THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, April 18, 1995 TAG: 9504180044
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
LOCAL TV notes and nuggets to consider while you wait for Kato Kaelin's appearance on ``Roseanne'':
At least you'll still be able to see the guy - Pat Murphy, the bulldog of local talk radio, who lost his gig on WTAR last week when his bosses replaced him with out-of-town talkmeister Don Imus, will not go gently into the night. WAVY news director Gary Stokes said you'll continue to see Murphy on Channel 10's local noon news twice a week - Tuesdays and Fridays.
He'll be doing for WAVY what he's done for years on radio - thrash bureaucrats and politicians who score high on Murphy's Dumb-o-Meter.
He said it was not a bitter split at WTAR.
And no surprise. ``I saw it coming many miles down the road,'' he said. And the severance pay was generous, said Murphy.
Other doings at WAVY: Weekend anchor Kelly Wright leaves soon for a similar position at a station in Raleigh, N.C. A reader in Chesapeake, Jerry Hughes, buzzed me on Infoline (640-5555, Category 3333) to wonder out loud if WAVY 5 p.m. co-anchor Carolyn Castleberry is with child. Stokes confirmed that Carolyn and John Castleberry - he's the sports guys on WTKR - are expecting a baby in May. You readers notice everything.
The trick is to think positive - With the gang from ``Wheel of Fortune'' poised to descend on Norfolk to tape a parcel of shows starting April 28, here's advice for contestants from a 16-year-old big winner who lives in Suffolk: Stay focused. Think positive. Watch and study the flow of the show on TV (carried here nightly at 7 by WVEC). Think vowels. Think consonants.
And if you are so inclined, pray to the big Wheelmaster in the sky. All of this worked for Kristi Mizelle and her friend, Shauna Fitts of Littleton, N.C., who won $86,190 during ``Wheel's'' recent My Best Friend Week competition.
``We had wonderful chemistry,'' said Kristi.
She was among 74 contestants selected when ``Wheel of Fortune'' conducted auditions in Norfolk last summer. About a dozen will take part in the Norfolk tapings. While the ``Wheel of Fortune'' producers are in the area later this month, they will hold additional auditions at Old Dominion University and the College of William and Mary. They'll be choosing contestants to be called on later in 1995.
It sounds like a sexist remark to me, guys - It hasn't been very long since comedian, movie and TV actor and producer Martin Lawrence married a local girl (Pat Southall of Chesapeake) in a grand Norfolk wedding. When Martin was on CBS with David Letterman the other night, Letterman asked Martin about life as a married man.
``Just as long as she brings me biscuits, everything will be fine,'' said Lawrence. Among their wedding gifts, said Martin, were many butter knives.
``For her to use to put butter on my biscuits,'' he said.
Bet he caught hell from Pat. Get your own biscuits, Martin.
The kids look and sound better on cable - Hasn't it been great watching reruns of ``My So-Called Life'' on MTV weeknights at 7? Love the kids on that show. MTV will put on all 19 episodes this month in the hope of creating a new buzz for the series and convincing the ABC brass to renew it.
Have you noticed how much better the show looks and sounds on MTV? It's a sharp direct-from-satellite-to-cable picture compared to a clunky ol' over-the-air signal that has to be amplified for cable. Viva ``Life''!
The thought of the day from Infoline - Billie E. in Elizabeth City, N.C., on the daytime talk shows: ``I can handle the sleaze. These shows are great entertainment for people like me who don't have a life.'' MEMO: If writing letters or calling Infoline isn't your thing, you can still
reach me on the Internet at rsue30a(AT)prodigy.com).
by CNB