Sports talk shakeup: The Ticket drops Mike Morris, Bob Sansevere

Local FM sports talk station 105 The Ticket, which changed formats in 2013 in an attempt to challenge the already-established KFAN (100.3 FM) and 1500-AM, has dropped its local weekday shows as of Monday – meaning recognizable Twin Cities sports talk personalities Mike Morris and Bob Sansevere are no longer on the air.

Scott Jameson, the operations manager at the station, said the weekday format will be exclusively CBS Sports Network national content, including shows from Jim Rome and Doug Gottlieb. (You can see typical weekday lineup in that frame grab from the station's web site, which has already been updated to reflect the changes).

In describing the move, Jameson said in an interview Tuesday morning that the goal is now to "provide an alternative to the other two local stations" and "focus on the network product and provide it to people who prefer that," though he also acknowledged the impetus behind the move was The Ticket's difficulty gaining listener traction with its local programs.

Jameson said the station intends to keep some weekend local programming, including broadcasts of high school sports.

Sansevere and Morris debuted together on the station in 2013 with a show that aired from 3-6 p.m., but they split into two separate shows this past January. Sansevere was on from 2-4 p.m., while Morris and Ben Holsen followed at 4 p.m.

"It's always very hard to do that," Jameson said. "Bob and Mike and Ben are all great people and terrific broadcasters. We wish them the best and are trying to work with them within the company."

The Ticket is owned by Cumulus Media, which also owns 93X and KQRS locally. Sansevere is a longtime St. Paul Pioneer Press columnist who was on the KQRS Morning Show for more than 25 years, while Morris spent many years at KFAN following his career as a Vikings long snapper.