THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 18, 1995 TAG: 9510180052
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: LARRY BONKO
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
WHEN WTKR's new boss sent meteorologist Duane Harding up to the station's roof, it wasn't to wait for Dasher, Dancer, Prancer and Vixen.
From now on, Harding and the other weather reporters at the Norfolk-based CBS affiliate will be discussing highs and lows from what general manager Elden A. Hale Jr. calls ``Duane's backyard on the roof.''
What about when it pours?
Harding will not leave the roof.
And when it snows?
Same story. Harding stays.
If thunder and lightning is in the forecast, what then?
Harding leaves the roof. WTKR won't put the meteorologist at risk in a thunderstorm. However, he will be up there in winter's chill.
``The day when you break out the parka is drawing near,'' co-anchor LeAnne Rains said to Harding earlier this week. (For the record, WAVY's Don Slater has been a roof dweller during forecasts long before the folks at WTKR thought of it).
WTKR's decision to pump new life into its weather forecasts - Harding lately appears to have overdosed on caffeine - came last week when the station was reborn as ``News Channel 3.'' Gone is ``TV3.''
Hale unveiled a new set, with about 12 shades of blue in it, designed by Brian Scott and built under the supervision of Jay Vest of Sce-Con Scenic Services in Chesapeake. Plus, they've put in soft lighting that flatters everyone, including Rains, the woman of 1,000 hair colors and styles.
This week's look is great, LeAnne. Keep it.
But there is something I don't like about the new studio set. I hate that ``window'' in the shape of Virginia. It's used to pull in reports from the field - remotes.
Here's Kurt Williams from the Million-Man March in Washington, D.C. See his head where Northern Virginia should be.
Isn't that map of Virginia an affront to Channel 3's viewers in North Carolina? Isn't it an affront to good taste, period?
Hale has been making over WTKR's news image almost from the day he was assigned to Norfolk by the station's new owners, The New York Times Co. He quickly expanded local weekend newscasts, put a WTKR-produced newscast on United Paramount affiliate WGNT weeknights at 10, ordered a new set built, hired Rains when she returned from a year of working in Europe and recently added a weekly show about outdoor life hosted by Jim Hale.
There are two new weather reporters on the payroll, and Elden Hale is far from finished.
The man who once said it will take at least two years to elevate WTKR's news operation from last to first in the ratings, promises more changes. It is all part of a Times Co. plan to make local programming a priority, said Hale, who kept the title of executive vice president, programming and development when he came to Norfolk from another Times station in Pennsylvania.
The changes at WTKR have come quickly, and they have been extensive. How are the viewers reacting?
From among the readers who reached me on Infoline to comment about the new look on WTKR, here is the opinion of Patrick Belcher of Virginia Beach: ``Get Duane in off the roof. He's too classy to be doing a New York-type television stunt like this.''
You are invited to register your comments on Infoline (640-5555, Category 3333) about the dawning of ``News Channel 3.'' How do you like Rains' hair this week? by CNB