Name Mike Rhyner | Role Radio personality | |
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Mike rhyner calls in sick
Michael "Mike" Rhyner a.k.a. the old grey wolf, a.k.a. Crockett (born August 16, 1950) is a radio sports talk personality on KTCK ("The Ticket") radio in the Dallas area, sometimes referred to as the station's patriarch. He co-hosts "The Hardline" with Corby Davidson, an afternoon show on the station. He is a frequent guest on broadcast television.
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He was on ESPN's list of "Sports Radio Personalities of the Year" in 1997, 1998 and 2003.
Mike rhyner trhof 2014
Early life
Rhyner was raised in the Oak Cliff district of Dallas where he graduated from Kimball High School in 1968. As a boy he was a fan of the Dallas Texans at the insistence of his father, but later would switch his allegiance to the Dallas Cowboys. As a teenager he played the drums in several local bands from which he said he earned a surprisingly good amount of money. He briefly attended El Centro College part of the Dallas County Community College District but did not graduate.
In his early twenties Rhyner continued to make a living playing music, but by his late twenties was not getting to where he felt he wanted to be so he returned to school to study radio broadcasting at the University of Texas at Arlington.
Radio career
He started at KZEW in 1979 as a news intern and was shortly promoted to the assistant of the program director, Tom Owens. In 1982 at KZEW he received a letter from the jailed John Hinckley, Jr., attempted presidential assassin, who turned out to be a fan. The letter's creepiness proved to be a local sensation. In 1986 he left KZEW for WBAP to work in their sports department.
In 1994, he helped create The Ticket. He was responsible for selecting most of the original lineup including George Dunham, Craig Miller and Greg Williams.
From 1995 to 2008, Rhyner co-hosted with Greg Williams and they were "the most dynamic duo in Dallas talk radio". In 2008 Rhyner had a public falling out with Williams who left the show. The Dallas Observer in its year end "best of" round up gave "Greg Williams versus Mike Rhyner" the award for best Dallas drama.
In 2009 CBS Radio attempted to poach Rhyner from KTCK and Rhyner came close to accepting the new position, but instead accepted an increased compensation package from Cumulus Media to stay with The Ticket.
On July 3, 2014, Rhyner was inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame.
Rhyner styles his public personality as "The Old Grey Wolf". That of a cantankerous old fart and baseball fan in a football crazy world. Rocco Pendola, a former coworker claims that he is difficult to work with.
Personal life
He is divorced. He has a daughter named Jordan.
He is a band member of Petty Theft, a Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers tribute band. Recently, he started a Byrds tribute band called the Nyrds.