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, August 11, 2011
Has the Byron Anderson Experiment Come to an End?
Matt McClearin working with Scot Harrison on The Soul Patch this weekend.
I'd like to hear Newbury co-host the Soulpatch - I was surprised to hear it was a McClearin/Anderson swap...thought it would have been a Newbury/Anderson swap instead.
I agree with ap, Newbury should be given a shot. And please, Ticket management, if you're reading this, change the name of the show. As it is, it might as well be called The Face Vagina.
Does McClearin get hammered here? Not a whole lot, I don't think, the foregoing "turd" comment notwithstanding. He's a little slick and a little fast-talking for The Ticket, but I've always thought The Scrubs were fairly solid weekend listening.
Is anyone thinking that this is The Ticket experimenting with what might become different permanent lineups? Or has there been some reason given for the wife swap?
You're high if you think The Scrubs are (or have ever been) a solid radio listening experience. The problem with that show is that NEITHER HOST BRINGS ANYTHING to the table. Having said that, Mr. Harisson is fighting uphill with either 'Scrub.'
I think you roll a weekend ticker guy out there. Give me Millen or Krenek. They both seem deserving of a shot.
"I think you roll a weekend ticker guy out there. Give me Millen or Krenek. They both seem deserving of a shot."
I'm curious - what are your reasons for writing that "both [Krenek and Millen] seem deserving of a shot?" -- Did you hear Millen fill in on with the Teebox a few weeks ago? He seemed to go out of his way to reach over, grab the wheel and ram the segment into ditch and didn't really contribute otherwise. Both guys can come up with masterful bon-mots, sometimes over the line, but I haven't heard anything that screams "hey, this guy is funny and knows his sports, so lets put him on the air". That's not to say they're incapable of it - I just haven't heard it but perhaps I missed something.
As far as the Scrubs go, Newbury knows his sports (read his twitter feed, he's damn-near in Sturm territory when it comes to sports ADD). McClearin does have the whole voice/pacing thing going for him, plus he's the only one willing to bite the Stars pre-game show bullet. I'm not sure that Millen and/or Krenek have either - I was hoping they'd fight each other at fight night to increase their station visibility, but no dice.
Maybe I am high. The Scrubs aren't going to win a Marconi, but for original weekend programming they're just fine. Never tempted to punch them out or check out the competition.
I will say that there isn't much chemistry there, and I had a report that there were some tense moments between Matt and David a couple of weeks ago, so perhaps I need to listen more closely.
I can't see Harrison and McClearin working out. They're both radio-pipes guys, and I think the resulting sonic mashup would have me OD'ing on resonance. I do think Harrison is a keeper and I hope they find a suitable co-host.
Although . . . do we overrate the need for co-hosts for some of these guys? Harrison might be good on his own with a strong producer (I forget who does his show). He might also have a good personality for dealing with callers, shift some emphasis to call-in.
While we're on the subject: I have liked Cirque du Sirois in the past. Liked them a lot, in fact, had on my list to post a rave sometime soon.
But last weekend -- were they tweaking, or what? What a mess. Large portions of the show were simply not understandable as they howled and cackled and talked over each other at a very elevated speed and volume. An unpleasant listen.
And, of course, they suffer from Ben-and-Skin Disease of sounding too much alike, which didn't help in attempting to make out an English syllable here and there.
All right, that's hyperbolic. But it was a weird-sounding episode, I'll stand by that.
I thought CDS was great last week. What I hear is a team that's getting confident enough that they can increasingly engage in Ticket-y schtick and shenanigans without ruining their SPORTS content. In other words, they're becoming "real" Ticket hosts.
To address an earlier question, it's clear Management is trying to bolster their bullpen, and trying out different combinations by doing so. Remember when they ran ads - oh, maybe 6 months ago - recruiting weekend hosts?
You're high if you think I'm hosting a show any time soon. I'm happy with my position. Just happy to be a part of the greatest entertainment juggernaut in radio history.
Seems like CDS has the built in advantage of great chemistry being brothers and of familiarity with Mike being on the station during the week with Norm. I wonder if shows like the Scrubs and Soul Patch do anything off air more than a once a week show. I know McClearin and Newbury have talked about how they have other jobs and that has to be a weird deal to try and find chemistry together once a week. Does Harrison have a weekday job as well? The Scrubs have that very awkward forced chemistry that makes me wonder if Bob and Dan were like that at the very beginning and would BAD Radio have ever developed if they only had once a week to adjust to each other?
There have been a couple very tense moments on the Scrubs recently and more than once McClearin has said on air that his ideas are always getting shot down. Newbury seemed really pissed at him. Maybe there's some friction that has developed between them but it's entertaining.
I'd like to hear Jake and McClearin. Seems like Jake has something and McClearin might be the weirdest person on the station.
Maybe Krenek and Newbury could work?
The Ticket is still better on the weekends than anything else on the Fan or ESPN.
I don't think Millen and Krenek have ever been bad enough NOT to get a shot, but you're going to need to run somebody in there. Not sure if the weekend ticker guys are it, but maybe look around the minors or bring someone else in.
Matt McClearin is a hack and Byron Anderson is pathologically unclever. To be honest Newbury's roller coaster delivery drives me up the freaking wall.
But I'm with you CDC is more good than bad, and keep Scot Harisson one way or another.
I went back to see if I'd written anything about Matt McClearin in the past and I couldn't find anything. I sure thought I had, maybe in a comment.
In any event, I don't get the hostility towards him at all. I like The Scrubs when I'm running weekend errands. In fact, I think they've gotten better. I did hear a minor dust-up once, but it was nothing, and absolutely nothing compared to the bickering on BaD Radio and the occasional Corby/Danny shouting match. I think the wife-swap is a sign that the Cumulo-Ticket Overlords think he's good enough to investigate the potential pairing with Scot Harrison, who has gotten mostly favorable reviews from The Nation.
It's true that Matt does not speak with the same conversational cadences of the daily Ticket hosts, but neither does Harrison. I think that pairing may have some potential. Although he's got those radio pipes, Scot's approach is more relaxed, and he's can be clever. Matt's sports knowledge is plenty up to co-host duties on the weekend.
And there's a larger point that I've made before: The Cumulo-Ticket Overlords deserve credit for taking the weekend P1 seriously. They have expanded the weekend Ticket-originated programming, and they obviously want those shows to work as well as possible. The CTO get their share of smacking around here and elsewhere, but let's sling some props where they're due.
I don't mind The Scrubs one bit. To me, they're Ticket Sports Saturday/Sunday with a different name. I think Newbury truly has something to offer when it comes college/nfl football. And as far as McClearin goes, I think you can find a lot worse out there. His HSOs are indeed HSOs. And I for one think that's a good thing.
Sorry Plainsman, I can't give the "Cumulo-Ticket Overlords" as you call them, credit when it seems like every time I tune in on the weekend it's sporting news radio.
If I'm reading theticket.com correctly, The Ticket has original programming all day Saturday. The site doesn't list Sunday shows, but I believe it broadcasts original programming from 7 AM through early afternoon.
So while you may encounter SNR more often than you'd like, perhaps this is an artifact of you being a late riser on weekends.
[Ungodly hour - 8:00AM] George DeJohn's Train Station Fitness Show
[8:00AM - 10:00AM] The TeeBox with Rick and Craig
[10:00AM - 12:00PM] The Orphanage with Danny and Davey Lane
[12:00PM - 2:00PM] The Scrubs with Newbury and McClearin, although that seems to be in flux
[2:00PM - 3:00PM] Pre-recorded Raceweek with Rich Phillips, assuming it's in the season
After this, you might get Ticket Sports Saturday with Ty/Seabass, or SNR
Sunday Shows: [8:00AM - 11:00AM] The SoulPatch with Scot Harrison and Jacques Taylor/Byron Anderson/Matt McClearin/David Newbury/Big Unit/Whoever (This used to be Elf's old slot)
[11:00AM - 1:15PM] Cirque du Sirois, your last line of defense against sporting news radio
After this, you usually get SNR, possibly a Ticket sports Sunday, but Cowboy pregame shows usually take precedence here if there's a 3:15PM kickoff. If it's early, CDS gets the boot, and if it's late, then SNR fills in for a bit or ticket sports sunday.
one can only hope
ReplyDeleteI believe Matt and Byron are swapping.
ReplyDeleteBetter Question: Since it's obviously in a state of flux, who would you like to hear cohost The Soul Patch?
I'd like to hear Newbury co-host the Soulpatch - I was surprised to hear it was a McClearin/Anderson swap...thought it would have been a Newbury/Anderson swap instead.
ReplyDeleteI agree with ap, Newbury should be given a shot. And please, Ticket management, if you're reading this, change the name of the show. As it is, it might as well be called The Face Vagina.
ReplyDeleteEither way, Mr. Harrison gets stuck with a turd sandwich.
ReplyDeleteWhere's the next installment of the Little Weak Jeremy/Anonymous conversation?
ReplyDeleteWell...I guess Matt McClearin reads this blog, and all of the associated comments:
ReplyDelete"If I relied on blogs for self esteem, I'd have offed myself months ago. Good thing there's Twitter."
http://twitter.com/mcmatt1310/status/101793977384177664
...awk-ward...
Does McClearin get hammered here? Not a whole lot, I don't think, the foregoing "turd" comment notwithstanding. He's a little slick and a little fast-talking for The Ticket, but I've always thought The Scrubs were fairly solid weekend listening.
ReplyDeleteLast Anonymous -- your wish . . . .
ReplyDeleteIs anyone thinking that this is The Ticket experimenting with what might become different permanent lineups? Or has there been some reason given for the wife swap?
ReplyDeleteCDS was compared to Ben and Skin in an earlier post from the Plainsman. I vote CDS to saturday at noon.
ReplyDeleteYou're high if you think The Scrubs are (or have ever been) a solid radio listening experience. The problem with that show is that NEITHER HOST BRINGS ANYTHING to the table. Having said that, Mr. Harisson is fighting uphill with either 'Scrub.'
ReplyDeleteI think you roll a weekend ticker guy out there. Give me Millen or Krenek. They both seem deserving of a shot.
"I think you roll a weekend ticker guy out there. Give me Millen or Krenek. They both seem deserving of a shot."
ReplyDeleteI'm curious - what are your reasons for writing that "both [Krenek and Millen] seem deserving of a shot?" -- Did you hear Millen fill in on with the Teebox a few weeks ago? He seemed to go out of his way to reach over, grab the wheel and ram the segment into ditch and didn't really contribute otherwise. Both guys can come up with masterful bon-mots, sometimes over the line, but I haven't heard anything that screams "hey, this guy is funny and knows his sports, so lets put him on the air". That's not to say they're incapable of it - I just haven't heard it but perhaps I missed something.
As far as the Scrubs go, Newbury knows his sports (read his twitter feed, he's damn-near in Sturm territory when it comes to sports ADD). McClearin does have the whole voice/pacing thing going for him, plus he's the only one willing to bite the Stars pre-game show bullet. I'm not sure that Millen and/or Krenek have either - I was hoping they'd fight each other at fight night to increase their station visibility, but no dice.
Maybe I am high. The Scrubs aren't going to win a Marconi, but for original weekend programming they're just fine. Never tempted to punch them out or check out the competition.
ReplyDeleteI will say that there isn't much chemistry there, and I had a report that there were some tense moments between Matt and David a couple of weeks ago, so perhaps I need to listen more closely.
I can't see Harrison and McClearin working out. They're both radio-pipes guys, and I think the resulting sonic mashup would have me OD'ing on resonance. I do think Harrison is a keeper and I hope they find a suitable co-host.
Although . . . do we overrate the need for co-hosts for some of these guys? Harrison might be good on his own with a strong producer (I forget who does his show). He might also have a good personality for dealing with callers, shift some emphasis to call-in.
While we're on the subject: I have liked Cirque du Sirois in the past. Liked them a lot, in fact, had on my list to post a rave sometime soon.
ReplyDeleteBut last weekend -- were they tweaking, or what? What a mess. Large portions of the show were simply not understandable as they howled and cackled and talked over each other at a very elevated speed and volume. An unpleasant listen.
And, of course, they suffer from Ben-and-Skin Disease of sounding too much alike, which didn't help in attempting to make out an English syllable here and there.
All right, that's hyperbolic. But it was a weird-sounding episode, I'll stand by that.
I thought CDS was great last week. What I hear is a team that's getting confident enough that they can increasingly engage in Ticket-y schtick and shenanigans without ruining their SPORTS content. In other words, they're becoming "real" Ticket hosts.
ReplyDeleteTo address an earlier question, it's clear Management is trying to bolster their bullpen, and trying out different combinations by doing so. Remember when they ran ads - oh, maybe 6 months ago - recruiting weekend hosts?
-Anon B
You're high if you think I'm hosting a show any time soon. I'm happy with my position. Just happy to be a part of the greatest entertainment juggernaut in radio history.
ReplyDeleteKrenek
Seems like CDS has the built in advantage of great chemistry being brothers and of familiarity with Mike being on the station during the week with Norm. I wonder if shows like the Scrubs and Soul Patch do anything off air more than a once a week show. I know McClearin and Newbury have talked about how they have other jobs and that has to be a weird deal to try and find chemistry together once a week. Does Harrison have a weekday job as well? The Scrubs have that very awkward forced chemistry that makes me wonder if Bob and Dan were like that at the very beginning and would BAD Radio have ever developed if they only had once a week to adjust to each other?
ReplyDeleteThere have been a couple very tense moments on the Scrubs recently and more than once McClearin has said on air that his ideas are always getting shot down. Newbury seemed really pissed at him. Maybe there's some friction that has developed between them but it's entertaining.
I'd like to hear Jake and McClearin. Seems like Jake has something and McClearin might be the weirdest person on the station.
Maybe Krenek and Newbury could work?
The Ticket is still better on the weekends than anything else on the Fan or ESPN.
I don't think Millen and Krenek have ever been bad enough NOT to get a shot, but you're going to need to run somebody in there. Not sure if the weekend ticker guys are it, but maybe look around the minors or bring someone else in.
ReplyDeleteMatt McClearin is a hack and Byron Anderson is pathologically unclever. To be honest Newbury's roller coaster delivery drives me up the freaking wall.
But I'm with you CDC is more good than bad, and keep Scot Harisson one way or another.
I went back to see if I'd written anything about Matt McClearin in the past and I couldn't find anything. I sure thought I had, maybe in a comment.
ReplyDeleteIn any event, I don't get the hostility towards him at all. I like The Scrubs when I'm running weekend errands. In fact, I think they've gotten better. I did hear a minor dust-up once, but it was nothing, and absolutely nothing compared to the bickering on BaD Radio and the occasional Corby/Danny shouting match. I think the wife-swap is a sign that the Cumulo-Ticket Overlords think he's good enough to investigate the potential pairing with Scot Harrison, who has gotten mostly favorable reviews from The Nation.
It's true that Matt does not speak with the same conversational cadences of the daily Ticket hosts, but neither does Harrison. I think that pairing may have some potential. Although he's got those radio pipes, Scot's approach is more relaxed, and he's can be clever. Matt's sports knowledge is plenty up to co-host duties on the weekend.
Should be a fun few weeks.
And there's a larger point that I've made before: The Cumulo-Ticket Overlords deserve credit for taking the weekend P1 seriously. They have expanded the weekend Ticket-originated programming, and they obviously want those shows to work as well as possible. The CTO get their share of smacking around here and elsewhere, but let's sling some props where they're due.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind The Scrubs one bit. To me, they're Ticket Sports Saturday/Sunday with a different name. I think Newbury truly has something to offer when it comes college/nfl football. And as far as McClearin goes, I think you can find a lot worse out there. His HSOs are indeed HSOs. And I for one think that's a good thing.
ReplyDeleteSorry Plainsman, I can't give the "Cumulo-Ticket Overlords" as you call them, credit when it seems like every time I tune in on the weekend it's sporting news radio.
ReplyDeleteDon't be sorry, Anonymous. It's all right.
ReplyDeleteIf I'm reading theticket.com correctly, The Ticket has original programming all day Saturday. The site doesn't list Sunday shows, but I believe it broadcasts original programming from 7 AM through early afternoon.
So while you may encounter SNR more often than you'd like, perhaps this is an artifact of you being a late riser on weekends.
The Saturday show staples:
ReplyDelete[Ungodly hour - 8:00AM]
George DeJohn's Train Station Fitness Show
[8:00AM - 10:00AM]
The TeeBox with Rick and Craig
[10:00AM - 12:00PM]
The Orphanage with Danny and Davey Lane
[12:00PM - 2:00PM]
The Scrubs with Newbury and McClearin, although that seems to be in flux
[2:00PM - 3:00PM]
Pre-recorded Raceweek with Rich Phillips, assuming it's in the season
After this, you might get Ticket Sports Saturday with Ty/Seabass, or SNR
Sunday Shows:
[8:00AM - 11:00AM]
The SoulPatch with Scot Harrison and Jacques Taylor/Byron Anderson/Matt McClearin/David Newbury/Big Unit/Whoever
(This used to be Elf's old slot)
[11:00AM - 1:15PM]
Cirque du Sirois, your last line of defense against sporting news radio
After this, you usually get SNR, possibly a Ticket sports Sunday, but Cowboy pregame shows usually take precedence here if there's a 3:15PM kickoff. If it's early, CDS gets the boot, and if it's late, then SNR fills in for a bit or ticket sports sunday.
SPORTS!