Marc David Kestecher (born March 22, 1968) is a

play-by-play announcer In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

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 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 Guilderland is on the central-northwest borde ...

and graduated from

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

S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, commonly known as Newhouse School, is the communications and journalism school of Syracuse University in Syracuse, NY. It has programs in print and broadcast journalism; music business; graphic ...

Career

Kestecher began his career with play-by-play work for the Albany Patroons. 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 flags ...

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

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 ra ...

and

WROW WROW (590 kHz) – branded ''Magic 590 AM and 100.5 FM'' – is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Albany, New York, and serving the Capital District, including Albany, Schenectady and Troy. WROW has a radio format featuring soft oldies ...

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

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

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded 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 original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN". ...

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. Back ...

'' 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 games on the ESPN Radio network. The program began on January 21, 1996 and the current contract runs through the extra season. Coverage overview The ''NBA on ESPN Radio ...

'' 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 fo ...

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 league's Western Con ...

. In this role he calls the NBA playoffs and

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

with

Hubie Brown Hubert Jude Brown (born September 25, 1933) is an American retired basketball coach and player and a current television analyst. Brown is a two-time NBA Coach of the Year, the honors being separated by 26 years. Brown was inducted into the Naism ...

. 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) every Sunday on ESPN and ESPN Radio. Jonathan Coachman is the show's host and the analysts are former defensive back Eric Allen, former qu ...

''. 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 is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 Women's sports, women's college basketball teams from the NCAA Division I, Division I level of t ...

and select ''

NBA on ESPN The ''NBA on ESPN'' is the branding used for the presentation of National Basketball Association (NBA) games on the ESPN family of networks. The ESPN cable network first televised NBA games from 1982 until 1984, and has been airing games curren ...

'' 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 Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and the Hears ...

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 Major League Baseball broadcasters Minor League Baseball broadcasters National Basketball Association broadcasters National Football League announcers People from Guilderland, New York S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications alumni Women's college basketball announcers in the United States