Thanks to this job I have been served milk and cookies by June Cleaver (Barbara Billingsley), gotten a hug from (Mr.) Fred Rogers, and toured a Star Trek exhibit with James Doohan --"Jim Beam me up, Scotty." And then there was the day I wasn't Arnold Palmer. 

A couple of years ago I talked with Mr. Palmer (who, sadly, died Sunday at age 87) on a Golf Channel press call -- he asked me to call him "Arnold" (or at least that is how I remember it, and I am sticking to that story). As the Washington reporter covering regulation, Congress and the courts, I had no business on the call, really. I just wanted to talk with Arnold Palmer.

Back in the 1960's, mostly following my father's lead, I was one of those people who rooted against Jack Nicklaus as pretender to "The King's" throne. Eventually I rooted for Jack against his challengers, but in the early days I always wanted Arnie to win every tournament.

So, I queued up in the press call and I got to ask Arnold who would be in his all-time foursome if he could play with anyone. I remember President Eisenhower was one of them, but I don't remember the others -- it is on a transcript somewhere, so it is not lost to history -- because while he was answering I was too busy thinking to myself: "I'm talking to Arnold Palmer."

But that was not my first link to the "King" of the links. That was the day I wasn't Arnold Palmer.

The channel was only a couple of years old, I think, when I got a phone call from someone there late on a Friday afternoon asking if I would like to play in a tournament they were sponsoring the following Sunday out in California -- I think it was at an NCTA convention -- in a foursome with Joe Gibbs.

I was planning on going anyway, though I would now have to play hooky from press room set-up. But as a lifelong Washington football fan, I jumped at the chance. (I also got to "play football" against Sonny Jurgensen and Billy Kilmer early in my career, but that's another story.)

When I got to the course for the tournament, I was introduced to Joe Gibbs, a great guy and co-founder of The Golf Channel, but not the football coach I had, in my ignorance, been expecting to play with. My face might have fallen a bit, though I hope not.

Joe and I walked to the tee to meet up with the other members of our foursome -- a couple of captains of industry. When they saw me, their faces looked as though they had taken a sip of what they thought was going to be an Arnold Palmer and got milk instead.

At the turn I ducked into the clubhouse and asked the Golf Channel representative who had offered me the spot why my fellow players had seemed so disappointed when they saw me coming, particularly since they hadn't seen me play -- I love golf, but it doesn't love me. It was only then that she, rather sheepishly, revealed that the reason for my last-minute invite was because the original fourth player couldn't make it: Golf Channel co-founder Arnold Palmer.

I suddenly felt that my outing partners had shown great restraint in not weeping uncontrollably at the sight of me.

I have some lemonade in the fridge. I think I will go add a spoonful of iced tea mix to a glass and raise a toast (in fact, I just did) to one of the great men, and gentlemen, in the history of professional sports.

Arnold Palmer, the golf legend and, with an assist from IMG founder Mark McCormack, sports marketing icon, includes “co-founder of Golf Channel” on his extensive resume. The winner of seven major tournaments became friends with cable entrepreneur Joe Gibbs in 1990 and five years later they launched the Golf Channel. Multichannel.com news editor Mike Reynolds spoke with The King via phone at his home in Palm Springs, Calif., about the network’s early days, its current lineup and the state of some key players’ games.

MCN: Mr. Palmer, how are you feeling? Still getting out and hitting that ball?

Arnold Palmer: I’m not playing right now. I fell, and did a 360 and dislocated my right shoulder. It’s giving me a fit.

MCN: Are you OK?

AP: It’s been slow, but it’s getting better. I have been going to therapy three days a week. I’m like a caged lion. I want to get back out there and swing the golf clubs.

MCN: Going back to the early days, what were your thoughts when you first heard about the idea of a 24/7 channel dedicated to golf from Joe Gibbs?

AP: I had some questions that I wanted answered. But Joe and I spent a lot of time together and we talked and got things worked out. It’s been a great success.

MCN: Has it helped grow the game?

AP: Absolutely. It’s been very popular. I’m very proud of all the work that has been done by Comcast and now working together with NBC. Golf Channel has made a tremendous impact on the sport.

MCN: How much do you watch Golf Channel? Are you aMorning DriveandGolf Centralguy?

AP: Yes sir. I try to stay in touch with the game, especially through Golf Channel. I watch the interviews with the players and the [shows] you mentioned. I watch the players here, and on the Asian Tour, the European Tour and the African [Sunshine] Tour. I try to watch at odd times to see what’s going on at different times during the day.

MCN: So, you’re watching early morning, in the afternoon and late at night.

AP: Yes, sir. There are a lot of different kinds of stuff, beyond the tournaments. There is a lot of original programming around the game that you wouldn’t see on TV otherwise.

MCN: What did you think of the documentary about you?Arniewas acclaimed and did very well with viewers.

AP: The reaction has been great. People come up to me all the time even now, and they say they’ve watched three or four times. They show it to guests when they come visit. It’s very flattering.

MCN: What do you think of the young players on tour? What about Rory McIlroy?

AP: Rory is one of the finest younger golfers I’ve ever seen. He could be golf’s shining light over the next few years.

MCN: What are your thoughts about [Comcast CEO] Brian Roberts and [Golf Channel] president Mike McCarley?

AP: I know them both very well. Mike has been doing a great job since he came to the Golf Channel. Brian and Comcast have always supported Golf and are 100% involved. He has a real commitment to it.

MCN: How are their games?

AP: Brian plays quite well. He’s a member at Augusta. Mike’s a good golfer. I’ve played with him quite frequently, and he’s going to keep at it and do very well.

MCN: What else would you like to see on the network going forward?

AP: We’ve done quite a bit already, and we’re going to continue to build because the audience wants to see new and innovative things.

There were many doubters. A 24-hour service devoted to one sport? Golf?

But Joe Gibbs (not the former Washington Redskins coach) and golfing great Arnold Palmer had vision, passion and perseverance that overcame naysayers, funding and carriage concerns.

“Twenty years ago I was working at Turner Sports and heard that Joe Gibbs and Arnold Palmer were working on the Golf Channel,” NBC Sports chairman Mark Lazarus recalled. “I scoffed at the idea, I thought it had no chance. I’m very happy to say I was proven wrong.

“Golf Channel is one of the key pillars of the NBC Sports portfolio, along with the Olympics, Sunday Night Football, the [English] Premier League, the National Hockey League, the Triple Crown and now NASCAR.”

Gibbs, whose career included executive stints at Crowley Cellular Telecommunications and at Birmingham, Ala-headquartered Masada Corp. (which he said built and operated cable systems in many states under a variety of names), began his friendship with Palmer in 1990 when “The King” stayed at Gibbs’s Shoal Creek home during the PGA Championship event.

The pair — Gibbs with his business and cable background and Palmer with his ties to the sports business community and golf industry — declared their intentions to tee off the Golf Channel at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in February of 1993.

POWER PLAYERS

They began raising capital through a cadre of investors, including six of the nation’s top cable operators.

“Investing in Golf Channel was a big step for Comcast. We were an original investor and my dad and I firmly believed in what Arnold Palmer and Joe Gibbs started,” Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts said. “I’m thankful to my friend Tim Neher, who was vice chairman of Continental Cablevision at the time, for encouraging us to join him. It was our first entrance into sports programming and 20 years later, it has proved to be a great decision.”

With 180 employees in Orlando, Fla., Golf Channel, sporting the first full digital production facility in the United States, teed off as a pay service via four affiliate deals reaching 10,000 subscribers on Jan. 17, 1995.

During its first year, the network televised 23 domestic tournaments and 41 European and Australian events. The first televised tourney was the Dubai Desert Classic in 1995. GolfChannel.com launched on April Fool’s Day 1996, a year that saw the network’s initial international launch (in Japan) and the milestone of 10 million subscribers as a traditional cable network.

Today, the network, of which Comcast secured equity control in 2000 and outright ownership via a swap for its position in Speed Channel with Fox in 2003, still operates out from the same building. But the operation has grown to 160,000 square feet, the facility it is in delivers high-definition images and Golf employs 700 workers around the globe.

Mike McCarley, who became the network’s fourth president in February 2011, said programming is available in more than 120 million homes in 83 countries and in 12 languages through cable, satellite and wireless companies.

Golf Channel offers more tournament coverage than all other networks combined.

“The foundation is built on live events,” McCarley said. “But news and instructional programming are also key components. Golf Channel is committed to producing more high-quality original shows.”

McCarley said the network has augmented its audience ties with such lifestyle businesses as GolfAdvisor.com, a review website by golfers for golfers that launched earlier this year; Golf Now, a tee-time booking venture, and the instructional Golf Channel Academy, GolfLive Extra streaming and Golf Channel apps (see sidebar).

Still, live coverage remains the primary connectivity for fans and players alike.

All told, Golf Channel, through longterm deals with the PGA, LPGA, European, Asian, Web.com and Champions tours, and other properties, presents more than 4,200 hours of tournaments annually — more than all other networks combined.

Led by Golf Central and Morning Drive, the network offers 2,400 new hours, plus instructional fare. And originals. Big Break, a competition show in which participants strive to gain entry to PGA and LPGA tour events, is about to premiere its 23rd season, while links funnyman David Feherty delights audiences with his interview show, Feherty. Documentary fare like Arnie, the three-part special about the legendary Palmer on and off the course, debuted after the 2014 Masters, is also resonating with viewers.

Under a 15-year deal signed in 2007, Golf Channel is the exclusive cable partner of the PGA Tour, which in 2014, counting live telecasts, replays and ancillary programming, accounted for nearly one-third of Golf Channel’s overall schedule and more than half of the network’s total audience.

This current season, Golf Channel has full four-round coverage of a dozen PGA Tour tournaments and early-round coverage of 30 events, plus The Presidents Cup.

“Golf Channel has been an incredible asset to our sport and certainly, the PGA Tour, since its launch in 1995,” PGA Tour commissioner Tim Fenchem said. “It has grown to be a key touchstone of the sporting landscape and we are proud to be an integral part of that success.”

CBS Sports president Sean McManus said the broadcaster is on course with Golf Channel throughout the season, as the cable channel airs the Thursday and Friday action and weekend lead-in to CBS’s network coverage.

“We share production and broadcast facilities and, in some cases, talent. We are truly one team of professionals and it really works in a very seamless operation,” McManus said. “As an independent, Golf Channel could never really reach its full potential. Working so closely and seamlessly with NBC has really helped lift ratings and awareness of the sport.”

That was especially evident during the days leading up to Super Bowl XLIX in Glendale, Ariz., for which NBC scored a U.S. record 114.4 million viewers. NBCUniversal fare, including Today, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Meet the Press, Access Hollywood, Morning Joe, NHL Live, Premier League Live, Pro Football Talk and NBC Sports Digital all set up shop in the Phoenix area ahead of the NFL title game.

With the PGA Tour in town Jan. 29-Feb. 1, Golf Channel aired 11 live hours of the Waste Management Phoenix Open from the Stadium Course at TPC Scottsdale. Golf Central for the first time originated from the famous par-3 16th hole — “The Coliseum” — which was surrounded by 25,000 rowdy fans.

Feherty filmed a pair of installments of his show from Phoenix’s Orpheum Theater.

“The rebrand of ‘Golf Channel on NBC’ has become universally accepted,” McCarley noted.

During 2014, NBC Sports Group reached an unmatched 79 million viewers via “Golf Channel on NBC” broadcasts and Golf Channel.

Since becoming part of the NBC Sports Group via the Comcast merger in 2011, Golf Channel has recorded its best four years with the Nielsens, upping its ratings 57% and total-day audience 40% over that span.

Measured against a baseline level from 2010, Golf Channel saw its tournament coverage ratings grow 22% and its audience expand 16% through 2014. News program Golf Central scored 83% and 76% growth, while Morning Drive, which expanded to a seven-day schedule last year, leaped 229% and 227%, respectively. Instructional fare jumped 50% in the ratings and 37% in audience over the four-year span, as other original programming increased 17% and 9%.

RATINGS ON THE RISE

“We matched 2013 on a ratings basis, even though the sport’s biggest star, Tiger Woods, was sidelined for the bulk of the year,” McCarley pointed out. He said the ratings gains on the network and with the combined reach on NBC have enabled “us to develop new relationships with clients.”

Golf Channel’s advertising lineup includes equipment and endemic advertisers, as well as luxury goods and autos such as Rolex and Mercedes- Benz, plus financial companies and telecommunications firms, reflecting its active and upscale audience.

Last year, Golf Channel stood as the most-affluent ad-supported network for median household income and percentage of $100,000-plus household income audience delivery, as 38% earned $75,000 or more, ranking ahead of Fox Business Network. In primetime, Golf was first for median household income and percentage of $100,000 household income delivery — with 44% earning $81,600 or more — topping sister service NBC Sports Network.

The network received the most Emmy nominations in its history in 2014. McCarley said Golf will invest in more high-quality originals that will keep its well-to-do viewers returning.

McCarley also said golf’s return to the Olympics at the 2016 Rio de Janiero Games figured to open up new programming opportunities, while enhancing the sport’s popularity.

“I don’t have a crystal ball, but leading up to the Olympics in Rio, there is going to be continued growth for golf globally,” he said.

Roberts is also keeping his eyes on the game, which he plays quite well, and the Games: “We are so proud of how the Channel has grown and evolved. With golf returning to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, I think the best is yet to come for the sport and the channel.”

Golf Channel Links With Audience on Screens, Greens

While networks aspire to have programming that connects with viewers’ genre affinities, Golf Channel’s ties extend beyond TV, tablet, phone and computer screens to courses around the world.

“It’s not like the traditional relationship a network has with viewers,” Golf Channel president Mike McCarley said. “We have so many more touch points. Golf Channel has a very strong, entwined relationship with the most loyal viewers in television.”

GolfNow Solutions is assisting some 8,100 golf courses in running their business through a custom software suite guiding online booking engines, tee-sheet management, point-of-sale accounting and comprehensive golf course marketing and operations applications.

Bowing last year, GolfAdvisor.com is now home to more than 325,000 reviews by golfers, providing real player insights about 9,000 courses in 29 countries around the globe.

GolfNow, the world’s leading online tee time platform, aided golfers in booking more than 13.4 million rounds in 2014 at some 6,000 courses worldwide.

The premium version of the GolfNow mobile app, which launched last October, features on-course GPS range-finding, in-round scoring and performance tracking.

This spring, Golf Channel Academy will hang its shingle at more than 30 premier golf locations across North America, enlisting top teachers to offer hands-on instruction.

Narrator Tom Selleck sets up Golf Channel’s three-part documentary tribute to a golfing legend by noting: “Someday – even decades – maybe centuries from now, they’ll hear the name Arnold Palmer and they’ll want to know everything.”

For those who are too young or have forgotten, Arnie brings memories and perspective to the course Palmer set on America’s sports and culture that teed off more than a half-century ago.

With 100 interviews and conversations with a still sharp Palmer over the past year,Arnie is produced by 13-time Emmy Award winner and former NBC Sports feature producer Israel DeHerrera.

Screening the first two parts of Golf’s home movie of sorts – Palmer is a co-founder of the 83 million home channel – Arnie weighs in on the influence of his steely father Deacon and loving mother Doris, and the profound impact the death of Buddy Worsham, his college buddy from Wake Forest, had on the young man.

Arnie also examines what was Palmer’s hardy initial embrace of Mark McCormack, the late IMG founder, whose influence on the player’s life and the sports world is boundless. Peyton Manning, who knows a million or few about pitching, talks about the invention of sports marketing. That was fueled by the proliferation of TV, which reached 88% of U.S. households in 1960, during Palmer's on-course ascension.

Palmer’s business enterprises  and charitable legacy, particularly the hospitals named for his late wife, Winnie, are also explored. So, too, is how the man the common folk loved and helped golf explode have had their love requited over the years by the leader of Armie's Army. Palmer responds to all letters/request he receives -- all housed in countless boxes in a shed at his Latrobe, Pa., home.

The doc delves into his competitive relationship and friendship with Jack Nicklaus and their contrasting personalities and styles. Palmer, the extrovert, swung fast and produced low drives, while the more introverted, deliberate Nicklaus fashioned high shots that ultimately surpassed Palmer on the course. What's unsaid is that the superiority of his game has kept the Golden Bear in the public eye more than Palmer, as Jack's 18 majors are continually mentioned in many Tiger Woods' discussions.

Then, there is the golf itself.  Black and white footage dramatically captures Palmer's hard-charging, go-for-broke style that would make Phil Mickelson proud. "The King's" aggressive nature yielded seven Grand Slams, as well as implosion on 18 that ended his chance to become the first man ever to repeat at the Masters, back in 1961. The case is also made how three shots could have quadrupled Palmer's total of one U.S. Open. His triumphs at the British and shortcomings at the PGA are also chronicled in the second part of the documentary.

You can take viewer mulligans in the sense that there will be encores on the network and on the Golf Live Xtra app to screen Arnie. But what better way to cap the Masters 2014 Sunday by spending time with Arnie, the man who burnished his royal links legacy at Augusta National.

Arnie premieres April 13 at 10 p.m. on Golf Channel.