It has been five years since Otter Creek native Jeff Solari left his job at Bangor television station WLBZ and Maine.

Two states, two jobs, a marriage and 1,926 miles later, Solari is back in Bangor, this time for his second stint at all-sports radio station WZON (620 AM).

The 34-year-old Solari takes over Monday as the new weekday afternoon show host from 4 to 6 p.m. on The Sports Zone. He rejoins program director and morning show host Dale Duff, who hired Solari for his first broadcasting job at Bangor TV station WLBZ (Channel 2) in 1992.

“This is the third time he’s hired me for something. Hopefully, the third time’s the charm,” said Solari, referencing his part-time gig at WLBZ and his two-year stint at WZON as play-by-play voice of the University of Maine women’s basketball team.

Solari will resume his duties as UMaine women’s hoop primary announcer as part of his full-time duties with WZON.

The Bar Harbor-born Solari last worked in Maine as WLBZ-TV’s promotions director in July of 1999. He left to take a job at a fellow NBC affiliate in Pensacola, Fla., where he worked for 13 months. From there, he moved to Oklahoma City to become the marketing director at CBS affiliate KWTV, where he’s worked the last four years.

Two years ago, Solari married former WLBZ-TV reporter and Kansas City, Mo., native Catherine Pegram, who also went to Pensacola and Oklahoma City, where she has been working as a morning news anchor.

“I loved being part of the Oklahoma/Oklahoma State sports scene with college football and the Final Four and everything, bit I guess I was a little homesick as far as the local sports scene and I missed the ocean,” said Solari.

The fact a tornado touched down and passed over KWTV didn’t make a return to Maine look bad, either.

Solari and Duff stayed in touch, and after Duff told him of a possible opening, he started thinking about returning.

“It came to the point where I really didn’t want to do the TV management thing anymore,” said Solari. “I told him I just really missed doing sportscasts and things. He and I first talked about it a year and a half ago when [Dan] Hannigan left. Eventually the timing became right to do it.”

Scott Sassone’s departure for a job in Portland opened things up again for Solari.

“There was really no better place for me to be. I wanted to be back here,” said Solari, who is buying a house in Brewer.

If Solari was second-guessing his decision during his 1,926-mile drive to Bangor, his qualms were quieted somewhat as he neared the end of his trip and listened to his car radio.

“What do I hear almost first thing after I find WZON on the radio but my call from the Stanford-Maine women’s [NCAA] Tournament game as one of the top 10 broadcast moments for the station,” Solari said.

As far as his afternoon show, Solari promises an emphasis on the fans’ perspective on sports and discussion of the hot topics along with plenty of guests and live remotes from various locations in and outside the state.

“It’s not rocket science. It’ll be a fun, informative, entertaining two hours of radio every day,” Solari said. “It will not be dull. If it is, I probably won’t be here long.”

Black Bears-Bulldogs replay

For all those people saying “Man, I wish I could’ve seen that game” this week after the UMaine football team’s win over Mississippi State University, the UMaine athletic department and Bangor TV station WABI (Ch. 5) have made it possible – albeit a week after the stunning upset.

WABI will air film of the game produced for the MSU stadium Jumbotron video system at 2 p.m. Saturday.

“UMaine’s athletic department called to see if we’d be interested if they could secure the tape,” said WABI program director Steve Hiltz. “This was a good weekend for us to do it, so we said if it was airable, we would. They worked out something with MSU and we have it.

“It’s the Jumbotron video mixed with the audio feed from the Bulldog Sports Radio Network. It goes pretty well together except during the commercials.”

Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600 or at aneff@bangordailynews.com