Monday, October 20, 1986
Pago 4
Daily Nebraskan
Nebraikan
University of Nebraska- Lincoln
The cower of
Late games trouble-ridden
Incidents listed in the police
report in last Tuesday's Daily
Nebraskan happened only be
tween the times of 8:30 and 10:30
p.m. the time of the Nebraska
and Oklahoma State football
game. And all incidents occurred
within the confines of Memorial
Stadium:
O Three people were ar
rested for third-degree assaults.
O One was arrested for litter
ing after throwing trash onto the
field.
O A wheelchair was repor
ted stolen from within the sta
dium. UNL Police Sgt. Joe Wehner
said there was an increase in
rowdy behavior and alcohol-related
incidents at the night game.
Maybe just enough of these inci
dents will make UNL think twice
about scheduling a night game
again.
Stadium security have already
admitted having problems with
enforcement. The night game
makes it difficult for officers to
see what is happening in the
stands. The darkness allows fans
And that's the way it was ...
Deregulation means less news in TV
Ttwo years ago the federal
government substantively de
regulated the broadcast in
dustry; the fruits of this action
are now coming to full bloom.
One of the most controversial
provisions was the elimination of
the requirement to air "public
interesf'-oriented programming.
As a result, in both television
and radio, news programs in
some areas have been cut back
and even eliminated.
Of course, broadcasters argue
that news programs and public
service shows were not economi
cally profitable. In some cases,
they argue, if the requirement
was not eliminated so that they
could air more popular shows,
the station would have gone off
the air thereby serving no
one.
The tendency among those
that slavishly attend to the news
both written and electronic
is to lament the demise of the
news programs. After all, "Wheel
of Fortune" is "obviously" not as
beneficial as a half hour.of local
news.
Since its inception, TV and
radio have been primarily used
as an entertainment medium. As
the medium grew older, the dom
inance of its entertainment orien
tation grew stronger.
Although a lot of good journal
ism has been communicated over
television and radio, that ele
ment of programming could hardly
sustain the viability of the sys-
Editorial Policy
The Daily Nebraskan's pub- According to policy set by the
lishers are the regents, who regents, responsibility for the
established the UNL Publications editorial content of the news
Board to supervise the daily pro- paper lies solely in the hands of
duction of the paper. its student editors.
Jt-fT Korbelik, Editor, 4721766
James Rogers, Editorial Patn Editor
Gi-ne Grntrup, Managing Editor
Tammy Kaup, Associate Sews Editor
Todd von Kampen, Editorial Page Assistant
ILLS.
to easily conceal illegal containers
otherwise more visible in day
light. Fans also spend their after
noons before the game "prim
ing:" consuming alcoholic bever
ages. At the game, fans were pass
ing individuals from the bottom
to the top, endangering the safety
of the individuals and others
around. Fans also threw objects
onto the field, risking hitting
players, officials and others. The
behavior was nonsensical and
uncalled for and could possibly
deter any chance of the Huskers
being host to another night game.
Of course, the revenue brought
in from televising the game could
easily overshadow the problems
of stadium security and enforce
ment. But it still could hurt the
chances of another night game.
Osborne talked two weeks ago
of how South Carolina fans shook
the stadium with their support
of their team. Nebraska fans can
garner the same kind" of support
without causing problems for
the police and others around
them.
tern: Even the best documentar
ies attract only a fraction of the
more entertainment-oriented pro
grams (although some documen
taries have done quite well given
a lot of dramatic hype).
Over the last decade, the dom
inance of an entertainment orien
tation among local news pro
grams has grown increasingly
noticeable. Lots of quaint chat
ter among the good looking glossy
anchor persons.
Even within the programs them
selves sports and weather time
allocations added together many
times exceed the time commit
ment to "hard news."
Additionally, vacuous human
interest stories too often take up
significant chunks of even this
"hard news" portion of the pro
gramming. Because of the dynamics of
the electronic broadcast media,
programming aimed at the least
common denominator is the only
game in town. (Cable was sup
posed to have changed this by
offering hundreds of channels,
each aimed at an interest group.
It has partly succeeded with
channels such as C-Span and
CNN). The least common denom
inator doesn't include local news
programs in a number of areas.
So is it good or bad? The pub
lic gets what it wants and the
move really isn't any more lamen
table than the demise of the pre
main attraction news movie fillers
of the '40s. Que sera, sera.
lit
1 iz I
No sleep lost over
Radio names, Lt Gov. candidates are 'a
Between alcohol policies, summits
and whatnot, the editorial columns
have been getting much too serious.
That means it's time for a few well
worded paragraphs on topics that no
one including myself really loses
any sleep over. Yes, folks, it's another
installment of "A Lot About Not Much."
Radio stations are getting away with
murder, and, by gum, it's about time it
was stopped.
Long, long ago I think it was last
Wednesday, or was it during high school?
your favorite radio station had a
three- or four-letter call sign like KFRX,
KFMQ, KEFM, KQKQ and so on. Every
hour on the hour (and whenever else
they felt like it), you'd hear the familiar
jingle and that well-blended chorus
singing those telltale letters, "Kay-what-eh-verr
. . ." And you knew you
hadn't accidentally tuned in to that
hated elevator-music station that had
the nerve to broadcast just a millimeter
away from that frequency.
But what do we have today? Instead
of those distinctive call letters, we
have to put up with "All Hits 103,"
"Q-102," "Lite 96" and "Sweet 98."
Worse yet, these "hip, now" stations
don't have the courtesy even to list
their call letters in the telephone book.
Really, when you're in a hurry to call
WASP-FM and ask them to play "Aman
da" by Boston, should you have to
remember that the phone book only
lists "White 99?"
Best-seller 'Mayflower Madam'
sells sex from business angle
When you get right down to it,
right down to page 41, Sydney
Biddlv Barrows wants to make
sure you understand her modern entre
preneurial spirit.
"As I saw it, this was a sector of the
economy that was crying out for the
application of good management skills
, ... I had never really thought of going
into business for myself, but here was a
chance to do something nobody had
ever done before."
Never mind what the tabloids
screamed about the "Mayflower Ma
dam," put aside your prurient interests
in the call-girl business. The story told
by Sydney Biddle Barrows, 34, descend
ant of Elder William Brewster of Ply
mouth Rock, is not about sex, it's not
even about money. It's about the joy of
running your own business. The Story
ofB.
Barrows spent much of 1984 on page
one. She was arrested when the police
shut down her "escort service." She
was tried, fined, released and wildly
Sure, those flashy nicknames are
great advertising ploys. But I prefer
those innovative station owners who'd
manipulate the call letters themselves
to say something cute. We all know
about the mythical WKRP (carp), WPIG
(self-explanatory) and WREQ ("Wreck
Radio") in Cincinnati, but how many of
you have heard of those equine lovers
in Scottsbluff and Alliance who named
their stations KOLT and KP(o)NY?
Todd
von
Kampen
OK, we've wom out this subject.
Let's just hope UNL's own commercial
free KRNU-FM never turns to calling
itself "PSA 90.3."
I wonder if Lt. Gov. Don McGinley of
Ogallala and Scottsbluff Sen. Bill Nichol
feel like the Maytag Repairman at this
point in the campaign.
Running for lieutenant governor in
this state, which these two men have
been doing, seems like a great way to
"get away from it all." Your gubernator
ial candidate "boss" may give you some
important campaign work to do, which
gives you some feeling of self-worth.
But think about it: You're not going to
overreported. She has now firmly reap
peared at No. 3 on the best-seller list,
telling her own story. Why give it away
when you can sell it?
Ellen t
Vjoodman
f
1
Before reading "Mayflower Madam,"
I thought the current cult of business
had been greatly exaggerated. Until
recently, the only way to sell a book
about a business magnate was with a
sex angle. But today it appears that you
can best market a book about a sex
magnate with a business angle. The
one passion that fills these pages is "A
Passion for Excellence."
Barrows talks about selling women
the way others talk about selling pork
i 4, ,n
colnimn
lot about not much 9
be held responsible for your ticket's
victory or defeat the other half of the
ticket gets that honor. So if someone
asks you at a campaign appearance,
"Well, why should you be lieutenant
governor?" you can say the wrong thing
and it won't matter. Makes for a lot
more sleep at night, I'd think.
So far, it seems, McGinley and Nichol
are keeping their senses of humor
about it all. Nichol told the Omaha;
World-Herald that when he's on the
road, he tells people he wouldn't mind
taking on McGinley in a debate, "but
we didn't know if anybody would come."
McGinley says he decided to run for a
second term because he thought Gov.
Bob Kerrey would run again, but he'd
already paid his $300 filing fee when
Kerrey dropped out, "so being a con
servative Democrat, I had to stick in
there I couldn't get it back."
What does the winner have to look
forward to? McGinley tells of when he
was invited to watch a Passion Play
performance at a Lincoln school. The
day of the show, the teacher asked the
kids if they remembered who they were
told was coming, and one volunteered,
"It might be Pontius Pilate."
Gotta love that western Nebraska
humor.
And you gotta wonder if Kay Orr and
Helen Boosalis wouldn't like that kind
of anonymity about now.
Von Kampen is a senior news-editorial
and music major and a Daily Nebraskan
editorial page assistant.
bellies or BMWs. There is a manage
ment team and a marketing strategy
(upscale, of course), an agency, clients
and even motivation. "I was sure," she
writes, "we could provide a dramatic
alternative to what was available and I
was motivated by the challenge of
doing something better than everyone
else."
Blame her co-author, William Novak,
if you want. Novak also wrote Lee
Iacocca's book. Lee and Syd have in
common a fervent self-image as mer
chandisers. Guess wnich one wrote this:
"No matter what business you're in,
you've got to know your customer and
what kind of merchandise that he or
she will like "
It was Syd, the same CEO who also
prides herself on being an enlightened
employer with part-time, flex-time pol
icies, not to mention her company's
comprehensive health policy. I kept
waiting to read about her on-site day
See GOODWIN on 5