Dan Needles (sportscaster)

Infobox Celebrity


image_size = 150px
name = Dan Needles
birth_date = 1963
birth_place = Waukesha, Wisconsin, U.S.flagicon|USA
occupation = Sportscaster
website = 540 ESPN Bio [http://www.espnmilwaukee.com/staff/the_homer.shtml]
footnotes =

Dan Needles, sometimes known as Rain Man, is an American sportscaster from Waukesha, Wisconsin. He attended the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. He currently resides in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.

Needles is the sports director and a sports anchor on Milwaukee's WISN-TV's Channel 12 "6 and 10 PM News". He is also a co-host of WAUK 540 ESPNs D-List weekdays from 9AM-Noon. Needles is also a frequent contributor on the World's Greatest Sports Talk Show on WAUK 540 ESPN with good friend, Steve "The Homer" True.

Early life

Needles grew up in Waukesha, Wisconsin and graduated from Waukesha Catholic Memorial in 1981. Needles was involved in football and basketball at Memorial. Needles then attended the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh with B.S. degree in Radio/TV/Film in 1985.

Prior to ABC 12/ESPN

Prior to working with ABC 12 /ESPN, Needles worked at a station in Wausau but returned to Milwaukee to work at WISN-TV Channel 12, the ABC station in Milwaukee.

Career at ABC 12/ESPN Radio

Needles is widely viewed as the most popular sportscaster in Milwaukee thanks to his good sense of humor and humility. He is a part of the top ranked news department in Milwaukee largely due to Needles' fanbase. After Tom Sutton left the station in the late 1990s, Needles became the Sports Director. His leadership has added that everyday man quality that people can relate to.

Needles got his own radio gig at WAUK 540 ESPN on Saturday mornings in 2004. After a re-vamp of programming Needles was added to a new show called "The D-List" with then Milwaukee Brewers beat writer Drew Olson and 540 ESPN's program director Bill Johnson. It was on "The D-List" where the public got to see a different side of Needles. Needles is known as the Ron Burgundy of sports in Milwaukee.

Needles is notorious Brett Favre supporter and often gets in arguments with Johnson about how Favre goes about things. Needles is also known for being late for the show, which is excused because of Needles late news schedule and Milwaukee's notorious bad traffic. Needles is known as the arbitrator of all things man.

Needles is very critical of the news media in general, including himself. He regularly will express his displeasure with the type of stories that are covered, the amount of time politics are covered, and the attention that weather gets. Jokes that weathermen are the only people in the world that get paid to be wrong. Maintains strong relationship with WISN-TV's Weather Director Mark Baden.

Needles' Trivia Knowledge

Needles is a well known trivia buff. Needles participated in a TV sportscaster edition of ESPN's game show Stump the Schwab. Advancing to the Schwab Showdown, the show's final round, he stumped Howie Schwab and won the game after a tie-breaker question.

Needles also appears on the World's Greatest Sports Talk Show on WAUK 540 ESPN with good friend, Steve "The Homer" True. Homer refers to him as "Rain Man". Needles goes head to head with one caller on sports trivia. Rain Man has only lost four times in several years.

Needles also on Sunday Night 10PM newscasts of the Channel 12 News participates in a segment called "Needles Knows Best", where viewers submit sports trivia questions to answer. If they stump Needles, they win a Needles Action Figure.

References

External links

* http://espn1510.com/includes/news_items/12/news_items_more.php?id=1306&section_id=12 Needles ESPN 1510 Bio