JOHNNY CARSON: HEERE’S ANOTHER NBC CONTRACT

Johnny Carson, 59, the silver-haired star of NBC’s “The Tonight Show,” has signed a “multi-year” contract to continue with the late-night entertainment show he has hosted for more than 22 1/2 years, NBC said Thursday.

As is customary, details of the new contract were not disclosed.But it is longer than the one he signed in February a year ago, which an NBC source said only was for the 1984-85 season. The new agreement goes into effect in September.

Carson’s re-signing was announced at the same time NBC Entertainment president Brandon Tartikoff outlined the network’s new prime-time schedule for next fall to advertising agency representatives in New York.

The new schedule, made public Wednesday, has six new series in it. Tartikoff, whose network rose to No. 2 in prime-time ratings in the just-ended season after 10 years in third place, noted that he had predicted last year that this would happen.

“I’m delighted that it’s come true,” Tartikoff said. “You may be anticipating another prediction today,” he said, referring to a possible forecast that next season NBC will succeed CBS as the ratings leader. “But I’m not prepared to be that bold.”

He did predict a “very tight race between two fiercely ambitious competitors who want the same thing,” and, in a reference to the well-publicized efforts of Turner Broadcasting System to take control of CBS, he puckishly added:

“It’s going to come down to this: can NBC overtake CBS before Ted Turner does?”