Dan Dakich, the controversial midday host at Indianapolis sports talker “The Fan,” is out at the Urban One station.
"Today was Dan Dakich's last day with Radio One,” Ops Manager David Wood said in an email to staff on Thursday, as reported by the Indianapolis Star. “We wish him well in their future endeavors."
The Fan airs on the city-licensed translators W228CX at 93.5 and W298BB at 107.5, with programming originating on WIBC-HD2. It was acquired Sept. 1 as part of Urban One’s $25 million purchase of Emmis’ Indianapolis cluster.
Before hosting “The Dan Dakich” show for 14 years, Dakich played for and coached Indiana University’s basketball team. He continues to host "Don't @ Me with Dan Dakich" for the Clay Travis-founded OutKick platform, which is part of Fox Corp.
"Earlier today, I did my last show for Radio One,” Dakich tweeted Thursday. “I want to thank Radio One, Jeff Smulyan and the whole team at Emmis Communications for a great 14 years.
"Given the success of my show, 'Don't @ Me' on Outkick and the busy holiday season, this is the perfect time to focus on one show and to make it the best I can possibly make it.
"I can't thank all the listeners enough for 14 years of unbelievable fun and controversy. I'm not going anywhere. Catch me very day from 9-11 on Outkick on 'Don't @ Me.'"
Dakich was not afraid of controversy or shy about expressing his opinion on touchy subjects. In March 2121, ESPN said it was looking into comments made on Twitter by Dakich, who served as college basketball analyst for the network. Dakich was responding to a Twitter post by Nathan Kalman-Lamb, a lecturing fellow at Duke University, who criticized members of the media, including Dakich, for saying that Duke freshman basketball player Jalen Johnson quit on his team by opting out of the remainder of the season to prepare for the NBA draft. In the ensuing comments in the original post, Dakich got into a debate with Kalman-Lamb and Ursinus College Assistant Professor Johanna Mellis over compensation for college athletes. During the exchange, Dakich questioned whether they understood athletics, to which Mellis, a former competitive swimmer, challenged Dakich to a swimming race. Dakich responded saying said he’d have to divorce his wife to accept the challenge. On his radio program he reportedly said commenters on the post were “bitching.” In September of 2021, Dakich announced he was no longer with ESPN.
In March 2020 Emmis said it was probing comments Dakich said during a five-minute rant that was triggered by the firing of a high-school basketball coach in which Dakich disparaged the town of Scottsburg, Indiana, and urged listeners to “take a dump in Scottsburg,.” In October 2019, Emmis suspended the noon-3pm host for five days for “not adhering to journalistic principles.”