1990 ORANGE COUNTY : Depth of Commitment to Be Measured : MEDIA

On the TV scene, the county doesn’t figure to be climbing out from Los Angeles’ long shadow any time soon. But there look to be modest gains in coverage of local news and issues.

KDOC-TV (Channel 56) launched the county’s first commercial, nightly, 30-minute news telecast last March and is now planning to expand in late 1990 to three one-hour telecasts daily--morning, afternoon and prime time. A Spanish-language simulcast of the news show is also planned, according to General Manager Calvin Brack.

The station also plans to launch a variety of health-oriented specials and, eventually, a live weekly call-in program featuring local doctors. “KDOC really wants to be recognized as the health station,” Brack said. Another idea for a syndicated call-in show: weekly classic-car auctions, with viewers phoning in bids.

The station plans to extend its viewing area to the San Fernando Valley by adding a transmitter on Mt. Wilson next June.

Meanwhile, the county’s only public television station, KOCE-TV (Channel 50), had one of its best years in some time in 1989 after a period of uncertainty over the station’s ties to the Coast Community College District.

KOCE scored a local Emmy this year for its series of “Orange County Centennial Snapshots,” a series of 26 historical vignettes that were also shown in local movie theaters. The station plans to capitalize with more projects in a similar vein.

Plans also include more public affairs specials focusing on election issues and other hot local topics, including the coming initiative on a half-cent sales tax to pay for a new county jail. Next year will also see a focus on programs “geared to encourage viewers to protect the environment,” President and General Manager Bill Furniss said.

Local radio doesn’t portend to offer any surprises in the coming decade. Conservative and undistinguished, local radio stations did prove last month that they can command big bucks when KORG-AM and KEZY-FM were sold for $15.1 million.

The price tag would seem to make it even less likely that local stations will risk experimenting with more adventurous playlists. ML Media Partners, buyers of the sister Anaheim stations, has said it has no plans to change the formats (talk and “contemporary hits,” respectively).