TV, radio ready to blanket the recall

There will be no shortage of television and radio recall election coverage tonight, although there may be a shortage of results to report.

The broadcast and cable networks, along with some local stations and newspapers, have banded together to commission an exit poll. But no results will be released before all polls close at 8 p.m., and networks, mindful of early wrong projections during the 2000 presidential campaign, might not project winners at all. Whether the information is used will depend on how close the polling results are and how comfortable TV news organizations are in using them, executives said. One unknown factor making TV producers wary is the number of absentee ballots, which can’t be determined by exit polling.

Depending on how close the voting is, it’s also possible that news organizations will be able to project a winner among voters’ choices for a new governor but not be able to tell viewers immediately whether recall has passed, said Tom Hannon, CNN’s political director.

Most of the anchors for the network morning programs and evening newscasts are in California to cover the election, and their regularly scheduled programs will carry extensive reports on election day activities.

Starting at 8 p.m., local station KCAL-TV and the cable news networks will have ongoing live coverage of the results as they come in. Fox News Channel’s lineup includes Brit Hume, anchoring from Washington, and, at 10 p.m., Greta Van Susteren from Los Angeles. CNN’s coverage will be anchored by Wolf Blitzer in Los Angeles; at 6 p.m., “Larry King Live” will feature a lineup of California guests. C-SPAN will simulcast with KCRA-TV, the NBC affiliate in Sacramento. Chris Matthews will anchor live from Los Angeles for MSNBC, starting at 6 p.m.

Other local Los Angeles stations are juggling their schedules to squeeze it all in. KCBS has moved the half-hour “Entertainment Tonight” to 3:30 p.m. to accommodate prime-time’s “Judging Amy” move to 7 p.m. so an election special can be broadcast at 10.

KNBC and KABC also plan to air election specials at 10 p.m., preempting “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and “NYPD Blue,” respectively. From 8 to 10 p.m. all three stations are scheduled to stick with regular programming, but as results come in, the stations will either run “crawls” at the bottom of the screen or will interrupt programs for updates. KABC will carry ABC News’ “Nightline,” which is expected to focus on the recall, at 11:35 p.m.

KTTV, the local Fox station, is sticking with its plan to air Game 1 of baseball’s National League Championship Series, scheduled to start at 5 p.m., followed by regular programming. KTLA will also have regular programming.

As for radio, stations planning extensive election coverage tonight include KNX-AM (1070), KABC-AM (790) and KFWB-AM (980) and public broadcasters KPCC-FM (89.3) and KCRW-FM (89.9).

It’s not news, but for those seeking satire, “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” also will have a recall edition at 8 p.m.