FALWELL-JACKSON ENCORE ON ABC NEWS

The Revs. Jesse Jackson and Jerry Falwell, who clashed over the issue of South Africa during appearances last week on ABC’s “Good Morning, America,” will debate the issue again next Wednesday on a special hourlong edition of ABC News “Nightline,” ABC said Wednesday.

A network spokeswoman in New York said there will be no formal structure for the late-night debate, to be held in Washington and moderated by “Nightline” anchor Ted Koppel.

The program will be the first face-to-face enounter between Falwell, the conservative leader of the Moral Majority, and Jackson, a civil rights activist who unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for president last year.

Their Aug. 21 appearance on “Good Morning, America” was via a satellite hookup, with Falwell speaking from his headquarters in Lynchburg, Va., and Jackson from Boston.

In that session, each accused the other of racism as they argued over the merits of economic sanctions against South Africa as a means of combatting that nation’s apartheid policy of segregating blacks from whites.

Jackson supports proposed sanctions now pending before Congress, while Falwell opposes them, saying that blacks in South Africa do not support such action as a means of forcing their country’s white-minority government to abandon apartheid. Falwell has said he does not support apartheid.

The fund-raising drive that concluded at KCET Channel 28 Monday night generated a record outpouring of support, the public television station reported Wednesday.

The 10-day campaign produced $812,075 in pledges from 16,380 subscribers. A station spokeswoman said it was KCET’s best August fund-raising drive, surpassing the previous record of $642,237 raised last year.

In Huntington Beach, meanwhile, KOCE Channel 50 also had record results for its nine-day effort to attract contributions. The station said that more than 2,200 viewers had called to pledge a total in excess of $113,500, to which KOCE added $29,500 in challenge grants and underwriting from corporations.

NBC News’ “Main Street,” a new afternoon news series hosted by “Today” co-anchor Bryant Gumbel and aimed at junior high school students, will premiere Sept. 24, NBC said Wednesday. The one-hour program will be aired eight times a month.

A network spokesman said the series will be a mix of hard news, features and trivia of interest to young viewers. The program’s chief correspondent will be Bill Schechner, former co-anchor of NBC’s late-night, now-defunct “NBC News Overnight” series.

“Main Street” originally was to be called “W/5,” but the title was dropped after NBC discovered that it already was being used by a program in Canada.