Wide World of Sports (American TV program)
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Wide World of Sports | |
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Genre | Sports anthology series |
Created by | Edgar Scherick |
Presented by | |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 37 |
Production | |
Executive producer | Multi-camera |
Running time | 90 minutes |
Production company | ABC Sports |
Original release | |
Network | ABC |
Release | April 29, 1961 1997 | –
ABC's Wide World of Sports is an American sports anthology television program that aired on ABC from April 29, 1961, to 1997, primarily on Saturday afternoons. Hosted by Jim McKay, with a succession of co-hosts beginning in 1987, the title continued to be used for general sports programs on the network until 2006. In 2007, Wide World of Sports was named by Time on its list of the 100 best television programs of all time.
Weekend sports news updates on sister radio network ABC Sports Radio, operated by
History
Origins
Wide World of Sports was the creation of Edgar Scherick through his company, Sports Programs, Inc. After selling his company to ABC, he hired a young Roone Arledge to produce the show.
The series' April 29, 1961, debut telecast featured both the
During its initial season in the spring and summer of 1961, Wide World of Sports was initially broadcast from 5:00 to 7:00 P.M. Eastern Time on Saturdays. Beginning in 1962, it was pushed to 5:00 to 6:30 P.M., and later to 4:30 to 6:00 P.M. Eastern Time to allow ABC affiliates in the Eastern and Central Time Zones to carry local early-evening newscasts.
Successful spin-offs
In 1961, Wide World of Sports covered a bowling event in which Roy Lown beat Pat Patterson. The broadcast was so successful that in 1962, ABC Sports began covering the Professional Bowlers Tour.
In 1964, Wide World of Sports covered the Oklahoma Rattlesnake Hunt championships; the following year, ABC premiered outdoor program The American Sportsman, which remained on the network for nearly 20 years.
In 1973, the Superstars was first televised as a segment on Wide World of Sports; the following year, the Superstars debuted as a weekly winter series that lasted for 10 years.
Athlete of the Year
In 1963, ABC Sports producers began selecting the Athlete of the Year. Its first winner was track and field star Jim Beatty for being the first to run a sub-4-minute mile indoors. Through the years, this award was won by such now legendary athletes of Muhammad Ali, Jim Ryun, Lance Armstrong, Mario Andretti, Dennis Conner, Wayne Gretzky, Carl Lewis and Tiger Woods. The award was discontinued in 2001.
The end of Wide World of Sports
In later years, with the rise of cable television offering more outlets for sports programming, Wide World of Sports lost many of the events that had been staples of the program for many years (many, although not all, of them ended up on ESPN, a sister network to ABC for most of its existence). Ultimately, its traditional anthology series was ended in 1997 after a 37-year run.[2] The Wide World of Sports name remained in use afterward as an umbrella title for ABC's weekend sports programming, starting January 3, 1998.[3]
In August 2006, ABC Sports came under the oversight of ESPN, under the relaunched banner name
Format
Sports featured on Wide World of Sports
Wide World of Sports was intended to be a fill-in show for a single summer season, until the start of fall sports seasons, but became unexpectedly popular. The goal of the program was to showcase sports from around the globe that were seldom, if ever, broadcast on American television. It originally ran for two hours on Saturday afternoons, but was later reduced to 90 minutes.
Usually, Wide World featured two or three events per show. These included many types not previously seen on American television, such as
Firsts
Wide World of Sports was the first U.S. television program to air coverage of – among events –
Introduction
The program's introductory sequence was accompanied by a stirring, brassy musical fanfare (composed by
Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sport... the thrill of victory... and the agony of defeat... the human drama of athletic competition... This is ABC's Wide World of Sports!
"The thrill of victory ... and the agony of defeat"
The melodramatic introduction became a national catchphrase that is often heard to this day. While "the thrill of victory" had several symbols over the decades, Slovenian ski jumper Vinko Bogataj, whose dreadful misjump and crash during a competition on March 21, 1970, was featured from the early 1970s onward heard over the sentence "...and the agony of defeat." Bogataj became a hard-luck hero of sorts, and an affectionate icon for stunning failure. Previously, the footage played with that phrase was that of another ski jumper who made a long, almost successful jump, but whose skis lost vertical alignment shortly before landing, leading to a crash.
Later in the 1990s, an additional clip was added to the "agony of defeat" sequence after Bogataj's accident: footage of a crash by
Announcers
Hosts
- Jim McKay (1961–1998)
- Becky Dixon (1987–1988)[4]
- Frank Gifford (1987–1993)[4]
- better source needed]
- John Saunders (1995–1996)
- Robin Roberts (1996–1998)[6]
Event announcers
- Play-by-play
- Tim Brant
- Howard Cosell
- Becky Dixon
- Chris Economaki
- Bill Flemming
- Terry Gannon
- Frank Gifford
- Curt Gowdy
- Keith Jackson
- Jim Lampley
- Jim McKay
- Al Michaels
- Julie Moran
- Brent Musburger
- Paul Page
- Bud Palmer
- Jerry Punch
- Robin Roberts
- John Saunders
- Chris Schenkel
- Al Trautwig
- Steve Zabriskie
- Reporters
- Chris Economaki
- Bill Flemming
- Keith Jackson
- Jim Lampley
- David Letterman
- Stirling Moss
- Sam Posey
- Jerry Punch
- Jody Scheckter
- O. J. Simpson
- Lynn Swann
- Al Trautwig
- Lesley Visser
- Rodger Ward
- John Watson
- Jack Whitaker
- Analysts
- Donnie Allison
- Chris Economaki
- Phil Hill
- Ned Jarrett
- Fred Lorenzen
- Mickey Mantle
- Cheryl Miller
- Don Meredith
- Stirling Moss
- Sam Posey
- Bill Russell
- Jackie Stewart
- Rodger Ward
International versions
Canada
From September 19, 1964, until the late 1980s, a Canadian version was aired by the CTV Television Network. Licensed by ABC, the CTV broadcast included a mix of content from the American show, and segments produced by CTV and its affiliates.
Australia
In Australia, the
Mexico
A program partly inspired by the U.S. version, known as DeporTV, El Ancho Mundo del Deporte (DeporTV, the Wide World of Sports) debuted on
See also
- ESPN8 The Ocho
- List of longest-running United States television series
References
- ^ "50th Anniversary of Wide World of Sports Celebrated". ESPN MediaZone. April 21, 2011. Archived from the original on April 27, 2011. Information about the broadcasters obtained directly from the original telecast.
- ^ "Famed broadcaster Jim McKay dies". Orange County Register. June 7, 2008. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
- ^ Staff, Variety (September 11, 1997). "'World of Sports' wider". Variety. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
- ^ a b Larry Stewart (January 9, 1987). "Network Bosses Have High Praise for No. 1 Teams". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ "Search Results". Google.
- ^ "Wide World of Sports". TV.com.