Lakers Aren’t Only Winners When She Is Calling the Shots

That a woman produces and directs Laker telecasts is hardly news. It’s now common for women to work in sports television.

What’s unique about Susan Stratton is that she has been doing it for 12 seasons, and doing it well.

Says Chick Hearn: “No one in the country is better at directing basketball telecasts.”

Yes, Stratton and Hearn really do get along.

The public perception might be that there’s friction between them because Hearn is probably the only play-by-play announcer in the country who admonishes his director on the air.

“Susan, where is that relay?” he’ll say, or something similar.

A lot of directors wouldn’t like that.

Stratton doesn’t, either, but she tolerates it. She says she worked with a couple of demanding producers when she first got into the television business in Washington, D.C., and that helped toughen her up.

Actually, it’s rare these days to hear Hearn say anything to Stratton while on the air.

“I think it’s just a case of the two of us working together for so long now that I know what he wants without him having to tell me,” Stratton said.

Both Stratton and Hearn admit, however, that they have had their arguments.

“We still do,” Hearn said.

But the key to their relationship is that each makes the other look good.

“Chick has saved me a lot more than I’ve saved him,” Stratton said.

“I have an honest relationship with Chick. That’s the secret to getting along with him.

“He’s an Irishman, there’s no doubt about that. But what most people don’t know about him is that he is a very caring man.”

It also helps that Stratton has the kind of personality she does, bubbly. She laughs a lot and is very upbeat.

A few weeks ago, Stratton called The Times and left a message. A colleague who took the message said, “She doesn’t sound like you’d expect her to sound.”

No, she doesn’t.

It’s a little hard to envision her barking out, “Go to Camera 1. Camera 2, zoom in on Magic. We’re coming to you.”

Said Hearn: “She’s often dealing with all-male crews, and with different people in every city. She handles herself very well. She’s gets the most out of her crews.”

Hearn also said, “She is the hardest working person I know.”

An example: After directing coverage of the fights at the Forum for Prime Ticket last Monday night, she returned to the studios at Channel 9 and, until 4:30 a.m., worked on a halftime piece for the Laker game Wednesday night at Portland.

One thing Hearn has done for Stratton, whether she likes it or not, is make her the best-known sports producer-director in Los Angeles.

Just about anyone who watches the Lakers on Channel 9 or Prime Ticket has heard of Susan Stratton.

She both produces and directs the away games for Channel 9, her full-time employer, and she directs the home games for Prime Ticket as a free-lancer.

Occasionally when there is a shared feed, as was the case Wednesday night, she only produces the Channel 9 telecasts.

She describes her roles this way: “If a telecast were a boat, the producer makes sure all the supplies are on board and the director then steers the boat.”

At a luncheon June 9 at the Century Plaza Hotel, Stratton will receive a Crystal Award from the Women in Film organization for excellence in the entertainment industry. Dawn Steel, president of Columbia Pictures, and actress Fay Wray will also be honored.

Stratton grew up in New Jersey. Her mother was an all-state basketball player and her father a high school principal and basketball coach there.

Like Hearn, Stratton doesn’t like to reveal her age, but she went to Penn State in the early 1960s.

She came to Los Angeles from Washington in 1972 when her husband Dick was hired as a producer by Channel 11. Dick, coincidentally, looks like he could be Hearn’s younger brother. Anyway, Susan did some free-lance directing for Channel 11. One of her first assignments was a women’s professional football game. Really.

Anyone remember the Los Angeles Dandelions?

The most memorable thing about the Dandelion telecast was that Edy Williams was one of the commentators and showed up for the assignment wearing a bikini top and hot pants.

Stratton went to work for Channel 9 in 1973, and, among other things, directed some Ram exhibition games as well as the weekly “Chuck Knox Show.”

She was given the Laker assignment in 1977.

“It was just something I wanted to do,” she said. “I’m not a pioneer or anything like that. My being a woman had nothing to do with it.”

Hearn’s reaction to a woman getting the job?

“My only concern was, could she do the job?” he said. “She had directed sports before, but had never directed a pro basketball game.

“We had a meeting, a long meeting. I told her what I liked to see in a telecast. For instance, I didn’t want to see a lot of camera switching during live action because that would disorient the viewer.”

Because of her lack of experience, Hearn decided to help her out a little. So he would talk to her while on the air.

“It’s no secret that there’s a director calling the shots. So why not talk to her? All we’re trying to do is put on as good a telecast as possible.”

TV-Radio Notes

Todd Donoho said he will join the Channel 7 sports staff in early July, or earlier if he gets permission from his current employer, FNN/SCORE. Donoho is best known for his excellent “Time Out for Trivia” show, which he started in 1985. Might Channel 7 pick up the show? “There’s no plans for that now, but I’d love it if they did,” Donoho said. “I think if we put ‘Time Out for Trivia’ up against Fred Roggin on Sunday nights we’d win.” Said Channel 4’s Roggin: “Bring him on. Let’s step up to the plate.”

Recommended viewing: Channel 9 will televise a tribute to Magic Johnson, “Ten Years of Magic,” Saturday night from 7 to 8. Of particular interest is a segment in which Johnson talks about his 8-year-old son Andre, a son who up until now he hasn’t talked a lot about. “I didn’t want to put him under a lot of pressure,” Johnson says. “But now it’s cool.” Roy Firestone is the host of the special, Ted Green the producer.

CBS will televise Game 1 of the Golden State-Phoenix playoff series Saturday at 12:30, with Verne Lundquist and Tom Heinsohn reporting. A Sunday doubleheader won’t be set until after tonight’s games. If Seattle beats Houston and plays the Lakers Sunday, the announcers for that game will be Greg Gumbel and Quinn Buckner, who were disappointing during last Sunday’s Laker-Portland game. Gumbel, a fine sports anchor, lacks polish as a play-by-play announcer. . . . CBS is using Andrea Joyce as a reporter during the NBA playoffs. Formerly with ESPN, she is now a sports anchor for the Madison Square Garden cable network.

The big event this weekend is the Kentucky Derby. ESPN will have a preview at 11:30 a.m., and ABC’s 1 1/2 hours of live coverage begins at 1:30 p.m. The race is scheduled to go about 2:35 p.m. . . . Hockey fans aren’t pleased with what Z Channel is doing with their sport, delaying games until after Dodger and Angel telecasts. Tonight’s Montreal-Philadelphia game won’t be on until after the Dodgers and Cubs. The Stanley Cup championship series begins May 17, and five of the possible seven games will be delayed.

Wayne Gretzky will be the host of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” May 13. Also appearing will be the rock group, Fine Young Cannibals. . . . The Thomas Hearns-Sugar Ray Leonard pay-per-view telecast June 12 is priced at $34.95, which goes to $39.95 the day of the fight. . . . A reminder: Robbie Knievel’s jump over the fountains at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas will be shown on ESPN Saturday at 6 p.m.

Tour de Trump, a 10-day, 837-mile bicycle race beginning in Albany, N.Y., and finishing in Atlantic City, N.J., begins today, and ESPN will have a one-hour show tonight at 6. NBC will have two hours of delayed coverage Sunday at 1 p.m. . . . Boxing is the topic of a syndicated special, “The Other Side of Victory,” on Channel 4 Sunday at 11 a.m. Arthur Ashe is the host of the half-hour show, which is highlighted by an interview with Muhammad Ali.