Sean Baligian

Sean Baligian is a sports radio broadcaster who has been on the Detroit sports airwaves, for WDFN and WJR, since the 1990s. He is a native of Livonia, Michigan and graduated from Livonia Stevenson High School. Sean is known for his signature catch phrase: "No doubt about it!".

Radio career

He began his radio career as a producer/reporter at WSPD in Toledo, Ohio in 1995. In 1997, he was named sports director and host of "The Evening Sports Show". Baligian broadcasted several sports for the station including OHL hockey, CCHA hockey, and was the analyst for both University of Toledo football and basketball.

In 1998 he began working part-time for WJR in Detroit, doing a Sunday call-in show. He worked on the Detroit Lions post-game show with former Lion Greg Landry.

He began working for WDFN in May 1999 and left WSPD in August 1999 to work for WDFN full time. He currently hosts the 9:00 am - 12:00 pm show "It is What It Is" [cite news |work=The Oakland Press |date=2004-07-09 |url=http://www.theoaklandpress.com/stories/070904/mar_20040709024.shtml| title=Here's how to CATCH something good] [cite news |work=Detroit Free Press |date=2007-11-06 |title=WDFN axes morning show pair] (a reference to a quote given to reporters by former Detroit Lions running back James Stewart) as well as a weekly fantasy football show "Fantasy Sports Geekly" which runs from August through December. Baligian co-hosts "Ice Time", a WDFN seasonal weekly hockey program, with fellow WDFN personality Greg Brady. Baligian would briefly work for both WDFN and WSPD again in 2004, and in May of that year he moved his Toledo afternoon sports talk show to WCWA when the station went all-sports. [cite news |work=Toledo Blade |date=2004-05-01 |url=http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040501/COLUMNIST05/105010140 |title=WCWA tries to punch Ticket, goes all-sports] [cite news |work=The Oakland Press |date=2004-05-14 |url=http://www.theoaklandpress.com/stories/051404/mar_20040514013.shtml |title=Smooth jazzer now into soft rock with new move] All three stations are owned by Clear Channel.

Baligian writes a fantasy football blog during the football season for Mlive.com. His fantasy football column has also appeared in "The Detroit News". [cite news |work=The Detroit News |date=2005-10-05 |url=http://www.detnews.com/2005/lions/0510/05/D02-338036.htm |title=Fantasy football: Some No. 1 picks slow to produce]

Sean has also begun the underground movement of MEATA - Men Eating All the Tasty Animals - in response to all the media coverage offered to PETA for its every action due to its fashionable support by certain high-profile celebrities. In celebration of all things MEATA, Sean has begun an annual barbecue-style outing where all people are extended an open invite to enjoy, which has evolved into a charity food drive. This event is simply known as MEATA, and held at a different Detroit-area location each summer. The 2007 MEATA was held in the parking lot of the Compuware Sports Arena in Plymouth, Michigan. [cite news |work=The Detroit News |date=2007-08-02 |title=Men, women differ as fans]

On December 9, 2005, to protest the contract extension of Detroit Lions general manager Matt Millen, Baligian organized an "Angry Fan March" at Ford Field, where several hundred fans carried signs and chanted "Fire Millen!" and other comments for about 45 minutes. "This was never about hating the Lions," Baligian was quoted as saying about the march. "It's about loving the Lions. We deserved better." [cite news |work=Detroit Free Press |date=2005-12-18 |url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-12251259_ITM |title=Lions' fans left holding the bag again]

On Wednesday, October 17, 2007, Baligian was named Best Radio Sports Talk Host by the Detroit Metro Times for the people, places and things that make metro Detroit great. [>cite news |work=Detroit Metro Times |date=2007-10-17 |url=http://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=11912 |title=Community Chest: The people, places and things that make metro Detroit great]

Sean hosted the first edition of the renamed Detroit Lions postgame show on Sunday, October 21, 2007 called "Cornbread Corner". The name was chosen by the fans on an on line poll after the Lions demanded that WDFN stop calling their postgame show "The WDFN Detroit Lions Postgame Show"." The reference to cornbread is a running joke at WDFN, "eating the cornbread" refers to the blind optimism many Detroit Lions fans show prior to the start of the season (similar to the expression "drinking the Kool-Aid"). Another Detroit sports radio station, WXYT, owns the broadcast rights to the Lions' broadcasts and the Lions asserted that WDFN was infringing on their trademark. [cite news |work=The Detroit News |date=2007-10-04 |title=WDFN plays as 'Lions' take back name]

Sean also pens a monthly column for "Michigan In Play!" ("MIP") magazine, [ [http://www.michiganinplay.com/staff.php "Michigan in Play!" Coaching Staff] .] beginning with the premiere issue of April 2007. [PDFlink| [http://www.michiganinplay.com/coverstories/MIP_April-2007.pdf "Michigan in Play!" magazine] , April 2007.]

References

External links

* [http://wdfn.com/pages/sean.html WDFN profile page]
* [http://www.mlive.com/fantasyfootball/geekly/ MLive.com "Fantasy Football Geekly" blog]
* [http://www.michiganinplay.com "Michigan in Play!"]