Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
Full-Court Press
AFTER moving here from the continent, the words "delayed broadcast" are as foreign as Kalanianaole Highway. Time to show TV
sports events liveTrying to keep from hearing the outcome on the radio or seeing it on television are ridiculous exercises, and whenever a few misguided souls suggested as much in columns and letters to the editor, they were cast out.
Local general managers said we must be in league with Lucifer or why else would we question their decision to wait hours after a game is done on the East Coast before broadcasting it to fortune's fools on the Pacific Rim.
The excuses used were long and lame. They blamed the New York network executives -- as if those guys really care about the six Oahu households in the Nielsen Ratings -- for adhering to the theory of prime time.
One general manager even told a former colleague here that the only people who could watch a nationally televised event at three in the afternoon were shiftless sportswriters who had nothing better to do than question the close-your-eyes-time concept of local broadcasting.
Because most general managers grow on the advertising limb of the TV tree, the real issue for them is always money. Show it live and you can't drop in an extra dozen minutes of mindless commercials.
Not only does this ring in added revenue for local affiliates, but it also forces you to watch that station's 10 p.m. news. Sure, it usually comes on closer to 11, but are you going to cut away in the fourth quarter to watch your good friend Joe Moore? Didn't think so.
Fortunately, KGMB-TV (Channel 9) decided to break the pact several years back and show the NCAA basketball tournament games as they were being played. We rabble-rousers of the newsroom raised our glasses high to sportscaster Neil Everett for bravely going where no man had gone before.
No longer would some angry reader call up to complain to our editors for revealing the results of a same-day event in our paper.
"I was all set to watch the game on TV and then I saw the final score on the sports page," one angry reader said. "I'm thinking of canceling my subscription."
Some of us wanted to tell him maybe we should have a boxed note on the front page as a gentle reminder for all you nitwits out there that it was close-your-newspaper-time, but fortunately, our editors thought better of it.
IT's interesting to note that the king of the delayed broadcasts, KHNL-TV (Channel 8), recently decided to follow suit and show the NBA playoffs live. The reasons were a little vague -- something about joining the 20th century even though it's already the 21st -- but give those lads credit.
Not only are these local executives taking a chance angering people with real jobs who want to watch at night after dinner, they also are disrupting an afternoon lineup that has an even more loyal viewing audience.
A sportswriter articulating the popular rage is one thing, a fan missing Rosie is a demon from hell. It's unlikely there are many crossover viewers here, so if you call the station manager to complain, don't expect him to be in.
"Hi, you've reached John Fink. I'm out of the office for the foreseeable future, but please leave a message and we'll get back to you as soon as possible."
Hey, having to hire more executive secretaries than Murphy Brown is a small price to pay. Now, if we could only get Monday Night Football in the afternoon.
Paul Arnett has been covering sports
for the Star-Bulletin since 1990.