ARKADELPHIA – Ouachita Baptist University again will have one of the largest radio networks in NCAA Division II football in 2025.
The signals of Ouachita Football Network stations will cover most of Arkansas along with parts of Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas and Louisiana.
Ouachita is the only college football program in the state -- at any level -- that has posted 16 consecutive winning seasons. The Tigers have won five of the past seven Great American Conference championships and have a 70-7 regular season record the previous seven seasons. Ouachita was undefeated in the regular season in 2014, 2018, 2019, and 2022.
Ouachita will open its 2025 season on Thursday, September 4 in Ada, Oklahoma against East Central University. The broadcast will begin at 6 p.m. with the Baptist Health Tiger Countdown to Kickoff program. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
The flagship station for the Ouachita Football Network is KARN-FM, 102.9 in Little Rock, one of the state's best-known radio stations.
In addition to KARN, other network affiliates for the 2025 season are:
KESA-FM, 100.9, Eureka Springs
KCXY-FM, 95.3, East Camden
KILX-FM, 105.5, De Queen
KQOR-FM, 102.1, Mena
KNAS-FM, 98.7, Nashville
KZNG, AM 1340, FM 97.9 and FM 105.5, Hot Springs
KTPB-FM, 98.1, Pine Bluff
KHGG-FM, 103.5, Fort Smith
Visit Hot Springs will again be the presenting sponsor of the Ouachita Football Network.
Other sponsors are the Church at Rock Creek, Bank OZK, Baptist Health, Two Rivers Credit Union, Arkadelphia Clinic for Children & Young Adults, Southwest Auto, the Hotel Hot Springs, the Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas, Southern Bancorp, Jim Stilwell Insurance & Investments, Taylor King Law, Legacy Termite & Pest Control, First Community Bank, Dennis Bost State Farm Insurance and Five Oaks Agricultural Research & Education Center.
Rex Nelson of Little Rock returns for his 42nd season of play-by-play, marking him one of the longest-serving college play-by-play announcers in the country. He will again be joined in the broadcast booth by Dr. Jeff Root, who has provided analysis for most of those previous 41 seasons.
Nelson, one of the state's best-known writers and speakers, serves as senior editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He was inducted in 2016 into the Arkansas Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame. The broadcast booth at Cliff Harris Stadium was named in his honor in 2015.
Root is the dean of Ouachita's School of Humanities. He has served as the football play-by-play announcer for Arkadelphia High School for four decades, including four state championship teams. Nelson and Root grew up within a block of Ouachita's stadium and began doing the radio broadcasts of Tiger games when they were Ouachita students.
Dr. Casey Motl of Arkadelphia, Richard Atkinson of Little Rock and Michael Westbrook of Bryant return to the broadcast team this year.
Motl is the dean of Ouachita's School of Social Sciences. He hosts the Coach Todd Knight Show each week for the Ouachita Football Network and also interviews the opponent's coach. Motl serves as the public address announcer for home football and basketball games at Ouachita.
Atkinson, in his 17th season as part of the Ouachita Football Network, serves as an analyst during the game and conducts interviews of players and coaches on the field after each game.
Westbrook, a former play-by-play voice for Southeastern Oklahoma State University football, produces the broadcasts and hosts the pregame, halftime, and postgame shows. Westbrook is also the play-by-play announcer for the powerhouse Bryant High School football program and will serve this year as the voice of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock men's and women's basketball teams on ESPN+.
The executive producer of the Ouachita Football Network is broadcast veteran Toby Howell of Cumulus Media in Little Rock.
"Nothing else in Division II can top the reach and quality of our broadcasts," said David Sharp, the Ouachita athletic director. "We like to say we have an FBS-style production at a Division II school."
Each network broadcast begins one hour prior to kickoff and ends an hour after the game.
