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CHRIS BERMAN
5-TIME NATIONAL SPORTSCASTER OF THE YEAR KNOWN FOR HIS NICKNAMES AND JOVIAL STUDIO ANCHORING ON ESPN
In October 1979 – one month after its inception – ESPN hired a little known 24-year-old sports anchor named Chris Berman. Since then, Berman, with his trademark combination of wit, enthusiasm and knowledge, has come to embody ESPN in its dedication to entertaining and informing sports fans across the country.
Berman has established himself as one of television’s most popular and entertaining sports commentators – and one of the most respected. Five times the versatile Berman has been selected the National Sportscaster of the Year by the members of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. He is the only cable commentator ever chosen. Berman and his various shows have won six Emmy Awards and 12 CableACEs.
Berman’s primary responsibilities include ESPN’s NFL programming. He hosts NFL Countdown, a weekly Sunday morning pre-game show which won four Emmy Awards and five CableACEs; NFL PrimeTime, ESPN’s critically-acclaimed Sunday evening highlight show; and ESPN’s Sunday Night Football telecasts. During halftime of the NFL telecasts, Berman narrates “The Fastest Three Minutes in Television” featuring highlights of the day’s NFL results. For 18 seasons he has hosted the weekly “Two-Minute Drill” featuring “The Swami”, as well as ESPN’s NFL Draft coverage. He has been hosting NFL-related programming for ESPN since 1979 – and full-blown since 1987, when the network first acquired the rights to carry the NFL. Starting in 1996, Berman added halftime-hosting duties for ANC Sports’ Monday Night Football, arguably television’s most celebrated sports series.
Since 1990, Berman has served as a play-by-play commentator for ESPN Major League Baseball games which, beginning in 1996, includes division playoff coverage. He also hosts Baseball Tonight, the network’s nightly compendium of Major League Baseball highlights, news and features.
Berman is an occasional host of SportsCenter, ESPN’s daily sports news program. He was a SportsCenter regular throughout ESPN’s first decade and was part of ESPN’s Emmy Award winning team in 1990. Chris also appears on ESPN Radio during the football and baseball seasons.
Chris is famous for his use of nicknames while voicing over Major League baseball highlights. Over the last 17 years, the media, viewers and players have praised him across the country for his lighthearted and humorous approach. Berman has played himself in six motion pictures, including Kingpin, Eddie, Celtic Pride, Little Big League, Necessary Roughness and The Program.
In 1986, while working at ESPN, Berman also provided daily weekday sports commentaries for KFRC-Radio in San Francisco and, in 1987, for WFAN-Radio in New York.
Berman’s first broadcasting position came while he was a student at Brown University. After graduating from Brown in 1977, Berman began his career as a disc jockey at WERI in Westerly, RI, hosting a news-oriented talk show and covering high school football and basketball games. His first television exposure came in 1979 when he joined WVIT-TV, an NBC affiliate in Hartford, CT., as a weekend sports anchor.
