Knoxville radio host Tyler Ivens (L) on a Toyota dealership roof with Glenn Jacobs.
Local NetworksNCAABy Andrew Bucholtz on

Last month, Mike Organ of The Tennessean wrote a piece catching up with Duncan Stewart, the former Nashville radio host who famously lived on a billboard “until Tennessee won” in 1988 (which wound up taking 33 days). And while Stewart said “This team is worse than that team in 1988. This team’s horrible and quite frankly the coaching’s a lot worse,” he also said “It was a great promotion and did exactly what we wanted it to do. It wouldn’t be a bad idea for a station in Nashville or Knoxville to do it again.” Well, Knoxville radio host Tyler Ivens has now taken him up on that, sort of.

Ivens (co-host of “The Starting Lineup” on WNML with Will West) has spent three days and nights camping on the roof of a local Toyota dealership so far, and he told Ryan Wilusz of The Knoxville News Sentinel he’s staying there until the Volunteers win a game. But this all started because Ivens and West disagreed on if 1-4 Tennessee could win at home against 3-2 Mississippi State this coming Saturday; West questioned if the Vols would even win an October game, Ivens vowed to live on a building until they won, and the dealership called in to call that bluff and offer up their rooftop:

Living on a building seems a little better than living on a billboard, though, as at least there’s room for Ivens to set up a tent. And he has cornhole boards, a hammock, a portable putting green, and a Bluetooth speaker. He doesn’t have a bathroom during the evening, as the dealership locks the door to the roof at night, but as Wilusz writes, he’s figured out alternate arrangements:

 There is a drain on the roof, though, and people can use their imagination to figure out how that works, Ivens said.

Ivens has also received some celebrity visitors, including Knox County mayor Glenn Jacobs (better known as WWE’s Kane), seen above on the roof with Ivens:

https://twitter.com/SportsRadioWNML/status/1182334393026789381

Also, former Tennessee quarterback (and fellow current WNML host) Erik Ainge dropped by Tuesday to hang out, literally:

Here are some of Ivens’ tweets and videos from the roof:

Ivens is quite sure this is going to end this weekend, though, as he told Wilusz:

“I was born and raised here, been a Tennessee fan my whole life and I just thought it was ridiculous that people are panicking the way they are panicking right now,” he said. “Do you honestly think I would be up here if I didn’t think they will beat Mississippi State?”

Update: That confidence proved well-placed, as Tennessee won 20-10. And Ivens got to go home:

[USA Today; photo from Sports Radio WNML on Twitter]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.

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