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Featured Replies

Instead of spamming the Ticket thread, thought it was time to start it's own. Can't wait to see what the OGW has left in the bag of tricks.

 

THIS WILL FAIL! /Oak Cliff Con Man

  • Author

Led by an Old Grey Wolf, DFW’s sports radio market to add one more sports station

DFW will soon return to its previous status as a three sports-talk station region. The man who brought us the first will soon bring us the third. Mike Rhyner, the man is given the credit for helping start the popular Sports Radio 1310 The Ticket, is coming out of retirement to lend his talents to 97.1 The Freak.

“I can neither confirm nor deny this,” Rhyner wrote via text. Rhyner, sometimes known as The Old Grey Wolf, retired from The Ticket in Jan. of 2020. He’s still been active on social media, and with his local band, “Petty Theft.”

Multiple sources confirmed that 97.1 The Eagle is planning to change its name to The Freak, and flip its format to sports talk. That will give us 1310 The Ticket, 105.3 The Fan, and 97.1 The Freak. Long time DFW sports reporter Richie Whitt first reported this on SI.com.

It sounds as if The Freak will be a Ticket 2.0, as many of the personalities that were established on 1310 are expected to join Rhyner.

97.1 The Eagle is the current home of the popular long-time local sports radio personalities Ben Rogers and Jeff “Skin” Wade, “The Ben and Skin Show,” which airs in the afternoons.

“Ben and Skin” previously hosted its show on 105.3 The Fan before leaving for The Eagle. Wade is also a long time member of the Dallas Mavericks television broadcast team.

In September of last year, the Mavericks announced it would end its 20-year relationship with 103.3 ESPN and have its games broadcast on 97.1.

As far as the lineup at The Freak, expect people you have heard before at other stations in town.

Sources said former 105.3 The Fan personality Jeff Cavanaugh is in the mix to join The Freak, as are former Ticket personalities Julie Dobbs and Mike Sirois.

Ex-Ticket personality Danny Balis, who left the station in May, is another name on the table for The Freak.

Cavanaugh had been with The Fan for 12 years, and left the station early in 2022. He built a stable of loyal listeners with his analysis of the Dallas Cowboys, and NFL draft and prospect coverage.

He currently hosts a football-centric show on his YouTube channel.

Mike Sirois had been with The Ticket as a producer for 15 years, but left the station in June.

Dobbs has worked in DFW both on radio and TV for more than a decade. She currently hosts a podcast with Texas Rangers reporter, Emily Jones, “The Mom Game.”

Expect The Freak to follow a similar format The Ticket made so popular. Sports. Personalities. Entertainment. Lifestyle.

It will not be a repeat of ESPN.

ESPN’s 103.3 FM station in DFW was originally the second spot in town to compete with The Ticket. It had moderate success, primarily with former Dallas Morning News and Fort Worth Star-Telegram sports columnist Randy Galloway hosting his afternoon show.

Once Galloway retired in 2013, the station was never able to challenge The Ticket in the ratings.

ESPN stopped local programming several years ago, opting for the more cost-effective national shows that drew minimal interest in town.

Earlier this year, Disney effectively sold this particular ESPN station and now 103.3 broadcasts religious programming.

After some initial turnover more than 15 years ago, The Fan has become a staple in DFW with hosts Shan Shariff, R.J. Choppy, Gavin Dawson, Mike Bacsik and a few others.

Now the market will soon have a third sports station, including the one that basically started this thing 30 years ago.

Read more at: https://www.star-telegram.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/mac-engel/article266360526.html#storylink=cpy

Also wanted to add that 97.1 has a much stronger signal and better coverage than 96.7 & 1310 combined. No idea what their streaming game is like, but I'm sure they are way behind The Ticket.

 

Edited by RPM

Seems like putting their A team on afternoon is the path to make the biggest impact.  The tickets morning game is too strong.

97.1 a sports talk frequency in dfw. What is the world coming to?  
 

maybe rhynes took a leak on Russ Martin’s grave, too. 

  • Author
6 minutes ago, Gene Parmesan said:

The tickets morning game is too strong.

Know where to punch. Morning drive is not it. 10-12 is vulnerable. 3-7 is red meat. Late night is also wide open. Run local Tier 2 programs instead of network shit.

Outside of Rhynes and maybe Sirois, I don't know what they'll be able to snag talent-wise that would make me tune in. Ben & Skin? No. Julie Dobbs? LOL, no.

I'll listen to Rhynes. But he's 72 and already quit once after a decade of mailing it in (but still listenable).

Never minded Cavanaugh on the fan when the lil ticket would switch over to farrell on the bench.

Pretty dumb if they don't get Darrell Ankarlo to guest host every now and then. 

FREAK!

NOOOO!

Remember when 97.1 was Tejano for a few years? NTTWAWWT


 
maybe rhynes took a leak on Russ Martin’s grave, too. 



Ouch.

I wonder if the hammer, robot greggo, or motorcycle greggo have applied. 
 

that theory cannot be proven. 

2 hours ago, C-Man said:

Outside of Rhynes and maybe Sirois, I don't know what they'll be able to snag talent-wise that would make me tune in. Ben & Skin? No. Julie Dobbs? LOL, no.

I'll listen to Rhynes. But he's 72 and already quit once after a decade of mailing it in (but still listenable).

Just give Rhyner and Sirois the afternoon drive, keep Julie far down on an earlier time, and I'll be happy with it. It'll have a great bonus of making sure I don't have to listen to Julie ruin the hangzone again too

TLDR write up but are they gonna try to make Julie a host?! Goodness that’s a reach if so

Ben and Skin will cockblock the 3-7 spot. The one slot i’d actually like an option to change the station on. 

In for Rhyner and Sirois. Auto check out on anything ben and skin, Julie also brings little to nothing. 

I'm loyal to the musers and the hang zone but I won't leave the hardline for B&S even though I think Bob sucks ass 

Ben and skin are such generic suburbanite dorks, and not in a good way, but a try too hard way. 

when are they expected to go live?

  • Author

Story didn't say, but I'm guessing first of the month. They'll want to get as much football season as possible.

On 9/27/2022 at 8:20 PM, bluto said:

Ben and skin are such generic suburbanite dorks, and not in a good way, but a try too hard way. 

Ben & Skin are the Dude Perfect of local radio

2 hours ago, nolongerU2horn said:

Ben & Skin are the Dude Perfect of local radio

holy shit that is accurate.

9 hours ago, nolongerU2horn said:

Ben & Skin are the Dude Perfect of local radio

I listened to them for a few segments. Their show is a running ad for their brewery in Celina. That and they ask you over and over when you visit their advertisers DONT FORGET TO TELL THEM YOURE THERE BECAUSE OF BEN AND SKIN. 

JFC. Surely they don’t do that every day?

9 minutes ago, Longhornstampede said:

Sooooo... Monday is the big day? 

Yeah like 3pm or some such. Those are the terms just about everyone are referring to. 

They are having a launch party Mon night at 7 so I doubt they broadcast 3-7 that day. Unless they do a remote from the venue.

If I'm Mike and have final say in all hiring, why not make a run at Monty and Minot and have WIP on from 10-12?  Norm and Donnie are an automatic tune out for me so WIP would be a vast improvement. 

If I'm Mike and have final say in all hiring, why not make a run at Monty and Minot and have WIP on from 10-12?  Norm and Donnie are an automatic tune out for me so WIP would be a vast improvement. 

Can’t raise the costs on the group medical bringing Monty on board when trying to get things off the ground.
Tonight, 97.1 is now playing a loop of freak-themed songs, and the station website has vanished, replaced by a placeholder "Where my freaks at?" message.  IHeart app/streaming site has already switched to the new branding.  https://www.iheart.com/live/971-the-freak-2241/
The Freaks Come out at Night by Whodini is a real banger lol

these guys really are the worst at actually telling people when to tune in.

  • Author

So does the Ticket scrub all existence of OGW from the drop catalog like they did Sirois? That's going to be a serious culture wipe.

I doubt they will scrub all existence - like you say, that would require removing a good percentage of their drop library.  But I bet they do a segment at some point that basically says "We love Mike and wish him well, but we are just going to keep doing what we've always done." and then continue to ignore The Freak.

  • Author

 

Edited by RPM

"When he reached the New World, Cortez burned his ships. As a result his men were well-motivated."

Lotsa burning of ships/bridges/what have you going on here...

Edited by sasquatch69

  • Author

I hope somebody records the opening. I have to crash at noon for work tonight. The iHeart app doesn't rewind afaik.

15 minutes ago, RPM said:

 

this seems to have rather strange bro energy so far. rather curious how the lineup comes together.

so what time are we supposed to tune in? 3? 7?

1 minute ago, NoName said:

so what time are we supposed to tune in? 3? 7?

I think B&S are gonna go on at the normal time 3pm

1 minute ago, NoName said:

so what time are we supposed to tune in? 3? 7?

Launch is at 3pm.

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