Michael Irvin bids farewell

With his contract expiring, former University of Miami great Michael Irvin left his WQAM-560 talk show on Monday, telling listeners that it "hurts" that his two-year stint on the station has ended.

Irvin’s agent, Steve Mandel, said WQAM wanted to keep the former Dallas Cowboys star but only if he moved from Dallas to South Florida.  Irvin “wasn’t prepared” to do that, Mandel said.

After Irvin declined that request, the station asked if he wanted to appear weekly on Joe Rose’s morning show and make other occasional appearances, Mandel said. But Irvin said no.

WQAM general manager Joe Bell said he prefered Irvin do the show from South Florida because it would have been easier to market it.

Irvin, who has been an NFL Network analyst since 2009, plans to explore options elsewhere in the market, with WMEN-640 and WINZ-940 among stations he is expected to approach.

Though 790 The Ticket has an opening, Irvin appears unlikely to end up there in a full-time role. The station is looking at pairing Marc Hochman with either Jon Weiner or Jonathan Zaslow on its morning show.

“I promise you – stay tuned,” Irvin told listeners. “I will find my way back on the air to you.”

He told listeners that leaving WQAM “absolutely hurts” because “I’ve got a season coming up at UM. I wanted to talk you through this season. But business is business. I can’t begrudge anyone. I wish everybody the best.”

Irvin hosted the show for the first year with former TNT NFL analyst Kevin Kiley before Kiley retired last year. This year, his co-host has been South Florida-based WQAM staffer Curtis Stevenson. In January, Irvin’s program was shifted two hours earlier (to 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.).

Jorge Sedano, who left 790 The Ticket’s morning show in April to concentrate on a television career, is the front-runner to replace Irvin. Because of a non-compete clause in his 790 contract, Sedano could not join WQAM until after Aug. 9.


(miamiherald.com)