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Home > Archive > Aug 2, 2007

McGary Goes All Sports on 1210 AM
By Stephen Vincent
For nearly two decades, thousands of St. George residents woke up in the morning and turned on the radio to listen to Mike McGary on KDXU.
That changed on July 30. While residents can still listen to McGary, they will have to tune into 1210 AM. And instead of talking about politics or community-related items, McGary will be talking about local sports.
“It was a big decision because even though I love sports, I have been at KDXU for over 20 years,” McGary said. “But when it came down to it, it wasn't that hard of a decision. I love sports.”
McGary will retain his “Open Mike” program on KDXU weekdays from 9 to 10 a.m. Dixie State College athletic broadcasts will also remain on KDXU with McGary doing the play-by-play, and Andy Griffin offering the color commentary. The Utah Jazz broadcasts will also stay on KDXU.
For McGary, the new sports station reflects how much sports have grown in St. George.
In his 23 years at KDXU, McGary said he's seen some drastic changes to the sports landscape in St. George. When he arrived, Pine View High School, the second St. George high school, had just opened. A year from now, St. George will add its fourth high school: Desert Hills.
McGary said he also saw Dixie State College rise from an average junior college athletics program to a national powerhouse to a Div. II school.
The other major change McGary said he has seen in St. George is that the city league programs are becoming more varied and attracting more participants.
“This is a great town to live in if you're a sports fan,” McGary said.
One of the town's biggest sports fans, Devin Dixon, will be the other local sports show host.
“Since I've stopped playing sports, I figured the next best thing was talking about sports,” Dixon said. “Sports was meant to be fun, so I thought, 'Why not talk about something that's always exciting.'”
Originally from eastern Washington state, Dixon came to St. George to attend Dixie State College. He spent three years working for KCEC at the college before he joined KDXU as a salesperson.
But Dixon never intended to stay in sales; he stayed focused on his goal: being an on-air talent.
Oftentimes, during McGary's sports radio show, Dixon wandered down to the studio and plopped into a chair near a microphone, and then he sat and waited until McGary turned his microphone on.
Soon, Dixon became a regular on the show and later a co-host with McGary. And 18 months ago, Dixon became the sole host of “The Sports Connection.”
“Mike's been great to me,” Dixon said. “I owe a lot to him.”
McGary enjoys the talent Dixon brings to local sports radio.
“He carries so much enthusiasm,” McGary said. “He really reaches a key part of the sports audience. He eats, sleeps and drinks sports, and people can tell.”
McGary, who will serve as the station's program director, will host the morning show, “The Mike McGary Show,” from 7 to 9. Dixon, who has previously hosted “The Sports Connection” on KDXU, will also move over to 1210 to host the Devin Dixon show from 5 to 7 p.m.
“I feel I can fill another hour in, no problem,” Dixon said. “There are days when I come in with three or four topics I want to discuss, and I can't get to them before I run out of time.”
Dixon said his format will stay somewhat similar, although he hopes to generate more discussion with callers and do a few more contests. He also wants the second hour of the show to be a preview for games that may follow his show on the station.
Dixon said he wants his show to be heavy on football, the sport that seems to draw the most attention from sports fans.
Between the two shows, the station will offer ESPN programming. The station will also begin broadcasting BYU football and basketball.
McGary said that while the station will be structured like a magazine – with a little bit of everything – the mainstay will be local sports.
The local high school sports broadcasts will also move over to 1210; the station will broadcast a high school football game of the week each Friday, and it will also broadcast two basketball games a week in the wintertime.
McGary said they will likely have a Region 9 wrap-up show each week, and they hope to create some coaches shows as well.
With ESPN providing the coverage of what's happening nationally, both McGary and Dixon said they feel free to talk about what is happening locally – a luxury Dixon said he didn't have as the sole sports show on KDXU when he needed to cover the sports, both national and local.
This is McGary's second attempt to get sports radio started in St. George. The first attempt took place a few years ago on 1450 AM.
“The signal was too weak on 1450,” McGary said. “We feel this time we're doing it right. We think it's here to stay.”
In the years since the all-sports format was abandoned on 1450, McGary has fielded a number of questions about when the format would return.
“We get a lot of calls from people who move in here and say, 'I can't believe a city this big doesn't have a sports station,'” McGary said.
And both he and Dixon said they have heard positive feedback since the announcement of an all-sports station was made. Dixon said of the approximately 200 people with whom he has talked about the station, only one person expressed any displeasure with the 1210 format change.
“Sports fans are going nuts,” McGary said. “They've been waiting for a 24-hour sports station.”
Together, McGary and Dixon hope they can fill the St. George's sports fan's informational wants.
“We hope the sports fans will find what they're looking for with this,” McGary said. “With national sports from ESPN plus local sports, which we'll do, and the regional sports that we'll have with the BYU broadcasts, we hope we can be their station.”

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