Ando’s Shout: Does Kevin Bartlett have a new radio gig?
Richmond legend Kevin Bartlett was left shocked by his axing by SEN last year. But are his dulcet tones about to be heard again on a rival station?
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If the jungle drums are beating true, then expect to hear Kevin Bartlett return to calling football with 3AW this season.
“KB”, who will celebrate his 73rd birthday next month, is likely to be heard on Sundays (and some Saturday twilight games) alongside his former SEN calling partner Matt Granland.
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Bartlett was tight-lipped when asked about the prospect of calling on 3AW.
“That would be very nice, but at the moment I can’t confirm that,” he said.
The defection of Dwayne Russell to SEN has opened up a window for Bartlett, with chief caller Tim Lane expected to combine Friday nights (alongside Bruce Eva) with the Saturday afternoon slot he currently occupies with Tony Leonard.
Bartlett’s media career has been one of the most extensive in VFL-AFL history and began back in the mid-1980s when he joined the World of Sport football panel.
He and Sandy Roberts also hosted the Junior Supporters’ Club for several years on Channel 7, a station he called with in the 1990s after his four-year stint as Richmond coach.
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Dwayne Russell’s departure from 3AW creates opening for former SEN favourite Kevin Bartlett
When Fox Footy began in 2002, Bartlett was an original caller and worked there until 2006. He then moved to SEN where he remained for 13 years.
Along the way he has also written for the Herald Sun and the Sporting Globe, plus hosted a long-running radio breakfast show with Sport 927, called football with Magic 693 and worked as a breakfast commentator for 3AW in the days when the station was heard on the 1278 band.
He was last heard as a caller with SEN last year, before a fallout with station CEO Craig Hutchison, who had been his one-time producer back in the Sport 927 days in the mid-to-late 1990s.