'Sunflower Journeys' still finds barren ground at KCPT

Something is keeping a public television show devoted to Kansas
from being viewed by 33,000 households in the state.
"Sunflower Journeys," a half-hour weekly magazine that Topeka's
KTWU has produced for the past 10 years, highlights the land, rivers
and towns of Kansas. The program airs Thursday nights on all three
PBS stations in Kansas, as well as 1:30 p.m. Sundays on KOZK/KOZJ,
serving Springfield and Joplin, Mo., and Pittsburg, Kan.
But the 33,000 homes in Wyandotte County hooked up to American
Cablevision - which carries only KCPT, Channel 19, for public TV -
can't see it, because KCPT doesn't carry "Sunflower Journeys."
Why not? Part of the reason, according to KTWU program director
Dave Pomeroy, is that his station originally didn't offer the program
to KCPT. Then KTWU was dropped from American Cablevision in Wyandotte
County, and the station's viewership there disappeared. That's when
Pomeroy approached KCPT program director Dave Welsh.
But Welsh passed on "Sunflower Journeys. " He told TVKC his
reasons had to do with the show's "production values" and the
preponderance of "local Topeka stories," an assessment that gave
program creator and host Dave Kendall a chuckle.
"I think production values are in the eye of the beholder,"
Kendall said. "They turned us down before because we were too
folksy, which I think is curious considering the flavor of 'Rare
Visions' " - a reference to KCPT's series on folk art, "Rare
Visions and Roadside Revelations."
Welsh rated the production values of this year's shows as "much
improved" over previous years. But now he has another, potentially
more serious problem: a nine-minute segment in the season premiere on
a river festival sponsored by the Kaw Valley Heritage Alliance, a
"Sunflower Journeys" underwriter.
"They took a position favoring a particular environmental group
and they have as an underwriter the same environmental group," Welsh
said.
In PBS circles, showcasing a sponsor is an official no-no,
although some critics have said the rule is selectively enforced.
Kendall argued that the alliance is chipping in $ 5,000 to support
"Sunflower Journeys," only a fraction of the show's $ 180,000 budget
for 1998.
Joyce Wolf, administrator for the Kaw Valley Heritage Alliance,
called it a "broad coalition" of nonprofits, not an advocacy group.
"All we're trying to do is build public awareness," Wolf said.
Stan Knott, who took over this week as general manager of WDAF,
Channel 4, says he has a lot to learn about Kansas City. But at least
WDAF won't be a completely unfamiliar experience to him.
Knott was news director and then general manager of WBRC in
Birmingham, Ala., as the station switched from an ABC affiliation to
the Fox network - a similar transition that WDAF underwent under
then-general manager Ed Piette.
And WBRC and WDAF have been sister stations since 1964, when Taft
Broadcasting, which bought WBRC in 1957, purchased WDAF. Taft was
reorganized into Great American Broadcasting in 1987 and joined the
New World station group in 1994. New World subsequently sold the
stations to Fox.
Both stations put on a pile of news programs - more than 40 hours
a week - and both are affiliated with a network that has come under
fire for violent content in its entertainment shows.
Knott moves up 20 positions in market size from Birmingham,
ranked No. 51 in size by Nielsen Media Research, to Kansas City,
ranked No. 31.
StarTouch: 889-7827 and enter 8852 (TVKC). E-mail:
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New general manager named at WDAF-TV

Fox television has filled its general manager opening at WDAF,
Channel 4, from within the network.
Stan Knott, the general manager of Fox-owned WBRC in Birmingham,
Ala., was named the successor to Ed Piette, who left last month after
six years at WDAF to become general manager at the ABC affiliate in
St. Paul, Minn.
Knott, 39, had been at WBRC since 1986, rising through the ranks
to become the station's news director in 1991 and general manager in
1995. Under his direction, WBRC - long considered the most powerful
broadcaster in Alabama - continued its run as the top-rated TV
station in the Birmingham market.
In a phone interview from the WDAF studios, where he began work
Thursday, Knott said he would spend the next several weeks learning
about Kansas City and listening to the concerns of his staff.
"This television station has a strong history of good news
production," Knott said. "They do a good, good job, and I just want
to be able to come in and help them perform their jobs to the highest
levels."
At WBRC, Knott oversaw a news operation that produced more than
41 hours of programming a week, comparable to WDAF's 46-plus hours.

Take note

String thing
Together for almost a decade, the jazz group Interstring has an
undisputed reputation as one of the best in town.
Bassist Bob Bowman, drummer Todd Strait and guitarists Danny
Embrey and Rod Fleeman play not only around the Midwest but also as
frequent sidemen of choice for national and international jazz
artists.
The release of the group's first CD, "Odahoda," will be marked
Saturday at a party at the Blue Room at the Kansas City Jazz Museum,
18th and Vine. Pronounced "Oh-h-h-h-h dahoda" the CD is named after
the state of Idaho, as interpreted by Fleeman's young son.
"This was a case where the song title came first," Fleeman
said. "Bob loved saying the name so much at the end of gigs that he
wrote a tune for it."
Hear "Oh-h-h-h-h-h dahoda" and more from 8:30 p.m. to 12:30
a.m. Saturday. There is no cover charge.
- Lee Hill Kavanaugh

UPN update
The UPN network is assuring Kansas City viewers that its programs
will return here - eventually.
"We guarantee that within a maximum of two months we will be
back on the air with UPN programming in their market, and probably
less," said a spokesman for network on Tuesday.
The spokesman could not be more specific, as talks are continuing
among UPN; Sinclair Broadcast Group of Baltimore, which owns KSMO,
Channel 62, which dropped UPN in January; and possibly another party
that owns or operates a station in Kansas City.
It is believed Sinclair is asking for cash in exchange for
returning UPN to the air in the markets where it dropped the network.
UPN has never made such compensation to any station, the spokesman
said.
- Aaron Barnhart

Take note

String thing
Together for almost a decade, the jazz group Interstring has an
undisputed reputation as one of the best in town.
Bassist Bob Bowman, drummer Todd Strait and guitarists Danny
Embrey and Rod Fleeman play not only around the Midwest but also as
frequent sidemen of choice for national and international jazz
artists.
The release of the group's first CD, "Odahoda," will be marked
Saturday at a party at the Blue Room at the Kansas City Jazz Museum,
18th and Vine. Pronounced "Oh-h-h-h-h dahoda" the CD is named after
the state of Idaho, as interpreted by Fleeman's young son.
"This was a case where the song title came first," Fleeman
said. "Bob loved saying the name so much at the end of gigs that he
wrote a tune for it."
Hear "Oh-h-h-h-h-h dahoda" and more from 8:30 p.m. to 12:30
a.m. Saturday. There is no cover charge.
- Lee Hill Kavanaugh

UPN update
The UPN network is assuring Kansas City viewers that its programs
will return here - eventually.
"We guarantee that within a maximum of two months we will be
back on the air with UPN programming in their market, and probably
less," said a spokesman for network on Tuesday.
The spokesman could not be more specific, as talks are continuing
among UPN; Sinclair Broadcast Group of Baltimore, which owns KSMO,
Channel 62, which dropped UPN in January; and possibly another party
that owns or operates a station in Kansas City.
It is believed Sinclair is asking for cash in exchange for
returning UPN to the air in the markets where it dropped the network.
UPN has never made such compensation to any station, the spokesman
said.
- Aaron Barnhart