Thursday, February 10, 2000

UPN programs bump C-SPAN on Heartland

UPN's new local affiliate, still struggling to find viewers after taking over UPN's programming from the Tejano music video channel last year, gets a berth on Heartland Wireless Cable starting Feb. 24. KTOV/UPN will be seen on Heartland channel 2 (replacing C-SPAN).
   Falcon Cable added KTOV recently on channel 52. KTOV's sister station, PAX-TV affiliate KXPX, can be seen on Falcon channel 51.
   So far AT&T Cable, which serves the greatest number of cable subscribers in this area, has not budged in deciding there's no room for KTOV or KXPX.
   UPN airs such shows as "Star Trek: Voyager," "WWF Smackdown!" and "I Dare You."
   Radio waves
   Local Fall 1999 Arbitron results have been delayed, said the ratings company. The listener survey numbers, usually available by the end of January, will now come out at the end of February. . . AMFM, Inc., this area's largest station group, has promoted Paula Newell to program director for KNCN-FM/101.3. Alma Vela, midday personality on KSAB-FM/99.9, is now program director for all six AMFM stations (KMXR, KNCN, KRYS-AM and FM, KSAB and KUNO). Scott Johnson, morning drivetime DJ on KMXR-FM/93.9, adds account executive to his duties there. "Big" Frank Edwards now does evenings on-air at KRYS-FM/99.1. Before that he was the evening DJ at crosstown rival KOUL-FM/103.7. . . . KNCN/FM101.3's longtime morning star Rex Gabriel recently flew out to the Left Coast for a job interview at a station where ex-C-101 program director Kelli Cluque works. Doesn't look like he's taking their offer though, even though it would have meant a substantial salary bump. . . "Mefistofele" receives its Texaco-Metropolitan Opera Radio premiere at 12:30 p.m., Feb. 19. The live broadcast will be carried by NPR station KEDT-FM/90.3.
   Grammy whammy
   King High School alum Chris Douridas is up for a Grammy for his work as music supervisor on the award-winning film "American Beauty." Douridas got into his busy career as a movie music guy after years in radio, including a much-praised gig hosting KCRW-FM's "Morning Becomes Eclectic" show in Los Angeles, where he was credited with giving artists such as Beck their first serious airplay.
   Douridas also served as music consultant on the films "Grace of My Heart," "Grosse Pointe Blank" and "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery." As an actor, he appeared in the movies "True Stories" and "Strange Days" and on the TV series "Party of Five" and "Ellen."
   High-flyin' gossip
   Winging back from the critics' meetings in Los Angeles , I spotted Patrick Swayze two rows up in first class. He was on his way to Amarillo for location shooting on the film "Waking Up in Reno."
   Sitting next to me was a young Miramax production assistant who filled me in on the movie - it co-stars Billy Bob Thornton, Natasha Richardson and Charlize Theron - and gossiped (in a nice way) about up-and-comers.
   Freddie Prinze Jr., is THE next big thing, according to the Miramax guy, who has recently worked on three of Prinze's teen-oriented films, including the just-released "Down to You." Watch for "Boy and Girl," due out this spring, starring Prinze and "Blair Witch" actress Heather Donahue. Prinze, said the movie guy, is one of the nicest, best behaved young actors working in Hollywood.
   Swayze, by the way, looked a bit haggard as he slumped into his airplane seat. He was dressed in baggy jeans, a brown leather Planet Hollywood jacket (now probably worth more than shares of stock in that failed restaurant chain). He had a three-day growth of beard and a gimme cap pulled low over greasy hair. Let's hope that look was for whatever role he plays in the new flick.
  
  
  

 
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