Lexington Herald-Leader from Lexington, Kentucky • 176

Jt v- 7 i t-t vy p'pi 7 1 t- r-Jjs A vt- rfia imiim'kfft -rt -v G-14 LIFESTYLE Sunday Herald-Leader Lexington Ky January 28 1979 kM 1 JshA'S Mi June Rollins Retires Three Local Channels Change News Anchors ifiiti 33i From Page One Tuflp I Actual operation filmed for short lived Lifeline series ABC has never been known as the place to look for quality news Reasoner Out Even a million-dollar-a-year contract for Barbara Walters helped and thus the network dumped Harry Reasoner allowing him to return to CBS and Sixty Minutes a show he helped begin and moved Miss Walters to a position of obscurity World News Tonight was unveiled which featured not me nor two but three anchorpersons and interviews by Miss Walters Still the ratings improve much and a few more changes can be expected not the least of which is the loss entirely of Miss Walters from the broadcast In its effort to boost its news image ABC went looking for new affiliates around the country and among the stops was Lexington Tunes Differ Both ABC and WKYT Channel 27 the current CBS affiliate in Lexington admit to having talked about a change But beyond that the tunes from the spokesmen differ ABC says it begin the talks and never got as far as offering anything to the station to change Channel 27 officials say ABC called them and asked the station to switch to ABC and offered a considerable amount of money for doing so Whatever the case may be Channel 27 came out the richer for the discussion CBS agreed to increase its compensation to the station for carrying network programming to $1000 per hour from the old rate of $525 Not Consulted Channel 62 WTVQ the current ABC affiliate was not consulted in the discussions of change News ratings and the quality of news presented on local stations was said to be a big factor in ABC seeking new affiliates and such a consideration would put Channel 62 on the short end of the stick in Lexington News did play a big role in the local broadcasting scene this year All three Lexington commercial stations changed news anchors WLEX Channel 18 brought in Bob Mom an award-winning radio newscaster from Salt Lake City to anchor its newscasts The station also invested heavily in new equipment to allow the station to broadcast live from the scene of events The station also became the first to use full-fledged ENG (Electronic News Gathering equipment) forcing a war of the airwaves of sorts Channel 27 countered with the pur- Bluegrass Sites Affact 3 Motion Picture best-selling novel spent about four weeks in areas around Augusta Maysville Boonesboro Perryville and Lexington That led to a program Silverman touted as the example of his concept of quality Lifeline told the story each week of a true-life physician and the healing work he did No actors were used and the situations were generally filmed as they actually happened Few Viewers Although hailed as a successful use of television's impact few people viewed the program Thus after three showings in a single week and a flood of promotional money Lifeline was killed by Silverman In fact in a single stroke Fred Silverman killed a lot of programs He led the charge to change by Canceling every new program NBC had offered in its fell lineup Instead of quality programming however Fred Silverman has offered programming which will equal (he hopes) ABCs comedy output The situation comedy is his remedy to ratings deficit not quality Meanwhile over at ABC old stomping ground the change took place in news Companies filmmakers to me that the film commission is living up to its potential to stimulate economy and will be a significant force in Kentucky for some time to For many area residents it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet Hollywood stars or at least see them at work from a new vantage point Saw Hard Work And perhaps for the first time residents got an idea how much hard work is involved in producing a film: six-day work-weeks often 12-14 hours a day in uncomfortable surroundings Steve Carver the director of Steel estimated that the cost of production was about $25000 a day He usually arrived on the set before dawn and was frequently up until midnight viewing the previous which are the prints used before the tedious task of editing begins Other stars in the Steel cast included Jennifer Art Carney and George Kennedy The film is scheduled for release in the spring -v -'V1 Sunday Herald-Leader Frank Anderson set in Lexington Enmrau)! $35 million in income for area residents and businesses in 1978 Film crews for Centennial a television special based cm James Miche- Chamberlain in Centennial Mitchell on Blade Beauty set The filming was part of a 25-hour made-for-TV production produced by Universal Studios Black Beauty was a five-hour film made-for-NBC-television that retold the classic tale which traces Black Beauty from birth to age 15 Baltimore streets were recreated in furgin Paris and Lexington and many Central Kentuckians were given bit parts in the film The cast included Van Johnson Clu Gallagher Forrest Tucker and Cameron Mitchell Majors Heads Cast Finally Lee Majors a Kentuckian himself headed the cast of Steel an adventure film about the construction of a skyscraper Most of the filming was done in Lexington at the site of the new Kincaid Towers Terry McBrayer who was chairman of the Kentucky Film Commission in 1978 said the influx of Lee Majors star of Steel on By Wood Simpson Special Writer Central Kentucky lured three filmmaking companies and an estimated Barbara Carrera and Richard Martin Milner and Cameron HERE'S A GOOD IDEA! e-s rt: MV June Rollins chase of similar equipment and managed to beat Channel 18 at its own game during a local construction accident getting a signal the air live while Channel 18 had to be content with only an audio report Changes at (2 Melanie Roberts left Channel 62 for Tulsa and the station responded by returning Barry Peel to anchor duties for local newscasts Later Peel was named news director when Rich Gimme! left to become a member of the WAVE staff in Louisville Mike Barry left his chores as anchorman at Channel 27 suddenly in December after learning his contract would not be renewed in January The departure came as the local ratings were released showing a large increase in Channel news audience But his departure was not all that sudden since the station had already been talking to possible replacements for Barry June Rollings Retires The biggest departure from the local scene was the retirement of veteran talk show hostess June Rollings After more than 11 years on the air Miss Rollings retired in September while the station was considering canceling her show There were other changes the local broadcast scene in 1978 Cable television became more than just an issue as the Urban County Council considered issuing a franchise (more on that issue elsewhere) University of Kentucky football and basketball broadcast rights were awarded for record amounts Channel 27 unveiled a million dollar mobile unit to produce the football contests (all but the Tennessee game were seen either live or on delayed broadcast) and there were many many staff changes at the local stations 1978 yes it was a year of change 259-0455 FEBRUARY SALE 5s A ft Vstp- tfwS MS i "I A'vf'P i i -i -I Sr 3 A 1 i -i We are offering select design items from our showroom at exceptional savings HENREDON UPHOLSTERY at 20 Savings thru February SEU YOt EXTRAS WITH EASY-TO-flACE LOW-PRICED CLASSIFIED good to be able to find a plat for your wmrnled Rrmi R'i also food to set the extra money when you wl them with Classified Ads People throughout this area iety on the Classified Ads to inform them about iH sorts of Hems they're the market to buy So if yoo base something to scR it's a good idea to turn to the Classified Ads One us a caX and kt us Mp you work your ad toe lad lesuRv i r'v 0 i Hercld-Ucder Gasified Ads Phene uT jV i- 1 z' So i- 4 -t st ShfaUtt TO OFF We invite you to browse sn sfccp with us Mon-Fri 13 an 5 pn Our des gi staff will ts s'aJ ta assist you in rafcirg your sections 522 Main St 255 All Fixtures Lamps Mirrors end Cabinets Limited Quantities 8747 rl Kentucky fICHTING dmO UPPLY INC 929 Liberty Rocd Lexington Kentucky It you're not reacing the ltile aas in tne back of the paper you're missing some very timely news! 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