Josh Lewin is an American sportscaster who works as a

play-by-play In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

announcer for the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) ...

football and basketball teams. Josh Lewin and Tom Grieve

Early life and career

Lewin is originally from

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

, but lived outside of Boston for several years as a young boy. As early as nursery school, he was an avid sports fan. He graduated from

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

, where he was a member of the

Lambda Chi Alpha Lambda Chi Alpha (), commonly known as Lambda Chi, is a college fraternity in North America which was founded at Boston University in 1909. It is one of the largest social fraternities in North America, with more than 300,000 lifetime members a ...

fraternity, in 1990.

Broadcasting career

Minor league baseball

Lewin got his start in broadcasting as the radio commentator for the

Rochester Red Wings The Rochester Red Wings are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They are located in Rochester, New York, and play their home games at Innovative Field, located in downt ...

, then the Triple-A affiliate of the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

, at the age of 16, and became the team's regular play-by-play announcer in 1991. With the Red Wings, Lewin was a member of a staff that included

Joe Altobelli Joseph Salvatore Altobelli (May 26, 1932 – March 3, 2021) was an American professional baseball first baseman and outfielder who played for the Cleveland Indians and Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball. He was also a manager for the San Fr ...

, Russ Brandon,

Glenn Geffner Glenn Geffner, a Miami native, is a radio play-by-play announcer who recently announced for the Miami Marlins. Geffner joined the Marlins radio broadcast team in 2008. Geffner partners with Dave Van Horne on the Marlins Radio Network. In addition ...

, Joe Kehoskie, and Bob Socci.

Major League Baseball

Lewin went on to call

games on the radio in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

and

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...

, on TV for the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is locate ...

on WGN in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

and on TV for the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

from

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

on Fox Sports Detroit. In 2000, he was the first-ever recipient of the Ty Tyson Award for Excellence in Sports Broadcasting, awarded by the Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association. He was the TV voice for the Texas Rangers from

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

through

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

, usually on

Fox Sports Southwest Bally Sports Southwest is a Texan regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group (a joint-venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios), and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. The channel broadcasts regional c ...

but also on local broadcasts for

KDFI KDFI (channel 27), branded on-air as Fox 4 More or More 27, is a television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, United States, broadcasting MyNetworkTV to the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alon ...

, KDFW and TXA 21. The Rangers organization announced on October 11, 2011, that Lewin would not be returning as play-by-play announcer for the team. On February 9, 2012, it was announced that Lewin would be joining the New York Mets Radio Network, succeeding Wayne Hagin. He shared play-by-play duties with Howie Rose on Mets broadcasts. Lewin left his position with the Mets following the 2018 season. During the 2019 MLB season, Lewin served as a part-time play-by-play announcer for

Boston Red Sox Radio Network The Boston Red Sox Radio Network is an American radio network composed of 54 radio stations which carry English language coverage of the Boston Red Sox, a professional baseball team in Major League Baseball (MLB). Lawrence, Massachusetts stat ...

broadcasts alongside

Joe Castiglione Joseph John Castiglione (born March 2, 1947) is an American radio announcer for the Boston Red Sox baseball team,Joe Castig ...

. Lewin was one of the original play-by-play commentators for '' Fox Major League Baseball,'' calling regular season regional games from 1996 to 2011. He started on the fourth regional crew calling games, but by 1999 was promoted to the number three booth where he would remain from 1999 to 2011. He would often fill in for principal play-by-play men Joe Buck (with

Tim McCarver James Timothy McCarver (born October 16, 1941) is an American former professional baseball player and television sports commentator. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from to , most prominently as a member of the St. Louis Cardina ...

during the regular season) or

Thom Brennaman Thomas Wade Brennaman (born September 12, 1963) is an American television sportscaster. He is the son of former Cincinnati Reds radio sportscaster Marty Brennaman. Broadcasting career After graduating in 1982 from Cincinnati's Anderson High Sch ...

(with Steve Lyons during the postseason). Lewin left

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the F ...

after his contract with

was not renewed.

National Football League

During football seasons past, Lewin served as both a sideline reporter and play-by-play man for ''

Fox NFL The ''NFL on Fox'' (also known as ''Fox NFL'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games produced by Fox Sports and televised on the Fox broadcast network. Game coverage is usually preceded by '' Fox NFL Kick ...

'' and called NFL games for SportsUSA/Jones Radio. From

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

, he was the radio voice of the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

(he left after the team's move to Los Angeles at the end of the 2016 season). On August 26, 2006, Lewin provided television play-by-play for

' ''Fox Saturday Baseball'' game of the week between the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one ...

and

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ...

. That game took place at

Angel Stadium of Anaheim Angel Stadium of Anaheim is a baseball stadium located in Anaheim, California. Since its opening in 1966, it has served as the home ballpark of the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB), and was also the home stadium to the Los Ange ...

. When the game was over, he traveled 90 miles down to

Qualcomm Stadium San Diego Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium on the west coast of the United States, in San Diego, California. The stadium opened in 1967 as San Diego Stadium and was known as Jack Murphy Stadium from 1981 to 1997. From 1997 to 2017, the st ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

to provide radio play-by-play coverage of the

' NFL preseason game against the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 a ...

for the Chargers Radio Network. The two games announced in one day was similar to Ted Leitner's time as announcer for both the Chargers and the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penn ...

when he would broadcast a Chargers game then travel to join the Padres broadcast late in the baseball season.

National Hockey League

Lewin has also subbed in as the

Dallas Stars The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and were founded during the 1967 NHL expansion as the Minne ...

play-by-play man when Dallas' usual lead voice,

Ralph Strangis Ralph Strangis is a 7-time Emmy Award winning NHL play-by-play broadcaster who began calling NHL hockey in 1990-91 with the Minnesota North Stars, working alongside Hall of Fame broadcaster Al Shaver. Strangis relocated to Dallas with the Stars ...

, was recovering from a car accident in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...

. He also did play-by-play for '' Fox NHL Saturday'' in 1998 and FSN Detroit's coverage of CCHA hockey.

''The Josh and Elf Show''

On October 29, 2010, it was announced that Lewin would be moving to 105.3 The Fan to host a new show in their 11am–2pm time slot. The new show started on November 1, 2010, with Greg Williams and Richie Witt moving their show to the 2pm–7pm slot. On Monday, November 29, 2010, it was announced Mark "Elf" Elfenbein would be joining the show now named ''The Josh and Elf Show''. Following Lewin's hiring by the New York Mets and departure from The Fan, Elf and friends was launched. Numerous personalities tried out to fill Lewin's spot. He would eventually be replaced by Jane Slater, making it ''The Elf and Slater Show''.

College football

Lewin is employed by the

Big Ten Network Big Ten Network (BTN) is an American sports network based in Chicago, Illinois. The channel is dedicated to coverage of collegiate sports sanctioned by the Big Ten Conference, including live and recorded event telecasts, news, analysis programs ...

calling football games. He also has called

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are ...

football on Sports USA as well. On June 2, 2016, he was hired to be the play-by-play announcer for the

UCLA Bruins football The UCLA Bruins football program represents the University of California, Los Angeles, in college football as members of the Pac-12 Conference at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level. The Bruins play their home games at the ...

team.

College basketball

Lewin also calls collegiate basketball for UCLA, along with former Bruin standout

Tracy Murray Tracy, Tracey, or Tracie may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tracy (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname, also encompassing spelling variations Places United States * Tracy, C ...

. Lewin has made other appearances on Sports USA,

Fox Sports Networks Fox Sports Networks (FSN), formerly known as Fox Sports Net, was the collective name for a group of regional sports channels in the United States. Formed in 1996 by News Corporation, the networks were acquired by The Walt Disney Company on Ma ...

, the

SMU Mustangs The SMU Mustangs are the athletic teams that represent Southern Methodist University in University Park, Texas, United States. The Mustangs were founded in 1911 and joined the Southwest Conference, competing against Baylor, Rice, Texas, Texa ...

and

Michigan State Spartans The Michigan State Spartans are the athletic teams that represent Michigan State University. The school's athletic program includes 23 varsity sports teams. Their mascot is a Spartan warrior named Sparty, and the school colors are green and wh ...

References

External links

Official Broadcaster Bio on KIOZ 105.3 Website
(Official Chargers Radio Station)
Article "MLB and NFL Announcer Josh Lewin"

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewin, Josh Living people American radio sports announcers American television sports announcers Baltimore Orioles announcers Boston Red Sox announcers Chicago Cubs announcers College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers College hockey announcers in the United States Dallas Stars announcers Detroit Tigers announcers Major League Baseball broadcasters Minor League Baseball broadcasters National Football League announcers National Hockey League broadcasters New York Mets announcers Northwestern University alumni San Diego Chargers announcers San Diego Padres announcers Sportspeople from Rochester, New York Texas Rangers (baseball) announcers UCLA Bruins football announcers Year of birth missing (living people)