Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 19, 1991 TAG: 9102190048
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETH MACY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Washington Post recently devoted a feature story to the growing phenomenon.
NBC in New York is receiving hundreds of letters from women offering romantic opportunities.
And here in the hinterlands, the news is spreading like sand in a Saudi wind storm.
We're talking about the latest in Desert Storm fashions: Arthur Kent.
More specifically, membership to the fledgling Arthur Kent Fan Club, an idea begun a few weeks ago by a drooling television editor at San Francisco's KRON.
Aimee Rosewall, who works for the NBC affiliate, has set up a hot line for fans of the famed and foxy war correspondent, and these days she's marketing him big-time - a bright alternative amid the stream of gloomy military analyses.
Kent devotees can call the number (415-561-8111, ext. 5167) for information on how to order Arthur Kent Fan Club buttons. Quarter-sized "AKFC" buttons go for $2; buttons that sport a photo of Kent go for $3.
And as usual, Roanoke's Kathy Wilson is on top of the new trend with an order for buttons already placed. She's working on enlisting some troops of her own in the cause, too.
A Virginia Tech public information officer, Wilson is presently recruiting other Tech employees (women, of course) for fan-club membership.
Also a shopping-trends columnist for V magazine, Wilson knows a hot new fad when she sees one. And she's got the PR know-how to get the word out.
"If you've never seen Arthur Kent," she says, "trust me - he's gorgeous."
Kent, who's 37 and single, has been affiliated with NBC since 1986, reporting on the war in Afghanistan, the Tiananmen Square massacre and the revolution in Romania before going to Saudi Arabia in August.
And though Kent shuns all mention of his fan-club status, claiming that serious journalism means substance over style, executives at NBC don't seem to mind it one bit.
Kent's popularity is such a phenomenon that even the supermarket tabloids have picked up on the hype, trumpeting Kent as the replacement for CBS anchor Dan Rather.
After all, "NBC Nightly News With Tom Brokaw" has become markedly more popular among women 24 to 54 since the war began.
And that just so happens to be the period in which Kent has become a regular on the show.
Wilson, for one, is totally convinced of the correlation: "Hey, I'd go to war just to be with Arthur Kent," she says.
by CNB