Friday, April 12, 2013

Cheap Friday Fill-In + an Alexis Retrospective


(1)  From the day The Ticket went live at Victory, this site has noted on several occasions that the station doesn't sound good.  Almost every host overdrives his mic with some regularity; there are stretches that are really unpleasant to listen to.  (One host whose mic almost never sounds bad except when he's yelling, which will overdrive any mic -- Corby.)

I have asked -- doesn't anyone at The Ticket actually listen to the station?  How can it continue to sound worse than the old facility well over a year after the switch?

Finally, someone has noticed.  Of course, it was Junior.  He said he was listening to Norm in the car yesterday, and it sounded like he was on a remote.  All the Muser mics, he said, were extra "hot," that overdriven-like sound that makes the voices sound like they'te sitting on a hissing griddle.

Right.  Now Junior needs to use his immense moral authority at Cumulus to get the station sounding better.

And, of course, the signals are still absolutely dreadful.  There was a time when we'd heard that Cumlus had applied for some kind of power increase or something.  Can someone please get into the FCC site and let us know if there's anything going on there?

(2)  Heard a Corby promo for the Chicago trip where he's saying something like:  "Cat thinks it's going to be just like this show, except in Chicago, and we're drunk!  Well, he can suck it!"  OWTTE.

That Pan-American Catman just might possibly have heard those Hardline broadcasts from New York during the playoffs. 

In any event, always a good career move to tell the boss to suck it.

(3)  By the way:  There are many Confessors who believe that any inter-show or intra-station tension is a bit.   Probably some instances are put-up jobs.  But I think a lot aren't.  And I think this Chicago thing is a genuine sore point.  Yeah, maybe it was The Lads' idea, but it was because the station had not bestirred itself to gift The Hardline with any field trips or fun stuff to take the place of the Campout.  Now they're making their on-air pouting into promos, which is a good idea, but does not persuade me that The Hardline doesn't really think that they're being treated like second-class citizens.

Which it really seems like they are. 

(4) Since I seem to get increases in readership only when a traffic chick  is in the news, I will sign off with a nice little Alexis gallery, and wish her the very best in Seattle.  It's just the same stuff you've all drooled over on the Internets, but I offer it all in one spot as a convenience to the Confessor.  I'm sure she herself is a major Confessor, and probably a serial Anonymous contributor, so I invite her to continue to check in to see what's up with her former drive-time colleagues. 

Hey, Alexis, let this site hear from you -- we're all big fans!  What better sign-off than to drive the Confessor absolutely crazy with some acknowledgment on this site of his miserable little blog-visitor existence!   Ah, come on!










Have a great weekend, everyone.

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Twitter:  @Plainsman1310





23 comments:

  1. Plainsman,

    Love ya, but was the Grubes pic necessary, especially given so many Confessors' (including my) thoughts on Hitler humor one post ago? Just sayin'.

    As far as the Hardline pouting goes, IIRC Mike was one of the reasons they decided to not do it again this year, with his staying in the cabin last year.

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  2. What does the Grubes pic have to do with Hitler? That is clearly a Michael Jordan 'stache.

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  3. Well, this may be yet another example of Your Plainsman being a bad P1.

    Truly: I didn't even notice the moustache. When I was scouring Google Images for every available image of Alexis, Grubes's happy face was stuck right in the middle of them, and I was so amused that I thought I'd go with it.

    Someone tell me -- is that moustache a Hitler reference, some gag they were doing? If it is, I'll take it down.

    Thanks for continuing my Ticket education.

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  4. Danny on The Orphanage this morning commenting on the luxurious bus The Musers will be taking on their Pan-Texas tour, and noting that The Hard Ones had to pay for their own tickets to Chicago.

    Could be a bit -- hard to believe they had to finance that trip themsevles. But if true . . . telling, no?

    And if it is a bit -- why would The Hardline think it was a good idea to portray themselves as in the CTO's doghouse? Because they're the scrappy, underdog, Little Hardline on The Little Ticket? Maybe, but strange and somewhat risky, I think, to pretend-portray themselves as out of favor with colleagues, and second-class citiziens compared to The Musers (whose ratings, as I recall, always a dangerous activity, aren't quite as robust as THL's).

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  5. Well since it is flight, hotel, meals and transport they will most likely fill out an expense report upon return.

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  6. Mr. Plainsman- It was a photoshop either P1 Domo or the UnTicket guys did when I was rocking a mustache for "Mo"-vember (grow a mustache in November for charity). But yeah, they photoshopped it into a Hitler. You have my consent to keep it up as long as you're comfortable with it.

    Still love MTC, despite that one late-night rant. :)

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  7. I will miss the hotness that is Alexis.

    For what it's worth, one of my brother in law's brothers is in sales up at Cumulus. He started out in the late 90s as a promo guy and eventually got into sales. He's obviously close to what goes on at the station, but he's no insider. As he puts it, it's not a real open house. Everyone's friendly with each other for the most part, but sales is sales, The Ticket is The Ticket, The Wolf is THe Wolf, you get what I'm saying. But working there for as long as he has, he obviously has some insight. Nothing I'm about to say is mind blowing or incendiary. I'm only passing along, with his permission, a few thoughts.

    I only see brother of brother in law every now and again. Like 2 or 3 times a year. Last night my bro in law and sister had a get together, and so I ran into him. We're friendly. He knows I'm a P1. So I tell him that I discovered MTC and how he ought to check it out. He already knew about MTC. He said everyone at Cumulus knows about MTC. Not only that, but how nearly everyone makes regular stops here. I asked him what he thought about some of the content and comments. He said that some of the stuff is far out there, but that some of it is so spot on that it makes him wonder just who is making the comment. I asked if he thought hosts were posting comments. He said he didn't know first hand but because of some things that have been said it wouldn't surprise him. As far as the Musers vs Hardline goes, he told me that the hosts are thick as thieves. It's all a bit. But. The Hardline's bitching about Cumulus and how they're being treated is sort of murky. He really has no idea about that part of it. One final thing is that he said whoever is saying that the NYC ALCS trip has something to do with how the station's been treating the Chicago trip is more right than not. For what that's worth.

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  8. @150
    Some interesting stuff. If true, and I'll take you at your word, then it comports with much of what some around here at MTC have thought for a long time. If true, then it only reinforces what Plainsman, among others, has called for/gently reminded us of. Namely, to comment responsibly, thoughtfully, and respectfully. The person who you're calling the worst human being ever might very well be reading everything you're saying. If you're one of those "internet tough guys" who, due to anonymity, knows they can get away with saying anything, then you're probably not going to give a rip about others feelings. But I believe most of us MTCers do care. That's what makes MTC special.

    To parrot the guy on HIll Street Blues (talk about dating yourself): Hey, let's comment carefully out there.

    @Grubes
    I'm curious to know what your view is on the whole HItler/Nazi c'mon man it's all good we're just joshing around issue.

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  10. Deleted my reply. For those who saw it, there wasn't anything controversial. But I also think I need a little more time to contemplate before I give a public reply on something like this.

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  11. The Grubes photo has been replaced by a Grubes photo with a very suspicious looking porn moustache.

    Speaking of which: Harry Reems, RIP. He was my buddy's real estate agent in Park City.

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  12. 150: Thanks for that, and I believe all of it.

    For what it's worth, I am very doubtful that hosts ever post here, or if they do, it's about non-Ticket stuff like the fate of RaGE. I have long thought that most all of them fly by here (well, maybe not Norm) once in awhile. All of our named frequent Confessors, I am quite sure, are civilians. (I don't know any of them, either, and they don't know each other. Kinda of spooky, when you stop to think about it.)

    But guys, let's face something: it's just human nature for people to want to read what people are writing about them.

    However, I will flatter us to this extent: I do think part of the reason we may be an occasional destination of the Ticket/Cumulus army is because we do take some care to keep the babyarm/corbysux namecalling stuff to a minimum, and providing a forum to stretch out in a thoughtful way. I'd like to see more, uh, positivity -- remember, as I wrote in a comment to the last thread, the animating oomph to get me started on this site over 500 posts ago is that while there are things that may make us cringe, The Ticket is the greatest radio station in the world -- if it had been broadcast into the former Soviet Union, Mike Rhyner would be right up there with Reagan, Thatcher and Pope John Paul II as having brought down the Berlin Wall. The Ticket is the best thing about DFW, has kept me sane and happy in this city.

    ausgang, you cracked me up. I caught the initial post on the brother-in-law-brother encounter on my cell phone and thought, you know, this would be a good time to issue one of my periodic remonstrations that it is our responsibility to thing carefully about what we say, support it, and comment in a civil tone. It seems to me like the overwhelming majority of our visitors get this, more and more as time go by (and, with the site's growth, more and more trolls).

    As far as the spot-onnedness of the site -- a lot of this is common sense. The Ticket is a station that you really listen to, it's not background noise. (Although that's what The Orphanage claims to aspire to.) We have a (sometimes, overly imagined) personal relationship with these cool guys. A tone of voice, an odd silence, the dropped comment, the temporary obsessions. The b-i-l-b isn't the first one to advise me that we have no idea how close we have come to the truth in some of our speculations.

    And one more comment on posting: I have told you on several occasions that I get very, very few back-door communications (email) from Ticket insiders. And I can't remember a single one of them -- maybe one, a little -- that was critical of anyone at The Ticket or Cumulus. What this tells me that despite our railing about the signal and CTO blundering and other stuff, The Ticket men and women are loyal and, in general, very satisfied with their lot.

    For your convenience, here is a link to the first post here.
    http://myticketconfession.blogspot.com/2009/06/preliminary-considerations.htmlf

    You might get a kick by going back and reading some of those early entries. Man, I didn't think anyone was reading this thing. I wasn't subscribing to any site metering service, but not a soul was commenting and I figured it was a bust. (I also wasn't posting very frequently.) And if you read far enough, you will find that the very first human to comment on this website, several months in was none other than one Michael Delano Gruber.

    And I was on my way.

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  14. The little Ticket farm system sends another to the big leagues. Sniff, will miss Alexis. I guess when they decided who was going to share a space with her Uncle Norm sounded like a safe bet. I also guess that his legendary butt gas was not among the considerations at the time. Not quite sure which was funnier, the retelling of Norm shuffling papers in a hopeless attempt to mask the sound or hearing about George throwing Gordo against the wall. Good luck Alexis and enjoy the single shift up there. Go far, do well.

    Didja notice that right after the recent comments about calls that lo and behold they had some? Some cogent points and a classic layout. It doesn't really surprise me that they wander over here to check out the blood pressure of the listeners. Data is data, wherever you find it. I honestly can't remember how I found this blog. Googled the Ticket maybe? shrug. who knows.

    Personally I like the hardline promos. "Sponsored by Gold!" Still getting a laugh out of that one. I think Catman is big enough to take shit off them. Sports Duck might get butt hurt, but he seems to get over it. (personally, I like the term Sports Cretin better, but that's just me) I actually have listened to the Dick Hicks Nascar CD more than one Saturday afternoon while running around or working. Unlike the cheerleaders on Fox I feel I get a better grasp of the situation from him without the spin necessary to keep the Nascar Overlords happy. Not really a racing fan, but they are ripe with juicy good gossip and I just can't pass that up.

    Grubes, you chew on whatever comment that was and get back to us.

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  15. [Earlier comment deleted to correct a typo.]

    Hey, please let me know if there are any new Ticket blogs out there. I've been a little surprised that some more web-savvy guy hasn't started up something a little snazzier. I thought it was going to be Ticket Tribute guy, but no. The DFW Radio message boards aren't bad at all; some good commentary and news there.

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  16. Really liking that Shake Joint Thang.

    When they did the seg on "Accidental Racist" -- whatever you think of the sentiment, it's a puerile, tuneless, and grossly insincere cut, i.e., a terrible song -- I listened with great care to see if I heard any of what people complain about re Jake, some kind of Marcuse/Zinn interpretation of US-as-cancer-by-white-people rant.

    Didn't hear it. Thought it was good sharp commentary by both Jake and Sean.

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  17. I think Jake is smart enough to realize that it's in his best interest to soften his views for the radio. Specially on his own show. That doesn't mean he has to lie about how he thinks. It just means he doesn't need to say everything he thinks on a subject. Besides, if he really does buy into a Marcuse/Zinn sort of school of thought, then he's also familiar with the code words and whatnot that come along with that stripe of progressivism. They're used to mute down the tones of what you're actually saying. It's the reason why when you watch MSNBC and some host accuses someone on the right of using code words in order to say something racist. In other words, it's the accusing others of what you do, because you think everyone else operates within the same purview. Good old fashioned projection. Alright. Alright no more politics. The other possibilities are that someone took Jake aside and said to the effect "I don't care how leftish-academic you see the world, but if you want to succeed in the middle of the road sports/guy talk world, you'd best learn how to play it down the middle." Or that Jake's a young man who, like many young people, has some rather inconsistent and/or evolving views; and that he probably doesn't realize it.

    Whatever the case, I too like The Shake Joint. Not a fan of the name, but I am of the show.

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  18. Mavs get rid of their beards and CDS was prepared. http://tinyurl.com/cvbra5f

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  19. BBQ, I love ya!

    But man, that was cold.

    Poor Jake, guy can't get a break. Here he and Sean do a nice apolitical dissecting of the atrocious "Accidental Racist" and the guy gets criticized for what he doesn't say.

    I haven't heard any of the previous Jake segments that have irritated some of the Confessor, but I've heard me some Jake over the past couple of years, and to the extent his liberal-arts leftism leaks out (if that is indeed his bent), it's very minor and not troublesome to me. I think the ascension of Jake's star is well deserved.

    And I even like the name.

    I tend to agree with your point about code words on the left, and the right has its telltale phrases as well, let's face it. George Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" (1946) is instructive here:

    https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm

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  20. @TCUWhiteTrash 10m

    ATENTION FanFans...I just got fired by station...not much reason given..but now I've been fired by all three sports station

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  21. Well if this is true then bye bye Greggo, happy "retirement." I predict a very cheerful/celebratory WTDS/Hardline today

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  22. Richie Whitt and Sybil have been removed from the fails website as well as Greggo.

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