ESPN Show Suddenly Canceled, Hosts Shocked: Fans Furious Over ‘The Opening Drive’ Cancellation

Sports fans received some disturbing news on October 25, when 101 canceled ESPN The opening drive. The fan-favorite talk show was an original program from St. Louis ESPN Radio affiliate WXOS featuring Randy Karraker, Dan McLaughlin, Brooke Grimsley and Matthew Rocchio. According to Karraker, the show was a victim of cost-cutting at 101 ESPN.

Grimsley shared the news via X, with Karraker later discussing the abolition in an interview with NBC affiliate KSDK News.

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“Today was my last day at 101 ESPN,” Grimsley said wrote. “Our show The Opening Drive will no longer be shown. I had so much fun working with Randy, Dan, Matthew and everyone at 101 ESPN (and) Hubbard Radio. Thank you to all our listeners for having me, I loved every moment of it. I’m not sure what my next step will be, but for now I will focus on my family.”

Karraker said, “I’m grateful for the 16 years I had there. I’ve been in the right place at the right time many times… I haven’t had a bad day in the halls of 101. And I understand the complexity, financial constraints and difficulties of the company right now. And that is what everyone in the sector has to deal with. So I have no bad feelings at all.

“There have been times when I left stations with bad feelings, but I consider everyone there as friends. I’m just grateful. I had the opportunity to get FM sports talk off the ground here in St. Louis. I had the opportunity to help build that station from the ground up.”

The veteran radio personality went on to say that “the economics of radio aren’t great right now” and that he was an “unfortunate victim” of cost-cutting.

While the cancellation was tough enough, it appears the station has been replaced The opening drive with the previously established program The morning afterwith personalities Tim McKernan, Doug Vaughn, Jackson Burkett and Martin Kilcoyne. Many fans of The opening drive took to social media to express their anger over 101 ESPN’s cancellation decision and what they saw as an unpalatable replacement for Karraker and company.

One Instagram comment read“Listened for 5 minutes and then changed the channel. Bring back the old show!” A second Instagram user wrote: “What a crazy joke! Shame on you 101! You guys really suck.”

On X, a peak after in response to the news read: “When 101 came on air they specifically stated that it was the anti-The morning after radio program and station. They talked about sports, all local, and didn’t engage in student humor or stupid locker room talk. I switched to it for that exact reason and have been a very loyal listener since it first premiered. This was the first morning since then that I haven’t tuned into 101. Congratulations.”

Another excited listener wrote“Went from an actual sports radio show to three grown men talking about video games and Tinder, with random shouting. Absolutely terrible.”

However, The morning after was not without its defenders. One fan wrote“I get it folks. I liked Randy and Brooke too. I hope you all find something else to listen to, but TMA has been around for about 18 years now and their fans are loyal.”