Pam Oliver Calls Fox’s Demotion ‘Humiliating’ + Believes Age, Not Race Influenced Decision

September 5, 2014 by Kellie Williams in Latest News with 1 Comment

and they both flew to Atlanta. It showed a lot of respect that they chose to meet with me in person instead of delivering the news through my agent. They could have done all this without ever looking me in the eye. Still, it wasn’t an easy conversation. It took a while, but eventually it got down to them saying they wanted to “change direction within the company.” They told me they’d like me to work on Fox Sports 1 (the fledgling secondary cable sports channel Fox launched in 2013) to help give FS1 more reporting credibility. They wanted me to work primarily on specials and long-form stories, but I told them I still wanted to do sideline reporting. It was important to me to have a twentieth season—to end on 19 is wack! I wanted 20.

Erin Andrews, Pam Oliver

If she believes race played a role in her being replaced:

Once the changes were announced, people started talking. Some asked, “Do you think it had something to do with your race?” No. I definitely do not. Others asked, “Does it have something to do with your age?” Well, maybe. The business is very demographic-oriented. As one executive said to me, Fox Sports will look radically different in the coming years. I assume that means they want to look younger. It’s not difficult to notice that the new on-air people there are all young, blond and “hot.” That’s not to say that Erin isn’t capable. I think she’s very capable. She’s also popular on Twitter and social media, so I can see how that would also make her highly sought after. Still, covering the NFL is a big deal. Stations like ABC and NBC entrust their programming to veterans. So when people talk about all networks making a turn to a particular type of girl on the sidelines, it doesn’t hold water.

On moving forward:

Two weeks after meeting with my bosses, I woke up and said to myself, Okay, I’m supposed to learn something from this. My first step was to get back to my routine. Every morning I begin my day the same way: meditate, pray and affirm. I call it my “P.O. Power Hour” because it fortifies me. Through all the changes, I had abandoned the things that help me the most, and then I was wondering why I was so miserable! So I reinstated my Power Hour—I visualize what I want for my day, what I want for the big picture and what I hope for the world. Then I read the Bible until I’ve gotten the answer I need. With that, I began to feel better.

Click here to read Pam’s full story.