A home for those who love almost everything about The Ticket (1310 AM, 96.7 FM, Dallas-Fort Worth), and who would like to discuss -- respectfully and fondly -- their thoughts on how (and whether) to eliminate the "almost."
Thursday, April 21, 2011
This is a Sincere Question
Should I be paying attention to TC (or is it T.C.) Fleming? Is he going to be a long-term Ticket guy? Or is he already a long-term Ticket guy?
I think he's another Psycho Dave or Friedo, or Expo. The only difference is that there are now outlets for the Ticket peripherals (e.g., podcasts) that weren't available to the above mentioned names while they were in the nurturing biosphere. So, in short, I don't think there's anything there in the long term when it comes to T.C. Fleming. At least as far as the Ticket goes. And I am also taking into account the fact that he and Jake did/do(?) have a Saturday night program on the station.
Okay, first off let's define long term. Day 1r's: Dunham, Miller, Mike Fernandez, the Great Gordo, Rhyner and Cactus Pryor. Really long term but not day one: Catman, Cobra, Dick Hicks and Jon Michaels. Kinda long term(10+ years), Bob, Dan, Norm, Donnie-Do(Susquehanna/Cumulus if not Ticket) Been there a while, probably eligible for the 3 weeks of vacation (@ 5 years)but less than 10 years: Grubes, Big Strong Jer, Ty Walker Chicken, Sea Bass... TC (or is it t.c.?)has been around maybe 2 or 3 years. He's a weekend/fill in board op, whi 'interns' for Bob and Dan. I don't think he qualifies as a long term ticket guy, and as Anonymous said, he's a Psycho Dave or Expo, a bit player who's pretty easily replaceable.
I need to check out "Banter." Confessors have said some good things about it.
PS: Work is intruding into my writing life. I'll try to throw up something to get the Nation engaged, but the stream of new articles may slow to a trickle here for awhile. May dip into the archives.
If anyone has an STD* that they'd like to share, please put it together and drop me an email or put up a comment -- maybe we'll have a guest contributor or two.
___________
* For new Confessors, that's "Scorching Ticket Disquisition."
It's Just Banter mentioned this site one of their episodes. Can't remember which one though. Sorry, I should have made a note of it when I heard it, but I thought you had mentioned them saying something about The Ticket Plaisnman.
AP, Blogger is acting up. Your post came through on email. Here it is. Everything after the colon is AP:
===========
TC is an interesting tangential ticket personality. He originally impressed the heck out of Bob and Dan when he made his debut as a ticket intern -- they went so far as to describe him as the "hypothetical love-child of Bob and Dan". He was quickly given more and more responsibility -- at one point, Bob had TC reading and replying to his backlog of emails, and Dan was paying TC to house-sit during McDowell family sojourns to Cleveland. I believe TC may have even been referred to on-air as the best intern BaD Radio has ever had.
Then things started to change. Bob and Dan started to call TC out on the air for various transgressions, such as buying lunch for himself with Bob/Dan's money, popping onto the microphone when he wasn't invited to, downloading Invictus over the company network, not making his appointments, and various other social faux-pas (example here). BaD Radio claimed that through their praise they'd essentially created a monster, one who was rubbing ticket staffers, on-air hosts and even management the wrong way if the on-air talk (and some off-air info) is to be believed.
Bob claimed once that TC's dream has always been to move up to the Hardline, and that TC's stint with BaD Radio was always just a means to that end. To TC's credit, he has picked up many skills since he came on board such as running the board, answering phones, and producing duties. TC even volunteers his weekend time to produce for the Orphanage, and co-hosts a well-produced and fairly popular weekly podcast that was granted on-air time a few months ago. He also has a surprisingly large twitter following, one that doesn't intersect that much with the Twitter P1 audience. Despite all of this, TC still wasn't chosen to host the ticket Top 10 once Chris House departed - that task fell to his roommate Jake-Z. Since then, the only people I've heard defend TC on-air has been Rich Phillips and Danny Balis -- the rest of the staff are very quick to kick him in the balls, and The UnTicket is also a participant in this thanks to myself.
Where all this leaves TC in the grand scheme of Ticket personalities remains to be seen. I think he's kept around because he does have many positive traits (eloquence, sports knowledge, radio know-how, first-hand knowledge of the disaffected 18-25 male demographic), but I think his window to become the next rising ticket star may have passed. Instead, his roomate Jake seems to have a firm grip on that title.
Or, perhaps I'm just full of it and I've made an enemy of TC.
I ask for TC context and AP -- beg pardon, (the Incomparable) AP -- promptly obliges.
Here's my deal: I hear many references to TC on The Ticket. I hear hiim once in awhile on the air. Nothing negative at all. In fact, It's Just Banter seems to get pretty good notices. I'm ashamed, yes, ashamed, to say I have yet to download a podcast or check out the Saturday PM show. When is it on?
So I hear all these references and I occasionally hear his voice, and I'm going -- OK, TC's getting more attention. But with all of the communication school grads begging for work, I'm asking myself what sets TC apart that he gets this incredibly plum set of assisgnments, and once in awhile snags a mic. And it's not that there's nothing there -- the guy is obviously a hard worker and dedicated to The Ticket, and he co-hosts a show that is part of the Ticket's admirable policy of providing as much non-syndicated weekend content as possible, but I'm just not feeling the love. With one exception: The Ann-Margaret interview, which The Hardline positively jubiilated over. (I'm not a huge celebritiy-ambush fan, but I'm probalby in a very small minority on this.)
So I'm thinking that I don't want to do an article on him, throw a spotlight on some guy who's doing his absolute best in a high-pressure environment. And obviously doing well enough that, as you say, he can do a lot of things that need doing on the Ticket, and volunteering for some of the perhaps less-desirable duties. Good man.
So the BaD history you provide explains a lot about his apparently growing profile at The Ticket.
Good luck, TC. I'll try to check out Banter soon. I hope to be able to write an appreciation sometime in the not-too-distant future.
To the Anonymous who suggested the "open thread" idea:
Good idea. I just hate to present myself to the industrious Nation as a lazy layabout (which I've been accused of recently). But I did one awhile ago and it got a good response.
So I might just take you up on that.
I'm always hopeful I'll get an email (theplainsman1310@gmail.com) with some suggestions or, even better, a nice essay I can re-post. But so far, nothing.
In any event, first I want to see if AP's General Unified Theory of TC kicks up more comments from The Nation.
Scot Harrison is a just a way to make JJT a plus-1.
Dave Lane will never make it back on during the week, and there is really just Krenek and Casey Millen left. I'm not sure we've heard enough of these guys.
I've heard Dave has a day job he's unlikely to forswear. Of course, that's what I thought about Mark Elfenbein. (Speaking of which -- anyone catch Josh Lewin and ME middays?) Casey is obviously ambitious and itching for more airtime. Krenek -- have they given him a shot other than Tickers? They should.
David Newbury? Matt McClearin?
And there are Tickermen Ty Walker and Sean Bass, who get some post-game and weekend workouts from time to time, and who don't seem to have spared anyone out overmuch.
And then there's Cirque . . . .
Anyone for Big Strong? He's got a sly sense of humor but doesn't seem to crave the mic.
Gen X Davy long ago (smartly) decided upon a primary career path other than the little Ticket.
I've listened to Elf and Josh a few times. Not too bad, not too great. It depends on what they're discussing. If it's the Mavs, Elf is solid; the Rangers, same goes with Josh. By the way, has anyone caught Elf on the 21 newscast with Bill Jones? I don't think I've ever seen a man sport more hair product in my life!
As to the overarching theme of the Plainsman's entry: I don't see any of these guys doing anything at the Ticket other than what they already do (though some might appear on a postgame show or the likes--think musical chair hosting). Barring a host leaving or doing something so incredibly unforgivable that they get themselves fired, no one is going anywhere, anytime soon (and this includes Rhyner in February). And even if a host left, none of the guys being mentioned here would be in the running for a host position. The only person who had a shot was Bacsik. And the only one up there that *might* have a chance if something should open up would be JJT. Other than that, you'll see another Bob or Dan hiring... unless old Follywell becomes available (and MAYBE a Doucey or Rhads).
Sorry - a link that got left out of my long post can be found here: http://www.theunticket.com/tc-busts-lady-mcdowells-chair-y/
As far as complete shows go, Cirque du Sirois is the one that I think has enough to be the next 'rising star'...which is why I was very shocked to find out that they weren't assigned fill-in duty during Norm's vacation. I even wrote Cattt an email politely asking what the motivation was behind his programming decision, but I didn't receive a response (save for a cryptic tweet from Sean Bass about how he loves it when P1's try to play program director). Perhaps my Cirque-tinted earmuffs are obscuring my hearing, but I think it's a really funny show.
Re: Scrubs...I think it's safe to say that the fascination with McClearin may have run its course. Newbury is crammed full of very useful sports info, but he needs to be paired with a partner who can bring more of the funny and can pace the show out a bit....perhaps with the Sirois brothers?
Oh, one other note. The Saturday evening TC/Jake-Z show was attempted once and that's it (I believe Jake having to be dumped at least once may have something to do with that).
The most memorable bit from that two-hour show can be found here: http://www.theunticket.com/its-just-banter-special-guest/ I still have the entire show archived...I think Grubes ran the board, but I've forgotten who produced.
The podcasts can be found via Itunes - "It's Just Banter".
Just a quick note for the record - I was not dumped at al during the Saturday night show. The one thing that was dumped was a caller. We did it once, got pretty positive reviews from listeners and the CatMan alike, and it died there. Not sure what the future is.
^ My bad, Jake. It's really hard for a listener to figure out why something got dumped since a good chunk of the show vanishes. Especially if multiple people dump it.
Now that you mention it though, I do remember that you guys were taking calls at the time. Is that a normal IJB thing? Also, how many DL's do you get on the podcast?
I've listened to a few IJB 'casts and I have to say that I really enjoy them. I think Jake and TC have a good chemistry and, as I've mentioned here before, it's amazing to hear what TC has to offer when he's not under the pressure that the regular on-air guys put on someone that's just jumping onto the mic. The same goes for the times he's hosting the Top 10. He has a good personality and sense of humor and has something to offer. I wish he'd get more comfortable with himself and bring that to the air. Of course, it's hard to gain confidence when you're being double-bullied by Bob and (especially) Dan, and the rest of the show is waiting to dogpile as well.
I've listened to Josh and Elf a few times, and, before Elf emigrated, it was listenable. I really like Josh, but to me, listening to Elf is like chewing aluminum foil.
I too enjoy the stylings of the Top Cat. His cockroach segment was the best thing of the entire wretched Bob-less week of BaD Radio.
re: cancer monkey,
Your comment about the high-pressure, dogpile-quick environment of the Ticket shows rang true to me. I think both TC and Jake have a hard time dealing with the nut-kicking they both take ("super gay" will be the albatross around Jake's neck forever) on the Ticket airwaves, and it's hard to take criticism, joking or not, from people you not only admire, but who also have the power to cut you off entirely with no trouble whatsoever.
On It's Just Banter, the guys are freed from those pressures, and it's a much looser, lower-tension broadcast for it. It's a different flavor than the Ticket, and one I'm beginning to prefer.
I think he's another Psycho Dave or Friedo, or Expo. The only difference is that there are now outlets for the Ticket peripherals (e.g., podcasts) that weren't available to the above mentioned names while they were in the nurturing biosphere. So, in short, I don't think there's anything there in the long term when it comes to T.C. Fleming. At least as far as the Ticket goes. And I am also taking into account the fact that he and Jake did/do(?) have a Saturday night program on the station.
ReplyDeleteHe may or may not be long-term, but if he wants to get on the air regularly, he needs to develop a personality.
ReplyDeleteI'd rather listen to paint dry.
Does anybody have a future at the Ticket?
ReplyDeleteHow can anyone possibly know that?
ReplyDeleteOkay, first off let's define long term. Day 1r's: Dunham, Miller, Mike Fernandez, the Great Gordo, Rhyner and Cactus Pryor. Really long term but not day one: Catman, Cobra, Dick Hicks and Jon Michaels.
ReplyDeleteKinda long term(10+ years), Bob, Dan, Norm, Donnie-Do(Susquehanna/Cumulus if not Ticket)
Been there a while, probably eligible for the 3 weeks of vacation (@ 5 years)but less than 10 years: Grubes, Big Strong Jer, Ty Walker Chicken, Sea Bass...
TC (or is it t.c.?)has been around maybe 2 or 3 years. He's a weekend/fill in board op, whi 'interns' for Bob and Dan. I don't think he qualifies as a long term ticket guy, and as Anonymous said, he's a Psycho Dave or Expo, a bit player who's pretty easily replaceable.
Anon D
TY WAWKAH CHICKEN!
ReplyDeleteI need to check out "Banter." Confessors have said some good things about it.
ReplyDeletePS: Work is intruding into my writing life. I'll try to throw up something to get the Nation engaged, but the stream of new articles may slow to a trickle here for awhile. May dip into the archives.
If anyone has an STD* that they'd like to share, please put it together and drop me an email or put up a comment -- maybe we'll have a guest contributor or two.
___________
* For new Confessors, that's "Scorching Ticket Disquisition."
Jer has been on the board ever since i can remember ('98 at least).
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you just post an Open Thread every couple of days, Plainsman?
ReplyDeleteIt's Just Banter mentioned this site one of their episodes. Can't remember which one though. Sorry, I should have made a note of it when I heard it, but I thought you had mentioned them saying something about The Ticket Plaisnman.
ReplyDeleteI thought I'd just posted a large TC disquisition, but it doesn't appear to have been successfully posted ...hopefully it makes it up.
ReplyDeleteAP, Blogger is acting up. Your post came through on email. Here it is. Everything after the colon is AP:
ReplyDelete===========
TC is an interesting tangential ticket personality. He originally impressed the heck out of Bob and Dan when he made his debut as a ticket intern -- they went so far as to describe him as the "hypothetical love-child of Bob and Dan". He was quickly given more and more responsibility -- at one point, Bob had TC reading and replying to his backlog of emails, and Dan was paying TC to house-sit during McDowell family sojourns to Cleveland. I believe TC may have even been referred to on-air as the best intern BaD Radio has ever had.
Then things started to change. Bob and Dan started to call TC out on the air for various transgressions, such as buying lunch for himself with Bob/Dan's money, popping onto the microphone when he wasn't invited to, downloading Invictus over the company network, not making his appointments, and various other social faux-pas (example here). BaD Radio claimed that through their praise they'd essentially created a monster, one who was rubbing ticket staffers, on-air hosts and even management the wrong way if the on-air talk (and some off-air info) is to be believed.
Bob claimed once that TC's dream has always been to move up to the Hardline, and that TC's stint with BaD Radio was always just a means to that end. To TC's credit, he has picked up many skills since he came on board such as running the board, answering phones, and producing duties. TC even volunteers his weekend time to produce for the Orphanage, and co-hosts a well-produced and fairly popular weekly podcast that was granted on-air time a few months ago. He also has a surprisingly large twitter following, one that doesn't intersect that much with the Twitter P1 audience. Despite all of this, TC still wasn't chosen to host the ticket Top 10 once Chris House departed - that task fell to his roommate Jake-Z. Since then, the only people I've heard defend TC on-air has been Rich Phillips and Danny Balis -- the rest of the staff are very quick to kick him in the balls, and The UnTicket is also a participant in this thanks to myself.
Where all this leaves TC in the grand scheme of Ticket personalities remains to be seen. I think he's kept around because he does have many positive traits (eloquence, sports knowledge, radio know-how, first-hand knowledge of the disaffected 18-25 male demographic), but I think his window to become the next rising ticket star may have passed. Instead, his roomate Jake seems to have a firm grip on that title.
Or, perhaps I'm just full of it and I've made an enemy of TC.
I ask for TC context and AP -- beg pardon, (the Incomparable) AP -- promptly obliges.
ReplyDeleteHere's my deal: I hear many references to TC on The Ticket. I hear hiim once in awhile on the air. Nothing negative at all. In fact, It's Just Banter seems to get pretty good notices. I'm ashamed, yes, ashamed, to say I have yet to download a podcast or check out the Saturday PM show. When is it on?
So I hear all these references and I occasionally hear his voice, and I'm going -- OK, TC's getting more attention. But with all of the communication school grads begging for work, I'm asking myself what sets TC apart that he gets this incredibly plum set of assisgnments, and once in awhile snags a mic. And it's not that there's nothing there -- the guy is obviously a hard worker and dedicated to The Ticket, and he co-hosts a show that is part of the Ticket's admirable policy of providing as much non-syndicated weekend content as possible, but I'm just not feeling the love. With one exception: The Ann-Margaret interview, which The Hardline positively jubiilated over. (I'm not a huge celebritiy-ambush fan, but I'm probalby in a very small minority on this.)
So I'm thinking that I don't want to do an article on him, throw a spotlight on some guy who's doing his absolute best in a high-pressure environment. And obviously doing well enough that, as you say, he can do a lot of things that need doing on the Ticket, and volunteering for some of the perhaps less-desirable duties. Good man.
So the BaD history you provide explains a lot about his apparently growing profile at The Ticket.
Good luck, TC. I'll try to check out Banter soon. I hope to be able to write an appreciation sometime in the not-too-distant future.
To the Anonymous who suggested the "open thread" idea:
ReplyDeleteGood idea. I just hate to present myself to the industrious Nation as a lazy layabout (which I've been accused of recently). But I did one awhile ago and it got a good response.
So I might just take you up on that.
I'm always hopeful I'll get an email (theplainsman1310@gmail.com) with some suggestions or, even better, a nice essay I can re-post. But so far, nothing.
In any event, first I want to see if AP's General Unified Theory of TC kicks up more comments from The Nation.
If not TC then who?
ReplyDeleteScot Harrison is a just a way to make JJT a plus-1.
Dave Lane will never make it back on during the week, and there is really just Krenek and Casey Millen left. I'm not sure we've heard enough of these guys.
A very intriguing question, Anonymous.
ReplyDeleteI've heard Dave has a day job he's unlikely to forswear. Of course, that's what I thought about Mark Elfenbein. (Speaking of which -- anyone catch Josh Lewin and ME middays?) Casey is obviously ambitious and itching for more airtime. Krenek -- have they given him a shot other than Tickers? They should.
David Newbury? Matt McClearin?
And there are Tickermen Ty Walker and Sean Bass, who get some post-game and weekend workouts from time to time, and who don't seem to have spared anyone out overmuch.
And then there's Cirque . . . .
Anyone for Big Strong? He's got a sly sense of humor but doesn't seem to crave the mic.
Gen X Davy long ago (smartly) decided upon a primary career path other than the little Ticket.
ReplyDeleteI've listened to Elf and Josh a few times. Not too bad, not too great. It depends on what they're discussing. If it's the Mavs, Elf is solid; the Rangers, same goes with Josh. By the way, has anyone caught Elf on the 21 newscast with Bill Jones? I don't think I've ever seen a man sport more hair product in my life!
As to the overarching theme of the Plainsman's entry: I don't see any of these guys doing anything at the Ticket other than what they already do (though some might appear on a postgame show or the likes--think musical chair hosting). Barring a host leaving or doing something so incredibly unforgivable that they get themselves fired, no one is going anywhere, anytime soon (and this includes Rhyner in February). And even if a host left, none of the guys being mentioned here would be in the running for a host position. The only person who had a shot was Bacsik. And the only one up there that *might* have a chance if something should open up would be JJT. Other than that, you'll see another Bob or Dan hiring... unless old Follywell becomes available (and MAYBE a Doucey or Rhads).
Sorry - a link that got left out of my long post can be found here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theunticket.com/tc-busts-lady-mcdowells-chair-y/
As far as complete shows go, Cirque du Sirois is the one that I think has enough to be the next 'rising star'...which is why I was very shocked to find out that they weren't assigned fill-in duty during Norm's vacation. I even wrote Cattt an email politely asking what the motivation was behind his programming decision, but I didn't receive a response (save for a cryptic tweet from Sean Bass about how he loves it when P1's try to play program director). Perhaps my Cirque-tinted earmuffs are obscuring my hearing, but I think it's a really funny show.
Re: Scrubs...I think it's safe to say that the fascination with McClearin may have run its course. Newbury is crammed full of very useful sports info, but he needs to be paired with a partner who can bring more of the funny and can pace the show out a bit....perhaps with the Sirois brothers?
Oh, one other note. The Saturday evening TC/Jake-Z show was attempted once and that's it (I believe Jake having to be dumped at least once may have something to do with that).
ReplyDeleteThe most memorable bit from that two-hour show can be found here:
http://www.theunticket.com/its-just-banter-special-guest/
I still have the entire show archived...I think Grubes ran the board, but I've forgotten who produced.
The podcasts can be found via Itunes - "It's Just Banter".
Just a quick note for the record - I was not dumped at al during the Saturday night show. The one thing that was dumped was a caller. We did it once, got pretty positive reviews from listeners and the CatMan alike, and it died there. Not sure what the future is.
ReplyDelete^ My bad, Jake. It's really hard for a listener to figure out why something got dumped since a good chunk of the show vanishes. Especially if multiple people dump it.
ReplyDeleteNow that you mention it though, I do remember that you guys were taking calls at the time. Is that a normal IJB thing? Also, how many DL's do you get on the podcast?
Thanks!
@ap I produced that IJB. As you could imagine, a lot of wild callers to screen that night. That was a fun night though.
ReplyDeleteIJB doesn't take calls.
ReplyDeleteI've listened to a few IJB 'casts and I have to say that I really enjoy them. I think Jake and TC have a good chemistry and, as I've mentioned here before, it's amazing to hear what TC has to offer when he's not under the pressure that the regular on-air guys put on someone that's just jumping onto the mic. The same goes for the times he's hosting the Top 10. He has a good personality and sense of humor and has something to offer. I wish he'd get more comfortable with himself and bring that to the air. Of course, it's hard to gain confidence when you're being double-bullied by Bob and (especially) Dan, and the rest of the show is waiting to dogpile as well.
ReplyDeleteI've listened to Josh and Elf a few times, and, before Elf emigrated, it was listenable. I really like Josh, but to me, listening to Elf is like chewing aluminum foil.
I too enjoy the stylings of the Top Cat. His cockroach segment was the best thing of the entire wretched Bob-less week of BaD Radio.
ReplyDeletere: cancer monkey,
Your comment about the high-pressure, dogpile-quick environment of the Ticket shows rang true to me. I think both TC and Jake have a hard time dealing with the nut-kicking they both take ("super gay" will be the albatross around Jake's neck forever) on the Ticket airwaves, and it's hard to take criticism, joking or not, from people you not only admire, but who also have the power to cut you off entirely with no trouble whatsoever.
On It's Just Banter, the guys are freed from those pressures, and it's a much looser, lower-tension broadcast for it. It's a different flavor than the Ticket, and one I'm beginning to prefer.