Radio And Television

This time, MPT is truly for the birds. The latest production effort from Maryland Public Television, "Stokes Birds at Home," makes its debut in these parts at 10: 30 a.m. Jan. 15. Over the next 13 weeks, Don and Lillian Stokes will do their best to do for bird-watching what Chris Jussel and "Antiques Roadshow" have done for antiquing -- turn it into something of a national obsession. The premiere episode sets the tone for what should follow, as the down-homey Stokeses -- sometimes, with their scripted banter, perhaps a little too down-homey -- clue viewers in to the ornithological wonders available just outside their back doors.

MPT viewers in the Annapolis area may have some problems with their signal this week.The station is replacing its 25-year-old Crownsville transmission tower and, while work is going on, the signal is being sent out by a temporary transmitter with much less power. Which explains why your picture may not be as clear as you'd like.Officials warn you may not receive any picture at all as the work nears completion.Full power is expected to be restored by Saturday.In other MPT news, the station received a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support production of a documentary on the development of the piano (2000 marks the piano's 300th anniversary)

WJZ, Channel 13, remains atop the Baltimore news heap, capping an impressive run that has seen its news broadcasts winning just about every ratings contest in 1999.For the November sweeps period, which ended Dec. 1, WJZ finished with the top-rated news broadcasts in the early morning -- a dominance morning news hosts Don Scott and Marty Bass have maintained for years, despite the historically poor morning performance of their network, CBS -- as well as at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m.The lone victory for the news at WBAL, Channel 11, came at 5 p.m., when it out-Nielsened WJZ by two-tenths of a rating point, 8.3 vs. 8.1. -- a drop-off from the July ratings book, when WJZ beat WBAL, 8.6 vs. 7.5. Each ratings point represents approximately 10,000 viewing households.

Think of "VH1 Collectors" as "Antiques Roadshow" with a rock and roll beat.Saturdays at noon beginning this week, VH1 will offer the chance to have your rock collectibles appraised, show off your collection to the envious masses and listen as celebrities describe what they collect. You may even be able to pick up a few items yourself.Already, the roving band of VH1 appraisers has visited Cleveland, Miami, Las Vegas and Austin, Tex., and they've turned up such items as an outfit worn on stage by the O'Jays (the thing practically screams '70s)

WERQ-FM (92.3) retained its top spot among Baltimore radio stations for the three-month period ending Sept. 30, but a series of changes at the urban contemporary station, as well as the decreasing margin between it and runner-up WPOC-FM (93.1), suggests the longtime powerhouse may be hearing footsteps.Ratings for the quarter just ended showed WERQ with an overall drop in listenership of nearly 5,000 listeners in an average quarter-hour, from 33,500 to 28,800. That's still enough to keep the station at No. 1, but only 2,200 listeners now separate it from WPOC.

Management at WMAR, Channel 2, Baltimore's struggling No. 3 station, is putting together an employee buyout package to reduce jobs and costs.WMAR Vice President and General Manager Steve Gigliotti confirmed that the station will be offering a "voluntary termination program for some of our employees."Gigliotti would not detail the type of severance package being offered or the degree to which he hopes to reduce the station's staff -- other than to say it would be considerably less than the 50 percent reduction claimed in several anonymous calls to The Sun."

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc.'s decision to sell off the bulk of its radio stations will allow the Baltimore company to whittle down its debt and focus on television, analysts said yesterday.Radio comprises a relatively small share of Sinclair's bottom line. The company's money derives largely from its role as a major holder of television stations, especially medium-market affiliates of upstart networks Fox, UPN and the WB Network. Locally, Sinclair owns Fox station WBFF-45 and programs the WB Network's WNUV-54.

Radio One landed an impressive one-two punch last quarter, garnering both the top and runner-up spots among Baltimore's most-listened-to radio stations.For the seventh straight quarter, Urban Contemporary station WERQ-FM (93.2) finished atop the ratings board, with an average 8,000 more listeners than Baltimore's No. 2 station.But as if that weren't good-enough news for Cathy Hughes' Radio One network, the No. 2 operation among listeners 12 and older for the quarter ending June 30 was another one of its stations, WWIN-FM (95.9)

Chris Jussel isn't really surprised by the success of "Chubb's Antiques Roadshow." But he does admit to being a little taken aback by the depth of some people's devotion to him and his roving band of antiques appraisers."

WMAR, Channel 2, and Maryland Public Television won the most local Emmy nominations with 17 apiece, according to a final list released by the Washington chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. New nominations for WMAR, announced since the first list was released May 10, came in the areas of program segments, news series (for "Hometown Portraits"), cinematography/videography and graphics, while additional nominations for MPT were for public affairs programming, children's programs ("Vid Kid")