The Daily Oklahoman from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma • 126

New co-host to debut on TM' Felicia Ferguson and Dave Hood ple end up in the public eye," he said. -when he came to from a few years baick to take the PM helm, Hood was content to let the public adulation and attention fall to Karen Carney, then already a two-year veteran and original co-host of the show. "She was the one people would recognize and come up to," he said. "And I was content to hang back as the newcomer and let the public gets their hits from Karen." "Now the situation's changed. I'm the one they recognize and I'm thrust into the public as much as I'm shy, I still really like it And besides, the only reason people feel they know you well enough to come up and interrupt you and ask an autograph is because you are a part of their lives.

They see you every night and they feel they really do know you No, sir I'd never say 'I don't give Carney left PM Magazine earlier this year to explore broadcast possibilities in something different from the PM format. When you see Ferguson's debut episodes Monday night at 6:30 she already will be well on her way to being a seasoned veteran. The team had beep atork for of weeks, vhen jhisj interview tookr placed Karim explained two huge calendars dominating the PM offices. One shows a schedule of what will appear on the individual shows, with colored slips of paper noting Continued on Page ti By Glen Phillips IX'syPM Magazine's and viewers or'KTVY's early evening entertainment show are getting all the There hav been some staff realignments, Be some slight changes in format, a little shift in -story philosophy bu foremost, wil 1 be Monday' Sept. 17, evening's of new co-host Felicia Ferguson.

Joining "old timer" co-host Dave Hood in kicking off the show's fifth season, the 23-year old blond beauty is an absolutely Oklahomaproduct. She graduated from Putnani City We! High School; traveled long enough to graduate from Oklahoma State in Stillwater and came back, to jiiu my, vii ut uuui.u3b and entertainment market. Since graduation with a TV major and a minor emphasis In journalism, Ferguson has become almost a miniTponglomerate. She has worked at KOFM radio news and then moved to KOKH-TV Channel 25, and while she was busy-with modeling and promotion projects as well as regularly performing as a singer at Doc Sev-erinseris. Oh, and along the way, she earned the Miss Oklahoma City beauty crown and was runrier-up this year in the Miss Oklahoma competition.

Hood and PM's original and only producer Karim E. Karim are high oh their young recruit's talents, Karim noted that more than 100 applicants were winnowed down to 10 who-auditioned before Ferguson was chosen! 4 SEPT. 16, 1984, TV NEWS his feet here going into his third season sharing the show's anchor air spots. -Everybody's so enthusiastic, so positive and Felicia's working out just great' What's it like getting a new co-host? "Well, in a lot of respects it's almost like getting a second wife. You know all about production but there's no way for that chemistry, that rapport to develop between us short of just working together.

"When we say a show is scripted, we have an outline of how it will progress and we have the facts. But what is actually said on air is a response to the situation. We react to each ot her We learn what brings the! other party out, what stirs the best re-r sponse," Hood said. For ail his polished professional manner and years of public exposure, Hood admits to being a shy person. "I don't know why it seems so many of us basically insecure peo For Ferguson's part, she couldn't be happier.

Tm so thrilled to have this opportunity," she said. "I realize how lucky I have been some of my classmates are still wait-; ing tables waiting to get broadcast jobs." It's no surprise to find herself on the air, though. Ferguson -admits she's known where she was headed for a long time. Kerry Robertson, -formerly of Dannyadfiy and now entertainment reporter for KTVY, was her seventh-grade drama teacher and Ferguson says she was really one of those teachers who had a strong influence in her life. And, Ferguson's uncle is Channel 4 weatherman Jim -Williams; So, since she was a sprout, Ferguson remembers being around entertainment people and being certain before she ever left high school that TV was the career she would pursue.

Hood is thoroughly enthusiastic about the new season. He's solidly found.