SportsRadio 610 in Houston celebrated ‘610 Day’ yesterday, June 10th, as part of their 30 Year anniversary celebration. The station welcomed back ex-area athletes as well as several former hosts from the station’s three-decade history. The station even received a proclamation from Houston Mayor John Whitmire proclaiming “June 10, 2024 as SportsRadio 610 Day, 30th Anniversary.”
Station Brand Manager Parker Hillis, who has been with the station for two years, told BSM it was a great chance for him to see the response from the listeners and a chance to hear about how the station has grown since launching in 1994.
“We had a blast,” Hillis said. “Some great guests, some blasts from the past, a couple of names that I think people were shocked that we brought back on to the station, but all in all we had a really, really successful day.”
Rich Lord was a guest during the Payne & Pendergast morning show. He had worked with Sean Pendergast and another of their colleagues, Ted Johnson, also called in to reminisce about their time together.
“Rich is a radio legend down here and for him to have been a part of the station for so long, just another name that it would have been wrong for us not to have him on,” Hillis said. “I’m really glad we were able to get him on and relive some memories and talk about some moments that he really cherished and valued in his time here.”
Perhaps the biggest surprise was Josh Innes joining John Lopez during In the Loop. Innes had left the station in 2013 for WIP in Philadelphia, but returned to the market at a rival station and stirred the pot with his former employer and teammates, to put it mildly. Despite what had happened in the past, Hillis thought it was important to have Innes on.
“It’s impossible to tell the story of our station without talking about Josh’s time here and his exit and all of that,” Hillis said. “So, I thought it was a really unique opportunity to bring Josh back on. For me as a programmer, I wanted to see what the response would be from our audience…It was a cool moment for us, for me as a programmer, to see that reaction, for us to build a little more buzz on a special day for us. But also, to hear from him and welcome him back in.”
Innes now hosts afternoons on legendary St. Louis rock station, KSHE 95. “It was a surprise,” Innes told BSM about being asked to be on. “I had not been on 610 since my last day on the station back in December 2013.”
Reflecting back, Innes said, “I wish I knew I was in the good old days when the good old days were happening. For me, the 4 years at 610 were the good old days. Despite working at every station in Houston, 610 was the place I loved. I loved the people. Marc, John, Meltser, Gavin, Barry, ND, Greg, Laura, Rich, Robert, Ben, Cassio, Jim, Shaun, Seth, Brad, Nick, Jones, Straw, Gallant, Sarah, Purdy, Teddy, Freddy…we were a family. That’s what Gavin [Spittle] wanted. He wanted us to be a sort of dysfunctional family. The person who deserves the bulk of the credit is Gavin. I love him. He had a vision for what the station should be.
“So, when [John] Lopez told me they gave him the green light to have me on, I was thrilled. I have such a deep love for Houston, and I loved that radio station the 4 years I was there.”
Hillis said he can see this becoming a new tradition. Ideally, he would like to turn it into an annual on-air and off-air celebration with listeners of the station getting involved.
“Whether it is a days’ worth of programming or some sort of station event where we are celebrating the station and inviting the listeners out,” he said. “This year was a really cool way for us to start this process.”
Hillis added, “610 as a brand has been so blessed to have so many really talented people come through the doors and turn on a microphone over the 30 years that we’ve been a station. I’m proud we were able to execute ‘610 Day’ to celebrate that.”
