Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - A&M-Corpus Christi fires radio voice before initial broadcast

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Thursday, November 2, 2000

A&M-Corpus Christi fires radio voice before initial broadcast
Public address announcer becomes third play-by-play man in less than a year
By Mark Zuckerman
Caller-Times
Jim Klapthor, hired this summer to be Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's play-by-play announcer, has been dismissed by the university, athletics director Dan Viola confirmed Wednesday.
   Stephen King, public address announcer for both Islanders basketball and IceRays hockey games, has been named as Klapthor's replacement.
   "I felt we needed to go in a different direction and wanted to make the change prior to the beginning of the year," Viola said in a statement. He declined to comment on the specifics of Klapthor's dismissal.
   The move comes one week after Klapthor's wife, Kim Godek, was dismissed as A&M-Corpus Christi's assistant athletic director.
   Hired in August to replace former Islanders announcer Mike Chisholm, who left to become director of broadcasting at San Jose State, Klapthor said he was surprised to find out he had been replaced before ever announcing a game.
   "He (Viola) gave me no reason," Klapthor said. "He told me they were going in a different direction."
   Klapthor came to A&M-Corpus Christi after two years as director of media relations at Albion (Mich.) College. He previously worked both for radio and television stations in California and Michigan.
   A Corpus Christi native, King is known among local sports fans for his P.A. work with both the Islanders and IceRays. He has done radio play-by-play of high school football games this season, and previously co-hosted a local radio talk show.
   "He served as our public address announcer last year, and he is familiar with the personnel of both basketball teams," Viola said. "I'm pleased he is going to be involved with the broadcasts of Islander Athletics."
   King, a 1987 graduate of Southwest Texas State, will announce all 30 A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball games and 14 selected women's basketball games this season on KEYS-1440 AM. He also will broadcast a handful of Islanders baseball games next spring.
   "I'm very excited to be a part of the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi basketball broadcasting team," King said. "Basketball was my first love growing up, and I'm looking forward to a great season of Islander basketball."



Staff writer Mark Zuckerman can be reached at 886-3747 or by e-mail at zuckermanm@caller.com

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