While catching up on my USA Today sports sections I saw where two TV sports programs are ending.
George Michael's syndicated "Sports Machine" (27 years) and "The Fishin' Hole" (44 years, ESPN for 27 of them) with Jerry McKinnis are no more.
"Sports Machine" was the first Sunday night sports highlights reel before ESPN realized what Sunday night SportsCenter with Dan and Keith was all about. Especially during NFL seasons. His highlights brought bullriding and NASCAR into the living rooms first (in an era of networks broadcasting taped Daytona 500s.)
The NBC affiliate in Washington, DC, was told by the parent company to cut 14 of Michael's 22 staff members. He said instead he would be the first to go, so NBC eliminated all of them. Michael was the affilate's sports anchor.
Jerry McKinnis, a former minor league baseball player who lived in the Little Rock area had one of the first local TV fishing shows. His was first shown on one of the Little Rock stations and later picked up by ESPN in 1980. The Deuce will show, I think, one more original program before going into reruns. McKinnis, 69, says in USA Today, "I guess I've done it all."
His show was very entertaining and very personable.
Another milestone passes.
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