A St. Ambrose sophomore is looking to hit a home run with a new sports radio show based at St.
Ambrose University. Ryan Schiestel has a new talk show on KALA-FM where he breaks down
the wide world of sports focusing on significant topics such as Albert Pujols chasing 700 regular
season homers.
Ryan says he likes to talk about, “all St. Ambrose sports but especially football, baseball, and
basketball because those were the sports I grew up playing.” This time of year is one of his
favorite times of the year; when college and NFL football are kicking off and the MLB playoff
hunt is starting to get interesting.
He has been broadcasting for a few years now getting his start when he called games locally on
the high school streaming service. “Growing up I was always a big sports fan, and I always
thought it was really cool what the sports broadcasters did. So, in about eighth grade, I decided
that was something I wanted to do.”
Ryan aired weekly sports newscasts and talked about what went down in the past week at his all
boy’s catholic high school. He found that he loves doing it and wanted to turn this passion into a
career. Once he got to St. Ambrose he knew he didn’t want to stop; he became involved in the
on-campus radio station to call Fighting Bees sporting events.
This led to Ryan appearing as a guest on another radio show where he and a few other hosts
discussed St. Ambrose sports. He became a co-anchor on the show this year but wanted an
opportunity to branch out and do his own thing. “Schistel speaks started the spring semester of
2022,” says Ryan. His expertise and will pay off as the sports broadcasting field looks for
experience, something Ryan isn’t lacking.
Not only does he talk about sports he really enjoys playing sports with his friends. They play
“whatever’s in season,” Ryan says, “it’s kind of a rotation.” He did play rugby in high school but
after hanging up the cleats he traded them in for a microphone. “Schiestel Speaks Sports” could
be the next big thing, coming from right here in Davenport, Iowa; from a guy who loves sports
and wants to share that with other people. You can hear his show on KALA 88.5 FM Thursday
nights at 6:30 or on Soundcloud any time.
Luke Vera is a Staff Writer for The Buzz.
