With Keith Olbermann leaving ESPN for a second time at the end of this month, it means that K.O. will once again be looking for work. Let’s take a look where Keith Olbermann has worked over the years and some of the incidents that have occurred during that period. It’s a very interesting timeline.
1976 — Reporter for United Press International.
1979 — Joins UPI Radio.
1980 — Joins the RKO Radio Network.
1981 — Joins CNN Sports.
1984 — Works at WCVB in Boston as the 11 p.m. sportscaster.
1985 — Joins KTLA in Los Angeles as its sports director.
1988 — Jumps ship to KCBS where he becomes its sports director.
1992 — Joins ESPN where he co-anchors the 11 p.m. ET SportsCenter with Dan Patrick which they call “The Big Show.” With Chuck Wilson, Tony Bruno and Mike Tirico, launches ESPN Radio which broadcasts on Saturday and Sunday nights.
1993 — Leaves ESPN to help launch ESPN2 with Suzy Kolber, Mitch Albom and Stuart Scott.
1994 — Returns to the Mothership to anchor the 11 p.m. ET SportsCenter with Dan Patrick.
1997 — Becomes disenfranchised with ESPN and eventually leaves.
1997 — Joins MSNBC as a news anchor to lead “The Big Show with Keith Olbermann.” Olbermann becomes disenfranchised with MSNBC after focusing on the Monica Lewinsky scandal. During this period, Olbermann hosted NBC’s coverage of the Major League Baseball postseason.
1999 — Joins Fox Sports Net where he hosts Fox Sports News. Becomes a host of Fox Saturday Baseball studio coverage and the World Series.
2000 — Hosts the “Keith Olbermann Evening News” on FSN on Sunday nights.
2001 — Fired by Fox. Joins the ABC Radio Network to do commentaries for “Speaking of Sports” which were once conducted by Howard Cosell. Also works for CNN.
2003 — Rejoins MSNBC and begins a new evening program called “Countdown” becoming an enemy of the political right.
2005 — Olbermann gets the blessing of MSNBC and ESPN to rejoin ESPN Radio to co-host The Dan Patrick Show, first during weekly appearances, then eventually daily one-hour appearances. This lasts until 2007 when Patrick leaves ESPN.
2007 — NBC Sports taps Olbermann to co-host Football Night in America, first doing highlights with Bob Costas, and then Dan Patrick in 2008. He leaves the show after the 2009 season.
2010 — MSNBC suspends Olbermann for making a contribution to three Congressional candidates.
2011 — Olbermann announces that he’s leaving MSNBC as of January 21.
2011 — One month later, Olbermann declares that he’s joining Current, the network owned by former Vice President Al Gore. His new edition of Countdown debuts on June 20.
2012 — Current fires Olbermann citing breach of contract and files a lawsuit against him. Olbermann countersues. They eventually settle out of court.
March 2013 — James Andrew Miller, author of “Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN” reports in the New York Times that Olbermann and ESPN President John Skipper have been meeting about bringing Keith back to ESPN.
June 2013 — Turner Sports announces Olbermann will host TBS’ MLB Postseason coverage in October marking his return to sports.
July 2013 — The New York Daily News reports that Olbermann’s return to ESPN is imminent. One week later on July 17, ESPN announces Olbermann will host “Olbermann” on ESPN2, a new nightly one-hour program to air from ABC’s Times Square New York City studios. The program debuted on August 26.
August 2014 — Calls on NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to resign.
February 2015 — Suspended by ESPN over tweets regarding Penn State University.
July 2015 — ESPN announces that it will part ways with Olbermann and he will leave the network at the end of the month.
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