Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 2

2A DETROIT FREE PRESSSATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1994 WGPR seen as last resort in CBS's hunt for outlet NEAL RUBIN'S JLAr III mm Does candle wax tell tale on Elvis? 1 -1 CBS, from Page 1A nel 4), former Fox affiliate WKBD-TV (Channel 50) and independent WXON-TV (Channel 20). So by aligning itself with WGPR, CBS has been reduced to a last resort. "CBS is basically off the map in Detroit," said one local broadcast observer, assessing the impact of the deal. Channel 62 has a weaker over-the-air signal, and on cable systems it is more difficult to find than Channel 2 if it's on the system at all. It is unclear whether CBS will sign an affiliate agreement with Channel 62, buy the station, or enter a joint venture with the station's owner, the International Free and Accepted Modern Masons, a national fraternal society generally known as the Black Masons.

Under a joint venture, CBS might buy up to 49-percent and oversee much of Channel 62 's day-to-day operation. Presumably, sources said, CBS would pour millions of dollars into upgrading WGPR's facilities, launching a daily newscast operation, hiring employees, boosting WGPR's UHF signal and perhaps even building studios. But all of that would take time. One source familiar with the negotiations between CBS and WGPR said a joint venture was the most likely structure for the deal. CBS's agreement with Channel 2 expires Nov.

27. The network already has a small connection with Channel 62. Often when Channel 2 has pre-empted CBS programming, the shows turn up on WGPR. For example, it carries "CBS This Morning." Once CBS and WGPR announce a deal, you can expect the network to unleash a major promotional campaign on TV, radio, newspapers, billboards, direct-mail viewer guides and special giveaways. "Anything that moves," said George Schweitzer, CBS's executive vice president for marketing and communications.

In the new arrangement, popular CBS shows aren't expected to be hurt much, judging from switches that have taken place in Phoenix and Cleveland, where CBS has moved onto weaker UHF stations without local news. "People will follow the programs," said Schweitzer, who is overseeing the promotion of new affiliates. "The first thing they find is the soap operas. The audience is so loyal and so dependent. Number two is Letterman.

They found Letterman on the first night in Cleveland. '60 Minutes' and 'Murder She Wrote' will be fine." But he conceded that CBS would have a harder time launching new programs on a weaker station. CBS News executives are also concerned about the impact of an affiliate switch on the "CBS Evening News with Dan Rather." Network news ratings usually are linked to the strength of the local news shows that precede them. WGPR doesn't have a daily newscast. Without a strong local lead-in, Rather's broadcast will suffer, CBS insiders say.

The "CBS Evening News" is already rated a weak No. 3 in Detroit, behind ABC and NBC. Free Press TV Writer Marc Gun-ther contributed to this report. Eviction notice Be an armchair quarterback Attention Free PressCompuserve users! Go DETFORUM and go to conference room 2 The Play-by-Play Cafe after every Detroit Lions football game this season for the Free Press Plus Postgame Show. For 30 minutes after the Dallas game ends Monday, you can air out your Lions' beefs and bouquets and chat with other Lions fans online.

If you're not a CompuServe member but have a computer and a modem, call 1-800-848-8199 and ask for the Detroit Free Press representative to join. Free PressLCI Toil-Free Info Line: Call 1-800-975-PLUS anytime. Enter the following four-digit codes for regularly available financial information; see Free Press Plus boxes for special audio offerings with appropriate stories. Toll-free service from LCI International of Bingham Farms: 1000 Stock Market Feport 1001 Money Rates 1002 U.S. Corp Bond Report 1003 Precious Metals 1004 Financial Headlines 4001 Local Music Listen Line Carolyn Massad, a metaphysician by trade, tries to exorcise evil spirits from one of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh's 1979 Rolls Royces during an auto show in Concord, N.C.

The somewhat shady Bhagwan went to the Big Car Lot in the Sky in 1990. BRIEFLY iron" ill )) Johnson: Presley: Airbrushed Air-cooled Apparently bored now that she doesn't see her old friends, Hollywood Madam Heidi Fleiss was in federal custody Friday after four drug tests turned up methamphetamines.and Valium. The tests were conditions of her pretrial release on money laundering and tax evasion charges, which are set for trial Oct. 11 in Los Angeles. Fleiss, 28, also faces trial Sept.

26 on state charges involving possession of cocaine for sale and her self-described specialty, pandering. WE NOW HAVE an explanation for Tupac Shakur's attempt to hit a fellow rapper with a baseball bat during a concert last year at MSU: The brute called him names. Shakur pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault Thursday and could draw 90 days in jail and a $100 fine when he's sentenced Oct. 26. lvis deceased? That's just too improbable.

The simple truth is this: The King faked his death to escape threats from organized crime, and the body at his funeral was a wax dummy cooled by dry ice and battery-powered, soundproof fans concealed in the casket. The Presley Commission, a self-appointed band of writers and researchers based in Moneta, reached its conclusion after 2V. years of poring through conspiracy books and assorted government and medical documents. The commission explains that the body in Elvis' bathroom was actually the cousin of his manager, and that Elvis arranged the deception after mobsters learned he was a top-secret government drug agent. Evidence included sightings of sweat on the alleged corpse; when investigators cooled a wax candle in the freezer and brought it out to room temperature, it sweated, too! Commission organizer Phil Aitcheson suggests that Presley, a master of disguise, even attended his daughter's wedding to Michael Jackson.

(Take a close look at that white-haired guy in a baseball cap in the background of one of the photos.) "People need to realize that the investigation was an extremely serious effort," he says, "and not just another kooky, run-off-at-the-mouth situation." A SMOKERS' lobbying group is smoldering over an omission from blues guitarist Robert Johnson's postage stamp: his cigarette. Johnson's portrait on a new commemorative set of jazz and blues greats is an artist's rendering of a 1920s photo that showed a cigarette dangling from his mouth. The Postal Service says it excised the butt because it "didn't want the stamps to be perceived as promoting cigarettes." The National Smokers Alliance retorts that the deletion is "an affront to the more than 50 million Americans who choose to smoke." As for us, we would only point out that the best propaganda tool works unarguably in the antitobacco lobby's favor Johnson is dead. Just hie ems. Best Prices of Posturepedic Sealy Bedding Starting Full size, ea.

pc uueen sei EXTRA Shucks: After a string of movies in which he peels off his clothes by the second reel, Mel Gibson says. lie's tired of Seinglfsex sjmiboana will no longer play torrid sex scenes. In contrast, his love scenes with Sophie Marceau in "Brave Heart" will be "imbued with romance." Maw: Tenor Luciano Pavarotti has worked hard at keeping his mouth shut and will reportedly weigh in at 230 pounds when he sings at the Metropolitan Opera Sept. 26. He's lost 100 pounds in a year.

Iamb: The always refined Ted Nugent will wax poetic and stuff Sept. 27-30 when he returns to cohost Drew and Mike's Morning Show on WRIF-FM (101.1). Plumb: U-M alumnus Ken Pace, a systems analyst for Disney in LA, is engaged to actress Eve (Jan Brady) Plumb, whom he met on a blind date two years ago. Wedding plans are indefinite. "Finally," says his mother, Mary Pace of Troy, "Ken brought home a nice girl." Tuckered: Friends are worried about actor Leonardo DiCaprio, 19, who is apparently burning the candle at all available ends.

Out: British broadcaster Chris Hopkins has been canned after exposing himself to weatherperson Elisa Hilton on the air. Fortunately, it was a radio show. From staff and wire reports OOOOOOd a a a llUl Delivery and set-up of new at Sealy Bedding 1 Local programs brace BY LARRY GABRIEL Free Press Staff Writer WGPR-TV (Channel 62) officials aren't talking, but it's almost certain that much of the station's programming, which includes several local religious shows, would have to find new homes with a switch to CBS. Or they could be exiled to the wee hours of the morning or other low-demand times. That would be quite a change for WGPR-TV, which was launched in September 1975 as the nation's first black-owned TV station.

A $4-million investment by the International Free and Accepted Modern Masons, a nationwide African-American fraternal society, launched the station. The head of the organization, the late Dr. William Banks, was WGPR's founder and president. Banks also was president of WGPR- A BETTER WAY TO BUY tkw am iuH quontttf i try to hoy Tom for station change FM, which in 1964 became Detroit's first black-owned radio station. In its 19 years, WGPR-TV has aired local programming of interest to the African-American community, including its long-running teen dance show "The Scene," which has become "The New Dance Show." But mostly, Channel 62 has been an outlet for paid religious programming, old movies and syndicated reruns such as "Lou Grant" and "Remington Steele." "I have concerns as to where the priorities are going to lie," said the Rev.

Charles Ellis, who produces the "Greater Grace Temple" hour that airs at 10 p.m. on Mondays. "There's a lot of gospel programming on Channel 62. 1 guess there is going to be some fallout." Ellis said changes could force much of the religious programming to cable pompanies' public access channels. BETTER MENSWEAR ovoHobl aoch waaliand.

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