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Volquest Exclusive: A sit down with Tennessee's new Voice of the Vols, Mike Keith

On3 imageby:Brent Hubbs•about 16 hours•

Brent_Hubbs

Mike Keith

The Tennessee Vols have their new voice and it’s a familiar name as University of Tennessee graduate, former Vol Network member and 27-year voice of the Tennessee Titans, Mike Keith, is returning to Rocky Top. 

Keith began his broadcasting career in Knoxville while he was a student at the University of Tennessee. After graduation, he would go on to be the voice of Tennessee Baseball and the host of Sportstalk, a daily afternoon sports talk show in Knoxville. He also for a period of time hosted a night television talk show. Keith also had a role in the Vol Network’s football and basketball broadcasts.

In 1998, Keith left Knoxville to join the Tennessee Titans, who were the Tennessee Oilers at the time. Keith would lead the creation of Titans Radio and over the last 27 years expanded it onto a successful multimedia network with television programming, podcasting, streaming content as well as game broadcasts. 

For Keith, a lifelong Tennessee fan, the opportunity to be the Voice of the Vols is truly a dream come true. 

“It’s other worldly almost,” Keith said when asked in an exclusive sit down with Volquest what it feels like to accept this role. “To think that only four other people have had the job and I respect the four of them so much. To be in that classification now is almost other worldly.”

Keith grew up in the stands of Neyland Stadium and the sweat box that was Stokely Athletic Center. And it was there, along with the iconic voice of John Ward, that Keith as an elementary-aged kid grew an affinity for radio and a dream to be the Vols of the Vols. 

“I loved it because of John Ward,” Keith explained. “My indoctrination into all of this came at a point when Stanley Morgan was on the football team. Condredge Holloway was the quarterback. Larry Seivers was the All-American receiver. Then in basketball you had (Bernard) King, (Ernie) Grunfeld, Mike Jackson, Johnny Darden, Reggie Johnson. They were really, really good. To go into Neyland Stadium and sense the whole thing. To go into Stokley Athletic Center and they run through the ‘T’ and warmed up to Sweet Georgia Brown and it was a show. That to me was magical.

“And then I started listening to John on the radio and John was magical because he was so big. It was a show. When you are passionate about something, you feel it to your core. That is what I feel about this and always have.” 

Volquest had a chance to sit down with Keith for an extended interview about becoming the Voice of the Vols, his love affair with the Big Orange and much more. 

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