News Scrapbook 1988

San D iego CA (San Diego Co.) San Diego Union (C ir. D. 217,089) (Cir . S. 341,840) JU 2 1 "I' ', '-11 lffl I'. C, 8

is now dead bringing "a little shOw biz weather" to the forecasts.

far. I 886 Channel 8's talk show, 'Leitner Live,' q~

as the weekend anchor. I was 27, and I thought 1 was the new Peter Jennings." Then, to use his own word, he was "demoted," made a reporter and fill-in anchor. For the past six months, he said, he had been look- ing elsewhere for work. "I think I was getting punished the last six months. I was sent to the New Jersey bureau, which is like being sent to Siberia. But I did cover the Baby M trial. In New York, it's real difficult not to get a good story." Because of cutbacks by ABC's new owner, Capital Cities, and other new corporate owners of New York stations, said Mendte, the Big Apple lately "wasn't a nice place to be" for TV journalists. "There are a lot of people trying to get out." He said he would not "pretend I'm a trained meteorologist. rm covering it like another beat. "I can cut through the isobars and pressure systems, and Jet peo- ple know in an entertaining way if its going to be cloudy or rainy or sunny. "I use il)formation from CBS,

Her contract in Cleveland runs through the end of the year and, said Holtzman, "it all depends on when or if they're willing to release her." Swoboda described herself as "very interested," adding, "Things are definitely in Jim's favor. Noth- ing's final. Our management is out of town, 1 don't even know where I stand here. Meanwhile, Swoboda is also being considered as co-host of a national- ly syndicated, entertainment-orient- ed sports show, to be called "In Sports." The other co-host of the new show, described as a sports-ori- ented "Entertainment Tonight," will be Ahmad Rashad. That job, should it really happen, is expected to be compatible with her news anchoring duties - whether in Cleveland or San Diego. And at what hour would Swoboda anchor Channel B's news? Said Holtzman: "A lot of that depends on Allison." Cool and windy: The brash, talk- ative Larry Mendte, who last week took over the weather duties at • Channel 8, is no scientific prognosti- cator He came here after 3½ years as reporter and sometime anchor at WABC, the ABC-owned TV station in New York City, and offered a blunt description of his career there: "I didn't do weather. I was hired

"It's a lot show biz weather," he said. "It's not a little, it's a lot." Priorilie • : Channel 10 will con- tinue to carry ABC's Monday night baseball games at 7 p.m., delayed from the network starting times of 5 or 6 p.m. Ed Quinn, general manager, of- fered a frank explanation: "It's just to get our news pro- gramming in. We've had such good ratings with that, I don't want to give anybody an opportunity to sample somebody else. That's really where it comes from." So, said Quinn, "unless it's a Padre game, we'll delay it. If it's a Padre game, we'll run it live." Ratings for the games, he said, "have not been real strong. I had to make a decision between running baseball live and doing news, and I thought more people in San Diego were interested in the news than were interested in the Monday Night game of the week." A miracle: A90-minute special on Mother Teresa's May 31 visit to the San Diego area and Tijuana, produced by Southwestern Cable and University of San Diego, will run at 7 to 8:!lll p.m. Thursday on local cable public access channels. You can see it on: Southwestern 15; Cox 24; Daniels 36 and Cablevision of Coronado, 6A.

d Lei n a c noon talk how, o rec ntly planned at KFMB-TV, Chann 18, now

On the Air Robert P. Laurence KCST-TV, Channel 39, which briefly ran "Donahue" opposite Winfrey before hollering "Uncle!" and returning him to 9 a.m., will move him to 3 p.m. m September, to be followed by "Geraldo," the Geraldo Rivera chat bow which now rui:is at 10 p.m. weeknights on X~TV, Channel 6. :·we need to develop an audience flow in the afternoon that's infor- mation oriented," said Channel 39 general manager Neil Derrough. •·we need a compatible audience flow, and we need to keep some of that female audience that comes out of the soaps. " 'Oprah' 1s one of the strongest how in televi ion You've got to take your best hot With this line- up, we have a good shot at being real competitive." Crui1in': Larry Himmel, who called himself The Cruiser during h1 days as a rock jock at KGB radio, and who e ''San Diego at Large·• was recently canceled at Ch nnel 8, may soon cruise on over to Channel 39. Himmel has continued his comi- cal commentaries on Channel 8 newti on Mondays and Fridays. But ources say he's close to making a deal to do unspecified "special proj-

pp ar to have died a-bornmg mid Jock ying for late-afternoon ralmg. and t lk- how clutter. "Th re ha. be n ome concern lh1 m1ghl nol be the righl time to go with 1l," id the laconic Jim Holtzman, ne dir ctor at Channel 8

Ted Leitner His talk show canned. ects" at 39. More at 8: Allison Ross, whose 10-year tenure at Channel 8 makes her easily the city's senior news an- chor Friday continued her contract holdout. Her contract has expired, she's been offered a raise, but wants a bigger raise. Meanwhile, Holtzman continues looking covetously at Robin Swobo- da, 30 (no relation to ex-Mets nght fielder Ron Swoboda), co-anchor at Cleveland's WJW-TV. Holtzman last week said there's "a good chance we might hire Robin. It's a matter of timing."

from the National Weather Service. I look at the map on the back page of USA Today. I look out the win- dow." He also hopes to do his weather reports from the backyards of viewers. I asked if that meant he'd be

(Cir . O. 32,195) (Cir . S. 34,568) JU 8

.Jlffr11 '• , C 8 Hr rlU LA ha·rdresser moves scissors, artwork to Vista rin of the state office ot Emergen-

ordering the utility to return $ll0 million lo its customers. The mon- ey was overcollected from January through .July 1988. The PCC also ordered AT&T to cut its expenses by $4.4 million in 1988 and to cut its intrastate long-distance rates by about 10 percent , or !15 168 million. Random notes: • Cogeneration is the subject of a day-long seminar to be held Thurs- day at the Universit of San Diego. "Energy ngineering in a Competitive Environment" will focus on cogeneration as a way to meet future needs fo r electricitv. Registration for the eminar is $95 if received by Wednesday. Regis- trat ion at the door is $120. For more information call 578-5910. • Tips Unlimited Network meets at 7:15 a.m. every Tuesday at the P each Tree Restaurant in San Marcos. Tips Unlimited is an organization t hat tries to give members information and timely advice . For further information call 744-1560 or 744-2491.

San Diego, Calif. Southern Cross (Cir. W. 27 ,500)

Shoptalk

cv Servi,es. · •·At least 10 of the top 100 Cali- fo rnia corporll.tions will cease to exist aft er a big earthquake." Gue- rin told 500 San Diego County business leaders attending a disas- te r recover.· seminar. Planning for such an event is vi- tal to a company's long-te rm sur- vival, he said. "Your long-term probability of surviving is zip if you (lan't be pro- ductive a fter an earthquake," said Guerin. Because of t he Oct. 1 Whitt ier quake. which caused an estimated $358 million in damage , many small businesses had to fold, he said. ·I don't think it's a question of if we have a major earthquake," he said ."It's a matter of il'hen." AT & T told to cut its rates The California Public Utili· ties Commission recently con- cluded the second and final phase of AT&T Communications of California's general rate case by

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1988

JUL 1

San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) San Diego Magazine {Cir. M. 20,324)

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1988

JUL

"Creative Kids '88," a p, ogram to help students stretch their creative abilities, will be held July 11-22 and July 25-Aug. 25. Cost is $55-60 pl us $150 for special afternoon activities. Call 260-4585. Sports camps for boys and girls ages 8-18 will be held In June, July and August. Cost Is $295 reslden• camp per week or $165-$200 day camp per week. Sessions In tournament and basic tennis, competitive swimming, basketball, soccer, football, volleyball, baseball and outdoor wilderness will be offered. For more, call 260-4593./

bank's prosperity, said Mitchell. 1, expenses related t o t he last H' r's merger betY.een the two banks have been ::ib~orbed, he said. F.scondi

Jll~n•• P c. e 1" 1888 "Eileen Whitaker Watercolors"-_E~hib11ion of works b)' watercolori .t Eileen Whitaker ts on ,iew at Founders Gallery, USO, thru_June 3 . Mo.,,-Fri . noon -5 . USD, tiiaia ~ta Rd . 260-4600, _ .t. 4261. ,;;:,

tough and prison-site issues, the Dukakis camp is trying to focus attention on the vice president's record, including his direc· tion of the South Florida drug task force. "This whole barrage is an effort to divert attention from his own failures with the drug task force," says Dukakls press sec· retary Dayton Duncan. "He was put in charge of the drug war and tried to fight it with photo opportunities and, not surpris· ing!y, the war was,)ost."

nor's legal counsel and a strenuous advo- cate of placing the prison in New Brain· tree, says Mr. Dukakis was "ambivalent to negative" on placing the facility in the community, which vigorously opposed it. "He preferred to expand an old site," says Mr. Rosenfeld, now a senior campaign ad· VIser. "He agreed only when it was very clear we needed an entirely new facil· ity." To counter Mr. Bush's use of the fur·

At an airplane-wing factory here in McCook yesterday, Mr. Dukakis said the furlough policy wasn't a mistake. He ar- gued that 45 states had some sort of fur- lough program, said the federal policy was far more lenient than his state policy and asserted: "The Issue is what have we done to cut crime? What are we doing about drugs?" Mr. Dukakis also has been put on the defensive by an imbroglio surrounding a decision to place a new 500-bed minimum· \- security prison on a rural tract of land once used as a school by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is examining the handling of the decision to buy the 780-acre site in New Braintree, but the bureau's announcement last week that the governor wasn't a subject of the inves- tigation wasn't enough to defuse the is· sue. Dukakis Cites Executive Privilege First Mr. Dukakis denied any acquaint· ance with the owners of the land, but one turned out to be a Dukakis campaign con- tributor who grew up near the governor. Then, compounding his political problems and building suspicions, he is clinging to an "executive privilege" claim that kept key documents in the episode from becom· ing public. Dorothea Thomas-Vitrac. New Brain· tree Selectwoman, meanwhile is question· ing Mr. Dukakis's remark that he didn't have "the slightest idea who owns the property and could care Jess." She says that in a meeting in the governor's office in May 1986, Mr. Dukakis "pointedly asked who the developer was" and was told it was Daniel Striar. Mr. Striar and his partner, Dr. Gary Ja- cobson, told the Boston Globe this week they had no relationship with the governor. denied having any inside information and said they didn't know at the time they pur- chased the land that the state was eyeing it for a prison. Stephen Rosenfeld, who was the gover-

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Moreover, the Dukakis anti-crime rec- ord is impressive. Crime in Massachusetts dropped 13.4% between 1982 and 1986, the second largest decline in the country; the state's homicide rate is less than half the national average. Paul Doherty, executive director of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Po- lice Association, expresses "strong objec- tions" to the former furlough policy but generally praises Gov. Dukakis's record on fighting crime.