Rams in the Dark as Channel 2 Drops Exhibition Games

As of now, the Rams’ four exhibition games will not be televised. Channel 2 has decided not to pick up the package because three of the games are at home and can’t be televised live. The other is a Friday night game against Philadelphia at Columbus, Ohio, begins at 4:30 p.m., PDT.

The Raiders open the exhibition season Saturday, Aug. 10, against the San Francisco 49ers at the Coliseum, and Channel 4 will televise the 6 p.m. game at 11:30 that night and replay it the next day at 12:30 p.m.

The next two games, home games against Washington and Miami, are being nationally televised by NBC, but probably will be blacked out in Los Angeles and not shown on a tape-delay basis, either. The fourth, at Cleveland Friday, Aug. 30, will be televised live by Channel 4 at 4:30 p.m.

If the baseball players go on strike next Tuesday, a Dodger-Atlanta Brave game scheduled to be televised on Channel 11 that evening will be among the first baseball telecasts to be be wiped out. Channel 11 is also scheduled to carry the third game of the series the following night.

If there is no baseball to televise, Channel 11 will show its regular fare of syndicated shows, which, of course, is good news for those who prefer “The Jeffersons,” “One Day at a Time” and “Three’s Company” to baseball.

All four games of an Angel-Minnesota Twin series, scheduled to begin Thursday, Aug. 8, are supposed to be televised--three games by Channel 5 and one, on Saturday, by NBC.

NBC, which had planned to substitute boxing, horse racing, auto racing and other sports programming, decided against that last week and will instead give the scheduled Saturday baseball time back to its affiliates.

Channel 4 spokeswoman Regina Miyamoto said the Los Angeles affiliate plans to use entertainment-type shows as substitute programming.

ABC doesn’t have another baseball telecast scheduled until Sunday, Sept. 22, so it would only by affected by a prolonged strike.

George Green, general manager of Dodger flagship radio station KABC, said: “We’re praying that there won’t be a strike. Everything is going so well. July was a great month for us. But if there is a strike, we have a contingency plan. We’ll go back to a regularly scheduled programming. We’ve alerted our sponsors and have worked everything out, just in case.”

Angel station KMPC would also fall back on regular programming, which, among other things, would mean more Jim Healy.

Channel 2 sportscaster Roy Firestone is leaving the station Aug. 11. Firestone said the parting was amiable and mutually agreed on. “It was an enjoyable and rewarding eight years,” Firestone said.

He said his style was not what the station’s new general manager, Frank Gardner, was looking for. “He likes a machine-gun approach,” Firestone said, “somebody who can get in and out of a piece in a minute and a half, pieces that are designed for short attention spans. That is not my style.”

Another problem was that Firestone is also the host of a syndicated show, Bob Seizer’s “Sports Look,” which appears regularly on ABC-owned ESPN. “I think they could have lived with that if there weren’t any other factors,” Firestone said.

Channel 2 reporter Tony Hernandez will move into Firestone’s spot as weekend sports anchor. Channel 2 spokeswoman Andi Sporkin said the station is not planning to hire another sportscaster.

A shortened version of the official film of the 1984 Summer Olympics, Bud Greenspan’s “16 Days of Glory,” was previewed at a screening last Monday night at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills. The screening was a benefit for the Los Angeles Times Fund for the youth of Southern California.

This version, which runs 2 hours 20 minutes, will be released in movie theaters in October, while the complete six-hour film is planned as a television mini-series to air in the fall of 1986. Which network will carry it is expected to be decided sometime after Sept. 12, when the networks are scheduled to bid on the 1988 Summer Games at Seoul, South Korea.

Greenspan, who is currently negotiating with three film companies regarding distribution, also plans to market his movie as a video cassette.

ESPN, which wrested away hockey from the USA network, reportedly agreed to pay $24 million over three seasons for the NHL’s exclusive national rights. USA, which paid $4 million for the rights last season, reportedly offered $18 million over three seasons.

ESPN can also offer a little more exposure. It reaches 36.5 million homes, USA 30 million.

ESPN will televise up to 33 regular-season games, plus the All-Star Game and the playoffs. Bill Grimes, ESPN president, said more playoff games will be televised next season.

NBA schedules: The world champion Lakers will make four regular-season appearances on CBS this season and 10 on WTBS, while the Clippers get only one national exposure. WTBS will televise the Clippers’ game at Portland Christmas Day.

Besides its 10 regular-season appearances on WTBS, the Lakers will also appear on the cable network when they face Indiana in the annual NBA Hall of Fame exhibition Oct. 21.

WTBS’ regular-season opener is Boston at New Jersey Oct. 25. Its second regular-season telecast is the Lakers at Dallas Oct. 29.

CBS opens with Philadelphia facing Patrick Ewing and the New York Knicks Oct. 26. The Laker will appear on CBS Jan. 26, at Detroit; Feb. 16, vs. Boston at the Forum; Feb. 23, at Philadelphia, and April 6, at Houston.

Notes NBC has hired Channel 4 sportscaster Fred Roggin as a pro football play-by-play announcer. He’ll be used on some regional telecasts this season. . . . NFL football begins Saturday with ABC televising the Hall of Fame Game from Canton, Ohio, where Houston faces the New York Giants at 11:30 a.m., PDT. Joe Namath, besides being inducted into the Hall of Fame, will make his debut as a football commentator for ABC. Namath’s broadcast partner, O.J. Simpson, is another one of the inductees. . . . ESPN commentator Paul Maguire, a former teammate of Simpson’s with the Buffalo Bills, said: “O.J. was the second-best halfback I ever saw. (Gale) Sayers was the best. But O.J. is a different kind of individual. The Bills’ equipment manager died a few weeks ago, so O.J. flew all night from Los Angeles to Buffalo just to get there for the funeral. Then he flew right back. He didn’t have to be there, but he was.” . . . WTBS has hired Lindsey Nelson and former Green Bay Packer Paul Hornung as college football announcers. Another announcing team will be Bob Neal and former Miami Dolphin Tim Foley.

Attention baseball fans: This evening at 4:30, ESPN will televise “The Pete Rose Story--Hits, Hustle and Heart.” It will be repeated Sunday at 12:30 p.m. and Monday at 6 p.m. . . . A new series, “Major League Baseball’s Greatest Hits,” will begin on ESPN Saturday, Aug. 10. The first show, to be televised at 9 a.m., will feature the New York Mets’ 1969 World Series victory over the Baltimore Orioles. Another show will be televised at 5 p.m. Aug. 10. After that, the shows will be televised on Thursdays at 5 p.m. and on Sundays at 6 p.m. The series will also include shows on the 1975 Cincinnati-Boston World Series, the New York Yankee dynasty, and Roberto Clemente. . . . NBC had planned to televise the Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds tonight but because those teams are now playing a doubleheader, the NBC West Coast game at 5:15 will be San Diego at Houston. Most of the nation will get the Chicago White Sox at New York.

Mark Holmes, 26, brother of Larry Holmes, fights John Collins on NBC’s “SportsWorld” Sunday. . . . The United States faces Boris Becker and West Germany in Davis Cup play this weekend at Hamburg, and ESPN is offering live coverage. The problem with that is the matches begin at 3 or 4 a.m., PDT. But the coverage will be repeated at more convenient hours. For instance, this morning’s 3 a.m. singles matches will be repeated at 8:30 tonight. . . . The Jim Lange Show on KMPC, which begins at 6 a.m., will originate from the Rams’ training camp at Cal State Fullerton today. . . . A segment on the “Stroh’s Circle of Sports” on the USA network Sunday at 6 p.m. will feature Roy Englebrecht’s sportscasters camp, held July 7-11 at UC Santa Barbara. Thirty prospective sportscasters participated in the camp with pros Chick Hearn, Bob Miller, Tom Kelly and Geoff Witcher.