Dave Baker with, from left, Jim Host, Ralph Hacker and Tom Leach. JMI has told Baker after 37 years that he will not be part of the UK Radio Network basketball pregame show next season. (WKYT-TV Photo)
For 37 years Dave Baker has been the pre-game host for the UK Sports Network that broadcasts men’s football and basketball.
He called it a “dream come true” to spend that long getting Kentucky basketball fans ready to listen to their Wildcats play basketball.
However, his last game in Rupp Arena was Saturday when UK lost to Florida and once Kentucky is eliminated from NCAA Tournament play, his role with the UK Sports Network will be finished.
“A few weeks ago, I found out from JMI that I won’t be a part of the program moving forward. JMI is the multimedia rights partner that handles the broadcasts, NIL packaging and other projects for UK. As the rights holder of the UK Sports Network, they can contractually do that,” Baker said in a statement. “That’s the way it is in sports. I do want you to know though this wasn’t my decision and even though I’m a little older than when I started – there’s no issue with my health. I am not leaving UK sports; I am concluding my time at the UK Sports Network.”
Baker was “not trying to be ugly” when he issued the statement. He just wanted UK fans to know what was happening.
“I normally would not put out a statement but even with that people who know me were wanting to know if I was okay. My health is fine,” Baker said. “I have really not gotten a reason from JMI (for his dismissal). I have some t thoughts but I am not sure.”
He said he had a “conversation” in September with JMI about doing some “historical stuff next year” but then in February got another call.
“I was not aware of this, but one person (from JMI) involved in the process believed they had let me know I would not be back. But I am pretty sure if someone told me that in September, I would remember it,” Baker said.
He is not leaving WKYT-TV where he has worked for almost 44 years. He remains special projects coordinator and sportscaster and will continue to anchor “Everyday Kentucky” at 9 a.m. with India Jones on WKYT and “The Afternoon Buzz” on WKYT+ at 12:30 p.m. He will also continue to share sports stories and news updates on a variety of platforms.
“We may even do our own (UK basketball) pregame show on WKYT next year,” Baker said.
Baker’s relationship with UK basketball started when Ralph Hacker and Jim Host realized Cawood Ledford could be retiring in the near future. Hacker spent 34 years on the UK Radio Network from 1966-2000 and was the play-by-play voice from UK basketball for eight years after Ledford retired. He was president of HMH Broadcasting and got Baker and Cats’ Pause founder Oscar Combs to do a weekly show on WVLK-AM, the flagship station for UK sports, after the weekly radio shows the football and basketball coaches did.
“He said why not do a pregame show and that came along in about 1989. It kind of just grew from there and it was great fun to be around the team and coaches,” Baker said. “I have heard from so many fans since the news broke. Some I knew, some I didn’t. It was very heartwarming.”
Baker felt “fortunate” to work with so many head coaches and assistant coaches.
“I cannot think of a single coach that I had a bad experience with at Kentucky or any other place where we did games. I did get kicked out of a (Indiana basketball coach) Bob Knight practice once, but that was it,” Baker said. “All the coaches were great to me. I even played racquetball with (former UK football coach) Rich Brooks. I never had a bad minute with (basketball coach) Billy (Gillispie). He was always great with me. I was just very, very blessed.”
Baker said he also never had anyone from UK or the network try to limit or censor what he said on air.
“There were some things on campus that involved student-athletes that somebody might say not to dwell on that for legal reasons. I always tried not to be a bomb thrower,” Baker said. “I always tried to give my opinion and be fair.”
He took advice Combs gave him years ago to heart.
“He said if I had something I really felt strong about after a game to sleep on it and then in the morning if I still wanted to say it, then say it then,” Baker said. “Most of the time I still said it but not in the same way I would have spewed it out the night before.”
Baker can rattle off an impressive list of people he’s been able to work with and still believes Mark Pope has a “great future” at UK despite his struggles at times the last two years.
“I think he absolutely needs a general manager. Everybody in the NBA does that and they are dealing with the best players in the world,” Baker said. “There are many facets to his job and one thing he is paid to do is get his team out of bad spots and he has got to find a way to stop a 27-3 run (like Texas A&M recently had against UK.
“I don’t believe in over coaching, but you have got to pull through the mud sometimes and I think maybe Mark is still learning exactly how to do it. But I certainly have not lost hope in him.”
Baker was honored on the court before UK’s game with Florida. He admits it was sad to know people he had worked with and seen for years would not be part of his regular routine going forward.
“I could not have dreamed of being more blessed in my career. I would never have dreamed I would get to do what I have done for 37 years,” Baker said. “I’m not going anywhere because this is still my home. It’s just that my work with the UK Network has come to an end.”
3 Responses
Another sign of "modern-day progression" pushing out legacies and legends in order to "go forward into the future"……So my generation was the last generation of kids to grow up in KY with Cawood Ledford still being the play-by-play voice of the CATS. I can still remember when Cawood announced his retirement–I was 12 yrs old when Cawood hung it up in 1992–now MY generation's play-by-play voice into the 21st century has been Tom Leach, who became the play-by-play guy in 2001, when he took over for Ralph Hacker. I would be the first to say that Tom has been MY GENERATION's version of Cawood, although there will never be ANYONE who will ever be on Cawood's level. But Tom and Dave Baker were the next generation of announcers following Cawood and Ralph to be a part of the "voices of UK" for yet another generation of people–I remember back in the late 80s as a kid listening to Dave Baker, Oscar Combs, and Tom Leach on the old UK Radio Network postgame shows, when those first became a thing! Leach was the young guy of that crew at that time–he was like 25 yrs old, and was the "third guy" on that crew who started doing those shows in the late 80s! It's amazing to think back on that today, and to be able to trace the progression of all these guys. So while Cawood and then Ralph did one more decade of radio work, they paved the way for Leach to take over the play-by-play duties, and Oscar and Buzz became the two voices on the radio PREGAME show every game. And they continued on in that capacity for almost the next 20 yrs until Oscar hung it up here about 7 or 8 yrs ago, while Baker continued on with the legacy on the pregame show, and became a legend in his own right with that too. That now leaves only Tom from the next generation of radio voices after Cawood and Ralph to still be at UK. Tom is now celebrating 25 yrs as the play-by-play man, and hopefully will be around long enough to at least reach 30 yrs, and if luck will have it, maybe even make a run at Cawood's record! But all of these radio personalities going back to Cawood are all just as big a part of the UK BBALL tradition as any of the players or coaches, and I really hate to see Buzz being pushed out just due to what is basically nothing more than an arbitrary decision, and what I consider a little bit of ageism. Not to mention, so far, JMI is doing very little to give this fanbase anything in the realm of positivity, whether it comes to their media hiring decisions or their NIL partnership deals with recruits, and they apparently are part of the reason why we are struggling to be able to close any deals. Dave Baker–you will be extremely missed on the radio going forward–YOU WERE that pregame radio show, and u and Oscar both are what it made it fun to tune into that show each and every game. It will NOT be the same show going fwd, at least not for me. Nothing against Cameron Mills, but he isn't exactly a classic radio-guy. It's just another of those spots that will be left that will NOT be able to be replaced. Thank you for all your years on our airwaves, Buzz. U have been around for some of the most memorable and some of the biggest moments in this bball program's history, both high and low! We wish u all the best!!
Is there a clause were Kentucky can dropped JMI contract and go elsewhere. I dont like this setup that's hurting UK more than helping.. A joke
THANKS DAVE! JMI is a Joke! Just another way for the “Mucky Mucks” to suck more money out of the University! I started listening to Cawood and Ralph years ago. And I believe the down fall of Kentucky really begin with changing our Wildcat to be like Kansas State’s logo. I really like old Dave and what he brought to the program. I just don’t see our beloved Wildcats ever getting back to the top of college basketball. I’m 70 years old and won’t ever see another great team. It’s already got to where you tell your grandkids how great the Cats were and they give that look like they don’t believe it. They think now that Duke is and has always been the best team ever in college basketball. it will get where they think Papaw is telling stories about how they never called off school and he had to walk to school in snow. I’ve said this before as old Dandy Don Meredith would sing at the end of a NFL lost cause ball game “Turn Out The Lights, The Parties Over”!
Comments are closed.