Leader-Telegram from Eau Claire, Wisconsin • 13

DENVER NUPTIALS: Singer John Denver plans to, marry Australian actress Cassandra Deianey at his Aspen, -home tonight DM "August 12, 1388 Ua4ofTe4egram Section Locli MM stations suffer iiri rbitron filings Chippewa radio stations Arbitral. The stations were the "last in the market to 'Subscribe to the service. "It's an economic thing," said WAXX General Manager Marty Green, noting that thensubsaiption would have cost the stations thousands of dollars: Arbitron did release figures for the listeners age 12 and older. Those figures, however, aren't all that useful for the stations. movinglo new quarters ByRodStetzer Leader-Telegram staff A rbitron'i latt ratings for Chippewa nd Eau -Mjk Claire counties reminded radio station owner mm Roland Bushland of an epitaph.

"AM radio is 4ead," said Bushland, whose WCFW-FM (105) showed the largest gain. 2.8 points, of any local station in listeners age 12 and over. "AM radio is where FM radio was when we came on the air 20 years ago. It just flip-flopped." Dale Canske's WISM-AM (1050) showed the second largest ratings jump. He doesn't think final rites should be administered to AM just yet.

"Let's put this way. It's wounded. It's not dead," Ganske said. Those wounds are deep, if the the latest ratings S. ft a "Nobody these days really markets to the popu-: lation at large." said Shelly Cragner of ArbitraTT The ratings Station 1987 1988 WAXX(FM) 33.2 27.4 275 WAYY(AM) 7.9 9.1 J2 VVBIZ(FM) 20.5 17.1 WCFW (FM) 3-7 4.0 WEAQ (AM) 8.9 8.6 WEUZ (AM) 1.6 NR A WlAl(FM) 10.0 19.4 20.5 WISM (AM) 1.1, NR 2.6 WOGO(AM) 1.1 1.1 NR WWIB(FM) 2.6 5.1 2.6 VJJK changed cal letters to WEUZ this year.

Two Chippewa County-based radio stations gradually are moving into new studios. i WCFW-FM is preparing to switch to a stereo signal once its new studio is built at 1034'i Warren St: in Chippewa Falls. WCFW is the last FM station in the Chippewa-Eau Claire County metro market that is not broadcasting in stereo. equipment is here," said WCFW owner Roland Bushland. "We're just building a new studio up here, and that's the, holdup.

We hope to have it on in another month." WWIB-FM will begin using a new FM master-control studio by the end of the week, according to Terry Steward, station manager. WWIB and its sister station, WOGO-AM, began moving into their new location at 5558 Hallie Road in the town of Hallie last November. Steward said one more studio needs to be built and the construction will be completed. a 'ys ''ri RodStetzer New York communications department. What is valued by stations is information on demo-; graphics, especially the numbers dealing with the highly treasured listeners ages 25 to 54.

Keith Jones, station manager for WAXX and WAYY, said some ad agencies that do subscribe to Arbitron report the stations maintained good demographics. Bushland would like to take a peek at numbers dealing with older listeners. "Our problem is that we have no listeners until they get over 40," he said, adding he thinks his station finally picked up listeners in limbo since WIAL dropped a "beautiful music" format in the early 1980s. Terry Steward, station manager for WOGO and WWIB-FM (103), said his stations ratings might have been affected by their move into a new building at 5558 Hallie Road in the town of Hallie. "We were just hoping to do our best to hang in there because of all the moving we did this spring.

uutcn irora raarcn ai to June are to Deneveo; WAYY-AM (1150), which posted a 9.1 rating in 1987, dropped to a 4.2, falling from the fourth- to the sixth-rated station in the market WOGQ-AM (680). the area's only AM stereo station, failed to make the ratings book for the first time since it signed on the air in 1985. AM stations in the market have fallen from third place in 1984 to fifth this year. WEAQ (790), the area's oldest AM station, was the top-rated AM this year with a 5.S Not much changed for the area's top rwp rated stations. WAXX-FM (104), which has a country format, added a half-point to 27.9.

Adult-contemporary station WIAL-FM (1-94) showed a 0.9 gain for a solid second finish of 20.5. But contemporary-music: station WB1Z-FM (2-100), which changed ownership and slightly adjusted its format late during the ratings faded to a 13.7. That's a decline of nearly: seven ratings points since the station's high-water mark of 20.6 in 1986. "I mink the next book is the one we'll took said Mike Dorn, operations manager for WBIZ and its Here are ArbJtron's latest ratings, showing quarter-hour snares of listeners ages 12 and older from 6 "a.m. to midnight Monday through Sunday.

NR means not rated. Ganske aimed to get WISM back into the ratings book by switching to a "Power Gold" satellite service oldies format in January. The move brought the station its highest rating, 2.6, since 1984. Ganske said his station benefited from the loss by WAYY, which also has an oldies format. And be thinks WISM wifl gain again in 1989.

"I think what you're going to see next year for the AMs. (is) four stations that are pretty even. There won't be much difference in ratings." he said. The ratings situation this year was further clouded by WAXX and WAYY deciding not to subscribe to teVriutfion WEUZ-AM 1400) TArt said he's confident with the changes firmly in place. WBIZ will do signficantly better in the next ratings period.

He added that WBIZ did well in appealing to listeners in its target age group of 20 to Considering' mat it changed' its call letters'! and i format late in the ratings period. WEUZ pulled a respectable 0.5 rating. Under its old call letters, of WJJK last year, the station failed to make the ratings -''We think people are going to discover that sta-J lion." Dora combining facilities," he said. "We really weren't concerned with die ratings." WOGO, which has a country format, failed to make die ratings book while WWIB, a religious-oriented station, fell from a 5.1 rating in 1987 to a 2.6 this Steward said be would be interested in another ratings firm coming into the market and comparing the results to Arbitron. If the ratings were taken in the fall, said, WOGO likely would benefit from its emphasis on' live local sports broadcasts.

i In Brief Trendy actors playing cowboy in 'Young Guns' By Janet Maslln N.Y. Times News Service he western "Young Guns" is'less like a real movie than an extended photo op-, portunity for its trendy young stars. DresstnE ud in badges and holsters often has been an irresistible temptation for groups of photogenic young actors, and this film, in the tradition of "The Long Riders," is happy to Tamburitizans to show European flair The Tamburitizans of Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, will perform at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Chippewa Falls High School Auditorium. The 40-member company will perform European folk songs and dances plus some American numbers from its European tour this summer.

Tickets are $6 at McDonell High School. McDonell's Athletic Booster Gub is the sponsor. Irish dancers to perform Tuesday Traditional Irish music and dance will be performed by students of Walsh School of Dance, Wexford, Ireland, at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Immaculate Conception School gym; 1703 Sherwin Ave. Students ages 10 to 21 will perform jigs, reels, clogging and step dancing.

Admission is by donation. For more information, call 835-3596. Guild sets 'My Fair Lady' auditions Chippewa Valley Theater Guild will hold auditions for the musical "My Fair Lady" at 7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday at Eau Claire Parks Recreation Building, 1300 First Ave. Auditions are open to anyone 17 or older.

"My Fair Lady" will be presented Oct. 12-16 at The State; Regional Arts Center, 316 Eau Claire St. Axis to play UCP benefit concert Axis will perform a benefit concert for United Cerebral Palsy at 8 p.m. Thursday at the 4-H fairgrounds behind Highland Mall. Admission is $3.

Kids from Wisconsin to sing at arena The Kids from Wisconsin will perform at 8 p.m. Aug. 25 at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Zorn Arena. The performance is sponsored by The Friends of Sacred Heart Hospital to raise money for an infant heart-respiration monitor. Admission is $3.75 for adults.

$1.50 for children 12 and younger and $9.50 for a family of no more than five. Tickets are available at the door and the UW-Eau Claire ticket office- watch- its cast play cowboy on an elaborate taJt-. ffr However, "Young doesn't make the mistake of taking itself too seriously. It's a good-humored if also a trans parent one, and it sustains its spirit of fun right up to the point of a final shootout, in which the young heroes are badly outnumbered. Even so, the film manages to end on a cheery note.

"Young Guns" is, after all, a story of Billy the Kid's early days, the period in which he first made his reputation as a dangerous outlaw. A lot of blood is shed during this formative v.H. vav wk. I stage in his career, and the film stages Billy's i 4 I ugntneartea Vt -Zf: tirst killings in a disconcertingly way. aeon- CVv -v.

However, Emilio Estevez gives' Billy yincinery humorous side, and some of the other Ac 'j I as an actors most notably Kiefer Sutherland amusingly sensitive type and Casey Siemaszko as the film's resident cutup also help to keep tilings genial. The stars, who also include Lou Diamond Phillips and Charlie Sheen, appear as the Regu Charlie Sheen, Dermof Mulroney, Kiefer Sutherland, Emilio Estevez, Casey Siemaszko lator gang, a group originally deputized to help fight crime, until their enthusiasm got out of fJQygQ Dqy2q As directed by Christopher "Young Guns" makes no particular effort to strike a note, with a showy visual style that suggests' an old Entertainment News Service and Lou Diamond Phillips attempt to revive the western with Young Guns," opening today. high contrast that the stars' faces are hidden by their cowboy hats, with nothing visible but the tip of a nose. "Young Guns" is best watched in the playful," none-too-serious spirit in which it was made. Though the film concentrates reverentially on its young stars, it also includes good per" formances from a few grown-ups, notably Terry O'Quinn as a lawyer and Jack Palance as the story's, wild-eyed villain.

This film is rated R. of historical accuracy. sepia photograph bursting into life 'as a rock Cain relies oil hand-held camera even for a shot of a pheasant skittering across the prairie t-r. The footage is often so stylishly shadowy and Sequences like the one in which the young outlaws drink a peyote potion are staged in distinctly modern terms and largely played for laughs. The film's look is also casually anachronistic.

Storytellers ii-tcf spin yarns Saturday By Karen Harder -Leader-Telegram staff from Wisconsin; Iowa and increase in the public's awareness ot the cratt as Minnesota. Members meet annually in Elkader, a separate activity and art form. hi. trA- 1 Ami' uant mmnlA tn thinlr torytelling is an art with an image rb- ving. The organization provides workshops for the only kind of storytelling is the kind done in lem.

librarians and teachers who tell stories as a Dart "concert." 'Vv; 1 rf trutir Its name conjures up images of story at the library, for children only. Bu( it's entertainment for adults, too, according to-storytelling enthusiast August Rubrecht. it's a skill honed by professionals who at die same time worry that Jay people won't keep up Che And even the best practitioners of the art aren't widely recognized as such. Two popular entertainers Biil Cosby and Garrison Keillor -r- are, in consummate storytellers, said-Rubrecht, an English professor at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire who dabbles in-storytelling on what he describes as a semi- Rubrecht himself grew up in a community where storytelling wasn't an event; it was part of daily conversation. Indeed, mdst people have been storytellers at some time.

Every time they tell a joke or relate family history, they are telling a story, Rubrecht said. Some storytellers seem born with an ability to spin tales. Others have an innate appreciation for the way iwdrds are put The ability can be cultivated, too, in classes, workshops, story-swapping sessions, and festivals, Rubrecht said. i He likened the storyteller's craft to that of a writer who puts words together in a certain way to make an audience see pictures in their minds. "But what authors do on paper we're working in thin air," Rubrecht said.

The storytellers performing Saturday represent a variety of traditions. The performers will be: Patricia Coffee, Waverly, Iowa, horror and fantasy stories; Iris Ericksen, Iowa, fairytales and personal stories; Mark Wagler, Madison, Mennonite folk tales; Larry Johnson, Minneapolis, stories to music; Sister Jean Dickman, West Allis, legends and biblical stories; and MichadtCotter, Aust stories with a barnyard flavor. Lest people get the idea that storytelling is only for those who get upon stage and spin yarns professionally, though, Rubrecht hastened to add that the group has another purpose: "To get people to do it in the home instead of turning on the tube;" The art of storytelling often is associated with people from isolated geographical areas such as 'LAppalachians and parts of Maine, Rubrecht said. Those regions have strong oral traditions handed down by Scotch-' Irish settlers, and they were reached late by mass media, so people told tales to entertain themselves instead, he added. Actually, though, storytelling is a part of every culture and a part of the human ex periencer Rubrecht Said.

the Eau Claire area has a storytelling tradition not found elsewhere the Ole and Lena joke, Rubrecht Another storytelling tradition unique to the area is what Rubrecht called the chamber of commerce story tall tales like those about the mythical creature the Hodag of Rhinelander, invented to entertain but perpetuated by community leaders to promote tourism. Over the years that Rubrecht has been championing storytelling, he said he has noticed an professional HWe call Cosby and Keillor Rubrecht said, but he added mat he's not comfortable with that term. "Storytellers don't always make people laugh, and sometimes they make them cry." Rubrecht, well-known for the tales he tells from his native Ozarks, will emcee a storytelling concert at 7 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday at the Chippewa Valley Museum. The concert, by members of the Northlands Storytelling Network, is in conjunction with that group's annual board, meeting at the museum The network numbers about, 250 storytellers Horn-driven Twist Big Twist and the Mellow Fellows is one of the best ways to get "But I Canl Dance" people onto the floor.

Leader Larry "Big Twist" Nolan, checking in at some 300 pounds, walks amongst the lands of blues, soul and like a Colossus with horns, clearing the path for his large baritone. Big Twist will be in town at 9:30 p.m. Thursday at the Stones Throw. Because of the band's upfront approach and the music's natural appeal, Chicago-based Big Twist has been a Midwest favorite, es- pecially on campuses, for years. Tickets are $8.

jt Chris DuPro.