ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, August 31, 1996 TAG: 9609030125
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: ON THE AIR
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
So, what is the sports future for WROV radio?
Well, it will continue to have one. However, the powerful FM side (96.3) won't carry Carolina Panthers' games this NFL season - as it did a year ago - and the AM signal won't include high school sports.
It already has been reported that Jim Colston - his on-air name is Jim Carroll - has retired. Colston was the longtime WROV sales manager, sports director and play-by-play voice for local high school sports. Carroll will continue calling games, however, starting Friday night on WJLM (93.5 FM) with an area football schedule.
Steve Curtiss, the program director on WROV-AM (1240), said there are no plans for high school games at present, after about four decades of broadcasts. The other WROV sports staples will remain on the AM, however.
The list includes the last few games of the Salem Avalanche's season, University of Virginia football and basketball, ESPN Radio, and selected college football and NFL games from the Westwood One and Mutual networks. Curtiss said he also hopes to continue a recent addition, a one-hour local sports talk show hosted by Brian Davis. It has been airing Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 6 p.m.
With the exception of sports, WROV-AM basically has ceased to exist on the air, with the FM signal being simulcast over the AM. The station ownership, Benchmark Communications, is considering other sports programming, but no commitments have been made, Curtiss said. Joe Conway, WROV's new general manager, was unavailable for comment Friday.
The dropping of high school games sends a signal to local listeners, and it's the wrong one. It's also reverberating outside the Roanoke Valley. Mac McDonald, who has returned to UVa as the athletic program's TV-radio coordinator and play-by-play voice, said the Cavaliers' radio future in the Roanoke Valley ``is one of the three or four main things I'll start tackling next spring.''
UVa will be seeking a station with a stronger signal. The Avalanche, also on an annual contract to buy airtime with WROV, also plans to look elsewhere for a broadcast home next season. Its contract runs out with Monday night's season finale.
Nor are the Panthers happy. Capitol Broadcasting handles the NFL team's radio network, and a Panthers' executive said it is his understanding Capitol has a contract for WROV to air the games on AM and FM to give the club a stronger signal in the market.
UVa and the Avalanche will find out in their station searches, however, what other pro teams and schools have known for years. There aren't many options out there. The Roanoke Valley is a lousy market for sports radio, not to mention local programming, period.
For years, various stations, WROV included, have claimed to be ``the sports voice of the Roanoke Valley,'' among other boasts. There is no broadcast sports voice of the Roanoke Valley, or at least none with any dominant sports personality or personalities. Most of the voices carried are from elsewhere, via networks.
Smaller cities like Lynchburg, Winchester and Fredericksburg have superior radio, and local radio sports, compared to the Roanoke Valley. Those stations that have tried local sports talk shows haven't tried to sell or market them properly. Simply putting on games and time-filling programming from elsewhere doesn't give a station a sports identity.
CAVS ON TV: The debut of Virginia football coach George Welsh's TV show is today at 12:30 p.m. on cable's Home Team Sports, and in these parts, that's the only place you'll find the weekly half-hour hosted by McDonald.
UVa and Virginia Sports Marketing, which handles the Cavaliers' athletics sales and promotions, will air the coaches' TV show in one local market, Charlottesville. Otherwise, after this weekend, the regular time slot will be noon Sundays on HTS. No stations in Roanoke, Richmond, Norfolk and Washington, D.C., will air the show.
It's a money-saving decision, McDonald said. Virginia was buying airtime on local stations in each Virginia market, a practice that has been stopped. So, Welsh and basketball coach Jeff Jones will appear only on HTS and, in six states south of Virginia, on Turner's SportSouth.
AROUND THE DIAL: Virginia's weekly radio one-hour talk show, ``Cavalier Call-In,'' returns to the air Sunday night at 7, locally on WROV (1240 AM), with Welsh and host Chuck Noe. ... The Cavaliers have a new football sideline reporter - alumnus Antonio Rice, a running back from 1982-86. Rice, a former team captain who led the team in rushing as a freshman, works in the university's development office. ... The UVa radio show will have competition in the market on WSLC (610 AM), which will air Lee Corso's college football talk hour Sunday nights at 7. ... ESPN has extended the contract of Bob Ley, a superb on-air journalist, through 2001. He's been with the network since Sept. 9, 1979, ESPN's second day of existence. ... Apparently, the hoopla that rookie pro golfer Tiger Woods has generated fits onto the small screen, too. Sunday's telecast of Woods' final round on his way to capturing his third straight U.S. Amateur championship earned a 4.6 Nielsen rating. Only the final rounds of the Masters, U.S. Open and Bob Hope Chrysler Classic have had larger audiences among Sunday golf shows this year.
LENGTH: Medium: 92 linesby CNB