NOW THIS IS A WORKING VACATION.

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH Media

Larry Kahn, welcome to a college football fan's dream.

Last week, he was at the Kickoff Classic in Lincoln, Neb. Saturday, he'll take in Oklahoma's game at Air Force. In the next three months, he hits Miami a couple of times, Georgia, Ohio State and Michigan State. He'll squeeze a trip to Louisiana State between UCLA's game at Oregon State and the Bruins facing Washington at the Rose Bowl.

Sure, Kahn has work to do on these 15 consecutive Saturdays before the bowl season. But he can't find much wrong taking in all the pomp around these circumstances.

``I gotta admit when the Nebraska band came on the field last week, I got goose bumps,'' said the play-by-play man for his own Pacific West Radio Sports network company, which produces and broadcasts some of the most important college football games this season for 70-plus national affiliates, including KSPN-AM (1110) in Los Angeles.

Kahn, 46, a Simi Valley-based radio sportscaster in Southern California for 25 years, could be hardened to the broadcasting business after he formed Pacific West in 1998. It came after a three-year run as the radio rights holder and broadcaster for USC that ended rather ugly - the school filed a suit against him claiming breach of contract, and he countersued for defamation - with it ending in an out-of-court settlement.

Two more years of trying to re-establish credibility finally came together in 2001. After doing a full season of the L.A. Avengers of the Arena League, he personally put together a national-college package that rivals the much bigger Westwood One syndicator, based in Culver City.

Kahn's company will do more than 30 football games this calendar year alone. Of the 15 games on his college schedule, 12 involve Top 10-ranked teams. Add to that the Las Vegas and Citrus bowls, which he has done for the last three years.

When broadcast partner Mike Lamb decided not to join him, Kahn signed on former college coach Bruce Snyder, ex-Avengers coach Stan Brock and former quarterbacks Dave Kreig and Gino Toretta as colormen through the season. Kahn's sideline reporter, Lee Jamison, also is the chief ad salesman.

``I just decided to go for it and try to make it happen,'' said Kahn, who also did a season of Nevada Las Vegas games last year. ``The goal is to break even this season and take it from there.

``Casey Wasserman gave us a big break with the Avengers, and we appreciate that. This network isn't really that much different from USC, except I work for myself and take on the financial risk. I've learned how to set up a network and establish sales and build a reputation around the country.''

--Kicked upstairs: After roaming and occasionally roasting on the sidelines for UCLA's radio broadcasts the past four seasons, Matt Stevens finally has press-box access.

When Billy Ray Smith decided to give up his role as Chris Roberts' boothmate to concentrate on Fox's NFL Sunday cable show, Stevens, the former Bruins quarterback who really was a second analyst with a live mike on the field, accepted the new perspective.

``I finally get to eat and enjoy some air conditioning,'' said Stevens, who filled in for Smith twice in the booth last season. ``I hope this is another step further into the broadcasting business.''

Stevens, who works weekdays as general manager of the Chester A. Washington Golf Course in L.A., has added a TV element to his resume. Fox Sports Net 2's Southern California Sports Report hired him and former USC tailback Petros Papadakis as reporters/studio analysts during the Bruins and Trojans season.

KCAL Channel 9 reporter John Ireland will work the sidelines on the UCLA radio games in place of Stevens.

--Extra points to make: After the ``College GameDay'' gang blows in for a mid-morning Tuscaloosa chug-a-lug - the newly expanded 90-minute rally begins here at the ridiculous hour of 7:30 a.m. - ESPN sends in Ron Franklin and Mike Gottfried (with Adrian Karsten and his suspenders on the sideline) for the UCLA-Alabama coverage Saturday afternoon. ...

The capper to ABC's first tripleheader of regional coverage Saturday unfortunately forces the country to split off when it comes to Wisconsin-Oregon and Miami-Penn State at 5 p.m. Los Angeles' KABC Channel 7 is part of the affiliates force-fed Ducks' debut (with Keith Jackson and Tim Brandt), while the Hurricanes-Nittany Lions can be accessed through ESPN GamePlan's pay-per-view schedule available on most cable and dish systems for $11.95 per day ($99 for the season). ...

Fox Sports Net 2 has put in a wake-up call for Tom Kelly and Craig Fertig (with Barry LeBrock on the sidelines) to do the call on Saturday's USC-San Jose State afternoon telecast. Pete Arbogast, who did Trojans radio games from 1989 to '94 before Kahn took over, returns on play-by-play with Paul McDonald (and Tim Ryan on the sidelines). ...

The Trojans' new three-year deal with flagship radio station KMPC-AM (1540) includes affiliates in Orange (KPLS-AM 830) and San Diego (KFMB-AM 760) as well as Palm Springs, Bakersfield, Fresno, Visalia, Las Vegas and Wailuku, Hawaii. It's also on the school's official Web site (www.usctrojans.com) and on a link from the flagship radio affiliate (radio.sportingnews.com/losangeles). Ryan and Papadakis host a one-hour pregame show, with Arbogast, McDonald and Ryan included on the one-hour postgame extravaganza. ...

The USC network includes the first full season of Spanish-language coverage on XPRS-AM (1090), which last year did five games. Each one of 'em are live except for Saturday's opener, delayed because of the station's commitment to the Angels. Jorge Villaneuva and Efren Dominguez, the long-time Spanish voices of the San Diego Chargers, speak the language on the call. ...

The Bruins switch to the Trojans' former radio home, XTRA-AM (690), for Saturday's broadcast because of a Dodgers scheduling conflict on flagship station KXTA-AM (1150). UCLA games later this season against Kansas and Ohio State will move to KLAC-AM (570) because of Dodgers commitments. The UCLA network includes Lancaster's KAVL-AM (610), Thousand Oaks' KBET-AM (850) and Ventura's KVEN-AM (1450), plus outlets in Bakersfield, Fresno, Victorville, Visalia, Riverside, San Diego, Las Vegas, Reno, Maui and Albuquerque, as well as the team Web site (www.uclabruins.com) and the flagship Web site (www.foxsports1150.com). ...

Fox Sports Net 2's 14-game schedule of high school football begins with the Sept. 7 Westchester-Long Beach Poly contest. It includes a 11 p.m. delayed broadcast of Hart-St. Bonaventure on Sept. 13, a one-day delay of Loyola-Muir on Sept. 22 and live coverage of Thousand Oaks-Westlake on Sept. 27.

SOUND BYTES

WHAT SMOKES

--Sideline gal Jill Arrington, who won the recent Playboy.com poll as the sexiest sportscaster on TV, finally has said ``Yes.'' Not to a photo shoot, but to her new husband, talent agent Dean Campbell Panaro, during a wedding ceremony two weeks ago at a hotel in Bel Air. She squeezed that in after doing Arena Football for TNT and CBS' U.S. Open tennis coverage, where she has filed several lightweight stories for its late-night package this week. Playboy poll runner-up Melissa Stark of ABC also got hitched in the offseason. Fox's Lisa Guerrero officially remains an uncommitted free agent.

WHAT CHOKES

--Probably based on his ability to do impish interviews with women much taller than himself, Fred Roggin will enhance NBC's coverage of the WNBA Finals from Staples Center as a courtside reporter for Games 2 and (possibly) 3 on Saturday and Sunday. Must have something to do with Paul Sunderland being off in Sydney to do the beach volleyball for TNT's coverage of the Goodwill Games. Back at Staples, Hannah Storm plays host with Mike Breen and Ann Meyers on the game call.

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SOUND BYTES (see text)