Ex-Husker Jason Peter joins ESPN 1480's local sports talk show

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By JEFF KORBELIK / Lincoln Journal Star

ESPN 1480’s “The Average Joe Show” will change its name after the addition of a not-so-average Joe.

Beginning Friday, former Nebraska All-American and NFL player Jason Peter will debut as co-host on “The Spread,” the radio station’s new local sports talk show.

“This is a perfect spot for me right now,” said the newly married Peter, who is in the midst of a move to Lincoln from California with his wife, Sarah.

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Jason Peter at the Grant Wistrom charity golf tournament held at Quarry Oaks in Ashland, Nebraska in 2005. Peter will join the ESPN 1480 team starting friday as a co-host of the local sports talk radio show. (LJS File)

Jason Peter at the Grant Wistrom charity golf tournament held at Quarry Oaks in Ashland, Nebraska in 2005. Peter will join the ESPN 1480 team starting friday as a co-host of the local sports talk radio show. (LJS File)

“We’ll see where this takes me,” he added. “Whether it’s to Bristol, Conn. (ESPN’s home), or staying here for the next 30 years, the timing of this is perfect.”

 Jim Keck, general manager at parent company Three Eagles Communications, said Peter signed a one-year contract.

Listeners also will hear him on the “Big Red Report” on ESPN 1480 and sister station KFOR, as well as on KFOR’s tailgate show before home Husker football games.

Joining Peter on “The Spread” will be program director Chris Schmidt and Jeff Wilkerson, a part-time employee and a University of Nebraska-Lincoln broadcasting student. The show will air from 3 to 6 p.m. weekdays on 1480 AM.

Schmidt said it was time to retire “The Average Joe Show,” which took to the air in December 2001.

“‘Average Joe’ had been around for a while,” Schmidt said. “It was time to go a new direction. We’re excited about the addition of Jason Peter.”

The station had spent the last several weeks auditioning talent, including former KLKN sports reporters/anchors Lon Nichols and John Gaskins, before settling on Peter.

“We were seeing what the next step, our next move was going to be,” Schmidt said.

Peter was a defensive star on Nebraska’s three national championship teams in the 1990s and a first-round selection of the Carolina Panthers (14th overall) in the 1998 NFL Draft.

His pro career, as die-hard Husker fans know, was cut short because of a chronic neck injury,  which led to a well-publicized battle with drug addiction.

He recently helped coach high school football in California before taking the radio gig in Lincoln.

“The people (in Nebraska) are the best,” he said. “They’ve always been there for me. From winning three national titles and sitting on top of the world to being locked in my apartment high on drugs, they’ve always had my back. There always will be a special place for Nebraska in my heart.”

Peter said he comes to his new job with limited experience, but a willingness to work. He co-hosted a radio show during his time with the Panthers, he said.

“The past couple of years I’ve been thinking about it,” he said. “I’ve always had a good relationship, for the most part, with the media. It never bothered me to do interviews with the paper or TV. I thought I should give it a try.”

Reach Jeff Korbelik at 473-7213 or jkorbelik@journalstar.com.