RUKEYSER: A MAJOR TV ASSET

To Louis Rukeyser, having fun is serious business.

As the engaging host of public television’s “Wall $treet Week” for 15 years, he has worked hard to turn what was once viewed as a somber subject into an appealing blend of entertainment and information.

With his light-hearted approach and ready puns, Rukeyser, aided by panelists and guests, has made the show one of the most popular in public television history and one of the best known sources of financial news.

Administering what is really a 30-minute dose of economics, candy-coated with advice on money matters, is an enjoyable task, Rukeyser said during an interview.

Asked how long he planned to do the show, which this month celebrated its 15th anniversary, Rukeyser answered: “As long as the audience demand clearly is there . . . and as long as it’s fun.”

Rukeyser, 52, with his wavy, gray mane and impish grin, does not look like someone who takes the accumulation of wealth very seriously. He shies away from the topic of his own financial standing and prefers to bring up his family and home life in Greenwich.

“I’ve never had much to invest because I’ve always had all these mouths to feed--canine and human,” he said.

The Rukeyser household includes eight dogs of various shapes and sizes besides the human inhabitants, who are Rukeyser and his wife, Alex, and two daughters. An older daughter was married recently.

Although his home is off the beaten path, Rukeyser says anyone who ever thought they had something to say about the economy has his address. He says he doesn’t mind, though, and likes looking over all the predictions because he enjoys reading fiction.

Over the last few years, Rukeyser has been carving out more time away from his professional career.

“I have finally learned what every girl learns when she’s 14, which is that in this world it is necessary occasionally to say no,” he said.

“I have no desire to be rich and dead,” he added, but he still follows a very busy schedule, juggling a three-part career that keeps him on the road.

In addition to “Wall $treet Week,” Rukeyser is a sought-after lecturer, having appeared in 46 states as well as outside the country. Every lecture is titled “What’s Ahead for the Economy,” but the contents change depending on current events. He gave about 80 lectures last year, but has cut that in half this year.

Rukeyser also writes a weekly economics column and has written two best-selling books on financial matters.

But he is best known for “Wall $treet Week,” which attracts an audience of about 10 million.

Rukeyser seems proud that the viewers range from sophisticated investors to those who just want to be entertained and have never owned a share of stock in their life. “I don’t care why they come into the tent, we’re glad to have them,” he said.

There is no question that Rukeyser’s personality, a charming, conversational style that puts people quickly at ease, has a lot to do with why “Wall $treet Week” grew from the modest idea of a Maryland public television producer to be a hit.

But the continuing success of the show also depends on its host’s firm grasp of the subject and his ability to convey it in plain English.

Rukeyser started out as a newspaper reporter, then gradually shifted toward specialization in financial matters.

“It became apparent to me in my travels around the world that if you didn’t understand economics, you didn’t understand anything that was happening in the modern world,” he said.

The Friday broadcasts on PBS follows a strict format and are unrehearsed.

Each week Rukeyser opens by delivering a succinct summary of the week’s economic developments that he has written up after arriving Friday afternoon at the studio in Owings Mills, Md., where the show is done.

In one recent week, he took the opportunity to poke fun at analysts who failed to foresee the stock market strength that has repeatedly pushed the Dow Jones industrial average into record territory this year.

After the summary, Rukeyser is joined by several panelists from brokerage and economic research firms. The panelists appear on a rotating basis, selected from a list of 17.

Rukeyser asks their opinions on various subjects, including investment strategies or the investment potential of a particular industry or company. They also are asked to answer viewer questions that have been supplied to them beforehand. All their responses are expected to be kept to 30 seconds.

Finally, Rukeyser and the panelists interview a special guest, who might be someone from financial circles or perhaps a government official.

One veteran panelist of the show, Robert J. Nurock, said the conversational give-and-take with Rukeyser is intellectually stimulating.

“Probably the part that I enjoy most is the repartee. It’s a real intellectual challenge to even try and come close to his pace,” said Nurock, who owns Investor’s Analysis Inc., an investment consulting concern that publishes the Astute Investor newsletter of Paoli, Pa.

Another regular panelist, Bernadette Murphy, senior vice president of the investment firm Shaw & Co. in New York, said panelists are never quite sure what Rukeyser is going to ask them.

“I think the audience appreciates the spontaneity,” she said.

Despite its popularity, the show does have its critics.

Some watchers have been disenchanted when stocks mentioned favorably on the program fail to yield hoped-for returns. Others worry that the program interferes with the market by causing price gyrations on Monday mornings.

Since 1980, Norman G. Fosback, editor of Market Logic, a publication of the Institute for Econometric Research in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., has periodically reviewed the performance of stocks recommended by the guests on “Wall $treet Week.”

For the most part, the studies suggest that the investment advice given by “Wall $treet Week” guests is no better than any other free advice. One review covering 1983 found that an investor heeding the recommendations would have lost money.

Rukeyser defends the program while acknowledging its impact.

“It would be naive to say that if you have the largest audience in financial journalism and somebody makes a recommendation Friday night that it’s not going to have any market impact the following Monday morning,” he said.

For that reason, during each program Rukeyser makes disclaimers, often humorously, about predictions from his guests.

He says he consistently warns people that “Wall $treet Week” is only one source of information and counsels them to do their own research before investing.

Or, as he puts it, with a touch of amused disdain: “The viewer has to, in the end, engage in the painful but unavoidable task of individual thought and decision.”