It's Race Week with Rich Ph -- Oh, Wait, it's Carlos Leal!

At first, I thought it might be a bit.

Cirque du Sirois was wrapping up.  (By the way -- just as some Ticket hosts seem determined to deliberately mispronounce "Hitzges," which is not difficult to pronounce, some similarly seem to think the name of the show is Cirque de Sirois.  Sorry, I know it's nitpicky, but persistent errors on names that should be well-known to the broadcaseters just frost my ass.  It borders on disrespect.  Yeah, maybe it's a bit.)  And the Sirois team was mulling over whether there would be a Race Week, when Carlos Leal mentioned that he was going to be doing it.  After some initial banter over whether it was a bit, it soon became clear that Carlos would, indeed, be doing Race Week.

I didn't get to hear more than about fifteen minutes of it.  They didn't even change the intro, which still announced that Rich Phillips would be hosting.

I must say that Carlos handled his duties manfully.  I like all of the NewGen JVTickemen -- Carlos, John Fahey, and Logan Gourley.  I would not have expected him to be as fluid as Rich, and he wasn't.  It sounded like he was reading off a prepared text with his initial "news of the week" segment, whereas Rich's account always sounded like he knew what had happened and was easily winging it.  Carlos had trouble with some sentences, but seeing as how it was his inaugural effort, he got the news across clearly.  No problem.  Rich has been a live broadcaster for decades. Keep on swinging, Carlos.

(By the way -- pretty sure Carlos's delivery was live, no "Race Week CD" The Orphanage routinely accused Rich of generating.)

I'm not a broadcaster, but if I had one piece of advice to offer, it would be just to slow down, keep it conversational.   Rich's blitzkrieg delivery cannot be duplicated.

What interests me more than Carlos's performance is the conversations that must have taken place in deciding what to do about the 2-3 pm slot on Saturdays.

I don't know if Carlos is a NASCAR fan.   I don't know if he went to The Western Hemisphere Catman and offered his services, or maybe begged to be given a shot.  I don't know if Cat had a holy-s____ moment and sent out a memo saying who in the name of all things Tickety can we get to keep Race Week going? and everyone else took one step back.  I do know -- no, that's not right, I only suspect -- that most P1's thought that Rich's departure spelled the end of Race Week.

In any event, I'm always interested in new voices getting new opportunities, so I urge the P1 to keep The Ticket on while running errands on Saturday afternoon, and check out Race Week, starring Carlos Leal.

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Who the heck, or what the heck, is Giuffria?  and Zebra?

A P1 Conundrum -- Or, a Cheap Thread-Refresher

You're in love.

You're so in love, in fact, that you decide to ask your beloved to marry you.

You know what to do next.

The Diamond Doctor.

But there's a problem.

Your doors are starting to stick.  You  notice cracks in the paint on the drywall.  Your nephew's ball keeps rolling away from him, always toward the same end of the house.

Oh oh.

Foundation problems.

You know what to do next.

All-Pro Foundation Repair.

But there's another problem.

You only have a few large in the bank.

Enough for a nice ring.  Enough for some attention to your foundation.

But not enough for both.

How do you decide?

Because there's another problem for you, the in-love but living-on-that-tricky-Texas-soil P1.

Because now, all of the Ticket hosts are endorsing both All-Pro Foundation Repair and the Diamond Doctor, according to a DD ad I heard for the first time today.

It's Rich Phillips Week!

Certainly the most significant departure from the station since I've been listening.  I've told the story of my Rich conversion before:

For quite some time after I became a listener, I didn't much care for Rich.  He seemed like a peevish presence on the Musers' morning showgram, and I never paid much attention to Tickers.

Then one Saturday I was out running errands and Race Week came on.  I have zero interest in NASCAR or any of the other vehicle racing regimes, but I found myself listening to the show, I mean actually listening to what Rich was saying.  By the time the show was over, I realized that I had been listening to a broadcast talent of a very high order.  Rich conveyed his enthusiasm for the sport with such energy and sincerity that it kept the ear and mind of the listener engaged – this listener anyway.  The expertise was also quite obviously genuine.

Think about what that show requires: that is a solid hour of one guy talking.  He will do an interview for each show, but for the most part it is one voice delivering news and what struck me as very sly commentary.  No ranting Hicksatorials, just the occasional aside that conveyed what Rich thought about what was going on.

After that, I paid more attention.  The first time I heard him do a Mustangs game, I was amazed.  That was some of the best play-by-play for any sport that I had ever heard, and I've tried to stop by on weekends ever since.  I suppose his style doesn't suit everyone, but I thought it was perfect for radio.  And again, his voice crackled with enthusiasm and drama.

From there, I came to admire his other work on the station, including not only Tickers, but his teaming with Donovan as a fill-in program, usually for BaD.

I also came to think that he was one of the smartest guys on the station.  I don't know that this is particular evidence of it, but his promotion into management as assistant program director did not come as a surprise.

  

I recall writing that there were two people at The Ticket with the greatest potential to break onto the national scene.  One of them was Rich Phillips.  I still think it is possible that he could become a national voice in racing broadcasting, and I'm wondering if some national networks might someday consider his SMU work as an audition for national football or basketball play-by-play.  And there's every possibility that his versatility extends beyond those two sports. 

Rich Phillips gigantically Pshopped onto Kevlar Jeep,
courtesy The UnTicket (without permission)

In any event, in my estimation Rich is a big talent who will be missed by The Ticket.  I think listeners will miss Rich more than they realize, although they can still catch him on the SMU broadcasts for at least another season.  And I'm sure Rich will miss The Ticket as well.

Except maybe Gordon.  He may not miss Gordon

Congratulations Rich, and very best of luck from your friends and fans at My Ticket Confession.

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ThePlainsman1310s@gmail.com

@Plainsman1310

No Foolin' -- Time to Freshen Up This Dog // BREAKING: RICH PHILLIPS UPDATE

(1) Best wishes to T.C. Fleming as he starts his serious broadcast career on afternoon drive on The Buzzer, WBSR in Pensacola.  (I think I"m the only one who calls it that, but maybe it will catch on as a sportsy nickname for the station and I'll watch those commissions roll in.)   I trust some Confessors will be streaming that show and will give us a report.  I predict it will be a pretty good little show.

(2) It would be very hilarious if there were mass DFW-area defections to WBSR during T.C.'s show, seriously wounding The Hardline.  I predict this will not happen.

(3) Gordon Keith:

MORE:   Dan McDowell impression.  He may have been doing this for awhile, but lately he seems to be trying it out more.  It's pretty Jay Leno-ish right now, but you can hear him tossing it out there in short bits every once in awhile to see what happens.  During the 5:30 am segment today, he was working on it, but everyone was talking at once so it was hard to pick it out.  Pretty funny, though.  I think it would be a tough one to do because Dan talks fast so the impressionist has to have something worked out in his head to keep the bit going.

LESS:  Drought Man.

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BREAKING

Although my sources are being somewhat coy, it does appear (as suggested in a comment below) that there is at least one major change afoot at The Ticket, and it involves Rich Phillips.

No details, but other than his departure or a violent office coup deposing Jeff Catlin, I don't know what it could be.  

Will be limited in my ability to follow this today, so please advise if you have information.  If my info is faulty, apologies to Rich, The Ticket, and y'all.

BREAKING BREAKING BREAKING

1:20 PM:  We waterboarded that uncertain source.  This remains unconfirmed.  However, best current information:

Rich Phillips will be taking a position with the Texas Motor Speedway in the nature of media relations or overall broadcast operations.  Sounds sweet.   Best of luck to Rich.