Sportscasters doing the news

Has anybody noticed the trend more and more for sportscasters to turn into news anchors or entertainment reporters? It's been happening for several years at least in Boston. Maybe sportscasting is a dead-end job.

For the most part, I guess they aren't awful. No worse than the average local TV anchor these days. The only one that really bugs me is Ed Harding on Channel 5. I'm not sure I could even tell you what it is about Ed that bugs me. He didn't bug me particularly when he was doing sports. He didn't even bother me that much doing the morning news. But when they put him on the evening news too, it was just too much Ed. And why does he always point to the monitor behind him to introduce a story. And he gets too excited about things. He treats every story like it was a sports story.

And what is up with him anchoring both the late night news, and the early morning news. When does the guy sleep? I wish I could remember where I heard this so I could link to it, but I remember reading that there was some focus group study that found that people like to wake up with the same newscaster they went to bed with. That it makes them feel comfortable. What kind of friggin logic is that. People want Ed Harding to be the last person they see at night, AND the first one the see in the morning? That's insane. But most of the logic behind consultant-driven TV news is nuts. I guess it works, because every local newscast in America pretty much looks identical (see my Breaking News post).

But they must be following that theory, because they make the guy work these insane hours, just so that can happen. They claim they did a nationwide search and found he was the best person for the job-both jobs. Well, I guess if George Bush is the most qualified person to be President...

Anyway, this wasn't meant to be a post on Ed Harding. Some of the less-irritating examples of the sportcaster turned news anchor trend are:

• Scott Wahle used to do sports, and now does news on Channel 4


• Gene Lavanche moved over to Channel 25 to do the morning news show.


• Frank Mallicoat used to be sports director at Channel 56, but is now a news anchor


• This week I even noticed Mark Ockerbloom the NECN sports reporter who recently moved to Channel 25 doing the newscast with Maria Stephanos (gee hope he can keep up with that mind)


• Nationally there is Pat O'Brien who moved from doing NFL telecasts to become a tabloid television host, (and sexual harasser.)

And then, of course, there is Keith Olbermann, who, if you read my blog enough, you'll note I'm a big fan of. He got his start as host of ESPN's SportsCenter. His nightly show Countdown is for my money has the smartest, funniest, and best written (albeit somewhat left-leaning) news show on television.