A key figure in the fan-based effort to keep the Sacramento Kings in town is about to re-emerge.
Radio personality Carmichael Dave, recently fired by KHTK (1140 AM), will launch an internet radio station at 7 p.m. on Monday and co-host two weekday shows.
Dave - whose real name is Dave Weiglein - told me this week he will host a 10 a.m. show with former NFL quarterback and ESPN analyst Sean Salisbury. Later in the day, he'll have a show at 7 p.m. with Sean Thomas, his former co-host.
The shows - which Dave said would be "unfiltered and uncensored" - will be broadcast on www.thecdnetworks.com.
"If I have Ron Artest on, he might say James Harden is a blankety blank," Dave said. "People can say what they want. I don't have a corporation on my back. When we talk about the Kings, we're going to say what we're going to say without any issues.
"There are no other agendas other than my agenda."
KHTK broadcasts Kings games and some have wondered whether Dave's vocal support of the franchise staying in Sacramento - despite the team owners' attempt last year to move to Anaheim - opened the door to his dismissal. Dave also backed a new arena downtown, a plan that the Kings' owners initially endorsed but later rejected.
"In my heart of hearts, I don't think Kings management had anything to do with me getting fired," Dave said. "Now conversely, did my one-year history at being such an ardent proponent of a new arena end up making my presence at the station uncomfortable for KHTK? It's certainly possible after everything fell apart."
Some have also theorized that Don Geronimo, the program director at KHTK, had Dave canned. But Dave doesn't buy it.
"In this day and age, you really only have a person's word and Don looked me in the eyes and said, 'This sucks, I fought for you, there's nothing I can do.' I believe the guy," Dave said.
Dave said the timing of his new shows is not a coincidence. The morning show will start right after the Don Geronimo Show on KHTK; the 7 p.m. show will begin immediately following the Grant Napear Show.
"I do feel like there's a void in Sacramento where you've got all syndicated (sports radio) programming from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and it's the same after 7 p.m.," he said, adding that Geronimo and Napear are his "two idols."
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