Coming to You Live: A History of Broadcasting the Kentucky Derby

Each year on the first Saturday in May, as more than 150,000 fans pack Churchill Downs, millions more watch as hundreds of cameras bring the sights and sounds of the Kentucky Derby into their homes. The practiced cadences of seasoned broadcasters share the stories behind the horses and people who make another Run for the Roses their own. For decades, this historic race has been a part of the American sporting calendar for millions without even leaving the comfort of their homes. 

The 150 years of the Kentucky Derby have seen this famous test follow the evolution of media, where this racing experience has gone from words on a page to images on our screens, creating a day at the races unlike any other. 

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When Aristides surprised stablemate Chesapeake and owner H.P. McGrath with his dominant victory in the first Kentucky Derby, access to the day’s events was limited to those who were part of the crowd of 10,000 and readers of newspapers across the country. Though a few photographs of the original grandstand and clubhouse exist, we only have artist renderings of the first Derby winner himself, an indication of how different access to the inaugural event was. 

For the next 50 years, to enjoy the Kentucky Derby one had to either be there or read newspaper accounts after the fact. Even newsreels shown in the growing number of movie theaters across the country captured images of only parts of the race as chronicling the audio side of the event was still a few years away. Thanks to inventors like Guglielmo Marconi and Karl Braun, radio technology advanced enough to play a role in World War I and then became commercially viable in the early 1920s. Early in the decade, a new radio could cost upward of $200, but by 1929, the cost had come down to $25, giving many more households access to the sounds of events across the country. 

On May 16, 1925, Louisville’s own WHAS brought Derby Day to the masses for the first time, with more than five million listeners tuned in to hear the 51st edition. “We are going to see if, for a little while, we can let our eyes be your eyes, and translate the picture from here into your own imagination,” WHAS’s Credo Harris shared from a cupola atop the grandstand. Soon, broadcasters like Clem McCarthy became as vital to the Derby experience as roses and mint juleps, their words igniting the imaginations of listeners across the country. The BBC would become the first to bring the race to an international audience in 1932. 

While radio helped paint a richer picture of the Kentucky Derby, hearing the race was no substitute for seeing the festivities with one’s own eyes. In post-World War II America, a new technology would do even more to bring the country’s signature race into the homes of racing fans everywhere. 

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The earliest film footage of the Kentucky Derby dates back to Exterminator’s win in 1918 and then a 1919 British Pathé newsreel with a five-second glimpse at Sir Barton in the winner’s circle. Over the next three decades, moviegoers could take in another Run for the Roses through newsreels shown as part of the day’s program. Morvich’s 1922 win was even part of the silent film The Kentucky Derby. This access to the Derby was limited to the theater itself, but the new visual technology known as television would broaden access to the sights of the big race. 

Television sets were commercially available as early as the mid-1930s, but their expense meant access to this medium was limited. Mass production brought the cost down in the late 1940s and made it easier for Americans to bring one home. That meant that local stations like Louisville’s WAVE came online to share events like the Kentucky Derby. They broadcast the race locally for the first time in 1949, with Colonel Matt Winn a part of the celebration of the 75th edition. 

Hill Gail’s 1952 victory was the first broadcast nationally, CBS bringing the festivities to an audience of 10-15 million. Fears that bringing the race to television would reduce attendance proved to be unfounded; the Derby averages crowds of around 150,000 each year with 15-20 million fans watching at home. The advent of streaming services like Peacock and others bring the Derby to even more screens and fuel the sport’s romance with the first Saturday in May. 

In the century since the roses came to the radio, the Kentucky Derby has become a popular part of our sporting lives, making this classic celebration a bucket list item for fans around the world.