Sports fans got some upsetting news on Oct 25, when 101 ESPN canceled The Opening Drive. The fan-favorite talk show was an original program from St. Louis ESPN Radio affiliate WXOS, and featured Randy Karraker, Dan McLaughlin, Brooke Grimsley and Matthew Rocchio. According to Karraker, the show was a victim of cost cuts at 101 ESPN.
Grimsley, shared the news via X, with Karraker later discussing the axing in an interview with NBC affiliate KSDK News.
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“Today was my last day with 101 ESPN,” Grimsley wrote. “Our show The Opening Drive will no longer be on. I’ve had so much fun working with Randy, Dan, Matthew and everyone over at 101 ESPN [and] Hubbard Radio. Thank you to all of our listeners for welcoming me in, I’ve enjoyed every moment. I’m no sure what my next step will be but for now I will be focusing on my family.”
Karraker said, “I’m thankful for the 16 years I had there. I’ve been in the right place at the right time a lot … I did not have a bad day in the halls of 101. And I understand the complexities, the financial limitations, and difficulties of the business right now. And that’s what everybody in the industry is dealing with. So I don’t have any bad feelings at all.
“There have been times when I’ve left stations with bad feelings, but I consider everybody there friends. I’m just thankful. I had a chance to get FM sports talk off the ground here in St Louis. I had an opportunity to help build that station from the ground up.”
The veteran radio personality went on to the note that “the economy of radio isn’t great” right now, and he was an”unfortunate victim” of cost-cutting.
While the cancellation was rough enough, it seems the station replaced The Opening Drive with the previously established program The Morning After, featuring personalities Tim McKernan, Doug Vaughn, Jackson Burkett and Martin Kilcoyne. Many fans of The Opening Drive took to social media to express their anger at 101 ESPN’s cancellation decision and what they saw as an unpalatable replacement for Karraker and company.
One Instagram comment read, “Listened for 5 minutes then changed the station. Bring back the old show!” A second Instagram user wrote, “What a freaking joke! Shame on you 101! You guys seriously suck.”
Over on X, a top post in response to the news read, “When 101 came on the air, they stated specifically that it was the anti-The Morning After radio show and station. They would talk sports, all local, and wouldn’t participate in frat boy humor or dumbed down locker room talk. I switched to it because of that exact reason and have been a very loyal listener since it first premiered. This was the first morning since then I didn’t tune into 101. Congratulations.”
Another fired up listener wrote, “Went from a real sports radio show to 3 grown men talking about video games and Tinder, with random yelling. Absolutely terrible.”
However, The Morning After wasn’t without its defenders. One fan wrote, “I get it folks. I liked Randy and Brooke as well. Hope you all find something else to listen to but TMA has been around for about 18 years now and their fans are loyal.”
