Ohlmeyer, a Big Shot at NBC, Calls Shots for ABC at Indy 500

The director working last year’s Indianapolis 500 for ABC decided to take a chance as Al Unser Jr. and Scott Goodyear headed toward what would be a .043-second victory for Unser in the first side-by-side finish in Indy history.

The director, at the last second, switched camera angles. The result was a botched finish.

Viewers had to be told by announcer Paul Page that Unser was the winner because they couldn’t see it, at least not until replays were shown.

That director, you might think, would now be working midget-car races in Bakersfield.

But that is hardly the case. The director now has a big job with a rival network. He is the West Coast president for NBC. His name is Don Ohlmeyer.

And guess what? ABC has invited Ohlmeyer back to direct Indy again despite his ties to NBC.

That says something about Ohlmeyer’s stature in the sports television business.

“He is the best-qualified director,” race producer Bob Goodrich said when asked why Ohlmeyer was back.

Ohlmeyer, who graduated from Notre Dame in 1967, was the executive producer of sports at both ABC and NBC, then went on to fame and fortune as a Beverly Hills-based independent producer of such things as Skins Game golf before landing his NBC job in February. At the time, he also sold his company, Ohlmeyer Communications, to ESPN.

On Sunday, he will be back doing what he does best--directing a major sporting event. He will have some 34 cameras at his disposal at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. And if it’s another tight finish, don’t expect anything fancy.

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This will be the eighth year that ABC has televised the Indy 500 live. From 1971-85, ABC televised the race on a same-day basis in prime time. From 1965-70, the race was shown on “Wide World of Sports” on a one-week tape delay.

Ohlmeyer worked his first Indy 500 as a production assistant, or go - fer , in 1967, when A.J. Foyt won. By 1971, he was directing the pit-area coverage, with Chet Forte handling the race coverage.

Ohlmeyer severed ties with Indy after the 1977 race, when he left ABC for NBC. He came back as a free-lance director for the 1989 race, hired by his longtime friend and colleague, Geoff Mason, then the executive producer of sports for ABC.

The move paid off. With Ohlmeyer directing, ABC’s coverage in 1989 and ’90 won Emmy Awards for outstanding live sports special.

When Ohlmeyer took the NBC job, part of his agreement was that he would still be able to direct auto races for ABC, setting up a unique situation. One day he’s wearing an NBC hat, the next an ABC hat.

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Hockey fever: Game 3 of the Kings’ playoff series against Toronto last Friday averaged a 5 cable rating, but more impressive was the 8.7 for the end of Tuesday night’s overtime game. The rating went from 4 (during the 7:30-7:45 quarter hour) to 7.5 (7:45-8) and then 8.7 (8-8:15).

The series, through five games, was averaging 3.8. During the regular season, the Kings averaged 1.6.

And how popular are the Kings on talk radio? Flagship station XTRA monitored 96 calls on Tuesday, beginning with the midday show, and 81 pertained to the Kings.

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Thanks, KMPC: Larry Brown was in Hawaii late last week when his agent informed the Clippers he was resigning as coach. Brown got the trip, courtesy of KMPC, for all his appearances on the team’s flagship station.

So how did Brown pay back the station? He gave XTRA an exclusive interview from Hawaii the day after it was announced he was leaving.

Making it doubly bad for KMPC was that a caller last Friday to the midday show told hosts Brian Golden and Paola Boivin about the Brown interview on XTRA that morning. Golden and Boivin in turn interviewed the caller about what Brown had said on its rival station.

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Add KMPC: Things went a little better this week.

Nick Zaccagnino, producer of the “McDonnell Douglas Show,” lined up both Jim Bowden, general manager of the Reds, and Tony Perez as guests on Tuesday, the day after Bowden fired Perez as manager.

And on Wednesday, Magic Johnson came on with Joe McDonnell and Doug Krikorian and said he would be willing to coach the Clippers if owner Donald T. Sterling would offer him the job, plus part ownership.

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Bad taste: How low can talk-radio go? Apparently very low.

KMPC’s Fred Wallin Wednesday morning, rapping the Chicago Bulls’ Scottie Pippen for throwing the ball at a referee, said Pippen would qualify to star on ABC’s “Life Goes On.” The star of the show is Chris Burke, who has Down’s syndrome.

Just as bad is XTRA’s Jim Rome calling Monica Seles “T-Bone” because she was stabbed with a knife. He tried to defend himself to a caller Wednesday by saying he was helping Seles by drawing attention to her. Weak, very weak.

TV-Radio Notes

Paul Page and commentator Sam Posey will call Sunday’s Indy 500 for ABC from above the start-finish line, with Bobby Unser being moved to a suite at Turn 2 to offer a different perspective and also unclutter the broadcast booth. . . . The one-hour prerace show, which begins at 8 a.m. PDT, will offer mostly live interviews and also focus on changes in the track that eliminated the aprons below the four turns. . . . Look for some different camera angles during the race. Producer Bob Goodrich says there are more innovations this year than ever. . . . XTRA offers live radio coverage of the race.

Prime Ticket’s Angel coverage begins Wednesday, and actor Tim Daly will join announcers Ken Wilson and Ken Brett as the first of a series of guest commentators. . . . Alan Massengale, one of Prime Ticket’s “Press Box” anchors, will serve as host and roving reporter on the regional cable network’s Angel telecasts. The producer is Larry Meyers, the director Doug Freeman. . . . Roger Werner, Prime Ticket president, said not quite all of Prime Ticket’s cable affiliates have signed up to carry the Angel telecasts because of an added cost, reportedly only three cents per subscriber per month. But Werner said he hopes to have all on board by the end of June.

Good news department: Popular Gil Stratton, who had major surgery for an intestinal disorder in March, is back doing the weekend sports for KNX. . . . NBC passed on televising the track and field World Championships at Stuttgart, Germany, in August, but it will soon be announced that ABC will devote 5 1/2 hours to the event over two weekends, Aug. 14-15 and Aug. 21-22. One could surmise from this that ABC has the inside track on the 1996 Summer Olympics at Atlanta, but ABC spokesman Mark Mandell said there is no link between the two.

KLAC has been carrying the NBA Western Conference final between Phoenix and Seattle. That’s fine, but why not also carry the Eastern Conference final between Chicago and New York, which has more interest? The station will at least carry Game 7 of that series, if there is one. . . . Tuesday night’s Bull-Knick telecast on TNT got a record NBA cable rating of 7.4. Previous high was a 6.8 for Game 5 of Chicago-Detroit in 1990. . . . NBC this week hired former Washington Redskin coach Joe Gibbs as a football commentator. . . . Here’s a stunner: The Los Angeles Salsa soccer team fired play-by-play announcer Mario Machado on Thursday. A possible replacement is Geoff Witcher. . . . Recommended viewing: ESPN’s excellent “Outside the Line” series Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. focuses on athletes’ egos. Included is a profile of Tony Mandarich, the 1989 first-round draft choice of the Green Bay Packers who is now washed up.