Healy Star Not Talk of Town

It was Jim Healy’s moment of glory, a time for frivolity and laughter. The longtime Los Angeles radio personality received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Thursday at 11:30 a.m., with a crowd of several hundred spilling out into the street.

They hollered out various Healy-isms and some held up signs.

Milton Berle and Pat Buttram provided some laughs. So did Gene Autry, Al Davis, John Ferraro, Johnny Grant and others.

After the half-hour ceremony, invited guests walked down Hollywood Boulevard for a noon reception at the Roosevelt Hotel.

That’s where the word started getting out about Magic Johnson. A reporter who arrived late to Healy’s reception said there would be a 3 p.m. news conference at the Forum.

Suddenly, the laughter and jokes stopped, and a somber mood enveloped the room.

At first, there was disbelief. “You guys are kidding, aren’t you?” KMPC’s Paul Olden asked.

“You think we would kid about that? “ shot back a sports columnist, who, like many other media members present, excused himself to go to work.

It turned into a busy day for L.A.’s sports media.

Seldom had they had to deal with a story of this magnitude.

News radio stations such as KFWB and KNX began reporting various aspects of the story shortly after noon, and soon talk stations shelved previous plans to take calls about Magic.

At 12:25, CNN reported that Johnson was retiring. A spokesman said at that time it could not be confirmed that Johnson had tested HIV positive.

By 1 p.m., that aspect had been confirmed and was reported.

Every television station in Los Angeles, Channels 2 through 13, preempted afternoon programming to cover the news conference.

It was televised nationally by CNN and ESPN.

In offices throughout the city, people gathered around television sets.

At least one station reported inaccurately that Johnson was suffering from AIDS rather than simply testing positive for the virus that causes the disease. But generally, L.A.’s television stations did their job well.

Channel 4, which assigned sportscaster Fred Roggin to anchor its coverage, covered every important aspect and also offered a nicely edited piece on Johnson’s career.

News anchors Harold Greene and Christine Lund coordinated Channel 7’s thorough coverage, with Jim Hill, a close friend of Magic, reporting from the Forum.

It was an emotional day in Los Angeles, for the entire community.

Nov. 7, 1991, forever will be remembered as the day the Magic left sports.

Forgotten will be the ceremony for Healy at 6740 Hollywood Blvd., in front of a sporting goods store.

When Chick Hearn got his star a few years ago, it rained. The sun shone Thursday, but only, it seemed, for a while.

Before the sad news broke, Healy was honored for what has been quite a 40-year run.

He started out in 1951 right where he is today, at KMPC, although he took a few side trips along the way.

Healy, a native of Spokane, Wash., moved to Beverly Hills with his family when he was 6. He attended Beverly Hills High and UCLA, where he was sports editor of the Daily Bruin.

While working on the Daily Bruin, he got to know the paper’s editor, Pat Campbell.

Jim and Pat have been married 42 years, and they have one son, Patrick, a reporter for Channel 4.

After college, Healy got a job as assistant sports editor of the Hollywood Citizen-News.

That led to some spotting work on Ram broadcasts for KMPC play-by-play announcer Bob Kelley, who also had a daily sports show. Kelley ended up hiring Healy as his writer for $75 a week.

It wasn’t long before Kelley asked Healy to fill in occasionally for him on the air.

“I was so nervous, I read like a third-grader,” Healy said.

Healy said Kelley’s shows back then bore no similarity to his current 5:30 p.m. show on KMPC.

“For its day, Kelley’s show was considered red-hot and controversial,” Healy said. “It’d put you to sleep today.”

Healy worked for Kelley and KMPC for 10 years, until 1961, when he went to KLAC to replace Sam Balter, and he stayed there until he was fired in 1965.

Healy said the general manager at KLAC wanted Chuck Benedict to do the sports news.

But Healy went back to KLAC in 1969, then completed the circle in 1985, returning to KMPC.

During the 1950s and ‘60s, Healy often worked two jobs.

He did the Channel 7 sports news, two shows a night, from 1962 until he was replaced by Stu Nahan in 1969.

In 1966, for more than nine months, he was the host of a sports talk show on radio station KABC. Leo Durocher and Jimmy Piersall preceded him, and many have followed.

“I was still at Channel 7, so this job provided a good side income,” Healy said, “But I quit. I couldn’t stand taking calls.

“The general manager, Ben Hoberman, couldn’t believe I gave up a job that paid $800 to $900 a week.”

Healy, at one time or another, has angered just about every sports figure in Los Angeles. You really haven’t arrived until you have been slammed by Healy.

Healy’s critics call him a sexist, a racist, an egotist or worse.

But Healy remains a listening habit for so many because, above all, he is entertaining.

“I don’t expect to be taken seriously,” he said. “I don’t take myself seriously.”

The trademark of Healy’s half-hour show is his use of sound effects.

Healy has about 500 tapes in his office from which to choose. He has sometimes used 50 in one show.

Healy is his own writer, engineer and researcher. It really is a one-man show.

So how much longer does he plan to stay around?

“Just as long as possible,” he said, “or until I go the Leonard Tose route.”

TV-Radio Notes

ABC, which will televise the Notre Dame-Penn State game on Nov. 16 to half of the nation on a regional basis, toyed with the idea of televising it to the other half on a pay-per-view basis. Those plans fell through Thursday. ABC spokesman Mark Mandel said that internal problems arose, and there simply wasn’t enough time to put all the pieces together. . . . Saturday’s Tennessee-Notre Dame game will be the last for NBC this season. . . . ABC’s main regional game Saturday is Washington-USC, with Keith Jackson and Bob Griese reporting. . . . UCLA-Stanford is the Prime Ticket Pacific 10 Game of the Week at 3:30 p.m. . . . ABC will televise the Florida State-Miami game on Nov. 16 throughout the nation at 9 a.m. The West regional game for ABC that day will be Oregon-UCLA.

Sunday’s NFL lineup has San Francisco at New Orleans on CBS at 10 a.m., with Pat Summerall and John Madden reporting. . . . The Raiders’ game at Denver will be on NBC at 1 p.m., with Don Criqui and Bob Trumpy calling the action. . . . Good luck to Raider announcer Bill King, who is scheduled for hip replacement surgery Monday.

Prime Ticket announced this week that its popular call-in show, “It’s Your Call” with Bill Macdonald, has been canceled for economic reasons. The last show will be Wednesday.

NBA Entertainment this week sent along two one-hour preview videotapes that soon will go on the market. One is “Larry Bird: A Basketball Legend.” The other is “Magic Johnson: Always Showtime.” Both are excellent, following the players’ careers from their early days until, in Magic’s case, the end.