Thursday, August 18, 2011

Little Weak Jeremy and Anonymous – It’s Just Confession! (PART 3)

After Little Weak Jeremy’s initial comment and Anonymous’s point-by-point response, each offered one more comment apiece.

Little Weak Jeremy Continued:

Maybe I'm beating my head against a wall, but I would suggest you listen to an episode or two of IJB before judging Jake Z based on "space is super gay". He's spoken at length about how that type of opinion doesn't represent his general attitude toward intellectual topics, etc. (the latest IJB actually deals with Jake having received his Master's degree). Sure, the "super gay" is Jake's most famous drop and the one that will be a thorn in his side forever and ever, but don't judge the man's contributions solely on that unfortunate moment (no, I don't agree with that particular opinion of his either).

As far as the bigger Ticket picture goes, if you and I are looking at the same set of info, and you come to the conclusion that this thing is headed for the shitter, and I don't, then I'm not sure what else I can do to argue the point further. We look into the crystal ball and simply see different fortunes. I suppose we've reached an endpoint in that discussion.

Finally, Anonymous Took the Last Word – Actually, a Fairish Number of Them:

First off, my comments are not personally aimed toward IJB/Jake Z. I believe this is rather clear. I only used IJB to illustrate my point regarding what I perceive to be a niche audience and its relation to The Ticket's future.

As to Jake Z's education and intellectual interests: I'm not sure what that has to do with the program content that he has chosen to put forth. If he's into, oh, I don't know, biochemistry, great. But why would he talk about it on a podcast such as he and TC have constructed? It wouldn't make sense. Thus one's interests outside of a genre might make interesting talk once in a blue moon for a change of pace, but in general they don't work. So, I'm a bit puzzled about your statement. Furthermore, if Jake Z has spoken at length about the things that truly interest him, then perhaps he ought to change the direction of the show to reflect said interests (?).

I have listened to several of the IJB podcasts. I enjoyed the Rhyner interview (perhaps because they were on their best behavior/Rhyner is interesting to me). I used the "space is gay" quip because most readers of the blog, I imagine, would know what I'm talking about. I judge the man's contribution to The Ticket by his work on The Ticket. Especially his one chance at actually hosting his own show.  [PLAINSMAN:  Is this a reference to the late-night IJB experiment?]  It was a trainwreck. Both the callers and the hosts demolished the thing. There's a reason why they weren't asked to do it again. I can see that you enjoy the content and presentation that IJB puts forward, and that's great. However, they are minor figures at the station. I will be stunned if Jake Z or TC are ever offered jobs as hosts. Hell, I'll be stunned if they're still at the station in any capacity three years from now. IJB is a podcast that is not a part of the station; and it never will be.

I agree with your second overarching point (agreeing to disagree). Though I would like to reiterate from my previous comments that I've never claimed that The Ticket is going down the shitter. My claim is that if the new hosts/programs that management is hiring/airing are any indication as to where this is going, then the special nature of The Ticket will die away with each loss of the mainstays; it will submerge into the homogeneity of sports/guy talk radio. And that will be a crying shame. I hope that's not going to be the case.

Finally, I'd like to address the age-difference issue:

I remember in my 20s listening to the Rant (even before it was the Rant, when it was on late night Saturdays) and thinking "how can anyone not find this hysterical, smart, and even at times genius?" Some of it actually was. But most of it wasn't. I used to record the shows on a very early version of an MP3 recorder (thank God for the CCrane radio company). Three years ago, when I was 35, I went back and listened to a very large sample size of the Rant shows. Like I said, most of it wasn't very good. In fact, it was tough to find the gems (they were there, though). I, along with my buddies, used to scratch our heads as to why the Rant wasn't on everyday. After going back and listening, I now see why. I see why it was on once per weekend. It was on the whole devoid of content; it was on the whole one big inside joke with its own highly privatized language; a language and a joke that only appealed to a niche audience.

While this niche audience calls in to screenless segments, tweets and e-mails, etc., and is very much into the aspects of the station which they find interesting (i.e., comedic value), it moves on when it outgrows or finds new avenues of entertainment to fill what the station once satisfied. I remained a listener because I am a sports talk radio fan. Most of my buddies eventually began to stop listening altogether. The thing is, The Ticket is Sports Radio 1310, The Ticket; it is a sports station first and foremost; sports talk will always be its engine. While the guy talk/comedic value is what keeps the engine running smoothly, it is not the engine. I think we agree that it's that perfect mix of sports/guy-comedy talk that makes The Ticket great. But the day the station leans too far one way, its greatness will quickly fade. If I would have had my way, way back when, I'd have had it all Rant all the time. And The Ticket would have faltered. I'm not saying that you want it as such, I'm just saying that the greater niche audience that I believe you're a part of does . . . and if management allows for it to happen, different days are ahead.

Anyway, once again I've rambled on far too long.

It's been a great back and forth, LWJ.

*     *     *

Indeed it has.  Since I’m interested in these same things, I don’t think either Little Weak Jeremy or Anonymous rambled on too long – sometimes it takes saying the same thing in different ways to get the overall points across.  I think both succeeded, behaved like gentlemen (I am guessing), and they have my gratitude.

I’ll have a postscript up on this in a few days.

In the meantime, thanks to The Nation for great comments on these thoughts to date.

*     *     *

Follow Your Plainsman on Twitter:  @Plainsman1310

19 comments:

  1. Oh, please provide us those Rant mp3s!

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  2. Great stuff! Thanks Plainsman! Both people make good points. I think I tend to side more with LWJ, but Anon has some pretty deep insights

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  3. WTF is with the Musers' fascination with Michele Bachmann? Does anybody else in the world think this woman is attractive? Yet they are ALL ABOUT her, Gordon especially.

    And yes, I'm part of the It's Just Banter demographic, but come on. Palin I get. Bachmann, hell no.

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  4. My take on it is that they're making fun of her. Corby is equally as fascinated with her, and for the same reasons. I'll never ever get why the Musers and Corby dive into political discussions. They usually have their facts only half right, are full of biases, and almost always boring.

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  5. I thought they must have been making fun too at first; it's the only rational explanation -- yet over repeated mentions of her, I cannot detect a note of irony or sarcasm when they say Bachmann is hot. Whatever else they say about her craziness or annoying yell-voice is on the money; I just can't believe they think she's good-looking!

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  6. " I'll never ever get why the Musers and Corby dive into political discussions. They usually have their facts only half right, are full of biases, and almost always boring."

    Well then it's exactly the same as their sports discussions. Well, except for the boring part.

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  7. Good one, Shaggy!

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  8. Compared to Pelosi or Boxer or the present day Clinton, Bachmann isn't too bad looking. And look, with Corby and Gordo you're dealing with two guys who think Gweneth Paltrow is one of the hottest women in the world. It's all in the eye of the beholder, friends.

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  9. What's the point of reposting comments on the main page when they are already easily accessible in the comments section?

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  10. Dear Concerned:

    Ticket Top Ten.

    The UnTicket.

    Podcast downloads.

    =====

    Also, a lot of people come directly to the home page and do not click through to comments. I thought these were deserving of exposure to the more casual Confessor.

    Anyone else care to have a bash at this?

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  11. Gee, I don't know, since it's the Plainsman's blog, can't he do what he damn well pleases? I mean, what's the point of pointing out what's in the comment section with a comment?

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  12. A few points here:

    Regarding the LWJ and Anon thread...I'm not sure who's right or wrong, but if you go to the Ticket site and look up weekend shows, CDS is not listed. Which kind of goes to Anon's side of things. And neither is the Scrubs listed.

    Speaking of the Scrubs and also my next point...Is anyone listening to whatever is passing for the Scrubs today? Holy s. I think I might know why the McClearin and Newbury pair were split up. Because Newbury is absolutely insufferably argumentative. My God, he won't let his partner get a word in edgewise. He's talking over him, interrupting him, telling him that he already knows his points before he finishes them and so dismisses them. It's amazing. And it's also annoying. Maybe Cat thought if he separated McClearin and Newbury things wouldn't be so contentious. If so, he was wrong. It's all on Newbury. He is a man who does not like to be disagreed with. Very uncomfortable radio, for sure.

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  13. The last anon just nailed it.

    It seems pretty clear to this listener that if Newbury does not respect his co-host, he's dismissive, smug, and a bit of an a-hole. Contrast his work with Sean or Ty where he has to defer to a guy with skins on the wall. Worse yet, when Newbury is working with someone he doesn't respect he tries to drive the bus. And that is a disaster. He's very knowledgable but he's a second banana (potentially a ver good one). But this is not a guy that gets you in and out of segments smoothly or generally can get thru a sentence without a few stumbles.

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  14. Newbury is definitely knowledgeable and has some insights that no one else on the station can offer. Well, since Bacsik's demise anyways. His opinions are generally good. But I do agree with the last two anons. He needs a talking to by the Ticket higher ups.

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  15. I'm siding with Anonymous. But Little Weak Jeremy makes a good case. Being 2 years younger than Little Weak, you'd think I'd side with him. But I guess I'm a bit odd, because I feel that people in my age group are fairly narrow minded when it comes to the bigger picture of just about anything. They seem to think that everyone has their same taste. My dad's a P1, he got me listening to the Ticket. So through him and his friends I get to see the bigger listening world. Believe me, the poeple who are into the Ticket because of sports first is MUCH larger than the schtick audience Anonymous was talking about. That's not to say that my dad and his friends don't enjoy the schtick, they do a lot. I've been to remotes and to events like summer bash, ticket stock, and guy's night out with my dad. The vast majority of the people there are not guys and girls in my age group.

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  16. "Regarding the LWJ and Anon thread...I'm not sure who's right or wrong, but if you go to the Ticket site and look up weekend shows, CDS is not listed. Which kind of goes to Anon's side of things. And neither is the Scrubs listed."

    Not true, sir. DP made a big deal of pointing it out via @theunticket when they were finally added several weeks back. And I just checked; they're on there now under "Weekend Shows", last entry.


    With regards to the Scrubs 2.0, I've yet to listen to it. But, the critique that letting one's co-host finish their point, no matter how asinine it may be, was something I noticed early on:

    http://www.theunticket.com/unticket-editorial-the-scrubs/

    I'm going to listen to week 2 of the Newbury/Byron experiment now.

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  17. ap, you're right. I went to "weekend show" and clicked it. It then showed everything but CDS. But you are correct, if you click and hold, it does show CDS. Maybe the site needs to make that a bit more user friendly. Thanks for pointing it out. But the site does not mention either the Scrubs or the Soul Patch, at least as far as I can see. Then again, it seems like I don't see too well!

    I'll say this, and I think it's cool. It seems like there are some readers of this blog that are actually reading and fact checking the comments and are letting them know when they are mistaken. I think it's great. I for one have benefitted from it.

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  18. From what i've heard on Diamond Talk, newbury needs to slow down. His thoughts and sentences come out so jumbled, not to mention all the stutters. It's really bad and that alone has made me switch over to the ESPN postgame which is not any better but its at least tolerable.

    I don't listen to Scrubs but if he has alot of ideas but can't get them out wouldn't Newbury being a producer make more sense?

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  19. Newbury DOES need to slow down big time. I am a huge Rangers fan and he is taking away from that show most nights. Sean is a good bus driver and knows a ton about the team (though he can sports-bully at times). David tries his best, but he can't get a thought out very clearly at all. It is a rough listen because of it.

    Diamond Talk with Sean and Basik(sp?)was greatness. Loved having a former player's view. I even remember when Ty walker, Stew Cedar or Ken Daily filled in after Mike was fired - and it was a very solid post game show. I even remember Stew on when the Rangers won the pennant, and I was thankful.

    It was mentioned somewhere in these comments about David arguing with his weekend co-hosts. There has been a few times he has done that with C-Bass and it kills their momentum. Especially when I have a hard time taking the points of a college kicker seriously on a baseball show.

    It is curious that ticket management has let his weaknesses stay exposed over more than a year now. I guess all of this weekend shuffling is them doing just that.

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