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The Freak, Dallas-Fort Value’s third sports activities discuss station, debuted Monday afternoon with Mike Rhyner rising from precisely 1,000 days of retirement to steer it.
At 3 p.m., Rhyner got here on the air to introduce a retooled 97.1 FM station that might rival Cumulus’ KTCK/KTCK-FM and Audacy’s KRLD-FM (105.3 The Fan).
In his intro, Rhyner defined his journey from retirement again to the airwaves, from settling into being out of the sport to beginning negotiations with Freak administration. ”Welcome again, my associates, to the present that apparently by no means ends. Right here is 97.1, the Freak. Dallas,” he stated.
Over the weekend, the station, owned by iHeartRadio, had hinted at a change with promos like “Discover out what The Freak is up with us. Immediately at 3.” On the finish of the conclusion of the Ben & Pores and skin Present on Friday, the station performed a four-song loop of music with “Freak” within the title. It additionally leaned into a number of Tom Petty songs. Rhyner is an avid Petty fan and fronts a tribute band, Petty Theft.
On Monday morning, The Eagle’s web site confirmed a splash web page that merely learn: “WHERE MY FREAKS AT?” Rhyner tweeted a picture Monday morning with a hand-crafted signal saying he’s out of retirement and his employer is “97.1 the Freak.”
“I’m simply as stunned as anyone that that is really going to occur,” Rhyner informed The Dallas Morning Information Sunday evening. “When the chance got here up and issues began to fall into place and we began to place this station collectively, I noticed we could be on to one thing fairly good right here.”
In a press launch Monday afternoon, iHeartRadio confirmed the changeover, calling the brand new 97.1 The Freak “a broad based mostly persona radio station that connects in a private approach with the DFW viewers.”
The brand new lineup consists of The Speakeasy with Jeff Cavanaugh, Kevin “KT” Turner, Julie Dobbs and Matt Cather from 7 to 11 a.m.; The Ben & Pores and skin Present with Ben Rogers, Jeff “Pores and skin” Wade, Krystina “Okay-Ray” Ray and Michael “Grubes” Gruber from 11 a.m. to three p.m.; and The Downbeat that includes Rhyner, Mike Sirois and Gruber from 3 to 7 p.m.
Rhyner’s section begins concurrently The Hardline, the present he co-hosted for years on The Ticket with Corby Davidson. Sirois and Dobbs, each of whom are becoming a member of The Freak, are former Ticket staples.
Phrase of Rhyner’s return to the air surfaced final weekend when Sports activities Illustrated’s Richie Whitt reported that the Texas Hall of Fame broadcaster was unretiring to host 97.1 The Freak, a substitute for The Eagle.
On Thursday, Rhyner, 72 and affectionately referred to as the Outdated Gray Wolf, appeared to substantiate the studies. He tweeted a 25-second video of himself strolling down a darkish hallway, sitting down and proclaiming “I’m again, bitches.” In saying his retirement in early 2020, he had posted the same video on social media, telling listeners he was leaving the radio enterprise.
In accordance with RadioInsight, a radio trade information outlet, The Ticket ranks seventh available in the market with an viewers share twice that of its rivals. (The Information and The Ticket companion to provide the SportsDay Speak app.)
Rhyner began the KTCK The Ticket in 1994. The station has gained a number of nationwide Marconi awards and dominated the native rankings for 3 a long time. Rhyner designed The Ticket’s format, which is anchored by sports activities however consists of comedy bits and leisure information.
Quickly after, 105.3 The Fan joined the fray. At one time, the 2 stations competed in opposition to 103.3 ESPN earlier than it left the air in 2020.
The Eagle upped its sports activities recreation in 2021 when it grew to become the flagship station of the Dallas Mavericks. In mid-September, RadioInsight reported that Don Davis, KEGL and KZPS 92.5 program director, had resigned.
Mark Cuban, the Mavericks’ proprietor, stated in an e-mail “there’s a motive that stations change codecs — as a result of it’s exhausting to attract an viewers.”
However Cuban has confidence in Rhyner’s effort.
“I believe the Outdated Gray Wolf nonetheless has some bark and chunk left in him,” Cuban stated. “And folks will come to take heed to him, if solely out of curiosity and nostalgia.
“It’s as much as the station to make it work.”
An Oak Cliff native, Rhyner started on the late KZEW (The Zoo) as a manufacturing assistant and shortly wound up because the sports activities man on the morning present hosted by John Labella and John Rody. He remained at KZEW till 1986, moved to WBAP-AM, then resurfaced for a time on KZPS-FM’s morning present. Earlier than The Ticket, he reported on sports activities for GTE On Name, a dial-in sports activities hotline.
When he retired, he told The News that “it actually felt like the correct factor to do. I began to consider it early within the fall and saved ready for one thing to jar me out of that concept. And it by no means got here. Earlier than lengthy I reached — it nearly sounds loopy — an nearly Zen-like state with it. I assume I hit such a degree of acceptance nothing may shake me. And nothing has.”
Jody Dean, a longtime radio trade veteran, stated, “Mike thinks unconventionally.
“That’s his best energy … If anybody may make it work, it’s the Outdated Gray Wolf. I’m certain he has backers. The query is whether or not they have the persistence. He’ll have to supply one thing the listener can’t discover wherever else, and that’s no simple factor.”
Rhyner has saved busy in retirement. He launched his podcast, Mike Rhyner Is Your Darkish Companion, that includes visitors similar to Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman. Final March, he was a visitor co-host on the Ben and Pores and skin present. He additionally starred in a documentary about his life, Not In This City.
“I do assume we’ve acquired some actually good folks there,” Rhyner stated. “All I need to do is get in there and make it higher … to make it nearly as good as it may be.”
Employees author Sharon Grigsby contributed to this report.
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