Mike Steely

[ou48A]

Rohde's move is a plus for sports talk radio. But, the reason Rohde and Tramel are so good on the radio is because their day jobs have them interviewing and collecting information (so, will that change for JR?). That's what sets them apart from the Traber's of the world, who don't collect anything. They just expel.

I have got to strongly agree with this.....^
Plus as columnists they are more accustom to putting a little more thought into what they convey instead of mindless rants like Traber is prone to.

[SoonerDave]

Have not heard anything new on this in a few days, other than Rohde heading to the new station. One thing I was wondering this morning is if anyone has heard anything about Craig Humphreys future status with the Animal? I notice today that he is (so far) not at all involved in their coverage of the British Open, and heaven knows if there's something golf related, Craig is normally all over it. To me, his absence is conspicuous. Or is it just coincidence?

Tydude, you hear anything?

[Tydude]

Craig never covers the British open for the Sports Animal.He only covers the Master.

[traxx]

Craig is brutal to listen to. He seems to be a nice guy and all but just brutal to listen to. When I listened to the SA, he just read the sports page. I've tuned into a few Thunder pregame shows and it's the same thing, he just goes down the stat sheet and offers little to no insight.

[SoonerDave]

Craig is brutal to listen to. He seems to be a nice guy and all but just brutal to listen to. When I listened to the SA, he just read the sports page. I've tuned into a few Thunder pregame shows and it's the same thing, he just goes down the stat sheet and offers little to no insight.

See, I've never understood this. Lots of people really dislike Craig Humphreys, but I don't get why. He isn't that "brutal" to me - usually has decent information to back his opinions, etc. I mean, no big deal, to each his own, but I see a lot of the really intense dislike for him and I guess that's what I don't get. I realize the SA must agree as he is hardly ever on-air anymore.

[traxx]

See, I've never understood this. Lots of people really dislike Craig Humphreys, but I don't get why. He isn't that "brutal" to me - usually has decent information to back his opinions, etc. I mean, no big deal, to each his own, but I see a lot of the really intense dislike for him and I guess that's what I don't get. I realize the SA must agree as he is hardly ever on-air anymore.

Like I said, no judgement on him. He seems like a nice enough guy. I just don't like him on the radio. But that's not to say he's a whole lot worse than Jim or Al. I don't like him for the reasons stated above and he doesn't have a very good on air voice. Come to think of it, many on the SA don't have a good on air voice - Al, Jim, Craig, BBJ.

[OklahomaNick]

BTW: I think we should change the name of this thread. Don't know if anyone else saw it but the Thunder just announced an agreement with the Sports Animal extending their exclusive right to carry the Thunder:

Thunder, Sports Animal Renew Partnership | THE OFFICIAL SITE OF THE OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER


Thunder, Sports Animal Renew Partnership

WWLS-FM to remain flagship station of Thunder Radio Network
Oklahoma City, Thursday July 18, 2013 - The Oklahoma City Thunder and Cumulus Media have signed a multi-year agreement that allows WWLS 98.1 FM (The Sports Animal) in Oklahoma City to continue as the flagship radio station of the Oklahoma City Thunder Radio Network, the Thunder and Cumulus announced today. As they have been since 2008, all Thunder preseason, regular-season and postseason games will be carried live on The Sports Animal.
All Thunder games will also be broadcast on The Sports Animal's sister station KWPN-ESPN Radio 640 AM, in addition to a dozen other stations across the state and region that make up the Thunder Radio Network. Veteran NBA broadcaster Matt Pinto will return for his sixth season as the radio play-by-play voice of the Thunder.

"We are proud and excited to continue our strong relationship with Cumulus and The Sports Animal," said Thunder Vice President of Corporate Communications and Community Relations Dan Mahoney. "They are the leaders in sports radio in Oklahoma, with passion and excitement for Thunder Basketball."

"When Cumulus Media acquired these stations back in 2011, our then-pre-existing Thunder alliance was one of the first things the company identified as most exciting. Consequently, the extension of our Thunder relationship was enthusiastically supported, especially when considering the partnership’s significant impacts on both listenership and advertising revenues, not to mention the thrill provided to our employees from being associated with a brand recognized worldwide!” said Cumulus Media Market Manager Larry Bastida.

In addition to game broadcasts and pre- and postgame shows, The Sports Animal will continue to carry “Thunder Insider,” a weekly program devoted to the team. Beginning this season, Matt Pinto will host a weekly call-in Thunder talk show and the station will provide a live stream of Thunder games via its website thesportsanimal.com. That stream will be limited to a 75-mile radius around Oklahoma City.

Thunder coverage on The Sports Animal also includes daily reports from Thunder practices, player interviews and regular on-air appearances by Pinto and the team's FOX Sports Oklahoma TV broadcast team of Brian Davis and Grant Long.

Live Spanish-language broadcasts of Thunder home games will continue on Cumulus station WKY 930 AM (La Indomable) in Oklahoma City. Veteran broadcaster Eleno Ornelas will return to provide play-by-play. Ornelas also serves as the Spanish-language announcer for the Texas Rangers.

ABOUT CUMULUS MEDIA
Cumulus Media (NASDAQ: CMLS) is the largest pure-play radio broadcaster in the United States with approximately 525 stations in 110 markets, a fully-distributed programming network serving more than 5,500 affiliates nationwide and SweetJack, the local deals platform that will serve 200 U.S. markets. Cumulus strives to create the next generation radio broadcasting and digital enterprise based on great people and technological excellence. Cumulus provides high-quality local programming choices for listeners and advertisers, challenging career environments for employees and value opportunities for shareholders. For more information, visit cumulus.com.

[okcboomer]

My only hope is that the next sports talk station to arrive actually do some interviews (coaches, players, owners, etc.), instead of being just a bunch of uninformed guys sitting around wanting to hear themselves talk.

Sorry but can't disagree more. It's painful to hear coach speak no matter who it is, no matter who's interviewing. And players are told what to say and aren't going to give any meaningful information. ( this goes for radio, tv, local, national ) Might as well listen to commercials, you'll get more out of them.

[Tydude]

TheLostOgle: Sports Radio Update: I've confirmed that @lumponwwls will be joining Mike Steely and John Rohde at the new 107.7FM sports station...

[Tydude]

BTW: I think we should change the name of this thread. Don't know if anyone else saw it but the Thunder just announced an agreement with the Sports Animal extending their exclusive right to carry the Thunder:

Thunder, Sports Animal Renew Partnership | THE OFFICIAL SITE OF THE OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER


Thunder, Sports Animal Renew Partnership

WWLS-FM to remain flagship station of Thunder Radio Network
Oklahoma City, Thursday July 18, 2013 - The Oklahoma City Thunder and Cumulus Media have signed a multi-year agreement that allows WWLS 98.1 FM (The Sports Animal) in Oklahoma City to continue as the flagship radio station of the Oklahoma City Thunder Radio Network, the Thunder and Cumulus announced today. As they have been since 2008, all Thunder preseason, regular-season and postseason games will be carried live on The Sports Animal.
All Thunder games will also be broadcast on The Sports Animal's sister station KWPN-ESPN Radio 640 AM, in addition to a dozen other stations across the state and region that make up the Thunder Radio Network. Veteran NBA broadcaster Matt Pinto will return for his sixth season as the radio play-by-play voice of the Thunder.

"We are proud and excited to continue our strong relationship with Cumulus and The Sports Animal," said Thunder Vice President of Corporate Communications and Community Relations Dan Mahoney. "They are the leaders in sports radio in Oklahoma, with passion and excitement for Thunder Basketball."

"When Cumulus Media acquired these stations back in 2011, our then-pre-existing Thunder alliance was one of the first things the company identified as most exciting. Consequently, the extension of our Thunder relationship was enthusiastically supported, especially when considering the partnership’s significant impacts on both listenership and advertising revenues, not to mention the thrill provided to our employees from being associated with a brand recognized worldwide!” said Cumulus Media Market Manager Larry Bastida.

In addition to game broadcasts and pre- and postgame shows, The Sports Animal will continue to carry “Thunder Insider,” a weekly program devoted to the team. Beginning this season, Matt Pinto will host a weekly call-in Thunder talk show and the station will provide a live stream of Thunder games via its website thesportsanimal.com. That stream will be limited to a 75-mile radius around Oklahoma City.

Thunder coverage on The Sports Animal also includes daily reports from Thunder practices, player interviews and regular on-air appearances by Pinto and the team's FOX Sports Oklahoma TV broadcast team of Brian Davis and Grant Long.

Live Spanish-language broadcasts of Thunder home games will continue on Cumulus station WKY 930 AM (La Indomable) in Oklahoma City. Veteran broadcaster Eleno Ornelas will return to provide play-by-play. Ornelas also serves as the Spanish-language announcer for the Texas Rangers.

ABOUT CUMULUS MEDIA
Cumulus Media (NASDAQ: CMLS) is the largest pure-play radio broadcaster in the United States with approximately 525 stations in 110 markets, a fully-distributed programming network serving more than 5,500 affiliates nationwide and SweetJack, the local deals platform that will serve 200 U.S. markets. Cumulus strives to create the next generation radio broadcasting and digital enterprise based on great people and technological excellence. Cumulus provides high-quality local programming choices for listeners and advertisers, challenging career environments for employees and value opportunities for shareholders. For more information, visit cumulus.com.

I have started that post in the sports section of this site

[jedicurt]

Sorry but can't disagree more. It's painful to hear coach speak no matter who it is, no matter who's interviewing. And players are told what to say and aren't going to give any meaningful information. ( this goes for radio, tv, local, national ) Might as well listen to commercials, you'll get more out of them.

not if done correctly. NFL Radio on Sirus has been surprisingly good at making great quality interviews work with coaches and players

[SoonerDave]

Notice that this thread has gone quiet as it seems the new station isn't slated to go online until August....but since tomorrow is 1 August, thought I'd bring this one back and see if there were any new developments. Anyone know when the station will go live?

Assuming nothing else changes, fans of the existing KRXO that's rumored to move to the 104.5 frequency under a (very) low power transmitter are likely to be very frustrated. I've got a station set to this and try to catch it for a minute or two just to hear if anything is/has happened, and it's a staticky, hard-to-pick-up mess. Not a big deal for me personally as I'm not a classic rock fan, but I suspect those who did like it may have trouble picking it up assuming it moves as the rumors indicate.

Minor tidbit: Lump changed his Twitter handle a few days ago to @lumponsports from @lumponwwls. I don't have anything against him personally (think his actual name is Jay Lynch), but I was kinda hoping his personal brand of humor might stay at the Animal. He's a nice guy, but his brand of humor wears thin on me very, very quickly. I was hoping of a morning show with just Steely and Rohde, which I think has a great chance to have a good balance of Steely's previous brand of dry humor (as he showed on the Animal back during his midday show stint) and Rohde's sports journalism bent. Lump going over suggests some of the scatalogical/sex-oriented humor may go along, which is kinda disappointing. Realize some folks like that, but I don't. Or, at least, a little goes a long, long way.

[BoulderSooner]

lump steely and rohde will be the morning show .. 107.7 current programing will switch to 104.5 in mid august with a 1 week (around) simulcast following that the sports station will launch

[iambecoming]

The Katt has started running commercials about the switch welcoming back "XO" listeners. They also just ran one saying they are having a get together at one of the Louie's in OKC on August 13th and for anyone that brought a sticker or shirt from the station moving (to the frequency power of a shop vac as the DJ put it) they'd replace it with a Katt one. Ended by saying they'd still be on the air the day after so maybe that's when the switch happens.

[yukong]

FYI. Lump's real name is Dave Hernandez. Jay Lynch was just a radio name just as Lump.

[ou48A]

What ever happened to PORK?
He seemed like a decent guy.

[Stew]

What ever happened to PORK?
He seemed like a decent guy.

They let him go. He was not too happy about it. As far as I know he hasn't returned to the air unless something's changed in the last six months. I agree, I thought the guy was awesome.

[SoonerDave]

Pretty sure Pork was a victim of the cuts that went around when Cumulus first bought the station. He seemed like a good guy.

[Tydude]

The Station had budget cuts and Pork was let go.

[ou48A]

I knew Pork was let go but nobody seems to know his current location and what he might be doing?
The new sports station might want to give him a look?

[Stew]

I knew Pork was let go but nobody seems to know his current location and what he might be doing?
The new sports station might want to give him a look?

He's on Facebook. Http://www.facebook.com/effinp

[Tydude]

TheLostOgle: 1. I believe the new station is going to be called 107.7FM "The Franchise." Pretend some guy saying that in a deep voice or something. TheLostOgle: 2. Sam Mayes (@AllmericanMayes) is apparently joining the new station. This will appeal to the "OSU Homer" demographic.
TheLostOgle: 3. Randy Heitz, occasional fill-in host and long time behind the scenes guy for the Sports Animal, is moving as well.
TheLostOgle: 4. No lie, Brent Skarky may join the station as an on-air personality. I asked the Skarkster for comment, and he climbed up a tree to hide.

[SoonerDave]

TheLostOgle: 1. I believe the new station is going to be called 107.7FM "The Franchise." Pretend some guy saying that in a deep voice or something.

Think that concurs with what Pete posted earlier in the thread. Figure there's bound to be a domain purchase for a website before much longer.

[ou48A]

TheLostOgle: 3. Randy Heitz, occasional fill-in host and long time behind the scenes guy for the Sports Animal, is moving as well.
.

Good for Randy.
He's nice guy and he knows a lot about OU baseball.

[MWCGuy]

The Katt has started running commercials about the switch welcoming back "XO" listeners. They also just ran one saying they are having a get together at one of the Louie's in OKC on August 13th and for anyone that brought a sticker or shirt from the station moving (to the frequency power of a shop vac as the DJ put it) they'd replace it with a Katt one. Ended by saying they'd still be on the air the day after so maybe that's when the switch happens.

Rock stations in OKC are pretty much dead to me. The Katt is playing nothing but, Ed Hardy Skinny Jeans rock with a few old worn out 70's and 80's tunes to keep the Joe Dirt crowd tuned in.

KRXO plays worn out classic rock that most people have stacked in there itunes or mp3 libraries. The brew was good in the beginning then came the mix of the Ed Hardy Skinny Jeans rock. Then to make matters worse you have listen to Nikki Sixx's crappy show at night. Anymore, whhen I want to here rock, I fire up iTunes.

The only okc music station I listen to anymore is KOMA because they play such a wide variety of music. I expect Tyler to re-tool magic to a easy listening light rock station in due time because they have achieved such a balance to KOMA. They will probably try make a few changes at KRXO as well.

It should be noted Cumulus is going through some rough times. From what I understand investors are not happy with decisions of the current CEO. In the end they may be a good thing for OKC. Maybe local investors will buy a few of the stations up and bring back local radio. We had good local radio in the 70s and 80s in this city back when radio stations competed with each other instead of national corporations plugging in a format that is a cookie cutter of other markets of the same size.