Inside Automotive Drops Another Huffines Referral After Their KLIF 570 “Wheels” Spots End
2024 February 7
2024 February 11 (UPDATE)

A month has passed since Huffines Motor Company stopped running commercials on the KLIF’s “Wheels” radio show. And with that termination of commercials, the referrals to Huffines Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram Plano and Huffines Hyundai Plano McKinney were immediately deleted from Inside Automotive’s (IA) purchase page. Inside Automotive (insideautomotive.com) is the official website of “Wheels”.

A new development indicates that Huffines appears destined to suffer the fate of most former Wheels’ sponsors, where any remaining referrals on the show’s website to past sponsors that survived the initial culling slowly fade away as time passes. After the initial culling, two Huffines dealerships persisted on the IA’s purchase page. As of February 5^th, with the vanishing of Huffines Hyundai Plano outlet, the Huffines Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram Lewisville outlet stands as the sole surviving referral.

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For the fourth time in two short years, the stoppage of commercials on the KLIF Wheels radio show results in the removal of associated referrals from the Inside Automotive’s purchase page. Yet, Wallace has repeatedly told his audience that he does not charge for placement within that car sales referral page. The following is just one example of this pronouncement:

Wheels with Ed Wallace
KLIF 570 AM – July 2, 2022 11:38AM

Ed Wallace
“[…] Now we do this for the purchase page of the website. So I get nothing out of it.

You guys, as you can tell the audience, I make nothing off the website. I don’t charge you guys anything for it.

I don’t charge you to put new cars coming out online.”

So, Wallace says that he receives no compensation for his purchase page referrals. But soon after the ad revenue from a dealer stops being received by Wheels, IA website referrals associated with that dealer start disappearing. When one evaluates the situation based upon actions instead of words, the only conclusion is that these referrals are implicitly part of the deal struck when advertising on Ed Wallace’s radio show.

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Furthermore, Wallace frequently insists that those referrals are there because those dealers are his friends. The following is just one example:

Wheels with David El Attrache and John Ingram
KLIF 570 AM – November 5, 2022 11:05AM

David El Attrache
“I want to go back to the purchase page. I think that is important. Because there are lots of great…”

Ed Wallace
“Theoretically, you guys are going to be here a long time. So the purchase page isn’t going anywhere. But that is how to e-mail you.”

David El Attrache
“That is how to e-mail us and all the other great dealers that are on the show as well.”

Ed Wallace
“They are not great dealers.
They’re my friends of mine.”

David El Attrache
“That too”

Ed Wallace
“As you and John are.”

David El Attrache
“They are great dealers too.”

John Ingram
“They are. Right?”

According to the Huffines website, Ken Winston continues in his role as general manger of Huffines Hyundai Genesis Plano. As recently as two months ago (December 9, 2023), Winston was a guest on Wheels. So, the deletion of that referral is not due to Wheels no longer having a “friend” at that dealership.

Conversely, it was noted that as of January 20^th, Allen Glover was no longer the voice of Norm Reeves Honda Superstore North Richland Hills. Instead, General Manager Richard Lennard read the copy for that show’s commercial. Allen Glover was last heard during the December 30^th show. Then, host Don Grantham vocalized the commercial on behalf of Glover for the intervening shows of January 6^th and January 13^h. A check of Inside Automotive’s Norm Reeves Honda contact information reveals that it no longer references Allen Glover as General Sales Manager. Instead, one is instructed to contact General Manager Richard Lennard or General Sales Manager Tyler Randolph. Neither of these two new guys were ever enough of a "friend" to have joined Wheels on the air during the past two years. Yet, referrals to Norm Reeves Honda Superstore North Richland Hills persist on the Inside Automotive purchase page despite the vanishing of "friend" Glover. One could suspect that Norm Reeves’ continued advertising on Wheels allows for the insertion of referrals to unknown individuals onto the purchase page. And one would not be surprised if these two new guys are portrayed as lifelong friends during the radio show.

When it comes to the hosts of Wheels and their pretensions of being “friends” with sponsors, keep in mind that the dynamic is more akin to the sponsors having purchased the “personal friend experience” than to an actually comradery. And for those unfamiliar with what exactly is a “personal friend experience”, it can be thought of as the radio show equivalent of the “girlfriend experience”.

Two and a Half Men (S7, E20)
“I Called Him Magoo”:

Jasmine
“So, Charlie, how can I make you happy?”

Charlie
“What are my choices?”

Jasmine
“Well, you paid for the full girlfriend experience, so... anything you want.”

Charlie
“Anything I want. Mm-hmm. I like that. Okay... Read this magazine....while I watch Sports Center. I want the girlfriend experience and that's what my girlfriend used to do.”

Jasmine
“Okay.”

Charlie
“And every once in a while, look at me and sigh while rolling your eyes.”

Jasmine
[sighs]

Charlie
“In fact, are you free tomorrow?”

Jasmine
“I'm never free, but I'm available.”

Charlie
“Well, great. How about you drag me to some boring museum so I can miss the Laker game?”

Jasmine
“It's your money. Is it okay if I go take a shower?”

Charlie
“Well, sure.”

Jasmine
“Okay.”

Charlie
“'ll be up in a bit. [sighs] Still cheaper than getting married.”

To conclude, dealerships considering advertising on Wheels should be aware that the show's hosts, be it Ed Wallace, Don Grantham, or John Ingram, are always available to provide the “personal friend experience”. But they are never free to provide it. Still, it’s cheaper than advertising on a radio show with hosts who are honest with the audience.

-- UPDATE: 2024 February 11 --

As noted in the above posting, Allen Glover was replaced as the voice of the Norm Reeves Honda commercial and removed as their contact from the Wheels’ website. The following is from the commercial voiced by Glover upon his return to Wheels after having departed Hiley Mazda.

Wheels with David El Attrache and John Ingram
KLIF 570 AM – October 7, 2023 8:16AM

Allen Glover

“ I’m Back!!! ”

“Hi. I’m Allen Glover with Norm Reeves Honda Superstore North Richland Hills. And you already know Norm Reeves’ reputation, great inventory, great customer service, and superior prices.

There has been a whole lot of new at Norm Reeves over the past year. Including me!”

Well, to paraphrase Glover’s past commercial for Norm Reeves Honda Superstore North Richland Hills: “He’s back!”. During the Wheels’ broadcast of February 10^th, Allen Glover debuted as the voice of the Southwest Nissan commercial, announcing himself as the General Manager of that Gilchrist Automotive property.

Wheels with Don Grantham and John Ingram
KLIF 570 AM – February 10, 2024 8:50AM

Allen Glover
“I’m Allen Glover… General Manager of Southwest Nissan in Weatherford.

2024 is a brand new year. And if you have been thinking about a brand new Nissan, let’s do it.”

Having left his prior employment at Hiley and Norm Reeves, Glover has four more Wallace-aligned options (Classic, Don Herring, Freeman, Moritz) should this engagement with Gilchrist Automotive falter.

-- Related Stories --

2024/01/15 - Huffines Motor Company Stops Advertising on KLIF Wheels

2023/04/15 - Autobahn BMW and Volkswagen Stop Advertising on KLIF Wheels

2022/11/08 - Frank Kent Cadillac Stops Advertising on KLIF Wheels. Norm Reeves Subaru Rockwall Aborts Sponsoring.

2022/10/08 - Sewell Automotive Company Stops Advertising on KLIF Wheels with Ed Wallace