Set DateStyle not working

I am trying to get my output of a "timestamp" feild to look like "Wed Dec 17
07:37:16 1997 PST"

I have tried from a psql prompt the following:

cprn_apl=> SET DATESTYLE TO 'Postgres';
SET VARIABLE
cprn_apl=> select event_date from events;
event_date
----------------------
2000-04-05 04:34:00-06
2000-03-11 04:34:00-07
2000-03-02 14:23:00-07
2000-03-02 14:23:00-07
2000-06-18 14:23:00-06
2000-06-18 14:23:00-06
(6 rows)

cprn_apl=>

But as you can see, output is still set to 'ISO'.
****I have also added the following line in my /etc/profile

PGDATESTYLE=Postgres

I logged out and back in. At the linux prompt I can type 'set' and I can
see the 'PGDATESTYLE=Postgres' enviroment variable set. But starting up
psql and doing the same select statement above gives me the same ISO output.

I don't even really want the output within psql to be Postgres, I really
just want it to be for the output for my web based application using Pg in
Perl. I don't really know how to set variables for postgres (like
PGDATESTYLE) when there is no shell being invoked. Once I can get atleast
psql to output what I want how can I get a output set for a web invoked
perl/cgi program or is that also simply set in the /etc/profile file as
well.

Thanks in advance
dburd(at)cpr(dot)org