After 33 years, ABC is taking “Wide World of Sports” in for a tuneup. A few tweaks here and a couple of turns there, and-voila!-a new and improved program.
At least that’s what network officials are hoping this season after adding new graphics, a news/feature segment from Sports Illustrated and naming Julie Moran as studio anchor.
“Julie has demonstrated a very valuable talent,” says coordinating producer Curt Gowdy Jr. “She’s made significant contributions to `Wide World’ as a play-by-play commentator in the past few years. She’s been given a variety of roles, and she’s done an outstanding job.”
In addition, says Gowdy, Moran has fans. “Our researchers pointed out she has an ever-growing popularity, not only among females but among males as well,” he says. “And her background is one of a studio host.”
Moran, 31, officially replaces Frank Gifford as “Wide World” host, although John Saunders filled in temporarily part of last year.
“I’ve always been a fan,” says Moran, “so this is a real privilege to be able to host this show. . . . One of the reasons I wanted to come to ABC was the opportunity to work on the widest variety of sports events. That’s all coming to fruition.”
She joined the network 2 1/2 years ago after a brief stint at NBC as Ahmad Rashad’s original co-host on “NBA Inside Stuff.” She makes her debut as the first “Wide World” female host this week on the telecast of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
“It’s not important to me (being the first woman),” she says. “If I can be half the host Jim McKay was, I’ll be more than thrilled. I’m just happy to be in the position. Being the first female makes absolutely no difference to me.”
In addition to the current changes, “Wide World” still is looking ahead. A periodic “kids’ version” of the show begins Feb. 5, with 13-year-old Maria Sansone, who made her network debut last year as a reporter at the Little League World Series, as host.
“Getting `Wide World’ known to a much younger audience is one of our goals,” says Gowdy. “We’re always trying to expand our viewer base.”
Playoff fever: Gifford joins fellow “Monday Night Football” announcers Al Michaels and Dan Dierdorf as well as sideline reporter Lynn Swann for the Steelers-Chiefs playoff game at 11:30 a.m. Saturday on WLS-Ch. 7. Brent Musburger and Dick Vermeil are in the booth for ABC’s Packers-Lions telecast at 3 p.m. Saturday, with Tim Brant on the sidelines.
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Perfect marriage: SportsChannel and WMVP-AM, which already share announcers on Blackhawks games, will take that arrangement a step further starting Monday, when the local cable channel starts supplying the radio station with two-minute updates at 15 and 45 minutes past the hour. “SportsChannel Report” anchors Jim Blaney, Steve Kashul, Mike Goldberg, Dyrol Joyner and Julie Judelson-with occasional help from Bulls play-by-play man Tom Dore-will provide news from noon till midnight on a rotating basis.
“We believe this is Chicago’s first alignment of this type between a radio and television station,” said SportsChannel boss Jim Corno. Added WMVP programming chief Greg Solk: “The combination of The SportsChannel Report’s talent and WMVP’s resources guarantee we can deliver the most up-to-date credible sports information.”
Perfect marriage II: NBC Sports co-workers Hannah Storm and Dan Hicks tie the knot Saturday in New York. The two met while working at CNN in 1989, and Hicks followed Storm to NBC three years later. Ahmad Rashad is sideline reporter and Mike Ditka analyzes the ceremony on “NFL Live.” Just kidding.
A changing world: George Castle hosts “Chicago Baseball Weekly,” which debuts at 4 p.m. Sunday on WCBR-FM. Among the guests slated for the first hour-long show are “Today” show executive producer Steve Friedman, Tom Trebelhorn, Gene Lamont, Gary Peters and Dick Ellsworth. Future co-hosts scheduled by Castle are Dan Plesac, Jerry Hairston and Ken Holtzman. . . . Starting Sunday, ESPN2’s wacky “SportsNight” moves to five nights a week but is cut from three hours to 90 minutes at 5 p.m., 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. The latter will be on tape, except for live SportSmash updates. “We wanted to add more event programming,” said an ESPN spokesman about the change. . . . Filmmaker Spike Lee has teamed with the Wieden & Kennedy advertising agency to create a promotional campaign for ESPN2’s college basketball coverage that started last week. Weiden & Kennedy also produced the Chris Farley spots promoting ESPN’s basketball slate.
Wacky world: What started out as a gossip item flared into non-stop nonsense this week as both sports-jabber radio stations carried the Michael Jordan-as-baseball player rumor to extremes-but never talked to Jordan. Fueled by GM Ron Schueler’s tepid endorsement, the Jordan story generated a life of its own.
Radio daze: The latest Arbitron ratings released Thursday for fall ’93 have left WSCR-AM officials “ecstatic” and with good reason. The Score outdistanced sports-talk rival WMVP 2.0 to 1.1 in the 12-and-over listener category and 4.5 to 2.5 in the more important men’s 25-54 listing. While ‘MVP morning man Steve Dahl beat out Tom Shaer 2.1 to 1.7 overall, the remainder of the day belongs to ‘SCR, especially in the afternoon drive time, where Dan McNeil and Terry Boers hold a 1.9-to-1.0 overall edge over veteran Chet Coppock and 4.4 to 2.2 in men 25-54. At night, WMAQ-AM’s “Sports Huddle” checks in with a 3.9 overall rating (helped, no doubt, by White Sox playoffs and Bulls) to 0.8 for ‘MVP (and Blackhawks).