Town to Station: Include Us Out

A weather-free zone? A KNX radio listener e-mailed the powerful 50,000-watt station with this unusual complaint: “I live in the small town of Santa Ynez, just north of Santa Barbara. For the past few months I have heard your radio station broadcast the weather [for] the Santa Ynez Valley. . . . We are a very small and quiet community with a population of around 3,000. We do not need, nor do we appreciate, an L.A. radio station broadcasting this little hick town on the L.A. airwaves.

“Please pick another small town like Summerland, Isla Vista or wherever. . . .”

IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING: The e-mailer was not singer Michael Jackson, who has a ranch up that way. You may recall that his spread, which he named “Neverland,” was the site of the wedding of Elizabeth Taylor and Larry Fortensky.

Not that I’m saying Santa Ynez is a beautiful place for Angelenos to hold weddings or anything. . . .

AFTER THAT CHILLY NOTE . . . : I wasn’t surprised to read that the National Weather Service had issued a freeze warning for the Santa Ynez area.

SHE WANTED A RAINCHECK: Several years ago, KNX received this fax from a woman who had an exaggerated notion of a weathercaster’s power:

“Dear Weatherperson, My husband, to whom I was married for nearly three decades and who cheated on me for years, became my ex-husband several months ago. Now he is going to be remarried in a lavish outdoor ceremony. You know what to do.”

RECOUNT: Several readers sent me stormy e-mails for omitting “Groundhog Day” (with Bill Murray) and “To Die For” (with Nicole Kidman) from my list of movies about weather forecasters.

BAGUETTES OR BALLOTS? Phil Proctor tipped me that the Grand Casino bakery in Culver City had an election-themed sign (see photo). I asked Ruthie Murphy, who works at the French bakery, about the reaction of customers.

“Most people get a kick out of it,” she said. “But a few seemed confused and said, ‘What is this?’ ”

Which is what a lot of people are asking about the 2000 election in general.

IF YOU’RE A MINUTE LATE, FORGET IT: Bill Montag of Goleta found a neighborhood drive-in where there’s evidently a traffic jam every night (see photo). If you get left out, guess you’d have to go theater-searching in a nearby community--such as Santa Ynez.

THEY DON’T GET THE IDEA: Have you heard the “Wheel of Fortune” ad on the radio in which host Pat Sajak is touted as a mock presidential candidate?

Not sure the “Wheel of Fortune” people have heard, but:

EVERY OTHER PERSON IN THE NATION IS TIRED OF CAMPAIGN COMMERCIALS, REAL OR OTHERWISE.

PARENTAL OBLIGATIONS: My daughter’s homework for her physical education class was to watch the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos football game on ABC Monday night. I was right there for her, in the TV room, in case she had any homework questions.

miscelLAny:

Wayne Hamilton saw this message on a sign fronting a church in Burbank: “The sign is broken . . . message inside.”

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Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LATIMES, Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A., 90012 and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com.