Radio Station Turns Into Service Station With New Free-Gasoline Promotion
Old Town’s Casa Guadalajara restaurant, a University of San Diego dorm, and an Ocean Beach apartment all could be coming to a remote control near you.
For 10 days this month, a TV pilot called “The Further Adventures” was shot in town. The pilot starred actresses Rhea Perlman (known for her role in TV’s “Cheers”) and Mary Stuart Masterson (of films “Benny and Joon” “Fried Green Tomatoes” and recently “Bed of Roses”).
The show’s executive producer is actor Danny DeVito. DeVito’s company, Jersey Films, has produced movies such as “Erin Brockovich,” “Man on the Moon,” “Pulp Fiction” and “Gattaca.” He’s also Perlman’s husband.
Perlman and Masterson reportedly play waitresses in the pilot, which is being produced with Stu Segall Productions.
Location manager Mario Ramirez couldn’t talk plot, but said that the show would be an hour long and is set in a fictional town in Southern California.
Ramirez, who freelances in the industry but is based here, describes the show as a family-oriented drama with a “Party of Five” feel. He did not disclose the episode’s budget.
According to Ramirez, the pilot’s fate won’t be known for several months. It will be in post-production for a couple of months, and then would be presented to the networks, he said.
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Pumping Up The Volume: Mark Larson, general manager of Salem Communications’ conservative talk KCBQ-AM, calls radio a service industry. The station’s taking it a bit further now, with a new promotion that gives a winning listener a year’s supply of free gas.
The station expects it to cost $1,500, but if gas prices escalate further, they’ll bump up the prize value.
Agency Signings: Matthews/Mark’s PR division signed Ohio-based wholesaleGolf.com for 2000. The Downtown agency will also be creating corporate partnership strategies for a film project between San Diego Natural History Museum, locally based Summerhays Films and Pronatura A.C., Mexico’s largest environmental organization. Julia Simms Public Relations has been retained by Street of Dreams, Inc. to publicize its luxury home tour, San Diego 2000 Street of Dreams. Gale Tobin & Associates signed Fieldstone Communities Inc., Interior Specialists, Inc. and TLC Staffing Inc.
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Sound Bites: Sorrento Valley-based McQuerterGroup’s smartphone ad campaign for La Jolla-based NeoPoint, Inc. won an “excellence in marketing award” at the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association’s Wireless 2000 trade show Alexander Publishing’s technology directory is now available through the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Channel Surfing: Cox Communications launched Fox News Channel and Court TV on March 31.
Fox News Channel has been broadcasting since October 1996. Some of its shows include “The O’Reilly Factor” in which journalist Bill O’Reilly comments on the day’s news and “Special Report with Brit Hume,” which focuses on politics.
Court TV, which focuses on the justice system, looks at daily workings of the courts and covers major trials. It also airs television shows such as “Cops” and “Homicide: Life on the Street.”
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Changes: The San Diego Business Journal is re-vamping its column format, which had previously been on monthly basis. Now, columns such as high-tech and small business and retail will be published each week. Columns on topics such as biotech, health care, real estate, finance, international trade, sports business, tourism, and media and marketing will run every other week. There will also be a new weekly law column debuting soon.
The deadline for the next media & marketing column is April 6. Rodrigues can be reached at (858) 277-6359, ext. 107, or via E-mail at trodrigues@sdbj.com.
