The Early Birds will have a new host starting July 1.
Jody Demling, the person in charge at Cardinal Authority, will also be behind microphone at radio station WKRD. He was selected over a number of other local sports personalities, including Howie Lindsey, of the Louisville Sports Report and the Rivals site, and Adam Lefkoe, of WHAS-TV. The Clear Channel station had reportedly been conducting a nationwide search.
While any one of the three frontrunners would have been good, Demling is an excellent choice. He had 22 years of experience in covering local sports while at the Courier-Journal, with much of that time devoted to University of Louisville athletics. He grew up in Louisville, obtained a degree from UofL, and graduated from Trinity High School.
Demling knows UofL inside and out, where it came from, where it’s going and he has infinite contacts and sources. Since moving from the Courier-Journal to manage Cardinal Authority a year ago, he has been omnipresent at Cardinal athletic events. One expects to see him there, whether it’s UofL football, basketball and baseball to women’s basketball and softball.
His show, during the morning drive time, will be competing directly against Drew Deener, who left the station a few weeks ago to hook up with ESPN 680. That poses a significant challenge for Deener, already faced with the task of getting UofL fans to switch from a UofL-focused radio station to another spot on the dial.
The competition can only be a good thing for UofL fans, requiring Demling and Deener to be at the top of their games.
I think Jody Demling is an excellent choice. He appears to have stepped up his game, and seems to be much more comfortable behind the mic than he used to. I’ve enjoyed listening to him when he’s filled in recently, and I appreciate his knowledge and insight about the Cards. I was hoping that either he or Howie would be chosen for the permanent gig. Either one would have been a good choice.
I also like Deener, but 680 is so weak that I can’t even pick it up at my house just a few miles from downtown. When in the car, I’ll probably do some channel flipping between Jodie and Drew to stay up with the most interesting Cardinal news.
As someone who streams this show quite often over iheartradio I’m enjoying things so far.
Jody’s a little rusty but I’m sure he’ll settle in soon.
The problem with Deener wasn’t Deener per say – it was his propensity to go along with what his guest was that day and turning his show into a UK centric show more times than not.
Both of them are awful, just give me Mike and Mike in the morning!