Station Info

Sportsfan 101.7 FM serves the northern Sacramento Valley of California with ntaional, state, and local sports coverage.

Sports director Mike Baca covers local sports and operates this web page.

To sports fans in the Bay Area, Bill King was the voice that painted a mental picture — one that brought baseball, basketball and football to life in the imaginations of those near a radio set.

Mike Baca is bringing that tradition to Chico sports.

A whirlwind of description on the microphone, Baca’s love for sports transcends a lifelong aspiration to do sports on the radio. Since the age of 4, Baca said he knew he wanted to be on the radio.

“We didn’t have a TV growing up, so our entertainment was listening to Bill King do the Warriors games on the radio,” Baca said. “We’d turn him on at 7:30, and I became immersed in his play call.”

Baca, the voice of Chico State’s baseball and basketball teams for KPAY radio, grew up in Alameda and graduated from Chico State in 1994. He played baseball and basketball in high school.

“I could shoot, but I couldn’t dribble — plus I was only 5-foot-8,” Baca said.

In 1996, Baca left his job and Bay Area home to become an athletic announcer at Chico.

“I got here in 1997 when the baseball team won the Division II College World Series,” Baca said. “We did 20 games in 1998, and I pushed the program director to carry all 40 games the next year,” Baca said.

By 2000, Baca was on the radio at 6 p.m. and expanded KPAY’s basketball coverage to include the women’s team.

“It’s been kind of a tough road, but it’s something that I think Chico State fans appreciate, especially when the games are away,” Baca said. “In baseball we’re one of the better programs in the nation, and basketball is a quality program as well. So they lend themselves well to the community.”