Nashville sports anchor and radio personality Mark Howard dies at 65
2 min readLongtime Nashville, Tennessee, sportscaster and radio temperament Mark Howard died at his house Sunday, in accordance to his wife Debra. He was 65.
In 2018, The Tennessean included Howard, whose serious name was Howard Mark Levenson, in its top rated 60 over 60 list of sporting activities figures who ended up nevertheless functioning.
Howard, a native of West Hartford, Connecticut, became a single of the most well known sporting activities anchors in Nashville during the 20-plus years he put in at NewsChannel 5.
“My heart’s broken,” mentioned retired NewsChannel 5 sports director Hope Hines. “I have missing 1 of my most effective and dearest close friends. He was a lot more like a son to me and he felt the exact way, I was a father-like determine in quite a few methods to him. I’m heartbroken for Jack his son, and Debra. He was a terrific, good talent.”
Athletics Publication:Signal up now for each day updates despatched to your inbox
Howard transitioned to radio in the early 2000s as host of a local political converse clearly show.
In 2004, Howard returned to sporting activities when he grew to become co-host of the “Wake Up Zone” on The Zone 104.5-FM alongside with Kevin Ingram and previous Tennessee Titan Frank Wycheck.
The demonstrate ultimately turned the No. 1-rated display in Nashville and between the prime in the country and dominated morning push for lots of yrs.
Howard and Ingram still left the demonstrate in 2020. Howard invested a complete of 21 several years employed by The Zone.
“It’s been a fantastic run. The (Wake Up Zone) present ran for 16 a long time with me and Kevin,” Howard claimed at the time. “They were some of the greatest several years of my lifestyle. I have obtained almost nothing seriously but great points to say about my ordeals there.”
Ingram said Howard was influential in bringing him to The Zone.
“I loved operating with Mark, but the detail about Mark was that he was a good close friend,” Ingram explained. “There were not lots of people who were a lot more supportive of me or my occupation than Mark. He was always quite encouraging and gave superior assistance. There are not much too a lot of people today you can expect to find who were being far more professional about sporting activities than Mark. It was virtually frightening how considerably he knew, specifically about baseball.”
This previous 12 months Howard labored as a element-time host at The Game 102.5-FM.
Howard also put in many decades as host of a Tennessee Titans postgame present and as co-host of the Predators pregame and postgame displays.
Attain Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on Twitter @MikeOrganWriter.
