Radio And Television

Anna Elizabeth Fehl, a retired teacher and librarian who specialized in radio and television in Baltimore's public school system from the 1950s until 1977, died of congestive heart failure Nov. 29 at St. Joseph Medical Center. She was 76. Ms. Fehl, who lived on Everall Avenue in Northeast Baltimore for most of her life before moving to Oak Crest Village in Parkville seven years ago, was known among friends for her theatrical flair. As an early communicator in the media of radio and television for Baltimore schoolchildren, she nurtured an actress' love for performance by telling stories over the airwaves -- live stories which were piped into city classrooms.

In a race that has split moderate and conservative Republicans, 1st District congressional opponents Wayne T. Gilchrest and David Fischer - along with their supporters in rival GOP organizations - are spending unprecedented amounts for radio and television ads in a last-minute push before Tuesday's primary election. Gilchrest, a six-term incumbent who has not faced serious opposition in a decade, is setting what his staff calls a "high water" mark for fund-raising in the district . Much of that money - $275,000 according to the most recent campaign finance reports - has gone for radio and television spots featuring endorsements from President Bush and Maryland gubernatorial candidate Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. One 30-second spot on television stations in Baltimore and Salisbury quotes a letter of endorsement from Bush, then includes a voice-over by Ehrlich, who calls Gilchrest a "thoughtful, reasoned voice on key conservative issues."

John Guedel, 88, who produced three of radio and television's most enduring programs - Art Linkletter's People Are Funny and House Party, and Groucho Marx's You Bet Your Life - died of heart failure Saturday at a hospital in West Hollywood, Calif. Mr. Guedel was originator of what might have been the first radio stunt game show with People are Funny, which moved from radio to television in 1954, and the first singing commercial on radio. Mr. Guedel created You Bet Your Life for Mr. Marx in 1947, including having a duck drop down and deliver a $100 bill whenever a contestant uttered the "secret word."

Auto racing NASCAR: Fined driver Tony Stewart $10,000 and extended his probation through end of season for blowups with Winston Cup official and reporter after Pepsi 400. Baseball Cardinals: Purchased contract of P Jim Bullinger from unaffiliated Long Island. Mets: Announced that OF Darryl Hamilton has cleared waivers. Rangers: Recalled P Dan Kolb from Triple-A Oklahoma, where he had been on rehabilitation assignment. College Syracuse: Named rowers Lisa Fackler of Hunt Valley and Katie Kurcz of Ellicott City to spring athletic director's honor roll.

Newspapers are still the best way to process daily news, explain complex situations and bring opposing viewpoints together in calm, rational formats. But they can drive you crazy. Some days the papers can seem like the Earth appeared to Charles K. Johnson. The president of the International Flat Earth Research Society who died March 19 said the Earth was a disc with the North Pole at the center and a 150-foot wall of ice around the edge, the moon landing was a hoax staged in an Arizona hangar, Australia could not possibly be "down under," sunrises and sunsets were optical illusions and Moses was a fellow flat-Earth man. There's a lot to appreciate in newspapers if you want to be informed.

Highly verbal, highly tactile and always in search of his next riff, longtime WJZ reporter Richard Sher is relaxing between bites while sitting on the balcony of the Cross Keys Donna's when he swivels to a young server, touches her on the arm, and asks her age. "Twenty-one," she replies. "Ah," he says, looking back at his dining companion for effect, "so you were minus 4 when I started at 'JZ." Indeed, Monday marked Sher's 25th anniversary at the CBS-owned Channel 13, a lifetime in the high-churn world of television news.

"Real People, Real Stories." WMAR's still-new news slogan should comfort those who fretted that reporters for the ABC affiliate (Channel 2) had been making up their stories for all these years. But putting that slogan into practice goes far beyond fact-based reporting. "People feel like they need a voice," said Drew Berry, the Baltimore station's vice president and general manager. "A lot of people feel that their voices are not heard and their opinions are not valued." And, boy, oh boy, are you going to hear those voices on WMAR's newscasts.

Nancy Marchand, who died Sunday of cancer at her Connecticut home just one day short of her 72nd birthday, will be remembered as both the boss everyone wished they had and the mother we all thanked God wasn't ours. As Margaret Pynchon, the steel-willed, principled publisher of the Los Angeles Tribune on "Lou Grant," Marchand was a force to be reckoned with, but never to be feared. Imperious, yet approachable, her Mrs. Pynchon was among the most beloved bosses on network television, not to mention one of the most honored - the role brought her four consecutive Emmys.

Ready to use that useless trove of TV trivia you've amassed over the years for some purpose other than impressing your friends at Trivial Pursuit? Show up at the Columbia Mall Saturday and, if you're good enough, you may end up as host of your own programming block on cable's TV Land. The cable channel that's a repository for all things nostalgic when it comes to television is holding its second "Ultimate Fan Search," to find the man or woman in the United States who has wasted the most time in front of the tube.

Look for powerful music on MPT this weekend, as some of London's finest musicians take on one of the greatest oratorios of western music. Franz Joseph Haydn's "The Creation," as performed by the Philharmonia and Chorus of London under Gilbert Levine's baton, airs at 9 p.m. Sunday on MPT, Channels 22 and 67. The performance, dubbed "The Jubilee Creation Concert" and taped March 26 at Baltimore's Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the...