Get Ready To Play ‘Ask Etheridge’

Sun., Nov. 10, 1996

By Jim Kershner jimkershner@comcast.net

If you could talk to Melissa Etheridge, what would you ask her?

Please let me know. I will use the best reader questions in my interview with her on Monday morning.

Call my voice-mail at 459-5493 and leave a message, or e-mail me at jimk@spokesman.com. Be sure and do it today or tonight; tomorrow will be too late.

Etheridge, of course, has been much in the news of late because of her announcement that she and her longtime lover, Julie Cypher, are going to have a baby. The two women were on the cover of Newsweek recently.

One more thing: I’m not going to use any crude questions, so spare me.

Etheridge is coming to the Spokane Arena on Dec. 12.

KHQ’s Rosie look-alike

Dana Haynes, a KHQ-6 reporter, is one of 178 Rosie O’Donnell look-alikes who will be in the audience of “The Rosie O’Donnell Show” on Thursday.

Haynes was chosen for this honor after submitting a videotape of herself to the show. She said that people have told her, ever since college, that she looks like Rosie.

As a TV reporter, she will be doing double-duty. She will also be doing a story for KHQ about the event.

Look for her on “Rosie” at 3:30 p.m. Thursday on KHQ-6. Then she will probably do a live segment on the news that evening, and will put together a larger feature when she gets back. Haynes has been with KHQ-6 for three months.

Indian Country Today here

Indian Country Today, a national weekly newspaper written by and for American Indians, has opened up a Northwest bureau in Spokane.

The paper is based in Rapid City, S.D., and also has a Southwest bureau in Albuquerque, N.M. It already publishes a national section, Northern Plains section and Southwest section; on Monday, it will add a Northwest section.

Tim Giago, president and publisher of Indian Country Today, said he decided to open the office after much prodding from Northwest tribal leaders, who felt that they needed a networking system. They also felt Northwest Indians were neglected by the national news media.

“The Indian people have been duped into believing that we need the mainstream press,” said Giago in a news release. “… More often than not, the mainstream media reporting can be quite antagonistic toward the tribal governments.”

Indian Country Today is Indian-owned, and most of the staff, including Giago, has been raised on reservations.

The Spokane office is headed by Valerie Henderson, Nez Perce. The office is at 10905 E. Montgomery, Suite 3 in Spokane and the phone number is 921-0512.

Two Northwest tribes have already shown major support for the newspaper’s expansion into this area. The Quinault nation invested in the opening of the office, and the Colville Confederated Tribe took out six-month subscriptions for all 4,000 members of the tribe.

Now that’s a nice subscription boost.

Kleckner moves news-ward

Dan Kleckner, KHQ-6’s sports director for 12 years, has taken on a new, or should we say news, challenge.

Since Oct. 31, he has been co-anchoring KHQ-6’s 4:30 p.m. news.

“It’s a new direction,” said Kleckner. “I’m looking for a way to expand my horizons. For the first time in a long time, I’ve got butterflies, and that’s a good feeling.”

This move means that Rick Douglas, the previous co-anchor along with Melinda O’Malley, can finally get some sleep. He has been doing both the 5:30 a.m. and the 4:30 p.m. broadcasts. Douglas continues to anchor the morning news.

Kleckner will be a busy man. He will remain the station’s sports director, so in addition to his news anchoring duties, he will still anchor the sports at 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m.

It’s a great performance

Don’t be fooled by the word “auditions” in the title of next Saturday’s Metropolitan Opera District Auditions.

It’s also a great performance, a recital, a spectator-friendly event. The public is invited to hear the top opera performers from Eastern Washington, Idaho and Montana. Winners will go on to Seattle for the regional auditions in January.

There is no charge. The auditions are at 2 p.m. at the Spokane Falls Community College music building.

Two stations added

KEZE-FM and KNJY-FM have entered into a sales representative agreement with the KXLY Radio Group.

What does this mean? It means that advertising for these two stations will now be sold by KXLY, which already has KXLY-FM, KXLY-AM, KZZU-FM and KTRW-AM.

However, KEZE-FM and KNJY-FM will retain their independent ownership. KEZE-FM is owned by John Rook of Coeur d’Alene. KNJY-FM is owned by Z-Rock Communications Corp. , DataTimes

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