Spokane’s Keith Osso, who graced television screens and radio waves for barely two decades, walked into his KXLY internship in 2002 with a neat head of hair and a clean-shaven face, thanks to his father’s cues.
“My father said, ‘You can’t go to work like this,'” referring to his previously unkempt appearance.
At that point Osso didn’t see the point, he thought all he had to do was work hard and the job would be his. But as always, as Osso said, “The old man was right again.”
Bryan Osso died in December, ripping open a void in the Osso family.
He was the patriarch, the man who held the family together. He was always present at sporting events, recitals, birthdays, weddings.
His father’s death changed Osso’s perspective.
“When I found I wasn’t around as much as I wanted to — and now he won’t be around — I knew it was time to find something that would be more beneficial for my family,” he said.
Leaving KXLY was a difficult decision for Osso. He loved his job, his media friends and his time devoted to sports coverage. Ultimately, though, the grueling sports calendar — especially in a sports-saturated city like Spokane — forced him to relinquish the only career he’s known.
“When my father died, everything changed for me,” Osso said. “And I really had to look at where my life is and where I wanted it to be, and I think this is a much better route for me for the next 20 years.”
No more 2pm to midnight shifts or unplanned weekends that left Osso unable to experience a normal, consistent life with his family, which often took a back seat in his passionate career.
“If I hadn’t had those hours, I wouldn’t have left,” he said. “(KXLY) treated me wonderfully.”
Osso found himself looking for a career switch. His aunt approached him with the opportunity to teach at NEWTech (formerly the Spokane Skills Center), a regional Spokane career and technical education partnership for high school students and seniors in the Spokane area.
Osso said he felt it immediately matched his ambitions, allowing him to continue to drive growth, open channels for creativity and have more family time.
“I wanted more work-life balance,” Osso said. “I wanted something that I could be creative with and I also wanted something that I could have a positive influence on.”
Osso was announced on July 22 on NEWTech’s Facebook page as the animation and special effects instructor and head coach of the esports team.
It was a natural transition for Osso, who has spent the past eight years as a sports director at KXLY and helped shape the next generation of reporters.
“I think the desire to help kids and help people get better was one of the best sides of the job I had,” he said. “When we hired people for the sports department, we hired quite green for the most part. Watching them and teaching them and seeing them develop and get better was something I really learned to enjoy.”
However, it took years for Osso to learn to lead.
Osso grew up playing sports, including his time at East Valley High. He learned the pinnacle of winning and the crushing sense of defeat, with an intense desire to focus on his personal successes.
He wanted people to grow because he wanted to win. He didn’t celebrate their improvement, he celebrated how many wins he and the team achieved.
“I was pretty selfish from a leadership standpoint,” he said. “I really had to learn how to celebrate the victories of others, and it’s so much more satisfying now. It’s pretty cool to see other people blossom.”
Osso will have 60 students seeking his leadership and knowledge. Seeing them succeed and watching their wins will lead him to get better, he said.
He said he will also enjoy creating unique lesson plans that help his students get better and faster.
Instead of designing plays for his team, they become assignments and structures for his lessons. Instead of touchdowns and winning three-pointers, it gives good grades to projects.
“And then when a light bulb comes on, that’s pretty satisfying,” he said.
NEWTech has already proved to be a successful start for students who want to start producing. Osso said the school has been a pipeline of sorts for KXLY, supplying some of its best production staff.
He has seen the results of the program. Now it’s up to him to guide students toward their end goals, whether it’s production or anything else in animation or special effects.
Osso said animation isn’t his forte, so he’ll need some extra study to learn the intricacies of the subject. Fortunately, his position as head coach of the esports team doesn’t require too much grueling homework.
Osso has played video games since the Nintendo Entertainment System was released in 1983 and has picked up other consoles along the way. He sports a PlayStation 5.
Much of his time at the controls went to Madden, MLB: The Show, PGA Tour golf games, and some first-person shooters.
Now he must learn how to play the games organized with the help of the Washington State Interscholastic Activities Association. These include Overwatch and Valorant, which are new to Osso, and Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros..
Learning to play those games on a PC with mouse and keyboard will be an adjustment for Osso, a longtime PlayStation owner.
But his background in classic organized sports makes him a good fit for this team of technologically adept high school students.
“I’m just excited to go in there and see what this team atmosphere is all about – strategize, have a game plan and see if we can execute that,” he said. “Esports is new to some of us, but it’s going to be really cool to see them evolve together.”
Colleges are starting to offer scholarships for esports, realizing the huge market that has recently been tapped.
“I think it’s really cool and I think it’s a good opportunity for these kids to still have that team environment, still be a part of something, even if they can’t really throw a ball,” he said. “Everyone plays video games to some degree; there was an app on your phone or a Nintendo for me when I was a kid.”
Osso said he will fondly remember his time in sportscasting as it has been his entire professional life.
He specifically mentioned the radio show with Dennis Patchin and Rick Lukens that ran on ESPN 700 for nine years with Osso as the third member of the team.
Their voices boomed through the radios at 3 p.m. every weekday. Listeners never knew what was coming through their speakers – in the best possible way.
“That was a kick, I’m telling you, the radio was the best,” Osso said. “We were never short of opinions. It was the most fun of my life.”
While that gig was in addition to his normal duties at KXLY, it was still a shock when his time on the radio came to an end. Even with radio out of the picture, he still had his regular job as a sports reporter to fall back on—until he made the decision to sign out of KXLY for the last time.
“It was an honor to be able to do what I do,” Osso said. “My parents were allowed to see me on TV every day. Not many people get the chance to have a job like me, let alone get that chance where they grew up. But this community has always been my home and I’m so grateful that I’ve been able to do it for so long. And nothing but positive memories as I move on to the next chapter.”
The day he announced he was leaving KXLY, Osso greeted expressions of thanks from viewers, peers, former colleagues and other media members from the region who had crossed paths with him.
“It was humiliating. Everyone should have a day like that,” he said. “I didn’t deserve it, I just didn’t do it, but it was so personal to me. I put my heart into everything I do.”
Osso said that people often don’t feel their emotions until afterwards. From retirement to job changes to even death, things remain unsaid until the end of situations.
Osso ended his thoughts on his time at KXLY with another memory of his father, the one who sculpted him and kept changing his course after he was gone.
“I felt like it was part of my father’s legacy,” Osso said. “The greatest comfort our family has had is that we have left nothing unsaid with him and he has left nothing unsaid with us. We knew where he stood. We understood that we all loved each other. We knew that, and it’s something I tried to do with my personal life.”
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