‘DONAHUE’ SHOW MAY BE WITHHELD

A “Donahue” show dealing with male strippers was kept off the air at WNBC in New York on Wednesday and may not be seen here today on KNBC Channel 4. The local NBC-owned station had not decided as of late Wednesday afternoon whether it would broadcast the new program or an old edition of Phil Donahue’s talk show at 3 p.m.

A KNBC spokeswoman said the company’s broadcast standards department had a problem with the show, but she was unable to specify precisely what it was.

A spokeswoman for the “Donahue” show said the program, which was staged in Boston on Wednesday, also was blacked out in Las Vegas. She said Wednesday’s installment featured several men disrobing to just the barest of coverings--”what you would see if you went to a male strip show.” She denied that there was anything improper about it.

“The stations have the right not to show it,” she said. “But we feel it was a fun show and that, in 1985, nothing happened that would make the country upset.”

“Donahue” is broadcast live to 100 stations, is carried on a same-day, tape-delayed basis on 78 other stations and is telecast the next day or thereafter by 39 other stations.