For Bulldog fans addicted to the daily sports musings of Scott McKinney, the recovery process has begun.
The famed commentator, along with the rest of the Southern Sports Tonight radio crew, signed off for the last time two weeks ago, leaving WMSV campus radio, their Starkville affiliate, in a bind.
“When Southern Sports Tonight went out of business, and with very little notice actually, we needed to fill a time slot,” WMSV station director Steve Ellis said. “There are already two Starkville area stations that carry (SST)’s competition, Conference Call, so we decided to start our own show.”
The show Ellis is speaking of is Bulldog Drive Time, which premiered Monday. The show is hosted by Ellis along with Will Windham, but features guest-appearances by many members of the Bulldog family.
Current Bulldog coaches will make appearance to discuss their respective teams, but former star athletes and university officials including Jack Cristil, Jim Ellis, Bailey Howell, and Mike Nemeth will also make guest appearances on the show.
“We like to think of it as an SEC news show with a Bulldog slant,” Ellis said. “Other major universities have similar shows, and this is something we’ve needed for a long time.”
The show will also feature Bulldog game previews and recaps, a trivia contest and even a small segment of campus news.
Ellis hopes to draw in much of the same audience that tuned in for SST. Sports talk shows are vastly popular in the South and tend to draw in listeners who might not normally tune in to a campus radio station.
So far, the results have been positive, and after a week of broadcasting, former SST fans are slowly adopting Bulldog Drive Time as their evening entertainment.
“I think they need to have fans call in like on (SST),”said junior Drew Wilson. “But I think overall it’s a good thing for the fans of Mississippi State to be able to keep up with their teams during the week, not just on game days.”
The show airs Monday through Friday from 5 to 6 p.m. on WMSV campus radio, and can also be heard nationwide on the internet at www.wmsv.msstate.edu.