Josh Hakala
Josh Hakala, a lifelong Michigander (East Lansing & Edwardsburg), comes to Michigan Radio after nearly two decades of working in a variety of fields within broadcasting and digital media. Most recently, he worked for Advance Digital where he managed newspaper websites from across the country, including MLive.com. While his resume is filled with sports broadcasting experience (Big Ten Network, 97.1FM The Ticket, 610AM WIP etc.), radio reporting (90.1FM WRTI) and odd jobs (Editor for the FIFA video game series for EA Sports), he brings a passion for news and storytelling to the Stateside staff.
Josh is also a proud graduate of Lansing Community College where he got his radio start as the sports director and on-air music host at WLNZ. He also got his BA from Temple University where he majored in Broadcasting, Telecommunications & Mass Media. While he loved his five years in Philadelphia, he returned to his home state of Michigan in 2008 where he is happy to find people don't sing the The Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme song whenever you tell them where you live (West Philadelphia).
When he is not at Michigan Radio, he runs TheCup.us, a media outlet that covers the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup, one of the oldest soccer tournaments in the world where amateur teams and the top professional teams all compete in a March Madness-style competition. He also does freelance play by play announcing for just about any sport (yes, even water polo) and has a massive music collection as he clings to his CDs and vinyl records. He currently lives in Ann Arbor with his wife (the midwife) and three kids, two of which figured out a way to be born on the same day.
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It has been a historic season for the Western Michigan football team. After finishing with just one win after the 2013 season, the Broncos wrapped up... -
It was a good news/bad news situation for the Detroit Lions on New Year's Day. The good news was before their regular season finale at Ford Field... -
There were plenty of missed opportunities, but in the end, the Detroit Lions fell short against the New York Giants on Sunday. They lost 17-6 and while... -
The month of December is here and, believe it or not, the Lions are still in the hunt for a playoff spot. Some fans may be surprised by this, but what... -
Aside from Western Michigan beating Toledo to finish the regular season undefeated, and Eastern Michigan clinching their first bowl game in nearly 20... -
There are few rivalries in American sports bigger than Michigan against Ohio State. However, it has been 10 years since "the game" has been as big as... -
On Friday night, a football state championship will be on the line when Deckerville High School and Powers North Central square off. The game will be... -
It was a stunning weekend at the top of the College Football Playoff Rankings as the teams ranked second, third and fourth (the top four qualify for the... -
If you heard the sound of cheering coming from the other side of Lake Michigan last Wednesday night, you were likely listening to (most of) the city of... -
With thousands of tons of trash burned every day, Detroit has the largest urban incinerator in the country. Now its long and controversial history has...
