The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 25

TH2 BOSTON GLOBE FRIDAY, MAY 21, 1982 25 Arts Films 30 it 141 Jk 1 The good Doctor isn't a snecialist TELEVISION I JACBt At Channel 7 an era ends By James McBride Globe Staff PHILADELPHIA Cory Erving. 1 year old. faked past his imaginary defender, wobbling and weaving from side to side as he made his way down the basketball court. Thirty-five feet out, he felhted left, half-stepped to the National Basketball Assn. playoffs.

But there are other sides: Gentleman. Philosopher. Idol. Moviemaker. Millionaire.

Entrepreneur. Friend of Larry Bird. Erving fits the bill for all the tags and more. Most of all, though, he is what he is: a man of thought and substance. an era begi ns 'J- i I.

I I would ieel very empty if I were perceived as a jock," Erving said, as he weaved his 1979 Mercedes Benz through heavy Philadelphia traffic after the tap-, tag. "That's not to belittle my profession. But it's almost a Joke. You go to luncheons or a banquet and you make a speech. People come up to you and they're surprised you can talk It gives you a lot of advan right, and landed on his rear end with a plop.

Julius Erving, sitting nearby in the bleachers, laughed and pointed to a bunch of basketballs at mldcourt. "He sees the balls. He goes right at 'em." Julius and Cory Erving were at a sur-burban school gymnasium outside Philadelphia to do a public-service television commercial for polio vaccination last week. The It Versatile Julius Erving "A I It if v' i tages." he continued. Erving can go on and on about ious subjects before the conversation ever touches on basketball.

"There are so many negative things in the world, it's depressing," he said as he whipped out of the left lane and passed a car on the right. "I do believe in predestination. Spiritually, I'm a Christian God is the controlling force In my life. His spiritual beliefs, he said, "make living In a fishbowl a lot easier," and color his life with a certain perspective. "Everything earthly is temporary and overemphasized as far as I'm concerned." It's not difficult to see Erving as a spiritual person.

He's not a mystic by any means, but he is cool, low-key and soft-spoken. If there are any outstanding mood swings, they're out of sight, locked behind the same outer calm and quiet intensity that he displays on the court when he makes amazing moves that defy description. It is the demeanor of a good business ERVING. Page 26 two-hour taping, which was supposed to take an hour, was a hot. uncomfortable vigil, a real test of patience.

Neither of the Ervings had eaten lunch. Neither was paid for his time. Neither complained. "It's just a passing moment," Erving said simply. It is that kind of patience and spirit that symbolizes why the elder Erving, also known as Dr.

of the Philadelphia 76ers, is a special kind of superstar. "People always underestimate athletes," Erving said. "It's a constant uphill struggle to keep from being underestimated outside your physical "capabilities." Aside from his physical capabil-. itles, there are many facets to 32-year-old Julius Wlnfield Erving 2d. The side that people know best is the 6-foot-6, 210-pound skywalker with 11-inch hands who can grasp a basketball like an orange and do things with it that no one else can.

Things that have helped move the 76ers to within one victory of ousting the world cham- pion Boston Celtics from this year's 2 iv Vl' ') ill ft 14 if 1 A rare combination of athlete, gentleman, businessman, philanthropist. GLOBE FILE PHOTO After 34 years in Boston and 13 years of fighting off challenges to its license, WNAC-TV will vanish at the conclusion of today's programming, and RKO will surrender the Channel 7 license to New England Television (NETV). Goodby, WNAC-TV. Hello. WNEV-TV.

The signs of change were everywhere this week at the studios in Government Center. Executives from the old Ch. 7 and the new were seen in the corridors, stepping around boxes stacked with files for shipment. Manager Pat Servodidio hosted a party for 20 members of his staff at the Copley Plaza, wrote a goodby statement that he will read on camera tonight, and juggled his schedule to accommodate reporters interested in his views on the future of television in Boston. (Related story, Page 71.) For about a dozen employees, today is the last day.

a time to take down pictures and posters, to clean out files and desks and personal effects. The rest will shift their loyalties to the new owners. News director Peter Leone resigned Wednesday to take a job in Los Angeles, telling his staff in a memo that they were all winners. Well, they couldn't have felt like winners as they walked by the third-floor conference room where the walls are now bare except for the nails that once held a variety of awards the television industry is fond of bestowing upon itself. Editorial director Arch Macdonald couldn't have felt like a winner as he moved from the third floor to the fourth floor, from WNAC-TV to WRKO radio.

Nor could Bill Hahn. one of the venerable figures in Boston broadcasting, who began on radio with Louise Morgan, moved to WNAC-TV when It went on the air in 1948, became a vice-president, and now heads back to radio, to WRKO. Tonight at 5, Ch. 7 employees will gather at a pub called the Portland Exchange for "A Party To End One Era and Begin -Another," as the memo says. "Please cash bar.

great music, hors d'oeuvres." For 10 employees, there was a sense of deja vu this week because they had gone through the same experience 10 years ago when WHDH-TV surrendered Channel 5 to WCVB-TV. Tonight. WNAC will broadcast the Celtics game, followed by a special called "Celebrating the Family." during which Servodidio will read his goodby. The news will be shown at 11, 'TMurse" at 11:30, and following a repeat of the news, Ch. 7 signs off at 1:05 with a spiritual message and the national anthem.

Tomorrow morning, WNEV-TV signs on at a few moments before 6 with the national anthem and a network program called "Summer Semester." At 10, the stockholders, employees and their families assemble in the main studio for a champagne brunch. "What's it been like?" said Ed Fredkin, president of the new owners. New England Televlson. "Busy. In fact, we've all been so busy, we haven't had a chance to sit back and do much reflecting.

"We ve been working like dogs everywhere that we spot a 'WNAC in the building, on the microphones, on cameras, on the cars and trucks, we've had a crew preparing a 'WNEV to cover it up. It's amazing, the station signature is everywhere you look." NETV also has invested a quarter of a million dollars in an advertising blitz that begins today with full-page advertisements that say, "There's a New Day Dawning." Viewers looking for quick changes, however, will be disappointed. "The main thing we're saying is that people won't see the real us in any important way until fall." said Fredkin. "Because this has happened so quickly it is impossible for people to see anything more on the first day than a cosmetic change having to do with new Identification, and some promotion and other things that talk about the fact that now we're rolling up our sleeves." Acting general manager William Oster-haus is more specific. "We have been confronted with an array of technical and legal problems ranging from union agreements to arranging for the Associated Press service to be connected.

The details are amazing. "It is important to understand right off the bat that as fast as everything has happened, It has been a monumental task to attend to the details of transition for what amounts to a completely new television station, together with all the assets and contracts, some of which can be passed on, some of which cannot, along with dealing with the human aspects, with the peo- TV, Page 26 A pastoral wedding on Island on Thomps ple while submerging neither." She is' 24. a silkscreen artist who has worked with children. He Is 28, a carpenter with Boston Woodworks, a firm in house remodeling and solar conver---sion! They met in May 1978 in Warren, R.I. (where, they note approvingly, the Thompson's Island boat was built).

Out of money and with graduation from I Roger Williams College still a month away, Lyons had just gone to work at the local Dunkln' Donuts. Rodriguez stopped in for coffee. "Hmm, I think I will say hello," he recalled saying tc himself. Then she moved to Boston to WEDDING, Page 27 I "If some people our guests -weren't going to stay the night of the wedding," said Lyons, "we might have begun our honeymoon here." This is going to be a nontraditional marriage, to hear Lyons talk about wedding vows that "unite two creative peo breakfast Is $3.50. With 14 out-of-town wedding guests planning to stay overnight, the prices reinforce such charms of the 157-acre island as the water-lapped shore, marshes, meadow, old orchard, woodsy roads and trails, hilltop and sky.

"Be not qfeard. The Isle Is full of noises. Sounds and sweet airs that give delight and hurt not." Shakespeare, "The Tempest" By Margo Miller Globe Staff When the 60 wedding guests clamber down the gangplank of the Pilgrim IV tomorrow afternoon at 4:30 and climb up the steep gravel road, they will be guided toward the hilltop ceremony by white helium balloons in the trees and the sound of a flute. This Is Thompson's Island in Boston Harbor, 10 minutes by boat from The Landing in South Boston and light years away from function-room wedding receptions. Lenore Lyons and Carlos Rodriguez are getting married here, in part because of the happy accident last October of hearing a bagpipe skirl magically from the island as they were sailing They are also getting married here because they like the idea of the modest budget for their wedding doing double duty: Not only does their dollar go further here because of the arrangements offered by the Thompson's Island Education Center, but also, and most pleasing to Lyons, their money goes to a worthy cause.

"I like the idea we will be helping lnner-clty kids," she said. "More people ought to know about this place for weddings." Thompson's Island, named for the family which settled it in 1626, has always been privately owned. It has had an educational purpose since 1831, either as a farm and trade school or asylum for poor boys. In 1975, the nonprofit educational center was founded to provide an enrichment program, particularly in math and sciences, for middle school (grades 7-9) studepts from Boston's Inner city. While the center has "done" only two other weddings one for a staff member it often rents out Its facilities for business conferences and training seminars, field days and picnics, college reunions and other gatherings.

Overnight accommodations in the center's dorms cost only $14 per person and i i mil iiiiiimi pn.at i Mii.n.niiiiiii mi. II II .1 urn. III I if L. .1 From left, Jane Crump and prospective bride and groom. Lenore Lyons and Carlos Rodriguez, globe photo by joseph dennehy a.