Austin Draude

    Thanks for clicking through and checking me out! I'll try not to write a book here.

    I started part-time at KLMJ/KQCR in September 2009 during my last semester at Wartburg College, and started full-time in January 2010. I'm primarily the "sports guy" for KQCR (which means I'm the one you hear when you tune into sports broadcasts and coaches' shows on KQCR, and I'm the personality behind many of the sports stories you'll hear on the two stations)...but you'll also hear me during air-shifts Wednesday through Friday evenings, on the weekends and in some of the ads we run throughout the week, and I'm finding my way through the KLMJ/KQCR Traffic system too.

    My love for sports goes back almost as far as I do -- my personal favorite sports are probably hockey, basketball, and baseball, with hockey far out in front. I was the video guy for the basketball and football teams at East High School in Des Moines (being a really short lightweight made being a manager a much better idea than playing!), and did some work with the campus TV station and newspaper in college, but I caught the sportscasting bug with my first game at KWAR-FM during my freshman year, and I haven't been cured yet. I also grew an affinity for volleyball as a freshman in college, basically learning the game one match at a time while writing volleyball stories for the Wartburg Trumpet. 

    During the summer, I root for the Chicago Cubs and the Kansas City Royals (which usually means baseball season is totally over by the time football season rolls around), and in the winter, I tend toward the Waterloo Black Hawks, the Chicago Blackhawks, and far too many more hockey teams to mention here. I love lots of different music but really tend toward Christian rock, and I tend to be drawn to character dramas and crime procedurals (Law & Order, Lie to Me*, House), or comedy (Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, The Soup) when it comes to TV. Beyond that, I have a real thing for dogs, cats and horses... taking a good walk is a favorite pastime...and I love getting back to Des Moines every now and then to see my great family and friends.

You can email me at:  austin.draude@gmail.com