THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 28, 1996 TAG: 9602270044
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: LARRY BONKO
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
LOCAL TV NEWS and views to ponder while you wait for Mariah Carey to march off with a bunch of Grammys on CBS tonight at 8:
What's the difference between partly sunny and partly cloudy? Stacey Shoecraft in Virginia Beach, who was an air traffic controller in the Navy, called to say I sure must be dumb if I don't know about a ``calm wind,'' which WVEC meteorologist Jeff Lawson talks about all the time.
If the winds are blowing at three knots or less, they are ``calm winds'' in the meteorological sense, said Shoecraft, who had to know about such things when she was in the tower.
Soon after I heard from Shoecraft, Lawson was on the phone to say the atmosphere is never still, always moving. And when the winds are stirring at one to two miles an hour, they are ``calm winds,'' said Lawson. OK. I buy it.
Mini-profile of Lawson: He's from Springfield, Va., lettered in cross-country in high school, earned $211 a week in his first job in broadcasting.
This is a great segue into another weather guy item. Long before WTKR sent weather reporters up on the roof to see which way the calm winds are blowing, WAVY was doing it on the 5:30 p.m. newscast. The length of WAVY's rooftop forecast, 2 1/2 minutes or so, is about a minute too much in unpleasant weather, said forecaster Jim Lawrence.
``It doesn't take long for my teeth to start chattering in January.'' Rooftop weather is also hard to handle in the summer because you bake up there, said Lawrence. Asphalt. Hot, hot, hot.
``It's torture.''
The torture is brief for the WAVY forecasters. Once a day. On WTKR, however, it's shake and bake all day long, from dawn's early light until almost midnight.
A reader from the Eastern Shore said she wonders if the Channel 3 rooftop weathermen will wear shorts and tank tops come July. How about forecasting in the nude? That'll do more for the ratings than the News Channel 3 $10,000 giveaway.
Every little bit helps. Readers have taken my suggestion to send $29.95 to shelters for battered women instead of buying the O.J. Simpson tells all tape that he has been promoting all over TV lately.
Sandra C. Becker, executive director at Help and Emergency Response (H.E.R.) in Portsmouth sends letters of thanks with this comment, ``Not only is the donation appreciated, but the fact that it is given in protest of the Simpson tape has very special meaning to us.''
The shelters need money to expand. Last year, 31 percent of the women and their children who came to Virginia shelters for help were turned away because there was no room for them.
It's Ricki all the way. When Princess Anne High School sophomore Jessica Terrana polled her classmates about daytime talk shows for a story she was doing in the school's paper, Ricki Lake was voted best host. Why are these shows considered so cool, I asked Terrana?
Yes, they're trashy, she said. ``Kids like that.'' And Ricki is their favorite trashmeister.
Here's another neat little segue. Speaking of talk-show hosts, Izette Merritt is a reader in Virginia Beach who wants to know if Montel Williams' CBS drama, ``Matt Waters,'' is coming back to primetime.
It will be back, says CBS. But the network won't say when the former Norfolk Navy guy resumes his role as good teacher Matt. Same story with ``American Gothic.'' It'll return soon to CBS.
I'm still not convinced. Tom Kennedy, an English teacher in Norfolk, says I'm way off base in criticizing the sports guys on TV for saying ``time outs'' instead of ``times out,'' which I think is better English,
Kennedy says ``timeouts'' is OK because it is a plural noun. MEMO: You can reach me with your comments or questions by calling Infoline at
640-5555, press 2486, or by dialing (804) 446-2486. by CNB