Marathon Coverage Should Run More Smoothly This Year

A year ago, Channel 13 stumbled through the second Los Angeles Marathon. The station’s communications system malfunctioned, some other problems arose and the result was a telecast with more rough spots than the Pasadena Freeway.

To the station’s credit, it has taken steps to improve this year’s coverage, which will begin at 8 a.m. Sunday, an hour before the start of the race, and continue until noon.

For one thing, there is a new communications system. For another, there will be a camera following the pack behind the leader or leaders, something that was desperately needed last year when winner Art Boileau ran off and left everyone else.

There are also new announcers. Barry Tompkins, a nationally known broadcaster, will anchor the coverage. He will work with Nancy Ditz, the women’s winner of the first two L.A. Marathons, who is not running this year because of next month’s Olympic Trials, and expert Larry Rawson, a returnee from last year.

Also involved in the coverage will be Channel 13’s Mike Chamberlin, Tim Malloy and Wendy Rutledge, plus Boston Globe running reporter Toni Reaves.

Also new will be five spotters riding in motorcycle sidecars with communications equipment. Two of the spotters will be Bill Frank, Channel 13 general manager, and Rick Feldman, the station manager.

“If we need a high-level decision immediately, we won’t have to go far to get it,” producer Phil Olsman said.

Add marathon: Channel 13 is offering a half-hour preview tonight at 10:30 and an hour wrap-up Sunday at 8 p.m.

KNX is providing extensive radio coverage of the race, beginning with prerace reports at 7 a.m. Sunday. Barry Rhode and Keith Olbermann will anchor the broadcasts. Gil Stratton will report from the lead truck. Gary Clark, Boyd Harvey and Pete Arbogast will report along the route, and Bob Tur will be overhead in KNX Chopper 1070.

KNX reporter Bob Scott is one of the entrants and will report during the race.

HBO will announce Monday at a press conference in New York that it has hired Jim Lampley to replace Tompkins as its announcer on boxing and Wimbledon tennis, as reported by The Times Wednesday.

Tompkins and HBO had an amiable parting of the ways. Tompkins’ contract with HBO was fairly restrictive, and he wanted to be free to do more work. HBO, on the other hand, didn’t make any great effort to keep Tompkins, who had another year left on his contract.

The announcing team of Tompkins, Larry Merchant and Sugar Ray Leonard on boxing was a good one, and Tompkins was an asset to HBO, for whom he had worked since 1979.

Lampley, a CBS employee, is able to announce boxing and tennis for HBO because he doesn’t do those sports for CBS.

Lampley’s first HBO assignment will be the Mike Tyson-Tony Tubbs fight at Tokyo, scheduled to be televised Sunday, March 20. If Tubbs is deemed overweight, which is a possibility, Jose Ribalta will be the opponent.

The Madison Square Garden cable network, seen in most of the country but not in Southern California, is planning to start a half-hour sports news program, similar to ESPN’s “SportsCenter.” A candidate to serve as host is L.A.’s Olbermann.

The show, to be called “MSG Sports Desk,” was originally scheduled to go on the air April 4, but the new starting date is sometime in October.

It’s known that Olbermann has been job-hunting for some time. His contract with Channel 5 expires Sept. 1.

Channel 5, however, doesn’t want to see him go. Jeff Wald, the station’s news director, said: “We like Keith because he is different and he isn’t a glad-hander. We will do everything in our power to keep him.”

There was talk of Olbermann going to Channel 2 as a weekend sports anchor, but that station gave Tony Hernandez a new four-year contract, killing that rumor. Another one had Olbermann going to ESPN.

Add Olbermann: Occasionally, he does something pretty clever, such as when he ripped ABC for its “live/delayed” Winter Olympic coverage.

But he usually misses, and he hit an all-time low last week when his teaser for a sports segment on Katarina Witt and her flamboyant outfit was, “Harlot on ice.”

Another dig: Peggy Fleming came up with one of ABC’s many low points during the Winter Olympics when, after Debi Thomas’ short program, she apparently failed to notice that Thomas’ coach, Alex McGowan, had held his nose and gestured with his hands after seeing the judge’s marks, which he thought stunk.

But Fleming didn’t ask McGowan for a comment. Instead, she gave Thomas a hug. Imagine Irv Cross hugging losing quarterbacks.

Merlin Olsen’s new series, “Aaron’s Way,” will make its debut on NBC next Wednesday night at 8. Olsen plays an Amish farmer, Aaron Miller, who moves his family to Northern California’s wine country.

Olsen said that if the show is successful, he plans to cut down on his work as a football commentator. “I wouldn’t cut it out altogether,” he said. “I would at least work the games during the Olympics. But I would cut back.”

If the show isn’t picked up for another season, Olsen says he’ll go to Seoul, South Korea, to be part of NBC’s Olympic coverage and will continue as Dick Enberg’s broadcasting partner on football.

Add Seoul: Unlike ABC’s Winter Games coverage, NBC’s prime-time Summer Olympic coverage will be live on the West Coast. It will run from 4:30 to 9 p.m.

After a half-hour break for local news, the late-night wrap-up show will be live from 9:30 to 11:30 p.m.

Early morning coverage, however, will be delayed three hours, running from 7 to 10 a.m. Weekday afternoon coverage, from 2:30 to 3:30, will be delayed 1 1/2 hours on the West Coast.

TV-Radio Notes

ABC ended up averaging a 19.3 national Nielsen rating and a 30 share for its prime-time Winter Olympic coverage, which are considerably higher than the numbers its normal prime-time programming gets. The network reportedly guaranteed a 21.5 rating to sponsors, but a 19.3 probably is close enough. . . . The Santa Anita Handicap will be previewed in a one-hour special tonight at 8 on Channel 56. Jockey Laffit Pincay, breeder Tom Gentry and racing authority Lou Eilken will discuss Sunday’s race, as well as past Big ‘Caps.

The USA cable network is televising the Newsweek Champions Cup tennis tournament at the Grand Champions Tennis Stadium in Indian Wells this weekend. Delayed coverage will begin at 3 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday. The announcers will be Donald Dell and John Barrett. Popular Mary Carillo, formerly with USA, is now with ESPN. . . . Add Indian Wells: ABC is televising the Vintage Chrysler Invitational seniors golf tournament at the Vintage Club in Indian Wells. Delayed coverage Saturday will begin at 1 p.m. Sunday’s coverage will be live at 11 a.m.