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Monday, February 07, 2000 By Chuck Finder, Post-Gazette Sports Writer
Paul Spadafora may soon appear on the same cable network as "The Sopranos." What do you think, he'll get his own series? Fuggedaboutit.
HBO is working on a new boxing series to highlight pugilists of the same stripe as the International Boxing Federation lightweight champion from McKees Rocks: Up-and-comers and unheralded titlists. The show is conceptually different from the network's "Boxing After Dark," and might carry a separate time slot and name - Saturday afternoons under the working titles of "KO Nation," "Boxing After Noon" or "Boxing Before the East Coast Goes to Sleep." OK, so I made that last one up.
Network types adore Spadafora, and, provided he defeats Victoriano Damian Sosa March 3 in central New York, they hope to use him in the inaugural main event of their potential four-show series. The word on the boxing streets is, HBO and Spadafora's promoters are aiming for a May 6 bout in Pittsburgh.
Spadafora defended his title two months ago inside the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, but an HBO fight against a top contender - say, No. 1 challenger Billy Irwin - would draw more than the previous bout's 5,000 and therefore require a larger venue. That basically leaves Duquesne University's Palumbo Center and the Mellon Arena.
"At this point," said Jay Roberts, director of operations at Mellon Arena, "there's nothing more to say except we would like to have it, and we've been in negotiations."
Resettled Colony
His Vermont exile over, Jim Colony returns today to the AM station that was WTAE News Talk 1250 when he left. That was four owners, four general managers and 2 1/2 ago. Man, have things changed.
The place is known as WEAE ESPN Radio 1250 nowadays. Starting this afternoon, the familiar voice and personality comes back to his old spot on the dial to handle local "SportsCenter" newscasts during the Mark Madden (4-8 p.m.) and Stan Savran (8-9 p.m.) shows.
"The newsroom's the same, although there are computers now," Colony said of the station, which also is planning to build new studios. "It'll be fun to be back."
Colony left in August 1997 to move his family to Vermont to be with his ailing mother, who died soon thereafter. He taught school and worked at a couple of radio stations there broadcasting high school football, basketball and hockey games. His latest station was bought by a group gobbling up stations throughout New England, and he was informed in November that it would no longer broadcast local sports. "Oh," he told the new owners. "Thanks a lot." During that short stint there, Colony nevertheless became popular enough to warrant a going-away column in the Rutland (Vt.) Herald.
He was hired by WEAE to basically succeed Bill DiFabio on the air, which is an irony in itself. Colony replaced DiFabio eight years ago when DiFabio was fired. DiFabio replaced the gone-to-Vermont Colony. Now Colony replaces DiFabio yet again, after the Friday firing of the man who well served the station at varying times as program director, sports director, morning-show co-host, gameday-show co-host and morning-drive sportscaster.
"I always liked Jim, even from the first time around," DiFabio said. "What he did in '97 took a lot of courage, to move to Vermont without a full-time radio job and to be with his mother.
"Maybe I should blame him for that: If he hadn't left, I could still be at Y-108, the No. 2 station in the market," DiFabio added, kiddingly. "I know how to get rid of him. I'll win the lottery, overpay for the station, fire Colony and give him a million-dollar severance check."
Colony might return to his old gameday-show duties with the Steelers, whose AM broadcasts may yet return to their traditional spot at 1250. For the most part, though, he is supposed to complement the Madden and Savran shows, head to events for more sound bytes and perform live reports.
"It's tough to beat Vermont," said the native, who plans to move his nurse wife and two teen-age boys from Brownsville, Vt., back to Pittsburgh after basketball season ends in March. "But this is a fun job."
Program notes
Here's an anchor possibility for when Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh launches its nightly 11 p.m. newscast in June: Former WPXI-TV sportscaster Derrick Gunn, who has been working with Comcast in Philadelphia the past few years.
High-definition television will make every hockey broadcast better, to the point where you can even see the puck and the play behind it. If ABC/Disney really cared about hockey fans, they'd buy us all HDTVs. Or get us discounts, at least.
You can reach Chuck Finder at cfinder@post-gazette.com
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The war network, a.k.a. History Channel, airs a nifty retrospective tonight at 10: "The Sportscasters: Behind the Mike." You name the sportscaster, he's in there - including onetime Pitt football announcers Ernie Harwell and Ray Scott.