THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 1, 1996 TAG: 9603010496
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY BONKO, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Short : 32 lines
The decision by NBC affiliate WAVY to preempt Democrat presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche's 30-minute address Saturday night at 8 was based on economics, not politics, said Channel 10 general manager Ed Munson.
The address, paid for by the La-Rouche Exploratory Committee To Reverse the Accelerating Global Economic and Strategic Crisis, will be carried nationwide by NBC. And the network affiliates in Richmond and Charlottesville are scheduled to broadcast the candidate's talk about ``foreign and domestic economic security.''
WAVY, however, will slip in an old ``Cheers'' episode at 8. Munson gave two reasons. One is because the station will make more money by re-running ``Cheers,'' and in Munson's words, ``we've learned from the past that people would rather watch an entertainment show than a paid political program at that hour.''
LaRouche's spokesman in Northern Virginia, Dana Scanlon, was quick to criticize Munson's decision.
``It's obvious that WAVY wants the citizens of the Norfolk area kept in the dark about how to re-organize U.S. economic and trade relations for a real economic recovery,'' Scanlon said. by CNB