+ + +
There have been some interesting comments in the prior thread about ESPN's pairing (unclear whether this is temporary or permanent) of Jean-Jacques Taylor and Nate Newton. One Confessor confesses that he is having a hard time making out what they're saying. Others hearken back to earlier black sports-talk voices, mostly positive recollections. That was before my time.Awhile back, I speculated on who would create the "First Black Ticket." I heard Coop/Nate a week or so ago and while I was unimpressed with the content, I didn't have any particular difficulty understanding Nate. I can see, however, that if a coupla brothers got together to broadcast, the patois might take a decidedly more, shall we say, ethnically distinctive turn that we pasties might find difficult to make out.
I'm not an affirmative-action guy by any means, but I support experiments like JJT/NN, if that's what it is. Local competition for The Ticket isn't succeeding with what it's slinging out there, so why not try something a little spicier?
I went back and read my "First Black Ticket" piece and thought it held up OK. There were some excellent comments there that I commend to you as well. Don't have any further Great Thoughts on it, but thought I'd throw it out there since the JJT/NN pairing has caught folks' attention.
For me JJT's voice is so nasally, and yet he tries so hard to sound tough, that it's difficult to take what he says seriously. Especially after having read his DMN and ESPN columns. He's such an awful writer. And he speaks like he writes. In short, JJT's a bad communicator. Which seems to me to be problematic, considering the nature of his work. Yet somehow, someway he keeps getting fairly plum gigs.
ReplyDeleteOn another topic: Gordo's marriage segment reminded me of my 19 year old nephew who is home for the summer from his first year at college. He now knows everything. The wisdom of the ages just couldn't figure things out, but he has. And it's all pretty simple: we "humans" just make it harder than it has to be... I seriously wanted to scream while listening to Gordo's sophomoric riff on marriage. It never ceases to amaze me how myopic the self-professed open-minded, the free-thinking truly are; and how comically unaware they are of that fact. I guess when you're the only 5th grader in a room full of pre-schoolers, you appear wise. I guess.
Coop/Nate is normally the pairing. JJT fills in when Coop is out. It's a one hour show in between Colin Cowherd and Randy Galloway.
ReplyDeleteI kind of enjoy the Coop/Nate pairing. No offense to Jean Jacques Taylor, but he's too much ego in a business full of egos to stomach. Am I mistaken, or is it not true that he used to do pushups between every commercial break while working with Scott Harrison on the Soul Patch?
ReplyDeleteWhere's my wings?
I was never a fan of JJT during the brief days of the Soul Patch. I liked his laid back attitude at first, but it eventually wore on me. I wanted him to take something seriously for a change. Even when the Ticket regulars are being funny, you can tell that they have some conviction behind their words. JJT has a very "whatever" attitude that started to drive me crazy. He's a great foil for Norm for 1 segment per week, but beyond that was too much for me.
ReplyDelete10:42 Anon, what was the gist of Gordo's marriage segment? I missed it.
Roger B. Brown's show is sorely missed in this town. He was an institution.
ReplyDeleteI went back and read your old black Ticket post. It was already tried here:
ReplyDeleteKFCD AM Sports Fan 990
Gordo was opining on those who claim they'll never get married, that it's just a piece of paper, and those for whom marriage is something that you must see through, no matter what. He was all over the place. And in typical Gordo fashion, he constructed a false dichotomy (and caricatures) of two extremes while placing himself as the reasonable middle way. Gordo, ever the pragmatist.
ReplyDeleteOf course this included the religious person who speaks in an overly aggressive voice and who is a hypocrite. Because after all, Gordo (tells us) that he's made promises before God and hasn't kept them. For example, masturbation. (His example, not mine.) Thus, Gordo equated the act of masturbation with that of marriage; I mean, a promise to God not to do something is a promise to God not to do something. All acts are equal, right? Hardly. You'd think a son of a minister would be a little more theologically astute. But hey, why be charitable to views which differ from yours when you're trying to make a kick ass point that your smart-set buddies will high five you for having the "stones" to make. Not too mention that he seems to view this from solely a Protestant evangelical purview. For instance, a Catholic who abides by and thus actively practices Church doctrine (i.e., not a cafeteria Catholic) lives what's called the "Sacramental life." Marriage is a sacrament; marriage therefore is more than a public display of love and/or social-legal contract, it is the living out the Church's "marriage" to Christ. Hence the reason divorce isn't a part of orthodox Catholic doctrine. Marriage in this regard goes beyond the individual's or couple's personal relationship with God. Now we haven't, and I won't, get into marriage where Judaism, Islam, or Hinduism are concerned. That's just scratching the surface on the religious side of the issue (and no, I'm also not going down the same-sex rabbit-hole).
He droned on, with no challenge from either Jub or Junez (I too am a fan of using the Z), about how marriage shouldn't be that hard, and if it is, it should be ended...no hard feelings. I paraphrase here: "Hey, if after 10-15 years go by and the thrill is gone, it's just not working out anymore, end it. Why go through the agony? We humans make things too hard!" And oh yes, this "l8r g8r, it's been a good'n" no fault divorce should be completely amicable, no hard feelings, babe, in nature.
The interesting thing is that he gave no insight as to just what he thinks marriage is in the first place (which if you're going to step into this s-sandwich, you might want to define your terms)... much less make an argument as to why then would or should anyone marry in the first place if that's (see the end of the above paragraph) all it's about? If that's the case, then those who claim it's just a piece of meaningless paper are right. But he seems to think they aren't.
The one caller they took brought up the point that marriage isn't easy and it takes work, sometimes a lot of work; that it's not something you try on and discard once the honeymoon, the I can't live without you phase is over. To which Gordo replied that, like a friendship, marriage shouldn't be something you really have to work at, it should be mostly easy. It was at this point where I laughed out loud; if he's that obtuse, I kind of feel for him.
The only way skin pigmentation has meaning in sports talk radio is if a show is purposely slanted in that direction. Other than that, the listener only wants to listen to who has the most reasonable and accurate POVs. This also applies to the guy talk aspect of the thing. If it's bombastic, over the top, it'll only attract a certain type of listener, and will quickly fade then fail. If it's edgy yet grounded in the mainstream (of whatever community its trying to appeal to), it has a decent chance of succeeding.
ReplyDeleteWay off topic.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know how Blogger counts pageviews? Sitemeter is reporting one number, and Blogger is reporting a number several times that amount. I know the difference between "original hits" and "pageviews," so I am pretty sure I'm comparing apples to apples. Thanks in advance to any member of the blogging community.
Dang, at Anon 10:15, are you sure you're not Rhyner? I'm trying to follow what you're saying, but most of the words you use lost me.
ReplyDeleteAnswered my own question, if anyone's interested: Blogger counts visits from bots that scan blogs looking for content to republish or cite on their own comilation sites, so the commercial sites (like Sitemeter or Google Analytics) gives a truer picture.
ReplyDeleteWho would have thought there were so many automaton P1's?
If Craig's going to be "Junes" and spell it with a "z," I think it needs to be spelled "Joonz," not "Junez."
ReplyDeleteI see "Junez" and my inner voice says "joo-NEZ."
But you can spell it however you pleaz.
Top 10 just replaid the Musers marriage segment. The earlier synopsis was spot on.
ReplyDeleteLink to story about Sports Fan 990 KFCD AM:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dallasobserver.com/2007-11-15/news/foul-air/
@1:08 Anon and Hollis: Many thanks, my research never kicked 990 up.
ReplyDeleteWow, that's quite a story. (http://www.dallasobserver.com/2007-11-15/news/foul-air/) Sounds like bad management may have had a little something to do with its failure, although it does say that the ratings were "minuscule." It looks like it was on the air for less than a year, not enough time to get much traction.
Still think a responsible radio group could make some hay with some strong minority hosts.
It's like I've been preaching monotonously for awhile now: Management matters. It eventually trickles through the speakers, for good or for ill.
104.1 FM eventually returned to the air, by the way. Sometime before Community Quick Hits.
ReplyDelete