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National Sports Report
The National Sports Report is a sportscast that aired on United States television channel Fox Sports Net.
The program premiered on November 1, 1996, when FSN was launched, as Fox Sports News. The show, which succeeded both the Prime Network's Press Box and the short-lived fX Sports Show, aired twice a night, at 6 and 10 p.m (the 10 p.m. edition was later referred to as Fox Sports News Primetime), and also aired in the mornings from 6 to 9 a.m. It was the national network's equivalent to SportsCenter. The 6 p.m. edition was originally anchored by Kevin Frazier (previously co-anchor of The fX Sports Show) with James Worthy and Craig Simpson as analysts; the 10 p.m. report was co-anchored by a rotating team, featuring three holdovers from Press Box (Alan Massengale {himself an ex-SportsCenter anchor}, Tom Kirkland and Randy Sparage), alongside newcomers Dwayne Ballen, Suzy Kolber (also previously of ESPN), John Walls, Paul Rudy and Jeanne Zelasko.
Regular segments of the show included the introduction of the sports headlines at the top of the show with a spinning CGI jumbotron, FoxTrot (which provided a graphically-enhanced recap of games the broadcast was not covering in-depth), FoxScopes (where analysts would put a specific player under the titular "FoxScope" to examine their moves), Stuff You Didn't Know (featuring lesser-known sports factoids) and long-form Spotlight reports.
The show was originally broadcast from Stage 2 of the original Fox Television Center in Los Angeles, before relocating to Stage 2B of the Fox Network Center, located on the 20th Century Fox backlot in LA's Century City district, in late 1997 (by which point a New York bureau, headed by Michael Kay, began operations). For a time, Fox Sports News Primetime Newsbreaks aired on then-sister network FX (which at the time was co-owned by Liberty Media along with many of the FSN affiliates).
In 1998, Keith Olbermann and Chris Myers, both previously of ESPN, were hired and added to the hosting rotation; Olbermann had just come off his first stint at MSNBC, with Fox paying NBC $1 million to let Olbermann out of his contract with them. In concert with Olbermann's debut on January 5, 1999, a new look was introduced (presaging a wide rebrand for Fox Sports Net itself that would roll out shortly afterwards) with a new logo, updated graphics and music, and a modified set; ratings for the program went up the night of Olbermann's debut (having suffered thanks in part to the 1998-99 NBA lockout).
On April 12, 2000, the show was renamed to the National Sports Report (also informally referred to as simply "The National" by the anchors, often during teases for the NSR during the regional reports), with the graphics moving from the previous blue and gold to a new orange-heavy motif; the shows, which continued to trail SportsCenter in the ratings, began to be followed by the Regional Sports Report at 11 p.m. (see below). Other format changes included the addition of more analysts, answering viewer emails on the air, and ending each broadcast with the Final Cut, an extended montage of sports highlights set to music. The NSR also began to air on the newly-renamed Fox Sports Net Florida, which had joined FSN after two years of legal conflicts that prevented it from becoming a full FSN affiliate (it instead aired sportscasts from CNN/SI). Meanwhile, the Sunday night program was briefly renamed The Keith Olbermann Evening News. The hour-long show debuted on August 6, 2000 (with Olbermann making his final appearance on the NSR July 5), anchored by Olbermann solo with Alex Flanagan as a reporter. By April 2001, the NSR had been cut to a mere half-hour show, running at 10:30 p.m. after the Regional Sports Report.
During the program's tenure as NSR, anchor Kevin Frazier (now at Entertainment Tonight) briefly gained attention for refusing to say the name of tennis phenom Anna Kournikova on-air because she had never won a singles tournament. Instead, he used nicknames like "Miss Thang" or "From Russia With Love" (as in the James Bond movie). Frazier wanted to make a point that she was overrated and received too much publicity for her lack of talent.
On April 1, 2001, Olbermann reported that Michael Jordan had decided to come out of retirement and return to NBA basketball with the Washington Wizards. Although the story was presented as an April Fool's joke, Jordan would sign with the Wizards the following September.
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National Sports Report
The National Sports Report is a sportscast that aired on United States television channel Fox Sports Net.
The program premiered on November 1, 1996, when FSN was launched, as Fox Sports News. The show, which succeeded both the Prime Network's Press Box and the short-lived fX Sports Show, aired twice a night, at 6 and 10 p.m (the 10 p.m. edition was later referred to as Fox Sports News Primetime), and also aired in the mornings from 6 to 9 a.m. It was the national network's equivalent to SportsCenter. The 6 p.m. edition was originally anchored by Kevin Frazier (previously co-anchor of The fX Sports Show) with James Worthy and Craig Simpson as analysts; the 10 p.m. report was co-anchored by a rotating team, featuring three holdovers from Press Box (Alan Massengale {himself an ex-SportsCenter anchor}, Tom Kirkland and Randy Sparage), alongside newcomers Dwayne Ballen, Suzy Kolber (also previously of ESPN), John Walls, Paul Rudy and Jeanne Zelasko.
Regular segments of the show included the introduction of the sports headlines at the top of the show with a spinning CGI jumbotron, FoxTrot (which provided a graphically-enhanced recap of games the broadcast was not covering in-depth), FoxScopes (where analysts would put a specific player under the titular "FoxScope" to examine their moves), Stuff You Didn't Know (featuring lesser-known sports factoids) and long-form Spotlight reports.
The show was originally broadcast from Stage 2 of the original Fox Television Center in Los Angeles, before relocating to Stage 2B of the Fox Network Center, located on the 20th Century Fox backlot in LA's Century City district, in late 1997 (by which point a New York bureau, headed by Michael Kay, began operations). For a time, Fox Sports News Primetime Newsbreaks aired on then-sister network FX (which at the time was co-owned by Liberty Media along with many of the FSN affiliates).
In 1998, Keith Olbermann and Chris Myers, both previously of ESPN, were hired and added to the hosting rotation; Olbermann had just come off his first stint at MSNBC, with Fox paying NBC $1 million to let Olbermann out of his contract with them. In concert with Olbermann's debut on January 5, 1999, a new look was introduced (presaging a wide rebrand for Fox Sports Net itself that would roll out shortly afterwards) with a new logo, updated graphics and music, and a modified set; ratings for the program went up the night of Olbermann's debut (having suffered thanks in part to the 1998-99 NBA lockout).
On April 12, 2000, the show was renamed to the National Sports Report (also informally referred to as simply "The National" by the anchors, often during teases for the NSR during the regional reports), with the graphics moving from the previous blue and gold to a new orange-heavy motif; the shows, which continued to trail SportsCenter in the ratings, began to be followed by the Regional Sports Report at 11 p.m. (see below). Other format changes included the addition of more analysts, answering viewer emails on the air, and ending each broadcast with the Final Cut, an extended montage of sports highlights set to music. The NSR also began to air on the newly-renamed Fox Sports Net Florida, which had joined FSN after two years of legal conflicts that prevented it from becoming a full FSN affiliate (it instead aired sportscasts from CNN/SI). Meanwhile, the Sunday night program was briefly renamed The Keith Olbermann Evening News. The hour-long show debuted on August 6, 2000 (with Olbermann making his final appearance on the NSR July 5), anchored by Olbermann solo with Alex Flanagan as a reporter. By April 2001, the NSR had been cut to a mere half-hour show, running at 10:30 p.m. after the Regional Sports Report.
During the program's tenure as NSR, anchor Kevin Frazier (now at Entertainment Tonight) briefly gained attention for refusing to say the name of tennis phenom Anna Kournikova on-air because she had never won a singles tournament. Instead, he used nicknames like "Miss Thang" or "From Russia With Love" (as in the James Bond movie). Frazier wanted to make a point that she was overrated and received too much publicity for her lack of talent.
On April 1, 2001, Olbermann reported that Michael Jordan had decided to come out of retirement and return to NBA basketball with the Washington Wizards. Although the story was presented as an April Fool's joke, Jordan would sign with the Wizards the following September.