South Florida Sun Sentinel from Fort Lauderdale, Florida • Page 6

12A Sun-Sentinel, Friday, December 30, 1988 PALM BEACH BIRDS I f- t- Staff photoANNE RYAN Anchor Jim Brosemer, associate producer Stephanie Hart, center, and newscast producer Susan Cingary sort scripts. STATION CHANGES FROM PAGE 1A Store owners worry theft will be doom of delicate macaw "But robberies? This is the first one I can recall." The store, at 67 S. Federal Highway, is known for its rare and exotic birds and snakes. Owners Dale and Steven Madonick buy the wild South and Central American birds and tame them. The birds more than 100 of them spend most of their days sitting on perches, waiting for the Madonicks or customers to stroke them.

"We spend hours and hours with these birds," Steven Madonick said. "We have really good, really nice birds here." The robbery occurred before the store opened for business for the day, police said. Tammy Trevelyan, an employee, went to the store alone at 8:30 a.m. to clean and feed the birds. She was in a side room when she realized someone was standing behind her.

"I forgot to lock the back door," she said. "I never do that." A tall man wearing a black ski mask, black sweat shirt and dirty blue jeans had slipped in through the unlocked door and was pointing a gun at her, she said. "I got really lightheaded," Trevelyan, 17, said. "I thought I was going to faint." The robber told her to take the three birds out of their cages and stuff them into a black canvas bag, she said. She did so, while the shop's rottweiler sat in a nearby room.

"He never came out," Trevelyan said of Baron, the "guard dog." "He didn't do anything. And I wasn't about to call for him." Instead, she handed over the fowl, the most expensive and rare Co- i I- Current After Station Channel Location Affiliation Jan. 1 WTVJ 4 Miami CBS NBC WPTV 5 West Palm Beach NBC NBC WCIX 6 Miami Ind. CBS WSVN 7 Miami NBC Ind. WPLG 10 Miami ABC ABC WPEC 12 West Palm Beach ABC CBS WPBF 25 West Palm Beach Not on air ABC WTVX 34 Fort Pierce CBS Ind.

Staff photoJIM VIRGA STATION Tammy Trevelyan shows greater sulfur-crested cockatoos similar to two taken by gunman. from the newscast, such as missed cues and poor pacing. "If we don't come out of the chute technically correct, people will perceive us as a Mickey Mouse operation." No matter how well his staff prepares, Polowczuk said, "It has to be right on Jan. 1." in the store. The robber told her to close the door of the bird room and stay inside while he made a getaway.

She did not venture out until she heard the front door slam shut. She was not injured, and nothing else was stolen. Investigators think the robbers have an outlet to sell the birds. Dale Madonick is worried, however, that the robbers or the new owners will not know how to care for the birds, particularly Mortimer. The macaw has been hand-fed a mixture of baby food, vitamins and primate biscuits since it was two weeks old.

Madonick makes the formula herself, heats it in a microwave oven and feeds the bird with a syringe twice a dav. "He doesn't know how to eat seeds," Madonick said. "He's just a baby. He can't live without being hand-fed." Saturday, December 31 -Monday, January 2 FROM PAGE 1A New ABC affiliate races toward debut on-air performance Workers carrying boxes through the hollow halls have to step carefully over yards of cable and around stacks of new equipment. Meetings are interrupted occasionally by hammering and sawing.

No one seems bothered by the din; they are the noises of creation. The clacking typewriters of the newsroom are remnants of the pre-computer age, but will suffice until the station's word-processing systems are finished in four months. The entire news staff is squeezed into an unused prop room that was turned into a makeshift newsroom adjacent to the studio. "We call it our 'homemade' newsroom," Managing Editor Cynthia Lynn said. "Everybody brought whatever they could from their old jobs." Veteran anchorman Jim Brosemer, formerly at WTVJ-Ch.

4 in Miami, heads a team of veteran broadcasters with at least two years of experience, according to News Director Lee Polowczuk. "This is the ultimate challenge. You don't get a chance to build a network affiliate station from scratch very often," Polowczuk Said. Newi said the network is delighted with WPBF's speedy progress. 'I "They have apparently delivered "everything they promised," Newi Isaid.

"We've got high hopes for But like most things, the pressure has run downhill, to the people the front lines. Polowczuk bears much of the responsibility for creating the station's image. Polowczuk, former assignment manager for WFTV, the ABC affiliate in Orlando, said he leaped at the chance to join WPBF. Many of his colleagues at the station shared his thoughts and are known informally in the newsroom as the "Orlando Mob." I "If you've been in the business for 10 years or so, there aren't many challenges left," Polowczuk said. Polowczuk's authoritative voice is disguised behind a friendly demeanor, and his hibernating-bear temperament sometimes gives way under the intense pressure to live up to ABC's expectations.

To motivate his staff, he is known to tell them they are no longer in the "130th largest market the country, somewhere in Iowa," and need a presentation that belongs in the "54th largest market, on a brand-new network affiliate." According to a few staffers, he once told someone who balked at performing a job: "If you can't do it, there are at least 100 audition tapes in the storeroom. Bring me 10 so I can start looking for your replacement." He was not kidding about the tapes. "I got 325 unsolicited audition tapes," Polowczuk said. "If we had had an open cattle call for tapes, my guess is we would have gotten another five or six hundred." The most difficult part of Ware's job, he said, was obtaining the operating permit from the Federal Communications Commission and overseeing the building of the station's transmitting tower. "Next was the planning and layout of the equipment and the building," he said, and allowing for anticipated expansion.

Polowczuk said his hardest job is yet to come. "Making all the pieces of the puzzle fit together and work well will be tough," he said. He hopes this week's rigorous rehearsals will eliminate rough spots Take an additional 25 An example of your savings: 30 off trip alradv rprliirpd originalprice $29 99 i red sticker price $20.00 D3o rca suckct price. extra 25 off your price $15.00 i II MJlWm 1 25 Off all fine jewelry watches at stores with fine jewelry departments. Over 300 stores nationwide For store information, call toll free 1-800-MARSHALLS.