Lisa Byington Hired as Milwaukee Bucks TV Play-by-Play Announcer

While former Milwaukee Bucks television play-by-play announcer Jim Paschke seems to be enjoying his well-earned retirement, the franchise has tapped Lisa Byington to take over his role on the mic.

The headline here is that Byington becomes the first full-time play-by-play announcer for a major men’s professional sports team. As we’ve seen more and more female voices gradually enter the sports announcing world, it’s going to be awesome to see one on a greater stage with Lisa on the regular Bally Sports Wisconsin call from night to night.

I can’t say I personally have any familiarity with any of Lisa’s previous work, but she was the first female play-by-play voice to work the NCAA Men’s basketball tournament earlier this year. She’s also dipped her toe into play-by-play for both the NBA and WNBA as well, on top of working the Olympic Games this summer and soccer play-by-play in the past. Her basketball roots go back to her Northwestern days, where she played four years on their women’s team. She’s broadcast games all around the networks though, from Fox to ESPN to CBS, and has also worked the sidelines. Quite a resume.

Paschke obviously had 30 years of shared history alongside Bucks viewers to call upon, so it’ll take some getting used to for all of us I’m sure to have a new voice on the mic. Thankfully, we have the outstanding crew of Marques Johnson and Zora Stephenson to work with her. Johnson is sublime on the mic and seems easy-breezy to work with, I’m excited to see his chemistry. Steve Novak will also be a color commentator from time to time.

If you’re looking for a primer on how Lisa calls a game, she’s got a solid compilation of her NCAA basketball calls from a few years ago.

Small sample size alert: I’m impressed! Welcome Lisa to the Bucks broadcast and it’ll be fun hearing her hopefully for years to come.