List of Los Angeles Dodgers broadcasters

This article details the current and historical radio and television broadcasters for the National League Los Angeles Dodgers. The history of Dodgers' games being broadcast began when the then-Brooklyn Dodgers became one of the first Major League Baseball teams to begin radio broadcasts and were the first to be featured on a television baseball game broadcast, both during the 1939 season.

Broadcasters

Red Barber was the Dodgers' original lead broadcaster, calling Brooklyn Dodgers games on the radio (and later TV) from 1939 to 1953.

Vin Scully called Dodgers games from 1950 to 2016.[1] His longtime partners were Jerry Doggett (1956–1987) and Ross Porter (1977–2004).[1] In 1976, he was selected by Dodgers fans as the Most Memorable Personality (on the field or off) in the team's history. He is also a recipient of the Baseball Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasters (inducted in 1982). Unlike the modern style in which multiple sportscasters have an on-air conversation (usually with one functioning as play-by-play announcer and the other(s) as color commentator), Scully, Doggett and Porter generally called games solo, trading with each other inning-by-inning. In the 1980s and early 1990s, Scully would call the radio broadcast except for the 3rd and 7th inning; allowing the other Dodger commentators to broadcast an inning. In the later '90s, Scully would call the first three innings and the last three on television and the middle three on the radio, switching off with his partners.

When Doggett retired after the 1987 season, he was replaced by Hall-of-Fame Dodgers pitcher Don Drysdale, who previously broadcast games for the California Angels.[1] Drysdale died in his hotel room following a heart attack before a game in 1993, resulting in a very difficult broadcast for Scully and Porter, who were told of the death but could not mention it on-air until Drysdale's family had been notified and the official announcement of the death made.[2] He was replaced by former Dodgers outfielder Rick Monday.[1] Porter's tenure was terminated somewhat controversially after the 2004 season, after which the current format of play-by-play announcers and color commentators was installed, led by newcomer Charley Steiner and Monday.[1] Scully, however, continued to announce solo.

As of the 2012 season, Scully called roughly 80 games per season (all home games and select road games in Southern California)[3] for both radio and television. Scully was simulcast for the first three innings of each of his appearances, before calling the remainder of the game exclusively on television. The 2016 season marked his 67th and final season as a Dodgers broadcaster; Scully called a reduced schedule with only 6 road games, including the team's season finale in San Francisco.[4][5] Scully's commentary during his final game was simulcast in its entirety on radio, instead of only the first three innings.[6][7]

During games called by Scully, Charley Steiner took over play-by-play on radio beginning with the fourth inning, with Rick Monday as color commentator.[3] If Scully was not calling the game, an alternate team of broadcasters (Steiner and Steve Lyons from 2005 to 2008, Lyons and Eric Collins from 2009 to 2013, and Steiner and Orel Hershiser starting in 2014) called the entire game on television while Steiner and Monday did the same on radio. Starting in 2014, Nomar Garciaparra joined Steiner and Hershiser to form a three-man television crew; for those games, Kevin Kennedy worked with Monday on radio. In 2016, Joe Davis was hired to join the broadcast team to call approximately 50 road games on television. The pre-game show on the radio is hosted by Tim Cates and the post-game show features David Vassegh. Davis was later announced to be the team's new primary play-by-play announcer after Vin Scully's retirement, working with Hershisher. Kennedy left the broadcast booth after 2018 and Tim Neverett joined.

The Dodgers also broadcast on radio in Spanish, and the play-by-play is handled by another Ford C. Frick Award winner, Jaime Jarrín. Jarrín has been with the Dodgers since 1959 until his retirement after the 2022 season. The color analyst for some games is former Dodger pitcher Fernando Valenzuela, for whom Jarrín once translated post-game interviews. Since 2011, the Spanish-language flagship station is KTNQ Univision America 1020.

In 2014, the Dodgers launched Korean-language broadcasts on the second audio program of SportsNet LA, becoming the first MLB team to offer a Korean-language feed for all of its games. The broadcasts are called by Richard Choi and Chong Ho Yim. It followed the launch of Korean Los Angeles Lakers broadcasts on Time Warner Cable SportsNet, and the return of Korean-language radio broadcasts in 2013 following the arrival of Hyun-Jin Ryu.[8]

In 2023, the Dodgers added Stephen Nelson as the new television play-by-play announcer. Nelson previously worked for the MLB Network and called MLB Friday night games on Apple TV Plus and will be substituting for Joe Davis when he is on MLB or NFL game for Fox Sports.

Broadcast outlets

From 2006 to 2013, the over-the-air games were aired on KCAL-TV after the two parties signed a multi-year, multimillion-dollar deal in 2005, and they aired 50 games per season. The previous over-the-air television homes for the Dodgers in Los Angeles were KCOP from 2002 to 2005; KTLA from 1993 to 2001; and KTTV from 1958 to 1992. In their New York days, WOR-TV carried Dodgers games from 1950 until their move following the 1957 season.

The cable television home of the Dodgers was Fox Sports Net Prime Ticket (previously known as Fox Sports Net West 2) from 1997 to 2013.

Starting in the late 1970s through the early 1990s, the Dodgers put a small number of their home games on a subscription/pay-per-view service appropriately carried Dodgervision. During that timeframe, in addition to the road telecasts from KTTV, selected home games were also televised on the ONTV subscription service, the now-defunct Z Channel/SportsChannel Los Angeles network, and then again, on a pay-per-view basis until a majority of Dodgers games debuted on the then-new Fox Sports Net West 2 in 1997, just around the same time FSN West 2's parent company, News Corporation (also owner of KTTV) bought the team from the O'Malley family. In relation to News Corp's purchase of the Dodgers, there was speculation that the Dodgers over-the-air telecasts would return to KTTV, but they were still under contract to KTLA.

List of current and former broadcasters and stations

See also

• List of current Major League Baseball announcers
• Los Angeles Dodgers Radio Network