Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 14, 1993 TAG: 9308140023
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Jefferson-Pilot Sports, which produces the ACC's football TV schedule, has hired Dooley to work as an analyst this season. Jimmy Rayburn, executive producer of the ACC package, said Dooley likely will appear during pregame and halftime segments of September and October games played in North Carolina, then he will be a game analyst when the ACC goes to multiple weekly telecasts in November.
His first appearance is expected to be Sept. 18 on the Army-Duke telecast.
During his 26 seasons as head coach at North Carolina, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest, Dooley built a reputation as a solid and successful coach who loved to tell stories but certainly wasn't colorful or outspoken in his public comments.
Rayburn said Dooley approached him at the ACC basketball tournament last March to inquire about working on the TV package.
"We really didn't know how Bill would do," Rayburn said of a summer audition for Dooley. "Quite frankly, we expected him to be not so good. By relative measure, he was very good. He was much better than we expected, but then, we weren't expecting a lot.
"He really surprised us. He's a colorful guy. Now, there's a big difference when it's faked up [in an audition] and when you go live. Maybe it won't work, but Bill Dooley knows a lot of football and he's a natural for this. He knows as much about ACC football as anyone."
Dooley has the most coaching wins in ACC history. Since resigning at Wake Forest after last season, he has moved to Raleigh and gone to work for the North Carolina sports commission, helping to bring sports events to the Tar Heel State.
Rayburn said Dooley's tryout was better than those of former coach Doug Mathews and Lin Dawson, the former North Carolina State and New England Patriots tight end.
\ UP CLOSE: Radford University's athletic contributors should expect to have fun Thursday night, when talk-show host Roy Firestone is the guest speaker at the Highlanders' annual summer banquet in Muse Hall on campus.
The kickoff dinner for Radford's fund-raising year will be more than a night of sports stories. Firestone, the host of ESPN's "Up Close," does impressions, stand-up comedy and sings in his act. Firestone has won six Emmys and two ACE (Award for Cable Excellence) honors.
\ 'SKINLESS: Two of the three remaining Washington Redskins preseason games won't be televised outside the NFL club's market. The NFL allows a club to televise outside the 75-mile blackout radius, but only if that club shares its preseason TV revenue with the other 27 clubs.
That rule has been in place three years, so the Redskins' prevision preseason contract with WTTG preceded the change. The Redskins have a new preseason TV contract with WJLA and have decided not to share revenue. Washington is one of the few clubs that also does not require season-ticket holders to purchase seats for preseason games.
So, tonight's game at Miami and the Aug. 27 RFK Stadium game against the New York Jets will be televised only in Washington and Baltimore. Washington's Aug. 22 game at Pittsburgh will be a national cable game on TNT.
\ NO PPV: Besides the $456 million NBC will pay for rights to the 1996 Atlanta Games, there is something else the International Olympic Committee can take to the bank.
There will be no TripleCast, the pay-per-view disaster that helped NBC to a $100 million loss at the 1992 Barcelona Games. NBC is likely to have a cable partner in Atlanta, but NBC Sports president Dick Ebersol said no local advertising will be sold by cable.
"We will talk to any cable group that is willing to protect the exclusivity of our affiliates," Ebersol said on a recent conference call. "Under no circumstances will we pay anyone to carry our signal. And we will expect some payment, some form of risk-sharing."
It would seem that Atlanta-based Turner Broadcasting System would be a natural as an NBC partner, especially since Turner will provide the world feed for the Games. However, in earlier discussions, Turner executives expressed a desire to be paid for airtime.
That won't happen, but it would seem Turner's TNT and TBS or the USA Network are the likely cable locations for the '96 Games.
\ KICKOFFS: WDBJ (Channel 7) has picked up the Pigskin Classic, one of two openers to the college football season, from Raycom Sports. The North Carolina-Southern California game airs at 9 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 29, from Anaheim Stadium.
The Kickoff Classic starts the season the previous day. ABC will air the Florida State-Kansas game from Giants Stadium at noon (WSET, Channel 13).
The ACC will receive about $1 million from the two games.
\ ICE MEN: Roanoke Express owner John Gagnon said he expects to sign a deal with WROV (1240 AM) to have 42 of the East Coast Hockey League club's 68 games broadcast live in the 1993-94 season, with several more on tape delay.
The arrangement would be similar to the contract the Roanoke station has with the Salem Buccaneers. The Carolina League baseball team purchases airtime from WROV, then sells the advertising, with the station keeping a couple of spots for promotional purposes.
Gagnon said the hockey club also hopes to work a deal to have a few road games televised on WSET.
by CNB