Bailey speaks: Show topics are multiple choice for NRV radio voice

Kyle Bailey (right) and his brother, Drew (left), sit in the press box of the Franklin County High School field. Daniel Lin | The Roanoke Times

Kyle Bailey has options.

That means you New River Valley-and-beyond radio listeners have options.

This week, it was ACC TV golden throat Tommy Bowden.

Another day during Bailey’s 101.7 FM sports talk show it might be Michael Vick, Shane Beamer or Mike London. Farther afield, Bailey has chatted up Michigan grid boss Brady Hoke, Alabama sports radio institution Paul Finebaum, and country crooner Rodney Atkins.
Rodney Atkins?

“People don’t really want to hear me jabber on for two hours,” said Bailey, 26. “They like hearing from people who interest them. I work to see we can get those people on as often as we can.”

Turns out Atkins is good for more than a catchy tune about the sublime nature of rural living — “ … Just when I thought it couldn’t get any hotter, I caught a glance of the farmer’s daughter … ” Atkins does football picks for www.southernpigskin.com.

Bailey’s no hick, but he does prove that you don’t have to farm hogs to be interested in the wacky bounces of a pigskin.

Speaking of, Bailey had a ball doing play-by-play on his alma mater Christiansburg’s football broadcasts on Mix 100.7.  As everybody knows by now, the Blue Demons made it all the way to the 2011 Group AA Division 4 final before losing by two to Briar Woods. Bailey was along for the whole auditory ride with sidekick Darren Graham, the former Christiansburg QB whiz and also one of Bailey’s coaches when he played high school ball for the Demons. Christiansburg was picked for a fall this year but 5-0 has shut some mouths, not the play-by-play guy.

“It helps to have a good team to cover,” Bailey said.

Truth is, that’s really what he’d like to do, play-by-play at the major college level. Applications are in the works.  Whether ultimately that comes to pass down the radio road for Bailey, he has a backup plan.

After knocking around following graduation from Virginia Tech while working in such scenic locales as Pensacola and Fort Walton Beach in Florida; Mobile, Ala., and Charleston, S.C., radio beckoned and Bailey returned home to Christiansburg with his wife, the former Emma Varney, also a New River Valley local.

Since then, he’s gone back to Tech to finish out a degree in geospatial information systems. He plans to be done in May. He’ll look for work in that field, maybe apply to grad school. Or maybe he’ll land that college play-by-play job.
Like we said, he has options.

He doesn’t see himself in sports talk radio forever, but he’s not writing anything off at this point. Vick’s a friend of a friend and he and Bailey now have a relationship. A bunch of other former Hokies are a booking phone call away. Bailey would like to try to land another singer with a sports bent Darius Rucker for an on-air get-together.

Or, Bailey could just talk about a Major League prospect with a live arm he knows. That would be younger brother Drew, who’s hoping for a spring training invite from a couple of big league clubs. Drew Bailey has also looked at opportunities to pitch in Mexico and Italy in 2013.

No doubt the brothers will have plenty to talk about.

Kyle Bailey always has plenty to talk about. That’s the way it goes for a man with options.

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