Back to the Future?
WKNO-TV Channel 10 is building a production truck
that will allow the station to produce programs at locations other than
its studios on the south campus of the University of Memphis. Russ Abernathy,
director of broadcasting and engineering at WKNO, says the station has a
42-foot trailer which will house the remote production unit, and that should
be finished by the end of 1997. The addition of the production truck could
make WKNO a player in upcoming negotiations for U of M basketball telecasts.
The school's contract with WLMT Channel 30 ends after this season, and with
attendance at The Pyramid lagging, the school could replace live telecasts
of home games with tape-delayed productions. WKNO regularly produced tape-delayed
home games from 1973 to 1990. The school began televising games live in
1985. "The new facility would allow us to do that," Abernathy
says, "although we haven't had any discussions in that direction."
Explanations
"I have decided to take some time off from
it." -- WMC-TV weatherman Dave Brown on why he is no longer hosting
USWA wrestling.
Brown, who has been the voice of wrestling in the Mid-South for nearly three
decades at both Channel 5 and Channel 13, says he did not know when, or
if, he would return to the broadcast. Jerry "The King" Lawler
could not be reached for comment.
Best of Cheaters
Cheaters, as a general rule, don't
like to be found out. Knowing that, we chose not to single out for ridicule
those we suspected of trying to subvert our recent readers' poll by stuffing
the ballot box. Dennis Phillippi, however, is not your ordinary cheater.
He's been ringing our phones off the hook lately, demanding that we let
our readers know just how low he sank in an attempt to place his radio show,
Out of Bounds on 1030 AM, at the top of the "Best Sports Radio
Show" category. Phillippi actually admitted that he asked his listeners
to fill out ballots and drop them at the station so he could hand-deliver
them to the Flyer offices, a practice expressly prohibited by the
rules that appeared on the ballot. Some of his listeners even went so far
as to send us disturbing Unabomber-inspired messages (or should we say threats)
like the one below.
Are you happy now, Dennis?