University of Missouri fans around the state enjoyed the Tigers’ nearly unprecedented football and basketball success the last couple of years.

Next year, St. Joseph-area residents get to share a little more in that success.

The Tigers haven’t had a local radio carrier for years, including two years ago when Missouri’s football team spent part of the season ranked No. 1 and last season’s basketball run to the Elite Eight. But KSFT 1550 AM announced Monday that it will pick up the full Missouri football and men’s basketball schedules in 2009 and 2010.

“As the Tigers started winning more,” said KSFT program director Rick Reynolds, “we saw local interest pick up to the point we needed to reevaluate our programming.”

It’s a big relief for many local fans frustrated with missing out on the opportunity to join in their team’s successes.

“What really was upsetting was you’d hear Kansas and Kansas State on radio,” said Vince Koch, a member of the local University of Missouri alumni association. “And here we are in Missouri, and we can’t get the games.”

So life becomes much easier on Sept. 5 — Mizzou’s first football contest of the year — as St. Joseph-area fans no longer will have to sit in front of a computer and hit refresh on the Mizzou Web site every few seconds or scramble to try to find the game on satellite.

“It’s great news,” Koch said. “Before you always thought it was just due to the success factor because the sports weren’t producing. When they started to produce, there still was nothing. It’s just been hard to understand.”