Talk of the Town: St. James to Have New KMPC Show

A new sports talk show is coming to KMPC on June 3 with Scott St. James as the host.

The station dropped “Sportsline” with Paul Olden after last baseball season.

“The Scott St. James Show” will be broadcast from 4 to 8 p.m. on weekdays when there is no Angel game, with, of course, a half-hour out for Jim Healy at 5:30.

On nights the Angels are home or playing a West Coast game, St. James will go off the air at 7. He will be preempted when there are East Coast games.

Bob Rowe of KMPC and Doug Krikorian, Long Beach Press-Telegram columnist, will be among the regular contributors.

St. James, who has been taking acting classes and this week landed a role as a district attorney in a movie called “Evil Parts,” has been doing fill-in work on radio and television since his departure from Channel 9 in November of 1989.

This is not to imply that times have been a little lean, but St. James has been seen driving around town on a motor scooter.

Joe McDonnell, who was among the other candidates for the KMPC job, resigned from KFI this week. McDonnell called it “a mutual parting.”

McDonnell, whose background is sports, just didn’t fit in anymore at KFI after his Sunday show was turned into a non-sports program.

KFI, at one time the Dodgers’ flagship station, is almost out of the sports business and boasts about it on billboards with this slogan: “Wanna dodge baseball? KFI 640 AM. It’s stimulating talk radio.”

Next project for KMPC General Manager Bill Ward is deciding on a UCLA football announcing team now that Olden, the play-by-play man, has moved from the Bruins to the Rams.

John Rebenstorf, who was the commentator a year ago, probably will move over to play by play. Rebenstorf was formerly the play-by-play voice of Cal State Fullerton.

Former Ram wide receiver Jack Snow appears to be a logical candidate for the commentator’s job, having a versatile background that includes the Mutual Radio Network, UCLA football for Prime Ticket and Big West football and basketball for SportsChannel.

Former UCLA and Angel announcer Joe Buttitta is also a play-by-play candidate.

Whoever gets the play-by-play job presumably would also handle UCLA basketball with Ann Meyers.

Over at KABC radio, “Sportstalk” host Steve Edwards had an unusual call this week. Just before football-player-turned-actor Brian Bosworth was to come on, a caller, who said he had worked with Bosworth on his new movie, said in no uncertain terms that “the Boz” is a jerk.

Edwards let the caller say his piece, then later, to his credit, told Bosworth about it.

In responding, Bosworth said: “It’s too bad there are so many people with a negative attitude.”

There have been some rumors about a few local TV sportscasters not having their contracts renewed, but scratch Channel 4’s Brett Lewis from that list.

Lewis has re-signed, which is good news. Lewis’ wit grows on you and rarely offends.

Channel 2’s weekend sports announcer, Steve Alvarez, meanwhile, appears headed elsewhere. He is reportedly under consideration for a job at the ABC station in Miami.

There also have been rumors about Channel 7’s Jim Hill returning to Channel 2, but Hill said he hasn’t been contacted.

Before you pencil in Pat Riley as coach of the New York Knicks, be advised that he may be leaning toward staying with NBC.

People close to Riley have been telling him not to take the Knick job. There are two reasons:

--The instability of the Knicks.

--The challenge of making it in broadcasting.

In Riley’s first season with NBC, the reviews have been mixed. No one is calling him the next John Madden, but no one is calling for his scalp, either.

NBC hasn’t done him any favors in the way it uses him. Riley should be the star of “NBA Showtime,” the focal point. He’s the expert, the celebrity. Instead, Riley has been reduced to a minor role on a bad show, doing voice-overs on features and, worse yet, taking part in those ridiculous “Insider” segments--four guys sitting around expressing opinions and laughing a lot.

It’s degrading for Riley--and co-host Bob Costas as well--to take part in this amateurish byplay. It’s something you’d expect to see on a local cable show.

Something is wrong when you have Riley asking a sportswriter, USA Today’s Peter Vecsey in this case, for his opinion.

Whatever Riley decides to do, it appears that NBC owns the story.

Terry O’Neil, the executive producer of NBC Sports, has said: “I don’t feel we must have exclusivity on the story. We have not told him to hold off from the press.”

But what little Riley has had to say about the Knick job has mainly been said on NBC.

NBC has dealt with the story seriously at times but has also given it flippant treatment.

The network, which has become sort of a halfway house for ex-coaches, finds itself in an awkward position, much as it was last season when there were rumors about Bill Walsh returning to coaching.

If Walsh and Riley weren’t in the NBC family, surely those stories would get more professional journalistic treatment--and less laughter.

There has also been talk about Costas going to the “Today” show to replace Bryant Gumbel.

Maybe Riley should ask Costas about it. That should be good for a few more laughs.

TV-Radio Notes

HBO, as expected, announced Thursday that George Foreman is joining the pay-cable network as a boxing commentator. It was reported in this space last month that HBO and Foreman had talked about the possibility. His first assignment will be Saturday night’s Hector Camacho-Greg Haugen fight in Reno. The four-year agreement doesn’t specify that Foreman will fight on HBO as well, although he said Thursday he hopes to. But the agreement does call for a comedy special. “I don’t know how they came up with that,” Foreman said. “I guess they heard me say that I have the best build of any athlete, and thought that was pretty funny.” Ross Greenburg, executive producer of HBO Sports, said getting Foreman to sign was easy. “We told him all of our production meetings are catered, and it’s all you can eat.” . . . HBO’s next boxing show will be the June 1 doubleheader in Palm Springs matching Terry Norris vs. Donald Curry and Meldrick Taylor vs. Luis Garcia.

The Dodgers will make their first appearance of the season on CBS Saturday against the New York Mets, and guess what? The telecast goes up against Game 1 of the Laker-Portland series on NBC. . . . The NBA lottery will be televised live during halftime of Sunday’s NBC game. The NBA radio network, including KLAC, will also cover it. . . . A reminder: Through Sunday, SportsChannel is being offered to all cable subscribers of systems that carry it. Tonight’s lineup includes Game 2 of the Stanley Cup finals at 4:30 p.m. and the Dodger-Met game at 7:30.

Chris Evert, now a tennis commentator for NBC, will miss the French Open because she has experienced early contractions during her pregnancy. She will be replaced by JoAnne Russell. . . . NBC has signed Gayle Gardner to a new multiyear agreement. She will serve as one of the main studio hosts for the pay-per-view portion of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. . . . A baseball historical series, “Major League Baseball Presents the Greatest Games Ever Played,” with Steve Garvey as host, will make its debut on Prime Ticket Sunday at 8 p.m. The first show focuses on Game 2 of the 1978 World Series, in which Dodger rookie Bob Welch struck out the Yankees’ Reggie Jackson with the bases loaded to end the game.

The Rams’ Fearsome Foursome--Lamar Lundy, Rosey Grier, Merlin Olsen and Deacon Jones--will be Roy Firestone’s guests on “Up Close” Tuesday. After the morning taping, Mayor Tom Bradley will proclaim May as Myasthenia Gravis Awareness Month in ceremonies at the Beverly Hills Country Club. Lundy is a victim of the disease.