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Thursday, June 13, 2002

Penguins types talked a bunch yesterday about using their third line.Typical, eh: Never the fourth line.Except this talk centered not on their muckers and grinders, but on their third line of audio broadcasting.

The club's new radio deal -- with Clear Channel through 2005-06 -- includes a significant component for their recently re-launched Web site, www.PittsburghPenguins.com. After making a more concerted effort last year to broadcast training camp matches and even a non-televised regular-season game over their Internet pages, team officials decided to affirm a pecking order of Penguins informational homes. Clear Channel folks agreed.

Thus, WWSW-FM is the local flagship.

WBGG-AM is the home to the 20-affiliate network and a few new shows.

And the Web site is the worldwide news source for all that stuff, plus several other doodads.

"So we're selling the package in three forms," said Tom Rooney, Team Lemieux's coach/GM/stickboy/idea man. In fact, he envisions different sponsors/advertisers will be heard on the Internet broadcast than over the radio airwaves.

WWSW will continue to air the full pregame and postgame shows, a practice that started last season. WBGG will broadcast the same game night programming (which it mostly founded), and add a couple of other new in-season shows that also will be heard on the team's Web site: "Bob Grove's Hot Stove Report" on Tuesdays and "Pens Week" on Wednesdays, each a half-hour productions starting at 6 p.m. Additionally, www.PittsburghPenguins.com will archive the daily "Rink Rat Reports" from announcer Paul Steigerwald and company (from which WWSW and WBGG will air snippets throughout that day). Plus the site will broadcast more preseason games, including a special Black-Gold scrimmage for season-ticket holders only.

"We're going to keep creating new programming until they gag themselves," Rooney said across a Mellon Arena table from Clear Channel suits -- one of them a lovely purple sucker adorning sports-sales director Mark Turley, who now must return it to The Joker. When someone noted that the two new WBGG/Web shows only cover two of the five weeknights, Clear Channel regional vice president John Rohm pointed to Rooney and kidded, "He has plans."

The three lines of audio broadcasters get rolled out June 22-23 with NHL draft coverage. It will be heard start-to-finish live over the Web site. WWSW and WBGG will simulcast the coverage through the Penguins' first-round pick on Saturday, with updates of selections to follow. All three will air Sunday's entire draft activities.

Local radio/TV transactions

In a cost-cutting move, KDKA-AM officials decided to remove PG columnist Ron Cook from their Saturday evening sports show, effective at month's end. His replacement is longtime station employee Goose Goslin, whose schedule gets reconfigured -- trading his Monday morning-sportscaster turn for the Saturday show host. Rob Pratte will take over Goslin's old Monday-morning duties.

The station has yet to name a replacement for weeknight sports-show host Thor Tolo, who expects to work until his contract ends Aug. 1. But the changes aren't related.

"Personally speaking, Ron Cook is one of the nicest guys and did a great show," said Michael Young, the station's general manager. "But it was an economic decision to make our overall sports a little more efficient. And there's no correlation to the Thor decision, which is more of a product decision than an economic decision."

WEAE-AM station manager Jessamy Tang told her staff this week that she is quitting. That leaves ESPN Radio 1250 without a boss and a program director (Kevin Graham was promoted to the New York affiliate earlier this spring) after what station types call their strongest back-to-back ratings periods yet. The ABC/ESPN corporate bosses, taking a lesson from pro sports teams, would be wise to hire the general manager-type first, then let that person hire a coach/program director.

With Scott Paulsen shedding his WBGG-AM sports-talk gig for a 6-10 p.m. weeknight spot on WDVE-FM, a place where his creativity can better radiate, the drive-time airwaves are about to change. Likely successors are: Stan Savran or a pool of Fox Sports Net-Pittsburgh anchors for Paulsen; KDKA-TV's Paul Alexander with possibly Bob Pompeani for Tolo.

Fox Chapel's Stephanie Gabos, whose contract wasn't renewed at the local Fox Sports Net affiliate, has been replaced as a weekend co-anchor/reporter by Brent Stover, who comes from the cable folks' Midwest station.

Strata various

Hall of Famer John Stallworth -- has a nice ring to it, eh? -- will be featured on ESPN Radio's "Legends" half-hour program at 9:07 p.m. tonight and replayed at 10:07 p.m. tomorrow, heard locally on WEAE.

You can reach Chuck Finder at cfinder@post-gazette.com