Hill Works Harder, Keeps the Faith and Rebounds in Ratings

In an era when off-beat comedy and gimmicks seem to dominate local sportscasts, Jim Hill has shown there still is room for those who play it straight.

The last couple of years, it appeared that Hill had been victimized by the trend toward shtick.

Hill, who went from Channel 2 to Channel 7 in 1987, also went from No. 1 in the local ratings to No. 3.

But he has made a comeback.

According to Nielsen ratings from the May sweeps period, Hill has caught Channel 2’s Keith Olbermann and narrowed the gap on Channel 4’s Fred Roggin.

And the ratings for Channel 7’s 5 and 6 o’clock news, with Hill, fared better against the competition--placing first and second, respectively--than the station’s 11 o’clock news, without Hill.

Channel 7’s 11 o’clock news finished behind Channel 4’s news and Channel 5’s “Cheers” reruns.

Besides making a comeback in the ratings, Hill has also battled back from criticism here and elsewhere, and from a rough go at the ABC network level.

“I just started working harder,” he said the other night. “Some people might have said, ‘To heck with it,’ and worked less. But that’s not me. I don’t give up.”

Working harder didn’t mean just putting in more time. Hill has always put in a lot of hours.

“I began spending more time evaluating how I did things,” he said. “I put more thought into it.”

Now, his shows are crisper, the live interviews shorter and more pertinent.

There were also accusations that Hill, despite good intentions, had failed to fulfill certain community commitments.

No one ever accused Hill of not being community minded. The criticism was that he didn’t do everything he said he would do.

“I’ve always had trouble saying no,” he said. “I would tell people, ‘Sure, I’d like to do that.’ They’d take that as a yes.

“After (the criticism), friends offered a lot of advice. I’d always been good at giving advice, but not so good at taking it. But I started listening.”

One of those friends was Alescia Buford, the wife of former Baltimore Oriole Don Buford who has a public relations business in Sherman Oaks.

“What Alescia told me was, ‘You need someone like me to handle your public-service activities.’ She was right. Now she takes care of those things, and she’s been great.”

Said Buford: “He really does do a lot, maybe two or three things a week. One day he did a parade in the morning, a lunch, then a dinner.”

Buford said he not only donates time, but money, too.

“Everything has worked out very well,” she said. “We got him to get a fax machine, and we stay on him.”

Hill said he often visits schools in central Los Angeles to talk with kids.

“I realize I can be a role model,” he said. “I can show them that, hey, I got out and made it, so can they.

“Sometimes I’ll tell teachers to leave the auditorium, and I’ll get down and talk their talk. That’s one way to reach these kids.

“Most of them aren’t bad kids. They just want a chance.”

Two years ago, Hill bought a table at a Magic Johnson dinner at the Century Plaza Hotel and invited a couple of members of the Crips and another couple from the Bloods.

“Those kids sat together and had the time of their life,” he said.

Such things make Hill an optimist.

“I really think there is hope,” he said. “What these kids need more than anything else is jobs. They want nice things, that’s all. If selling drugs is the only way they can get them, that’s the route they go.”

Hill, who came from a black, segregated area of south San Antonio, said a turning point in his life occurred when he was a teen-ager and an insurance man came to his family’s house to collect a bill.

“It wasn’t very much, but the man started yelling at my mother, saying, ‘That’s just the way you people are.’ Only he didn’t use the world people. He used that other word.

“I went into the kitchen and got a butcher knife. I wanted to kill the man. My mother stopped me.

“Afterward, she said, ‘Jim, you’re going to have to leave this place. You’re going to have to get out of here and go to college.’

“She was right. I had to get out of there.

“If I hadn’t gotten a football scholarship (to Texas A&I;), I could very easily have ended up in jail--or dead,” he said.

As Hill has found out, just going from torn pants and worn sneakers to tailored suits and custom-made footwear doesn’t mean that life will forever be perfect.

Hill went through a failed marriage to actress Denise Nicholas in the early ‘80s, and went through his career problems in the late ‘80s.

He said, though, that he has always tried to think positively, adding:

“I’d kept telling myself, ‘You’re the luckiest guy in the world with the greatest job in the world.’ ”

Still, there were times when he would get down.

“I’d call up Ed Hookstratten (his agent) to complain, and he’d say, ‘Will you shut up and get back to work. If you work hard, everything will work out.’ Then he’d hang up.

“That was the best advice anyone could have given me.”

Hill’s up-and-down journey through life hits another high point Saturday night. He will be presented an award as sports journalist of the year at the Cedars-Sinai Sports Spectacular Dinner at the Century Plaza. Among the previous winners were Vin Scully, Dick Enberg and Jim Murray.

“When they first told me about it, I thought, ‘OK, who turned you down?’ ” he said.

TV-Radio Notes

Dodger broadcaster Don Drysdale will be among those honored at the Cedars-Sinai dinner Saturday night. He will receive a lifetime achievement award. Proceeds from the dinner and a sports memorabilia auction will benefit the Cedars-Sinai Medical Genetics-Birth Defects Center. For information, call (213) 855-3664.

Baseball on CBS resumes this Saturday, with the Dodgers’ game against San Diego one of the split-national telecasts. Dick Stockton and Jim Kaat will be the announcers for the 12:15 p.m. telecast. . . . Oops Dept.: ESPN’s Bob Ley reported Monday night that Mike Gallego had broken up Nolan Ryan’s no-hitter in the sixth inning. The error was later corrected.

Eddie Doucette is expected to be named to fill in for Ram radio announcer Bob Starr, who will miss the four exhibition games plus the first three regular-season games. Starr is in his first year as a TV announcer for the Boston Red Sox. “Nothing’s been finalized,” KMPC General Manager Bill Ward said. Also, Ward said, it appears Jack Youngblood will return as the commentator.

Ratings game: The U.S.-Czechoslovakia World Cup game on TNT last Sunday got an overnight rating of 1.8 and a 6% share of the audience. Meanwhile, Saturday’s game between Italy and Austria got a 24% share in Italy. . . . The French Open final on NBC drew a 3.5 overnight rating, the NBA finals on CBS an 11.7.

It’s unclear whether Vic (the Brick) Jacobs, fired this week by Channel 13, is headed to KIIS-FM. Jacobs declined to say for sure, and calls to the station’s general manager and program director were not returned. One source said that Jacobs was all set to go to KIIS as an eventual replacement for Charleye Wright on Rick Dees’ show, but station management was under the impression it was getting a television personality, not a former TV personality. Jacobs will be gone from Channel 13 at the end of the month.

A reminder: Saturday night’s boxing doubleheader at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Mike Tyson-Henry Tillman and George Foreman-Adilson Rodrigues, will be televised by HBO. The coverage begins at 7 p.m. . . . CNN will televise a half-hour special, “The Mike Tyson Story,” Saturday night at 6. Nick Charles and Fred Hickman are the co-hosts.

As he has in the past, in honor of Father’s Day, Roy Firestone will have his father, Bernard, as his guest on “SportsLook” Monday. . . . SportsChannel will televise the NHL draft Saturday at 10 a.m.

Tonight at 10 on Prime Ticket, there will be a half-hour special featuring a behind-the-scenes look at the NCAA Final Four in Denver. Tom Kelly is the host. . . . The 500-mile stock car race at Pocono (Pa.) International Raceway Sunday will be televised on pay-per-view at 9 a.m.