Channel 8 Series on TV Ads Stirs Inside Confrontation

Not surprisingly, the KFMB-TV (Channel 8) advertising department has been screaming about “Ads, Lies and Videotape,” a series exploring truth in television advertising, scheduled to air this week during the station’s 5 p.m. newscasts.

Reported by consumer reporter Bob Hansen, segments include a look at health claims in commercials, infomercials and a look at “puffery,” the boasts that ads can make without getting in trouble.

Tuesday’s piece will be especially noteworthy, since it looks at “man on the street” commercials. Posing as a representative of an imaginary radio station, Hansen convinces people to give glowing testimonials for mythical KCLS, illustrating the smarminess of the oft-used technique. Some viewers may recall that not long ago “man on the street” ads were the mainstay of Channel 8’s promotional campaigns.

In order to avoid any blatant trashing of individual advertisers, Hansen uses parodies of TV ads to explore common practices, instead of spotlighting specific commercials. And the word “scumbags” is never used. Nevertheless, representatives of the station’s advertising department reportedly went to the station’s top management to complain and managed to get changes in promotional spots for the series.

The words “lies” and specific references to television advertising were reportedly dropped from the previews, as were references in the promotions to the “Ads, Lies and Videotape” title. But Hansen says the news department refused to make any changes in the feature.

“When there is pressure from one side of the building, it’s nice when the news director backs us up,” Hansen said.

Last week, the hard-hitting KGTV (Channel 10) news hounds devoted valuable air time to whether or not reporter Byron Harlan should shave his mustache.

This came a few days after Channel 10 followed a 15-second report on a local gathering of Republican candidates for Senate with a much lengthier report on something it evidently considered far more important: The origins of weatherman Mike Ambrose’s “Captain” nickname.

“One of the burning questions of our time,” anchorwoman Carol LeBeau said with a straight face.

Channel 10 loves to use its newscasts to promote its own personnel. Beyond the inherent tackiness and ethical dilemmas of the practice, it is extremely annoying, suggesting that a huge contingent of people actually care about Harlan’s facial hair.

“There is room to have some fun in the newscasts, just like there is room for comics and horoscopes in the newspaper,” said Channel 10 news director Paul Sands. “I always tell people that the news can’t be an endless litany of death, despair, famine and everything else.”

But that doesn’t completely mesh with the constant whining of television news directors about their lack of time and resources to cover news events.

“The fact is, you have got to remember these folks (the Channel 10 personalities) are in people’s living rooms every night,” Sands said. “I don’t think we overdo it. We try to get a balance.”

Of course, one person’s balance is another’s equivalent of fingernails on a blackboard. And for all those dying to know, Ambrose, lounging on his couch at home, told intrepid investigative reporter Kimberly Hunt that he got the moniker after wearing a Snoopy-like flying suit in a balloon race.

Channel 10 is planning to resurrect its midday newscast April 6. The half-hour program will start at 11:30 a.m. weekdays, anchored by Jack White and an anchor to be named later. . . .

San Diego State University’s alternative music station, KCR, is broadcasting again after five months off the air while staff members attempted to find new on-campus headquarters for the perpetually besieged operation. Available only on local cable systems, it will be the same old irreverent KCR, although it will be “dedicated to serving the university community during school hours,” according to faculty adviser Scott Norton. . . .

Top KUSI-TV (Channel 51) executives have given depositions in the lawsuit filed by former station general manager William Moore, who has charged station owner Mike McKinnon, his employer of 15 years, with age discrimination, wrongful termination and breach of contract. . . .

Rising to new heights of visual imagery, KNSD-TV (Channel 39) reporter Gene Cubbison stood at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium last week and described the amount of sewage flowing into the ocean in “Murph units,” illustrating the size of the spill by noting how many times the effluent would fill the stadium. That is certainly more descriptive than the traditional measure, speculating that the discharge spread in a straight line would stretch from here to China. . . .

In the small-world department, former KRMX-FM general manager Bob Visotcky, who became infamous when almost the entire station staff was either fired or quit within a few weeks of his arrival last year, has been hired by Adams Communications to run KHIH-FM in Denver. Adams is headed by Jim Seemiller, who earned similar notoriety last year when he took over the Adams-owned KCBQ. . . .

In 1986, high-flying Noble Broadcasting, the locally based company that owns XTRA, paid $30.5 million for WKCI-FM and WAVZ-AM in New Haven, Conn. Last week, the not-so-high-flying Noble sold the FM, by far the most valuable commodity of the two, for $14 million to Clear Channel Communications. Noble exec John Lynch says the deal will allow the company to pay off debt at a “significant discount.” . . .

With rumors continuing that the “The Ross Hedgecock Report” may be facing its final ratings test in the weeks ahead, agent Conrad Shadlen, who represents superstar talking head Allison Ross and several other past and present San Diego TV types, makes it clear that, in his humble opinion, Channel 39 is missing the proverbial boat with Ross. “I don’t believe they have yet assigned an appropriate role to her at the station. They are under-utilizing her,” he said, echoing the thoughts of many industry observers. . . .

Channels 10 and 39 covered the President’s arrival in San Diego live Thursday night, an impressive commitment to news, facing the wrath of “Wheel of Fortune” fans, even if the event was only slightly more interesting than watching paint dry.

CRITIC’S CHOICE

VALENTINE TREAT: MONTY PYTHON

Red roses, candy and a Spam toss--the traditional trappings of Valentine’s Day. The latter, a Spam toss of the first order, will be available Friday at the Ken Cinema, which will present two features from the zany and unfortunately defunct British comedy troupe Monty Python. The first, “And Now for Something Completely Different,” showcases Michael Palin, John Cleese, Eric Idle, et al, in their prime, with segments from their television series. The second, “The Meaning of Life,” is a rude carnival of outrageous parodies, which still manages to capture the essence and rhythms of the group’s offbeat style.