Pat Caputo (born ) is an American sports writer and radio talk show host based in

Southeast Michigan Southeast Michigan, also called southeastern Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan that is home to a majority of the state's businesses and industries as well as slightly over half of the state's population, most of whom are c ...

. He is an on-air host and sports columnist for

WXYT-FM WXYT-FM (97.1 MHz "97.1 The Ticket") is a commercial radio station in Detroit, Michigan, serving Metro Detroit and much of Southeast Michigan. It airs a sports radio format and is owned by Audacy, Inc. Its studios and offices are located in ...

in Detroit. He also occasionally appears on the

WJBK WJBK (channel 2) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Owned and operated by the Fox network through its Fox Television Stations division, the station maintains studios and transmitter facilities on West 9 Mile Road in th ...

local sports discussion show ''SportsWorks''.

Early life

Caputo was raised in

St. Clair Shores, Michigan St. Clair Shores is a city in Macomb County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Detroit, St. Clair Shores is located roughly northeast of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 58,874. History ...

, then moved to

Birmingham, Michigan Birmingham is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a northern suburb of Detroit located along the Woodward Corridor (M-1 (Michigan highway), M-1). As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 censu ...

at the age of 9. He attended Groves High School and graduated from

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

Career

He was hired by ''

The Oakland Press ''The Oakland Press'' is a daily newspaper published in Oakland County, Michigan with headquarters in Troy. It is owned by 21st Century Media, with which its parent company merged in 2013 after filing for bankruptcy. The local historical society ...

'' in May 1983, covering 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 club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

from 1986 to 1998 and the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

from 1998 to 2002, before working as the paper's sports columnist in 2002. His career at ''The Oakland Press'' would last until 2020 where Caputo was laid off, though he remains employed as a sports columnist for WXYT-FM.

TV

In 1986, Caputo became a regular contributor to the Tigers round table segment on

WDIV WDIV-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with NBC. It serves as the flagship broadcast property of the Graham Media Group subsidiary of Graham Holdings Company. WDIV-TV maintains studio facilit ...

. He hosted a segment on the Tigers pregame show from 1990 to 1992 on PASS Sports, known as ''Caputo's Corner''.

Radio

He began his radio career as a host at

WDFN WDFN (1130 Hertz, kHz) is a commercial radio, commercial AM broadcasting, AM Radio broadcasting, radio station in Detroit, Michigan. Owned by iHeartMedia, it broadcasts an all-news radio radio format, format under iHeartRadio's Black Informatio ...

from 1996 to 2001, then would host ''The Book on Sports'' at WXYT in 2001 when the station switched to an all-sports format. The station would later move to WXYT-FM in 2007, changing the show's name to ''Pat Caputo'', and he once co-hosted with Dennis Fithian for ''Caputo and Fithian'' until Fithian was laid off in 2020. At WXYT-FM, he currently hosts ''Pat Caputo'' on weekends and weeknights, as well as ''Inside Hockeytown'', ''Pistons Tonight'', and ''Tiger Talk''.

Podcast

He also hosts a

hot stove ''Hot Stove'' is an offseason baseball talk show that airs on MLB Network and is simulcast on MLB Network Radio. The show offers the coverage of offseason activities including trades, free agent signings, and rumors. It is taped live in "Studi ...

podcast with

Dan Dickerson Daniel Hill Dickerson (born November 13, 1958) is an American sportscaster, best known for his current position as the lead radio play-by-play voice of Major League Baseball's Detroit Tigers on the Detroit Tigers Radio Network. Early life an ...

called ''TigerTalk'' during the winter months available on the Tigers' website and

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

. In 2022, he started a podcast called ''Bustin' Balls with Pat Caputo'' which goes over draft prospects for all four major sports leagues with regards to the local sports teams in Detroit.

Honors

Caputo has been named the top sports columnist in Michigan by the Michigan Associated Press and the Michigan Press Association, and the top columnist in area by the Detroit Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He has been named among the Top Ten sports columnists in the nation by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

Sports Editors.

Personal life

Caputo is a resident of

Lake Orion, Michigan Lake Orion ( ) is a village in the northern outskirts of Metro Detroit in Oakland County, Michigan, United States. The population was 2,973 at the 2010 census. "Lake Orion" can refer to either the village or the much larger Orion Township, of w ...

References

External links

Column at 97.1 The Ticket
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Caputo, Pat Living people American radio personalities Michigan State University alumni American columnists Detroit Tigers announcers Major League Baseball broadcasters People from Birmingham, Michigan People from Lake Orion, Michigan Year of birth missing (living people) Sportswriters from Michigan