Mike Wilner

Last updated
Mike Wilner
Born
Michael Samuel Wilner

(1970-03-14) March 14, 1970 (age 54)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Sports commentary career
Team Toronto Blue Jays
Sport(s) Baseball, basketball, football, hockey

Michael Samuel Wilner [1] (born March 14, 1970) is a Canadian former baseball broadcaster for the Toronto Blue Jays. From 2014 through 2020, he called play-by-play for the Blue Jays' radio broadcasts, and authored a blog on Sportsnet.ca/590. He formerly hosted a postgame radio call-in show called BlueJaysTalk on the Fan 590. He graduated from the University of Toronto in 1994. As of February 11,2021, Wilner has been a baseball columnist for the Toronto Star.

Contents

Broadcasting career

Wilner began his broadcasting career at the University of Toronto in 1988, and was named sports director there a year later. During his tenure at the University of Toronto, Wilner did play-by-play for various sports including hockey, basketball, and football. Wilner began his professional broadcasting career at the age of 19 with the Class-A Welland Pirates. He later did play-by-play for various baseball teams including the Class-A Watertown Indians, and the Double-A Hardware City Rock Cats. During the 2010 Winter Olympics, Wilner hosted 2010 Winter Games Today in Vancouver with David Alter from Whistler, British Columbia. [2]

On June 1, 2010, Mike Wilner got into an argument during a media scrum with the Toronto Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston about Gaston's field level decision making. Wilner detailed the confrontation on his blog. [3] A day later his employer, the Fan 590 announced Wilner would not be covering the team for several days, presumably a suspension though the Fan 590 refused to state the reason. [4] Because Rogers Communications, owners of the Toronto Blue Jays, also owns the Fan 590, the suspension had at least the appearance of a case of media censorship. The Toronto Chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America issued a letter of protest suggesting the suspension was an attempt by the Blue Jays to muzzle media criticism. [5] The controversy received coverage in all three of Toronto's daily newspapers, largely in sympathy with Wilner. [4] [5] [6]

From 2014 to 2017, Wilner performed play-by-play duties for select innings of all Toronto Blue Jays home games. In 2018, following the retirement of longtime Blue Jays play-by-play commentator Jerry Howarth, Wilner called most Blue Jays games with Ben Wagner. [7] He officially became the full-time radio play-by-play announcer with Wagner prior to the 2019 season. [8] That same year, he was replaced by Scott MacArthur as host of the BlueJaysTalk radio show. [9]

Wilner continued as the Blue Jays play-by-play announcer through the 2020 season. However, on November 27, 2020, Sportsnet announced that Wilner would not return to the position in 2021. [10] For his part, Wilner did not elaborate on any reasons behind the termination, commenting only " I shouldn't have been so condescending to the fans on social media. A regret I will never live down" [11]

Newspaper columnist

On February 11, 2021, Wilner announced that he had become a baseball columnist for the Toronto Star. [12] Wilner's work for the Toronto Star also includes hosting a weekly baseball-themed podcast, titled Deep Left Field, where he interviews various guests. [13]

Personal life

Wilner's brother, Norman Wilner, is a former film critic for Now who joined the programming team for the Toronto International Film Festival in 2022. [14]

Wilner is divorced, and together with his ex-wife from Buenos Aires, Argentina, they have two daughters and he resides in Mississauga.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toronto Blue Jays</span> Major League Baseball franchise in Toronto, Ontario

The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games primarily at Rogers Centre in downtown Toronto.

Jerry Howarth is an American Canadian former sports commentator, best known as the radio play-by-play voice of the Toronto Blue Jays from 1981 through the 2017 season.

CJCL is a Canadian sports radio station in Toronto, Ontario. Owned and operated by Rogers Radio, a division of Rogers Sports & Media since 2002, CJCL's studios are located at the Rogers Building at Bloor and Jarvis in downtown Toronto, while its transmitters are located near Grimsby atop the Niagara Escarpment. It is the flagship station for the Toronto Blue Jays, and also airs games from the Toronto Raptors, Toronto Maple Leafs, Buffalo Bisons and Buffalo Bills. CJCL is a CBS Sports Radio affiliate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cito Gaston</span> American baseball player and manager (born 1944)

Clarence Edwin "Cito" Gaston is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder, coach and manager. His major league career as a player lasted from 1967 to 1978, most notably with the San Diego Padres and Atlanta Braves. He spent his entire managerial career with the Toronto Blue Jays, becoming the first African-American manager in Major League Baseball history to win a World Series title.

Jim Hughson is a retired Canadian sportscaster, best known for his play-by-play of the National Hockey League. He was the lead play-by-play commentator for the NHL on Sportsnet from 2014 to 2021 and Hockey Night in Canada from 2008 to 2021. His career spanned 42 years.

Robert Alan "Bob" McCown is an American-Canadian radio personality. He is best known as the long-time host of the Canadian sports talk show Prime Time Sports from its inception on October 2, 1989 to June 21, 2019. He now currently hosts The Bob McCown podcast on his YouTube channel, which is also broadcast on satellite radio station Sirius XM weekdays from 6-7 p.m.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dan Shulman</span> Canadian sportscaster

Daniel Shulman is a Canadian sportscaster with Sportsnet as well as the American network ESPN.

Hockey Central is the brand used for programs and segments covering hockey on the Canadian sports channel Sportsnet. The Hockey Central name encompasses several programs, including segments aired during Sportsnet Central, pre-game reports for Hockey Night in Canada and other NHL telecasts on Sportsnet, CBC, Citytv, and the Sportsnet 590 radio show Hockey Central at Noon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamie Campbell (sportscaster)</span> Canadian sportscaster with Sportsnet

Jamie Campbell is a Canadian sportscaster with Sportsnet. He is currently the host of Toronto Blue Jays telecasts and previously provided the play-by-play from 2005 to 2009.

Salvatore "Sam" Cosentino is a Canadian sportscaster who currently works as a junior hockey analyst on Rogers Sportsnet.

Eric Smith is a Canadian sportscaster on Fan 590 in Toronto and Sportsnet TV. He is the radio play by play voice of the Toronto Raptors.

Paul Romanuk is a Toronto sportscaster and writer. He was born in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada.

Dan Dunleavy is a Canadian sportscaster for the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League. He was formerly a sportscaster with Sportsnet 590 The Fan, and Rogers Sportsnet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Hogan (sportscaster)</span> Canadian sportscaster (born 1963)

Mike Hogan is a Canadian sportscaster who is a sports talk radio host on TSN Radio 1050 in Toronto, Ontario. He also serves as the play-by-play voice for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League for that station's gameday broadcasts. Hogan was formerly a long time sports talk radio host on Toronto station CJCL (AM), branded "The Fan 590", until he was relieved of those duties on June 24, 2010. Hogan was born in Kingston, Ontario.

The Toronto Blue Jays Radio Network consists of 20 stations in 7 Canadian provinces broadcasting the team's games in English.

Toronto Blue Jays on Sportsnet is a live telecast of Toronto Blue Jays baseball games that air on Sportsnet, Sportsnet One, or Sportsnet 360. Starting in 2003, some games were broadcast in high definition. As of 2007, all games that air on the network are presented in high definition, and as of 2016, all home games are broadcast in ultra-high definition. Sportsnet began showing Blue Jays games in 1999 and is now their official television carrier, carrying all televised Blue Jays games throughout the regular season.

<i>Tim & Friends</i> 2011 Canadian TV series or program

Tim & Friends was a sports talk show hosted by Tim Micallef that was produced by the Canadian sports television network Sportsnet where it aired. The program, originally known as Tim & Sid and hosted by Micallef and Sid Seixeiro, was established in 2011 as an afternoon radio show on CJCL. The program gained a television simulcast on The Score in 2013. On July 1, 2015, the program was re-launched on Sportsnet as a dedicated television program. On October 14, 2019, the Tim & Sid telecasts began simulcasting on CJCL, replacing Prime Time Sports as its late afternoon drive program. Seixeiro left the show in 2021, and the show was rebranded as Tim & Friends. During the summer of 2021, Tim & Friends stopped being simulcasted on CJCL and again became a dedicated television program. Tim & Friends concluded its run in 2023.

Benjamin L. Wagner is an American sportscaster. As of 2024 he works as a play-by-play announcer for the Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball, after having performed the same role for the Toronto Blue Jays from 2018 to 2023.

References

  1. ↑ Rogers Sportsnet (March 15, 2014). "Blue Jays This Week - March 15 - Saturday". Sportsnet 590 The Fan (Podcast). Rogers Sportsnet. Event occurs at 0:55. Retrieved June 3, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Radio plans announced for Olympic Coverage". The Canadian Press. ctvolympics.ca. January 28, 2010. Retrieved February 24, 2010.
  3. ↑ "FAN590 - Blogs - Miked Up » Blog Archive » Again?". Blog.rogersbroadcasting.com. 2010-06-02. Archived from the original on 2010-08-09. Retrieved 2010-07-29.
  4. 1 2 Canada (2010-06-06). "Confronting Gaston not a wise career move". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2010-07-29.
  5. 1 2 "Commentary: Wilner's weekend off does disservice to audience | Posted Sports | National Post". Sports.nationalpost.com. 2010-06-05. Retrieved 2010-07-29.
  6. ↑ Steve Buffery. "The curious case of Wilner". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 2010-07-29.
  7. ↑ Mike Harrington (2018-08-13). "Broadcaster Ben Wagner on a whirlwind after getting big-league call". buffalonews.com. Retrieved 2020-02-09.
  8. ↑ Paul Lungen (2019-03-28). "MIKE WILNER: BLUE JAYS BROADCASTER ENJOYING 'DREAM JOB'". cjnews.com. Retrieved 2020-02-09.
  9. ↑ @SportsnetPR (2019-03-14). "As announced by @SNJeffBlair moments ago on @FAN590, Scott MacArthur (@ScottyMacThinks) is your new host of Blue Jays Talk on the @Sportsnet Radio Network. Welcome to the SN team Scott! ⚾️🧢" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  10. ↑ "Sportsnet parts ways with veteran Blue Jays announcer Mike Wilner". Toronto Star . 27 November 2020.
  11. ↑ "Toronto Blue Jays broadcaster Mike Wilner let go and fans are outraged".
  12. ↑ Mike Wilner (2021-02-11). "Blue Jays fans, I'm getting back in the game with the Star. Here's why". TheStar.com. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  13. ↑ Star Staff (2021-03-08). "Introducing Deep Left Field, a baseball podcast with Mike Wilner". TheStar.com. Retrieved 2022-10-13.
  14. ↑ "Revolving Door". Broadcast Dialogue, April 21, 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.