Media Notes: University unfair to channels 3, 13

Tim Graham

Wednesday, Oct. 23, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Maybe in some twisted way, UNLV should be glad its football team hasn't generated more media attention.

As the season has progressed, electronic and print journalists alike haven't exactly gone out of their ways to cover the Rebels, but if they had, it could have created a media relations nightmare.

After watching the thorough UNLV coverage turned in day and day out by KLAS Channel 8, competitors KVBC Channel 3 and KTNV Channel 13 recently voiced concerns about the possibility of being treated unfairly by the university.

Channel 8 owns the rights to the Rebel football and basketball coaches' shows, and sports anchor Dave McCann is the football play-by-play man.

As a result, it is in a position to cover the team on an entirely different level than Channels 3 and 13, especially on football road trips, when UNLV provides Channel 8 with a seat on its charter planes. The basketball team flies on commercial aircraft and Channel 8 must pay for those seats.

But with its cameras recording the Rebels on the road for head football coach Jeff Horton's show, Channel 8 is able to use its footage during daily newscasts as well. The other stations claim that's unfair, since they never have been offered a chance to fly with the team.

For example: When UNLV played in Hawaii this past weekend, Channel 8 was airing great tape of the Rebels oceanside, while the other stations were forced to use stale practice film.

"It's an equity issue," said Steve Stallworth of the UNLV athletic marketing department, who also acts as McCann's sidekick during televised games. "We need to make sure we try as much as we can to give an opportunity to those guys to get them footage as well.

"But rather than analyzing Channel 8 and asking them not to continue what they've been doing, we'd rather figure out a way to have everybody go. But I'm not sure what that means."

As a public institution, UNLV cannot discriminate against its media outlets, meaning if Channel 8 gets a free seat on the charter, so should any other organization that wishes to cover the team, whether it be TV, radio or print.

The only problem is, UNLV has not made a blanket offer to do so.

"I'm not aware of any other requests to go on our trips this year, and if we would have received any, we would have done anything we could have to accommodate them," Stallworth said.

"I was disappointed the other stations didn't want to go to (the historic season opener at) Tennessee. We felt everybody should have been there for that game."

But the sports directors from Channels 3 and 13 wish they had known.

"It is our right to have equal access," Channel 3's Andrew Smith said. "If we had a free trip to any of the away games, that would make a big difference as to whether we go on the road. Air fare is a good 50 percent of travel expenses.

"Before the season we were looking at the schedule and had plans to go to at least the first two away games at Tennessee and Colorado State, and then to BYU if the team was playing well, but we were budgeted out."

Channel 13's Ron Futrell was affected similarly.

"We would have been in Tennessee, no doubt," he said, "and I even drove to Provo for the BYU game. If we could have had one seat (on the charter) we could have sent a cameraman to meet me.

"But I don't blame UNLV. It's my fault for not bringing up the subject at the beginning of the season."

In a roundabout way, Smith claims he already has.

"Sometimes when (UNLV personnel) have asked me if I was going on a particular road trip," he said, "I would ask in half jest 'You got a seat for me on the plane?' They would always laugh it off. They never told me they did."

When asked how many seats are vacant on an average football trip, Stallworth didn't know.

"Our only real concern was making sure everyone was getting a fair shake," Smith said.

Static

* McCANN DA MAN: UNLV football play-by-play man Dave McCann has erased any worries fans may have had about him filling the shoes of his predecessor, Ken Korach. McCann was the main reason UNLV's broadcast from Hawaii last weekend was sensational. While the production didn't exactly trick the viewer into thinking he was watching a network-quality telecast, the package was effective. McCann gains extra points for his straight-shooting delivery. When the Rebels played poorly, he established credibility by saying so, while most in-house announcers do the opposite. With the exception of a few incorrectly identified Hawaii players, some untimely graphics (showing a player's season stats after the game begins makes them outdated) and color commentator Steve Stallworth's uneasiness looking into the camera, there was little to improve on.

* SORRY, DUDE: ESPN college football play-by-play man Brad Nessler, three days after making harsh remarks about Barry Alvarez, apologized to the Wisconsin football coach during a Big Ten teleconference. "Anything we did that caused the Wisconsin coaching staff any undue criticism, on behalf of ESPN, if we blew it, we apologize, or at least I do," Nessler told Alvarez, who took considerable heat from the media for not having his quarterback kneel down a few times to run out the clock with a 30-27 lead over Northwestern and 49 seconds left. Instead, Alvarez called a running play, which resulted in a fumble. Two plays later, Northwestern scored a touchdown to win. ESPN, however, didn't respond well to Nessler's apology. "Brad did this on his own," ESPN spokesman Dean Diltz said. "He was not speaking for ESPN." The network's lead college analyst, Lee Corso, was the most vocal in bashing Alvarez Saturday: "Alvarez lost the game. Alvarez should quit ... All the guy had to do was take the snap, kneel and your out. ... That staff blew a game that they should have won, and their kids deserve better than that."

* STOP, YOU'RE SCARING ME: Prior to kickoff of the Cincinnati-San Francisco game Sunday, CNN football insider and Sports Illustrated scribe Peter King said this: "One or two more losses, and the Bengals will replace Dave Shula with Bruce Coslet or Gary Moeller." The Bengals blew a 21-0 lead and lost to the 49ers. On Monday, they replaced Shula with Coslet. ... Also on Sunday, John Madden proved prophetic on Fox: "I was talking to (vice president of player personnel) Ken Herock of the Falcons just a little while ago, and he said that they're going to waive Jeff George on Tuesday."

* SPINNING THE DIAL: ESPN college football analyst Mike Gottfried has expressed interest in the vacant head coaching position at Kentucky, and has discussed the possibility with longtime friend and Wildcat basketball coach Rick Pitino. Gottfried has coached at Pittsburgh, Kansas State, Moorehead State and Murray State. ... TNT's Sunday night football ratings finished at 7.1, a 12 percent drop from last year. ESPN now carries the remainder of Sunday night games. ... CBS Radio baseball analyst Jeff Torborg, currently heard calling the World Series on KENO 1460-AM, is the father of an MVP. Dale Torborg, a 6-foot-5 former farmhand, is a pro wrestler, performing under the name "Most Violent Player."