The 10-year radio veteran -- yes, he got his start as a teenager -- was named host of WBAL radio’s “Sportsline," which airs weekdays from 6-9 p.m. and has been on the air for nearly 20 years.

WBAL, the city’s top talk radio station, has three personalities: all news in the mornings, a political talker in midday and afternoons, and a sports talker in evenings.

Hollander is the latest in a series of hosts for “Sportsline” that has included media stalwarts like Gerry Sandusky and Jeff Rimer.

Hollander launched his radio career in high school, where he broadcast on the Internet play-by-play coverage for three varsity sports at Gilman School.

“I grew up in Baltimore, about a mile from TV Hill,” Hollander said. Rich Hollander, Brett's dad, worked as a Channel 11/WBAL reporter in the 1970s and 1980s.

The young Hollander wanted to be a sports announcer since the age of 8 when he began turning down the sound on TV broadcasts and recording his own play-by-play. By his senior year at Gilman, he broadcast every home football, basketball and lacrosse game via the Internet. His work back then earned him an article in the Baltimore Sun sports section.

Hollander’s first local commercial radio gig was as a 15-year-old intern at Hearst’s WBAL radio and later at CBS Radio’s complex of stations in Towson.

He continued to pursue his passion while a student at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., where he majored in political science. He ran the sports department at the school’s campus station, WDCV, before graduating in 2007.

After college, his first paid local radio gig was at Baltimore’s Metro Networks, providing traffic and news updates for a batch of local and regional stations.