ESPN officially announces new SportsCenter lineup
Oh, what the heck. I'm just going to spend the rest of the day posting news releases that land in my inbox without even bothering to rewrite them in some clever fashion.
What's the point? It's all just part of the endless parade of sports media content, and I am just surfing it (see post below) and trying to stay upright.
So click below for the official ESPN release about its new SportsCenter anchor lineup, even though most of it already has been known, except I was not aware of the part about Sage Steele, pictured at right.
I like the description of LI's own Linda Cohn. The release says she has hosted a "plethora" of stuff over the years. I'm happy for her. As a Mets fan, she has suffered enough this year.
Current SportsCenter anchors Steve Berthiaume, Linda Cohn, Josh Elliott, Robert Flores and Chris McKendry will join the previously announced Hannah Storm as anchors for the live daytime SportsCenters which debut Monday, Aug. 11.
Sage Steele will present the SportsCenter updates every 20 minutes Monday-Friday throughout the 6 a.m.-noon blocks. Steele has been handling the update responsibilities on ESPN2 during the Mike a& Mike in the Morning simulcast and First Take.
SportsCenter, ESPN’s flagship news, highlights and information program, will go live 6 a.m.-3 p.m. ET Monday-Friday starting August 11, the opening week of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, replacing the current wheel of re-aired SportsCenters. ESPN’s morning programming has consisted of encore presentations of SportsCenter since January 1996.
The new nine-hour block of live SportsCenters will feature three teams of two main show anchors, an update anchor, and production personnel split into three-hour shifts. Shows will generally reset every hour and SportsCenter Right Now updates will be presented every 20 minutes throughout the block.
The new SportsCenter weekday anchor teams
6-9 a.m.: Linda Cohn and Steve Berthiaume
9 a.m.-noon: Hannah Storm* and Josh Elliott
noon-3 p.m. Chris McKendry and Robert Flores
*Fridays during the NFL season, Steele will replace Storm who will co-host Sunday morning’s SportsCenters.
“The depth and talent of our existing SportsCenter anchor team ensures the daily SportsCenters will meet the high standard set by its nightly predecessor,” said Norby Williamson, executive vice president, production. “Producing nine additional hours of live SportsCenter illustrates our commitment to satisfying fans’ needs for sports news that is immediate, interactive and entertaining.”
Steve Berthiaume, a native of Medfield, Mass., joined ESPN as an ESPNEWS anchor in 1999, and has appeared on SportsCenter and Baseball Tonight after working at CNN and CNNSI.
Linda Cohn, a Long Island, N.Y. native, has anchored a plethora of studio programming and remote events since joining ESPN in 1992, including co-hosting the first SportsCenter in HD in June 2004.
Josh Elliott, a southern California native, has served as SportsCenter since joining ESPN from Sports Illustrated.
Robert Flores, a Houston native, joined ESPN in March 2005 as an ESPNEWS anchor and has since anchored SportsCenter after serving as sports director to TV stations in Austin and Waco.
Chris McKendry, a Philadelphia native, joined ESPN as a SportsCenter anchor in July 1996, from WJLA-TV in Washington, D.C. where she was the first woman to work as a television sports anchor in the market
Sage Steele, previously the lead anchor for Comcast SportsNet, serving the Washington D.C./Baltimore region, joined ESPN in February 2007 and has provided news updates during ESPN2’s morning programming
Hannah Storm, an Oak Park, Ill. native, joins SportsCenter after five years as host of CBS News’ The Early Show, and 10 years at NBC Sports where she became the first woman to act as solo host of a broadcast network's sports series when she hosted NBC's MLB coverage.
SportsCenter will evolve throughout the day, originally putting more emphasis on reviewing the previous night’s news and events, then shifting that emphasis to the news of the day, that night’s events, and the current “buzz” via fan interactivity through a new SportsCenter.com site. Shows (available on ESPNHD) will consist of highlights, breaking news, expert analysis, commentary and debate, plus interviews, live coverage of press conferences, and more.
E-mail
Facebook
Digg
Delicious
Comments (2)
I hated Berthiuame on SNY. Ick! The others I have no qualms with except I think Josh Eliot would have been better off just sticking to writing.
I think this is stupid because it takes these anchors away from other spots and doesn't allow people to see the replay of last night's show; there aren't going to be that many sports fans at home to watch these shows either. I guess they needed to employ all of these extra anchors somewhere, but who do they think they are, ESPNEWS? It's a waste of money (unless they can get more ad revnue) and will probably be over by the end of the calendar year.