Calling The Future: How The Love Of Calling High School Sports Motivates This Texas Broadcaster

By Melvin Jones, January 25, 2026

Voices of Texas – Episode 1, Merle Bertrand – 1216 Sports Radio Network

This is the inaugural episode of the Voices of Texas Podcast, a podcast about play-by-play voices of Texas High School Athletics. This week, we bring on the long time voice of the Vandegrift Vipers, the Broadcast Director for VYPE Media, Merle Bertrand on to the show to tell us his story on how he got started, how K-MAC became VYPE Live, and the thrill to call a state championship game. We tend to bring this to you twice a month, maybe even more. So, sit back as Melvin Jones and Merle Bertrand talk about broadcasting high school sports, right here on the Voices of Texas Podcast.Podcast Song Composed by Piotr Pacyna (PRS)

It takes a special person to would rather call high school sports over doing college or even some pro, but this is what we have with Merle Bertrand. On our very first edition of the “Voices of Texas” Podcast, Bertrand talked about how he started, how it was when it called the State Championship for football, some advice he would give to an upcoming broadcaster, and much more. 

Back in 2004, Bertrand was brought on to K-Mac Sports by a Chuck Licata (Disclamer: Licata would hire myself back in 2020 after K-Mac became VYPE Live), as he was going in and out of the film industry for seven years in Los Angeles and Austin, TX. “I heard about this little company called K-Mac Sports that was just starting up at the time…and Chuck Licata, who was a track announcer, told me to ‘send me a tape’, like I had a tape or anything like that. But I put something together. I watched the UT Championship game against USC (2006 Rose Bowl) made up my own rosters and put together a little demo tape.”

Bertrand would go on and be one of the lead announcers of K-Mac, along with Licata and Brad Cone, a broadcasting legend in the state of Texas. He would become the voice of the Vandegrift Vipers and call two State Championship games in 2022 and 2024, the year the team won the title. He has also been the voice of Southwestern University football, a Division 3 school just outside of Georgetown, Texas, and those games are also shown on VYPE. 

Through it all, Bertrand talks about the love he has for high school sports, and the appreciation that comes with it. “I’m too old go down that path (going after a pro job) Somebody’s got to build and nurture this sandbox, and I think this is sort of my role right now,” says Bertrand.

When it comes to broadcasting, Bertrand is always looking forward. With a full staff to manage, and his own teams to cover, it keeps him moving and rolling every day. Bertrand can be reached on X @kmacmerle.