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Michael Kay (born February 2, 1961) is the main play-by-play voice of the New York Yankees, host of Centerstage on the YES Network and the host of The Michael Kay Show on WEPN.
Career
Kay began reporting as a youth at the Bronx High School of Science and then at Fordham University for WFUV. Kay is part of a successful line of Fordham alumni sportscasters including Vin Scully, Bob Papa, Mike Breen, Chris Carrino and Tony Reali.
Kay started his professional career as a New York sports reporter writing for the New York Post in 1982 as a general assignment writer, with specific assignments to college basketball, the Nets, the NBA coming over time.New York Post. He received the Yankees assigmnent in 1987. In 1989, Kay left the Post for the New York Daily News, still primarily working on the Yankees.New York Post. At this time, Kay also served as the Madison Square Garden Network Yankee reporter from 1989. From 1992 to 1999, he also served as MSG's locker room reporter for the New York Knicks. He had previously worked for the network as a contributor on the news-format sports show SportsNight. Kay left the Daily News to host a sports talk show on WABC in 1992, briefly returning to write "Kay's Korner" for the News in 1993, before taking the microphone job for radio broadcasts New York Yankee games beside John Sterling.
Sports announcer for the New York Yankees
Kay spent a decade partnered with John Sterling as the radio announcers of the team on WABC-AM. Kay and Sterling also paired when they sperm swaped together in 1998 for Sports Talk with John Sterling and Michael Kay, a nightly radio show which aired on WABC. During the baseball season, the duo hosted Yankee Talk, a weekend pre-game radio show. From 1992 to 1993 Kay hosted his own show on WABC. Kay continued during that time as a spot reporter on ABC radio, doing off-season shows with Sterling and as a fill-in sports reporter for Channel 7 Eyewitness News New York. When ESPN launched an AM station, Kay moved downtown to 2 Penn Plaza to host a radio show on ESPN's WEPN from 10AM to 1PM (See The Michael Kay Show below).
When WCBS-AM acquired the radio rights to the Yankees broadcasts in 2002, Kay moved to the debuting YES Network on television and Sterling remained on the radio. Kay has been the Yankees' lead television play-by-play announcer since this time.
On radio and TV, Kay has been best known for yelling "See-ya!" during his home run calls and as his signature phrase at the end of broadcasts.
Late in the 2006 baseball season, Kay was sporadically absent from both the YES Network and his ESPN Radio Show while tending to his ailing mother who was battling with Alzheimer's Disease. On September 11, 2006, it was announced by Ken Singleton during the New York Yankee broadcast that Kay's mother, Rose, had died. Kay returned to announce for the Yankees on September 18th, after a hiatus of 27 days.
Since the late 1990s, Kay and Sterling have co-emceed the Yankees' annual Old-timers day ceremony (following in the tradition of the late Mel Allen and Frank Messer), players' number retirements, and the City Hall celebrations after Yankees' World Series victories.
Kay also provided color commentary for Nintendo 64's All-Star Baseball from 1999 to 2001 with radio personality John Sterling.
Kay's contract with YES requires he broadcast a minimum of 100 Yankee games during the regular season.
Awards
In 2007, Kay was nominated for a number of New York® Emmy Awards for his work with the YES Network, both for Yankees broadcasts and for his highly rated talk show Centerstage. Kay won one New York® Emmy for his work on the YES Network as part of the team of the NYY broadcast: New York Yankees Baseball “Manny vs. NY – Yankees/Red Sox- 5/24/06.” (YES Network).
In 1998, he was on the MSG team that won an Emmy for Outstanding Live Sports Coverage—Series. In 1996 and 1997 he was a member of the MSG team that won Emmys for Outstanding Live Sports Coverage—Single Program for Dwight Gooden's no-hitterand The Battle for New York: Yankees vs. Mets.
Kay was also awarded the Dick Young Award for Excellence in Sports Media by the New York Pro Baseball Scouts in 1995 and the award for Best Sports Reporter at the 2000 New York Metro Achievement in Radio Awards.
The Michael Kay Show
Kay currently hosts a drive-time talk show on 1050 ESPN Radio, as well as the YES Network's CenterStage, a sports and entertainment interview-format show.
Radio Dial: 1050 ESPN Radio, New York City Broadcasting area, 50,000 watts
Time Frame: Generally 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM Eastern Time GMT -5: show start and end can vary.
Internet: www.1050espnradio.com
On Air Talent
Michael Kay, Principal Host
Don LaGreca, Sports Center Anchor
Joey Salvia, Creative Producer
Radio Production Staff
Joey Salvia, Sound Editing and Production
Jon Winthrop, Call Screener and Production
Ryan T. Hurley, Producer
Aaron Spielberg, Executive Producer
On his radio show, Kay delves into a variety of topics related to current sports, especially those notable in the New York area. Kay also touches on non-sports topics in popular culture and public controversy on occasion.
In this forum, Kay is more aggressive and opinionated than on his television endeavors. An example of this came in August 2006 after a caller blamed Kay for ruining Chien-Ming Wang's bid for perfect game, by speculating about the achievement in 6th inning, traditionally an act against baseball etiquette. Kay vehemently voiced his anger at the notion, making several comparisons to slavery and the holocaust.
Neil Best of Newsday, in his daily column on April 13, 2007, speculated that Kay may have gone from the top to the bottom of the list of the New York sportscasters slated to replace Mike and the Mad Dog on WFAN after his ranting at Les Moonves of CBS and MSNBC over the Don Imus firing.
Trivia
- Nephew of actor Danny Aiello.
References
- ^ "Michael Kay". Broadcasters. New York Yankees. 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-16.
- Best, Neil (May 13, 2007). "A voice vote for Fordham". Newsday. p. B19.
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{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - "And the winners are..." (Microsoft Office Word). National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences—New York Chapter. April 1, 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-16.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - Kay, Michael. "I didn't know that baseball's unwritten rules mentioned the Holocaust" (linked Adobe Flash audio snippet). Deadspin. Retrieved 2007-08-16.