Michael Kay (sports broadcaster)
Michael Kay (born February 2, 1961)[1][2] is an American sports broadcaster who is the television play-by-play broadcaster of the New York Yankees and host of CenterStage on the YES Network, and the host of The Michael Kay Show heard on WEPN-FM in New York City and simulcast on ESPN Xtra on XM Satellite Radio.[3] Kay also works on the MLB on ESPN.[4]
Michael Kay
February 2, 1961
1992–present
Broadcaster for the New York Yankees
2
Danny Aiello (uncle)
Danny Aiello III (cousin)
Rick Aiello (cousin)
Early life and education[edit]
Kay was born and raised in the New York City borough of the Bronx.[5] His father was Jewish and his mother was of Italian descent.[6] Always a Yankee fan, Kay wore number 1 in Little League for his favorite player, Bobby Murcer. Wanting to be the Yankees announcer when he grew up, he wrote as many of his school assignments as he could about the Yankees, so he could learn all about them.[7] Kay began his reporting career at the Bronx High School of Science and continued reporting at Fordham University for their radio station WFUV. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in communications from Fordham.[3]
Early career[edit]
Kay started his professional career with the New York Post in 1982 as a general assignment writer, with sports-specific assignments to college basketball, the National Basketball Association and the New Jersey Nets happening over time. He received the writing assignment covering the Yankees in 1987.[3]
In 1989, Kay left the Post for the Daily News, still primarily covering the Yankees. Kay also served as the Madison Square Garden Network Yankee reporter starting in 1989.[3]
In 1992–99, he was 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 MSG SportsDesk. Kay left the Daily News to host a sports talk show on WABC in 1992, briefly returning to write "Kay's Korner" for the Daily News in 1993, before taking a job doing radio broadcasts of New York Yankees games with John Sterling.[3] Kay also worked as a reporter for Fox Sports Net in the late 1990s.
Awards[edit]
In 2003, Kay was added to the Bronx Walk of Fame. 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 interview program Centerstage.[24] He 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).[25]
In 1998, Kay 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-hitter and The Battle for New York: Yankees vs. Mets, and he was 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.[26]
Personal life[edit]
Kay married television journalist Jodi Applegate on February 12, 2011, with former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani officiating. Guests included former Yankees such as Al Leiter, Tino Martinez, and Paul O'Neill, actors Robert De Niro, Bobby Cannavale, and Billy Crystal, and actor/uncle Danny Aiello.[27] The couple have two children: a daughter, Caledonia, born in 2013 and a son, Charles, born in 2014.[28][29] He resides in Greenwich, Connecticut.[30]
On July 3, 2019, Kay announced that he would undergo vocal cord surgery, keeping him out of the broadcasting booth from early July until late August.[31] He returned to the booth on August 17, and returned to his radio show on August 26.[32]