Building a sports talk-radio dynasty may not have been enough for the iconic Mike Rhyner, a Dallas radio legend. He may have co-founded Sportsradio 1310 The Ticket in 1994, but now he could compete against it.
Si.com’s Richie Whitt reported Sunday morning that Rhyner was unretiring to host 97.1 The Freak, a replacement for The Eagle. The Freak could debut as early as next week Friday, with Rhyner, Ben Rogers and Jeff “Skin” Wade from The Eagle, former 105.3 The Fan host Jeff Cavanaugh and former Ticket staples Mike Sirois and Julie Dobbs.
DFW will have three different sports talk-radio options to choose from now with The Ticket, The Fan and now The Freak.
Rhyner announced his original retirement from radio in January 2020. He left a 40-year radio resume, but retirement felt like the right move at the time.
“It just reached a point to where it really felt like the right thing to do,” Rhyner told The Dallas Morning News in 2020. “I started to think about it early in the fall and kept waiting for something to jar me out of that idea. And it never came. Before long I reached — it almost sounds crazy — an almost Zen-like state with it. I guess I hit such a point of acceptance nothing could shake me. And nothing has.”
Now Rhyner just keeps hinting at his return. He was “jonesin to go on the air,” Friday, and left another subtle hint Saturday, asking where his freaks were at.
Just got word-Petty Theft will be operating at 100% efficiency at Lee Harvey’s tonight…it’s on, bitches…where all my freaks at?
— Mike Rhyner (@theoldgreywolf) September 24, 2022
Rhyner was set on keeping his retirement a secret. It wasn’t health related, nor related to his co-workers or management. It was just time.
Now it might be time to come back, but he hasn’t completely confirmed that either. Not yet, at least.