Thursday, November 7, 2013

Placeholder Entry for Thread Refresh

On the run, sorry.  Hope to get back to a more regular schedule and better topics soon.

Junior's list of the Seven Manmade Wonders of the Metroplex is Exhibit 1 in why DFW is one dreary burg.

Man, now he's on the Natural Wonders.  Exhibit 2.

We gots The Ticket, which almost makes living here worthwhile.  Now, thanks to SportsDay Talk and iHeart and streaming and downloadable podcasts, everyone gots it.

OK, DFW natives and lovers, let me have it.

There.

40 comments:

  1. While loading the page I thought to myself "I hope do not see Dez and Corby at the top of the page...."

    Thanks for the placeholder and fresh outlook on life!

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  2. Greggo must be cleaning out his ample closet as he is now posting pictures on his twitter pagefrom the very early days of The Ticket. Lots of mullets, jorts and web-belts.

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  3. Congrats to G-Bag Nation for winning the readers pick for Best Sports Radio Talk Show in Blitz Weekly. Musers were the magazine's pick.

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  4. Also Ben and Skin made the Talkers Top 100 list. The Musers and Hardline are on the list as well.

    http://www.talkers.com/?page_id=24658&preview=true

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  5. Dear Ticket Management:

    Since the ratings gap between you and ESPN seems to be shrinking (see Oct. ratings), I have a suggestion that might help.....

    STOP PREEMPTING YOUR HIGHEST RATED SHOW FOR HOCKEY!

    I realize this is contractual, but who thought radio broadcasts of hockey was a good idea?

    Also, the clock over content mentality is really starting to get old....I've listened since Bayless took the air 20 years ago, and I promise it wasn't like that back in the old days...

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  6. Hockey...oh wait...you mean we really do have a hockey team in the Big D?
    Wow...I thought that preempting thing was a bit.

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  7. Off topic -
    I get that these marginal football Universities have to trick up their uniforms to attract the XBox generation, but if you do not have black as one of your base colors you should not have an all black uniform.
    Cheap...very cheap.

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  8. Dear tomfoolery,
    Please tell me when the Ticket has ever preempted the Musers for hockey.

    The last few months. And more often then not, The Musers are the highest rated show on 1310. But hey, why let facts interfere with an HSO?

    And if you really listened back in the old days, you'll remember that the original clock had breaks at 10-20-30-40 and 50. Because that idiot Ira lipson, aka the ticket hypester, thought the way to build TSL was to break every 7 minutes. That was when it was really clock over content.

    But I'll let you in on a trade secret. Want to know when clock over content is really important? When big strong Jeremy or jake are about to play spots out of the hour, or even worse, out of the day part. Spots sell for hundreds of dollars a piece, push a break into the next hour, and it cam add up quickly. And trust me, ad agencies have staffers who pore over affidavits to make sure spots ran when ordered. And if they ordered 4-6pm, and got 602pm, guess what? The agency short pays, or takes a credit, or wants make goods.
    Advertising is what pays the bills. Look what happens when your revenue sucks. You get sold to the competition and moved into the mothership.

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  9. Uh, you do realize that both the Talkers and Blitz lists are "picked" by the companies that put in the most advert dollars/have their employees (implicitly or explicitly) vote like they're voting for their own band in a Dallas Observer Music Award poll. So, please, and with no offense meant whatsoever, take your FAN employee buttinski somewhere else. It won't fly here. We know what's what.

    Yo, Tomfoolery. Used to love you on the Musers back in the day. But bro, if you think the gap between The Ticket and its locally little brother is shrinking, you've misread or don't know how to properly read ratings.

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  10. Who can give us the scoop on "October ratings"?

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  11. @832
    Well i guess since KTCK and KRLD-FM made both entries, that the Ticket's presence is just as hollow

    Plainsman/October Ratings
    KESN is still getting a lift from baseball, the October book ended in early October, that gap will widen again heading into the winter. I dont think Cowlishaw and Mosely are going to fare near as well as MLB.

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  12. @938 Exactly right. Any presence on either of those two lists are absolutely meaningless. If you didn't hear it earlier today, I suggest listening to today's pod of BaD. They go over this very thing.

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  13. I was being sarcastic. I don't think it's hollow for either station, nor for KESN. BAD should have been on it though.
    That's the trouble with being the Ticket though, and with being a P1. Any station in the world would be happy to be on that list, but when you're the Ticket, nothing is as cool as being you.

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  14. I wonder what the ratings are like for the 6:00-start hockey games. I'd love to see the drop off in listeners from a normal Hardline show. I know I immediately punch out when it comes on.

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  15. As one of the few hockey fans that listened to them back when they were on WBAP. And yes I do listen to the games. I caught a good many games at work listening to Ralph and Razor.

    Would it hurt my feelings to see them on KLIF instead? Nope, suits me fine. I know hockey is a punch out for most of y'all but some of us like it. I'd like to see the numbers too. Better get used to it though. They are going to be playing on East Coast time quite a bit in the future. Reordered the league arrangement remember? Instead of those god-awful 930 start times we get 530 ones instead. Sucks to be you if you can't stand to go a day without more Pterodactyl laughter from Corby.

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  16. The October book:


    http://ratings.radio-online.com/cgi-bin/rol.exe/arb024

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  17. Did they sign the current Stars contract before or after realignment was announced? I can't imagine Ticket management went into that thing knowing they were going to get as many early starts as they're getting. Gotta be eating into their drive-time ad revenue, right?

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  18. DFW doesn't really have any man made wonders, because nothing lasts. Nothing lasts more than 20 maybe 30 years before someone decides to tear it down and build something else. If you can't get the city to cooperate with a demolition permit...just tear it down in the middle of the night.
    http://cityhallblog.dallasnews.com/2013/04/dallas-appeals-court-vacates-citys-750000-jury-award-in-case-involving-razed-mkt-depot-in-west-end.html/

    It's all in the name of progress...I mean profit.

    When you continually put making money above all else...you end up with a throw away culture.

    Just my opinion as to why Dallas has no "man made wonders", and never will have.

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  19. Now what about that bazillion dollar signature bridge we just paid/will ever continue to pay for?

    Ladies and gents, the Stars games (even with the realignment) have no effect whatsoever on ad rev. If anything, it puts the ad rev at more of a premium for current and potential clients. Meaning that if there is, say, one or a few less segments for a known period of time, the segments that remain are that much dearer to the client. Thus greater competition for those spots is created, and so, greater rev is generated as a result. Even if this isn't the case, the negative effect(s) are either negligible or zero.

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  20. Oops. I meant to say that they have no negative effects whatsoever.

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  21. Check the schedule
    There's a total if about a dozen weekday stars games that have a 6pm start time
    In the course of a 7 month season, that works our to a couple of games a month at most
    I get that it sucks for the hardliners to get preempted, but is it really that big of a deal?

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  22. Pre-game starts at 6 for 7pm games, so it is MUCH more often than a couple times per month.
    P1 Mike

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  23. Mike
    The ticket has NEVER done a full hour pregame for a stars game, and doesn't do a pregame at all for 7pm starts

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  24. Correct. The Ticket, although the radio home of the Stars, spends a bare minimum of its time either discussing or promoting or airing anything Stars-related. This includes the games. The post game show will be cut short for the Friday Night High School Football Show, for Pete's sake. Those of you complaining about and/or wondering about the negative effects of Stars programming (games included) are over thinking this (or perhaps not thinking it through enough). Do you honestly think Ticket management/Cumulus would sign up for something they know would lead to revenue loss? Of course not. And please don't start in with the "but they had the Cowboys and opted not to re-up because it wasn't fiscally advantageous. The Cowboys are THE money makers around here, so if they couldn't bank with them, surely not the least of the grossing teams?!?!?!" Apples and oranges, folks. The deal that Jerry puts into place with his flagship stations is one that, much like the one he does with the city that houses his Death Star, is one-sided--that is, Jerry-sided.

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  25. After last night there's a new punch out: Cowboys talk.

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  26. Hey guys, anyone here the 8:15 big TicketStock announcement? If so, can you share what it was?

    Thanks!

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  27. Wednesday at 8:15. Not today.

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  28. The Ticketstock announcement is moving it back home to the Dallas Convention Center

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  29. yep

    http://www.dallasconventioncenter.com/event/ticketstock/

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  30. "The Motor Car Trend of the Year!"

    Way to go, Norm, and whoever allowed that to air.

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  31. It's been awhile since I've "graced" these com boxes. Nothing personal towards Plainsman or anyone of the regulars. There just hasn't really been anything of substance to discuss. Mostly a regurgitation of the same old same old. But something is going on today with THL that has prompted my return: Mike Sirois filling in for Danny.

    I am a Danny P1. But I very much like the chemistry between Mike, Corby, and Mike S. Mike S. "gets it." Not only does he "get it" in the way Danny does, he brings something to the show that is sorely needed. He brings balance. He contributes, but is not in essence a 3rd host. His sense of humor falls right into line with Mike's and Corby's. And it's down the middle. Not too scatological, not too square. In other words, there's no pushing the analogy/anecdotes damn near every other segment. He likes music (different sorts than either M or C), isn't afraid to branch out, but doesn't make it his primary interest. Thus he doesn't indulge Mike to the point of listener annoyance. Finally, he brings more of a realistic sports POV to the mix. Mike, Corby, and Danny are all about the "feel of the thing." Which is fine; which is how most of us our. Mike S. has that going for him, but he's also more analytical--but not to the point of the (sorry all you fan boys of these two guys) a bit out of their depth when it comes to being analytics experts, Jake and Sean. We all gripe about Coby reading the Observer, DMN, and TMZ sites verbatim for his various "news" segments, well let's be uniform here and acknowledge that citing stats off of fangraphs.com and repeating nearly verbatim the Baseball Prospectus podcast doesn't consist of well researched work, either. OK. Back to my original point. The short of it is, I think that if Danny should ever move on, Mike Sirois would be absolutely ideal as his replacement. I know this is sacrilege, but I honestly think the show would be better. Why? As I said and to some extent implied above, it takes away the security blanket of a producer who is perhaps far too close to those he is supposed to corral, keep in check.

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  32. BBQ, welcome back. Very interesting comment.

    My Cirque fandom has increased over the years. I heard some of today's show and agree that it was good.

    My only departure from your text is that I think The Shake Joint is really very good, and I think the research that goes into their views is about as good as one can expect from a show like that. Those guys are busy doing other things during the week, and I have been impressed with the Shake prep.

    I'm a Danny fan, too, but there's no question that in the sports/guy talk genre, The Hardline has trended more towards the guy than the sports. And you're right that that the show's somewhat ramshackle nature -- yes, aided and abetted by Danny -- is a big part of its appeal. But today you could hear how appreciative our lads were that Mike S had prepared stats and other information to aid the Cowboys-suck discussion.

    Your proposal, should Danny decide to move on -- I would never suggest an involuntary farewell -- is worthy of this site's long history of invaluable advice to The Ticket.

    And yeah, I know -- things are getting a little blah around here. I looked at my topic list the other day, and a lot of it was stale, and most of the rest of it was kinda SO/SO, as you observed.

    I need to work on that.

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  33. Thanks for the welcome home, Plainsman. Good to be back. I'm not so sure it's the site that's stale, but rather, there's been nothing gossipy or potentially game-changing with the talent, both Varsity and JV. The FM signal, of course, is huge news. But that was more of an "well, it's about time!", than a "stop the presses!" item.

    The Shake Joint has grown on me over the last couple of months. And so, the pairing of Jake and Sean have grown on me, ditto their hosting abilities--while I've always been a SeaBass Ticker/Diamond Talk fan, until recently I was lukewarm on his show hosting ability. As a fan of the saber-metrics/analytics view of sports, I appreciate what they're trying to do. But, being someone who keeps up with such stuff, I also know what's what, where it comes from, etc... Thus, what I hear from them is usually straight from the desk of another. Often times they give credit where credit is due, but like a lot of us analytics folk (though I'd like to think I'm not a part of this particular subset), they get a bit puffed up with themselves, short with those who hold differing views, and at times lose sight of the forest for the trees. Overall I am a SJ fan.

    One final thing. I almost hate to bring this up, but here goes. I'm glad the RW/GW topic and daily updates on their Tweets, blogs, and pods have for the most part ceased. Truth be told, I haven't visited GW's site or Twitter feed in over a month. Same goes for RW.

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  34. BBQ:
    Couldn't agree more about today's chemistry on THL. Mike S brought a great, relaxed but prepared vibe to the discussion and I felt the talking points and segments were as well-prepared and executed as they have been in recent memory. Wasn't afraid to step into the conversation to help it along, bring up a point, or derail with a joke, but also knew when to sit back. Overall very impressed? Cirque has been growing on me of late as well...
    P1 Mike

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  35. George DiGianni has no idea who the Cirque boys are and the mix to prove it is worth a listen

    https://soundcloud.com/p1bradc/epic-cirque-du-sirois-mix-with

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  36. I'm a Danny fan as well, and I thought the balance and direction Mike Sirloin brought was a welcome change to THL. Cory's still an ass, but Mike helped to temper him a bit.

    Also, I'm really liking the signal on 96 7 (no point). I was exclusively a 104.1 P1 since it debuted, but whatever they're doing to the signal before it goes out over 96.7 is a huge upgrade. It's not nearly as compressed or (over)driven. I don't have to turn my volume down before changing back from 91.7, and the sound quality is quite a bit better. The 104.1 signal was probably Blankenshipped at some point, so kudos to the engineering staff that made the move to the new frequency.

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  37. I'm a big fan of most of the Weekend original programming. When we're out running errands, it's nice to have fresh local content. When they cut away to Yahoo Sports, it's time for me to punch out to another station. The Orphanage is admittedly an acquired taste, but other than the poo-poo and bottom jokes, I look forward to Dave and Danny prattling on about music, sports or whatever...

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  38. I love my KTCK, but the Hardline needs to be aware that the "Afternoon Show" or whatever at ESPN radio is much improved with the retirement of Grampa Urine. Galloway was always an automatic punch out for me, even in print. The current show is borderline listenable. I am not saying the Hardline is not long for this world, but I will say they need to start putting more effort into the program (i.e. any effort at all) to maintain their lead.

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  39. 1009

    Totally with you. Cowlishaw, Mosely, and Friedo are finding a groove that reminds me in some ways of the old Ticket days. More sports than guy talk, and when the guy talk is mixed in, it's more subtle. The Hardline has become Howard Stern light. On a side note, I was really disappointed that Danny, the supposed old days metal guy, didn't know who was the guitarist in Slayer that died. He couldn't remember it, then got the first name wrong. I thought he was Mr. Music? What made it worse was that he had just said how kick ass that show was going to be. He wasn't snarking either. He meant it. Anyways, I'm with you 1009. The Hardline needs to have more days like they did with Sirios at the helm. It's too much of a j off session now. Been that way for far too long. It shows, and for the first time since their very very early days, they might have to start looking over their shoulders. More importantly, they might have to do something they, by all appearances, haven't done in some time now. Care about what they're doing.

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  40. I'm just gonna go ahead and assume you all are praising "The Afternoon Show" because it's now run by the Ticket and programmed by Cat. That show is absolute garbage. Most inside the industry claim that Cat is programming it stale as to strengthen the Hardline. Just like everything else, you all fake gold for anything that bares the crest.

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