TELEVISION : Popular ‘Focus’ Offers Immediacy

Bob Richards was amazed.

To pass time while awaiting word on the status of an injured player a few years ago, the Thousand Oaks High football coach walked into a hospital waiting room hoping to find something to read.

Upon entering the room, Richards noticed several people huddled around a television set. The image on the screen was something other than a situation comedy or an action-adventure show.

It was “Friday Football Focus,” the program that covers Richards’ favorite topic: high school football.

“I couldn’t believe they were watching a show about high school football,” Richards said. “It hit me that (the program) is something the people in (Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties) have really responded to.”

The half-hour program is televised at about 11:20 p.m. Friday nights on Santa Barbara-based KEYT (Channel 3)--the aforementioned counties’ ABC affiliate--immediately after the station’s local newscast.

It includes taped highlights of 14 games from six leagues (the Channel, Frontier, Los Padres, Marmonte, Northern and Tri-Valley), feature stories and scores from other games.

Noah Finz, KEYT sports director, is the studio host of the 6-year-old program.

“The response has just been great. Each year it seems to get better and better,” Finz said. “We get a lot of positive feedback from the coaches, players--especially the parents.”

Seven production crews of camera operators and reporters cover the games and return with tape to either the Santa Barbara office or the station’s bureaus in Oxnard and Santa Maria. Production crews that return to the main office edit the tape and write information on the game results, which Finz sees only moments before the program begins.

Production crews in the bureaus do live voice-overs on their games as taped highlights appear on the screen. Each week, the bureaus produce a story on an athlete or team from their region.

“A lot of times what games we cover comes down to flat-out geography,” Finz said. “We try to hit the games we can get back from the quickest, but we usually get the games with the most impact each week.”

Finz said that doing the show has given him an appreciation for high school football.

“It’s funny, you find yourself talking about the kids and what’s going on from week to week,” he said. “A lot of us get into it as much as professional football. Then it’s fun watching the kids as they go on to the next level.

“But (producing the show) is crazy. . . . Each night we run into a different problem. Once it’s over, it’s a great feeling, like, ‘Geez, we got through another one.’ ”

Coaches appreciate the effort.

“Oh, it’s just a great show,” Buena football Coach Rick Scott said. “I tape it each week.”

Said Richards: “It makes the kids feel really important. As far as they’re concerned, they are on national television.”