WJOX is making major lineup changes. The radio station announced today that they’ve dropped their morning show “The Opening Drive” which featured the trio of Tony Kurre, Jay Barker and Al Del Greco. Taking their place in mornings will be the station’s popular midday show, JOX Roundtable, which consists of Lance Taylor, Ryan Brown and Jim Dunaway.
The change will go into effect starting Monday March 5th. For the next two days, listeners will receive CBS Sports programming during their morning commute.
WJOX General Manager David Walls said “I believe it (The Roundtable) is one of the best sports shows in the Southeast, and we wanted to put it in our most desirable (time slot) and start our day with our strongest show.”
With Taylor, Brown and Dunaway moving to an earlier time, that leaves a hole in middays. WJOX says the morning program will be replayed in middays for the short-term but plans call for a new midday show to be added to the lineup in the near future.
When asked by AL.com if there was an opportunity for any of the Opening Drive hosts to remain on the station Walls said there wasn’t. He said he informed the group this morning and they took the news well. He referred to all three hosts as class acts who wanted to be with the station.
“It (The Roundtable) is a very popular show, and people are excited to get it in the mornings,” added Walls. “It’s something I have looked at for two and a half years. As things progressed and ‘The Roundtable’ got more and more popular, it seemed like a wise move to make.”
Kurre took the news in stride issuing a tweet which said: “Even The Beatles break up sometime.”
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.
This has got to be one of the stupidest moves I have ever seen. The round table completely sucks!!!