ENFERIA1NIVIENT

Debra Silberstein holds the weekend anchor post at Channel 4.

News Beat

Almost as soon as Debra Silberstein
adopted Detroit as her home she's off
to a new assignment

JOANNE ZUROFF

Special to The Jewish News

n her five years here, Channel
4 weekend co-anchor Debra
Silberstein has become an
ardent fan of and a "good-will
ambassador" for the Motor Ci-
ty. As Channel 4's education reporter
she has done extensive studies on
educational issues. She has also
covered political events, disasters and
celebrations and has interviewed con-
troversial individuals and public
figures.
Silberstein says of her work, "It's

different every day. If a major story
happens, everything changes, and
that kind of spontaneity has always
held my interest. You never know if
you'll be covering . . . a shooting at a
high school or five babies born to one
mother or a plane crash or the fact
that one little girl survived. That's
the kind of thing that always keeps
me on my toes and always keeps me
very aware of what's going on."
But now, Silberstein has some
new challenges. She will leave her an-
chor and reporter post at WDIV July
13 to become the weekday anchor at
WKRC-TV, an ABC affiliate in Cin-

cinnati, Ohio.
Although she is excited about her
new Silberstein said she will
find it difficult to leave Detroit, her
family and friends. "It's very bit-
tersweet for me and my husband. -
Some of the best friends I made have
been here in Detroit. I will miss my
friends the most:'
Silberstein said that it would
"take a whopper of a job" for her to
leave the Motor City. "This is it!" she
exclaimed.
What she also will find difficult is
dealing with a completely different
news organization. For the past seven
years she has been affiliated with
Post-Newsweek. "It will be real hard
to have different bosses?' she said.
A native of Morton Grove, Ill., a
Chicago suburb, Silberstein says she's
always had an affinity for English
and has always loved writing. Further
inspiration came from Allan Alter-
man, Silberstein's stepfather, who was
a CPA as well as a part-time radio
broadcaster. "I think he had a great
influence on me," Silberstein muses.
"He always had the love of radio and
from him I caught the 'disease' of be-
ing a news junkie and always watch-
ing the news in Chicago . • .. seeing all
the different people and how they
covered a story and how one station
covered it differently than another?'
Silberstein first came to Michigan
as a student at Michigan State
University. She liked its broadcast
program, and during her freshman
and sophomore years, volunteered at
WELM, a cable station. "I had a one-
track mind and that was journalism,"
she admits.
Taking advantage of MSU's over-
seas study program, Silberstein went
to England during the summer of her
sophomore year. She studied interna-
tional politics and. wrote a thesis
on "The Differences in American and
British Television News?' In Engithid,
she met Detroiter Marc Curtis, who
was to become her husband eight
years later.
In her junior year at MSU, Silber-
stein landed a "real job" at Lansing's
WVIC radio, covering school board
meetings and city council activities.
That summer, when the Republican
convention convened in Detroit, she
interned at WJBK, Channel 2.
Returning to MSU for her senior
year, Silberstein worked as a reporter
for WILX, Channel 10 in Lansing.
"Things happened kind of fast during
my college years," she recalls. "I
went, within the course of a few
months, from reporter to noon anchor
to 11 p.m. anchor." By the second
quarter of her final year, Silberstein
was going to classes in the morning
and doing her news shift nightly. "I
molded my own curriculum because
I was in the business so much earlier.
I set up independent study programs
and internships?'
During her internship at Channel

I GOING PLACES

WEEK OF June 17-23

SPECIAL EVENTS

TOLEDO ZOO
2700 Broadway, Toledo, pandas
Le Le and Nan Nan, through
August, admission. 419-726-3272.
OAKLAND UNIVERSITY
Virgil Thomson program: today,
film "The River," followed by
discussion and concert at Varner
Recital Hall; Saturday, lecture at
Sunset Terrace, concert at
Varner, admission. 370-3013.
MOTOR CITY HORSE SHOW
Bloomfield Open Hunt, 405 E.
Long Lake, Bloomfield Hills,
Wednesday. through June 19,
admission. 644-9411.

COMEDY

COMEDY CASTLE

2593 Woodward, Berkley,
Frankie Pace, today and
Saturday, Malone and Nootcheez,
Tuesday through June 25,
admission. 542-9900.

COMEDY CASTLE AT
PUZZLE'S
29900 Van Dyke, Warren, Kip
Adotta, today and Saturday; Bill
Schift, Tuesday through June 25,
admission. 751-6010.
DOWNTOWN COMEDY
CASTLE
Westin Hotel, Detroit, Bill
Thomas, today and Saturday;
"Hobson," Monday through June
25, admission.

THEATER

FARMINGTON COMMUNITY
BAND, CHORUS AND
MUSICALE
Farmington Harrison High
School, "Oklahoma!," through
Sunday,admission. 661-4604.
BIRMINGHAM THEATER
211 S. Woodward, Birmingham,
"Girl Crazy," now through July
10, admission, 644-3533.
SHAW FESTIVAL
Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario,
and
"You Never Can
"Dangerous Corner," now
through Oct. 15, "Hit the Deck,"
now through Oct. 16, "War and
Peace," now through July 31,
"Peter Pan," now through Oct.
16, admission. 416-468-2172.
GREENFIELD VILLAGE
Henry Ford Museum Theater,
Dearborn, "Two Blind Mice,"
Fridays and Saturdays, now
through July 16, plus this
Sunday, admission. 271-1620.
ON STAGE RESTAURANT
48 W. Adams, Detroit, "Le

Continued on Page 63

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

61