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live. This often meant that the 11 p.m. newscast featured only highlights from the early through middle innings, since the film had to be rushed from Fenway Park to the station's studios in
Dorchester to be developed, edited and finally aired. Gillis would use the filmed highlights to set the stage for "telling" the audience about the late, and often decisive, action.
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In March 1972, however, Herald-Traveler Corp. lost its battle for a permanent license for the television property. Gillis, along with much of the on-air staff, were hired by the new licensee, Boston
Broadcasters Inc., to establish an on-air presence at the new WCVB-TV, and Gillis carried on as sports
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pennant, its TV ratings soared and Gillis was able to use film highlights of the team's games during his sportscasts. However, relatively few of the games were telecast compared to today's diet of 162 regular season broadcasts, and Ch. 5 would send a cameraman to the games that were not telecast
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so called because
Harvard came from 16 points behind with 42 seconds to play to tie on a two-point conversion on the last play of the game. In addition, Gillis hosted a weekly sports roundtable radio show, called "Voice of Sports," that featured sportswriters Bill Liston and Tim Horgan from the
315:). WHDH-TV expanded its late news from 15 minutes to a full half-hour to accommodate extended weather and sports segments. During the period when WHDH-TV held the license to Boston's Channel 5, the station was the flagship of the Red Sox TV network. After the team's improbable
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He retired from NewsCenter 5 broadcasts a year after the sale, although his son, Gary Gillis, continued as a sportscaster and sports anchor in the market for the city's
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show on WCVB until its cancellation on
January 27, 1996. He was elected to the World Candlepin Bowling Council's Hall of Fame for "extraordinary service" in 1987.
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in 1982 for the highest price then ever paid for a local television station, Gillis was one of many stockholders who profited handsomely from the transaction.
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during the autumn and winter months. Gillis hosted pregame coverage of Red Sox games — his "Warmup Time" five-minute segment often revisited great moments in
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director. Even though the Red Sox did not follow, ratings for the station's newscasts at 6 and 11 p.m. remained high. When WCVB-TV was acquired by
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But Gillis became best known as a television sports anchor. He began his sports report on
October 1, 1962 (the same night
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During the mid-to-late 1960s, he was the play-by-play announcer for a limited schedule of Boston Celtic games on WHDH-TV.
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in 1949, becoming that station's first sports director. In 1951, he joined the on-air staff of Boston's
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WHDH-TV - New
England News - Don Gillis, dean of Boston TV sportscasting, dies at 85
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programs on the station. When the show debuted on
October 4, 1958, it was hosted by
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Boston sportscasting pioneer Don Gillis, 85 - Local News
Updates - The Boston Globe
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Don Gillis, Dean Of Boston TV Sports, Dies - Boston News Story - WCVB Boston
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of the telecast was featured prominently as the basis for the 2008
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548:"1984 Candlepin Bowling Championship - Introduction (Part 1)"
283:(which owned WHDH) and other personalities, such as longtime
415:John Vellante. "Recreation is Right Up His Alley."
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186:of operations. At war's end, he attended Boston's
388:(Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.), 2011.
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109:Learn how and when to remove this message
255:single game he called was the 29–29 tie
236:on Bruins and Celtics games. During the
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