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Television host Jackson to take over as Heat radio voice, retain TV hosting role
After 17 years as television host and courtside reporter for the Miami, Jason Jackson will also shift to radio play-by-play this season, replacing Mike Inglis, who announced his retirement from that role on Tuesday.
“Becoming the radio voice of the Heat is a dream come true,” Jackson said in a statement. “Thanks to Hall of Fame Cincinnati Reds’ broadcaster Marty Brennaman, I fell in love with the artistry and responsibility of carrying the power and passion of sports over the airways. I look forward to picking up where Mike Inglis so notably left off, and applying those elements and tenants to the Miami Heat Radio Network each game night.”
The 2019 National Association of Black Journalist Sports Task Force Journalist of the Year, Jackson, 49, had filled in on Heat playby-play over the years on both radio and television, with this his first full-time assignment calling the team’s games.
“I did a little college on ESPN, college football” Jackson said of his previous play-by-play experience.
Jackson becomes the fourth radio voice in the franchise’s 34 season. Prior to Inglis, who held the role for 23 seasons, former New York-based radio veteran
David Halberstam had called the team’s games on radio from 1992-93 through the end of the 1997-98 season. Before Halberstam’s arrival, the team had simulcast their games on both television and radio, with current television play-by-play voice Eric Reid part of those calls.
Former WNBA star Ruth Riley Hunter and former Heat coach Ron Rothstein have served as the Heat’s radio analysts in recent seasons.
Jackson largely will remain the television presence he has been in recent years, continuing to serve as pregame, halftime and postgame host for programming on Bally Sports Sun, as well as a host on the team’s Inside the Heat shows.
“This is like a dream world,” Jackson said Thursday. “I still get to keep the footprint for pregame, halftime and postgame, while, for the very first time full-time in my career, call games.”
Jackson said logistics remain to be worked out, adding with a laugh, “The thing we have to figure out is just positioning. Ruth already leaves the pregame set to go to radio and then leaves radio to come back to the postgame. I didn’t win a gold medal or two WNBA championships or a national championship. While I’m deceptively nimble . . . we’ll see what’s best and then go from there.”
Jackson said he no longer would handle halftime coach interviews outside the locker room and postgame midcourt player interviews.
“Jason Jackson has become one of the most recognizable and beloved representatives of our organization since he first joined the Heat family back in 2004,” Heat President Pat Riley said in a statement. “He is a very versatile and talented voice with a sense of humor that’s off the charts. I know that every game, Jax will bring his robust personality with a reservoir of knowledge about the game, and the Heat, that will resonate with our fans.”