Middlesboro native and Kentucky Sports Radio host Matt Jones will be off the airwaves of LEX18 for the foreseeable future. LEX18 has decided to pull Jones from his weeknight show “Hey Kentucky!” while he decides whether or not to run for the U.S. Senate in 2020.

The decision was handed down on Tuesday, the same day in which Jones visited his hometown of Middlesboro as part of KSR’s summer tour.

“This is a decision I disagree with. I don’t think they need to do this,” said Jones during his statement on the TV show Wednesday. “The law says you don’t have to give equal time to candidates until someone files, and no one has filed. But, the station has decided to make this decision and I respect it.

“I will say this. We’ve built this show from the ground up for a long period of time. I don’t understand a political system where people can raise millions of dollars from out of state to put ads and flood them on the airwaves, but a show that has always been created from the ground by people who live here can’t be on the air. So, I disagree with what WLEX is doing.

“Nevertheless, WLEX put this show on the air three years ago, they’ve been very supportive to us. I’m going to decide over the next few weeks what I’m going to do — if I’m going to enter the race and run against Amy McGrath and Mitch McConnell or if I’m going to come back and do this show. As soon as I know, I will tell you.”

Jones has been flirting with running for the U.S. Senate for some time. He mentions it occasionally on his radio show but never publicly stated that he was going to run. He mentioned several times on KSR that he would continue doing the radio show if he decides to run but may take a little bit more of a backseat role.