Friday, September 2, 2011

ANOTHER WEEKEND OPEN THREAD: Gordon Is Bored

I thought it was just me. 

Oh, Gordon was his usual brilliant self, but, it seemed to me, more lurid than usual.  The concentration of sex/perversion stories and references were coming thick and fast.  I don't know why they don't just use his altering-his-voice-to-avoid-drop-treatment as drops -- he used it so often the past week that it would serve just as well to identify him as the author of a drop using the voice.

Then I noticed that George and Junior themselves remarked on his more-raunchy-than-usual performance this week.  It was also noticed by Confessor East Texas P1 (from comments to the article on The Fan Sports Lounge):

Anytime Gordon and Corby start with the bathroom / in-the-gutter humor I am out. George even asked Gordo this week "Did you hit your head on something" which I think was only partial humor as Gordo was really off of it.

I didn't punch out, but I did find his performance curious the past few days.  He's an immensely talented guy, and  I don't think he was "off of it"; I think he's bored. 

Have at it, Nation.

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12 comments:

  1. Here's an HSO for you all. I think that besides BAD and Norm, the entire weekday stable of hosts are bored.

    If what passes as being interested on Rhynes' part is not the paradigm of a bored man, then I don't know what does. Corby and Gordo seem to have the same affliction: shock jock ennui. Gordon can't play at/get away with any longer (and quite frankly doesn't seem to have the chops) being the junior philosophy/psychology major, so he's evermore reverting to the Rant days. Corby might be a helluva husband, father, and friend, but he can also be a grade a doucher. He can't help but point out anyone's physical shortcomings. Who do you think came up with, and keeps alive, the (not funny) TC's an old lesbian bit? It's easier for him to mail in a superlative pejorative than to talk about anything substantive other than college football. The hit job he did on the 13 yr. old singer of "Friday" (a whore, really?) tells you all you need to know. Shock jock. And why not? It's easy, it garners hoots and "f yeahs." But it's lazy. Craig has publicly said how he's almost left the station before and how he sees an exit date; he has other things he wants to do. Yes he's smart, funny, and insightful, but anyone who openly talks about wanting to do other things must on some level be bored. Finally, George has seemed for quite some time now to be more interested in being a musician. I also think that the years of harassment by Gordo (and the incessant over the top shock jock stuff) has had to have made an impact on his zest for the job. Can you blame him?

    Don't get me wrong, they still do great work. I love the station; I love the shows; my life would be different without them all. But I do think they're bored. Why wouldn't they be? While the job is a dream, they've been at it for almost 18 years now. As great and lucrative as it's been, that's a long time and a one whale of a grind.

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  2. Terrific comment. Much truth to be found there. Wish I had written it.

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  3. Anonymous is getting at something that was on my mind when I wrote, a couple of days ago, that I had a hunch that things were boiling at The Ticket.

    Mike R's and Corby's contracts up in February. (Anon: Only thing I disagreed with in your article relates to Mike's attitude. I think he's been more engaged over the past several months, more of an equal participant in the show than he had been in 2009-most of 2010.)

    Bob off for a couple of months (I don't think he'll be back in four weeks) on something he certainly puts ahead of his job (admirably, if he can afford it).

    BaD throwing out a variety of minus-one/plus-ones of varying merit.

    Dan thrust into an unaccustomed spotlight as, in effect, the sole host.

    Norm, still vigorous but won't go on forever.

    Musers: Pretty steady, but Gordon getting further out there and looking for new gigs to replace Quick and his teevee show. Anonymous has stolen one of my topics for a lead article that George's interests have appeared severely divided (not just music, but household and children projects) for a year now.

    Citadel merger. Move to new studios held up. Who gets what in the new digs. Fate of Ja Wall.

    And a thus-far unsuccessful but undeniably pesky competitor that not only isn't going away, but is giving every indication of waiting you out.

    As I said, I think it's going to be an interesting six months, and I think Anonymous has put his finger on something, a hard-to-quanitify unease that pervades The Little One.

    Go with that.

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  4. One more thing:

    Technically speaking, anonymous, what you issued there was not an HSO, but rather an STD (Scorching Ticket Disquisition).

    We'll let it go this time.

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  5. Say Plainsman, do you know if any of the daytime hosts or Rich Phillips or Cat read this blog? If so, I wonder what they make of posts like that of Anonymous'? I mean, it seems to me to be fairly insightful and dead on in many places. Just a thought.

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  6. Anonymous, I don't know. A lot of people have asked me about whether the site is read at The Ticket, so I'll tell you what little I know (at my usual extreme length):

    To my recollection the following station guys have posted comments under their own names or nicknames: Grubes; Jeremy; Matt; Krenek; Casey; Jake. Possible I've left someone out, but those are the ones that come to mind. We haven't heard from some of them for quite some time, so hard to tell if they still check in.

    To my knowledge, MTC has been mentioned only on The TeeBox. (Other than P1 Steven's occasional shoutouts.) I believe it was referred to on The Soul Patch last weekend, but not by name.

    Since the site began I have received only one unsolicited email from a "major" host, and that was awhile ago as well. I occasionally (rarely) receive private emails from other station personnel.

    I don't think Jeff Catlin would mind if I told you he used to write me to correct me on items once in awhile, which I appreciated. (Which answers one of your questions.) He was always quite gracious. Haven't heard from him for awhile, either. I have never heard directly from Rich Phillips by name and don't have certain knowledge that he's a reader, although I have heard suggestions that he is.

    I have no regular inside source, and station personnel who are kind enough to share information so that I can correct things are promised confidentiality, which I have honored without exception. (As I say, it's quite rare that anything comes my way, so we're not talking Woodward/Bernstein here.) Most who take the time to email have reported that they like the site.

    I will say that it has been strongly suggested that some of our anonymous or pseudonymous commenters are Ticket employees. I'm not talking about the ones who purport to have inside information, the crypto-insiders -- I'm talking about those who purport to be regular P1's but who post with some inside-the-Ticket agenda in mind, or so it has been alleged. I have no way of knowing whether or if we have true insiders posting, or if the site is being manipulated by anons bearing agendas.

    One more thing: From time to time I hear things on the station that I think have been influenced by this site. I'm keeping a little list, and may write about it sometime. Nothing major.

    Bottom line: MTC has some readers (if not fans) at The Ticket, but they seem to be concentrated among the junior varsity. Cat used to read it, may still do so, but it's his job to read everything that's written about The Little One. On balance, I do not believe MTC occupies much attention in the Inner Sanctum of the Cumulo-ticket Overlords or hosts. That's fine -- I started this site as a place for friends to gather, not as a digital broadside.

    You also touched on something else I wanted to mention -- the comments have been outstanding lately. We're really developing a nice group of Tickety essayists here. Good listening, good thinking, good writing. I truly appreciate it, glad we're able to provide a home for people who care about the channel.

    Spread the word.

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  7. I'm wondering if in some small way the damn near outcry over Newbury's attitude towards his partners on this site had anything to do with the weekend pairing shakeups. Now he did explain this morning that (at least one of) the reason/s was that the Friday night high school football show he does was going to make doing a Saturday early afternoon show difficult. If that's true, that still doesn't speak to the partner switching that began a few weeks ago. I just wonder...

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  8. Further to my foregoing comment:

    As to whether any Ticket guys read this site, one thing to bear in mind is that the hosts and Cat and probably Dan Bennett get deluged with emails. They probably take the pulse of the P1 far more directly than by reading MTC.

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  9. Did anyone listen to The Orphanage this morning? Especially the last 10 minutes of it? I'm done with the show. They literally went silent for 10 minutes. Two middle-aged men playing at being hipster, too cool for school, 20-somethings is rather unattractive. And I don't care if Danny is a local yokel hipsters' choice musician. The act is stale and makes for horrible radio. Face it, guys, you're no longer The Rant. And you're no longer the 20/early 30-somethings that used to be on The Rant (well in Davey's case anyway, as Danny wasn't an official Rant host). Talk about arrested development. Talk about mailing it in. Give the two hours to someone or a pair (since mgmt. seems to think that's the only way to go) that gives a bleep; that appreciates the precious airtime. As it stands, it's embarrassing for the station, (and I'll bet) many of its listeners, and finally, whether they realize it or not, Danny and Davey themselves. Either appreciate what you have and actually care about the product you put out, guys, or to paraphrase Norm: "Get the hell off the air."

    There, I feel better.
    STD, Fozzie Bear. Waka waka. Out.

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  10. I missed it today.

    As you probably know, Foz, Danny B is one of this site's favorites, despite the occasional uber-cool transgressions. I guess my feeling about The O is that you kinda know what you're getting with these guys, and sometimes it crackles, and sometimes it annoys -- a lot like some of the Ticket's more offbeat offerings. Apparently it passed away entirely late in today's show, crediting your report.

    Anyone else hear what exercised Fozzie today?

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  11. Roughly one hour of penalty-kill radio, Plainsman. I tuned out when they were talking about music venues (I think?) and I quickly tuned back out. In their defense, they were poorly situated and were apparently trying to do a radio show in the middle of a throng of people trying to get dallas stars autographs.

    Razor was on for a bit, but the audio was faded down pretty heavily for that segment and it sounded very 'drowsy' (quiet, no treble, no bass). Then TC decided to name his former drug dealer and the whole thing crashed to a merciful halt.

    I'd say Killer probably got an earful for a few engineering and setup miscues, but I don't think the hosts stuck around long enough to yell at him.

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  12. "...tuned out when they were talking about music venues (I think?) and I quickly tuned back out."

    Whoops. You know what I mean, right? Hello? *tap-tap*

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