Ross Porter, nearly three years removed from his abrupt firing as a Dodgers broadcaster after 28 years, will begin delivering 90-second commentaries Oct. 1 on KLAC (570 AM).

The show, "Real Sports Heroes with Ross Porter," will air at 5:25 p.m. and focus on the positive side of sports and athletes who are doing good things.

Porter told the LARadio.com Web site he and his wife Lin came up with the idea.

"I'm tired of getting up every morning and reading the sports pages or listening to the sports talk shows," Porter told LARadio.com, "when the stories are about an NBA referee fixing games, an NFL quarterback torturing dogs, cyclists being kicked out for the Tour de France because they're using drugs, and an allegedly tainted slugger breaking the home run record, and on and on and on."

The Porters and agent George Green sold the idea to American Airlines, which is sponsoring the program.

It's great news for those of us who have missed Porter and the project shows the character he has.

Change in plans: A few weeks ago, we mentioned the Oaks Christian-St. Bonaventure high school football game on Sept. 21 as being on FSN Prime Ticket's wish list to televise.

Sometimes wishes don't come true.

Ventura High, which would host the game at its Larrabee Stadium, did not want to let FSN on campus to set up for the telecast any earlier than 3:30 p.m. To do so any earlier, it said, would disrupt student activities.

CIF-Southern Section spokesman Thom Simmons said FSN determined it could not do what it needed to do in that time frame, so it has instead picked the Carson-Long Beach Poly game.

St. Bonaventure and Oaks Christian are the top two teams in The Star's preseason rankings. There is no word on whether another outlet, such as Time Warner Cable, would show the game instead.

It's too bad something couldn't be worked out, but to the CIF-SS's credit, it never permits its schools to be pressured by TV outlets — even those who aren't playing but merely hosting the game.

Delving into Dorrell: UCLA football coach Karl Dorrell will be the subject of FSN Prime Ticket's "In My Own Words" at 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

Dorrell has received his share of criticism since taking over the Bruins. In the program, Dorrell tells FSN's Michael Eaves he doesn't let any of it affect his players.

"They need to know that the leader of this program is a rock," says Dorrell. "He's steady in front of the ship and he's gonna go through a lot of storms and you are not going to see him flinch."

No. 3: Two days after the NASCAR race at California Speedway, the CMT network will encore "Dale," an authorized documentary on Dale Earnhardt Jr., at 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Narrated by Paul Newman, the program includes archival race footage, outtakes, family home videos and interviews with his friends and family.

Other notes: The Big Ten Network launched Thursday and is available on DirecTV Channel 220. That figures to be as close as it gets to most viewers around here. It's unlikely to draw any attention at all from Time Warner Cable and Dish Network has been unable to reach an agreement with Fox, which owns the new channel. ESPN's "College GameDay" will be in Blacksburg, Va., for its first show at 7 a.m. Saturday, measuring the mood as Virginia Tech plays its first football game after last spring's shooting massacre. Virginia Tech hosts East Carolina.

FSN West and FSN Prime Ticket won five L.A. area Emmy awards last weekend for Best Sports Feature, Sports Tease, Sports Series, Live Sports Coverage and Graphics. KNBC (Channel 4) won for Sports Special. KABC (Channel 7) won for Outstanding Sports Reporting. The next edition of HBO's "Costas Now" with Bob Costas is at 9 p.m. Wednesday. The show will have an NFL flavor and will include profiles on San Diego Chargers star LaDainian Tomlinson and former Houston Oilers running back Earl Campbell. There will also be interviews with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and players union chief Gene Upshaw.

The world of sports TV and radio often moves faster than we can get it into the paper, so I've started a blog with updates and additional commentary. Please check it out at jimcarlislesports.blogspot.com.

— Jim Carlisle