Channel 9 to Carry Wilson Speech Live : Politics: KCAL, KFI, KABC and KNX plan live coverage of the governor’s talk at 5 p.m. today.

Unlike a year ago, when no Los Angeles-area television station provided live coverage of Gov. Pete Wilson’s State of the State address, KCAL-TV Channel 9 will preempt an “I Dream of Jeannie” rerun to show the embattled governor’s only statewide speech of the year at 5 p.m. today.

Radio stations KFI-AM (640), KABC-AM (790) and KNX-AM (1070) also plan live coverage of the 20- to 25-minute speech, in which Wilson is expected to emphasize his plans for economic growth and job development. The Republican governor is also expected to strike a conciliatory tone with the Democratic-controlled legislature.

KNBC-TV Channel 4 will show it on a delayed basis at 2:35 a.m. Thursday.

The California Channel--a statewide, nonprofit, cable public-affairs network--also plans a replay at 11 a.m. Thursday and at an unspecified time Friday morning, along with reaction from legislators. The California Channel also plans live coverage Friday of Wilson’s news conference in which he will announce details for the 1993-94 state budget.

“The fact that (the State of the State address) will be broadcast live in the Los Angeles metropolitan area is a tremendous improvement on the last few years,” said Alan J. Wyner, a UC Santa Barbara political science professor who teaches courses on California politics.

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“What the governor lays out to the legislature in his speech very likely will be an agenda he seeks to accomplish this year. Given the precarious nature of the state’s budget and long-standing controversies between the Legislature and Gov. Wilson, it is very important for the citizens of California to see and get a sense of what Gov. Wilson will propose.”

Dan Schnur, Wilson’s press secretary, also praised KCAL’s decision.

“It’s very important for people who are interested to see the address live,” Schnur said. “The fact that Channel 9 has decided to carry it is very encouraging.”

KCAL’s live coverage is a departure from the norm in several ways. Los Angeles television stations have long shied away from reporting on news from Sacramento; KNBC was the last station to have a capital bureau, and that was closed in 1984. In addition, televising the State of the State address forces stations to preempt sponsored programs and lose advertising revenue.

Time pressures also get in the way of coverage. Last year, KCAL could not show Wilson’s address live because it was contractually obligated to show a Lakers basketball game that was being played at the same time.

“We decided it would be a good service for our viewers to carry the governor (today),” KCAL news director Bob Henry said. “California is going through some tough times. The state’s economic condition has deteriorated over the past year and we think there is greater interest in hearing the governor’s plan for 1993.”

Wilson’s speech will come when many potential viewers are still at work or are commuting and the television audience is dominated by young viewers preferring cartoons and situation comedy reruns.

“The audience at that time will be small, there’s no question about it,” Wyner said. “But it is still important, because it is a breakthrough. The fact that one station is going to show it hopefully will put pressure on other stations to give it some prominence in their newscasts.”