Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 27, 1993 TAG: 9311190345
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Melanie Hatter
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
But it can't be that much of a secret.
WVTF got a 4.8 share (the percentage of the total listening audience tuned in to a station) in the Roanoke-Lynchburg radio market, according to the spring Arbitron ratings. That would put the station in eighth place, if it were listed with commercial stations. Arbitron compiles figures on public radio stations but does not include them in its market report. WVTF gets those figures from the Radio Research Consortium, a research company for National Public Radio.
In fact, the public station - tucked in the back of Grand Pavilion Mall across from Tanglewood Mall - has steadily increased from a 3.1 share for the fall 1991 ratings to 3.9 for spring 1992 to 4.6 for fall 1992.
``It's just a measure of success,'' says station manager Steve Mills of the ratings. ``It's not important to getting corporate underwriters.
``We assess our programming to see what works and what doesn't,'' Mills says. ``We don't live by the ratings game. If we pay money to buy a show it would behoove us to find out if anyone is listening.''
But it doesn't hurt to have strong figures to show prospective underwriters who pay for part of the programming.
Mike Stater joined the station as the development director about six months ago from WXLK (92.3 FM, K92). Stater uses numbers on listenership to encourage businesses to sponsor the station. ``I try to be more aggressive because there is a very focused audience'' listening to WVTF that companies may want to reach, he says. The station made a 7.9 share of listeners 35 and up in the metro area.
Public radio doesn't sell advertising spots and can't promote one company over another in its underwritten announcements, Stater says. Sponsorship is more of an image builder, Mills says. People might view a company more positively if it contributes to public radio, he says.
The station has been on the air 20 years this month. It started as a teaching lab at Virginia Western Community College in August 1973. In 1982, the public radio's license was transferred from the college to the Virginia Tech Educational Foundation when the community college was unable to get state funding to keep the station.
Mills says that in 1982 Tech provided 56 percent of the funding. In 1992, Tech provided 23 percent. The amount of money from Tech hasn't changed, he says, it's just that more money comes from the listeners. The 10 percent of listeners who contribute make up 40 percent of the total annual budget of slightly more than $1 million. The station raised more than $188,000 in its on-air fund drive this spring.
Listener contributions are ``the best ratings you can have,'' Stater says. ``It doesn't matter what Arbitron says.''
The Rev. Paul Forrest, a full-time evangelist and member of Temple Baptist Church in Madison Heights, will lead a protest outside the Lynchburg offices of WSET (Channel 13) on Monday against the station's choice to air the police drama "NYPD Blue."
The new show from Steven Bochco, who also brought us "Hill Street Blues," has gotten some flack over it's racier language and sex scenes.
"It's soft-core porn," Forrest says, although he hasn't seen the show. He's basing his opinion on what's been written and said about it in the media, he says. "We don't need this on the airwaves... families don't need it."
The protest is scheduled from noon to 2 p.m., and Forrest wants as big a crowd as he can get. He has contacted area churches to encourage people to attend. Forrest has a petition signed by 800 people, he said. Protests are planned at ABC affiliates in Harrisonburg, Norfolk, Richmond and Washington, D.C., and are led by the American Family Association.
Bailey Dwiggins, programming director at WSET, says the show is not that bad. "There's not much to it ... when compared with 'Saturday Night Live' or the daytime soaps."
The association says 27 ABC affiliates are not carrying the show. Dwiggins says the number is 17. There are 220 affiliates in the country.
A protest won't make any difference to the show's scheduled premiere on Sept. 21 at 10 p.m. Dwiggins said he's telling viewers: "Why don't you watch an episode or two and decide for yourself?" When he saw it, he said, "I was somewhat disappointed." It wasn't the sensational show it's been made out to be. "It's pretty ordinary fare."
\ WDBJ's Cecily Tynan is off to Las Vegas.
"I'm not becoming a showgirl," despite some of the jokes she's gotten from coworkers, she said.
Tynan left WDBJ (Channel 7) - her last day was Aug. 20 - to become the only female weatherperson in the Las Vegas market at KTNV, an ABC affiliate. She will also do some anchoring.
Tynan, a Connecticut native, joined WDBJ as an intern in 1990 when she was a junior at Washington and Lee University. She returned the next year and was hired as a weekend reporter.
She says she's sad to go but excited about moving West. She was ready for a change, so "I might as well make it a big one," Tynan said. She is driving the 2,000 miles with her boyfriend and two dogs.
\ WDBJ is looking for a bureau in Danville. The station expects to get corporate approval for the bureau by October, said Jim Shaver, vice president of news and programming. A reporter and photographer will be hired to staff the office, and it will be fully equipped for live broadcasts, he said. Without a high viewership in Danville, Pittsylvania County could be taken out of the Roanoke-Lynchburg market and drawn into the Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem market as was Patrick County.
A bureau will make it easier to cover news events in that area, Shaver said. "There's a lot of news down there."
It's a pain for John Carlin, anchor at WSLS (Channel 10), to shake hands these days.
Carlin broke both his elbows in a mountain bike race at Snowshoe, W.Va., earlier this month. His doctor recommended no slings or casts, saying his arms would heal better if he moved them as much as he could bear. Carlin can't quite straighten his arms yet, but they're healing well, he says.
Carlin was in about fifth place in the race when he hit some gravel going down hill and wrecked. He had to push his bike back up the hill and had no idea his arms were broken until he went to the hospital that night.
He took only two days off last week. "I hate to miss work. It would've been one [day], but my wife and assistant news director talked me into it."
Typing was a breeze once he got his arms propped in a comfortable position, he says, but answering the phone was awkward because he couldn't lift it to his ear.
\ After 41 years, Lewis "Lou" Sydnor is retiring Sept. 1 from WSLS.
A Roanoke native, Sydnor started out as a studio cameraman shooting shows such as "Ed and Andy" and "Klub Kwiz." He was promoted to technical director in the '70s and kept that position until today. He graduated from Lucy Addison High School in 1947 and was drafted into the Army during his first year at Bluefield State College.
\ Billboards across town are announcing "Oprah is coming to Virginia." For those of you wondering what this is all about, "The Oprah Winfrey Show" is moving from WDBJ to WSET. Her show will premiere on Channel 13 on Sept. 6 at 8 p.m. It was pushed to a later time because of the Jerry Lewis telethon that afternoon. "Oprah" will air daily at 5 p.m.
Wave-lengths is an occasional column about radio and television news in Western Virginia. Call staff writer Melanie Hatter with news at 981-3251.
by CNB