Credit Source: Purdue University Athletics
Riddell to Join Purdue Basketball Radio Crew; New Flagship Station Announced
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue Sports Properties has announced radio changes in effect for the 2020-21 Purdue Men’s Basketball season.
Purdue Sports Properties and Learfield IMG College has announced that former Boilermaker Bobby Riddell will take over the analyst position while Rob Blackman will shift over fully to play-by-play duties. This will be Blackman’s 16th season as part of the Purdue Basketball radio crew. Ralph Taylor will continue to add color commentary for home games.
Riddell graduated from Purdue in 2009 having been part of three NCAA Tournament teams and a Big Ten Tournament championship in 2009. One of the most-beloved walk-ons in Purdue history, Riddell appeared in 83 career games during his time at Purdue, including 27 as a senior.
“I’m extremely excited to be joining the Purdue Basketball radio broadcast team for the upcoming season. As a former player and lifelong Purdue fan, I’m grateful to have this opportunity and am looking forward to working with all of the special people that are a part of Purdue Basketball,” Riddell said.
In association with Riddell’s announcement, Larry Clisby, the longtime radio voice of Purdue Men’s Basketball, has announced his retirement from calling Boilermaker Basketball after a career that spanned more than 40 years. Clisby finishes his career having called 1,189 basketball games during his time at Purdue.
“For the last 40-plus years, Purdue Basketball has been a big part of my life, but I am ready to enjoy retirement and watch the Boilermakers from afar,” Larry Clisby said. “There have been many great moments working with this program over the last 40 years that I can’t begin to name them all. I want to thank Coach Keady and Coach Painter and all of our listeners for all of their support and friendship. I will always be a huge Boilermaker fan.”
“We want to congratulate Larry on an outstanding career as the longtime voice of Purdue Basketball. Larry was as big of a part of Purdue Basketball as anyone over the last 40 years and we wish him the best in retirement,” head coach Matt Painter said.
“Larry has been a tremendous longtime ambassador for the Boilermaker family and Purdue Basketball and we’ll always remember his historic play calls during those four decades. Anytime he is back in West Lafayette, he is welcome to join the broadcast,” said Purdue Sports Properties general manager Mark Walpole. “We have a great broadcast team moving forward, and we appreciate the ongoing support from all of our statewide radio affiliates, including our new flagship partner 96.5 WAZY-FM and our continued relationship with 1260 WNDE-AM in Indianapolis.”
Also beginning this season, there will also be a new flagship station for Boilermaker Basketball. WAZY 96.5 FM (Lafayette) will become the new local home of Purdue Basketball. The station already exists as the home for Purdue Football broadcasts and will be able to reach more homes with a more-powerful signal. The deal has also been renewed with 1260 WNDE-AM in Indianapolis, giving Purdue fans more statewide coverage than ever before. In all, 22 stations around the state will carry Purdue games this season.
“This is a great opportunity for Z96.5 FM as we continue to strengthen our partnership with Purdue Athletics and offer a greater potential reach to the Purdue Boilermakers fans across more than twenty counties and two states. Being the new home of Purdue Men’s Basketball will bolster our offering of Purdue Sports on our cluster of stations and further define our dominance in this market,” Sabrina Israel, the general manager of Star City Broadcasting, said.
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