Hattie the Witch flies again! Hattie, Snarfie R. Dog, Nasty Old Thing, Spookie the Ghost and the whole gang return to TV on Larry Smith's Puppets Saturday (8 a.m., Channel 25).

        “I've had so many requests to do a (TV) show again from people who grew up with the show and are now mothers and grandmothers,” says Mr. Smith, 63.

        The Dayton native started at age 14 on WHIO-TV in 1952. He came to Cincinnati in 1957, where he has done puppet shows forChannels 9, 12, 48, 19 and WGRR-FM.

        “Yes, I even did puppets on the radio! But Edgar Bergen did, too,” he says.

        The 6-by-6-foot Hattie's castle set used for Channel 25 dates back to his Channel 9 days.

        “It was strange working in the castle again. I was stiff and sore the next day,” Mr. Smith says.

        Each half-hour show will include a Popeye cartoon, and a request for kids to mail (or e-mail) letters and pictures. “I'll be interested to see what the fan mail will be like,” he says.

        His weekly series for the low-power UPN affiliate is his first broadcast series since his 1968-74 weekday show on Channel 19. He did a Thanksgiving special for Channel 19 in 1987, and a 65-episode series for Northern Kentucky's Storer Cable (now Insight) about 10 years ago.

        Mr. Smith's puppet show was the first program broadcast by Channel 19 when it signed on the air in 1968.

        The Rudy and Teaser clubhouse set, to be seen in the Sept. 15 episode, was first used on Channel 19. The popular 3-5 p.m. weekday show drew such stars as Tiny Tim and Bobby Sherman to Channel 19's old Woodlawn studio.

        “Those were crazy days,” he says.

        Riverfest TV: Live coverage of the Toyota/WEBN-FM fireworks airs 8-10 p.m. Sunday, with the big blast set for 9:05 p.m.

        From 2-6 p.m., Mark Watkins and Cindy Matthews will anchor live coverage of the Third Federal Riverfest from Bicentennial Commons on CitiCable, the City of Cincinnati's government access channel on Time Warner Cable Channel 23.

        The 10th annual live CitiCable's telecast also will be carried on these suburban cable TV systems: the Intercommunity Cable Regulatory Commission communities (Channel 4); Norwood Community Television (Channel 23); Waycross Community Media (Channel 23); Anderson Union Community TV (Channel 15, Channel 22 on cable ready sets); and Stonelick Township Community Cable TV (Channel 8).

        VCR alert: NYPD Blue fans should set the VCR for 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Labor Day for Court TV's 18-episode marathon from the police drama's second season (1994-95).

        It will be a blast from the past seeing David Caruso, Amy Brenneman (now on CBS's Judging Amy), Melina Kanakaredes (NBC's Providence), Debra Messing (NBC's Will & Grace), Sherry Stringfield (returning to NBC's ER next month), Sharon Lawrence, Gail O'Grady and the introduction of Jimmy Smits as Bobby Simone.

        NYPD Blue reruns will air at 8 p.m. weekdays on Court TV starting Tuesday.

        Channel 19 news: Weekend anchor and reporter Regina Carswell has signed a new five-year contract with WXIX-TV (Channel 19). The Detroit native joined Channel 19 in 1996 from Lansing, Mich.

        “I had no idea that I'd be here this long, and I've just agreed to double my time here,” she says.

        Ms. Carswell anchors at 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday with Andy Treinen, who has signed a new two-year deal. Mr. Treinen started at the station in 1994, a year after the news department was created, as a sports producer. He helped develop the weekly Sports Wrap show (which expands to 10:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday this weekend) before becoming an on-camera reporter and fill-in anchor. He began doing news reporting two years ago.

        Channel 19 also has hired meteorologist Bill Kelly from KOVR-TV in Sacramento, Calif., for 6-9 a.m. newscasts to replace Dave Fraser, who left in May for a Denver TV job. Mr. Kelly says he “first became fascinated by the weather during a close call with a tornado while growing up in Michigan.”

        Around the dial: Brian Rhodes, son of weekend DJ and Hamilton County Auditor Dusty Rhodes, has been named production director of one of Chicago's biggest stations, WKQX-FM.

        The 1982 Oak Hills High School graduate worked for Hamilton's old WSKS-FM (96Rock) and WVXU-FM before going to WBZX-FM in Columbus.

        Brian has filled in for his dad's 7 p.m.-midnight Sunday oldies show on WGRR-FM (103.5) during fall election campaigns, when his dad couldn't be on the air.

        By the way, his father celebrates his 40th anniversary in Cincinnati radio on Sept. 9.

        E-mail jkiesewetter@enquirer.com. Past columns at Enquirer.com/columns/kiese

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