The San Bernardino County Sun from San Bernardino, California • Page 34

THI SUN if SMi.My1t,mO KVCR seeldng lots more watts I i m'f -i i S. -r sL. 4 t'r'i tjK V' if L-n f- i -4 l- -7 su v. ti 'i'. 'ii li-ni il'iV Idl 3 -Tirr By CARL YETZER Sun StaH Writer SAN BERNARDINO Eighteen years ago, KVCR-TV, Channel 24, became the first public television station in Southern California.

It came on the air with a then 10-year-old transmitter as an adjunct to the San Bernardino Valley College radio station, KVCR-FM. At the time, it broadcast mainly instructional programs. But that was before the Public Broadcast Service (PBS) and such programs as Masterpiece Theater, Sesame Street, Nova and Over Easy. Today, with interest in public television at an all-time high, the station's 28-year-old transmitter pumps out barely 1,000 watts, compared with the average 55,000 watts of most television stations. And, because the transmitter tower sits on the Valley College campus, some 290 feet below the average terrain, surrounding mountains prevent the station's signal from being picked up much beyond the immediate San Bernardino vicinity.

And so, the station would like to purchase a new transmitter and locate it somewhere where its signal would have a greater range. That was the message KVCR officials took to some 40 area residents who turned out last week for the first in a series of planned public forums to evaluate the station's problems and potential. The broadcasters openly welcomed comments, criticisms and suggestions, not only about its technical problems but about its programming as well. Those who turned out for the meeting in the San Bernardino City Council Chambers were generally long on praise for KVCR's national and local programming, but short on suggestions as to how to go about raising the estimated $1 million, more or less, that it would take to replace the transmitter. The meeting was part of a planning project funded by the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program of the National Communications Information Administration of the U.S.

Department of Commerce. Station officials are hopeful that the department will fund about 75 percent of the cost of relocating the transmitter. But, said Fred R. Burgess, project coordinator and a former KVCR station manager, "they pretty much want you to have your 25 percent in the bank and ready to go when you apply." Depending on which site is selected, that means the station will have to come up with $250,000 Abuse (Continued from Metro sexual education from album covers. Women usually go in record stores, get what they want and come out.

but men stay for several hours looking at the album covers, she said. "I've watched them," she told those attending the regular meeting of the Redlands-based Coalition for the Prevention of Abuse of Women and Children. The album covers in the slide program showed or suggested the beating, killing and stalking of women and young girls or otherwise showed them in submissive positions, cowed by the threat of violence. Spliced in with these images were photos from men's entertainment magazines showing hardcore sexual and physical abuse of women. A few advertisements from fashion magazines with subtle messages of violence were also included.

Wesley told the group that the album cover photos usually have some of the same elements showing up, such as women with red gaping mouths in various states of undress that suggest that these women deserve to be handled violently. She added that "a lot of time you will not see the woman's head." Wesley intreprets this to mean that a woman has no brain, no face and therefore no identity she is unimportant. WAVAW has to combat the myths that album covers perpetuate such as women enjoy violence, are appropriate targets and deserve what they get, said Wesley, a counselor at a women's center in Los Angeles. The group also opposes violence against men, she said, showing an album cover where a woman was stabbing a man in the back. "We are against all kinds of violence," she said.

WAVAW is not after record companies, just their advertising methods, she said. "Many times the album covers have nothing to do with the songs inside," she said. The advertisers are selling an image and they design the covers so that the album has to be bought to see the full design, she said. In answer to a woman who questioned the consciousness level of women who posed for the covers, Wesley said although she has not talked to any of them she feels they are posing for economical reasons. The only male in the audience said later there was no aoum me album covers were designed to "attract and titillate the public and that should not be the function of advertising." Dr.

Jerry Guffman, director of San Bernardino County's Domestic Violence Intervention Program, said the slides were "very good" but until someone finds out "how men feel" about the album covers, they will remain on the market. Huffman said he doesn't think the album covers cause men to go out and hurt women, but he did say they have an "affect on them (men) because they buy" the albums. Guffman said he wouldn't begin to know how to explore the male point of view on the subject, but he said WAVAW's slide show should also be shown to men. Kathleen Klessen, coordinator of the Coalition's Redlands office, said monitoring album covers may seem insignificant in the fight to stop media violence against women but "when you think of the number of people who buy records it's an enormous exposure." I I f. to $300,000 between now and January 1981 when the application is due.

Station officials outlined four tentative locations. The present site on the Valley College campus. This was generally conceded to be the cheapest alternative, since the only expense involved would be for the transmitter itself. However, many of the inherent coverage problems of the present transmitter would remain, since the transmitting tower would still be below the average terrain. Officials said that signal quality would probably improve in the valley communities, but Riverside, the mountain communities and areas east of Yucaipa and Calimesa would get no signal at all.

The cost was estimated at around $750,000. Box Springs Mountain. The area is already used by several local radio stations, and a signal broadcast from there would cover all of San Bernardino and Riverside and could extend as far north as Victorville and as far west as Pomona and parts of the San Gabriel Valley. The estimated cost, $1 million. Sunset Ridge.

This area is already utilized by several UHF television stations broadcasting to the Southern California market, including KHOF-TV, Channel 30, which is licensed to San Bernardino. Because of high land costs, it was the most expensive of the alternatives, an estimated $1.25 million, but would give the station good signal coverage over most of Southern California. A site somewhere in northern San Bernardino. This alternative, while only slightly more expensive than keeping the transmitter at the present site, would give the signal good coverage over the San Bernardino and Riverside areas, but would exclude the mountains and deserts. The cost was estimated at about $950,000.

So far, Burgess said, the station has managed to raise about $100,000 of the matching funds needed. That includes a $25,000 challenge grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The rest came from donations and from a five-day fundraising telethon last year. A similar fundraising event for this year was one of the suggestions debated at the forum, but the participants split on whether it might be too much, too soon. San Bernardino Chamber of Commerce President Chuck Obershaw suggested an auction similar to that held each year by KCET-TV, Channel 28, the Los Angeles public television outlet.

Others suggested the possibility of local business firms underwriting part of the cost, just as Mobil Corp. and other companies underwrite the cost of producing various PBS programs. Then there was the suggestion that the station turn to its licensee, the San Bernardino Community College District, for help. "It may be that we will have to turn to the district, eventually," said KVCR Station Manager Tom Little. "But with the general state of the economy, the reality of Proposition 13 and the threat of Proposition 9, they are understandably reluctant.

I think if we make a good faith effort at fundraising first, then are still short of the amount necessary, then we might go to them. "And, we might not get the full 75 percent, either. Every year the Commerce Department gets more requests than it has funds. And they're not just into regular broadcast applications, they're into closed circuit, cable systems and all sorts of things. So there's no guarantee that we'd get all we asked for, and the district may have to step in and bail us out then, as well." The forum was the first of a series planned for communities throughout San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

The next is scheduled for May 20 at 7.30 p.m. in the Barstow City Council Chambers, 220 E. Mt. View Ave. IMWftWMIWWT Staff photo by Tom Komr ll(le CtTl COWOOV cowboy ends his ride Saturday computerization A rodeo clown diverts at the Orange Show.

octors By LEONARD METZ Sun SlaH Writpr COLTON Doctors would rather fight than have their state Medi-Cal billings switched June 1 from a Blue Cross Blue Shield combine to a computerized system, says Dr. Brad Cohn, president-elect of the California Medical Association. The company responsible for computerization. Computer Sciences Corp. of El Segundo, dors not have all the bugs worked out of the system, Cohn said.

The "optiscan" eye that reads the billings makes too many mistakes, delaying or rejecting the payment of legitimate hills, he added. 4h, S5" 1 (f a Brahma bull's attention as a upset Optical scanning is "probably five years in the future," he said, "but is just not practical at this time." Optiscan requires perfect typing, he said, and if code numbers are not placed correctly in small boxes provided for them on the form, the computer kicks the claims out. Doctors want a delay of one year, he added, and will go to court if necessary to get it. Cohn, who held a press conference this week at the offices of the San Bernardino County Medical Society here, said computerization has not worked well for pharmacists, hospitals and nursing homes, who were placed on the program last year. And a spokesman for the San Bernardino County Pharmaceutical Society said there is a huge backlog of unpaid bills from last year.

Adding doctors to the system at this time would further tax the program, he said, and most pharmacists are opposed to it. Cohn said medical societies do not object to computerization, but believe that Computer Sciences Corp. is not ready to take on the NOS the (Continued from Metro) His biggest song hit is "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke." Kool and the Gang was one of the first groups to capitalize on the disco sound. The group has collaborated on two gold albums and two gold singles in the past 10 years, and a current album, "Ladies' Night," is another hit. Final rodeo sessions will begin at 2 p.m.

in the Orange Show Stadium. The top cowboys in the West will compete for $12,000 in prize money and points that could lead to a national championship. Entertainment at the rodeo will include performances by the by he said. Medi-Cal is California's version of Medicaid. Medi-Cal is "large and expensive," he said.

It has a $4.1 billion annual budget amd serves more than three million Californi-ans at an average cost of $1,300 for each individual. Hoping to reduce costs, the federal government offers financial incentives to states that adopt computerization and uniform billing procedures for their Medicaid programs. Bids were sought from private companies interested in handling the Medi-Cal billings, and Computer Sciences Corp. won, underbidding the next lowest bidder by $7 million. The contract was expected to save the state $1 billion over the five-year life of the contract.

Pharmacists last July became the first placed on the program, with nursing homes and hospitals joining later in the year. Doctors were scheduled to be added March 1, but after complaints by the other disciplines indicated the program was not working well, the doctors were granted a delay until June 1. If doctors are placed on the program now, said Cohn, it may force many of them to drop the treatment of Medi-Cal patients altogether. "At present," he said, "physicians are reimbursed (by Medi-Cal) at something like 50 to 60 percent of their customary fees. But their office overhead is between 50 and 55 percent, so in effect they are seeing Medi-Cal patients for nothing." If the new procedures cause overhead to rise further, he said, "they will actually be paying the costs of seeing these patients, and some (doctors) would see no Medi-Cal patients at all." He said current billing problems are confirmed by a study released to the state Legislature last Tuesday by state Auditor General Thomas Hayes.

In the llfrpage document, Hayes (Continued on B-8, column 1) 1 i-Vi 1 JK Dr. Brad Cohn extra burden. The move toward computerization is mandated by the federal government, which pays half the cost of state Medicaid programs, final day Zoppe family and El Presidente Brandy Horses of Mexico. The Zoppes combine the daring of a rosin-hack riding act that goes back eight generations with a laughter-provoking chimp and pony act. El Presidente Horses and their riders are Mexico's champion precision riders.

The team is well-known throughout Latin America. The day's activities will begin with church services at 9 a.m. in Swing Auditorium for the Wally Byam Caravaners. Mexican-American Day activities will be held all day on Stage II. Lupita Beltran will present her Caravan of Stars '80 from noon until closing time.

ft f- 1 1 1 Orange Show schedule RODEO DAY MEXICAN AMERICAN DAY Gates open at 10 a.m. STARS OF THE DAY Tex Williams Show, 2 .30 p.m.. Swing. Kool the Gang, (paid admission) 7 p.m.. Swing.

FEATURES OF THE DAY PRCA Championship Rodeo, 2 p.m.. Stadium. Wally Byam Caravaners church service. 9 a.m.. Swing.

FFA goat showmanship and judging, 9 a.m. Metropolitan Car Owners Club, 11 a.m.. Lagoon area. FFA round robin showmanship contest, I p.m. Rodeo parade, 1 p.m., Sycamore Lane.

FFA awards program, 4 p.m. STAGE I Olympians Baton Corps, Rancho Cucamonga. 10 a.m. Mary Riche Moore Dancers, Riverside, 1 1 a.m. Orange Empire Dog Show, Fontana.

noon. Cor Vic Hollywood Entertainers. Carson, 2 p.m. Lakalana Dancers of Polynesia. Diamond Bar, 4 p.m.

Yosei Kan Karate School, San Bernardino, 6 p.m. Moya Lani Polynesian Dance Review, San Bernardino, 7 p.m. Conservatory of Dance, Redlands. 8 p.m. STAGE II Lupita Beltrans presents her Caravan of Stars '80, noon to 10 p.m.

DAY HONORING: Wally Byam Clubs. RUN OF SHOW ATTRACTIONS Bob Baker Marionettes Magical Land of Aladdin Wackie Willie and Speed-O, clowns. Betty Fletcher Cooking School Rita Tumir cake decorating Early Day Gas Engines Parades by San Bernardino High School Cardinals, Official Orange Show Band. Cyclist dies SAN BERNARDINO A motorcyclist was killed and his pregnant wife seriously injured when they collided with a car late Friday, night, police said. Norman Michael Taylor, 32, and passenger Honey B.

Taylor, 25,. both of 1411 Kendall Drive, were: driving west on Kendall near 40th 1 Street when they collided with a car driven by Mark Edward Pat--terson, 24, of 461 W. 3rd St. at; 11:15 p.m. The couple were thrown from the motorcycle onto the pavement.

Taylor was pronouced dead at the San Bernardino County Medical Center and his wife, four months pregnant, received numerous fractures, police said..