Hard Work Clears the Way for Slater

It’s still nice to know there are sportscasters who get prime jobs the old-fashioned way--they earn them.

Jackie Slater is a case in point.

If he had been a quarterback, he may have gone straight to the “Monday Night” booth. Boomer Esiason did. So did Joe Namath. John Elway could have.

NBC handed Joe Montana a prime studio job even though he had no broadcasting experience.

But Slater was an offensive lineman. It doesn’t matter that he was one of the best in the league for most of his 20 years with the Rams, played in more games than any offensive lineman in NFL history and is probably headed for the Hall of Fame after he becomes eligible in 2001.

Offensive linemen don’t get handed the big-time jobs. Dan Dierdorf, another offensive lineman, worked at KMOX radio during his playing days with the St. Louis Cardinals and worked his way up through the ranks at CBS before ending up in the “Monday Night” booth.

Slater, born and raised in Jackson, Miss.--he went to college there at Jackson State--first thought about broadcasting as a career during his early days as a Ram.

“After games, I’d look over at guys interviewing Merlin Olsen and Jack Youngblood and think I’d like to do that,” Slater said. “In later years, I guess because of my age, they’d come over and ask me what I thought.”

Slater, who lives in Orange, started out small, getting involved with the Orange County News (OCN) cable channel’s high school football coverage. He also hung around the studio to see the inner workings and how the athlete-of-the-week shows were edited.

“I wanted to learn everything I could,” he said.

During the early ‘90s, while he was still playing, he took every broadcasting opportunity he could, radio or television, always seeking to improve his skills.

While Slater was on injured reserve after the Rams had moved to St. Louis in 1995, he drove across the state line on Friday nights to do analysis on high school games on cable in Belleville, Ill. He now does the Rams’ exhibition games for local television.

During the final two years of his playing career, 1994 and ‘95, he was a Super Bowl on-site analyst for Prime Sports’ “Press Box,” the predecessor to Fox Sports Net’s “Fox Sports News.”

That led to a job as an NFL studio analyst for “Fox Sports News.” He signed a contract in 1997 and has since also made guest appearances on the big network’s pregame show with James Brown and the crew.

Now, he and former Buffalo coach Marv Levy have been named analysts for a new Fox Sports Net pregame show, “NFL This Morning,” which will be on Sunday mornings during the season at 8.

What the people at Fox like most about Slater is his work ethic and his willingness to learn and improve.

“Maybe it’s because I was an offensive lineman and have that philosophy where you just put your head down and your nose to the grindstone and go to work,” Slater said.

“I’ve got two producers who work with me, Mark Houska and Mark Mayer, and they’ve been great. I want them to look me in the eye--well, they can’t do that because I tower over them--but I want them to tell me what I did wrong and how I can do it better.

“They shouldn’t worry about hurting my feelings. I don’t need a pat on the back. I need honest criticism.”

You get the impression that Slater, who did pretty well as a football player for a third-round draft choice from a small school, is on his way to big things in broadcasting too.

IN NEED OF A TRAINER

The knowledge Slater picked up as a football player about rehabilitating injuries may come in handy around the set of “NFL This Morning.” The show’s host, Chris Myers, tore the major ligaments in his right knee while playing touch football with friends in Westlake Village last weekend and is facing major reconstructive surgery and 10 months of rehabilitation.

Myers has continued to work as an anchor on “Fox Sports News,” propping up the bad leg, which is wrapped, on a stool behind his desk. “It’s kind of inconvenient for Steve Lyons [his co-anchor] because he has to make room,” Myers said.

Myers will eventually have to take some time off for surgery. USC team physician Dr. Jim Tirvone will do the surgery in four to six weeks.

Slater got to put his communications skills to work earlier this month when he introduced his friend and former teammate, Eric Dickerson, at the Hall of Fame inductions in Canton, Ohio. Slater also played with another inductee, Tom Mack.

SHORT WAVES

Word is that Lisa Guerrero, rejected by Channel 2, might end up at Channel 11. . . . TNT has hired Mike Fratello as an NBA analyst. . . . The 6.9 national rating CBS got for the final round of the PGA Championship is the highest for the PGA since the 1980s, when ratings overall were higher. . . . It works out nicely for CBS that Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia are also in this weekend’s Sprint International. . . . On Fox Sports Net’s “Goin’ Deep” Sunday at 9 p.m., Arizona Cardinal quarterback Jake Plummer, in an interview with Myers, talks about his fourth-quarter comebacks. “I go into a mode where it is survival,” he says. “I want to win so bad, it’s a fear of failing. The passion to win takes over.”

RADIO DAZE

Move over Jim Rome, here comes Terry Bradshaw. Beginning Monday, Bradshaw will do a midday, one-hour show, “Lunch With Terry,” for KXTA (1150). Marc Reede of Promotional Sports Stars, who put together last January’s “Winning Ways” seminar at the Arrowhead Pond for KXTA and also put together the Bradshaw deal, said the plan is to start with a local show and expand. “What is Rome in, 175 markets?” Reede said. It’s actually more like 130. . . . For all you Vic “the Brick” Jacobs fans, he hasn’t left the station. He’s on vacation, spreading “one love” in Japan. . . . Meanwhile, it’s good to hear more of Ken Levine. Lee Klein is another one we’d like to hear more of, but maybe those two are too polished for KXTA. . . . The recent spat between KXTA’s Newy Scruggs and Dave Denholm was real. Those two really don’t like each other. . . . From a brief news release: ABC radio networks and The Fabulous Sports Babe have agreed to end their relationship as of Sept. 10.

IN CLOSING

Maybe the best thing about Bradshaw’s new show on KXTA is it means one less hour of Dave Smith and Ben Maller.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

What Los Angeles Is Watching

A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for Aug. 14-15, including sports on cable networks:

SATURDAY

*--*

Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Football: NFL exhibition, New York Jets-Green Bay 2 7.0 16 Golf: PGA Championship 2 5.3 6 Baseball: New York Mets at San Francisco 11 1.5 4 Basketball: WNBA, Sparks at Washington 4 0.7 2 Soccer: MLS, Columbus at Washington 7 0.7 2

*--*

*--*

Cable Network Rating Share Boxing: Stevie Johnston vs. Angel Manfredy HBO 2.9 7 Baseball: Atlanta at Dodgers FSW2 2.4 5 Tennis: ATP Championships, first semifinal ESPN 1.8 6 Tennis: ATP Championships, second semifinal ESPN 1.0 3 Golf: PGA Championship TNT 0.9 3 Horse racing: Sword Dancer Handicap ESPN 0.5 1 Golf: Women’s U.S. Amateur ESPN 0.4 1 Arena football: playoffs, Arizona-Albany ESPN2 0.2 1 SUNDAY Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Football: NFL exhibition, Dallas at Oakland 2 8.7 19 Golf: PGA Championship 2 7.5 19 Tennis: Acura Classic final 4 3.3 8 Baseball: Angels at Detroit 9 2.5 6 Swimming: U.S. Championships (tape) 4 1.5 4 Soccer: Mexican League games 52 0.9 2 Cable Network Rating Share Auto racing: NASCAR Frontier at the Glen ESPN 1.7 5 Tennis: ATP Championships final ESPN 1.2 3 Golf: PGA Championship TNT 1.1 4 Baseball: Baltimore at Cleveland ESPN 0.8 2 Auto racing: CART Miller Lite 200 ESPN 0.7 2 Boxing: Darrick Harmon-Gilberto Brown (tape) FSW 0.6 1 Auto racing: Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix FSW 0.4 1 Golf: Women’s British Open ESPN 0.1 0

*--*

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.