarily follow the stats." CHIEF METEOROLOGIST Name, age: Tom Chisholm, 38 Hometown: Littleton, Mass. Background: Began his career in Rhode Island. Has no college degree but gained his American Meteorological Society certification through professional experience. At several stations, most recently The Weather Channel for two years. Been on air for 17 years.

Family: Single. "I'm looking forward to the day-in and day-out challenges of forecasting. I'm declarative, I let the viewers know I understand what their needs are. I do a straightfoward weathercast that gets to the point." ANCHOR i Name, age: Pete Scovill, 47 Hometown: Gary, Ind. Background: Marine Corps veteran of Vietnam, worked in construction before getting his degree in broadcast journalism from Indiana University in 1984.

Then came to Southwest Florida and eventually hooked up with the WFTX-Fox show Troubleshooter." Been on air nine years. Family: Married, three kids. "I'm really just a reporter. I -care about people. We're different.

We're trying real hard and we're going to be a good newscast." DAVE BARRY Writing and acting are worlds apart THE REASON I agreed to be in an episode of a TV situation comedy was that the role was perfect for me. You want to choose your roles carefully, as an actor. You want to look for roles in which you can display the range, the depth, the subtle nuances of your acting talent. "It's just one word," the director said. "You say, "I'll do it," I said.

A role like that comes along once in a lifetime. The TV show which might even still be on the air as you read this is called "Dave's World." It's loosely based on a book and some columns I wrote. I use the term "loosely" very loosely. There's no way they could just take my columns and turn them directly into a TV series; every episode would last four minutes, and end with all the characters being killed by an exploding toilet. I worked hard on "Howdy," memorizing it in just days.

Depending on the scene, I could deliver the line with various emotional subtexts, including happiness sorrow anger and dental problems Then, just before I flew to Los Angeles for the filming, the director called to tell me that they had changed my role. In my new role, I played a man in an appliance store who tries to buy the last air conditioner, but gets into a bidding war for it with characters who are based, loosely, on me and my wife, played by Harry Anderson and News WFTX-TV joins local broadcast battle DeLane Matthews. i i (Harry Anderson plays me. Only taller.) -x, i In my new role, Ihadtosay 17 words, not ONE of which was "Howdy!" I was still memorizing my part when I got to can. Beating the competition is just the icing on the cake.

That icing comes at a primo price. The new equipment and studio tallied up to $2.5 million. Add to that $1 million to hire 25 new staffers 11 on-air people, nine photographers and five folks behind the scenes. And those scenes are pretty posh. Walking into the WFTX newsroom, the first thing that hits you is the aroma that wonderful fragrance of "new" usually found only in new cars.

Plus the burgundies, grays, blues, purples. Desks of glass and rich woods. It has a modern, polished, classy, young look. The lighting was done by William Merrill Lighting Associates who lit Johnny Carson's set on "The Tonight Show before Jay Leno took over. The set was designed by an international design firm based in California.

Reporters work in pods all color-coordinated in gray and burgundy, naturally. A week ago, ladders, plans and equipment still were strewn about the set, awaiting final touches. VCRs and TVs fresh from boxes were everywhere -many still with factory stickers on them. The walls still were bare nakedly awaiting maps and other items to cover them. "When you make a commitment like this, you're here to stay," said Chris Duffy, CEO and president of Wabash Valley Broadcasting, which owns WFTX as well as another Fox affiliate in Ocala and other out-of-state properties.

"Ratings aren't the only game," Duffy said. "Service is. We just don't want to be another See NEWS 4F GARTH FRANCIS News-Press By LARRY A. STRAUSS News-Press staff writer It's 7:23 p.m. on a Friday.

WFTX reporter Jennifer Crawford furiously pounds away on her computer terminal. She's past deadline. A few moments later, she leaps up, runs to a sparkling new sound room and records her voice-over for a segment for the station's new newscast. It seems an estranged husband has attacked his wife, slashing her. The story is strong; it makes the show.

Too bad no one will see it. That's because as has been the case for more than a month -the WFTX newscast is a dummy. It won't go live until 10 p.m. Monday. But practice makes perfect.

And boy, does this group practice. That's what you have to do when you're the new kid on the block, joining three established local nightly news shows competing for the stories that get the most viewers, and trying to get those stories first. Though its newscasts won't directly compete with those of the other stations WBBH channel 20, the NBC affiliate; WEVU channel 26, the ABC affiliate; and WINK channel 1 1, the CBS affiliate because their nightly news shows are at 6 and 1 1 p.m., WFTX still must carve a niche for itself in the local TV news market. And WFTX's new station managernews director Mark Pierce says he's ready to slice. What Pierce plans to deliver isn't about winning ratings or beating the competition, he explains.

It's about putting together the best newscast he HARD AT WORK: Todd Fitzgerald, assignment editor, is part of the news team that has been gathering news and going through the motions of a live newscast for the past few weeks. -l "i IN co Frjmieft, ON TV il direct' I WHAT: New 10 p.m. local news show I WHO: WFTX-TV. a Fox affiliate I WHERE: Channel 36, cable 4. I WHEN: Daily starting Monday.

control room. ANDERSON the studio. As we got ready to film my scene, I was increasingly nervous. I was supposed to walk up to the appliance salesman and say: "I need an air conditioner." I had gone over this many times, but as the director said "Action!" my brain lost my lines. Somehow I remembered them and the director seemed satisfied with my performance, except for the last part, where Harry Anderson, outbidding me for the air conditioner, hands the salesman some takeout sushi and says, "We'll throw in some squid," and I become disgusted and say, "Yuppies." "That was perfect, Dave," said the director.

(This is what directors say when they think it sucked.) "But when you say make it smaller." So we re-did the scene, and as we approached my last line, I was totally focused on doing a smaller "yuppies." Then I noticed that (a) the other actors weren't saying anything, and (b) everybody in the studio was staring at me, waiting. I had clearly messed up, but I had no idea how. This was a time to think fast, to improvise, to come up with a clever line that would save the scene. So here's what I did: I fell down. When I got up, I explained that I'd been waiting for Harry to say the squid line.

"They took that out," somebody said. "They took out the SQUID?" I said. "The squid is GONE?" It turned out that everybody else knew this, including probably the Live Studio Audience. So we had to do that part again, with my brain feverishly Smalleryuppies!" That time we got through it, and my television career came to an end, and I went back to being, loosely, a newspaper columnist. I have not however, ruled out the possibility of starring in a spinoff.

I am thinking of a dramatic action series about a hero who, each week, tries to buy an ai conditioner. I have a great line for ending this column, but I can't remember what it is. NOTE: This episode of "Dave's World" is tentatively scheduled for Oct 25. Dave is the man in the appliance store who is shorter than Harry Anderson. Dave Barry is a syndicated columnist.

You can reach him through Tribune Media Services 64 E. Concord St, Orlando, Fla. 32801. BOTTOM DRAWER 7 r-7 TV tonight Quick fix (' I I Best bet: "John If I Mellencamp," 10 p.m. on MTV.

This heartland rocker's "Human Lemon-mint chicken Grated peel of 2 lemons Juice of 2 lemons (about 'i cup) V4 cup finely chopped fresh mint V4 cup honey 1 teaspoon olive oil 4 teaspoon salt Pinch cayenne pepper Creative ideas keep kids exercising Given their poor role models at home, the declining number of exercise programs at school and the sedentary lure of TV, getting the kids to exercise is a challenge. Increasingly, however, fitness centers and gyms are trying to meet the test. Here's what they're doing: Instead of providing only babysitting services for members' children, RallySport in Boulder, offers kids modified aerobics classes and sports clinics in tennis, basketball and swimming. At New York's Fox Fitness, the Best Defense fitness class gets kids to focus on cardiovascular work, strength and flexibility training, as well as street awareness and crime avoidance techniques. In Portland, Victoria Johnson taps into the latest rap and funk sounds, hip fashions, martial arts and hot dance moves for her Kids in Play workout.

-Gannett News Service 4t Talking abou Wheels album is featured in concert footage taped in September in Chicago. Top ticket Afternoon of jazz: If you're tired of football, head over to Sanibel Jazz on the Green at The Dunes Golf and Tennis Club, 949 Sandcastle Road. Today's schedule: 4 p.m., the Atlantean Driftwood Band; and closing the show at 5:15 p.m., Bob James. Tickets are $10 and they're scarce, so move fast. Call 472-3355.

Freshly ground DiacK pepper 10 lasie 4 chicken breast halves, skin and bones removed Combine the lemon peel and iuice, the mint, honey, olive oil, salt, cayenne and pepper. Pour half of the mixture over the chicken and marinate 15 minutes to 1 hour at room temperature. Remove the chicken from the marinade. In a heavy non-stick skillet set over medium heat and saute about 5 minutes on each side, or until the chicken tests done. The chicken can also be grilled on mediuiot coals 5-7 minutes on each side, or until done.

Spoon the remaining lemon-mint mixture over the chicken and serve. Makes 4 servings; 1 hour marination time. So sly: Sylvester Stallone strikes the pose of Rodin's "The Thinker" on the cover of November's Vanity Fair. Stepping out of his Rocky and Rambo action hero characters, Stallone says he paints, writes poetry and has a long-standing ambition to make a film about Edgar Allan Poe. 1.