The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 36

if k- v--V $-1 TV RADIO The Kansas City Star Wednesday April 12 1989 Page 2C Atlanta firm is ready to operate Channel 62 1 The chief executive of an Atlanta media company said his firm was ready to take over the management of KZKC Channel 62 Bert Bills president and chief executive officer of Act III Broadcasting said an agreement to manage Channel 62 had been reached It will be several months however before the agreement is put into effect This week Judge John Cook of the US Bankruptcy Court in Chattanooga Tenn delayed until May consideration of a plan to transfer the assets of the station to a new company The company would be a subsidiary of the First American National Bank of Nashville Tenn a creditor of Media Central which manages and partly owns Channel 62 In a telephone conversation from Atlanta Ellis said he expected the plan to win approval bank has firmed up its contract with he said "We are planning to take over the operations of the The transition may not have much effect on programming or personnel at the station probable that keep most of the Ellis said know they've got some good people Because of complex legal and federal regulatory provisions Act III is not likely to assume management of Channel 62 until at least the middle of the summer Ellis said Channel 62 would be the first station Act III managed but did not own The company owns and operates independent stations in Nashville Dayton Ohio Greensboro NC Charleston SC Charleston WVa Richmond Va and Rochester NY Regional channels The legislative proposal would require sales tax on premium channels but not on basic service Cable subscribers in Kansas already pay sales tax Lawmakers have called the self-serving cable messages morally wrong and selfish KMBZ-KMBR Ron Carter general sales manager at KIRO-AM in Seattle has been appointed general manager of KMBZ-AM and KMBR-FM He succeeds Paul Leonard who left the station earlier this year to join a media brokerage firm radio background has been almost exclusively in sales He joined KIRO in 1974 as an account executive In 1978 he became sales manager of a competing station in Seattle He rejoined KIRO as vice president of sales in 1981 KIRO like KMBZ and KMBR is owned by Bonneville International Corp Metro Traffic Next month as something of a community service Metro Traffic will begin supplying morning and afternoon traffic reports to KKFI-FM the community radio station Typically Metro Traffic gives traffic reports to a station in exchange for air time that it then sells to sponsors As a community station KKFI does not accept advertising KUC-FM KLJC-FM (885 on the dial) became the last FM station in Kansas City to broadcast in stereo For 19 years the beautiful sacred music station had transmitted only in mono Stereo broadcasting began at 6 am Monday said John Sims assistant manager of the station The station also raised its power from 148 watts to 6000 watts over the weekend The increase in power allows the station to reach about the same area it had served until Oct 8 when it had to vacate its tower and transmitter site at 39th Street and Roanoke Road and reduce its power Since then the transmitter and tower have been at 2800 Wallace Ave Cable lobbying began the streamer that ran across the screen during a Tuesday night telecast of CNN News A tornado? A fire? An assassination? No it was only Jones Intercable using its media muscle to influence cable subscribers The message continued: Missouri legislature may add a sales tax on certain cable television services Urge a vote on House Bill 727 by calling your representative not as if Jones Intercable is without influence in Jefferson City Rep Jim Barnes is public affairs manager for the cable operator Earlier American Cablevision produced 30-second commercials against the legislation and inserted them on ESPN USA CNN MTV TNN and TNT as well as on Channel 30 which is for community programming Unlike over-the-air broadcasters the cable operators are not bound by an equal time doctrine to seek out and carry the views of those who disagree with them New cable regulations urged by broadcasters TV HIGHLIGHTS NN Spend an enchanted evening with Willie Nelson Tonite at 7 pm 7:00 PM-au By The Associated Press From The Star's press services Holly Hunter as the woman who successfully challenged the US abortion laws will be offered during the May sweeps Amy Madigan in a plays attor- ney in the two-hour true story evening news stories from Nov 9 to Jan 19 However Media Monitor also says show has found Bush the most amusing subject for monologue jokes averaging two a night Quayle was also the target of one-liners A sweeping cae starring Negative no more According to the Center for Media and Public Affairs coverage of President Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle has swung around to the positive side after leaning toward the negative during the presidential campaign The Media Monitor report was based on the monitoring of 277 Marry me Mary In a hush-hush ceremony co-host Mary Hart and Los Angeles businessman Burt Sugarman were Mary Hart munications Opponents fear the concentration of cable interests that the merger would create as well as the that would give the largest pay-cable programmer Time Home Box Office direct access to cable systems However the Justice Department last week gave the merger its blessing Sen Dennis DeConcini an Arizona Democrat has reintroduced legislation that would require cable systems to carry all local broadcasters (known as carry and keep cable operators from changing channel assignments for local broadcasters The courts have struck down the Federal Communications must carry rules twice married Saturday aboard a private yacht off Marina Del Ray Calif The bride wore a short hand-woven silk dress by Pete Menefee Vampire cop The cable television industry has grown into a multibil-lion-dollar monopoly in the absence of federal controls and should be re-regulated to ensure the survival of free over-the-air television broadcasters told Congress today The 1984 Cable Act essentially deregulated the cable industry the broadcasters said and cable companies that once were poor cousins to traditional broadcasters now dominate the local television marketplace 1984 when Congress passed the Cable Act cable characterized itself as a struggling infant said Edward Fritts president of the National Association of Broadcasters cable television operators enjoy an unregulated monopoly Amazingly only 32 of more than 8000 cable systems have any direct Cable television now is a $14 billion industry that is available to nearly 80 million US homes Fritts said and the five largest cable companies account for i more than 40 percent of current subscribers Rates are going up and cable companies are siphoning off sports programs that once were broadcast free he said "We ask Congress to lift the thumb that has caused the imbalance in the competitive Fritts testified before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust Monopolies and Business Rights The subcommittee is studying the cable industry and antitrust implications of the proposed merger of Time Inc and Warner Communications Time already has the second-largest i cable system American Television Communications Corp Warner has Warner Cable Com a Plan for the best years of your life heart-throb-turned-rocker Rick Spring-field will star in The two-hour pilot features Springfield as a New York police detective who moonlights as a vampire Happy birthday The Retirement Fair Thursday April 13-Sunday April 16th never too young to plan your retirement And this Thursday through Sunday find a mall filled with ideas and exhibitors to make your retirement the best ever Come see why these are the golden years now more than ever! The cable industry is willing to work with broadcasters to adopt new rules that will satisfy the courts according to James Mooney president of the National Cable Television Association But Preston Padden president of the Association of Independent Television Stations said that the best of intentions by cable trade association executives and industry leaders local independent television stations continue to suffer anticompetitive conduct at the hands of cable system He cited Turner Broadcasting Co which operates Cable News Network Headline News TBS and the new TNT channel as an example Padden said consortium of the largest cable system operators purchased approximately half of Congress should regulate cable systems as common carriers as it did telephone companies and require divestiture of all program investment by cable system operators he said Hollywood Heritage and the Silent Society will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Charlie Chaplin with a rare screening and reception at the site of tiie Los Angeles studio on Sunday It will be the first complete American screening of a recently discovered 1918 Chaplin film called to Make associates will discuss their experiences with him and his son actor Sydney Chaplin will receive a plaque honoring his blue ridg moll 1-70 at Blue Ridge Boulevard Store Hours: Monday-Saiurday 10 am-9 pm Sunday pm 1 ft.