Chad Dukes, born Chad Sisson on December 7, 1978, in Alexandria, Virginia, is a podcaster and former radio personality in the Washington D.C. area. He graduated from Lake Braddock Secondary School and began his radio broadcasting career at George Mason University, working for WGMU. Dukes' professional career started at 98.7 WMZQ in the promotions department before he became an intern for The Sports Junkies at WHFS (99.1) in Washington, D.C., where he met Oscar "The Big O" Santana.
Dukes and Santana created the Big O and Dukes Show, which debuted at night after Loveline. In June 2006, they moved to Phoenix, Arizona, to replace KZON's The Phil Hendrie Show. However, their run in Arizona ended on June 21, 2007, when KZON flipped its format to hip hop, becoming 101.5 JAMZ.
On July 20, 2009, WJFK-FM switched formats from hot talk to sports talk radio and became 106.7 The Fan DC. From July 2009 until July 2014 Dukes had a solo show called Chad Dukes Vs. the World. Dukes also co-hosted the short-lived Snack and Soda Show on Sundays on WJFK from 2007-08, critiquing snack foods and reporting on snack food industry news. He was also hosting the Weird and Pissed Off podcast and occasionally The Pinball Shitheads podcast.
Dukes, one of the longest-tenured radio hosts in the nation’s capital, co-hosted a show with former NFL linebacker LaVar Arrington for five years (“LaVar and Dukes Show”), then began hosting his own show (“Chad Dukes Vs. The World”) in July 2014, when Arrington left the station. He and Arrington have hosted "Sportsweek with LaVar Arrington and Chad Dukes" on WDCW.
However, Dukes' career at 106.7 The Fan came to an end following controversial comments. At the beginning of “The Sports Junkies” show Friday morning, the decision to remove Dukes was announced on-air, according to the Washington Post. “Chad Dukes is no longer with 106.7 The Fan,” host J.P. Flaim said. “Our company recently learned of inappropriate comments that he made in past episodes of his personal podcast and our company has zero tolerance for any forms of hateful speech, so our focus, the Junkies, remains on sports and doing the best show we can.
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The Orioles Billboard Controversy
The controversy also involved comments made regarding the Baltimore Orioles advertising on a billboard near Washington, DC. Dukes admitted that he recognizes the business aspect of the Orioles' advertisement, but that it bothers him as a Nationals fan -- stressing what he feels is an obligation on the part of DC residents to support the more local franchise:
Dukes punctuated his rant with asides stressing that he understands why the Orioles would advertise near DC, so he basically admits that he's manufacturing silly controversy even as he's doing it. Because, really, if putting up a billboard near DC makes business sense for the Orioles, then that's all anyone needs to understand about why it's there.
Here it is:Sports-talk radio host Chad Dukes admitted that he recognizes the business aspect of the Orioles' advertisement, but that it bothers him as a Nationals fan -- stressing what he feels is an obligation on the part of DC residents to support the more local franchise:(Expletive) the Orioles, (expletive) all their fans, and (Expletive) Peter Angelos... You're spitting in the face of your own market here, so as a fan, this irritates the hell out of me. And it irritates the hell out of me when I tune into our midday show, and I hear people saying, 'Well I'm from Reston, should I just turn my back on my team?' They're not your team. They're Baltimore's team....Our team is the Washington Nationals. And I don't like this billboard. And if I had my druthers, the Nationals would go on the other side of the billboard and slap a big fat W, and say, 'we won our division a few years back, we've got more superstars, we've got a newer stadium, we've got better food... All the things that make this area better than that area -- of which there are a plethora -- I would emphasize.
Maybe there's something to be said for Dukes' argument that DC and Northern Virginia natives should take up the Nationals as their team, but old habits die hard. The Yankees aren't going to aggressively advertise in Boston and the Mets won't do the same in Philadelphia. The Orioles still have lots of fans in DC, so they market the team there.
“We have zero tolerance for this type of speech from any of our employees, on our platforms or otherwise,” said Ivy Savoy-Smith, senior vice president and market manager of Entercom Washington, DC.
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Reactions and Aftermath
Following his firing, there were various reactions to Dukes' behavior. One individual noted that Dukes' behavior was reckless to his own financial future. His problem, though, is that there are plenty of other people who do call for boycotts, and if he treats me that way, he probably treats them that way, too. Even worse, those that remain unblocked can see what he’s done, and depending on what he’s now posting to his own wall about me, or even just what he’s failed to delete from his wall, they can see how irrational he was. This sort of overreaction can’t possibly be good for business.
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