Roggin Should Not Gush for Gold as Dawson Did in ’84

For some, one of the vivid memories of the 1984 Olyimpic Games is of Ted Dawson, the supercharged Channel 7 sportscaster who blew a few fuses during his personal 16 days of non-glory.

Since the people of Los Angeles would be watching the Games on Channel 7, Dawson figured it was his chance to shine. So he gave it his best shot, showing so much enthusiasm--and chauvinism--you figured he would burst at any moment.

As things turned out, Dawson’s best shot was way off the mark. Shortly after the Olympics, he was taken off the 6 and 11 o’clock newscasts and replaced by entertainment reporter Harold Greene.

Dawson was later reinstated as Channel 7’s top sportscaster but eventually was replaced by Jim Hill and quietly went off to work in Dallas.

Now come the 1988 Olympics, which will be on Channel 4 in Los Angeles, and that station’s lead sportscaster, Fred Roggin, says he’ll take his best shot.

“Career-wise, this is my big opportunity, no doubt about it,” Roggin said before departing for Seoul along with about 20 other staff members from Channel 4. “I don’t want to blow it.

“I’ve been preparing like crazy for the Olympics. I want our local telecasts to be network quality.”

Channel 4 will be doing newscasts from Seoul twice nightly, at 9 and 11:30, beginning Saturday night and running through Sept. 30. It’s believed Channel 4 is the first station to originate local newscasts from an Olympic site.

“We’ll be hooked up to our computer system in Los Angeles,” Roggin said. “We’ll still be reporting on the Rams and Raiders and Dodgers, but, of course, the Olympics will dominate our newscasts.

“The half-hours will break down to about a third on Olympic competition, a third on Olympic-related stories and a third on other news, including L.A. sports.”

Roggin said he would shelve his “Hall of Shame” during the Olympics. “No bloopers,” he said. “These athletes have worked a lifetime for this moment. It’s no time to make fun of them.”

Also in Seoul are Channel 4 newscasters Kelly Lange, John Beard, Jess Marlow, Keith Morrison, Colleen Williams, Linda Alvarez and weatherman Fritz Coleman.

The station’s 4 o’clock news shows will originate from Los Angeles, with Bret Lewis handling the sports. Lewis will also narrate special half-hour sports wrap-up shows on Saturday and Sunday nights at midnight during the Games. “Bret’s going to get a lot of exposure, too,” Roggin said. “This is a good opportunity for him, too.”

Roggin’s producers in Seoul will be John Varvi, a station executive who worked in sports during the recent strike by the National Assn. of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, and Nancy Vallenta, another station executive. His regular producers were left home.

Channel 4 is just following NBC’s lead by using non-union technicians in Seoul.

Back in 1986, NBC approached NABET about the number of its members, mostly camera operators and video crews, it would need in Seoul. NBC said it needed 125 union technicians, which was about one-fourth the total needed.

The union, even though it does not have jurisdiction outside the United States, wanted 250 to go to Seoul. NBC, in turn, told the union where to go and began lining up free-lancers. With this ploy, NBC figures to save about $3 million.

On the other hand, the ploy may backfire if NBC has a lot of technical problems.

Olympic notes: NBC’s coverage of tonight’s opening ceremony, live in the East, will be delayed three hours in the West. The coverage will run from 8 p.m. to midnight. . . . Late-afternoon and night-time coverage during the Games, which begin Saturday in Seoul, will all be live in the West, from 4:30 to 9 p.m. and from 9:30 to 11:30 p.m.

Channel 4 will not be the only L.A. station carrying the Olympics. So will Channel 18 (KSCI in San Bernardino), which broadcasts foreign-language programming for Asians living in Southern California, including some 170,000 Koreans. Channel 18 will pick up the Korean television feed, showing it Tuesday through Friday nights, 8:50 to 11.

How soon will an Olympic highlight video be on the market? Possibly as soon as October. Wood Knapp Video, which has offices in New York and Los Angeles, will distribute the video, produced by NBC and priced at $29.95. There will also be six videos on individual sports, priced at $19.95 each. Wood Knapp even put out a pre-Olympic video, which cost $9.95.

ESPN is expanding its weeknight “SportsCenter” shows to accommodate Olympic coverage. CNN is also planning extensive coverage. . . . MTV, through the Armed Forces Television Network, is providing programming for the Olympic Village.

Radio coverage: Orange County radio station KPZE (1190) will provide, via the NBC radio network, nightly coverage during the Games, usually from 7 to 11 p.m. The coverage Saturday night will be preempted by the Cal State Long Beach-UCLA football game. . . . KFWB (980) will be getting frequent periodic reports from NBC radio, beginning at 3 a.m. and continuing through midnight every day. The reports will be no more than 10 minutes apart. . . . KNX (1070) will have its own reporter, Pete Arbogast, in Seoul and will also pick up coverage by CBS radio and Associated Press.

TV-Radio Notes

Since capacity at the Coliseum is 92,488, a sellout in time to lift a television blackout is almost impossible, even when it’s the Rams and Raiders. Sunday’s game will not be shown locally, since only 69,001 tickets had been sold by Thursday’s 1 p.m. deadline. Next-largest stadium in the National Football League is the Pontiac Silverdome with 80,638 seats, or nearly 12,000 fewer than the Coliseum. . . . Pro football Sunday: Denver at Kansas City at 10 a.m. on Channel 4, with Chuck Thompson, former Baltimore Colts announcer, and Joe Namath reporting, and New York Giants at Dallas at 1 p.m. on Channel 2, with Pat Summerall and John Madden. . . . For a regional NBC game that will not be shown here, Houston vs. the New York Jets, the old team of Curt Gowdy and Al DeRogatis is being reunited.

For the second straight weekend, ABC offers an attractive college football doubleheader. It will be Notre Dame-Michigan State at 9 a.m. Saturday, with Gary Bender and Dick Vermeil reporting with Becky Dixon on the sidelines. At 12:30 p.m., it’s Miami-Michigan, with Keith Jackson, Bob Griese and Mike Adamle. . . . The CBS game Saturday at 11:30 a.m. is Florida State at Clemson’s Death Valley, with Brent Musburger, Pat Haden and John Dockery. . . . Add Haden: He probably didn’t endear himself to many kickers when he said last Saturday, while praising Michigan kicker Mike Gillette: “Most kickers I know are wimps and flakes.”

Saturday night’s UCLA-Cal State Long Beach game will be televised live at 7 by Prime Ticket. . . . Z Channel will carry two Notre Dame football games, Oct. 22 against Air Force and Oct. 29 against Navy. . . . Former Raider coach Tom Flores has been hired as a football commentator by the Pacific 10 and Prime Ticket, which will carry a nine-game Pac-10 football package, beginning Oct. 1 with USC at Arizona. The second game in the package is Oregon State at UCLA Oct. 8. The play-by-play announcer will be Geoff Witcher.

Angel Manager Cookie Rojas will be Bob Rowe’s guest on “Angel Talk” on KMPC after tonight’s game against the Texas Rangers. Rojas will take calls from listeners. . . . ESPN has hired Bob Carpenter, a Ranger TV announcer, as a college football play-by-play announcer. Carpenter has also worked for the USA network.

Chick Hearn will be inducted into the Los Angeles Athletic Club’s Hall of Fame Sept. 29. At the same time, the club will honor the Lakers, who will leave for Hawaii the next day. Last year’s inductee was also a broadcaster, Vin Scully. . . . Add Athletic Club: Musburger and NBC’s Bob Costas have been added to the 25-member national advisory board for the club’s John R. Wooden Award. Other broadcasters already on the board include Dick Enberg and Al McGuire of NBC, Billy Packer and Verne Lundquist of CBS, and Dick Vitale of ABC and ESPN.