(SUNRISE, FL) – FOX Sports Net Florida debuts the 11PM REGIONAL SPORTS REPORT on Monday, July 17th. The new nightly sports news show will be the place for Florida sports fans to turn seven nights a week for the latest on Florida’s home teams including pro, college and high school sports. The new 11PM REGIONAL SPORTS REPORT will bring viewers in-depth reporting of key local sports news stories of the day and will include important national sports stories that impact Florida sports fans.
FOX Sports Net’s main 11PM REGIONAL SPORTS REPORT anchor team consists of Florida native Ned Smith and two-time Emmy-Award winner Keith Lebowitz. Randy McIlvoy, an award-winning sports anchor and reporter, will also hold anchor duties on selected nights teaming up with Smith and Lebowitz.
The 11PM REGIONAL SPORTS REPORT will be broadcast live from the FOX Sports Net’s state-of-the-art broadcast center in Dallas, Texas where the anchors will be based. The broadcast center allows FOX Sports Net Florida to utilize the vast resources of the 22 FOX Sports Net regional networks located throughout the country, creating the largest sports television newsgathering operation in the world.
All of the reporting and newsgathering will be done locally in Florida with teams of reporters, correspondents and videographers located in bureaus throughout the state. Three full-time reporters dedicated to the 11PM REGIONAL SPORTS REPORT will be South Florida Reporter Joe Zagacki, Central Florida and Tampa Bay Area Reporter Sage Steele and North Florida Reporter Mike Nabors.
Ned Smith has spent more than 26 years covering Florida sports. A native of Central Florida, Smith graduated from Florida State University and began his sports career at the Florida State University Football/Basketball Network in 1979. While serving as Sports Director and Sports Anchor at WTXL (ABC) in Tallahassee from 1982-1984, he also did play-by-play for ABC Sports during the 1982 college football season. Smith then went to WPEC (CBS) in West Palm Beach for two years. After leaving WPEC, Smith stayed in South Florida for the next twelve years at Miami stations WTVJ (NBC, 1986-1995) and WFOR (CBS, 1996-1998) as Sports Anchor. In 1994, Smith was voted the Florida Sportscaster of the Year by the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters. Since 1996, Smith has been a part of FOX Sports Net’s on-air team, most recently as host of Dolphins Magazine, Sunday Morning NFL and the Toyota Bowl Week College Football Specials. He also hosted The Dan Marino Show and was the Florida Panthers pre-game host during the 1996-1997 NHL season.
Keith Lebowitz is an Emmy Award-winning sports journalist who most recently was a sports reporter and fill-in anchor for KTVT (CBS) in Dallas-Fort Worth. Prior to joining KTVT, Lebowitz worked in several markets as an anchor and reporter, including KMIR (NBC) in Palm Desert, California and KTTV (FOX) in Los Angeles. While at KTTV, Lebowitz won two local Emmy’s for Outstanding Sports Feature Reporting and his work on FOX OVERTIME, the station’s NFL post-game show.
Randy McIlvoy has spent his 11 year Emmy Award-winning career as a sports anchor and reporter at several television stations in Texas including most recently as a sports reporter for WFAA (ABC) in Dallas-Fort Worth. He has worked for FOX Sports Net Southwest since 1998. Prior to joining FOX Sports Net, McIlvoy spent eight years as sports director and sports anchor at KMBT (ABC) in Beaumont, Texas. During his stint in Beaumont, he won four consecutive Associated Press Best Sportscast awards from 1995-98.
Joe Zagacki has been a part of the South Florida sports market for over twenty-one years. Most recently, he has served as a local sports anchor and reporter for WFOR-TV (CBS) since 1994. Prior to joining WFOR, he was the program director at all sports radio station WQAM (560 AM) from 1992-1994. During that same time, Zagacki was co-anchor of a weekend sports show and served as host for Miami Heat pre-game and half-time shows and Florida Marlins pre-game shows on WBFS-TV 33. He began his sports broadcasting career in 1979 at WIOD (610 AM) doing play-by-play and color commentary for local teams including the University of Miami. Zagacki was also born and raised in South Florida and attended Florida International University and Hollywood Chaminade High School.
Sage Steele has been a prominent sports anchor/reporter in the Tampa Bay area over the past two years as part of the WFTS-TV (ABC) sports team. Since joining WFTS in 1998, she has regularly covered the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Buccaneers, Lightning, Mutiny, Storm, USF and other local colleges and high school athletics. She also served as the producer and co-host of WFTS’ “Sports Rap.”
Mike Nabors has spent the majority of his sports broadcasting career covering North Florida sports. Most recently, he has spent the past two years as a Sports Reporter/Anchor at WTLV (NBC) in Jacksonville. At WTLV, he has contributed to the station’s Jacksonville Jaguars pre and post game shows and is well known for his Sunday night sports segment titled “The Naborhood”, which spotlights local athletes every week. Since 1998, he has also served as a Sports Talk Host on WBWL “The Ball”, a local all sports radio station in Jacksonville.
FOX Sports Net currently reaches over 3.8 million homes throughout Florida, including the home satellite dish market. FOX Sports Net’s programming includes Major League Baseball’s Florida Marlins and Tampa Bay Devil Rays; the National Hockey League’s Florida Panthers; the University of Miami, the University of South Florida and the University of North Florida.
FOX Sports Net reaches more than 70 million households nationwide. FOX Sports Net is a service of National Sports Partners, equally owned by Cablevision’s Rainbow Media Holdings, Inc., and FOX Entertainment Group. FOX Sports Net New England is a service of Rainbow Sports, a division of Cablevision’s Rainbow Media Holdings, Inc. Rainbow Sports has been dedicated to “Home Team” fans for nearly 20 years. Rainbow Sports incorporates all of Rainbow’s sports assets, including its 50 percent ownership of FOX Sports Net and FOX Sports National Advertising, the Madison Square Garden Properties, and the ownership and management of seven regional sports networks in six of the nation’s largest markets — Chicago, Florida, New England, New York, Ohio and San Francisco.
Contact:
Michelle Stevens
954-845-9994
mfstevens@rainbow-media.com