Sooner fans won't have to be in Oklahoma to hear Barry Switzer on the radio anymore.
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At least those who have XM Satellite Radio.
This fall, Switzer will co-host XM Sports Nation This Morning, a live call-in show that will focus on college and pro football.
"This was a good opportunity for me,” said Switzer, who returned from Washington, D.C., on Friday after meeting with XM officials in time to attend Oklahoma's scrimmage Saturday. "They made it attractive financially, so I'm going to do it.”
T.J. Rives — the play-by-play voice for South Florida — will team with Switzer on Sports Nation This Morning, which will air from 5:30 to 7 a.m. on Mondays and Fridays starting Aug. 20. Rives will do the show by himself Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
"With coach Switzer's schedule, it would've been challenging for him to do a daily show,” said XM executive vice president of programming Eric Logan, who grew up in Oklahoma City and attended Northwest Classen High School. "But we wanted to find a way to make it work. In the 1970s and 1980s, living in Oklahoma, you grow up loving Oklahoma football.
"Coach Switzer will be great because, as you know, he's never short of an opinion.”
The show will broadcast on XM channel 144, airing until sometime in January.
Terms of the deal weren't disclosed by XM, but Logan said the agreement with Switzer is for more than one year.
Logan and Switzer met in New York City two years ago and have stayed in touch since.
"I've really wanted him to do an opinion-based sports show on XM,” said Logan, who's been negotiating to bring Switzer to XM for the last two months.
Switzer will be able to broadcast from his house in Oklahoma.
"That makes it perfect,” Switzer said. "I wouldn't have done it unless I could do it from my home.”
Switzer's hire underscores XM's push to showcase college football. XM already has channels for the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10 and SEC conferences, and this summer signed deals with Oklahoma State and Texas to broadcast all of their football and basketball games.
XM, which has more than 8 million subscribers, also has rights to air the BCS national championship.
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Will be good to hear Switzers comments,his teams provided my family with greatest football in the nation in the 70's & 80's.When he talks football people listen.
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