If Jon Jansen wasn’t hosting a radio show every weekday morning, he would still be waking up at the crack of dawn…or perhaps earlier.
“I love it,” said Jansen, co-host of Stoney and Jansen weekday mornings on 97.1 The Ticket in Detroit. “It’s part of who I am. I’m usually up at 330 4 o’clock in the morning. I know it’s weird but it’s just how I was built.”
Jansen, a native of Clawson, Michigan and a former University of Michigan offensive tackle who played nine seasons in the NFL including one with his hometown Detroit Lions, enjoys coming to work every morning with co-hosts Michael Stone and Heather Park to talk about all of the sports teams he rooted for growing up. In the mornings, there’s more than just sports to talk about and Jansen is always fired up for the topics of the day.
“When I get in there, it’s not fake energy,” said Jansen. “I love the mornings. I love the opportunities to have conversations with people when they are either starting their day or they’re on the way to work. I love to laugh. I love to have a good touch of the non-sports topics.”
A big sports topic in town has certainly been the rise of the Detroit Lions, who have not won an NFL championship and have not been in the playoffs since 2016. Last year, the Lions got off to a rough start but eventually would knock on the playoff door but they came up just short with a 9-8 record.
It’s been more fun for Jansen to do his job with the Lions showing promise under Head Coach Dan Campbell.
“We’re hoping that they’re out of the malaise,” said Jansen, a member of the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame. “We’ve gone down this road before but last year starting 1-6 and finishing the way that they did has made radio and covering the Lions and talking about the Lions that much more fun.”
Jansen appreciates the fact that the listeners have also enjoyed the rise of the Lions and you can sense that there is a newfound excitement and energy about the team. There were certainly fans who were writing off the team and some of those fans are starting to come back, but there’s no doubt that their improvement has helped The Ticket’s bottom line and that’s ratings.
“We’ve had enough opportunity to bolster ratings when things don’t go well,” said Jansen. “So now it’s an opportunity for us to be able to capitalize on that for Stoney and I but also just as a station to have a team that you can energize everybody. It creates great debate for those who think it will never happen and for those who have drank the Kool Aid and they think that we’re in the middle of at least the start of something really special.”
Jansen has been in his morning show chair since October 5th, 2020 after he was named to replace Jamie Samuelsen, the beloved host who passed away at the age of 48 on August 1st of that year, five days after making the announcement on air that he had been battling cancer for 19 months.
It was an opportunity that came with great responsibility and he’s reminded of it on a daily basis.
“There’s no way to fill the shoes of Jamie Samuelsen and it’s an honor to sit in that seat and to go into that studio that holds his name every single day,” said Jansen.
“When I came in, and Stoney really helped me with his guidance, his leadership, his mentorship in different topics that we cover and his acceptance of me was very key into the acceptance that our listeners had of accepting me as well.”
The Lions are the number one topic of conversation in Detroit sports these days, but there are other teams to sprinkle into the conversation so Jansen is more than willing to talk about the Pistons, Tigers and Red Wings. They are not as far along in rebuilds as the Lions, but there is hope on the horizon.
“I grew up watching Steve Yzerman, the GM of the Red Wings, play and they’re still a year or two away but you can see progress being made,” said Jansen. “Same thing with the Pistons and what they’re trying to do there and you can see it with the young talent. It’s easy to talk about these teams but it also leads to frustration because the Lions are the furthest along in the rebuild, the Tigers are showing a heartbeat and it’s giving us something to talk about.”
Almost three years into being co-host of the morning show, Jon Jansen has established himself as a trusted voice for the Detroit Sports fan. When a fan of the Lions, Tigers, Pistons and Red Wings tunes in, they will hear someone who is just like them. He’s Michigan born and bleeds the colors of the teams who play there.
“I’d like to think that when people tune in, they’re able to hear somebody who loves what they do, loves Detroit and loves our sports teams but is as normal as they are, can laugh at themselves and just start the day off on the right foot,” said Jansen.
Peter Schwartz writes weekly sports radio features for Barrett Media. He has been involved in New York sports media for over three decades, and has worked for notable brands such as WFAN, CBS Sports Radio, WCBS 880, ESPN New York, and FOX News Radio. Peter has also served as play by play announcer for the New Yok Riptide, New York Dragons, New York Hitmen, Varsity Media and the Long Island Sports Network. You can find him on Twitter @SchwartzSports or email him at DragonsRadio@aol.com.
