West Leaves Very Little in the Gray Area

History does have a way of repeating itself. A year ago, Jerry West turned down an interview with TNT one day and the next sat down with NBC’s Jim Gray and said he might leave the Lakers.

“I’m not sure I want to be here anymore,” West told Gray in that 1998 taped interview.

He then recanted and said privately he was done doing national television interviews.

So of course there was West with Gray again last Sunday, and again implying he might be leaving the Lakers. Asked how much longer he foresaw himself running the Lakers, he said, “Not much, not much, not much.”

He then met with local reporters two days later to recant what he had told Gray. He also went on with Paul Sunderland on Tuesday night on Fox Sports West’s “Lakers Live” pregame show and said, “I signed a four-year deal last season and would love to finish it out. Whether or not I can, I don’t know.”

Gray has a knack of getting to people and getting them to open up. His interview with West was shown in two parts, the first part at halftime of the second game of an NBC tripleheader, the second during halftime of the third game between Houston and the Lakers.

One problem: People in Los Angeles didn’t see the second part even though it was heavily promoted. That’s because the geniuses at Channel 4 thought a news break was more important.

Here’s another problem: It was wrong for West to agree to an interview with NBC while turning down all other media requests. As the executive vice president of a high-profile team, the appropriate thing for West to do is make himself available to both national and local media, not just the boys at the big network.

Maybe West learned a lesson here. Then again, maybe not.

RADIO DAZE

Speaking of interviews, we might have been a little hard on Geoff Witcher of KXTA (1150) in this space last week for an interview he did with Dodger pitcher Jamie Arnold.

Witcher didn’t set up the interview very well and gave the impression he hadn’t spent any time talking with Arnold before interviewing him, but compared to some of the lame programming on the Dodger flagship station, the Witcher interview wasn’t all that bad.

How enlightening is it for Vic “the Brick” Jacobs to call a deli in Philadelphia to find out the difference between a cheese-steak sandwich and a hoagie?

Much of what we hear is just fluff. You’d think the Fox-owned Dodgers would realize programming that is so promotional heavy is not good. If the idea is to build interest in the Dodgers, it should be done with solid, objective reporting.

To show you how they think at KXTA, the morning guys, John Ireland and Derrick Hall, interviewed Laker Coach Kurt Rambis the other day, and during the interview Ireland and Hall told Rambis they were “cheering for the Lakers.”

The really sad part is that station executives thought so much of the blatant homerism they made a promo of it.

ROME CUTTING BACK

Jim Rome’s syndicated talk show, beginning Monday, will go for three hours instead of four, ending at noon instead of 1 p.m. It was Rome’s decision. The good news is, we won’t have to listen to as many obnoxious callers, and will still get Rome’s interviews.

The interviews are the best thing about the show. He was great with regulars Jon Barry and Don MacLean on Thursday, and the interview Rome did with Tim Couch on Wednesday was amazing. Rome got the NFL’s No. 1 draft pick to open up about the loss of his best friend, Scott Brock.

Brock, a high school teammate of Couch, was killed in November when the car he was riding in, driven by Jason Watts, the starting center on the Kentucky football team, crashed. Another passenger, Kentucky defensive lineman Artie Steinmetz, was also killed and Watts was recently sentenced to 10 years in prison for drunk driving.

Rome also deserves praise for his strong stand against drugs and drunk driving.

SHORT WAVES

Mike Cunningham, who started as a page at NBC in Burbank in 1978 and has worked with Fred Roggin as a sports producer at Channel 4 since 1981, is leaving at the end of the month to become the executive producer of sports for Channel 2, beginning June 7. . . . Nickelodeon has signed Chamique Holdsclaw, the WNBA’s No. 1 draft pick from Tennessee, as a special sports correspondent for its children’s programming. Holdsclaw will also make guest appearances.

Channel 9 offers another attractive Forum-promoted fight card from the Tropicana in Las Vegas Saturday night at 8. This one features Hector Quiroz and Tito Mendoza in separate bouts. The Channel 9 boxing crew, headed by executive producer Susan Stratton, has won two local Emmys for live sports coverage and was recently nominated for another. The show was also nominated for a feature it did in October on Juan Manuel Marquez.

This week’s edition of “NBA Inside Stuff” features Lakers Kobe Bryant and Derek Harper in separate segments, but Channel 4 can’t say what time Saturday the show will run until the weekend NBA schedule is set. . . . The Fox publicity machine sent out a release that Barry Sanders’ father, William, told Fox Sports News’ Chris Myers that if the Detroit Lions didn’t change their offense, his son would not be back. Of course there was no mention that the story first broke in a Detroit newspaper and that Sanders’ father had also told Sean Salisbury on ESPN Radio the same thing over the weekend. . . . The Padres and radio station KOGO (600) have agreed to a four-year deal that begins next season.

IN CLOSING

TNT commentator Reggie Theus might have found a better way to describe the tension at the end of regulation time in the Sacramento Kings’ overtime victory over Utah on Wednesday night. “It’s times like these you wet your pants,” Theus said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

What Los Angeles Is Watching

A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for May 8-9, including sports on cable networks:

SATURDAY

*--*

Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Pro basketball: New York at Miami 4 5.2 17 Pro basketball: Sacramento at Utah 4 5.1 14 Pro basketball: Phoenix at Portland 4 4.8 15 Golf: Compaq Classic 7 1.8 5 Golf: LPGA Mercury Titleholders 2 1.1 3 Horse racing: Pimlico Special 7 1.2 4 Soccer: MLS, Galaxy at Kansas City 52 1.1 3 Bowling: ABC Masters 2 1.0 3

*--*

****

*--*

Cable Network Rating Share Pro basketball: Detroit at Atlanta TNT 1.9 4 Baseball: Florida at Dodgers FSW2 1.7 3 NHL playoffs: St. Louis at Dallas ESPN 0.8 2 Baseball: Angels at Boston FX 0.7 2 Golf: Senior Nationwide Championship ESPN 0.5 1 Baseball: Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati WGN 0.4 1 Baseball: Atlanta at San Diego TBS 0.4 1 College volleyball: BYU vs. Long Beach St. ESPN2 0.4 1 Horse racing: Will Rogers Handicap FSW 0.4 1

*--*

****

SUNDAY

*--*

Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Pro basketball: Houston at Lakers 4 12.1 32 Pro basketball: Minnesota at San Antonio 4 6.9 19 Pro basketball: Philadelphia at Orlando 4 6.3 17 Gymnastics: Women’s NCAA championships 2 2.2 6 Baseball: Angels at Boston 9 2.0 5 Golf: Compaq Classic 7 1.5 4 Horse racing: Wilshire Handicap 2 1.2 3 NHL playoffs: Detroit at Colorado 11 1.1 3

*--*

****

*--*

Cable Network Rating Share Pro basketball: Milwaukee at Indiana TNT 1.7 4 Baseball: Florida at Dodgers FSW2 1.3 3 Baseball: Atlanta at San Diego TBS 0.6 2 Tennis: German Open final ESPN 0.5 1 NHL playoffs: Pittsburgh at Toronto ESPN2 0.4 1 Baseball: Texas at Toronto ESPN 0.4 1 Golf: Senior Nationwide Championship ESPN 0.4 1

*--*

WEEKDAY RATINGS: Monday--Chicago Cubs at Dodgers, FSW2, 1.7/3; NBA playoffs, Sacramento at Utah, TBS, 4.1/6. Tuesday--Houston at Lakers, FSW, 7.4/11; N.Y. Yankees at Angels, Ch. 9, 3.3/7; Cubs at Dodgers, FSW2, 1.2/2.

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.