For over 30 years, George Dunham has been a driving force behind one of the most successful radio shows in Dallas radio history. As a member of “The Musers” on Sportsradio 96.7 and 1310 The Ticket, Dunham, Craig Miller and Gordon Keith have brought a unique style and perspective to not only sports talk, but popular culture and sometimes emotional topics that resonate with listeners and their fellow employees.
A 1988 graduate of the University of North Texas, George has done just about everything there is to do in the broadcasting world. He was the voice of North Texas football for over 20 years, he’s a member of the Texas Radio Hall of Fame, and The Musers captured the 2021 Marconi Award for Major Market Personality of the Year.
In addition to his broadcasting accolades, Dunham is passionate about music, with his band The Bird Dogs performing regularly across DFW and at Jub Jam, which is one of KTCK’s major station events of the year. Dunham has been organizing Jub Jam for almost 15 years, and in that time has raised almost $1.5 million to benefit the Senior Source, which has served almost 25,000 older adults in the Dallas area with services, programs and other resources to help with security in their later years. Over the years, Dunham has become close with many artists across the Texas and red dirt country landscape. Artists Pat Green, Wade Bowen, Steve Helms, Bobby Duncan, Eleven Hundred Springs, Flatland Calvary, Cody Jinks, John Baumann and Jack Ingram have all performed … and in 2025, one of Dunham’s musical inspirations, Randy Rogers, served as the headliner.
“When George Dunham calls and says he wants to start a benefit concert for your organization, you know it’s going to be something that he puts his heart and soul into,” said Stacey Malcolmson, President and CEO of The Senior Source. “And it’s also introduced a younger–and more male–audience to The Senior Source’s work, many of whom would likely not seek us out, but can benefit from our caregiver support program.”
Also an avid golfer, Dunham, along with “Junior” Miller, host the D&M Open charity golf tournament annually to raise money for Special Olympics. In addition to that tourney, Dunham also plays semi-regularly and recently embarked on a once-in-a-lifetime golf trip to Ireland. Over nine days, Dunham and his group played multiple courses, including Royal Portrush and Adair Manor.
Now, at age 60, Dunham sits down with AVIDGOLFER to discuss “The Musers’” new schedule, his passion for music, the game of golf, and whether he’s thought about his future in radio and beyond.
AVIDGOLFER: Let’s talk a little Ticket first. You, Craig Miller and Gordon Keith are now going from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. How are you liking the new schedule?
George Dunham: I’m feeling a little more rejuvenated with the extra half hour in the morning and then the extra hour at the end of the show. I can notice a difference with a little more sleep, and I just don’t think we realized how long the show was until we looked at it and thought, we’ve been going four and a half hours for 30 years. It’s just a really long haul. Looking around the town and looking around the country, most talk shows just don’t go that long. And, you know, I think it’s going to make it to where we can do this longer, and that’s ultimately our goal. To do this as long as we can.
AG: What is your perspective on the overall state of terrestrial radio and what do you think the next 10 or so years might hold?
GD: It’s tough to predict the future. I really have no idea, because everything has changed so fast about how we get our information and how people consume it. I do think the demise of terrestrial radio is a little exaggerated. I know The Ticket is still doing very well. There are a lot of stations that are doing well, and there are a lot of people in this town who are employed by radio stations. It has changed, but I still think there is a need for what’s going on in my town right now. Weather, news, or what’s going on with local sports teams, I still think it’s important to people. While how we consume that information has changed, I truly think radio still has its place.
AG: You have worked with Junior [Miller] for so many years now, and you’ve been friends for even longer. You’ve been with Gordon for a long time, too. How much pride do you take in the fact that you three have maintained that level of a relationship for as long as you have and continue to see the level of success you do?
GD: We see so many changes in the radio industry. You see turnover on shows, people move on, and people go to different markets. Sometimes you’re too close to it to actually examine what’s going on, and I think only recently, all three of us have looked back and appreciated what we’ve done, what we’ve meant to each other and how long we’ve lasted. Thirty-one years has gone by in a flash in a lot of ways. I think especially in the last five to 10 years, we’ve become very grateful for each other and what we’ve accomplished. In my experience with radio, the run we’ve had simply doesn’t happen. We never would have believed it if you would have said we were going to stay right here in this market, just south of where we were going to school at North Texas, and you’re going to have a radio show together with some other guy, and you’re going to have it for 31 years in morning drive. I never would have believed it.
AG: Your kids are getting older now, and it’s possible we might see grandkids and that kind of thing before long. Have you thought about when it might be time to start focusing on your future after radio?
GD: I think about that a lot. I ask myself that eternal question. Are we working to live, or living to work? I am getting to the point now where I just need to live, enjoy the people around me, and enjoy the time that I have left. But I really don’t think I’m quite there yet. I still think I need to work. I need structure, I need a challenge … and I don’t think I could play that much golf. Now that I’m 60, I thought I would start thinking about those things a lot more. But I still feel challenged. I still feel the need to get in there and work every morning and, if nothing else, maybe the last year has confirmed to me that I’m not at the end. I’ve got some years left in me.
AG: Over the last 30-plus years, you’ve gotten to experience a lot of great sporting events here in DFW and gotten to do a lot of great things with The Ticket. From championships with all four major teams to charity work. What are some of the things that you’re going to take away from your career whenever you decide that it’s time to hang it up?
GD: A lot of the memories aren’t necessarily sports-related, although those moments are great. I guess the thing that is really been most gratifying is when people come up and say, you helped me through this time of my life, or just in general, you helped me get to work in the morning. I have had listeners tell me I was a friend on the other side of the radio. That’s really the best of what we do. I never really considered that when I was younger and breaking into radio. I’ve never really looked at it like that. But the fact that we’ve been able to help people like that, and then what we have done with our charity work, with what Craig has done with Hope Supply and what the D&M Open has done for Special Olympics, and then Jub Jam and what it’s meant to the Senior Source. I think I would put those things at the top. The fact that we’ve been able to use our platform for some good, I think, has been our best accomplishment and the thing that I am personally most proud of.
AG: You mentioned Jub Jam. That’s one of your signature events every year and something you really enjoy. Did you ever think when you first decided that you were going to pick up a guitar, that at some point you’d be playing on stage with guys like Randy Rogers and Pat Green?
GD: No, I didn’t. Music has been a new chapter over the last 20 years. I didn’t know where it was going, and I really didn’t know why I started it. I just felt compelled to pick up my guitar again, attempt to play fiddle a little bit and do some writing. It’s almost like a golf bug. You know, you play for the first time, and you want to go play again, you want to get better. I was so inspired by people like Randy and Pat, and the fact that they have played Jub Jam is just awesome to me. Just a few weeks ago, I was standing right next to Brady Black and Randy Rogers, and we were playing songs together. It still feels like a dream.
AG: And speaking of golf, you just did a golf vacation in Ireland. Tell us a little bit about your trip across the pond.
GD: You know, it’s so bizarre that in all these years, I had never taken a guys’ golf trip. I was so busy with work and broadcasting with North Texas for 25 years, that many of my weekends were taken up. And if I ever did go out of town, let alone overseas, I would go with my family. For this trip, I got approached by my high school friend, my old teammate at R.L Turner, and he told me there was a trip to Ireland and it’s nine rounds and nine days. My first thought was, well, I just don’t do things like that. And then I thought, well, you know what? Why not? And I’d heard about some of these courses like Portrush and Old Head, and I said, “Yeah, let’s go, let’s do it.” I don’t know if I’ll ever do anything like it again. I only made seven of the nine rounds, though. One ended up being a spa day, and I missed one because I got sick at the end of the trip. It was very out of character, but I think sometimes you have different views on things as you get older, and I think I’ve got to the point where I thought, hey, why not? Instead of, why would you? I figured let’s go see some of the world that you’ve never seen before and may never see again.
AG: Was it everything you expected?
GD: I never grew up thinking I can’t wait to play links golf because it always looked like the exact opposite of what we love here. We love lush greens, wide fairways and beautiful sand traps. But the countryside in Ireland is hundreds and hundreds of miles of just green, lush beauty. The people were nice, and the golf courses were extraordinary. We saw courses that have been there for centuries, and some that have only been there for a few decades, but they all have their own story. And to have an Irish caddy that you could barely understand telling you how to approach a shot from 180 yards was amazing. It was a real challenge, but playing Adare Manor, where they’re having the Ryder Cup here in just a couple of years, playing Portrush just weeks before the Open was incredible. I wish I had played a little better, but the setting was just gorgeous. It also confirmed to me why I have always felt the European player is tougher than the American player. They play under tougher weather conditions and course conditions. You have to be accurate. For the most part, we have these big fairways that are 80 yards wide, and there’s just none of that there. It’s no mystery to me why the Euros tanned our hides the last couple of decades in the Ryder Cup.
AG: Any memorable shots you’d care to mention?
GD: There were 12 of us on the trip, and I think after the first three days I led the group in birdies. But then that quickly went away. I’d say my favorite moment was at Adare Manor. I was paired up with my friend Todd, and he and I have been friends since we were teenagers. And just for a few hours, we turned back the clock at Adare Manor. He shot 71, I shot 77, which is really good for me, and I just felt like I could play the game again. I know it sounds corny, but just for a few minutes, we were 16 again. We were playing a couple of guys from Atlanta, and just crushing them. It reminded me of when we used to play as buddies and as partners at Brookhaven. I felt like I knew what I was doing out there. 77 is a really good score for me, especially at a course like that. They call it the Augusta National of Europe, and I haven’t played Augusta, but I’ve walked it, and it’s very similar. That was a great day.
AG: Is there anything else on your bucket list golf-wise that you’d like to do, other than play with Jordan Spieth?
GD: Well, that is number one. Someday, maybe. Even if it’s just one hole, I would be fine. I would like to play St. Andrews one day with my three boys. They all play golf. My oldest is my golfer. He’s the one that played in high school. He’s a really good player. But my other two play, also. Maybe we could play Pebble Beach together or maybe we play St. Andrew’s, something like that. I would put that up on the bucket list to enjoy those places with them.
AG: We’re golf fortunate here in Dallas. We have a lot of top-tier PGA TOUR talent that lives here, but we’ve also got a lot of great golf courses and a lot of professional tournaments. Have you been out to Colonial, the Nelson or the LIV event the last couple years?
GD: Don’t get me started on LIV. You know, to each own, I guess. I do have a real personal attachment to the Nelson with what the Salesmanship Club has done for this community. I have made a lot of friends in the Salesmanship Club over the years, so I go to the Nelson at least one round a year. I also play in the celebrity event they have before the tournament. That’s always fun. Colonial is just incredible, and we’re so lucky to have that course, so historic, in the area. It’s like stepping back in time. I think the renovation they did is just awesome. We’re lucky to have so many great events here in town.
AG: Well, we’re coming up on another Cowboys season. How about your thoughts on the upcoming campaign?
GD: I really like Brian Schottenheimer. To me, he’s been a breath of fresh air. They may be worse this year … I don’t know. I’m still not convinced that they’re going to leave last year’s problems behind and the problems of the last 30 years. But I love his approach, and that has me at least interested again. Let’s see what Schotty can do. I think there are still compelling stories. Will they sign Micah Parsons, and can he continue to grow and be a dominant pass rusher? Is Dak done, or is he about to jump right back in and be what he was a couple years ago? I don’t know. Are they actually going to be able to run the football? Could they actually win a playoff game that’s beyond the wildcard round? It’s still fascinating. I get drawn in every year. Every January and February, we say, that’s it, I’m not buying in. I’m not going to watch. But it’s a soap opera that we just can’t stop watching.