Listen in with KNN

Listen in with KNN comes out of sports radio. It airs on Fox Sports Radio, WHAP, at 96.9 FM and 1340 AM, reaching the DMV and the Carolinas, and it is also released as a podcast. Kelsey Nicole Nelson hosts. Every episode in the recent run opens with the same radio-style promise to inform, entertain and captivate, then settles into a guest conversation. The guests are the point. In the episode titled 'Recapping March Madness in Indy and Phoenix with Chris Paul', the talk turns to health: arriving in the NBA at 19, sharing locker rooms with 20-year-olds at 35 and again at 40, and learning to value the veterans once seen icing their knees after practice. The Winter Olympics conversation with Elana Meyers Taylor comes at longevity from another direction: gold at 41, after two children and plenty of people saying it could not be done. Lilly comes up in both, once for its 150 years and once for a Team USA athlete recovery program, so athlete health is a thread worth following. Some episodes go where a typical sports show might not. Shane Winn's episode is for collectors, with a sprawling card and memorabilia event in Rosemont, Illinois, the chance to meet famous names there, and AJ Dillon, a collector with an Instagram channel called Dillon's deals. Cassandra Toroian and Tracy Thomas describe boxes that feature products from college students and women-owned fair trade makers, and a move into renewable tennis balls and paddle balls. The Arizona episode with Nikki Balich takes the show to the West Coast. It goes through a long list of Arizona athletes and coaches and a class chosen by a secret vote that an accountant oversees. One recent episode came from the road. For Super Bowl LIX, Nelson broadcasts live from New Orleans, describing heat, humidity, parties and a heavy military and police presence, and stops to thank the people who keep crowds safe. The guest there is Rich Salgado, introduced by the nickname Big Daddy and as a familiar face on Fox programs. The mood stays warm and upbeat throughout. Sign-offs tease the next guest, once holding back the name of a well-known woman from the boxing world, and end on a reminder not to take fantasy sports too seriously because there is always another play. A good first listen is the Chris Paul conversation, where a March Madness recap sits alongside talk about staying healthy through a long NBA career. The collecting episode is the better test of how far the show will stray from the scoreboard.