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BEST OF DRIVE-TIME RADIO

By D Magazine |

As director of sports sales for KRLD, 47-year-old Jimmy Davis has played a major role in the station’s continuing high profile as “the Dallas Cowboys station,” earning the nickname “America’s Radio Rep.” Davis has been an innovator in Dallas radio marketing for much of his life and is widely recognized for his sales ability and knowledge of radio audiences. He knows what he likes, especially when it comes to morning drive-time radio (7 to 8:30 a.m.). We asked Davis to take us up and down the dial as he drives to work.

When I started working in Dallas in 1970 there were basically six AM radio stations in Dallas and five in Fort Worth; the FMs were mostly afterthoughts of their AM big sisters. Today there are 31 frequencies listed in the radio rating service for the D/FW area.

My radio wakes me up at 7 a.m. on most “school days” in order to get me to the store by 8:30. To get my blend of news, information, music and entertainment, here’s what I usually listen to:

The 7 a.m. “CBS World News Round-up” on KRLD, 1080 AM, assures me that we’re still a free republic and that there remains an IRS in my world. I get to KPLX, 99.5 FM, by 7:15 in order to hear Terry Dorsey talk about the Hiney Winery in “beautiful downtown Euless.” Dorsey’s tongue-in-cheek delivery of the mythical product’s commercial is consistently masterful, making many listeners think he’s serious.

I have to get down the FM dial to KEGL, 97.1, by 7:20 to hear “Uncle Waldo” and his friends, members of the “Not Ready for Drive-Time Players” troupe, though there’s no way I can listen to the music that Mark Stevens and Jim Pruett play on “the Eagle.”

I then switch back over to the AM side to let KRLD inform me about the news, weather and traffic, including the business news at 7:40 and sports at 7:45. In between, I flip over to KVIL, 103.7 FM, to check out Ron Chapman’s subject or guest for the morning, and then spend a few minutes getting my country fix with Bill Mack on KXOL, 1360 AM, particularly when he has a guest. Alex Burton is on KRLD at 7:55, so I try to hear what’s on his mind. Burton doesn’t care if we agree with him; he just wants us to think.

At 8 a.m. on WBAP, 820 AM, “Local News and Information” gives a good overview of how the day is shaping up. I used to catch their Hal Jay and Dick Siegel for a chuckle during traffic reports, but for my nickel, Siegel has gotten too full of himself. He’s not entertaining.

Dallas has a lot of high-priced talent during morning drive-time, but in my opinion, perhaps the best wit on the way to work belongs to KVIL sportsguy Mark Oristano. Regardless of the subject (he is irreverent toward “ivory-tower types” and respectful of competitors), his comments are spiced by a sharp sense of humor.

The best voice in the morning for my ear (since Don Harris quit pulling a full-time shift at KLIF and WBAP) is Jimmy Stewart on KSCS, 96.3 FM, but his format just doesn’t seem to get my motor turning in the morning.

Careening down the freeway between 8 and 8:30, I face my biggest challenge to maximize the final minutes of drive-time. After WBAP’s local news, I move back up the dial to KRLD at 8:17 to hear my beloved “Cowboy Report,” with Brad Sham. (He’s one of the Johnny Carsons of Dallas radio-he really shines when he interviews.) At 8:20,I jump back to KEGL-FM to hear “the Story Guy” embarrass some local reporter, or harass a well-known political or sports figure. I can then button-push until 8:27, when Charles Osgood takes a light look at the news on KRLD as I round the corner to the store’s parking lot.

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