chad@espnaustin.com

Hometown: Waxahachie, TXFamily: 1 wife, 1 daughter, 1 dogEducation: A&M class of ’97, Speech Communication

The Radio story: I graduated from A&M, didn’t want to live in College Station (plus there was no sports radio there at the time), and moved to Austin with a tape, a resume, and not much else. I got a job at Golfsmith to pay the bills while I tried to get into radio. The break happened in the summer of ’97. Bill Schoening and Jeff Ward asked for people to call in to their show and talk in a Scottish accent. Actually, they didn’t, but a co-worker told me that. I called in and babbled in the accent. The next day, they had me call back. The next day, I took calls as the Scottish Guy. That fall, I got an internship with Bill and his soon to be new co-host, Craig Way at KVET AM in Austin. In August of ’98, Bill got me a gig in Lufkin as the news/sports director. I did Lufkin High basketball, Diboll football, and Angelina College basketball. During my year in East Texas, I also met my future wife. It was a great time. Then, in ’99, Bill and Craig called and offered me the chance to come back to Austin and be their producer.

June 14th, 1999 was my first day full time at the Zone. In early 2000, I was on the first morning sports talk show in Austin with Jon Madani and Hugh Lewis. In 2001, we were moved to afternoons. In March of 2001, Jon left and was replaced by Brian Jones. Brian, Hugh and I did the 2-4 show until the end of 2001 when Hugh left. In January of 2002, Kevin Dunn joined Brian and me and we were moved into the 4-7 slot. I was now on the show I had called into back in ’97. Pretty cool. The Afternoon Show ran that way for over 2 years and we had some great times. Then Brian left for other opportunities, and Kevin and I continued the show. In July of 2007, Kevin left and I was put into the 2-4 slot with Craig Way to make way for Gregg Henson and A.J. Hoffman in the afternoon. Craig and I enjoyed doing the show together, and thought things were going along smoothly. Then, on October 26th 2007, I was called into an office and told that due to budget cuts, there would be lay offs, and I was one of them. I was still allowed to do Longhorn pregame shows and UT women’s basketball until the end of the season as a contract employee. I started a web show on Blog Talk Radio to keep the chops up. Then in January, due to a mistake on my part and unwillingness on management’s part to accept my explanation, I was informed that despite two openings for on air positions, I was not being considered for either. Then in March of 2008, I got an opportunity to come here and work for ESPN radio. I am grateful to ESPN for allowing my family to stay in the area and allowing me to continue to do what I love.