RON REAGAN LEARNING THE ABCS OF TV

For some reason, there was a flurry of queries by reporters and possibly some raised eyebrows at ABC News when the President’s son disclosed this week that he will become an on-camera reporter for ABC-TV.

Did this mean, some wondered, that Ron Reagan, 27, a free-lance writer, would cover fires, floods, pestilence and wars, or maybe even become part of the White House press pack and get to shout questions at his dad just like Sam Donaldson?

ABC since has said no, that Reagan’s deal is with the network’s entertainment division, not its news department. All this came out after Reagan, appearing Monday on ABC’s “Good Morning, America,” was asked about rumors he was about to sign a deal with the network.

“Well,” he replied then, “ABC got in touch with me a while back and expressed interest in having me do some on-camera work for them, and I thought that was an idea fraught with the possibility for fun, so I said, ‘Sure.’ ”

Shortly thereafter, an ABC spokesman in New York, in response to reporters’ questions, said that “there is no relationship between ABC News and Ron Reagan Jr.”

No doubt the network was mindful of the kind of criticism that attended the signing by CBS News of Phyllis George as co-anchor of the “CBS Morning News,” even though she never had covered a story more major than the Super Bowl.

In any event, Reagan now will toil exclusively for ABC as “an entertainment journalist and reporter” working “within a wide spectrum of ABC’s television entertainment interests.” But once again, not for ABC News.

He has signed a one-year contract with ABC Entertainment and initially will be learning television techniques while the network decides what projects and assignments might suit him best, says Gary L. Pudney, an ABC Entertainment vice president.

Theoretically, there was a chance that Reagan could have worked both for ABC News and ABC Entertainment because of a notable precedent: Barbara Walters.

When she left NBC News and its “Today Show” in 1976 to join ABC as co-anchor of its evening news broadcast, she signed with both ABC News and ABC Entertainment, the latter for her celebrity-interview specials produced by the entertainment division.

Walters continues to be paid by each division, according to Pudney, senior executive in charge of talent at ABC. But he says that Reagan has no association with ABC News under his contract.

Reagan, who dropped out of Yale, originally intended to be a ballet dancer. He danced for two seasons with the junior Joffrey II ballet, and was named as a member of the Joffrey Ballet Company, but opted to pass on that in 1983 and become a free-lance writer.

As such, he has been a guest essayist for Newsweek magazine, covered last year’s Democratic national convention for Playboy magazine, and has written articles for such diverse publications as Andy Warhol’s Interview, Ladies’ Home Journal and Parade.

His interview subjects have included author Tom Wolfe, acclaimed test pilot Chuck Yeager, actor Jimmy Stewart, actor-dancer Fred Astaire and even ABC’s Walters. He also has been a film critic for NBC’s The Source radio network, according to ABC.

In his new career, he’ll be the second member of the First Family to report on show-biz matters for national television. His half-sister, Maureen, 40, has been a part-time contributor to the syndicated “Entertainment Tonight” series for two seasons.

Pudney said Wednesday that ABC Entertainment signed Reagan because it considered him to be a strong asset for the division’s various magazine shows and specials.

He said Reagan had been given on-camera tests and proved “terrific on camera. We were very pleased with the results.” Although a fine writer, he also showed a “directness and likability” on TV that bodes well for him, Pudney said.

Although there has been speculation that young Reagan will be contributing to ABC Entertainment’s “Good Morning, America,” Pudney said that won’t be happening--at least not right away.

“They haven’t asked for his services, but in the future he certainly would be available to them,” the executive said. “Right now, he’s involved in on-the-job training.”

ABC Entertainment will be experimenting “and trying to find the right situation for him,” Pudney said, adding that “if (ABC) news is interested in him, I’m sure we’ll be hearing from them.”

He said that Reagan, although signed by the network, will work closely during his training period with Tom Van Amberg, general manager of ABC-owned KABC-TV in Los Angeles. But Reagan, Pudney said, won’t be part of KABC’s hard-charging “Eyewitness News” team.

It may be just as well. The team already employs, on an occasional basis, a famous Democrat’s daughter--Eleanor Mondale, an aspiring actress whose father, Walter, was roundly defeated in his 1984 bid for the Presidency by Reagan’s Republican father.

She works part-time at the station’s news department as a “reporter-trainee” and has made some on-camera reporting appearances, a KABC spokeswoman said.