The KEGL home page on Monday, October 3.
Right now I am listening to The Waiting by Tom Petty while tuned in to 97.1. KEGL I know what the next song will be — Rick James’ Superfreak, followed by Missy Elliot’s Get Your Freak On and Whodini’s Freaks Come Out At Night, and Chic’s Le Freak. This has apparently been going on since Friday night.
At 3 p.m. Monday, expect the debut of The Freak, Dallas’ newest talk radio station. It is going to be sports talk but in the style of The Ticket, which is part sports, part entertainment and culture, part ongoing gag.
He posted an out-of-retirement, first-day-of-school style photo on Instagram Monday.
Last week Old Gray Wolf Mike Rhyner, who co-founded The Ticket, announced his return to the air with a Twitter video: “I’m back, bitches,” he said into the camera, and we were prepared, thanks to longtime sports reporter Richie Whitt who broke the news.
The father of The Little Ticket and its “guy-talk format,” Petty Theft frontman, narrator of The Accommodation audiobook and all-around Dallas icon is un-retiring and returning to the airwaves as The Freak’s big draw. Also reportedly onboard are Ticket formers Ben Rogers and Jeff “Skin” Wade (who we interviewed for a story in 2009), Julie Dobbs and Mike Sirois.
East Dallasite Danny Balis retired from the Ticket a few months ago, and some wonder if his name would be in the mix. According to the Fort Worth Star Telegram, it’s on the table.
Here’s more background, from last week.
Meanwhile, 97.1 is redirecting listeners looking for rock ‘n’ roll to KEGL-HD2 or sister cassic rock Lonestar 92.5 KZPS.
KEGL.com redirects to a splash page stating “Where My FREAKS At?”(As of midday Monday).
According to Radio Insight, The Eagle’s midday host Alan Ayo signed off the music programming September 30 with Johnny Cash Hurt, Foo Fighters Everlong and Metallica Fade To Black.
This is the second time The Eagle brand has been killed off from the station. Launched in 1981 as a rock and then top-40 station, it flipped to soft rock in 2004 and then Spanish oldies in 2005 and back to rock in December 2007.
