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Lions switch flagship radio stations, likely because last one was too negative

Eric Edholm
Lions switch flagship radio stations, likely because last one was too negative

The Detroit Lions have not been too good, historically, at this hiring and firing business.

Since 2000, the team has had eight head coaches and might be looking for another one in 2016. They've had three full-time general managers, currently have interim Sheldon White manning the position and likely will seek a new one now that new club president Rod Wood has taken over amid a mess of a season that has seen a GM, a president and three assistant coaches all hacked.

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Now, another firing: The team's flagship radio station.

It was announced on Friday that the Lions will have a new radio home in 2016 with WJR-AM 760, parting ways with WXYT-FM 97.1 “The Ticket,” which has been calling the team's games since 2004 (when it was known as WKRK). Owner Martha Firestone Ford hired Wood, who announced the move.

Why the switch? Not enough on-air loyalty to and pompomp waving for the last-place team, it appears.

The Lions had been in negotiations with WXYT for retaining the broadcast rights, but one of the club's stipulations had been that the station needed to part ways with afternoon host Mike Valenti, who has been critical of the team in the past. Apparently, the Lions didn't like that. Instead, they just went to a new station for what they are calling "a better deal."

Lions vice president of marketing Elizabeth Parkinson has vehemently denied that Valenti's firing was ever requested.

"I can categorically deny that we requested, or there were any conversations, around Mike Valenti's dismissal," Parkinson told MLive.com. "It's just not something that was discussed, nor was his agent involved in any of the negotiations. I truly don't know where that's coming from."

But Parkinson did acknowledge that the Lions' public relations department did have a seat at the negotiation table, although she claims they were not part of the decision-making process. Why don't we believe that? Valenti certainly doesn't. He went on a rampage on 97.1 after the announcement was made to give some examples of Lions PR trying to control the station's message — perhaps just an extension of the Lions' common catch phrase of "Defend The Den."

Valenti had more — plenty more — to say on the matter:

Ouch.

We're in a gray area, media-wise, when team-operated websites and radio stations get "exclusive" access to players and coaches ... but often only if they play ball and are not critical of the team in any way. It's more of a cheerleading operation than it is anything resembling journalism.

I remember once asking a veteran Detroit writer what it was like covering the 0-16 Lions team on a daily basis in that fateful 2008 season, and as much as he said it was a struggle there had been — and still are — issues with the team's public-relations department being out of touch and difficult to work with.

"If a national media outlet wanted to come in and do a feel-good story, they'd probably act like they didn't even know they were there," the writer said of the Lions' PR department. "They're too worried about what the local guys are saying."

This clearly bleeds over onto the flagship radio station, which the Lions would appear to want as the homer element with a heavily filtered or cleansed voice. This is a loser's mentality that clearly has remained with a franchise that has four winning seasons in the past 20 years and would need to win the rest of their games this season to make it five.

Controlling the message never really works, and it's the fans who lose out. No matter which station broadcasts Lions games.

Do you have faith the new regime will be better than its many previous ones? Consider this statement Friday from Wood:

Wow. That pretty much says it all.

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!