DRIP

KNBC Channel 4 weathercaster Fritz Coleman never said it would be like this. He couldn’t have predicted the dark clouds that gathered when he was asked to join his local counterparts for a series of 30-second TV spots raising public awareness about a possible water shortage next year.

“Fritz wanted to do it,” said Kathy Richards, v.p. of the Gumpertz/Bentley/Fried ad agency that devised the campaign for the Department of Water and Power.

But KNBC general manager John Rohrbeck had other ideas. He couldn’t have one of his newsmen fraternizing with the enemy.

“He asked me not to do it,” said Coleman. “He thought it would be a bad precedent.”

Some of the other GMs had reservations, but were persuaded to override rivalries and form a united front. So the first of 285 spots began running July 8 with Maclovio Perez and Kevin O’Connell (Channel 2), Tiiu Leek (5), George Fischbeck (7), Andrew Amador (9), Steve Rambo (11) and Judy Jernudd (13).

Conspicuous by his absence was Coleman. But KNBC viewers won’t know the difference--the ads aren’t appearing on that channel.

“We’re on all the other stations,” Richards said, “but Rohrbeck said he could not air commercials featuring competing weather forecasters.”

Rohrbeck’s policies are his, not the station’s or the network’s: “I don’t believe news people should be doing commercials,” he said.

Wait a minute. Has anyone ever confused Fritz, who moonlights as a stand-up comic, with a news person? Known for goofy on-camera antics, he recently used a desk-top globe in lieu of the usual meteorological graphics. While admitting that Coleman isn’t exactly Walter Cronkite, Rohrbeck said, “But where do you draw the line?”