Radio News

Dallas radio station 97.1 FM dumps talk format, to return to rock 'n' roll

Mike Rhyner was let go.

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Dallas radio station 97.1 FM has ended its brief excursion into talk radio and will return to rock: According to radio writer Richie Whitt, station owner iHeartMedia is pulling the plug on 97.1 The Freak, a talk show format it debuted in October 2022 that was lagging badly in ratings.

The company called a meeting on April 26 and fired the staff, including radio veterans Mike Rhyner, Jeff Cavanaugh, Danny Balis, and Ben & Skin.

Rhyner confirmed he'd been let go with a droll tweet that said "and another thing - now we’re not gonna see the end of the big office re-do."

He told the Observer that the station will revert back to its rock music programming as 97.1 The Eagle beginning on Monday, April 29.

On Friday afternoon, The Freak was airing replays of past shows. On April 29, the station began airing a noisy, chaotic pastiche of songs by rock bands like Pearl Jam, System of a Down, and Linkin Park, and a post on the website says "Landing Monday at 10 am!"

In 2022, the station made a change from music to talk radio, with a big fanfare that included the comeback of Rhyner, a big name in radio who came out of retirement to host a weekday afternoon show with Mike Sirois.

Other programming included a morning show with Jeff Cavanaugh; the Ben and Skin Show, an afternoon show with Ben Rogers and Jeff “Skin” Wade; a show called Cash In hosted by Jason Page; and a show called Just Sain' It hosted by Cole Thompson.

But the Freak's ratings lagged far behind the competition, 1310 The Ticket and 105.3 The Fan. The talk format also required an outlay on salaries to multiple hosts on more than one show.

In a Facebook post, Ben and Skin said, "We are heartbroken that the station that we worked so hard to help build is changing directions. We loved being a part of The Freak. The best part of the last 18 months was coming to work everyday with some of our closest friends and favorite DFW radio personalities. Nothing will top that. Although it was short-lived, it was far and away the most fun we've ever had in radio. We'll let you know the future of The Ben and Skin Show as soon as we can."

Rhyner said the demise was not a surprise, and attributed it to the fact that iHeart Radio stations are mostly music and not talk.

"We’ve all known we were dead men walking for a long time," he said.

Ratings for the first quarter of 2024 from January-March reveal the station's poor showing:

Mornings:

Ticket 12.8 (1)
Fan 9.2 (2)
Freak 1.9 (17)

Middays:

Fan 7.2 (1)
Ticket 6.9 (3)
Freak 2.0 (18)

Afternoons

Ticket 11.3 (1)
Fan 7.8 (2)
Freak 2.2 (17)

iHeart Media has not announced its plans, including what the change in format will mean to its relationship with the Dallas Mavericks. 97.1 FM has been the official station for Dallas Mavericks games for three years, with two years left on a five-year contract to air Mavericks games.

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put it on santa's amex

Well-to-do Dallas suburb lands on top-10 list of holiday big spenders

Photo by freestocks on Unsplash

Flower Mound residents have the No. 7 biggest holiday budgets in the U.S. for 2024.

It looks like Santa Claus is going to be competing with residents in Flower Mound to see who brings the most lavish holiday gifts this year.

Festive Flo-Mo ranked No. 7 in WalletHub's annual report on U.S. cities with the biggest holiday budgets in 2024.

Residents in this well-to-do Dallas suburb are expected to spend $3,541 on their Christmas gifts this year. But tsk-tsk: That's down $56 from the $3,485 they were ready to drop in the 2023 ranking — bumping them down two spots from their previous ranking at No. 5.

The U.S. Census Bureau says that Flower Mound's estimated population of 79,445 had a median household income of $154,471 in 2023. No wonder they have the extra cash to spare.

Flower Mound consistently makes the list of the top 10 U.S. cities with the biggest holiday spenders, outshining its nearby neighbor Frisco, which took a precarious drop this year from their previous high ranking of No. 3 in 2023.

They've now fallen off the top-10 list altogether. The average holiday budget in Frisco is still an exorbitant amount – $3,412 – but that only garnered the city No. 11 in the overall ranking out of 558 U.S. cities. You gotta spend to stay on top.

The No. 1 city in the U.S. for biggest holiday spenders in 2024 is Newton, Massachusetts, a wealthy suburb right outside of Boston, where the median income measured in 2022 was $176,373. Slots 2 through 5 were all cities in California's Silicon Valley: Sunnyvale, Palo Alto, Mountain View, and Milpitas.

Seven additional North Texas cities landed in this year's top 100 biggest holiday budgets, including:

No. 18 – Allen ($3,070)
No. 32 – Plano ($2,658)
No. 45 – North Richland Hills ($2,484)
No. 52 – McKinney ($2,386)
No. 76 – Richardson ($1,980)
No. 81 – Carrollton ($1,932)
No. 92 – Lewisville ($1,848)

Meanwhile, Dallas landed at No. 213 this year with an average holiday budget of $1,406, and Fort Worth ranked No. 359 with a budget of $1,082.

Each year, WalletHub calculates the maximum holiday budget for over 550 U.S. cities "to help consumers avoid post-holiday regret," the website says. The study factors in income, age of the population, and other financial indicators such as debt-to-income ratio, monthly-income-to monthly-expenses ratio, and savings-to-monthly-expenses ratio.

Whether a Dallasite's holiday budget is under $200 or more than $1,000, it's better to prioritize remaining within that budget instead of racking up the credit card bill, according to WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo.

"There are plenty of ways to enjoy the holidays and show you care without spending much money, like hosting potlucks or giving handmade gifts," said Lupo.

Other Texas cities that made it into the top 100 are:

No. 13 – The Woodlands ($3,395)
No. 15 – Sugar Land ($3,214)
No. 23 – Cedar Park ($2,930)
No. 25 – League City ($2,897)
No. 39 – Round Rock ($2,538)
No. 60 – Pearland ($2,223)
No. 87 – Austin ($1,905)

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