Kentuckians on the national stage
National journalists cite Kentucky roots as their superpower
The spotlight shines bright on some native Kentuckians currently making airwaves on a national platform. Sportscaster, sports reporter, news anchor and a political commentator—these journalists keep a piece of the Bluegrass State with them as they go about their high-profile careers.
Michael Eaves, an ESPN sportscaster, has reported on sporting events all across the country, but he makes sure everyone knows that his home team is the University of Kentucky Wildcats.
Eaves was raised in White Plains, a western Kentucky town with a population of around 800. The adopted son of a coal miner and a social worker, Eaves graduated from South Hopkins High School and attended UK, majoring in journalism.
“Anyone who meets me knows where I’m from because I like to rep all things University of Kentucky,” he says.
His start as a sports anchor, reporter and producer at WKYT-TV in Lexington led him on a career path through Memphis, New York and Los Angeles. Eaves now resides in Connecticut working as a studio anchor for ESPN.
His job at ESPN has him often hosting SportsCenter, NBA Countdown and MMA Live, but also sporting events like the Masters Tournament and the Olympics. Even after witnessing the grandeur of the Olympic Games, Eaves says the Kentucky Derby still ranks high on his list of iconic sporting events.
“I tell everyone who knows me that they should go to the Kentucky Derby at least once in their life,” he says. “It’s a piece of Americana, and there is nothing like standing there at Churchill Downs, a mint julep in your hand, hearing them sing My Old Kentucky Home. I’ve covered a few Olympics and I’ll still say there is nothing like the Kentucky Derby.”
From the pageantry of the Derby to the culture of small town Kentucky, Eaves says his experiences growing up in Hopkins County helped him develop his skills as a journalist.
“Growing up in a really small town and playing those team sports helped me become a more well-rounded reporter,” he says. “There is a culture of family and appreciation that’s very indicative of the South.”
Plain-spoken and conservative
Southern culture is partly why Scott Jennings chose to return to Kentucky to continue his career as a journalist. Jennings, a senior political contributor for CNN, is a Dawson Springs native. Growing up in western Kentucky, Jennings worked as a radio DJ in high school and developed his taste for media. He was a reporter for WHAS during his college years at the University of Louisville, then joined George W. Bush’s presidential campaign in 2000.
After a stint as special assistant to Bush, Jennings left the White House in 2007. He and his wife moved to Prospect, where they are raising four boys, as well as 20 backyard chickens. Jennings spends his time contributing columns to multiple news outlets, working as co-founder of RunSwitch PR and appearing on CNN as a conservative commentator.
“I consider myself to be the principal pundit from middle America and I take that responsibility seriously,” Jennings says. “The media is often dominated by voices from the coast or the Sun Belt and I think it’s valuable to the conversation to have someone from middle America in the mix.”
While he doesn’t think he brings an accent to his TV appearances, Jennings says there is another aspect of Kentucky in his words: being plain-spoken. He says a lot of contributors on TV talk a lot, but say little of meaning.
“Growing up in Kentucky, I learned how to be efficient with my words and make them count,” he says. “A former boss at the radio station preached ‘the economy of words.’ Be efficient but productive, and that’s a value of Kentucky I bring to my job.”
For the upcoming presidential election, Jennings will travel to cover the campaigns, debates and conventions. With so many methods for receiving news, Jennings hopes young Kentuckians develop a “healthy diet of information” and an ability to consider issues from different points of view.
“You have to develop an interest in being well-informed,” he says. “Don’t miss out on information available to you and don’t silo yourself into ideas already within your bubble. Challenge yourself.”
Authentically Kentucky
Pamela Brown may have been raised around Kentucky politics, but her path veered toward journalism at a young age. Brown, who grew up in Lexington, is the daughter of the late former Kentucky Gov. John Y. Brown Jr., and the late Phyllis George, a former Miss America and sportscaster. With exposure to many career choices, she knew politics wouldn’t be her path but she loved writing and asking questions.
After graduating from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Brown was building a resume tape and networking when she landed a job in television news in Washington, D.C. She joined CNN in 2013 and soon will be hosting her own show there called The Bulletin with Pamela Brown.
Brown is passionate about investigative human interest stories, and she credits her Kentucky upbringing for her ability to report with authenticity.
“I think being in D.C. and the Beltway, it can be a little bit of a bubble,” she says. “Having Kentucky roots gives me perspective, understanding and empathy I might not have had otherwise. I can relate to people in stories in a real way.”
When reporting from Washington, Brown says most people are surprised to find out she is from Kentucky because they don’t detect an accent.
“Though it sometimes comes out if I’m interviewing someone else from the South, or if things are getting a little feisty in an interview,” she jokes.
Through her charity work, Brown makes sure people know about all Kentucky has to offer visitors. She builds auction baskets that include items like horse farm tours or a nice bottle of bourbon.
Brown is raising her children in D.C., but says she makes sure her family will have a connection to Kentucky through visits home and the values she teaches them about hard work and grit.
“I love coming home to Kentucky,” Brown says. “I immediately feel grounded.”
From Miss Kentucky to ESPN
That grounded feeling is something Louisville native Katie George also thinks helps her in her career as a reporter for ESPN.
“I think people from Kentucky are unbelievably kind and relatable human beings and that’s the name of the game for my job—being relatable,” she says. “I think my upbringing keeps me really grounded so I can do that.”
George’s upbringing includes being exposed to sports at an early age by her two older brothers. She says sports were always on the television and when she first saw sportscaster Erin Andrews, she thought that was a career path she wanted to follow.
While playing volleyball for the University of Louisville, George took a leap of faith and entered the Miss Kentucky USA pageant. Despite having no prior pageant experience, she won.
“It was a whirlwind experience,” she says. “I did some research and I found several women in media that had been in the pageant circuit and parlayed that into a TV career, so I thought that pageants could open different doors for my future.”
Her win provided her with several offers from local TV stations, as well as the chance to compete in Miss USA. She finished in the top 11 and received the People’s Choice award.
“It was a great experience to represent a state you absolutely love and to get to talk about it on a national stage,” George says.
After graduation, George worked as a sports reporter for WDRB-TV in Louisville and then as a sidelines reporter for the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks.
She accepted a job with ESPN in 2019 for the launch of the ACC Network, where she covers college football, Formula One racing and the NBA.
George says a recent career highlight was covering Louisville’s football victory over Notre Dame in October. It was literally a homecoming for the Louisville alumna who spent her college years honing her journalism skills in the Cardinals’ stadium.
“It’s a big deal to cover Louisville at home,” she says. “I remember being 18 or 19 years old and walking around interviewing Eric Wood on the sidelines. To be covering this team now for ACC is just amazing.”
George travels most weekends for work, but she is always happy to come home to Louisville after being on the road.
“Kentucky is such an underrated place to visit and to live,” she says. “We are such a special pocket of the country and you don’t realize that until you have boots on the ground in our rolling hills.”
Road to the story leads home
Pamela Brown brings her Kentucky connection to the stories she covers as CNN’s chief investigative correspondent. She did that literally in early 2023, when she returned to the Bluegrass State to film a news piece about the long-term effects of severe weather on small towns.
For that story, Brown spoke to western Kentucky residents about the 2021 tornado outbreak and eastern Kentucky residents about the July 2022 floods.
“Those pieces show I’m still very connected to Kentucky,” Brown says. “I felt compelled to go back and tell those stories.”
Watch the piece that aired on CNN here.
A visitor’s guide
Friends and colleagues often ask these media personalities with Kentucky roots where they should go if they visit the state. Here are some choices from their lists:
Michael Eaves’ pick: The National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green. “I’m a self-described car freak so I always tell people to check out the Corvette museum.” – https:// www.corvettemuseum.org.
Scott Jennings’ pick: Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Park in Hodgenville. “You gotta stop and pay homage to Mr. Lincoln.” – https://www.nps.gov/abli/index.htm.
Pamela Brown’s pick: A horse farm tour in central Kentucky. “I absolutely loved growing up near horse farms and riding.” – https://www.kentuckytourism.com/things-to-do/horses/horse-farms-and-tours.
Katie George’s pick: The Bourbon Trail in central Kentucky. “You don’t need hiking boots. It’s like Napa and the wineries, but with distilleries.” – https://kybourbontrail.com.
