Courtesy Houston Chronicle

(July 23, 2010) Dan Neil, the former Cypress Creek all-state lineman who played for Texas and the Denver Broncos and signed on last year as co-host of a morning drive talk show on ESPN Radio affiliate KZNX-FM in Austin, has been taken off the air while he pursues his campaign for the Texas House of Representatives.

Neil said he was removed from the air by Border Media, which owns the station, after objections from Donna Howard, the Democratic incumbent who is Neil’s opponent for the District 48 seat in northwest Travis County.

“I thought my opponent would agree to a compromise that would allow me to stay on the air,” Neil said. “I’m a sports-talk guy. I don’t talk politics. Border Media went to my opponent, and she came back with a list of demands that their attorneys thought might be a problem.”

Howard told the Austin American-Statesman she had nothing to do with the decision, and station manager Bob Proud acknowledged that the decision rested with station management.

“The FCC mandates that we provide equal access to an opposing candidate, and it’s difficult to put the other candidate on to talk about sports for three hours,” Proud said. “The opponent’s handlers were more than amenable to talking about some kind of compromise, but our attorneys suggested it would be best to keep Dan off the air.”

Neil, who joined high school classmate Erin Hogan on the show last October, hopes to return to the air the day after Election Day in November.

You may recall that Neil, during his days with the Broncos, was prohibited by offensive line coach Alex Gibbs from speaking to the media. Oddly enough, he is one of three Broncos linemen now working in media jobs along with ESPN analyst Mark Schlereth and ESPNU and Broncos radio analyst David Diaz-Infante.

“We all have a lot to say after being quiet all those years,” Neil said.

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