The State from Columbia, South Carolina • 35

ol derf vail .3. The State COLUMBIA SOUTH CAROLINA TUESDAY, APRIL 4, 2000 THE GALLERY D2 TELEVISION D4 COMICS D6 DEAR ABBY D7 www.thestate.com SECTION WLTX newscasts get new look, but WIS still gets most viewers By DOUG NYE Television Editor HAS FOUND OUT THAT CHANGE doesn't Despite necessarily the mean unveiling better. of a new set, a new anchor team and the arrival of Jim Gandy as meteorologist in December, WLTX's weekday newscasts fell farther behind WIS during the February ratings month. Gandy, who previously spent years as a meteorologist at WIS, was expected to give WLTX a big boost. So far, the opposite has happened.

WIS' news actually picked up viewers, while WLTX's audience dwindled in the 11 p.m. slot. WIS went from an 11 rating and 35 share in November to a 15 rating and 44 share in February. At the same time, WLTX's 11 p.m. show dropped from a to a WIS also showed a slight gain in viewership at 6 p.m., while WLTX's numbers were similar to those in November.

A rating represents the number of television households in the 10-county Columbia TV market. A share represents the percentage of households actually watching television at a particular time. Jerry Grimes, WIS' director of audience development, said the ratings show how WIS' efforts to continually connect with viewers have paid off. "When Jim Gandy left us, we knew we needed to give the people something special," Grimes said. "We came up SEE VIEWERS PAGE D3 Local television ratings 6-7 a.m.

News Feb. 2000 Nov. 1999 Station WIS WL.TX WOLO other programs air instead of news Comment: No major changes from November ratings. 6 p.m. News Feb.

2000 Nov. 1999 Station WIS WLTX WOLO Good Times' airs instead of news Comment: Gandy's move to WLTX yet to pay off in numbers. 11 p.m. News Feb. 2000 Nov.

1999 Station WIS WL.TX WOLO WACH (at 10) Comment: WIS credits Storm Tear, Crocker for gains. rating is the percentage of all TV households. A share is the percentage of those households actually watching TV at a particular time. The Columbia TV market is comprised of 10 counties. Check it out The 'Phantom' appears Join the Readers' Circle Starting today, you can take Anakin Skywalker and his Jedi Knight 1 friends home with you.

And feel free to fast-forward past all the parts with Jar Jar Binks. The skinny: "Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace" is scheduled to hit video stores around the nation today. It's being released in VHS only at $24.98 and also is available in a widescreen collector's edition at $39.98. No DVD version is planned soon. STAR WARS RENEE STATE Micky Dolenz will be performing on the children's stage at the 3 Rivers Music Festival this weekend.

However, Dolenz is still a Monkee in most people's eyes. Monkee business The eternal flame of fandom still burns for ex-teen idols Micky Dolenz and Bobby Sherman ACK WHEN WE HEARD Micky Rivers Dolenz thought Hey, just was Music was what this: coming Festival, to Columbia our the 3 first needs, another festival. No, hang on, that's a different column. This one's about Dolenz, the former Monkees drummer, and his brothers-in-arms in the ranks of teen idolatry. It's been more than 30 years since the Monkees' heyday, but here's our man Micky still riding the wave of nostalgia onto the 3 Rivers shoreline.

(No wonder he's a believer.) Now, we know Dolenz has branched out as a director and children's performer since his days as an integral part of a pop-music phenomenon. For instance, he's performing on the kids' stage this weekend. But he forever remains a Monkee in most people's minds. On a side note, we would like to set the record straight here before moving on. Despite what the Breakfast Bunch morning crew at Oldies 103 says, we do not have some sort of weird obsession with Dolenz or any of the other Monkees.

Sure, we thought he was pretty groovy The answer, my when we were 10. But as regular readers can attest, we're much more mature and far hipper these days. We can't help it if Oldies 103 continues to dedicate tunes like "Pleasant Valley Sunday" to us. And we didn't ask for the Monkees poster they sent us. Heck, Jay Philips even tracked 1 us down and gave us a copy of the Monkees' "Anthology" CD.

Sounds like those guys are more obsessed with us than we are with Micky. However, you can bet there are those folks out there who are still a little wacky over the Monkees. Come on you don't believe there's still interest in former teen idols? Music channel VH1 is even doing "Behind the Music" specials on former friend Singer Joan Baez will perform Thursday night at the Newberry Opeta House. The problem: The concert is sold out. The solution: We at The State have two tickets.

And we're giving them away. (You don't. even have to buy The State to win!) But you have to do something, for.us. Call it a small contest. If you want the tickets, come up with some lyrics.

for a song that Baez could have done, but never Be creative: You can do it. E-mail your entries by midnight tonight to. Don't for get to include your daytime phone number so we can let you know. if. you've won.

A group of editors will choose the best entry and alert. the winner on Wednesday. Look for the winning entry in The Gallery on Thursday. al Neil White (803) The skinny on Tab It debuted in 1963 as the Coca-Cola first diet drink. The name "Tab" was chosen from a list generated by a computer.

By 1982, it was the leading diet soda, with 4 percent of the U.S. market share. That's the year that Diet Coke was launched with heavy marketing and quickly replaced Tab as the top-selling diet drink. Versions of Tab included Tab Clear, Tab with Calcium, and sweeteners including saccharin, cyclamates, sugar and NutraSweet. 1989 Enough Diet Coke was made to fill 938 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Enough Tab was made to fill 24 pools. 1999 Enough Diet Coke was made to fill 1,171 Olympic-sized pools. Enough Tab was made to fill six pools. Sources: Beverage Digest magazine, Former '70s teen idol Leif Garrett performs with his band Godspeed last August. Teen idols still have fans out there, as witnessed by VH1's 'Behind the Music' specials.

teenybopper acts like Leif Garrett and the All we wrote was that we had heard, City Rollers. (OK, as embarrassing as on the heels of the Dolenz announcewe'll admit that we watched parts of ment, the 3 Rivers folks were trying to specials.) book Sherman, too. (Ha, ha.) Not that we're making fun of either Well, judging by the indignant reGarrett or the Bay City Rollers. No sponses we received, you would have we don't want a backlash from their thought we wrote something really We found that out about a month controversial that USC should change when we made a joking reference to another former teen idol, Bobby Sherman. SEE MONKEE PAGE D3 Brother, can you spare a Tab? FILE ASSOCIATED PRESS Bay it is, both Leif sir, fans.

ago tonight at the library Join The State Readers' Circle coordinator, Alice Hartzog, at the Cooper Branch of the Richland County Public Library at 5317 N. Trenholm Road, about two blocks from The Happy Bookseller, tonight at 7 for a public discussion of "Rich in Love," our current Readers' Circle selection. Anyone who has read the book and wants to discuss it is welcome. Call Alice Hartzog at 771-8634 for more information. And remember, keep sending your comments about the book to us.

Thoughtful comments about the book received by April 20 will be considered for the Readers' Circle dinner April 27. Remember: Include your name, address and day and evening phone numbers in all correspondence and e-mail. Mail comments to: The State's Readers' Circle, P.O. Box 1333, Columbia, SC 29202. E-mail comments to: Fax comments to: The State's Readers' Circle, 771-8430.

Soft drink's off shelves laB in Midlands By CHRIS ROBERTS Staff Writer THE TOR SARAH SHEELY AND THE DWINDLING thouF sands turned like closer her, to the impossible. never-ending quest for Tab just Tab, once the nation's best-selling low-calorie soda, has vanished from the Midlands. Coca-Cola Consolidated of Charlotte quietly stopped selling Tab last month in the 12 states where it peddles drinks. "It's a quality issue," spokeswoman Alison Patint said. "We have such low demand, it's hard to keep fresh product on the shelves." Supplies won't be replaced as they dry up, she said.

The few remaining Tab drinkers likely will be crushed by the news. Many may not even know it's gone, since they've long lived with the here-today, PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY RENEE STATE SEE TAB PAGE D3.