Goodwill Is Endless on Turner’s WTBS Beginning Saturday

Ready or not, the Goodwill Games from Moscow begin their 16-day run Saturday.

Ted Turner’s WTBS will have 129 hours of first-run coverage and an additional 63 hours of repeat programming. Talk about overkill.

On weekends, WTBS’ coverage will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., then after a two-hour break, from 5 to 9 p.m. The repeat programming will run from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.

The only thing different about weekday coverage is that the first block will end at noon instead of 3 p.m., so there’s a five-hour break as opposed to the two-hour break on Saturdays and Sundays.

For those who don’t have cable, much of WTBS’ coverage will be televised by Channel 5, with daytime coverage beginning at 9 a.m. on weekends and at noon on weekdays, ending at 3 p.m. each day. Prime-time coverage on Channel 5 will run from 7 to 10 p.m. every night, followed at 11:30 p.m. by another hour of coverage.

Some of the daytime coverage will be live, while the rest will be shown on a same-day delayed basis.

She’s everywhere: You’ve seen Mary Lou Retton doing commercials for, among others, McDonald’s, Vidal Sassoon, Wheaties, Pony Sports (the Mary Lou Retton Shoe Collection), Super Juice frozen juice bars and Energizer batteries.

Now you can see her as a sports broadcaster, interviewing women gymnasts Sunday as part of NBC’s taped coverage of the recent U.S. Gymnastics Championships at Indianapolis, to be televised on “SportsWorld” at 2 p.m. by Channel 4.

NBC is said to be considering using Retton as a gymnastics commentator during its coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympics, assuming, of course, that she does not compete.

More on Four: It had been rumored for some time that John Rohrbeck, KNBC’s general manager who came from WRC in September, 1984, wanted to replace Stu Nahan with George Michael, sportscaster for WRC-TV in Washington, D.C.

“I want to set a few things straight,” Michael said, following a story last week on Nahan’s firing. “First of all, you said KNBC started carrying my show (‘George Michael’s Sports Machine’) shortly after Rohrbeck’s arrival. That’s true, but since KNBC is an O and O (NBC owned and operated) station and my show is an NBC show, I think Rohrbeck would be in trouble if he didn’t carry it.

“Also, you said it didn’t make sense for KNBC to run my show on Sunday nights right after its own sports wrapup show. Actually, it makes perfect sense. KNBC gets about a 25 share for its Sunday night news show and it maintains that 25 with my show.

“About John Rohrbeck, I want to say three things. First, he’s my best friend in the whole world and he’s a great guy. Second, he’s the best general manager I’ve ever worked for. He deals with you straight, face to face. Third, he’s got a great gut instinct about this business. He knows exactly what he wants and he’s usually right.”

About the rumor that had him coming to KNBC, Michael said: “When John Rohrbeck first went to KNBC he asked me if I had any interest in coming to Los Angeles. At that time, I said no, that I was very comfortable in Washington. He never offered me a job, he just asked about my interest. We talk all the time, but after that one time he never again asked about my coming out there.”

Add Nahan: It was reported here last week that when he switched from Channel 7 to Channel 4 in 1977, he had to get new license plates because his read “Stu 7.” After being told by the Department of Motor Vehicles that “Stu 4” was already taken, he looked up the owner of those plates and bought him off, reportedly with tickets, money or both.

Writes Stewart Roy, a physical therapist in Monrovia: “I’m the one who Stu called and switched license plates with. We met at the Glendale DMV. I wasn’t bought with money, but I did receive great Ram tickets that year through his connections.

“Tell Stu that I have some great ‘Stu 7’ plates if he’s interested. Or ‘SKPRSTU,’ in case he goes back to Sacramento (where he was Skipper Stu, kiddie cartoon show host).”

Notes Things are going so bad for the Dodgers that their game at Houston last Sunday drew only a 2.4 Nielsen rating, second-worst L.A. sports rating of the day. And the Dodger game, which began at noon, just barely beat ABC’s noon baseball game between Philadelphia and St. Louis, which drew a 2.3. . . . Meanwhile, the World Cup Final on Channel 4 got the day’s top L.A. Nielsen rating, an 8.0. It would have been considerably higher than that, but Channel 34 also carried the soccer biggie. Nielsen ratings for Channel 34 are not available, but according to Arbitron numbers, Channel 34’s World Cup Final telecast beat Channel 4’s, 6.0 to 5.0. . . . The NBC telecast averaged an overnight Nielsen rating of 5.2 in the nation’s 12 major markets.

Charlie Jones did a nice job announcing the Final, but sidekicks Paul Gardner and Ricky Davis argued too much, often about topics that casual fans couldn’t care less about. . . . Gardner embarrassed himself by writing off the West Germans as “not really a good team that is being found out.” Moments later, they scored two quick goals to tie the match. . . . NBC, who used only two announcers on this year’s Super Bowl, should have stuck with that format for the World Cup Final, too. Three were too many. . . . Also, NBC had too many commercial breaks, prompting many English-speaking soccer fans to switch over to the Spanish International Network’s coverage on Channel 34, which had no interruptions. . . . Beginning Saturday at noon with Italy vs. Bulgaria and continuing until Dec. 27, Channel 34 will rebroadcast World Cup games.

A highlight of NBC’s coverage Sunday was the halftime feature on the earthquake destruction in Mexico City. In a tender scene, Jones was shown cradling one of Mexico City’s “miracle babies,” an infant who had been rescued from the wreckage. Said Jones: “I am as proud of that feature as anything I have ever done.” . . . SIN will televise the second FIFA World All-Star game, to be played July 27 at the Rose Bowl for the benefit of UNICEF, but the telecast will be blacked out in Los Angeles and shown the following weekend.

NBC’s coverage of the men’s semifinals at Wimbledon today begins at 10 a.m., a delay of two hours. Both Saturday and Sunday, Wimbledon coverage begins at 8 a.m., also a delay of two hours. The women’s final is Saturday, the men’s Sunday. Showing the finals live would mean televising them at 5 a.m. . . . Chris Evert Lloyd, Fred Perry, Billie Jean King and Boris Becker are among those featured in a half-hour special, “Wimbledon: Past, Present, Future,” which will be televised by Channel 4 Saturday at 6:30 p.m. . . . NBC Sports is joining the anti-drug movement, having its on-air talent do 10-second anti-drug commercials to be televised during sporting events, beginning today. The idea came from baseball commentator Tony Kubek.

Ed Arnold and Channel 5 have officially agreed on terms, making Arnold the host of the station’s weekend sports shows. . . . David Michaels, producer of CBS’ Tour de France coverage, is the younger brother of ABC sportscaster Al Michaels. Both are graduates of Hamilton High School. . . . CBS will offer four weeks of Tour de France coverage, beginning this Sunday at noon. . . . TEMPO television, which shows taped minor league baseball on Sunday nights at 8:30, was formerly the Satellite Program Network.