The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 51

a FATIH Church cntobratloM avoid tho evil side of Halloween Pap II TAX SHARING OUR PLANET A Lawrence art show is a fund-raiser for WikJCare which rehabilitates injured and orphaned animals Pap 2 Cemetery art? A book uncovers the best in stones and monuments FOR YOUR INFORMATION SATURDAY OCIOBKR 29 1994 SI I ION Beer The cold truth Ratings have surprise The names may change the taste usually does not Jeff Jenkins a North Kansas City delivery driver sniffs a beer during a blind taste test at Antioch Lanes bowling alley MARTMALT- STAEDTEN Special to The Star By JOHN MARTELLARO Staff Writer leaves KSMO in best shape By BARRY GARRON TV Critic Change been easy for the two local TV stations that swapped network affiliations last month Fewer viewers have been tuning into WDAF Channel 4 since it became a Fox station and KSHB Channel 41 now an NBC affiliate At Channel 4 for instance the number of viewers for the 6 and 10 pm newscasts tumbled dramati- cally compared with ratings of a year ago Channel 41 late afternoon viewing went into a tailspin (See details in chart) But executives at both stations say they are satisfied with results thus far and all agree that up to now theonly clear winner in the race for local viewers is KSMO Channel 62 In October the independent station that calls itself the tripled its late afternoon ratings over the samp period a year earlier From 4 to 7 pm weekdays it is in a virtual tie for third place among Kansas City stations really benefited probably been 62 at this said Edward Piette Channel 4 general manager Charlotte Moore English Channel 41 general manager agreed going after kids and no one else she said not just the kids programs insists Jim MacDonald Channel 62 general manager The station is also showing reruns of such popular network shows as and Prince of But having a near-monopoly on kids viewing sure hurt kids get the TVs tuned to our station and then the parents join them as they come home from MacDonald said Bottom line: Channel 62 expects a fourth-quarter revenue increase of a half million dollars When Channel 4 became a Fox station it doubled its daily news output from 3 12 to seven hours Some viewers tuned in to watch the new newscasts but others defected from the old ones Over a three-week period in October the 10 pm newscast on Channel 4 attracted on average 13 percent of those watching TV A year ago when the station's newscast followed prime-time programming it won 23 percent of the audience The 6 pm newscast declined See RATINGS 12 Col 1 No imports or micro-brewery specialty beers were involved just standard American mass-market beers such as Budweiser and Miller The result: Forthe most part even these longtime beer drinkers tell the players without a scorecard The major exception was ice beer one of the newest products in the domestic beer market A solid majority of each of the tasting panels was able to correctly identify the ice beer in a blind comparison of regular light and ice beers from die same brewer just heavier got the fuller flavor the way supposed to said taster Pat Jenkins Her nephew and fellow panel member Jeff Jenkins said the ice beer more of a dark beer Dennis Wise a member of the second panel said the ice beer has a See BBIR 1-3 Col 1 nothing like a good cold beer for refreshing yourself after anything from a Chiefs game to a walk in the park on a warm fall day But what kind? With all the light beers dry beers ice beers draft beers old beers and new beers out there how do you know what to buy anymore? Try a blindfold If the results of a couple of taste-tests by experienced brand-loyal beer drinkers are any indication a lot of sameness out there behind that profusion of labels We asked two groups of beer drinkers in a decidedly unscientific study to see if they could identify any individual big-name products or even distinct styles from a set of unlabeled identical clear plastic cups KEN WONG The Star The judges of one panel meet and determine hard tb tell one brand from another Taste testers found the Ice Non-experts were united in picking out new style By JOHN MARTELLARO Staff Writer ow the Test Was Done: For our beer taste test we assembled two panels of everyday beer drinkers not professional Our first subjects were regulars from the Spare Lounge at Antioch Lanes Kansas City North The second were members of Local 31 of the United Auto Workers Union employed at the General Motors Fairfax plant in See TiST 1-3 Col 1 Dwight Sykes of Kansas City Kan gets to the bottom of a cup KENWONQ Th Star L00KINGM YOUR Turn So beer drinkers do you think you could tell your brew from a bunch of others in a blind test? Read our cover story today then call StarTouch at 816 889-7827 and enter 5000 to let us know On Tuesday we asked if you have any unused appliances sitting around the house Nearly 80 percent of you said yes KC Calendar Independence Square is the site of a costume Halloween parade at 2 pm today The City Market is the host of its own at 2 pm Sunday For mere ewi see Pep UL WEIROVtni According to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette US Rep Jay Dickey an Arkansas Republican told a little Rock radio station audience in July that fear of malpractice lawsuits kiwis some physicians to ovcnprsscribe tests Dickey said might take yowin there and perform a C-SPAN even though you need it For more strange stuff call Star-Tench at 816 18-727 and enter 9991 SflRGazing Linda McCartney never goes out without her camera even on tiie way to her own photo exhibits Before attending a recent gallery opening ofherworkinNew cCartney Orleans she and husband Paul McCartney oiled through the French Quarter icre she photographed street musi-ms those funky doorways and other things And nobody noticed the crowds finally gathered around limo that dropped them at the tilery showing a 30-year retrospec-ie of her photos of 1960s pop stars ill lifes and recent portraits tohaiShMl 1901: President William assassin Leon Czolgosz was electrocuted 1911: American newspaperman Joseph Pulitzer died in Charleston SC 1929: Black Tuesday descended upon the New York Stock Exchange Prices collapsed amid panic selling and thousands of investors were wiped out as Great Depression began 1956: During the Suez Canal crisis Israel launched an invasion of Sinai Peninsula 1956: Huntley-Brinkley made its premiere as nightly television newscast replacing Camel News 1966: The National Organization for Women was founded Wfy not move that exercise bike ihto Ihe kitchen where you can put it to good uea?.