Sorry I've not been able to post new material lately. I have a couple of items lined up, but since I was out of town last week, I thought I'd check to see if anyone had any blasts they'd like to offer. Didh't hear a word of the channel, and it was rough, let me tell you.
Thanks to everyone who posted on the Voice of the Nation open forum.
Christy mentioned this previously, but what I'm noticing about the week of March 14th-18th is the heavy, heavy emphasis on hockey. Examples below.
ReplyDeleteCrawford with the Hardline: a great two-segment interview, but Mike made it plain beforehand that having him on was a managerial edict. Mike was less-than-impressed with the hockey player interviews that took place during ticketstock and was hesitant to do any further player interviews.
Brad Richards with Norm: Norm discussed concussions, violent hits, charity work and fine wine with Brad. Norm had also harped on vicious hits during his previous show, and Sturm pointed out that Norm's proposed solutions were somewhat ridiculous as they'd never fly with the player's union.
Joe Nieuwendyk with Junior Miller: A decent-yet-somewhat-generic sports listen (especially considering Jub was out that day), but by sheer accident, Bob and Dan had him on a few hours later during their show. The weekly Razor interviews are always highly entertaining.
Just about everyone else with BaD radio: far more "bit" in these interviews, as Bug and Sturm have established relationships with the Stars.
I picture the Stars brass sitting in a meeting a week ago and discussing what the value of being radio partners with the Ticket is, considering that KTCK only devotes the resources of one midday show and one weekend/ticker host towards them. They probably saw many empty seats despite the very tight standings battle, and likely said "hey, lets turn the screws on the ticket and see if they can help us put some butts in some seats -- get something tangible out of this partnership."
so...what's y'all's take on it?
Very timely, AP.
ReplyDeleteThe Citadel acquisition has got me thinking about the Ticket's malnourished signal once again, which several commenters have linked to The Ticket's ability to attract only the weakest sister of the major franchises. So there's your Citadel/Stars tie-in.
I agree with two things commenters have recently written (and Mike R has observed):
(1) Hockey player interviews are usually terrible. I'm not sure why -- surely they can't be that less interesting and mic-friendly than other atheletes. Maybe Mike is right that they're just not accustomed to it.
(2) Too much hockey interruption of valuable showgram broadcast time. Cowboy game-day coverage should never be pre-empted for anything hockey-related, and I'm not sure that doesn't include an actual hockey contest.
It appears CJ Wilson v. The Ticket, Round 2, is currently underway on Twitter.
ReplyDelete"they've been trashing me for the last 6 years. I don't do favors for negative people"
"Guess this means its gonna be exclusives for Ben + Skin for all of 2011, and maybe some galloway + co."
I think after losing The Cowboys, Ticket Management panicked, thinking they had to carry some sort of games, and they signed a crappy deal* with The Stars. Usually I think Management is pretty well dialed in to what the P1 wants, but in this case they blew it. I wonder how long the contract is? I'm so freakin' sick of Hockey crap interrupting The Hardline and Top 10.
ReplyDeleteAlso, that interview with Crawford was pretty good. I like Crawford. He's got a sense of humor. I think interviews with hockey players are generally kind of pointless (though Ott isn't bad), but Hockey Coaches can be good. They tend to just say what's on their mind, when Managers/Coaches of other sports would take the bland PC approach.
*I'm assuming The Ticket/Cumulus got no money in the deal. That's the only way I can imagine it being good for them.
-Anon B
Am I missing something, RE: CJ Wilson? I kinda like the guy, but I think he's wrong here. I can't recall any Ticket personalities ever dissing him. Anyone got any examples about what's put a bee in his bonnet?
ReplyDelete-Anon B
@anonB - see the following posts (and their associated comments)
ReplyDeletehttp://myticketconfession.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-ticket-confession-congratulates.html
http://myticketconfession.blogspot.com/2010/12/torn-from-todays-ticket-headlines-whos.html
http://myticketconfession.blogspot.com/2010/12/musers-v-cj-talk-amongst-yourselves.html
There might be another post in there that details the exact tweet timeline.
Other than the Musers dust-up with CJW last year, does The Ticket have a history of problems with him? My recollection is that the shows were pretty positive about his attitudinal and performance turnaround last year, and are positive about his prospects for the coming season.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I can follow of the twitter fight going on with CJ Wilson, it looks like he mistook @1310ticketless for 1310 The Ticket...which actually doesn't explain away his retort. @1310ticketless wanted to set up an interview with him for their own sports website http://paranoidfan.com/ and CJ said:
ReplyDelete@1310ticketless everything about me is available via google, wikipedia, or reading one of 300+ blogs I've written
I don't think The (real) Ticket cares to have CJ on ever, but can someone let me know if any of the Ticket shows bring up this dust-up?
I'm listening to young Bob getting hung up on by a college basketball coach during an interview right now. Hmm, this might explain why Bob can be a kiss-up during interviews with coaches and players...
@ap - "Bug and Sturm"?
The Orphanage this Saturday talked during the Scrubs crosstalk about the poor Stars interviews, and I caught a little of it. A problem seems to be that English is Kari's second language (which is probably an issue for a good chunk of the team). Another is that the Stars had the luxury of Mike Modano being the face of the franchise for over a decade. Now, they're trying to find the next face of the team. From an aside comment from Bob a couple of weeks ago, he seemed to indicate Jamie Benn (who is tearing it up right now and looks like he'll be the next Mike Modano - on the ice, at least) does not do good interviews either. And the Stars best player - Brad Richards - will probably be gone after this season.
I wonder if the Stars can mandate a weekly hockey interview with various Stars players/coach with all of the Ticket shows (kinda like how the Ranch Report is thrust upon Mike Rhyner)? If they really wanted more Stars coverage, they probably could make it happen. Maybe help sponsor another Charity Challenge on Ice - just a suggestion to help get hockey more publicity in Dallas.
From those who can remember, what was The Ticket like after the Stars won in 1999? Were they forced to start paying attention to hockey for the next couple of years or did they forget about it once football season started?
Finally - I entered into my work's March Madness tournaments, and I used Norm's picks for one of them. I am dead last. So is he in The Ticket's tourney. I am never following his picks ever again. Thank goodness, this particular work tourney wasn't the big money one. No wonder Bob was horrified when Norm made Green Bay beating Chicago a double play...
D'oh...there I go, typing drunk again..."Sturm and Drang" is probably what my fingers meant to type. Or Bug and Dan. They changed their twitter handles today and my universe is up-side-down.
ReplyDeletecaptcha = 'hocompup'? WTF?
Dear "other" Anonymous.
ReplyDeleteGo back and check the tape. The Ticket dumped the Cowboys, they didn't "lose" them. The Cowboys did absolutely nothing for the Ticket's ratings, and nothing for Cumulus's bottom line. Jerrah controls EVERY single minute of commercial inventory during the game, and the Ticket (then) and the Fan (now)are left with a minute or 2 in pregame and a couple of minutes in post game.
Crappy deal? All the games run in the evening, where the Ticket doesn't run live programming. The only games that interfere with the Hardline is East coast games. And since they play in the WESTERN conference, there's really not very many Hardline interruptions.
Although I've taken up hockey this season (probably partially due to The Ticket's influence; mostly because my sports conscience has rocketed in the last year or so), I don't like having the Stars on The Ticket. Here's why:
ReplyDelete- I know I'm in the minority on this, but I like The Ticket Top 10, and I look to it for (sports) segments I've missed. The (awesome) UnTicket doesn't post sports-y segments, and they're usually behind in their archiving of all shows (which is a ridiculous luxury in and of itself so I am not complaining in any way, ap)
- It's annoying when the Rotten Radio cd comes on the web stream because they can't run Stars broadcasts on-line and I have to switch to something else (clearly, I'm just lazy here)
- The radio broadcast for the Dallas Stars is a laugh. I love, love Ralph and Razor, but Ralph is doing his best to please both mediums' audiences (so radio gets the short end) and Razor completely ignores his radio audience
- As much as I enjoy following hockey right now, the other 3 sports are still ahead in terms of interest. I'm with Mr. Plainman on this: The Stars took away at least one Dallas Cowboys postgame show (definitely the Jan. 2 game; maybe the Dec. 19 one), which is a big deal; the Mavericks post game show when they beat the LA LAKERS(!) (the win ended a 6 game losing streak so it was a. big. win.); and pushed at least one of the Texas Rangers play-off post game shows back...if not outright took one of them out - either way, that's also a big deal.
It'd be nice if the other shows showed even a sliver of an interest in the Dallas Stars (The Musers being forced to talk to Razor and asking him generic hockey questions they made up when they scanned the articles on the last Dallas Stars game once a week does not count). That might help the cause.
"Crappy deal?"
ReplyDeleteYes. Do you really think the Stars games do anything for ratings, or even present the station with promotional opportunities? Sorry, but no one cares about hockey in Dallas. I don't see how this deal benefits The Ticket in any way. It only seems to annoy P1s.
"All the games run in the evening, where the Ticket doesn't run live programming."
I happen to really like the Top 10. It's the only way I can keep up, since I can only listen during my commute (I can't stream or get signal in my office). It may not be live, but it's essential to me, and hockey interrupts it frequently.
"The only games that interfere with the Hardline is East coast games. And since they play in the WESTERN conference, there's really not very many Hardline interruptions."
I have no data on this, but I can tell you it seems every time I have to drive to Fort Worth in the evening, there's a freaking hockey game on when I'd like to listen to the Top 10 or catch the end of The Hardline.
-Anon B
Personally, I dont mind The Stars programming one bit. Im not a HUGE fan, but i consider it a treat to hear a Bob & Dan postgame on my way home in the late evening. I never thought The Ticket missed a beat when the Cowboys "lost them". I have heard several Ticket personalities say the Cowboys did not make a change up or down in there ratings. ALTHOUGH, I do recall Mike spending a couple of HIS MINDS on how people from out of town became fans... The common denominator- The Cowboys drew them in. I think The Ticket's ratings cant get much higher, thus the Cowboys didnt make that much of a change. On the other hand, The Fan needs teams to attract new listeners. Their numbers are so low, any new listener is an improvement. CJ has taken ALOT of heat in his career. I can imagine he might have some soft skin about it.
ReplyDeleteThe CJ twitter blowup was interesting, even though quickly blown out of proportion. 1310Ticketless was trying to get CJ to participate in the nightly tweetup that they call #the2300. I think CJ just thought that 1310Ticketless was a station representative, and acted like a bit of a douchebag about not wanting to talk to the station. 1310Ticketless and his followers then jumped on CJ, saying that he was dissing the P1. It was a brief flurry, and you had to be following 1310Ticketless and #the2300 to see what was going on, but it was way overblown for what it was.
ReplyDeleteBottom line, CJ shouldn't have tried to big-time anyone. If he didn't want to participate (regardless of who he thought was asking), he should have just ignored the request. Referencing his Wikipedia entry and the 300 blogs he's written (whatever that means) was simply a dick move.
Why should anybody care about Cj wilson. If I recall, he's the one that ditched the musers and had a crappy excuse for it last year. he'll be gone next year anyways, and good riddance.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the insightful comment, Mr. McTrollerson. Okay, I'll be drawn offsides...
ReplyDeleteCJ is a professional athlete on a local professional sports team, and is therefore of some interest to fans of that local professional sports team. What #the2300 is about is getting a community together to talk about things that are interesting to that community. Since the people that follow #the2300 are predominantly local to Dallas and listeners of The Ticket, CJ would fall into the category of a personality of interest for this group. Your personal feelings about him are irrelevant; you do not speak for all local sports fans.
Do you really think the Stars games do anything for ratings,
ReplyDeleteYes. Game days get higher ratings than non-game days.
or even present the station with promotional opportunities?
Again, yes. Getting seen or mentioned in front of 10,000-18,000people at the AAC in much more of a promotional opportunity than running the top 10.
Sorry, but no one cares about hockey in Dallas.
Proof of this wildly hyperbolic statement? Yeah, didn't think so...
I don't see how this deal benefits The Ticket in any way. It only seems to annoy P1s.
Because you're a P-1, and it annoys you, doesn't mean it annoys ALL P-1's. Generalize much?
I happen to really like the Top 10
Well, isn't that special.
. It's the only way I can keep up,
keep up? You realize it's just a radio 'sho-gram' right? You don't really have to keep up, they'll keep broadcasting even if you don't listen for a while...
It may not be live, but it's essential to me, and hockey interrupts it frequently.
If they were broadcasting to an audience of 1, they might be concerned about you. But they're BROADCASTING. Trying to get as many people as possible. And see above, games get higher ratings than non-game days.
I have no data on this, but I can tell you it seems every time I have to drive to Fort Worth in the evening, there's a freaking hockey game on when I'd like to listen to the Top 10 or catch the end of The Hardline.
Sucks to be you, doesn't it?
Last Anonymous Poster,
ReplyDeleteYou, madam or sir, decidedly do not understand the spirit of this fine blog. I don't mean to speak for the Plainsman, but this is not the place to snark or spit on others. Disagree with someone all you want, but do it in a measured fashion.
Perhaps Grumpy Anon is trolling his/her wares here again?
Plainsman,
ReplyDeleteMy retort to the angry hockey-loving anonymous seems to have disappeared. I think my response was reasoned, polite and showed restraint. It also included facts, which the troll's did not. I don't think my comment deserved to be censored. What exactly did you find offensive about it?
-Anon B
Anon B - there's something in your post that won't let it stay published. I've tried to post it myself a couple of times, and it won't stick. I doubt Mr. Plainsman is deleting it so fast.
ReplyDeleteHmm... well that's annoying. It was up there for at least a few minutes, as I went back and checked it. I wonder if one of those links are considered verboten by Blogger.
ReplyDelete-Anon B
Who said I was 'hockey loving'? I can't stand the sport, but I understand why the Ticket thinks it's better than regurgitated content.
ReplyDeleteand facts are nice things. Too bad your original post was nothing but opinion. You're entitled to your opinion. But I'm also entitled to call 'bullsh' on your opinions when you throw out crap like 'no one cares about hockey, it annoys the p-1', etc
Angry Hockey Fan, trust me, your "argument" was blown away. And it wasn't hard.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, who cares. I just want to tune in and see what's going on at the campout!
Wait... wha!?
Great, more hockey.