Published: July 13, 2008 12:22 am            

High school games returning to WAVG

Southern Indiana high school sports are coming back to WAVG-AM/1450.

On Friday, Cumulus Louisville and Cumulus Media Partners, which own WAVG, announced that the radio station will resume broadcasting area high school football and basketball games this season.

Cumulus Media purchased WAVG last fall and decided to temporarily stop high school football and basketball broadcasts. That ended a long run of Southern Indiana prep broadcasts by the station. One of its memorable broadcasts was the 1993 boys’ basketball state championship game between eventual champion Jeffersonville and Ben Davis.

“High school sports have been a cornerstone at WAVG for many years, and we’re proud to continue that tradition,” Cumulus Louisville market manager Dugan Ryan said in a statement.

The return of high school broadcasts will put longtime WAVG color commentator Ted Throckmorton back on the air.

Throckmorton, who has been a part of WAVG broadcasts for more than 40 years, will be the color analyst for Jeff High games and state tournament contests. Southern Indiana native Keith Conrad will do color for the other broadcasts.

Zach McCrite, a Southern Indiana native and Providence graduate, will be the play-by-play announcer. He has broadcasted Indiana high school games on WWSZ-AM/1570 the past few years and is currently the voice of the Louisville Fire arena football team.

It will not be the first time McCrite has worked for WAVG. He started his radio career at the station in 1996 at the age of 15. In 1998, he broadcasted Jeff High’s Class 4A state championship baseball game and the Red Devils’ Class 5A sectional championship run.

“It’s an absolute privilege to be able to come back to where it all started and follow in the footsteps of such play-by-play legends in this area like (former WAVG announcers) Charlie Jenkins and Gil Daugherty,” McCrite said in a statement. “My parents and grandparents brought me up as a die-hard high school sports fan. I still have that passion today and I hope fans can hear it through the airwaves. I am truly blessed to be living out my childhood dream.”

WAVG’s first high school broadcast this year will be the New Albany at Providence football game on Friday, Aug. 22.

Also on Friday, Cumulus Louisville announced that all Indiana University football and men’s basketball games this year will be broadcast on WAVG and its sister station, WQKC-FM/93.9.

        

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