Courtesy the North County Times

(March 28, 2011) Charod Williams, the co-host of XTRA 1360 AM's afternoon sports talk show with Josh Rosenburg, didn't take the easy route to getting on the air.

He went old school.

The 34-year-old Williams played college football at the University of Rhode Island, where he faced the likes of Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, who played wide receiver at William & Mary.

"He talked so much trash," said Williams, who played defensive back, "but he was good."

So Williams didn't do summer internships at radio stations; he was too busy preparing for football.

After college, this admitted "Jersey boy" worked for his father in a Newark, N.J., clothing store. Then he got the radio bug. He filled out an application at a small station on a Tuesday, interviewed on a Thursday and had a job by the next Tuesday. He worked his way up from behind the scenes to on-air personality.

When his wife, Hedis, a cell biologist -- "she's the brains, I'm the brawn," he said. -- was transferred to San Diego, Charod Williams called on XTRA program manager Brian Wilson, whom he had met at a previous Super Bowl on Radio Row. There wasn't any immediate work, due to the changing face of the industry, but he finally got his foot in the door.

Again he started at the bottom, worked his way up to become host Chris Ello's producer and update person. Last year, when Jeff Dotseth left the station, Williams was given a seat next to Rosenburg for the 3-4 p.m. "Chargers Power Hour" followed by the 4-7 p.m. "Drive."

The North County Times recently caught up with the Rancho Bernardo resident, and only minority on San Diego's sports talk airwaves, to talk about his newfound celebrity.

Question: Did you think about a pro football career?

Answer: Everyone thinks about it. We're all egotistical 19-year-olds. Then you're a junior in college and you say, 'I think I peaked.' Then you're a senior and you say, 'I think I peaked.' Then you start seeing other guys and you say, 'That guy can go pro.' As you get older, reality sets in. I wasn't going to be one of those guys. For me, it was NFL or bust and it was bust.

Q: You didn't do college radio or internships; did that hurt you?

A: It stunted my growth in the field, but I think I've learned. Some radio guys act like they are doing the listeners a favor. I thank you for listening. That's how I approach it. I will keep that the rest of my career. If I don't, I'll bow out. I don't want to be that pompous radio guy.

Q: What's the toughest part of your job?

A: Well, now with this CBA (collective bargaining agreement) thing and lockout (in the NFL), it's being original. It's not hard to turn on your radio and hear five, six, seven radio stations having the same opinion and interviewing the same guy. This guy is a good guy. This guy is a bad guy. There's not much original thinking on sports radio. The hardest part is to come up with original thoughts and angles. I can't tell you the number of times I'll do show prep the night before and I'll pop on the radio and hear the same thing the next day. I thought I had a different take on it. Fans can catch on to when you are original or regurgitating something you heard somewhere else.

Q: When you started working with Josh Rosenburg, was it an easy transition?

A: Easy in that there is no real age difference. He's 30 and I'm 34. If I crack a joke or say something pop culture-wise, it's not going to go over his head. When you're talking sports, it transcends sports. Our outside opinions really mesh. Our sports opinions may be different, but that's just sports. You can talk sports and jive. It's still rough, but we've been together five or six months and I think we've done a pretty reputable job up until this point.

Q: With hosting the "Chargers Power Hour" every day, do you feel any pressure when you talk bad about the team?

A: This is the first lesson I had in San Diego. Growing up in the New York/New Jersey area, the radio out there is informative and entertaining, but it's almost violent. If (coach) Tom Coughlin for the Giants calls a pass play with 10 seconds left in the first half and it gets picked off and returned to the house, which happened two years ago, the radio is going to blow up for the rest of the week, not the first segment of a show or first hour. The calls are going to be informative and violent. You'll still have the coach or GM come on and answer those calls. Here in San Diego, maybe on the West Coast, it's a bit more sensitive. The fans act a bit more sensitive. If you speak harshly about the team, the GM, for the Chargers, is a bit more sensitive about criticism than I've seen in certain cities. I think the sensitivity is different, but that's kind of an East Coast vs. West Coast thing. … When the positive parts come out, they will come, but I'm not going to hide from the negative parts or sugar coat it. The sensitivity here is a little bit different than I've been accustom to.

Q: This has been a good time in San Diego sports with the Padres, Chargers and Aztecs football and basketball teams all doing well. Is it easier to talk about good times or bad times?

A: It's always easier in the media to talk negative. No one wants to hear the world is going great and we're all singing "Kumbaya." People want you to tell them what's wrong here. The Chargers have won the AFC West for the last couple of years, but tell me why they won't win it this year. Why will they come up short this year? That's what they want to hear. They don't want to hear everything is great. The Chargers are great. The Aztecs are great. The Padres are great. This is the golden age of San Diego sports. People buy into the negative as being the truth as opposed to the positive. … The first game of the season this last year with the Chargers, they lost in Arrowhead to the Kansas City Chiefs and I called Josh immediately and I told him, 'Get ready for the phones to blow up.' He said, 'Really?' I said, 'Honestly, dude, for the Chargers, it's a horrible loss so early in the season, but for a radio show this loss is golden.' That Monday we didn't have to do any show prep. It was, turn on the phones and let's go. People always respond to losses more. They always respond to the negative more.

Q: Being the only minority on San Diego sports talk radio, do you consider yourself a role model?

A: I don't because my voice only reaches so far. If there's someone listening now in San Diego saying, 'I'd like to do that, play college sports and then do sports talk,' I'm not original. If someone looks at me as a role model, that's awesome, but I don't go about my job thinking that. I just go about my job doing the absolute best I can. If it inspires them to do anything in or outside of sports, that's awesome.

Contact staff writer Jeff Nahill at 760-740-3550.

Charod Williams file

Job: Co-hosts “Chargers Power Hour” and “The Drive” with Josh Rosenburg on XTRA Sports 1360 AM from 3-7 p.m.

Age: 34

College: University of Rhode Island (he was a three-year letterman in football)

Residence: Rancho Bernardo

Wife: Hedis

Son: Julian Alexander, 4 (his wife is expecting another boy in August)

Strange fact: He and Julian had the same due date, Aug. 14, and were born on the same day, Aug. 25. “We’re going for the trifecta with our newest son,” Williams said.

Favorite sport: “People would think it’s football, but it’s baseball. It’s such a game of chess.”

Favorite teams: “They all wear New York blue -- the Giants, the Yankees, the Rangers and the Knicks."

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