The station is on life support as they can't even begin to draw a 1 share. Rumor from inside is that the Franchise is toast at the end of the year and it will be taken over by what is now V103. There is a positive buzz going on about it and thoughts that would work with a stronger signal. What say you?

The station is on life support as they can't even begin to draw a 1 share. Rumor from inside is that the Franchise is toast at the end of the year and it will be taken over by what is now V103. There is a positive buzz going on about it and thoughts that would work with a stronger signal. What say you?

I say we go back to the old radio regulations. The broadcasting world is incredibly dysfunctional thanks to all the deregulation.

I say we go back to the old radio regulations. The broadcasting world is incredibly dysfunctional thanks to all the deregulation.

How so? Why do you imply this created the problems in this case?

Maybe the government could regulate the telegraph and pay telephone industries back into profitability while they're at it.

It will be great if they move V103 to 107.7, heck it would be fine if they move the classic rock back there too, as for the Franchise, I listen to it when it first came on, now I barely listen to it, I wonder what's going to happen to the Franchise 2 on 1560, if the Franchise flips.

How so? Why do you imply this created the problems in this case?


I'm speaking of the regulations that had broadcasters owning radio stations. Limits on how long before you could sell a station after purchase. How many stations you could own in a market. It made sure that ownership was truly interested in the well being of the communities, not just a quick flip or another of their thousands of investments. In this case, it is part the constant format changes, signal-swapping, etc. I'm not claiming that things would be perfect under the old rules, just know they would at least be better.

The station is on life support as they can't even begin to draw a 1 share. Rumor from inside is that the Franchise is toast at the end of the year and it will be taken over by what is now V103. There is a positive buzz going on about it and thoughts that would work with a stronger signal. What say you?
They do have the OU football and basketball rights, so my guess is if it's gone would be gone after the Ou basketball season

The Franchises big mistake was hiring way to many stale hosts who have worn out their act in this market on other on air jobs.
They should have hired Toby Rowland who’s decency trumps the 107.7 shock jocks who grow old quick.

Biggest mistake they made was moving the mid morning mayes show to the afternoon. They killed it in the morning and I used to listen every day. I haven't listened to them once since the switch. Ive tried to give the other hosts a chance but they just don't do it to me. Also the Sports Animal getting Dusty was a huge get as well.

Biggest mistake they made was moving the mid morning mayes show to the afternoon. They killed it in the morning and I used to listen every day. I haven't listened to them once since the switch. Ive tried to give the other hosts a chance but they just don't do it to me. Also the Sports Animal getting Dusty was a huge get as well.

I agree 100%. I enjoyed listening to Sam and Colby at the 9-noon slot. Was never a big BBJ fan, so stuck it out with the Franchise. After they got moved to the afternoon, I went back to BBJ. Since I was with BBJ, I thought I'd see how the Morning Animals were as well. They are hilarious, and I havent gone back to Steely since, although I think he's great. Not a huge fan of that new girl they brought in (Jesse, I think).

Then, when Dvoracek teamed up with Mark Rodgers, that sealed it. Their time slot is my favorite sports time slot, by a landslide. Then when Traber comes on with them from 2-3, it's radio gold. So I'm back to the Animal for all my sports radio.

yea I cant stand Zac McCrite or whatever his name is that comes on from like 9-12 on the franchise. Actually don't mind Pork.

Traber's show reminds me of the Maury show on tv. Not sure if you have ever watched Maury but its a trainwreck, and its impossible to turn away. Traber's show is just like that.

I agree with you EXCEPT i can turn away! ha I enjoy Mark R and Dusty and will listen to Traber when Trammel is on but other than that it's ESPN national for my sports radio listening. Tried the Franchise when it started out and just couldn't get hooked in to anything. Haven't listened in forever.

I'm not claiming that things would be perfect under the old rules, just know they would at least be better.

Owners paid more attention to what was going on locally when they could own only 14 stations instead of 1400.

kind of off topic but the promo WWLS is running about Craig taking over for BBJ is questionable in my view. "when one door closes another opens..." I' m very hesitant to say it's in questionable taste but will say the thought crossed my mind.:ot:

kind of off topic but the promo WWLS is running about Craig taking over for BBJ is questionable in my view. "when one door closes another opens..." I' m very hesitant to say it's in questionable taste but will say the thought crossed my mind.:ot:

What's questionable about it? I don't understand.

...Back on topic, the Franchise could take a step in the right direction by not reading endless Tweets on the air. Also, Sam Mayes has got to cut the "no excuses" schtick to solve every sports problem.

I doubt seriously that anything will happen to The Franchise before football season. If it's truly on its last legs, they'll let the wind of OU football this fall push them to the end of the year; that just makes sense.

I, for one, am not convinced Tyler is ready to abandon the sports radio market. I think they know that KREF has been successful in spite of the Animal's ongoing dominance (no pun intended), and I think they believe they can enjoy the same kind of niche success if they program it correctly. I think they've made some horrendous missteps; dumping Dave Garrett in the afternoons for Rusty McGrite (sp?) was a monumental error, and obviously the Tony Casillas thing was a calculated risk that failed rather spectacularly.

The Animal realizes they've got the real deal in Dusty Dvoracek, and he's good enough at what he does that I think he may get a chance at a bigger media gig at some point. He's arguably the best interviewer they have right now, and he's one of the most articulate hosts on the air (at least IMHO). The Franchise has *nothing* on that level.

If Tyler wants to hang on, I think they could give it one more shot by rebranding, and not try quite so hard to be purely "not the Sports Animal." The problem is there's just not much out there in the way of name local sports broadcasters that could draw people to a new radio show; cultivating that would mean bringing in someone completely raw and arguably even an outsider to radio in general to put some type of different on-air spin to sports talk. Heck, I might even be available :) LOL

Maybe I'm dreaming, but I think Tyler won't give up on sports radio even yet. Whatever their plans, it makes sense that we'll hear more about them after football season. By then, all bets are probably off.

What's questionable about it? I don't understand.

...Back on topic, the Franchise could take a step in the right direction by not reading endless Tweets on the air. Also, Sam Mayes has got to cut the "no excuses" schtick to solve every sports problem.

Have you heard it? There were three people in the car when I first heard it and everyone of us thought it was a strange ad. But ... back to the Franchise.

I've met Ty Tyler before and he very aware of how long it takes a sports station to get established. Ratings are dipping right now because they moved Sam against Traber and it's not football season. Kelly Gregg and Sam struggle with non football sports.

Whether he's ready to pull the plug I don't know. Dusty is a great host though.

The Franchise is now paying a listener $500 to get a celebrity to call into the station. That's dripping with desperation.

Sam Mayes wet his pants on Twitter when Bo Jackson called in. Sad.

Yea I turned it on a couple of times and that's all they were talking about, sounds very very desperate. quickly changed the channel

The Franchise is now paying a listener $500 to get a celebrity to call into the station. That's dripping with desperation.

Sam Mayes wet his pants on Twitter when Bo Jackson called in. Sad.
While true they did get Russ to call in and he's never gone on the animal.

kind of off topic but the promo WWLS is running about Craig taking over for BBJ is questionable in my view. "when one door closes another opens..." I' m very hesitant to say it's in questionable taste but will say the thought crossed my mind.:ot:

Humphries could wind up being the savior for the Franchise in the 9-12 slot.

I doubt seriously that anything will happen to The Franchise before football season. If it's truly on its last legs, they'll let the wind of OU football this fall push them to the end of the year; that just makes sense.

I, for one, am not convinced Tyler is ready to abandon the sports radio market. I think they know that KREF has been successful in spite of the Animal's ongoing dominance (no pun intended), and I think they believe they can enjoy the same kind of niche success if they program it correctly. I think they've made some horrendous missteps; dumping Dave Garrett in the afternoons for Rusty McGrite (sp?) was a monumental error, and obviously the Tony Casillas thing was a calculated risk that failed rather spectacularly.

The Animal realizes they've got the real deal in Dusty Dvoracek, and he's good enough at what he does that I think he may get a chance at a bigger media gig at some point. He's arguably the best interviewer they have right now, and he's one of the most articulate hosts on the air (at least IMHO). The Franchise has *nothing* on that level.

If Tyler wants to hang on, I think they could give it one more shot by rebranding, and not try quite so hard to be purely "not the Sports Animal." The problem is there's just not much out there in the way of name local sports broadcasters that could draw people to a new radio show; cultivating that would mean bringing in someone completely raw and arguably even an outsider to radio in general to put some type of different on-air spin to sports talk. Heck, I might even be available :) LOL

Maybe I'm dreaming, but I think Tyler won't give up on sports radio even yet. Whatever their plans, it makes sense that we'll hear more about them after football season. By then, all bets are probably off.

This right here. I think Dusty with his fresh contacts could very well become the true "dominance" at the Animal. Traber whined on infinitum about not being able to get an interview with Sam Bradford. Dusty got the interview. Most of Trabers contacts are getting older and irrelevant, while Dusty brings fresh air and will not back down to Jim's arrogance. Jim and Al are as stale as week old bread and as relevant as yesterday's newspaper.

While true they did get Russ to call in and he's never gone on the animal.

Did they have anything insightful to ask him about the upcoming season or was it a bunch of garbage questions?

actually between 4 people talking at once you wouldn't even know russ was on for an interview

Did they have anything insightful to ask him about the upcoming season or was it a bunch of garbage questions?

They actually asked him a bunch of funny questions, but nothing about basketball. The whole celebrity call-in is all just for bragging rights.

I feel like I'm in the minority in that I totally can't listen to Sam Mayes' show. At any point in the show you are less than 15 seconds away from them giggling at their own jokes, or Sam offering his "walk it off you pansy!" advice to every situation. I personally don't think they offer any entertainment value or sports insight. But hey, to each his own. Huge fan of Dusty and Mark together, plus Dusty isn't scared to just go head-to-head with Traber makes the 3rd hour worth listening.

I've said it before, but the Sports Animal really lucked out that the Franchise "lured" Steely, Lump, and Rhode to their morning show. The new animals are way better. 9-12 is a wash, both meh in my opinion (to be fair, not a golf fan so Craig Humphries does nothing for me). Noon until 6 is definitely owned by the Animal. After that, If I'm still commuting, I'll flip back to the Franchise to avoid hearing Al eat and yell for 2 hours.

They actually asked him a bunch of funny questions, but nothing about basketball. The whole celebrity call-in is all just for bragging rights.

I feel like I'm in the minority in that I totally can't listen to Sam Mayes' show. At any point in the show you are less than 15 seconds away from them giggling at their own jokes, or Sam offering his "walk it off you pansy!" advice to every situation. I personally don't think they offer any entertainment value or sports insight. But hey, to each his own. Huge fan of Dusty and Mark together, plus Dusty isn't scared to just go head-to-head with Traber makes the 3rd hour worth listening.

I've said it before, but the Sports Animal really lucked out that the Franchise "lured" Steely, Lump, and Rhode to their morning show. The new animals are way better. 9-12 is a wash, both meh in my opinion (to be fair, not a golf fan so Craig Humphries does nothing for me). Noon until 6 is definitely owned by the Animal. After that, If I'm still commuting, I'll flip back to the Franchise to avoid hearing Al eat and yell for 2 hours.

Hate to say this, but I think you're right.

Mind you, I like Steely. I've listened to him from the early days of his old afternoon show on the Animal back when Mark Shannon led the Morning Animals. And I really liked Rohde when he'd team up with Al, because he gave insights and discussion that Al just normally doesn't entertain. So I thought the combo of Steely and Rohde was going to be a winner, but man, the energy level they have now on the Franchise is just gone. I admit its an intangible, but they're just different. Lump's jokes stopped working (and got really tiring after a while, which is honestly why I think they jettisoned him several months ago).

I listened to the Franchise with Steely early on, and in that early time, things were OK, and I didn't like the "New Animals" so much. But the one thing that I think killed Steely's "energy level" was when the Animal resigned Traber to a big contract, and Steely realized the Franchise was going to have to attack the "Death Star" directly rather than by grabbing talent. I have read in some other forums that Steely and Traber are friends off the air, and the grand expectation was that they were *both* going to jump to the Franchise until Cumulus accepted what was apparently Traber's "ridiculous" initial contract demand/position. I think Steely knew/knows that the Franchise has an uphill battle from then on.

As time went on , I started going back to the "New Animals" more and more, and their energy level was better, the Lump jokes were gone, and Steely/Rohde were/are moribund by comparison. Don't know if that can be fixed.

If the Animal could find a way to bring Desmond Mason over as a contributor, it would be pretty much over for the Franchise. They were always at a disadvantage, being that they were going against an ESPN affiliate. But they made a lot of really amateur decisions, and really just awakened the giant. As mentioned before, the Animal isn't perfect by any means, but it is definitely much better than it was before the Franchise.

]At any point in the show you are less than 15 seconds away from them giggling at their own jokes, or Sam offering his "walk it off you pansy!" advice to every situation. I personally don't think they offer any entertainment value or sports insight.

Man, you are right on the money here. It's like they have a mic at their table in a bar and they're 4 drinks deep. Also, as I stated earlier, the endless reading of tweets on the air is mind-numbing. "@jasonOUfan37 says 'the Sooners need grey uniforms to keep up with recruiting or they'll never beat Baylor again." Oh gawd, STOP IT!

Man, you are right on the money here. It's like they have a mic at their table in a bar and they're 4 drinks deep. Also, as I stated earlier, the endless reading of tweets on the air is mind-numbing. "@jasonOUfan37 says 'the Sooners need grey uniforms to keep up with recruiting or they'll never beat Baylor again." Oh gawd, STOP IT!

Totally agree. It was okay at first but geeze you can't do it every single broadcast and call it a show. It's a shame because I think they are more talented than the lazy redundantcy they serve up daily.

Totally agree. It was okay at first but geeze you can't do it every single broadcast and call it a show. It's a shame because I think they are more talented than the lazy redundantcy they serve up daily.

Nonstop garbage about Tiger Woods/Danica Patrick/Tony Romo EVERY DAY is not redundancy?

Man, you are right on the money here. It's like they have a mic at their table in a bar and they're 4 drinks deep. Also, as I stated earlier, the endless reading of tweets on the air is mind-numbing. "@jasonOUfan37 says 'the Sooners need grey uniforms to keep up with recruiting or they'll never beat Baylor again." Oh gawd, STOP IT!

There is something to that. OU is not relevant anymore. Kids these days don't care about tradition at all.

Nonstop garbage about Tiger Woods/Danica Patrick/Tony Romo EVERY DAY is not redundancy?

At that level, you're getting back to the core of Sports Talk radio - despite the ubiquity of sports, eventually you do, in fact, run out of things to talk about. Or you talk the same things to death.

I remember many years ago hearing the Animal for the first time, realizing it was a full-time, 100% sports talk station, and I thought "they're nuts. You can't make a one-trick pony like that last," but here they are. I can't fathom you can have three, four, or five *stations* doing it, but darned if right now this market is trying three, although one appears to be on the critical list...

I say we go back to the old radio regulations. The broadcasting world is incredibly dysfunctional thanks to all the deregulation.

won't happen but defiantly agree. It's the continued corporate blandishment of America. Prior to the gross behemoth Citadel coming to town we had dynamic competitive sports radio. Stations experimeted with different formats and lineups. Then citadel went to work killing the competition poaching off the best talent and still give us 6 hours daily of screaming witless drama queens becausae they're hacks that can drive to Clinton on a Tuesday. Tramel had his own show, now he's wasted on the terrible TDH, carry Murdock wasted with the am blowhards. Did you know Myron Patton on their roster? 1 show a year maybe. Play me or trade me. Like when Switzer would offer a player before limits only because he didn't want the Cowboys to have the player. Was hopeful with the new station announcement but it turns out they just ended up haggling over Traber so he gets a ridiculous K. An angry Bible thumping conservative drives ratings, sigh.

Nonstop garbage about Tiger Woods/Danica Patrick/Tony Romo EVERY DAY is not redundancy?

Really, while Traber was on vacation he rated about how he gets so sick of the hype surrounding people like Tiger, Romo Tebow, et al. Tell your blowhard witless sidekick. Traber returns and immediately goes off on Tiger.

^ my remedy to that - preset to ESPN on XM:)

There is something to that. OU is not relevant anymore. Kids these days don't care about tradition at all.
LOL that's funny.

If it wasn't for OU, your aggies would be in the AAC right now competing with Tulsa, Tulane and Memphis. FACT

LOL that's funny.

If it wasn't for OU, your aggies would be in the AAC right now competing with Tulsa, Tulane and Memphis. FACT

Who said anything about my aggies? OU is not cool anymore. Kids don't care about OU's national championships from DECADES past. They hardly care about what happened last year. This generation (younger millenials and gen-z) is WAYYYY different than baby boomers, gen-x'ers, older millenials. OU needs to evolve or they are going to be left behind.

Who said anything about my aggies? OU is not cool anymore. Kids don't care about OU's national championships from DECADES past. They hardly care about what happened last year. This generation (younger millenials and gen-z) is WAYYYY different than baby boomers, gen-x'ers, older millenials. OU needs to evolve or they are going to be left behind.

then who does OU need to be more like then in your opinion?

then who does OU need to be more like then in your opinion?

Easy. Teams that win. 8-5 isn't going to get it done.

Hearing some rumors that Kelley Greig is moving to the 9:00 AM Slot on the Franchise.Zach McCrite been on vacation all week

Hearing some rumors that Kelley Greig is moving to the 9:00 AM Slot on the Franchise.Zach McCrite been on vacation all week

Without even having to listen, just reading that alone tells me it's been one of the best weeks of radio on the Franchise in several months.

(intense sarcasm light off)

I can't listen to McCrite but Gregg is almost as bad. I get sick of hearing Gregg yell about how players are all about the money and we don't have a clue what really goes on on the field. He yells almost as much as Traber, who I also can't listen to.

i can Confirmed that Kelly Gregg will joined the Morning Show from 5:30-9:00 AM

i can Confirmed that Kelly Gregg will joined the Morning Show from 5:30-9:00 AM

Is Eric gee still there?