Grant Paulsen has been a Fan 106.7 fixture for many years. When you talk to him, it’s easy to see why. He is a natural communicator who is a passionate sports fan. Grant was able to speak all day long. He can also provide material levels. He is a very bright mind in the media field, so chatting with him was a joy. This is the conversation this morning.
Q: What do you think about recent MASN news? And how will it affect the franchise?
A: It’s a game changer. I think this is a big deal. This was a sinister cloud that had been hanging over the Nationals for a long time. At its core, it’s ridiculous that the Orioles owned the rights to NATS’ local television. This allows them to make more money and put more money in their television contracts, even in the unpredictable times of local TV and major league baseball.
It also removes not only Lerner’s fault, but also excuses that have been built up for a long time. I think it’s really good for the team, ownership and fans.
Q: What do you think about this offseason? Do you think we should do more?
A: I was disappointed in the offseason. There’s no reason why they couldn’t be more aggressive at this point in the build. They feel like they have a young talent to compete. Looking at the trio of young players rising, few teams have won bats younger than James Wood, CJ Abrams and Dillancrue. Supplementing with a lineup like a run producer who hits big bopping powers with their help in the lineup would have been tantalised. Similarly, in the rotation, I thought this was an offseason when they were able to make the leap and chase the scary front of the rotation-type arms.
Rationally, they have not spent the last few years. They had been rebuilding, but still to some extent. They did such a good job in this reconstruction, primarily in trading, especially in Juan Soto. This system was in a much better place and much deeper place, especially since it wasn’t good. Studs like Dilncrue were not the only ones drafted early. They graduate from internal options like Jake Irvin and Jacob Young. These guys were not drafted in the first few rounds. They’re all good, but I thought it was time to add and add some high-end talent and build a wildcard-type team beyond that .500 mark. I hope they do that next year, but I don’t think there was a reason why they couldn’t do it this year.
Q: Could you tell me a little about yourself? Have you grown up in the area and have you always been in love with DC Sports?
A: I was born and raised in King George, Virginia, next to Fredericksburg. I was a fan of the Die Hard Orioles, but I loved all the DC sports teams. The Redskins, Caps and Wizards were my team back then. For baseball, I was a huge Orioles fan who was obsessed with Cal Ripken Jr. Brady Anderson as a child. As I’m a little older, the group has become Miguel Tejada, Melvin Mora and more. I drove to Camden Yard multiple times in the evening when I got my 16 licenses and my dad sat me down and asked me where I and my peers were going. On the home stand, I went to three or four of the six games and drove to Baltimore for two hours. Looking back, it was pretty crazy that my parents let me do that.
Anyway, I was a huge fan of O. Even when Nats came, I remained a fan of O. When Nat came when I was in high school, they were just another team for me. My DC tie didn’t immediately pull me towards them. I was very loyal to the Orioles. I started working at 106.7 The Fan every day in 2014 with Grant and Danny. Most days we talk about NAT. So you’re watching the NAT to do your job, so you’ll go to the clubhouse to cover them. I began to get to know people around the organization and players. You know, I saw them every day, knowing that if they win it would be better to talk about them. You started cheering them like that, and then over time it became natural that NAT was on my main screen. It’s the DC team and I’m a DMV guy. They became my club and I watched 162 games. They were the Orioles that I had when I was a kid.
I’m also taking root on the O route. My wife is a fan of the Die Hard Orioles and we go to Camden Yard. I raise my kids as nut fans. That’s because it’s a house for them. They also have some O gear. I generally watch both of them because I have two TVs down in my man’s cave.
Q: How did you get on the radio? Has that always been an interest to you?
A: Yes, in fact, I was lucky. My uncle was a disc jockey, a morning radio host at Pittsburgh’s Rock Station, which has nothing to do with sports. It was like Elliot from the morning type show. They spoke with a lot of comedy bits, but that was the morning show they played music at the Rock Station. When I went to visit him when I was really young, I went to see it and thought it was the coolest thing in the world. He was talking to the microphone, thousands of people were listening. When we went out for dinner when we visited him, people told him they loved the show. I thought it was amazing.
From there, we got caught up in this debate about the Redskins vs. Steelers in preseason scrimmage. At this point I was about nine years old and was talking trash about how the Redskins beat the Steelers 14-7 in scrimmage and more. How does he know all this? He called on a radio show one morning and discussed the game, thinking it was funny that I was a little kid and was so passionate. It turned out that people liked the segment, so he made me his sports bookie for several weeks in a row. It became a comedy on his radio show, but I thought it was actually Mel Kipper or something.
In short, the local newspaper wrote about it. I started writing in my local newspaper. The local newscast filmed a bit of a story about how I wrote the radio when I was 10 years old. None of them were overly impressive. After that, I started making picks on Channel 9 on DC. From all of that I got a big break to appear on the Letterman Show. It was one of the thrills of my life.
Then Sirius XM contacted me when it was released around ’01/’02 and they asked me to be broadcast as a young teenager. I started hosting radio shows when I was 13 and have been doing them ever since. It was something I really fell in love with. The opportunities I got from being a cute child were eventually exhausted as I was no longer young, or cute, or small or child. I went to George Mason’s school and continued plugging. I’ve always been doing shows at XM, so I stepped into the door at 106.7 as an assistant beat reporter for Redskins Beat. I was an assistant to Chris Russell on Beat for a year. When he left for the 980 the following year, I took over as a beat reporter, covering the team during my time at Mike Shanahan and did it for four years. Then, four years later, I had a daytime show with Danny Roocher in 2014. He and I will still be together in the afternoon ten years later.
Q: What are the bold predictions for the 2025 Nationals season?
A: Hmm, I like it, let me think about it. I’m trying to figure out whether this is bold enough, but I’m thinking of the McKenzie Gore 200 strikeout. He punched around 180 people last year, and this year it has reached 200. I think James Wood will hit 30 home runs. My last one is that Dilncru steals 30 bags.
