In the Long Run, KCOP’s Coverage Will Go the Distance

Channel 13 will go that extra mile in covering Sunday’s Los Angeles Marathon. KCOP has expanded its live marathon coverage this year from four to five hours.

It will run from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., instead of from 8 to noon, as it did the past four years. The race is scheduled to begin at 8:35 a.m.

“The extra hour will give us a chance to go back into the pack and see how the ordinary runners are doing,” said Rick Feldman, Channel 13 station manager.

“We asked ourselves, ‘Is this a race or an event?’ ” Feldman said. “The answer is, it’s both, and that’s the way we’ll cover it.”

The marathon telecast will be anchored by running expert Larry Rawson of New York, who served as a commentator for the first four L. A. races.

He replaces Barry Tompkins, who had contractual problems. Tompkins is a basketball announcer for ESPN, which wouldn’t allow him to work the marathon because SportsChannel America, a competitor, is sending the Channel 13 feed to its nine regional networks outside Los Angeles.

Lisa Weidenbach, the country’s No. 1-ranked women’s marathoner, replaces Nancy Ditz as one of the commentators.

Ditz, reached at her home in Woodside, Calif., said race organizer Bill Burke didn’t like some of her comments during last year’s telecast.

“The people at KCOP said they were happy with my work, but I heard last fall that Burke was not,” Ditz said. “One thing in particular was my comment about the prize money. I said $4,000 for third place was far below other major marathons.

“It’s kind of ironic. They’ve raised the prize money to where third place is now worth $8,000.”

About not being invited back, Ditz said: “I’m disappointed. I really enjoyed working the event. But I’m sure Lisa Weidenbach will do a wonderful job.”

Another newcomer on the marathon announcing team is Bob Molinatti, who won the wheelchair division of the L. A. Marathon in 1986 and ’88.

Molinatti, paralyzed in a car accident 12 years ago, lost last year by three seconds.

This year’s wheelchair race will begin at 8:15 a.m.

The rest of the announcing team includes George Hirsch, publisher of Runner’s World magazine; running expert Toni Reaves; former world-class distance runner Rod Dixon; Channel 13 anchor Wendy Rutledge, and Channel 13 sportscaster Vic (the Brick) Jacobs.

Hirsch and Rutledge will be at the start and finish lines at the Coliseum, Reaves and Dixon will follow the men’s leader, and Jacobs will again handle the pack-cam.

Channel 13 will have three hours of repeat coverage at 7 p.m. Sunday.

KNX is offering live radio coverage.

A year ago, it appeared as if Jim Hill, popular since the mid-1970s, might be in trouble.

For the February 1989 sweeps period, the ratings for the Sunday night sports wrapup shows on the three network-owned stations were as follows: Channel 4’s Fred Roggin, a 7.7 and 24% share of the audience; Channel 2’s Keith Olbermann, a 4.8 and 15%; and Channel 7’s Hill, a 3.4 and 13%.

But during this February’s sweeps, Hill and Olbermann flip-flopped. Roggin averaged a 7.8 and 22% on Sunday nights during the month; Hill, a 5.0 and 17%; and Olbermann, a 3.7 and 11%.

A source at Channel 2 said that despite the ratings drop for Olbermann, he still is on fairly solid ground.

However, Olbermann, whose contract reportedly expires this summer, seems to be resorting to desperate measures, such as taking potshots at competitors.

Two Sundays ago, he ridiculed the Channel 4 team and last weekend it was Channel 7’s Todd Donoho. On his opening, Olbermann made fun of Donoho’s “Take a Hike” segment, and later said: “The producers of the Keith Olbermann Show say if you want to listen to a whiny, nasal sportscaster, change the dial now.”

And the nightly segment Olbermann calls, “Sports for People Who Don’t Like Sports,” comes across as nothing more than a sarcastic response to someone at the station who has told him he needs to appeal to a wider audience.

On Sunday, Olbermann offered a good, moving commentary on Tony Conigliaro--until the end.

He simply took it one step too far, concluding with: “Much in life we are angered by. Its cruelties sweep nations and peoples, but the story of how this universe teased and tantalized Tony Conigliaro only to punish him for his struggles is as infuriating as any. And it makes one want to rage at an existence that could be so cruel and so relentless.”

It was a classic case of overwriting, something of which Olbermann is often guilty.

Fred Wallin, formerly of KABC Radio, is tentatively scheduled to begin a sports talk show for a 50,000-watt Las Vegas station, KVEG, March 12.

Richard Grisar of Northridge put together a group of investors to purchase the station, which can be heard in 10 Western states. Grisar said the deal was completed Wednesday.

Wallin will be the main host of two sports-talk weeknight segments, one from 5 to 7 and the other from 10 to midnight.

Wallin will work with Joe Salvadore during the first segment and with Peter Vent in the second.

Grisar said the idea is to provide competition for KABC’s Ed (Superfan) Bieler.

More radio sports talk: It appears that Bud Furillo, another former KABC “Sportstalk” host, will soon be moving the show he does with Steve Hartman from KFOX-FM in Redondo Beach to KORG in Orange County.

Furillo, unsuccessful in an attempt to move to KIEV, has Beverly Hills attorney Ed Hookstratten, a longtime friend, working on the KORG deal.

Oops Dept.: Superfan recently referred to USC Coach Larry Smith as Larry Stewart, of all people.

TV-Radio Notes

Human runners will be in the spotlight Sunday morning in the Los Angeles Marathon, and it will be horses later in the day, as Sports-Channel offers live coverage of the Santa Anita Handicap from 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Of course that’s not particularly good news for people who are not SportsChannel subscribers. . . . The Big ‘Cap will be previewed tonight in a one-hour special on KSCI, Channel 18. It will be aired at 6:30, before the regular “Racing From Santa Anita” replay show. Charleye Wright is the host of the special, with Chris McCarron among the guests.

Magic Johnson, a guest of Connie Chung on CBS Saturday night at 10, says he definitely plans to retire when his contract expires in three years and that he’d eventually like to own his own NBA team. . . . Kudos to Channel 4 sports producer Jeff Hoffman for a powerful piece on the effects of steroid use on former pro wrestler Superstar Billy Graham. Graham, at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Burbank, was shown with rods coming out of casts on his legs after surgery on his ankles. Graham said he’d give back all the adulation he got from wrestling and taking steroids if he could get rid if the pain he now feels. Graham said his joints have deteriorated because of steroid use and he’s not sure he’ll be able to walk again.

ESPN has hired Jim Palmer, former ABC commentator, and Tommy Hutton, a one-time Dodger first baseman, as baseball commentators. Hutton was a broadcaster for the New York Yankees the past three seasons and was with Montreal before that. . . . ESPN has already canceled two spring training telecasts because of the baseball lockout. Instead of the Baltimore Orioles and the Yankees on Saturday morning, ESPN will offer live coverage of a stock car race in Rockingham, N.C. And on Thursday morning, instead of a game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals, viewers will get repeat programming, including the 1989 National Old-Timers’ game.

Prime Ticket has bowed to pressure and will televise Tony Tucker’s comeback fight against Mike Evans at the Forum on Thursday night. Prime Ticket had scheduled a women’s softball game between Fresno State and Nevada Las Vegas. But it was pointed out that Tucker was the last guy to dust Buster Douglas, and he also went the distance against Mike Tyson. . . . HBO will replay the Tyson-Douglas fight at 11 a.m. March 11. HBO will be available to all cable homes that weekend, as a free marketing test.