Rob Parker (sports journalist) facts for kids

Rob Parker is an American sports anchor for WXYZ-TV and WMYD and a former contributor to Fox Sports 1's show Skip and Shannon: Undisputed. Prior to that, he was a sports columnist for ClickOnDetroit.com and a regular commentator on WDIV-TV's Sunday night sports show. Parker previously served as a sports columnist for The Detroit News and was a member of ESPN'S First Take program. Parker currently co-hosts The Odd Couple on Fox Sports Radio with Chris Broussard.

Career

Parker graduated from Martin Van Buren High School in Queens Village and then received a B.S. in journalism from Southern Connecticut State University and a Master's degree in journalism from Columbia University. He currently serves as an adjunct instructor at the Annenberg School of Journalism at the University of Southern California.

Print

He was the first black sports columnist at the Detroit Free Press in 1993 and the first black general sports columnist at Newsday in New York in 1995. Parker has also written for The Detroit News, Times Leader in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, the Daily News in New York and The Cincinnati Enquirer.

Radio

In 1994, Parker was hired at the new all-sports radio station, WDFN in Detroit, where he co-hosted The Odd Couple with Mike Stone in the afternoon. The show lasted ten months before Parker left to become a sports columnist in New York around May 1995.

Parker would later return to WDFN in 1998, where he co-hosted Parker and the Man in the morning with Mark Wilson. In 1999, the show moved to WKRK-FM's evening time slot, becoming Sports Night with Parker and the Man, which had a successful seven-year run before its cancellation, thus moving to WCHB on April 30, 2007 until a format change on June 9, 2008. Then on March 24, 2014, Parker and The Man made a brief return to WDFN for the station's 20th anniversary.

On September 16, 2018, Parker became the co-host of The Odd Couple with Chris Broussard on the nationally syndicated Fox Sports Radio.

In 2019, Rob Parker and Apple Podcast came together and made a deal which let Parker talk on his own podcast called Inside the Rob Parker.

In 2024, Parker took control of WXYT in Detroit, through a local marketing agreement with Audacy, and launched "Sports Rap Radio" on June 4, 2024. The station was intended to be an all-black sports talk and hip-hop station, with plans to expand to regions with a sizable African-American market base. On August 28, 2024, "Sports Rap Radio" ceased operations after its second round of funding fell through.

Business

Rob Parker co-owns a barbershop called Sporty Cutz on Seven Mile Road in Detroit. It was established in October 2002.

Television

Parker has worked as a contributor to FS1's Skip and Shannon: Undisputed, teaming up again with former debate partner Skip Bayless from ESPN's First Take. He was also a frequent guest on Colin Cowherd's The Herd With Colin Cowherd for television and radio. He has worked at WDIV-TV in Detroit since 1993. Parker was hired on at ESPN in 2003. He was a regular on First Take, where he debated controversial sports topics with Bayless and Stephen A. Smith. He also appeared on ESPN's Numbers Never Lie with Michael Smith. Parker also hosted a TV show called Sports Rap on WADL in Detroit with Detroit Lions safety Ron Rice.