ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, February 17, 1996 TAG: 9602190098
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: ON THE AIR
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
Better late than never, history will be made May 5 at Salem Memorial Stadium.
That Sunday afternoon, WDBJ (Channel 7) will air the first telecast of a Salem home Carolina League baseball game in franchise history, when the Lynchburg Hillcats visit. It's a cross-market game for the Roanoke station. It's something the ballclub was hoping to play last year.
``We planned it then, but when the opening of the ballpark was delayed [several times], we had other priorities,'' said Avalanche vice president Sam Lazzaro. ``We're excited about it. We think there will be people who will see the ballpark for the first time on TV, then want to come out.''
The 3 p.m. game is only the second live baseball telecast in Salem history. The first wasn't a Buccaneers, Pirates or Rebels game, however, but the Carolina League All-Star Game at old Municipal Field in 1992, aired live on Home Team Sports and SportSouth.
``We wanted to do it last year; we just couldn't work it out,'' said WDBJ programming director Mike Bell. ``It's a good matchup for us, with Salem and Lynchburg. We wanted an afternoon game, and those teams made that date attractive.''
It also sets up an interesting programming battle that afternoon between Roanoke's TV stations. While Channel 7 will air Avalanche baseball, WSLS (Channel 10) will have live coverage of the Tour DuPont stage that rides from Mount Airy, N.C., to downtown Roanoke.
Bell said WDBJ also is talking with New River Valley Speedway about dates for live racing shows, and the station has inquired about a date at South Boston, also.
NEW VOICE: Lazzaro said the Avalanche has signed a one-year contract extension to continue with WROV (1240 AM) as the club's broadcast outlet for all 140 games, with other stations possibly to follow on a network. This will be the club's 10th broadcast season, nine of those on WROV.
The Avalanche is expected to name a new radio voice soon. Mark Neely, who called the first Avalanche season in 1995, has moved up to Class AA with Tulsa in the Texas League. Neely had come to Salem after being the No.2 man with the Class AAA Louisville Redbirds in 1994.
Lynchburg's broadcasts return to WROV's sister station, WLNI (105.9 FM) for another season. John Miller is back on play-by-play, with Wisconsin graduate and Green Bay native Kevin Sullivan as the new No.2 voice.
PUCKS AND BUCKS: The first live telecast of a Roanoke home hockey game is scheduled Tuesday, when the Express meets Columbus at the Roanoke Civic Center. The ECHL game will be televised by Danville's WDRG (Channel 24), which is available on many area cable systems including Cox of Roanoke (Channel 22).
Air time is 7 p.m. The Express is paying $3,000 for a split feed with SportsChannel Ohio, which is originating the telecast for live delivery back to the Buckeye State as part of the Chill's 10-game TV package. The Roanoke club is buying air time and selling its own advertising, and 13 sponsors mean a profit.
The two ECHL clubs' radio play-by-play men, Roanoke's Tim Woodburn and Jim Talimonti of Columbus, will share the TV commentary, and Richmond's Andy Davis will handle the Express' radio call for the game in Woodburn's absence. The telecast also will include live interviews between periods.
The satellite coordinates for the game feed are Galaxy K-7, Transponder 13.
Woodburn said the Express has no other telecasts scheduled for the rest of the regular season, but the possibility of a playoff telecast still exists.
RACE DAY: In its 18th year of a live, flag-to-flag coverage of the Daytona 500, CBS has shown the Winston Cup season opener from just about every camera angle possible. About all that's left is to increase the hardware, so that's what the network will do for Sunday's four-hour show (noon, WDBJ).
Director Bob Fishman will have about 60 camera angles available on the telecast, including those provided by a record nine in-car cameras. The Daytona shows - a 2 1/2-hour taped version of Thursday's qualifying races will air today (12:30, WDBJ) - are part of an increased NASCAR schedule on CBS.
The network has 13 NASCAR shows, including five Craftsman Truck races. The NASCAR truck schedule doesn't begin for another month, but the popularity of the trucks in their first season last year is obvious from this year's TV schedule. Of the 24 races, 23 are scheduled for TV - eight on TNN, seven on ESPN, five on CBS and three on TBS.
SHOOTIN' HOOPS: Except on the exposure side, Virginia Tech won't get rich from today's ESPN telecast against top-ranked Massachusetts. The Atlantic 10 television revenue-sharing plan for a league game on a network or national cable outlet pays 75 percent to the A-10, and 12.5 percent to each school, or about $3,500 each to the Hokies and UMass.
For a non-conference date - like Tech's January ESPN game against UNC Charlotte - the competing school gets 60 percent of the A-10's take, the other 40 percent going to conference operations. Tech is expecting a check in the $16,000 range for the UNCC telecast.
Because Virginia Tech will finish first or second in its division and get a first-round A-10 tournament bye, any of the Hokies' potential three dates in the conference tournament will be televised. The March 7 quarterfinals appear on ESPN2 (2), Home Team Sports (1) and ESPN (1), with both semifinals the next night on HTS. The March 9 final airs at 6:30 p.m. from the Philadelphia Civic Center on ESPN.
For about two-thirds of the Division I men's basketball conferences - those that won't get more than one NCAA Tournament bid - the Road to the Final Four begins two weeks from today. The Big South, Trans America, Ohio Valley and Mid-Eastern Athletic conferences play their conference tourney finals March 2 on ESPN or ESPN2, the start of ``Championship Week.''
LENGTH: Long : 101 linesby CNB