On the heels of longtime Cardinals player and broadcaster Mike Shannon announcing that he would be closing his downtown restaurant Jan. 30, Shannon said Monday night he will further reduce his broadcast schedule and not do any road games for the club this season.
Shannon, who will be starting his 45th season in the broadcast booth in March and will turn 77 in July, did fewer than one-third of the road games last year, although he did broadcast in the playoffs. Confirming he still will do spring training games and postseason games, Shannon said, “It’s just time. This will be the first time I can really enjoy my summer. I’ve never been able to do something in the summer because of the road games. It was time to move on.”
President Bill DeWitt III confirmed Monday night that the decision was Shannon’s alone.
“He still feels energized,” said DeWitt. “It’s a fairly common thing for a legendary broadcaster to (do) home games only, so we felt that Mike certainly deserved to be given the opportunity to make that choice.”
Rick Horton, who had done some radio last season along with television games on Fox Sports Midwest, will replace Shannon on KMOX radio for all the road games, joining John Rooney, Shannon’s normal partner. Mike Claiborne also will be involved, on radio.
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Jason Barrett is the President and Founder of Barrett Media since the company was created in September 2015. Prior to its arrival, JB served as a sports radio programmer, launching brands such as 95.7 The Game in San Francisco, and 101 ESPN in St. Louis. He also spent time programming SportsTalk 950 in Philadelphia, 590 The Fan KFNS in St. Louis, and ESPN 1340/1390 in Poughkeepsie, NY. Jason also worked on-air and behind the scenes in local radio at 101.5 WPDH, WTBQ 1110AM, and WPYX 106.5. He also spent two years on the national stage, producing radio shows for ESPN Radio in Bristol, CT. Among them included the Dan Patrick Show, and GameNight.
You can find JB on Twitter @SportsRadioPD. He’s also reachable by email at Jason@BarrettMedia.com.
