"Don West, whose loud and often controversial broadcasting style prompted
more jeers than cheers, is out as the late night sports card salesman at
Shop At Home. West's eight-year employment at the home shopping giant ended
this past week. While it is unclear exactly why West is no longer with the
network, the company said it was a mutual decision prompted by a change in
direction.
"We were planning to go in a different direction and Don felt that wasn't
the direction he wanted to go, so he wanted to pursue other outside
opportunities," said Kearstin Patterson, a spokeswoman for Shop At Home.
"Don had been a loyal employee for about eight years and brought a lot to
Shop At Home, but in the end he decided with the new direction we are
taking, he thought it best to pursue other options."
Patterson said the network is moving toward a softer sell on the sports
collectible programs and that wasn't what West was all about.
"That wasn't Don's style," she said. "As you know Don was hard sell and very
good at it, and he brought a lot of revenue to Shop At Home."
West was controversial to say the least. Hobby dealers and industry insiders
say West often crossed the line in his wild hawking ways, often screaming a
card was "near mint" when viewers could easily see flaws in the product
being shown. To some, West had become a caricature of himself, sounding more
like a midway barker than a celebrity salesperson of sports memorabilia.
Patterson said she's never had any formal complaints.
"I never received complaints about Don's style or anything that he said, but
I'm not in the customer service area and fielding calls directly from
customers. I never heard that personally," she said.
While West did have his detractors, the program has been one of the most
successful for Shop At Home. When it came to West's loud style, one former
SATH executive told dealers at the Kit Young Conference in Hawaii a few
years ago that "you have to do something different to keep people awake at
3:00 o'clock in the morning and he does it."
West's departure comes on the heels of the firing of Shop At Home CEO Kent
Lillie just a week earlier. Patterson said the rest of the sports
collectibles crew will remain intact."
