Loyola Ran Up Some Big Numbers on TV, Too

It was a story that captivated a city, if not the country.

Little Loyola Marymount, which has trouble even getting on television and doesn’t have a regular radio station for its basketball broadcasts, became an overnight prime-time hit.

The Lions’ NCAA tournament game against Alabama Friday night, televised on Channel 2, got an L.A. Nielsen rating of 12.0, more than double the 5.5 the Lakers and Clippers drew on Channel 5 the same night.

And the Lions’ game against Nevada Las Vegas Sunday got an 11.8 and an impressive 33% share of the audience.

Other weekend NCAA tournament ratings: 5.1 for Duke-Connecticut and 6.6 for Arkansas-Texas on Saturday, and 7.7 for Georgia Tech-Minnesota on Sunday.

CBS, after a good night on Thursday, irritated many Los Angeles viewers Friday night by ignoring most of the second half of an exciting UNLV-Ball State game.

The network, which decides which region gets which games, got into a bind when it switched to the nip-and-tuck Georgia Tech-Michigan State game, and got into more of a bind when that game went into overtime.

CBS appeared to be doing the right thing when it switched to Georgia Tech-Michigan State, but it did the wrong thing by not switching back to UNLV-Ball State for at least some updates.

Actually, that game probably had more interest in Los Angeles than Georgia Tech-Michigan State, anyway.

The week before, CBS didn’t leave a lopsided Michigan State-UC Santa Barbara game in favor of showing North Carolina’s stunning upset of Oklahoma because, the network said, UCSB is a Southern California team.

But UNLV probably has a bigger following in Southern California than UCSB. And considering that the winner between UNLV and Ball State would face Loyola, CBS should have made sure Los Angeles got more news of that game.

An often-heard complaint about CBS’ coverage of the tournament is that the announcers hardly ever give the score, and the graphics people are lax about putting it on the screen. It should be shown after every basket. It only takes a second.

It’s such a simple thing, yet the network just can’t seem to get it right.

On the other hand, there are no complaints about the job the announcers on Loyola’s campus FM station, KXLU, did during the tournament.

Those listening to KXLU, which for a campus station has a pretty strong signal, got the score after every basket.

Play-by-play man Keith Forman, commentator Brian Berger and Eric Johnson, the halftime host, are college students, but their work was very professional.

Forman, a junior, was especially outstanding, outshining a lot of big-time network announcers.

Forman’s father, by the way, is Dr. Steve Forman of San Marino, the head of the hematology department at the City of Hope in Duarte.

From here on, it’s relatively simple for CBS: Two games at one site on Saturday, then the title game Monday night.

The first semifinal, Duke vs. Arkansas, will be shown at 2:30 p.m., with UNLV-Georgia Tech to follow.

Brent Musburger and Billy Packer will work both of those games, as well as the championship game.

KLAC announced Monday it will carry CBS Radio’s coverage of the semifinals and final.

TV-Radio Notes

ESPN has announced its schedule for baseball’s opening day, April 9. At 11:30 a.m., it will televise the Baltimore Orioles at the Kansas City Royals, then, in areas outside Southern California, it will join the San Diego Padres-Dodgers game at Dodger Stadium. That game must be blacked out in Los Angeles because SportsChannel is showing the game here. The nightcap on ESPN April 9 at 5:30 p.m. will be the Toronto Blue Jays at the Texas Rangers.

ESPN has also set the remainder of its spring training schedule. It’s the New York Yankees vs. the New York Mets today at 4:30 p.m., Kansas City vs. the Houston Astros Thursday at 4:30 p.m., the Dodgers vs. the Atlanta Braves at West Palm Beach, Fla., Monday at 10 a.m., Texas vs. the Chicago White Sox on April 4 at 4 p.m., and a doubleheader, the Montreal Expos vs. the Minnesota Twins (5 p.m.) and the Oakland A’s vs. the San Francisco Giants (7:30) on April 6.

ABC has announced a deal with Don Ohlmeyer Communications and Trans World International to televise the Skins Game, the Senior Skins Game and a new event, the LPGA Skins Game. NBC previously did the Skins Game and Senior Skins Game. The next Skins Game will be on Nov. 24-25 at PGA West in La Quinta; the next Senior Skins Game will be on Jan. 26-27, Super Bowl weekend, on Maui, and the first LPGA Skins Game will be on May 25-26, 1991, in Frisco, Tex.