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Dirt and Sprague: ESPN Doesn’t Care About Radio

“Someone would probably say when Colin left, I would say when Le Batard left,” Sprague surmised, “but there seems to be a real ‘less than interested’ feeling from Bristol on their radio situation”

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Dirt and Sprague

Portland’s 1080 The Fan is an ESPN Radio affiliate. The Fan also features the morning show Dirt and Sprague which airs immediately after ESPN Radio’s Keyshawn, JWill & Max. So it might’ve been surprising to hear the Portland morning team kick off their program today questioning if ESPN cares about their radio product anymore.

Keyshawn, JWill & Max had a segment discussing voice exercises with Jay Williams and in it they captured one of Williams’ guttural attempts at that feat. The show ended with several minutes of the clip being played often. Then Dirt and Sprague came on the air and the guys were aghast.

Andy “Dirt” Johnson started almost immediately by saying “Should we just start yelling like the last show? Is that how we should start today? [mocking guttural scream] Just start screaming. That’s my homage to them. Continue to make some random noise over, and over, and over again as they continue to not care about ESPN Radio anymore.”

The show then began a discussion of when they thought ESPN lost emphasis on the product.

Brandon Sprague said he believed it was when Dan Le Batard left the network.

“Someone would probably say when Colin left, I would say when Le Batard left,” Sprague surmised, “but there seems to be a real ‘less than interested’ feeling from Bristol on their radio situation”

“I’m not even 100% what their lineup is,” Sprague added.

The show attempted to remember the lineup and then when prompted with the programming, struggled to recognize the hosts. They then continued to wonder when ESPN left radio behind.

“It would probably be when Colin left,” Sprague offered, “you would say ESPN Radio, and how they feel with their own entity [changed] in that way?

Johnson retorted that he thought when ESPN lost three programming pillars, their focus began to wane.

“I would say the splitting up of Mike and Mike was involved in that too. That was their morning staple for a long time,” said Johnson. “You had the Mike and Mike split-up, you had Le Batard leave, which was only a matter of time until he left, and then Colin leaving. Those were their three radio monsters especially in the morning. When they were all gone it was like “where do we go from here?”

“So now they’re just punting on it,” said Sprague.

“Based on the last segment we heard,” began Johnson, “they are punting on it because it was just yelling for five straight minutes”.

Sprague also said that if ESPN prioritized radio, they would allow their radio talents to do radio and not be removed for other priorities.

“They also drag them off live radio to do TV hits,” Sprague mentioned.

Johnson asked, “Could you imagine if we did that on something? Like, ‘Hey Sprague. I’m going to have to take twenty minutes off in the eight o’clock hour because we got a Twitch stream thing to do that’s more important than our radio show”.

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Charley Steiner Injured; Tim Neverett to Handle Dodgers Radio Play-by-Play

“This will be the first Opening Day that I will have missed since 1976, when I wore a younger man’s clothes.”

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photo of Charley Steiner
Courtesy: Los Angeles Dodgers

As the Los Angeles Dodgers get set to take on the St. Louis Cardinals in their first home game on Thursday, team play-by-play voice Charley Steiner has revealed he will not be doing games at the beginning of the season due to a severe back injury.

Through the Dodgers, Steiner posted a statement which said, “Over the winter, I landed on the Injured List with three compound fractures in my back. (I don’t recommend it.) With the start of the baseball season upon us, the Dodgers are ready to go – but I’m not. This will be the first Opening Day that I will have missed since 1976, when I wore a younger man’s clothes. I look forward to returning to the mic later this season. In the meantime, go Dodgers!”

TrueBlueLA.com reports Tim Neverett will handle play-by-play duties while Steiner recovers. Neverett called the first two regular season games with Rick Monday as the Dodgers started the season in South Korea. Neverett and Monday did not travel with the team, however, they called those games in a studio back home.

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Ronnie Lane and Tom Krasniqi Put a Bow on The Ronnie & TKras Show After Nearly 10 Years

“Finally, Tampa Bay can sleep easy knowing this hideous show is finally over.”

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Photo of Ronnie Lane and Tom Krasniqi
Courtesy: iHeartMedia

After nearly 10 years, The Ronnie & TKras Show with Ronnie Lane and Tom Krasniqi came to an end today as the duo broadcast their final show on remote with many listeners, friends and co-workers on hand. Earlier this month, WDAE announced changes to its programming lineup which will take place starting tomorrow. Ronnie Lane will take on a new role as host of the Tampa Bay Rays pre-game show The Inside Pitch. Tom Krasniqi will continue on in afternoon drive with producer Chris Mathis for The Drive.

Their final show kicked off with station voice Jim Cutler saying, “…Finally, Tampa Bay can sleep easy knowing this hideous show is finally over.”

And with that went three very fast hours of looking back on a nearly decade-long run for Lane and Krasniqi. “It seems kind of surreal, doesn’t it?” said Lane.

Mathis had several special guests lined up for the final show and many others left voice messages which were played coming out of breaks. Tampa Bay Buccaneers General Manager Jason Licht and Chief Operating Officer Brian Ford took part in the final show. Tampa Bay Rays closer Pete Fairbanks also called in and, at first, identified himself as “Pete from St. Louis” before asking what the hosts thought of the Rays bullpen.

“I’m telling you man, when I hear all of these tributes it really brings a tear to my eye, Ronnie,” said Krasniqi. “It’s a surreal moment…It makes me feel so fortunate and blessed to be in this position sitting next to you all these years. This is one of those moments where I am almost speechless and just so incredibly overwhelmed by the support and the love that everyone has shown here today.”

Lane responded, “…Our time together is really coming to an end. I might get a little emotional before this show is over, but we have had a great time and been through many ups and downs…This business is crazy and for us to be able to do what we are doing and doing it on our terms…And for a company that believes in both of us to give us this opportunity to go in different directions with the same company is truly amazing…It doesn’t happen like this always in this business, usually it’s an ugly goodbye.”

As the show came to an end, Lane reminded everyone, “It has been a blast, but we’re not freakin’ leaving!”

“We’re not leaving folks,” ‘TKras’ said. “Thanks very much for being a part of our lives and thanks for having us as part of yours. Onward and upward. You are dismissed.”

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Tyler Murray Added to WEEI Red Sox Radio Bench

“Coming up on 13 seasons in [minor league baseball], it’s not lost on me how fortunate I am to have this opportunity.”

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Photo of Tyler Murray and logos for WEEI and the Boston Red Sox
Photo Credit: Ashley Green

The voice of the Worcester Red Sox, Tyler Murray, has been added to the Red Sox Radio play-by-play bench. WEEI made the announcement on their X account, saying, “On the heels of calling the Hockey East Tourney this weekend [and] adding to his excellent work [with the Worcester Red Sox], happy to announce that Tyler Murray will be helping to build our [Red Sox Network] bench this year! Tyler’s 1st series in the big leagues will be April 5-7 [with Will Flemming].

Murray, who has also called college hockey games on NESN plus college football and basketball games, said on X, “Coming up on 13 seasons in [minor league baseball], it’s not lost on me how fortunate I am to have this opportunity. Thank you to [WEEI brand manager Ken Laird] and [Audacy Boston Senior Vice President/Market Manager Mike Thomas], and to everyone who has reached out. Your support has honestly been overwhelming, and I couldn’t be more grateful.”

Murray’s first series will be the Red Sox taking on the Los Angeles Angels on the road, April 5-7.

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