This article details the current and historical radio and television broadcasters for the National League Los Angeles Dodgers.
Unlike the modern style in which multiple sportscasters have an on-air conversation (usually with one functioning as play-by-play announcer and the other(s) as color commentator), Scully, Doggett and Porter generally called games solo, trading with each other inning-by-inning.
When Doggett retired after the 1987 season, he was replaced by Hall-of-Fame Dodgers pitcher Don Drysdale, who previously broadcast games for the California Angels.
[1] Porter's tenure was terminated somewhat controversially after the 2004 season, after which the current format of play-by-play announcers and color commentators was installed, led by newcomer Charley Steiner and Monday.
[6][7] During games called by Scully, Charley Steiner took over play-by-play on radio beginning with the fourth inning, with Rick Monday as color commentator.
Starting in 2014, Nomar Garciaparra joined Steiner and Hershiser to form a three-man television crew; for those games, Kevin Kennedy worked with Monday on radio.
The Dodgers also broadcast on radio in Spanish, and the play-by-play is handled by another Ford C. Frick Award winner, Jaime Jarrín.
Starting in the late 1970s through the early 1990s, the Dodgers put a small number of their home games on a subscription/pay-per-view service appropriately carried Dodgervision.
During that timeframe, in addition to the road telecasts from KTTV, selected home games were also televised on the ONTV subscription service, the now-defunct Z Channel/SportsChannel Los Angeles network, and then again, on a pay-per-view basis until a majority of Dodgers games debuted on the then-new Fox Sports Net West 2 in 1997, just around the same time FSN West 2's parent company, News Corporation (also owner of KTTV) bought the team from the O'Malley family.
KTLA's contract with the Dodgers ended in 2001, and the over-the-air telecasts then moved to KTTV's now-sister station, KCOP, with the production handled by FSN West 2.
Their Spanish radio network was led by KHJ which took over in 2008 from longtime home KWKW (1330 AM), with Jarrín, Pepe Yñiguez, and former Dodger great Fernando Valenzuela on the call, and was carried on six stations in California, Nevada, and Arizona.
[12] Fox's exclusive negotiating period with the Dodgers expired on November 30, 2012: both sides were in discussions over a TV deal worth $6 billion over 25 years.
The simulcasts began first as a chance for non-cable viewers to hear and see Vin Scully's final season as the long time team play-by-play commentator.