Hollywood Starts Filming ‘Ruby Ridge’
“Ruby Ridge,” a made-for-TV CBS mini-series about the Randy Weaver siege in Idaho, has begun production in California.
Randy Quaid will play Randy Weaver. You may remember this particular Quaid from his role as LBJ in “LBJ: The Early Years,” and as the doofus brother-in-law in the National Lampoon “Vacation” movies.
Laura Dern (“Blue Velvet,” “Jurassic Park”) plays Vicki Weaver. Diane Ladd, Laura’s mom, will also be in the movie.
CBS is being closemouthed about the filming, partly because of the controversial subject matter. But we do know that it will air sometime this spring on two nights. We also know that it is based on the book “Every Knee Shall Bow” by Spokane author Jess Walter.
Fall radio ratings
The Arbitron radio ratings are out again, and frankly, I’m beginning to get dizzy from these mood swings.
Last quarter, KEYF-FM (Oldies 101) was No. 1 with a 9.7 share, and now three months later it is No. 6 with a 6.4 share. It strains credibility to believe that the station lost that many listeners in three months, considering the station has the same format. It probably says more about the general flakiness of radio ratings than about KEYF.
KDRK-FM (Cat Country) is No. 1 now, which isn’t a big surprise. KDRK is always at or near the top. However, this marks the sixth straight ratings period in which the No. 1 spot has changed hands. In a year and a half, there have been four different No. 1 stations.
Some other interesting trends (to be taken with a grain of salt):
KAEP-FM (The Peak) debuts in a tie for 11th with its new adult alternative format. Its rating is actually down slightly from the old KEZE-FM format, but a new format usually takes awhile to gain momentum. What’s important is whether it goes up from here.
KISC-FM has a nice comeback going, from eighth to fourth place.
KXLY-AM is looking very strong, easily beating its talk radio competitor, KGA-AM, and all other AM stations.
Here are the rankings, average quarter-hour share, all listeners 12 and over, for the period of Sept. 21 to Dec. 13, copyright 1995, The Arbitron Co.:
1. KDRK-FM, country, 11.2.
2. KZZU-FM, contemporary hits, 8.3.
3. KKZX-FM, classic rock, 7.4.
4. KISC-FM, adult contemporary, 6.9.
5. KXLY-AM, news-talk, 6.6.
6. KEYF-FM and AM, oldies, 6.4.
7. KXLY-FM, soft hits, 5.9.
8. KGA-AM, talk, 4.8.
9. KNFR-FM, country, 4.5.
10. KCDA-FM, country, 4.3.
11. (tie) KAEP-FM, adult alternative, 3.8.
11. (tie) KAQQ-AM, oldies, 3.8.
11. (tie) KHTQ-FM, contemporary hits, 3.8.
14. KNJY-FM, hard rock, 3.4.
15. KJRB-AM, talk, 1.8.
16. KTSL-FM, Christian, 1.4.
17. KTRW-AM, sports talk, 1.3.
KPBX-FM outlook good
Once again, I should issue my standard disclaimer that Arbitron does not release numbers for KPBX-FM, Spokane’s public radio station. However, Arbitron does give those numbers to KPBX-FM, which it says is in the middle of the pack.
Ratings are especially crucial now, since the Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced this week that stations must meet a certain level of listenership and a certain level of community financial support to retain government funding.
That listenership level was wrongly reported by the Associated Press as “12 percent of the listening audience in the coverage area,” a percentage too high for any station in Spokane to meet. It is actually a much more complicated formula, but the important thing is KPBX-FM is presently at more than double the minimum, according to KPBX general manager Dick Kunkel.
The station is also at more than double the minimum level of community financial support, said Kunkel.
Sweeney re-born
Spokane’s Julia Sweeney is in the midst of a triumphant stage run in San Francisco with her one-woman show, “God Said, ‘Ha!’ “
The show, written by Sweeney, is about the hellish year she just endured. Her marriage broke up, her movie (“It’s Pat”) bombed, and then her brother was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She went to L.A. to take care of him, and as he was nearing death, Sweeney herself learned that she had cervical cancer.
Sweeney is fine now, and she has turned the entire exhausting experience into an unlikely comedy.
“I do not want to bring people to tears,” Sweeney told the San Francisco Chronicle. “I wanted the material to be about victory, frustration and human poignancy.”
A Chronicle critic called the evening “a graceful and dryly funny evening … Sweeney offers living proof that laughter is the only revenge.”
‘Phantom’ sales
“Phantom of the Opera” opens a nine-week Seattle run on Feb. 3. Out of curiosity, I checked to see how many tickets have been purchased in Spokane and our region.
About 3.3 percent of the ticket sales have come from Spokane alone, and about 5.3 percent from the larger Eastern Washington-Idaho-Montana area.
Maybe that doesn’t sound like much, but by my calculations it means that more than 10,000 people from our region will be heading to Seattle for the show.
Or to put it another way: On average, there will be one couple from the Inland Northwest in every row for every show.
Plenty of tickets are still available since the run was extended by two weeks. It opens Feb. 3 at Seattle’s Paramount Theatre and closes April 6. Call (206) 292-ARTS for tickets, or buy them in person at any DJs Sound City location in Spokane.
‘Pipedreams’
“Pipedreams,” a Public Radio International program, will feature the organ project “Spokane Organists, Unlimited,” recorded on various organs in Spokane.
It will be aired on KPBX-FM’s “Concert of the Week” on Monday at 8 p.m.
The organists include Joseph Klice, Keith Thomas, Elizabeth Gale and Charles Frost.
Allied Arts alert
A reminder: The Greater Spokane Music and Allied Arts Festival is coming up May 10-17.
It’s not too early for students and teachers to sign up for this annual competition. Call 327-7674 for information.
, DataTimes