Detroit Radio: Drew Lane's Departure Was Over Content

Drew Lane

Longtime Detroit radio personality Drew Lane and Greater Media have parted ways —- again.

The broadcaster announced that Lane will depart his afternoon drive show on the Detroit Sports 105.1 immediately, as he did not renew his contract.

According to Steve Chessare, vice president/market manager for Greater Media Detroit, the issue wasn’t money.

“The only issue we had is in show content,” Chessare told The Detroit News. “Drew has done a phenomenal job for Greater Media for 24 years, and he was instrumental in us getting the sports station launched, but we’ve come to recognize that we’ve got to be true to our format, which is sports, both to the audience and our clients and partners, that we deliver a sports product.

“I was trying to impress on Drew to infuse more sports into the show, and Drew was not comfortable doing any more than he was doing right now. We had an issue, in that we weren’t recycling the audience throughout the rest of the day and vice versa. Out of respect for Drew and what he’s built and how successful he’s been, we’re OK with his decision not to continue and we wish him nothing but the best.”

Chessare’s comments differ from what he and then-program director Jason Dixon said when the station switched formats to sports in August 2013, using Lane as the centerpiece show.

Back then, Chessare and Dixon said that while the station was to be sports-centric, they wanted Lane to be Lane and feel comfortable talking about all sorts of topics, from sports to pop culture to the news of the day.

That format made Lane popular when he was on the “Drew & Mike” show he co-hosted at Greater Media's WRIF, before “Drew & Mike” were dropped from WRIF in 2013.

Read More Now