THE MEDIA : MCDONALD EDUCATED L.A. ON AIR KINGS' FIRST PLAY-BY-PLAY MAN SAYS SPORTS HAS COME A LONG WAY.

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH

It was 30 years ago when John Kenneth McDonald experienced his first major culture shock. Hired out of tiny Orillia, Ontario, by fellow Canadian Jack Kent Cooke, he became the first play-by-play man for this new NHL franchise in Los Angeles called the Kings.

McDonald was first told to find himself a nickname, then educate this part of the world about a game played on ice with pucks and blue lines.

When he came back to the neighborhood this week, Jiggs McDonald couldn't help but rub his eyes and wonder if he had somehow traveled in some flux-capacitor-driven DeLorean with a nutty professor as his chauffeur.

Get this: McDonald is describing an NHL playoff game between a team in Anaheim named after a Disney movie and a team in Phoenix that actually left Canada behind.

And he works for a maverick network, Fox, that has made this game part of its regional coverage and considers glowing pucks, cartoon robots and remote-control cameras as the way to get things done.

This couldn't have been anything close to what Lord Stanley had in mind.

``Just look at the TV remote control,'' McDonald said, taking a moment from his preparation for Fox's coverage of the Ducks-Coyotes series sixth game on Sunday. ``It's changed our lives. If we're not entertained with this channel - boom - go to MTV or a car chase. Fox has brought to viewers the entertainment of the game and how it's watched to a new concept.

``I think everyone in this business has always felt the game was worthy of national TV, back to when CBS and NBC did occasional national telecasts, when some independent stations strung together a sort-of network, to USA Network to SportsChannel to ESPN and now at Fox. Of all the places I've seen hockey land, the folks at Fox have had the most foresight and ability to spend the dollars it takes to put out the technology to produce regional hockey games.

``It's really come a long way and it's a lot of fun to be part of it.''

This is a hockey Hall of Fame broadcaster speaking, born and reared in the great white North (Gordon Lightfoot's hometown, no less), who equates this sport to a religious experience.

McDonald understands the purists' reaction to all these bells and whistles, to a sport that's become so American TV-ized that it's more a threat of extinction in Canada than the spotted owl or handy beer-bottle opener.

``I found the glowing puck as a distraction originally but not so much now,'' said McDonald, a resident of Florida, where they have - gasp - two more NHL teams. ``To hear people living in my complex, especially the women who now watch the game, they can see the puck and see what we're talking about.

``I look at it all from a marketing standpoint. What can you do to sell the product? Anything we can do to bring people to our game and give it a chance is worth it.''

Even at the risk of alienating those who've come this far with it?

``The first thing a typical Canadian hockey fan will say in a conversation is: `So whatta think of . . .' They're always asking. I'm still a Canadian citizen, so I understand it. We (at Fox) don't want to offend anyone.

``But if an NHL game on Fox is on, it will always draw attention, if only from the new surround sound. It's better than being in a front-row seat.

``This is still the most difficult game to televise in trying to see the play. But today, it's a better TV product. It's not `Put the cameras here' and don't change. All those super slo-mo and now with track cameras - it's another dimension. At least Fox continues to work on it.''

Way back when

McDonald said it was Jack Kent Cooke's track record as a businessman that lured him from his tiny hometown ``where there was only two stoplights'' to Los Angeles to begin a NHL broadcasting career that until then had been nine years of doing Orillia Terriers of the Ontario Hockey Association.

``I have nothing but respect and admiration for him,'' McDonald said of Cooke. ``I regarded my five years with him as my college education - the University of the Forum.''

Even if it was Cooke who convinced him to go Hollywood and change his name.

``In our very first communication about the job, he mentioned something about a nickname, and I just kind of ignored it,'' said McDonald. ``The day I accepted the job, the nickname came up. I said there's nothing I've ever used on the air that I'd want. He said, `We'll come up with something.' The day before the very first preseason game in '67, Mr. Cooke was frustrated by now. He slammed his fist on the desk he was so upset. He said his brother had a nickname, his sister had a nickname, he had a nickname - and for the life of me I can't remember what he said it was. He really had me intimidated. I said quietly, `Jiggs.' `What's that?' he said. `Louder, my boy.' I said `Jiggs,' like in the comic strip. `Marvelous,' he said, `We'll use it.'

``His whole speech to that point was my name was as fine a name as he'd ever heard, but it had no recall value. It just didn't roll off your tongue.''

So Jiggs McDonald was born. And rolling along quite well, thanks.

STATION BREAK

What smokes

Eenie, meenie, minie, mo, where's the latest Tiger show? If the ratings (for what they're worth) of CBS' last two golf tournaments mean anything, Tiger Woods is big-time money when it comes to televised golf. (No duh.) With Woods' win at the Masters two weeks ago, CBS' coverage had 44 million people give it a 14.1 rating and 31 share on the final round, up from 7.5/20 for round three. At last week's Tiger-less MCI Classic, CBS had a - cough - 2.7 rating.

The PGA Tour's TV potential. The networks are taking meetings with the tour folk next week to discuss new rights-fees packages starting in 1999. Word is that Fox wants in the game (remember its aborted Greg Norman World Tour?) and can offer weekday coverage on FX and its regional cable outlets. CBS currently does the most tournament coverage - 16 - more than twice what ABC and NBC has.

Media analysis of Woods' media and business potential. On the cover of Business Week (April 28), is the headline ``Tiger Inc.'' Fortune magazine has him for its next cover. PBS' ``Nightly Business Report'' last week reported Woods will boost Nike's golf apparel and merchandise by $180 million in fiscal year '98. Newsweek's April 28 issue has an excerpt of a new biography on Woods written by Orange County Register columnist John Strege, which comes along just as a book by Woods' father, ``Training a Tiger,'' picks up momentum. And don't overlook Tiger's appearance Thursday on ``Oprah,'' where she called him ``America's favorite son.''

What chokes

The embarrassing media reaction to Fuzzy Zoeller's off-color remarks about Tiger Woods. First, if this interview given to CNN/SI was so newsworthy, why did it wait a week to air it and make it appear to be in concert with its appearance in this week's Sports Illustrated? And where was the uproar to the off-color things Woods said about African-Americans, whites and women in the current issue of GQ? Selective out-of-context target-shooting - miss Tiger, hit Fuzzy - in a media world full of crossfire doesn't serve anyone. Unfortunately, you don't need a license to start spraying bullets in this medium.

CAPTION(S):

Box

Box: STATION BREAK (See Text)