Happy Temporary Forced Retirement, Bob McCown

Last Updated on: 7th July 2019, 09:46 am

"My butt hurts. I'm gone. There will be no more. Good night and goodbye from Toronto."@FadooBobcat signs off the only way he knows how 😂 pic.twitter.com/QTBxAhvZ0M

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 21, 2019

Man, sports talk in Canada is going to be pretty weird without Bob McCown, the latest veteran broadcaster that Rogers has sent to live with a good family on a nice big farm in the country.

I was hardly a diehard listener, but I always liked Bob. When he was really interested in a topic there weren’t many better at getting the absolute most out of a guest, sometimes without having to say all that much. Plus he had such a smooth delivery on the air that it made you pay attention and in my case, want to do what he did.

I don’t know where he’s going next, but it sounds like he’s not done and will be turning up somewhere eventually.

Okay…I am leaving Prime Time Sports and Rogers. But nobody can shut me up when I still have things to say. Stay tuned. “I’ll be back!”

— Bob McCown (@FadooBobcat) June 20, 2019

McCown, 67, was the original host of Prime Time Sports when the show launched in 1989. 
He got his start in radio in 1974 in sales at the station, launched by legendary play-by-play man Foster Hewitt and originally under the CKFH-AM call sign. McCown made his on-air debut in 1975, hosting a nightly sports talk show.

McCown left for Global TV to host Sportsline in 1981. Prime Time Sports launched shortly after his return to the now Telemedia-owned CJCL in 1988. McCown’s voice was the first heard on the station when it adopted an all-sports format in 1992. He briefly moved into the morning slot on The Fan 1430 in 1993 while Dan Shulman took over Prime Time Sports. McCown was fired from mornings in 1995, but re-hired a month later in the Prime Time seat after Shulman got a job offer to become the TV play-by-play announcer for the Toronto Blue Jays.

Speaking of the Blue Jays, he was also their PA announcer during the first season. I thought he did it longer than just that one year, but I can’t seem to find anything to back me up on that.