Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 6, 1995 TAG: 9509070023
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Last Friday at 6 a.m., the Roanoke Valley's long-time broadcaster of light pop music switched to what is being called the ARROW format. The name is built on the acronym for ``All Rock & Roll Oldies."
Station promos now feature the sound of an arrow swishing through the air and striking a target.
Operations manager Bill Bratton said the station had been considering a format change "for some time" and came to believe "there is an audience waiting for this oldies format."
A Scottsdale, Ariz., consultant designed the format and organized the playlist of songs from the 1960s through the 1980s.
The format focuses on "highly recognizable" songs from that period, Bratton said. People "will recognize just about every song we play."
The format de-emphasizes what Bratton called "mindless chatter" from disc jockeys. The station will provide weather updates, school closings and other emergency information, but will not play up on-air personalities.
Though he's confident the new format will be popular with listeners, Bratton acknowledged that the first-day's reaction was split about 50-50 for and against.
"People don't like to change, but we hope they will give us a chance," he said.
"This has been a very successful format" in other markets, he said. "There is a definite hole in the market for this music."
WPVR ranked seventh overall in the most recent Arbitron ratings for the Roanoke-Lynchburg market.
Cox Communications is airing a locally produced news magazine show, ``Good News," this month on the cable company's channel 9.
The program will be shown at 7 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays on Roanoke cable. The focus will be on "local people, organizations and businesses that represent the area in a positive light," said Sharron Davies, who hosts the show.
This month's program includes segments on a school-based Teen Outreach Program for community service, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and a new business, Cory Everson's Aerobics and Fitness for Women.
Folks who have those small satellite TV dishes that are popping up all over the place are getting bonus baseball this month.
Those who buy services from PRIMESTAR and DirecTV will be able to pick from just about every Major League baseball game in the country without any extra charge for the rest of the season.
The programmers - and Major League Baseball - are hoping the promotion will help attract subscribers to next season's package, which will sell for about $150.
The direct broadcast satellite dishes are small receivers that mount in yards or on home roofs or walls to receive powerful digital satellite signals.
In recent months, many of those home-satellite customers have been receiving unwelcome news from their suppliers: They can no longer receive programs from the major television networks via satellite.
Federal law prohibits satellite delivery of network programming if that programming is available to the customer over the air from a local television affiliate. If the customer could pick up the local signal with the use of an outdoor, rooftop antenna, duplicate satellite programming is forbidden.
Satellite companies must provide over-the-air broadcasters - who have exclusive rights to network programming in their markets - with the addresses of home-satellite subscribers in their areas. The stations may then challenge any households they believe are illegally receiving network programs via satellite.
So far, thousands of home-satellite customers have been identified for Roanoke-Lynchburg broadcasters who have challenged hundreds of them.
by CNB