CHANNEL SURFING Who needs Marc Howard? Thus far in the new fall season, things are going well for KYW. By LAURA NACHMAN Courier Times The following is not a misprint. Thus far in the new fall season, things are going well for KYW. The perennial third place station for local news is benefiting big time from the new fall CBS lineup at 10 p.m. The 11 p.m. newscast is up nine percent overall thanks to improved lead-ins such as "CSI: Miami," co-starring Philadelphia's Kim Delaney. On Friday night, the season premiere of Hack," which is shot and set in Philadelphia was the top rated show of the week here with a 15.6 rating/24 share. Currently, Larry Kane and Denise Saunders anchor the 11 p.m. show, but former WPVI anchor Marc Howard is scheduled to take over the newscast in January. KYW is also thrilled about the strong debut of "Dr. Phil" which in its first week averaged a 5.5 rating/16 share, a 78% increase over a year ago with "Guiding Light" which moved to 10 a.m., where "The Wayne Brady Show" is winning the timeslot with an average 4 rating, down from "Rosie O'Donnell's" average 5 rating. Each rating point equals 28,010 households. The local magazine show "10" on WCAU is in second place at 10 a.m. The new shows "The John Walsh Show" and "Life Moments" got off to slow starts. It doesn't look like even "The Fonz" can save "Hollywood Squares." Its first week's ratings were down 30% from last year, which were already down from the year before. Henry Winkler (Fonzie of Happy Days") is the executive producer of the show, which airs at 7:30 p.m. on KYW. And contrary to what was previously reported, "The Other Half" with Dick Clark, Danny Bonaduce, et al. wasn't canceled, but it almost was. It's airing on Channel 48. There will be a couple of anchor vacancies soon. First at KYW-3, the weekend evening news will need a replacement for Ren Scott, who is headed to MSNBC. Robin Rieger co-anchors the shows. Then in March, CN8 will be looking for somebody to substitute for Connie Colla, who is expecting a baby. Since there aren't any strong contenders in-house to fill the anchor chair, a good choice would be former WTXF anchor Jill Chernekoff, who left Fox almost a year ago. CN8 already has many reporters and anchors from the other broadcast stations such as Arthur Fennell, Colla, Lou Tilley, and Suzanne LaFrankie. Why not add another? WPVI weekend anchor Rob Jennings will be making the rounds promoting his book "Krista," which is in its second printing from Bucks County's Moondance Publishing. His first signing in Bucks County will be Friday, December 13th at the Barnes and Noble in the Willow Grove Mall from 6-7 p.m. For details, go to http://www.moondancepublishing.com Levittown native Howard Berkes, a national correspondent for National Public Radio recently hosted the weekend edition of "All Things Considered." Berkes, 48, is the son of Milton Berkes, former chairman of the Democratic Party in Bucks County and Aide to former Pennsylvania Governor Milton Schapp. During his 20 years at NPR, Berkes has covered the Mount Saint Helen's eruption, the Columbine shootings, and the Challenger explosion. NPR has over six-hundred member stations across the county. Send a message to Laura Nachman at bradyresident@aol.com. October 03, 2002