John Wells (born February 11, 1946) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

sportscaster. His most recent show, which ended in April 2008, was ''Wells And Company'' on

CJOB CJOB (680 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is owned and operated by Corus Radio and airs a news/ talk format with news and sports programs. CJOB and its sister stations, CFPG-FM, CJKR-FM, and CKND-DT, ...

radio in

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

, Canada."CJOB fires broadcast vet Wells"
''Winnipeg Free Press'', April 19, 2008 He broadcast

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

games for over 30 years. He is the son of "Cactus" Jack Wells. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1995.

Biography

Early life and career

Wells broadcasting career began in 1965 at

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...

CKY-FM CKY-FM (102.3 MHz) is a Canadian FM radio station broadcasting in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The station airs a hot adult contemporary format branded as ''KiSS 102.3''. The station is owned by Rogers Sports & Media which also owns sister station C ...

. He moved to television in 1969 as sports director for

CKCK-TV CKCK-DT (channel 2) is a television station in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, part of the CTV Television Network. Owned and operated by network parent Bell Media, the station maintains studios and transmitter facilities on Eastgate Drive and High ...

in Regina. Wells spent six years as a play-by-play announcer for CFL on CTV. He also spent nine years with

CBXT CBXT-DT (channel 5) is a CBC Television station in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It is part of a twinstick with Ici Radio-Canada Télé station CBXFT-DT (channel 11). Both stations share studios at the Edmonton City Centre (across from Churchill ...

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

CBC Sports

In 1971, Wells began working for CBC Sports. At CBC, he worked at two Canada Games (1971 & 1979) and hosted the 1978 Commonwealth Games, the 1983 World University Games, and the 1984 Summer and

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

. He also worked on ''

Hockey Night in Canada CBC Television has aired National Hockey League (NHL) broadcasts under the ''Hockey Night in Canada'' (often abbreviated ''Hockey Night'' or ''HNiC'') brand that is primarily associated with its Saturday night NHL broadcasts throughout its hi ...

'' from 1979 to 1984 as a rinkside reporter and host for telecasts from

and as a studio host and play-by-play announcer on the ''

CFL on CBC ''CFL on CBC'' was a presentation of Canadian Football League football aired on CBC Television. CBC held broadcast rights for the CFL from 1952 to 2007. The exclusive broadcasting rights for the league moved to TSN starting from the 2008 CFL se ...

'' from 1973 to 1983.

TSN

In 1984, Wells joined the new

cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

specialty channel,

The Sports Network The Sports Network (TSN) is a Canadian English language sports specialty channel established by the Labatt Brewing Company in 1984 as part of the first group of Canadian specialty cable channels. Since 2001, it has been majority-owned by comm ...

. At TSN, he hosted the 1988 Winter Olympics and was the first host of the '' NHL on TSN'', and the first play by play man of the

CFL on TSN The ''CFL on TSN'' is TSN's presentation of the Canadian Football League. The Sports Network (TSN) has broadcast CFL games since the 1987 season and has been the exclusive broadcaster of all CFL games (including the playoffs and Grey Cup) sin ...

. He was also one of the original ''SportsDesk'' hosts and also hosted ''TSN Sunday'' and ''SportsDesk X-tra''. He also covered Canada Cup hockey, Canadian college football, Blue Jays baseball, boxing, horse racing, and other variety of sports. From 1990–1993, he hosted coverage of the

NHL Entry Draft The NHL Entry Draft (french: Repêchage d'entrée dans la LNH) is an annual meeting in which every franchise of the National Hockey League (NHL) systematically select the rights to available ice hockey players who meet draft eligibility requirem ...

. When the NBA came to Canada in 1995, Wells became the host of TSN's pre-game show, ''NBA Tonight''. Wells also contributed on TSN's coverage of curling, including calling the early rounds of the 2001 Nokia Brier and the

2003 Scott Tournament of Hearts The 2003 Scott Tournament of Hearts was held at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium in Kitchener, Ontario from February 15 to 23. The defending champion, Colleen Jones won the right to represent "Canada" and she would go on to win her third stra ...

. For years, he hosted the CFL Outstanding Player Awards and the annual Hockey Hall of Fame induction ceremony. He was also a frequent guest and co-host on the

Fan 590 CJCL (590 AM, ''Sportsnet 590 The Fan'') is a Canadian sports radio station in Toronto, Ontario. Owned and operated by Rogers Sports & Media since 2002, CJCL's studios are located at the Rogers Building at Bloor and Jarvis in downtown Toron ...

, and panelist on ''

Prime Time Sports ''Prime Time Sports'' was a sports radio talk show produced from the studios of CJCL, ''Sportsnet 590 The Fan'', in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The show was hosted by Bob McCown until June 21, 2019 when McCown left the show. After his departure, t ...

''.

Departure from TSN and move to CJOB radio

By 2006, Wells had been phased out at TSN after

Chris Cuthbert Chris Cuthbert (born September 20, 1957) is a Canadian sportscaster. He is the lead play-by-play commentator for ''NHL on Sportsnet'' and ''Hockey Night in Canada'', since 2021. Formerly, he worked for TSN, NBC, and CBC Sports in a multitude of ...

joined the network. He moved to

radio in Winnipeg, where he became the host of an afternoon show. Wells left CJOB in April 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wells, John Canadian television sportscasters People from Winnipeg National Hockey League broadcasters Living people Canadian Football League announcers Olympic Games broadcasters Curling broadcasters Canadian radio sportscasters 1946 births Toronto Blue Jays announcers Major League Baseball broadcasters National Basketball Association broadcasters Boxing commentators Canadian horse racing announcers Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees