Old tape of Kerry has host ‘in awe’

Betty Groebli was surprised when one of her old friends — she’s sorry, she can’t quite remember which one — called her Monday to tell her an interview she conducted 33 years ago with John Kerry was making news.

Scratch that. Surprised doesn’t cut it.

“How do you like stunned, shocked, in awe?” said Mrs. Groebli, who interviewed Mr. Kerry in 1971 when she hosted a daily talk show on WRC-TV (Channel 4), the local NBC affiliate.

During the chat, Mr. Kerry, then a young Vietnam veteran, said he threw away as many as nine of his combat medals to protest the war, a statement the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee seemingly contradicted years later. ABC News dug up a tape of the long-forgotten interview and aired it Monday.

Mrs. Groebli, who is retired and lives in her native Santa Barbara, Calif., doesn’t remember much about the chat, except Mr. Kerry’s stature. “He is so big. I think he makes a point when he meets women of sitting down right away so as not to intimidate them,” she said.

Mrs. Groebli moved to the District in 1961 when her husband, Marty, accepted an administrative job with the Peace Corps. A lawyer friend — she apologizes, but she can’t remember his name, either — helped her land the job at WRC-TV, where she worked until 1973, when she and Marty returned to California.

Both toiled in academia until Marty died in 1985.

Mrs. Groebli declines to give her age — “How about 39 and holding?” she says — but she stays busy volunteering and occasionally talks to her old WRC colleagues, Willard Scott and Ed Walker.

Does she believe the Massachusetts senator, who now says he was referring to ribbons — not medals — when he talked with Mrs. Groebli 33 years ago?

“I must tell you, my dear, I have no reason not to,” she said.

Stern’s bounce

“The Howard Stern Show,” the prime target of the Federal Communications Commission’s crackdown on programming it deems indecent, got a ratings bounce in the Washington area in the winter, and its gains in other cities were more dramatic.

WJFK-FM (106.7), which airs Mr. Stern’s New York-based program weekdays from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m., ranked third during morning drive among listeners ages 25 to 54, the demographic advertisers covet.

One year earlier, WJFK ranked fifth among adults in morning drive.

“[WJFK] popped a terrific number. It’s unique radio, and when you factor in the FCC influence, it becomes that much more compelling,” said Michael Hughes, a senior vice president for Infinity Broadcasting Corp., which owns WJFK and distributes Mr. Stern’s program.

Arbitron Inc., which reported the ratings yesterday, measured listener habits from Jan. 8 through March 31. Since February, the FCC has fined broadcasters that carry Mr. Stern’s program $522,500, and six stations have dropped the show. In New York and Los Angeles, Mr. Stern’s program surged to first place in morning drive.

WWDC-FM (101.1), one of three stations slapped with a $247,500 FCC fine in March for airing morning disc jockey Elliot Segal’s show, ranked ninth among adults in morning drive.

• Call Chris Baker at 202/636-3139 or send e-mail to cbaker@washingtontimes.com.