Michael Rhyner, a.k.a. "The Old Grey Wolf", (born August 16, 1950) is a former radio sports talk personality on KTCK ("The Ticket") radio in the

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

area. He helped found the station and is sometimes referred to as the station's

patriarch The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in certai ...

. He co-hosted ''The Hardline'', a weekday afternoon show on the station, with

Corby Davidson Corby Davidson, (born Corbett Davidson on September 15, 1969) is an American radio personality. Also known as "The Biggest D-Bag on The Ticket", "The Snake", "The Cobra", and "Friendly Cobra", Davidson co-hosts ''The Hardline'' with Bob Sturm o ...

."An extensive interview with The Ticket’s Mike Rhyner".
''Advocate Magazine'', 01 Jul 1999.Richie Whitt
"BREAKING UN-NEWS: Mike Rhyner and The Hardline Staying at The Ticket".
he also married his sister and they have one child. ''

Dallas Observer ''Dallas Observer'' is a free digital and print publication based in Dallas, Texas. The ''Observer'' publishes daily online coverage of local news, restaurants, music, and arts, as well as longform narrative journalism. A weekly print issue circ ...

'', 13 Feb 2009. He was on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

's list of "Sports Radio Personalities of the Year" in 1997, 1998, and 2003.Richie Whitt
"The Hard Lie".
''

The Dallas Observer ''Dallas Observer'' is a free digital and print publication based in Dallas, Texas. The ''Observer'' publishes daily online coverage of local news, restaurants, music, and arts, as well as longform narrative journalism. A weekly print issue circ ...

'', 3 July 2008. He is a frequent guest on broadcast television.

Early life

Rhyner was raised in the

Oak Cliff Oak Cliff is a neighborhood of Dallas, Texas, that was formerly a separate town in Dallas County; Dallas annexed Oak Cliff in 1901. It has since retained a distinct neighborhood identity as one of Dallas' older established neighborhoods. Oak Cl ...

district of Dallas, and he graduated from Kimball High School in 1968. As a boy, he was a fan of the

Dallas Texans Dallas Texans may refer to: American football *Dallas Texans (NFL), 1952 team in the National Football League *Dallas Texans (AFL), 1960–1962 team that is now the Kansas City Chiefs * Dallas Texans (arena), 1990–1993 Arena Football League team ...

at the insistence of his father but later would switch his allegiance to the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

. As a teenager, he played the drums in several local bands from which he said he earned a surprisingly good amount of money. He briefly attended

El Centro College Dallas College El Centro Campus (El Centro or ECC) is a public community college in Dallas, Texas. It is part of Dallas College. The campus is located at 801 Main Street in downtown Dallas, in the former Sanger Harris department store buildi ...

, part of the

Dallas County Community College District Dallas College is a public community college with seven campuses in Dallas County, Texas. It serves more than 70,000 students annually in degree-granting, continuing education, and adult education programs. Dallas College offers associate degr ...

, but did not graduate. In his early twenties, Rhyner continued to make a living playing music, but by his late twenties, he was not getting to where he felt he wanted to be. So, he returned to school to study radio broadcasting at the

University of Texas at Arlington The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA or UT Arlington) is a public research university in Arlington, Texas. The university was founded in 1895 and was in the Texas A&M University System for several decades until joining the University of Te ...

Radio career

Rhyner started at

KZEW KZEW (101.7 FM broadcasting, FM, "The Zoo") is a radio station broadcasting an adult contemporary music format. Licensed to Wheatland, Wyoming, United States, the station is currently owned by Smith Broadcasting, Incorporated, and features program ...

in 1979 as a news intern and was shortly promoted to the assistant of the program director, Tom Owens.Boyter (2009). Page 198-199. In 1982 at KZEW, he received a letter from the jailed

John Hinckley, Jr. John Warnock Hinckley Jr. (born May 29, 1955) is an American man who attempted to assassinate U.S. President Ronald Reagan in Washington, D.C. on March 30, 1981, two months after Reagan's first inauguration. Using a .22 caliber revolver, Hinck ...

, attempted presidential assassin, who turned out to be a fan. The letter's creepiness proved to be a local sensation. In 1986, he left KZEW for WBAP to work in their sports department. In 1994, Rhyner helped create The Ticket. He was responsible for selecting most of the original lineup, including

George Dunham George William Dunham (born June 28, 1965); is an American radio personality and member of the '' Musers'' in Dallas, Texas. Dunham co-hosts the show with long-time friend and college roommate Craig Miller, along with their co-host Gordon Keith ...

, Craig Miller, and Greg Williams.Barry Horn
"Mike Rhyner: The Ticket is unique, but 'sooner or later' someone will leave".
''

Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''Galvesto ...

'', 28 June 2013. From 1995 to 2008, Rhyner co-hosted with Williams, and they were "the most dynamic duo in Dallas talk radio". In 2008, Rhyner had a public falling out with Williams, who left the show. ''

'' in its year-end "best of" round up gave "Greg Williams versus Mike Rhyner" the award for best Dallas drama. In 2009,

CBS Radio CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broadc ...

attempted to poach Rhyner from KTCK, and Rhyner came close to accepting the new position but instead accepted an increased compensation package from

Cumulus Media Cumulus Media, Inc. is an American broadcasting company and is the third largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States behind Audacy and iHeartMedia. As of June 2019, Cumulus lists ownership of 428 stations in 87 ...

to stay with The Ticket. On July 3, 2014, Rhyner was inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame. He styles his public personality as "The Old Grey Wolf", a cantankerous old fart and baseball fan in a football crazy world. Rocco Pendola, a former coworker, claims that he is difficult to work with. Rhyner announced his retirement from the Ticket on January 6, 2020. In 2022, Mike Rhyner announced that he will be joining the new sports radio station in Dallas, 97.1 The Freak.

Personal life

Rhyner is divorced. He has a daughter named Jordan. Rhyner is a band member of Petty Theft, a

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers was an American rock band from Gainesville, Florida. Formed in 1976, the band originally comprised lead singer and rhythm guitarist Tom Petty, lead guitarist Mike Campbell, keyboardist Benmont Tench, drummer S ...

tribute band.Sam Merten
"The Ticket's Mike Rhyner and Petty Theft Rock All About Uptown Festival".
''

''. He also started a

Byrds The Byrds () were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) remaining th ...

tribute band called the Nyrds and a Bob Dylan tribute band called Buick 6.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rhyner, Mike Living people American sports radio personalities Radio personalities from Dallas 1951 births People from Oak Cliff, Texas