Simpson Interviews Will Be Replayed on Firestone Show

Roy Firestone began doing interviews with O.J. Simpson back when he was a sportscaster at Channel 2. But the most in-depth ones were for his ESPN show.

He did one in 1986, another in 1989 and a third last year.

Clips from those interviews were shown on an ABC special Wednesday night, and for his “Up Close” show on ESPN tonight at 9:30, Firestone will have more from all three.

In the ’89 interview, Simpson tells Firestone the wife-beating arrest was overblown and that he pleaded no contest so that he and Nicole could get on with their lives.

Other highlights include Simpson talking about the responsibility he feels toward his children, the responsibility he feels to his community and how he would never do anything to embarrass himself.

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Add Firestone: He will have a one-hour special edition of “Up Close” on Monday at 4:30 p.m. in which he interviews Jimmy Johnson, Magic Johnson, Barry Bonds and Glen Robinson.

“I cried when I left the Cowboys,” Johnson tells Firestone. “I probably cried harder then than at any other time in my life.”

Says Bonds: “I was intentionally walked five times by the Braves in one series. I’m like, this game is not fun anymore. It’s not even a game. Then I look in the stands and how can they expect things that I have no control of?”

Firestone said both men wept when they taped the interviews.

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Highlights of the coverage of last Friday’s low-speed Simpson chase were Al Michaels’ work on ABC and Jim Hill’s pleas on CBS and KNX radio for his friend to stop running.

Michaels, a friend, neighbor and former colleague of Simpson, was at the Channel 7 studios to tape a segment with Ted Koppel for “Nightline,” and ended up going on the ABC network for 2 1/2 hours.

It was reminiscent of his work in 1989, when he turned newsman and covered the San Francisco earthquake for ABC.

Michaels had planned to be at Hollywood Park Friday night to watch Barraq, a horse he owns with attorney Dave Leveton, run in the fifth race. After he finished his stint on ABC, he called the track’s press box and learned that Barraq had won for the first time in eight races.

“The whole night was surreal,” Michaels said later. “It was like none of it really happened.”

Hill may be criticized for putting himself into the story, but he said that when his news director, Bob Jordan, told him that KNX was carrying the Channel 2 broadcast and that Simpson and driver Al Cowlings might be listening, he said he didn’t think twice about trying to talk directly to them.

“If it was one chance in six billion they would listen, it was worth it,” Hill said.

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Among the lowlights of last Friday’s coverage was Channel 2 interviewing those idiots who drove out to freeways or to Simpson’s mansion. It was so bad the station had to cut away, and it also endangered reporter Mary Parks.

Another lowlight was Channel 4’s Paul Moyer saying that night’s NBA game had been held up and that everyone there, including the players, were watching the chase. That simply wasn’t the case. The game was never held up.

“We didn’t mean to imply the game was officially suspended because of the chase,” said station spokeswoman Regina Miyamoto. “At that particular time, play was stopped and people were shown watching the chase on TV monitors and then the network interrupted the coverage to show the chase.”

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It is only June, but the Fox network is in high gear heading toward the NFL season.

The network announced Thursday that, as expected, CBS’ James Brown will serve as host of its new one-hour NFL pregame show and that former Atlanta Falcon coach Jerry Glanville will serve as a commentator.

Brown is hoping he will still be able to do some college basketball for CBS.

David Hill, the president of Fox’s new sports division, said that with the hiring of Brown, most of the pieces for the pregame show are in place. Brown joins Terry Bradshaw, Jimmy Johnson and Howie Long.

Hill said the network still plans to hire a reporter to do personality profiles and another to deal with hard news.

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At a Fox affiliates meeting at the Century Plaza Thursday, Bradshaw delivered such an impassioned speech that he was dripping with sweat afterward. Those who were there called it one of the most inspirational speeches they had ever heard.

Bradshaw spends the off-season making inspirational speeches, sometimes three or four a week. He is in such demand he leases his own jet.

Long said he is thrilled to be working with Bradshaw, a former Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback.

“He was one of my idols when I was in college (at Villanova in Philadelphia) and rooting for the Steelers,” Long said. “I loved the Steelers. I wore No. 75 because that was Joe Greene’s number.”

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Beginning Sunday, Fox will use an NFL star or announcer as host of its prime-time Sunday night lineup. First up will be Green Bay’s Reggie White.

It is just one facet of what Fox is doing to promote NFL football.

Said Ed Goren, Fox’s executive producer who was formerly at CBS: “We’re already doing 7 1/2 minutes of promotional spots during prime time each week. CBS did about two minutes a week--and that was only during the season.”

Said Hill: “Our aim, come Sept. 4 (when the season opens), is that people will simply say, ‘Fox lived up to its promise.’ ”

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Radio talk: Lee Hamilton said he has taken himself out of consideration as the play-by-play voice of UCLA football for XTRA.

Actually, it’s news that he was being considered.

Anyway, Hamilton said he has recommended that Chris Roberts and David Norrie be retained.

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A source at XTRA, who asked not to be identified, took exception to an item here last week that claimed the station paid meager salaries.

The source said the station spends about $800,000 a year on its main hosts, with the top salaries being $150,000 and $170,000. The source did not say which hosts make those amounts.

TV-Radio Notes

Game 7 of the NBA finals got a respectable 17.9 national Nielsen rating, but the series overall averaged only 12.3. The average last year was 17.9. . . . Some good news for the Dodgers: Their 13-inning loss to the San Diego Padres Wednesday night on Channel 5 got a 7.9 rating, the highest for a Dodger telecast in the two years the station has carried the team. . . . Saturday night’s fight card at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, featuring Roberto Duran and Vinny Pazienza, is a TVKO pay-per-view event. The asking price is $24.95.

Fill-in fills in: Tracy Austin, at Wimbledon for NBC to fill in for Chris Evert, who recently gave birth to her second child, also filled in for Billie Jean King on HBO Thursday because King had a bad cold. . . . ESPN2 will cover the NHL draft live Tuesday, beginning at 3 p.m. ESPN will show it again the next day, beginning at 7:30 a.m. . . . TNT will carry the NBA draft on Wednesday, beginning at 4:30 p.m. The 1993 draft on TNT got the highest rating, a 4.5, eclipsing the previous high of 3.7 in 1989.

Lee Hamilton said he will preview the NHL draft today on his XTRA show and cover it thoroughly next Tuesday. For the NBA draft the next day, Hamilton will do his show from the Forum and will be joined by the morning show’s Rick Schwartz. NBA expert Pete Sutter Jr. will file reports from Indianapolis.