Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 28, 1994 TAG: 9405280068
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
After only one season of success, the Roanoke Express will have the kind of broadcast exposure other area sports teams have desired for years.
Next week, the East Coast Hockey League franchise and WFIR Radio (960 AM) will announce a one-year contract for game broadcasts. Express president John Gagnon and director of broadcasting Tim Woodburn confirmed the agreement Friday.
The hockey club will return a signed contract to WFIR next week.
WFIR, which had been prominent in local sports event broadcasting through the 1970s, has been ON THE AIR JACK BOGACZYK reluctant to pre-empt the network call-in and talk programming with host Bruce Williams in recent years. The Express also expects to finalize a deal next week for other stations on a radio network that will include stations in the Alleghany Highlands and Lynchburg.
The hockey club's first season included 60 live and nine tape-delay broadcasts, with 51 of the 69 games on 1,000-watt WROV (1240 AM) and the remainder on WRIS (1410 AM), which broadcasts at less than 100 watts at night.
WFIR's 5,000-watt signal will give the Express much more exposure. Woodburn said that in addition to the stronger signal, the decision to move to WFIR was based upon fewer tape-delay broadcasts than had been offered by WROV, where the schedule includes University of Virginia and high school football and basketball broadcasts.
"We had no problem with what WROV did for us and they were great to work with, but I couldn't see us tape-delaying that many times," Woodburn said from St. Louis, where he is vacationing. "We showed we have a good following last season, and our fans want to hear our games live, just like the fans of those schools do."
On WFIR, Express games will be pre-empted by conflicts with World Series, Monday Night Football and NCAA basketball tournament broadcasts. The Express played only one Monday night game last season, and Woodburn expects fewer than five tape-delay games in 1994-95.
The club will purchase airtime and retain advertising revenue in the deal with WFIR. Gagnon said the cost of buying airtime on WFIR was "slightly higher" than on WROV but "comparable."
"It's a good deal for us," Gagnon said. "WFIR's signal will reach a lot more people. Our fans asked for this. I live in Botetourt County, and there were times when I couldn't pick up the games. We'll have a larger audience now."
WFIR general manager Terry Gibbons and WROV general manager Mike Slenski were unavailable for comment.
\ EXPRESS TV: The hockey club and WDBJ (Channel 7) are discussing a Sunday late-night ECHL show that would highlight the Express and include coach Frank Anzalone and players. WDBJ program manager Mike Bell said the Express and Channel 7 executives are scheduled to meet on the proposal in mid-June.
"There's no concrete proposal yet," said Bell. "We still have to sit down and talk details and see if it's financially feasible for the station and the team."
The discussion has centered on a 15-minute show following the local 11 p.m. newscast on Sundays starting in January and running through the end of the Express' season, including any playoff rounds.
\ DALY DOSE: The NBA playoff coverage by cable's TNT ended with Friday night's Game 3 of the Houston-Utah series - and that's too bad. While major-league baseball will regionalize its early rounds of two playoff series in each league, the NBA has increased its national postseason exposure.
Turner Sports has televised a record 43 of 46 available prime-time games in the NBA playoffs, including five first-round games on TBS. NBC Sports, which has aired the other 17 games on weekends, will show the rest of the playoffs, starting its weekday coverage with Game 4 in the New York-Indiana series Monday (2:30 p.m., WSLS Channel 10).
Turner's coverage has been superb and will only strengthen next season when former NBA champion and Olympic gold-medal coach Chuck Daly becomes the analyst for the new Thursday night package on TBS. Daly has a four-year contract for $1.8 million, and if he's as strong courtside as he's been in a few TNT studio gigs this spring, he'll be worth $450,000 annually.
Turner's TNT and TBS will combine for 70 regular-season games next season, the first in a $350 million cable deal with the NBA that runs through 1997-98. Daly will work Thursdays on TBS with former CBS play-by-play man Verne Lundquist. Hubie Brown and Doug Collins will return to TNT, and with Daly will give Turner far superior pro hoops analysis to NBC.
Brown's playoff work has been particularly sharp. With TNT finished this spring, he will be missed.
\ BEE-LIEVE IT: Showing it will go anywhere to show competitors competing, ESPN will televise a 90-minute special on the National Spelling Bee - that's no typographical error - Thursday at 4 p.m. "I've covered the NFL, Wimbledon and the Olympics, but in my mother's eyes - those of a retired English teacher - I've now finally made it," said Robin Roberts, who will be host for the bee from Washington, D.C.
\ AROUND THE DIAL: Stu Paul, in his second year as radio voice of Salem Buccaneers' baseball, reportedly is one of the favorites for the vacant play-by-play job with the ECHL's Knoxville Cherokees. . . . ESPN's coverage of the Stanley Cup Finals will begin Tuesday at 8 p.m., with Gary Thorne and Bill Clement handling the calls. . . . The Fox Network's addition this week of several VHF stations that had been CBS, ABC and NBC affiliates brings to 54 the number of new Fox stations since the network grabbed the NFL's package of NFC games for $1.56 billion in December. . . . ESPN and Raycom have announced the matchups for the first Great Eight basketball doubleheaders next Nov. 29-30, in Auburn Hills, Mich. - Boston College-Florida, Connecticut-Duke, Missouri-Purdue and Michigan-Arizona. . . . Richard Petty will be a guest analyst in the booth with Ken Squier for Sunday's NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 on TBS at 4:45 p.m.
by CNB