Arbogast Sounds Like a Good Call as Kelly’s Successor

USC and flagship radio station KNX, had there been more time, might have conducted a nationwide search to replace Tom Kelly, a legend of sorts who has been announcing USC football on either radio or television since 1961.

Kelly will still be announcing USC football, but now on cable television for Prime Ticket.

Kelly, dubbed Harry Hysterical by KMPC’s Jim Healy, is sometimes criticized for being too biased toward USC. He’s known to get more than a little upset when an official’s call goes against the Trojans.

But Kelly, no question, had developed a following over the years, and when he left KNX for Prime Ticket last month, replacing him figured to be difficult. But the station had to look no farther than its own newsroom.

Working there was sports reporter Pete Arbogast, a life-long USC fan who also had play-by-play experience, although not on a big-time scale.

Arbogast was the Clippers’ backup announcer and had also done some high school sports and USC women’s basketball.

Before hooking on at KNX in 1983, he had worked in smaller markets, in Victorville and Porterville.

He had called such Tulare County biggies as Lindsay High School against Strathmore High School for KTIP in Porterville in the early 1980s.

Did that qualify him for such a high-profile job as the radio voice of USC football? Some didn’t think so.

But Arbogast would appear to be proving those doubters wrong. He did a nice job on Labor Day, calling the Trojans’ opener against Illinois.

Arbogast has a pleasant voice, was well prepared, well informed, smooth, surprisingly relaxed, technically sound and objective. He worked well with commentator Fred Gallagher, too.

There were a few cliches: “Discretion is the better part of valor,” and “The Trojans were up to the task.”

But overall, considering it was his first big assignment, Arbogast, on a scale of 10, turned in a 9.9.

UCLA and KMPC, before deciding on Paul Olden as Joel Meyers’ replacement as the voice of the Bruins, came close to selecting Joe Buttitta, the voice of Cal State Northridge.

Word is that UCLA wanted Buttitta, who used to do delayed Bruin telecasts for Channel 5, but KMPC, and Jackie Autry in particular, did not. Buttitta was fired as Angel TV announcer after the 1984 season. That might have been a factor.

Another finalist for the UCLA job was Cal State Fullerton announcer John Rebenstorf. A KMPC source said he scored high for football but not as high for basketball.

Working against Olden, who is in his first season as an announcer with the Cleveland Indians, was that he was not immediately available.

But KMPC got Bob Starr to agree to double up and do both the Bruins and Rams this football season, paving the way for Olden, who is returning to his hometown in time for the basketball season.

Olden, 34, a Dorsey High School graduate, used to work with Healy at KLAC in the late 1970s.

These days, Healy, besides doing his 5:30 p.m. weekday show for KMPC, is also the station’s sports director. So he had a say in the hiring of Olden.

Incidentally, a KMPC press release regarding Starr’s UCLA assignment last week identified Bob Steinbrinck as the station’s news and sports director.

Healy called to set the record straight, saying he is the sports director and Steinbrinck the news director. Steve Bailey is executive sports producer.

New shows: In June, more than 1,500 people turned out at a park near Universal Studios to try out for a new television show, “American Gladiators.” They were put through exhaustive physical tests.

Similar tryouts were held in other major cities.

In all, 20 people--10 men and 10 women--were selected for the show.

From the Los Angeles tryout came seven, including Joanna Needham, a motorcycle cop in the L.A. Police Department, and Terry Moore, a former UCLA linebacker.

Of his tryout, Moore said, “It was the toughest thing I’ve ever done.”

Needham, Moore and the others were at Universal Studios a few weeks ago to tape the show.

Playing games called such things as breakthrough and conquer, human cannonball, eliminator, joust, assault and powerball, they faced three men and three women hired to play gladiators named, for the sake of show business, Gemini, Nitro and Malibu; Lace, Sunny and Zap.

Describing powerball, a game in which a competitor attempts to drop balls into a container while gladiators attempt to stop him any way they can, Moore said: “It’s like playing football without pads.”

He had the bruises to prove it.

The heavily publicized, nationally syndicated show makes its debut Saturday. In Los Angeles, it will be carried by Channel 9 at 10 p.m.

The show, maybe unfairly, has been grouped with another new syndicated show, “RollerGames,” a high-tech version of Roller Derby complete with a pitful of live alligators, the wall of death and the jet jump.

The two-hour premiere of “RollerGames,” taped at the Super Roller Dome in San Pedro, will be shown on Channel 5 Tuesday at 8 p.m.

Television trade publications have been calling the two shows “crash TV,” a derivative of trash sports, such as the old “The Battle of Network Stars,” and trash TV, such as “Morton Downey Jr.”

Chuck Howard, former award-winning sports producer for ABC who is the executive producer of “American Gladiators,” said: “I don’t know exactly what crash TV is supposed to mean, but what I think has been lost is that we have outstanding athletes, selected in a nationwide search, in legitimate athletic competition.

“The only thing is, they are playing games people are not familiar with.”

Mike Adamle, co-host of the show with Joe Theismann, said: “I think if you told any of the competitors this is a phony show, they’d take your head off.”

Said Moore, 27, an All-American prep player in St. Louis: “I was just as nervous before this competition as I was before any football game.”

TV-Radio Notes

Joel Meyers, who left KMPC for NBC, makes his pro football announcing debut with the network Sunday, and his game, Seattle at Philadelphia, will be carried by Channel 4 at 1 p.m. Meyers’ partner is Paul Maguire. . . . The early National Football League game Sunday will be the Rams at Atlanta, with Steve Zabriskie and Terry Bradshaw. Verne Lundquist is Bradshaw’s regular partner, but this weekend Lundquist will be paired with John Madden because Pat Summerall is at the U.S. Open tennis tournament. Zabriskie is an announcer for the New York Mets.

A new sports magazine show, “InSport” makes its debut on Channel 4 Sunday at 12:30 p.m. The show switches to Saturdays at 4 p.m. Sept. 23. Ahmad Rashad is a co-host and also produces the half-hour syndicated show. Cleveland news anchorman Robin Swoboda is the other host. . . . Channel 7 televises a one-hour special tonight at 7, “Football ‘89,” in which sportscasters Jim Hill, Rick Lozano and Todd Donoho look at the Rams, Raiders, USC and UCLA. . . . Looking ahead: This season’s Super Bowl will be played Jan. 28 at the Louisiana Superdome, beginning at 2 p.m., PST. CBS will televise it.

Oops Department, and this was bound to happen: KNX’s Fred Gallagher, reporting that the Rams had reached agreement with rookie Cleveland Gary, called him Gary Cleveland. Coincidentally, during the USC-Illinois broadcast earlier in the week, Gallagher, on a punt return, referred to the Trojans’ Scott Lockwood as Gary Lockwood.