Tribute Was His Stock in Trade

This may be surprising to regular viewers of the “George Michael Sports Machine,” but Michael, who is from St. Louis, was not weaned on stock car racing.

A former disc jockey in Springfield, Ill., Philadelphia and New York, he knew nothing about stock car racing before he was hired to do the nightly sports for WRC, the NBC station in Washington, in 1979.

“I’d heard of Cale Yarborough and Richard Petty, and that was about it,” Michael said from Washington.

Now, he is considered an aficionado of auto racing, particularly stock car racing.

He was mainly won over, he said, after finding the people in stock car racing as cooperative, straightforward and likable as any in sports. And the legendary Allison family has always been among his favorites.

So there figured to be quite a tribute to Davey Allison on last Sunday night’s edition of the nationally syndicated show, carried in Los Angeles by Channel 4. Viewers weren’t disappointed.

The highs and lows and the triumphs and tragedies of the 32-year-old stock car driver, killed in a helicopter crash at Talladega, Ala., were chronicled in an emotional piece, which included:

--Davey’s first victory, in May of 1987 at Talladega in a race in which his father, Bobby, crashed.

--Bobby and Davey finishing 1-2 at Daytona in 1988, then Bobby’s near-fatal crash at Pocono four months later.

--Davey’s victory at Daytona in 1992 and a clip of him telling Michael: “You should have been down here with us.”

--Davey flipping 12 times at Pocono five months later.

--His crash a week later at Charlotte that eliminated him from championship contention.

--The death 11 months ago of Davey’s brother, Clifford, in a practice session at Michigan International Speedway.

--Davey in a tender moment with his wife, Lisa, at home in Hueytown, Ala.

It was the type of well-produced feature that has become Michael’s trademark, the type that makes it worthwhile to stay up late on Sunday nights and watch consecutive sports highlight shows--Fred Roggin’s “Sunday Night Sports” and “Sports Machine.”

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If auto racing is Michael’s No. 1 sport, then rodeo is a close second.

His Play of the Week on last Sunday’s show featured bull riding. Features on rodeo competitors or rodeo clowns are commonplace on the “Sports Machine.”

The Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo is next week, and Michael will be there.

No, Michael was never a bull or bronco rider, although he and his wife, Pat Lackman, own a horse-breeding farm in Maryland, about 40 miles north of Washington. Lackman is also a writer for the “Sports Machine.”

Michael said he became a rodeo fan in 1979 or ‘80, after going to Mesquite, Tex., for a feature on seven-time bull-riding champion Donnie Gay.

Michael, at one time the play-by-play voice of the New York Islanders, went to WRC from ABC radio in New York. In September, 1984, the “Sports Machine” made its national debut.

John Rohrbeck, then WRC’s general manager, came up with the name. Rohrbeck, who later came to Los Angeles to run Channel 4 before becoming the NBC president in charge of the station division, coined the name as a way to play off Michael’s gimmick of pushing buttons that appear to start tapes rolling.

Actually, when Michael pushes a button, it simply cues a producer to start the tape. But it’s a great gimmick because it also lets the viewer know a tape is coming. Michael’s current “machine” is the third he has had since the show started.

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Michael readily admits that the production value of the “Sports Machine,” not the anchor, is what sets it apart. But he controls the production, and he demands perfection.

“I have a reputation of being difficult to work for,” Michael said. “And I plead guilty. I tell the wives that when their husbands work for me, their job becomes No. 1 above all else.”

Graduates of Michael’s school of hard work include Sol Steinberg, who was Roggin’s lead sports producer at Channel 4 before moving on to help get Prime Ticket’s “Press Box” show started. He is now at WNBC in New York.

Jeff Hoffman, who replaced Steinberg at Channel 4 and is now in Seattle; and Greg Dowling, who is a sports producer at Channel 4, are other Michael disciples.

“George is very, very demanding and tough to work for,” Dowling said. “But I’m glad I worked for him because I wouldn’t be where I am today if I hadn’t. Like Fred, he demands a top-of-the line product. Neither will settle for less. Both strive to be different, to be better than the competition.”

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Scary situation: Atlanta Brave announcer Skip Caray, as usual, showed up for work early Tuesday night. And, as he often does during the summer, he had brought his 11-year-old son, Josh, with him to Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

He was in the television booth and Josh was with some TBS people in the press box dining room when someone said there was a fire at the other end of the press box.

It was learned later that it probably was started by a can of Sterno in an adjacent luxury suite.

“At first, I didn’t think much of it,” Caray said. “But then someone said it was pretty bad.

“I got concerned about Josh and went into the dining room. I just got in there when someone opened a door, and flames and smoke come flying in. There was smoke and flames everywhere. We couldn’t see a thing, and we all high-tailed it out of there.”

Caray ended up calling the game from seats outside the press box. The television booth was unscathed, but the radio booth on the other side was gutted.

TV-Radio Notes

KMPC is limping along amid reports of low employee morale, but the station did make a positive move when it picked up San Francisco-based Ron Barr’s syndicated show, which had been on XTRA. The show is carried weeknights either at 7 or after an Angel game. . . . Jack Snow was a guest on Barr’s show Monday and wasn’t aware his son, J.T., who called in from Boston, was waiting on another line. Asked about J.T., Snow said his son’s offense “has gone down the tubes.” Credit Snow for being honest, but it wasn’t what J.T. needed to hear.

Latest Arbitron rating book shows that KMPC, in the main 12-plus category, has increased from an 0.6 share to an 0.9 since the last book. But the morning show isn’t doing well. In people 25-54, the share is a dismal 0.3. . . . Producer Kurt Kretzschmar, fired by KMPC, is now producing “The Winning Line,” a nationally syndicated show that originates from the Las Vegas Hilton sports book. . . . Steve Yeager, formerly of KMPC, will join Gary Owens at KJOI (1240 and 540) weekdays 3:30 to 6:30 p.m., beginning Aug. 2. . . . NBC has made it official: Jim Lampley will be Bob Costas’ replacement on “NFL Live.”

The U.S. Olympic Festival, which begins Saturday in San Antonio, will be jointly covered by TNT and the Prime Network. TNT will televise 10 hours, Prime 20. TNT is producing all the coverage. . . . Recommended viewing: ESPN, which makes money off boxing, nevertheless took a hard look at the sport in “Outside the Lines: Boxing on the Ropes,” which was shown last week. If you missed it, it will be repeated Sunday at 9:30 a.m. . . . Bud Greenspan’s “Barcelona ‘92: 16 Days to Glory” makes its debut on the Disney Channel on Aug. 15. . . . The first Honda del Sol Pro/Celebrity Volleyball Challenge, featuring beach volleyball stars and celebrities, will be televised by NBC Sunday at noon. The event was taped July 10 on the Santa Monica Beach.