John Alexander Ireland Jr. (born July 15, 1963) is an American sportscaster based in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

, who is currently the radio play-by-play announcer for the Los Angeles Lakers of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

(NBA).

Early life

Ireland was born in Newport Beach, California to Myrna and John Ireland and was raised in the neighborhood

Corona del Mar, Newport Beach Corona del Mar (Spanish for "Crown of the Sea") is a seaside neighborhood in the city of Newport Beach, California. It generally consists of all the land on the seaward face of the San Joaquin Hills south of Avocado Avenue to the city limits, as ...

Radio career

Since 2011, Ireland has been employed as the radio play-by-play announcer for the Los Angeles Lakers. He also hosts (along with Steve Mason) a Monday-Friday sports talk show on KSPN-AM radio, from 12:55pm to 3:55pm. Previously, Ireland hosted shows at XTRA-AM in San Diego,

KLAC-AM KLAC (570 AM broadcasting, AM) is a commercial Sports radio, sports Radio broadcasting, radio station licensed to Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, serving Greater Los Angeles and much of surrounding Southern California. Owned by a joint ve ...

in Los Angeles, and nationally on the Fox Sports Radio network. From 1997-2000, Mason and Ireland hosted a live TV/Radio simulcast on the

Fox Sports West Bally Sports West is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios, and operated as part of Bally Sports, along with its sister network Bally Spor ...

cable network. Prior to being named the Lakers announcer, he did part-time play-by-play and sideline work for the

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...

, as well as

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

football and basketball.

Television career

From 1995 through 2012, Ireland was employed as a sports anchor/reporter by KCBS/ KCAL-TV, the Viacom-owned duopoly in Los Angeles. From 2002-2010, he worked as the sideline reporter for all Los Angeles Lakers broadcasts on KCAL-TV. Previously, he worked as a sportscaster at

KTVE KTVE (channel 10) is a television station licensed to El Dorado, Arkansas, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for the Monroe, Louisiana–El Dorado, Arkansas market. It is owned by Mission Broadcasting, which maintains a local market ...

-TV in Monroe, Louisiana;

KBMT KBMT (channel 12) is a television station in Beaumont, Texas, United States, affiliated with ABC and NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside low-power MyNetworkTV affiliate KUIL-LD (channel 12.5). Both stations share studios along I-10/US 6 ...

-TV in Beaumont, Texas; and

KUSI KUSI-TV (channel 51) is an independent television station in San Diego, California, United States. It is the sole property of locally based McKinnon Broadcasting Company. KUSI-TV's studios are located on Viewridge Avenue (near I-15) in the Ke ...

-TV in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...

. In San Diego, he won two Emmy awards for best sportscast.

Education

Ireland is a graduate of

Corona del Mar High School Corona del Mar High School (CdM) is a public school located in the Eastbluff neighborhood of Newport Beach, California, and belongs to the Newport-Mesa Unified School District. It is a combination of a middle school (7th and 8th grades) and a ...

, in Newport Beach, California, Class of 1981. In high school, he was a member of the basketball team and wrote for Trident Magazine. He received a bachelor's degree in history from UCLA in 1985, and was the sports director of the campus radio station, KLA-AM. He is a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ireland, John American sports radio personalities Living people Los Angeles Lakers announcers National Basketball Association broadcasters Place of birth missing (living people) University of California, Los Angeles alumni People from Newport Beach, California 1963 births