Inside the Portage County line By GENE KEMMETER of The Gazette NOISY AIR: What's going on with the area radio stations? As a news person, I like to keep abreast of up-to-the-minute local news. However, local news as a local radio product is slipping dramatically in Portage County. Gone are the days when a station had three or four full-time reporters. Radio stations in the county used to be considered the major stations to turn to for news in central Wisconsin, but only WIZD has a local news staff any more and the time allotted for news is dwindling. The news hole is dwindling even though the station is the top-rated one in the county and one of the top-rated ones in the area. It even gets better ratings than its sister station in Wausau that doesn't have its own local news when not simulcasting with WIZD. Listeners used to be able to hear lengthy newscasts in the morning, along with a bit of chatter spiced with the names and reported escapades of area residents. Then at noon, listeners could count on nearly a half-hour of reports for news, sports, weather and death notices. Now all they hear are abbreviated newscasts that some program manager, who is probably related to an ostrich with his head in the ground, feels news interrupts the 50 songs that he has decreed must be played continuously. Apparently, the program manager has kept his head in the ground so long he doesn't know that a person can turn on a tape or CD player and get songs continously instead of listening to it on the radio. As far as I'm concerned, they can get rid of the contests Radio needs a little, or even a lot of, chatter between songs. And stations need to provide longer news programming. After all, they are using the public airwaves. * * * CAREER EXPO 2001: The annual Career Expo 2001 was held at the Holiday Inn & Convention Center Wednesday, April 18, affording high school students throughout the area the opportunity to investigate what type of career they might want to pursue. The expo really extended throughout the area, with about 4,200 students coming from as far north as Phillips. For some students, there's earnest questioning of resource people available. For others, it's a time to roam through the displays from area businesses and educational institutions. Some displays offer hands-on opportunities. Students could become bricklayers at the booth manned by Dulak Masonry. Others could try out handcuffs at some police services booths, then show or tell their friends the predicament they were in. (I suspect some teachers would like to have the equipment to use occasionally, too.) The booth that drew the largest crowd was undoubtedly the cosmetology and barbering display offered by Mid-State Technical College in Wisconsin Rapids. The crowd around the booth was large all day while others were empty. The students, and some teachers, were waiting to get accessories added to their hair, their fingernails painted or designs applied to their faces or arms. If only 10 percent of the students visiting the booth became cosmetologists, there would be glut of that occupation within two to four years. The expo is an excellent opportunity for students to scout out possible career paths they might like to take in the future. For businesses, it's a benefit for them to set up in one location and handle a multitude of students rather than traveling to several schools for the same purpose on several occasions. Congratulations to the Portage County Business Council Foundation and Stevens Point Area Senior High School for making Portage County the center of the career expo program in central Wisconsin.