NBC’s Bob Costas: an Ordinary Guy on Way to Stardom

Sportscaster Bob Costas and his wife, Randi, who are expecting their first child next spring, spent much of the week moving out of a rented Manhattan apartment into a co-op they had purchased. Moving is nothing new for Costas. He has been moving up at NBC ever since the network hired him full time in June 1980.

NBC has Costas pegged for stardom, both as a play-by- play announcer and as a studio host. In a few years, he probably won’t be just NBC’s “other” play-by-play man on baseball. Or the host of the network’s NFL pregame shows.

But, for now, Costas doesn’t place as high on the recognition scale as, say, CBS’s Brent Musburger. One problem is that Costas is an ordinary looking guy with an ordinary name, and he has no immediate plans to dye his hair or change his name to something like Bob Strawberry.

Also, Costas happens to work for the same network that has Vin Scully, possibly the nation’s best-known and most popular baseball announcer.

“Recognition is not a top priority with me,” Costas said. “It will come with time. I’m 33 years old and have been hosting our NFL pregame shows for only two years, and doing baseball for four years.

“My top priority is to do the best job I can possibly do and get the good assignments.”

He has got a decent one coming up, working with Tony Kubek on the American League championship series, while Scully and Joe Garagiola handle the National League championship series. The first game of the best-of-seven AL series will be Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. PDT, probably at Toronto. The first game of the NL series will be Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at Dodger Stadium.

Mike Weisman, executive producer of NBC Sports, said: “Versatility is what makes Bob the rising star that he is. He can do play-by-play on basketball, football and baseball, and he can also handle the tough job of in-studio host.

“I think Bob’s youthful appearance is one reason he doesn’t get the recognition he deserves. Someone suggested he grow a beard. Bob said, ‘A beard would probably make me look five years older, but it would take me five years to grow one.’ ”

Costas grew up on Long Island, listening to such sportscasters as Red Barber, Mel Allen and Lindsey Nelson, and falling in love with baseball. He lived with his family in Los Angeles for two years when he was 10 and 11 and got a taste of Scully.

“I knew what I wanted to do at a pretty young age,” he said. “Working for the campus radio station at Syracuse my freshman year convinced me.”

Before he was hired full time by NBC, Costas worked for radio station KMOX in St. Louis for seven years, did some free-lance college basketball for NBC in 1976 and later some pro football for CBS.

Besides being regarded as one of the most talented young announcers in the business, Costas is generally well liked.

“He’s just a down-to-earth, nice guy,” an NBC colleague said.

More from Howard Cosell: “I am sure my absence had a negative effect on the ratings. Without me, the nature of the telecasts was entirely altered. I had commanded attention. I had palpable impact on the show, giving it a sense of the moment, and now it seemed no different from an ordinary Sunday afternoon telecast. If that sounds like ego, what can I say? I’m telling it like it is.”

Well, then, why are the ratings suddenly back up? ABC, after six prime-time pro football telecasts, is averaging a national Nielsen rating of 17.3, an increase of 18% over the 14.7 average rating after six telecasts last season.

How does Mr. Ego explain that?

Slumping Joes: Maybe Joe Theismann of the 1-3 Washington Redskins should retire immediately and replace Joe Namath on ABC’s “Monday Night Football.” Theismann performed better in the booth at last January’s Super Bowl than he has on the field so far this season.

Meanwhile, Namath is in a slump of his own.

Sports Illustrated’s William Taffe is the latest critic to take a shot at Namath.

“Namath doesn’t know if he should be a star, a teacher or Mr. Nasty who puts down ‘lousy’ passes,” writes Taffe. “Unsure of himself, be becomes redundant. It’s as if someone at ABC told Namath, ‘All right, you be our expert analyst on man-to-man coverage. Seventy-five times a game you tell us who’s getting ‘man’ and who isn’t.’ ”

Sports Illustrated says Namath is earning $850,000 a year, although he recently told The Times’ Jack Hawn that he is being paid $1 million a year. Whichever, he is overpaid.

Sad story: In 1983, 17 station managers in the Golden West Broadcasters chain invested $5.5 million of their own money and borrowed the rest to buy KTLA (Channel 5) from Gene Autry for $245 million. Last June, the station was sold to the Chicago-based Tribune Co. for $510 million.

After paying off loans, the 17 investors made a profit of $24 million, more than a million apiece. One of them was Hector Highton, who had started at KTLA as a stagehand 34 years earlier. He had worked his way up and had been promoted to vice president in charge of sports and operations earlier in 1983.

“When you work for the same company for 34 years and then get a plum like this, it’s really like the end of the rainbow,” said Highton, shortly after the sale was made.

Highton, 61, died of a heart attack last Saturday night.

Notes Tonight’s Angel game at Texas on Channel 5 will begin at 5:05 p.m. instead of 5:30. And Saturday’s game will now begin at 11:20 a.m. because NBC is televising it to part of the country. In Los Angeles, NBC affiliate Channel 4 will carry the St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs, and Channel 5 will carry the Angels. Sunday’s Angel game at Texas will begin at 12:05 p.m. . . . ABC, as of Thursday, had not determined which baseball game or games it will televise Sunday. . . . Channel 11 will televise a one-hour special, “1985--the Year of the Dodger,” Sunday at 6 p.m., with Vin Scully the host. . . . Dick Enberg will be the host for NBC’s pregame coverage during the playoffs. Appearing on the pregame shows for the AL series will be Rick Dempsey. Joe Morgan will be on the NL shows. . . . KNX will carry CBS radio’s coverage of the playoffs. The CBS radio announcers are Curt Gowdy and Ernie Harwell on the AL series, Brent Musburger and Johnny Bench on the NL. KABC will also carry the NL games, with Ross Porter and Jerry Doggett. If the Angels are in the AL series, KMPC will carry the games as well, with regular announcers Ron Fairly and Al Conin.

College football telecasts on Saturday, Oct. 12: CBS--UCLA at Stanford at 1:30 p.m. PDT, ABC--Alabama at Penn State at 12:30 p.m., Channel 13 and WTBS--Florida State at Auburn at 9:30 a.m. and Boston College at Army at 5 p.m., ESPN--Nebraska at Oklahoma State at 4:30 p.m. . . . Lorimar Productions is syndicating the UCLA-Washington State game at Pullman, Wash., Oct. 19. The 1 p.m. game will be carried by Channel 4 in Los Angeles. CBS may carry UCLA’s home game against California Oct. 26. . . . . In what would have been an unlikely matchup for television in past seasons, Northwestern (2-1) vs. Indiana (3-0) will be televised by the Turner Broadcasting Co. Saturday at 9:30 a.m. These schools are paying the price of winning football games, having to juggle their kickoff times to suit television. For example, the kickoff for Northwestern’s homecoming game against Minnesota Oct. 12 had to be changed because Turner is televising the game regionally.

The stretch calls from the Oak Tree meeting at Santa Anita are not being carried on radio. Santa Anita’s Alan Balch believes that any station carrying the calls should pay for them. KNX General Manager George Nicholaw, for one, disagrees. Nicholaw said: “The amount of money Santa Anita is asking has nothing to do with it. It’s a philosophical thing with me.” KIQQ-fm, which last season carried stretch calls from Santa Anita, has changed its format. KIEV, meanwhile, will continue to carry the feature races live with Bill Garr. . . . KMPC may carry the stretch calls from Santa Anita during its winter/spring meeting. . . . Recommended viewing: “Steve Landesberg/Sports Fan” on Channel 4 Sunday at noon. Landesberg, a comic actor who used to be a regular on the “Barney Miller Show,” offers his perspective on sports. Boxing’s Tex Cobb and basketball’s Michael Jordan are among the guests. “My favorite piece is one we do on location at Aqueduct,” Landesberg said. “There are some horse racing degenerates there on a nonracing day to bet on the races at Saratoga that are being shown on television.”