Wednesday, May 26, 1999 | 10:20 a.m.
Tim Graham's media notebook appears Wednesday. His page 1 column appears Thursday. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4078.
The name of the show was "Ferrall on the Bench."
But never did Scott Ferrall think his network would bench him permanently.
The night-time sports talk maven was miffed when his national syndicator, Westwood One, informed him it was pulling the plug on his successful and lucrative call-in show, which was carried locally by KBAD 920-AM.
But Westwood One had its reasons.
On March 25, Ferrall finally landed a position he had coveted since he was a kid. The man with a voice compared to that of an auctioneer on crack was announced as the play-by-play voice of the NHL expansion Atlanta Thrashers.
The Thrashers are owned by Ted Turner. Westwood One is owned by CBS. Turner and CBS are bitter rivals.
"CBS didn't want to go to bed with Turner," Ferrall said from his Huntington Beach, Calif., home in one of his first interviews about his firing. The show had sired on Westwood One for four years, but Ferrall had been working without a contract since August.
Ferrall, who first gained national notoriety in Las Vegas working for then-KVEG 840-AM, claimed he could have handled both duties. He insisted "Ferrall on the Bench," which aired on Westwood One for four years, would have been an even better show.
"They didn't think I could do a radio show and be an NHL play-by-play man," he said. "We'll see about that.
"For me it was surprising in the fact they didn't understand the commodity I was. I could have been in Detroit one day talking to Steve Yzerman, in Denver the next day talking to Terrell Davis. I could have made the show coast-to-coast. We had it all figured out."
Ferrall has had two months to mull everything over. He still doesn't understand completely and misses the show on which he played bartender for millions of thirsty listeners.
But in no other market will Ferrall be missed as much as in Las Vegas, where countless bettors depended on his uncanny handicapping abilities.
"I loved doing that show, and I still wish I was doing it," he said. "It legitimized my career.
"It was like I was playing 'Let's Make a Deal,' and I chose what was behind Curtain No. 2, and it was the NHL gig, my dream job. Then they showed me what was behind Curtain No. 1, and it was my radio booth with a fat chick and a cow."
Ferrall is finding reasons to stay positive.
"How many drunks can I talk to on the radio about Kobe Bryant's inbounds pass?" he said. "For nine years I'd been doing it.
"I had no idea what it was like to go out on a date with my wife. It's kind of nice to have a life instead of being an open valve so radio could suck the life out of me."
To make up for the financial hit he absorbed when his show was cancelled, Ferrall will branch out into a variety of endeavors until the Thrashers' season starts in September.
Ferrall, who has become a sought-after guest on shows such as "The Late Show with David Letterman" and "Politically Incorrect," will work with Steve Albert on "Battledome," a Columbia/Tri-Star production similar to "American Gladiators" that will air mostly on UPN stations this fall. He also will continue to work for the league on "This Week in the NHL."
Ferrall will tour select major and minor league ballparks this summer as part of a caravan that features Mark McGwire's No. 70 home run ball and other pieces of memorabilia to raise money for Lou Gehrig's Disease.
He also said he intends to eventually bring back his show "bigger than ever and it might not be on radio," noting Turner Sports could give him opportunities to work on TBS or TNT.
But Ferrall's thoughts mainly are focused on making an immediate impact as an NHL voice.
"My plan is to be as big as Harry Caray was for the Cubs," he said. "Believe me, I'm going to be known. I'm cocky and crazy and I want it all.
"I'm going to be the best and loudest in the league. When the whistle blows, you better strap yourself in and get a load of me."
* CORRECTION: It was erroneously reported last week that operations coordinator Tony Desiere was fired from KSFN 1140-AM.
He, in fact, quit.
But the circumstances surrounding Desiere's departure are strange.
Desiere mostly worked behind the scenes, but he also did on-air work for the station and Caples Productions, which owns local rights to high school sports.
The engineer for the "Out of Bounds" morning show had become the subject of running gags for co-hosts Ron Garrett and Ken Rubino.
But the jokes apparently went too far.
"Ken Rubino made a comment on the air about me and my wife having sex and what a disgusting sight that would be," Desiere said. "My wife heard that on the radio and cried.
"Then I went in the next day a little short-fused, and they went on and on about my dysfunctional microphone."
When asked whether he made statements about Desiere and his wife, Rubino replied "I don't recall that."
Desiere said he quit that day, but station manager Jackie Landry claimed Rubino's words weren't necessarily the reasons why.
"Legally, I cannot comment on why a former employer is not here," Landry said. But she added, "Those reasons are contrary to the reasons he gave us for leaving."
* STATIC: UNLV basketball coach Bill Bayno appears on Ron Futrell's television call-in show tonight at 8 p.m. The program airs on leased-access station KTV Channel 63, which is Cox Cable Channel 61. ... A handicapping show, "Vegas Sports Watch," is airing weekdays at 10 a.m. on KSHP 1400-AM. The show features Tim Trushel, Dave Malinsky and Brent Crow. ... A favorite spectacle in the Sun sports department, the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee, airs live Tuesday at 9 a.m. on ESPN. It is replayed at 4:30 p.m. on ESPN2. ... Lifetime's third WNBA season tips off June 10 at 8 p.m. with reigning champ Houston at Orlando. After the game, Lifetime debuts the half-hour special "Breaking Through: Women of the World Cup." ... ESPN has the WNBA All-Star game July 14.
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