By Jim Knippenberg
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Looks as if Channel 19 is in the market for a weekend meteorologist. Weather woman Maria LaRosa - she sometimes fills in weekday mornings for Paul Horton as well - is off to the No. 4 market in the country and her hometown.

LaRosa, who graduated from Penn State, will join Philadelphia's CBS affiliate KYW-TV this week, doing the weekend evening air shifts.

She had been doing the same job at WXIX for 21/2 years. The search is on for a replacement, but it isn't too far along yet. In the meantime, freelancer Larry Mowry is filling in.

'Dream' day

Today is a sort of double whammy celebration for former Cincinnatian Stephen Jared. It's the 15th anniversary of his move to Hollywood and the day his newest TV movie premieres.

Jared - known as Stephen Lickdyke when he lived here - is a 1986 grad of Milford High School where he got his start in drama.

Today, he's a veteran of more than 20 TV shows and films, including Touched by an Angel, Beverly Hills 90210, Days of Our Lives and a recurring role on Santa Barbara.

The TV movie is See You in My Dreams (it also stars Aidan Quinn and Marcia Gay Harden). It airs 9 p.m. today on Channels 12 and 7.

Tribute to Hoyt

Mark your calendars and set your VCRs for 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays, on Channel 48 when the station airs Waite Hoyt: Through the Years, a 30-part series (that's not a typo; it really is 30 half-hour segments) about Hoyt, the beloved Cincinnati Reds broadcaster who died in 1984.

Once called "the best sports broadcaster in the country," Hoyt was a New York Yankees pitcher (his best year was 1928 when he won 23 games) and the first player to make the transition from field to broadcast booth. He was most famous for his encyclopedic knowledge of baseball and the stories he'd tell during rain delays.

You'll hear some of those stories on the series, shot in 1977 and dusted off for re-release this year. It's part interview with broadcast vet Laurie Dubrow, part news clip, part Hoyt sitting around talking. Catch part three Tuesday, then every Tuesday until the series plays out.

New at Q

If things are sounding a little different at WKRQ-FM (101.9) lately, it's because the station has a new program director. She's Patti Marshall, a longtime veteran of the Cincinnati broadcast business.

Listeners know her from 10 or so years ago when she was program director of WYGY-FM (Young Country, now 96.5 the Star) and did some air shifts as well. Since then, she has been marketing director for WUBE-FM and then for all four Cincinnati Infinity stations (WAQZ-FM, WGRR-FM, WKRQ-FM and WUBE-FM).

The move to Q program director is something she calls "a dream job."

'Studio 89' goes live

Here's a brave move you don't see everyday: A live, in-studio music show with no tape, no delay, broken guitar strings and all.

That would be Studio 89, happening on WNKU-FM (89.7) at 9 p.m. every Monday through Aug. 30. The 30-minute show is in its second season, but this is its first season going live - last year it was taped, edited and cleaned up.

WNKU adds to the "live experience" by inviting a studio audience. Just call (859) 572-6500 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. or e-mail Patti Catton at:cattonp@nku.edu, but remember that they only take reservations one week at a time and the limited seating is handed out on a first come, first served basis.

Among the local, regional and national acts in the lineup: Second Sister, Monday; Kenton County Regulators, June 21; Moonlight Graham, June 28; Emily Strand, July 5.

Channel 5 drops E-block

Oops, that didn't take long. Channel 5 has already dropped WUBE-FM morning jock Amanda Orlando and her afternoon E-block (entertainment news) full of Hollywood gossip, comings and goings. It had been airing at 5:57 p.m. weekdays.

The segment, which began in late March, was a test, says general manager Richard Dyer, but was canceled because the station felt it needed to evaluate its long-term plan for entertainment news.

E-mail: jknippenberg@enquirer.com.