February 23, 2003

Profile of Chuck Berry in the series The Music They Made: Legends of Rock, Country and Soul; Berry is probably most influential rock musician ever, with possible exception of Elvis Presley, having been first to fuse blues, country music and rhythm-and-blues with creativity and wit that spoke directly to American teenagers through 1950's and 1960's; career was overshadowed by three prison terms, his own inner demons and humiliations of racism; remains mesmerizing on stage at age 76; photos (L)

New breed of planned television networks, including Tennis Channel, Black Belt TV and College Sports Television, hope to connect to single-sports fans looking to immerse themselves in their passion of choice; photos (M)

Playwright Kenneth Lonergan offers reasons for his belief that theater is important; sees theater as place where imaginations can flourish; photo (M)

Article on growing anxiety in recording industry about future of the CD, which is threatened with same obsolescence it once foisted on LPs and tape cassettes; CDs, introduced in US 20 years ago, are losing allure, with sales down nine percent between 2001 and 2002 as online music swapping grows are cripping rate; analysts and industry executives agree that selling music online is future, but that it will take at least two years for companies to devise business plan that makes financial sense, so that, for now, CDs are being rethought, repackaged and repriced; photos (M)

Several institutions on Church Street in Lower Manhattan are calling for buildings of 'reasonable height to be built on World Trade Center site with street-level access to retail stores (M)