THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, April 3, 1995 TAG: 9504010047
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
LOCAL TV BITS and pieces to munch on while you wait to see who Julia Roberts dates on the rebound:
If you guessed the station sold for $100 million, you were close - When The New York Times Co. made a deal March 9 to buy WTKR, CBS affiliate in Norfolk, the Times was mum about how much it paid for Channel 3. The seller, Narragansett Television, buttoned up, too.
Why such a deep, dark secret?
The price was $76 million.
The figure was released to Broadcasting & Cable Magazine by the Federal Communications Commission. At the same time it was dealing WTKR to the Times Co., Narragansett sold its other station (WPRI in Providence, R.I.) to CBS.
The Times Co. also owns stations in Scranton, Pa.; Huntsville, Ala.; Memphis, Tenn.; Moline, Ill.; and Fort Smith, Ark. The employees in Norfolk wait for the inevitable changes that come when a new owner sweeps into town.
What changes would you make if you bought Channel 3? Order blazers for anchorman Ed Hughes? Call my Infoline number (640-5555, press 2486) and let me know.
One minute you're out of a job and the next minute you're running two radio stations - Before the Times Co. bought WTRK, there was another blockbuster deal in local TV. Fox affiliate WTVZ was sold to a Baltimore company, which made one of those sweeping changes that usually come with new ownership.
WTVZ's general manager, Elise Kennett, was cleaning out her desk at Channel 33 in Norfolk before the ink on the sales contract was dry. The new buyer, the Sinclair group, will operate Channel 33 without a general manager in Norfolk.
Weep not for the gracious Kennett. She is back in the executive suite as the newly appointed general manager of radio stations in this market that sell themselves as 2WD and Z-104. At WWDE-FM, she replaces Dick Lamb, who will continue to do his morning show.
You couldn't drag him away from a microphone with a team of wild ponies.
Let's do some name dropping - What's going on here? One minute she's Carol Novotny. Then she's Carol Horton. The change came when the WTKR anchor and weather reporter wed recently. . . . Melissa Charbonneau, the Marie Osmond look-alike who reported on consumer affairs for WAVY, has been hired by the Christian Broadcasting Network's news division. She reports on ``The 700 Club'' out of Washington, D.C. . . . From the where-are-they-now department: You older couch potatoes out there will remember when Len Hathaway reported sports for WAVY in a slam-bang, sweaty Biff Barnes style in the 1970s. Today he's a spokesman for the Bureau of Prisons in South Carolina. Isn't it about time the local TV stations recruited a woman to do sports?
Maybe Barney will write a check to make up the shortfall - With the budget cutters zeroing in on public television, threatening cuts as high as 30 percent by 1997, WHRO in its Spring Membership Drive aimed high with a goal of $275,000 in pledges. Did Channel 15 reach the goal? Nope.
But the drive wasn't a bust.
More than 2,500 viewers kicked in with $230,000. That's enough to cover the cost of this year's programming commitments, said Donna Hudgins, director of communications. But what happens to Channel 15's programming in 1996, when the station first feels the effects of the GOP cost-cutting.
What shows will be dropped? Stay tuned. I'd just die if WHRO chucked the Saturday afternoon quilting show.
``Wheel of Fortune'' Update - Still no word from the city of Norfolk, the Navy or WVEC about how and when tickets for the 10 ``Wheel of Fortune'' tapings at the Norfolk Naval Base in Norfolk will be made available. But I have this news: ``Wheel of Fortune'' has been selected as the official game show of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
Pat Sajak and Vanna White are scheduled to tape 44 shows in that city next year. That's only 34 more than Norfolk gets. by CNB