If Kelvin Washington were a baseball player, he would be that incredibly reliable veteran player who can play all over the field, be your emergency catcher, pitch in a blowout, get you a big hit when you need it, and he would be the one trying to crack everyone up in the dugout trying to keep everybody loose. As a broadcaster, in his own words, “Utility player is an understatement.”
Consider his new schedule starting today. His weekday mornings will be spent on television working for Spectrum News 1 in Los Angeles where his show airs locally from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. His late afternoons/early evenings will see him on FOX Sports Radio as the new co-host of The Odd Couple with another savvy veteran, Rob Parker. Washington is taking over for Chris Broussard who decided it was the right time to focus mostly on his television show on FS1. The show airs from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET which is 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. for Washington in L.A.
Sprinkle in 15-20 Los Angeles Dodgers games doing pre- and post-game shows or whatever else might be needed for SportsNet LA along with a (clearly understanding) wife and three kids and you have one busy man.
Washington has worked with Fox Sports Radio & Premiere Networks Senior Vice President Scott Shapiro and Don Martin, Executive Vice President of Programming for iHeartMedia Sports for several years. Washington couldn’t be more excited to have finally found something regular where he can work with people he truly respects.
“Don and Scott have been great to me for years,” Washington said. “We’ve been doing business with each other for quite some time. But finally, being able to find something that makes sense, and everything aligned. The TV station asked, ‘how do you feel about mornings?’ And then three days later, I’m doing lunch with Don and Scott, and they say they have an opportunity for me later in the day, which I couldn’t have done if I hadn’t already decided to move to mornings. Literally it just all aligned perfectly.”
Washington loves what he does and is very pumped up to get started as a regular on FOX Sports Radio. He does say however, he wouldn’t advise anyone to try and follow in his exact footsteps.
“When I talk to young folks and people I mentor, I tell them don’t do what I did. It just happened to work for me. The point is you don’t want to be the jack-of-all-trades per se, what you want to do is master one thing and then other opportunities will present themselves. It’s like that rapper/musician who’s good at it. And the next thing someone wants you to be in a movie or wants you to do a hosting gig. That person mastered being a musician and artist and other opportunities came. For me radio was that thing. Radio was the thing that I got really good at and then TV opened up its doors and voiceover work and hosting events and all of that came after.”
After the announcement was made that Washington would be his replacement, Broussard reached out to him and the two had a conversation that was very important to Washington. He didn’t want to go into all of the details of what was said between them but did say Broussard was very supportive of him being the choice.
“I’ve known him for a little bit, and he just called me and told me that he’s happy for me and that he really was excited specifically for me and this opportunity and he thought I’d be great for it,” Washington said. “He thought I was versatile and talented and that I would be able to add to the show and kind of give it a new spin. It was awesome to get that from him. He’s somebody I look up to in this business, somebody who I have great respect for. Professionally and personally, just a great guy, great dude. He was good at his job, but he’s also a great human. So, it was really great to get that especially considering he’s been there since the show’s beginning and built the house with Rob.”
Washington said he and Parker have known each other for many years, have hosted shows together and socialized, so there is a comfort from the start with the new show partnership.
“I’ve known Rob for years,” he said. “He has come to my birthday parties. I’ve known Rob for probably more than 12 years now. I’ve had him on my shows, he was a guest on my podcast. So, we’ve done things together.
When asked about what he will bring to the show that will make listeners realize they are tuning into The Odd Couple, but a different version of the show.
“First of all, I bring some ‘youthful energy.'” That statement was made with air quotes and as Washington said, “I’m making just fun of my older brothers, my older mentors. But I bring a different perspective. I think my presentation, the way I do sports is different than others. A lot of people are hell-bent on hot takes, and I bring kind of an everyday, average Joe perspective to things. Also, a lot of humor, that’s really my bag that’s my wheelhouse, bringing a liveliness to it, an element of cool too, being honest. You put all that in a blender, we’re gonna have a really good time. I think listeners will have a really good time as well. And that’s the whole goal to make people feel like they can’t miss this.”
While Washington enjoys what he gets to do on television, radio is where it really started for him and is something he really enjoys doing, given the differences in the amount of time you get to spend on subjects.
“Radio is a personal medium and to be honest with you, this is the excitement, this is the joy for me,” he said. “To be able to do what I do on TV, then get to radio where I can expound on my opinions and expound on these conversations…I can spend a whole 12-minute block talking about the Tyreek Hill situation if we choose to. On TV, sometimes it’s ‘here’s an update on what happened.’
“On radio we get to talk the whole segment. It might even be a half-hour. We’re going to dedicate time to this or that because it’s that important or that funny or it might just be a topic that excites us. I am excited to utilize those muscles more than I’ve been able to do in quite some time.”
September 16, 2024, is the date the new era of The Odd Couple begins. For Kelvin Washington, it is a culmination of a lot of hard work over the years paying off. Getting to co-host a daily national sports talk radio show on FOX Sports Radio is a big deal and he is up to the task and ready for what is to come.
“Somebody’s got to still go at Rob,” he said. “Somebody’s still got to keep Rob in line, keep Rob in check. And I think I’m the man to do that. To carry on what my brother Chris Broussard started. I think listeners should be prepared to have a different, unique sound to a sports talk show. I think I bring something different than Rob, that’s what makes it The Odd Couple. And I’m not trying to replace Chris Broussard, I’m trying to add a different element that will continue to move the show forward.”
Dave Greene is the Chief Media Officer for Barrett Media. His background includes over 25 years in media and content creation. A former sports talk host and play-by-play broadcaster, Dave transitioned to station and sales management, co-founded and created a monthly sports publication and led an ownership group as the operating partner. He has managed stations and sales teams for Townsquare Media, Cumulus Media and Audacy. Upon leaving broadcast media he co-founded Podcast Heat, a sports and entertainment podcasting network specializing in pro wrestling nostalgia. To interact, find him on Twitter @mr_podcasting. You can also reach him by email at Dave@BarrettMedia.com.
