FIRST OFF . . .

When ex-sportscaster Ronald (Dutch) Reagan heads home from Washington next week, he’ll have a $100,000, one-year contract offer from KZLA-FM (93.9) and KLAC-AM (570) to consider. The stations made the offer to the President in a letter delivered to the White House on Thursday. “We got to talking about this guy who used to do sports years ago in Iowa before he got sidetracked doing movies and TV and politics for awhile,” KLAC General Manager Norman Epstein said Thursday. “I brought up the fact that he’d be out of work soon.” Half a century ago, Reagan launched his broadcast career as a play-by-play announcer and sportscaster for WHO-AM in Des Moines, Iowa. Epstein said that while the pay would be less than half Reagan’s government salary, the hours would be easier, and the station is willing to install a studio in his home. “As President, he made $200,000, but this job isn’t quite as important as that one, so I think the offer is a fair one,” he said. The White House told Epstein that the President would make no decisions on his future employment until after Inauguration Day, but Epstein remains optimistic.