The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 367

PRIME TIME Channel 21 team adds finishing touches Recent CBS affiliate prepares to air twice-daily news program who want to be here." James has hired a staff of five reporters a group of fresh-faced New England natives in their mid- to late twenties, with an average four or five years' broadcast experience. He had received more than 400 tapes and applications from reporters seeking jobs. "What we've been able to do, because we do have so many people who want to be here, is find a level of expertise and a level of energy that is not common to ev- world, and what affects them. And if we can affect them, then that's good. We're doing our job.

"We have a unique marketplace in New Hampshire, a conservative group of people. Most of the people I've met are fiercely independent people and highly spirited, and they want to stay that way. If you look at their license plates, there's no question about that," James said. "We want to create a product that's reflective of the values of our viewers. That's the whole thrust behind what we're trying to create here." He said WNHT will do this by "involving people that know the area are either New Hampshire or New England natives, or who went to school in the area.

People Although Channel 21's half-hour 6 and 11 o'clock news programs will compete with Channel 9 news and the three major Boston stations, WBZ-TV (Channel 4). WCVB-TV (Channel 5) and WNEV-TV (Channel 7). Pulera said his news organization isn't a competitor of Channel 9 or the Boston-based stations. "Our perspective is not to rival or to compete against Channel 9," he said. "Our mission is to really serve the people in New Hampshire, first and foremost with the best television news gathering operation possible.

So we don't really look at it as going head to head with anybody." WNHT-TV went on the air as an independent station in April 1984. The sta- MVS" i "jaw" i I ery television station in the country," James said. "We believe people watch people. So we've put together a good team of people." To supplement the relatively young reporting staff, James said, WNHT is involving people who are "pros, who know the business." Steve Schiff, the news anchor and managing editor, is a youthful 45 with a golden Miami tan and wide toothy smile. He brings with him more than 20 years' broadcast experience.

He moved to Concord a few weeks ago from Florida, where he was news director and anchor for one year for Dynamic Cable Vison, a station that served the Miami area. Prior to that, he was the news anchor for a CBS-owned and -operated station in St. Louis for 10 years. Before that, he was a reporter for NBC in the Cleveland bureau. Carefully crafted set Schiff will work out of WNHT's new studio, which has a light purple, green, soft pink and natural oak set, carefully chosen to represent the "naturalness" and "color" of New Hampshire.

A 6-by-1 0-foot transparency of the state Capitol will serve as the background for Schiff and his coanchor, Williams. Schiff said he hopes to report his own stories as well as anchor the news, and he's looking forward to working for WNHT, since it's "in the making," and he's a large part of it. "That's the beauty of the whole thing. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a television reporter to come into an operation and be the first one, sort of speak, to be sitting in that news anchor seat, with new people, new cameras, new desks, chairs. And to have a brand new product," Schiff said.

"It's a very unique experience for anybody in this business. This is the first time I've actually screwed together part of the set," he said with a laugh. According to Pulera, WNHT is the first station to be awarded a CBS affiliation in nine years. This is because "New Hampshire has arrived, in terms of becoming its own market, as opposed to living in the shadow of the Boston media," he said. Pulera added: "We will bring to CBS the localism they need to develop the loyalty and therefore the audience in the New Hampshire area.

In order to win in New Hampshire, you've got to be in New Hampshire." By Karen DiConza Contributing Reporter CONCORD Behind the scenes in the studios of WNHT-TV Channel 21 on Hall Street, excitement and anticipation are mounting as the staff gears up for its first local news broadcast. There's still quite a bit to be done between now and June 1, the tentative date for the initial broadcast of the station's half-hour news program. Reporters are rehearsing, the set is being screwed together and lights and cameras are being positioned. The crew is still waiting for a couple more pieces of equipment needed before the program can air. Once those loose ends are tied up, WNHT-TV news will air.

Steve Schiff and Cindy Williams will greet their audience as coanchors. Meteorologist Phil Erlckson will do his best to second-guess Mother Naure. Sports anchor Bill Seward will keep tabs on the state's athletes and teams. Five reporters will hit the pavement with their notebooks and microphones to track down the day's events. formerly an independent went on the air Feb.

2 as a CBS affiliate. The station plans to offer view-erestatewide a half-hour news program twice daily. WNHT is the second major commercial television station to operate in New Hampshire. The other is WMUR-TV- (Channel 9) in Manchester, an ABC affiliate. -Along with the New Hampshircbased news broadcasts, WNHT plans to carry CBS program schedule and all CBS national news programs, such as CBS Evening News with Dan Rather and 60 Minutes, said Matt James, news director.

The station will be on the air from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. 'Coming into its own' "The growth of this market New Hampshire coming into its own really is reflective of our developing another television operation here," said Ron Pulera, general manager of WNHT. "Channel 9 is only one affiliate. They really had the task of covering it New Hampshire all by themselves.

But with the addition of WNHT, that makes two commercial stations. And two are better than one." (New Hampshire also has WENH-TV Channel 11 in Durham, the statewide publie broadcasting station, and two independent stations, WGOT-TV in Merrimack and WNDS-TV in Derry.) I. mmnt, Steve Schiff will coanchor the news. 'V 1 i Globe photosJ.D. Denham prepares for broadcast.

ML set for the nightly broadcasts. fr-J 1 J. ILlJliL The production staff at Channel 21 TXZ3 it 1 News director Matt James surveys the tion is owned by the Flatley Co. of Brain-tree, which purchased it in December 1984. As a CBS affiliate, WNHT will operate on a news budget of "around $1 million," Pulera said.

The station's broadcast signal will reach the entire state, and WNHT will be found on different numbers on the dial, depending up6n which cable company viewers subscribe to. Pulera said he hopes WNHT will become a daily news source for the station's "potential market" the 350,000 television households in New Hampshire. Satisfying the viewers James said he plans to capture that faithful viewing audience by "giving the average viewer exactly what they want." The news director added: "I think they want to know what's going on in their home state. They want to know what's going on in New England and In the fflfou'reTired Of Passbook Kates On Move Up Money Market! 1 1 jr ii ii a To Unite SBanic. (1 I it aving it it it it i i ii ti It 1 1 It it it It I I It it it it it I i $25,000 and up $10,000 to $24,999 $1 to $9,999 your investment situation.

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