Saturday, May 11, 2013

(1) This Time, a Real Congratulations and Best Wishes, and (2) Lest We Forget



First, Kevin, an honest-to-god and not-pretend congratulations and wishes for every success at The Fan.  Yesterday, of course, I was guessing, although when I thought back to that weekend Ticker vacancy I'd seen a few days ago, I had a pretty strong inkling.  Now we know, and now I offer a hearty digital handshake and old-man slap on the back.

Although this is a Tickety site, we do survey the sports-talk radio horizon, as it says next to my little picture, so who knows?  You know that Confessors, perhaps even I, will write about the new giant-slayers offered by The Fan.  I hope you earn a blog with commenters every bit as loquacious and well-behaved as those who are gathering here.



And now, Confessors, back to the business at hand.

Many of you -- not all, but many -- have yearned for the day when The Fan was going to get some pitching in there to give you an alternative to The Hardline with which you have become increasingly annoyed and punching-out-on.   The OverCorby, Checkout Mike, Uberkuhl Danny, endless commercial breaks, many things have excited your ire.  Will there be enough of you to make a dent in The Hardline's ratings with your migration to Band S?

Many Confessors are doubting that Ben and Skin are the answer.  I recall their Ticket show with residual fondness, something I'd keep on the radio when it came on during Saturday errands.  Yes, I did weary of the Ben and Skin and Moebius Endless Self-Referential Conversational Loop from time to time, but it could be fought through.  Same with Ben & Skin Disease (sounding too much alike).  I didn't heard one second of their show on ESPN so don't know if they got cured of either of those things -- from what I'm reading, guess not.

But some of you are looking forward to it and are going to give it a fair shot.  Good.  No doubt I will give it a listen as well.

But before we get too enthusiastic about the possibility of an improved Hardline or a meaningful ratings nudge to Mike, Corby, and Danny, let's think back:

Don't think about what RaGE actually turned out to be -- think about what it started out to be:  A very, very heavily promoted, slickly-produced, well-planned show with a legendary former member of That Very Hardline During the Legacy Greatness Years who still had lots and lots of fans, paired with  a very well-known DFW sports writer and maybe the only one who worked in extended form, a big signal, network support, huge, really huge anticipation.  Later, they even got TV exposure and a saloon. Forget about how disappointing the actual product turned out to be -- think about the excitement at the beginning.

And for all that excitement and planning and promotion:  RaGE never,  not ever, not even at the outset when people might have been expected to check it out for awhile, had the slightest impact on The Hardline.  We have radio guys checking in to this site who can give us the details, but I do not remember the slightest burp in THL's ratings dominance or the margin of that dominance.

Are Ben and Skin, who debut with much less Fan-fare (sorry) and boasting likely to do better even if they are better than the Ben and Skin we've been hearing for the last half-dozen years or so?

[Side note:  Some time ago, and I mean well before the current changes, I heard from a local radio talent that he hated their show.  (Liked them personally.)]

Like everyone else, I'd like to see a more dedicated, mature, focused Hardline.  But Our Lads didn't bestir themselves to make improvements when RaGE hit the air and turns out they were right not to expend the additional energy.  Mike R saw better than anyone what was coming, and he correctly discerned  it to be nothing.

So while I will be investigating the new competition somewhere along the line, and wishing a good career move for our friend KT, and some meaningful shoving of The Hard Ones, based on past history I'm skeptical that we will see a ratings book that looks much different than the last several dozen.

You?

*     *     *

Twitter:   @Plainsman1310
Email:  ThePlainsman1310@gmail.com

37 comments:

  1. I have to agree with your last sentiments, Plainsman. I too have heard the same thing from a few people in the know. Namely that B&S are great guys who everyone wants to see succeed, but who also air a fairly cruddy show. More specifically, that it works as a Saturday show; that their time at The Ticket was their halcyon days, it was the ideal day and time slot for their show. I don't see how they can change the presentation enough to have a different outcome than any of their previous 2 stops. It seems obvious that the strategy this time around is to go low key and perhaps ease into the metroplex's ear. I have a feeling that no one is going to know they exist. Which will then cause Spittle to go full bore on the promo, which will in turn demand that they have a more immediate and marked success, which will in turn hasten yet another B&S exit. I will say that for a show that has done absolutely nothing ratings wise, they sure keep getting plum gigs and second and third chances. That's very uncommon in the radio game. Unless you've already been a big success, which they haven't.

    Still awaiting Greggo's promised inside scoop on B&S's hiring/"machinations." Who knows, maybe someone he'll listen to got a hold of him and told him to cease and desist any and all internet related activity; that whatever, if anything, is left of his career is being destroyed that much more with every tweet, every blog entry.

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  2. A quality assessment of the current B&S situation as they embark on their FAN Journey . I wish them luck , although I don't think afternoon drive time is a good venue for their format .
    It will be interesting to see The FANs strategy in carving out an audience.
    Radish is spot on about greggo ruining what would have been left of his career . I was anxiously awaiting his promised " scorched earth " blog entry today - As predicted - he didn't deliver his product today . As good a guys as B&S are , I will need a compelling presentation of facts if they had a plan to knock off RAGE , I think they just stayed on the sidelines , improving their product waiting for the inevitable self destruction of GW - B&S's phone rang before they had to call someone to get a gig .
    Sorry greggo , no black ops dark conspiracy to knock you off the airwaves .,....

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  3. I'd just like to thank everyone for recently bringing the goods, comments-wise and to that hurly burly man himself, KT; that was cool!

    I fully expect the Triple Fake Josh Hamilton to be a true differences-making asset on B&S beyond other supplements.

    I'm a large and swollen Ben and Skin P1. I only listened to them a little during the young, wild, and free Ticket days, never caught the first go around with the Fan, but I absolutely thought (pardon the phrrasing) that were growing the show at ESPN and I welcomed it when Norm (God bless his heart) would start waxing about his lost Kindle or respite from Sweetjack. I loved Fake Galloway and Fake Tim MacMahon for instance, and this new situation seems like the opportunity where they will have the most creative control and thus the best chance yet to succeed.

    Now if ratings is a wager at Norm's Clubhouse and my own personal money is riding on it, will B&S impact THL? I highly doubt it, but what happens if they're trouncing GAC in a year?

    Is that considered a success at all?

    There has been so much turnover and rearrangement with talent and management at the other two stations that simple continuity could account for all of the past failures compared to the mega-dependable 1310 lineup. Leno, Conan, and Fallon all needed time to build rapport and find their stride. Howard Stern has blossomed into one of the most thoughtful and affecting conductors of interviews right up there with Oprah and Maron.

    I surmise the reason the B&S boys continue to get big opportunities is because they seem to be genuinely fun people to be around; they appear to approach their jobs with an uncurbed enthusiasm that is oft infectious. The ability to be well liked by one's fellow man and also having an easy-to-get-along-with reputation are invaluable weapons in any facet of life, particularly a very public line of work.

    The most apparent effect of this whole new deal here will be the increased exposure of the-now-more-vital-than-ever Timothy Charles filling the KT vacuum.

    Success demands the right time and place and perhaps this is the tipping point for B&S, T.C., and/or Mr. Turner

    Ben and Skin, they're like really good chefs that have bounced around several places always trying to perfect their style while working within the given confines of their particular restaurant. Now they have the keys to a big kitchen; the possibilities are exciting. I can't wait to dig in on my favorite dishes, sample the new recipes they whip up, and see how it all comes together with a new staff in a new kitchen.

    How would yous guys like more of The Sirois?

    Those dudes continue to impress the hell outta me. I'd rather hear them than Dick Hicks (who is a perfectly fine fill-in, mostly unoffensive, at least when you can't smell him)

    Oh, and also, Fat Joe has left Atlantic. Stay advised....

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  4. Got nothing against B&S, but I don't see any compelling reason to expect them to do much better than RaGE.

    Greggo has proven time and time again that he is his own worst enemy. It seems unlikely (to me)that he would take someone's advice to cool it on his blog.

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  5. Holy mackeral! Greggo has finally posted the mother of all I'm outta here, done, finito, later days-better lays to the DFW media. ESPECIALLY to Ben and Skin. Y'all read it for yourselves and make of it what you will. Me. I could easily say a lot of things about it. Could very easily take the cynical route. Very easily. There's much in it that can be taken at face value or as angling for something else. What I will say is that The Hammer has taken a crap on the bosses car, in his office, and thrown it on much of the office in monkey like fashion. Like many have claimed here, I do think GW will be packing up and moving to Colorado. I can see him getting a shot in a 3rd or 4th tier market and building back up from there. After all, America loves a comeback story of redemption and being better than ever. I truly hope this happens for R. Greggory Williams.

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  6. Reading Greg's latest screed, and my first thought is:

    Man, I thought it took ME a long time to get to the point.

    My second thought is: With all these bucketloads of "unvarnished truth" we're supposedly getting, has he said anything about his still-unexplained lengthy absence earlier this year?

    My third thought is: Greg believes that he is responsible for "14 years of domination in a top four market," despite his sudden absence making zero difference in said domination in the years following those 14, and no domination when given an even larger role on a competing show.

    My fourth thought is: There is almost nothing in here that supports ANY of his righteous fury:

    JASMINE: Here is everything you need to know about his analysis: "I’m still not sure what the circumstances were. But I knew it was unjust." CBS 1, Greggo 0, out of his own mouth.

    R.J. CHOPPY, MICHAEL IRVIN, KEVIN KILEY: Not one syllable of evidence on his charge against Ben & Skin. Not a pixel. Here it is: "I have it one 100% authority that B&S were stealthily inserting the knife in the back of RJ Choppy. And they would further that practice as they orchestrated the ouster of Michael Irvin and Kevin Kiley." That's it, folks. You got more, I'll read it. But this is nothing.

    B&S MOVING TO FAN DRIVE: Less than nothing. No evidence that contacting potential employers during a noncompete period (or even during a period of employment) violated their noncompete or their employment contract. I am very doubtful that it did either (stuff like this gets lawyered out the ass), but Greg has no idea. And perhpas I missed it, but there is not one breath of the teased suggestion that Ben and/or Skin had anything to do with RaGE's demise.

    Oceans of passive-aggressive prose (I'm-a-talent-free-schlub-who-deserved-most-of-his-terminations-but-who-will-now-operate-as-the-sole-beacon-of-inside-media-filth) that manages to make not a single one of his targets look bad.

    Look, I was a Greg fan when he was with The Ticket and he was frequently well worth listening to on RaGE. This site has wished him well on numerous occasions. But folks, as viscerally satisfying as it may be to read screeds like tonight's, read them with great care. Drill down to his ultimate evidence. There's nothing there. I don't know whether his "truths" in this piece are varnished or unvarnished, but to my eye they are entirely conclusory and represent an endless flurry of pulled punches.

    My fifth thought is: After reading the attaboy comments to Greg's post, I see that I must be entirely wrong.

    My sixth thought is: Mike R, Corby, Danny, Jeff C are reading this tonight and sending out a vibe to the P1: "See?"

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  7. I have a 25+ year relationship with someone who reminds me so much of Greggo in every way that it's uncanny. I guess there are those types of people out there. We were in a joint venture together and when he finally crossed the line one too many times with drug use and lies I had to say goodbye to that partnership. I then became the unfeeling bastard, etc. etc. Basically I was the Rhyner. And he would tell everyone from the rooftops just what a dick I was and how he was wronged and how he was responsible for any success, etc. He later on got into other, similar partnerships and lo and behold the same thing would happen. After a couple of these nearly identical paring of ways, all of the sudden I was rehabilitated in his eyes. I was now the one guy who had the guts to tell him the truth, to see through his bullshit. Well, of course, what had happened was that the community of which we were a part of finally figured out the reality of things, so now he wanted to start again. To go back in time and begin the beginning all over again (damn that sounds like some obscure REM lyric). When he realized that that wasn't going to happen, well, you guessed, all of that new found positivity toward me became somewhat toned down. Now it was qualified by "well, I WAS the reason we had success, but yeah he did call me on my shit and I respect that" sorts of statements. However by that time no one was buying what he was selling. They'd seen the truth. The truth not as he saw it or imagined it, but as it really was. He showed is ass. Once you show your ass, that's it.

    Why am I rambling on about myself and some schmoe? Because it's exactly what Greggo has done and is trying to do (go back in time). He's bared his ass for the last time. When he says he's "done" and that he's being truthful and all the rest, what he's really doing is trying to get back to The Ticket. As soon as he realizes it's not going to happen, the qualifiers will start up again. The Ticket and Mike R will be lauded as the best he's had, but it'll be qualified by saying that it was better when he was there. Well, that is if his blog is still around a month from now. Which is about how long it'll take for him to realize that all these feelers he's putting out have been met with definitive "nyets."

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  8. pDubLahey makes a good point:

    Yeah, I do think Ben and Skin will have been a success if they steal ratings at the expense of ESPN. We tend to be Ticket-centric around here, but there are lot of other ad dollars to spread around.

    pDub, you have an arresting style. I've had some trouble parsing some of your stuff, but you're kind of a pip.

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  9. I'm not going to comment on Greggo's latest "treasure." Yes, I did read it. Anyone who can't see it for what it is, is willfully blind or not an astute observer of human nature.

    Some interesting points, pDubLahey. I didn't think about the TC angle. I do wonder if this is a sink or swim moment for the young man? If so, I hope he swims like a porpoise with a purpose.

    As an aside that you, pDubLahey, might not be aware of (from a very bizarre thread a couple of weeks ago): Uh oh, Plainsman, another restaurant analogy!!!

    In truth, I don't have the confidence that you do in B&S. Like most everyone else, I too feel that they're really nice guys who have fantastic insight into the NBA. I agree with the radish in that I don't see how their presentation, one that has--and let's call a spade a spade here--done rather poorly in the ratings on two separate occasions will either suddenly click with listeners or will have changed itself into something attractive to a much larger audience.

    As to pDubLahey's Sirois query: I don't know. They are great interviewers. I think only Dan McDowell surpasses them. (Yes, Dan. When he interviews someone he's interested in, like, say, a comedian, he is untouchable.) I can't see myself listening to them on a regular basis. They're too spastic for my tastes. Indeed, they remind me a lot of B&S. Smart guys. Good guys. But just guys.

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  10. I really do not know how B&S cannot have the same result which they have had going up against The Ticket before. In the times I have listened, on all three stations, I really have not noticed a difference in the overall show. The Anon. poster in the last thread was spot on in his/her assessment of them. Honestly, if they did not have such a connection to the Metroplex and families, they would be better served to try their show in another top-50 market (or lower) as MaSS and the former Ticket employee who took the job in Pueblo(?), Colorado have done, as opposed to try to sit tight and expect to land a top-5 market job by age 30-5 without doing a d@mn thing because you have always been here.

    As far as Galloway, he he publically mentioned his future? I know in interviews with other newspaper columnists that working radio is much easier than creating a column, hence why they openly work it and those like Kornheiser take newspaper buyouts just to talk for two hours/day. Even columnists not near age 50, like LeBatard and Bernie Miklaus (St. Louis) like it because they think of it as easy money.

    Now, To All:
    MTC has posters talk much about an alternative to THL, specifically.

    Well, if there was a focus group in which you were invited to participate in and were asked about what you would like in an alternative, what would you say and if you were told of a current program which had all you wanted, but only two segments (~40 minutes) on DFW sports, would you listen?

    I honestly think there are other shows out there which you would listen to, but you would have to try to listen online and not have a terrestrial radio show to be given to you. That could be down to the fact that I am not a Metroplex local and I no longer live there, but I live in a top-10 market and do not listen to the stations in my market. I listen to The Ticket and shows in other cities.

    While THL is a four hour show (240 minutes), there is about only 160 minutes of radio content given due to the commercial/ticker/traffic breaks and WTDS takes up another 30 minutes. That does not leave much actual show time. Most shows only have 40 minutes of content/hour, so judge accordingly.

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  11. AS DA said above, there are other options out there now. I find myself switching over to John David Wells at 660 KSKY at various times from 2 to 5. I doubt the ratings will even acknowledge this gnat of a station exist but it draws me away at times and sometimes I forget to come back.

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  12. People keep talking about "nobody cares about Greggo anymore"....seems to be alot of people checking his blog out.

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  13. Oh, I think lots of people care about GW. After 20 years on the air, the guy is going to have faithful fans. Despite his record and his current dyspepsia, that base isn't going to vanish entirely, and I'm sure a lot of them will remain very interested in his views on guns and hats.

    And let's face it: We -- or at least I -- will be interested in him here to the extent he's offering information on local sportsy radio. So far, other than his account of his own separation, he hasn't given us anything except overheated prose.

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  14. If possible - Wish your mom Happy Mothers Day or have good thoughts about her today -

    When it is mentioned that nobody cares GW anymore , I think it is directed at his spot in the Radio World - any of us with compassion for our fellow humans , care that his saga does not end tragically .

    I am not in the Radio business , but I am a long time Corparate survivor , The Radio world is no more cut throat than any other industry , just a little more public . You don't have to sell your soul or compromise your integrity in the Corprate world , in order to succeed in that environment , a person just has to come to accept the trade off - you commit your time and energy in exchange for $ and other benefits . There are bad managers and corp execs everywhere in business -

    In summary - GW , RW and other disgruntled employees will always gripe , I never heard B&S gripe about unfair treatment - seems they just reshuffled thier cards and went back after it . Good luck KT , remember you are going into this gig with full disclosure - don't burn bridges or build your career on the bodies of others . You will do well . The Ticket has a good track record of supporting emp,oyees who leave for the right reasons and leave in a manner that reflects professionalism and an appreciation of the opportunity the Ticket gave them to climb the mountain.

    If I remember correctly - The Coop , made a personal career decision not to change his style to fit the Tickets business model .

    Thank you Plainsman for a clean blog with some insightfull bloggers .

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  15. @slinky
    Don't mistake slowing down on the highway to watch a car wreck for genuine interest in the safety and well-being of the occupants. Maybe some do, but most of us are just too damn curious to not look.

    Yeah, I have been reading along with everybody. I have to agree with Plainsman on the lack of any credible evidence that any claims he makes are true. We can take him at his word or not because nobody else has taken the time to speak up about it or address it in anyway. I doubt Spittle,Gavin has any interest in lending credence to his claims, any of them. I wonder now if RW will make any statement concerning the precipitating events around their firing. Tweets notwithstanding. I mean something like what he wrote when Greggo went absent from the Ticket. It would seem to me that he still has some cards in the game and isn't ready to cash out yet.

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  16. The opening segment of The Orphanage from yesterday is worth a listen to anyone interested in this discussion.

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  17. Well, Just Another, since apparently no one who has posted here yet heard it, perhaps you could summarize it for us.

    Remember, Confessors: Context, context, context.

    And GJW, you are welcome for this tidy, if sometimes sprawling, blog.

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  18. Plainsman: it is available on The Unticket. I will summarize, but it is a lengthy segment with a bit of placed sarcasm and pointed comments that make it more difficult to objectively unpack.

    Feel free to add or correct if you have heard this segment.

    Danny made several key comments including:
    -KT was essentially kicked out the door immediately following his resignation; no two weeks or kind words were granted
    -Management does not approve of JV guys looking out for their careers; they are to sit in purgatory making terrible money until CTO decide (if) they get a chance
    -The Teebox was canceled due to KT's late week resignation. He was to fill in for the vacationing Rick. Cat did not approve of any replacements suggested by RosenRosen
    -On air guys at The Ticket like B&S and they have good friendships; however, they enjoy crushing them in the ratings and expect their ultimate demise
    -Took joking shots at The Hammer for his victory lap of DFW sports station firings
    -Once you leave The Ticket, you are never welcome back; this was made very clear

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  19. @pdublahey

    Beating galloway on a consistent basis (which rage did throughout 2011) is all required of b/s. All will rejoice. As I've said time and time again, noone from the bottom floor to manhatten expects the fan to beat the ticket until something big changes at the ticket...and eventually sonething will.

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  20. Just Another, I'm not seeing it at the Unticket. If you know where it is over there, would you mind please posting a link?

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  21. http://www.theunticket.com/usave-it/

    Archives segment. You will need to fast-forward through a bit of Rotten Radio and a commercial block.

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  22. More lies than ever where greggo claims to be spitting the truth.

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  23. Thanks, Just Another. 'Preciate ya, pal.

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  24. Fairly interesting Orphanage segment. Thanks for the link, Just Another P1.

    I can't believe what Greggo is throwing down on his blog. He's basically trying to ruin Ben and Skin's rep. Some of what he's saying is libelous. It wouldn't surprise me, and nor would I blame them, if Ben and Skin took GW to court.

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  25. http://www.theunticket.com/usave-it/

    BTW, clicking on the cirque spot in the above link leads to the orphanage/cirque mix that goes over the b&s deal, a prank about that and some KT stuff.

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  26. The small contingent of Listeners Influenced by greggos blog would not be considered a measurable target audience by any company of merit .
    B&S and all active radio personalities most likely appreciate greggo distancing himself from them via an unsolicited greggo beat down on his blog .
    Greggos rants and self serving meandering blog entries have no measurable impact , good or bad , on anybody.
    MTC is a productive blog in that MTC bloggers try to stick to digesting and understanding the facts of the subject matter being discussed .
    Ruin B&S ? Only B&S can do that !

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  27. The point isn't if whether Greggo can ruin B&S's reputation, but rather that he's trying to do so in a very public way. He's even directing his Twitter followers to the post. Even some of the industry people over at the radio-info board are taking notice of Greggo's self-serving rants. Then again, that board is populated by a lot of bitter radio biz ex-pats.

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  28. I hope the arrival of B&S lights a little fire under THL. I'm sure that being #1 for so long as given them a sense of complacency.

    Myself....I'm going to toss the ticket brand loyalty in the trash from 2-6 and check out both programs and see which is the better show. The better show will gain my attention.

    I have the feeling and I hope that THL picks up their game and try to actually earn listenership (made up word) instead of relying on loyal P1's to blindly tune in.

    Also, It was nice to see Greggo's glowing on Mike in his blog.

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  29. http://www.zombielenbias.com/blog/2013/5/9/goodbye-to-kevin-turner

    Nice little read from Mike "The Machine" Marshall on his blog about Kevin Turner and the recent developments.

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  30. Just read Greggo's latest blog entry. Man, he lays it out there. That's why he was so great back in the early days of the Ticket. But, just like his personality, he has a second side, which came out in the second half of his blog when he's talking about B&S. No need to go to the extremes that he did to tarnish them. It made no difference to me whether to listen to them or not with what he wrote. I was reading some comments on his blog and someone wrote that he wished the Ticket would hire him back. I would like something like that to happen in some capacity. Maybe, after Norm has retired or somesuch, he could fill that slot with another partner. That....would never happen, but just thinking out loud.

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  31. I'm a Greggo fan, but have not checked out his blog. I like Greggo on radio. Guns aside, I can relate to alot of Greggo's bits and his frustrations. Here is the bottom line with Greggo [with me anyway] Greggo was the ONLY reason I listened to RaGE. It was the ninty% of the time I couldn't fight thru Richie that I tuned out. Greggos act only really worked on THL, and it worked well!

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  32. Machine's piece was fascinating. As much for what it doesn't say as what it does. We've always known the younger JV guys get exploited and, for the most part, that they wouldn't have it any other way. But after awhile, as one moves in to actual, taxpaying, woman-acquiring, employment-benefit-needing adulthood, it has to start to drag. Machine seems to be balancing on that fulcrum between the showbiz dream and The Actual Big Person World. My only advice, which is incredibly hackneyed but I'm going to offer it anyway: Do what you love, go where your heart takes you, and survival will follow and you'll actually like your friends.

    Here's that link again:

    http://www.zombielenbias.com/blog/2013/5/9/goodbye-to-kevin-turner

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  33. Greggo already on the disabled list.

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  34. Well, it took all but, what, a week? Actually 6 days. He's already handed the blog off to some sycophant who seems to fancy himself as a Greggo starter kit.

    Cold and flu-like symptoms my ass. Here's what about to happen. He will tease an "announcement" concerning the future of the blog tomorrow or the next day. After a few days of soaking up the drama of his followers' pleas of "you'd better not go, Hammer, you're the only real Texan left in Texas," he'll then deliver his final post that claims he's too hot to handle, has even been threatened due to the truths he's so bravely espoused (of course said with alternate self exaltation and faux humbleness in the same sentence), has by means of his boldness to tell it like it is inadvertently caused grief for those whom he "respects," and is now--ever so graciously and generously--handing the blog over to an up and comer, someone who really deserves a chance, someone that is a GMF and GW approved. He'll then take in the dozens of "there'll never be another like you, Greggo," "I'll never use the internet again, Greggo" comments. And in a few weeks he'll announce that he will be an every now and again contributor. This way he gets to feed the ego when the mood strikes.

    Mark it down. This will happen.

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  35. Thanks, Anon11:34. That's a good, heartfelt blog entry from Machine. I've never developed much of an opinion on KT (or Machine, for that matter) regarding on-air work because I've never had a chance to catch them in a prominent role. It's not a shot at them, it's just the nature of 1) so many overpowering voices on the Ticket and 2) the JV not getting much of a chance to shine. I follow KT on Twitter and I think that boy has something, and I always support my UNT RTVF brethren, so I wish him the best.

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  36. Neat insights into the life and mind of the Ticket JVer. I get the feeling that Machine is getting closer to moving onto something else than sticking it out to see if anything better comes along. As a former, aspiring professional musician I can relate. At some point you have to face the reality of the sitch: No matter how good you might be, no matter how passionate you might be about it, most of the time when it comes to these sorts of professions, it's not in the cards. There's so much more to it than talent, drive, and desire. There's timing, sheer luck, and connections (the right ones at all times, not merely at certain times - meaning John, who was a great connect in 2011 might not be in 2013). The overwhelming majority of my fellow aspiring musicians (all of us with Jazz degrees from UNT) at some point had to make that decision. It's very difficult. Because odds are if you choose to go for it no matter what, you're gonna end up a lifer, playing in cover bands, at weddings, and slogging it out in clubs, ever competing with younger hotter acts/artists. What's more is that the pay never gets better, you end up living like you were when you were 22. It's not a pretty sight when the dude is in his 40s+. Believe me, I've seen it too too many times. So I feel for Machine and the other JVers. I wish them all the best. Same goes for KT. He totally made the right decision. Even if Ben and Skin flop and are gone by this time next year, he'll have that on his resume and can build from it. At The Ticket, like Machine knows too well, he would've stayed stuck in 2nd gear.

    Thought his dig at Casey Millen was funny. I remember when that dude had his manager or gfriend making all kinds of over the top statements about his supposed genius on this blog.

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  37. Speaking as a child of the 80s and a huge college basketball fan, Zombie Len Bias is a horrible name for a blog.

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