ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 5, 1996 TAG: 9603050077
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Channel Surfing
SOURCE: CODY LOWE
Rick Segall, who has been the "Spirit of Virginia" reporter on WSLS (Channel 10) for the past two years, is moving on to a bigger audience.
Segall will be seen on NBC-affiliated stations around the country beginning this week on a new program called "Real Life." The show, produced by Segall's new employer, Sunbeam Productions of Miami, is a new concept, said WSLS News Director Bill Foy.
"It's slice-of-life programming," Foy said, with news and feature stories of "real people doing real things." The idea seems similar to the "Spirit of Virginia" reports Segall has been producing at Channel 10, which "recognize the heroes and celebrate the good things about life in Virginia."
The new network program will compete against one of the most popular daytime shows in the country, "The Price Is Right," on CBS.
The "Real Life" producers had seen feeds of Segall's stories to NBC News and initially asked if he could be a regular contributor to their new show - which premiered Monday at 11 a.m. They liked Segall's work so much they hired him as their full-time Southern regional reporter, Foy said.
This is Segall's last week at Channel 10. He'll be moving to Atlanta as his base for the new job.
Foy described Segall as a "workhorse" who was always "looking for a more creative way to tell a story." At WSLS, Segall wrote his own stories, videotaped them, edited them and did post-production work on them. "He was the very best videotape editor" at the station, Foy said.
Segall, 25, is a native of Ohio and graduate of Northwestern University.
Cox Communications has begun what will be quarterly broadcasts of a locally produced news magazine show called "Good News."
The first program of the year, which began airing this month on "WCOX" Channel 9, includes stories on the Harrison Museum of African-American Culture, Roanoke City School's "Partnership in Success" program, the Achievement Center, Explore Park and a group of retired paratroopers and glidermen from the 82nd Airborne Division.
The show will continue to air through March on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7:30 and 10 p.m., and on Mondays and Fridays at 8:30 p.m.
Cox Communications serves 55,000 customers in Roanoke, Roanoke County and Salem.
Gerald W. Heilman, who has been president and general manager of WSET-TV (Channel 13) for almost six years, will be leaving soon to take over operation of two TV stations in Alabama.
Heilman, 53, will be moving from one Allbritton Communications operation to another.
He will move to the Birmingham-Tuscaloosa-Anniston, Ala., region to oversee operations of WCFT and WJSU. Heilman will be managing the consolidation of the stations' operations and studios, and switching their affiliation from CBS to ABC.
Besides the Roanoke and Alabama stations, Allbritton owns stations in Washington, D.C.; Little Rock, Ark.; Tulsa, Olka., and Charleston, S.C.
The call letters WLQE now identify two radio stations in the Roanoke-Lynchburg market.
The Federal Communications Commission has approved changing the call letters of WYMY (106.9 FM) to WLQE, the same as its sister station at 880 on the AM dial.
The stations simultaneously broadcast "adult standards" of big band and swing music. Both also have hourly newscasts from ABC Radio.
The FM station is licenced to Bedford City and the AM to Moneta, where the stations' studios are.
A new program, "Saturday Night Swing" hosted by Doug St. Clair, will debut on the stations Saturday from 7 until 10 p.m. The first show will feature the music of Glenn Miller. Subsequent "party atmosphere" programs will include big-band and swing artists such as the Dorseys, Benny Goodman and Stan Kenton, as well as newer artists like Barry Manilow, Harry Connick Jr. and The Spitfire Band.
Some of the most dramatic demonstrations of the power of nature - blizzards, tornadoes, hurricanes and Nor'easters - will be explored in a new documentary on The Weather Channel in March.
The show, "The Power of Weather," is "designed to appeal to parents who want to encourage their children to have an interest in science," according to promotional material from the cable network. The program will demonstrate the basic science principles that give rise to each type of storm and will be presented by a teen-age weather student along with network meteorologist Jim Cantore.
The show premieres March 17 at 8 p.m. and will be repeated March 18 at 1 p.m.
LENGTH: Medium: 89 linesby CNB