How to sync Tom Leach and Jack Givens' radio broadcast with a muted TV for Kentucky games

Saturday’s game at Texas was a lot of fun until it wasn’t. The Wildcats led the Longhorns in Austin for 23 minutes and held a five-point cushion with under four minutes left. However, the wheels fell off down the stretch, resulting in an 82-78 loss and a blown opportunity on the road in the SEC.

Still, the game-watch experience for Kentucky at Texas was a fun one in my household, where, for the first time this season, I synced up the UK radio broadcast with ESPN’s TV broadcast. With all due respect to Karl and Jimmy, Tom Leach and Jack Givens provide better commentary, with Tom’s excitement and professionalism on the play-by-play and Jack’s inside knowledge of all things Kentucky Basketball.

I have Tom and Jack synced up with the muted TV broadcast. The best way to watch.

— Drew Franklin (@DrewFranklinKSR) February 16, 2025

Many of you asked how to pull off the Tom Leach/Jack Givens sync with a muted TV. It can be a little tricky, and not all setups are the same. But in my man cave, it’s as simple as finding the iHeart radio broadcast on a smart speaker (in my case, by asking Alexa on an Amazon Echo) and then pausing the TV broadcast (YouTube TV) until the radio play-by-play lines up with what’s on TV.

Here’s the step-by-step of how I do it:

1. Turn the TV broadcast on, muted
2. Ask Alexa to play 630 WLAP
3. Pause the TV after a basket or a whistle
4. Wait for Tom and Jack to catch up (typically 15-30 seconds)
5. Hit play on the TV as soon as you hear the basket or whistle on the radio broadcast

There can be an art to it, and it may take a couple of tries to line up the broadcasts perfectly. However, if you’re able to pull it off, the game-watch experience is infinitely better for many reasons. One, it’s specific to Kentucky fans, so Tom and Jack’s tone matches the mood of Big Blue Nation. Also, there is a lot more detailed information about Kentucky because they attend practices and know the team better than any outsider possibly could. I’ve also found that the radio broadcast has more to say while the TV broadcast airs car and fast food commercials or a preview of other ESPN programming.

So, give it a try on Wednesday when Kentucky hosts Vanderbilt if you’re interested. It’s easy enough if you can pause the TV and access iHeart’s streaming broadcast on a nearby speaker. The radio/TV sync is a lot more complicated with traditional radio because the delay isn’t as long, so use WLAP.com or the iHeart app to make sure the radio broadcast is behind the TV broadcast.

I just wanted to toss that out there for all who asked and any others who may want to do it. Shout out to Tom and Jack. Go Cats.