Metro Pulse/Ear to the Ground

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Not So Sharp

The courtyard outside the main building at Ijams Nature Center was packed Saturday morning with an SRO crowd of local notables and jes' plain folks for the swearing-in of Knoxville's five new City Council members. Among the throng standing around chatting after the ceremony was civic activist Jeff Talman, who was proudly displaying an unlikely trophy: a smushed cigarette butt. Seems that Talman observed veteran Councilman Jack Sharp watching the festivities from the back, puffing away on his trademark cancer stick. When Sharp finished with the smoke, he did what we can only assume he usually does: dropped it on the ground of Knoxville's finest park and nature preserve, and stomped it in with his heel. Talman (who makes regular litter-collecting rounds in his own 4th and Gill neighborhood) grinned and said, "It's perfectly symbolic. They come out here to Ijams, and Jack Sharp throws cigarette butts on the ground." Sharp, who's also known for napping during City Council proceedings, was handily re-elected vice mayor at a special meeting as soon as the new Council was seated.

Success By Six?

The numbers are subject to spin, but there's no denying some visible trends in the latest Nielsen ratings for local news shows released this week. Longtime second-place holder WATE Channel 6 picked up some ground, gaining one ratings point in each of its major newscasts (6 a.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m.) compared to the November 2000 numbers. Those gains are matched by concomitant drop-offs in those slots by perennial 800-pound ratings gorilla WBIR Channel 10. Both stations have seen major changes this year, with former WBIR anchor (and mayoral aide) Gene Patterson settling in at Channel 6, and the fresh-faced Ted Hall inheriting Bill Williams' chair at Channel 10. Of course, everyone claims victory. WATE marketing director John Pennington notes the local numbers went up even as affiliate network ABC's ratings have not. "The fact that people are turning to us now, that raises the bar," says Pennington, who credits the gains to WATE's recent emphasis on news over fluff. "We've tried to get away from all the normal TV stuff. Local TV news isn't very good. It hasn't been very good. I don't think that's news to anyone...We're not going to wrap our anchors in a flag and have 'em eat apple pie just so people will like them. We're just going to do news." The station's not-so-subtle jabs at Channel 10's "Straight From the Heart" warm fuzziness haven't gone unnoticed farther up North Broadway. But, as befits an accustomed champion, Channel 10's Steve Dean doesn't sound worried. He says WBIR's slight tail-off is within a normal range of fluctuation. "Obviously, we wouldn't want that fluctuation," he says. "But we still have bigger numbers than the other stations combined." True enough. For example, while both WATE and WVLT Channel 8 picked up one ratings point in the 6 p.m. news slot, and WBIR dropped two, WBIR still had household ratings of 18 points, compared to 9 for WATE and 4 for WVLT.

Knoxville Is Watching

Also, WBIR's Steve Dean passes on another bit of news—starting next year, Knoxville will be an official Nielsen city. Some 400 households in the viewing area will be outfitted with electronic boxes that will record their every viewing decision. Dean says Nielsen aims to eventually meter the whole country, and the roll-out is now reaching smaller cities like our own. Which means that some of your own friends and neighbors may be responsible for deciding which shows make it and which ones don't. Scary, huh?

Mustang Timmy

It was an ecumenical sight at the Karns Christmas parade, politically speaking, as County Commissioner Mark Cawood, a Democrat, and state Sen. Tim Burchett, a Republican, paired up and rode together in Cawood's '65 Mustang. Burchett represents a city-only district, but redistricting is looming, and a guy can't be too prudent about these things. "No Republicans would let me ride with them, so I had to ride with a Democrat," said Burchett, who has been on the outs with the Sundquist administration over the income tax issue. He said he figured that the notoriously anti-tax Cawood would be a safe choice as a parade pal. "He's pretty tight with a dollar, so I couldn't see it hurting."

Jack of Hearts

Speaking of the Guv, Don Sundquist had just arrived at Kerbela Temple for city political operative Jack Barnes' Christmas party when he was swarmed by media-types wanting to discuss his new plan to re-open the state parks that he'd ordered closed as a cost-cutting measure. Mayor Victor Ashe, who has seized the moment to launch a campaign to raid the state's highway fund, was lurking in the lobby and slid into the picture when Sundquist and Barnes were posing for photographs. Later, an amateur photog asked Sundquist and Barnes to pose for an Ashe-free shot, and Sundquist graciously obliged. "Burn that other one," he said, smiling broadly.

Parties 'r' Us

Speaking of holiday fellowship, the WIVK Christmas party turned into a surprise retirement fete for longtime local radio honcho Bobby Denton, whose wife Shannon put together a video honoring the occasion. Dolly Parton, whom Denton claims to have dated once upon a time, was one of the featured stars, and she riffed off a familiar "is it real?" theme, asking him about the news of his retirement. Ron McMahan, Hallerin Hill and Doug Dickey were also in the video, which kept flashing shots of Denton with his signature cigar clamped between his teeth. At the end of the show, the guests got BD-monogrammed chocolate cigars.

Another large event was the 52nd anniversary party for Ted and Avis Phillips, attended by Ray and Lucy Hand, newlyweds Zane and Norma Daniel, Teddy and Carol Phillips, Holly Kennedy (not wearing her metal-flake ring) and Tim Burchett, country music songwriter Dean Dillon (who wrote a bunch of George Strait hits), Con Hunley, Cooter Daniel and Nashville legend Vern Gosdin. Teddy Phillips' band the Chillbillies played, with some Nashville cats sitting in.