Dan Caesar
Reporter
St. Louis’ only sports-talk radio station with daylong local programming, WXOS (101.1 FM), has dropped its weekday morning show effective immediately and it will be replaced by one familiar to many of the market’s longtime jock-talk listeners.
It was announced Friday that Randy Karraker, who had been the only remaining host from the station’s debut in 2009 and a mainstay in the market for decades, is out. Also gone are former KMOV (Channel 4) sportscaster Brooke Grimsley, who had been with the show for about a year and a half, former Cardinals broadcaster Dan McLaughlin, who joined it in January, as well as program producer and on-air participant Matthew Rocchio.
Grimsley said they were informed of the decision shortly after the show ended Friday.
“It was definitely a shock,” she said.
“But it’s the nature of the business.”
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In a social media post, she added:
“I’ve had so much fun working with Randy, Dan, Matthew and everyone over at 101 ESPN & (station owner) Hubbard Radio. Thank you to all of our listeners for welcoming me in, I’ve enjoyed every moment. I’m not sure what my next step will be focusing on my family.”
She missed some recent shows to be with her mother, who is in Tennessee and has been having some significant health issues but now “is on the road to recovery.
“When you think about the grand scheme of life,” that puts losing a job into perspective, she said.
Moving into the 7-11 a.m. slot beginning Monday will be some well-known people in the local market, on a retooled “The Morning After” show that Tim McKernan has led for more than two decades across multiple stations.
He’ll be on the cast along with longtime partner Doug Vaughn and producer Jackson Burkett. Joining them will be KTVI (Channel 2) sports director Martin Kilcoyne, a “TMA” co-host from its debut in 2004 until leaving a little more than two years later. Kilcoyne will relinquish his show at KTRS (550 AM) that has featured in-depth interviews with newsmakers, primarily in sports, from 6-7 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays.
McKernan already had been working for Hubbard Radio, doing “TMA” on its 105.7 HD-2 outlet (a hybrid digital channel on which it now will be simulcast with 101.1 FM), as well as continuing to be shown on YouTube. He also had been in the 10-11 a.m. slot at 101.1 with his “Balloon Party” show that now folds into the four-hour “TMA” fare.
WXOS brand content director Tommy Mattern could not be reached but the situation was addressed on the air Friday afternoon by Brandon Kiley and Alex Ferrario, who co-host the station’s midday show.
“I know that there’s going to be a lot of people that are mad about this, flat out, to put it bluntly,” Kiley said. “Randy has been a voice in this city for longer than I have been alive, he’s an absolute legend.”
He added that he enjoyed working with the others, too.
“These are never easy days to handle,” Ferrario said. “This is the business that we’re in, you just wish the best for them and of course you wish the best for the new morning show that’s taking over.”
“The Morning After” traditionally has had a much more edgy tone than any 101.1 show past or present. While it can offer hard-hitting sports commentary and in-depth interviews, it also can veer to titillating subjects with an almost “anything goes” delivery — a stark contrast to the highly formatted, tight and stick-to-sports historical approach by 101.1.
“I just ask that all of you guys give the new show a chance,” Kiley said on the air.
“If you decide it’s not for you? Cool. Totally understand. But there have been a lot of changes on the station over the years, and I’m sure there will continue to be into the future. That’s the nature of this business. People come and go.
“Radio is a subjective business. Everybody goes about it very differently.”
The rest of the 101.1 weekday schedule remain in place — “BK & Ferrario,” with Kiley and Ferrario, from 11 a.m.-2 p.m., and “The Fast Lane,” with Anthony Stalter, Jamie Rivers and Carey Davis, from 2-6 p.m.
View life in St. Louis through the Post-Dispatch photographers' lenses. Edited by Jenna Jones.
