What’s in a voice? If you live in a home where a ballgame and sports announcers are often in the background, the announcer’s voice and temperament can make or break your love of the game. The MSU Bobcats have had a variety of broadcasters over the years, and our university’s basketball teams presently have a fitting local personality speaking for them.
Bozeman native, sports announcer, and indisputable character Ian Laird comes from humble beginnings. Now calling games for MSU men’s and women’s basketball on ESPN+, Laird began working in radio at KPRK-AM in Livingston in the late 1990s. He later moved on to California, Oregon, and Nevada before returning to Montana. But his career behind the mic began at a spot that only locals of a certain generation will recognize – the Skate Palace.
As the head DJ for the Skate Palace in high school, Laird found an outlet for his gifts of gab and wit. He didn’t necessarily want to get into the family business (his parents opened JV Restaurant Supply & Design in 1976), so he interned at KMMS-FM radio on weekends, monitoring pre-taped shows. Although he didn’t get any airtime himself, the experience solidified his love of radio. He went on to graduate from Brown Institute in Minneapolis, and came back to Bozeman to pursue local radio.
At KPRK-AM Laird had his own show from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., where he played music, Paul Harvey, and local agricultural news. On Saturday nights, he had a slot playing rock-and-roll from 9 p.m. to midnight. “It was one of those old stations where you actually shut it down,” Laird remembers. “At midnight I’d turn the power off, and the building would go completely dark and static. And then at 4 a.m., you’d turn it back on – and pray.” Fortuitously, his title was Sports Director and part of the job was calling games for the Rangers, Park High’s football team. This was his introduction to doing play-by-play, and he was hooked.
In 1999 he accepted a job at KBOZ-FM as a DJ. “This was when radio was huge; everyone listened to radio,” says Laird. “Back then, if you wanted a song, you had to listen to the radio and wait for it.” But it turned out there was a long trial period first, which Laird spent doing early-morning meter readings, pulling copy, and prep work for the other DJs. He left after seven months.
Following an attempt at KXTG-FM in Portland, Laird moved all over the western U.S., pursuing different jobs, but didn’t find anything solid. He returned to Bozeman to try out the family business and was approached to do play-by-play for Mtsports.tv while they broadcast the Bozeman High Hawks basketball games.
To this day, Laird calls games for the Hawks, as well as the Gallatin High Raptors, but now he does it for KGVM-FM, a nonprofit radio station in Bozeman. Although not a paying gig, Laird doesn’t care. “I just wanted to get back into it -- I love doing it,” he says. Meanwhile, he became the COO of J&V, while raising his children Camden and Taylor with his wife, Kristin. “She’s really been the driving force behind all this,” says Laird of Kristin. “She couldn’t be more supportive, even when I have to take off to a game in Billings or something last-minute.”
In November of 2022, MSU’s associate Athletics Director Bethany Cordell contacted Laird about being the announcer for MSU Bobcat basketball for ESPN+. The games are filmed through Montana PBS, but unlike most schools that just pipe in their radio voice, MSU knew about Laird and his flair for entertainment, and it was a perfect fit.
Now with something of a cult following, Laird is in his second year of calling for MSU basketball. “It's been a dream of mine since I was a kid to be the voice of the Bobcats. I’m just their basketball voice on ESPN+, but it’s still awesome to be able to do this, and sometimes be recognized.” Indeed, Laird has followers across social media platforms, fans on message board discussions, and folks such as yours truly who tune in just to listen to him, not to watch basketball.
“I was terrible at sports in high school, and that’s why I love talking about them today,” Laird laughs. “It turns out I’m gifted with gab but not athletic ability…I’m the easy listening of play-by-play.”