DATE: Monday, November 3, 1997              TAG: 9711010115

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Column 

SOURCE: Larry Bonko 

                                            LENGTH:   86 lines

NEWS DIRECTOR LEAVING WTKR AFTER 6 MONTHS

LOCAL TV NEWS and notes to consider while you wait for Ally McBeal to find Mr. Right:

But you just got here - It seems like only yesterday when WTKR named Old Dominion U. grad Michelle Butt news director. Now she's gone after six months on the job.

That makes it one news director and three reporters who have left local TV in recent weeks - and one weekend anchor who's back to carrying a notebook. On the same day 31-year-old Butt announced she was leaving WTKR, Karen Jones said she's giving up her job as weekend weather reporter at WVEC.

Bonita Billingsley left Channel 13 in October for Maryland. Gerald Owens, whose bosses at WTKR didn't give him the weekend anchor chair that's been vacant since Jan Callaghan started reporting fulltime, will be anchorman for a Washington, D.C., station.

He's good enough to anchor a newscast in the No. 7 market but not good enough to do the job here in market No. 39? I don't get it. How did Channel 3 let him get away?

Butt said she's resigning from WTKR not because there is any bad blood - Butt's words - between her and the Channel 3 brass but because she wants to spend more time with her family. She took the job last June shortly after becoming a mother for the second time.

``It's been a great ride, but now it's time step back from television,'' she said. The search is on for Butt's successor.

At WVEC, Jones says she's giving up TV to get married, live in the country and write romance novels. After her book ``Kingdom of Hearts'' was published earlier this year, Jones locked up a deal to do three more novels. Miss Bubbly is leaving TV for the quiet life in Mathews County.

``It's been tremendous fun, a hoot,'' Jones said of her eight years on the tube. Her husband-to-be is a retired Navy captain. Local TV's revolving door revolves on. . . .

The Fox blitz - Today, it's the channel of Pat Robertson and the Three Stooges. Tomorrow, The Family Channel (based in Virginia Beach) could be the home of the National Football League on cable.

Fox, which bought FAM from Pat and son Tim for more than $1 billion, isn't content with its Sunday afternoon NFL package on the Fox network. Insiders say Fox also wants NFL games for FAM and may outbid ESPN and TNT for Sunday night games.

Bye, bye ``Babylon 5'' - If you're a devotee of the sci-fi series, as is Cheryl Woods in Virginia Beach and others who've reached me on Infoline, be advised that last Thursday morning's episode on WGNT is the final new ``Babylon 5'' until Jan. 21, when the show moves to cable (TNT).

When WGNT bought a new syndicated sci-fi show - the totally abysmal ``Earth: Final Conflict'' - it was finis for ``Babylon 5'' in prime time. Channel 27 played off the last four episodes of season No. 4 Thursdays at 5 a.m., when you usually find ``Kung Fu'' reruns.

Woods and the other Babylonians here say they were treated shabbily by WGNT, and your humble columnist agrees. It will be early in May on TNT when you'll be able to catch up with the four episodes that Channel 27 fed to the insomniacs.

See your vote count - And you thought Local News on Cable was nothing but endless reruns of Jeff Lawson's Skymax weather and Ruth Fantasia's schmoozing with chefs. Come Tuesday, LNC starts justifying its existence with wall-to-wall coverage of state elections, starting at 7 p.m.

WVEC, a partner in LNC with Cox Communications and The Virginian-Pilot, wouldn't dare bump ABC's ``Home Improvement'' and ``NYPD Blue'' to put on the election results. No need now that LNC is here.

The WVEC newsroom gang (including Mike Gooding and Bruce Moore in Richmond) will feed you the election results on LNC from 7 until 11 p.m., and on Channel 13 after 11. WVEC news director Keith Connors sees it as LNC's coming-out party. ``A great moment,'' he calls it.

WAVY also has a plan to deliver the election results in prime time without cutting into NBC's schedule. The answer is an update from 9 to 10 p.m. on WVBT with the Channel 10 newsies.

Joe's back - After taking off a couple of weeks to recover from gall bladder surgery, WVEC's Joe Flanagan has returned to work on his ``Joe's Job,'' series which he began 11 years ago. He's added a twist to ``Joe's Job.''

Want a day off at Flanagan's expense? He's volunteering to work an eight-hour day for you with the cameras rolling. If your boss approves, give Flanagan a call at 625-1313.

He's already heard from a builder, a caterer, a teacher and a travel agent. Joe has also asked to do your humble columnist's job for a day. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

HUY NGUYEN

The Virginian-Pilot

Pat Robertson...

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