Live on the scene: How sports reporter Hannah Whetstone ’26 found her passion for news media at K-State
By Ashley Pauls
K-State Alumni Association
Hannah Whetstone ’26 tried her best to convince her communications professor that
she wasn’t interested in student radio.
However, the late Ian Punnett — who was a K-State professor of practice and adviser
for Wildcat 91.9 FM KSDB — would not take no for an answer.
“‘You have a great voice — I think you should consider podcasting or doing radio,’”
Whetstone remembers Punnett telling her. “He’s like, ‘Tell you what, I’m gonna get
you set up with these two girls that do this radio show. You just go hang out with
them for a little while, while they're doing the show. You see what it's about.’”
And sure enough, Punnett was right — Whetstone fell in love with the broadcasting
experience, and she eventually changed her major to news and sports media.
Punnett also became a beloved mentor, and although he tragically passed away in 2023,
Whetstone remains forever grateful for the impact he made on her life and her career.
She now works as a sports anchor/reporter with KAKE-TV, based in Wichita, Kansas.
She covers local sporting events and also highlights game-changing athletes.
“Every day is different,” she said. “I've known for a long time that's the type of
job I need. No two days are the same, and I am constantly meeting people and getting
out and doing new things.”
From ag communications to game day coverage
Whetstone is originally from Howard, Kansas, a small town in the southeast part of
the state. She grew up on a cattle ranch and was heavily involved in both 4-H and
FFA, in addition to showing livestock. She also played a number of sports, including
basketball, volleyball, track and softball.
“I really developed a passion for public speaking, and I did a lot of emceeing or
public announcing when I was a 4-Her,” Whetstone recalls. “Which at the time I didn't
really think anything of, but looking back, I can recognize that I have always been
comfortable in that setting, and being in front of a camera or being in front of a
crowd.”
Her parents and grandparents were K-Staters, and she was excited to continue the family’s
legacy. When she arrived on campus, she initially chose to double major in agricultural
economics and agricultural communications and journalism. Her original plan was to
go to law school and work in ag policy in Washington, D.C.
However, a general communications class taught by Punnett began to change her mind.
They worked together to develop an ag news segment for the student radio station called
“Feel Good News from the Farm.” She continued pursuing a major in ag communications
but also added mass communications.
During her second semester at K-State, a position opened up through K-State Athletics
for a sideline reporter for the Big 12. Punnett recommended her for the job.
“‘No, I want to do ag stuff,’” she discussed with Punnett. “And he's like, ‘Well,
I already told them that you were going to come do a camera test and audition basically
for this job. So you have to go.’ Looking back, thank God, I'm so grateful I have
people in my life that see potential in me or see things in me that I was not recognizing
in myself at the time. So I auditioned for that job, got a couple callbacks. I end
up getting that job spring of my freshman year.”
She switched her major — one more time — to news and sports media. She thanks Punnett
for helping her discover her passion for broadcasting, and she said his loss is still
felt at K-State.
“Not only has he been highly influential in a very short period of my life, and was
investing in me in ways that I don't even think I fully realized until later, he was
an important person to so many students,” Whetstone said. “It was hard, but also it
gave me so much motivation to see some things out that he helped me with.
“It is a testament to the faculty that are at K-State, their commitment to students
and seeing potential in people, and how Ian continues to influence my life to this
day. He was also just the best guy, like the nicest person, and so kind, so selfless,
and he truly lived for his work and for his students and for his family.”
Reporting on camera
The next stop on Whetstone’s journey in news media was an internship at KMBC 9, which
is the ABC affiliate in the Kansas City metro area.
“I had a phenomenal summer with them,” Whetstone said. “I hadn't really considered
local news before my internship, and that really changed my perspective on a lot of
things.”
In her current role at KAKE News in Wichita, she works Fridays through Tuesdays, 2
to 11 p.m. Her day starts with a story meeting, where staff members gather to share
ideas for what news stories to cover. She watches social media and keeps an eye on
high school, college and professional athletics.
“Then we start to build our shows,” she said. “That's the beauty of sports, we're
kind of on our own. They say you get this amount of time, and we get to fully produce
it, write it, edit everything, which I like. It gives you some autonomy over your
work. And then if I'm working on a story, it usually means I'm going out somewhere,
so I'm taking my camera and my tripod and all my stuff.”
Once she’s collected the content, it’s time to head back to the office, write scripts,
edit the story packages and record the voiceover.
Some of her favorite stories include a recent profile on the Wichita Wind Surge, the
city’s minor league baseball team. The team has the only all female athletic training
staff in the minor leagues. Whetstone had a chance to interview all three athletic
trainers and even followed one of them around during the game and got to spend time
in the dugout.
“It was challenging as a reporter because I did some things I hadn't done before,
like having an hour of mic’d up footage that you have to comb through. But then also
an incredible story to tell, and I think something that was important to me, because
I'm also a woman in sports and in a male-dominated field.”
She’s also had an opportunity to put together another Wind Surge-related story, this
time about a player who attended the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado,
and played baseball there.
“He was originally planning to go to pilot training and become an Air Force pilot.
But he got drafted by the Twins in the 2024 MLB draft and has been working his way
up through the farm system, and he's with the Wind Surge now. His military service
has been deferred until he's done playing pro ball, and then he will be able to go
back and serve as a pilot.”
The story felt personal to Whetstone, because her brother and sister-in-law also attended
the Air Force Academy.
“It is a very different experience than other people have at traditional college,
and it can be hard to understand that if you didn't experience it firsthand or your
family didn't,” she said. “And so I felt like that gave me a big leg up as a reporter
to be able to ask more intentional questions and dive past the surface level and get
more into the nitty gritty of that kind of stuff.”
‘It’s cool to care’
Whetstone has already come a long way in the short time since she graduated from K-State.
While she’s excited to see where her career will take her, she also knows she’ll always
look back fondly on her time as a Wildcat. As a student, she was a member of Kappa
Kappa Gamma sorority, Blue Key Senior Honorary and the K-State Alumni Association’s
Student Alumni Board.
“I love K-State. It's the best. I just feel like I can't overstate that enough,” Whetstone
said.
Although she carries a number of life lessons with her from her experiences at K-State,
the one that sticks with her most is not being afraid to share her passion.
“Something that I heard from a fellow SAB member that really resonated with me, and
I feel like I want to continue to repeat it to other young people, was the advice
that ‘it's cool to care.’ Pretending that you're too cool for school, or you're too
cool to care about things or want to be involved in things, that just might not always
be the best way to be. It's cool to invest in others. It's cool to invest in organizations
that have poured into you, and it's cool to care about things that are important to
you.
“I care about the things that I'm doing. I want to produce quality work when I'm broadcasting,
and I want to be a good coworker and a good friend to the people that I'm around.”