6 September 5 - 11, 2024 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents OLD GREY WOLF, BRAVE NEW WORLD Texas Radio Hall of Famer Mike Rhyner sets his sights on glory in a new field. BY KELLY DEARMORE W hen Mike Rhyner walked away from radio in Janu- ary 2020, it wasn’t quite the same as when he again walked away from radio in 2024. It was different in just about every way imaginable. For starters, the legendary host, also known as the Old Grey Wolf, left his post vol- untarily four years ago. Although it was a sur- prise move, catching pretty much everyone off guard, Rhyner departed from 1310 The Ticket, the station he built and led into pow- erhouse territory, while he and the rest of the station were on top and had been for decades. There wasn’t anything you could tell Rhyner about the talk radio industry that he probably didn’t already know, at that point at least. He wasn’t sure what was next for him, nor was he in a hurry to figure it out. For quite some time, it didn’t seem as though another job in local radio would be Rhyner’s next big thing. He dabbled in podcasting, bouncing from one podcast network to an- other, but Rhyner found himself in unfamiliar territory. These were scenarios in which he was creating in an unfamiliar environment and was under the control of business and managerial forces he had little sway over. But in October 2022, seemingly out of nowhere, the popular radio man re- turned to the dial in Dallas. Billboards across North Texas for the reformatted, all-talk 97.1 The Freak, formerly rock station 97.1 The Eagle, announced his return with his face, looming large next to the words “I’m Back.” Rhyner would be joined on 97.1 by other expats of The Ticket: Julie Dobbs, Michael Gruber, Mike Sirois and, eventually, Danny Balis, along with Ben Rogers and Jeff “Skin” Wade. Each had been beloved voices on 1310 over the previous many years but had left the station long before Rhyner did for an assort- ment of reasons, including issues with pay and upward mobility. The new radio station and its staff made waves online, if not in the ratings. Some cur- rent 1310 personnel expressed shock and even hurt feelings at Rhyner taking his talents to a different frequency. Listeners of The Ticket took to Twitter, Facebook and Reddit to pick sides and pledge allegiance to one channel or the other. The Ticket had been built on infectious chemistry formed through an addictive blend of sports, crude humor and tribal comradery. The new station aimed to do something similar. In its earliest days, The Freak hosts stressed they would talk about whatever they wanted to talk about, and that sports would be just one of the many topics broached on the air from day to day. If | UNFAIR PARK | Kathy Tran Mike Rhyner (left) and Michael “Grubes” Gruber in the Your Dark Companion home studio. >> p8 Adobe Stock
