THURSDAY, APRIL 11,1985 (Eljc HuntBuille Oliima D-3 Independent Television Station Set to Sign On Sunday Morning By MIKE KA YLOR ShowTimes Editor After three and a half years of waiting, Huntsville viewers will have a new television alternative this weekend. It will be an independent station called WZDX, broad casting at Channel 54 on the UHF dial with 2.2 million watts of power. “We are physically capable of going on the air now,’’ General Manager David Godbout said last week. “Anybody that receives Channel 19, 31 and 48 is going to receive us — it’s just a matter of turning up six clicks from 48." For its sign-on, WZDX will not be on Huntsville’s Group W Cable system, so viewers will need to tune in at Channel 54 on their television sets’ UHF dial. However, the station will be added to the local cable on Channel 13 beginning Monday. A new station became a possibilty in Huntsville during 1981 when a Nashville attorney named Michael Norton researched the market and found the frequency open. His application for a construction permit began the wheels turning. Subsequently, the Federal Communication Commission asked for additional proposals from other interested parties, and the lawyer lost his bid for Channel 54 to a Chattanooga company called Media Central. That came in early 1983. MEDIA CENTRAL first planned to put the station on the air that fall, but delays pushed the launch date to spring 1984. When the summer of 1984 arrived with still no new station, Media Central filed with the FCC for an extension of its construction permit. ‘‘It’s hard work putting a station on the air — to build it, coordinating all of the equipment and everything,’’ said Don Kent, an officer in Media Central and one of the partners in WZDX. ‘‘Then there’s the tower, they’re not easy things to build.” Kent said the construction of Channel 54’s 1,000-foot tower atop Green Mountain in South Huntsville was delayed during the winter months. ‘‘One of our anchor positions was totally inaccessible,” he said. Owner and operator of WZDX is Community Service Broadcasting, a partnership consisting of Kent, Media Central and John Pauza, another Media Central officer. The primary owner of Media Central is Kent’s father, Chattanooga businessman Morton Kent. Media Central operates 10 stations across the United States and owns five of those. “We’re excited about being able to be in Huntsville,” said the younger Kent. “From the things I’ve seen and read, it is one of the fastest growing markets.” Pauza explained that the greatest delay in getting WZDX on the air was finding a tower site. “We actually applied to the FAA for three different sites before we found one that was workable that they would let us build,” he said. The Federal Aviation Administration must approve television tower locations to ensure they are not hazardous to aircraft. When Media Central found a suitable tower site on Green Mountain, construction was slow because of the terrain. Pauza said one of the anchor bolts was 1,000 feet below the base of the tower, but contractors had to drive 12 miles to reach it because of the slope. IN ADDITION, the station’s power is nearly double that of the next most powerful local station — WHNT Channel 19 broadcasts at about 1.3 million watts. WZDX will have 2.2 million watts. Channel 54’s sign-on Sunday morning will be the first new TV station to arrive in Huntsville since 1963, when WHNT signed on. Huntsville’s other two commercial stations first appeared in the 1950s - WAFF in 1954 and WAAY in 1959. WZDX has an initial staff of 30 people. General Manager Godbout came to Huntsville from an independent station in Dayton, Ohio. His family lives in Boise, Idaho. General sales manager for the station is Robin Lane. She is a native of Baton Rouge, La., who has been working as an account executive at WAA Y-TV. Larry G. Geiger, a former Huntsvillian, returned to be production manager of the station. He had been working for a cable network in Atlanta. Promotion manager is Wendy Goldstein. She is a Huntsville native and former illustrator with Management Services Inc. Handling public relations and Channel 54’s local newsbreaks will be Brenda M. Martin, who produced and hosted the “Morning WAAY” show on Channel 31 from 1981 to 1983. She is a native of Buffalo, N.Y., who also owns Tiffany’s Academy of Personal Development in Haysland Square shopping center here. Brenda Cotter is the station’s cable specialist, in charge of contacting and coordinating arrangements with area cable systems. She is a native of Jacksonville, Fla. Other key staff people at WZDX include Traffic Manager Pearl Foster, formerly with WAAY; Film Editor Mary Godwin, who comes from WZDX’s sister station WKCH Channel 43 in Knoxville, Tenn.; Stacy Killian, a production assistant who also came from WKCH; and production assistants Liz Webb and John Keel, both of whom have worked with WAAY. Business office manager at Channel 54 is Gloria Johnson, formerly employed at the Huntsville Rehabilitation Center. Athens native Edna Parker, an ex-staffer at WHNT, is WZDX’s master controller. ‘Dallas’ Reruns, Movies Head WZDX Schedule A ShowTimes Report If you missed the first run of the popular evening soap opera “Dallas,” this wiU be the week to catch up. The series begins anew with the very first episode on Monday. People with no cable TV hookup will soon get to see the syndicated “Star Search” or J ‘Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.” And for children, the modern cartoons "Voltron,” “Inspector Gadget” and “Great Space Coaster” will appear. All of these are part of the regular schedule of WZDX Channel 54, which signs on the air at 7 a.m. Sunday. General Manager David Godbout will introduce himself and his purpose to Huntsville in the first minute of broadcasting, and Huntsville will then have its fourth commercial television station. WZDX will have no network affiliation — no ABC, CBS or NBC programming — but wiU air syndicated shows, reruns of network series, movies and religious programming. “We want to be known as a family-oriented station,“ said Godbout. “We are also doing First Baptist Church live from 10:30 to 11:30 on Sunday mornings.” In addition, he said the station plans to get involved in community affairs and is putting its greatest em phasis into combatting child abuse. “We will get as involved as we can as quickly as we can,” he added. All public service announcements will be used, Godbout said, at no charge. Although the station will not have a local news program, Public Relations Director Brenda Martin will do occasional news breaks between 5:30 and 11 o’clock each evening. The WZDX studios at 6025 Mastin Lake Road include a large production studio with six microphone con nections and a smaller studio where Ms. Martin’s news set will be a permanent fixture. Godbout said the station represents an investment of between $5 million and )6 million. Owner of the studio is a partnership called Community Service Broad casting Co., a subsidiary of Media Central in Chat tanooga. WZDX will be included on cable systems across North Alabama, although not all systems will be prepared to broadcast the new station from the start. On Group W Cable in Huntsville, it will air on Dial 13, replacing WVTM Channel 13 in Birmingham. How ever, Group W is showing a preview of Home Box Office on Dial 13 this weekend and will not add WZDX to its line-up until Monday. Other systems that will include the new Channel 54 are those in Arab (Channel 12), Athens (Channel 4), Decatur (Channel 5), Hartsclle (Channel 2), Madison ( Channel 2), New Hope (Channel 11), Warrenton (Channel 8) and Woodville (Channel 5). The location on the dial for WZDX was not available mid-week for the following cable systems: Albertville, Boaz, Ardmore, Rainsville, Scottsboro, Rogersville, Town Creek, Courtland, Killen, Gullman, Guntersville and Moulton. DAVID GODBOUT WZDX General Manager