After Early Sampling, He Needs Spice

Sometimes an announcer, in an effort to make a good impression on a new job, goes overboard with shtick and contrived enthusiasm and turns everybody off.

A conservative approach, at least in the beginning, is usually the best way to go.

But new Angel radio announcer Billy Sample, who is paired with Bob Starr on KMPC and the team’s radio network, may be too cautious. Sample is articulate and smooth, but a little more pizazz seems to be in order, especially when you consider how well the Angels are doing.

In a one-to-one conversation, Sample’s glibness and wit come through. But so far his personality isn’t coming out over the airwaves.

He’s not exactly boring, but some listeners call him bland.

“If people think I’m bland, it’s a good thing they don’t hear me on television,” he said. “I think I’m more enthusiastic on radio.”

Play-by-play is fairly new to Sample. With time, he’s sure to get more comfortable and maybe then will start to dazzle.

No question, the potential is there.

Potential is what Channel 4’s Brett Lewis saw in 1981 when, as sports director of Dallas radio station KAAM, he gave Sample his first broadcasting job.

The station wanted a member of the Texas Rangers to do a one-minute nightly show.

“Billy was the smartest, most original guy on the team,” Lewis said. “There was no doubt he would do well, and he did great.”

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Add Sample: In 1973, coming out of high school in Salem, Va., he was drafted in the 28th round by the Rangers.

“I didn’t even know there were that many rounds,” he said.

So off he went to James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va. He majored in psychology, although he was unsure what he wanted to do in life.

“The problem with psychology is, you have to have your own stuff together before you can counsel anyone else,” Sample said.

In 1976, he was again drafted by the Rangers, this time in the 10th round. He was in the majors two years later, and played eight seasons--six with Texas, one with the New York Yankees and one with the Atlanta Braves.

He finished with a career batting average of .272, and in 1983 he stole 44 bases in 52 attempts and batted in all nine spots in the order. He hit .285 as a part-timer for the Braves in 1986, his last year in baseball.

Out of baseball for a year, Sample returned in 1988 as a television commentator for TBS, working Brave telecasts. The next season, he did some radio play-by-play as well. Later, he worked for ESPN and began writing a column for Baseball Weekly. Last season he did 39 Seattle Mariner telecasts and a few games for CBS Radio.

All the while, home for Sample and his family--wife Debi, daughter Nikki, 11, and sons Ian, 10, and Travis, 3--has been the New York suburb of Westwood, N.J., where they have lived since Sample played for the Yankees.

Now Sample hopes to have found a home with the Angels.

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Battle Royal: For the past several months on KMPC’s “McDonnell Douglas Show,” listeners have heard the hosts, Joe McDonnell and Doug Krikorian, relentlessly harass Dodger correspondent Larry (Smiley) Kahn.

To many, the routine has been juvenile--and, apparently, it has infuriated Kahn.

The other day in the KMPC hallways, Kahn engaged McDonnell and Krikorian in a shouting match that almost resulted in fisticuffs, according to witnesses.

But the three shook hands after a tense 15-minute discussion. “We just had a little exchange of ideas in an animated manner,” McDonnell said.

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NHL on ABC: Al Michaels is the play-by-play announcer on “Monday Night Football,” which last season ranked No. 7 among prime-time programs, and he has done six World Series, numerous college football bowl games and an array of other sports. But people still remember him for a hockey game he did 13 years ago--the United States’ victory over the Soviet Union in the 1980 Winter Olympics.

Michaels will be back on hockey this weekend, calling the Kings’ playoff game against the Calgary Flames, which ABC will broadcast at noon Sunday. New York Ranger commentator John Davidson will be Michaels’ partner.

TV-Radio Notes

Good news for auto racing fans: In recent years, ABC has tape-delayed the Long Beach Grand Prix one week in Los Angeles. But Sunday’s race will be shown by Channel 7 on a two-hour delay at 3 p.m. . . . Two weeks into the season, CBS begins its baseball coverage Saturday at 10 a.m., with Los Angeles getting the Chicago White Sox at Boston. . . . The Colorado Rockies’ home opener last Friday, televised in Denver, got an amazing 23 rating and a 56 share. . . . ESPN’s NHL playoff coverage begins Tuesday.

Word out of New York is that a deal that would bring Don Imus’ WFAN morning show to KMPC is imminent. . . . If the deal goes through, wonder if Imus will talk about J.T. Snow as much as Chris Roberts and Jack Snow do? . . . Prime Ticket’s Larry Burnett got a tryout at KMPC last Saturday night. Expect to hear more of him. . . . XTRA is talking to Ira Fistell about a Sunday afternoon baseball show. . . . KMPC is now carrying the 90-second daily segments of “This Date in Baseball,” with Mel Allen, usually at 12:55 p.m. . . . KMPC’s Brian Golden, who said he would eat a newspaper if the Rams signed an impact free agent (such as Shane Conlan), did so Wednesday in a rather tiresome, drawn-out affair. The Rams provided Golden with a newspaper sandwich, complete with salsa.

Neal Pilson, the president of CBS Sports, is content with the format in which one network does the entire NCAA basketball tournament. He says it would be a mistake to farm out early-round games to cable. “The tournament is one story rather than a bunch of individual games,” Pilson said. “The kind of ratings we’ve been getting show the way we do it is the best way to do it.”

ESPN baseball commentator Joe Morgan will be at Sportsbooks in West Hollywood Sunday from 1 to 3 p.m. to sign his new book, “A Life in Baseball.” . . . Angel announcer Ken Brett and former Dodger Steve Yeager make cameo appearances on the second episode of CBS’ “A League of Their Own” Saturday at 9 p.m.

With Hollywood Park opening Wednesday, Channel 56 will carry race-day replays at 8 p.m., with Prime Ticket carrying them at 12:30 a.m. and 7 a.m. Also on Thursday nights at 8:30, Channel 56 will carry “Inside Hollywood Park,” with Mike Willman and former trainer Scott Wells. . . . KXED (1540) is now carrying all Angel games in Spanish, and Anaheim-based KORG (1190) is carrying the Spanish broadcasts on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. KORG carries the 7 p.m. games live and tape-delays all others at 8 p.m.

It was recently noted in this space that USC graduate David Kelly is the play-by-play voice of the Bakersfield Dodgers. Another Trojan, Todd Karli, was the play-by-play announcer for the Cal State Bakersfield basketball team that went 33-0, and Karli last week became a sports anchor at the ABC affiliate in Bakersfield.