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Oklahoma Alumnus and ESPN Personality Dari Nowkhah Joins KREF's Lineup

The Norman radio station added a veteran national broadcaster with a massive presence on SEC Network, as well as a Tulsa native and self-described OU fan.

John E. Hoover

Dari Nowkhah
Dari Nowkhah / Dari Nowkhah via Twitter/X
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Norman radio station KREF has added a huge name and veteran presence to its daily broadcast lineup.

ESPN personality Dari Nowkhah, a Tulsa native and a self-described Oklahoma fan, will join the station in July as host of “The Dari Nowkhah Show” weekdays from 9 a.m. to noon.

Nowkhah told Sooners On SI he will maintain his duties with ESPN, which include lead host at SEC Network. He’s also a host at Sirius XM satellite radio.

“I never considered getting into local radio, until the opportunity came to do so in Oklahoma,” Nowkhah said. “Being able to reconnect with communities I love and grew up around and do it on a daily basis was something I never saw coming, but couldn’t pass up.

“And HUGE thanks to ESPN for allowing me to do this.”

Nowkhah takes over the time slot vacated by OU softball play-by-play announcer and football sideline reporter Chris Plank, who slides to KREF’s 6-9 a.m. slot, where “Voice of the Sooners” Toby Rowland previously hosted. Plank producer and co-host Josh Helmer will now sit in with Nowkhah.

Rowland will replace Dean Blevins as sports director at KWTV-9 in Oklahoma City following Blevins’ retirement in June. Rowland will maintain his play-by-play duties for OU football, OU men’s basketball and OU baseball, and will appear on KREF’s afternoon show with Teddy Lehman and Tyler McComas.

KREF, which bills itself as “The Home of Sooner Fans,” issued a statement on social media Thursday announcing the news. 

“Dari Nowkhah will be an incredible addition to our daily lineup,” KREF owner Casey Vineyard said. “We are thrilled to have Dari join our tam and bring his vast radio experience and deep knowledge of the SEC.”

Nowkhah has been the lead anchor for SEC Network since its launch in 2014. He co-hosted “The Dari and Mel Show” with NFL Draft insider Mel Kiper Jr. for 14 years and has been with ESPN for more than two decades. He joined ESPN after stints at KCFW in Kalispell, MT, KLKN in Lincoln, NE, and KOTV in Tulsa.

He also previously hosted a variety of ESPN studio shows, including “SportsCenter,” “Baseball Tonight” and “College Football Live.”

Nowkhah is a graduate of Union High School in Tulsa and in 1998 received his degree from OU in broadcast journalism.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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