TV & VIDEO - Feb. 3, 1988

Touted in ads that ran during the Super Bowl as “the most controversial woman in California,” Rose Bird will begin doing commentary Thursday for ABC-owned KABC-TV Channel 7 and KGO-TV in San Francisco, a source close to the former California chief justice confirmed Tuesday. Bird will alternate between the two stations each week, providing taped commentary for one station when she is appearing live at the other. John Severino, KABC’s general manager, would neither confirm nor deny Bird’s hiring, saying he did not want to spoil the station’s mystery advertising campaign. Bird will replace Bill Press, the liberal former KABC commentator who left the station in November to run for the U.S. Senate.