The first piece of the puzzle -- Andy Masur calling University of San Diego basketball on XX Sports Radio 1090 -- is in place and appears to be a good fit.

The other parts should snap into place in the next couple of weeks, with Ted Leitner again being named radio play-by-play voice of San Diego State football and basketball -- but on a new station, KOGO (600) -- and Chris Ello becoming the voice of USD football on CASH 1700, 1090's sister station.

Leitner, who has called Aztecs games on various stations for more than two decades, had to work and lobby hard for this gig.

Leitner is the voice of the Padres on radio, and those games are on 1090. Plus, he does twice-daily call-in segments that net him and the station a handsome profit.

Padres officials are OK with Leitner's voice on two stations, even though the stations are rivals, and the Padres are OK with the four Saturday conflicts with the Aztecs: Sept. 8, Padres at Colorado, Aztecs vs. Washington State in Seattle; Sept. 15, Padres vs. San Francisco, Aztecs at Arizona State; Sept. 22, Padres vs. Colorado, Aztecs vs. Portland State; and Sept. 29, Padres at Milwaukee, Aztecs vs. Cincinnati.

A problem could arise in late September if the Padres are ready to clinch the National League West. And there could be problems in October should the Padres make the playoffs for a third straight season.

Masur has proven to be a solid addition to the Padres' broadcast crew of Leitner and Jerry Coleman, but it figures the team would want its No. 1 guy (Leitner) on the air for a division clincher and the playoffs.

KOGO has veteran play-by-play man Lee Hamilton in the bullpen if Leitner needs some relief.

And while Leitner and Hamilton don't agree on this, I consider them equally talented, but with contrasting styles.

As for USD football, Ello is a good fit. He did a great job on Gulls hockey and is talented enough to call San Diego State games if his path wasn't blocked by Leitner and Hamilton.

Still, USD is a good property and Ello enjoys calling games. The Toreros, an NCAA Division I-AA program in football, were 11-1 last season.

They have a rough travel schedule with trips to play Butler (Ind.), Valparaiso (Ind.), Dayton (Ohio), Morehead State (Ky.) and UC Davis.

But he survived the West Coast Hockey League trips to Anchorage in December, so Kentucky in November isn't all that bad.

Both the Aztecs and Toreros are hurting for a color analyst.

John Kentera is the best football analyst in town, and would love to team with Leitner on San Diego State broadcasts. But he works at 1090, so the Aztecs probably won't work for him.

Kentera would make a great partner for Ello, but Kentera hosts the Padres postgame show, and letting him get away in September in a pennant race is iffy.

Mark Halda's name has been mentioned as a partner for Leitner, but Halda is coaching football at Palomar College and probably isn't available.

Ex-Aztecs and NFL kicker Benny Ricardo, who is now a successful broadcaster and comedian, offered his services, but withdrew his name when SDSU officials showed little interest.

So who does that leave? Your guess is as good as mine.

Lost in the shuffle of the announcers is Jim Stone, a very capable play-by-play man who called USD basketball. Stone works at NBC 7/39, so he's not hurting for work, but he's too good to not have a play-by-play gig.

The best guess is that Stone and Steve Quis will call San Diego State and USD basketball games on Channel 4.

Local notes

- Quis will be in the play-by-play chair for the Padres' series this weekend against the Dodgers. Matt Vasgersian is on assignment with Fox, calling Saturday's Brewers-Cubs game Saturday afternoon with Mark Grace.

- Fox will carry the Braves-Padres game on July 7. Vasgersian, however, gets the day off, with Joe Buck and Tim McCarver calling the action along with Ken Rosenthal.

- With the Padres playing at Dodger Stadium this weekend, a recent item in an Los Angeles Times online poll was interesting. Fans were asked to name the worst deal in L.A. Dodgers history. Fourth on the list with 8.6 percent of the vote was replacing longtime radio announcer Ross Porter with Charley Steiner.

All-Star show

TBS, the new home for the baseball playoffs, will air the "2007 MLB All-Star Game Selection Show" at 1 p.m. Sunday or immediately after the Marlins-Braves game.

The show will be the TBS debut of its postseason baseball team of Ernie Johnson, Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn.

Johnson, Ripken and Gwynn will be joined on the show via satellite by Jim Leyland of the Tigers -- manager of the American League team -- and Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez.

Ripken, who played in 19 All-Star games, will serve as a postseason studio analyst. Gwynn, who played in 15 All-Star games, will be the network's lead game analyst, working with Chip Caray during the division series and the National League Championship Series.

Both Ripken and Gwynn will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in July.

Let's make a deal

The NBA extended and expanded its deals with the Walt Disney Company (ABC and ESPN) as well as TNT in an eight-year agreement.

The current six-year contracts expire at the end of next season.

As part of the new deal, ESPN keeps its Wednesday and Friday national-TV slots, with TNT on Thursdays and ABC on Sundays.

TNT will carry 52 regular-season games, 52 playoff games and the All-Star game.

ESPN has 75 regular-season games on its schedule and as many as 29 playoff contests.

ABC will have a minimum of 15 regular-season games, including Christmas Day.

ABC will also have a minimum of 15 playoff games, including the entire best-of-seven finals in prime time.

NBA-TV will carry 96 regular-season games on Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays and will have nine playoff games.

The new deal also includes several layers of digital opportunities, interactive online, broadband and other elements.

The financial details weren't released, but experts say that despite horrible ratings for this year's NBA finals, the league received a healthy increase in rights fees.

Day in the Life

Chargers linebacker Shawn Merriman is one of five NFL players featured next week on ESPN's five-part "Day in the Life" series that provides a glimpse into the personal lives of some of the game's top stars.

Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor is featured on Sunday's "SportsCenter" and on Monday's "NFL Live." The "NFL Live" segments will offer expanded versions from "SportsCenter."

Bucs quarterback Jeff Garcia is the subject Monday-Tuesday, Merriman is Tuesday-Wednesday, Vikings running back Adrian Peterson is Wednesday-Thursday and Colts defensive end Dwight Freeney is Thursday-Friday.

Baseball on the Fourth

Remember when July 4 was a wall-to-wall baseball day, with ESPN carry as many as five games? No longer.

This year, ESPN has one game -- Indians-Tigers at 4 p.m.

The Cubs-Nationals game is on WGN at 9 a.m., with the Padres playing the Marlins in a 6 p.m. game on Channel 4.

The Angels and Dodgers both have TV games, but they're on the FSN networks, which are blacked out in San Diego to protect the Padres.

Around the dial

- The NCAA's 16 spring sports will be featured in a 60-minute special at 10:30 a.m. Sunday on "CBS Sports Presents Championships of the NCAA."

- ESPN is the place for the 2007 Arena Football League playoffs, starting with tonight's Orlando at Philadelphia game. There are two games Saturday -- Columbus at Tampa at 9 a.m. and Colorado-Kansas City at noon. Monday, ESPN2 will have the Utah-L.A. contest at 7 p.m. There are two playoff games slated for July 7 and 8, with the conference championships on July 14 and Arena Bowl XXI at noon July 29 on ABC.

- ESPN has announced the addition of the ESPNU High School All-American Football Game to be played Jan. 5 at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando. The game will spotlight the top high school seniors from around the nation. As many as 84 players will be chosen for the contest that will be carried by ABC, with a skills competition on ESPN2 on Jan. 4.

John Maffei's TV/Radio Column appears every Friday. He can be reached at (760) 740-3547 or jmaffei@nctimes.com.