The Catamount Sports Network (CSN) is the radio broadcast service for Western Carolina University's Department of Intercollegiate Athletics. Three of Western Carolina's men's sports -- football, basketball, and baseball -- and one women's sport -- basketball -- are currently broadcast on a full-time schedule through the year. In 2005-06, CSN, in conjunction with WWCU-FM, expanded its coverage to include the 2005 Southern Conference women's soccer championship and trip to the NCAA Women's College Cup Championship, as well as several games of the inaugural Catamount softball season. That partnership was continued with coverage of the 2006 and '07 SoCon Softball tournament.

The network currently consists of six affiliates - one FM and five AM stations - ranging from Franklin to Hendersonville, blanketing western North Carolina with Catamount coverage. WWCU, Power 90dot5 FM in Cullowhee will serve as the flagship station for Catamount athletics during the 2007-08 seasons. As a part of that responsibility, WWCU houses the network's phone coupler in its Cullowhee studios. Check below for a complete listing of the Catamount Sports Network's affiliate stations.

Through a pair of sources, Western Carolina is also offering web casting of Catamount Sports Network broadcasts - by visiting the official home of Catamount athletics - www.CatamountSports.com or by accessing the streaming audio online by visiting the web site of the Cullowhee affiliate, WWCU-FM, at http://www.WWCUFM.com.

For football, the Catamount Sports Network utilizes a three-man crew to relay you all the exciting action for the 2006 season. Gary Ayers returns as the play-by-play voice of Catamount football and basketball, with the Brandon Stephens moving from the sidelines after two years to provide color analysis.

Ayers has been behind the play-by-play microphone for WCU's football and basketball games in 21 of the past 22 years and has been a familiar voice to the region's sports fans for over three decades. In addition to serving as the "Voice of the Catamounts," the Swain County native has done play-by-play for Pisgah High, Tuscola High, Franklin High, Cherokee High and Swain High football and basketball. Ayers is also employed by Allison's Outdoor Advertising.

Stephens, who also works as the Sports Director at 680 AM WRGC, has handled play-by-play for the Lady Catamount basketball team for the past thee years as a part of a radio career that spans two decades. He additionally calls the action for Smoky Mountain High School football and basketball. This year, the Sylva native moves from the sidelines into the broadcast booth to handle the color analyst, as well as coach interviews. Stephens also worked briefly in Raleigh for the North Carolina News Network covering college sports while attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Slated to have a larger role in CSN's coverage of football is Steven Crumpler, who joins the team as an on-site engineer after serving as an announcer in Lady Catamount basketball broadcasts over the past three seasons. A 14-year veteran of radio, Crumpler is a former program coordinator of WWCU-FM in Cullowhee. Before arriving in Cullowhee, Crumpler served as the student station manager at WSIF-FM in Wilkesboro, NC while obtaining his associates degree in broadcasting from Wilkes Community College in 1997. During the same period, Crumpler also worked as an announcer for the 100,000-watt super station WKBC-FM/AM in North Wilkesboro.

Ayers, Stephens and Crumpler will also serve a vital role in CSN's coverage of Catamount and Lady Catamount basketball.

Also assisting with feature pieces, as well as play-by-play coverage during Catamount basketball and baseball season is Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations, Daniel Hooker.

Hooker's radio experience began in 1997 as a student announcer at WWCU-FM in Cullowhee. He served as an on-air personality for daily shifts, as well as helped start an interactive sports talk show, "Sports Talk LIVE," which covered Western Carolina sports. His experience also includes broadcasting Lady Catamount basketball during the 2001 season with the aforementioned Crumpler, a season as the play-by-play announcer for the Coastal Plain League-member Thomasville Hi-Toms Baseball team in Thomasville, N.C., and two seasons as the color analyst for the Charleston (SC) Swamp Foxes Arena Football team (af2). He also spent one season on the sidelines during the Catamount Sports Network's coverage of Catamount football in 2001. During the fall, Hooker contributes to each football broadcast with the "Catamount Calendar" piece, and is a staple on the WWCU-FM show, "In the Litterbox," which airs each Wednesday night at 7:00 pm on Power 90dot5. He also handles the weekly "Catamount Two-Minute Drill," which is a recap of all Catamount athletics that airs on WWCU.

A 2001 graduate of Western Carolina University, Hooker is originally from Liberty, NC, and now resides in Cullowhee.

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