Local headlines, sports, and room to talk.
The Morning Spiel is a local morning show built around WKMZ news, sports, weather, and long-form guest conversations. Its center of gravity is West Virginia: court updates, high school rankings, WVU roster talk, community health events, and the occasional movie chat.
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The Morning Spiel works from the familiar architecture of weekday local radio. Headlines arrive with a plainspoken focus on local issues, including criminal cases, crashes, public works, health-system investment, school sports, weather, and airport incidents. The show does not keep sports in a separate box for long. WVU spring practice, basketball roster building, the transfer portal, Bridgeport baseball, Penguins playoff timing, and national sports-media disputes all sit naturally beside county news and community updates. That mix gives the show its texture. It can be grim for several minutes, then loosen into baseball rankings or a joke about movie run times. Alex Wiederspiel is named on air as the host, and his presence gives the program a conversational rather than formal shape. Questions tend to be broad and patient. Guests often get room to speak at length, especially when the subject is personal or technical. A segment on Alzheimer's awareness, for instance, treats stigma, primary-care conversations, referrals, and family fear with more care than a quick promo stop would allow. Sports guests bring a different energy. Michael Minnick of Connect Bridgeport helps turn high school rankings and Bridgeport results into a local scouting conversation. Mike Osti of WV Sports Now brings WVU roster analysis, NIL context, and a wider college-sports view. Brian Hernandez of the Zero Dark Nerdy Podcast shifts the show into movies, trailers, rewatch habits, and pop-culture recommendations. The transitions are loose, but that looseness is part of the appeal. The show feels like a host clearing a morning desk in public: headlines, caveats, side thoughts, guest segments, and one more sports note before signoff. It is best for listeners who want regional relevance first and can live with a little sprawl. The serious material is real, including violence, DUI, drug charges, child abuse allegations, fatal overdose, dementia, and murder trial coverage. The counterweight is a steady local sensibility. The Morning Spiel is not trying to sound national. Its value is that it knows exactly where it is.
Made for: For West Virginia listeners who want local news, high school and WVU sports, and community conversations in one familiar morning feed. It also suits sports fans who like regional context more than national hot-take pace.
What sets it apart: The show’s strength is its blend of practical local headline service and unhurried guest segments. It can cover a court case, a Bridgeport baseball ranking, an Alzheimer's awareness conversation, and a movie trailer without pretending they belong to separate worlds.
The Morning Spiel. Weekday mornings on 103.3 WKMZ-FM
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Alex Wiederspiel connects WVU sports results to the choices, expectations and local loyalties surrounding them.
The Morning Spiel turns a West Virginia radio morning into a conversational guide to the local sports calendar. Alex Wiederspiel moves between monologue and guest interviews, returning repeatedly to WVU basketball while making room for hockey, baseball and golf.
Alex Wiederspiel turns Mountaineer postmortems into the sports conversation your group chat keeps postponing.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A Friday pop-culture turn that stays relaxed and easy to follow.
The Morning Spiel takes a Friday turn away from sports and into pop culture with Brian Hernandez of the Zero Dark Nerdy Podcast. The segment moves at a relaxed clip through Spottledot Movie, a quick look at how average feature-film length changed from 1931 to 2013, and trailer…
A plainspoken health segment that turns stigma into concrete next steps.
The Morning Spiel keeps Alzheimer's awareness grounded in plain advice. It treats stigma as a real barrier, then gets to the first step quickly: see a primary care physician and ask about a specialist referral.
A West Virginia hoops check-in that turns a side title into a useful marker.
Luke Blaine sits in with The Morning Spiel for a loose postmortem on West Virginia's season, with the Crown Tournament title and the overtime win over Oklahoma doing most of the work. The trophy is treated less like a finish line than a checkpoint, and that feels right.
A loose sports hour that moves from big games to Augusta and keeps the discussion practical.
The Morning Spiel settles into an easy sports-talk groove, moving from the national title game to NHL playoff races, baseball, and then a longer stop at Augusta.
Bracket talk that turns tournament chaos into a useful lesson in roster construction.
March Madness is the hook, but the episode keeps circling back to a sturdier question: what does a wild tournament reveal about how a team gets built?
A loose college-basketball monologue that lands on why the chaos still matters.
The Morning Spiel centers on Alex Wiederspiel's reaction to the UConn-Duke game, and the appeal is easy to hear. He treats it as one of the best sporting events he has watched because it stayed improbable almost the whole way through.
A loose, neighborly West Virginia sports roundup that keeps moving.
The Morning Spiel moves like a friendly West Virginia sports desk, with Alex Wiederspiel opening things up and Mike Ostie stepping in for a quick pass through WVU women’s basketball, WVU men’s basketball, WVU baseball, and a little pro sports.
A candid, neighborly look at a season that came up one hard stop short.
The Morning Spiel follows West Virginia's women's basketball season to its close with more feeling than box score. Alex Wiederspiel and Greg Carey take the team through earning the right to host the round of 64 and 32, beating Miami of Ohio, and then meeting Kentucky, a loud…
Bill Simmons debates NBA tanking, MVP races, and movies with Zach Lowe and friends.
This episode covers local news headlines for April 17, 2026, including terrorism charges, a DUI crash, a murder trial, child abuse allegations, health care investments, and downtown redevelopment in West Virginia.
The Morning Spiel closes out its Friday with a pop-culture side trip.
The Morning Spiel centers on Debbie Spiker, chair of the Tri-County Walk to End Alzheimer's, and a Preston County Ride to Remember scheduled for Saturday, April 18 at the Brewston-Brandonville Volunteer Fire Department in Bruceton Mills.
This episode covers local news headlines including a kidnapping case continuance, a historic mill auction, and an emergency plane landing.
This episode discusses the Diana Rossini story, focusing on her role as a chief NFL insider at The Athletic and its impact on sports journalism.
This episode covers local news headlines including a DUI case with child endangerment, nursing home caregiver charges, a murder trial, and a house fire evacuation.
A local morning news show covering headlines including a drug overdose case and sports updates.
A morning show host interviews sports journalist Mike Osti about West Virginia Mountaineers football and baseball.
A local morning radio show delivering news, sports, and weather headlines for April 13th.
A morning news/talk show host interviews a local runner preparing for the Boston Marathon.
College basketball is finally done for the season.
A local morning news podcast covering weather, crime, and court updates in West Virginia.
Sports felt nicely packed.
This episode previews a WVU baseball game, likely against UCF, with discussions from hosts and guests on a sports radio show.
Basketball drives the morning.
Brackets run on vibes.
WVU basketball gets a fast stretch inside a loose sports hour.
A morning radio show host discusses mostly sports, including high school basketball and a preview of an upcoming sports segment, with a brief non-sports commentary on OpenAI and Disney.
Disappointment sits heavy for Mountaineer fans.
Host Alex Wiederspiel returns to discuss WVU women's basketball and their Sweet 16 chances, with an interview guest.
A morning sports talk show segment discussing WVU basketball's tough season and upcoming Big 12 tournament.
The host talks about attending a hockey game in Morgantown and previews an upcoming high school hockey game.
A morning news and talk show covering current events, sports, and local music with guest Aristotle Jones.
A morning news and talk show covering local news, sports, and advertisements.
A morning radio show host discusses the recent snowstorm and expresses gratitude for avoiding major snowfall.
A morning radio show host discusses the conclusion of the Winter Olympics, focusing on Team USA's hockey gold and overall medal standings.
Host Alex Wiederspiel analyzes WVU's basketball loss to Utah, discussing the team's lack of margin for error and a critical turnover.
A morning radio show discussing Mountaineer men's basketball and other sports news.
A sports talk radio host interviews Mike Osti about West Virginia University basketball's NCAA tournament chances.
A morning radio talk show host shares personal anecdotes and humorous reflections on life, sports, and self-awareness.
A morning sports talk show discussing Olympic basketball and ice hockey, with a correction on tournament format.
The Morning Spiel splits its sports-heavy episode between West Virginia women’s basketball and Olympic hockey, with Greg Carey of MetroNews joining first and TJ Chillot of Locked On Hockey joining later.
The host returns from a weekend of calling six hockey and one basketball game, sharing his experiences and the challenges of back-to-back broadcasts.
The host discusses the Pittsburgh Penguins' losing streak and uses the example of J.T.
The host shares humorous personal stories about his two dogs' contrasting eating habits and discusses veterinary advice on pet behavior.
A sports talk segment discussing West Virginia men's basketball's season performance and NCAA tournament prospects.