The Baltimore Sun du lieu suivant : Baltimore, Maryland • 39

THE SUN SECTION Movies Television Comics SATURDAY, MARCH 8, 1986 Channel to iW 24 'i Goal of new Baltimore TV station is 'wholesome' programming mm By Steve McKerrow Evening Sun Staff ave you tuned in Baltimore's newest television station yet? i ou re nui aiunc vuu nave 'r 'i i By William Thompson Evening Sun Staff As traditional harbingers of spring, the plump robin and the emerging Jonquil garner most of the attention from the winter-weary and cabin-fevered. But for others, such as Bob Stanhope of the Oregon Ridge Nature Center In Cockeysvllle. It Is the soundless and Invisible rising of maple tree sap that signals the approach of the new season. These are the days that Stanhope, one of the center's full-time naturalists, keeps his eyes on the temperature gauge. Sun-warmed days and near-freezing nights together cause a sort of pumping action within the maple tree, sending the sap toward the branches in day and back to the roots at nightfall.

Stanhope, employing a simple method that has remained virtually unchanged for hundreds of years, taps the trees for their sap and boils the clear liquid into maple syrup the genuine sticky stuff that is to connoisseurs of table syrups what Dom Perignon is to wine lovers. Since it takes nearly a full day to tap five gallons of sap from a single tree and a hefty 40 gallons of maple sap to boll down to a single gallon of syrup, the conversion process is lengthy, although uncomplicated, says Stanhope. There are a dozen or so commercial syrup makers in Maryland, and while the state ranks in the 1 0 top syrup producers in the country, not much more than a couple hundred gallons are offered on the public market. Rare and in high demand, maple syrup costs as much as $4 a pint. Even at that price, Stanhope said, the product collects little dust on store shelves.

All 1 1 1 pints in the Oregon Ridge Nature Center cache already have been sold. at "our own family-oriented programming" will emerge in April. Buschman says he cannot yet reveal details. In addition, the manager says, "down the road we'd like to get into news," with a full local news operation "looking at it from a more conservative view." Buschman says if the Baltimore station Is successful. Its owner "hopes to have a network across the country" of similar stations.

Channel 24 is owned by Family Media whose principal director is Sam Moore, president of Thomas Nelson Publishers, of Nashville. The firm publishes religious material. "This is sort of a test station" for Moore's plans to get into television, says Buschman, who worked at Baltimore's Channel 45 (WBFF) for much of his career and most recently managed an Independent station in Pittsburgh, Channel 22, owned by Chesapeake See CHANNEL 24, 3D, Col. 1 found Channel 24 (WKJL) a wonderfully strange amalgam of good old series and movies, talk shows, religious programming, how-to shows and, um, unconventional commercials. But If Baltimore viewers take to the new independent, it could spawn a national network of similar stations with a "good, wholesome family programming format" and a conservative news slant.

"We're here forever, and we Intend to go 24 hours very shortly," says Ken Buschman, general manager of Channel 24 (WKJL). which went on the air Christmas morning. A production studio is now being built in the station's headquarters in the Seton Business Park in northwest Baltimore, and Channel 24's first effort I '3 4 nlLl ptj IF I'M ilL i VI I I fA hl If jV I liV 1 II 1 1 11 "Dick Van Dyke Show." iwc limbic syiup scasuu in maryiaiiu, which proceeds the better known New England sap harvest by five weeks, lasts from two to three weeks, according to Richard Brown, a native of maple sugar country in northern New York. Brown now works for the federal government in Washington and, in his late-winter spare time, assists area naturalists in setting up sugaring operations. I ')' tip I K'r i i nis weeKena tne puoiic can see demonstrations of maple svruD-makinfi 1 A' couple sites in the central Maryland area.

making the syrup all day today and tnmnrmui FiirtViAr liwct HfmrmetfCiHrne 1 Jl' lit are planned at Cunningham Falls State Park in Frederick County this weekend and next. i The art of coaxing maple sap from a tree trunk and turning it into syrup was taught by American Indians to the white settlers, who apparently had no objection to acquiring a New World sweet tooth, according to Brown. In the past three centuries, little has rhantfed in the manllncf nrnress. Pmhahlv "The Cisco Kid." "Gunsmoke." THE SATURDAY SUNPAUL HUTCMNS JR. It's like visiting museum of great shows of the past 1 i the single most significant Influence See SYRUP, 2D, Col.

1 Assistant naturalist Kirk Dreier and Jeremy Sutton, above, watch as young Gordon McNaughton positions spile, or spout, in a maple tree at Oregon Ridge. After the sap is collected it is boiled, below, to remove water and to form a thick maple syrup. 1 vt'-r i ti jf By Steve McKerrow Evening Sun Staff Jt ANOTHER Ff ere's a new Baltimore televi-WJ sion trivia riddle: What do S( it A iviarv i vier ivioore ana ooo (1961-66). At 7. still on Channel 24.

she's Mary Richards of the "Mary Tyler Moore Show" (1970-77). Finally, she's Mary Brenner of her new CBS show. "Mary." which moves to Channel 11 's 9 p.m. slot on Tuesdays beginning March 25. The chance to see some of contemporary television's big stars In earlier roles is one of the more striking things about Channel 24.

And while the celebrities age. the viewer can feel remarkably younger. On Saturday nights a quarter-century ago, for Instance, what family did not gather rttually in front of the TV to watch Marshall Matt Dillon right another wrong on "Gun-smoke." the longest-running drama series in TV history? Now you can relive the experience by watching Newhart have in common? Answer: You can watch them age right before your eyes, thanks to Channel 24 (WKJL), the area's newest television station. Newhart does it every Monday night. At 7:30, he's on Channel 24's reruns of "The Bob Newhart Show" (the 1972-78 situation comedy in which he played psychologist Bob Hartley).

At 9:30, there he Is again as Bob Louden on Channel 1 1 in his current CBS series, "Newhart," eight years older with less hair and a few more "character wrinkles." Moore has been aging across a three-decade span rather gracefully, too on Wednesday nights, and later this month will do so on Tuesdays. At 6 p.m. on Channel 24. she's sprightly Laura Petrie on the wonderful old "Dick Van Dyke Show" -s. W' ri See LOOK.

5D. Col. 1 Lit Admission: $6.25 adults. $3 children under 12. Details: 795-7964.

SATURDAY 24 vmmm WHAT TO DO THIS WEEKEND bert, Beethoven and Chopin, at Shriver Hall, Johns Hopkins University, Charles and 34th streets. Tickets: $10, $5. Details: 338-7164. 9 p.m. Parents Without Partners sponsors an open dance at the Holiday Inn on Greenspring Drive in Timoni-um.

Admission: $8. Can 768-2409. throws an auction to raise funds, at Relay Elementary School, Selford Avenue in Relay. Refreshments and lunch available. Details: 247-3707 or 242-9128.

2 p.m. A 14-member delegation from one of Baltimore's sister cities-Kawasaki, Japan demonstrates the ancient Japanese arts of the tea ceremony and flower arranging, in Festival Hall. Details: 396-1574. SATURDAY 10 a.m. Your move, to a winter chess tournament at the Virginia S.

BakerPatterson Park Recreation Center, 2601 E. Baltimore St Entry fee is $2. You can bring your own chess set Prizes. Cafl 396-4891. 11 a.m.

Get fired up for an antique gun show at the Fifth Regiment Armory, Howard and Preston streets. More than 700 exhibition tables. Admission is $2. Also tomorrow from 9 ajn. to 4 pm Details: 877-2912.

Noon The Arbutus Theatrical Company 2 p.m. Come meet the Maryland artists whose work is on display at the Three Arts Club of Homeland, 4 Wyndhurst Ave. Reception 'til 5 p.m. The show continues through April 25. Details: 433-1765.

3 p.m. Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks reads from her works in tiie Wheeler Auditorium of the i central Enoch Pratt Free Library, 400 Cathedral St Free admission. Seating is on a first-come Can 39o-549-f for details. 1 i SUNDAY San Diego's symphony orchestra, in trouble financially, should serve as a warning to the BSO and Baltimore, says music critic Scott Duncan. 2D Ann Landers offers words of wisdom in her advice column.

2D Lou Cedrcna picks "The Trip to Bountful" as his best bet at the cinema this weekend. Other Cedrone film reviews: 4D 3 p.m. The Opera Workshop of the University of Maryland Baltimore County puts on Rodgers and Ham-merstein's adaptation of "Cinderella." Tickets S5, $3 for students and senior citizens. Details: 455-2065. 8:30 p.m.

Pianist RichanJ Goode performs a recital ci works by Mozart, Schu Noon The Taylorsville-WmMeld Lions Club holds its spring ham and oyster dinner at the Wmfiekj Community Fire House on Liberty Road, seven miles vest of Eldersburg. 7:35 p.m. The boys from Dallas take on the Blast in socko Major Indoor Soccer League fun at the Civic Center, 201 W. Baitinpre St Details: 528-0100..