Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 15, 1995 TAG: 9505160016
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
General Manager Randy Smith says he will not renew the popular talker because the "topics and abrasiveness of the show" do not fit into "the image we are trying to maintain as a community leader."
"It's hard not to renew a highly rated show," such as Lake's, Smith said. But despite the ratings, the show also draws a significant number of viewer complaints.
The final straw, he said, came this winter with a "disgusting" show entitled "My Mama's a Whore."
No word yet on whether any other station in the market will pick up Lake's syndicated show or what will replace it on Channel 10 come September.
Smith said his station will begin showing syndicated reruns of "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" in the fall of 1996.
In other news at Channel 10, reporters Rucks Russell and Tony Berlin are moving on to "good opportunities" in larger markets, Smith said.
Russell, who has been at WSLS since March 1994, is moving to the ABC affiliate in Orlando, Fla., the nation's 23rd largest market. Berlin, who's been at Channel 10 exactly a year, will be at the CBS affiliate in Dayton, Ohio, the 52nd largest market.
Roanoke-Lynchburg ranks 66th among the nation's television markets.
The station should be ready to name the reporters' replacements as early as next week, Smith said.
The nation's smaller cable television companies may be raising rates to their subscribers under a new ruling by the Federal Communications Commission.
The commission last week voted to allow the systems to raise their rates by as much as 100 percent under certain circumstances, though industry lawyers were quoted by the Associated Press as predicting much lower increases.
Ervin Stauss, manager of Simmons Cable Company, which serves Radford, pointed out that small companies like his were seriously affected by mandatory rate decreases imposed in 1993 and 1994.
The rate structure "stifled a lot of new building opportunities and upgrade possibilities," Stauss said. "We didn't have the cash flow to reinvest" because virtually all funds were being used "to keep the operation going."
Stauss said Simmons, which is owned by American Cable Entertainment of Stanford, Conn., had no immediate plans to increase rates and has not yet had time to study the FCC ruling.
The change affects only cable companies serving fewer than 15,000 subscribers and owned by companies with a total of no more than 400,000 subscribers.
Western Virginia's largest cable TV provider, Cox Cable Roanoke, is not affected by the rules change.
A national radio trade magazine has named Robynn Jaymes of WYYD (107.9) it's medium market music director of the year.
Gavin Magazines made the presentation earlier this week. Jaymes is assistant program director, music director and afternoon on-air personality at the market's top-rated radio station.
Contemporary Christian radio station SPIRIT-FM (WRXT) now is broadcasting on a second frequency in the Roanoke Valley to compensate for signal deficiencies in some areas.
The station is now on 103.7 as well as 90.3.
After it signed on last summer, station manager Barry Armstrong said, it quickly became obvious that the signal was difficult to receive in many parts of the Roanoke Valley, though it was stronger in Bedford and Lynchburg.
The new frequency is designed to reach Roanoke, Salem and Vinton with a stronger signal.
The station, which is not affiliated with any denomination, is listener-supported.
WSET (Channel 13) is trying to cash in on the ABC television network's recent win in the national ratings war with a new billboard campaign that tells motorists that ABC "equals" WSET-13.
In the ratings period that ended early last month, ABC won its first prime-time ratings competition since the 1979-80 season. ABC had five of the top 10 series ("Home Improvement," "Grace Under Fire," "Monday Night Football," "NYPD Blue" and "Roseanne."
The surprise in the national ratings came in the breakdown for viewers in the 18-49 age group - the one the networks consider most important - where Fox came in third, nudging slightly ahead of CBS, which dropped to fourth.
by CNB