The much-hyped Rick Majerus ESPN radio show has had its wings clipped before it could even get off the ground.
Scheduled to begin on Jan. 11 in the 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. time slot on 101.1 FM ESPN St. Louis Radio (WXOS), there was one major glitch in the system—the Saint Louis University men’s basketball head coach failed to show up to his own radio show.
Majerus reportedly had to bail on the inaugural show due to an administrative meeting with SLU, which completely caught the staff of the radio program off guard. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Majerus was contractually obligated to do the weekly program. When speaking to the Post-Dispatch’s Dan Caesar, 101.1 ESPN program director Jason Barrett stated that “everything is supposed to be on track for the rest of the year,” after Majerus missed the first broadcast.
Apparently, Majerus had different ideas. He showed up for the second week of the show, but only stayed for half of the hour-long program, requesting for the show to change its title.
“Take my name off [it]…call it the Billiken show,” Majerus said during the broadcast. “With our schedule, I’m not able to allocate time on these evenings.” Majerus cited several charity operations that he is involved with, as well as normal coaching duties, such as recruiting, as reasons for his inability to commit.
When Majerus was on the air, though, he was his usual self, providing insight about basketball, and making his presence felt. He spoke for nearly half an hour straight with no commercials during the broadcast, at his request.
Even more bizarre than his first week no-show was what happened this past week. He was on the air Monday, Jan. 24, all right, at the 7 p.m. slot, even. There was one problem, though—it was in Chicago, not St. Louis. Majerus spent 45 minutes on the air with WGN Chicago AM 720, debating everything from basketball to politics. During his time on the air, he praised his SLU basketball team and the facilities at Chaifetz Arena.
Unfortunately, Coach Majerus’ sporadic appearance on the air here in St. Louis may lead to the early demise of his radio program. As reported in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, WXOS 101.1 program director Jason Barret sees an end in sight: “We’re operating as if the show will not be back this year. We’ll revisit next year.”