KNBC Gives Roggin New Contract, Doubles His Salary

The latest piece of news during a busy week in TV sports is that Fred Roggin, according to a source, has agreed to a new long-term contract with KNBC, Channel 4, that will double his salary from about $350,000 to about $700,000.

Roggin’s contract wasn’t due to expire until June of next year, but Channel 4, in order to keep its lead sportscaster from possibly going to another station in town, gave Roggin a new contract, the source said. Both Channel 2 and Channel 7 had been rumored to be after Roggin.

It was also learned that Roggin met with NBC Sports bosses Dick Ebersol and Terry O’Neil Thursday morning to discuss possible network assignments and that things went well.

Some might wonder if Bob Costas was behind the move that resulted in O.J. Simpson replacing Ahmad Rashad on NBC’s “NFL Live” next fall. Costas and Rashad have had their differences in the past.

Costas, at a March of Dimes benefit in New York last year, introduced a number of NFL Hall of Famers, then introduced Rashad by saying, “And here’s someone who will never make anybody’s Hall of Fame.”

Rashad thought the comment was out of place, and let Costas know it.

In his book, Rashad generally praised Costas, but TV Guide pulled out some negative excerpts in which Rashad criticized Costas for, among other things, being too cutesy.

That put more strain on their relationship, but colleagues say the two have gotten along very well recently and that Costas wanted Rashad to remain on the show.

It reportedly was Rashad’s decision to switch to game commentating.

NBC’s Ebersol and O’Neil are convinced that Simpson will do better in the studio than he did as a commentator.

Now the pressure is on Simpson to come through.

Simpson, by the way, worked as a commentator for NBC from 1978 through ’82 before joining ABC’s “Monday Night Football.”

ABC dropped Simpson after the 1985 season.

At least, NBC hasn’t hired former President Ronald Reagan.

It’s amazing that Reagan couldn’t handle last Tuesday’s All-Star guest appearance any better than he did.

A little over six months ago, this man was running our country.

One of Reagan’s people who obviously knows nothing about sports asked if the former President’s appearance could be pre-taped and edited.

It was explained to the aide that that would be pretty difficult to do on a live event.

But in retrospect, maybe Reagan should have been taped. It’s obvious he doesn’t do well without a script.

A class guy: When a San Francisco TV station, KGO, reported last Monday night that Bill Walsh would replace Merlin Olsen as NBC’s No. 1 commentator, Ebersol and O’Neil, both in Anaheim for the All-Star game, called Olsen immediately and said they were on their way to his home in San Marino to talk to him.

Olsen, however, said he would meet them halfway--at a restaurant in Commerce. It was there he told them that he was a team player and would accept a lesser position.

So Olsen will work with Charlie Jones instead of Dick Enberg. That’s good news for Jones, since he and Olsen are good friends and business partners in a La Jolla production company called C&M.;

Secret audition: On June 24, Dick Enberg flew from London, where he had begun covering Wimbledon, to New York and went to Stamford, Conn., to do an audition with Walsh.

Why Stamford? Because the studio there is used by the World Wrestling Federation, and all kinds of people are in and out of there. The thinking was that no one would pay much attention to Walsh and Enberg.

NBC wanted the audition to be secret for a couple of reasons. One, had things not gone well, then no one would have been the wiser. And if things did go well and Walsh accepted the job, as he did, NBC wanted to save the announcement for a major press conference itwill hold in Los Angeles this weekend.

But KGO apparently got wind of what was going on from its weather reporter, a woman who reportedly is a close friend of Walsh’s.

Of Walsh’s audition, O’Neil was quoted as saying: “He was just sensational. He said things that we have never heard an analyst say before. . . . He took a complex matter and made it understandable in the most difficult circumstances.”

Recommended viewing: Roy Firestone is the host, producer and writer of a one-hour syndicated show, “Mike Tyson: the People’s Champion,” that will be on Channel 2 Saturday at 5 p.m.

“You’ll see a different side of Tyson,” Firestone said, “a more positive side. We stayed away from Robin Givens and some of the negative aspects of his past and concentrated on things like his working with retarded children.”

The guests include Eddie Murphy, Chevy Chase, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Don King, Arsenio Hall, Donald Trump, Larry Merchant and Larry King.

ESPN is getting close to selecting its baseball announcers for next year, and Chris Berman is one play-by-play possibility. He says he’d love to do it.

The only bad part--for viewers, not for Berman--is it would take him out of the studio, where he is excellent. He’s glib, knowledgeable, humorous and comes across as a regular guy. And he’s the same guy off the air as on.

Berman probably would be a very good play-by-play announcer. Wonder if ESPN would let him use his nicknames?

A dreamy idea: ESPN this week announced plans for a new show, “Dream Season,” which will begin an eight-week run Sept. 3.

The series, produced by NFL Films, will, through some imaginative editing, show old teams playing current teams in fantasy games.

For example, the first week the 1985 Chicago Bears take on the 1977 Dallas Cowboys. The winner, predetermined by a computer, is a well-guarded secret.

Steve Sabol, president of NFL Films, showed a group of television writers a tape of the show this week, and it was amazing. Imagine seeing Refrigerator Perry sacking Roger Staubach. He doesn’t really, but it almost looks like it.

Each one-hour show will feature one fantasy game, plus highlights from other fantasy games as well as pre- and post-game shows, and halftime highlights.

Sabol and Merrill Reese, the voice of the Philadelphia Eagles, will call the action, with Berman handling the halftime highlights.

The eight-week season will conclude Oct. 29 with a “Dream Bowl,” in which a champion will be crowned.

TV-Radio Notes

Turner Broadcasting announced this week that since the Turner Television Network, TNT, now reaches more than 30 million households, Turner’s National Basketball Assn. package will switch from TBS to TNT next season.

Take away the Angels from the new SportsChannel and you don’t have much, certainly not enough to warrant a $10-$14 monthly fee, which some cable companies are still asking. . . . Prime Ticket, a basic service that is provided to cable subscribers at no additional cost, this week announced a major deal with Tri-Crown Productions. The result will be four one-hour specials and 11 half-hour specials on the Lakers and Kings and other programming for later this year.

Joel Meyers did a nice job filling in on KMPC last Sunday for Angel announcer Al Conin, who took his birthday off. Meyers worked very well with Ken Brett, getting more opinions and comments out of him than Conin does. Conin always seems more concerned with his voice inflections than he does with what he says or what he gets Brett to say.

Texas’ Nolan Ryan (10-4) faces Cleveland’s Greg Swindell (11-2) Saturday, but of course NBC won’t show it. Instead, the NBC Game of the Week in most of the country, including Los Angeles, will be the Kansas City Royals playing the Yankees in New York. The rest of the country gets Boston-Minnesota. . . . Showtime offers a good fight, Evander Holyfield vs. Brazilian Adilson Rodrigues, Saturday night at 7 from Caesars Tahoe. KALI (1430) will carry the Spanish-language broadcast. . . . It’s a shame that no Los Angeles radio station is carrying Bob Costas’ excellent syndicated Sunday night show, “Costas: Coast to Coast,” now that KFI has dropped it. KLAC is considering picking it up.