Dan Bickley (born September 17, 1963) is an American sports radio talk show host and on-line sports columnist in Phoenix, Arizona.

Early life and education

Bickley grew up on the

South Side of Chicago The South Side is one of the three major sections of the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Geographically, it is the largest of the sections of the city, with the other two being the North and West Sides. It radiates and lies south o ...

, where he developed an early love for print journalism. He graduated

William Fremd High School William Fremd High School, or Fremd (initially Palatine High School South), is a public four-year high school located in Palatine, Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of Township High School Distr ...

(

Palatine, Illinois Palatine () is a village in Cook County, Illinois, Cook and Lake County, Illinois, Lake counties, Illinois, United States. It is a northwestern residential Chicago metropolitan area, suburb of Chicago. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 c ...

) in 1981, and from

Harper College William Rainey Harper College is a Public college, public community college in Palatine, Illinois. It was established by referendum in 1965 and opened in September 1967. It is named for William Rainey Harper, a pioneer in the junior college m ...

in 1984 with a degree in journalism.

Professional career

His first job in journalism was with the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'', where he was a sports

beat reporter Beat reporting, also known as specialized reporting, is a genre of journalism focused on a particular issue, sector, organization, or institution over time. Description Beat reporters build up a base of knowledge on and gain familiarity with t ...

. He covered the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded on January 16 ...

and

Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player, who is currently a minority owner of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Ass ...

during their championship runs. After leaving the Sun-Times he became a

syndicated columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the form of a short essa ...

for the

Copley News Service Copley Press was a privately held newspaper business, founded in Illinois but later based in La Jolla, California. Its flagship paper was ''The San Diego Union-Tribune''. History Founder Ira Clifton Copley launched Copley Press c. 1905, eventu ...

. In 1998 he moved to Arizona to cover the expansion baseball team, the

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. The franchise was established ...

, for the

Arizona Republic ''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. History Early years The newspap ...

. He was also a sports

anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ', which itself comes from the Greek (). Anch ...

for the local NBC affiliate, until a change of ownership. He became the lead

sports columnist Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism has its roots in coverage of horse racing and boxing in the early 1800s, mainly targeted towards elites, and into t ...

for ''The Arizona Republic'' and its on-line edition, ''AZCentral.com''. After several years in Arizona, he began doing sports talk radio on

KGME KGME (910 AM) is a commercial radio station in Phoenix, Arizona, featuring a sports format known as "Fox Sports 910." Owned by iHeartMedia, the station's studios are located in Phoenix near Sky Harbor International Airport, and broadcasts with ...

and in 2009 the show was voted "Best Local Sports Talk" radio show. In 2013 he moved to

KMVP-FM KMVP-FM (98.7 Hertz, MHz) is a commercial Radio broadcasting, radio station in Phoenix, Arizona, featuring a Sports radio, sports format branded as "98.7 FM Arizona's Sports Station". Local programming airs on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. and ...

, later branded as ''Arizona Sports 98.7 FM''. In 2018 the show was expanded to four hours, and he left print journalism. He has continued his column only on-line and exclusively for ''Arizonasports.com''. He has expressed a pessimistic view of the future for print journalism: "The Golden Age of Journalism didn't last...newspapers are dying." He now feels liberated from deadlines,

paywalls A paywall is a method of restricting access to content, with a purchase or a paid subscription, especially news. Beginning in the mid-2010s, newspapers started implementing paywalls on their websites as a way to increase revenue after years of ...

and

pop-up ads Pop-up ads or pop-ups are forms of online advertising on the World Wide Web. A pop-up is a graphical user interface (GUI) display area, usually a small window, that suddenly appears ("pops up") in the foreground of the visual interface. The pop- ...

. He has been called the closest thing Phoenix has to a sports media superstar. Bickley has written two books, both about sports figures with strong Chicago connections,

Jerry Colangelo Jerry Colangelo (born November 20, 1939) is an American businessman and sports executive. He formerly owned the Phoenix Suns of the NBA, the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA, the Arizona Sandsharks of the Continental Indoor Soccer League, the A ...

and

Dennis Rodman Dennis Keith Rodman (born May 13, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player. Renowned for his defensive and rebounding abilities, his biography on the official NBA website states that he is "arguably the best rebounding forw ...

. In the 2009 ''Return of the Gold: The Journey of Jerry Colangelo and the Redeem Team'' Bickley paints a very positive image of Colangelo. He describes Colangelo's difficult Chicago upbringing and how he used his reputation and credibility to save

USA Basketball USA Basketball (USAB) is a non-profit organization and the governing body for basketball in the United States. The organization represents the United States in FIBA, and the men's and women's national basketball teams in the United States ...

after humiliating Olympic basketball defeats in 2004. Almost a decade later he has retained his enthusiasm for Colangelo, recommending he take over the last place

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...

. ''No Bull: The Unauthorized Biography of Dennis Rodman'' (1997) discussed the career and bizarre antics of Rodman. He posits that rather than his behavior being out of control, Rodman deftly manipulated the media and fans. Bickley has won multiple awards for sports writing from the Arizona Press Club. The Arizona Press Club's comment on his 2013 award:

Bickley’s London Olympics columns were superbly crafted, painstakingly researched, wonderfully insightful — and stunningly far-ranging, with great depth and breadth as he presented multiple, disparate, unique and fascinatingly comprehensive reports on the Games. He won this category in a landslide.

Personal

Bickley is married to Tamara Bickley, a professional

make-up artist A make-up artist, also called a makeup artist, and often shortened to MUA, is an artist whose medium is the human body, applying makeup and Prosthetic makeup, prosthetics on others for theatre, television, film, fashion, magazines and other simil ...

, and has three children. Music has always been one of his passions; he plays

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...

for the rock

cover band A cover band (or covers band) is a band that plays songs recorded by someone else, sometimes mimicking the original as accurately as possible, and sometimes re-interpreting or changing the original. These remade songs are known as cover songs. N ...

Whiskey's Quicker. He founded the group in 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bickley, Dan American sports journalists Radio personalities from Arizona 21st-century American guitarists Musicians from Phoenix, Arizona Writers from Phoenix, Arizona Journalists from Chicago Chicago Sun-Times people 21st-century American non-fiction writers 1963 births Living people 21st-century American journalists Journalists from Arizona Radio personalities from Chicago Mass media people from Phoenix, Arizona