Hill Is Leaving Channel 2, Will See Double Duty for ABC Sports and Channel 7

Channel 7 will announce at a press conference today that it has hired sportscaster Jim Hill away from Channel 2.

Besides doing sports reports for ABC-owned Channel 7, Hill, as part of a separate deal, will work for ABC Sports. A source said that Hill will be the host of ABC’s college football scoreboard shows on Saturdays this fall, a position that became available when Jim Lampley and ABC parted company recently. And he will also be involved in ABC’s coverage of the 1988 Winter Olympics.

The Times reported Friday that Channel 7 offered Hill an $800,000 annual salary, although Hill’s agent, Ed Hookstratten, has said that figure is high. Channel 2 was offering $600,000 to re-sign Hill.

Hookstratten said Monday the Channel 7 deal won’t be completed until this morning. “We just have a few loose ends to tie up,” he said.

Hill was scheduled to work NFL games for CBS this fall with new commentator Ken Stabler but that deal is now off.

Ted Dawson, Channel 7’s No. 1 sportscaster, said the news of the Hill deal caught him by surprise, even though it had been rumored for some time.

“I was always told there was nothing to those rumors, so yes, I’m very surprised,” Dawson said.

About his status now at Channel 7, Dawson said: “I really don’t know. I guess I’ll find out tomorrow (Tuesday).”

Dawson said he had not been invited to the press conference.

Today’s announcement follows a series of meetings over the weekend between Hill, Hookstratten, and Channel 7’s general manager, John Severino.

Hill has been at Channel 2 since 1976. Before that he was at Channel 10 in San Diego.

Hill is a former professional football player. The San Diego Chargers drafted Hill, a defensive back from Texas A&I;, in the first round in 1968. He later got a job as a sportscaster at San Diego’s Channel 39, an independent station at the time, and eventually wound up at Channel 10, an ABC affiliate.

He continued to work for Channel 10 during the off-season after he was traded by the Chargers to Green Bay in 1972, He was traded to Cleveland in 1975, then quit football before the 1976 season.