Versatility: One of Joel Meyers’ Strengths

On Wednesday night, Joel Meyers was busy doing the radio play-by-play on the USC-UCLA basketball game. On Thursday night, he was playing host to his nightly 6-7 p.m. “Sports Line” talk show on KMPC.

Meyers handles one assignment as well as the next. Versatility is one of his strengths. His smooth, baritone voice is another. And then there’s his background.

A St. Louis native, Meyers belongs to the roster of sportscasters who have worked for St. Louis radio station KMOX. Others include Jack Buck, Harry Caray, Bob Starr and Bob Costas.

“I was fortunate to grow up listening to Buck and Caray,” Meyers said. “The sportscasting bug bit me early.”

Meyers studied broadcasting at the University of Missouri, worked in Detroit for a while, was at KMOX for about a year and then moved to KSFO in San Francisco before coming to KMPC as its sports director in 1983.

His first year there, he was the UCLA football and basketball commentator. Kent Derdivanis did the play-by-play. The following season, Meyers and Derdivanis split play-by-play duties, and now Meyers is the play-by-play man, and KMPC news director Bob Steinbrink is the commentator.

Besides his KMPC work, Meyers also announces Lazer indoor soccer games for the Prime Ticket network. Last baseball season, he worked Angel games for SelecTV with Rick Burleson, and during the football season he did some NFL broadcasts for the Mutual Radio Network.

“Baseball is my true love,” Meyers said. “Hooking on with a major league team would be the ultimate.”

In the meantime, he’ll settle for what he’s doing. He particularly enjoys “Sports Line.” His low-key style is well suited for the show, although some may argue he is too soft.

Meyers says it is his philosophy to let the callers do most of the talking.

“We’ve been lucky,” he said. “We’ve been getting good calls. We haven’t been getting the kind of people who call up just to hear how they sound on the radio.

“Our callers usually have pertinent things to talk about. I see my role as one of a moderator. My opinion doesn’t really matter. The caller’s opinion, and the opinion of our guest, is what’s important.

“We try to have a guest about 75% of the time. We’ve had (New York sports columnist) Dick Young on several times. We’ve had Bob Costas three times in the last six weeks.”

Another thing helping “Sports Line” is that Jim Healy, whose 5:30 show now lasts until 6, provides a good lead-in.

Bowling ‘em over: Last Saturday, the UCLA-California basketball game drew a Nielsen rating of 3.7 in Los Angeles. USC-Arkansas had a 3.5, Washington-Washington State a 1.9. The Phoenix Open golf tournament had a 4.0, and the Clippers that night had a 2.5.

Meanwhile, bowling on ABC drew a solid 6.5, the best sports rating of the day. The event, the Showboat Invitational at Las Vegas, deserved it. Gary Skidmore won the $33,000 first prize by rolling a strike in the final frame to beat Ron Bell by a pin.

But a good rating for bowling on television is hardly anything new. For 24 years, ABC’s Professional Bowlers Assn. series has been a ratings success story.

“I think there are two reasons for the success of bowling on television,” PBA Commissioner Joe Antenora said. “One is the format--four sudden-death matches. The suspense builds to four separate climaxes.

“The other is the time period--Saturday afternoons at 3.” The shows are live in the East and delayed three hours in the West.

ABC commentator Nelson Burton agrees that the format is a key to the success of bowling on television. He says another is the number of people who participate in the sport.

“When I’m watching a basketball game, I’m not watching it to improve my technique,” he said. “But a lot of viewers watch bowling in hopes of improving their own game.”

Technology on ice: ESPN, in its coverage of next Tuesday night’s NHL All-Star game, will try a number of innovations.

For one, there will be a midgi-cam mounted on one of the goals. Also, the network plans to use the super slo-mo camera ABC introduced during the 1984 Olympic Games.

ESPN also will have mikes everywhere--on the referee, on the coaches and on the goals. That could be a risky venture. Not all the language during a hockey game is G-rated.

Because the game is essentially an exhibition, ESPN’s Tom Mees will be allowed to conduct interviews from the bench during the game. And there will be cameras in the locker rooms before the game and between periods.

The play-by-play announcer will be Sam Rosen, with Mickey Redmond, former Detroit defenseman, and John Davidson, former St. Louis and New York Rangers goalie, handling the color work.

End of the line: ABC will televise Sunday’s Pro Bowl, but after that, there won’t be any pro football on television for more than four months, since the USFL has scrapped its winter-spring schedule.

New sportscasters: Rick Lozano has joined Channel 7 as a weekend sports anchorman and weekday sports reporter. Lozano comes to Los Angeles from the NBC affiliate in San Antonio.

Mike Smith of San Diego’s Channel 10 has been been hired by Channel 4 as a weekend sports anchorman and field reporter. He will begin his new job March 3. A San Diego newspaper reported that Smith may eventually replace Stu Nahan if Nahan goes elsewhere when his contract expires later this year.

Notes The appointment of Dennis Swanson as the president of ABC Sports this week leaves the future of Jim Spence, longtime senior vice president of ABC Sports, somewhat in doubt. With Spence being passed over for the promotion, there is talk that he may leave the network. Spence had basically been in charge of the day-to-day operation of the department for the past several years. . . . NBC movie critic Gene Shalit offered this prediction on the “Today” show last week: “New England will win in this biggest of games; they’ll win with John Hannah, Dawson and James; they’ll win on the line with Morris and Moore, and they’ll Berry the Bears as they roll up the score. And if all of that isn’t enough reason, there’s this one--the best of all--Tony Eason. New England by 17.” Shalit should stick to movie criticism.

The Ironman Triathlon, held last October on Hawaii’s Kona Coast, will be televised on ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Al Trautwig, Diana Nyad and four-time winner Dave Scott are the commentators. Among the featured competitors will be Ray O’Keefe, a 45-year-old actor from Los Angeles. O’Keefe was the last official finisher in the previous year’s race. Also, Julie Moss, a competitor in this race, will talk about her collapse before the finish line in 1982.

There are a couple of potentially good fights on television Sunday. On “Sports Sunday” at 11 a.m., CBS will offer live coverage of Olympic gold medalist Paul Gonzales’ meeting with Alonzo Strongbow at the Hollywood Palladium, and at noon on “SportsWorld,” NBC will have live coverage of Olympic gold medalist Meldrick Taylor fighting Robin Blake. Taylor, at 17, was the youngest of the 1984 Olympic boxing champions, but he hasn’t gotten as much recognition as some of the others, partly because of bad timing. In a fight at Virginia Beach, Va., last July 20, he defeated Roberto Medina. But afterward, Medina got most of the publicity. Medina, a fugitive from the law, was arrested in his dressing room after the fight. . . . Speaking of bad timing, guess what ESPN did when a rhubarb broke out during the Old Dominion-Alabama Birmingham basketball game Thursday night? Naturally, the network went to a commercial, leaving the viewer to wonder what was going on.