Newsday (Suffolk Edition) from Melville, New York • 26

wq rf 6 ta 'w i A 4 4 i 6hjf 7 i 7 a r'1 t-'f're' The master control room at Ch 21 where internal conflict has accompanied progress By Peter Goodman For years Long Island's public television station was a broadcasting stepchild Unable to find a wide audience because of its location on the UHF dial in a community dominated by New York's VHF goliaths and suffering from a weak signal and inadequate production facilities Ch 21 grew slowly and fitfully But this year its 10th on the air things seem to be changing A million-dollar expansion program has nearly doubled the broadcast power put its antenna in Plainview from where the signal reaches nearly all the Island and brought modern equipment and new studios Then last month mqjor internal dissension surfaced when staff members including general manager Charles Bell charged that some members of the board of trustees notably president Oliver Crom and vice president Stuart Levine were interfering in operations and programing for their own gain Charges centered around and Levine's affiliation with Dale Carnegie and Associates of which Crom is president Bell charged that Crom developed a special fund-raising campaign that has helped to promote Carnegie programs Bell also charged that Levine Crom's executive assistant at Carnegie ordered programing in which he would interview state legislators to advance his own political ambitions Both men have denied the charges and although a four-member trustee committee investigated and decided that they were groundless the committee found enough of a problem to set itself the task of formulating guidelines for relations between trustees and staff Levine elected president of the board in a contested election said he is trying to heal the wounds of the dispute But staff members are still apprehensive After the election Levine spoke to the station's staff at its offices in Garden City and the broadcast facility in Plainview "I tola them we have weathered a crisis and we have to have unanimity between the board and the staff to move in a positive direction for Ch 21" he said "This is a critical time for healing and moving ahead The growth of Ch 21 is very Program director Kenneth Murr said employees who heard Levine in Garden City responded with "a deafening silence Perhaps they believe Murr was hired in November to replace Geraldine Carmody who resigned over what she felt was increasing interference in programing by Levine Murr said lie feared that Levine would be an activist president going to move in rapid order to achieve his objectives That's not good as far as I'm He speculated that the new guidelines rather than limiting the trustees' involvement "are going to indi iicate Mmdajr PbMa by Dwld Fskrm Oliver Crom left former president of the trustees and general manager Charles Bell after a meeting mark was named to the board last year and is vice president tor development "A board member always should have the right to ask questions about the operations of the Levine said "That is aiding Bell who is on vacation Levine Whenne retains hell have to make decisions for the future got to then is a sense on the boara that we want to' move ahead to raise substantial of mon ey and need a very cooperative Middlamark who his 62 patents including many involving television antennas said "It 5 the right of the trustee to police and question and cntidae About the election Middlamark said "You'Ve got a new regime in there to some degree people like me who don't have a specific ax to grind and would like to see this thing become Hartxell and Isrlaa siud the opposing was also an expression of support for BelL Middlamark agreed and added Hi think they resent my aggressive attitude and resent Sta Levine because he is young for one thing and areas in which they can participate The source of the dissension seems to lie in the station's growth and potential for more growth Ch 21 WLIW-TV began broadcasting in 1969 with a three-person staff facilities in a rented trailer and a mere 20 hours a week on the air Ten years later the station has a budget of tiny by commercial a staff of 38 and seven-day-a-week programing totaling more than 4000 hours a year Despite the expansion the station is still very limited in its capabilities and has been unable to attract commercial underwriters tar its programs The board is currently considering hiring a professional fund-raiser Richard Hartzell a professor of broadcasting at the State University at Stony Brook and a member of the station's board since 1966 summarised the situation this way: "I think that with the advent of the new tower better i to the Log Island audience and our own production facility there was the advent of a greater opportunity to serve the public with a desire to turn to the whole matter id raising funds and to expand local programing This has probably led to members of the executive committee asking more questions of the professional Until the recent expansion Hartxell said the trustees generally had not involved themselves in station operations "For a long time there want much possibility of much be said Bell has been manager of the station 1969 His father-in-law Head Stone was one of the founders and still serves on the board Hartxell and trustee John Lackas were on the four-member committee that investigated station manager chaiges They also were on a slate of candidates at last annual meeting that unsuccessfully opposed the official nominees including Levine Lackas a retired Army colonel characterised the oppoeition slate as "old-timers tremendous people with extensive experience in the television industry" Lackas has been on the board since it was established in 1962 Regarding the winning slate he said "Some of them maynave the naive notion that members of the board can interfere with The winners included Levine a former Republican state assemblyman who was appointed to the board in 1976 and Marvin Middlamark a millionaire inventor A close friend of Nassau Republican chairman Joseph Marriotta mg aiao a trustee at Nassau Community College Middle- probablynot in the i is chartered bv the State Board of Re- Cts and receives neany half its from State Education Department Deputy Education Commissioner Robert Maurer who at Index to features Aceson Bridge 10 Dixon 13 Ana Landers 9 Kidsday 13 Calendar 20 Movies 33-23 Comics 13-15 Radio 38 Crossword 14 TV 25-36 Cryptoquote 10 WordyOudy 14 DearAbby 10 Your Home 5-7 the meeting and has talked with Bell and the trustees involved said "they have to through a catharsis first This is just the beginning of reorganising and rethinking aa aa a ment work as it has been set up pn both.