Biography
| Michael J. Baker, Jr. Michael J. Baker, Jr. is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV Host, Reporter and Producer. Baker is also an accomplished videographer who has been honored with five Videographer Awards. His other TV work has garnered five National Telly Awards and a Marcom Creative Award. Baker is currently the President of National Arts Television, Inc. His productions have appeared on BRAVO Cable Network, NBC, PAX-TV, Comcast Sport Network, Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, and in public television syndication. Baker has also served as a TV Station Vice President and General Manager, Station Manager, Development Director, and Program Manager. Before the maturation of ESPN, Baker was heralded by USA Today, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, and Sports, Inc. for his innovative approach to college sports programming and NCAA college basketball Tournament coverage. Baker was the first TV programmer in broadcast or cable history to program over 225 college basketball games in one season as well as two rounds of live NCAA Basketball coverage. Baker was also the first broadcaster in television history to program a thirty-four (34) hour Division I College Basketball Conference Tournament Marathon. He was appropriately dubbed, "Mad Mike" by Tom Knott of The Washington Times. Tony Kornheiser, then of The Washington Post, visited the studio to do a story on Baker and Baker promptly put him on the air. This was Kornheiser's entry into sports television. Before the advent of cable movie channels and the country music television network, Baker was the first TV Program Manager to program a twenty-four hour country music television marathon and twenty-four hour movie marathon. His "Prime-Time Kids" initiative received a Washington Metropolitan Area Community Service Emmy nomination. Baker hosted the award-winning daily talk program "The Greenroom" for 6 years here in the Nation's Capital and produced and co-hosted the Dublin, Ireland St. Patrick's Day Parade which Baker single-handedly marketed to over 178 PBS stations. Baker gained national and international recognition as the host and co-producer of over 250 National Arts programs which aired on the Bravo Cable Network and Bravo International. Baker also produced four documentaries for Bravo: American Dance, That's Jazz, Brendan the Navigator, and Shakespeare in America. Baker is also an award-winning actor and vocalist. He has been a featured soloist at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The White House, Wolf Trap for the Performing Arts, and Lisner Auditorium. Baker hosted the opening event at Wolf Trap and was a featured soloist at the first International Children's Festival. Baker's dramatic performances encompass over forty roles in regional and area theaters both here and in New York. He has been honored with 14 acting awards and or nominations. Baker has a B.A. and M.A. in English and teaches college English. He was "Who's Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities" and received two College Service Awards from the University of Virginia, George Mason College. By virtue of his contributions to television sports programming, he is an Honorary Kentucky Colonel and West Virginia Mountaineer. |
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