So were they terminated--wjox opening drive?

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WJOX 94.5 management confirmed to AL.com on Wednesday that "The Opening Drive" will no longer air on the Birmingham-area radio station.

General manager David Walls said "The Roundtable" will move from mid-day to the 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. time slot, starting on March 5.

Lance Taylor, Ryan Brown and Jim Dunaway will bring you their same style show, just a bit earlier.

"I believe it is one of the best sports shows in the Southeast, and we wanted to put it in our most desirable (time slot,)" Walls said. "We wanted to start our day with our strongest show."

WJOX first announced the news on Twitter earlier in the day.


"Starting Monday, March 5, the Jox Roundtable will start at 6 a.m.," the tweet read.

However, there was no mention of the future of "The Opening Drive" with Jay Barker, Al Del Greco and Tony Kurre.

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"They will no longer be with us," Wall said. "We're going to move in a new direction."

When asked if there was any thought to moving the show to a different time slot or retaining any of "The Opening Drive" on-air personalities, Wall said, "No."

"I talked to them this morning," he said. "Those guys are class acts. They are great guys. Obviously, they took it well, but they wanted to be here. They are really class guys."

For the next two days, listeners will hear CBS Sports programming in the morning time slot.

The "Jox Roundtable" will debut at 6 a.m. on March 5, and then be replayed from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for about three weeks before JOX unveils a new show.

"Mid to late March there will be new programming," Walls said.

The general manager added that the response to the news has been good.

"Very positive," he said. "It is a very popular show. People are excited to get it in the mornings.


"It is something I have looked out for 2 1/2 years. As things progressed and 'The Roundtable' got more and more popular, it seemed like a wise move to make."

Kurre took to Twitter not long after the news broke with the tweet: "Even The Beatles break up sometime."


Ryan Brown, a co-host of "The Roundtable," tweeted initial information regarding the move, which was later confirmed by Walls.

Here's what Brown said about the changes on twitter


"Ha! Not banned at all. Can't answer a lot of questions, here are some we can:
1. Show is moving 6-10
2. Will be replayed 10-2 initially
3. New show 10-2 soon
4. No change to the show
5. All of our regular guests you love (or hate) will keep coming on plus an old one you love."

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