FIRST OFF . . .

Those fun guys in local television are at it again. With the May sweeps ending today, KABC-TV Channel 7 decided to run a profile of Geraldo Rivera on its 4 p.m. newscast Tuesday up against the “Geraldo” talk show on rival station KCBS-TV Channel 2. But rather than crying foul, Robert Hyland, general manager at KCBS, decided to send John Severino, KABC’s general manager, a publicity kit on Geraldo Rivera “to help (the KABC reporter) prepare for the story” and a letter saying, “Thank you for choosing to publicize ‘Geraldo,’ which is doing so well for us at 4 p.m. I’m pleased you found it successful enough to merit attention on your newscast at the same hour.” In its first sweeps effort since it debuted on Channel 2 in March, “Geraldo” has severely cut into KABC’s 4 p.m. ratings, knocking the newscast out of its perennial first place spot and into a virtual three-way tie with Channels 2 and 4.