This is not the Richie-Greggo post I promised last time out. It'll be up soon, I promise.
FIRST INTERIM RaGE THOUGHT:
Commenter Anon D posted a comparison of the Hardline and RaGE ratings for the last little while. I'm cutting and pasting his stuff:
They haven't made ANY dent in the Hardline's ratings. None. Zero. Zip. Nada.
Here's the monthlies, Men 25-54, 3-7p.
July Ticket 7.7 #1, Fan 1.8, 27th
Aug Ticket 7.9 #1, Fan 2.3 18th
Sep Ticket 8.9,#1, Fan 2.6,17th
Oct Ticket 9.7 #1, Fan 3.3, 12th
Nov Ticket 9.2 #1, Fan 4.3 6th
Dec Ticket 7.7 #1, fan 2.9 13th
Jan Ticket 8.4 #1, Fan 1.8, 27th
Feb Ticket 7.7 #1, Fan 1.7 22nd
As you can see, even the Fan's increase due to the playoffs and WS didn't hurt KTCK, due to the overall increase in sports listening (in other words, to paraphrase Rhyner, even the marginal p-3 found themselves listening to more sportsradio at that time)
And if you want a fun game- name 21 other stations that appeal more to men 25-54 than the Fan. Ticket and ESPN, 4 rock stations, a couple of country stations, a couple urban, 4 hispanic stations, you're still only at 14. Couple of news or talk, couple odds and ends (KERA? KEOM?), you're still only at 18. That's because stations like KISS and i93 (that appeal to teens) and KVIL (that appears to soccer moms) are more popular with men aged 25-54 than KRLD-FM.
The Fan thought they'd come in and take some of that big Ticket audience. And all they've managned to do is erode ESPN's numbers. (Down from a 4.1 Tie for 8th in July to a 2.6 and 17th in Feb for 3-7p. Down from a 3.7 to a 3.0 in M-F 6a-Mid.
Thanks once again to Anon D, this was absolutely terrific information, nicely digested. Amazing stuff, astounding that RaGE, for all its publicity and presence of Greg Williams, has done absolutely nothing in almost a year. (I have no idea whether it's doing better than what it replaced, which would at least be something -- I'm sure Anon D or some other hip commenter can enlighten us.)
Several readers have suggested that RaGE can't last long in its current configuration.
Here's my view -- it will last at least until February 2012, when,, we have surmised and Mike Rhyner has hinted, his Ticket future will be set. If he departs (I think this unlikely, but the possibility has been floated), RaGE will soldier on, because the calculus of drive competition would have pretty drastically changed. 105.3 knows that Corby has a love/hate relationship with the P1 and might well have the RaGE hang on to see if Mike R's absence might shake loose some listeners.
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SECOND INTERIM RaGE THOUGHT
Since we're on a RaGE roll here, I've tried to tune in. Today wasn't a bad day to do so, as I'd already heard the Cubs fan thing on Gordon's segment on The Musers and there was too much hockey talk. When I spent some time on RaGE, I listened closely to see if I could identifiy what it was that was so frackin' weird about it.
I found it.
Whenever anyone other than Greggo is talking -- usually Richie -- that person uses the word "Greggo" constantly in his or her own remarks. This gives the impression that the speaker is (1) calling for Greggo to pay attention and (2)to respond to the speaker.
I never noticed it before. I invite you to tune into RaGE and listen to it for 10 minutes and count the number of times you heard the word "Greggo." Compare that to normal human conversation, including conversations you hear on The Ticket; listen to how often (seldom) a speaker uses the names of the other people in the conversation.
It's disconcerting. It's uncomfortable to listen to. It has to be some program regulation that is designed to remind us all that good old Greggo is present -- which would be helpful for flyby listeners, of which there are probably a lot -- and will be heard from soon.
It absolutely has to be intentional. Otherwise, it's just goofy. Or pathological Actually, it's goofy and pathological anyway.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, your words are severe but with respect to Greggo, I am sorry to say that there is evidence to support them -- mostly in Whitt's own article on the Hammer departure, "The Hard Lie" in The Observer. There it is, right in the title -- Greg Williams apparently has something of a troubled relationship with the truth. And I agree with you that his problems at The Ticket did indeed go deeper than unreliability owing to substance abuse.
ReplyDeleteI don't know much about the ex-wife, but I gather RW wrote about his divorce and said former spouse (although that stuff all appears to have been scrubbed from the Internets, so I couldn't read about it), so your inference may be on-target there as well.
To be perfectly honest with you (as Corby might say), unlike some Confessors I don't find Whitt a repellant personality. I don't have a pipeline into local media politics, so maybe he has a worse reputation among those in the know. But I just don't hear anything on the air that indicates that he isn't a fairly regular guy. Of course, that's the problem -- he ONLY sounds regular, not distinctive or interesting.
I have a slightly different take on the Richie-Greggo relationship, which I'll have up in a couple of days.
One more thing: I was interested in your comment that Hammer may have convinced Bruce Gilbert that he was the reason for The Hardline's success.
ReplyDeleteThere were those who predicted The Hardline's demise when Williams departed in 2007. There were those who, at the time, would have agreed that he was the personality that drove the show to its great popularity.
But it didn't take long for the market to discover that his departure didn't matter at all. If anything, the show was more popular than ever.
So is it likely that The Fan brought Williams back onto the air because they believed that he was the straw that stirred the drink? I have to believe that the truth is less dramatic -- that having a star competing with The Hardline and Galloway was preferable to having nobody.
Dear Lord, has anyone listened in to the new morning show on the Fan? I know it's only three days old, but these are supposedly veterans they brought in. This thing is a train wreck. The Fan won't make it through 2011.
ReplyDeleteI like what you do, Plainsman, and I love the forum that you've built here for the obsessive-compulsive P1 like me, but I have to say that RaGE talk has pretty much run its course, IMHO. It's a dead horse in more ways than one. I'll keep coming here, of course, I just feel compelled to mention that this subject holds no more interest for me. To paraphrase Coach Knight, let's move on to something of more importance, if there is anything.
ReplyDeleteC-Monk, you'll have to put up with one more. (Actually, you won't have to, but it will appear nonetheless.) The recent RaGE articles have actually attracted pretty strong hits to the site (and page views, which tells me I'm getting some new readers.) There are still a lot of folks out there who have an interest in Greggo the Hammer, and reviewing its impact as we approach the one-year anniversary of something that was aimed directly at The Hardline strikes me as fodder for this site.
ReplyDeleteI sympathize, though. Tell you what, and I mean this utterly without sarcasm -- if you or any other Confessor has topics you'd like to see covered here, please drop me a line. Include your own STD if you'd like. My backlog is getting a little thin and stale, so feel free to email me some suggestions.
I think the first Anonymous is on to something. If you've ever read Richie Whitt's "Whitt's End" on the Dallas Observer site, you'd probably think the same thing that Anonymous posted. He might be a nice guy and a good friend, who knows, but he has a chip on his shoulder the size of Jupiter. I used to know a guy with the problems Greggo appears to have. The guy lied about everything, even needless stuff. And he had a drug problem. Well, after he cleaned up, he still lied, but only now he was better able to keep his stories straight! Who knows if this is the same deal with Greggo. But I have to admit that the bicycle incident, the months of scratchy voice or lack of voice, and the many days off seem iffy to me. But what the hell do I know. Also, I don't actually know what a low level sociopath is, but I assume it means someone who is borderline.
ReplyDeleteA note on the deletion of the first Anonymous comment above:
ReplyDeleteI received an email from an "Anonymous" claiming to be the author of that first comment but regretting some of the comments he or she made therein. Of course, I have no way of knowing if the emailing Anonymous is the same as the commenting Anonymous, but I found the email to be sincere and I have honored the request to remove the comment.
Anonymous -- assuming my emailer and commenter are indeed the same individual -- I appreciate your thoughtful reappraisal of your post, and I agree with your reasoning. Thanks.
Long time reader,first time commentor.I've always wondered why does richie ALWAYS say "hey greggo" Another thing is I hate the blatent equate version of The Ticket that the fan is .For you coming to america fans out there know its like Mcdonalds and Mcdowells.The ticket has a smart ass announcer.the ticket tickers,Live spots at starpower, ticket chicks,three bedroom apt vs dead and gone..you get the idea
ReplyDeletePlainsman, you're welcome. And thank you for honoring my request.
ReplyDeleteervinlang, let me offer a big MTC welcome. You have an interesting way of expressing yourself, which makes the ultimate understanding of your point all the more rewarding.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I hate to say it (long time Greggo supporter here), but he just doesn't hold up like he used to back in the day. The only one I enjoy listening to on The Fan anymore is Gavin, If he were on during the day time work hours, I would listen more than I do now. I agree, The Fan will be know more after this year if they keep up what they're doing.
ReplyDelete