Press and Sun-Bulletin from Binghamton, New York • 17

0 lu Tl Inside MARKETPLACE SECTION THURSDAY OCTOBER 23, 2003 Press Sun-Bulletin pressconnects.com buzz Baseball fails to draw viewers i 'X i 1 I I X. A WHRW 90.5 FM, Binghamton University's a Kit White broadcasts Gospel Time! from 9:30 a.m. until noon Sundays on WAYNE HANSEN Press Sun-Bulletin radio station. Mimsiry of mi isic to new Fox shows By DAVID BAUDER Associated Press NEW YORK Even if you caught only a few innings of postseason baseball on Fox, you likely saw promos for Skin and the new season of Joe Millionaire. Despite the heavy promotion, both series premieres flopped Monday, each drawing fewer than 7 million viewers.

"We're disappointed," said Gail Berman, Fox entertainment president. "I wish I knew what happened last night." Joe Millionaire was last winter's surprise hit, with view-ers drawn to the twist of women chasing an eligible man they were fooled into thinking was rich. The series' final episode was watched by 40 million viewers in February. Despite many people considering the Joe Millionaire premise a one-shot joke, Fox ordered a sequel. It has the same twist, but this time features European women.

It was seen by an estimated 6.6 million people Monday, placing it fifth in its time slot, according to Nielsen Media Research. Even the WB, with 7th Heaven, fared better. "It's not believable," said Marc Berman, a television analyst for Media Week Online. "How many people out there really believe these women don't know what this show is?" Fox is sticking with it, though it clearly won't be the phenomenon it was in its first incarnation, Fox's Berman said. Skin was the bigger disappointment.

The drama about a relationship between a pornogi apher's daughter and a district attorney's son was seen by 6.5 million people less than the premiere of last season's girl 's club, which was canceled after two episodes. By contrast, Fox drew more than 20 million people to three of its baseball games in the past weeks, peaking with the 27.5 million who watched the seventh game of the Yankees-Red Sox playoff series. The Skin showing was perplexing to many in the TV business because the show drew generally good reviews and received a massive push during uncommonly popular baseball series. Fox will air the show a second time later this week and keep Skin in its Monday time slot. The Fox entertainment president noted another new Fox drama, 77ie O.

started slow and built its audience. "We're experiencing a taste of what all the other netw ork are facing this fall," she said. "It's tough to reach this young adult audience." Skin may have suffered because NBC got a head start this season with its new drama, Las Vegas, in the same time slot, Media Week Online's Berman said. A story involving the adult entertainment business might have turned off conservative viewers, he said. "It tells you that even a baseball postseason that does as well as this doesn't mean that the shows you promote are going to get an audience," he said.

By GEORGE BASLER Press Sun-Bulletin VESTAL On a recent Sunday morning. Kit White is getting ready to preach to a congregation she never sees. Her pulpit isn't in a church. Instead, White arranges herself in a chair in the studio of WHRW, the college-community radio station at Binghamton University. gram "inspirational and uplifting." The program is also an important one for WHRW because, while college students come and go.

Gospel Time! has provided a continuing connection to the community for more than three decades, said Robert Bergall, general manager of the radio station this semester. "Kit White has been around a long time and keeps steady listeners," he said. White calls gospel music, heard in black churches, the "best kept secret that's totally public." By that she means the music is a mainstay on black radio stations Sunday mornings and is the well-spring for everything from rhythm and blues to soul music. Aretha Franklin, Sam Cooke and Whitney Houston, to name a few artists, first sang in church or with gospel groups. This fall, the Hollywood comedy The Fighting Temptations featured an ensemble of gospel and artists.

Nonetheless, the music remains on the fringe of consciousness for most of mainstream white America, White said: "They hear it in pop music but don't recogni2e the origin of the sound." "I'm not church, but for the portion of the audience that's sick, or shut in, or don 't go to church, I'm church for them." KIT WHITE HOST OF 'GOSPEL Her congregation is listeners from the Southern Tier and northern Pennsylvania who tune in weekly to hear 3Vi hours of black gospel music and White's sermons. Gospel Time! has been on the air for 33 years, making it WHRW's flagship show in terms of longevity. And White has been with the program since its start. "It's a ministry to me," she said. "I do it as an expression of faith and to help others find faith and grow in faith." Gospel Time! dates from 1970 when Ernestine Williams, then a Binghamton University student from New York City, proposed a gospel music show.

WHRW's free-form format allowed her to do so. White, who was also a BU student VANILLA ICE 'Surreal Life' pairs odd couples r. Tammy Faye Messner and Ron Jeremy are among the once and future stars sharing a Hollywood Hills mansion during the second season of the WB's The Surreal Life. The former televangelist's wife and the porn king will live in the house and act as hosts for 11 days. They'll have four other roommates: rapper Vanilla Ice, CHiPs actor Erik Estrada, former Baywatch actress Traci Bingham and Real World: Las Vegas cast member Trishelle.

They'll also have a celebrity guest move in each week on the reality show; which began shooting Monday. Messner divorced disgraced televangelist Jim Bakker in 1992. Jeremy has starred in more than 1,600 porn movies and directed more than 100 himself. The new season of Surreal Life is expected to air early next year. 'Boomtown'go bust on NBC NBC apparently has lowered the boom on Boom-town and will yank pling in November.

Boomtown, which was never an audience favorite despite being hailed by critics last season, has seemingly become the first casualty of the new fall The drama, which aired Fridays, already has been pulled from the schedule and replaced with reruns of Law Order: Special Victims The series probably will not return, an NBC executive said. 14 The move came despite "VH theaddi- tion of Vanessa L. Williams to the cast and a creative revamp. Producers could not be reached for comment. All's Rosy with 'Dilbert' Did you guess that Cathy Guisewite of the comic strip Cathy drew Wednesday's Dilbert'! Well, you are WRONG! It was done by Pat Brady, creator of Rose is Rose.

All this week, Dil-bert is being drawn by a guest "mystery" artist. See www.dilbert.com each day to find out who the mystery artist is. INSIDE Think pink Breast Cancer Awareness Month has caught on among corporations in a way few other good causes have. SEE SHOPPING TRENDS 3C TOMORROW Art for sale Two sales of museum-quality artwork are coming up in the Southern Tier. CONTACT US: Diana Bean Features Editor 607-798-1171 featurespressconnects.com V7.

WILLIAMS So she sees one of her missions in doing the show as an educational one, introducing the local community to gospel. The show is "unabashedly African-American," she said. "Anybody who tunes in is going to hear how faith is expressed through a particular music and a particular culture," White added. "Some people may have a problem with that, but I think it's valuable for people to hear how faith in Jesus Christ is expressed through the black tradition." White estimates 50 people or so, mostly students, have worked on Gospel either on the air or behind the scenes, since it started. She moved from behind the scenes to hosting the program in the mid-1980s.

White thinks she draws some "crossover" listeners for a variety of reasons, including a liking for the music. While that doesn't bother her, White empha- SEE GOSPEL 2C at the time, signed on as engineer at Williams' request. Back then, she became involved because of her appreciation of the music, not because of any strong religious feeling, White acknowledged. She was "a cultural Christian," not a deep believer. That changed with "a couple of life experiences," including a near death experience.

Now, White sees Gospel Time! as a religious calling, with the music working in tandem with her sermons to give comfort and spiritual uplift to those who tune in. She has worked as an associate minister at Beautiful Plain Baptist Church in Binghamton. "I'm not church, but for the portion of the audience that's sick, or shut in, or don't go to church, I'm church for them," she said. White's program can be vital for those who can't get to Sunday services, agreed Esther Covington, an active member of Beautiful Plain Baptist Church. Covington calls the pro- Gospel radio show connects woman to faith, community Listen In PROGRAM: Gospel Timet TIME: 9:30 a.m.

to 1 p.m. Sundays. STATION: WHRW, the college and community radio station, at 90.5 FM. ON THE WES: Listeners can also listen live on the station's Web site: www.whrwfm.org. Neighbors Our neighborhood is nutty about baseball.

Most days, whatever the weather, there are enough kids to field two modest teams. We even have a customized, low-maintenance diamond spray painted on the pavement. But the past few weeks have been absolutely insane with the Yankees and the perennially popular Red Sox and Cubs in the playoffs. It started subtly when the Panares, recently arrived from the Boston area, tied a pair of red socks to their mailbox post. Then, directly across the street, a Yankees flag appea red in the Preise'n-danz's front yard.

Soon the Panaros' Halloween scarecrow was sporting a Red Sox shirt. Next, Eric and Emily Preisendanz (14 and 10 respectively) made a sign reading "GO YANKS." Each 2- wear their hearts on their houses during playoffs v. a mixed marriage Lauraine is an avid Yankees fan; Steve favors the Mets. While we are Yankees fans, we also have a history with the Cubs. We were at Wrigley Field in 1989 when they clinched the National League East.

But we played it safe. Our Cubs flag was reserved for the trip to the World Series. The Dunns on the next block, who have endured three generations of heartache with the Cubs, also held back. Slowly, painfully the teams fell. The Cubs were first.

"It just wasn't meant to be," Tom Dunn said, shaking his head sadly. Next the Red Sox went down in a 11 -inning nail-biter. It was a big disappointment for Mark and Karen Panaro, who come from a long line of Red Sox fans. Karen's dad has had season tickets for 30 years, season tickets he would have shared with them and their bors having some good-natured fun. It was about exciting baseball.

"It was great baseball, one of the best series," said- Mark Panaro of the Boston-New York games. "There's nothing like it when those two teams play." And there's nothing like the games played on our street. On Sunday, kids and dads played a 12-'inning thriller. Our son, Eric, drove in the winning run. The socks, the signs and the rivalry didn't matter.

What mattered was the magic of a game played with friends, a game in which every kid can pretend he is Derek Jeter for a few moments on a blacktop field of dreams. Jensen is a free-lance writer from Vestal whose column appears Thursdays. She can be reached at nysnapshotshotmail. com. boys had the Sox gone all the way.

"He's going to send his World Series tickets to the kids anyway so they can have them," Mark said. That's how it usually goes. The Yankees advance to the World Series and the rest are left with dreams of next year and tickets to games that are never played. The Yankees fans have been mercifully gracious. "We kind of know how the Red Sox felt," Pete Preisendanz said, "Back in the early '70s the Yankees weren't very good and they did lose the World Series to the Diamondbacks in 2001." Both Pete and his wife, Carolyn, were born wearing pinstripes.

Their son, Eric, wears a Yankees jacket that belonged to Pete's late father. In the end, it wasn't about who won or lost. It was about neigh MARLENE JENSEN Southern Tier Snapshots foot-high letter was drawn on a separate piece of poster board and taped to the front of the house. (When wind and rain didn't destroy it, we should have taken it as an omen.) Several pro-Red Sox placards popped up in the Pittari's yard a couple of streets away. Theirs is 1.