‘Sportstalk’ Gets Back in KABC’s Game Plan

Fickle. Blase. Late to arrive, early to leave. These are all criticisms that have been leveled against Los Angeles sports fans.

So it’s hardly a surprise that sports talk radio has often struggled to find a significant audience here.

In the ‘90s, local sports fans have proven particularly indifferent to the format. In 1992, poor ratings prompted KABC-AM (790) to drop its “Sportstalk” show after nearly 20 years as a Los Angeles radio staple. Then in 1994, KMPC-AM (710) abandoned its all-sports format after a two-year attempt at trying to duplicate the success of some similarly tailored stations in other parts of the country. KABC revived “Sportstalk” in August 1994, only to fold it a year later. And earlier this week, KMAX-FM (107.1) pulled the plug on its all-sports format after a 13-month effort that produced negligible ratings.

But that wasn’t enough to dissuade KABC from once again reviving “Sportstalk” in January.

KABC says it believes more modest expectations and a renewed local interest in the Dodgers will help create a winning atmosphere for the new “Sportstalk.” Unlike in previous years, the show will not have the burden of shouldering the station’s important late-afternoon, drive-time slot--airing instead weekdays from 7-9 p.m. (though it will frequently be preempted by Dodger games and the postgame “Dodgertalk” during the baseball season, which begins Sunday).

“With Dodger baseball on this radio station for nine months out of the year and with the Raiders and Rams having left Los Angeles, it created more of an interest for the sports fans to have baseball news all year,” says KABC radio President and General Manager George Green, who hopes that listeners will get into the habit of tuning in the station at night to hear sports year-round.

Though “Sportstalk” is open to all sports topics, it’s clear that the station would like the show to have a strong baseball orientation to buttress its mutually beneficial relationship with the Dodgers. Despite limited radio experience, former Dodger pitcher Jim Gott, 36, was hired to be the program’s primary host.

Neither Green nor Gott view the show as being in competition with XTRA-AM (690), which has developed a solid listenership in Los Angeles but is based in San Diego and is partly geared to the sports issues that affect that area. XTRA is known for its hard-boiled hosts and sports-obsessed listenership.

Conversely, Gott says that “Sportstalk” is mainly trying to appeal to more casual fans as well as some serious sports buffs.

“The reason we’re not competitors with XTRA is that our audiences are really different,” says Gott, who did some radio interviewing work during KFWB-AM’s coverage of the 1992 baseball playoffs and World Series. “The audience at KABC has been listening to non-sports-related hosts Michael Jackson, Dennis Prager and Larry Elder. Then I come on. It would be confusing rather than beneficial to have an in-your-face type of sports host.”

Whereas XTRA’s Lee Hamilton, for example, is known for his formidable grasp of sports information, stats and minutia, Gott’s goal is to steer the conversation more toward the social issues that surround pro and amateur athletics.

“My perception of sports is different than what the score was and whether or not this middle linebacker is going to be the key to the puzzle for the team to win next year,” says the congenial and talkative Gott, who retired from baseball after last season.

“I’m interested in that too, but there are underlying issues in all of this that intrigue me more. Baseball has taught me so much about life. There are tough issues. There are huge divorce rates in sports. Why is that? There are illiteracy problems in sports. Why does that happen when you have so much money being funneled into high school and college athletic programs? Why is the athlete discarded after his or her career is over? Society says, ‘Well, this guy is making so much money, it’s his responsibility.’ But why don’t pro sport’s teams and leagues take care of their own?”

After an initial pairing in January with former “Sportstalk” host Steve Edwards, Gott had been slated to become the show’s lone host beginning in mid-February when the program began broadcasting from the Dodgers’ spring training facility at Vero Beach, Fla. But after the show arrived in Florida, longtime sports reporter Geoff Witcher, who handles some of the Dodgers’ pregame radio reports, was brought in to work alongside the former big-league hurler, and he remained as co-host when the show returned here this week.

But if Gott, who was raised in the San Gabriel Valley, has yet to demonstrate the acuity and magnetism of a first-rate sports talk show host, he is not lacking in confidence.

“What I hope to do is to enlighten the listeners about the thoughts of the players,” he says. “As an ex-player, I know when and why a player has been successful or not successful. It may be hard asking Dodger catcher Mike Piazza the tough questions after he lets the ball go through his legs for the winning run. But I’ll do it. On the other hand, it’s going to be interesting learning about the fans’ perspective. So it’s going to be a learning experience on both ends.”