October 18, 1981

SIXTEEN months ago, when a Pillsbury executive from Minneapolis named Thomas H. Wyman ac-cepted the job as president and chief executive of CBS Inc., he was throwing himself into the turbulence of at least two potential storms. First, Mr. Wyman had accepted a job under William S. Paley, CBS's 79-year-old founder, largest stockholder and chairman of the board, who had earned a reputation for capriciously dismissing chief executives. During the previous eight years, Mr. Paley had forced the resignation of no less than four hand-picked heirs apparent -Frank Stanton, John A. Schneider, Arthur R. Taylor and John D. Backe. In addition, Mr. Wyman agreed to take over a company vastly different from any he'd ever managed, and he did so at a time when the company's basic business - broadcasting - seemed theatened by a revolution in telecommunications unlike any since the introduction of television itself. The selection of Mr. Wyman raised the question of whether basic management skills are sufficient to outweigh the absence of experience in a wholly new field. Mr. Wyman had spent his career dealing mostly with tangible consumer products such as cameras and packaged foods. Could he just as effectively run a diversified $4 billion company whose main product - entertainment and information - depends on the creative efforts of individual writers, performers and producers?

restraint, easing back on the throttle, is. ''I don't think you can attribute Al's talent to muscular gifts,'' Rich Phaigh, the masseur for the Athletics West track team, said, while administering a friction massage to Salazar in a training room at the club's headquarters. ''You can attribute it to the fact that he's the toughest runner on the face of the earth.'' ''I paid him five dollars to say that,'' Salazar said, flinching as Phaigh's ubiquitous thumb found another tender spot above Salazar's left knee. It is 6:20 in the evening, a time when most businessmen have finished their work day. Salazar, 23 years old, a University of Oregon graduate, soon to be employed by the Nike Shoe Company in its international marketing department, already has run twice for about two hours, taken a one-hour nap, visited Phaigh for therapy and spent several hours with a reporter. ''I make no bones about it. I make my living off running,'' he says.

When Congress passed the Housing Act of 1968, it committed the nation to the goal of producing 2.6 million units of housing a year, including 600,000 annually for low-income families. Now, if the Reagan Administration has its way, the direct Federal subsidy programs enacted by Congress to help meet that goal will be drastically curtailed. The Department of Housing and Urban Development is proposing deep cuts in the two main subsidy programs - Section 8 rental housing assistance and public housing - for fiscal year 1983, which begins in a year. Not only are the programs too expensive in light of the President's plans to balance the budget, H.U.D. officials say, but they just do not fit in the Administration's new approach to housing. In the last year of the Carter Administration, Housing and Urban Development and Congress, alarmed by reports of a growing shortage of rental housing, frantically searched for a new way to use Federal subsidies to produce more apartments. Now, the department contends, there is no nationwide shortage of rental housing.

Privately, the Florida State Seminoles wondered how long their Oktoberfest could last. Enthusiastically, they said they could do here what they had done the last two weeks at Columbus, Ohio, and South Bend, Ind. - come home with another upset. But their party ended today at Pitt Stadium. Dan Marino, healed shoulder and all, passed for 251 yards and three touchdowns to lead Pittsburgh to a 42-14 victory that was as surprising as it was onesided. Bryan Thomas, a junior halfback, rushed for 217 yards to become the first Panther to gain more than 200 yards in a game since Tony Dorsett gained 202 in the 1977 Sugar Bowl game.

Like many older homeowners, Robert and Alice Blersch paid off their mortgage long ago. Their house, in Buffalo, represents their most valuable asset. Until recently, however, without sufficient income to qualify for new financing, the only way they could unlock that value was to sell the house, which is worth $23,000, and move out. Mr. Blersch is 74; his wife is 66. He is a retired machinist but has no pension, so they live mostly on Social Security. They have been worrying over a roof that needed replacing, a porch that needed fixing and rising taxes.