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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 27, 1986)
Wednesday, August 27, 1986AThe Battalion/Page 7B d Christian show eitocuses on sex, fhot problems’ f gmej Jrnali ise tkl erfon km onaWfi he esidec; am. i vicet ; I or of] Jo™ ■geoffl iuth Cj ' and f. aslijfi , presiil| restctiej ipers 1 etired i WALL, Pa. (AP) — When it comes to on-the-air chitchat, confessions [and counsel, nothing is sacred for Christian television talk show host |Dick Hatch. His late night program, “Hatch!,” Iwhich focuses on sex and other pro- Ivocative issues, is a hit among believ- lersand non-believers alike. It’s also a Isource of consternation for conser- [vative Christians and clergy. Hatch doesn’t mind. In fact, he (rather enjoys the controversy. ‘Tve always liked doing things (that other people are not doing,” he said, shrugging. “There are plenty of preachers and teachers.” The 34-year-old former coal [miner shouts at some callers, throw ing up his hands and rolling his eyes, while shedding tears for others. Their queries range from philan dering husbands and abusive fathers to homosexuality, alcoholism and [oral sex. “Where else are they supposed to [talk about this stuff in an open, in formed, intelligent setting?” he asked. “They’re not going to get it in their church, there are too many little old ladies who are going to fall over if they do. They may be embar rassed to talk about it or may feel I their pastor has a particular bias in I one direction. “Besides, I’m not sexually frus trated and I’m not prudish. So I don’t mind talking about it. And I I don’t mind trying to put it back into some intelligent, Bible sense.” “Hatch!” has been scorching the airwaves since its debut Sept. 5, 1985, on Cornerstone Television’s WPCB in Wall, a little town outside Pittsburgh. WPCB is a local station that shows only Christian-oriented programming. It’s part of a slight but noticeable | shift in Christian broadcasting from “academic talking heads” to “gut- level issues,” according to Ben Arm strong, executive director of the Na tional Religious Broadcasters. “The hottest shows in religious ra dio and television are those dealing with royalty, sex and deity,” Arm strong said. “If you deal with these kinds of subjects, you’re able to reach more people. That’s really the bottom line.” Oleen Eagle, corporate vice presi dent for CTV, said, “All the things they hear are the things they’re thinking anyway.” CTV was hoping to attract a young audience when it asked Hatch to serve as host of a live, one-hour talk show last year. The son of an Ohio coal company executive who dropped out of col lege to work in the mines. Hatch started his broadcasting career in 1979 at WPIT, a Christian radio sta tion in Pittsburgh. He turned his efforts toward counseling after receiving a call from a woman who had been raped. Appalled by the lack of services for such victims, he opened the Chris tian Resource Center in downtown Pittsburgh in 1984 to help victims of sexual abuse. He accepted CTV's offer after be ing assured that half of any profits would go to the center. His show was an instant success, largely because of his ref usal to adhere to old-style reli gious broadcasting. Although a Bible is always pre sent, Hatch seldom refers to it. He peppers his conversation with such words as “sleazeball” and “slimeball,” tells religious jokes and occasionally rides his motorcycle onto the set. Guests include politicians, sex thera pists and atheists. “My father’s generation of evan gelists insulated themselves from the public,” he said. “What we do is mix it up.” His loud, abrasive style has gotten him into trouble. A Presbyterian minister chastised him after he told a teen-age boy seeking advice about his pregnant girlfriend, “You’ve done a pretty good job of making your life a mess.” Despite his on-air success, the Christian Resource Center remains his primary concern. Mornings are devoted to his wife, Roe, and their three children. “When I get judged, God is not going to judge me on my TV show,” Hatch said. “He’s going to judge me on my personal life and the Chris tian Resource Center.” stewl i hoiM d sa«| was atorsai :ouni. trike. 4 .ick a» em is®! ru(M of (te| n kei#! Ivedil work! ir era inoira Sethi i 1 -1 strikfl Storytelling survives, grows in popularity for Latin Americans CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Storytelling, old as mankind, is hav ing a new surge all over Latin Amer ica, after having almost vanished due to hard competition from TV, cinema, the publishing industry and other modern entertainments. “People are finding again that tell ing stories and listening to them has a magic that TV and the cinema lack," Venezuelan storyteller Isabel de los Rios said in an interview with The Associated Press. De los Rios is one of a few' dozen Venezuelans who took up storytel ling after tours here of Cuban sto- rywriter and storyteller Francisco Garzon Cespedes, who has in the last years actively promoted the old art all over Latin America. De los Rios, a professor of law at the Universidad de Los Andes in Merida — 450 miles west of Caracas — says her life took a pleasant new turn when she discovered “the fun of sharing stories with others.” "I had always liked to tell stories at parties, but this was something en tirely different,” she said. “Garzon Cespedes showed us that training and discipline were necessary, and also that storytelling was a very se rious matter, not to be regarded as childish at all.” In the Middle Ages, she points out, storytellers knowm as “trouba dours" and “jugglers” made their liv ing wandering from town to town all over Europe telling their stories in public squares and princely castles alike, often playing musical instru ments and engaging in skilled games as well. And in the Middle East, traveling dervishes are still eagerly sur rounded in the town squares by crowds who listen attentively to their old-time stories, in search of wis dom, moral instruction or plain amusement. De los Rios and six other storytel lers have formed a group called “Tales and Enchantments” and per form every Sunday at Caracas “Mu- seo del Teclado” (Piano Museum, a government-sponsored cultural cen ter downtown). “People just love listening to sto ries,” said Kira Kariakin, a 20-year- old journalism freshman who tells stories every Thursday to fellow stu dents at the Universidad Simon Boli- De los Rios says, “People like lis tening to stories, because they open up new perspectives in their own lives, a new world where they regain a precious part of themselves. Lis tening to them in a group, sharing the awe, the feelings, the memories the story evokes, has a special quality that more sophisticate entertain ments can’t provide.” EE )0| II IDA! EXlWlI \10[ CflNTlW Childhood pen pals meet after writing for 13 years READING, Pa. (AP) — Some times it just isn’t enough to “reach out and touch someone” via long dis tance telephone service. That’s why Patricia Ingram, 26, of Llansamlet, South Wales, crossed the Atlantic Ocean recently to meet her childhood pen pal, Linda Bicksler, 27, of Bethel. “We started writing each other when we were kids,” Ingram said. “Linda initiated the letter writing be cause of an article she read in Amer ican Girl magazine. We’ve kept in touch for 12 years ever since, and now I finally met her.” Ingram made the trip to the United States with her husband, Keith. The pen pals spent most of their time together in Pennsylvania, remi niscing about their childhood as in ternational literary counterparts, and visiting local historical sites. Bicksler said, “We spent most of our time looking at old wedding photos and other pictures from when we were young. We also took a trip to Lancaster.” Ingram was most impressed with the housing arrangement of the area. “The housing in Bethel is very spacious,” she said. “There aren’t any fences to close you in like there are in our residential sections. I liked that. “I also liked the food. Dining out in Pennsylvania is a lot cheaper than at home.” One unusual aspect of this long- awaited encounter of “best friends by mail” is that the Ingrams traveled nearly 3,000 miles from their home at 46 Bethel Road, Llansamlet, only to wind up at a street with the same name six hours later. ROTHER’S BOOKSTORES Custom Silk Screening Specialists 340 Jersey (across from Univ. Police) 901 Harvey (Woodstone Center) TAMU SPECIAL lliiTliAiiittriuirfittifiiiili’iitiliftir-j The IBM Personal Computer. $1249. Sale ends 10/30/86 Post Oak Village 1717 11th St.#101 Highway 30 (Harvey Road) Highway 30 College Station Huntsville ComputerLand ■ The one thing to know about computers. VIDEO RENTALS MON.-FRI. 7:45-6:00 SAT. 9-5 ... MOVIES 1.99 for 2 days ... PLAYERS $5.99 per day ... 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