Connor McKnight

Chicago sportscaster Connor McKnight has been hired as host of Chicago White Sox baseball pregame and postgame shows on WMVP 1000-AM, the Good Karma Brands ESPN sports/talk station and the team's new radio home.

The former midday co-host on Entercom sports/talk WSCR 670-AM joins a broadcast team that includes play-by-play announcer Len Kasper and color analyst Darrin Jackson.

As part of his new deal, announced today, McKnight also will call play-by-play with Jackson in the radio booth when Kasper fills in on NBC Sports Chicago.

ESPN Chicago 1000

It returns McKnight to a role he held when the White Sox aired on WLS 890-AM, the Cumulus Media news/talk station, from 2016 to 2018. That ended when WLS canceled its contract with the team as part of Cumulus Media’s bankruptcy filing. For the last three years the White Sox aired on Nexstar Media Group news/talk WGN 720-AM.

McKnight was cut as Dan Bernstein's midday co-host on The Score in April as part of mass layoffs at Entercom Chicago stations, prompted by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on advertising revenues.

Most recently McKnight co-hosted a baseball podcast with Joe Brand.

Earlier he worked for WGN and its short-lived FM sports station, The Game. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, McKnight was toiling as a Comcast SportsNet intern when he won The Score’s first open talent search in 2009. His initial run at The Score lasted five years.

Chicago White Sox

"We are so excited to add Connor to the ESPN Chicago team, and we know fans of the South Siders will gravitate towards him both on the air and on social media for White Sox news,” Mike Thomas, ESPN Chicago market manager, said in a statement. “He comes to us with a wealth of MLB experience and knowledge and will sound great on game days and beyond.”

McKnight also will host "White Sox Weekly," which will air as a two-hour show in season and one-hour show off season.

Earlier ESPN 1000 hired Ryan Maguire as executive producer of the White Sox Radio Network. Maguire previously programmed stations in Seattle, Miami, Pittsburgh, Kansas City and Milwaukee.

Good Karma Brands signed a multiyear agreement in November to air White Sox baseball broadcasts on ESPN 1000, starting with the spring training Cactus League opener against Milwaukee February 27.

The White Sox previously aired on the ESPN Radio station from 1999 to 2005 — the year they won their last World Series Championship.