Kdoc Television Station

Singer Pat Boone, grand marshal of today's 33rd annual Strawberry Festival parade in Garden Grove, says he hopes to be seeing a lot more of Orange County in the near future through greater involvement in his Anaheim television station, KDOC Channel 56, and a possible move out of Beverly Hills. Among those who may be riding with him in the parade, Boone said in a telephone interview Friday, may be several of his grandchildren who live in Irvine with Boone's daughter Lindy and her husband.

A state appeals court has upheld $236,000 of a $256,000 jury award against Golden Orange Broadcasting and KDOC-TV talk show host Wally George for having fired an advertising salesman who refused to exaggerate the station's ratings and interfered in George's romantic pursuit of a female co-worker. The 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana affirmed most of the amount awarded in December, 1987, to Steve Conobre, 68, who was fired in March, 1984.

KDOC Channel 56's "NewsWatch," Orange County's first commercial, nightly, 30-minute news telecast, finished out its premiere week on the upswing, with even more ambitious plans for the future, according to officials of the Anaheim-based station.

KDOC Channel 56 got a tip of the hat Thursday from Tom Shales of the Washington Post, whose syndicated column appears in 96 newspapers and whose commentary also is heard on National Public Radio. Shales began his Thursday column by saying "In far off Anaheim, Calif., for 90 minutes each night, a little UHF station becomes CBS of yore. It shows old reruns of 'The Dick Van Dyke Show,' 'Mary Tyler Moore' and the original 'Bob Newhart Show' back to back to back.

Faced with glaring lights and probing television cameras, plenty of dogs and cats would shy away, preferring to steer clear of the commotion. But the nearly 30 pets from two San Fernando Valley shelters who visited the West Valley Cable Studio this week seemed to bask in the spotlight. Their guest appearances on the program "The Pet Place" represented a possible ticket out of the shelter--if not to stardom.

Citing the lingering recession in California and declining advertising revenues, KTLA-TV Channel 5, the top-rated independent television station in Los Angeles, laid off 12 employees this week and told six others that their jobs would be eliminated by the end of the year. Similar cutbacks, including the planned layoffs of 21 full- and part-time employees, were announced by KDOC-TV, Orange County's only commercial television station.

Around the KDOC-TV studios in Anaheim, they like to remind you that their contribution to the airwaves is good, clean programming suitable for family viewing. At Orange County's only commercial television station, where Pat Boone is president and a major stockholder, even the music videos get censored. "We look on ourselves as being a family oriented station," said Calvin Brack, director of business affairs. "Our motion pictures are the classics."

Former Black Panther and cable producer Michael Zinzun, who has used his Pasadena-based public access show for 10 years as a forum to discuss police abuse, the gang truce, and other urban issues, will air his last regular program tonight at 7. Zinzun, 48, said he is leaving to devote more time to his post as chairman of the Coalition Against Police Abuse, but still plans to broadcast several shows a year.

KDOC-TV Channel 56 will move its offices and studios from Anaheim to Irvine on Monday. Orange County's only commercial broadcast television station, which went on the air in 1982, broadcasts conservative commentator Wally George's "Hot Seat!" talk show, reruns of comedy and drama series and year-round horse racing. Its transmitter will remain on Sunset Peak, north of Ontario. Its new address will be 18021 Cowan, Irvine; (714) 442-9800.