Bernie Miklasz out at 101.1 ESPN

[Brighton]

I did not see that one coming.

[Littlebill]

How are they ever going to get someone else to talk about BABIP at 7 am?

[RUBillsFan]

I didn't listen much and I realize the bar for sports talk radio is very very low which made Bernie one of the better ones.  However, I always felt that Bernie kind of sucked on radio compared to his written columns which were very good.  Hopefully, this allows him to get back to writing more which is his sweet spot IMO.

I'd imagine this is all about money.  Bernie was likely paid pretty well by 101 to get big name in the market.  With ad revenue likely tanking amid the COVID-19 stuff, 101 needed to cut costs and a high paid radio personality was an easy fix.

[dlarry]

I enjoyed his articles when he worked for the Post but the guy lost his marbles in the last 5-10 years.

Every morning it was the same thing.

He would argue with people who I don’t think existed.

He’d go on a rant then giggle and say “I’m sorry but some of you people are just cuckoo. It drives me crazy.” 
 
But the people he was arguing against made up maybe 2% of the listeners. 
He believed the loud mouth on Twitter is what most people believe but in reality the loudmouth on Twitter is a very small minority.

He let those loudmouth consume him and it ruined his show.

[Reinert310]

17 minutes ago, RUBillsFan said:

I didn't listen much and I realize the bar for sports talk radio is very very low which made Bernie one of the better ones.  However, I always felt that Bernie kind of sucked on radio compared to his written columns which were very good.  Hopefully, this allows him to get back to writing more which is his sweet spot IMO.

I'd imagine this is all about money.  Bernie was likely paid pretty well by 101 to get big name in the market.  With ad revenue likely tanking amid the COVID-19 stuff, 101 needed to cut costs and a high paid radio personality was an easy fix.

He’s been dealing with some health issues. He wrote an article about it in the Athletic in January (I’d send a link if I could, but it’s subscription). He talked about his energy being completely drained, among other things. Not surprising he’s not doing morning radio anymore. 

[billiken_roy]

he wasnt much of a billiken fan (was a rickma fan, but never gave the billikens much significance).   so i was never too concerned about bernie's take.   

[Cowboy]

-Bernie's presentation was just not for me, Frank is the only sports talk radio show I listen to and that is mostly interviews on the podcast (like CFord) that interest me

[JMM28]

Sports radio is a bloodbath right now. They got kicked in both nuts separately. No sports to really talk about and no advertisers to spend money. I don't pay attention to the ever changing sports radio formats in STL, but would imagine that this would probably put an end to most local programming at least for the short term. 

[bauman]

Where did you see or hear this?  It is not in STLToday or the 101 website.

I am more than ok with his better than thou attitude going off the air.  I listened while in the car during morning hours but only because her, at least, talked sports as opposed to the cr@p that poses as a sports show on 590 before Frank comes on.

He talked more about his cats this morning than he has ever talked about Billiken basketball even though they (101) are our game station.

[slufan13]

Back when he was with the PD, he sent me a direct message on Twitter asking me to stop asking him to cover the Billikens more. He said I was stressing him out. I haven't liked him since. 

[Reinert310]

20 minutes ago, slufan13 said:

Back when he was with the PD, he sent me a direct message on Twitter asking me to stop asking him to cover the Billikens more. He said I was stressing him out. I haven't liked him since. 

In the article, he discusses pretty severe depression. Not trying to tell anyone how they should feel about Bernie or his work, but I’m guessing it probably wasn’t exaggeration or hyperbole when he told you about being stressed out. Just sayin...

[slufan13]

20 minutes ago, Reinert310 said:

In the article, he discusses pretty severe depression. Not trying to tell anyone how they should feel about Bernie or his work, but I’m guessing it probably wasn’t exaggeration or hyperbole when he told you about being stressed out. Just sayin...

He needs a new job then

[Compton]

39 minutes ago, slufan13 said:

Back when he was with the PD, he sent me a direct message on Twitter asking me to stop asking him to cover the Billikens more. He said I was stressing him out. I haven't liked him since. 

I like to think people in St. Louis sports media generally really like the Billikens and would like to cover them more, but that the Bills just don't generate the readers, listeners, clicks, page views, etc... that the Blues or Mizzou do, or that even the most mundane off-season Cardinals coverage does. Kind of a chicken and egg issue. I suppose that can all change once the tourney appearances start stacking up. 

Wish the best for Bernie. He's a good guy. 

[Reinert310]

7 minutes ago, slufan13 said:

He needs a new job then

Hence, why he’s not doing radio anymore. But think about how the sports journalism landscape has changed over the last decade. I’m sure Bernie didn’t get into it to deal with trolls on social media. He’s been doing it for how many decades? Everything is different now, and for someone suffering from mental illness, it’s gotta be like torture. Whether you like his work or not, the situation kinda sucks.

 

Not saying you’re a troll, just genetically speaking.

[billikenfan05]

8 minutes ago, Reinert310 said:

Hence, why he’s not doing radio anymore. But think about how the sports journalism landscape has changed over the last decade. I’m sure Bernie didn’t get into it to deal with trolls on social media. He’s been doing it for how many decades? Everything is different now, and for someone suffering from mental illness, it’s gotta be like torture. Whether you like his work or not, the situation kinda sucks.

 

Not saying you’re a troll, just genetically speaking.

He should have covered the Billikens more

[Reinert310]

Just now, billikenfan05 said:

He should have covered the Billikens more

Agreed. I’m just talking about his health situation and him leaving radio, as a human being. You can take or leave his body of work. I agree he should’ve covered the Billikens more. It is what is.

[Quality Is Job 1]

14 minutes ago, Reinert310 said:

Hence, why he’s not doing radio anymore. But think about how the sports journalism landscape has changed over the last decade. I’m sure Bernie didn’t get into it to deal with trolls on social media. He’s been doing it for how many decades? Everything is different now, and for someone suffering from mental illness, it’s gotta be like torture. Whether you like his work or not, the situation kinda sucks.

 

Not saying you’re a troll, just genetically speaking.

Generally speaking, speaking "genetically" violates CDC guidelines these days.

*ducks*

[Reinert310]

1 minute ago, Quality Is Job 1 said:

Generally speaking, speaking "genetically" violates CDC guidelines these days.

*ducks*

Haha. I guess if I was speaking genetically, I would have to type every post using only 4 letters. DNA is made up of 4 letters, right? Science was/is not my forte.

[slufan13]

19 minutes ago, Reinert310 said:

Hence, why he’s not doing radio anymore. But think about how the sports journalism landscape has changed over the last decade. I’m sure Bernie didn’t get into it to deal with trolls on social media. He’s been doing it for how many decades? Everything is different now, and for someone suffering from mental illness, it’s gotta be like torture. Whether you like his work or not, the situation kinda sucks.

 

Not saying you’re a troll, just genetically speaking.

I was probably a troll

[Reinert310]

2 minutes ago, slufan13 said:

I was probably a troll

Haha. Honestly, I‘ve always thought Bernie was kind of a blow hard, so I totally see what you’re saying. I’m just probably over-sensitive as someone who deals with mental illness. Being on social media is like the 9th ring of hell for me, which is why I only really use it to follow sports and rarely read comments. So I feel for the guy. Not trying to call anybody out. Apologies if I came off a little over aggressive.

[Brighton]

It's official.

https://www.stltoday.com/sports/other/longtime-st-louis-sports-journalist-miklasz-out-at-101-1-fm/article_f2a58aaf-8af9-56bf-962e-9344c8b21ee3.html

[brianstl]

13 minutes ago, slufan13 said:

I was probably a troll

I liked Bernie the times I met and talked to him, but for ten years at least now he thought that everyone that disagreed with him was a troll. He would twist a mild disagreement into something it was not and then claim people where making outlandish arguments that they weren’t.

I, also, think him leaving the Post really messed with his psyche.  Being just a radio host/website writer didn’t carry the same weight as being the lead columnist at the paper.  I think he had a hard time not being the guy that was driving the conversation across town like he often did with his columns at the PD.

[wgstl]

3 hours ago, Littlebill said:

How are they ever going to get someone else to talk about BABIP at 7 am?

I laughed out loud 

[VeniceMenace]

Wish the post disgrace covered Billiken basketball as much as they cover sports talk radio that nobody listens to, How many more articles can we have about people like Kevin Slatin who vanished off the face of the earth 15 years ago?

[brianstl]

13 minutes ago, VeniceMenace said:

Wish the post disgrace covered Billiken basketball as much as they cover sports talk radio that nobody listens to, How many more articles can we have about people like Kevin Slatin who vanished off the face of the earth 15 years ago?

I am not sure if it is still the case, but Dan Ceaser’s Friday Media View columns were at onetime time among the most read stuff in the sports section on stltoday.  I don’t see why that would have changed.