KIIS to Have Dodgers and a Little Extra

All-sports radio has never really been a success in Los Angeles, unless you count San Diego-based XTRA.

But watch out for KIIS-AM.

Up until now, the little 5,000-watt station has been the forgotten sister of KIIS-FM, simulcasting KIIS-FM music programming.

But with the news that KIIS-AM has acquired the radio rights to the Dodgers and, after beefing its signal to 50,000 watts, will begin broadcasting the team’s games in 1998, KIIS becomes a major player.

“It’s like having a piece of beachfront property,” said Roy Laughlin, president and general manager of KIIS-AM and FM. “You’re not sure what you’re going to build on it, but it’s a beautiful piece of property.”

The Dodger-KIIS deal could have far-reaching ramifications for sports radio in Los Angeles.

XTRA (690) and KIIS (1150) are owned by Cincinnati-based, 122-station strong Jacor Communications, opening the door to all kinds of possibilities.

KIIS likely will become XTRA North or, as Laughlin called it, “XTRA 2 or XTRA L.A.” A more likely possibility is KTRA.

“If I could have my way--I’m not the only one who has a say here--we would run XTRA’s morning and midday talk shows on KTRA, or whatever we call it, and then have our own shows in the afternoon and evening.

“My pitch to Jacor is that people in Los Angeles don’t care about San Diego sports. When Bobby Ross left the Chargers, that’s all Hacksaw [Lee Hamilton] could talk about, while the story was on Page 8 in the L.A. Times. And that’s where it belonged.”

The plan is for KIIS-AM to have its 50,000-watt tower ready in time for spring training in 1998. By then, Jacor should have a strong schedule in place.

Look for UCLA football and basketball to move from XTRA to the new L.A. station. UCLA’s contract with XTRA expires after this basketball season.

Another possibility, although not as likely, would be for the Kings to change stations. They have an option year after this season.

“It could be UCLA or the Kings, but probably not both,” Laughlin said.

With KABC losing the Dodgers after this season, Disney might move the Angels from KMPC to sister station KABC.

The fact that Disney owns KABC and the Angels was not lost on Jacor. Laughlin and Bob Lawrence, the president and chief executive officer of Jacor, continually emphasized that point during negotiations.

“That was not a factor,” said Sam Fernandez, the Dodgers’ general counsel.

What was a factor, according to Fernandez, was the opportunity for more promotional programming.

“What we’re really excited about is the cross-promotion on both KIIS-AM and FM,” he said.

What sports fans in Los Angeles should be excited about is the possibility of a strong all-sports radio station aimed solely at Los Angeles fans.

The Dodgers give KIIS-AM the means to become exactly that.

*

If you’re a fan of conventional sports, you may snicker at the Winter X Games, which take place today through Sunday at Snow Summit in Big Bear Lake. But ESPN, the creator of the event that will also televise it, along with ABC and ESPN2, sure isn’t snickering.

“The production for this event is more complex than anything we’ve ever done,” said Jed Drake, ESPN vice president in charge of remote production. “Getting all our equipment up a two-lane mountain road and setting up for this has been quite a project.”

ESPN crews have been at work since Jan. 6, laying miles of cable and putting cameras at all kinds of remote locations.

Some of the technology used to cover the games will be the most advanced ESPN or any network has ever used. A process developed by ESPN called VRX, for virtual reality X, allows computer-enhanced, zoom-in shots never seen before.

The reason ESPN is putting so much effort into the Winter X Games, an offshoot of the 2-year-old Summer X Games, is that Generation X loves these things. And so do sponsors. In the 17-34 age group, not even NFL games attract a larger ESPN audience.

*

CBS kicks off a 22-event 1997 golf schedule with the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am this weekend, and with it kicks off a new era--the post-Frank Chirkinian era.

Chirkinian, after 37 years as the coordinating producer of golf for CBS, is playing in the event with John Cook, rather than producing it. Lance Barrow has taken over as CBS’ coordinating producer of golf.

“You can’t really call it a new era because Lance has already been producing golf for us for years,” CBS’ Jim Nantz said.

Barrow did four tournaments on his own last year.

“If you put a Chirkinian telecast next to a Lance Barrow telecast, I don’t think viewers could tell the difference,” Nantz said.

Barrow says there will be a few minor changes.

“We’ll put announcers on the ground more [as opposed to in a tower], we’ll use more wireless cameras and for this tournament, we’ll show coverage at Spyglass and Poppy Hills for the first time. We have a bigger budget now and will be able to do more things,” he said.

TV-Radio Notes

The USA network listed its Pebble Beach golf coverage on Thursday as 4-6 p.m. on the West Coast, but DirecTV, at least, showed it at 1-3 p.m. . . . Fox Sports West’s final Mighty Duck telecast is tonight. After that, besides the games on Channel 9, Duck telecasts can be seen only on Fox Sports West 2, which is not available in most cable households. Fox Sports West told cable operators they could continue carrying Duck telecasts on FSW if they agreed to begin carrying Fox Sports West 2 by April 1. There were virtually no takers. . . . Fox Sports plans to launch a Portuguese-language channel in Brazil in a few months. The question is, will any Brazilian cable companies offer it?

Meanwhile, ESPN2 experienced the largest household growth since it began more than three years ago, gaining 2.66 million homes this month. ESPN2 now reaches about 44.45 million homes, compared with the 71.11 million reached by its parent network, ESPN. . . . Fox Sports West 2’s high school basketball coverage begins Saturday with the Nike Extravaganza at UC Irvine, but who can get it? . . . “Fox Sports News,” which had a big Super Bowl week in New Orleans, this week was the first to report that San Francisco 49er center Jesse Sapolu underwent open-heart surgery.

You may not get the 40-game Dodger package on Fox Sports West 2, but there will be 32 Angel games on West 1, with Sparky Anderson returning as the commentator. With 52 games also being offered by Channel 9, it is the most Angel games ever televised. . . . Fox Sports West offers an attractive horse racing doubleheader Sunday at 3 p.m., showing the San Antonio Handicap and Strub Stakes from Santa Anita. . . . Channel 5’s Ed Arnold will serve a master of ceremonies at the second Bob Chandler Foundation benefit dinner at the Ritz Carlton-Huntington Hotel in Pasadena on Feb. 7. Details: (818) 441-2158.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

What Los Angeles Is Watching

A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for sports programs Jan. 25-26.

SATURDAY

*--*

Event Ch. Rating Share Figure skating: World Pro Championships 4 9.5 16 College basketball: UCLA at Louisville 2 5.5 13 Figure skating: Stars on Ice 4 4.9 12 Golf: Senior Skins Game 7 3.8 8 Figure skating: European Championships 7 3.7 7 Hockey: Mighty Ducks-Kings 9 3.4 6 Auto racing: IRL Indy-Orlando 200 2 2.3 6 Hockey: New York Rangers at Pittsburgh 11 1.9 5 College basketball: Villanova at Boston College 2 1.9 5 Skiing: King of the Mountain 2 1.6 4

*--*

SUNDAY

*--*

Super Bowl: Green Bay-New England 11 43.8 71 Super Bowl pregame show (11:30 a.m.-3 p.m.) 11 11.8 25 Pro basketball: Lakers at Seattle 4 9.5 20 Pro basketball: Miami at New York 4 5.0 12 Golf: Senior Skins Game 7 4.8 11 College basketball: Indiana at Penn State 2 1.4 3 College basketball: Cincinnati at USC 7 1.2 2 College basketball: Kentucky at Arkansas 2 0.7 2

*--*

Note: Each rating point represents 49,424 L.A. households.