Josh Lewin - Play-By-Play Announcer, Football & Men's Basketball - Staff Directory

Staff Directory

Josh Lewin

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Play-By-Play Announcer, Football & Men's Basketball
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On June 2, 2016, veteran broadcaster Josh Lewin was named the new play-by-play announcer for both the UCLA football and men's basketball programs. He succeeded Bill Roth, who served in the same capacity during the 2015-16 season.

“Calling games for UCLA is the best job in college sports as far as I'm concerned,” said Lewin. “I'm so excited to join the Bruin family and cannot wait to start doing something I totally love for a university I so completely admire.”

Lewin called his first game for UCLA when the Bruin football team took on Texas A&M on Sept. 3, 2016 in College Station, Texas.

“Fortunately, as we all know, UCLA attracts exceptional talent," said UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero. "Josh made us aware of his interest in the position a couple years ago, but the timing simply wasn't right with his other broadcast commitments. Currently with more flexibility in his other duties, it quickly became apparent, given the extensive search we conducted not all that long ago, that Josh is now an ideal fit. A star in the industry whose enthusiasm is infectious, Josh has consistently demonstrated remarkable talent, poise, sound judgement, a knack for vividly describing the action and a sense of humor that reminds us this is, after all, a game that is supposed to be fun. His national recognition, professional touch and passion for all things UCLA have us very excited to partner with him moving forward. Josh is the future of our UCLA broadcasts, and our future is bright.”

Lewin, who became the radio play-by-play voice of the Chargers in July 2005 and served in that capacity for 12 years, has an extensive broadcast history that includes 21 seasons as a Major League Baseball play-by-play announcer. Since 2012, he's handled play-by-play for the New York Mets' radio broadcasts on WFAN and WOR. Additionally, from 1996-2010, Lewin broadcast MLB regular and postseason games, NFL football contests and NHL games for FOX Sports. Also during that span, from 2002-10, he served as the play-by-play announcer for the Texas Rangers. Lewin also called Baltimore Orioles games on radio from 1995-96, Chicago Cubs games on WGN-TV in 1997 and Detroit Tigers' games on Fox Sports Net Detroit from 1998-2001. In addition to the Chargers, his NFL experience also includes play-by-play on SportsUSA Radio. Collegiately, Lewin's broadcast experience includes Conference USA Football, CCHA Hockey, Southern Methodist and Michigan State basketball and the Big 12 Basketball Tournament.

In November of 2015, Lewin gained national attention for calling the Chargers' 29-26 loss to the Ravens in Baltimore, then chartering a private plane — at his own expense — to get to Citi Field in time for Game 5 of the 2015 World Series between the Mets and Kansas City Royals.

The Chargers-Ravens game ended at roughly 4:13 p.m., and 10 minutes later Lewin began his roughly 200-mile journey. Ultimately, Lewin arrived at Citi Field a little more than an hour before the 8:15 p.m. scheduled first pitch of Game 5. To read more about Lewin's journey, click here.

Lewin began his broadcasting career at the age of 16 with the Rochester Red Wings, the Baltimore Orioles' AAA affiliate in the International League. In 1994, he was the sports director at WBAL, the Orioles' flagship station. Lewin graduated from Northwestern in 1990 and has written three books, “Ballgame,” “Getting in the Game” and “You Never Forget Your First.”