Early Edition

Baseball stadiums, capitalism and invalid votes

By Ed Bishop

Robert McChesney, a journalism philosopher at the University of Illinois, has a theory that I agree with wholeheartedly. McChesney says American journalism is seriously undermined by its almost total dependence on official and quasi-official sources-what McChesney calls "elites." All other sources are marginalized.

You could've seen what he was talking about in the recent coverage of public funding for a new baseball stadium. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the local TV news departments gave prominence to official sources (Cardinals' management, the mayor, the governor, the county executive, heads of legislative committees in Jefferson City) while non-official sources (grass-roots organizations and minor legislators) were either ignored or pushed to the bottom of the page.

This reliance on official sources is even more obvious in national news coverage-on network news and in the pages of The New York Times and Washington Post.

Because of this systemic flaw in American journalism, reporters only have stories when these elites clash. When the elites agree, there is no news. For instance, since elites differ over school vouchers, plenty of stories about the pros and cons of vouchers can be published. But, since the elites agree on the need for nuclear power, very little information about America's nuclear reactors makes it into newspapers or onto the evening news.

One of the areas where the elites agree is capitalism. No official or quasi-official sources critical of the basic concepts of capitalism exist in the United States. Stories about plant closings, or moving corporate headquarters, or companies downsizing are usually treated as distinct, individual occurrences rather than pieces of a problematic pattern.

Even when a rare article appears painting a larger picture, the story is always told within the framework of capitalism-market trends, profits, government regulation, etc. The sources for these stories are always stock analysts or the head of the Fed or the chairman of the banking committee or someone from someplace like the Olin School of Business at Washington University.

All the stuff that's been going on with Enron and WorldCom and the rest might reflect a basic flaw in capitalism. But we'll never know.

And the blind spot in our journalism isn't just reserved for America's economic system. Things like our criminal-justice system, the electoral system and foreign policy all have broad support among the elites. And, therefore, these things are vastly underreported in the mainstream news media. Americans only learned that millions of votes are routinely thrown out during each national election because the elites momentarily disagreed about the presidential election of 2000. When tens of thousands of votes are deemed invalid in, say Missouri, you'd think that would be news. But apparently it wasn't in past elections.

When the elites agree, the news dries up.

The upshot of McChesney's theory is that the real political battleground in the United States isn't so much the environment or healthcare or handguns or Social Security or abortion or any of the other areas where activist energy is expended-both left and right-but news-media reform. From the concentration of media ownership in the hands of a few giant corporations right down to who is quoted in the first paragraph of a back-page story in the local newspaper, the reform of American journalism has to come first, before any other problem can be fully debated by the general public. The elites' stranglehold on information must be broken before Americans can know the parameters of the issues.

I know readers of SJR are sick of hearing about public journalism. I know we beat it over the head for years, issue after issue. But one of the great disappointments of public journalism, and one of the sources of SJR's anger, was that it hinted at reform of this reliance on official and quasi-official sources, but then spun off into silliness about "mapping the civic swamp" and other gobbledygook.

Anyway, my point is simple. When Richard Gephardt and George Bush agree about something, that something is rarely reported. Both journalists and the public have to be more acutely aware of that insight.

The solution is also simple. The mainstream news media must dig deeper and establish the facts independent of official sources-even if that means doing things like developing a critique of capitalism on their own.

Won't happen? you say.

It will if news consumers demand it. You know, market forces. That's the capitalist way. SJR will do its part.

Letters

Not bad

SJR: I just got my package back from the Pulitzer Prizes. I was a 2002 Pulitzer Prize entrant. My entry ("Measuring Rod"), which was published in the St. Louis Journalism Review (April 2001, Volume 31, Number 235), made the first cut, and I was competing with seasoned reporters from The New York Times, Boston Globe and Washington Post.

The New York Times had the final, winning entry in the category my entry was being considered (Exemplary Commentary). One of the editors at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch told me that the judging relies heavily on the impact the piece has in the community or society. The piece I submitted had impact. The charges were dropped against Gladys Lohman (follow-up article in Jet, July 2001 issue). People have told me that after they read my piece their perspective changed about how we view the downtrodden, what role society has in keeping children safe, as well as animal control.

Quite honestly, I was surprised that the entry got that far-and so was one of my professors. However, as a student, it was an honor to be considered along with many distinguished reporters and editors. Although The New York Times won, I was encouraged to submit my work in the future and I have been given an invitation to come to the Columbia University School of Journalism and meet the staff at the Pulitzer Prize offices. Not too bad for a student!

I just wanted to take this moment to tell you, personally, thank you for your encouragement.

Kim Pearson

Busch Creative Services

Lacking history

SJR: It's good to be back in the saddle in news. I'd missed it far too much for too long to pass up this opportunity at KTRS when it presented itself.

I always enjoy reading Ed Bishop's printed thoughts, and his column in the June issue is no exception.

I have to admit, however, I was somewhat bemused when I read your parting comments on the "trend" of former PR people going into journalism. Your statement that Jeff Fowler and I took jobs in the KTRS newsroom with only PR backgrounds is only part of our story, of course.

A new reader of SJR would logically presume local newsrooms are hiring PR people who have never worked in news. You should know that Jeff built himself a substantial news reputation at KSDK. You might also remember I put in a few years at KMOX and before that, briefly at NPR in Washington and at the School of Journalism at Mizzou. In fact, I think Charles would remember when I worked in news.

Believe me, Tim Dorsey didn't ask me to take over his newsroom based on my PR work.

Then again, I understand that bringing up our news backgrounds would have diverted from your point.

Far be it from me to spoil a good joke.

Kent Martin

KTRS News Director

Off the Record

Broadcast credibility

KMOX radio personalities have the impossible task of acting as broadcast journalists, informed talk show hosts as well as advertising peddlers for eateries, fat reduction potions and therapeutic mattresses.

Juggling all these roles often leads to credibility problems. For example, on a recent talk show about Yucca Mountain and nuclear waste shipments, KMOX's McGraw Milhaven agreed with a caller that it's great that nuclear shipments would be getting the waste out of Weldon Spring. Major credibility problem: Yucca shipments will do nothing to address the radioactive waste dump at Weldon Spring.

KMOX's "voices of St. Louis" lay it on thick when shilling for advertisers such as Pasta House or Internet service provider Brick Network. Major credibility problem: Brick Network made the front page of the Better Business Bureau's monthly in June for poor customer service and failure to respond to customer complaints.

Will KMOX report on consumer complaints about Brick Network? Can a news broadcaster peddle the wares of an advertiser one day, and then report with authority the negative news about the advertiser the following day? Is journalistic credibility an issue here?

-Don Corrigan

Who cares?

Despite the events of Sept. 11, people's news habits have changed little over the last couple of years. The latest in a series of polls conducted approximately every two years by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press looking at news trends concludes: "Reported levels of viewing-and listening-to the news are not markedly different than in the spring of 2000. At best, a slightly larger percentage of the public is expressing general interest in international and national news, but there is no evidence its appetite for international news extends much beyond terrorism and the Middle East." The report goes on to say there are no signs in the new polling that the news interests and habits of young adults (those under age 35) have been transformed by Sept. 11, as some had expected. They continue to register lower levels of news consumption than did previous generations at a comparable stage in the life cycle. And there is little indication that younger Baby Boomers have developed stronger news appetites, despite the extraordinary events of the past year.

Some other conclusions from the Pew study include good news for networks as the steady erosion in viewers over the past decade appears to have subsided.

In local news, 77 percent of people said they watched it regularly in 1993. That fell to a low of 56 percent in April 2000 and was up insignificantly to 57 percent in April 2002.

But while TV viewing held steady, newspaper reading has taken another big hit. In 1993, 58 percent of respondents read the paper regularly. That fell to 47 percent in 2000 and plummeted to 41 percent in 2002. And the poll clearly shows that the older you are, the more likely you are to read the paper. Only about one of every five people 25 years of age reads the paper regularly while three of every five people at age 65 read on a regular basis.

The good news is that people are reading-just not newspapers. The study reported, "Americans under age 35 are more likely to read a book on a typical day than to read a newspaper."

The research also discovered, "The audience for 'Dateline,' '20/20' and other network news magazines has declined sharply over the past decade. In the early 1990s, about half of the public said they regularly watched the news magazine programs. Now just a quarter (24 percent) regularly watch these shows."

Moms have a hard time with news. Fully six-in-ten (62 percent) say they wish they had more time for the news, more than fathers (52 percent) and women who do not have children at home (48 percent).

Finally, in looking at how much Americans know about current events, the results kind of remind you of Jay Leno's streetwalking segment where he interviews people who are clueless about even the most simple things. The study discovered, "Nearly half of Americans (48 percent) were able to identify Yasser Arafat as leader of the Palestinians. Almost as many (41 percent) knew that Israel was founded in 1948. But only three-in-ten (29 percent) identified Donald Rumsfeld as secretary of defense. People who were born overseas know more about international affairs than those who were born in this country."

-Tripp Frohlichstein

Fairness in broadcasting

Journalist A.J. Liebling once stated: "Freedom of the press is for those who own one." That truism can be updated for broadcasting: "Free expression is for those who can afford the advertising rates."

Back in the 1970s, there was an FCC Fairness Doctrine to try to make sure the disenfranchised had their side of an issue broadcast. For a brief time, the courts even applied the Fairness Doctrine to issue advertising to make sure that listeners could hear more than just the lopsided side of the well-heeled and the corporate establishment.

Today, fairness is dead. The results are disturbing. Take for example, the ad by the U.S Chamber of Commerce airing on KMOX Radio applauding Sen. "Kit" Bond for his support of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste shipment plan. The ad says Bond stands up to extremists in the environmental movement to get the nuclear waste out of Missouri, "where it doesn't belong."

The ad is a total fraud, because Missouri sites will continue to take in new waste as the old waste is shipped out. What's more, thousands of nuke shipments coming through the state will add to Missouri's radioactive largess.

Who has the bucks for the "free expression" to answer the deceptions of the nuclear industry and its friends on KMOX Radio and elsewhere? As SJR goes to press, apparently nobody.

-Don Corrigan

Black and white

Yes, there are more black characters on television today than ever before, but a University of California study found the characters are still "ghettoized."

The Associated Press noted the WB network has the largest number of black characters, but it is the network with the fewest viewers. The study also found blacks were more likely to appear in sitcoms than in dramas.

Other minorities are having even less success breaking the barriers of network TV. Blacks and whites get 92 percent of the TV acting jobs even though they make up 82 percent of the nation's population. Hispanics, for example, at 12.5 percent of the populace, get 2 percent of the TV jobs.

-Frank Absher

Pundits on the pledge

When a California court ruled that "one nation, under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance violates constitutional separation of church and state-and school children should not be coerced to say it-folks like the Rev. Jerry Falwell had a field day.

Falwell went on all the cable TV shows to insist that these are the kind of "evil rulings" you get from Democrat-appointed judges. Falwell said this pointed out the need to rush through Congress those patriotic nominations of federal court justices by Republican George W. Bush. Falwell's line was picked up by local pundits.

If Falwell and his flock had taken the time to do a little research on the ruling, they would have found that the decision was written by a judge appointed by Republican Richard M. Nixon. And the poor judge, who was receiving threats on his life, was defending the controversial decision with the "strict constructionist" logic of many a Republican sage.

-Don Corrigan

Air-wave war

The soap opera involving Clear Channel and congressional foes continues with Senator Russell Feingold (D-Wisconsin) launching an assault against the provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

The senator is upset at what he perceives as a trend toward an entertainment industry monopoly with Clear Channel controlling more than 1,200 radio stations, the nation's largest concert production company and venues. He says concert ticket prices have risen inordinately since Clear Channel bought SFX Entertainment, and he claims he's heard complaints from musical artists about difficulties in getting their music played on CC stations after the artists have worked with other concert companies.

Responding to what Feingold called a "shakedown," Clear Channel President Mark Mays said, "We do not believe that it is in the best interest of any of our constituencies to have the government legislate private business practices to the degree that Sen. Feingold proposes."

As for those high concert ticket prices, Mays blamed them on musicians' demands.

The bill offered by the senator would curb any further loosening of broadcast ownership rules and would penalize stations that engage in anti-competitive behavior.

-Frank Absher

Roaches eating cable?

In the July 4 edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jerry Berger noted the unusual number of Charter Cable executives raking in millions a year as the "Top 100 Paid Executives in St. Louis." Berger hinted that the fat cable cats may have some explaining to do to their cable stockholders, who have watched Charter stock drop like a rock.

Charter, down from a high in the past year of almost $25 a share to less than $4 a share, is suffering the same crash that is afflicting many cable companies. Charter is also affected by the big scandal at cable operator Adelphia, which has been "cooking the books" like WorldCom and Enron.

A Bloomberg News story with a St. Louis dateline quoted one astonished analyst: "It is unbelievable how they (the cable stocks) continue to get decimated day after day. It's the roach theory. When you see one problem, there's probably a lot more hiding in the walls."

-Don Corrigan

Doesn't translate

It seems that everyone knows about "The Onion," but apparently, its overseas influence is more than it bargained for.

An aggressive journalist for the state-run Beijing Evening News (circulation 1 million) accessed "The Onion" website, saw a story and smelled a scoop. A quick rewrite later, readers in China were learning about U.S. lawmakers' efforts to build a snazzy new capitol building. The readers also learned that Congressmen were threatening to leave Washington unless they got their new facility, much like unnamed professional sports teams might do in the good ol' United States. Oh, and the reporter apparently failed Journalism 101, because there was no attribution in the article.

Finally, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times, management of the Beijing paper has admitted its mistake, but not without a few jabs at "The Onion:" "Some small American newspapers frequently fabricate off-beat news to trick people into noticing them, with the aim of making money. This is what 'The Onion' does. According to congressional workers, "The Onion" is a publication that never ceases making up false reports."

-Frank Absher

Channels

TV salutes Buck with fan reaction

By Tripp Frohlichstein

Kudos to KTVI (Channel 2), KMOV (Channel 4) and KSDK (Channel 5) for their coverage of reaction to the death of Jack Buck. (I did not see Channel 11.) The stations offered comprehensive looks at the life of the great talent and had a substantial number of interviews with a wide range of people expressing their feelings about Buck.

I was especially impressed that all three chose to devote a great deal of time not to the celebrities but to the fans. There were lots of average fans who got to express their opinions.

The stations also had a good mix of celebrities ranging from ballplayers to civic leaders. Well done by all. They were prepared.

I'd like to share my Jack Buck memories. I first met Jack in the mid-1970s. I was a new kid at Channel 4. When I was introduced to Jack, he treated me as if I were an important person. From then on, he would always remember my name. He truly saw people as individuals.

I remember when I was with our news director and a couple of anchors. He paid as much attention to me as to them. I admired that. And it is true he always had a kind word. I have never been privileged to know anyone quite so nice.

I talked to him many times during my eight plus years as a TV critic on KMOX radio. He would always take the time to chat and never shrug you off. Yes, I can say only nice things about the man who, himself, only said nice things. He could be honest about a player doing poorly without beating up on the player. Jack Buck will truly be missed as an announcer-more so as a fine human being who made a difference.

•••

Sympathies are also in order to the family of Channel 5 helicopter pilot/ traffic reporter Rich Barklage. He died of a heart attack while jogging shortly after Buck's passing. His brother, Allen Barklage, had also worked for Channel 5. He died in an accident several years ago.

•••

The third celebrity death of the week put even more strain on local stations. While they knew the death of Jack Buck was coming, the matter of Darryl Kile was completely different. Caught by surprise, stations had to mobilize on a Saturday afternoon (a tough thing to do given people are out and about and hard to reach). What I saw of Channels 4 and 5 showed they did a credible job jumping on the story and getting people to Chicago. You had to feel bad for Channel 4 when one of their reports from a Chicago reporter on the 5 p.m. news had to be scuttled due to a technical failure.

This week has tested our local news stations' mettle. I give 'em an "A."

•••

The power of the media to do good was demonstrated in no uncertain terms on the morning of June 22. More than 45,000 people showed up downtown for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure to raise money for breast cancer research. Channel 5 was the primary reason with extensive pre-race coverage and promotion and then live coverage of the event itself. The event raised more than a million dollars to help fight breast cancer.

The event is also a lesson to non-profit groups who want television coverage. Get a key person from a television station on your board. Channel 5 General Manager Lynne Beall is on the Susan G. Komen board. She was able to use her television station to further the fine cause.

The only criticism is that the broadcast went on too long. It began at 6 a.m. and ran four-and-a-half hours. Near the end, we just heard a bunch of sponsors thanking people. It was enough already as the broadcast turned into commercials-we even heard the platinum, gold and silver sponsors being introduced. I'd like to think they sponsored the event to help the cause, not to get their names on television.

There were also other announcements of awards such as "winner of the largest new team in the large team category" or the winner of the "largest new team in the medium category" or even "largest new team in the small team category." Tedious reading? Well, it was tedious viewing. That's information that could have been disseminated later via the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Still, the overall effort was superb, and next year, especially with a little more forethought at the end of the broadcast, could be even better as our community helps fight breast cancer.

•••

I have been lazy and until recently failed to watch Channel 4's news extra program airing 6:30 p.m. on Saturday nights. Jamie Allman is host.

Wow, was I missing a good show. Allman is a great host who asks tough questions that average people might ask. When he had Mark Lamping of the Cardinals on, he asked the toughest questions anyone has asked about the new stadium. As soft ball as the Post seemed to be, he was hardball. He represented what many fans were wondering. I wanted to cheer for him as he asked those tough questions. Lamping, by the way, was prepared and had good answers. But the point is, at least someone took the side of what appears to be the majority when it comes to stadium funding.

The next show I watched was far less appealing. Although Allman is a fine host, he was given less than exciting topics. On this June 22 program, the topics were who replaces Jack Buck, FBI hiring and Britney Spears. This show also demonstrated why taping programs ahead of time is a problem. There was no mention of the Darryl Kile death earlier that afternoon, making the show (and discussion of Buck) feel already out-of-date.

The weakest segment was an interview with Post reporter Diane Toroian. Leaning back in her chair and grinning all the way, she seemed to almost think it was silly for her to be on talking about Britney Spears' popularity at all. Even worse, her content was lacking. She answered almost nothing Allman asked. When asked if Spears was still sponsored by "milk," Toroian responded that Pepsi might get mad. (Toroian never told us if milk is still involved.) When asked what her attraction was, Toroian said she didn't know. When asked about concerns she has heard from parents, she said "I think there are" but never detailed any. Finally, she showed she is out of touch with youth by noting that 18-year-old girls will hear different (sexually related) messages than 12-year-old girls. My son is 13, and I have observed 12- and 13-year-old girls today are a lot more savvy about sex than we might like to think.

The segment was a waste of time.

Give Allman meaty topics and he is great. Give him dull topics and the station is wasting his talents.

One other suggestion. As a media trainer, I urge the Post to get some help for their reporters appearing on TV. They need to learn both non-verbal skills and better ways to answer questions. As so often is the case, reporters know how to ask questions, but are pretty poor at answering them.

•••

Channel 5 has come up with a witty spot with the message of credibility in weather. As it begins, you hear Cindy Preszler on KTRS radio (550 AM) saying it will be a sunny day. But the shot on the screen shows a man listening to this as it is pouring rain. Or at least that's what you think. It is ultimately revealed that he was listening to her in a car wash and it is, in fact a sunny day. Very clever.

Meanwhile Channel 4's, their promotion team also has an effective spot but with a more serious tone. Kent Ehrhardt narrates the spot which tells viewers that in serious weather, he will be in the newsroom dispatching crews and reporters as the weather dictates.

Both work.

•••

Well, I turned on Channel 5 on Memorial Day and there was Karen Foss anchoring the news. While that would seem normal, it isn't. Foss is the senior anchor at Channel 5. It would be easy for her to ask or even demand the holiday off. Yet she chooses to work-and not only Memorial Day but many holidays. She once told me she enjoys working holidays to give other people time off. You have to admire her for that. She could easily tell the Channel 5 brass she refuses to work holidays. Instead, it's the opposite.

Good for her!

•••

Myriam Wright becomes a weekend morning anchor and reporter at New England Cable News in Boston. Wright used to call Channel 4 her home as a weekday anchor.

•••

Channel 5 has negotiated a new contract with Karen Foss. The contract will take Foss into her 25th year with the station, which she joined in 1979. The contract offers her more flexibility and the opportunity to concentrate on her anchoring and reporting duties.

She will cover the presidential nominating conventions, follow through on special news assignments and produce several series on relevant topics during her regular four-day workweeks.

Smart move, Channel 5.

•••

Finally, my compliments to Steve Perron, Channel 4 newsroom executive and contributor to SJR. I was impressed to read last issue in which he wrote an article acknowledging Channel 2's superiority in covering a local story. That takes guts. He was objective in looking at how all three stations covered the story, even admitting his own station was last. I'll believe anything I read from Steve.

Tripp Frohlichstein owns Media Masters and consults with business, government and non-profit organizations. He will not comment on any television coverage if it involves his clients.

Sports/Media

Memories of Jack Buck

By Joe Pollack

It was a long time ago, but the fall of 1954 and my first meeting with Jack Buck remain in my heart as a recent occurrence.

If memory serves, it was a Friday night in Lincoln, Neb., where Mizzou and Nebraska were to play football, and there was the usual get-together for the press the night before the game. I was a graduate student using my GI Bill money, and I also was sports editor and columnist for the Columbia Missourian, a role that had permitted me to travel to Omaha a few months earlier to watch the Tigers win the NCAA baseball championship.

Anyway, Harry Caray and Jack Buck were there, too. They had been paired for the first time on Cardinals' games that year and were doing some Mizzou games, probably to keep KMOX prominent for the fans of both organizations. We were introduced. Harry was too busy to spend much time with a college kid, but I remember Jack standing and chatting about this and that. Later, we were in Oklahoma City the night before we lost to the Sooners, and Harry stuck me with the entire $11 tab for a bottle of bootleg bourbon from a bellman.

By the following spring, I was in St. Louis, a rookie sports writer for the Globe-Democrat, and visited the press box of Sportsman's Park to watch a baseball game. I saw Jack and Harry, of course. Harry had more time for me, since I obviously had become more important and more intelligent. Jack stood and chatted about this and that, the way he had, and did.

In the 1950s and '60s, Jack and I were on a softball team together, in the old YMHA League that played fast-pitch in Forest Park on Sunday mornings. Jack, a fine outfielder, was an asset to a team that also included the late Globe-Democrat baseball writer, Jack Herman, and the late jazz clarinetist Sammy Gardner, a pitcher who joined us at mid-season one year and turned a 2-8 team the first half into 9-1 the second. Jack and I also bowled together in the old Press-Radio League that convened on Mondays in the creaky alleys on Olive Street just east of Grand Boulevard.

Through the years, whenever I spent time with Jack, it was a good time. We talked of sports, of course, but also of theater, of literature, of world events.

He occasionally rode Football Cardinal charters, and he was never without a book, usually a recent one, always a large non-fiction volume focused primarily on biography or history. One September (I think it was 1960) both sets of Cardinals were in Philadelphia for the same weekend, the Big Red at Franklin Field against the Eagles, the Red Birds in Connie Mack Stadium against the Phillies. For some reason, Jack missed the Friday game, flew up with the football team on Saturday. During the flight, he asked me if I would keep him company in the broadcast booth that night. Harry was doing a Mizzou game somewhere else, and would fly to Philadelphia, but connections were tight and he might not make it.

"You can help in an emergency," he said, and I was pleased to be asked. Before the game, he taped a football-oriented interview with me and played it on Sunday afternoon as the pregame baseball show, even though I was across town at the football game when the show aired.

There were no emergencies, though once he dashed off to the bathroom between innings. I was ready, willing and able, and when he was slow to return, I busily cleared my throat. He zipped back into the booth, slid into his seat and never missed a beat. He was the consummate professional.

We made several other visits to Philadelphia in the 1960s. One of my tasks for the Football Cardinals was to write the script for the team's highlight film (and, yes, it often ran more than 15-20 seconds), and one of Jack's was to do the narration, which was accomplished at the NFL Films studios. We would fly up, going over the script as we traveled, have an excellent dinner at Bookbinder's, talk during the evening, have breakfast the following morning, watch the film, cut the narration track and return home.

One year, in the days when he was doing the KMOX morning show, he invited me to his room for breakfast. For two hours, he sat on the bed (sometimes, for relief, on a chair) and did the show with no aid except the Philadelphia papers, a book he was reading and his amazing grasp of everything- dazzling experience.

And we occasionally visited at Stan Musial and Biggie's, when the steakhouse was at 5100 Oakland Ave. (where the Science Museum now stands) and he did a night talk show during the non-baseball season. I sometimes brought football players, or visiting coaches or P.R. men, to be interviewed, and I sometimes just came in for a drink, to say hello and to hear what Jack had to say.

Again, his vast store of knowledge came into play, as did the fact that he was unflappable under almost any circumstances. One night, he was interviewing the extremely buxom Marie Wilson, who was wearing something low-cut, and a man left the bar and walked to the broadcast area, slightly unsteady on his feet but totally unwavering of gaze. After a few minutes, she was getting nervous. Jack took a cigar from his pocket, lit it and calmly smoked it, puffing clouds of smoke toward the unwelcome visitor's face. He got the idea and the aroma, and sneezed a couple of times as he left.

In recent years, we saw each other a handful of times a summer when I would go to Busch Stadium and visit the booth to say hello to Jack and to Mike Shannon. I would marvel at Jack's control and self-discipline as he battled the Parkinson's Disease symptoms to sign autographs, his will power forcing the trembling hand to behave itself as he wrote.

And I was as avid a listener as anyone else. The first Saturday afternoon exhibition game from Florida marked the first day of spring, the last game of the season signaled the start of the long, dark winter, and no matter how hard they work in the radio booth, it will be a long time before I am comfortable with a successor.

The last time I saw Jack was in autumn. We had stopped for dinner at Farotto's, the pizza parlor on Manchester Avenue, and were at the bar waiting for a table. I turned at one point and there was Jack, coming in the door. He was picking up a pizza which wasn't quite ready, and he moved to a side, waiting patiently. I walked over and he greeted me. We talked, and like any two guys over 70, our health was a leading topic. After a few minutes, his pizza was ready. We made our farewells, wished each other well for the holidays, said we'd see each other at the ball park-something that obviously will not happen.

Like everyone else, I will miss Jack Buck, and my wishes are with his family. Joe seems to have slipped into his father's garb without pause. The coat of authority, maturity and poise fits perfectly. Joe's work in the week following Jack's death was flawless in every respect. He did what he had to do with the style and grace Jack would have shown, and I can think of no more fitting compliment for either man.

Joe Pollack is a former St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist.

Media/Law

TV influences real law

By Ken Jones

It's not like 'L.A. Law.'" I remember a professor making that remark during law school when someone asked what it's really like to be an attorney. And I'm sure all law students have heard the same response-or something similar, depending on how old they are. In ancient days I'm told the standard answer was, "It's not like Perry Mason."

The implied message, of course, was that we shouldn't pay too much attention to what fake lawyers do on television, because that's not what actually goes on during a trial. "Don't expect the witness to break down on the stand and confess to the crime," the professor added.

But I think my professor was giving bad advice if he wanted students to believe that the media are irrelevant to the actual practice of law. That's because potential jurors, who have spent countless hours watching "The Practice," "Ally McBeal" and "Matlock," are deeply affected by what they see on the tube. And these jurors are going to bring with them into the courtroom their TV-inspired prejudices about how lawyers should act.

Lawyers who ignore this usually find themselves on the losing side at the end of a trial.

Here are a few examples of how TV trials influence jurors' perceptions-and how lawyers must respond.

The 10-minute trial: In an hour-long lawyer show, the actual trial-from opening statements, to the examination of the plaintiff's and defendant's witnesses, to closing arguments-usually lasts about 10 minutes. In real life, even the simplest car accident case generally lasts two or three days. So jurors are shocked to discover just how long and boring a trial really is. And they blame the tedium on the lawyer who appears to be the primary culprit in slowing things down. As a result, lawyers have to make sure they're moving along as quickly as possible and give the impression that the glacial pace of the trial is the other side's fault.

The paperless courtroom: In "Law and Order" you never see a piece of paper-all the evidence is given through witness testimony. But actual litigation usually involves whole forests of paper, especially in commercial cases, with scores of bankers boxes lining the courtroom. Since document-intensive trials move at turtle speed, lawyers who fail to cut back on documentary evidence risk antagonizing the jury.

The screaming lawyer: Every episode of "The Practice" concludes with Bobby Donnell yelling at the judge. Ditto other lawyer shows-the attorneys think nothing of chastising the judge in front of the jury. In a real case in St. Louis Circuit Court, Bobby might get one warning before he's pitched into jail for contempt. But through their TV-watching, jurors have imbibed the notion that the effective advocate is the shrill advocate, and that lawyers who don't howl once in a while are too pusillanimous to side with at deliberation time. Some practicing lawyers have told me that because of this preconception, they intentionally include a well-planned outburst or two in their courtroom presentations in order to show they're not wimps who don't stick up for their clients.

The two-question cross-examination: Watch any lawyer show and you'll notice that the cross-exam of a witness includes only two questions, which usually concern the ultimate issue being litigated in the trial. Flesh-and-blood lawyers know, however, that effective cross-examinations often take as much time as the direct examination-and most usually dwell on tangential issues of witness credibility rather than on ultimate issues of fact. However, lawyers are learning that they must restrict their cross-exams if they want to keep the jury's attention.

Lawyer shows are popular with the media because they possess by nature the one factor essential to a good story-conflict. A trial pits one side starkly against another, provides a stage to fight a battle, and then renders a black-and-white resolution. As a result, the legal profession has a significant effect on what appears on TV.

But real-life lawyers are also discovering the converse-media portrayals of legal issues have an equally significant effect on the practice of law. And lawyers who fail to realize this do a disservice to their clients.

Update

In my June column I reviewed a decision by the Missouri Court of Appeals on a personal injury case against Pulitzer Publishing Company. The court held that Pulitzer was not liable for injuries suffered by a jogger who was struck by a St. Louis Post-Dispatch delivery van. The court said that the paper carrier was an independent contractor of Pulitzer, not an employee, and therefore Pulitzer was not responsible for the carrier's actions.

I mentioned in the column that a companion case-a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of another jogger-was still pending in the appellate court. On June 25, the court handed down its decision in that case, Automobile Club Inter-Insurance Exchange v. Medrano, and ruled once again that Pulitzer had no liability. The legal issue in that appeal involved whether insurance coverage owned by the contract carrier applied to the accident.

Ken Jones is publisher and editor-in-chief of Missouri Lawyers Weekly (www.molawyersweekly.com).

Media/Politics

Post missed important numbers

By Terry Jones

The U.S. Census Bureau opened the floodgates for its "long form" Missouri data on May 29. But, in the first three weeks after the numbers became available, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch had published just two stories based on the results.

Both accounts emphasized extremes, the unusual, rather than means, the typical. Both reported only the 2000 numbers, neglecting to make any comparisons with findings from earlier censuses.

The first story, a May 29 report on income figures, led with which local municipality is the most affluent: It's Huntleigh, with a median household income of $200,000, well above Ladue's $142,000. Although there was a chart listing the richest and poorest 10 municipalities, the entire article, along with an accompanying photograph and map, was devoted to tales about Huntleigh, home to fewer than 400 people. Much about a few, nothing about the remainder.

The second item, appearing June 9, similarly stressed the bizarre. It took Elsah, a community with only a slightly higher population (635) but possessing Principia College, and highlighted it as the municipality where the highest proportion of people (72 percent) walk to work. The format was identical: All the article, as well as a photo and map, just on Elsah and a chart listing the walk-to-work shares in other college towns.

Those looking for more essential findings, basic trends which help us understand the region's economic and social dynamics, were left unsatisfied. Instead the Post indulged in cutesy journalism, person-bites-dog sidebars absent the larger story.

Within days, however, the East-West Gateway Coordinating Council, the region's metropolitan planning organization, and the University of Missouri Office of Economic and Social Data Analysis had crunched the numbers, separated chaff from wheat and produced initial reports with some meaningful results, made immediately available on their respective websites (www.ewgateway.org and www.oseda.missouri.edu).

Here are some of their more meaty points. Most of the interpretive comments are mine.

(1) The number of people working grew more (5.6 percent) between 1990 and 2000 than did the overall population (3.9 percent), largely because women's participation in the labor force went up two percentage points during that same period. This is good news for the region's economy since jobs produce incomes, but it also has direct implications for social services, especially daycare.

(2) The proportion employed in manufacturing dropped from 19.0 percent in 1990 to 14.0 percent in 2000 while the share in service positions rose from 28.9 percent to 43.5 percent during the decade. Although this mirrors national patterns, it raises issues about the region's competitiveness. For the most part, it's manufacturing jobs which add value to the metropolitan economy (import parts, assemble fighter aircraft, export product), not service jobs (you do my tax return, I'll teach your children, no net income for the region).

(3) For the first time since World War II, the median household income gap between the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County narrowed rather than broadened. In inflation-adjusted dollars, the City's median income rose 5.9 percent over the past decade while the County's went up just 0.6 percent, lowering the County/City ratio from 1.96 to 1.85. This reflects some of the challenges in the County's inner suburbs as well as the City's success in attracting young singles and older empty-nesters. St. Charles County, with a 7.8 percent growth rate, widened its lead as the regional pacesetter.

(4) Reinforcing the median household income shifts, St. Louis County's poverty rate rose from 5.6 percent to 6.9 percent while the City of St. Louis' held constant at 24.6 percent. The poverty shares fell in every other county in the metropolitan area including Madison and St. Clair in Illinois. As a result, the overall proportion in poverty within the St. Louis region dropped slightly from 10.8 percent to 10.3 percent. Again, St. Louis County's inner ring, especially in its northern segment, contains more of the region's poverty pockets, making it increasingly different from yesteryear's suburban haven.

(5) St. Louisans are increasingly driving to work alone. The proportion doing solo automobile commutes has now gone from 67.4 percent in 1980 to 79.9 percent in 1990 to 82.7 percent in 2000. Conversely, carpooling has dropped from 21.3 percent in 1980 to 9.8 percent in 2000. The Metrolink line opened in 1993 helped St. Louis County reverse a downward slope in public transit commuting, rising faintly from 1.5 percent in 1990 to 1.7 percent in 2000 but, overall, the region's use of buses and light rail for the journey to work dropped from 2.9 percent to 2.5 percent.

(6) Working at home is growing, but it is far from a revolution. It has gone from 2.3 percent in 1990 to 2.8 percent in 2000.

(7) Missourians are much more educated today than they were a decade ago. Among persons 25 years or older, the number of those holding graduate or professional degrees has risen 35.9 percent and those with bachelor degrees has gone up 32.4 percent. The college graduate share of the 25-and-older segment is now 21.6 percent, up from 17.8 percent in 1990.

The Census data from the long form say much about St. Louis as a region. When they make their once-a-decade appearance, readers of the metropolitan area's newspaper of record should not have to wait weeks before learning about the central findings.

Terry Jones is professor of political science at UM-St. Louis.

Radio History

KXLW's rocky road

By Frank Absher

(Editor's note: Information for this article was provided by the St. Louis Media Archives at the St. Louis Public Library.)

Guy Runnion made a name for himself as a broadcaster in St. Louis reading the news on KMOX, but he had higher aspirations. On Jan. 1, 1947, he left the CBS powerhouse and signed his new radio station, KXLW, on the air. Later he probably wished he had stayed at KMOX.

There was plenty of publicity prior to sign-on, thanks to Runnion's second-in-command, Edgar Mothershead, who is listed as the company's vice president. Mothershead had been an editorial writer for the St. Louis Watchman-Advocate, and his contacts in the city's print media allowed him to get plenty of exposure. The St. Louis Globe-Democrat, on the day of sign-on, wrote, "The station will present a varied program of music, news, sports, food talks, fashion hints, agricultural and outdoors information."

The first day's broadcast was similar to many other inaugural broadcasts here. After an invocation by the Rev. Dr. Frank Hall of Central Presbyterian Church, Clayton Mayor Kenneth Thies welcomed KXLW to the airwaves. Studios were located in the brand new Plaza Building at 8135 Forsythe (the "e" was later dropped from the street name).

The station was limited in its coverage, having been assigned 1,000 watts of power at a frequency of 1320 Kc. Programming began at 6 a.m. with a farm almanac show. At 10 a.m. KXLW had a show for women, and there was an hour of news and sports at noon.

Runnion quickly found that disc jockeys were popular with his listeners, and, since he had no network to provide programs and the production of local dramatic and live music shows was expensive, he took the inexpensive, easy way out.

There were stories of a pending move to new studios, but that never happened. Runnion was served with notice that he could no longer broadcast from the tower he had erected without a permit at the corner of Warson and Old Bonhomme in Olivette. He had spent $6,000 to put it up. The case would be tied up in court for the next several years.

On Dec. 6, 1948, members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers set up pickets at the KXLW studios and at a new tower site in Brentwood in a wage dispute. Just over a month later, the station was silenced, and Runnion accused the engineers of sabotaging the transmitter. "Two wires on the lightning arrester were grounded out sometime Saturday night ... causing some of our equipment to burn out," he was quoted as saying. "The damage could have been done only by someone familiar with such installations generally and with KXLW facilities in particular."

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch quoted IBEW spokesman Robert Stetson: "Any inference that our men caused this damage is ridiculous. Our men prize their Federal Communications Commission licenses too highly to risk them in any such undertaking as this."

The new tower finally arrived at the Brentwood site, but steelworkers who were hired to erect it refused to cross the engineers' picket line. Olivette officials continued to pressure Runnion, and things came to a head there when county police arrested him and two of his remaining engineers just as he was about to make a broadcast from his Clayton studio. He was charged with violating an Olivette ordinance regarding the tower.

There were more arrests. In another episode, five staffers were arrested as they tried to enter the tower facility for a broadcast. Runnion told a Globe reporter, "The malicious series of arrests seems to indicate pretty clearly that the officials of Olivette are trying to silence the station permanently, rather than simply trying to enforce zoning ordinance covering the 16-acre hog farm where the transmitter was put."

There was obviously pressure from his co-owners as well. A shareholder filed suit in February 1949, asking that the station be placed in receivership, alleging Runnion had "grossly mismanaged" KXLW. Runnion, meanwhile, filed a legal complaint against two marshals, charging them with trespassing and willful and malicious oppression in connection with the recent staff arrests.

In April 1949, Runnion threw in the towel, and an agreement was announced that would allow him to save face. His controlling interest in KXLW, along with the shares held by his wife Gladys, was sold to Lee, Silas and T. Virgil Sloan. Runnion would stay on as general manager, they said, and all other employees would keep their jobs. The marshals were found not guilty of the charges he had filed.

In August of 1949, Runnion resigned after having reached agreements to settle the strike and completing construction of the new tower on Bomparte Avenue in Brentwood.

Frank Absher is a St. Louis radio consultant.

(St. Louis radio history is available online at http://www.stlradio.com.)

Guild files complaint after three Journals narrowly reject union

By Erica Burleson

The Warrenton/Wentzville office of the Suburban Journals joined employees of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the St. Louis Review, KSDK, Unicom and a few media and public relations companies as a member of the Newspaper Guild of St. Louis in a 7-to-5 vote on June 13.

But, three other Journals offices narrowly missed voting in union representation-Jefferson County, 8-to-11; North St. Louis County, 9-to-10; and South St. Louis County, 11-to-12.

Employees at the Warren-ton/Wentzville office expected things to improve under union protection. But some people say the conditions and atmosphere have become worse since the vote.

"Management is making it difficult," said Thomas True, a staff photographer at the Warrenton/Wentz-ville office.

Another employee said, "I think we were all hoping for a better work environment and that hasn't happened. It's just the opposite. I think the company has a lot to lose. We're kind of the flagship."

Since the vote, the Warren-ton/Wentzville management has created and filled a position without announcing or advertising it. An employee who did not vote for the union was promoted to the position and now oversees other employees, who previously reported directly to the managing editor.

True said people are being written up for nitpicky things and are receiving writing and photography criticism for things with which management never before bothered. True called it harassment and a violation of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). In fact, the Guild has filed a complaint with the NLRB.

"It's just not right to implement these changes after the union's been voted in, without negotiating," True said.

Journals officials refused to comment and referred all inquiries to Publisher Joe Pepe.

True has received intensive criticism of his work and was given an assignment on his day off that was due before he was supposed to be in to work the following day. No member of management bothered to call him with the assignment. Luckily, though, a coworker did call him.

"There're several things they're doing that they can't do," True said. "After we get officers, we can start saying, 'This is wrong. You can't do that.'"

The election of officers took place on July 8, and True was elected as chairperson for the bargaining unit.

Despite problems with management, pro-union employees at Warrenton/Wentzville, many of whom wished not to be named, are happy the vote passed.

"The election was a very positive move," True said. "We have a very good chance to set an example for the other units (of the Suburban Journals)."

Linda Meyer, a reporter at Warrenton/Wentzville, agreed wholeheartedly with True.

"Management is not thrilled," she said. "It was something we wanted to happen, and it's going to be a positive thing for us at the Journals. We made it through it and it got tense at the end ... We're still kind of awkward.

"We're out there by ourselves, but we're hoping we'll get a contract in place and demonstrate it will work," Meyer said.

She said the inequities in treatment between Journals and Post employees was a major factor in her desire for union representation. When Pulitzer then began combining advertising sales for the papers, Meyer said unrest rose and management was not helping with the problems.

"We've got an opportunity to negotiate, and that's what we wanted," she said.

"Until we get a contract, we need to mind our p's and q's," one employee said. "They're coming after a lot of us in a lot of different ways."

The failed votes

Union supporters at the other three offices lamented their failed effort and have begun thinking about their next opportunity for a vote-at least a year away. Meanwhile, employees said management at the offices reveled in what seemed to be a vote of confidence for the publishers and members of the management staffs.

Before the vote, management would stand up at mandatory anti-union meetings and say they were taking the votes as personal attacks, sources said.

Bob Schaper, a former employee of the South St. Louis County office, said his office's publisher asked, "How could you do this to me?" of his employees. Schaper called it an attempt to get sympathy from union supporters and undecided voters.

Most of the employees said the failed vote was a result of clerical and advertising/sales staffs voting against the Guild. It wasn't about management.

"Where we really screwed up is we tried to be generous," Schaper said. "Sales people, throughout the whole thing, would kind of talk out of both sides of their mouths."

He said the sales people felt no sense of unity and that the clerical staffs were content making their current wages.

"I never felt I should be in a union with ad reps and office staff. Those are the people who ultimately caused us the vote," he said. "These are the people who we felt could use the union the most. The reporters were just there for the experience ... the clips."

Members of the advertising/sales staffs at the Journals did not deny Schaper's claim that they caused the vote failure.

"I would agree with that," one member of the advertising/sales staff of the South County Journals said. "I just didn't feel the union could help me."

Most people who voted against the union said they didn't feel as if they needed a third party to do their bidding for them.

But Bill Phelan, a reporter at the Jefferson County office, felt a third party was needed for additional leverage with management and is also unhappy with the result of the union vote.

"Unfortunately the Journals do not pay their people a decent wage. I'm not ashamed to say I voted for the union," he said. "I did not feel, at the time, that there was any other way to get better pay."

Since the vote was announced on April 12, Pepe's view has been that the Journals employees do not need a third party to negotiate for them. His response to the votes was not much different.

"I thought the north, south and Jefferson County offices made a good decision in support of management," he said.

Meanwhile, he said the Warrenton/Wentzville office was probably "a little misled by the Guild."

According to employees at all voting offices, management put on a high-expense, high-profile campaign against the Guild. Some employees said T-shirts were passed out, memos were sent to all employees, threats were made and anti-union PowerPoint presentations were required meetings in the days before the vote.

Schaper said four presentations were spread over a two-week period and that all pro-union employees had to go to a PowerPoint presentation two days before the election-the day immediately before the vote was a blackout day in which neither side could promote its cause.

"These people will tell you anything to keep you from voting (pro-union)," Schaper said.

The Guild

Goodrick agreed that the company put up a nasty fight against the Guild-one that resulted in an official complaint.

"The company was very aggressive," he said. "Their tactics obviously had some effect in the last waning hours."

Before the actual vote, Goodrick said 70 percent of Journals employees at the four voting offices were signed up to vote pro-union. That percentage did not transfer into the official ballot count, and many people credit that fact to the money the Journals spent fighting the third-party representation. Still, Goodrick's happy the Guild has another member.

"We were hoping to be successful in all locations, but we're happy to be successful in one location," he said.

The employees at the Warrenton/Wentz-ville office will now work as a unit and contact management for negotiations, a process which could be rather lengthy.

"It can be done in three days, three weeks or years. It's all over the board," Goodrick said. "We'll just see what happens as time goes on."

But, if the Guild could choose how long the process would take, he said it would be three days.

Once a contract is in place, employees at the Warrenton/Wentz-ville office will give 1.6 percent of their gross salaries and 23 cents a week to the Guild for its representation services.

Pepe said he didn't know what to expect next other than a notification as to when negotiations would begin and to start from scratch with the Warren-ton/Wentzville office.

"Management here is still very committed to making the Journals the best they can be," he said.

Erica Burleson is the assistant general manager of SJR.

Combined ad sales raise antitrust issue

By Erica Burleson

When Pulitzer Inc. purchased the Suburban Journals from the Journal Register Co. two years ago, President and CEO Robert Woodworth said the Journals and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch would remain two separate entities. They would have distinct voices, maintain separate news and advertising staffs, and remain competitive newspapers.

But, June 5 the advertising/sales staffs of the Journals and the Post began selling ad space for both newspapers.

In a memo on April 10, President and Publisher of the Post Terrance Egger said the Post was below national averages for major daily newspapers' advertising revenues and that the combination of sales would allow readers and advertisers to receive "exactly what they wanted without duplication of effort on their part or ours."

The joint selling of advertising has raised the question of antitrust violations in the minds of some Pulitzer Inc. employees.

"It's heading to litigation," said Herb Goodrick, secretary of the Newspaper Guild. "(Union advertising members') work is being given to other people."

Antitrust regulators originally approved the sale of the Suburban Journals to Pulitzer Inc. based on the papers' remaining separate. At the time, Jackson Nickerson, professor at Washington University's Olin School of Business, said the antitrust regulators would mostly be concerned about whether Pulitzer would be able to raise advertising prices by five percent or more over time.

So far, advertising representatives at the Journals told SJR, prices have not gone up significantly. The cost of running an ad in both publications is, of course, more expensive than running an ad in only one paper, they said.

Neither the FCC nor the FTC returned the phone calls of SJR.

"They will always keep a distinct voice between the two publications," said Matt Davis, a Pulitzer spokesman. "As far as we're concerned, it's not like we're eliminating competition for media dollars."

Davis also said the Post has no concerns about the joint sales being an antitrust issue.

"We question (combined selling)," said Linda Meyer, a reporter at the Warrenton/Wentzville Journals. "But we can only speculate. We don't know enough (about the legal issues)."

Meyer and several of her colleagues at the Warrenton/Wentzville office voted to join the Guild on June 13, partly, she said, because of the combination of advertising responsibilities. And, yet, members of the advertising staffs at three other Journals offices effectively caused the failure of the Guild vote.

One person at the South St. Louis County office said the sales people didn't think the Guild could help them and didn't have a problem with the new advertising policy.

"A lot of the advertisers we talk to are happy," the employee said.

Egger's memo said that, in addition to joint sales, advertising representatives would have exclusive customers and prospects on which to call. This plan would give representatives at both papers the "opportunity to sell more advertising and to make more money."

Do you know who this woman is?

Literary and journalistic luminaries in St. Louis-like Martha Gellhorn-are ignored in favor of dogs, butterflies and bowlers

By Don Corrigan

Arguably, the best-known female war correspondent of the 20th century came from an old St. Louis family. In fact, Martha Gellhorn continued to visit her mother in St. Louis well into the 1970s and had other ties to our region. Yet, when Gellhorn died in 1998, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ran only a brief obituary. None of the local television stations even mentioned her passing. It was as if this famed novelist, early feminist, fiery journalist and wife of Ernest Hemingway had never even lived among us.

Or take the first Joseph Pulitzer. In the decades after the Civil War, he more or less invented the modern newspaper and changed the face of American culture. He does have a spot on the Loop's Walk of Fame, but most folks in the metropolitan area don't have any idea of what he did or even when he lived here. Joe Pulitzer, Martha Gellhorn and others of their ilk get no respect.

Which is typical of St. Louis. The city has a Dog Museum, a Cardinals Hall of Fame, a Butterfly House and a Bowling Hall of Fame. But it has made no such effort to recognize its journalists, its poets, it prose writers, its many men and women of letters.

Why not?

Why doesn't this city have a Literary Hall of Fame? After all, St. Louis is no literary slouch. It has played host to the likes of Samuel Clemens, T.S. Eliot, Kate Chopin, William S. Burroughs, Tennessee Williams and many, many more.

So many great writers have chosen to leave St. Louis at their first opportunity, and most of them have steadfastly refused to look back. Perhaps this is because the city by the great river, which inspired both Clemens and Eliot, has always shown so much more affection for its dogs, its players of baseball and rollers of bowling balls.

When the poet Howard Nemerov, who died in 1991, came to St. Louis to take an academic appointment, his acquaintances from back East were both horrified and amused. One friend penned the soon-to-be national poet laureate a letter of sympathy. He wrote that he could well understand Nemerov's wish "to retire from the center of culture into some quiet backwater."

St. Louis has always suffered a sort of cultural inferiority complex, a syndrome that especially afflicts its own homegrown intelligentsia. They all too readily concede that St. Louis is a place "in the sticks"-a mere flyover city-sandwiched somewhere on a global longitude between Nashville's Opryland and upstart Branson, the headquarters of the Baldknobbers.

In fact, St. Louis was not always "a backwater," and it does not have to remain the backwater that many consider it to be today. A St. Louis Literary Museum would spotlight the many contributions of writers who once called "Mound City" their home-from Samuel Clemens and Eugene Field, to Harold Brodkey and Stanley Elkin.

A journalistic legacy

Journalists are often disparaged as hack writers, but the St. Louis Literary Museum would single out the many writers who made the transition from the newsroom to the reading room. It's useful to examine a few of these varied careers to make the point.

Samuel Clemens would have to be a major focal point for any memorial to authors who once called St. Louis their home. The best-loved and best-known frontier reporter of them all, Clemens was a gentleman of the press in both the Midwest and the West in his early years.

Clemens-Mark Twain, of course-worked for the infamous and nefarious Territorial Enterprise in Virginia City, Nev., as well as for the San Francisco Call. His reporting in the untamed West helped inspire his "Roughing It," a chronicle of his many early adventures.

Before his move out West and to later fame and misfortune, Clemens was a printer's devil for the St. Louis Evening News and Intelligencer. He would return to St. Louis again and again throughout his career, in part, to visit one of his major inspirations, the Mississippi River.

Elijah P. Lovejoy must also figure prominently in any comprehensive St. Louis Literary Museum. Lovejoy published first in St. Louis with the Observer and then across the river in Illinois with the Alton Observer. That first St. Louis paper would contain advertisements for slaves; that later paper in Alton would contain Lovejoy's abolitionist sentiments which would lead to his martyrdom.

Lovejoy embodies the editorial writer with a fire in the belly. His newspaper piece, "A Call For Anti-Slavery Action," reveals the enduring strength of the written word, as well as the risks of using the written word to effect change. Beware the mob. Lovejoy's intellectual journey through journalism deserves telling and retelling.

Just as Lovejoy has a monument to his work in Alton, Ill., Eugene Field is recalled in downtown St. Louis with the Eugene Field House and Toy Museum. A newspaper writer, Field would often spend all his paycheck from his work on toys to give to poor children, much to the astonishment and exasperation of his wife when he got home.

While many St. Louisans know about the children's toys from a cursory visit to the museum, how many know that Field was the father of the personal newspaper column? How many know that he penned "Little Boy Blue" or that "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod" were born of his fertile imagination?

Field represents the lighter side-and a pranksterish side-of some earlier days in the trade of nouns, verbs and adjectives. Some of his words were caustic as well as bawdy; they should all be captured in a St. Louis Literary Museum.

Theodore Dreiser deserves a place as a St. Louis journalist and brilliant novelist of the American epic. He was a practitioner of the journalism of outrage who found stimulus in life's disparities-between the weak and the powerful, the sophisticates and the rabble, the very rich and the very poor.

Too many journalists only know about Dreiser from a much-celebrated gaffe he committed while working at the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. He submitted a review of a "favorably received" drama at The Grand which he did not attend, only to learn the next morning that the troupe was delayed by spring rains and the performance never actually occurred.

Dreiser's journalistic misdemeanor and humiliation merit mentioning in any chronicle of his career. But a true accounting of his work must focus on his many graphic works of fiction-considered explicit during his time-and his literary naturalism that came to influence a whole generation of younger writers.

There are any number of women journalists/authors who must find inclusion in a St. Louis Literary Museum, but Gellhorn's presence is essential. The scant attention to her passing is a terrific argument for the crying need of a writers' hall of fame in St. Louis.

A firebrand feminist and social reformer at an early age, she left college unfinished to go to work for the New Republic and later the Albany Times Union. While a cub reporter at the Union, she also filed stories about the East for her hometown newspaper, the Post.

Gellhorn's St. Louis connections are many, though as a writer she was never particularly approving of her hometown. She wrote six novels, six short story collections and a 1942 book about her travels in Alaska, "Travels with Myself and Another."

She is best known for her accounts of world wars, including the Spanish Civil War which she covered with reporter Ernest Hemingway, whom she would eventually join in an ill-fated marriage.

To Clemens, Lovejoy, Field, Dreiser and Gellhorn-add Joseph Pulitzer, Joseph McCullagh, William Marion Reedy, Zoe Akins, Fanny Hurst and many more for honor in a St. Louis Literary Museum. As a newspaper partisan, this writer is motivated to argue the case of those writers who at some point "dirtied their hands" with printer's ink.

It will be up to the region's English professors and the true literary hoi poloi to argue the case of those who were poets, essayists, novelists and book authors. Certainly there are many of these with St. Louis roots, about whom there can be no dispute regarding inclusion into a local literary museum. Among the writers beyond dispute: T.S. Eliot, Tennessee Williams, Kate Chopin, Emily Hahn, Chester Himes, William Inge, Stanley Elkin, Howard Nemerov and more.

St. Louis literary tour

A St. Louis Literary Museum would include:

• Displays, memorabilia, photos, original writing and audio accompaniments to each author. CD technology would allow visitors to hear many writers read from their works, depending on the availability of past recordings.

• Programs and tours for high school and elementary school students. Busloads of students would arrive every morning. Area English teachers would rejoice for a museum that at last recognizes intellectual aptitude, rather than ERAs, strikes and spares.

• Programs for the encouragement of literacy. The museum's Literacy Center would aid the community by having actual classes for both the young and adults to help them reach, at the very least, functional literacy. The museum surrounding would serve as an inspiration for students.

• Writing conferences with a global scope. The museum would be the site of an annual global writers' seminar that would honor writers from around the world. It would introduce the writers to the rich, but unheralded, heritage of St. Louis authors.

• Displays and educational vehicles emphasizing the obvious link between journalism and literary writing. The Pulitzer tradition would be honored, as well as the past of other St. Louis newspapers which once employed reporters who came into their own as eminent scribes.

Of course, embarking from any St. Louis Literary Museum must be regular trolley or bus tours of local literary landmarks. The blueprint for such an itinerary already has been mapped out by Lorin Cuoco and William Gass. Cuoco and Gass, founders of the International Writers' Center At Washington University, are the editors of "Literary St. Louis: A Guide."

Cuoco laments in the book's preface that St. Louis is not a walking city, and so any literary excursion is a driving tour. The tour also must be somewhat fragmented, given the number of literary lights that shine from locations in the farther suburbs. But even a strictly "inner ring" tour would have much to offer.

A literary tour could include T.S. Eliot's home and William S. Burroughs' childhood home in the Central West End, the riverfront area that inspired Samuel Clemens, the abandoned shoe factory sites that inspired Williams' "The Glass Menagerie," the Eugene Field House Museum dedicated to perhaps the greatest children's poet of all time.

Cuoco and Gass include writers in their book, "St. Louis: A Literary Guide," who might be of surprise to some. Among these notables are Ulysses S. Grant, Marshall McLuhan, Charles Lindbergh and Winston Churchill (a popular novelist later eclipsed by the English version of Churchill). Of course, part of the joy of a literary museum must inevitably be the wrangling over who merits inclusion.

And who should take up the crusade for a museum to recognize the literary heritage of St. Louis? Washington University with its International Writers' Center? Webster University with its mission to assist downtown's revival with new uses for the Old Post Office? St. Louis University or the University of Missouri-St. Louis?

Perhaps it should be the Pulitzers' Post, the remaining St. Louis daily which once nurtured and offered sinecure to so many distinguished writers early in their careers.

Whoever might take up the cause to establish a St. Louis Literary Museum would not have to go it alone. There are many organizations that would, no doubt, be interested in being involved.

Besides St. Louis area universities, which would have a stake in honoring their own, other entities on the local literary scene could be expected to take an interest. And don't forget the members of the T.S. Eliot Society, the Tennessee Williams partisans of the Webster Groves Theatre Guild, the Eugene Field House Society, the Lovejoy Society, perhaps even the Friends of St. Louis Journalism Review.

Don Corrigan is a professor in the School of Communications at Webster University and he also edits three weekly newspapers.

TV websites are work in progress

By Ed Bishop

For decades, television news producers have been acutely aware that their 30-second pieces didn't allow enough time to get all the details and nuances into many stories. That was especially true of complicated political stories. They needed something else, something more.

Then along came the Internet with its possibility of expanding news coverage. It would allow TV stations to report stories as detailed as a newspaper. Even better, it could instantly update news without the need for presses and paper. Just write the story and put it on the station's website.

The problem, of course, is how does a local TV station make money on a website?

Most television stations haven't been able to solve that problem, says Al Tompkins, the broadcast and online expert at the Poynter Institute. Although a handful of stations have excellent content on their websites, mostly in local sports, he says, most stations aren't willing to spend the money needed to turn their short TV reports into longer newspaper-like stories. Their websites simply exist because the other stations have websites, he says.

"They're not giving viewers a larger version of their stories," Tompkins says. "The economics just aren't there."

Here in St. Louis, the websites at KMOV (Channel 4) and KSDK (Channel 5) are probably the most sophisticated. But neither has an independent reporter dedicated solely to Internet reporting. Most stories are simply television scripts rewritten for reading rather than hearing-short, shallow and limited, although both do carry longer Associated Press articles on their sites.

"That's our goal," says Dave Sherman, website director at Channel 4. Right now, Sherman says, only a few stories aired by Channel 4 have longer versions on the website. But he says he is working with reporters to write things specifically for online reading.

He's quick to point out, however, that even with his limited resources he often breaks news on the station's website before it's aired on a newscast.

But how to make the websites profitable is key.

Folks may be a bit disappointed with the content of local TV websites, and some may actually be rebelling against required registration on the Channel 4 site. But it seems apparent that a fee will be needed for anything beyond very basic service.

Channel 4's Sherman says, "Clearly we have to be economically viable."

Revenue from the site's advertising will allow the Belo station's site to continue to provide local news and information. Ads on the site may be purchased separately or bundled with an on-air buy. When asked why Channel 4 is the only local station requiring any sort of registration before a user can get detailed information, Sherman says, "We're collecting information from visitors in order to deliver targeted editorial and advertising content that would be of interest to them ... We can better define our customer base, making our site an attractive option for advertisers."

Channel 5's Jeff Winget says, "Content drives our site. We want to be the place where users come to get local news and information on demand."

From a business perspective, Channel 5 appears willing to adapt in order to attract advertisers. Winget points to the recent addition of a "Dining Out" section that "opens new territory for our sales force to reach smaller businesses than would normally have the resources to buy television."

From its beginning, Winget says, the site was intended to be marketed separately from broadcast advertising. And there's no registration in the offing. Says Winget, "We know the reasons behind it are to establish viewership bases, perhaps for future spamming. We have no plans to make our users jump through hoops to get what they came for." And video-on-demand will soon be available, but Channel 5 management will use ad revenues to pay for the additional costs.

KTVI (Channel 2)'s site is a source for "late-breaking local news, weather and sports," according to Patrick O'Brien, and users will also find "additional information on stories we cover on our newscasts, such as websites, events around town and featured reports."

O'Brien also notes the website gives viewers a communication line to the station for news tips and comments to staffers. Advertisers buy on-line ads as part of their ad schedules on Channel 2. Registration is not required, says O'Brien, because we "respect the privacy of our website users. Watching television does not require viewers to provide information about themselves. Our website reflects that same policy."

Nationally, CNN and MSNBC heavily promote their sites, but CNN has begun charging users who want access to video. MSNBC indicates that may soon be happening on its site too. CNN's Elizabeth Barry says, "CNN is committed to providing timely, accurate and reliable coverage of stories and issues that people care about." In justifying the charging of users, she says, "Video production and distribution is expensive, especially given users' expectations about the quality and quantity of CNN.com video. We moved to a video subscription model because we wanted to continue to offer unparalleled quality and quantity of video programming."

At MSNBC, Uli Haller candidly says, "We're in business to make money. A new Microsoft subscription engine is being developed, which will allow us to experiment with subscription service for some video. To us, coverage of the day's events involves multi-media. All aspects are as important as the text in presentation."

Media on Media

By Frank Absher

A little bonus

Santa Claus came early for employees of WPWR-TV in Chicago. When the station was sold last month for $425 million, owner Fred Eychaner gave each worker $1,000 for each year the person had worked at the station. Employees at each of his other broadcast properties were given smaller bonuses following the sale. (Chicago Sun-Times 7/3)

No paper trail

It's time to look past newsprint in the newspaper business. That's the word of the top guy at the Newspaper Association of America, William Singleton. He's encouraging papers to provide wireless news updates, whether they be news, sports scores or stock quotes. Singleton said 13 papers around the country successfully tested such a system last year. (Los Angeles Daily News 6/24)

What a dump

In another indication that the past is not important, the news director at KARK-TV in Little Rock sent a huge dumpster load of 15 years' worth of news film covering the '60s and '70s to a landfill after finding no takers among archives in his region. The film contained footage of the civil rights struggles of the region. Although he was criticized for his action, news director Rick Iler said most of the film had deteriorated and he assumed no one would want to try to salvage it.

Yeah, so?

Sometimes a newspaper is so bad that no one else wants to be associated with it. At least, that's the way it appears for the Beverly Hills Weekly. The Association of Alternative Newsweeklies has again voted against admitting the paper to its organization. Back in 2001, the vote was 22-0. This year it was 44-0. Quoting the AAN website: "The committee found [the paper] to be beneath contempt-a poor community newspaper full of plugs ... ugly and irrelevant ... they're terrible ... writing is so bad it makes AP wire copy sound musical in comparison ... it's difficult to imagine a paper that could suck more." (aan.org)

Dumb Decisions No. 1

Chief meteorologist Steve Caporizzo at WTEN-TV in Albany, N.Y., must have slept through the class that warned him about the pitfalls of depending on computer information that comes off the Internet. During a recent bout of severe weather, he read e-mailed notes about extensive damage, only to learn later that he'd been scammed by the senders. His news director was quoted as saying, "We've certainly learned a lesson, and will certainly be more careful next time." (Albany Times-Union 6/7)

Dumb Decisions No. 2

WHB radio in Kansas City isn't using Royals' manager Tony Pena as a guest on its sports call-in show because of Pena's Spanish accent. Host Kevin Kietzman says, "He's not barred from the show or anything and it's nothing personal against Tony ... I have to think about the show ... It is a difficult interview, to be honest and it doesn't make for good radio." Pena's response: "I am doing the best I can, and I am sorry if it's not good enough." (kansascity.com)

Speedy Smith

In a sure sign that political correctness has been farcically overextended, the television ban on Speedy Gonzales has been rescinded. The Cartoon Network reversed its action after receiving a petition containing 1,000 signatures and hearing from the League of United Latin American Citizens. Originally the Cartoon Net justified the ban by claiming the Oscar-winning cartoon character was offensive to those of Spanish descent. (foxnews.com)

Priorities

Cable networks are also feeling the pinch of revenue loss over the past year. Of the top 25 nets, ranked by revenue, only 14 saw income increases in 2001. Leading the pack with the largest percentage was FX, up over 28 percent, followed by the Cartoon Network, up almost 24 percent. The largest drop was felt by CNN, down 19 percent. (Ad Age 6/10)

Good for something

Auto dealers say they get the most bang for their advertising bucks in newspapers. When asked to rank their return on investment in the various media, 25 percent of the dealers ranked newspapers at the top, followed by 18 percent voting for direct mail. Radio and television tied at 11 percent. (Ad Age 5/17)

Thin skins

In a case of refusing to do unto others, staff members at WCCO-TV in Minneapolis have been asked to sign pledges stating they accept severe limits on their rights to speak with other members of the media about certain subjects. Try to imagine a reporter there having to explain to a government official why the official should grant an interview on a controversial subject when the official knows the reporter's own employer has placed "freedom of speech" limits on all workers. It's a reality, thanks to station owner Viacom. (Minneapolis Star-Tribune 7/1/02)

What standards?

Apparently there's an epidemic of slipping journalistic standards going around. We here in St. Louis are treated to a radio news reader who regularly endorses advertisers on the air and whose photo appears in print ads. Now a television anchor in Houston is appearing in an ad for a homebuilder there. She justified it by saying she was only helping a friend. Donna Savarese said, "It isn't a problem. I haven't been fired. If you saw the picture, I was not doing anything risqué." In her eyes, the lack of anything risqué makes a commercial endorsement acceptable for a purported journalist. (Houston Press 7/3)

AM/FM

Airing rumors

By Lynn Venhaus

In a week of otherwise exemplary radio coverage of the double-whammy deaths of Jack Buck and Darryl Kile, a nagging faux pas needs to be addressed.

While KMOX unknowingly aired the truth at the wrong time, The Point (KPNT 105.7 FM) presented a rumor that wasn't true at a bad time.

With Buck in the hospital for more than six months, most everyone in St. Louis knew that Buck was gravely ill. Media types had heard that he was probably in his final days. So why Woody Fife would choose to announce an unconfirmed rumor that Buck was dead during his afternoon drive shift at The Point on June 18, just hours before the real thing, is mind-boggling.

Unfortunately, Fife used bad judgment. It may not be on the level of stunts in local media that have had disc jockeys fired or suspended, but it certainly can be used as a cautionary tale. What radio person hasn't regretted something said over the air? But this was more than a slip-up.

Fife never said it was substantiated, but he chose to say he heard a rumor.

Excuses came from both Fife and his boss at Emmis, John Beck, and they emphasized that The Point isn't really considered a news source. But that's not the point. No one, on any station, should blurt out a rumor of that magnitude without checking it out first. It was totally irresponsible. Sure, there have been a lot of mea culpas, and apologies should always be accepted.

You can't take words back once they're out there on car radios and home boomboxes. People heard it. They believed it. They trusted the source. The statement created a ripple effect, doing damage and causing a media frenzy. It so upset the Buck family that they had to spend time issuing a denial, and the public relations folks at Barnes-Jewish Hospital were none too pleased. Even the newscasters on local TV stations had to mention it. The whole thing could have been avoided by a few well-placed phone calls.

Bottom line is credibility.

Fife did not respond by deadline to my e-mail request to tell his side of the story.

•••

The passings of Buck and Kile were high profile, but we also mourn the passing of several people in the radio community recently. In an eerie and sad turn of events, traffic reporter Rich Barklage, who could be heard on KEZK (102.5 FM) radio and KSDK (Channel 5), suffered a fatal heart attack after jogging on June 19. He was 50. He had replaced his brother Allen Barklage, who had died from injuries days after crashing a kit-built helicopter in September 1998. By all accounts, he was a swell guy who loved what he did, loved his family and loved St. Louis. He leaves a wife and two young children.

Virginia McCarthy was a pioneer of sorts-a feisty, opinionated woman who spent years championing conservative viewpoints on WGNU (920 AM). Think about it. How many women have actually had this opportunity on St. Louis radio? Just a handful in talk radio. And McCarthy started at a time when women weren't all that vocal. Granted, the listenership wasn't huge, but it was loyal.

She did morning drive in the 1970s, rush hour in the 1980s and was host of "Party Line" from the summer of 1976 to this spring. She gave a forum to Phyllis Schlafly and Jack Anderson. She stirred up the pot long before Rush Limbaugh spewed forth strong conservatism.

McCarthy had been in failing health that had kept her off the air at times over the past few years, but she was a trooper. She died at age 82 on June 8. She is survived by two sons, a daughter and two sisters.

Darren Curnayn was 28 and continuity director for the Bonneville radio stations in St. Louis-WIL, WRTH, The River WVRV and Smooth Jazz WSSM for the past 13 months. He had worked in that same capacity for KTRS for two years before that. He was found dead June 21 at his residence in Troy, Ill. Ever since he had hernia surgery a year ago, he had complained of pain and been hospitalized several times for ailments.

•••

Dana Daniels is out as program director and midday personality at KLOU (103.3 FM). Her last day was June 26. After shepherding the station into the Super Hits format from Oldies at the end of February, she was booted in favor of Al Brock from a Clear Channel station in Birmingham, Ala. He has experience programming a Top 40 station in the '70s, which is what the folks in charge want.

As she grapples with her situation, Daniels' attitude toward the honchos is remarkably civilized.

"I don't think it's singularly a money issue. I think there are a lot of factors," she said in a phone interview. But she acknowledged, "Everybody in the industry right now is budget-conscious."

With true class, Daniels, 34, says she's not going to whine or be bitter because she's been able to work in radio for 19 years, and if it all works out, many more. "I was overdue," she joked. This is the first time she's been let go, she said, after jumping in at 15, working nights during high school in northeast Arkansas. She arrived in St. Louis three years ago after a stint in Memphis.

"I chose to move to St. Louis. We all know what radio is like. I'm getting to do what I love to do for a living, so I'm not going to whine about the negative side of it. I understand it. I refuse to whine about it," she said, noting that she has received a decent severance package. "I don't have any ill will towards the company. I'm going to move on. It's just how radio is. I wish the new guy all the luck."

In the meantime, she's going to enjoy spending some time with her 4-year-old son this summer while she looks for work.

"I'm exploring all the opportunities right now," she said, adding that she's talked to stations here and outside the local market.

She and her husband, Mark Anthony, would like to remain in St. Louis. He can be heard overnights on K-HITS (96.3 FM) and is the promotion director for that station and KFTK (97.1) for Emmis.

She is proud of her work revamping the format.

"It's been a challenge and a lot of fun," she said. As for being program director, she was matter-of-fact, "You're always in the hot seat, and you sort of accept that."

She wonders, though, if it's the right decision to make the delivery on the station high energy to harken back to Top 40 stations. Do people remember what radio sounded like then? Do they prefer a contemporary presentation over the nostalgia pitch?

Nevertheless, she supports the format switch. "I think it was the right thing. We had a nice upswitch in the trend, and it's continued.

"Listeners are more loyal to stations that make a personal connection to them," she said.

•••

Kent Martin seems to have the KTRS newsroom headed in the right direction. In only a short time at the helm, his professionalism is evident. He will have plenty of opportunity to make his mark as he rebuilds the staff and the reputation. Let's hope he gets the support to accomplish his goals.

In true journalistic fashion, he rushed to the newsroom June 22, as did the sports guys, to handle the Darryl Kile story as it broke, in all its heart-wrenching details. Those are all guys used to taking the ball.

•••

Joel Meyers has agreed to work with Mike Shannon on home games for the Cardinals Radio Network. Tom Langmyer, KMOX operations manager, said, "Joel will continue to work through the season in this role. It is premature to discuss next season. We are still coping with the loss of Jack."

Meyers was initially hired to handle the away radio duties formerly handled by Joe Buck, who decided to work primarily in television, until of course, his father's turn for the worse.

•••

And speaking of Joe Buck, his composure and grace under pressure were simply remarkable during recent events. How he remained so cool and collected during the various services and as family spokesman was impressive.

I, too, know all about the loss of a parent. Just a year ago, I wrote my July/August radio column by longhand, on a legal pad in my lap, while sitting in my mother's hospital room at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, waiting and watching as she lay dying of lung cancer. She waited until after I made deadline, passing away a day later.

How strange it is, a year later, to be writing of all these deaths that have touched us in ways we could not have imagined.

Lynn Venhaus is a St. Louis free-lance writer.

Profile

Atkins carved place in local radio

By Frank Absher

When Chuck Atkins arrived in St. Louis in the late 1980s, his experience in the radio business was somewhat limited, but that hasn't stopped him from becoming one of the most powerful radio people in this market.

To hear him tell it, Atkins' career is filled with an aggressive approach to everything. As a young man seeking his first good job, he literally kept calling the WDJY-FM program director in Washington, D.C., until the guy agreed to meet him. That meeting led to a weekend slot, which meant Atkins had to supplement his income with two other jobs-one driving a warehouse forklift and the other manning phones in a credit union.

His family background lent itself to an entertainment gig. His uncle was a Tony Award-winning choreographer who worked with the Four Tops, Temptations, Gladys Knight & the Pips and the O'Jays. His father and brother played sax in bands in Buffalo, and there was always music on around the house.

"I listened to the radio for hours when I was on the forklift, and I'd be thinking 'Whoa. I wouldn't have done that that way. Oh, that was too long.' Things like that. I was always thinking of ways to do it better. During my year at WDJY I worked day and night on the air and doing production."

Chuck's brother Ron Atkins was working in St. Louis radio in the early '80s at KMJM. He told Chuck to phone Mike Stratford, KMJM's program director. "Mike said, 'Chuck. One question. Did you make that tape on your telephone answering machine?' When I told him I had, he said, 'I've got a ticket waiting for you at the airport and we'd like to see you today. Don't bring any tapes. Just come down and let's talk.' That answering machine tape was what got me the job in St. Louis.

"He dropped me off at the airport about 6 in the evening and said 'Hey, man. I need to know tonight or tomorrow morning. I want to get you in here as soon as possible.' And that's how I got the job at Majic."

The station's studios at the time were at 532 DeBaliviere. It wasn't exactly a state-of-the-art facility, but Atkins was able to work his production magic here as well as he had in DC. His brother had moved to a co-owned station in Houston, and KMJM's program director soon followed. Stratford encouraged Chuck to apply for the position he was vacating.

"Everything happens so fast. You gotta be ready. The time to practice is not when you get to the plate. Mike told me to call Monty Lang, and Monty told me 'You better get out here.' I left the very next day and Monty picked me up at the airport. We ate together at a real nice restaurant and he said, 'Chuck. Tell me why I should hire you instead of the other guys with more experience.' I said I had no preconceived ideas about how to program the station. I'd been working in St. Louis, and I know the staff. We didn't discuss radio any more that night. Just talked sports and general stuff. And I'm waiting for an interview. When he dropped me off at the hotel he said, 'Chuck. Call your wife and tell her you're the new program director at KMJM.'"

Back then, in the days before consolidation, Atkins only had to worry about one station, KMJM. Within a couple weeks, Lang came to the station for a meeting with the jocks. He said: "We've got a lot of problems here. It's not the fault of anybody in this room, but here's what's going to happen. You're either going to fix this thing and fix it fast or a lot of people in this room won't be here. And after we get rid of everybody in this room we're going to get rid of Mr. Atkins, because he's going to get you first. If I were you I'd do exactly what he tells you."

The tweaking began. "I got rid of all the crossover music like Hall and Oates and Steve Winwood and came up with a few new voices. The numbers shot up and we had a 7.2 in the first book."

Atkins is proud of the people he's hired. "Folks like Tony Scott, Doc Wynter, Chaz Saunders, Déjà Vu, D.J. Kutt. I started networking immediately and was able to rely on my brother and friends to help me find good people. And the longevity of my Majic staff is among the tops in the market. We treat them well and pay them well."

And while KMJM is a powerful voice in the black community, there are plenty of non-black listeners. "I never truly targeted them," Atkins says, "but they're passionate about the music. Our announcers don't speak only to blacks. With the percentage of blacks in St. Louis, you're going to max out at a particular share, and then the owners want to know where you're going to get your growth. It's simple. You don't want to alienate any listeners."

With this kind of power in the market, Atkins is a big target for record promoters and musicians. There are hundreds of e-mails and calls each month from people wanting to know how they can get their music on his stations. It's paid off. KMJM was the first station to play "Gimme What You Got" by an unknown band called the St. Lunatics.

"Next thing you know Universal pulled Nellie out of the group and the disc sells 10 million. That's the good side and we'll always have a commitment to local artists."

Sister stations KATZ-AM and FM were brought into the fold after ownership deregulation and now hold up their portion of Clear Channel's St. Louis operation. The AM signal is devoted to gospel and draws a solid share near 2.0 while 100.3 The Beat is delivering a 3 share.

There are people who have known Chuck Atkins over the years in St. Louis who don't think he's a very nice person. They say he's changed over the years and has become egotistical and difficult to work with. His response: "I think they're out of line. I think it's the opposite. Some people think I'm getting a little soft. In the past I was so focused on what I wanted to do, I didn't ask for anyone's input. I didn't care what they thought. Over the last decade, I've softened up. I ask for opinions all the time. When I say 'no,' people think I'm a bad guy."

Atkins' three stations reach more than 278,000 listeners here each week. "Every day I try to do at least one thing on each station to improve it," he says.

"I've had offers to leave and I'm glad I never left because it couldn't be any better than it is here."

In SJR

10 Years Ago:

• Foster Davis became the 18th managing editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

• KMOV (Channel 4) ushered in John Lansing to replace departing news director Al Holzer.

• An internal memo at KMOX announced that Bruce Bradley was leaving the station to move to another area.

5 Years Ago:

• The St. Louis metro area dropped in the Nielsen ADI rankings to #21, being displaced by Sacramento, Calif.

• The highly respected critic-at-large at the Post, Harper Barnes, took early retirement from the paper.

• Karen Foss of KSDK (Channel 5) signed a multi-year contract for $400,000 per year.

People

KSDK, (Channel 5)

Anchor Karen Foss has signed a new contract with the station. Foss joined the station in 1979. Foss' new contract offers her additional flexibility and will concentrate her anchoring and reporting duties into a 4-day workweek.

St. Louis Business Journal

Chad Garrison and Heather Cole have joined the journal as reporters.

Garrison previously worked as a copy editor and reporter for the Warsaw Business Journal, as a technical writer for Tivoli Systems Inc. in Austin, Texas, and as a reporter for the Calhoun News-Herald in Hardin, Ill.

Cole worked as a free-lance writer for several area publications and was a reporter for the South County Journals and the West County Journals.

Creative Producers Group

Jon Mills as named senior video producer. Mills comes from BlueRoad, a media production company.

Drone & Mueller and Associates

Sue Wadlow has joined as an account executive.

Falk Harrison Creative

Brian Gallop has joined the firm as New Media Sales Representative.

Prior to joining the firm, Gallop worked for NuParadigm Systems, Inc., Expanets (former GEM division of Lucent Technologies), MegaPath Networks and Touchwood.

O'Connor & Partners

Saint Louis University student Jennifer W. Roberts will serve as intern at the agency.

Journalism Foundation of Metropolitan St. Louis

The following awards were presented by the Foundation at its 33rd Annual Meeting.

The Gateway Gavel Award: Metropolitan Bar Assoc. of St. Louis for an Investigative Series to George Pawlacyzk, Belleville News-Democrat.

College Scholarships: Courtney Moseby, Howard University - Association of Black Journalists; Leslie Cantu, Webster University - Carl Baldwin Award; Rachel Kameshak, SIUE - Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis; Colene McEntee, Fontbonne - Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis; Jennifer Osterhage, University of Notre Dame - IABC/Vandiver Group; Sara Lubbes, Fontbonne College - Fleischman-Hillard; Kate Peters, Spring Hill - Goodrich Gamble; Lauren Beck, University of Notre Dame - NFPW-Missouri Affiliate; Margaret Edelman, St. Louis University - Newspaper Guild; Amanda Rogers, Webster University - Ray Noonan; Amela Abdihodzic, Webster University - Elva Norman; Erin Guyer, University of Missouri - Press Club/Bob Hardy; Erica Endicott, University of Missouri - Press Club/Milton Ferman; Thomas Wyrich, University of Missouri - Press Club/Media Persons of the Year; Janet Hoth, University of Missouri - Public Relations Society of America; Erica Burleson, Webster University - Webster-Kirkwood Times.

Press Club of Metropolitan St. Louis Internships: Erin Tuyer, University of Missouri; Jeff Starck, Webster University; Jennifer Lee Swan, Westminster College.

KMOX

The station won the Radio Television News Directors Association Edward R. Murrow 2002 Award for news reporting.

KWMU

The station's news team won two first place awards from the Missouri Broadcasters Association. News Producer Brett Blume won first place in the Documentary/Public Affairs category for his story on how local health professionals prepare for biological and chemical attacks. Kevin Lavery, news producer, won top prize in Feature Reporting for his piece on the local exhibition of the St. Louis-built Mercury space capsule, which had been lost at sea for 38 years.

The station also claimed first prize from the Missouri Associated Press. Blume won first place in the Enterprise Reporting category reporting on an innovative program that the Missouri Highway Patrol offers. The station also won honorable mentions in the Enterprise Reporting category.

The Missouri State Teachers Association awarded Lavery first place in its Annual Media Awards Radio Features category.

KMOV, (Channel 4)

The station was honored with four awards from the Missouri Broadcasters Association in the categories of Spot News, Feature Reporting, Commercial and Public Service Announcement.

Creative Producers Group

The agency was recognized with an award in the Direct Marketing Association's 12th Annual Arrow Awards competition in the Internet Business to Business category.

O'Connor & Partners

Mid-America Grocers Association and O'Connor & Partners, Inc., received the APEX Award of Excellence for their work on the magazine, Mid America Grocer in the "Most Improved Magazines and Journals" category.

St. Louis Chapter

International Association of Business Communications

The following 2002 Bronze Quill Awards were presented

Audio Visual

Chris Brawley Morgan, the St. Louis District Dairy Council, for Nutrition Update Public Service Announcements

Jim Telle, Lutheran Hour Ministries, for Out of the Darkness-Reflections on Columbine

Publications

Kathy Bernard, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Free Enterprise

Amy McLard, the Missouri Credit Union System, Missouri Courier

Staci Alfermann and Stacy Kass, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Why the Bear Turns

Buck Consultants, for Continental Tire North America, Total Compensation Statement; Collier County Government, Benefits Enrollment Guide; BJC HealthCare, Total Compensation Statement

Millennium Communications and Sandbox Creative, for the St. Louis Regional Asthma Consortium, What We Know About Asthma-A Report to the Community

Nila Paradowski, Paradowski Graphic Design, Paradowski Marketing Brochure; Webster University Art Department Brochure

Nila Paradowski, Paradowski Graphic Design and Weber Shandwick Worldwide, for Jewish Federation "Project Connect"

Karen Handleman, Falk Harrison Creative, for the Humane Society of Missouri, The Truth About Puppy Mills & Hoarding

Newsletters

Robert J. Falk, Falk Harrison Creative, The Point

Kelly Clauss of Clauss Communications, for Monsanto, Roundup Ready Wheat

Barbara McLaurine and Joyce Romine, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, To Your Health! From Barnes-Jewish Hospital

Steve Harrison, Falk Harrison Creative, Currents Newsletters

Bev Pfeifer-Harms, the St. Louis Science Center, Newscience

Annual Reports

Nila Paradowski, Paradowski Graphic Design, for Pi Beta Phi Foundation

Richard N. Hargraves and David C. Arrow, The Laclede Group, for the Laclede Group 2001

Ray Wandling, Wandling & Associates, Inc., for D&K Healthcare Resources 2001

Robert J. Falk, Falk Harrison Creative, for Sprint 2000 Annual Report

Aimee Libke, Life Skills Foundation, for Discovering Possibilities

Design

Nila Paradowski, Paradowski Graphic Design; for Pi Beta Beta Phi Foundation Annual Report; The Laclede Group 2001 Annual Report; Paradowski Marketing Brochure; the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, Bringing Science to Life; Webster University, Art Department Brochure; Monsanto, Seed Quality Brochure; Insignia/ESG, Riverport Lakes Logo; Visteon Corporation, Healthy Solutions Logo

Stan Sams, Buck Consultants, for the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum 2000 Annual Report

Ray Wandling, Wandling & Associates, for D&K Healthcare Resources, Inc. 2001 Annual Report

Carin Shulusky, MOHELA, and Distinctions Unlimited, for 2001 MOHELA Annual Report

Jo Kincaid of ProWolfe Partners, for United Way of Greater St. Louis, 2001 Print Campaign

Writing

Thomas P. Drabelle, for Sisters of Mercy Health System, "United We Stand"

Richard Hargraves, Laclede Gas Co., "United Way hits home with support to employee's family"

Andy Knef, BJC HealthCare, The best way to fight back against terrorism

Sheri Gassaway, SMG Communications, for the City of Bridgeton, Bridgeton Banner Airport Update

Kelly Clauss, Clauss Communications, for Monsanto Company, Roundup Ready Wheat Speech to National Association of Wheat Growers and U.S. Wheat Associates\

Melissa Zwilling, Webster University (student), Drunk Driving

Jean Ahsmuhs, Webster University (student), Speech on Child Abuse

Nila Paradowski, Paradowski Graphic Design, Paradowski Marketing Brochure

Fontella Bradford, Elsevier Science, for Direct Mail, Drake: The Latest Word in Word Books

Chris O'Brien, Elsevier Science, Sahrmann Triple Postcard

Stephanie Keister for Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Your Final Wishes: A Guide to Funeral and Estate Planning Brochure

Katherine LaVine, Webster University, Pitch Letter

Burton St. John, III, United States Postal Service, Postal Service Needs Greater Flexibility

Illustrations

Steve Harrison, Falk Harrison Creative, St. Louis County Department of Planning, Strategic Plan Poster

Momentum, for the Diversity Awareness Partnership, Diversity Awareness Partnership Ad Campaign

Electronic and Interactive Communication

Kim West, KETC Television, KETC Website

Melissa Miromonti and Michelle Gramelspacher, St. John's Mercy Health Center, St. John's Mercy Health Care Web Site

Thomas P. Drabelle, Sisters of Mercy Health System, www.mercy.net

Nila Paradowski, Paradowski Graphic Design, for HERA, Inc., HERA Website

Amy McLard, Missouri Credit Union System, www.mcus.org

Matthew Fink, Falk Harrison Creative, Sprint Corporation 2000 Online Annual Report

Kathy Bernard, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, Newsletter Central

Kevin Picha, Charter Communications, NOW Internal Newsletter

Overall Communication Programs

Scot Marcotte, Buck Consultants, for the City of Milwaukee, City of Milwaukee Global Pension Settlement Packet

Nila Paradowski, Paradowski Graphic Design, for the Visual Corporation, Visteon Compensation Brochures; CitiMortgage, Welcome Home Kit

Melissa Henson, Webster University, Internal Communications Plan

Stephanie Arndt/Angie Winschel, YMCA of Greater St. Louis, YMCA Membership Communications Materials

Kim West, KETC Television, Brighten Your Life Campaign

The Standing Partnership for the Missouri Historical Society, Lewis & Clark: One Land-Many Visions

Michelle Backer, Webster University (student), Musicians Make a Difference

Mireia Sanabra, Webster University (student), The Repertory Theater

Cathy Dunkin, The Standing Partnership & BioBelt Marketing Task Force, for the St. Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association, Building the Biobelt

Jennifer Florian, KPC, for Motor Decisions Matter, Motor Decisions Matter Campaign Kickoff

Kelly Ferrara of The Vandiver Group, for the Bi-State Development Agency, GO METRO!

Amanda Gioia, MasterCard International, March to the Arch, 2001

Maryanne Dersch of Vector Communications, for the Danforth Foundation, I Dare You Conference

Christine Johnson of Weber Shandwick, St. Louis, for Ralston Purina, Beggin' Strips Stupid Dog Tricks Contest

Wild Card

Beth Champlin & Denise Bentele Heintz, The Standing Partnership, Ten Special Projects

Buck Consultants, Buck Holiday Gift 2001

Nila Paradowski, Paradowski Graphic Design, Holiday Wrapping Paper; Poster for the St. Louis National Charity Horse Show

Christopher Martin/Sandy Kaplan Show Invitation

Image Works Public Relations, for the Kodner Gallery

Missouri Broadcasters Association

The following St. Louis area stations were honored for their work by the Association.

Station Sponsored Community Event

Large Market Radio

KMOX; St. Louis "Together We Stand"

News Series

Large Market Radio

KMOX/AM; St. Louis "Changing Face of St. Louis Labor"

Spot News

Large Market Radio

KMOX, St. Louis "9//11/2001"

Class I Television

KMOV-TV, St. Louis "Police Chase"

Feature Reporting

Large Market Radio

KMOX/AM; St. Louis "Trapped Pigeon" Certificate of

Merit

Class I Television

Winner: KMOV-TV, St. Louis "Pop-Up Rams"

Weathercast (TV Only)

Class I Television

KSDK-TV, St. Louis; "Cindy Preszler"

Public Service Announcement or Campaign

Class I Television

KMOV-TV, St. Louis; "One 4 the Community"

Large Market Radio

WIL/FM; St. Louis "Stitches"

Sports

Large Market Radio

KMOX; St. Louis "Jack Buck Special"

Class I Television

Certificate of Merit: KSDK-TV, St. Louis "The Playground"

Commercial

Class I Television

KMOV-TV; St. Louis "Webster Groves Animal Hospital-Great Times"

Complete Newscast

Large Market Radio

KMOX, St. Louis "02/22/02"

Audio

"Scarecrow Show" St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley SHAUN BARDLE

Stepstone Productions

The production company, a not-for-profit video and multimedia company, won seven "Finalist" awards in the recent national Telly Awards competition. The awards were given for six video productions and a CD-ROM project for clients that included community groups and religious organizations.

The Vandiver Group

The agency was awarded first place by the National Federation of Press Women (NFPW) Missouri Press Women for the Go METRO! campaign.

Deadlines

n Area craftspeople and artists are invited to exhibit in the 15th Annual Arts & Crafts Experience presented by American Society of Artists at Westfield Shoppingtown Mid Rivers, I-70 & Mid Rivers Mall Dr., St. Peters, Mo., Friday through Sunday, September 20-22.

Pulitzer, Inc. features webcast of its strategies and outlook

Pulitzer Inc. (NYSE: PTZ) made a presentation on June 19, at the Mid-Year Media Review, an analyst forum held by various media companies in New York City. The presentation included an update of the company's execution of its growth strategies and outlook for the balance of the year.

Pulitzer Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer Robert C. Woodworth led the presentation. Joining Woodworth was Terrance C.Z. Egger, vice president of Pulitzer Inc. and publisher of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch; Mark G. Contreras, senior vice president of pulitzer Newspapers, Inc.; and Alan G. Silverglat, senior vice president-finance of Pulitzer Inc.

The presentation will remain accessible at www.pulitzerinc.com through July 18.

Late Edition

They all agree: We need accounting reform! Is that all we need?

By Charles L. Klotzer

Something is missing.

The New York Times asks President Bush "to rise to the occasion" and advocate changing the ground rules, promote a new accounting oversight board and various reporting reforms. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, more aggressive, recalls the President's questionable financial dealings in the past and seems to have given up on the administration. It asks Congress "to take up its own probe."

U.S. Senate investigators charge that Enron board directors not only should have known but also that they actually knew about high-risk accounting practices, conflict-of-interest transactions and undisclosed off-the-book activities. The U.S. House meanwhile will start its own investigation.

The summer issue of the respected Nieman Reports devotes 24 pages to 10 articles by distinguished journalists analyzing "Reporting on Business: Enron and Beyond." The articles, insightful and informative, cover a wide-ranging gamut of business journalism and its practices: how the Enron story was covered, who revealed what and who failed to dig beyond the press releases, the media's fixation with wealth and the well-to-do, the shortcomings of many business reports, and what can and possibly cannot be done to improve business coverage in the future.

For example, Paul E. Steiger, managing editor of the Wall Street Journal, writes, "The real Enron scandal resides on the failure of institutions-accountants, lawyers and outside corporate directors-that have been relied upon for more than half a century to keep America's capital markets the most honest, transparent and, therefore, the most successful in the world."

Jeffrey Madrick, editor of the economic affairs journal Challenge, charges that many in the media, especially TV commentators, were cheerleaders for the market and for certain government policies. "Enron's story was consistent with the biggest economic story, which was the much reported belief that America was in the throes of a 'new' economy' and that high technology would remake the economy, with information as its main asset."

Norman Solomon, weekly columnist and author, comes closest to touching the underlying malaise, America's fixation with money and wealth. "The internalization of dollars as markers for human worth and artistic achievement has insidiously skewed how we view the meaning of culture and creativity," Solomon writes. "When did you hear Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather, or Peter Jennings report the latest rates of on-the-job injuries or the average wait time at hospital emergency rooms?"

After digesting all these reports, the question remains: Why does American culture and the body politic permit corporations to run our lives?

The discoveries of misdeeds by Enron, WorldCom and other business giants are an exception. Most corporations will not change their practices because, they will claim, that would be interference with the free market, the yardstick of universal democracy.

Corporate shaping of public opinion, of course, goes back many decades. We gradually dismantled our streetcar system proclaiming it antiquated in favor of polluting buses thanks to the campaign by bus manufacturers.

Enron and similar conglomerates engage in these practices because they believe that business is basically good, that profits are good, and that any review by media or especially government is intrinsically bad, if not un-American. That simplistic view has a history of its own.

In the days of FDR and for years later, people liked government. The people-oriented role of government was reinforced by labor laws, safety protection regulations, environmental restrictions, health protection, and similar legislation. Such measures were expensive, not only to federal and local governments, but also to business. However, the popularity of these innovations confronted business with a dilemma. It would have been poor public relations, and most likely not successful, to oppose these reforms outright.

Business leaders came up with a brilliant strategy. If governments lack funds, many of these programs would have to be curtailed. But to reduce funds, i.e., taxes, the concept of government had first to be transformed from a protector to an exploiter of people and their possessions. Their campaign was immensely successful. "Washington, D.C." became a synonym for "exploitive government." While business and their myriad of lobbyists took advantage of every government give-away, the public was indoctrinated that "government is using your money, keep it, it is yours." Once public perception of government was changed, the next step was easy: cut off its funding, i.e., reduce taxes.

The result? Numerous government agencies are under-funded, particularly agencies responsible for assuring our safety, health, clean environment and the many other conditions affecting the lives of our citizens.

The directors at Enron and many other corporations are part of that culture. The balance sheet reigns supreme. The public at large has internalized that view. Individuals might dissent but if a poll would be taken how "government" and "taxes" are perceived, most likely the difference between business executives and the public would be minor.

What has been missing in all the reports about the Enron collapse and its executives and directors, is that their actions are a reflection of the American business culture. While these shenanigans affect thousands if not millions of Americans, does anyone really expect any street demonstrations or marches? The public will be comforted with accounting reforms.

Invitations

The calendar, has been prepared by the International Writers Center at Washington University. All events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted.

Saturday, July 13

u David Martin reads from Crazy Love, Barnes & Noble, 11952 Manchester, 1-3 p.m. Free. (314) 984-8644.

Sunday, July 14

u St. Louis Writers Guild Summer Picnic featuring Poetry Contest Awards, Pothast farm, 3168 Technology Dr., O'Fallon, MO, 4 p.m. Bring dish for 12. (314) 863-4988.

u Performance by chamber music ensemble Ars Femina, St. Louis Art Museum Auditorium, 3 p.m. Free. (314) 721-0072.

Monday, July 15

u River Styx presents the Hungry Young Poets reading featuring Dolsy Smith, Amy Debrecht, Eve Eldred, Pamela Garvey, Robin Neal, & Eric Meyer, Duff's, 392 N. Euclid, 7:30 p.m. $3. (314) 533-4541.

Tuesday, July 16

u David Fly reads from Faces in the Rearview Mirror, Left Bank Books, 399 N. Euclid, 7 p.m. Free. (314) 367-6731.

Wednesday, July 17

u Flying Mules bluegrass band at the Whitaker Music Festival, MO Botanical Gardens, 7:30 p.m. Free. (314) 577-9400.

Thursday, July 18

u Grand Glaize Library Writers Workshop meets, 1010 Meramec Station Rd., 7 p.m. Free. (636) 225-6454.

u Jan Goldstein reads from Life Can Be This Good: Awakening to the Miracles All Around Us, Left Bank Books, 399 N. Euclid, 7 p.m. Free. (314) 367-6731.

u Premiere of Gaslight Square: The Forgotten Landmark, MO History Museum, 7 p.m. $8 ($4 mem.). (314) 361-9017.

Saturday, July 20

u Garden StoryTime for children ages 4-10 (w/guardian), MO Botanical Gardens, Ridgway Center, 11 a.m. Free w/Garden admission. (314) 577-9400.

u Mystery writers Shirley Kennett and Eleanor Sullivan speak on "The Inside Story: From Manuscript to Bookstore," Carondelet Library, 6800 Michigan Ave., 10 a.m. Free. (314) 752-9224.

Monday, July 22

u Frances Sherwood discusses The Book of Splendor, Left Bank Books, 399 N. Euclid, 7 p.m. Free. (314) 367-6731.

Wednesday, July 24

u Connie Fairchild performs at the Whitaker Music Festival, MO Botanical Gardens, 7:30 p.m. Free. (314) 577-9400.

Thursday, July 25

u Lee Martin discusses Quakertown, Left Bank Books, 399 N. Euclid, 7 p.m. Free. (314) 367-6731.

u MO Botanical Garden's Amy Haake speaks on "Harry Potter and the Medieval Plants," Cliff Cave Library, 5430 Telegraph Rd., 2 p.m. Free. RSVP (314) 487-6003.

u Fiction of France and Russia book group meets, Barnes & Noble, 8871 Ladue Rd., 7:30 p.m. Free. (314) 862-2948.

July 25-28, August 1-4

u (Mostly) Harmless Theatre performs The Mineola Twins, Hotchner Theater, Washington U., 6445 Forsyth, times/prices vary. (314) 614-7411.

July 26-August 4

u St. Louis Shakespeare performs The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), Grandel Theater, 3610 Grandel Sq., times/prices vary. (314) 361-5664.

Saturday, July 27

u St. Charles-Lincoln County chapter of MO WritersGuild presents Joe Dugan on "How to Create a Buzz for your Work," O'Fallon Cultural Arts Center, 400 Civic Park Drive, 11 a.m. $3 (mem. free). (636) 379-9362.

Saturday, August 3

u St. Louis Writers Guild 5+5 workshop (readings & feedback), Barnes & Noble, 9618 Watson Rd., 10 a.m.-noon. $5 (members free). (314) 863-4988.

Monday, August 5

u Marilyn Sewell reads from Resurrecting Grace: Remembering Catholic Childhoods, Left Bank Books, 399 N. Euclid, 7 p.m. Free. (314) 367-6731

August 6, 13, 20, 27

u Writers Under the Arch writing group meets, Barnes & Noble, 8871 Ladue Rd., 7 p.m. Free. (314) 862-6280.

Sunday, August 11

u E. Lynn Harris discusses A Love Of My Own, Schlafly Library, 225 N. Euclid, 2 p.m. Free. (314) 367-6731.

Monday, August 12

u Jodi Picoult reads from Perfect Match: A Novel, Q and A follows, Barnes & Noble, 8871 Ladue Rd. 7 p.m .Free (314) 862-6280.

Where to buy SJR

Mid-City

Left Bank Books, 399 N. Euclid,

St. Louis, MO 63108

Daily Planet, 243 N. Euclid,

St. Louis, MO 63108

Central County

Front Page News, 6380 Delmar,

St. Louis, MO 63130

Today's News, 4 S. Central Ave., Clayton, MO 63105

Barnes & Noble Booksellers, 8871 Ladue Rd., St. Louis, MO 63124

West County

Barnes & Noble Booksellers, 11952 Manchester Rd., St. Louis, MO 63122

Borders Books & Music, #113-11745 Olive Blvd., Creve Coeur, MO 63141

Today's News, 308 Westport Plaza, St. Louis, MO 63146

Borders Books & Music, #217-1519 Brentwood Blvd.,

Brentwood, MO 63144

North County

Today's News, Northwest Plaza

South County

Borders Books & Music, #110-Sunset Hills Plaza, Lindbergh & Watson