TV-Radio : Long Tournaments and Short Telecasts Make for a Bad Mix

For those into golf, there are advantages to living on the West Coast. The weather is one advantage for those who enjoy playing the game. The time zone is another for those who enjoy watching it on TV.

If you live in the Eastern time zone, you can never be sure you’ll get to see the end of a televised tournament.

In November, about two-thirds of the country missed the climactic finish of the Skins Game because NBC cut away for an NFL pregame show. Then, two weeks ago, everybody but viewers in the Pacific time zone missed the five-hole playoff at the Bob Hope Classic as NBC cut away for a situation comedy, “Silver Spoons.”

NBC took some heat for that one, to put it mildly.

It got so bad that Tom Merritt, NBC Sports’ publicity director, started answering his phone with “19th hole.”

Art Watson, the president of NBC Sports, said this week that if the same situation were to arise again, the network would stick with the golf tournament.

Watson was the one who pulled the plug on the Hope, but said the decision was made by network executives at the request of the entertainment division. “It was not an NBC Sports decision,” he said. “We regret that it happened. We have reviewed the situation and have decided in the future we will stick with live sports events to their conclusion, provided there are not extenuating circumstances above and beyond what we had with the Hope.”

In other words, “Silver Spoons” or whatever bites the dust next time, and the network takes a financial loss.

The man on the hot seat this weekend is Peter Lund, CBS Sports’ new president who recently replaced Neal Pilson when Pilson moved up to executive vice president of the CBS Broadcast Group, where he now oversees sports and radio.

If the Los Angeles Open goes into a long playoff Sunday, it will be Lund who will decide when to pull the plug. CBS’ scheduled airtimes are 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday and 12:30 to 3 p.m. Sunday.

“What we’re rooting for is a close finish with maybe a one- or two-hole playoff,” Lund said. “Ideally, we would like play to conclude about 5 or 10 minutes before 3, which is 6 o’clock in the East. Then we have time for a wrapup before going to local news.”

And if there is a long playoff?

“We could possibly go up to close to 7 o’clock (in the East) if we have to,” Lund said.

At 7, “60 Minutes” is scheduled and you can bet your house no part of that show would ever be preempted for golf.

Last weekend, CBS, as it often does on Saturdays, left the third round of the Phoenix Open before its conclusion to go to downhill skiing from Switzerland on its “Sports Saturday” show.

Calvin Peete, the eventual winner, was struggling because of watery eyes caused by a contact lens problem, and Doug Tewell was quickly making up ground, so golf fans didn’t appreciate the cutaway.

“We never feel compelled to stick with the third round of a tournament,” Lund said. “We realize there are golf fans who would like to see us stick with it, but they are missing only shots and not the conclusion of a tournament. We have not received many complaints about leaving third rounds early. I think most golf fans have come to expect it.”

Lund said he was sympathetic about what happened to NBC with the Hope. “I understand the predicament they were in. There are no easy solutions. Earlier start times and quicker play are two things, but you can’t start play before sunup, and quicker play is something the PGA is always encouraging.”

Not so sympathetic with NBC was Jim Spence, ABC senior vice president in charge of sports. An avid golf fan, Spence felt cheated when NBC cut away.

“I thought it was terrible,” he said. “Speaking as a viewer, I was furious. I don’t care what the audience is, you don’t do that. If only 10 people are watching, you give them the end of the tournament and take the financial loss.

“We at ABC would never cut away from a golf tournament.”

ABC does not have “60 Minutes,” however, and it carries only major tournaments, such as the U.S. Open and the PGA.

Notes

The Laker-Clipper game on Channel 11 Tuesday night got a 9.6 Nielsen rating, the third-highest of the night. It is also the highest L.A. pro basketball rating of the season. . . . The Clippers, who have been getting solid TV ratings all along, have added three games to their TV schedule, including Saturday night’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers. The other additions: March 8 at Chicago and March 30 at Phoenix. . . . One thing viewers of the Clipper-Laker game could have done without was the game of H-O-R-S-E, done mostly as a gag, between the Clippers’ Derek Smith and commentator Ted Green, which was shown at halftime. . . . Attention track fans: NBC will devote a full hour to taped coverage of tonight’s Wanamaker Millrose Indoor Games at Madison Square Garden, featuring Carl Lewis, Valerie Brisco-Hooks, Mary Decker and Eamonn Coghlan. The show will be on Saturday at noon. Last year, the same meet was given only about 15 minutes of a “SportsWorld” show. “We received a lot of complaints about that, so we increased our coverage,” an NBC spokesman said. . . . Al Franken, the promoter of last Friday’s Sunkist meet and the Michelob meet Feb. 15 in San Diego, said of the Millrose meet: “It’s the best meet of the indoor season.”

UCLA’s basketball games against Washington last Monday night and Cal Thursday night were not televised on Channel 5 because of Humphrey Bogart Week, KTLA sports director Hector Highton said. . . . Add UCLA: The Bruins’ game against Arizona at noon on Channel 5 last Saturday got an L.A. rating of 2.1. At the same time, the Maryland-Nevada Las Vegas game on Channel 4 got a 2.6. . . . Add ratings: The final round of the Phoenix Open on Channel 2 last Sunday got a solid 7.2 even though, for the most part, it went up against the Super Bowl pregame show. . . . The announcing team for CBS’ L.A. Open coverage: Pat Summerall, Ben Wright, Verne Lundquist, current players Steve Melnyk and Tom Weiskopf and 1964 U.S. Open champion Ken Venturi. Girls Just Want to Have Fun Dept.: Rock singer Cyndi Lauper wanted to sing the national anthem at last Sunday’s Super Bowl, so her people called Phil Tuckett, director of operations for NFL Films. Lauper and NFL Films had earlier worked together on a music video. When Tuckett called Val Pinchbeck, the NFL’s director of broadcasting, to pass along Lauper’s request, Pinchbeck said: “Cyndi who?” End of discussion. . . . The announcers for the second game of NBC’s college basketball doubleheader Sunday, Indiana vs. Illinois at 11:30 a.m., will be Bob Costas and Jim Valvano, the North Carolina State coach.

Attention triathlon fans: The Ironman, taped on Oahu last October, will be aired on ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” Saturday at 4:30 p.m. . . . Among the recent winners of Golden Mike awards for radio sports were Rich Marotta of KRLA with three and Fred Gallagher of KNX with two. . . . Recommended viewing: “Down for the Count--An Inside Look at Boxing” on Channel 13 next Wednesday at 8 p.m. . . . From NBC’s David Letterman: “The Super Bowl proved one thing--that Tom Landry should always wear his hat.”