Kansas State University Athletics
Radio Network
Jul 17, 2005 | General
Wildcat football is on the air!
The 2009 football season marks year fifth of the K-State Sports Network, a joint venture of Kansas State Athletics and Learfield Communications. Learfield Communications is a national leader in collegiate sports broadcasting and marketing, owning the rights to over 40 of the nation’s top collegiate programs. The 2005-06 season was the first year of a 10-year partnership between Learfield and K-State Athletics that grants K-State Sports Properties the exclusive marketing and broadcast rights for all Wildcat athletic teams. The network distributes its digital-quality audio stream via satellite to 30 affiliates across the state of Kansas.
But football is just the beginning. The network also provides play-by-play coverage of K-State men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball and baseball. Weekly coaches shows for football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball suppliment the live event coverage.
Play-by-play announcer Wyatt Thompson, a native Kansan, serves as the anchor of the Kansas State Sports Network and returns for his eighth season behind the mike as “Voice of the Wildcats”. K-State’s Director of Sportscasting, Thompson also serves as host of the Bill Snyder and Frank Martin Shows on television and joins Snyder and Martin on weekly call-in shows on the radio K-State Sports Network. In addition, he is involved in various Catbacker Club, alumni and athletic department functions, frequently serving as a keynote speaker.
Thompson came to Kansas State from Colorado State, where he was the playby-play voice for CSU’s football and men’s basketball teams for five years.
An accomplished professional, Thompson won the Colorado Broadcasting Association award for best play-by-play in 2000. In addition to his duties at CSU, Thompson was also a sports reporter for Clear Channel Denver, the Countdown to Kickoff host for the Denver Broncos on KOA Radio and hosted the Zone Sports Insiders show on 760 The Zone in Denver.
Thompson started his broadcasting career in 1976 as a sportscaster for various high schools, colleges and universities in Kansas, spending time at stations in Great Bend and Abilene. He worked for KAYS radio and television in Hays, Kan., from 1985 until 1989, where he was the play-by-play voice at Fort Hays State. While in Kansas, he was recognized with the Kansas Association of Broadcasters Play-by-Play Award in 1982 and the Oscar Stauffer Sportscaster of the Year Award in 1989.
Providing the color analysis is former Kansas State quarterback Stan Weber. Now in his 23rd year in the booth, Weber holds the second longest tenure for a Kansas State radio broadcaster behind only Dev Nelson, who called K-State games for 25 years.
In addition to his duties with the Wildcat football broadcasts, Weber also provides color commentary for K-State men’s and women’s basketball games for both radio and television.
Weber originally hails from Goddard, Kan., and was named Male Athlete of the Year and MVP of the 1980 Kansas Shrine Bowl All-Star Game by the Wichita Eagle as a prep.
At Kansas State, Weber served as captain of the 1984 team and led the Wildcats in rushing while earning academic All-America honors from the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Weber also held many of the K-State quarterback rushing records until the Michael Bishop and Ell Roberson eras and was once named Big Eight Player of the Week after rushing for 113 yards vs. No. 1 Nebraska.
Weber, who graduated magna cum laude, received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accountancy from Kansas State and currently serves as Vice President - CFO of Tower Properties in Kansas City, in addition to his broadcast duties. Weber and his wife, Nancy (Freshnock), a former K-State cheerleader, have four children (Brittani, Stanton, McKenzi and Landry) and reside in Overland Park, Kan.
Local radio personality Matt Walters is in his fifth year as the Wildcats’ sideline reproter and host of network’s
postgame show. A 14-year veteran of K-State baseball broadcasts and host of the popular ‘Powercat Gameday’ football pre-game show on KMAN since 1998, Walters also serves as the voice of K-State women’s basketball at Bramlage Coliseum as the program’s public address anouncer.
A 1992 graduate of Kansas State and native of Russell, Kan., Walters is in his 14th year at KMAN. An award-winning broadcaster, Walters received the prestigious Oscar Stauffer Sportscaster of the Year for 2005.