Portland’s Rip City Radio 620 is shaking up their weekday schedule, canceling its morning show of more than four years. Dan Sheldon and Nigel Burton surprised listeners on Monday, announcing last Friday was their final time hosting Rip City Mornings.
The duo teamed up for the morning show in the summer of 2016, hosting weekdays from 6 – 9am PT on Rip City Radio, also having a TV simulcast with NBC Sports Northwest. Sheldon has been a contributor to NBC Sports Northwest for nearly a decade, while Burton is known locally for his time as head coach of the Portland State University football team and a football analyst on the Pac-12 Network.
“We don’t know all the reasons why this decision was made,” Burton tweeted Monday. “At no point in our time together did anyone at iHeart express a problem with us tackling difficult subjects outside of sports. It was quite the opposite. We were encouraged to talk how about how the sports & current events intersected, & all the things that make us human. We appreciated that iHeart gave us that freedom.”
Fans and listeners were overwhelmingly disappointed by the announcement on social media. For now, they can still hear Sheldon hosting NBC Sports Northwest’s podcast Talkin’ Blazers w/ Channing Frye.
No permanent replacement for Sheldon and Burton was announced yet by the station. Rip City afternoon co-host Travis Demers filled in on Monday morning’s show, stating that he will be doing so for a while.
Brandon Contes is a former reporter for BSM, now working for Awful Announcing. You can find him on Twitter @BrandonContes or reach him by email at Brandon.Contes@gmail.com.
