Tony Ortiz is a sportscaster and

sports talk Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often- boisterous on-ai ...

show host for CBS Radio owned sister stations

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 th ...

, WXYT-AM and WWJ in

Detroit, MI 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 of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at the ...

.WWJ Radio - Our Staff
/ref>

Broadcasting career

Education and early positions

After he graduated from

Cooley High School Thomas M. Cooley High School is located at the intersection of Hubbell Avenue and Chalfonte Street, on the northwest side of Detroit, Michigan. The three-story, Mediterranean Revival-style facility opened its doors on September 4, 1928. The scho ...

in Detroit, Tony enrolled at

Specs Howard School of Media Arts Specs Howard School of Media Arts is a private for-profit career college in Southfield, Michigan. It is named after its founder Specs Howard and focuses on programs in radio and television broadcasting, graphic design, and digital media arts ...

. In 1986, Ortiz began his radio career as an intern at WXYT-AM, where he later he gained a paid position with the station. He first worked as a producer for

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

basketball and football. In 1991, Ortiz left WXYT-AM and joined sister station WWJ, going on to produce Detroit Lions football. In 1994, Ortiz moved from Detroit to work in

Houston, TX Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...

KTRH KTRH () is a commercial radio station licensed to Houston, Texas and owned by iHeartMedia that airs a talk radio format. Programming is also heard on co-owned KODA's HD 2 channel at , and the station uses the iHeartRadio platform to stream it ...

as a reporter and show host covering Houston sports. Ortiz moved from KTRH to competing Houston sports station in

KILT A kilt ( gd, fèileadh ; Irish: ''féileadh'') is a garment resembling a wrap-around knee-length skirt, made of twill woven worsted wool with heavy pleats at the sides and back and traditionally a tartan pattern. Originating in the Scottish ...

in 1999 before returning to Detroit in 2001.

Current roles

Since 2001 from 2016, Ortiz has provided sideline reports for the

Detroit Lions Radio Network The Detroit Lions Radio Network is a radio network in Michigan and Toledo, Ohio that broadcasts all of the NFL's Detroit Lions games and related programming. All preseason, regular season, and postseason games are aired live throughout the network. ...

. He also co-hosted the network's pre-game show ''The Lions Roundtable'' and flagship station WXYT-FM's local pre-game show ''Lions Game Day''. He was joined by

play-by-play In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

announcer Dan Miller and

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main ( play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and ...

Jim Brandstatter James Patrick Brandstatter (born ) is an American sports announcer. He was the radio play-by-play announcer for the Michigan Wolverines football team. He held the position of color commentator for the Detroit Lions for 31 years until the end ...

, and on ''The Lions Round Table'', ''

Detroit Free Press The ''Detroit Free Press'' is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, US. The Sunday edition is titled the ''Sunday Free Press''. It is sometimes referred to as the Freep (reflected in the paper's web address, www.freep.com). It primari ...

'' Lions beat writer Nick Cotsonika. He is also a Detroit Lions and Detroit Tigers beat reporter for WXYT-FM / AM and provides sports updates during the breaks of some WXYT-FM / AM and WWJ shows. He also hosts a weekly Lions discussion show on the station during the regular season. He also appears on ''Fox 2 SportsWorks'',

WJBK-TV WJBK (channel 2) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, airing programming from the Fox network. Owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division, the station maintains studios and transmitter facilitie ...

's weekly local Detroit sports talk show. He also frequently appears on

WJBK WJBK (channel 2) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, airing programming from the Fox network. Owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division, the station maintains studios and transmitter faciliti ...

Sports segments such as ''Lions Beat Writer Cross Fire''.FOX 2 Official Site September 18, 2008 Lions Beat Writer Cross Fire Week 3 Full Video
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ortiz, Tony Sports Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American sports radio personalities American talk radio hosts American television personalities Radio personalities from Detroit National Football League announcers Detroit Lions announcers