“Voice of the Yankees” Michael Kay to Receive Vin Scully Award for Excellence in Sports Broadcasting from WFUV Radio

Michael Kay, the Emmy Award-winning New York Yankees play-by-play announcer on YES Network and drive time host of The Michael Kay Show on ESPN NY 98.7 FM Radio, has been selected to be the 11th recipient of the Vin Scully Award for Excellence in Sports Broadcasting  from WFUV Radio (90.7 FM/wfuv.org), the noncommercial, member-supported public media service of Fordham University for more than 70 years, it was announced today. WFUV also announced that multiple Emmy Award-winning television news anchor Ted Koppel will receive the Charles Osgood Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism.  
 
The Awards will be presented on Wednesday night, November 7, at On the Record: A Celebration of Achievement in News and Sports Broadcasting, a benefit for WFUV, in the Costantino Room at Fordham School of Law (150 W. 62nd Street, NYC).
 
Kay (FCRH ’82), who is in his 28th year of calling play-by-play for Yankees games (10 on radio and 18 on YES), becomes the first Fordham and WFUV alumnus to receive the Scully Award.   
 
The Scully Award recognizes the iconic baseball broadcaster, who in 2016 completed his 67th and final season as “Voice of the Dodgers” and is a renowned Fordham alumnus (FCRH 1949). WFUV was the launching pad for his Hall of Fame broadcast career.
 
Previous Scully Award recipients include: inaugural honoree Vin Scully (2008), Dick Enberg (2009), Ernie Harwell (2010), Pat Summerall (2011), Al Michaels (2012), Bob Costas (2013), Verne Lundquist (2014), Mike “Doc” Emrick (2015), Brent Musburger (2016), and Bob Wolff (2017).
 
The Osgood Award acknowledges the distinguished Fordham/WFUV Radio alumnus (FCRH 1954) who was the long time, Emmy Award-winning anchor of CBS Sunday Morning and recipient of  the 2017 News & Documentary Emmy Award for Lifetime Achievement.
 
Previous Osgood Award honorees include: inaugural recipient Charles Osgood (2008), Jim Lehrer (2009), Bob Schieffer (2010), Tom Brokaw (2011). Christiane Amanpour (2012), Sam Donaldson (2013), Scott Simon (2014), Lesley Stahl (2016), and Judy Woodruff and Gwen Ifill (co-recipients in 2017).
 
Two former WFUV student journalists will have official roles during the ceremony: CBS Sunday Morning producer Sara Kugel (FCRH 2011) will host an armchair discussion with Kay and Koppel, reflecting on two extraordinary careers, while WAMU 88.5 Radio (Washington, DC) education reporter Kate McGee (FCRH 2011) will serve as emcee for the evening. She is the daughter of WFUV’s Mixed Bag host Don McGee.
 
Kay also is the host of YES Network’s CenterStage series and previously worked as a sports writer at the New York Post and New York Daily Newsbefore beginning his career in sports broadcasting on MSG Network. He was inducted into the New York State Baseball Hall of Fame in 2016, and received the Dick Young Award for Excellence in Sports Media by the New York Pro Baseball Scouts in 1995.
 
Koppel is best known for his award-winning broadcasts as host of ABC’s Nightline for 25 years from its inception in 1980 through 2005, and has worked as managing editor for the Discovery Channel, news analyst for NPR, and currently as a contributor to CBS News Sunday Morning.  
For more information and to purchase tickets, contact Kim Baird at kbaird@wfuv.org or (646) 868-4226.
Lead image: credit chris.ptacek