Greg Papa didn’t have to wait long or travel far for his next football gig.
Papa, unceremoniously booted from the Raiders radio booth last month after 21 years as the voice of the team, has signed on to host 49ers pre- and postgame shows on NBC Sports Bay Area during the 2018 NFL season. The station announced the moves in a release on Friday.
Former 49ers Jeff Garcia, Donte Whitner and Ian Williams will round out the TV team.
Papa, 56, won’t have to break in a new audience. As a three-time California Sportscaster of the Year, his work is well known in the Bay Area where he has called Warriors games on radio, hosted a radio talk show and called A’s games on TV. He was most identified with his time with the Raiders. He was fired from that position as a result of bad blood between him and team owner Mark Davis.
Davis hired Brent Musburger as the new radio voice of the Raiders.
The move seemed to be well received based on a highly unscientific smattering of Twitter posts.
Greg Papa to host 49ers pre and postgame coverage https://t.co/ekgvkE8wV7
— H. (@OAKgolfmachine) August 17, 2018
Congrats to the Godfather, Greg Papa, on his new gig, @49ers pre & post game show! it will now feature one of the absolute BEST in the business! pic.twitter.com/vOg9YRxvVu
— Steven Babb (@babbsports) August 17, 2018
Glad the 49ers didn’t make a change on the radio broadcast team. Greg Papa will do great on the pre/post game show on @NBCS49ers
— J (@Jrortiz81) August 17, 2018