Foul Frequency

PR flops. Staff upheaval. Shrill talk-show hosts. The Cardinals' flagship station can't seem to find the strike zone.

A A A Comments By Chad Garrison Wednesday, Apr 12 2006

"I idolized Bob Hyland," Dorsey says. "He understood radio and St. Louis like no one, and he started to make that station great by building on its sport talent. First we got the Blues. Then we got the Rams. Now we have the Cardinals. If you'd given me a blank canvas ten years ago and I painted KTRS alongside the logos for all three teams, you'd have thought I was on an LSD trip!"

Dorsey also dismisses the notion that he mortgaged his dreams for the station in order to get the Cardinals.

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"So we changed our lineup. Yeah, it's a shame. But then Stan Musial is no longer in the Cardinals lineup, either. We changed with the times."

Others say it's too bad another voice of the Cardinals is no longer with the team.

"I can't help but think of when Jack Buck was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame," Karraker says. "He gave a speech blasting this new in-your-face, vulgar radio, saying: 'We don't need to do this. We shouldn't do this. We're guests in people's homes, and we should behave accordingly.' And I think if Jack Buck were around today, he would not approve at all. And he'd tell the Cardinals that."

Says another media insider: "The question becomes: Now that they have the Cardinals, will people finally stop listening to KMOX — and can we spoon-feed them shit?"