Hank Bauer Will Not Return As Chargers' Radio Color Commentator This Season

The Chargers are "planning a change in their radio broadcast team," as color commentator Hank Bauer "will not be returning to the booth" for the '15 season, according to Alex Marvez of FOXSPORTS.com. Bauer joined the announcing team for its flagship station, KLSD-AM, in '98. It is believed that the Chargers "have not settled yet on Bauer's replacement" (FOXSPORTS.com, 6/20). In San Diego, Michael Gehlken noted Bauer's contract "expired this spring without renewal from iHeartMedia." Bauer, who has partnered with play-by-play announcer Josh Lewin since '05, "faced controversy last August for a remark late in an exhibition broadcast." He and Lewin discussed the high cost of tickets when Bauer "quipped that copper wire was invented when 'somebody dropped a penny between Josh and his family member.'" The joke, "considered anti-Semitic, brought the station to announce, with comment 'Hank had no ill-will behind his remarks,' a one-game suspension to close the preseason" (SAN DIEGO-UNION TRIBUNE, 6/21).