Roggin is a perfect marathon man
Fred Roggin’s life since October could be compared to running a marathon. He’s always on the go, with little time to catch his breath.
Roggin’s weekdays begin at 6 a.m. with a morning-drive radio show for all-sports KLAC 570 and end after Channel 4’s 11 p.m. news.
And recently, he has been busy preparing to announce Sunday’s Los Angeles Marathon.
This will be the fifth L.A. Marathon televised by Channel 4 with Roggin as the host and co-executive producer. The other executive producer is Phil Olsman, who does most of the work. But the production company is called Fred Roggin Productions. It was formed by Roggin and Olsman in 1990 to produce “Roggin’s Heroes,” a nationally syndicated show that lasted 3 1/2 years.
Olsman’s specialty, though, is marathons and Sunday’s 22nd L.A. Marathon will be the 13th he has produced. He was the producer for the first seven on Channel 13, beginning in 1986, and in his second stint he did four more for Channel 13, one for Channel 9 in 2002 and the last four for Channel 4.
On Thursday, shortly after Roggin had finished the radio show he does with The Times’ T.J. Simers and his daughter Tracy, he was on the phone with Olsman going over details for Sunday’s marathon telecast.
“I don’t know how he does it,” Olsman said. “He’s putting in 20-hour days, almost. It’s really amazing when you think about it. Here’s a guy who has been around for a long time, and he’s still reaching for new things. I’ve got to hand it to him, he still has the energy and the commitment to do it.”
Roggin, 49, has been reporting sports for Channel 4 since 1980. He also did an afternoon talk show for KMPC 1540 for five years, then took a short break from radio before being wooed by Simers and 570’s general manager, Don Martin, to try it again.
Three days a week he is up in time to drive from his home in Calabasas to the 570 studios in Burbank for the 6-9 a.m. show. After the show, he returns home and tries to take a nap before heading for the Channel 4 studios in Burbank around 2 p.m.
The other two weekdays, Roggin does the radio show from his home, and he would like to see that become a permanent arrangement. That would certainly make the double duty easier.
And Roggin sees another plus.
“I wouldn’t have to look at T.J. at 6 a.m. -- that’s a sight that can really ruin someone’s day,” he quipped.
More seriously, he said that doing the radio show means he spends less time with his kids.
Roggin has 19-year-old twins, Jeffrey and Shannon, from a previous marriage, and he and wife Richel, a former Channel 4 intern, have three young children, Hayley, 10, Jack, 8, and Josh, 6.
“If I didn’t have the radio show, I’d be taking them to school and attending their assemblies and school activities,” Roggin said. “Thank goodness for Richel. She has to do it all.”
On Sunday’s telecast, which begins at 7:30 a.m., Roggin’s helpers will be Toni Reavis, who has worked every L.A. Marathon telecast, and two-time L.A. Marathon winner Nancy Ditz. Bob Molinatti will cover the wheelchair race, Ed Eyestone and Julia Henner will be the lead commentators on the men’s and women’s races, respectively, and a number of reporters will be stationed along the route.
Telemundo’s KVEA Channel 52 will provide Spanish-language coverage, also beginning at 7:30 a.m.
Olsman said the new route for the marathon, which begins at Universal City and ends at Fifth and Flower streets in downtown L.A., makes televising Sunday’s race tougher than usual.
“It used to be, the finish was a two-minute walk from the start,” he said. “Now it’s much more complicated. It takes more people and more equipment. It’s a little scary, to be honest.”
Short waves
KSPN 710 will broadcast all Angels spring training games. KFWB 980 and KWKW 1330 will broadcast mostly Dodgers weekend games, but all Dodgers spring training games can be heard on the team’s website, dodgers.com.
FSN West, beginning Saturday, will televise seven Angels spring training games and Channel 13 will do two. FSN Prime Ticket will televise only two Dodgers games -- the first one not until March 28 -- but Channel 9, beginning March 17, will carry five.
As expected, ESPN announced Thursday that it had hired Bill Parcells as a studio analyst. He’ll appear on “Monday Night Countdown” and other ESPN programs leading up to “Monday Night Football.” He will also contribute a weekly column to ESPN.com and serve as co-host of a new ESPN Radio show with Chris Mortensen on Fridays at 4 p.m.
And finally
Vin Scully, who rarely makes public appearances during baseball’s off-season, attended last weekend’s Paralysis Project of America dinner in L.A. to accept the organization’s John R. Wooden Lifetime Achievement Award.
Before the dinner, Scully said he was there because of his respect for Wooden. He said they have been friends since a chance meeting in 1958.
“When I came to L.A. with the Dodgers, my wife and I lived in an apartment in Brentwood,” Scully said. “A few days after we moved in, I went grocery shopping. After returning to our apartment building, with two bags of groceries under my arms, I was trying open the gate into the building when a man walking by asked if he could help.
“He said he lived in the neighborhood, so we began talking. He introduced himself by saying, ‘My name is John Wooden. I coach basketball at UCLA.’ And I told him my name and what I did.”