Sam Corbett

Sam Corbett spent four years at WONC from 2020 to 2024, during which time he became a multifaceted member of the station. As a baseball student-athlete, he immediately jumped at any opportunity to get involved with sports media. He cohosted two weekly sports talk shows and aided with various WONC Sports gameday broadcasts in any role needed as an underclassman, the highlight being the color commentator for Stagg Bowl 48.

Eventually transitioning into the role of Sports Director as a junior, he became the main play-by-play voice of North Central Athletics. Fans of Cardinal football and men’s and women’s basketball heard Sam routinely, as he broadcasted over 75 basketball games and 40 football games, including two more football national championships.

Sam also co-hosted The Cardinal Podcast, dedicated to interviewing various North Central athletes and coaches, and Straight Out The ‘Pen, a limited-series podcast previewing the 2024 MLB season division-by-division.

Outside of sports broadcasting at WONC, Sam has enjoyed working in other areas of the station, assisting in various aspects of audio production, both voicing and editing station promos. He created The Crossroads in 2022, a weekly show dedicated to outlaw country rock, bluegrass and folk music.

Sam began broadcasting Cardinal volleyball and serving as the school’s public address announcer for soccer and wrestling matches in the fall of 2023 through the school’s Sports Information Department where he aided in stat keeping and social media graphics. He’s also the school’s Barstool Sports Viceroy, running the college’s official Barstool account on Instagram while concurrently running the school’s baseball team’s Instagram account for the 2024 season, his last year of eligibility.

His other experiences include serving as the stadium PA announcer and pitcher for both the Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp and the Lafayette Aviators in the Prospect League, a collegiate wood-bat summer baseball league. Sam is also the Sports Editor for The Chronicle, North Central’s student-run online newspaper. 

Sam finishes his time at North Central highly decorated both for his work at WONC and for his work academically. He won six awards through the Illinois Broadcasters Association and Intercollegiate Broadcasting Systems while being nominated for three others for his efforts in sportscasting, including three different Best Play-By-Play for football and basketball games. As a senior, he was named the college’s Outstanding Major in Journalism and Media Studies for his exemplary work in his studies.

Sam was a VO actor as a child, working for spots featuring Giant Eagle, Lego and Oreo among others. He has been a member of SAG-AFTRA since 2010.