So Far, the Ratings Are the Bad Part of Goodwill Games

The Goodwill Games have been getting decent ratings on KTLA, Channel 5, in Los Angeles, but they’re getting killed in other markets.

While KTLA drew Nielsen ratings of 7.1, 6.8 and 6.1 for its three segments of daytime coverage last Saturday and Sunday, Boston’s WLVI drew only a .3 for its daytime coverage on Sunday. Meanwhile, Washington’s WFTV drew a .5, Detroit’s WXON a .7, and Chicago’s WGBO a .8. New York’s WNYW drew a 3.0.

“We did some heavy-duty promotion,” KTLA spokesman Ed Harrison said. “Every other promo spot was for the Goodwill Games.”

Still, ratings on KTLA have tapered off since the weekend. Wednesday, Channel 5 got a 4.3 for the daytime coverage, a 3.7 for prime time and a 1.5 for late night.

Ratings for the WTBS telecasts are not available.

Ted Turner didn’t spread much good will among his television competitors when he put a one-day embargo on all Goodwill Games footage coming out of Moscow. This means channels such as 2, 4, 7, 9, 11 and 13 in Los Angeles have to show day-old highlights.

For example, Sergei Bubka’s world record in the pole vault on Tuesday couldn’t be shown until Wednesday.

The result is that the Goodwill Games aren’t getting much air time on any of the local newscasts except Channel 5’s. The embargo is hurting the Games more than helping.

Nahan update: Stu Nahan, fired by Channel 4 the day before leaving for Italy on a two-week vacation, is back home.

“Sandy and I had a wonderful time,” he said, referring to his fiancee, Sandy Kartun. “We vowed to forget what happened. I’m not mad at anyone. I’m not bitter.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m not going to do anything for a while. My contract doesn’t expire until Sept. 1. Technically, I can’t appear on the air before then.

“Ed (Hookstratten, his agent) is out of town, so I haven’t talked to him. I definitely want to stay in L.A., but I’m not sure I still want to do 11 o’clock sports anymore. Maybe I’ll try to get a play-by-play job, maybe I’ll do more movie work. I really don’t know.”

Namath update: Joe Namath, breaking a three-month silence, told the New Haven (Conn.) Register that he was surprised and baffled by ABC’s decision to dump him.

“I’m under contract to them and I’m not doing anything else in sports,” he said. “I certainly am disappointed because I loved the job and I was starting to feel good about it.”

ABC announced in March that Namath and O.J. Simpson wouldn’t be returning to “Monday Night Football” this season.

“All they told me was they were going with only two guys in the booth next season, (Al) Michaels and Frank (Gifford),” Namath said.

Namath, in Connecticut to run his summer football camp at Quinnipiac College, said he remains under contract next season. “They’re not saving any money because I’m still employed by them,” he said.

“I honestly felt I was growing with the job. Understandably, it’s difficult with three people in the booth, but we were a new team and we were getting better at it.”

Dennis Swanson, ABC Sports president, said: “When you have announcers the caliber of Al Michaels and Frank Gifford, you want to showcase them. It’s as simple as that.”

Add Namath: Namath’s work habits may have played a role in his departure. There are those at ABC who thought he didn’t put enough effort into the job.

One NFL coach who knows Namath well said: “Joe probably figured because he was Joe Namath all he had to do was just show up for the game. He didn’t think he had to do his homework.”

Designated talker: Highly regarded baseball announcer Tim McCarver, who will be in the booth with Al Michaels and Jim Palmer when ABC televises next Tuesday night’s All-Star game at Houston, has always been a good talker.

In McCarver’s playing days, when reporters couldn’t get answers out of pitcher Steve Carlton, they began going to McCarver, Carlton’s catcher and best friend. McCarver became both Carlton’s designated catcher and designated talker.

Although McCarver has not caught for Carlton since 1979, he’s still expected to talk for the pitcher. When the Philadelphia Phillies released Silent Steve on June 25, reporters went to McCarver to find out about Carlton’s reactions.

“I did about 22 interviews,” McCarver said this week, “although I didn’t have much to tell anyone.”

McCarver said that Carlton is still one of his best friends but that he hasn’t talked to the pitcher since Carlton signed with the San Francisco Giants and broke his vow of silence last Friday by holding a press conference.

McCarver, now a TV announcer for the New York Mets who moonlights for ABC, first worked for the Phillies after his playing days were over. He was the only member of the media to whom Carlton would speak.

“I interviewed Steve on the air three times, then decided I wouldn’t do it anymore,” McCarver said. “It was awkward for both of us. Everyone knew the only reason he would talk to me was because we were friends.

“It just didn’t seem that important to interview him.”

Changing stations?: The Rams have been on radio station KMPC ever since they arrived in Los Angeles in 1946. That relationship might end when their contract expires after the 1987 season.

A source said that preliminary talks between the Raiders and KMPC have taken place. KMPC reportedly pays the Rams more than $1 million a year for rights.

This season, the Raiders will be heard on KRLA and on Orange County station KIK-fm, a new addition.

Notes NBC is televising this evening’s 5:15 Dodger-Cub game on a regional basis. The announcers will be Bob Costas and Tony Kubek. . . . NBC is missing the boat by not televising Saturday’s 10 a.m. Angel-Red Sox game, in which Roger Clemens is scheduled to face Mike Witt. Channel 5 can’t televise it because NBC owns exclusive rights to all day games on Saturdays. . . . ABC’s pregame coverage of next Tuesday’s All-Star Game at Houston will begin at 5 p.m., with the game scheduled to start at 5:35. ABC will do something a little different this year. “One thing we can do here that we can’t do during a regular game is talk to the players as they come out of the game,” said Chuck Howard, who will produce the telecast. “Let’s say (Dwight) Gooden has pitched his three innings; we’ll talk to him on what he did, how he felt about facing the American League players. It’s a chance to work around the commercial restraints of a normal telecast (and) to add a dimension. It’s not hoking up the event, either. In golf, I feel it’s extremely intrusive to talk to the golfers as they walk up the fairways to their next shot. We don’t want to be a factor in the outcome or the performance of an athlete in the event.” ABC will use Don Drysdale to do the interviews.

KNX will carry CBS’ radio coverage, which begins at 5:20 p.m. The CBS announcers will be Brent Musburger, Johnny Bench and Jerry Coleman. . . . On Monday night at 8:07, KNX will carry a special hour-long broadcast from Houston on which Musburger, Bench and Coleman will interview current and past All-Stars. . . . For the record: It was reported in this space last week that the Dodger game that was televised on the same day as the World Cup soccer final drew only a 2.4 Nielsen rating. But that figure, picked up from another publication, was in error. The rating was actually an 11.0. Even though the Dodgers are struggling, they are still getting solid ratings. “They’re getting 11s and 12s this season and the lowest rating ever was around a 7,” said Jane Collins of Channel 11’s research department. . . . ABC golf announcers Jim McKay, Jack Whitaker, Dave Marr and Bob Rosburg will warm up for next weekend’s British Open by covering this weekend’s U.S. Women’s Open. Rhonda Glenn and Judy Rankin will also be involved in the coverage of the Women’s Open, which begins at 11:30 a.m. Saturday and at 12:30 p.m. Sunday.