Neighborhood TV

Like other TV viewers, the residents of Parker Towers, an apartment complex in the New York City borough of Queens, can tune in to a numbing variety of national and local television shows. But the 1,350 families in the Towers can also watch programming that is more local than most: it is telecast from directly beneath their apartments in the basement on their own television station, T-T-V-6.

By turning to Channel 6 on week nights between 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., Parker residents can see other tenants and their children and pets, neighborhood merchants, cops and politicians in a melange of TV shows produced entirely within the apartment complex.

The undisputed star of T-T-V-6 is Andy Pahopin, 51, the chief maintenance man of Parker Towers, whose apartment is conveniently located a few doors away from the 9-ft. by 11-ft. TV studio. In addition to being host and chief interviewer on many of the programs, Pahopin has his own "Uncle Andy" show, which features Parker youngsters dancing, singing and--at times--complaining about their parents on-camera. A 5-ft. 10-in. black-haired extravert whose previous show-biz experience is nil, Pahopin suffered a twinge of self-doubt when first offered the job, but is now having a splendid time. "If I have to keep on doing five nights a week, I'll do it," he says. "But I don't want to take the spotlight from other tenants too much. Overexposure can be detrimental--look what happened to Milton Berle."

Apart from Andy's show, there is enough activity to keep T-T-V-6 Cameraman Amon Schneider, 16, fully occupied during the early evening hours. Patrolmen and firemen drop by one night a week to lecture. An A.S.P.C.A. representative will soon begin appearing on-camera to offer a "dog of the week" for adoption and give advice on pets. There will also be political debates.

For a time, Pahopin had hopes that Marion Young, a housewife with an English accent, would become the Parker Towers version of Rona Barrett --and he initially introduced her as such. But Marion would have none of it. Instead, she specializes in engagement announcements, weddings and traveling tenants. A recent flash: "Welcome home, Flora Mae Birge, from your Caribbean cruise. Too bad you couldn't take along your poodle to enjoy it with you." Marion explains that her husband objected to the Rona Barrett billing. Besides, she says, "I really didn't want to gossip and spread grief --we don't need someone to delve into each other's affairs."

When Pahopin and crew are not on the air, the camera is focused on a stu| dio clock, and on dials and gauges connected to rooftop instruments that tell the wind velocity and direction and the temperature just outside Parker Towers. Occasionally, the camera is switched to focus on cards advertising the wares and services of local merchants, who can buy three months of spot commercials for $150 (more than 40 have already signed on).

Little League. No Nielsen-like poll of the audience has been carried out since live programming began in early October, but an eleven-year-old resident named Ricky Neuhoff already has an index of his own. Planning an auction to raise money for muscular-dystrophy research, Ricky sat in a Parker Towers lobby one Sunday afternoon. "I asked all the people going in and out if they watched the station," he reported, "and I found out that 49% didn't and 51% did." Impressed by the viewership, he decided to advertise on T-T-V-6. But when Station Manager Hal Goldstein, 22, found out about the poll, he offered Ricky a guest spot to talk up the auction (which netted $63.45).

T-T-V-6 reaches TV sets in the apartment complex through the master-antenna system. It was installed and is maintained by a small firm named Ten-Tel-Vision, an offshoot of a firm called Orth-O-Vision, which specializes in master-antenna systems for apartment houses. Al Simon, president of both firms, believes T-T-V-6 has the first live tenant show in the nation and is planning to set up more in the New York area. "I started it because I have been a believer in CATV [cable TV] for years," he says. "We have the ability to be a neighbor, and that is what TV should be."

In that spirit, T-T-V-6 plans to add to its repertory soon such neighborly shows as Little League ball games and other sports events conducted on nearby playgrounds and reports on community activities. Eventually it will also show first-run films, for which subscribers will pay an extra charge, and--if Host Andy Pahopin has his way--a special featuring a belly dancer.

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