The Herald has a blip on the recent trend of cutting down the time Sports segments get on the air at the local stations.
Apparently for Channel 10, the stop watch came at less than one minute time for sports coverage compared to the 02:45 minutes it had before
Extras
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Posted on Fri, Mar. 05, 2004
SPORTS MEDIA
Sportscasts cut during sweeps
BARRY JACKSON
bjackson@herald.com
Which local station has the most comprehensive weeknight sportscast? Usually, Channels 6 and 10, largely because they run viewer-friendly tickers with sports news, plus NBA, NHL and college hoop scores that typically aren’t given on 4 and 7.
But the past two weeks represented a low point for Ch. 10 sports — no fault of Jimmy Cefalo or his staff.
During sweeps months (February, May, July and November), local stations think of every possible feature story — how to help your love life, how to adopt an armadillo — and in the process, often short-change the already limited time given to sports.
And for much of the past two weeks, 4 and 10 alienated sports fans by slashing their 11:25 p.m. sportscasts to one minute or less on Ch. 10, and between 50 seconds and 1 minute 20 seconds on Ch. 4. That was barely enough time for Cefalo and Jim Berry to cover the basics and forced Ch. 10 to yank its ticker.
In the past, Cefalo had 2 minutes 45 seconds and Berry had 2:30. Ch. 10 news director Bill Pohovey insists sports was shortened to make room for news stories, not because of sweeps.
Whatever the reason, cutting sports doesn’t go unnoticed by serious fans. On several days recently, if viewers wanted to see substantial highlights of Heat or Panthers games — not just one snippet — they needed to turn to Chs. 6 and 7.
With sweeps ending Wednesday, Chs. 4 and 10 say sports will return to normal lengths. Both stations do good work with their ancillary sports magazine programming. But they risk losing fans by tinkering so dramatically with the lengths of their signature sportscasts.
• Channel 7, which has been operating the past six months with only two sportscasters (Steve Shapiro and Mike DiPasquale), hired Flint, Mich., broadcaster Rodney Burks as the third on-air member of the department, beginning in April.
WALTON ON WALTON
With son Luke Walton receiving important late-game minutes, ESPN’s Bill Walton was in a difficult position during the Lakers-Rockets cablecast Wednesday. When Luke committed a key mistake, Walton referred, without emotion, to a ”costly turnover by Luke Walton.” If it hadn’t been his son, he might have said, ”Terrible play!” or something more Walton-esque.
ABC’s Bob Griese referred to his son, Brian, by his first name when he called University of Michigan games, but Walton took a more detached approach and allowed Sean Elliott to handle the commentary when Luke hit a big three-pointer.
Incidentally, ESPN announced Thursday it will use Doc Rivers — not Walton — with Brad Nessler on the entire Eastern Conference Finals.
• Creative move by the Heat and its TV production staff to air wide-ranging, light-hearted 60-second interviews with players at halftime, quizzing them on everything from their favorite player to their favorite restaurant.
But the Heat shouldn’t require its TV rights-holders to air what are essentially self-serving house ads during halftime, including a twice-broadcast look at what the team does for its season-ticket holders. Don’t pat yourselves on the back too hard, guys.
• ESPN’s hiring of University of Miami graduate Jill Arrington away from CBS is curious because — until this point — ESPN based on-air hires more on quality of work than quality of appearance. Nobody could suggest Arrington is the most qualified person for a reporter’s job, based on her master-of-the-obvious questions on CBS’ college football telecasts. She will handle sideline reporting on Thursday night games.
• Even though the Yankees don’t play the Marlins this year, up to 39 of New York’s games will be televised locally — as many as 30 on ESPN and five to nine on Fox.
Fox got a break by scheduling a Yankees-Texas telecast May 21 — long before the Alex Rodriguez trade. Because of the A-Rod trade, Fox will air a Yankees-Red Sox game Friday night April 16.
• Fox Sports Net’s first of three Marlins exhibitions isn’t until March 21 vs. the Mets. ESPN carries a Marlins-Orioles game March 16.
• So why exactly does Heat radio announcer Mike Inglis keep saying, ”Goodness Me!” during WIOD broadcasts?
”It’s something the queen would say,” said Inglis, who was born in Scotland. ‘It’s like `Holy Cow.’ ”
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