High school football is returning to the Vancouver radio airwaves.
KKOV, AM-1550, will also bring the call of the Huskies to Clark County.
“This is our continuing promise to the Southwest Washington listener that we’re committed to local programming that is most important to them,” said Dennis Glasgow, programming director for KKOV as well as its sister station, KPAM in Portland.
KKOV signed a three-year deal to broadcast Washington Huskies football. The first contest can be heard Saturday with pre-game show at 2 p.m. for the 4 p.m. kickoff against Eastern Washington.
The 16-game high school broadcast schedule begins Friday with rivals Evergreen and Mountain View from McKenzie Stadium. Pre-game begins at 6:45 p.m., 15 minutes before kickoff.
Ron Soanka, who has called games in Clark County on radio, cable TV and internet sites, will be the voice of 1550’s high school sports coverage.
“We just thought there needed to be a voice for high school football,” Glasgow said. “For us, it was just a no-brainer to add the GSHL to our schedule. This was a very easy and smart move for us to extend the olive branch to the community that we will be covering local events.”
The station switched from adult standard music as KKAD to KKOV All Talk in April, with the goal of one day covering local and regional events.
Besides Huskies football, for example, the station also will carry University of Washington basketball games.
Various websites have tried to fill the void since KVAN — as 1550 was called years ago — stopped broadcasting high school sports in Vancouver after the 2001-02 school year.
Longtime television anchor Carl Click, who lives in Clark County, said he intends to continue his playoff football and basketball coverage for Clark County high school teams that play outside of the region.
Click, who used to broadcast games on KVAN, broadcasts those away contests from his website, carlclick.com
Glasgow said for now the station is focused on regular-season games but would be interested in broadcasting playoff games one day.
Schedules for Greater St. Helens League football and Huskies broadcasts can be found at www.1550talk.com.
For family members and fans outside of Clark County, the games will be streamed live on the radio’s website, as well. Broadcasts also will be archived online.
