Daily Press from Newport News, Virginia • Page 29

I The Times-Herald Saturday, June 10. 1989 ft JJ5 Joseph Pryvveller Broadcast news i ,) j-rrii III. Ratings point to winners, losers Jim and Barbara at 6 p.m., Ter-antl Diana at 11 p.m., and Ger- i vs. .4 practically never. '1 i The May television ratings were re-' leased this week, which means it's time again to point fingers at winners and Ratings figures are sent out quarterly to television stations by both Arbitron and the A C.

Nielsen Co. The companies survey how many television-viewing households and television sets in use are tuned to a station. Their ratings are crucial to advertisers, who buy media time based on how many people are watching. i For one station, WVEC-TV (Channel 13), a gamble made in January seems to have paid off. Jim Kincaid and Barbara Ciara were paired that month as weekday co-anchors.

February's ratings didn't register the fire-works the station expected. But in May, the Arbitron results showed the team dominating the 6 p.m. news slot, a full four ratings points ahead of second-place WTKR-TV (Channel 3). "I'm pleased as punch about the ratings," said the energetic Ciara, who came to WVEC from WAVY in December. Even at 11 p.m., the pair seemed to work.

ABC affiliate WVEC lurched -into a second-place tie with WTKR, a scant two ratings points behind 11 p.m. leader WAVY-TV (Channel 10). The successful ABC miniseries -i'War and Remembrance" and "North and South, Book II" also may have helped bring viewers to the station's 11 p.m.newcast A gamble taken by WAVY didn't put that station in the chips. In March, the NBC affiliate moved "Geraldo," doing gangbusters in the ratings at 9 a.m., to the 5 p.m. time slot in hopes of providing a strong lead-in to its 6 p.m.

news. "Geraldo" fizzled, fading to a far-distant third in its new position. WAVY programming manager William Logan said the station hasn't decided if "Geraldo" will be replaced at 5 p.m. in the fall lineup. "We're obviously disappointed at the slow start of Logan said.

"But the show may need time to build an audience." The "Geraldo" situation might have damaged WAVYs 6 p.m. newscast, anchored by Terry Zahn and Diana Morgan, which remained in a dormant third place. The station's 11 p.m. report continued to lead, and the station's news shows overall attracted a large share of advertiser-coveted viewers between ages 1854. 1 WTKR, the CBS affiliate, remained rock-steady second place in the ratings at both 6 and 11 p.m.

"We're hap Staff photos by BUDDY NORRIS Johnny Adams (left) and Curtis Byrd talk of last-minute changes for Harborfest programming with WAVY co-anchors Arthur Fennell and Andy Fox. FROM LIVE nn LXA'TD" ORFE JLTLi.V Behind the scenes, it's around-the-clock chaos 1 j. By JOSEPH PRYWELLER Staff Writer NORFOLK It is four minutes before noon on a sweltering day, one of those days when a three-egg omelet could be cooked on the cement No one can believe the temperature has risen to a record-breaking 98 degrees already. No wind blows, there's no relief. WAVY-TV field director Curtis Byrd says he dreams of taking a dive into the Elizabeth River.

Except it's too polluted. Tiny circles of sweat appear like pinpricks on the foreheads of the cast and crew of WAVY-TV (Channel 10). It's not just hot There's a crisis to face. It's four minutes before the special hour-long noon newscast is scheduled to go out live from Norfolk's Harbor WAVY has been covering the festivals live since 1983. Two hours of newscasts for two days are broadcast from the various sites, as is the Saturday night fireworks show.

Almost all the news staffers are involved, 35 to 40 people in all. They work almost 'round the clock, from set-up in the early morning to shut-down late at night They start planning six months in advance, figuring out the logistics of sending a signal and a script to keep things sharp. Like much of live television, things don't always work as planned. Everything must be timed perfectly: the shots at the four sites playing off each other, the equipment working, Mother Nature cooperating. "That's the fun of live television," said Fennell, who's anchored WAVYs noon news for two years.

"We can ad Field Director Curtis Byrd watches TV monitors inside mobile van, py to stay consistent and show gradual growth," said WTKR programming manager David Tressel. Other Arbitron battles of note: WTKR's "Live at Five" early newscast scored a close victory over the melodramatic fare on the syndicated "Inside Edition" on WVEC. WVEC's "13 Early News" and WTKR's "Cosby Show" reruns were deadlocked in a closely pitched fight at 5:30 p.m. WTKR's noon news show continued to blow out the competition by triple the number of ratings points, culling more than 40 percent of television-viewing households at time. Most-watched game show: WVEC-TVs "Jeopardy" takes the daily double at 7:30 p.m.

Former king "Wheel of Fortune" has slipped from its perch to second. Most-watched talk show: "Oprah Winfrey" on WVEC at 4 p.m. Most-watched staUon: From morning to night, more people watch CBS-affiliate WTKR (Channel 3) than any other. Nielsen Schmlelsen: Although its figures aren't used as often by advertisers, the A.C Nielsen Co. also released its ratings this week.

The biggest change from the Arbitron figures was at 0 p.nv, where Nielsen recorded that all three stations were in a tight race. Arbitron showed WVEC the dear winner. manned WAWs Portsmouth studios.) That was the plan. The transmission was to leapfrog from place to place, showing the viewer that the station had the whole festival covered. Then the audio went out at Dominion Tower at about 10 minutes to noon.

It sent Graff racing to the WAVY tent at Otter Berth in Town Point Park. He would broadcast live from there. The crew members looked at their watches. lib, we can be spontaneous. We don't always know what will happen next" Here's how it worked for this year's noon broadcast 10 a.m.

It might be hot but at least it's sunny. So far. Johnny Adams has been site coordinator for Please see TV, D4 fest and Portsmouth's Seawall Festival. Where is field anchor Frank Graff, wonders the 14-per-son crew at Norfolk's Town Point Park. Graff originally was supposed to talk live from the 25th floor of Dominion Tower, sharing anchor duties with Arthur Fennell and Andy Fox on the Harborfest grounds.

(Hillary Howard and Lauren Yee were at Portsmouth's Harbor Tower Apartments, and Carol Hoffman Giveaway gumshoe's life is lost loot By PAMELA REYNOLDS Boston Globe Eugene Kiely's got BOSTI OSTON hunches on this one. This ba- got htm stumped. He's got Tape splices no hot leads, no phone numbers, no away something to the tune of $5 million a year, making their office No. 1 in the country for returning unclaimed money, according to a survey conducted last year by the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators. Kiely's so good at what he does, other states are itching to know his secrets.

The portly, disheveled investigator has trained fledgling abandoned property investigators in Texas. Virginia and Rhode Island Producers of the telension program "Unsolved Mysteries" call him from time to time to see what's doing on his latest hot rase. "He's the Larry Bird of unclaimed money." Mark Casanaeh. deputy state treasurer, once said of Kiely to PecpSe magazine. "He's the best there is." Stilt far all his sJeuthirg prowess.

Kkty finis reri'arly ctv sanded ty cass like the Wallace cse. ClareT.t Wa "ace. rt seer- was a crs-tery rvin. Whn ke ra relautes came forward to identify the body. There is no record of anyone ever reporting him missing.

Kiely knows only that Wallace had four kids and a wife named Vasta who lived in New York in the late 1950s. But even this information is as skeletal as a turkey carcass after a Thanksgiving meal. It comes from just a few odd scribbles on one of Wallace's old employment applications. "We have a lot of cases like this." Kiely says in his Franklin Street office, on the edge of Downtown Crossing. He sits in the classic government environment The walls are gray, the carpet is gray, the desks and file cabinets are gray, the room dividers are gray.

Kiely blends in. He's wearing a rumpled charcoal gray suit and his cuffs scrape the eraycarpt. 'But ftoboJy feas fivbu-dy he a 2 Is thiloscf paH.r.g cwt an err- i mo is that re fu'J ti liJ cae LU.f 4 al Bank of Boston and $71.37 in uncollected wages from General Dynamics. Now it's up to Eugene Kiely, chief investigator in the Abandoned Property Division of the Massachusetts Treasury Department to trail the wife and the kids and give them their due: the account that today, with interest, is worth about $3,000. Like the sardonic Philip Marlowe of a Raymond Chandler novel.

Kiely tracks lost heirs and heiresses, trails those who hare forgotten about old bank accounts or stocks, tails lost beneficiaries of paid up insurance policies. The intrepid sleuth is often working the streets, flashing fcis shiny gold badge like a talissnan at those who know erasing a lad in a wnr.k?H trerh coat bereft of its b-Jt-tor. The can in ttie raincoat, known as the office, is con-sJrd one ef the best. He and ser-ea other teTestalsrs en-Jer ra gne I WVEC has hired Lee laurtey as male anchor of its weekend news with Kathy Barnstorff. Sauriey.

formerly a weekday anchor at ABC affiliate Kill in Corpus Christi. Texas, is erperted to start later tius summer, said WVEC General Manager William Beindorf. WAVY reporter Frar.k GrafT has left the station to join WBAL. a CBS affiliate in Baltimore- Graff had been at the station for man than two rears and was considered one of its top reporter He Frtjerted tn a sene on drag traffic kir.g last tsemZh. FnUy wt Griff I last day.

nothing. All he's got is a name, an old address and some sketchy 15-year-old information that's probably gone as cold and stale as those chocolate crullers down at the local doughnut dire. It's the case of Clarence Wallace that's glTirg him grief. The trail is not just roid. it's fnpd.

Wallace was found dead in a Boston pJaygmmd back in 1974. Accord; rr to the rorocer. the 43-year-old Fenway coJIapsed aud d.H of p'r-rywua. He left behind a wife ar.d tear k4s in N'ew tpartcse-nt ca R-l a mtiso actrr.t to-t; 5wat at the First Na a-.