Longtime Vol Network announcer and local Knoxville sports radio host John Wilkerson will be inducted into the Tennessee Radio Hall of Fame on Saturday, July 26 during a ceremony in Franklin, Tennessee.
Sponsored by the Tennessee Association of Broadcasters, Wilkerson joins an exclusive list of previous honorees with Tennessee Athletics and Vol Radio Network ties.
The original Vol Network announcer Lindsey Nelson (1948-50) and the legendary “Voice of The Vols” John Ward (1968-98) were members of the inaugural Hall of Fame Class in 2012. In 2013, another Vol Network announcer George Mooney (1952-67) was inducted. Others include UT public address announcer Bobby Denton (1967-2013) and Vol Network basketball analyst Lowell Blanchard (1966-68), both enshrined in 2015.
The newest inductees aside from Wilkerson include current “Voice of the Vols” and former Tennessee Titans play-by-play broadcaster Mike Keith, who was inducted in 2020, as well as the recently retired and longtime “Voice of the Vols” Bob Kesling, who was inducted just last year as part of the class of 2024.
For 35 years, Wilkerson has been involved with the Vol Radio Network, fulfilling numerous roles throughout his impressive career. Most notably, Wilkerson has been the Voice of Tennessee Baseball for the past 27 years, serving as the lead play-by-play voice of the Vols.
Wilkerson’s time with Tennessee baseball dates back to 1988 (the same year he graduated from UT) and has run consecutively since the 1991 season. His duties have ranged from doing public address at the ballpark to moving over to the broadcast booth where he joined Keith.
Boasting a nearly unmatched baseball IQ and an encyclopedia-like knowledge of the Vols’ program, Wilkerson has called six of Tennessee’s seven trips to the NCAA Men’s College World Series (1995, 2001, 2005, 2021, 2023, 2024), including the program’s first national championship in its most recent trip to Omaha in 2024.
In addition to Tennessee baseball, Wilkerson has been the scoreboard host for the Vol Network on both football and basketball broadcasts throughout the years.
Formerly morning sports anchor for WIVK and WNOX, he received the Associated Press award for Best Sportscast in the state five times over a six-year period and has been named best play-by-play in the state by the Associated Press on multiple occasions. In addition to his Vol Network assignments in the fall, Wilkerson—who resides in Knoxville with his wife, Pennye—also calls football games for Knoxville Catholic High School on WNML.
Monday through Friday, Wilkerson hosts SportsTalk from 6-9 a.m. on WNML 99.1 The Sports Animal (AM 990/FM 99.1), which is the flagship station for Tennessee baseball as well as numerous other shows and events covering UT athletics.
Saturday’s 2025 Tennessee Radio Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place at Battleground Academy in Franklin, Tennessee at 4 p.m. (CT). Tickets to the event are available to anyone and can be purchased by clicking HERE.
