Mike Valenti agrees to 'long-term contract' to stay at 97.1 The Ticket

George Stoia | Detroit Free Press

Long-time Detroit sports radio host Mike Valenti has agreed to a "new long-term contract extension" with Entercom, which will keep "The Valenti Show" on WXYT-FM (97.1) weekdays from 2- 6 p.m.

“I value the opportunity to continue my career at The Ticket in Detroit, one of the great sports towns in the country,” Valenti said in a press release.

Valenti and former Detroit Free Press and Detroit News sports writer Terry Foster began working together in 2004, co-hosting "The Sports Inferno" on WXYT-AM (1270). Since then, and especially when the show moved to FM radio, Valenti has become one of the most well-known radio personalities in Detroit.

Valenti has developed a reputation for shooting straight.

In 2006, he had an all-time rant concerning the Michigan State-Notre Dame game, which the Spartans lost 40-37. Valenti, an MSU alum, went as far as saying "If you want to see the definition of choke in the dictionary, you will see the Michigan State Spartans."

In 2015, when the Detroit Lions left the WXYT as the flagship radio station, Valenti went off, claiming the team left the station for WJR-AM "because of me" and claimed the Lions wanted Valenti fired because of his no-holds-barred approach.

More recently, in January, Valenti called ESPN's story regarding allegations of sexual assault among Spartan football and basketball players disgusting and dishonest.

"You know how I felt about the Larry Nassar proceedings, how angry I am at my university," Valenti said on the radio in January. "But I found what ESPN did Friday and has done all weekend and is doing today, it's disgusting. I think it's dishonest. I think it's an absolute hit piece on Mark Dantonio and Tom Izzo. And when you're splicing in cuts of that vile, monstrous, scumbag Larry Nassar, and somehow trying to now draw conclusions by repackaging old news, things that were investigated, things that were handled. I'm sorry, that's not journalism, that's TMZ."

Foster suffered a stroke in 2016 and was off the air for months. His return was short-lived as he announced his retirement from the radio in April 2017. Since then, Valenti has mostly hosted the show solo, with producers Mike Sullivan, David Hull and Roberto Boschian chiming in.