The Sacramento Bee from Sacramento, California • 107

The Sacramento Bee TELEVISION Saturday March 29 1997 Scene 9 Candy: Cheezits in the Easter baskets? Hello Los -uh Sacramento KSEG to import signal from A for morning drive time BROADCASTING By Dan Vierria Even the fluffiest mainstay of Easter Peeps those kitschy sugar-dusted marshmallow confec- tions have jumped on the seasonal bandwagon Two years ago Just Born Inc the Bethlehem Pa -based company that makes Peeps introduced lavender to its line of wildly popular yellow pink and white chicks and bunnies They like to call them And going the color of a certain dinosaur cheapened them one bit Peep is an American says Rose Craig proudly She is the Just Born spokeswoman who incidentally loves to eat Peeps right off the line in the factory With an average 2 million Peeps produced every day she probably can do that as often as she likes Beyond candy there are cards -and with 1000 Easter designs offered this year Hallmark seems to have this market cornered And banners: Those nylon harbingers of all seasons that people hang from their porches and over their tiara ere doors And all the accoutrements to go with the egg coloring kit (which comes in swirl sparkle rainbow and tie-dye effects to name a few) Wire egg holders are especially popular At Cost Plus on Howe and Arden the pastel Easter baskets hang from the ceiling like so many clouds in the sky at dusk The signs fronting the Easter displays remind us that this is season to give and and Kathy La-harta of Sacramento is doing just that considering all manner of Easter merchandise very carefully while her son Kevin 9 months looks up from his car seat propped in her cart His egg eyes widen at every colorful crinkly thing he sees Laharta is buying things for the seven to 10 baskets put together this year and she noticed no shortage -of materials to work with been to K-mart and Thrifty she says I found something This stuff plays to the little kid in all of us People like having fun at the holidays Scot Crocker Crocker Communications bit with a furry he says and all over Some of this makes perfect sense but some of it well see a lot of bunny- and chick-related merchandise But when you think of it bunnies and chicks have a lot to do with says Rucker They are symbols of rebirth (and proliferation) and as such do have a link to spring which in many the same thing as Easter The pastels come from the color of new blooms To play up the season candy makers know it makes sense to dress the part hence all the pastel foil wrappers gummy bunnies and egg-shaped Snickers in the stores has gone all out to pitch its seasonal sweets The company has produced TV commercials and a four-page magazine ad using a couple of as They wisecrack their svay through bags of Dove Promises Starburst Jellybeans pastel and Snickers eggs The remind us that rabbits or chicks were harmed in the making of this Time was you could find jelly beans only at Easter Now that available in gourmet flavors year round a candy company to do to hype holiday sales? Jelly Belly has the answer: a carrot-shaped package filled with orange candies and topped with a green stem I Continued from page 1 National Retail Federation the group in charge of promoting consumer goods why now come in four holiday blends is 20 percent each yellow blue green pink and purple) And why folks are buying Easter trees Easter trees? On a recent weekday morning Mary Greenfield of Land Park has one in her Payless cart along with a few inflatable toys colorful baskets and chocolate eggs second-guessing the tree though a boxed bare-branch deal that comes complete with egg ornaments and dried flowers not exactly what I want but it will Greenfield is saying mom has one that I like getting into this making for her nieces and nephews be filled with plush toys little books small bags of Cheezits graham crackers granola bars have so many aunts and uncles get plenty of she says But stocking up on candy anyway for the adults on her Easter shopping list she explains Still fingering the tree wondering whether to put it back Greenfield says Easter is becoming like any other holiday overwhelming and too commercial she says her arm sweeping across rows and rows of ceramic figurines must be 40 varieties of bunnies here Suddenly a sweet tabletop play set with three bunnies swinging on it catches her eye she says She picks it up Puts it down Picks it up again (his is stuff plays to the little kid in all of says marketing expert Scot Crocker like having fun at the Holidays sell because like little furry critters with soulful eyes they fan emotion more emotion you can put into marketing and advertising the more effective they will says Crocker who owns Crocker Communications and is a past president of the American Marketing Association show someone a little rab- Classic rock station The Eagle (KSEG FM 969) has announced a new morning drive teain but they do the show from Sacramento Beginning Monday the Los Angeles-based Brian will be heard weekdays from 5-10 am The Eagle will become the first Sacramento FM station to feature an out-of-mar-ket team in the lucrative morning-drive slot guys are a proven said John Geary general manager of The Eagle have them on our Portland station (KGON) and they have consistently been No 1 with men 25-54 and No 2 in adults Mark Thompson and Brian Phelps are the radio guys who starred in short-lived comedy Adventures of Mark and (1991-92) and the same characters who raised a ruckus by posing nude in the shower with then-San Francisco Mayor Frank Jordan in 1995 Together 11 years Mark Brian originates from KLOS in Los Angeles where among the highest-rated morning-drive shows The station has syndicated the show to about 20 other stations including stations in Modesto (KHOP) and Chico (KRQR) have a personality-driven show with a lot of guests and said Geary may hear one song every six months but it will be a classic rock Guests have included Mel Gibson Tom Cruise Tim Allen and Billy Crystal Not nearly as crude as Howard Stern (who has higher ratings in LA) are considered nicer guys The Eagle fired its local morning team of Jeff McMurray and Mark Davis last December and has since had interim morning-drive talent Local news weather and traffic reports will continue to be part of the morning show Stations across the country have long debated the merits of local shows over nationally syndicated morning shows The bottom line is whether the show attracts a large enough audience to justify its cost Geary indicated The Eagle plans to promote heavily Other nationally syndicated morning-drive shows heard on Sacramento radio are the Imus on Hot Talk KLITK (1 140 AM West-wood adult standards program out of Valencia on KCTC (1320 AM) and Spanish Radio show on KZSA (921 FM) and KRYR (1035 FM) which originates right here in Sacramento and is heard on about 40 stations nationwide KMJI (1380 AM) broadcast the Tom from Indianpolis for a brief time but dropped it last August when it failed to generate decent ratings Broadcasting bits Ratings are in for Monday Academy Awards show on ABC and the news encouraging for TV awards telecasts The Oscars scored a 274 rating 46 share its second lowest rating since Nielsen Media Research began tracking in 1974 Even worse it pulled only a 164 rating 44 share among most coveted age group those 18 to 49 Sacramento finished better than the national average with a 298 rating 46 share on Channel 10 (KXTV) Awards programs on network TV have been in decline for the past couple of years Before the influx of cable channels and prior to the births of Fox WB Network and UPN Oscar night generated highs of a 38 rating and a 68 share (twice) A shake-up at Auburn news-talk station KAHI (AM 950) this week resulted in the firing of general manager and morning-drive personality Bob Nathan and the resignations of his morning-drive co-host Erin Curtis and talk show host Stephanie Doran Curtis and Doran resigned in protest of firing by Carroll Brock president of KAHI Broadcasting Co In a statement Brock said other changes were being considered and announcements about new station hires would be forthcoming Nathan said his firing was a breach of contract and says he is considering legal action KAHI a low-power station that be heard in most of Sacramento got the green light from the FCC earlier this month to shift its frequency and improve its signal Public radio stations KXPR (FM 909) and KXJZ (889) raised a record $239000 in the just-concluded spring fund-raising drive The total was the third-highest of all time behind two fall fund-raising periods Charles Starzynski program director for the two public radio stations said this week that the stations will not be airing the Circle Be a 26-part oral history of the Civil Rights Movement this spring Some public radio stations will begin airing the series as early as next week Starzynski said both Sacramento stations are and performance and seldom stray However he said KXJZ may broadcast the Circle be in the future DAN VIERRIA'S column appears Tuesday and Saturday in Scene Write to him at Box 1 5779 Sacramento 95852 call (916) 321-1119 or send e-mailto dvierriata sac-bee com UtfLimUAJ I RAJWANT SANDHU MD PHEN-FEN fcSfefc) Show allows kids to educate adults 12 FOR UNO SIGN UP FEE SOME RESTRICTIONS APPLY! Oprah Winfrey She offers her own childhood memories of feeling alone ON TV About Us: The Dignity of Children 8 tonight on Channel 10 That connection allows the three adults to blend with the children during the program It is also what makes Winfrey seem out of place There is no doubt that she is committed to the lives of children She has proven that on her program and in her foundation work And there is no doubt why she is hosting this program her name will entice many viewers to watch As host Winfrey becomes a bridge between segments offering her own childhood memories to help move viewers from one theme to the next But there is no connection made between the child Oprah and the adult Winfrey making her remembrances seem self-indulgent In one segment she recalls the loneliness of her childhood by telling viewers that she knows she was unwanted because she was born out of wedlock She chokes back tears when she says single greatest feeling of growdng up is being But the powerful statement just hangs there lost without knowing how its roots took hold in Winfrey Roots after all is really what this program is about What we sow in our children whether love or pain takes hold and grows deep This program reminds us that children are indeed the purest most innocent form of our humanity and that when we harm them we unravel the fabric of our many children that segment like the adult remembrances is told through dramatization Images are sometimes fuzzy slanted stark But those images connect us to adulthood and the three writers are able to show us just how When New York Times writer Brent Staples talks about his childhood which included an alcoholic father and constant moves from one home to the next we watch as a truck outside is loaded with household goods And when he says that he has this sense in his relationships in his career and in his life that things are temporary we see how the child still lives in the adult By Karen Thomas Dallas Morning News From the child growing up in the violent New York neighborhood to the charming middle-class girl with the straight brown hair and big bow kids understand more than we give them credit for Tonight Us: The Dignity of (8 on Channel 10) devotes two hours to the subject but without the usual roster of experts The only adults present are three writers who recount their childhoods and host Oprah Winfrey The children eloquently speak for themselves Most of the time we see the children in portraitlike settings responding to unheard questions asked by an interviewer off-screen They talk about love spirituality death abuse and their parents They grapple with childhood slights like being called a nerd and more weighty issues like being a teenage mother as close as most of us may er get to delving the emotional lives of children think grown-ups sometimes forget that kids are as smart as they says a Chicago teenager is what shapes you what makes you what you are When somebody messes that up they mess you up The program is worth watching for its cinematic beauty alone The images of children are vivid and at times haunting In one segment a little boy is bent over his chin resting on his knee as he concentrates on tying his shoe His fingers fumble with the strings and he tries to get the loops just right You can see him silently clicking through the lesson someone taught him When he is done he looks up into the camera the satisfaction spreading across his face in a smile His look spins you backward until you land in your own childhood treasure trove of memories There are African and Gaelic dance troupes swirling masses of energy and color There are three Vietnamese sisters playing dress-up in their mother's clothes And there's Tony a 13-vear-old forced into prostitution by his mother and now diagnosed with AIDS has got to be one of the most misunderstood eras in any Tony says so idealized with beauty and awe and wonder The problem is for I I i I I PRINCESS ROYAL PRINCESS June 25 July 8 1 997 Vi 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