In This Game, It’s All ESPN

Viewers are creatures of habit. When they want sports news, they watch “SportsCenter.”

The show has been around for a long time, it’s reliable and well-produced, and although there has been some tweaking and upgrading, there hasn’t been much change in format over the years.

“We’ve got a lot of tradition and history,” says John Walsh, the show’s longtime executive editor. “And our people are always pushing themselves.”

Besides its stability, “SportsCenter” has all of ESPN’s resources behind it--ESPNews, ESPN Radio and ESPN.com.

Fox Sports Net and CNN/SI have discovered just how difficult--and costly--it is to put a dent in the “SportsCenter” stronghold.

CNN/SI recently told staff members it would cease operation in May, and Fox Sports Net this week said it was dropping its “National Sports Report” after Feb. 10.

Fox Sports Net’s news division isn’t exactly running up a white flag, but it does appear to be retreating.

It will emphasize local sports news at the nine regional networks it owns, including the two in Los Angeles, and national sports news will be delivered in periodic updates. The plan is to eventually expand local news shows, such as the “Southern California Sports Report,” to one hour and incorporate national news in those shows.

That makes sense. What doesn’t is to have so many updates.

Under the new format, there will be two an hour--at nine and 39 minutes after the hour--throughout the night except during games. And there will be four an hour during “The Best Damn Sports Show Period,” but that’s OK. They’ll give viewers a break from Tom Arnold.

But think how intrusive the news updates will be during “The Last Word With Jim Rome.” Worse will be the interruptions during “Beyond the Glory” documentaries.

By the time viewers get through a commercial break and an update, they will have forgotten what they were watching.

Tracy Dolgin, Fox Sports Net’s president, conceded that updates may work better on some shows than others.

“It’s something we’ve been debating,” he said.

But, in general, he is sold on delivering national sports updates.

“We’ve done exhaustive research and what we’ve learned is that 62% of our audience is made up of moderate sports fans, as opposed to hard-core sports fans,” he said. “And moderate sports fans want their sports news delivered more frequently in headline format.”

Dolgin added that he hopes the updates will also draw new viewers, who will like what they see.

Still, it seems most viewers will not like the intrusive updates.

They’ll just click over to “SportsCenter,” the real best damn sports show period.

The Other Side

In this space last week, CBS’ Billy Packer ripped into a “60 Minutes” report about the NCAA’s treatment of athletes and a coalition that is seeking reforms. Packer thought the piece, reported by Lesley Stahl, was misleading and inaccurate, and he didn’t pull any punches in saying so.

Rome Hartman, who produced the segment, said, “The story was not about whether student-athletes should be paid. It was about a question of fairness and hypocrisy, questions like, ‘Should an athletic scholarship cover the full cost of attendance?’”

Hartman said another key issue in the piece dealt with the lack of health insurance coverage during voluntary workouts, which really aren’t voluntary.

Hartman called Packer a great basketball commentator, but said, “He just has a blind spot when it comes to college athletics.”

Tough Business

There’s little stability in sports talk radio, , particularly for women.

Nancy Cole, general manager of KMPC (1540), has been let go by the station’s parent company, the Sporting News network.

“What bothers me is, after living and breathing this job the past two years and building up the station, I have the rug pulled out from under me,” Cole said. “But I’m OK. I’ll be fine.”

During Cole’s reign, the station changed its call letters, which was her idea, added local sports flashes and two local shows, moved twice and, most important, became the USC flagship station.

Radio Daze

Clear Channel, which owns KXTA (1150), sent an e-mail saying that the latest Arbitron ratings show that among males 18 and over, the time spent listening to the station had grown 33% since the last rating period. The e-mail also said KXTA and XTRA (690) were the only sports stations drawing enough listeners to be recognized by Arbitron.

KXTA’s listening time may be up, but according to an e-mail sent by KSPN (1110), KXTA’s share dropped from a .7 to a .4. KSPN reports its share went from a .2 to a .3. KXTA still leads in number of listeners per week, 185,200 to 137,300.

Among males 18 and over, KSPN’s Joe McDonnell and Doug Krikorian have the No. 2 sports show in the market during afternoon drive time with a 1 share. XTRA’s Lee Hamilton has a 1.1. He has led his time slot for more than 10 years.

KSPN’s “Ringside With Johnny Ortiz” showed a 300% increase with a .8 share in men 25-54. The show ranks No. 1 among Sunday night sports shows in that age group.

More Radio Bites

This may break the hearts of Stu Nahan fans, but Nahan will not be back doing Dodger pregame shows for KXTA this season. A. Martinez will be paired with Ross Porter, who is 100% since undergoing sinus surgery late last season.... This is the last year KXTA has the Dodgers, but the station still went all out in its coverage of the Gary Sheffield trade. So did KSPN.... The Angels will be hard pressed to find a better announcing team than Mario Impemba and Daron Sutton, who have gone on to other jobs.

Short Waves

The women’s final of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on Saturday night, relegated to the ABC Family Channel, still got a solid 3.4 national cable rating, which translates to a 2.7 rating for all homes. The L.A. rating for all homes was a 3.5. ABC’s repeat on Sunday got a 4.3 national rating. By combining the 2.7 Saturday night rating with the 4.3, you get a 7, which beats the 6 rating ABC got for last year’s women’s final.... Some DirecTV subscribers complained that they missed Saturday night’s skating. DirecTV carries the East Coast feed from channels such as ABC Family, meaning it was on live at 5 p.m. here instead of delayed at 8 p.m., as it was on cable.

ESPN’s new three hours of Sunday night programming, running from 5-8 p.m. and called “The Block,” debuts this weekend. Featured Sunday at 5 is the beginning of a 13-episode series that follows the North Charleston Lowgators of the NBDL, the NBA’s new developmental league. The featured show on Jan. 17 will be something called “The World’s Sexiest Athletes,” presented by Us magazine.

Recommended viewing: It will be “NFL Greats Week” beginning Monday on A&E;’s “Biography.” The series will feature, in order, Frank Gifford, Joe Montana, Walter Payton, Vince Lombardi and Joe Namath. The shows are produced by NFL Films.... If you’re looking for something to get you in the mood for the Winter Olympics, there’s an entertainment special on NBC Saturday at 10 p.m. Also, a DVD of HBO’s outstanding documentary, “Do You Believe in Miracles? The Story of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team,” is available in stores.