Sports Tonight
| Sports Tonight | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Format | Sports Program |
| Starring |
Brad McEwan (Monday - Thursday) Rob Canning (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 19 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Ten News |
| Running time | 30 minutes (including commercials) & approx. 20min during Ten Late News (Mon-Thur). |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel |
Network Ten (1993 - 2011) One (2009 - 2011) |
| Picture format |
576i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV) |
| Original run | 30 August 1993 – 30 September 2011 |
Sports Tonight was an Australian sports information program broadcast on Network Ten (and on its sister digital channel One), from 1993, until 2011.
At the end of its run, the program was broadcast on weeknights (on One) at 10.30 pm; at 11.00pm (on Ten combined with Ten Late News), Fridays at 12.00am (on Ten after the Late News), and on Sunday from 7:30pm AEDT (on One, though this sometimes varied due to live sports coverage or other programming). The program provided up-to-date sports scores and team and player information for all codes of football and different sports across Australia.
Broadcast History
The show ran from 1993 to 2011. From 1993 until 2005, the show ran for half an hour on each weeknight after Ten Late News. The two shows merged in 2006, but there was some criticism by viewers that Sports Tonight was not long enough and that it should have remained the same.
However, Sports Tonight was aired on Fridays as a separate program.
In 2011 the weekend 5:30pm editions of Sports Tonight normally seen on Network Ten were removed from those timeslots, due to the weekend news bulletins moving to 6pm. To compensate for this, a Sports Tonight-branded sports report were incorporated into these bulletins. This edition of Sports Tonight had been airing in the 5:30pm weekend slot since 2000. Thus, the only time Sports Tonight is aired on Network Ten is in the traditional late-night time slot with Ten Late News.
In recent years the program was branded as Toyota Sports Tonight. In late 2006, the show was sponsored by Toyota and its upcoming Toyota Aurion, although only minor modifications were done to the on-air graphics to match those of the Aurion colours. In early 2007, the graphics were updated with a heavily sponsored on-air look.
Since March 2009, a weeknightly 9.30 pm edition (started out at 7pm) of Sports Tonight aired on One with a weekend wrap edition on Sundays. Since 8 May 2011 with the relaunch of One, it aired at around 10.30pm weeknights (varies if other programming is on) and at 11.00pm on Fridays.
In December 2010 Sports Tonight updated their on-air graphics. On 5 July 2011, it was announced that the show would be axed; the show continued to air until just before the conclusion of the football seasons. The final episode aired on 30 September 2011.
The only legacy of the program is that the sports segment in Ten News at Five is branded as Ten News Sports Tonight.
Hosts
At the time of Sports Tonight's axing, the presenters were:
- Brad McEwan (Mondays - Thursdays)
- Rob Canning (Fridays - Sundays)
- Neil Cordy (fill-in)
- Scott Mackinnon (fill-in)
- Adam Hawse (fill-in)
- Victoria Murphy (fill-in)
- Matt Suleau (fill-in)
Previous Hosts included:
- Tim Webster (first host. 1993 - 2004)
- Matthew White (last appeared on Sunday 20 June 2004. Now presents the east coast edition of Today Tonight on the Seven Network)
- Bill Woods (alternative host, 1993-2005. Now presents Ten News Sydney alongside Sandra Sully)
- Leigh Diffey (weekend host during 2005 and 2006. Last appeared on Sunday 3 December 2006)
- Ryan Phelan (last appeared on Thursday, 21 December 2006, now on Seven Network)
- Mark Aiston (presented on 8 September 2007 due to Brad McEwan, Rob Canning and Neil Cordy being all unavailable, also presented during the 2007-2008 summer period)
Reporters
Sports Tonight had many around the ground reporters across Australia. Reporters included:
- Jeremy Arnold: AFL Junior reporter based in Melbourne
- Andrew Brown: All sports reporter; Tennis, Cycling and Horse Racing (Spring Carnival specialist)
- Paul Cochrane: All sports senior reporter - mainly cricket, synchronized swimming, Netball, badminton & NFL
- Ian Cohen: AFL, Australian Open (tennis) senior reporter and General Sports reporter; based in Melbourne
- Neil Cordy: AFL & Socceroos (Soccer) senior reporter based in Sydney, including Main Fill-In ST presenter
- Liam Cox : Sydney based reporter - General
- Caty Price: Senior AFL, Cricket and Western Australia Sports Reporter; based in Perth
- Adam Hawse: NRL senior reporter based in Sydney and Major - Senior Sports Tonight reporter
- Scott Mackinnon: Senior Surfing correspondent & General Sports reporter/correspondent, including Winter Sports (specialist)
- Victoria Murphy: NRL Major reporter, special stories reporter and Major - Senior Sports Tonight reporter
- Andrew Blow: Sydney based Sports Tonight reporter; including General NRL
- Roger Oldridge: Senior Cricket (specialist) and all sports reporter based in Melbourne; including AFL and Horse Racing
- Lachy Reid: Senior Sports Tonight Reporter - mainly NBL and AFL; based in Perth
- Luke Schneider: General AFL and All sports reporter and producer based in Melbourne; National
- Tim Hodges: AFL and Motorsport reporter; based in Melbourne
- Matt Suleau: All sports reporter - National
- Nathan Templeton: AFL and All sports reporter based in Melbourne
- Adam Thompson: Combat sports, general minor sports and Boxing reporter (presented by "Wii")
- Kelli Underwood: AFL and Senior all sports reporter, including Tennis; based in Melbourne
- Leanne West: NRL senior reporter; based in Sydney
- Luke Elvy: Golf reporter
- Jacqui Reed: AFL junior reporter - National; based in Melbourne
- Claire Thomas: AFL and Western Australia General Sports reporter; based in Perth
- Nicki Barnet: AFL and South Australia General Sports reporter; based in Adelaide
- Tim Hipsley: Senior minor sports and cycling reporter - National; based in Perth
- Corey Wingard: AFL Special Stories and National Special Stories Reporter; based in Adelaide (doubles as Network Ten AFL Boundary Rider in SA)
- Ian Shuttleworth: Senior AFL and all sports reporter; based in Adelaide
- Rob Hazel: Queensland NRL and all sports reporter; based in Brisbane
- Amy Hetzel: Producer and reporter; based in Sydney
- Rob Waters: AFL and Senior sports Reporter; based in Melbourne
- Nick Wood: All Sports Reporter; based in Adelaide
- Bill Walker: Producer; based in Brisbane
- Jonathan Williams: General and Rugby Reporter; based in Brisbane
- Mark Howard: Senior sports reporter; based in Melbourne
- Rob Canning: Sports reporter; based in Sydney (also Weekend ST Presenter)
Awards
Sports Tonight had been nominated for the Most Popular Sports Program for the Logies a total of 12 times. The show was nominated in every year from 1997 until 2010, with the exception of 1999 (not awarded in this year) and 2001 (sports programs included those of the Sydney Olympic Games the previous year).