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 the ...

in Detroit. He also occasionally appears on the

WJBK WJBK (channel 2) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government o ...

local sports discussion show ''SportsWorks''.

Early life

Caputo was raised in

St. Clair Shores, Michigan St. Clair Shores is a suburban city bordering Lake Saint Clair (North America), Lake St. Clair in Macomb County, Michigan, Macomb County of the U.S. state of Michigan. It forms a part of the Metro Detroit area, and is located about northeast of d ...

, then moved to

Birmingham, Michigan Birmingham is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a northern suburb of Detroit located along the Woodward Corridor ( M-1). As of the 2010 census, the population was 20,103. History The area comprising what is now the c ...

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

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

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 t ...

'' 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 of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

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) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

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 faciliti ...

. He hosted a segment on the Tigers pregame show from 1990 to 1992 on

PASS Sports The Pro-Am Sports System (better known as PASS Sports or simply PASS) was an American regional sports network that operated from 1984 to 1997. It also served as an affiliate of the Prime Network from 1988 to 1996. Based in Detroit, Michigan, the ...

, known as ''Caputo's Corner''.

Radio

He began his radio career as a host at

WDFN WDFN (1130 AM) is a radio station in Detroit, Michigan. Owned by iHeartMedia, it broadcasts an all-news radio format under iHeartMedia's Black Information Network, targeting Detroit's African American community. Its studios are located in the D ...

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 and ...

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

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

.Tigers Podcasts
MLB.com 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 non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

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 wh ...

References

External links

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