Atmosphere’s Too Heady for News to Get Through

The Meridian Condominiums have almost everything--marble bathrooms, two health clubs, a swimming pool, a fourth-floor park of purple-leaf plum trees, and capacious high-rise homes with bay views selling for up to $1.4 million.

But all-news radio? Forget it.

The Meridian is hostile territory for AM radio--a fact brought home to Meridian denizen Shirl Stoller recently. Hoping to tune in to San Diego’s favorite mayor-turned-talk-show host, Stoller found herself forced to resort to the great outdoors, her balcony.

“That’s right, it’s the only drawback in the Meridian,” said Stoller, who runs The Single Gourmet, described as “a social dining club” matching singles with fine restaurants. Asked what was coming out of her radio that morning, Stoller emitted a desultory “ Bzzzzzzttt. “

The intrepid Stoller hauled her radio out to her balcony, rigged up an extension cord and turned up the volume. Back inside, she was able to listen--as were a few neighbors who inhabit neighboring balconies, she figures.

The news did not surprise Sam Thompson, the downtown high-rise’s maintenance engineer.

“It’s not odd, because of the volume of concrete in the building,” Thompson said simply. AM radio transmissions cannot penetrate its cement and steel walls, he said. Tenants have mentioned the problem, he said. But for the time being, it’s a fact of life.

Politicking on High

To communicate to San Diegans, learn to speak the language.

That lesson is not lost on Diana Marcus, a mathematics teacher at Mesa College, who figured that the most efficient way to make a political point was to catch America’s Finest City’s voters when they were horizontal, sun-baked, lying on the beach gazing blankly at the sky.

So on Labor Day weekend, Marcus’ message scudded up and down San Diego’s beaches--on a banner hitched to the tail of a small plane. “Tell Pete Wilson No on Contra Aid,” read the aerial exhortation, making the rounds from Ocean Beach to La Jolla.

The stunt was part of a campaign by San Diego’s Central America Information Center to persuade the junior senator to change his position on the issue. But a Wilson aide said there is no indication that even Marcus’ banner roused the sun-struck from their torpor.

Steve Mason, self-described “chief flunky” for Golden State Aviation of El Cajon, the plane’s owner, said charters for political purposes are relatively rare. More common are restaurants, bars and car dealers--”things people can respond to quickly.”

Asked how many people probably caught Marcus’ message, Mason said thoughtfully, “Zillions. Several zillion.”

When Tragedy Strikes

Things are tense these days in the back offices of Rocky’s Balboa, the giant sports bar at Pacific Beach, where rambunctious fans have been known to wait in line for hours on football nights just to get in and watch pro ball on the 13 screens.

“You want an honest answer?” asked manager Gary Polasky, incredulous, when asked what the threatened National Football League strike was doing for barroom morale. “Picture a man about 5-foot-8. Brown eyes. Brown hair. Mustached. Well-groomed. Crying.”

Capacity at Rocky’s is 275. Every Sunday, the place fills to capacity, sometimes for six or seven hours. Occasionally, patrons wait for hours to get in and frolic amid the dangling gym shoes, boxing bags, posters and bellowing legions of over-the-hill fraternity brothers.

But three weeks ago, the National Football League players’ union announced it would strike Sept. 22 if it couldn’t reach an agreement with the teams’ owners. The owners countered that they would play anyone, using anyone willing to cross the picket line.

Asked if fans would patronize his bar to watch scab players, Polasky said only: “Let me ask you: Would you?” He figures no business would suffer as much as his from a strike and a “tarnished” Super Bowl--scheduled to take place in San Diego.

“For us, it’s thousands of dollars,” he groaned. “For the city, millions of dollars. Millions! One of my chefs just told me $142 million.” Polasky acknowledged that in the event of a strike there would be little he could do to keep his patrons.

“If I could, I would probably strip in front of them and see if that would bring them in.”

Missed His Chance

While other aspirants to elective office await returns from the City Council voting today, one erstwhile candidate awaits his fate in San Diego Municipal Court on a conviction of misdemeanor theft.

Robert McCullough, who failed to collect enough signatures to get on the ballot for the 6th District City Council seat, is scheduled to appear at 9 a.m. in Department 4 for sentencing on one count of petty theft and one count of taking government records.

Susan Heath, chief deputy city attorney, said a jury found McCullough guilty of removing financial disclosure records of the current members of the City Council and the city attorney from the city clerk’s office earlier this year.

McCullough could face a jail term as long as six months--considerably less than the two-year term on the council.