UNLV revamps its broadcasts

Major changes are in the air for what goes on the air at UNLV.

With an announcement expected to be handed down Wednesday, the university and the Thomas & Mack Center are combining their efforts in an attempt to better promote UNLV sports.

"We're working with the Thomas & Mack in developing a joint marketing plan that will include the radio and TV broadcasting," said UNLV associate athletic director Dave Chambers.

In addition to broadcasting, the plan includes corporate sales, ticket sales and promotion for all events that take place at the arena.

According to sources, the joint venture means director of sport broadcasting Dick Calvert will no longer be needed in that capacity. Currently serving as the executive producer for all Rebels broadcasts, Calvert likely will be reassigned within the athletic department.

The sources also said that UNLV's broadcast productions came close to breaking even under Calvert's direction. A lucrative venture for most schools, UNLV came out slightly ahead after paying production personnel and a total of $90,000 to football coach Jeff Horton and basketball coach Bill Bayno for their shows. Bayno receives more than two-thirds of that figure.

Calvert did not return messages left for him in Reno, where he is with the UNLV basketball team.

The change Rebels fans will notice most is the replacement of Ken Korach in the football booth.

Due to his new position as play-by-play man for the Oakland A's, Korach would have missed the first half of the season. Instead of finding a temporary replacement, UNLV permanently filled the hole with KLAS Channel 8 sportscaster Dave McCann, who hosts Horton's and Bayno's shows.

Korach's contract with UNLV, which runs through the 1996-97 season, will be re-worked to delete the football season, but it will be honored. He will continue to handle UNLV basketball, but for the seven games the Rebels play on TV, Korach will be in front of the camera, while McCann does the radio.

McCann will make his debut Saturday, when UNLV plays its regular-season finale at Utah State as Korach joins the A's in spring training.

Many other decisions must be made in the booth. The contracts of football commentators Tony Cordasco and Bob Stockham as well as basketball analyst Glen Gondrezick are all up for renewal.

According to a source, Stockham's UNLV career is thankfully over. But the fine work of Cordasco and Gondrezick will not be forgotten and they probably will be brought back, with the final say coming from athletic director Charles Cavagnaro.

But even more important than personnel is broadcasting rights. UNLV football has been without a radio home since KORK 920-AM broadcast its last game Nov. 18. KWDN 720-AM's contract expires at the end of this season.

With no stations in line, selling advertisements is close to impossible.

KUPN Channel 21 owns television rights for one more year.

Static

* SWITCHING TO CHANNEL 8: Dave McCann calls his position as UNLV's football play-by-play voice "a dream-come-true opportunity," but that could equal a nightmare for Channel 8 sports director Scott Higgins. To facilitate McCann's gridiron work, Channel 8 made a switch: Effective March 4, Higgins will now anchor the sports desk Friday-Sunday, while McCann takes over Monday-Thursday.

"I was told they wanted to go in a different direction during the week," said Higgins, whose popular "Great Scott Awards" will still run Wednesdays. "They wanted to see what Dave could do as far as making an impact in this market."

In the world of broadcast news, moving from weekdays to weeknights is a demotion just shy of termination. "It's nothing we're throwing a part over," McCann, 28, said. Easily the best weekend anchor in town, he recently signed a three-year contract extension. "It's still a delicate situation because Scott and I are friends. We both do a pretty good job and we're just going to work through it. I didn't lobby for his job. It was just a management decision and we were the players."

Higgins will retain his title and his salary and will host the Sunday night sports show, which will be renamed "The Scott Higgins Sports Zone," but "I'd rather anchor during weekday rather than weekends," he said.

"It was a shock to me. It just completely came out of left field. I shouldn't be surprised because this is a business where this happens all the time. I'm glad I didn't get fired."

* SONNY HAS SET FOR 25 YEARS: KTNV Channel 13 begins a two-part special on the life, times and mysterious death of heavyweight champ Sonny Liston today and Tuesday during the 6 p.m. news. "Sonny Liston: Death of a Champ" is hosted by Mario Diaz and looks into the events of the fighter's passing 25 years ago. "I think that the public in general has a total misconception of this guy as the most underappreciated heavyweight champion," said Diaz, who spent two months researching the topic. "He was the original Mike Tyson. In the ring, he came straight ahead and he would take down anybody who would try to take anything away from him." Interviewed for the piece were Angelo Dundee, Don King and Johnny Tocco as well as Liston associates Davey Pearl and Lem Banker. ... Channel 13 received national exposure when Eric "Butterbean" Esch made a guest appearance on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." The 'Bean brought along his Channel 13 heavyweight title belt, which became a topic of conversation during Leno's interview session. Designed by sports director Ron Futrell, it is a weightlifting belt with a tin Channel 13 logo affixed.

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