Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards Gives Youths A Say

MTV Networks has its viewing audience in hand very nearly from the cradle to the grave.

Nickelodeon nabs them in first grade and carries them through middle school, where it passes the baton to MTV. Music Television careens forward for the next eight or 10 years and then hands off to VH1. And the race for ratings points comes full circle with Nick at Night and its ancient sitcoms.

But truth be told, the target audience gets most and best attention on Nickelodeon. Evidence? For starters, their Kids’ Choice Awards.

Contrary to the adage, this network believes kids should be heard, and kids respond to that invitation to empowerment. In fact, 26 million of them called a toll-free number to tell Nickelodeon their favorites - movie, actor, male and female athlete, video game, animal star - in 16 categories.

“It’s been sensational,” says Albie Hecht, executive producer of the network’s Eighth Annual Kids’ Choice Awards (Saturday at 8 p.m.), “but in some ways, we shouldn’t be surprised.” Hecht recites some numbers about shares that boil down to this. Nickelodeon owns Saturday night as far as kids ages 6 to 11 are concerned.

“Twenty-six million,” he says. “That’s more than vote in the People’s Choice Awards.”

“We’re only an hour, to begin with,” he says, “so there’s the feeling, ‘Let’s go and give out some awards,’ which makes for a fast-paced show.

“And we also try to do a show that has an anything-can-happen feel.”

They’ve bagged the boring envelope thing and replaced it with “reveals.”

“You know,” Hecht says, “a dog will run on stage with the winner’s name on his collar or a balloon will drop from the ceiling with the winner’s name on it.”

And pop diva Whitney Houston, a big kid-favorite based on past awards voting, will host.

“We always ‘slime’ a star,” Hecht says. Star “sliming” is precisely as it sounds: Some unsuspecting celebrity is covered with an icky, runny, hairgel kind of goo. And - no - Hecht won’t say who’s been tapped this year.