Jim Kelly is an American sportscaster who has worked for ESPN and CBS Sports.
A native of Toledo, Ohio, Kelly attended the University of Toledo, where he played ice hockey and was named Rookie of the Year in 1965. [1] [2] That same year he began calling hockey games for WMHE-FM. He worked at various stations throughout Ohio from 1965 to 1970 and from 1970 to 1974 he covered golf tournaments for Golf Network, Inc., which was heard on the Mutual and the NBC Radio networks. [1]
Kelly worked for CBS and CBS Radio from 1974 to 1985. [1] His assignments included calling golf for the PGA Tour on CBS and PGA Tour on CBS Radio, football for the NFL on CBS and NFL on CBS Radio , and basketball for the NBA on CBS , as well as golf, track and field, bowling, and horse racing. [1] He hosted the Sports World Roundup on CBS Radio, CBS Sports Saturday and CBS Sports Sunday on CBS Television, served as sports anchor for the CBS Morning News . [3] [1]
From 1978 to 1982 Kelly also worked as a sports anchor for WCAU, where he won an Eclipse Award in 1980 for local horse racing coverage. [1] In July 1983, he became a sports anchor at WNEV-TV in Boston. [3] He left the station that October in a "mutual decision" between him and WNEV management. [4]
From 1985 to 2002, Kelly worked at ESPN. Here he covered golf, college football, Thoroughbred racing, the NHL, college basketball, the America's Cup, tennis, and bowling. He won a CableAce Award for his coverage of the 1987 America's Cup. [1]
After leaving ESPN, Kelly moved to CNBC, where he called the Senior PGA Tour. [1]
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PGA Tour on ABC was the de facto branding used for telecasts of the main professional golf tournaments of the PGA Tour on ABC Sports in the United States until 2006. ABC broadcast at least one PGA Tour event from 1962 to 2009, focusing before 1995 on the majors, with ABC serving as the primary television partner of the PGA Tour from 1999 until 2006.
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When the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, all major professional and collegiate organizations responded by suspending operations indefinitely. This effect was passed down to the world of sports broadcasting, which includes live coverage of thousands of events on an annual basis through stations and network available over the air, through cable, satellite, and IPTV companies, and via streaming and over-the-top services.