The State from Columbia, South Carolina • 24

I I I I I I I 4-B The S.C., Thursday, May 26, 1988 News From 1-B "11 O'Clock Report." And the dilemma facing Upright is that he knows that even if WLTX did air an 11 o'clock newscast, chances are he'd drop to third in the ratings behind WIS and "Cheers" reruns on WOLO. WOLO, which finishes third in the area when it comes to news, has more than just WIS and WLTX to battle in trying to lure viewers to its newscasts. Jim Forest, WOLO's director of operations, bluntly points to channel 25's image. For years, WOLO's newscast was strictly a shoestring operation and it showed on the air. In 1 fact, channel 25 built up something of a cult following with its skimpy news sets and Crayola-style graphics.

That's all changed, but the image still persists. "This station fought through that image problem for so long," Forest says. "Even now if we make a mistake on the air a mistake that other stations might make some viewers will say 'Same old WLTX and WOLO say they would like to keep upgrading their local news operations, and perhaps reinstitute 11 o'clock newscasts in the future. But before that happens, each will need increased commitments from their parent companies. WL.TX is owned by Lewis Broadcasting of Savannah, and WOLO is owned by Bahakel Communications of Charlotte.

Both parent companies also own other TV and radio properties. It is to WIS's credit that, though without any real competition in the Midlands, the station has strived do a first-rate job. The station has created polished local programming that can hold its own with similar efforts around the country. Its "PM Magazine" is one of the nation's most successful; "Carolina Today," a noon-time variety show with interviews, tidbits and happenings around town, consistently wins its time period; and "Mr. Knozit" remains one of the few locally produced kids' shows.

But it is news that builds a local station's reputation. "Your ability to cover news is most important," says Dixon Lovvorn, general manager of WIS. "And you've got to have the willingness to keep putting your resources into making it It doesn't hurt that WIS is the flagship station of Cosmos Broadcasting. When resources are made available, it is the flagship station that usually is first in line to take advantage. None of this would matter, says Lovvorn, if you didn't have the people to carry out the goals of the station.

"If I've done one thing, I think it is putting together a good group of people here," he says. "A few years ago we just had too many reporters at the entry level. We've upgraded that. Then we have people like Ed Carter, Susan (Aude Fisher), Joe Daggett and Joe Pinner to bring the news to the people each night. They are communicators and are very good at it." Lovvorn is the first to admit that the whole picture 1 might be quite different today in the Midlands had the FCC altered its channel allocations for this market back in the early 1950s.

The FCC's actions all but guaranteed that WIS would dominate. To understand that, a little history lesson is in order. During the late 1940s, when the first TV boom began in this country, stations were assigned spots on the VHF band (channels 2- 13). But a problem quickly arose. The FCC had to be careful that it did not place two identical channels two channel 4s, for example, or 10s within 100 miles of each other.

If that happened, the two signals would interfere with each other. When it became apparent that 12 channels simply would not be enough to handle the huge number of applica- 000000 0 I COUPON FRIED SHRIMP BUFFET BUY 1st BUFFET AT $495 Thursday GET 2nd at PRICE Saturday. Only DRAGON CHAMBER 3137 BELTLINE BLVD, Between Forest Dr. Two 'Notch Rd CHINESE RESTAURANT 49916-55 Cad Thomas LAMP'S INC LAMP SALE OFF (Floor Lamps Excluded) Cash or Checks Only May 23-May 28 Telephone 256-3713 2921 Devine Street Weekdays Columbia, South Carolina Saturdays Lamps, Shades, Repairs Gifts 39847-59 SEIKO SALE 1988-Model Seiko Watches FOR DAD, GRAD YOU DOZENS OF STYLES Bug. Ret.

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1175 Woods Crossing Rd. 39251-83 tions for TV stations, the FCC put a temporary freeze on station licenses to clear up the mess. The organization finally opened the UHF band (channels 14-83) and lifted the freeze in 1952. That solved the problem of issuing licenses, but there was another problem for those with UHF channels. Their signals simply were not as powerful as the lower frequency of the VHF channels.

Thus, when the FCC assigned Midlands channels 10, 25 and 67 (later changed to 19) to the Columbia area, it automatically assurred that whoever got the VHF channel 10 would dominate the market. Other South Carolina markets have at least two VHF stations, and some have three. "There's no doubt that things would be different had there been more than one VHF station in Columbia during the early days," Lovvorn says. All three Columbia stations agree that the public would be better served if stiffer competition existed for news, but that's not likely to change. "We did an 11 o'clock news from 1977 to 1986," says David Aiken, WOLO general manager, "and no matter what we did at 11 o'clock we couldn't crack WIS's dominance.

And most recently we've had Andy Griffith on (WLTX channel) 19 to contend with. We couldn't even crack Andy. "You want to provide news, but there are just some things you can't do. Our news budget here is probably a third of what it is at WIS. You have to eventually accept that." So WOLO, like WLTX, concentrates its resources at 6 o'clock.

PROBLEM PREGNANCY? CALL 254-7553 49638-52 "I think we've shown steady improvement on our newscast at 6," Aiken says. "It takes a long time to build a news tradition. To be a full-fledged broadcasting station, news is the single most important thing you do locally. As the station grows (a new building is in the works for WOLO), I would like to think we can expand our news operation." As long as the situation remains the same, WLTX news director Bill Hall says his station will try to give viewers a different look than WIS. "Obviously someone likes what we're doing, or they like the time period," says Hall, pointing to the fact that WLTX does beat WOLO in the 6 o'clock news category, although it is second to "Wheel of Fortune" on WIS.

WLTX and WOLO have nothing but praise for the job WIS does. 'Personally, as a program director, I tip my hat to WIS for doing a good job," Upright says. "They I have the resources, the manpower, the equipment; they should be FURNITURE PRESENTS Link Taylor Off LIST ON SPECIAL ORDERS HALF DOWN BALANCE UPON DELIVERY CASH CHECKS MICHAELIS CHARGE ONLY SOLID MAHOGANY FRENCH REPRODUCTIONS PINE REPRODUCTIONS FREE 8504 Two Notch Rd. INLOCAL DELIVERY 736-4036 FINANCING tions manager Forest. "But that's "You have to recognize that what only one view of the news.

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