FOR LIVE COVERAGE, IT’S CABLE OR RADIO : NETWORKS TAPE-DELAY LIBERTY SHOW

Television will light up with its own brand of fireworks tonight as stations find a way to join in the celebration of the unveiling of the refurbished Statue of Liberty.

But if it’s live coverage you want, you’ll have to tune to cable-TV or radio.

Preparations for tonight’s “Liberty Weekend” festivities will be covered early today on the networks’ morning news shows, and ABC will present a half-hour special at 11 a.m. (Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42) about the assembling of vessels in New York for Friday’s International Naval Review and parade of tall ships.

ABC returns at 8 tonight for three hours of coverage of the opening ceremonies for “Liberty Weekend,” including the torch lighting by President Reagan, the presentation of the Medal of Liberty to 12 distinguished naturalized citizens, induction of 20,000 new citizens by Chief Justice Warren Burger and an entertainment gala headlined by Frank Sinatra and Mikhail Baryshnikov.

But ABC’s coverage will be seen on a three-hour tape delay here on the West Coast, as will the specials that are planned by CBS (9-11 p.m., Channels 2 and 8) and NBC (10-11 p.m., Channels 4, 36 and 39).

Only Cable News Network will provide live TV coverage here of the torch lighting and swearing-in events. Between 5:30-8 p.m., CNN will televise those parts of the opening ceremonies that aren’t exclusive to ABC.

CNN also plans brief reports on “Liberty Weekend” events on the hour between 3 a.m. and 9 p.m., both today and Friday.

CBS’ two-hour special tonight, “A Celebration of Liberty,” will include coverage of the torch lighting and other non-exclusive portions of the opening ceremonies at Liberty Island, plus a report on the celebration in Chicago and a look at residents of other countries who would like to emigrate to the United States.

NBC’s one-hour broadcast also will feature the torch lighting, augmented by an examination of the immigrant experience--featuring interviews with immigrants and their children about the life they found beyond Lady Liberty’s gaze. It also plans to incorporate musical performances by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Salt Lake City and the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra in Chicago.

Meanwhile, amid all the hype and hoopla, if it’s a nice, straightforward history of the Statute of Liberty you’re looking for, catch “The Gift” at 7:30 p.m. on KCET Channel 28. Refreshingly free of hyperbole, it’s a well-researched account of the statue’s genesis and painstaking construction, enhanced by sketches, paintings, letters and diary entries by its brilliant French creator, Frederic Bartholdi.

“The Gift” was produced and directed by S. Richard Krown and written and narrated by Henry Gibson.

Elsewhere on TV’s “Liberty” bandwagon tonight, KCBS-TV Channel 2 is showing a “2 on the Town” episode at 7:30 p.m. about immigrants living in Southern California, followed at 8 p.m. on KCOP Channel 13 by “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” the delightful 1942 musical film starring James Cagney.