DOLLARS & DUCKS: There’s a new uniform...

DOLLARS & DUCKS: There’s a new uniform in the works for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. It won’t replace the Ducks’ menacing white (home) or purple (road) uniforms. It will be a new design “just for special occasions,” says Ducks publicist Bill Robertson. Several National Hockey League teams are considering it. . . . One reason: Increase fan interest. But Robertson adds it will also give the Ducks--already the country’s top sports merchandiser--something new to sell: “We think young collectors will love it.”

FINANCIAL FUN: The first page of the proposed 1995-96 Newport Beach city budget says inside a circle: “Because that’s the way we’ve always done it”--with a slash through the whole thing. “I snuck it in against orders,” jokes Finance Director Dennis Danner. . . . It may be the last bit of fun connected to its upcoming budget hearings. Shrinking city revenue has left city officials scrambling to fill a $4-million projected shortfall. Danner says he’ll take his humorous circle out of the final version.

HANG IN THERE: No surprise that the world’s most renowned hang glider, Larry Tudor of Tustin, is 40 (E1). Most of the sport’s top competitors are older. “The hang gliding boom was in the ‘70s,” says Linda Meier, a co-owner of Wills Wing in Orange, the only local hang gliding manufacturer. “After that it kind of leveled out.” Improved technology makes the new gliders better--but also harder to learn on. Says Meier: “It’s more important than ever that newcomers learn from a qualified instructor.”

RADIO WARS: Many local Christians are singing the blues because their favorite radio station, KYMS-106.3 FM in Orange--recently sold--switched last Friday to a format that caters to Asian Americans. While Asian Americans are pleased, Jennifer Burke, an aerobics instructor in Anaheim, is disappointed. It’s not the new format she minds, but losing an alternative to today’s plethora of hard rock stations. Says Burke: “It filled a major void in positive listening; it played songs without sex, drugs and violence.”