Bob McCown

Robert Alan "Bob" McCown (born May 21, 1952 in Columbus, Ohio) is an American-born radio personality who hosts the Canadian sports talk show of a late afternoon/early evening radio talk show called Prime Time Sports. The program is broadcast from the Toronto-based studio of the Fan 590 (the flagship radio station of the Fan Radio Network) and is syndicated nationally in Canada. Since 2004, this radio talk show has also been simulcast on television on Rogers Sportsnet. Since 2009, the show's live stream has been available online in Canada on the FAN590 website.

Career

During the Toronto Blue Jays' inaugural season in 1977, McCown was the public address announcer for their home games. He was also the original host of Global TV's Sportsline, and also hosted a magazine program on TSN called The Business of Sports.

In 1988, McCown joined CJCL-AM as a sports radio personality, and in 1989, he became the original host of the sports radio talk show Prime Time Sports. In 1993, he was reassigned as the host of the Fan 1430's morning show (The Bob McCown Show), relinquishing his PTS hosting duties to Dan Shulman. In 1995, The Fan fired McCown as their morning show host, but when Shulman left the station to join TSN, McCown was re-hired as the host of Prime Time Sports a month later. In 2007, McCown received a Sports Radio Award for "Air Talent Of The Year" at the 2007 Rick Scott & Associates Sports Radio Conference.^[1] In 2007, McCown published his first book, "McCown's Law: The 100 Greatest Hockey Arguments" with co-author David Naylor.

McCown has also been known for his 30-year standing bet with former Toronto Blue Jays president and CEO Paul Godfrey regarding an NFL team in Toronto. It was on a beach in the year of 1977 that the two men debated long hours about the subject. Godfrey to this day asserts that there will one day be an NFL team in Toronto, while McCown guarantees that there will not. Once a year or every so often, the debate is brought up again.

In February 2012, McCown launched Fadoo Productions Inc. and the company has produced several shows and series for television including "On The Edge," "Making History" and "Touch 'em all Joe."

In June 2013, McCown purchased Stoney Ridge Estate Winery, one of the most decorated wineries in the Niagara region, as well as a minority interest in Mike Weir Wines.

In March 2009, he launched a new website fadoo.com with the goal to "provide a platform for dialogue and comment among people of power and influence in the sports world. And then, let everyone in on the conversation." The website lasted just over a year before being removed in early June 2010. “It just didn’t make business sense, anymore,” a source close the operation wrote in an e-mail message.^[2] It appeared McCown lost interest in the fadoo.ca site months ago with no posts, updates, or otherwise.

Broadcast style

Among his on-air trademarks on the show include his deadpan greetings to guest callers and his audience such as "Greetings! Salutations!", his constant use of rich vocabulary to describe things (referring to sportswriters as "ink-stained wretches"), his dry wit (which includes using such quips as "Who gives a flying fadoo?!", "Kicking ass, taking names", "Raising a Spockian eyebrow", "giddyup" and "Bite me!", referencing the fictional hockey players Claude and Orest Themalfachuk, and likening someone who is impatient to "Sonic the Hedgehog, tapping his foot"), and a pair of sunglasses he wears during the television simulcasts of Prime Time Sports. McCown is often indifferent about the fact that his radio show is simulcast on television, often saying during his introductions "also simulcast on Rogers Sportsnet for those of you who do not own radios" or "simulcast on Rogers Sportsnet in lieu of other programming". He has on many occasions maintained his stance against fighting in hockey (especially staged fights), hits to the head, and a strong aversion for the sport of soccer, much like his Los Angeles counterpart, Jim Rome. . However, when pressed by Prime Time Sports co-hosts Stephen Brunt and/or John Shannon McCown will choose the Tottenham Hotspur of the English Premier League as the soccer team he would support if he ever cared to watch a match .

Bob takes pleasure in downplaying his personal coverage of the sport of hockey relevant to those games for which he has deeper knowledge; baseball and golf. Yet, he seems emotionally invested in changing its aesthetics to suit his tastes. He has been a long time advocate of removing fighting from the game.

Personal life

Also referred to by the nickname The Bobcat, McCown has maintained his residence between both Las Vegas and Toronto during the mid 1990s,^[3] though he has settled in Toronto over the past few years. Though born in the United States, he also grew up in Scarborough, Ontario as a child, playing house league hockey in the Dorset Park neighbourhood.^[4]

References

Further reading

• Bob McCown; David Naylor (23 September 2008). McCown's Law: The 100 Greatest Hockey Arguments. Doubleday Canada. ISBN 978-0-385-66676-3. 

External links

• Prime Time Sports' Rogers Sportsnet page
• Bob McCown on Twitter