Monday, December 27, 2010

More Drydock Quick Hits from Confessor Doug -- Part 2

I was going to wait a few more days before I posted the rest of Confessor Doug’s blasts, but there seemed to be a Rich Phillips thread developing from his last post, so I thought I’d better get this into print.
Before I get to them, just a note on private emails:  I love them, love hearing from the Confessor Nation.  Give me good guidance of what’s of interest, and they frequently contain information I lack from my own listening over the past few years.  Unfortunately, my time is very limited.  I sometimes work six or seven days a week, I have a long commute, and there’s always Mrs. Plainsman who needs my time and attention back at the old sod house.   As much as I might like to engage in a private back-and-forth, my blog time – and I have another non-anonymous blog that is being severely neglected as this site has started to get some traction – must unfortunately be devoted to what goes onto the site. 
However, if you have some thoughts to share, please do feel free to contact me privately.  I may not have time for a point-by-point response, but if I think your thoughts are well-stated and interesting, I’d be delighted to post them – but only with your permission, which Doug was kind enough to grant in this case.  And, as I mentioned a few articles ago, I might just invite frequent posters to offer a guest blast now and then.  (Although my own topic list is growing and, alas, is in some cases somewhat stale.)  
Many, many thanks to anyone who writes.  If you have information for me that you would prefer that I keep confidential – I’ve had a couple of those the past year – I will honor that.
Herewith, the balance of Doug’s recent musings.  And thanks again, Doug.
     -- Plainsman
*     *     *
Doug on Rich Phillips and Jean-Jacques Taylor
I know you [addressing Your Plainsman] like him, but Rich Phillips has been a Ticker Guy for 15 years for a reason. I actually love his Tickers. They're informative, to the point, and provide just a touch of snide commentary, but to me, as a host he just doesn't have it.  I feel like Rich isn't secure enough with himself to be a solid host at a station that is known for ball busting. Every playful hypothetical directed towards him is shot down without any sort of delay or suspension of reality. Yes, we understand that Dan doesn't dress his daughters up as the 1995 Indians every time Albert Belle has a birthday. They're playing radio. But Rich doesn't mess around. He has a sort of aggressive defensive demeanor that isn't becoming of a Ticket host. Oddly enough the only guy his chemistry works well with to me is Donovan, but I think that speaks more about the talent and flexibility of Donnie Doo.
JJ Taylor is new. I haven't listened to him enough to have a solid opinion on him, other than he seems like the type to say something shocking because his job is to write content worth reading, whether or not he believes it. But since he's new, he doesn't take the mic with the command he should. It seems like he keeps waiting for a subject to be kicked to him.
Doug on Doyle King
I’m tired of Doyle segments. Now that he knows the bit, he tries too hard to be Doyle. He said some time back that because he was on The Ticket he got way more voice over work. So I imagine he sees dollar signs whenever the Musers ask to do an 840 with him (or maybe Doyle does the asking). I liked it when he was an organic nut job. Now it seems too forced.
Doug (a Professional Copywriter) on Some Recent Ads
I love the ad posts you do (naturally) [hey, thanks!] because since I started listening to The Ticket and its ads when I was 11, I grew an affinity to radio ads. It pains me that I’m currently at a job that doesn’t do radio, because it’s my favorite medium, and one that is so frequently screwed up. The two that kill me right now are:
The In Touch Credit Union spot with the woman and Aubre (but I want to say his name in the spot is Jeff). The spot starts with the guy saying he wants to have a talk and the woman, hopeful, saying “is this what I think it is?” and surprise! They’re both alking about In Touch Credit Union! Then the guy says “so let’s do it!” The girl: “I already did it.” Guy:  “glad we had this talk.” Are you kidding me? No conflict, no payoff liner, no attempt at humor or any point of interest. Why even pay for two voice actors? Awful.
Then the Just Brakes ad. That script has been the same since I started listening. I’m sure you’ve heard it. It’s a phone call between a Just Brakes rep and a customer, yet you can hear them both clearly. Neither of them has a phone effect on their voice. And after 12 years (at least) don’t you think the message has become just a touch stale?

11 comments:

  1. You're right, I've changed my views on Rich Phillips. You can search for some articles I've written over the past year acknowledging my growing admiration for his work.

    However, I do agree that when he co-hosts, his touchiness sometimes brings the proceedings to a halt. Not a big josher, is he? But in general, I think he's a pretty darned good fill-in guy, and I've liked his pre-games with Bob Sturm. And while his decade-and-a-half tenure as a Ticker guy may indeed tell us something, it also tells us something that he's been promoted into management and given greater on-air responsibilities. I've gotten used to his honking tone, just as I assume someday I'll get used to Dan McDowell's. So while he can be a bit sharp sometimes, I think he's carving out a niche for himself and it wouldn't kill me if he ascended to a full-time host position someday.

    (By the way: I think we have a sound engineer or two who checks in from time to time. Got a question for you. Can they do anything to Dan's EQ to take some of the edge off his tone?)

    I've heard a few of JJ Taylor's hosting efforts, but haven't formed an opinion yet. My short take is that he's shown improvement in the short time he's been on the air.

    Gotta confess (of course), I know Doyle does Doyle when they invite him in for a segment, but I still get a kick out of the guy, and get an even bigger kick out of the way The Hardline reacts to him. Breath of fresh air. And even though the lovely traffic twists (the Smitih girls) still steer an incredible amount of traffic to this site, I'd just as soon he did traffic every day.

    Agree on both of your ad analyses -- the In Touch Credit Union ad makes absolutely no dramatic sense at all. Of course, we remember the name "In Touch Credit Union," so I guess they made their point.

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  2. To address the EQ issue (yes, I am an audio engineer), there are two possibilities. The Ticket has a couple of good engineers, so:
    1. They are already doing what they can with Dan's voice
    2. Like everything else in the studio, it is falling apart or not working. (at least that is the impression I get)

    I spend a LOT of time mixing in churches, so, trying to EQ the male voice is something I have experience with... Sometimes, if they have a bad voice, you just have to roll with it.

    Interesting that the JJT/Rich/Donny thread shows up this morning. As I was listening on the way in, and sitting here working, I was just thinking I might want to tag onto yesterdays thread.

    I kinda like the showgram this morning. Rich can wear on me, but not too bad. And, while I don't think he can carry a show, I think he is working well with this lineup.

    Rich can be defensive. I think they draw him offsides on purpose. Much like Gordo does with George. The Ticket loves uncomfortable exchange, so they focus on it.

    Either way, this dry dock substitute is better than many of the others, IMHO.

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  3. Good Morning again,

    I know in my comment yesterday I said something along the lines about not liking Rich Phillips, and maybe I should clarify/edit what I meant.

    I agree with Confessor Doug in that he is a good Ticker guy, I like some of the whitty stuff he'll throw in every now and then, and that he gets his facts straight and delivers clearly. It's the hosting gigs that get me to dislike him, maybe an hour or so of him wouldn't be bad; it's just the extra two hours that beat me down. I'm sure the guy is over-worked too, so I feel for him and think he does the best job that he can.

    What bothers me about the InTouch ad: The woman would completely change their way of banking and where they are holding their money without talking to the husband first? I know if my wife switched up our bank and moved all of our money, we'd have a talk about it. It would be the same if it was vice-versa(husband moving all money over without consulting wife).

    As far as the RPhil/DDoo/JJT show this morning...I'm liking it. JJT seems to be more comfortable talking and joking and doesn't seem afraid of the mic. DDoo, although I think his sports talk is best in small doses, since he tends to exaggerate on one point and won't back down from it no matter what, but Rich Phillips and JJT seem to be balancing that all out. I guess in summary of them: They're balanced. For now at least. Gonna keep listening see how it goes.

    Also, a question since I know nothing about radio: When the hosts stop doing live spots for certain companies, does that mean that said company has dropped them as an endorser.(ex: Gordo doesn't do Oreo Cakester live spots anymore).

    Forgive me again for my post, it seems to be all over the place and unorganized, I'll work to correct this in the future.

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  4. "Forgive me again for my post, it seems to be all over the place and unorganized, I'll work to correct this in the future."

    Erik, don't change a thing. You'll fit in fine with the rest of us.

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  5. Did anyone else catch the slight tension between Donny & Rich this morning during Brandon Webb talk. Donny kept harping on a point, and Rich just stopped talking. Was it just me or was there some tension there? I agree Rich seems to love to play ball, but if the game turns on him he is out. If OLD SCHOOL Norm could turn Ticket Schtick friendly, Rich can too. I too am enjoying the JJT, Donny Doon, Rich show this morning. I think Donny is the perfect Yuck Monkey. In addition, I think Rich has GREAT recall of events. Listen extra hard, and you will see how often he remembers something from yesteryear that all the other host cant really recall. For example, Donny was talking about the Falcon that flew away @ the Air Force game, and Rich reminded the guys about the Texas Tech horse that went ape shit about 14 years ago and ran into a wall.

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  6. Eric-
    On the abscence of endorsement spots, it's way too variable to know. Some endorsements are "annual" (D&M, Dallas Dodge, AT&T), and pretty much run year round. Some are seasonal (Vermont Teddy Bear, Pajamagram) and others just run on their own schedules- (2 weeks out of every month, month on month off, etc)
    A lot of it depends on the client, the budget they have for radio (and therefore the % for the Ticket)if it's a product that lends itself to being endorsed, etc.
    So yes, sometimes if you notice a host no longer doing spots they may have been dropped, but it's also entirely possible that the client's campaign could just be over.
    With Cakesters, they had in store coupons, newspaper coupons, etc, that wasn't JUST radio, but a cross-platform advertising blitz. Not dropped there, more like the roll-out campaign just came to an end.

    Sincerly
    N Sider

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  7. The jingle that has the lyrics "holiday, holiday, it's the best one of the year" is about to drive me insane!

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  8. I stumbled over here from the UnTicket and am a little pissed off that I've never heard of this place before. People need to do a better job of keeping me informed. Someone will be receiving a severe beating for this transgression. Or is it transgressniff?

    My HSO: Rich Phillibs (intentional misspelling. *wink*) is officially the Ticket vuvuzela and should be confined to tickers only. I love Donnie and I'm pretty happy with JJT's fine and steadily improving work so far, but for the love of taint, please keep Rich off the air. He brings no humor, no HSOs, no intrigue or interesting points. A single segment with him is worse than an entire Norm-a-thon.

    Thank you.

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  9. Mr. Plainsman - now that BaD Radio's aggressiveness audio has taken on a life of its own, have you changed your initial stance on it? But I guess this will be mentioned in some later update on your Dan stance...

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  10. There are several circumstances surrounding the creation of this collection of timeless Ticket journalism that I can always count on: (1) There will be disagreements over Rich Phillips. (2) I will no sooner post an article than I will glance at it and immediately see four typos.

    And (3) Christy will noodge me about changing my views on Dan McDowell, presently in the "skeptical but Dan-curious" category.

    I haven't changed my mind about the "aggressiveness" seg that I heard. (There were two -- one with D-Doo present and the other -- the one I heard -- with him absent.) It was a nasty piece of work.

    But I may be changing my mind about Dan. A little tiny eensy bit. I'm sure Christy has marked her calendar for the first anniversary of my trailblazing multi-part General Unified Theory of BaD Radio, at which time she will demand my latest STD (Scorching Ticket Disquisition) on that estimable gentleman.

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  11. Cancer Monkey, all Your Plainsman can say is: Better late than never. Actually, he can also say: Welcome, and Thank You for Shopping at My Ticket Confession.

    I hope you will dip into the archives, presently containing 238 achingly crafted articles, to see if there's anything that attracts your interest.

    Alas, I am in the pro-Rich camp after initially disliking him.

    But please check in with more thoughtful Ticket commentary as you are so moved.

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