Ratings May Go Through Forum Roof

It has been a long time coming, but Los Angeles has finally caught hockey fever.

Tonight’s Toronto-King telecast on Prime Ticket is a shoo-in for a ratings record, and it probably will last only until Game 4 on Sunday.

The Kings, who averaged a 1.6 cable rating during the regular season, got a 3.2 Wednesday, even though the game started at 4:30 p.m. By the end of the game, the rating was up to 4.9.

Two years ago, when the Kings were eliminated in five games in the second round of the playoffs by Edmonton, the final game got a 3.4.

That was a record until last Thursday, when Game 6 of the Vancouver series got a 3.6.

These are not Laker-type numbers--Game 3 of the Phoenix playoff series got a 9.8 on Prime Ticket--but the Kings aren’t finished.

“If they make it to the final round, we may see numbers pretty close to (Laker ratings),” said Nick Rhodes, Prime Ticket vice president.

Rhodes also pointed out that the ratings don’t reflect out-of-home viewership, which represents 15-20% of the audience. “Every sports bar in Los Angeles will be showing (tonight’s) game,” he said.

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From here on out, the Kings will appear only on Prime Ticket.

There are no more ABC telecasts, and ESPN is required to black out all King telecasts, even if they make it to the Stanley Cup finals.

There have been reports of at least one small cable company in Los Angeles not following the rules of the NHL blackout policy, but, for the most part, Prime Ticket is the only place to see the Kings.

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Nationally, hockey is still getting second-rate treatment.

ESPN, contractually obligated to show a baseball game at 5 p.m. Sunday, will tape-delay Game 4 of the Toronto-King series until 9 p.m. That’s midnight in the East.

The good part for Los Angeles viewers is that ESPN does not have to black out a delayed telecast, so King fans can watch the game live at 5 on Prime Ticket, then watch it again on ESPN.

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One thing this hockey craze should do, particularly if it continues, is give announcer Bob Miller the stature he deserves.

Miller, in his 20th season with the Kings, is to hockey what Vin Scully is to baseball and what Chick Hearn is to basketball in these parts.

Problem is, hockey has always ranked well behind baseball and basketball. But it suddenly is making up some ground.

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Miller’s partner on Prime Ticket, Jim Fox, a former player now in his third year as a broadcaster, has become a polished commentator.

Game 2 Wednesday was sloppy, but the finish, with the Kings fighting to hold a one-goal lead, was exciting, and the calls by Miller and Fox added to the excitement and enjoyment.

And that, primarily, is what announcers are supposed to do.

But these King telecasts are attracting viewers unfamiliar with hockey, and Miller and Fox are responding to that, too.

When the Kings’ Tim Watters made probably the play of the game with 34 seconds to play Wednesday night, falling on the Maple Leafs’ Doug Gilmour and preventing him from possibly scoring a tying goal, Fox said: “It is a clean, legal play,” and explained why.

You might expect that from a King commentator. But Miller and Fox are not cheerleaders, as is Don Cherry, the outlandish host of the Canadian Broadcasting Co.’s “Hockey Night in Canada,” who admits he is rooting for the Maple Leafs.

When the Kings’ Marty McSorley sucker-punched Gilmour near the end of the first period Wednesday, Miller pointed out that McSorley had gotten away with one, that official Don Koharski had somehow missed it.

When Gilmour came back and charged McSorley, appearing to head-butt him, Miller called it as he saw it, and he was right. Replays showed that Gilmour did attempt a head-butt, and, as Miller pointed out, should have been penalized accordingly.

Sure, Miller and Fox do their telecasts from the Kings’ perspective, but that’s OK. They simply know their audience.

After a Maple Leaf fan held up a Toronto newspaper with a headline about Game 1 that read, “A McSorry Incident,” Miller said, “You’d think the newspapers here were published by the Maple Leafs’ booster club. Last November, Gilmour slashed (Tomas) Sandstrom and broke his arm, but they don’t want to talk about that.”

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XTRA morning hosts Steve Hartman and Chet Forte were tearing into Cherry pretty good Thursday morning when suddenly Cherry was on the phone.

It seems producer Eric Ehnstrom had been trying to get Cherry on the show for some time, and Cherry was simply responding to a fax sent to his home in Toronto. It turned out to be great timing.

Hartman and Forte eased up a little on Cherry, but still asked him some tough questions. Cherry, among other things, said he believes fighting should be permitted. His point is that if players were allowed to vent their emotions at the time of an incident, they would be less likely to come back later using their sticks.

It was quite an interview, and XTRA will play it again this morning at about 7:15.

TV-Radio Notes

Things couldn’t be going much better for Prime Ticket, unless the Lakers had beaten Phoenix. However, Prime Ticket has to share the Lakers with Channel 9, TNT and NBC, while it now has the Kings all to itself. And each King playoff telecast brings in about $250,000 in additional advertising revenue. Prime Ticket also announced this week that it will start a new Spanish-language channel sometime after Oct. 1. Seems like a great idea. Prime Ticket surveys showed that only 15-18% of Latino homes where cable is available actually subscribe because there is so little cable programming in Spanish. The surveys indicated that Latinos will spend the money to subscribe because 83% of Latino homes have VCRs (compared to 77% overall) and that in those homes an average of $16 a month is spent on video rentals.

The new channel will be heavy into soccer and boxing, but also will carry Prime Ticket’s premium sports--the Lakers, Kings, Angels and college sports, with Spanish-speaking announcers. Wonder who Prime Ticket will find to call the Kings, as there are probably not too many Spanish-speaking hockey announcers out there. Maybe Mario Machado, the voice of the L.A. Salsa soccer team, should brush up on hockey.

Speaking of the Salsa, Rick Davis, the team’s general manager, has been hired by ABC as a soccer commentator. His first assignment will be the United States vs. Germany on June 13. . . . Prime Ticket begins its coverage of the National Cycle League at 6:30 p.m. Monday with taped competition from Miami. Saturday’s doubleheader at Universal Studios, featuring the L.A. Wings, will be taped for showing later. Randy Rosenbloom and up-and-coming Tamara Ortiz, niece of KMPC boxing expert Johnny Ortiz, are the announcers for National Cycle League telecasts. . . . “Kaleidoscope,” a syndicated one-hour audio scrapbook of sports history, has been picked up by KMPC. It made its debut Thursday night.

The Angels will make their first appearance on CBS in almost two years Saturday from Texas. . . . ABC surveyed fans to determine its top 10 “Wide World of Sports” shows, and will televise them Saturday. No. 1, somewhat surprisingly, was A.J. Foyt winning the 1967 Indy 500, No. 2 was a recap of the three fights between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, and No. 3 was the Harlem Globetrotters’ many appearances. . . . ABC’s Frank Gifford, who will be part of Saturday’s “Wide World” special, will be honored Sunday night at the eighth Cedars-Sinai Sports Spectacular at the Century Plaza. Gifford will receive both the Lifetime Achievement award and the Journalist of the Year award.

Bob Miller and King Coach Barry Melrose will be Roy Firestone’s guests on “Up Close” on ESPN today at 3 p.m. and midnight. . . . “How ‘Bout Those Lakers,” a one-hour recap of the season, with Chick Hearn as host, will be shown on Channel 9 Saturday at 9 p.m. and repeated Sunday at 10 p.m. . . . NBC will cover the NBA draft lottery during halftime of Sunday’s New York-Chicago game. . . . The Dodgers’ Mike Piazza will be featured on “This Week in Baseball” on Channel 4 Sunday at 3 p.m. . . . With George Foreman preparing for his June 7 fight against Tommy Morrison, Gil Clancy will join Jim Lampley and Larry Merchant at ringside for Saturday night’s HBO fight between Riddick Bowe and Jesse Ferguson. Clancy also has been hired to work with Tim Ryan on the Foreman fight, a TVKO pay-per-view event. . . . Has Dan Quayle found a new profession? He is scheduled as guest commentator on CBS’ coverage of the Kemper Open golf tournament Saturday and Sunday.