Roggin Gives Up Radio Talk Show

All-sports radio station 1540, which recently lost USC football and basketball to 710, is now losing one of its marquee sports-talk hosts.

Fred Roggin and the station are parting company at Roggin’s request so he can devote more time to his duties with Channel 4 and NBC Sports.

The station on Thursday announced a new lineup that takes effect on Monday, and Roggin is not part of it. His last day at the station was Thursday.

Petros Papadakis and Dave Smith will swap time slots, with Papadakis taking over the 4-7 p.m. slot and Smith moving to 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

A nationally syndicated show featuring brothers Doug and Ryan Stewart will move into the 1-4 p.m. slot.

International Flavor

With German native Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks featured in the NBA Finals, there is more international coverage than ever.

The games are airing live in Germany on one outlet, Premiere, and two others are on site to record their own highlight packages.

In all, the NBA Finals are being televised in 205 countries by a record 112 international broadcasters in 46 languages.

Where’s Walton?

Can we have an NBA Finals without Bill Walton? Apparently we can.

Walton, who worked the Eastern Conference finals as a game commentator for ESPN, is not involved in ABC’s coverage of the NBA Finals. And that’s a shame.

Maybe not everyone appreciates Walton, but he’s certainly not shy about expressing opinion.

A Shaq Marathon

If you don’t remember Shaquille O’Neal during his days at Louisiana State, CSTV is televising five of his college games, beginning Sunday at 8 a.m.

The marathon ends with a Feb. 3, 1990 game against Loyola Marymount, led by Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble. O’Neal scored 20 points, grabbed 24 rebounds and had 12 blocked shots to lead LSU to a 148-141 overtime victory. It is scheduled to be shown at 3:30 p.m.

Women’s Initiative

Fox Sports and cable partner FSN have announced the creation of an initiative to help aspiring women in sports broadcasting. Implemented by Fox Network Group president and chief executive Tony Vinciquerra and human resources executive vice president Andrienne Gary, the program has “career coaches,” members of senior management, working with newer employees.

“It’s hard to believe it has been 30 years since Melissa Ludke of Sports Illustrated had to sue for the right to enter locker rooms and cover a game just like any other sportswriter,” Vinciquerra said. “We still have a long way to go.”

Community Work

FSN West and FSN Prime Ticket teamed up with the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks to refurbish basketball courts at eight recreation centers. The regional sports networks contributed $100,000 to the project and affiliates contributed another $50,000. Also, FSN West and Prime Ticket will put on a series of basketball clinics at the sites this summer.

New Show for FSN

The critically acclaimed “Beyond the Glory” ended a five-year run last October on FSN, but a spinoff, “In Focus,” makes its debut June 26. The host will be Dick Enberg.

“Beyond the Glory” executive producers Frank Sinton and Steve Michaels will also produce “In Focus.”

The show will capture dramatic moments in sports. The first episode will look back at the June 28, 1997 fight in which Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield’s ear.

Short Waves

Dodger owner Frank McCourt will be featured on “In My Own Words” on FSN Prime Ticket Friday night at 9:30.

FSN Prime Ticket will have live coverage of the men’s and women’s finals of the AVP Hermosa Beach Open Sunday at 3 p.m. And on Prime Ticket Sunday night, beginning at 6, will be the debut of a block of beach volleyball programming titled “Volleywood Nights.” It is the first of eight editions.

FSN has expanded Jalen Rose’s role on “Best Damn Sports Show Period.” He will become more visible on the show, particularly during the NBA Finals.

Sam Ryan, formerly of ABC and ESPN, has taken a job as a weekend sports anchor at Channel 2 in New York. She will also be a contributor to NFL football and college basketball on CBS Sports.

On this week’s edition of “NBA Access With Ahmad Rashad,” airing on Channel 7 Sunday at 11 a.m., the Miami Heat’s Alonzo Mourning says, “Thirteen years, baby, 13 years. It took me 13 years to get to this point. A whole lot of pain

NBA TV, in a special to air Wednesday at 5 p.m., will look back at the last ABA game – Game 6 of the 1976 ABA Finals in which the New York Nets defeated the Denver Nuggets. Julius Erving, George Gervin and Dan Issel are among those interviewed.

Radio station 710 is carrying the NBA Finals, but Games 3, 4 and 6 will be preempted by Angels broadcasts.

ABC has the Belmont, but NBC still has a pretty full sports schedule this weekend. Besides the French Open finals Saturday and Sunday, Saturday’s Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals and Sunday’s AFL ArenaBowl XX, there’s also the Michael Douglas and Friends celebrity golf tournament Saturday at 1 p.m. The event was taped at the Trump course in Rancho Palos Verdes.

Looking ahead: The Golf Channel will preview next week’s U.S. Open at Winged Foot on “Live From the U.S. Open” with a two-hour show on Tuesday at 4 p.m. and a three-hour show Wednesday at 4 p.m. Following the Tuesday show will be a half-hour special featuring Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, “Tiger vs. Phil, The Rivalry.” It’s a good show, but it would be even better if the discussion of their rivalry also included interviews with Woods and Mickelson rather than just golf writers and broadcasters.

Sign of the times: Besides offering 14 hours of live coverage of next week’s U.S. Open, ESPN is providing driving range footage and news conference coverage on ESPN360, a broadband service, highlights on Mobile ESPN (cellphones), and live video streaming from the sixth and 10th holes during the first two rounds via usopen.com or through a link on ESPN.com.

There will also be previews on “SportsCenter” beginning Monday, Spanish-language coverage of the first two rounds on ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio coverage, and ESPN International coverage.

CBS and cable partner CSTV will provide 5 1/2 hours of live coverage of the NCAA track and field championships at Sacramento. CSTV will have three hours Friday from 5 to 8 p.m. and CBS will have 2 1/2 from 12:30 to 3 p.m. Saturday. The announcing team includes Ian Eagle, Dwight Stone and Carol Lewis.

The popular and nationally syndicated golf radio show, “Tee It Up,” is now being carried by 570 Sundays from 7-8 a.m. The show, now carried by 33 affiliates, was created by the father-son team of Al and Adam Gottfried.

The U.S. Tennis Assn. announced that instant replay technology will be used on challenged line calls during the 10 summer tournaments linked to tennis’ U.S. Open.

The Tennis Channel is getting into the reality TV arena with “Bragging Rights,” which makes its debut Monday at 4:30 p.m. Two friends will be coached by – at least in the first three episodes – John Newcombe and Guillermo Vilas before squaring off on the court.

In Closing

The NFL accounted for eight of the nine most-watched programs for the 2005-2006 television season. The Super Bowl led the way with 90.7 million viewers, followed by the AFC championship game between Pittsburgh and Denver with 39 million. No. 3 was the final episode of Fox’s “American Idol” with 36.4 million, followed by five NFL games.