Detroit Radio: Sports Talker Sean Baligian, Axed By WJR

Sean Baligian

For Sean Baligian, who's been on the Metro Detroit airwaves for nearly three decades, today might just be it, and he's at peace with that, after being told Monday that he was a casualty of budget cuts at WJR 760-AM. Monday marked the end of more than seven years at WJR, the latest stop on Baligian's 28-year career in sports-talk radio.

"I can't put it into words," Baligian said this week, over a lunch of salmon and rice, talking about the stress of the business. "The worst part is what it does to your family. I think they're always waiting for the other shoe to drop, and that sucks. You feel like a failure, you really do, like honestly. I know the life that I chose. And I mean it when I say I'm not bitter. This is the road I decided to go down.

"You kind of hope that you're gonna be that guy like Stoney (Mike Stone), I'm gonna get locked in some place. I really thought WJR was that stability I was looking for.

"I really thought to myself, I'm gonna be here till I'm in my early 60s."

A few moments later, shortly into his interview with The Detroit News, Baligian paused and tried to compose himself when the topic of family was brought up, and what the business can do to family.

Baligian is married with two kids, one in college at Michigan State, and one graduate of DePaul.

"You really do feel like you've put them through s---, and it's not their fault. It's been hard. It's a hard business, but I can't stress this enough. I knew what I was getting into."

Baligian professional radio career began in Toledo, doing some bit work for WJR at the same time. In 1999, he made the leap to WDFN 1130-AM, "The Fan," which was the dominant sports-talk station in town at that time, and for many years after.

Ten years later, in 2009, WDFN laid off most of its staff, amid nationwide cuts by parent company Clear Channel. It was a concession to 97.1 The Ticket, which had taken over top-dog status — especially after making the move from the AM dial, at 1270, to FM. All the staff at WDFN had been begging management for years to go to FM, but the pleas were ignored, and the damage was done.

After the mass layoffs, WDFN tried to stay in the sports-talk scene, though it was a one-toe-in, one-toe-out kind of deal, not fully committed.

After a stint .105.1 in 2015, Baligian moved to WJR, where he's worked in a variety of time slots, most recently mornings and middays with the station's flagship host, Paul W. Smith. Baligian also has hosted specialty shows on several sports, including golf. He was the station's premier sports voice, until it hired Lomas Brown, a member of the broadcast team for the Lions, whose games air on WJR.

Throughout his career on the radio dial, Baligian has had a number of other gigs, including as the radio voice for Wayne State football, a long stint at Fox 2, and even as a fantasy-sports columnist for The Detroit News