MOVIESGraham’s ‘Nixon’ Take: Evangelist Billy Graham weighed...

MOVIES

Graham’s ‘Nixon’ Take: Evangelist Billy Graham weighed in on the controversy surrounding Oliver Stone’s “Nixon” movie on Tuesday, saying that he had no plans to see the movie and instead wanted to remember his longtime personal friends Richard and Pat Nixon “as they really were.” In a statement, Graham added: I deeply regret the tendency today to distort the facts and demean the character of outstanding persons from the past, all in the name of entertainment. . . . Those who deal with the historical record have a responsibility to present it with integrity, fairness and accuracy.” Nixon’s daughters are among those who have criticized the accuracy of Stone’s movie; the director has said that his intent in making the film was neither “malicious nor defamatory.”

RADIO

Doing the New Year’s Shuffle: Radio station KUSC-FM (91.5) will shuffle its program schedule starting Jan. 2. After more than a year in the afternoon drive slot, Bonnie Grice returns to weekday mornings, taking over the 7-10 a.m. shift with “Wake Up L.A.!” Grice’s new program will feature the same blend of music, commentary and guests as was heard on her afternoon show, “Commuter Classics.” Meanwhile, a new weekday afternoon show will be heard from 2-6 p.m., although a permanent host won’t be named until mid-February. Also starting Jan. 2, the station will add three new newscasts: “Newsday From the BBC” (weekdays, 6:30-7:30 p.m.); “Monitor Radio,” featuring national and global news along with business updates from KUSC’s “Marketplace” (weekdays, 6-7 a.m., with a weekend wrap-up edition on Saturdays from 6 to 7 a.m.); and “The World” (weekdays, noon to 1 p.m.). In other KUSC changes, “Adventures in Good Music With Karl Haas” moves from mid-mornings to weekday evenings from 7 to 8, and “The Opera Show With Duff Murphy” switches from Sundays to Saturday mornings from 9 to 10:30, where it will precede Metropolitan Opera broadcasts.

*

More Program Changes: KCRW-FM (89.9) will also shuffle its schedule in the new year. Among the fresh offerings are “Black Radio: Telling It Like It Was,” a 13-week documentary series hosted by singer Lou Rawls that will air on Saturdays from 3 to 3:30 p.m., and “Joe Frank: Somewhere Out There,” featuring the Peabody Award-winning host, on Sundays from 11 a.m. to noon. New KCRW music shows include the 12-week series “William Orbit’s Stereo Odyssey” (Fridays, midnight-12:30 a.m.); “The Open Road,” hosted by Gary Calamar (Saturdays and Sundays, 6-9 p.m.); “Rancho Loco,” hosted by spoken-word and music artist Liza Richardson (Saturdays and Sundays, 9 p.m.-midnight); and “Pajama Pop,” hosted by Anne Litt (Saturdays, midnight-3 a.m.).

STAGE

New Ahmanson Associate Producer: Madeline Puzo has been named associate producer of Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre, a newly created post in which she will work with artistic director/producer Gordon Davidson in all aspects of the theater’s planning, producing and programming. Puzo, who comes to the Ahmanson from the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, returns to the Music Center after a six-year absence. She previously spent 10 years at the Mark Taper Forum in positions including associate producer, and director of Taper, Too.

QUICK TAKES

A private funeral service for Dean Martin will be held later this week. In lieu of flowers, Martin’s family is asking that donations be made to the Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center at the Eisenhower Medical Center, 39000 Bob Hope Drive, Rancho Mirage, 92270. . . . Singer Freddy Fender returned to his Corpus Christi, Texas, home after Christmas Eve church services to find firefighters mopping up from a fire that filled his house with smoke. The blaze, which was quickly contained and burned only a closet, is believed to have been caused by an electrical problem. . . . A bankruptcy court judge has agreed with last year’s state court ruling that rights to the Three Stooges belong to the heirs of Larry Fine and Curly Joe De Rita, which clears the way for their company, Comedy III, to make a feature film about the trio. The ruling ends years of litigation involving various heirs of all four of the comics who played the Stooges. . . . Multiple-Grammy winner Al Jarreau will reminisce about his 30-year career when he joins host Julio Martinez on KPFK-FM’s (90.7) “Arts in Review” tonight from 10 to 11.