Thurs. 3/6/03

Thursday, March 6th, 2003, STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE

Burns' cable gig gets bigger, better with time

ä 'Profiles' show is seen as far

away as Japan and is now on

Time-Warner Cable

By JULIE SUMMERS

ADVANCE STAFF WRITER

We knew one-time McKee HS basketball coach Mickey Burns (you know, he coached that team that went to the PSAL city championship game back in the 70's) was versatile - he's an all-star football player out of New Dorp HS; he's a competent golfer who competes in lots of tourneys; he's had a band that did all right for itself; he's even been a Tom Jones impersonator; he's still a teacher (at Tottenville HS) and he's had himself a career in television.

But a linguist? Fluent in Japanese? Come on!

Well, actually Mickey doesn't speak Japanese but over there in the East, when he speaks, his voice comes out in that language.

You see, his cable TV show "Profiles" (seen on channel 76 Thursdays at 10 p.m. and midnight, Friday at midnight and Saturday at 11 a.m.) has been syndicated to Japan and his speech is dubbed!

Mickey and his Quest Media Entertainment, Inc. cohorts Gary Huminy (he's the executive producer of the show) and Monina Monty (she does all the editing) have been doing "Profiles" of such top-flight entertainers as Pat Cooper, Ben E. King, Crystal Gayle, Joe Montana, Maya Angelou, Mick Fleetwood, LeRoy Neiman and even WWF wrestler Chyna for the past three-or-so years and loving every minute of it.

Things mushroomed; "Profiles" became involved with TVS, a television syndication company, and the rest, as they say, is history. Last summer, the show was syndicated to the U.S. Virgin Islands (where it did not have to be dubbed) and now to Japan. (It's also seen on Time-Warner Cable in Manhattan, so you know it's hit the big time!)

"And what really makes it interesting," Mickey says, "is that we do it all with fewer than 10 people." (In fact, his friend Bill McCreary, a colleague when Mickey worked at Fox TV, told Mickey that at Fox, it'd take 50 people to do the show.)

But Mickey, Gary and Monina do it semi-along, with the help of some marketing types and co-hosts Michelle DeSantis, Laura Ameruso, Chrystal Young and Madlena Krucher, four gals getting some on-air experience and giving the audience a bit of a break.

"Hey, I need a hook in and out of commercials," he says with a laugh, "and the viewers can only look at me for so long."

Not to mention (but we will) watch him speak Japanese!