BUSINESS - WHO IS Award-Winning Broadcaster Bob Costas - September, 2006

Bob Costas

Sunday September 3, 2006

WHO IS the Award-Winning Interviewer BOB COSTAS who is returning to radio and will Showcase Sports and Other Topics on 'Costas on the Radio'

YES... Award-winning broadcaster Bob Costas who is coming home to radio, reprising his very popular two-hour weekend show, "Costas on the Radio."

But.... who is this guy?

With the advent of NBC's "Football Night in America," Bob Costas adds another chapter to his long and diverse career in sports television.

Costas will host the prime time Sunday night broadcast of top NFL games, including playoff games each season, and two Super Bowls during the next six years.

Bob has been with NBC sports since 1979 and has also hosted HBO sports and entertainment programs since 2001.

He has covered every major sport, but is perhaps most identified with the Olympics and baseball. He anchored NBC's primetime coverage of the last four summer Olympics -- Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996, Sydney, Australia in the year 2000, and Athens, Greece 2004.

He also hosted the winter games in Salt Lake City 2002 and the winter games in Torino, Italy 2006.

Costas first Olympic experience came in Seoul, Korea in 1988, where he served as the late-night host.

From 1983 through 1989, Costas teamed with Tony Kubek on NBC's baseball "Game of the Week" telecasts. He hosted the network's "NFL Live" pre-game show for nine years (1984-1992), stepping aside following Super Bowl XXVII.

Costas has been involved in the coverage of six league championship series and five World Series for NBC Sports. He has hosted four Super Bowls.

In the '90s, Costas returned to baseball, handling play-by-play for NBC's All Star, playoff and World Series telecasts. He teamed first with Bob Uecker and Joe Morgan, and then Morgan alone, for these games.

Costas' reputation within baseball is long standing, dating to his "Game of the Week" partnership with Tony Kubek. His frequent and passionate commentary about the game's history, appeal, and ongoing problems has earned him the respect and admiration of millions of fans.

His book, "Fair Ball, a Fan's Case for Baseball," earned excellent reviews, remained on the New York Times best seller list for several weeks, and influenced the ongoing discussion concerning the game's direction.

Bob was the play-by-play voice of the NBA on NBC from 1997 through the 1999-2000 seasons.

For many years prior he had been the host of NBC's NBA coverage. He was also a contributing interviewer and essayist on NBC's NFL pre-game show, the program he previously hosted for nine years.

In February 2001, HBO launched the critically praised and Emmy award-winning show "On the Record with Bob Costas," subsequently re-named "Costas Now."

In the fall of 2006, Bob will return for his sixth year as the host of the long-running "Inside the NFL."

On "INFL" he teams with Dan Marino, Cris Collinsworth, and Cris Carter to form a lively and popular team.

Costas has won 19 Emmy awards -- 15 for outstanding sports host or play-by-play, two for writing, one for his late night interview show "Later....with Bob Costas," and one for feature reporting.

Uniquely, Bob has been nominated for Emmys in five different categories: play-by-play, hosting, writing, interviewing (for "Later....with Bob Costas"), and journalism. Bob has been named "National Sportscaster of the Year" an unprecedented eight times by his peers -- in 1985, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1997, and 2000.

In 1988 Bob began to diversify beyond sports broadcasting. He served as a substitute host for Bryant Gumbel on NBC's "Today Show," then went on to host his own late night program, "Later....with Bob Costas."

This Emmy award-winning show featured in-depth interviews exploring the lives of newsmakers, entertainers and personalities from varied backgrounds.

After a 5-1/2 year run, Bob left "Later" in February 1994. He still contributes occasional interviews and commentary to NBC's "Today Show" and "Nightly News" program.

At age 22, Bob landed a job at KMOX Radio in St. Louis, Missouri, one of America's most prominent radio stations. He broadcast a wide variety of live play-by-play and studio programs from 1974 through 1981.

One of his primary assignments during this time was announcing the play-by-play for the ABA's Spirits of St. Louis team. He was also the radio voice of the University of Missouri basketball games.

Costas love of radio led him back to the medium in 1986 when he inaugurated the very popular syndicated program "Costas Coast to Coast."

The weekly, two-hour program ran for 10 years, until 1996. Now, a decade later, Clear Channel Radio has asked Bob to bring the program back, and "Coast to Coast" returns in September of 2006 with the same weekly two-hour mix of interviews and commentary that made it so well received during its first run.

Bob Costas is a native of Queens, New York and grew up on Long Island. He attended Syracuse University in New York, where he majored in communications. He began his professional career at WSYR-TV and Radio in 1973 while studying at Syracuse.

(Business Wire)

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