Southern Illinoisan from Carbondale, Illinois • Page 1

5 Sports Salukis over Southern Illinoisan's Complete K5 ifoofiba "WO i yv Aif i iu Lli 1 i fi rn kri i LJ LJ JJzz JJJJ Carbondaie Free Press. Herrin Daily Journal, Murphysboro Independent 4 Sections, Comics, Family Weekly Television Guide, 5 Supplements, lir Volume 91 No. 213 75t a copy Sunday, September 11, 1983 17 fo)(g t( TW Another station cranks up Monday KBSI will be airing family programs and a number of movies concentrating on 'alternative programming' By Cathy A. Monroe Of The Southern lllinoisan Southern Illinois viewers who just happened to tune their televisions to UHF Channel 23 about 3 p.m. Saturday might have witnessed an historic moment for television station KBSI of Cape Girardeau.

It was the airing of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, the virgin broadcast of the region's newest independent UHF station. KBSI's 1.8-million-watt signal will be reaching television sets across Southern Illinois and Missouri and Western Kentucky, approximately the same area served by KFVS-Channel 12 in Cape Girardeau, according to KBSI general manager Everett Martin. 'Best behaved crowd Hours of operation tentatively are scheduled for 6 a.m to 1 a.m. daily, although hours may be irregular until the programming schedule is ironed out, Martin wrarned. The station currently employs 25 full-time people as well as a few part-timers, Martin said.

Martin said he has sent programming information to all the cable McAndrew Stadium: No fear, plenty cheer HOD3 Mz mm A' r-i 3 tedy. Applications for several other licenses are pending before the Federal Communications Commission, Martin said. Media Central owns 51 percent of Cape Family TV, the corporate name of KBSI. The remainder has been sold to various private investors, Martin said. KBSI will be operating from two buildings.

The studios and master production are located in a new building off South Kingshighway in Cape. The station also built a transmitter building and raised a tower on a 60-acre site off Oriole Road in Cape. The station plans to formally launch its programming Monday. Southern lllinoisan photo by JERRY LOWER during Saturday's game could be felt underneath the stands when the fans stomped, but the up and down movement of the support beams that the university was cau- tioned against never occurred. "We think that there's room for another station," Martin said.

"I know the other stations are currently doing very well." However, he acknowledged the effort will take time and anticipates the company will not show a profit for three to five years. Southern Illinois already is served by three network affiliates; Public Broadcasting Service affiliate WSIU-TV in Carbondale; two independents, UHF station WDDD-TV in Marion and VHF station WCEE-TV in Mount Vernon; as well as a number of cable television imports. KBSI will be airing family programs and a number of movies, a minimum of 16 per week, Martin said. The station will particularly ever' seriousness to the situation. "It's going to give.

I'm scared to be under (the stands)," said Pam Mairs, senior in the School of Technical Careers, during a particularly loud series of stomps. Mairs seemed to be in the minority, as most fans interviewed said they felt they were in no danger. IRONICALLY, police, cheerleaders and fans who had attended previous games said that the stomping was a lot less noticeable. "This is probably the best-behaved crowd I've seen in years," said Bob Harris, acting security director af SIU-C. Harris also said control of liquor being brought into the stands had helped the situation.

However, "If there was a sustained movement up and down, we would go ask them (the fans) to stop." Mike Hanes, director of the Marching Salukis, ssaid he was told to conduct "business as usual," by Bruce Swinburne, vice president for student affairs. "However, we will conduct business as usual, being aware that we have the ability to still provide pep and spirit, and if we can replace some of the crowd's enthusiasm, we will," he said. Swinburne walked through the stands during the second half, observing the situation. "There are a few extra security guards here, but there's no real danger," he said, "There really has been no reason for the cheerleaders or the band to suppress their activities." Mark Waldrop, 16, a soda vendor, said he thought the only thing that would stop fans from stomping would be "if they got thrown out of the game." The main function the security guards served was to keep people out of the aisles; no one was told to stop stomping once during the game. dips, but Jabr By The Associated Press Shellfire hit the Marine compound at Beirut airport Saturday and U.S.

jets thundered over the Chouf mountains, where Druse fighters were said to have massacred 64 Christian villagers. Fears for the safety of as many as 40,000 other Christians trapped by Druse militiamen. Beirut television reported that 70 carloads of Christian refugees from the mountain fighting demonstrated in front of the residence of U.S. Ambassador Robert Dillon demanding American intervention to halt the bloodshed, which blew up after the Israelis pulled back from the Chouf a week ago. Warrant Officer Charles Rowe, spokesman for the U.S.

Marine contingent of the multinational peacekeeping force, reported no casualties from the latest shelling. He said the jets two U.S. Navy F-14 Tomcats from the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower scrambled to reconnoiter and demonstrate force. Meanwhile, President Reagan says the United States will not get "drawn into some kind of a long-drawn conflict" in Lebanon, but adds he sees no need to withdraw the multinational force that has come under fire in recent fighting there.

"We are not planning on enlarging a war," Reagan said. "We are not planning on expanding the forces that are there. But we have said that we're going to protect our Marines that are being shot at. "We have made it plain. We still are determined that those occupying forces must leave Lebanon.

We're not going to get drawn into some kind of a long-drawn conflict, but lifer By Phil Milano Of The Southern lllinoisan If there was any danger of a collapse in the east stands of Southern Illinois University-Carbondale's McAndrew Stadium Saturday, the fans in the crowd either didn't realize or didn't care. The 12,000 fans at the football game against Eastern Illinois University continued to stomp as usual, although rhythmic stomping up and down was not as evident as in previous games. The concern over the structurel safety of the stands arose from several reports, including one released last Wednesday by Hanson Engineering of Springfield, which stated that stomping up and down in unison could create a potentially dangerous condition in the stands. Because of the Hanson report, which included many recommendations to improve the safety of the east stands, extra precautions were taken Saturday by SIU-C security. Security officers were placed in strategic locations throughout the stands, with two and sometimes three officers at each exit gate.

The report also stated that the chances of a collapse were very remote. Many of Saturday's fans tended to agree. "I enjoy the stomping, because it adds to the excitement of the game. I'm not scared (of a collapse)," said Glen Erickson, 21, a senior in cinema and photography at SIU-C. Anyway, "(The stands) are built to sway and give." Shouts of "If we're going to die, we may as well in style" and, "C'mon, we're supposed to stomp!" were common throughout the day.

Hoever, the rhythmic stomping seemed to subside after only a few seconds each time it began, the fans apparently realizing there was some Admission concentrate on offering "alternative programming," he said. For instance, when the network affiliates offer news, KBSI will schedule a show such as Charlie's Angels. The station is equipped with an earth station that can pick up the Cable News Network, but news reports probably will be confined to brief news or weather vignettes, Martin said. KBSI: is one of 10 television stations owned by a rapidly growing communications corporation called Media Central Inc. The corporation's founder and.

president, Martin Kent of Chattanooga, is building a network of independent UHF televisions that currently stretches from Honolulu to Green Bay to Schenec- Business as usual for fans There were also no public address announcements concerning crowd stomping, as university officials had indicated earlier there might be. Periodically, a shaking movement has hopes rich family's plaything to a profit-making business has been no easy effort. The fair historically was founded and operated by the Hays family of Du Quoin as a service to Southern Illinois, Jabr says. He says he can find no evidence the fair ever operated in the black until 1982 when it showed a slight profit under the Jabrs' direction. The fair had always been heavily subsidized as much as $300,000 to $500,000 Iby the Hays family businesses, first the Midwest Dairy Co.

and then the Coca-Cola Bottling he says. The fair business is an enormously risky one, he says. A rain-out the first day could have forced the fair to refund $200,000 worth of Alabama tickets plus pay the popular country rock band its guaranteed $100,000 fee. That's why fairs take out rain insurance, Jabr says. But Jabr believes the fair can be a profitable and he adds, "I believe you can make a profit without hurting people; at the admission gate' The fair's gross revenues have been stable since 1981 at approx-Please turn to Page 3 IIKIJM ''1 1 1 mi if sra 71 I television franchises in the area and has requested they carry KBSI.

Currently, however, the station's signal will be available only on the UHF band. Martin is hopeful first-time viewers will be patient with the fledgling television station's initial broadcasts. "We're going to make a few mistakes right now," he said. we do not see any necessity at the moment or any good reason for withdrawing the multinational force." The president made his comments Friday in a speech to western Re-, publican leaders in Scottsdale, Ariz, Reagan spoke from the White House on a closed circuit television hookup. At the State Department, deputy spokesman Alan Romberg called for an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon.

This "senseless loss of life can only serve to aggravate the bitterness and hatred that already exists," he said. The U.S. jets first took to the skies over Lebanon on Wednesday along with French fighter-bombers after U.S. and French positions were shelled in west Beirut. Four Marines were killed Monday and Tuesday, and two French peacekeepers were killed Wednesday.

The U.S. frigate Bowen opened up with its 5-inch guns Thursday after the Marine compound again came under fire from Druse batteries. It was the first use of American Navy firepower since the Marines landed a year ago. The Tomcats also flew over the Chouf on Thursday. The Christian Voice of Lebanon radio said 64 more Christians were "massacred" by the Druse in the overrun Chouf village of El-Bire, 15 miles southeast of Beirut.

The Druse Progressive Socialist Party said those killed in El-Bire were Christian militiamen. Laure Speziali, director of the Beirut office of the International Red Cross, said army sources told her 64 bodies had been found in the village. But she said the Red Cross was unable to reach the town to check the massacre claim. Southern lllinoisan photo by JOE JINES peak time 5 p.m. Friday; Jf I'll I III IIM W1I.II.1JLUW 1 'A ence, Jabr professes himself "extremely pleased" with the preliminary financial figures from the fair.

Although all the figures and state subsidies won't be totaled for a few weeks, Jabr anticipates the fair will either be in the black or very close to breaking even. Jabr, at age 33 the head of one of only three privately owned fairs in the United States, is serious about his' family's effort to put the historic fair on a business-like basis. He is the first to admit the effort has touched off an outpouring of complaints and painful insults. But he is philosophical about the reaction "When you have to change things such as putting a business on a business basisY there are going to be complaints." He plans to answer every angry letter the fair received within the next few weeks, and admits, "A lot of the bad ones are justified. I'm going to make my own errors." But to those who might agree with one letter-writer who hoped his investments would go' the way of Chrysler's, Jabr says, "If I don't make these changes, I'd be in the same shape as Chrysler." Transforming the fair from a By Cathy A.

Monroe Of The Southern lllinoisan spent $30,000 this year 'for insurance against a disastrous rairi-out at the Du Quoin State Fair. i And, for apparently the first time in at least 17 years, it didn't rain once' during the fair's 11-day span. But it was hot. Real hot. Temperatures shoved thermometer' readings up to the 100-degree mark Au- gust 23 through Sept.

l. Jabr, president of the 61-year-old iair, blames the heat for what he terms a "substantive" but expected drop in fair attendance figures. Paid attendance this year fell to 130,000, 22 percent less than last year's figure. But two other elements also v) came into play, he says. The admission price, upped 50 cents this year to $2.50 a head, undoubtedly discouraged some would-be fair- goers, he says, even though parking ($1 last year) was free.

Just as significant, he says, is Hhat fact that Southern Illinois' economy still hasn't bounced back to the level it enjoyed even a couple years ago. But, in spite of the drop in attend- Saleh Jabr (inset); bored carnival booth vendors during 'A.