Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 23

entertainment DETROIT FREE PRESSWEDNESDAY. JAN. 18, 1984 5B A format for the rock-pop corps of the '60s CP Hike Jll television Don't look now, but dinosaur rock is crawling out of the tar pits. It's coming in the form of Good Time Rock n' Roll, a new radio format to fly in the face of the hordes of stations switching to the Top 40-style known as Fred Jacobs, former program director for WRIF. has masterminded the Good Time format.

"It's for people aged 25-40, who 'might not be getting the music they want on current rock radio." Current Hits Radio. While those stations play nstiuis of new releases, Good Time digs up dependable fossils from the Turtles to the Temptations, from the Everly NOW SHOWING AT ALL 5 THEATRES NEW XXX RELEASE 'Smithsonian' promises to be real video treat H1TY ALU HOVt-N" CONSTANCE MONEY Free PressED HAUN stations are going to be in that, 'Oh my God, what do we do mode, it'll be during January and February. "(This format) is a lot of music, well over three or four times the number of records most contemporary stations are playing. And it's more than your basic oldies station, which will play everything that's a hit. This has a lot more selective oldies." AND IT'S NOT all oldies, according to Jacobs.

While Bender's format in Dallas plays about 1,500 tunes about three times the size of an average rock station's library it generally stops with songs released around 1972. Jacobs plans to include recent material by artists who were popular during the '60s, such as Bob Dylan, the Moody Blues, the reunited Animals and Vanilla Fudge. He plans to offer more than music, too. The program includes marketing tools, including television spots, billboard designs and other promotional gimmicks. Jacobs is dipping into his own pocket to the tune of $20,000 but he thinks the format's chances are better than, say, mankind surviving a second ice age.

"I don't know what's going to happen," Jacobs admitted. "If it happens, it'll happen quickly, and my main problem will be servicing everybody. That's a pleasant headache." Brothers to the Mothers of invention. "The real core of the music is the '60s," explained Fred Jacobs, 32, a Farmington Hills-based consultant and former program director at WRIF-FM. "It's for people aged 25-40, who might not be getting the music they want on current rock radio.

There is some late '50s, some Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry. And it goes all the way into the early 70s, to what became album rock. Call it counting your PBS blessings. Last week brought the debut of "A Walk Through the 20th Century With Bill Moyers." Then Monday the excellent "Frontline" documentary series returned, followed Tuesday by the season debut of television's best drama anthology, "American Playhouse," with a production of Philip Roth's "The Ghost Writer." And now comes "Smithsonian World," debuting at 8 p.m. today (Channel 56, in Detroit), a monthly series Gary Craft radio "It's aimed at the people who were the rock-pop I XI Bender dusted off the idea and put Good Time on the air under new call letters.

In its first Arbitron ratings period, the station earned a meager 1.4 percent share of the Dallas market. Bender, however, says the station beat its direct competitors and gained an audience core in the important 18-34 age group. With that as a model, Jacobs is ready to spread Good Time to the rest of the country. He's advertising in radio trade publications, hoping to latch on to album-rock stations needing a change, FM stations that are faltering in their current format, or AM stations that need to get higher ratings. WHAT ABOUT a Detroit outlet latching on? "I think something that is this different, this unique, this exciting, will have a market somewhere," said Jacobs, who is consultant to Detroit's WNIC-FM, a soft rock station.

"The ratings just came out, so if corps in the '60s. If you liked the movie 'The Big you'll love this." of seven hour-long specials devoted to the wonders of the Smithsonian Institution. GINA GIANETTI SHARON MITCHELL JACOBS, WHO left WRIF last summer and formed 1US 2ND XXX RATED Historian and author Da- vid McCullough is the host. his own firm, Media Strategies, masterminded the FILM SHOWN AT ALL 5 THEATRES Good Time format with Tom Bender, another former I. a WRIF program director now at KRQX-AM in Dallas.

FANCY PANTS The Only True XXX Rated Go Go Club In Metro Detroit Bender's station, formerly an all-news station 23 at Martin Carr, who spent two years putting this project together, is the executive producer. And the results are genuinely fascinating, even to a couch potato with almost zilch knowledge of COLLEGE DEGREE For Work, Life and Academic Experience No Claiiroom Attendance Required BACHELORS MASTERS DOCTORATE Call 800-423-3744 under the call letters WFAA, was foundering. So last spring, after bantering around ideas with Jacobs, la Irvl McCullough sucn matters as astrophys ics, animal behavior and paleontology, among others. Starter set for the wacky space traveler xxx UNINHIBITED LIVE ,0 2 A li onuvv Sun 4 13308 Woodward at Davison, Highland Park Valet Parking Wa citer BACHELOR PAR TO 883-3230 FIRST IN EDITORIAL EXCELLENCE. FIRST or send detailed resume for Free Evaluation The opening show, split into several segments, is entitled "Time and Light." McCullough explores the way man and the earth measure time, looking at the The Hitchhiker's Trilogy evolutionary secrets of the sea urchin, the hidden PACIFIC WESTERN UNIVERSITY 16200 Ventura Blvd.

Encino, CaH. 91436 By Douglas Adams Harmony Books, $15.95, 468 pages IN SPORTS. biological "alarm clock" in bamboo and the history of our planet revealed by the Grand Canyon. There are also intriguing visits to a mammoth, six-mirrored Smithsonian telescope in Arizona and a magical ADULT THEATRES Review by Gary Graff museum of clocks and timepieces in Rockford, 111. For as commercial an enterprise as it's become, one has to wonder why this collection of Douglas Adams' "Smithsonian World," which enjoys.a shortage of academic stuffiness and an abundance of wit and "Hitchhiker" works wasn released in time for wonder, promises to be a true video treat.

Christmas. It all started back in 1971, when Adams claims he CABLE USE BLUES: When cable systems offer 40 or more channels, many of those channels are virtually ignored by cable viewers, a recent Warner conjured up the concept while lying drunk in an Austrian field during a hitchhiking journey. The concept returned about eight years later, when Adams character Arthur Dent a cosmic combination of Charlie Brown and Rodney Dangerfield into the universe with guide Ford Perfect, named after one of the automaker's models that once led Britain's auto sales. The other two books butt Dent toward the edges of the universe and sanity. You want confusion? Try indulging in either the second or third installments without reading the first, grappling with Beeblebrox, Trillian and other characters.

It's essential to read this trilogy as a whole, making the collected work the best and easiest way to absorb the tale. You want responsibility? From the reader, the adventure requires an open sense of humor and a willingness to become totally immersed. Non-fans of science fiction and dry British humor should stay away. And if you want something light, devoid of subtle social observation, don't even think about this trilogy. Adams offers parody and satire of the highest order, biting comments about the current state of human affairs and the seeming inevitability of apocalypse.

If it sounds like an everything and the kitchen sink proposition, we're all on the right course. And if you like what it sounds like, it's prudent to pick up this collection and let Adams be your pilot for awhile. Amex Cable Communications study revealed. The study of cable systems in six major cities indicated that typical cable subscribers essentially watch only nine channels a week, though they had between 30 and 70 channels to choose from. Different households favored different channels, but the study found that M0 HOve" LiDkeeuwm Open 10 AM 1,1 3 A Mon.

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Since then, "Hitchhiker" has escalated into two radio serials, six British television episodes, a record album, a forthcoming motion picture and, most importantly, three wacky and charming books "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe," "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe" and "Life, the Universe and Everything." Warner and other major cable system operators may find the study and other similar research useful in trying to revamp franchise agreements. To win franchises, some cable companies promised the earth, the moon, the stars and an endless supply of channels. Gary Graff is an entertainment writer for the Free Press. So the "Hitchhiker's Trilogy" serves as the jump- FUTURE One reason Channel 50 (WKBD-TV) may have decided to extend Sonny Eliot's contract for another year is the chance that TV50 will finally get back into the local TV news business full-time. Currently, WKBD airs the Cable Vs off point for what's obviously a blossoming industry for the 31-year-old Englishman.

You could say it's a reminder that small things often beget big things, but the off-beat prospect of dealing with the three books is no tiny matter. If BUY MILK FROM A IT FROM News Network "CNN Headline News" at 10 week-nights, with former Channel 2 (WJBK-TV) anchor man Joe Glover supplying a brief local news update. ymmm "There's a possibility in time we may expand it," YOU WANT plot? In the first book, Adams demol Channel 50 general manager George Williams said. ishes the Earth for a galactic freeway and sets main And if the newscast becomes reality, it's always nice to have a well-known weatherman and a well-known SPECIALS GOOD THRU JANUARY 29, 1984 Mm mm anchorman already on the payroll. SLflvvsons(5Jl7ft MPCl Mt ft 70t mm 4c fin 7c BLESSINGS II: Public television strikes again Wednesday when Channel 56 (WTVS-TV) airs a superb pop culture documentary, "Style Wars," at 10 p.m.

preceded at 9 p.m. by the second installment of ALL NATURAL FLAVORS! WTVS's new monthly arts magazine, "Arts illustrat ed." "Style Wars" has a street beat all its own as it ex plores the interrelated urban worlds of subway car graffiti, rap music and break dancing in New York City. Are the wildly colorful, spray-painted pieces of graffiti the work of outlaws or artists? "Style Wars" (5 looks at both sides of the issue while exploring a compelling subculture. Meanwhile, "Arts Illustrated examines Detroit art and artists of the 1920s and '30s, i', 'l: i' including architect Albert Kahn, the Cranbrook arts EtTliiOOD Vi GAL. SQUARES community and Pewabic Pottery Works founder Birmingham Theatre Mary Chase Stratton.

Good work, Channel 56. OLD FASHIONED DELUXE ETC: Welcome to weird world with that wild trio of Brooke Shields, Michael Jackson and teeny, tiny 5 FLAVORS, PLUS 60 OQ HALF BUTTER PECANI GAL. Emmanuel Lewis sitting in the front row of ABC's telecast of the American Music Awards Dorothy Weddell's real estate Saturday in the Free Press Monday Speaking of weird world, how about the first debate featuring the Democratic presidential candidates? I'm not sure how informative it was, TTTTitmrryi $1.89 LAWSONS DUTCH LOAF, lb. especially with know-it-all Phil Donahue trying to hog the spotlight, but the whole three-ring circus i TENDER i Butcher Shop HORMEL spiced I AAC LUNCHEON LUfil made for fairly fascinating TV. THE TENDER TRAP PRESENTS XXXX ADULT today's numbers LAWSONS 12-OZ.

Al CQ SLICED BACON vl.057 LAWSONS FRANKS Al QQ Reg. or Super, lb. I a 57 Here are the top 10 national television shows and their TRAP XXXX ADULT ENTERTAINMENT SUNDAY SPECIAL ONLY 3 COYER 2 DRINKS FOR 3 ratings for the week of Jan. 9-15, according to the A.u ENTERTAINMENTS Nielsen Co. A rating is the percentage of all TV households tuned to the program.

A rating point represents 838,000 households. The networks average ratings tor tne weeK: ABC. 18.1: CBS. 16.9: NBC. 15.4.

(R indicates rerun.) 25C $2.39 ARPIN STRIP CHEESE 075 01 OHIO FRESH SWISS CHEESE, lb. POUND "SUPER BOWL SPECIAL" $3.00 OFF ANY PARTY TRAY! NO COVER BUFFET ALL DAY Programnetwork Rating 1 Movia: Something About Amelia ABC 31.6 2 60 Minutat CBS 27.5 mm I Tl nri OAI inKI 3 Dynasty ABC 25.7 ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT 865-6070 4 4 Tha A Taam NBC 25.3 (l 13800 Woodward Ulkl.n Dork -4 5 TV Bloopan and Practical Jolctt NBC 25.0 6 DallatCBS 24.2 865-6070 13800 Woodward Highland Park 2 $1.39 LAWSONS 16-OZ. CHIP DIP 7 Simon ft Simon CBS 24.1 99C SAVE! SAVE! 8 Hotel ABC 23.0 rfciiiimiinfi 9 Magnum, P.I. (R) CBS 21.5 Falcon Crett CBS 21.5 rrinn Ml Ik In Handy Plastic LAWSONS 100 rune liG-a A1 ORANGE JUICE, Vi -gal I nTiJ Compiled by BETTELOU PETERSON CAPRI SUN FRUIT DRINKS. 399C TRADCO 40-W Comelip Castle.

TIM ALLEN Detroit's Own Big Guy TONIGHT thru JAN. 22 radiojournalists 79C LAWSONS 12-OZ. COTTAGE CHEESE MOTOR OIL only 69C QT 7 TWO ROLLS Ol PAGE JUMBO TOWELS LAWSONS COFFEE FILTERS 2 PKGS. LO ANN SHRIMP ROLLS GENERIC BLEACH GALLON SIZE TRADCO WINDSHIELD WASHER FLUID, OAL. a Warran Plarca: David Lawrence Detroit Free Press ex ecutive editor; Ellen Rosenberg, author of "Growing Up Feel-, ing Journalist Michael Sotchwell; 1:10 p.m.

WJR-AM Wait tk Sin -9 PM $5.00 SCRIPTO Mighty Match LIGHTERS Twln-Pak 99C BONNEAU WINTER SUN GLASSES 12.99 to 15.99 pt. V2-LTR. PEPSI Frl. 11:00 (760). PLASTIC GALLON M.

a A MAI Michael Jackson: Efforts to Improve American education; mi ww wit nut. ffPtl fill 1 H'SI f( 5 p.m. WXYZ-AM (1270). HOMO $1.89 GAL. 8 $2.09 Ifcrfl i OAatntui Ritat.

Chlckan and Slats of the 8tate Address: Gov. Blanchard, live from III Slant tor an irom 111 Burner. All entreei Includa talad. oraao, vagwapw mum t' Lansino: 7 P.m. WDET-FM 101.9 Mostly Music: Works of Stamltz, Mozart and Mendelssohn; 10:30 p.m.

CBE-AM 1550 fiLl'fHn-TW-n- ism Tonight: Sr. Mary Lyons and Joyce Dlrkson on the Canadi an catholic Foundation for Development and Peace; 11 p.m. CKJY-FM (93.9). i 1 1 1 jfcja mm an.