FIRST OFF . . .

A 1,600-member coalition of Christian leaders, upset with the proliferation of explicit language and sex scenes on television this season, is gearing up to boycott sponsors of the offending shows. Christian Leaders for Responsible Television (CLeaR-TV), which includes the heads of 70 church bodies, will monitor network programming from April 27 to May 24 and then announce which sponsors will be boycotted. The Rev. Billy Melvin, chairman of CLeaR-TV and executive director of the National Assn. of Evangelicals in Wheaton, Ill., says the group will “offer to work with any advertiser that wishes to avoid being selected for a boycott.” In May, 1987, the coalition announced a nationwide boycott of Mazda Motors and the Noxell Corp. to protest the television programs they sponsor. The Noxell boycott was called off in July after that firm agreed to prepare a written internal policy for sponsoring television programs. The Mazda boycott was ended two months later after that firm agreed to “reduce the amount of sex, violence and profanity” that it sponsored on network programs.