August 29, 1996 – A reader’s poll is published in The Cedar Rapids Gazette and finds that in the search for the Hawkeye’s one new sportscaster, WMT’s Ron Gonder is an overwhelming favorite.
On August 2, 1996, The University of Iowa Athletic Department announced that Learfield Sports had been chosen as the sole radio provider of its athletics programs, but now came the hard decision. Three popular sportscasters – Jim Zabel, Bob Brooks & Ron Gonder – with, now, only one position open. While no one at the university wanted to even slightly offend any of the three, the public pressure increased as fans weighed in on their favorites, often at the expense of a different hall-of-fame broadcaster.
Newspapers throughout Iowa published multiple stories about which broadcaster should lead the new exclusive radio team. On August 29, 1996, a reader’s poll published in The Cedar Rapids Gazette (above) overwhelmingly chose WMT’s Ron Gonder. “It was terrible,” Associate AD Mark Jennings recalled. “Everybody who is a Zabel fan thinks everybody listens to Zabel. Everybody who is a Brooks fan thinks everybody listens to Brooks.”
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