Anthony Irwin Kornheiser (; born July 13, 1948) is an American television sports talk show host, podcaster, and former sportswriter and columnist. Kornheiser is best known for his endeavors in three forms of media: as a writer for The Washington Post from 1979 to 2008, as a co-host of ESPN's Emmy Award-winning sports debate show Pardon the Interruption since 2001, and as the host of The Tony Kornheiser Show, a radio show and podcast. Longtime ESPN executive John Walsh once declared that "in the history of sports media, [Kornheiser] is the most multitalented person ever."
Early life Kornheiser was born in New York City and raised in nearby Lynbrook. He was the only child of Estelle (née Rosenthal; 1915–1978) and Ira Kornheiser (1910–2000). His father was a dress cutter. During his youth, Kornheiser spent his summers at Camp Keeyumah in Orson, Pennsylvania. One of his counselors was future NCAA and NBA basketball coach Larry Brown.Allen, p. 42. Kornheiser attended George W. Hewlett High School, where he was the sports editor of the school newspaper. He graduated in 1965.
After high school, Kornheiser went to Harpur College (now Binghamton University), where he majored in English literature and began his journalism career at the Colonial News (now called Pipe Dream). He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1970. Kornheiser has frequently spoken positively of his college years. For a brief period of time after college, he worked with children with disabilities.
Print career Early writing career Kornheiser began his career in New York City, where he wrote for Newsday between 1970 and 1976. His first work at Newsday consisted of covering high school sports.Pollin and Shapiro, The Great Book of Washington, D.C. Sports Lists, p. 146. Kornheiser then moved to The New York Times, where he wrote between 1976 and 1979.
In 1979, George Solomon recruited Kornheiser to join The Washington Post as a general assignment reporter in Style and Sports. In 1980, Kornheiser also authored a profile of Nolan Ryan that served as the cover story for the charter issue of Inside Sports. He became a full-time sports columnist at the Post in 1984. He also began writing columns for the Post's Style Section on November 12, 1989.
In the 1990s, Kornheiser usually wrote three columns per week, which were a Tuesday column and a Thursday column in the Sports Section and a Sunday column (written for a more general audience) in the Style Section. He also started working for ESPN Radio in 1997 and kept his column at the Post. As part of his ESPN Radio contract, Kornheiser wrote columns called "Parting Shots" for ESPN The Magazine between 1998 and 2000.Schultz, pp. 10-11.
Writing style Kornheiser's columns were usually sarcastic with touches of humor. The most distinct style of his columns was that he often used an alter ego in italics to question his points of views for self-deprecation, like "Excuse me, Tony..." At times, he would also use exaggeration for the sake of humor. According to Stephanie Mansfield of Sports Illustrated, Kornheiser was regarded by many as "the wittiest columnist" in American newspapers. Robert Weintraub of the Columbia Journalism Review praised him, in retrospect, for his "blend of beauty and precision." Kornheiser was also capable of being "deadly serious" when need be.Pollin and Shapiro, The Great Book of Washington, D.C. Sports Lists, p. 205.
The Bandwagon columns In 1991, Kornheiser created a string of now-famous Bandwagon columns to describe the Washington Redskins' Super Bowl run that year. He first came up with the idea when the Redskins trounced the Detroit Lions, 45–0, in the opening game of the season. He officially unveiled the first "Bandwagon" column when the team had an undefeated 4–0 record. From then on, the Bandwagon column appeared every Tuesday, celebrating "the fun and hilarity of sports."Gildea, p. 85. As the season progressed and the team's performances improved, a growing number of fans read the Bandwagon column in earnest.
When the Redskins advanced to Super Bowl XXVI, Kornheiser and his Post colleagues Jeanne McManus and Norman Chad drove in a 38-foot recreational vehicle decorated as the Bandwagon for a 1,200-mile journey to Minneapolis, Minnesota.Gildea, p. 86. Kornheiser later described the Bandwagon columns as "the most fun I ever had as a writer."
Late writing career In the early 2000s – because of his work on both radio and Pardon the Interruption – Kornheiser stopped writing Style Section columns and only wrote one column a week. His last Style Section column was published on September 30, 2001. Three of his books – Pumping Irony, Bald as I Wanna Be, and I'm Back for More Cash – are compilations of his Style Section columns.
In 2005, Kornheiser started to write short columns called A Few Choice Words with his photo in the Posts Sports Section. These short, sports-related columns appeared on the second page of the Post'''s Sports section and were much shorter than the full-length columns Kornheiser used to write for the paper. This was the first time that the Post displayed a columnist's photo beside his column. He called these short columns "columnettes," writing three per week unless he had other duties. He did not write columns between April 26, 2006, and August 7, 2006, to prepare as an analyst of ESPN's Monday Night Football. Starting August 8, 2006, he wrote columns called Monday Night Diary to describe his adventures on Monday Night Football. His short-column space was later replaced by Dan Steinberg's D.C. Sports Bog.
On May 14, 2008, it was announced that Kornheiser had accepted a buyout from the Post. "I love the paper. They were great to me every day that I was there," he told Reuters. "But I don't do much for the paper anymore." Kornheiser had not written a regular column for the paper's print edition since 2006. However, Kornheiser and Wilbon continued to tape a "Talking Points" mini online TV feature for the Washington Post until June 2, 2009, when an installment termed the final one was posted on the Post's site. In it Wilbon says he thinks there will be further installments while Kornheiser seems certain it is a permanent decision management has made.
On May 20, 2010, Kornheiser said on his radio show that in fact he was fired by the Washington Post, saying "they fired me in a despicable way." On September 11, 2013, Kornheiser repeated his account: "Raju Narisetti fired me from the Washington Post and I hate his guts."
Radio and podcast career
Radio era Kornheiser hosted The Tony Kornheiser Show first locally on WTEM – known as Sports Radio 570 – in Washington, D.C. between May 25, 1992, and November 14, 1997. The Kornheiser-led show was part of WTEM's original lineup. The show was then syndicated by ESPN Radio between January 5, 1998, and March 26, 2004. He was back on WTEM locally between November 10, 2004, and April 28, 2006, after which point Kornheiser put the show on hiatus in order to prepare for his duties with Monday Night Football. His show was also carried for a short while by XM Satellite Radio, airing between February 28, 2005, and April 28, 2006.
After completing the 2006 season on Monday Night Football, Kornheiser signed with WTWP, Washington Post Radio, to relaunch his radio show on February 20, 2007. The show aired live from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and was then replayed from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. XM Radio carried his show on a thirty-minute delay, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., beginning March 5, 2007, on XM Sports Nation, Channel 144. Kornheiser went on hiatus from the show following the June 28, 2007, broadcast because of his Monday Night Football duties. The show was hosted by David Burd and included the same supporting cast. The show was called The Tony Kornheiser Show Starring David Burd during the hiatus.
Kornheiser returned to the show as the full-time host from January 21, 2008, to June 27, 2008, after which point WWWT – the successor to WTWP – declined to renew his contract due to declining ratings. The show aired live from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and was replayed from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m on WWWT, as well as on XM Sports Nation, XM channel 144 from 8:15 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. He announced during this period in 2008 that he would not be back on the radio until he was done with Monday Night Football.The Tony Kornheiser Show was on the air daily Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to noon on Washington, D.C. radio station WTEM and streamed live on the station's website, ESPN980.com, until June 2016. The show was also available as a podcast. There was originally a 24-hour "podcast delay," a source of many jokes amongst fans and show members alike. The delay ended in 2015, allowing listeners to download episodes a few minutes after the live broadcast.
Podcast era On June 2, 2016, Kornheiser announced that his show will be relaunched as a podcast-only show. According to Kornheiser, the reason to do a podcast-only show was to own his content and do the podcast a little closer to his home. However, the show format would still be the same as the radio show, albeit slightly shorter in length. Kornheiser's son, Michael, handled the social media for the podcast and launched a website with information about how to subscribe.
On September 6, 2016, Kornheiser returned from his summer vacation with the first full episode of the new podcast. The first episode was titled "We're Back!!! The Tony Kornheiser Show Returns" and ran for 1 hour and four minutes. Most parts of the old show – including "Old Guy Radio" and the Mailbag – were retained. Gary Braun and Chris Cillizza joined Kornheiser in studio. Michael Wilbon of ESPN and Steve Sands of the Golf Channel were the first guests joining by phone.
The podcast-only show is produced in partnership with sports talent agency IMG and on-demand audio company DGital Media. The podcast is available at 11 a.m. ET via iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher, and TuneIn.
Throughout its iterations, a central quality of the show has been its eagerness to discuss issues other than sports, including news, politics, entertainment, and the idiosyncrasies of modern life. In its early years, the show amassed a large and loyal following that remains to this day. The fans – who refer to themselves as "littles" – have an annual musical convention and use "La Cheeserie" as a catch phrase (in reference to a cheese counter at D.C.-area liquor store Calvert Woodley).
Television career Kornheiser appeared on a local weekly Washington Redskins TV show during the NFL football season on Washington's Channel 50 in the early 1980s with Pete Wysocki, a popular former Redskins linebacker and local hero, which was televised from a local restaurant/bar in Washington, D.C. called "Champions."
He appeared on ESPN's The Sports Reporters beginning in 1988 and continuing during the 1990s. He sometimes guest-hosted the program when the then-host of the show, Dick Schaap, was away. He was also a panelist on Full Court Press hosted by George Michael on WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. during the NFL off-season until that show was canceled in December 2008 due to budget cuts. He also made a number of appearances on Redskins Report on WRC. He has appeared on numerous other ESPN productions, including SportsCenter, Who's Number One?, and multiple player's/sportspeople's profiles for SportsCentury.
Pardon the InterruptionPardon the Interruption (abbreviated PTI) is a sports television show that airs weekdays on various ESPN TV channels, TSN, BT Sport ESPN, XM, and Sirius satellite radio services, and as a downloadable podcast. On PTI, Kornheiser and co-host Michael Wilbon discuss, and frequently argue over, the top stories of the day in "sports... and other stuff" (as Kornheiser put it in the show's original promo).