Dayton Daily News from Dayton, Ohio • 16

PAGE 6B BIG SCREEN THRILLS: Speed, 11 a.m., 1, 3 and 7 p.m. today, Imax Theatre, U.S. Air Force Museum, Springfield Pike, a Fireflies scarcer Experts say fireflies are getting harder to find in the city and suburbs because of chemicals sprayed on lawns and gardens and because urban and suburban development is eliminating the habitat favored by fireflies rotted wood, rubbish and swampy areas. Knight-Ridder News Service Lifestyle INSIDE Ann Landers, 9 Movie times, 10 Television 11' mile from Harshman Road exit off Ohio 4. 253-4629.

More Things to Do, 10 MONDAY, JULY 15, 1996 DAYTON DAILY NEWS MEDIA MORE '60S NOSTALGIA We may be old, but we're cool Screen savvy More schools are teaching students to decipher the real message in media ecently I found I i myself in a deep nostalgia wallow as a By Joy Darlington AMERICAN NEWS SERVICE 1 Dave Barry result of two occurrences: (1) Timothy Leary went up to that Big Volkswagen bus In The Sky. (2) I turned 49. This means I'm almost 50, which is halfway to the stage in life where a person can wind up on the On the TV screen, a commercial shows Michael Jordan sailing through the air in his Nikes to score a basket. A class of 29 media-aware students at Rutgers University in New Jersey begins to dissect the "message" of the commercial. "Did you hear anything about the quality of the sneaker or what you're getting for your money?" Mary Megee, professor of television studies, asks.

There is a chorus of nos. Everyone agrees that the emphasis is Jordan: It's all about Nike's image. 'JM HH. YtV Willard Scott Birthday Segment of The Today Show, the one where they show a picture of an extremely senior citizen who looks like "Juanita," the semi-preserved 500-year-old frozen Inca woman unearthed last year, and Willard says: "Happy birthday to Mrs. Claudia A.

Smoogent! This pretty lady once played horseshoes with Thomas Jefferson and still digests much of her own food!" Anyway, these two events got me to thinking back to a time when I was young and people actually took Timothy Leary seriously. I refer, of course, to (cue Sergeant Pepper) The Sixties! What a time! I bet you younger people would love to hear all about it! I am of course kidding. You younger people are sick sick SICK of The Sixties. Ever since birth, you've been listening to my generation drone on about The Sixties, an era so culturally self-important that even though my generation is now old and stodgy and non-rhythmic and sound asleep by 10:30 p.m. WE STILL THINK WE'RE COOL.

We think this because of the many unique consciousness-raising experiences we had in The Sixties, such as the experience of trying desperately to like Indian music. We HAD to like it! The BEATLES liked it! So we listened for hours to guys playing sitars, concentrating earnestly, waiting for some kind of recognizable melody to show up. We also had our consciousness raised several feet by the experience of attending the rock concert. The way this worked was, word wtmld get around that a major band, such as The Who, was going to perform in some city; you and your friends would drop whatever you were doing (college, for example) and bum a ride there and join a humongous throng in some auditorium, where everybody would sit around marinating in an atmosphere that was 1 part oxygen, 4 parts nitrogen and 17 parts doobie International programming, including news shows, series and documentaries, is a staple on WPTO. This is a scene from 'Network First: Confronting the one of the documentaries on 'International Dispatch', which airs Monday nights at 9 p.m CHOICE TV on the star.

"They're telling you that Nike's the sneaker to wear, if you want to be like Michael Jordan," one student offers. In an age when young people are bombarded by messages from the media, educators are beginning to teach the A-B-Cs of media literacy. In at least one state, it's even been made mandatory. The goal, say these educators, is to help children become "active viewers," able to question and critically analyze what they see and hear. The influence of the media begins early.

By the time they graduate from high school, many young people twice the hours tney spent Tn school, according to a 1992 survev bv With its move to cable and its unique programming, Channel 14 has blossomed. Now WPTO must grapple with looming federal cutbacks Jr'xthe CarnigiunoofTViiStent; Developrjeat.l We listened for hours to guys playing sitars waiting for some kind of recognizable melody to vapor. For the first six hours or so there would be no activity onstage except for two guys messing around with speakers the size of the Lincoln Memorial. From time to time the speakers would emit a tooth-vibrating, feedback shriek Some educators say the best way tt teach children to be savvy viewers of media is to let them do it themselves. In schools around the country, young people are beginning to produce their own videos.

By learning how lighting can emphasize a subject, what shots to keep, and what to cut, they can see. how visual images can be manipulat-' ed, even innocently. At Rise and Shine Productions, a non-profit organization based in New York City, teens go out in teams of three or four to film videos on topics like race relations, violence, drugs and sexism. "I can no longer watch a film, commercial, newscast, drama, sitcom, or anything without taking it apart. I watch actively.

When people become By Tom Hopkins DAYTON DAILY NEWS In the beginning, it was a little-seen, noncommercial television station, beaming out a weak signal from the campus of Miami University in Oxford to the largely rural areas of Butler and Warren counties. Programs leaned heavily toward instructional fare from the National Educational Television network. Book Beat was a staple. So were cooking classes and guitar lessons. That was before WPTO-TV (Channel 14) moved into the big time, becoming licensed to Greater Dayton Public Television and winning cable carriage.

Now, the Miami Valley's fastest-growing television station viewership has quintu media-literate, they can't be fooled said Samir Vural, one of the stu scon NEWTON Alison Krauss on 'Austin City Limits', a Channel 14 offering that celebrates its 21st anniversary this year. pled in less than tnree years is tightening its belt in anticipation of a cutoff of federal funding. "We'll lose all the federal support for Channel 14 within the next three years," said David Fogarty, general manager of Greater Dayton, which also operates WPTD-TV (Channel 16). "The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has already made the decision to end support for second stations like Channel 14, in light of the decline in federal support that's expected in the next few years," Fogarty said. "So we're struggling to build the dents.

Media literacy is gradually taking hold in scattered pockets around the country. In Minneapolis, students are being evaluated for the first time on their critical viewing skills. Media literacy grades now appear on report cards. North Carolina began four years ago requiring that all its K-12 stu- dents learn "to access, analyze, evaluate and create media." In New Mexico, the movement got a jump start in 1993 with funding anS other help from the Downs Media Education Center, founded by the television news veteran Hugh Downs. His daughter, Dierdre Downs, presented the initial training workshops.

Now, in classrooms around the state, New Mexico's students are encouraged to watch TV with a critical eye rather than simply letting SEE MEDIA7B Charlie Rose: One of the PBS series carried on WPTO. Through the years at Channel 14 1959: Station signs on the air as WMUB at Miami University. 1975: Wright State, Miami and Central State universities form University Regional Broadcasting and combine WPTO (the former WMUB) with WPTD in Dayton, offering simulcast programming. 1992: WPTO launches an independent program schedule focusing on educational and public affairs programming. 1993: WPTO premieres on Miami Valley cable systems.

1995: New transmitter and microwave system are installed. WREEEEEEEEEEP which would cause the crowd to sit up and look around for reassurance that this was an external noise, as opposed to something that was happening only inside their heads. As the Who-less hours drifted by, the crowd would spontaneously generate rumors concerning which major musical superstars were going to make Surprise Guest Appearances is here!" "Somebody saw John Lennon in the men's room! He was operating the blow Then, after everybody had lost all track of time and place, one of the concert promoters would get up on stage and, in between bursts of feedback, make some announcement like: "OK! We just got a call from WREEEEEEEEEEP the road manager for The Who! (Cheers from the crowd.) He says their plane has just landed in WREEEEEEEEEEP Los Angeles! (More cheers.) They'll be on their way here just as WREEEEEEEEEEP soon as they refuel!" (Wild cheers, accompanied by the sound of people asking each other, "What city are we in Then there'd be more hours of waiting and more rumors is here! With and more announcements Listen up! The Who's plane had to be diverted to WREEEEEEEEEEP Nova Scotia! But just as soon as they can refuel This could go on for days. I'm pretty sure that somewhere in America today, there's an auditorium filled with people still waiting to hear the Electric Flag. But they're happy! That was the thing about The Sixties: People were really happy, except when they became convinced that tiny crabs were eating their brains.

Which brings us back to Timothy Leary. What can you say about this guy? He spoke to qur generation! He told us to ingest chemi- i I So we did! (Of COURSE we did! The BEATLES did!) And we had philosophical insights! For example: When a candle burns, WAX DRIPS DOWN THE SIDE! Wow! And that Is only one tiny example of the many insights we had, thanks to Dr. Leary, and it is why we children of The Sixties (those of us who stayed out of institutions) are still so cool after all these years. Soon there will be denture commercials aimed at us, using Beatles tunes to appeal to our eternal coolness. We'll hum through our gums.

Maybe you should shoot me now. DA VI BARRY is a columnist for the Miami Herald and author of many hooks. His column runs on Mondays. program service on Channel 14 at a time when resources are diminishing." Fogarty said WPTO probably will see a 30-percent cut in each of the next three years, amounting to a half-million dollars a year. Greater Dayton trustees are trying to figure out how to replace the lost funds from public donations or other sources.

Most of the local budget comes from memberships and corporate underwriting. Without extensive cable carriage, the station served fewer than 30,000 households per week until 1993. That situation changed drastically as a result of the 1992 Cable Act. A "must-carry" provision required cable systems to carry all local signals, and Channel 14 was wired. Now 160,000 homes tune in.

with about two-thirds of the audience watching on cable. Programs for both stations originate at Greater Dayton's downtown Dayton studios. Channel 14's signal is beamed via microwave to the transmitter site on the Miami University campus. Most programs on Channel 14 were simul- For more Info Contact the Media Literacy Online Project Center for Advanced Technology in Education, College of Education, University of Oregon, Eugene, website: uoregon.edu The website is a national cast with Channel 16 until 1993, when the Oxford station launched its own lineup stressing educational and instructional programming. Now, 90 percent of the schedules are different, with Channel 16 emphasizing programs from the Public Broadcasting Service.

"Channel 14 has allowed us to offer programs that aren't available on most stations in the United States," Fogarty said. They include a large number of international programs, mostly news and dramas. "I think aic; PRf Jus A J. lino SEE WPT07B clearinghouse for media literacy' organizations. It includes listings of organizations related to the study of media and communication; articles, guides and lists; and files of jt conferences and events.

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