Ouachita Stories

Ouachita Baptist University again will have one of the largest radio networks in NCAA Division II with eight Ouachita Football Network stations covering most of Arkansas along with parts of Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas.

Ouachita is the only college program in the state that has posted seven consecutive winning seasons. The Tigers went undefeated in the regular season in 2015 and won their second Great American Conference championship in four years.

Ouachita will open the 2015 season at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 3, in Ada, Okla., against East Central University. The broadcast will begin at 5 p.m. with the Baptist Health Tiger Countdown to Kickoff. The presenting sponsor of the Ouachita Football Network for 2015 is Visit Hot Springs.

Network affiliates for the 2015 season are:

• KVRC-AM, 1240, in Arkadelphia


• KAMD-FM, 97.1, in Camden


• KHTO-FM, 96.7, in Hot Springs


• KHTE-FM, 96.5, in Little Rock


• KQOR-FM, 105.3, in Mena


• KNAS-FM, 105.5, in Nashville


• KFMD, AM 1340 and FM 105.3, in Springdale/Rogers

Ouachita alumnus Rex Nelson will return for his 33^rd season of play-by-play duties, making him one of the longest-serving college play-by-play announcers in the nation. He will again be joined in the broadcast booth by Dr. Jeff Root, who has provided analysis for more than a quarter of a century.

Nelson, one of the state's best-known writers and speakers, serves as director of corporate communications for Simmons First National Corp. Root is the dean of Ouachita's School of Humanities. Root and Nelson grew up within blocks of Ouachita's stadium and began doing the radio broadcasts of Tiger football games together when they were Ouachita students.

Richard Atkinson, Dr. Casey Motl and Patrick Thomas all return to round out the broadcast team. The executive producer of the Ouachita Football Network for a third consecutive season will be Russ McKinney of Salem Media in Little Rock.

"The quality and reach of our football broadcasts are second to none in Division II," said Ouachita Athletic Director David Sharp. "We take great pride in the product we put on the air each fall."

Each network broadcast begins one hour prior to kickoff with the Baptist Health Tiger Countdown to Kickoff and concludes an hour after the game with the Southern Bancorp Tiger Recap.