Local voices find many outlets

If you don't have opinions, you can't be a sports fan.

And if you think Southern Nevada is being cheated by not hearing your opinions, think again -- you can be the star of your own radio show.

Many local radio stations offer "brokered time" that enables anyone to spew opinions and advice over the airwaves.

About a dozen brokered local sports shows air throughout the week -- provided the check clears. Stations offer airtime rates beginning at $350 per hour, depending on when the show airs. Stations also offer extra services, including production and promotion.

Show themes include general sports, mixed martial arts, golf, horse racing, professional wrestling and rodeo. Sports betting is the most popular genre and accounts for 26 of the 123 hours of locally produced sports talk each week.

This concept allows programs such as "Rodeo Randy," "Golf Today Magazine" and "Cornhusker Countdown" to play each week on KLAV (1230 AM), whose full-time format is called "block-talk radio."

"Sports guys have been coming out of the woodwork," said Cory Cuddleback, director of sales at KDWN (720 AM). "It's fun for them, and a lot of them have sponsors."

Unfortunately, many don't, and their shows lose money. But Dan Patrick and Jim Rome weren't rich and famous when they started in electronic media.

KDWN offers "Sports X Radio" with Ken Thomson covering a variety of sports from 7 to 9 p.m. each weeknight, and "The Las Vegas Betting Line" with Review-Journal sports reporters Adam Hill and Matt Youmans for an hour at midnight five times a week. Rick Upchurch, a former Denver Broncos player, hosts "Pigskin Picks" from 6 to 7 p.m. Saturday.

This is the first year for "Better Bettors," which airs each Saturday from 8 to 9 a.m. with show owners and hosts Maurice Rdoublee and Moneyline Max (not their real names).

"We give free picks and have 'betting 101' to help folks new to sports betting," says Rdoublee, who says he is a professional sports better. "We're for the little guys, the little bettors."

Rdoublee, 36, is a Chicago native, but holds no hometown bias when it comes to his betting business.

"The team I like the most is the team that covers the spread," he says.

Loyalty to Nebraska, however, is the cornerstone of "Cornhusker Countdown." Gary Mouden started the show 21 years ago when he moved to Las Vegas. The venture began at the urging of former Nebraska athletic director and football coach Bob Devaney.

"I didn't realize how many Nebraskans lived here until we started the show," says Mouden, a former insurance executive who attended graduate school at Nebraska. "I never thought the club would last 21 years, let alone the show."

Contact reporter Jeff Wolf at jwolf@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0247.