WRJN and the Racine Raiders have agreed to a partnership that brings Racine Raiders broadcasts back to the local airwaves beginning with the Racine Raiders inaugural season in The Players Football Association in 2025. The agreement revives one of the longest media and team partnerships in all of sports.
The Racine Raiders first appeared on WRJN in 1965 with hall of fame broadcaster Gary Suhr providing the play-by-play. WRJN and the Racine Raiders are excited to renew one of the longest media partnerships at any level of sports after a nearly decade hiatus. This will mark the 51st year of WRJN carrying Racine Raiders games.
“For decades, WRJN was proud to air the Racine Raiders game with legendary play-by-play man, Gary Suhr,” said WRJN General Manager Chris Moreau. “I vividly remember listening to games in the ’60’s on my transistor radio and watching games at Horlick Field with my dad.”
WRJN and the Racine Raiders have been trusted organization in the community for generations. The need for the partnership between the two organizations was aided by calls from community members, to both WRJN and the Racine Raiders.
“The Raiders have been part of the fabric of Racine for 72 years,” says Moreau. “Now, as WRJN enters its 98th year of serving Racine, it’s only natural that we team up with the Raiders again to bring this important part of our community to the air.”
As part of the agreement, WRJN will carry all Racine Raiders regular season and league playoff games in 2025. Some Racine Raiders broadcasts may be joined in progress following the completion of late-afternoon broadcasts of Milwaukee Brewers baseball games. When there is a direct conflict with Milwaukee Brewers broadcasts, WRJN will carry the Racine Raiders game.
“It just feels right to have the Racine Raiders, Your Hometown Team, back on WRJN,” said Raiders board president Matt Nelson. “This partnership fulfills a need in our community and I’m proud to partner with WRJN again.”
Don Wadewitz will continue in the play-by-play role with Evan Witalison as the analyst for home games and Emlyn Thomas as the primary analyst for road games.
“It’s great to see part of Gary Suhr’s legacy in our community continue with this agreement,” said Wadewitz. “I’m excited to be back where my passion for radio ignited as an intern in high school and where I got my first opportunities to do play-by-play for the Raiders and high school sports.”
The Racine Raiders will seek the first three-peat national championship in team history in 2025, having won the Gridiron Bowl national championship in each of the past two seasons. The Racine Raiders season begins on May 3, 2025, at Historic Horlick Athletic Field.
“This promises to be one of the most competitive and exciting seasons of Racine Raiders football,” said General Manager Geoffrey Schick. “We’ll play seven teams that won league or bowl game championships last year and fans will now have another way to follow all of the exciting action with the partnership with WRJN.”
The Racine Raiders will continue to produce a video livestream of games while providing the audio to WRJN. WRJN will simulcast the broadcast on 1400 AM and 99.9 FM in Racine and on 98.1 FM in Kenosha.
It’s about time!! And there are GREAT guys on n the call. Job Well Done.
Awesome