Columnist Tim Graham: Thunder’s exit leaves Neverett out in cold

Tim Graham

Wednesday, April 21, 1999 | 12:36 p.m.

Tim Graham's media notebook appears Wednesday. His page 1 column appears Thursday. Reach him at 259-4078 or tim@lasvegassun.com

The Las Vegas Thunder's demise might force the area's most talented play-by-play voice out of Las Vegas.

Tim Neverett called 418 Thunder games, and now he finds himself looking to fill a void that could leave him unemployed next fall and winter.

While the players will be dispensed to other teams and the administrators latch on elsewhere -- general manager Bob Strumm probably will land a scouting position with the NHL expansion Columbus Blue Jackets -- broadcasting jobs are limited.

"I have enough to carry me through until the month of September," Neverett said, "but once I get there there's a bunch of question marks."

Neverett, 33, declines to divulge how much money he made as the voice of the the Thunder, but he did admit it constituted about 30 percent of his total annual income. That's a tough hit for a father of three young sons.

"It's disrupting in my life because it's not just me," he said. "If it was just me I'd be packing my two suitcases and heading off to greener pastures. But I have other people to consider and support."

Neverett is the most diverse sportscaster in town. He is the operations director for KLAV 1230-AM, is a part-time anchor for locally based national syndicator Sports Fan Radio Network and is co-executive producer for Caples Productions, which generates high school sports for KSFN 1140-AM and Cox Cable.

He says he can call only 45 Las Vegas Stars games this year to clear room on his schedule. He won't say why, but it is assumed Neverett will be the voice of the Las Vegas Coyotes of Roller Hockey International. That team opens play this summer at the Santa Fe hotel-casino.

"I have to do whatever I can this summer to ease the burden of what may happen in the fall and winter," he said.

Neverett's dream job is to call radio play-by-play for an NHL team. He has the talent to do so and came close to landing jobs with the Phoenix Coyotes and Pittsburgh Penguins in recent years.

But now he can't afford to wait for another of those jobs to become available.

"They usually don't hire somebody until there's a month or six weeks before the season," Neverett said. "And I'd hate to uproot at the last minute."

Neverett would like to pursue a college football job in the Southwest. If he lands one and can parlay that into other work in that market, he would leave.

"I'm not going to say I haven't talked to people outside the market because I have," he said. "Whether those situations turn out to be right, it's too soon to say. I'd like to stay here, but if I can't, I'll have to explore elsewhere."

* FERRALL FREE FALL: The reason Southern Nevadans can't hear Scott Ferrall on KBAD 920-AM is not because he is being preempted by the Las Vegas Stars. It's because his show, "Ferrall on the Bench," has been canceled.

Westwood One shut the show down after Ferrall signed on to be the play-by-play voice of the NHL expansion Atlanta Thrashers. Westwood One is owned by CBS Radio, and the Thrashers are owned by Ted Turner.

CBS and Turner are bitter rivals.

Ferrall didn't even receive the benefit of a farewell show as Westwood One executives pulled the plug on him, effective immediately, after a shift two weeks ago.

Ferrall's sports talk career was launched in Las Vegas on the old KVEG 840-AM. He did not return messages left Tuesday at his Orange County home and offices.

KBAD is uncertain how it will fill the void when the Stars aren't on.

/bf * STATIC: The NFL Draft broke its records for total audience on both ESPN and ESPN2. The draft's opening day was seen in 2.8 million homes on ESPN and 746,000 on ESPN2. ... ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 have all 32 women's World Cup soccer matches, starting June 10. ... Fox Sports Net, which includes Fox Sports West and Fox Sports West 2, has initiated an ambitious project to crown a national high school football champion. The regional sports consortium, along with Student Sports Magazine, now sponsors the Fox Sports Net Fab 50 poll. The poll begins this fall, but the inaugural title game will be played in December 2000.