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Christening of new local TV station Channel 19 SondeBy KEN GOTTLIEBC-T TV WriterAt first glance, Hubert Payne doesn't seem much different than thousands of other expectant fathers.“I'm nervous as hell,” he said during an interview this week. “That’s my baby. You’re always excited about your baby.”THE ONLY thing to distinguish Payne from all those other fathers-to-be is that his “baby” isn’t going to be a boy or a girl.It’s going to be a bouncing 25,000-square-foot television station.Payne, you see, is the father — and godfather — of Cleveland’s newest station, WOIO-TV Channel 19, scheduled to come bawling into the world Sunday morning at 8 with a rerun of * “Happy Days.”Only a power failure or the collapse of the station's broadcast tower could postpone the date and time of delivery.THE NEW STATION can bepicked up with a conventional UHF antenna or on a cable system. All area cable systems will carry it.Payne is co-founder, coowner, and general manager of the station, and has been working since the late ’70s to buy it and get it on the air.He and his fellow owners have had to clear many financial and legal hurdles, some created by media moguls interested in acquiring Channel 19 for themselves.Now that the blessed event is near, the station has sent out giant printed announcements.THE FRONT says, “When you’ve been in labor for over six years, it sure feels good to deliver.” Then inside, “Our Baby’s Here!” over a picture of the station logo on a television screen.Having had all that time to prepare, you might think Payne and his staff have just beensitting back and relaxing duringthe final weeks prior to sign-on.“Oh, God, no,” Payne said. “From minute to minute there’s a new fire breaking out somewhere. I'm walking around with my fire extinguisher puttingeach one out.As tough as it has been for the station to get on the air, staying on the air is going to be even tougher.CHANNEL 19 will become the third independent (not affiliated with a network) station in Cleveland, joining WUAB-TV Channel 43 and WCLQ-TV Channel 61.All three will be offeringroughly the same kind of programming, mostly reruns of old network shows, old movies and some sporting events.Channel 43 is firmly established and has most local pro sports telecasts locked up. Channel 61 is still struggling to prove itself.‘One of the three will have to become marginal, Payne said.if'T DON’T want to knock my competitors, but our station manager (Dennis Thatcher) used to work for 61. He came here for a reason.”Maybe so, but what will thenew station have going for it that the other stations don’t have?Well, a snazzy logo, for one thing. Instead of using numerals, the station number is written out in script.selected reruns and old moviesthat will prove more popular than those on channels 43 and 61.There are a couple of interesting scheduling maneuvers, however.The company that designedthe logo and promotional graphics is the same one that designed those flashy graphics you may have seen on WTBS, the cable superstation.“WE'RE GOING to have a fresh, new original look,” Payne said. “Different from anything else in the market.”As for programming, Payne can only hope his experts haveWeekday afternoons from 12:30-5 have been labeled “Laughternoon” and feature hit comedy shows of the past such as “I Love Lucy “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “Get Smart,” and others.Then there's “S noon at the Oldies stretch featuring Will Travel,” “ “Sergeant PrestorWeeknigbts wilargely by a mo1 with late nightdramas such ascock Presents,Mannix.99ifTHE COMEDY cavalcade is for those who don’t like the soap operas and old movies offered at the same time on other stations.We've paid ve tion to what other market have of! said.“We’re tryingthings not otherwi “We want to m In front of the worthwhile.”
Newspaper Details
The Chronicle Telegram
Elyria, Ohio, US
Sat, May 18, 1985
Page 24
Full Page
Clipped by
Nathan O.
OH, USA 30 Oct 2022
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