“Sports Talk,” a staple of Springfield-area afternoon sports radio, will end abruptly after 35 years on the air.
Tom Ladd and Logan Weber, who have hosted the show since March 2023, announced during Friday’s show that it would be their last.
“We want to let people know that this is going to be the last sports talk show,” Ladd said during the second hour of the show, which ran Monday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m.
The couple did not reveal the reason for the end of the series. Friday’s show was to be Weber’s last on the air, as he recently accepted a radio job at 96.5 The Fan in Kansas City.
Sports Talk’s legacy was built by Art Hains
For 27 years, the show was led by Art Hains, the beloved play-by-play voice of Missouri State. He took over in 1995 and served until fall 2022, when he was diagnosed with West Nile virus, which threatened his life. Months later, he returned to the booth to call Bears games, but did not return to Sports Talk.
In its heyday, Sports Talk featured Hains interacting with callers and interviewing athletes and coaches from all over the Ozarks. Nobody could forget Hains’ interactions with “Alan of Mountain Home”, who called frequently and sometimes derailed the show. Also a studio host for the Kansas City Chiefs, Hains also discussed national and regional topics.
Hains expected to make final call for Missouri State athletics when the football team hosts SMU at Plaster Stadium in its first-ever home game as an FBS program. The match is scheduled for September 13.
What will replace Sports Talk on the radio?
The show, which airs primarily on Jock 96.9, will be replaced by national ESPN programming, with “Freddie and Harry” taking its place from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. The show is hosted by Freddie Coleman and Harry Douglas.
“The Sports Reporters”, hosted by Ned Reynolds, Jay Spoonhour and Ladd from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., will be the only daily local programming for the station, which was acquired by Zimmer Communications in its 2020 buyout of Meyer Communication.
Since Zimmer purchased Meyer, local sports programming on its airwaves has declined. Its Springfield station group no longer broadcasts Springfield Cardinals baseball games or Drury men’s and women’s basketball.
Before signing, Weber said he hoped the series would one day return in some capacity.
“This is the last edition of Sports Talk; I don’t want to go so far as to say never, do I?” » Weber said. “Stranger things have happened and this may be bringing Sports Talk back to the airwaves. But for the foreseeable future, this will be the last edition of our show here.”
Disclaimer: News-Leader sports reporter Wyatt Wheeler, the author of this article, was a co-host of “Sports Talk” for nearly three years, from 2020 to 2023.