yh Posted November 11, 2005 Share Posted November 11, 2005 The St. Louis Cardinals announced today that Wayne Hagen, the radio voice for the team since 1993, has been released. The team has signed John Rooney, the voice of the White Sox for the last 18 seasons, as his replacement. Mike Shannon will stay on as color commentator. The move coincides with the Cardinals switching their flagship radio station from KMOX 1120 AM to KTRS 550 AM.Hagen never really endeared himself to the St. Louis market and got off on the wrong foot on opening day 2003 when he failed to honor the opening day tradition of wearing red to the ballpark. He instead showed up wearing blue, a color forever associated with the arch rival Chicago Cubs. Hagen was also involved a bit of a controversy this summer when he was attributed with some off-the-cuff remarks regarding certain players using steroids while he was broadcasting for the Colorado Rockies.Personally, I'm glad to see the change. I was never a Hagen fan. I just don't feel he had the right personality mix for Shannon - a St. Louis institution regardless of how drunk he might get during games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
no97 Posted November 11, 2005 Share Posted November 11, 2005 From what I understand, Rooney was told mid season that he wasn't in the plans for 2006 for the Pale Hose, as they too are switching flagships next summer. Not sure what the new station will be, but I knew the White Sox job was opening up...On Hagen, I never was a fan of his style, but I can't imagine he'll struggle to find work.Moose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FightinIrish11 Posted November 11, 2005 Share Posted November 11, 2005 so what are actually in hagen's plans for 2006? i thought he did alright with the cardinals, i hope he doesnt stand in the unemployment line too long. the white sox are switching from ESPN radio 1000 in chicago to WSCR-AM 670 The Score, also home of the blackhawks, as if anyone cared about THAT. and as a cubs fan living in st. louis, i can always enjoy a cards game on the radio listening to mike shannon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FiddySicks Posted November 11, 2005 Share Posted November 11, 2005 The A's will also be switching announcers for next year as well, but thats because of the passing of the late great Bill King. On 11/19/2012 at 7:23 PM, oldschoolvikings said: She’s still half convinced “Chris Creamer” is a porn site.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJTank Posted November 12, 2005 Share Posted November 12, 2005 Mets going through changes too, Gary Cohen a great radio announcer is moving from the radio to the TV with the start of SNY, and it look like the horrible Fran Healy is gone www.sportsecyclopedia.com For the best in sports history go to the Sports E-Cyclopedia at http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOldRoman Posted November 16, 2005 Share Posted November 16, 2005 From what I understand, Rooney was told mid season that he wasn't in the plans for 2006 for the Pale Hose, as they too are switching flagships next summer. Not sure what the new station will be, but I knew the White Sox job was opening up...On Hagen, I never was a fan of his style, but I can't imagine he'll struggle to find work.Moose Actually, the Sox wanted to bring Rooney back. They made sure WCSR gave him a raise over his previous contract, even though the radio contract was for less money than the previous one. Rooney supposedly wanted more money, and the WSCR refused to pay it. I am sad to see Rooney go because he is one of the best in the game.However, the more you look at the facts, the more apparent it becomes that Rooney had a secret deal worked out with the Cards. He has always wanted to go to St. Louis, and this is his chance. He left the Sox job with knowledge that the Cards would let go of Hagin. He didnt want it to come out because Hagin was a former partner of his, and it would look bad if he got him fired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tp49 Posted November 16, 2005 Share Posted November 16, 2005 The bigger travesty is that the Cardinals are swirtching flagships from the AM station with arguably the best nighttime signal in the country to a station at the low end of the dial. I wonder what brought on that move. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JQK Posted November 16, 2005 Share Posted November 16, 2005 The bigger travesty is that the Cardinals are swirtching flagships from the AM station with arguably the best nighttime signal in the country to a station at the low end of the dial. I wonder what brought on that move. You telling me.. living here on the delaware river, at night i could get KMOX and WMVP Chicago. But i can't get WFAN in New York.. go figure... Stay Tuned Sports Podcast Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gashouser27 Posted November 16, 2005 Share Posted November 16, 2005 The bigger travesty is that the Cardinals are swirtching flagships from the AM station with arguably the best nighttime signal in the country to a station at the low end of the dial. I wonder what brought on that move. $$$ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yh Posted November 16, 2005 Author Share Posted November 16, 2005 The bigger travesty is that the Cardinals are swirtching flagships from the AM station with arguably the best nighttime signal in the country to a station at the low end of the dial. I wonder what brought on that move. $$$ Yeeeeup. I'm certainly no conspiracy theorist, but it wouldn't surprise me if more clubs moved down the spectrum to limit their geographic ranges at night and encourage more fans to subscribe to the mlb.com audio package or buy xm receivers of which I presume MLB franchises share some profits from the contract. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gashouser27 Posted November 16, 2005 Share Posted November 16, 2005 The station also offered a ton of money. It was a shortsighted move. The new owners are too greedy. The Cardinals have a huge fan base in states all over the midwest and south because of KMOX and people listening on the radio. People go to St.Louis and games on a vacation because they grew up listening to Cardinal games Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STL FANATIC Posted November 16, 2005 Share Posted November 16, 2005 The station switch is a travesty all itself, but there is good and bad sides. This was not just a greedy move by the Cards, it was also a sign of how crappy KMOX has become. The Cards aren't leaving the same lovable KMOX that they've been with for decades, they're leaving a more corporate, less friendly, less sports savy KMOX. If KMOX is to return to glory, it needs to be bought out by someone local, get the Blues back (who may want to go back since they're flagship station is know majorily owned by the Cards--obvioulsy the Cards new station-and they're sure to lose a lot of airtime, though not necessarily games), and down the road (years and years), see if the Cards would ever comeback. All that is unlikely though (well, the Blues move is a possiblity).Because of my realizing how crappy KMOX has become, I no longer am upset about leaving that tradition. However, losing the signal does hurt. Not me (I hope not...there actually are areas in the St. Louis vicinity that the current signal cuts out on...but they are working on that), but it hurts a lot of fans. They said they're picking up tons of affiliates, but surely they won't have any as far as someone like JQK who said he can get KMOX. Not that JQK or too many others up there are Cards fans, but some are, and some just like to hear the games I'm sure.I don't know that the Cards cared about the move so people would pay for the audio (I don't know if much of that goes to the teams), but I do know Selig supported this station move, and likely for that very reason.Anyways, as for the announcers, I always liked Hagin. He certainly didn't mesh well with Shannon (who a lot of people don't like, but more people love I think--I love him), but he was a good announcer. I didn't really hold any of the little things (like the Helton thing) against him. All that said, Rooney sounds like he'll be awesome and will probably mesh well with Shannon. That's great.Here's the big problem...the Cards treated Hagin like crap. Not 2 months ago they told him he'd be back for 2006. He planned accordingly. Early the day he would be fired he called the team to figure out some Health Care forms. The VP told him to come up and fill out the forms. Hagin did, dropped them off, and as he was leaving the VP told him the president wanted to see him for a second. That's when Hagin got the axe. A backhanded move from the Cards there. I hate to see that too, because they've gotten a lot of crap for the new stadium stuff, and I've defended them for it, not to mention bragged how great they were for getting the franchise back on its winning ways when they took over in '95 or '96. But now they did this, and I can't defend that.Oh well, I hope it's a rare thing by them. JUSTIN STRIEBEL | PORTFOLIO | RESUME | CONTACT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sacker12 Posted November 16, 2005 Share Posted November 16, 2005 I can't believe the Cards are ditching KMOX. I could understand why the Braves dumped WSB AM in Atlanta for their flagship since they switched to an FM station with a digital stereo signal. FM stations can have a stereo signal while AM stations can have only mono signals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOldRoman Posted November 17, 2005 Share Posted November 17, 2005 Here's the big problem...the Cards treated Hagin like crap. Not 2 months ago they told him he'd be back for 2006. He planned accordingly. Early the day he would be fired he called the team to figure out some Health Care forms. The VP told him to come up and fill out the forms. Hagin did, dropped them off, and as he was leaving the VP told him the president wanted to see him for a second. That's when Hagin got the axe. A backhanded move from the Cards there. I hate to see that too, because they've gotten a lot of crap for the new stadium stuff, and I've defended them for it, not to mention bragged how great they were for getting the franchise back on its winning ways when they took over in '95 or '96. But now they did this, and I can't defend that. I didn't know he was fired in that manner, after being told he would be retained. That supports the theory that Rooney had a deal worked out with the Cards during the regular season. The Cards knew Hagin wouldn't be back, but they didn't want to fire him until they could officially sign Rooney. Meanwhile, Rooney played the "WSCR needs to give me more money and respect" card as a reason why he was leaving. He knew all along that Hagin would be canned and he would take his spot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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