Marc David Kestecher (born March 22, 1968) is an American

play-by-play announcer In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as a sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time live commentary of a game or event, traditionally delivered in the present tense. There are two main types of sports broadcast ...

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

and

news anchor A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

Early life and education

He was raised in

Guilderland, New York Guilderland is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Albany County, New York, United States. In the 2020 census, the town had a population of 36,848. The town is named for the Gelderland province in the Netherlands. The town of Gu ...

and graduated from

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications The Newhouse School of Public Communications (formally S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications; also as the Newhouse School) is the communications and journalism school of Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York. The school was named af ...

Career

Kestecher began his career with play-by-play work for the

Albany Patroons The Albany Patroons are a professional basketball team that plays in The Basketball League (TBL). Previously, the team competed in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) and in the United States Basketball League (USBL). The Patroons won ...

. He later took studio positions at

WKNR WKNR (850 AM) – branded as ''850 ESPN Cleveland'' – is a commercial sports radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, serving Greater Cleveland. Owned by Good Karma Brands, WKNR is the Cleveland affiliate for ESPN Radio and the AM flag ...

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

and

WPTR (AM) WPTR (1240 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Schenectady, New York. The station serves the Capital District of New York. The station is currently owned by the Area Independent Radio, Inc. It airs a classic rock- classic hits ...

and

WROW WROW (590 AM broadcasting, AM) – branded ''Magic 590-1410 AM and 96.5-100.5 FM'' – is a commercial radio, commercial radio station city of license, licensed to Albany, New York, and serving the Capital District, New York, Capital District, ...

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

where he provided score updates and hosted talk programming. Kestecher joined

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternatively branded platform-agnostically as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the banner "SportsRadio ESPN". The netw ...

in 1999, first hosting ''

ESPN Radio SportsCenter ''ESPN Radio SportsCenter'' is a news recap segment on ESPN Radio that airs during talk programming and sometimes live games coverage, usually by separate anchors. There are two updates an hour, at the top of the hour and 30 minutes past. Bac ...

'' and studio coverage of major sporting events. He was named as the lead play-by-play announcer for the ''

NBA on ESPN Radio The ''NBA on ESPN Radio'' is a broadcast of National Basketball Association (NBA) games on the ESPN Radio network. The program began on January 21, 1995–96 NBA season, 1996 and the current contract runs through the extra season. Coverage overv ...

'' in 2016, replacing

Kevin Calabro Kevin Paul Calabro (born June 27, 1956) is an American sportscaster based in Seattle, Washington. The longtime voice of the former Seattle SuperSonics NBA franchise, Calabro has primarily called NBA basketball but has also announced collegiate ...

who opted to return to the Pacific Northwest to call play-by-play for the

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (N ...

. In this role he calls the

NBA playoffs The NBA playoffs is the annual Playoffs, postseason Tournament#Knockout tournaments, tournament of the National Basketball Association (NBA) held to determine the league champion. Since 1949, the four-round, best-of-seven tournament is held afte ...

and

NBA Finals The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern and Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven series to determine the league ...

with

Hubie Brown Hubert Jude Brown (born September 25, 1933) is an American former professional basketball player, coach, and analyst. Brown is a two-time NBA Coach of the Year, the honors separated by 26 years. Brown was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Bas ...

. Kestecher also does play-by-play for college football games and ''

Football Sunday on ESPN Radio ''Football Sunday on ESPN Radio'' is a weekly radio program dedicated to the National Football League (NFL), aired every Sunday on ESPN and ESPN Radio. Jonathan Coachman is the show's host and the analysts are former defensive back Eric Allen, ...

''. In addition to his radio work, he also does play-by-play for ESPN's coverage of the

NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, sometimes referred to as Women's March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 women's college basketball teams from the Div ...

and select ''

NBA on ESPN ''NBA on ESPN'' is an American television sports presentation show broadcast by ESPN. It aired from 1982 to 1984. The show returned since October 30, 2002. It consists of branding used for the presentation of National Basketball Association gam ...

'' games when the main staff has other commitments, and college football games for Group of 5 conference games on

ESPNU ESPNU is an American multinational digital cable and satellite sports television channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remain ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kestecher, Marc 1968 births Living people American radio personalities American radio sports announcers American television sports announcers Arena football announcers College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers ESPN people Major League Baseball broadcasters Minor League Baseball broadcasters NBA broadcasters NFL announcers People from Guilderland, New York S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications alumni Women's college basketball announcers in the United States