The Detroit Lions will be changing more just their front office in 2016. According to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, the team will move from 97.1 FM to WJR 760 AM starting in 2016 ending their 12 year relationship with the CBS Detroit affiliate.
The Lions are changing radio stations in 2016, will no longer be on @971theticketxyt https://t.co/ABPSzwYXJf via @freep
— Dave Birkett (@davebirkett) November 20, 2015
What’s perhaps interesting to note are the reasons why the Lions made the jump from an FM station back to AM.
For one, it apparently wasn’t because of finances at least not on the surface. This perhaps leads one to believe A) the team is probably getting something close monetarily from WJR to what they received from 97.1 and B) there’s more to the move than simply just a change of scenery. Could it be the personalities currently employed at ‘The Ticket’?
Birkett later tweeted that the Lions as a whole thought the station was too negative on the team but didn’t elaborate on if that was a reason why the team ultimately decided to make a switch on the dial next season.
There's no question the Lions in whole felt some at the station were too negative. And good for the station for letting its personalities go
— Dave Birkett (@davebirkett) November 20, 2015
Tony Paul of the Detroit News however took things a step further.
First, Paul reiterated the Lions’ distaste for 97.1 personalities throwing criticism at the team over the course of their deal with the station. However Paul made mention that the team seemed to especially loathe the criticism from drive time host Mike Valenti and that a ‘split was inevitable’ between the team and 97.1.
It's been widely known for years that the #Lions hated the 97.1 criticism, especially from Mike Valenti. A split was inevitable.
— Tony Paul (@TonyPaul1984) November 20, 2015
Lions executives though according to Paul wouldn’t ‘single out’ Valenti or any one individual. However Valenti was far and away the most vocal critic of the team, especially when you consider other voices like the putrid Bill McAllister, awful homers like Doug Karsch and Scott Anderson, Terry Foster who’s totally clueless and the vanilla Jamie Samuelsson.
Asked whether split w/97.1 had anything to do with Mike Valenti, #Lions exec insists no — "We're not gonna single out any one individual."
— Tony Paul (@TonyPaul1984) November 20, 2015
Finally, there was this statement from CBS Radio that confirmed at least on the side of the station that the Lions break from 97.1 had everything to do with the Lions wanting to control the message.
“It is sad to say goodbye,” said Debbie Kenyon, senior vice president and market manager for CBS Detroit. “But in the end it came down to the integrity of CBS — the refusal to be censored in talking about the team and making honest assessments on the air about this team.”
The bottom line though is no one should be surprised by these potential revelations regarding the Lions and 97.1. First, the team has proven time and again that they’re soft when it comes to any kind of criticism towards the them. Hell how many times did fans actually hear former GM Martin Mayhew actually get on the podium and answer real questions about the state of the team? Then again though with emergence of independent websites, 97.1 had to up their game something the Lions as well as other pro sports teams from around the country probably aren’t happy with. You can’t muzzle independent websites from speaking their mind, and 97.1 seemed to take note by letting a guy like Valenti go off. Which is also why you’re seeing more teams hire their own in house reporters to be spin doctors instead of journalists.
Not to mention at this point Valenti is probably more important than a pathetic Lions team who broadcasts one a week for about five and a half months out of the year.
If you’re wondering too if 105.1 made a pitch to the Lions for the broadcasting rights they did, but it would seem that station is being held together by bubble gum at this point. Last quarter the other FM sports station in Detroit pulled in 1.1 rating while WJR pulled in a 5.0 good for 6th best in the market.
As far as play-by-play man Dan Miller and color commentator Jim Brandstatter they’re likely safe and probably will return in 2016. As for sideline reporter Tony Ortiz, he’s more than likely gone.
UPDATE: Mike Valenti is officially the king of radio in Detroit. He himself beat the Detroit Lions according to Tony Paul’s latest tweet.
If #Lions demanded Valenti's firing as part of contract talks with 97.1, that phone call lasted about half a second. Ratings champ stays.
— Tony Paul (@TonyPaul1984) November 20, 2015