After 15 Years, What Made KABC Decide to Set the Hawk Free?

Why, after a 15-year association, have sportscaster Tommy Hawkins and radio station KABC parted company? Some of the theories:

--”Sportstalk” co-host Bud Furillo was behind it.

--A “Sportstalk” staff reduction figures into the master plan of the station’s general manager, George Green, who eventually hopes to cut the length of the three-hour “Sportstalk” show, never a ratings winner.

--It was in the interest of economy, since KABC is now owned by cost-conscious Cap Cities.

--It was because Hawkins’ five-year contract had expired and station management simply thought it was time to say goodby to someone generally regarded as a very nice man but a mediocre talent.

First, the Furillo theory.

Both Furillo and Hawkins declined to comment about their relationship.

Said Green: “Bud is not a back-stabber, nor is he vicious. Emotional, yes. But not vicious.”

A source who spoke to Furillo on Monday, the day it became known that Hawkins was through at KABC, said: “Bud showed genuine compassion toward Tommy. He felt bad.”

Rick Talley, L.A. Daily News sports columnist who used to work with Furillo and had several run-ins with him, both on and off the air, said:

“I don’t know (if Furillo was behind Hawkins’ departure). I have no idea. I’ve been away from the station several years. However, it may be more than coincidence that Ira Fistell, Tommy Hawkins one other time, Rick Talley, Geoff Witcher, Merrie Rich and Lisa Bowman, and now Hawkins again, have all been dismissed from ‘Sportstalk’ while working with Furillo.

“If they have a problem with ‘Sportstalk,’ they should look from within. If all of those people had no ability, why were they hired by KABC in the first place?”

It is known that Furillo privately complained about Hawkins’ work. But then, at various times, he also complained about Talley, Witcher and Bowman.

As for Furillo’s causing the station to drop Hawkins, though, it’s doubtful. This reporter was on the Herald Examiner sports staff when Furillo was the sports editor. On certain days, he would get extremely angry at certain staff members, yelling at and berating them in front of co-workers. But never did he go to management and recommend that someone be fired.

If Furillo was behind Hawkins’ departure, it’s more likely that Hawkins grew tired of riding the emotional roller coaster that working with Furillo puts one on, that Hawkins was the one who said he couldn’t take it any longer.

As for the theory of cutting back on “Sportstalk,” Green said: “The show will not be cut back.”

One reason is that cutting back on “Sportstalk” could hurt KABC’s relationship with the Dodgers, a relationship that is very important to the station.

After last baseball season, Lisa Bowman’s contract was not renewed and there was talk that KABC would cut “Sportstalk” to one hour and hire Geoff Edwards to do a two-hour general talk show. Word was that the plan was quashed by the Dodgers.

Now, Furillo is being asked to pretty much go it alone on the three-hour “Sportstalk” show, although Green said that Lee Marshall and Eric Tracy will be used more to fill the void left by Hawkins’ departure.

Was money an issue?

“Money might have been an issue, it might not have,” Green said. “I’m not going to say one way or another.

“I’ll tell you it was actually a lot of factors, but I won’t tell you exactly why. I do want to dispel some rumors, though.

“Tommy Hawkins today is a close friend of mine and a close friend of this station. It is very rare to meet a human being the caliber of Tommy Hawkins. He stands taller than almost anyone I’ve known in my life, and that includes a lot of people.

“Tommy did a terrific job for us and I will personally recommend him. He is a terrific hunk of talent. I say that because of his personality. That’s the reason he is so successful.

“I think he, himself, would admit he is not the best sportscaster in America. But he’s got a magnetic personality. I’ve seen people stand in line for hours to get his autograph, and he’s got time to sign every one of them.

“He’s one in a million.”

The time-to-move-on theory. Said Green: “Basically, Tommy thought and I thought it was time he move on. This is a changing business, and our ‘Sportstalk’ has not been a stable commodity as has been our morning drive show (‘The Ken and Bob Co.’).

“We’ve had Bill Russell, Ira Fistell, Bud Tucker, Ed Bieler, Rick Talley, Geoff Witcher, Lisa Bowman and now Tommy who have departed from the show. It’s the nature of this business.”

Said Hawkins: “I’ll let the statement (that there were irreconcilable differences between Hawkins and the station) speak for itself. I do not want to be a mud slinger.”

Notes The Falcon and Communicom cable companies will offer Dodgervision this season, bringing the subscriber base to 610,000 addressable households and 290,000 nonaddressable systems. At this time last year, Dodgervision was available in only 320,000 addressable households. A 25-game package costs $79.95 and includes two reserved-seat tickets. A single game costs $5.95. . . . Group W cable in West Los Angeles is now the only major cable system not offering Dodgervision. Two smaller systems not offering it are Copley in San Pedro and Century in Ventura, La Habra, Brea and Redondo.

More complaints about Group W, which was recently criticized in this space for poor service: The system blacked out a portion of last Friday’s Pepperdine-Maryland game even though the blackout was lifted when the game was sold out. And there also was no audio of last Saturday’s Crenshaw-Mater Dei high school game for the first 5 minutes 10 seconds. Some people are saying that since Group W was sold in December to a consortium of five cable companies and the changeover won’t take place until this summer, current Group W management cares little about its service to customers. . . . Personal note: A cable serviceman showed up at my door the other day, asking permission to go into my backyard to install cable. The system he represented? Group W, of course.

Now that Lyle Alzado has retired, a career as a pro football commentator may await him. Michael Weisman, executive producer of NBC Sports said recently: “Of all the current players, Alzado is the one we’d love to have.” . . . CBS is interested in former St. Louis Cardinal coach Jim Hanifan as a football commentator. Hanifan played at Covina High in the ‘50s and started his coaching career at Charter Oak in West Covina. CBS is also interested in Joe Theismann if he’s available. . . . NBC is using Marlene Floyd, sister of golfer Ray Floyd, on its coverage of the USF&G; golf tournament this weekend. Marlene has worked women’s tournaments for NBC but never a men’s tournament. . . . John Wooden, who always offers strong opinions, will be interviewed at halftime during CBS’s coverage of Saturday’s West Regional final.