TV: Hall of Fame RB John Riggins will join WFAN's Chris
Russo as co-host of "Riggins and Russo Live," an NFL pregame
show which will air on N.Y.'s WCBS-TV Sundays at 11:00am
this season. The duo will also contribute to the station's
"Sports Rap" Sunday night highlights show during the season
(N.Y. POST, 4/23)....In Boston, Bob Ryan, on NBC NBA
analyst Doug Collins: "When he's done completing a thought,
Isiah Thomas might just as well head to the men's room,
because it's all been said" (BOSTON GLOBE, 4/23)....In Las
Vegas, Tim Graham rated sports broadcasters and called
ESPN's Chris Berman the "most overrated sportscaster in the
history of the profession." Graham cited NHL announcer Bill
Clement as the "most underrated," and wrote that MSNBC's
Keith Olbermann is "right where he belongs. ... Olbermann is
finding out he needed 'SportsCenter' much more than it
needed him" (LAS VEGAS SUN, 4/22)....In '99, the PGA Tour
will broadcast 196 hours of early-round coverage of its
events in int'l markets, an increase of 59% from this year.
Weekend coverage will rise 14%, and total hours of int'l
coverage will jump 32% (GOLFWEEK, 4/18 issue)....NHL Rangers
F Kevin Stevens and Panthers F Bill Lindsey will serve as
guest analysts on ESPN2's "NHL 2Night" throughout the first
round of the NHL playoffs (ESPN2).
NOTES: Traffic to ESPN SportsZone, NFL.com and a
special NFL Draft site accessible from both sites generated
more than 34 million page views and 4.7 million visits last
weekend (ESPN)....In N.Y., Paul Tharp reports that magazine
launches numbered 852 last year, down from a record 933
startups in '97. Experts say, however, that the "cooling-
off" of the magazine boom "is only temporary." Sports
titles were the second-most-popular category of startups
last year, with 103 titles launched (N.Y. POST, 4/23).
