PC Welcomes New Radio Station and New "Voice"

Director of Athletics Brian Reese announced today that, beginning this upcoming season, Presbyterian College football games will be broadcast live on WKRI-FM i91.9.  Calling all the action will be the new "voice of the Blue Hose" and Director of Broadcast Services Eric Thacker.

"We are delighted to become affiliated with such a tremendous institution as Presbyterian College," said Curtis Sigmon, President of Spirit Broadcasting Group.  "Football games will be a nice complement to our format of Classic Oldies and Beach music heard daily on WKRI-FM i91.9.  Our Corporate objective is to 'educate, to entertain, to inspire.'  We look forward to broadcasting the first Blue Hose game Saturday Sept. 1 against Brevard."

WKRI-FM is a non-commercial educational (NCE) FM station that broadcasts beach and classic oldies from the 50s, 60s, 70s and early 80s. 

The broadcast can be heard in most of western South Carolina and the I-26 and I-85 corridors which include the cities of Abbeville, Anderson Clinton, Greenwood, Laurens, McCormick and Newberry, as well as significant portions of Greenville, Spartanburg, Edgefield, Saluda and Union Counties.  That represents a market of over 950,000 potential listeners.

"I'm excited about the new station," said Reese.  "The change from an AM to an FM station with such a strong signal will helps us in branding PC athletics, by helping us increase our footprint.  It is a perfect fit for what we are trying to do.  Our sponsors are excited about the change as well.  This is a step in the right direction as we make the full-fledged transition to Division I."

Thacker, who broadcast PC football games in the mid 90s, will be responsible for all play-by-play duties for PC athletics, as well as sponsorship sales and in-game promotions, as the Director of Broadcast Services.

"I love collegiate athletics and I can't wait to learn about Presbyterian College's student-athletes and share their stories with our fans," said Thacker.  "Now having come full circle, I am blessed to be back at PC, with some of the best coaches, administrators and athletes around.  PC holds a special place in my heart. This is where I began my collegiate play-by-play career.  I fell in love with the school and what the school represented."

Thacker most recently served as Sports Director at Entercom Upstate in Greenville, S.C., where he was sports director and voice of Byrnes High School.  Aside from his play-by-play duties, he was responsible for the creation of original sports programming, as well as live, on-air updates.

Prior to his stint at Entercom Upstate, Thacker was Director of Business Development at Thacker Sports, where he created sports programming in South Carolina and Ohio for regional TV and radio distribution.  While living in Columbus, Ohio, he was instrumental in selling sponsorships for Ohio News Network (ONN) Game-of-the-Week from 2008-2009.

From 2007-2008, Thacker was an account executive with the Columbus Sports Network.  An award winning play-by-play announcer for the network's regional college, high school and NASCAR series events, Thacker was also responsible for the development of sports-related sponsorships and programming.

In 2004, Thacker worked as a Sports Marketing Account Executive for ONN and created the first successful state-wide High School football telecast.  He also led local and regional sports sponsorships sales and exceeded sales goals every year by double-digits.

Before moving to Ohio, Thacker lived in the Upstate, working with Charter Media from 2003-2004 and for WKDY-AM 1400 from 1993-2003.

While at Charter, Thacker served as a play-by-play announcer, while creating and marketing the local "High School Game-of-the-Week."  At WKDY, he over saw the daily sports newscasts and was responsible for play-by-play coverage of several sports over the years, including Dorman High School and Presbyterian College football.

"Eric (Thacker) brings great experience to the position, both behind the radio and generating sponsorships," said Reese.  "He will be an excellent addition to our department and I am excited for our fans to get to know him."

Thacker is a native of Columbus, Ohio, along with his wife Mary.  They have a son Trenton (14) and a daughter Kristina (11).  The family currently resides in Spartanburg.