Daily News from New York, New York • 69

Tpnn 'Tan f7xy i ne uiueai uving uraauaie suppiiea a ciassy touch this night in 1980. The first live stage drama on NBC in 1 8 years, it starred Henry Fonda, George Grizzard and Cloris Leachman; Jane Fonda hosted. NEWS natal FIB iroiDDD D)KF DBU" 'Lone Ranger's' network started up in 1934 By DAVID HINCKLEY Daily News Staff Writer i ixty-five years after it was icreated expressly to make the Lone Ranger a ager. "They were a distant fourth. But they worked hard.

I was hired to supply records for Kate Smith. In their heyday, they were substantial." "They'd try to do things the big networks couldn't," says broadcast pioneer Guy Lebow. "You'd call them with an idea, they'd tell you to do it and they'd send you a check. I did a story for them on the assassination of Malcolm X. I was one of the first white reporters allowed on the site." The seed for Mutual was planted in late 1932, when De-troit's WXYZ decided to launch a Western series with a hero who was "the embodiment of answered prayer." On Jan.

31, 1933, the noble, unsmiling Lone Ranger debuted over eight stations called the Michigan Radio Network. Tonto was added in the 12th show, so the Lone Ranger would have someone to talk to, and within a year WGN in Chicago, WLW in Cincinnati and WOR in New York signed on. On Sept 15, 1934, this new alliance became the Mutual Broadcasting System, with WOR as a flagship, "The Lone Ranger" as its cornerstone and expansion as its grand hope. Mutual soon became known for controversial news commentators like Drew Pearson, the arch-conservative Fulton Lewis and Gabriel Heatter, who covered the trial and exe-cution of Bruno Richard Hauptmann for the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby-Mutual also pioneered syndicated interactive talk shows with John J. Anthony's melodramatic "Goodwill Hour" in 1937.

Always low on money, Mutu-al's European correspondents sent telegrams to be read by announcers, saving the cost of transatlantic phone calls. But Mutual was the first on the air with the news of the Dec. 7, 1941, bombing of Pearl Harbor, six minutes ahead of CBS and NBC. And Mutual found Neville Chamberlain at Munich and covered the first German air strikes against France. From the '30s to the '50s, Mutual was the only place to hear the World Series.

But in the '50s, TV started to alter the radioscape. "The Lone Ranger," with Brace Beemer as the masked man since 1941, rode into the radio sunset in 1954. Mutual ally went through various owners. But it lived to retirement age and left fond memories. Hi-yo, Silver, away.

national hero, the Mutual Broadcasting System is signing off for good. Mutual, which became a full network with a reputation for scrappiness in the face of low resources, finally fell to radio consolidation. -Westwood One, which acquired Mutual in the '80s, says that as of April 18, all Mutual services primarily newscasts will be delivered urtder the Westwood One-owned CNN Radio name. jTnis is part of a Westwood One streamlining that will also eliminate most services of the NBC' radio network, NBC's last radio link. Also as of April 18, the NBC name will be used only on newscasts between 5 and 11 a.m.

weekdays. It's a quiet ending for Mutual, which gave America not only "The Lone Ranger," but Orson Welles as "The Shadow" and the first interactive syndicated radio talk show. "Mutual never had the stature of the NBC networks or CBS," says Joe Franklin, who worked at Mutual as a teen A 'The Lone KEMO SABE: Brace Beemer, minus his mask, played Ranger" for Mutual radio from 1941 until 1954. ausche nberg an unvinisuied portrait JJV, i I By DAVID BIANCULLI Daily News TV Critic I ver the years, the PBS se- I ries American Masters has set such a high stan work in the studio transferring photographic images to a different medium the most revealing moments in the entire hour and also get an overview of his most famous works, including the three-dimensional, multi-media studies he calls combines. That includes "Monogram," which stuck a tire around the midsection of a stuffed angora goat "Inventive Genius" establishes its subject as a true character, but doesn't come close to explaining how that character was formed.

tion as he describes Rauschenberg as a "bad boy" of art whose innovations and visions both upset and influenced the status quo. Writer-producer-director Karen Thomas, though, assembles the images, interviews and information in her documentary with much less energy and effectiveness. Even in interviews with Rauschenberg, more time is devoted to him telling old war stories and making himself laugh than to insights about his muse and his techniques. We see Rauschenberg at AMERICAN MASTERS: ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG: INVENTIVE GENIUS. Tonight at 10, Ch.

13. er clumsily on the first count Most "American Masters" outings leave you hungry to devour more about the art and the artist. Not this time. The best thing "Robert Rauschenberg: Inventive Genius" has going for it is narrator Dennis Hopper, an art aficionado as well an an actor. Hopper's voice is bursting with enthusiasm and admira dard for itself that, in every new biographical portrait of someone in the arts, we expect two things: to understand that artist as a human being, and to appreciate why his or her work is so vital.

Tonight's profile of influential modern artist Robert Rauschenberg succeeds only marginally on the second count, and drops the ball rath- 'GENIUS': Robert Rauschenberg 3Ti TWO DIFFERENT specials tonight brazenly trumped sex in their titles: a Fox special on commer 'Uptown Blues: Ellington at Celebrating the 100th anniversary of Duke Ellington's birth, this live special features Wynton Marsalis, Kurt Masur and two alternating orchestras: the Lincoln. Center Jazz Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. Edvard Grieg's "Peer Gynt Suite" in both the original orchestral version and the jazz adaptation by Ellington and his collaborator, Billy Strayhom is a highlight. 9:00 (Fox) "Banned from America: World's Sexiest Commercials." Though I detest the manner in which these specials are'usually presented, I'm a sucker for intemational-ad compendiums. 9:30 (ABC) "The Norm Show." Jack Warden guest-stars as Norm's dad.

10:00 (CBS) "Body Human 2000: Love, Sex the Miracle of Birth." Sterility, premature birth, twins and other topics are covered in this special, which includes photography of a fetus less than a month old. James Brolin hosts. 10:00 (COM) "South Park." This third-season opener features Jennifer Aniston of "Friends," who provides the voice of a visiting, and ill-fated, choir teacher. 10:30 (COM) "Strangers with Candy." Comedian Amy Sedans stars in this new series as a 46-year-old woman who gets released from jail and picks up her life right where she thought she went astray as a high-school freshman. cials from other countries, and a CBS special on human sexuality.

8:00 p.m. (CBS) "Payne." Tonight's episode of this new John Larroquette series is the one that borrows most obviously I Trom the old John Cleese "Fawlty 1 powers" series (on which this show is I based) for inspiration. It's an episode in-i yolving gourmet night at the hotel, and a chef who doesn't survive the evening. 8:00 (13) "Live from Lincoln Center: CENTENNIAL: Duke Ellington.