Kankakee Valley Broadcasting was given good news last week after the 2023 Indiana Sportswriters and Sportscasters Hall of Fame class was announced.
After 57 years of providing local high school sports on WKVI, Harold Welter will be enshrined into the Indiana Sportswriters and Sportscasters Hall of Fame. The award comes after finishing his final season on the air last spring.
This past Saturday, Harold was featured on the Saturday Sports Line. Harold started WKVI’s Saturday morning sports show back in 1969 and it is still going strong making it the longest running high school sports program in Indiana.
When asked about the longevity of his career Welter said, “I never envisioned that starting my broadcasting career back in 1965, I would stick around and do this for 57 years. I was very fortunate because radio was my career for a short period of time. I was very fortunate to take a different path on my profession going into the financial services business where I was for 47 and a half years. Ted Hayes who was a long time general manager here at WKVI allowed me to have sportscasting as my hobby.”
Harold’s hobby turned into a full time second job as he voiced some of the most amazing moments in north west Indiana’s high school sports history.
He mentioned of the top 30 most winning basketball coaches in the state of Indiana, five of them have come through WKVI’s doors at one point or another. “I’m not sure that a lot of radio stations in Indiana could say that. When you look at football of the top 30, three have come in. Russ Radtke still coming in. Kirk Kennedy who’s now over at Kankakee Valley spent some time at North Judson. Andy Thomas who is at Angola spent a lot of years at Culver.”
Harold mentioned the last 57 years all came down to the people he has met and the friends he has made. He added the most surprising thing to him has been the listeners who have reached out to let him know what he meant to them growing up.
He went on to thank the area’s listeners who have been supportive through the bright times and the dark times. “I guess I would say that being named to the Hall of Fame is truly unbelievable and it’s all those people out there who helped me get through the good times and the bad times that I want to say thank you to because they have helped me keep the faith.”
Kankakee Valley Broadcasting’s WYMR and WKVI congratulate Harold Welter on this prestigious accomplishment. The standard he set, lives on at K.V.B. The tradition continues.
