Newsday (Nassau Edition) from Hempstead, New York • 123

I 'I i I i i (I I' taj ly Lu-kir Joyce Keller rehearses her show Trim end Slim' which has Iwen dronfted by ITSAX iM I 1 By Leo Seliysohn and off screen the picture at Long Island's first and only commercial TV station is different from what it was when the station wont on the air 14 months ago i Major changes at WSNL-TV in Central Islip (Ch 67 on the ultra high frequency dial) inchde substitution of syndicated shows for about 75 per cent of the original local programing and an announced layoff of 29 per cent of the staff effective Sunday In the technical area the antenna was redirected to correct reception problems The sij- nal output also was boosted from 3000009 bo 5- 000000 watts Corporately CH 67 parent company Suburban Broadcasting Corp has been involved in plans to establish another UHF station in RiverheaJ (Ch 55) plans which were recently dropped to purchase a bankrupt very high frequency (VHF) station in Tacoma Wash plans to build a VHF station in Puerto Rico and plans to negotiate a major stock transfer that would place 80 per cent of Sifbuiban ownership in the hands of new Inves-I tors Suburban also has filed two lawsuits One seeks $2000000 from RCA and Stainless Inc for alleged negligence in initially misdirecting the an- tenna The other suit seeks $15000000 from News-I day Newsday TV critic Marvin Kitman and radio I station WGSM in Huntington Station charging that Kitman columns allegedly reprinted by WGSM were a "willful and "malicious effort to mortally Ch 67 Both cases are pending The reduction of locally produced programing is from about 40 hours a week originally to between eight and nine houra a week starting Sunday Station President David Polinger says: "I do not think the changes reflect a negative or down- ward trend Hie changes have been in the interest of advertisers and what people want When we started we had way of knowing if the amount of programing we had wss not enough or too much Audience sensitivity to programing is important not simply the quantity of programing We feel that the local-origination programing we do now is better even if it is The program schedule for next week reveals that among other locally produoed shows Ch 67 is dropping its "Long Island 67 Action a half- hour program that airs at 6:39 and 10:30 PM seven i days a week In its place the station beginning Monday will televise hourly news reports between i 1:39 and PM ranging from two to 10 mia-7 tea each Other local shows that have been dropped since Ch 67 went on the air Nov 13 1973 include "The an interview show five hours a week The Fairchilds" a soap opera' two and a half hoars a week "Chef a cooking More difficult to ascertain thin hours of local programing is the size of Ch viewing audience The station has used two figures It sys that it has a "primary audience of over three million It also says that an average of 22593 Long Islanders watch at least once a week Polinger savs that th? 3KI'tfn) figure is an approximation of the number of viewers in the New York metnolitan area capable of receiving Ch 67 over tie air or on cable television "No study has been made to segregate that 13HW0fJ0 vii Folinger says lire 22 jOOO figure is based on a survey conducted for the station in September by Survey Research Corp in Waniigh Polinger says that 225Krt is a projection based on the finding that of the Nassau-Suffolk population aged 12 and older who were surveyed 13 per cent had tuned in during a particular week Arthur Zarin the president of Survey Research says the study was a pilot telephone probability sample based on 109 phone calls TTio Newadav roll which periodically samples the habits and attitudes of Long Islanders conducted a study last summer to determine TV viewing habits Thirteen per ent of thoie interviewed said that thev watched 67 or Ch 21 several times a week Fight per cent said they watched once a week And eight per cent said they watchel less than once a week The sample which generally reflected the known characteristic of live overall population consisted of 435 Long Inlanders picked from the Nassau and Suffolk telephone directories in a random selection The survey was conducted with the assistance of Stopi-n Cole a sociologist at the State University at Stony Brook Arbitron which evils iis-I: the largest audience-measurement company in the US reports on TV viewing in the New' York area But Polinger that its survey not an accurate gauge for suburban viewing because the sampling area i loo broad giving attention to Iong Island An Arbitron spokesman disputes the fact that the survey is not accurate for Long Island At the same time Arbitron says it ha had meeting with Ch 67 management to di-sou the possibility of a report that would produce audience data more clo-ely associated with the area served ly tiw station Further complicating the picture is the difficulty that some Long Islanders say they experience in receiving Ch 67s UHF signal Polinger attributes such problems to "faulty installation of rooftop UHF antenna or because of misinformation about how to tune in the station There may he pockets that resist reception but true of all TV stations VHF a well a There are those who disagree that Oh 673 reception difficulties are common to all TV station VHF well a UHF John Bali manager of trans-mmion engineering for the Public Broadcasting Service says that a UFVV gnal is weakened far Continued oa Page 6A show two and a half hours a week and "Trim and an exercise show two and a half hours a week "Captain a show hu ben cut hack from six hours a week to a half-hour "Long Island a late-night talk show has been cut back from two and a half to one hour a week Still airing next week will be two "Long Island Gone of the sgort specials five hours "Long Island an interview show "Blade a talk show and a local scholastic competition Each of those runs a half-hour Polinger says that the only significant reaction to the elimination of local shows has come in response to "Trim and but that it has not been sufficient to elicit advertising support The show featured physical fitness instructor Joyce Keller of Bay Shore Mrs Keller provided the name3 of several viewers who wrote her letters They were contacted by telephone for comment One of them Mrs Charles Carnesi of Mastic Beach says: used to watch Joyce Keller and Oran Palenik hostess I watch the station at all now My husband enjoyed Action but then they dropped Gary Gunther former news anchorman I think serving the community How can you say that with all those taped Another letter-writer Mrs David Gross of Babylon says: "I used to watch and Joyce Keller She was excellent But now nothing but a bunch of On the other hand Ray Nobile of Lake Ron-kqnkoma manager of a Huntington TV repair service is a strong Ch 67 supporter who is sorry to see local programing shrink but who is enthusiastic about the station nevertheless miss that he says need communications badly on Long Island especially in light of the way the world 13 going these dav3 People understand each problems I mean on the local level Ch 67 has done a great job with things like sports talk shows tournaments and even the local 11 It is difficult to find a yardstick for the amount of locally produoed programing that a station like Ch 67 should carry The Federal Communications Commission does not have any minimum requirement A check with other stations reveals wide disparity in some cases WLIW (Ch 21) Long UHF public-TV station carries about 19 hours a week of locally produced shows WATR-TV a 20000-watt UHF station in Waterbury Corui carries six hours a week In Manhattan WNEW-TV (Ch 5) carries 25 hours a week WOR-TV (Ch 9) carries about 35 hours a week Total air time each weak ranges from about 199 hours in the case of Ch 67 and Ch 21 to about 135 for Ch 9.