Fading to Pass on USC, UCLA Replays

It was announced this week that 66 college football games will be televised on Fox Sports West and Fox Sports West 2 this season.

What was not announced was that the long-standing tradition of tape-delaying USC and UCLA telecasts is being cut back.

As a cost-saving measure, USC and UCLA games on ABC will not be replayed on Fox Sports West or Fox Sports West 2 at all, and Fox Sports Net national telecasts will be used for replays instead of locally produced telecasts.

What this means is that USC fans will not be seeing much of Tom Kelly and Craig Fertig. They will work the Trojans’ opener at Hawaii because that game is a local telecast, to be shown live on Fox Sports West 2 and replayed the next day.

The Trojans’ second game against San Diego State Sept. 18 is an ABC regional telecast, so no replay there.

The TV outlet for USC’s game at Oregon on Sept. 25 has not been set, but if it is a Fox Sports Net telecast with Steve Physioc and Tom Ramsey, then those are the announcers you will also hear on the replay. Or it could be Barry Tompkins and David Norrie. Either way, it will be a former UCLA quarterback serving as the analyst instead of Fertig, a former USC quarterback.

UCLA’s opener against Boise State on Sept. 4 and its third game against Fresno State on Sept. 18 are both local telecasts on Fox Sports West 2, with Bill Macdonald and Mike Sherrard. So there will be replays of those games, if anyone cares. The Bruins’ second game at Ohio State Sept. 11 is an ABC national telecast, so no replay.

You can’t really blame Fox Sports West for cutting back. Because of the abundance of college football on television these days, replays get only a 0.2 or 0.3 rating. Such ratings don’t justify the production costs of doing separate telecasts just for replays.

NOT A BAD SHOW

The Tiger Woods-David Duval match on ABC Monday not only got better-than-expected ratings--6.9 nationally, 8.7 locally--but it also turned out to be just what was advertised--an entertaining TV show. Nothing more, nothing less.

The golf could have been a little better, but the production was excellent. Mike Tirico, one of the fast-rising stars in the business, usually told us exactly what we needed to know.

Curtis Strange didn’t call anybody dumb, and reporters Judy Rankin and Jimmy Roberts stayed on top of things. Roberts, in particular, showed hustle-- literally--when he did a live interview with Woods while walking toward the 12th green. The shorter Roberts had to hustle to keep up.

Al Michaels, the veteran pro, summed things up nicely when, after saying it was a good evening’s entertainment, said, “In the end, Tiger prevailed, as David got caught between a rock and a hard place.”

A story circulated around the ABC complex afterward about the rocks in the 16th fairway, where Duval hit his tee shot, essentially giving the match to Woods. On the air, Strange questioned why there were rocks in the middle of the fairway, but the story that never got on the air is that they fell off a truck during construction of the course and designer Jack Nicklaus said, “Just leave them there.”

Another story that never made the air, and never would have, is that ABC spent $80,000 to light the 17th and 18th holes. Since Woods closed out Duval after 17 holes, ABC wasted $40,000.

But no one at ABC is complaining. They got what they wanted.

RADIO DAZE

The Chicago-based One-On-One Sports radio network is still planning to do a local afternoon sports talk show on KCTD (1540). It had Joe McDonnell and Doug Krikorian lined up to begin July 19, but then McDonnell, even though he had signed a contract with One-On-One, chose to stay at KFWB (980).

Krikorian is still very much in the picture, and Mark Gentzkow, One-On-One vice president, was in Los Angeles this week to interview nearly 25 prospective partners, among them Brian Golden, Larry Kahn, Alan Massengale, Stu Nahan and Jeanne Zelasko. The show is scheduled to begin this fall.

Meanwhile, dour Fred Wallin and Peter Vent begin doing a weekly show Saturday, 7-10 p.m., on KRLA (1110). That has to be real exciting.

SHORT WAVES

Jackie Joyner-Kersee, selected by a 48-member panel of journalists and observers as the 23rd-greatest North American athlete of the 20th century, will be profiled tonight at 7:30 on ESPN. In a poll of https://www.espn.com users, 80.5% of 1,441 voters said she belonged in the top 50. . . . Fox reports its Saturday baseball ratings are up 11% from last year, 2.7 to 3.0, and national telecasts on Fox Sports Net have gone up too. Fox Sports Net got a boost Thursday night when it televised San Diego-St. Louis. . . . The San Diego Chargers’ exhibition game against Denver in Australia Saturday night will be televised by Fox, and the Chargers’ remaining exhibition games, beginning next Thursday from San Francisco, can be seen in L.A. on Fox Sports West 2, with Dan Fouts and Stan Humphries announcing.

Francois Botha and Shannon Biggs head a SET, $29.95 pay-per-view boxing card Saturday night at 6 from Atlantic City, N.J. . . . DirecTV will begin offering FX on Channel 248 on Aug. 17. . . . DirecTV and the NBA announced a renewal of the NBA League Pass pay package, but the package now will also be available on cable systems that have upgraded to digital. . . . Before an agreement was reached that lifted the blackout of Dodger telecasts on Fox Sports West 2 on Charter-owned cable systems, reader Stephen Due of Marina del Rey wrote: “Can I get information on how to get my cable company to not broadcast Dodger games?”

IN CLOSING

The guys at KXTA (1150) talk radio, who haven’t eased up on new Channel 5 sportscaster Claudia Trejos, had fun with her description of Dodger Dave Hansen’s catch of a foul ball with the bases loaded last Sunday. She said Hansen “saved Chan Ho Park’s sushi.” Her script read “tushie.”

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What Los Angeles Is Watching

A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for July 31-Aug. 1, including sports on cable networks: *--*

Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Baseball: Arizona at Dodgers 11 3.4 10 Golf: PGA Greater Hartford Open 2 2.1 6 Soccer: MLS, Galaxy at Chicago 7 1.4 4 Pan-American Games 34 1.0 3 Basketball: WNBA, Phoenix at Houston 4 0.8 2

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Cable Network Rating Share Baseball: Minnesota at Angels FSW 1.1 2 Drag racing: NHRA Northwest Nationals qualifying ESPN2 0.7 2 Baseball: Philadelphia at Atlanta TBS 0.7 2 Tennis: Pete Sampras vs. James Sekulov FSW 0.6 2 Golf: LPGA du Maurier Classic ESPN 0.6 2 Horse racing: United Nations Handicap ESPN 0.5 1 Baseball: New York Mets at Chicago Cubs WGN 0.4 1 Auto racing: NASCAR Busch Grand National 200 TNN 0.4 1 Tennis: Andre Agassi vs. Andrew Ilie FSW 0.4 1 Soccer: MLS, Colorado at Dallas ESPN 0.3 1 Golf: Senior Novell Utah Showdown ESPN 0.2 1

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SUNDAY *--*

Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Soccer: MLS, Miami at Columbus 34 2.2 6 Golf: PGA, Greater Hartford Open 2 2.1 6 Pan-American Games 34 1.5 4 Auto racing: IRL Dover 200 11 1.3 4 Horse racing: Whitney Handicap at Saratoga 11 1.2 3 Auto racing: American LeMans Series 4 1.0 3

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Cable Network Rating Share Tennis: Pete Sampras vs. Andre Agassi FSW 1.8 4 Baseball: New York Yankees at Boston ESPN 1.6 3 Baseball: Arizona at Dodgers FSW2 1.2 4 Drag racing: NHRA Northwest Nationals (finals) ESPN2 0.9 2 Drag racing: NHRA Northwest Nationals (1st round) ESPN2 0.8 2 Bowling: Women’s U.S. Open ESPN 0.8 2 Golf: Senior Novell Utah Showdown ESPN2 0.7 2 Horse racing: Eddie Read Handicap at Del Mar ESPN2 0.7 2 Golf: LPGA du Maurier Classic ESPN 0.6 2 Auto racing: Formula One Grand Prix FSW 0.5 1 Auto racing: NASCAR Craftsman Truck 200 ESPN 0.5 1 Baseball: Philadelphia at Atlanta TBS 0.5 1 Baseball: New York Mets at Chicago Cubs WGN 0.5 1

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WEEKDAY RATINGS: Golf, Tiger Woods vs. David Duval, Channel 7, 8.7/17.

Note: Each rating point represents 51,350 L.A. households. Cable ratings reflect the entire market, even though cable is in only 63% of L.A. households.