Blangiardi a local television pioneer

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Columnist

For 25 years the former UH linebacker and assistant coach has tackled the TV business as an extension of his football career. His motto: "It is just like football except you have a game every day and they don't play the Star-Spangled Banner."

So, when he burst through the doors as senior vice president and general manager of Emmis Corp.'s Hawai'i TV stations, KGMB and KHON, in July, it figured to be only a matter of time before he dived back into sports.

And, almost as fast as you can say Hawai'i High School Athletic Association/First Hawaiian Bank Football Classic, Blangiardi has set about finding a sports niche again, outbidding several other entities for the historic event.

KGMB, with Larry Beil returning to do play-by play, is poised to do Saturday's St. Louis-De La Salle, Kahuku-Long Beach Poly doubleheader from Aloha Stadium as soon as the ticket threshold is met or lifted.

In addition, KGMB's feed will be picked up by Fox Sports West 2 and Fox Sports Bay Area in California and on networks in Oregon and Washington. Fox said it will delay its showing of the UH-Texas-El Paso game on the Mainland to air the prep doubleheader live.

Moving quickly and boldly has been Blangiardi's trademark since he changed the local sports landscape 18 years ago, gambling on a marriage of UH and KFVE that has gone on to pay huge dividends for both parties and the school's sports fans.

Previously, only selected UH games, mostly football and basketball, were shown. It was Blangiardi, upon taking over KHNL, who had the foresight to lease KFVE and put together a package that now runs to more than 100 events a year across a dozen sports. By the time he left Hawai'i in 1989 for Seattle and, later, network jobs, UH was realizing $1 million a year from the most comprehensive local TV deal in college athletics.

When Blangiardi was passed over for the UH athletic director's job this year after leaving the Telemundo Group, a Los Angeles-based company of mostly Hispanic stations, it opened the way for his return to local TV — and some interesting possibilities.

For one, this year's HHSAA football championship is open to negotiation. Next year the whole HHSAA package comes up for bid and the UH contract expires in three years. And, you wonder where Beil might fit in.

The betting is that while this is Blangiardi's first move since he returned to the market, it is far from his last one.