Broadcasting

When Charlie Jones joined NBC Sports in 1965, the American Football League still was in business. Now in his 30th year with NBC, Jones holds the network television record record for having broadcast pro football longer than anyone. Jones will call Sunday's Miami-Minnesota interconference game (Channel 3, 1 p.m.) with Randy Cross, his 51st pro football broadcasting partner. After all these years, Jones, 63, doesn't have any problems staying fresh behind the microphone.

Even though he struck out in his effort to land a baseball broadcasting job with CBS-TV, Mike Schmidt yesterday said he was still in there swinging with both ESPN and the Madison Square Garden cable network. "CBS hired Jim Kaat (as an analyst on its No. 2 team), and that's fine with me," Schmidt said. "He's been broadcasting for five years, and I'm sure he'll do a fine job. But I am continuing to aggressively pursue a position in broadcasting. " Still, the former Phils third baseman couldn't hide his disappointment over CBS' decision.

NBC Sports officials are crossing their telestrators and hoping that Matt Guokas will develop as well as Mike Fratello did as an NBA analyst. But one of Guokas's broadcasting mentors tells NBC not to worry. Bill Campbell believes NBC has found a gem in the former Sixers coach and player. "Of all the guys that I helped start, like (Rich) Ashburn, Billy Cunningham, (Tom) Brookshier, I always thought that Matty was (the most) prepared," said Campbell, the dean of Philadelphia's sportscasters.

The number of television stations broadcasting in stereo has grown tenfold in the last year. But stereo audio on television has a dual problem: Some cable operators won't pass the stereo signal to their customers, and many manufacturers are confusing the public over this new technology, which is featured on a growing number of television shows, such as NBC's hot Miami Vice. "Overall, we have a tremendous public-education problem," said Arnold L. Chase, president of WTIC-TV in Hartford, Conn.

From Quebec to Dallas, from Boston to Vancouver, he was known as the "Voice of the Flyers. " For 28 years - from their first game in 1967 to their final game of the 1995 regular season - Gene Hart touted the exploits of the Flyers as their play-by-play announcer on television and radio. Yesterday, that ended. Hart, one of the deans of professional sports broadcasting, was relieved of his broadcast duties and reassigned as a senior adviser. "Gene has always been the consummate professional, and I am extremely proud of the fact that he has been with this organization since Day One," Flyers owner Ed Snider said in a statement.

"And now, heeeeere's Johnny!" As Johnny Carson takes center stage, a funny thing happens to Ed McMahon's voice. It vanishes from the middle of the room and reappears to the viewer's left. Doc and the band banter off to the right. And Johnny's deadpan monologue is dead center. With a stereo TV, your living room is transformed into a studio in Burbank. Stereophonic sound first came into the home about 30 years ago in the form of phonograph records, and almost immediately the search began to bring stereo broadcasting to AM and FM radio and TV. Experiments in simulcasting TV with radio sound took place over the years, but true stereo TV broadcasting didn't arrive in Philadelphia until November 1984.

A former linebacker who once played for Buddy Ryan, Marty Schottenheimer and Jimmy Johnson will bring his expertise to the broadcasting booth for Eagles games this fall. Garry Cobb, 41, who played 11 seasons in the NFL before beginning a local broadcasting career, yesterday was named color analyst for Eagles games by WYSP-FM (94.1). Cobb, who will work with 21-year veteran broadcaster Merrill Reese, replaced former Eagles offensive tackle Stan Walters, who retired. A native of North Carolina, Cobb played three seasons at the University of Southern California, where he twice was named all-Pacific Ten and started on the 1978 national champions.

Nighttime television viewers may be able to watch a new drama and comedy show by early next year: Bristol Township municipal meetings. Lower Bucks Cablevision was asked by the township council Tuesday to consider broadcasting township meetings as part of a new franchise contract. The company's 15-year contract with Bristol expires at the end of the year and a new contract is to come up for a vote in a few months. For anyone who has never attended Bristol Township Council meetings, they're often funnier than Late Night with David Letterman, and more intriguing than L.A. Law or Nightline with Ted Koppel.

Seven-time NL batting champion Tony Gwynn remained in a Chicago hospital overnight after being admitted yesterday with severe pain due to a kidney stone. Gwynn was at the ballpark for yesterday afternoon's game between the Padres and Cubs but could not play because of the pain. He went to Northwestern Memorial Hospital between the seventh and eighth innings. Gwynn is second in the major leagues with a .383 batting average, six points behind Larry Walker of the Colorado Rockies.

John H. Kline, 68, of Strafford, a retired television and radio sales executive, died Monday at the Main Line Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Malvern. For nearly 40 years, Mr. Kline sold air time to radio and television sponsors in Philadelphia and around the country. He retired three years ago from a television station in Milwaukee. Mr. Kline began his career in Philadelphia during the 1950s as general sales manager for WCAU radio. He then was part of a team of executives who put WPHL-TV (Channel 17)