DC Radio: Andy Pollin To EXIT WTEM

Andy Pollin

Andy Pollin, Thursday that his contract at WTEM ESPN 980 AM won’t be renewed, ending his run there a few weeks shy of his 25th-year anniversary.

Pollin and his longtime friend and partner Steve Czaban had reunited as “The Sports Reporters” in May of last year, doing a three-hour afternoon drive program that took advantage of their close relationship and Pollin’s wealth of local knowledge. But his contract was set to expire in February, and he never got any indication that the Daniel Snyder-owned outlet was interested in a new deal.

“I’m not in any way bitter about this,” he told The Washington Post. “I’m disappointed that it wouldn’t continue. I thought Czabe and I were humming along there in our second run, but it didn’t happen. That’s life.”

The two men had done their “Sports Reporters” show at WTEM for 13 years, until Chris Cooley took Pollin’s place on 980 in the summer of 2013. That eventually led to Pollin getting his own morning show on SportsTalk 570, which he did for about a year and a half. Then came yet another shakeup, with the ill-fated “Man Cave” program taking over morning drive at 980, and ESPN’s “Mike & Mike” bumping Pollin off 570. Pollin thus held his second goodbye show, which seemed to signal his end at Redskins Radio, until the latest shakeup last spring, which reunited Pollin and Czaban on afternoon drives.

 Pollin started at Washington’s first sports-radio station in March of 1992, and helped launch WTEM as the station’s original sports director two months later.