Global Sports, Canadian television's long-running sports news show, was cancelled yesterday, defeated by small audiences and red ink.
Formerly called Sportsline, Global Sports, the 30-minute CanWest Global sportscast, had been airing weeknights at 11:30 p.m. EDT in the Ontario market since 1981.
The show's run of 25 years falls short of its Vancouver counterpart on Global Television, SportsPage, which shut down a year ago after 28 years on the air.
Taking the biggest hit from the cancellation of Global Sports was co-anchor Jim Tatti, who started in 1983 and was Global Ontario's face to sports broadcasting. He was terminated yesterday. Also dismissed from the show were a producer and a lineup editor-writer.
Tatti could not be reached to comment, but Ron Waksman, the news director of Global Ontario, said the decision to let Tatti go was difficult.
"Jim is a giant in the sports field," Waksman said. "He was a mentor to me when I was starting out. But Global Sports was built around him and that's why it was decided he would not continue."
Don Martin, the second co-host, will stay at the network and continue to report on sports. Sports content will be folded into Global's 11 p.m. newscast.
The final edition of Global Sports will be tonight. Tomorrow, it will be replaced by Entertainment Tonight Canada.
Waksman said the show was cancelled because of decreased audiences. Fewer people are watching late-night television, and the rise of cable sports outlets gradually eroded viewership.
At its peak in the mid-1980s, Global Sports was pulling in more than 100,000 viewers. That number has decreased drastically. Now, sports fans can get scores and highlights long before 11:30 p.m. on three general-interest sports channels -- TSN, Rogers Sportsnet and The Score.
"Cancelling Global Sports was strictly a business decision," Waksman said.
Previous hosts on Global Sports included Bob McCown, who launched the show in 1981, and Mark Hebscher.
A rookie veteran
John Wells started a new career this week, moving from sports television to a radio job in his hometown of Winnipeg.
"It's an interesting departure," he said.
It certainly is.
A few weeks ago, Wells quietly resigned from TSN, where he had worked for 22 years. Monday was his first day as the host of CJOB's afternoon drive show, a general-interest talk show.
One of the subjects discussed yesterday was the absence of mosquitoes in a region where they're usually plentiful.
"Somehow or other, they've disappeared," Wells said.
A disappearance could describe Wells's profile at TSN, which, in part, accounts for his career change at the age of 60 and a move to Winnipeg.
He already had a national profile in 1984 when he became TSN's first big signing. Six days after covering the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 for the CBC, he jumped to a sports cable channel that was about to launch.
"I took a huge gamble," Wells said. "But I believed in the vision of Gordon Craig [the network's founder]"
But in recent years, his star fell. Dave Hodge replaced him as the anchor of TSN's Sunday morning panel show. Last year, the network signed Chris Cuthbert, who took over Wells's assignment as the lead football voice.
Wells was a little bitter over that move.
"I came in for a meeting on something and he was posing for pictures down the hall," he said. "I was told then. It might have been time for a change, who knows? But it sort of changed my feeling about the place."
His move to Winnipeg completes a circle.
His father, Cactus Jack Wells, was a famous sports broadcaster in the city. John followed him into the business, first in radio and then with CBC Sports in Edmonton.
In April, Wells accepted an invitation to do the morning sportscasts for CJOB, which, with a market share of 17 per cent, is Winnipeg's leading radio station.
The two-week stint went well. That's when he started discussions with station general manager Garth Buchko about a full-time job.
"We got to chatting about things and all of a sudden came to a conclusion that this would be a good fit," Wells said. "So far, it feels good. Really good. I'm excited and it's a real challenge. To be truthful, I've thought about this off and on over the years. Winnipeg has always been a special place for me."
TSN did not send out a release announcing that Wells had resigned because he wanted to leave quietly.
Quinn to Dallas?
Scuttlebutt from Jeff Marek, the co-host of Leafs Lunch on AM640 in Toronto, has former Toronto Maple Leafs coach Pat Quinn joining the Dallas Stars as a consultant.