The Bear beefs up football coverage with Owen and Appalachian State games
Black Mountain radio station to broadcast all Warhorse and Mountaineer games this fall
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
August 22, 2024
Black Mountain radio station 1350 AM & 96.1 FM The Bear, will launch its second season of Owen football coverage, Aug. 23, when the Warhorses host Enka to open the 2024 campaign. Photo by Fred McCormick
High school football season is just days away in the Swannanoa Valley, as Owen prepares to host Enka at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Aug. 23, to kick off the 2024 season.
Perched high above the field at Warhorse Stadium, reporting all of the action live, will be a team of local broadcasters, as Black Mountain radio station 1350 AM & 96.1 FM The Bear, returns to the airwaves for year two of Owen coverage. The game will be the first of a beefed up sports lineup that includes the addition of Appalachian State football.
The Bear will launch its second season of live Warhorse play-by-play and color commentary, with Derwin Jackson returning to the booth, where he will be joined by a rotating cast of voices.The production, sponsored by dozens of Swannanoa Valley businesses, will cover each of Owen’s 10 regular season games.
The Bear, which will carry 10 Owen regular season football games this fall, has distributed posters listing the 2024 Warhorse schedule to businesses throughout the Swannanoa Valley. Image courtesy of The Bear
Offering local listeners in-game coverage of Owen athletics emphasizes The Bear’s commitment to “all things local,” according to Signal Hill Media Partners Manager Brian Seabold, who launched the Black Mountain-based station in March of 2023. The station also provided live broadcasts of the Warhorses and Warlassies basketball teams last winter.
“Our goal from the beginning has been to be a good community partner,” he said. “Part of that mission is our investment in local athletics, and we’re proud to be back with another year of Owen coverage.”
The Warhorses enter the season under first-year head coach John Faircloth, following a season in which the team finished 2-8. Owen fell to the Jets, 37-14, on the road to open the 2023 campaign.
While Friday night football will be for the Valley, a new Saturday slate of games will be for The Rock, where Appalachian State will open its 2024 campaign at 3:30 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 31. The Mountaineers will welcome East Tennessee State University to Kidd Brewer Stadium.
Appalachian State last took the field in a 13-9 victory over Miami (Ohio) in the 2023 Cure Bowl, after a trip to the Sun Belt Conference Championship. The program’s 12-game schedule this year includes stops at Clemson and at East Carolina University.
All games carried by The Bear will be available to Western N.C. listeners on 1350 AM, 96.1 FM or through the livestream option at 961thebear.com.