TV & RADIONew Public Radio Mandate: In...

TV & RADIO

New Public Radio Mandate: In what its chairwoman called a “step toward self-reliance,” the Corp. for Public Broadcasting has approved new rules tying government funding for public radio to ratings and financial performance. Under the new guidelines, the nation’s 600 public radio stations will be required to attract at least 12% of the listening audience in their coverage areas or to get at least 18% of their funding from non-government sources. One of those requirements must be met by 1998 or stations will begin losing federal funds. In Southern California, early indications show that major public stations including KCRW-FM (89.9) and KUSC-FM (91.5) would easily qualify on both counts for continued funding. But smaller stations could be impacted by the new rules. Nationwide, about five out of every six stations already meet at least one of the two standards, according to CPB.

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Calling In the ‘Coach’: ABC is bringing its longtime hit “Coach” back to shore up the network’s Tuesday night schedule, which has been hurt by the strong showing of NBC’s new hit “3rd Rock From the Sun.” “Coach,” which had been on hiatus, returns next Tuesday, in its new 8:30 p.m. time slot, bumping the freshman Tony Danza comedy, “Hudson Street,” which moves to Saturdays at 8 p.m. starting Feb. 3. Also starting Feb. 3, “The Jeff Foxworthy Show” moves to 8:30 p.m. “Maybe This Time” will leave the network’s schedule, but ABC says it will return later this spring.

KUDOS

Animal Stories: “Babe,” the charming fable about a pig who makes like a sheep dog to avoid the butcher’s knife, followed its Golden Globes best comedy win by being named best feature film Tuesday by the Ark Trust Inc. Other winners of the environmental group’s 10th annual Genesis Awards, to be presented March 30 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, include CBS’ “Chicago Hope,” which was named best TV drama for an episode in which a researcher questions her own moral principles after infecting an orangutan with AIDS, and NBC’s “Mad About You” named best comedy series for an episode in which the series’ stars hire a dog-sitter.

ART

‘New’ Michelangelo Found?: Art historians have decided that a curly haired statue of Cupid in a stately Fifth Avenue mansion is by Michelangelo. The 3-foot marble statue of a naked youth, missing its arms and the lower portion of its legs, has long graced the lobby of No. 972 Fifth Ave., built in the early 1900s by architect Stanford White for the family of Payne Whitney. Today, the building houses the cultural services of the French Embassy. The sculpture had previously been attributed to Michelangelo, both at a 1902 London auction where it did not sell, and in 1968 by Italian scholar Alessandro Parronchi, but art historians at the time did not support that view, the New York Times reported Tuesday. Among those now trumpeting the cracked sculpture as a Michelangelo: Kathleen Weil-Garris Brandt, a Renaissance art expert at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts, and two officials of the Metropolitan Museum of Art--director Philippe de Montebello and James Draper, curator of European sculpture.

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Sherman Series to MOMA: New York’s Museum of Modern Art has purchased a complete set of artist Cindy Sherman’s “Untitled Film Stills,” a series of 69 early black-and-white photographs featuring Sherman in different garbs and settings to evoke various fictitious, yet familiar, female characters. Considered a cornerstone of post-modernism, the series, created between 1977 and 1980, is a prime example of the emergence of baby-boom artists who began to base their art on images from or inspired by the media. The set was bought from Sherman herself; the New York Times reported Tuesday that the purchase price is thought to be about $1 million. An exhibition of 13 of Sherman’s newest portraits goes on view Feb. 9-March 9 at Beverly Hills’ PaceWildenstein Gallery.

QUICK TAKES

Fox announced plans Tuesday for a new hourlong daytime program to be set in a New York apartment and featuring an ensemble cast, daily celebrity interviews, features and topical stories. The as-yet-untitled show, set to premiere in the fall, will be hosted by Tom Bergeron, and was inspired by his program “Breakfast Time,” which currently airs on the Fox-owned cable channel fX. . . . Late-night talk-show host David Letterman makes a one-night move to prime time on Feb. 19 when CBS will air “The Late Show With David Letterman Video Special II,” featuring highlights from the show’s signature locations. . . . Actor Christopher Reeve returned home Monday after a week in a New Jersey hospital for treatment of erratic blood pressure, a problem often associated with spinal cord injuries. A hospital spokeswoman said the problem had been corrected.