Who’s Gotta Get Off the Air? Not Hearn

When will Chick Hearn retire? With Hearn in his mid-80s, that’s a logical question.

It was raised again recently when Frank Hughes, NBA columnist for ESPN.com, reported in a two-paragraph item that Hearn, now in his 41st season with the Lakers, would be retiring after this season because of health problems.

Hughes must not know Hearn very well. Hearn will go on forever.

He used to say he would retire when Magic Johnson retired. That came and went. Then he began to speak the truth, that he will never retire.

Although Hearn immediately denied the report, further comment was sought. He was called in Milwaukee. And Marge Hearn was called in Encino.

Marge called back first.

“It’s not true,” she said, anticipating the question. “Frances [Chick’s real first name] is not retiring.”

Of course we knew that.

Chick is sharp for his age, but Marge, who admits to 83, is even sharper.

“Why should he retire?” she asked. “He loves his work. I know he’s not perfect, that he makes mistakes, but who doesn’t make mistakes?

“People watch Laker games to be entertained, and who could be more entertaining? I read that [ESPN.com] column. Why didn’t the writer call? Frances would have told him it’s not true.

“There was even a name mentioned as a possible replacement. I’ve never heard of that person.”

The name in question belonged to Kevin Calabro, the Seattle SuperSonics’ announcer. The ubiquitous Paul Sunderland was the only other name mentioned.

Two other candidates are Mike Breen of NBC and the New York Knicks, and Joel Meyers, who has been doing San Antonio Spur telecasts the last few seasons.

But pity whoever follows Chick. Same for anyone who would replace Vin Scully. No one will match up.

It’s the Gene Bartow syndrome. Bartow followed John Wooden at UCLA.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Chick said. “My job keeps me young. I love my work.”

Hearn is in the midst of negotiating a new contract for next season with Frank Mariani, Laker owner Jerry Buss’ right-hand man. Hearn said it will be a one-year contract, same as his current deal.

“I think that’s best for both parties,” he said.

Sources say the Lakers, Channel 9 and KLAC have thought about reducing Hearn’s workload, possibly relieving him of the long trips and/or cutting back on his pregame radio duties.

“That hasn’t come up, and if it did I’d say no,” Hearn said. “It’s all or nothing.”

Marge said her husband may go one more season after this one and then retire, but Chick no doubt will continue to say he’s not retiring.

One thing we hope is that, when the time comes, Hearn will announce that he is retiring and not just quit abruptly. That way he can be given a farewell tour, like the ones Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Larry Bird got.

ABC’s Keith Jackson got one. And then Jackson unretired.

Knowing Chick, that’s probably what he would do too--at ninetysomething.

PRIME-TIME TENNIS

Women’s tennis has hit the big time. It was announced this week that the women’s final of the U.S. Open will be played on Saturday night, Sept. 8, so it can be shown in prime time in the East.

The men’s final will be played the following afternoon.

“This added exposure for women’s tennis is outstanding,” Lindsay Davenport said.

Said Monica Seles: “This is a great example of how far women’s tennis has come.”

And Venus Williams, the defending champion, said, “It will be an even bigger goal of mine to reach the final again, this time under the lights.”

SHORT WAVES

The big question this weekend is what will get a higher rating, Tiger Woods and golf on NBC or the NCAA tournament regional finals on CBS? . . . Because of declining ratings over the last two seasons, Turner is considering cutting back on its NBA coverage by eliminating one of its three nights. USA Today reported that TBS could be out of the picture, with TNT carrying games on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Several readers have reported a glitch in DirecTV’s supplemental NCAA tournament package. When CBS switches off a lopsided game, DirecTV subscribers can’t get that game as part of the package they paid $49 for because CBS controls what games the satellite service can show. “It’s something we’d like to work out in the future,” a DirecTV spokesman said. . . . Speaking of switching off, ESPN left Annika Sorenstam’s record round of 59 with two holes left last Friday to go to the tennis at Indian Wells. The Golf Channel stepped in to fill the void, leaving a Canadian event to report Sorenstam’s record shortly after it happened.

Boxing beat: There’s good and bad news about Saturday night’s Oscar De La Hoya-Artura Gatti fight. The good news is, the fight is on HBO, not pay-per-view. The bad news is, HBO will show it on a three-hour delay in the West at 10:45. The De La Hoya fight will be the first one shown. . . . “Ringside With Johnny Ortiz,” which has been carried by various radio stations since 1992, has been added to the ESPN Radio lineup on KPSN (1110). The two-hour show will be on Sunday nights at 8, beginning this weekend, when Fernando Vargas and Johnny Tapia will be the guests.

One-on-One Sports, heard on KMPC (1540), becomes Sporting News Radio on Monday. . . . Attention, soccer fans: The 2002 World Cup South American qualifiers Tuesday, Colombia-Bolivia at 4 p.m. and Peru-Chile at 6 p.m., are being offered on pay-per-view through In Demand at $29.95 for both games.

IN CLOSING

Jim Rome’s national radio show is supposed to eventually move from KXTA (1150) to sister station KLAC (570), but it was a surprise to hear it on 570 Thursday morning. It got moved to make room for the Dodgers, so 1150 could broadcast the USC and UCLA games later in the day. Vic “the Brick” Jacobs, doing updates during Rome’s show on 570, kept saying he was on 1150. That figures. Jacobs usually doesn’t know where he is.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

What Los Angeles Is Watching

A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for March 17-18.

SATURDAY

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Over the air Channel Rating Share NCAA tournament: USC vs. Boston College 2 5.4 15 NCAA tournament: Stanford vs. St. Joseph’s 2 5.4 12 NCAA tournament: UCLA vs. Utah State 2 3.5 11 Golf: PGA, Bay Hill Invitational 4 3.5 11 NCAA tournament: Duke vs. Missouri 2 3.0 10 Pro football: XFL, Birmingham at Las Vegas 4 2.1 5 Hockey: San Jose at Kings 7 0.9 3

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Cable Network Rating Share Tennis: Masters Series, women’s final ESPN 1.0 3 Boxing: Johnny Tapia vs. Famosito Gomez SHO 0.8 2 Horse racing: San Felipe Stakes FSN 0.6 2 Women’s NCAA tournament: Fairfield vs. Utah ESPN 0.5 1 Tennis: Masters Series, men’s semifinals ESPN2 0.4 1 Drag racing: NHRA Gatornationals qualifying ESPN 0.4 1 Auto racing: NASCAR Winston Cup 400 qualifying FSN 0.3 1

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SUNDAY

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Over the air Channel Rating Share Pro basketball: Lakers at Orlando 4 5.5 15 Golf: PGA, Bay Hill Invitational 4 5.0 14 NCAA tournament: Fresno State vs. Michigan State 2 3.2 8 NCAA tournament: Butler vs. Arizona 2 2.7 8 NCAA tournament: Kansas vs. Syracuse 2 1.9 5 Pro football: XFL, San Francisco at Chicago 13 1.8 4 Auto racing: NASCAR Winston Cup 400 11 1.7 5 Baseball: N.Y. Yankees vs. Dodgers 5 1.5 5 Hockey: Mighty Ducks at Chicago 9 0.2 1

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Cable Network Rating Share Tennis: Masters Series, men’s final ESPN 1.5 4 Pro football: XFL, Orlando at Xtreme TNN 0.9 2 Horse racing: Santa Anita Live FSN2 0.9 2 Golf: LPGA Standard Register Ping ESPN 0.6 1 Drag racing: NHRA Gatornationals ESPN2 0.4 1 Horse racing: Gotham Stakes ESPN2 0.4 1

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WEEKDAY RATINGS: Thursday, March 15: USC vs. Oklahoma State, Ch. 2, 3.5/5; UCLA vs. Hofstra, Ch. 2, 2.3/9. Friday, March 16: California vs. Fresno State, Ch. 2, 3.6/5; Kansas vs. Cal State Northridge, Ch. 2, 2.1/5.

Note: Each rating point represents 53,542 L.A. households. Cable ratings reflect the entire market, even though cable is in only 63% of L.A. households.