The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • 51

THE SUN SECTION FRIDAY AUGUST 5, 1994 ID Delaying switches until Jan. annoys WMAR, WBAL By David Zurawik Sun Television Critic I altlmore's multi-station switch has been put on hold until I Jan. 2. While that should make for less viewer confusion when viz LJD VJLI rwfnfifiTT JDULlLb a Even before they graduate, students find the word is, indeed, plastic r- I I I By Howard Henry Chen Sun Staff Writer 11 i 1 1 1 ui college siuuenis, creun cards are easier to get than a I beer. Students are barraged with mH applications touting sign-up nancial independence all courtesy of credit card companies faced with a shrinking consumer pool.

Ill-equipped to handle this newfound fiscal ther, as long as he just put their names down, he says. Citibank sent him a card a few weeks later, with a credit line set at $300. Now, four years later, it's up to $2,200. Mr. Starkenburg then acquired three more cards none requiring a co-signer.

Soon, he ran up more than $9,000 in charges. "I did all kinds of goofy stuff with my cards," says Mr. Starkenburg. "I bought everything. I even went sky-diving." On campus, credit card representatives set up tables in the student union, offering free gifts to anyone who signs up.

On the bulletin boards and kiosks are tear-off-flll-out-send-in application dispensers. The big boys MasterCard, Visa, American Express and Discover take out full page ads in student newspapers. (Although its card is not a "credit" but a "charge" card, which requires payment each month on the total balance, American Express also targets college students, who can't wait to carry plastic.) According to industry spokespeople, college students want credit cards because they offer security and convenience, and can help establish a good credit rating early. And horror stories of students run-See CREDIT, 2D the new television season starts next month, it's making for some hard feelings among local broadcasters who wanted to make the move this month. WJZ and its owner.

Group are responsible for the big switch taking place later rather than sooner here. The Jan. 2 date was announced at a meeting yesterday In Philadelphia between Group and CBS. The parties met to work out details of their new and extremely complicated network-affiliates agreement, which was signed July 14 and involves stations In five major TV markets, including Baltimore. "We feel the additional time allows for more planning and a smooth transition," WJZ General Manager Marcellus Alexander said yesterday from Philadelphia.

"It addresses advertiser and station issues, while allowing us to help our viewers through the change." WJZ is an ABC affiliate but is headed to CBS come Jan. 2. WBAL, which is now with CBS, will join NBC on that date. And WMAR, the current NBC affiliate, will align with ABC at that time. WBFF will stay with Fox.

All the movement started in June when Scripps Howard Broadcasting, which owns WMAR, signed a new deal with ABC on behalf of its stations. As a result, ABC ended a 45-year relationship here with WJZ. The network -affiliate contracts currently in effect have clauses requiring six months' notice when one of the parties wants out. WJZ is delaying the switches here by holding ABC to nearly all of its six months, while WBAL had agreed to let CBS out of its deal by Aug. 29.

"I'm disappointed and surprised to hear about the January date," said Phil Stolz, WBAL general manager, yesterday. "Five of the six parties (the three networks and their local affiliates involved wanted to make the switch on Aug. 29, before the start of the new television season, "It's almost like they WJZ didn't want to be with CBS. I think it's a short-term business decision on their part to hang on to the rest of the year with the ABC programming they have now," he added. Mr.

Stolz speculates that WJZ is delaying the switch because it will make more money for the next five months with ABC than with CBS. "Monday Night Football," the World Series (if there is one) and the premiere prime-time schedule make ABC attractive to advertisers. Joe Lewin, general manager of WMAR, agreed with Mr. Stolz's assessment, saying: Technologically, and every other way, this change could happen almost Instantly. And we'd like it to happen right away.

But it's their WJZ call, because they have a six-See SWITCH, 5D freedom, many students max out their cards and call home for help to pay off their spending sprees. The easy promises touted in credit card ad campaigns ensnared Mike Starken-burg. A 22-year-old senior studying at George Washington University in Washington, he's part of the college student market that spends $28 billion annually in cash and credit according to MasterCard. When he was 18 and thus able to sign a legally binding contract Mr. Starkenburg received an application for a VISA card from Citibank.

He filled it out, and sent it back. He didn't have to prove income, as long as he was college-bound. He didn't need his parents' signatures, ei flip JEO KIRSCHBAUMSUN STAFF PHOTO "If I had any sense," says Mike Starkenburg, 22, "I'd cut them the credit cards all up." Had fun with your credit card? Now it's time to pay the piper er Visa receives your check, the less interest you will pay that month. It may help to make out the largest payment on the card with the highest interest rate first, with minimum payments or more on the rest of your cards. After you pay off one card, make the same payments on the next one.

Don't get lazy now. And once you pay off a card, let go of the ghost. Ask the issuer to cancel your account so you won't be tempted again. Just say no to an issuer's offer of a minimum payment of zero. Some issuers will allow you to skip a month if you pay double See PAY, 2D By Howard Henry Chen Sun Staff Writer If you're In college and mired In credit card debt, clean it up now.

Not only will it save you money, but the sooner you repair your credit record, the easier your life will be later. Tighten up your J. Crew belt and look back at what you've bought with credit cards in the past year. If you're like millions of other students, you probably bought things you either didn't need (like a $200 compact disc rack that holds up to 500 discs which gave you the perfect excuse to buy more CD's), or should not have paid with credit in the first place (essentials, like groceries and gasoline and beer). First off, get rid of the cards.

Cut them up, send them back to the creditors (with a nasty note), give them to your parents to hold, or freeze them in water (so you'll have to let them melt before using them). Leam to pay cash, or find a credit counseling center and get help. Or, according to Ruth Susswein of Bankcard Holders of America, follow these tips: Bite the bullet and get a handle on how much you actually owe. Not only does this allow you to design a payment schedule, but it might be enough to scare you into following it. Add up the balances and then calcu late the total minimum payments.

Once you calculate the minimum monthly payment, pay more than this amount. "With minimum payments these days hovering around 2 percent, consumers who only cover that minimum payment are barely putting a dent in the principal each month," says Ms. Susswein. For example, if you owe $5,000 and pay 2.5 percent of that each month, it'll take you a little more than 24 years to pay it off. And with an annual percentage rate of 17 percent, you'll have paid more than $6,000 In Interest more than your initial principal.

Pay your bill as soon as you get it. The interest clock doesn't stop ticking. The soon 'i In Haiti, RAM voodoo rock the only sound of freedom In posh rooms of Christie's, a genteel clamor for comic books 1 1 it i mt By Carl Schoettler London Bureau of The Sun London By Clara Germani Sun Staff Correspondent Port-au-Prince Like a "Hogan's Heroes" episode where the captors are actually the captives, the Haitian military government repeatedly played the video of the Haitian voodoo rock group, RAM, singing "Embargo" last year, thinking it was an anti-American anthem. Falling to read between the lines of voodoo proverb and rhythm, the de facto Haitian government was unwittingly offering up a love fest for ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristl-de and the Haitian masses who are hip to the fact that the band RAM is most decidedly anti-military. In a primitive society rhythms that are familiar In neighborhoods all over Haiti deep into the night, and reflects this nation's penchant for talking in ambiguous but colorful Creole proverbs.

The song "Embargo" or "Ambago" in Creole involves Just a simple lyric line: 'Haiti has been taken by an embargo, -And where is everybody? I don't see them. The video shows Haitians with suitcases "disappearing" from the city because of fear of human rights abuses. The song derives much of Its power from the old African Yayati Kongo rhythm, which means "to dance with abandon." 'Ambago' works both ways it's a typical Haitian song that can be interpreted any way you want. Most of the people would take it to be against the govern I owl Zap! Zoweel Take that Superman creamed Batman yesterday In a clash of superheroes at the first-ever sale of comic books in the auction rooms at Christie's where the boundaries of pop culture are delineated by word of mouth and the ability to buy radio batteries, the band RAM has achieved the Haitian equivalent of superstardom. ment," explains Dr.

Gerdes Fleurant, an associate professor of music at Welles-ley College. RAM's ability to play on the ambiguity of Haitian proverbs may be its saving RAM melds Haitian tradition with modern rock glitz. here. "Action Comics No. 1," the hallowed text that carried Superman's debut in June 1938, brought a "new European record" for an auction of comic books: $21,521.50, including Christie's sales fee.

"Detective Comics No. 27," May 1939, with The Bat-Man's first appearance, went unsold when It failed to make Its reserve price, even though the bidding went to $30,000. "Batman would have won except his owner was a bit greedy." says an anonymous admirer of the caped crusader. John Carr. a 37-year-old electronics engineer from Surrey, bought the Superman comic for his beaming son, Sam.

age 8. But not to read. "I think it'll go straight Into a bank vault," Mr. Carr says. "It's his Inheritance.

It's the most Important comic ever produced." Sam allows as how he admires Superman, mostly for his X-ray eyes. "But I like X-Men better," he says X-Men, need it be explained, are very, very popular mutants "who have banded together to protect humanity even though humanity hates them." A figure of Me-kon, ruler of Mars from the Dan Dare comic strip, sits at the back of Christie's salesroom during an auction of comics. Old and young, liberal and conservative, rich and poor find RAM appealing. (RAM stands simply for the original three musicians, Richard. Andre, Milo.) An upper-middle-class grandmother whose musical taste leans toward Percy Sledge says she likes RAM because it makes her want to dance.

A poor teen-ager in downtown Port-au-Prince is eager to know any of the lyrics to the band's newest songs. And military supporters pack in enthusiastically alongside their Aristlde foes at RAM performances. In what sounds to the American ear like cheerful island music, that is particularly powerful in these dark times for Haiti and lends the band a sort of courageous cachet. RAM echoes the ceremonial voodoo grace. Dr.

Fleurant says. "No other group ever has been able to survive In Haiti," he says, noting that other bands have been driven from the country and have even had members killed. Though it has one album "Albobo" (Hallelujah) produced on a Haitian label available only in New York and Miami. RAM's music has had a bit of success in the United States. The song "Ibo Lele" (Dreams Come True) is included on the soundtrack of the movie "Philadelphia." And the band played at the New Orleans Jazz Festival last May.

RAM which Includes seven singers, three drummers, bass, guitar and keyboard See RAM. 5D Mr. Carr is a real collector. His Superman bid was the most he's ever paid for a comic book. Here at Christie's, he also bought Spiderman's 1962 introductory spin in an Amazing Fantasy comic book for $3,900.

You baby boomers know: Though the world may mock Peter Parker, the timid teenager it will soon marvel at the awesome might of Spider-Man." Three years ago. Mr. Carr paid about $13,500 for a copy of the Batman that didn't sell here Friday. So he's got the big three of comic book superheroes. not to mention first editions of X-Men, which Sam thinks is super.

And Mr. Carr was pleased with the price he paid. "I thought it was very cheap actually." he says. "I See COMICS. 5D Mike Littwin is on vacation.

His column will return Aug. 12. 1 1.