Cleo McDowell
11-17-2006, 01:05 PM
Might not be news to some of you, but I am sad to hear this in this mornings issue of the daily.. This has been my sunday night sports show since i can remember, all the way back to my gradeschool days staying up late to catch George hit that button for the highlights..screw sportscenter.
http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=sbd.main&requesttimeout=500&storyid=SBD2006111708
"Machine” Going Off Air As Michael Responds To NBC Cuts
George Michael in March will step down as WRC-NBC Sports Dir and host of the nationally syndicated “Sports Machine,” according to Kara Rowland of the WASHINGTON TIMES. Michael will stay on to host the “Redskins Report” and “Full Court Press.” He also will continue to host Monday interviews with Redskins coaches. Michael said that he was “offered a new long-term contract but chose to turn it down amid budget cuts so that other employees wouldn’t be laid off.” Rowland notes NBC Universal plans to cut 700 jobs in an “effort to reverse falling profits and shrink expenses by $750[M] in the next two years.” Michael: “If there have to be budget cuts, then the first one (to go) has to be me” (WASHINGTON TIMES, 11/17). Also in DC, John Maynard notes that “more than half of [WRC’s] sports staff’s 20 members are being let go” (WASHINGTON POST, 11/17).
TREND SETTER: The AP’s Marty Niland wrote “Sports Machine,” which will go off the air when Michael steps down, “was trendsetting programming, gaining its footing in the days before cable television and ESPN were widely available. The show was the first to give regular national TV exposure to once-obscure sports such as NASCAR and professional rodeo.” Michael “helped the TV careers of several national sports personalities,” including David Aldridge, Bonnie Bernstein, Tony Kornheiser, Joe Theismann and Michael Wilbon, among others. ESPN’s Chris McKendry, who was part of Michael’s competition in DC at WJLA-ABC from ’94-96, said of Michael, “He was us before we were us” (AP, 11/16).
class act.
http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=sbd.main&requesttimeout=500&storyid=SBD2006111708
"Machine” Going Off Air As Michael Responds To NBC Cuts
George Michael in March will step down as WRC-NBC Sports Dir and host of the nationally syndicated “Sports Machine,” according to Kara Rowland of the WASHINGTON TIMES. Michael will stay on to host the “Redskins Report” and “Full Court Press.” He also will continue to host Monday interviews with Redskins coaches. Michael said that he was “offered a new long-term contract but chose to turn it down amid budget cuts so that other employees wouldn’t be laid off.” Rowland notes NBC Universal plans to cut 700 jobs in an “effort to reverse falling profits and shrink expenses by $750[M] in the next two years.” Michael: “If there have to be budget cuts, then the first one (to go) has to be me” (WASHINGTON TIMES, 11/17). Also in DC, John Maynard notes that “more than half of [WRC’s] sports staff’s 20 members are being let go” (WASHINGTON POST, 11/17).
TREND SETTER: The AP’s Marty Niland wrote “Sports Machine,” which will go off the air when Michael steps down, “was trendsetting programming, gaining its footing in the days before cable television and ESPN were widely available. The show was the first to give regular national TV exposure to once-obscure sports such as NASCAR and professional rodeo.” Michael “helped the TV careers of several national sports personalities,” including David Aldridge, Bonnie Bernstein, Tony Kornheiser, Joe Theismann and Michael Wilbon, among others. ESPN’s Chris McKendry, who was part of Michael’s competition in DC at WJLA-ABC from ’94-96, said of Michael, “He was us before we were us” (AP, 11/16).
class act.