Massacre or not, don't mess with Kelly

Because I need worthwhile inspiration to pump an exercise bike every morning, I began many months ago to coordinate these activities with Live With Regis & Kelly. I subsequently fell madly in awe of Kelly and am now religious about exercising while she is smiling into the camera, and only then.

So it was no small thing to me when yesterday WBNS-TV (CBS - channel 10, Columbus, Ohio) pre-empted Kelly for even more coverage of the Virginia Tech massacre, of which I had already had far more than I needed.

Having no Kelly to watch, I cut my exercise short(er) and used the time to fire off indignant e-mails to Frank Willson, director of operations, and Tom Gresdorn, president and general manager, of WBNS-TV - as though my e-mails would ever be read, much less answered.

Both men responded within a few hours. They were polite and sincere in their messages to me as they explained their position on preemption. They saw it as their responsibility to put news reports above regular programming and they briefly explained why.

Channel 10 gets a perfect score for customer care - in a world where there's scarcely a big business anymore that gives a whack about anything except making more money, least of all communicating with the people they serve.

As nice as they are, I still disagree that an entertainment program should be preempted for any reason. If they have to break into the enjoyment people are getting from these programs, let them confine themselves to a crawl - which is annoying enough.

My e-mails did not change anything. But the fact that someone at Channel 10 is reading bitchy e-mails should encourage you to express yourself to them (and to every other business you care about), and tell about your preferences. And while you're at it, tell them don't mess with Kelly.