DATE: Thursday, October 9, 1997             TAG: 9710090702

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C9   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: RICH RADFORD

DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG                      LENGTH:   38 lines

GOLF ON RADIO? YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST

Their motto is ``Golf Like You've Never Seen It.''

It speaks volumes.

The PGA Tour Radio Network will be in town this week reporting on the Michelob Championship at Kingsmill with three-hour broadcasts on both Saturday and Sunday. It's the network's initial trip to Williamsburg.

The shows will air locally on WVNS 670-AM. While radios can't be brought onto the golf course - PGA Tour rules forbid it - the PGA Tour Radio Network is liscenced to sell their own Tourlink Radios, which have earphones, and will be doing so at a kiosk near the Michelob Hospitality tent behind the clubhouse Saturday and Sunday.

``People have to get past the idea of `Golf on the radio?' '' said Randy Brown, one of four on-course reporters who will be at Kingsmill. ``This is the only major league sport that didn't have play-by-play radio. But anyone who knows golf will be able to get the information they need from listening to us.''

``Plus,'' said executive producer Warren Elliott. ``If you're down at the 16th or 17th green and want to know what's happening at the 11th, we can tell you.''

And this isn't the local radio station rolling its van onto the course. The network has invested $1.5 million in state-of-the-art technology.

The live broadcasts on the weekend will run from 12:30 to 3:30 on Saturday and 3-6 on Sunday. The network also provides an hour-long golf magazine called ``Straight from the Tour,'' regular features during the broadcasts and updates from the PGA Senior Tour and Nike Tour.

Grant Boone and former PGA Tour player Bill Kratzert will anchor the coverage this weekend; Brown will be joined on the course by Ed Bignon, former PGA Tour player Joe Inman and former LPGA player Mary Bryan.

``This is just part of golf entering the 21st Century,'' Elliott said. ``Golfers provide a mobile market and we're providing an excellent product.''

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