Thursday, February 26, 2015

Those Lovely Words You're Hearing on The Ticket


There is an ad running now on The Ticket that features a man reading a lovely passage about baseball.  Right, the one about the sun "on the back of your neck forever."

If one of the shows has discussed this, apologies for this rerun.  I haven't heard them talk about the man.

The man is A. Bartlett Giamatti.  He published those words, and many other lovely ones, in the Yale Alumni Magazine in 1977, around the time he became Yale's President.  Later on, of course, he became Commissioner of The Great Game, his tenure cut tragically short after only a few months, and only days after he negotiated Pete Rose's exit from baseball.

He was a lifelong Red Sox fan.

The name of the essay is "The Green Fields of the Mind."  I am probably violating his estate's copyright by pasting it here, but until somebody makes me take it down, I share it with you.   Share it with a baseball-loving friend.  


*     *     *

     It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops. Today, October 2, a Sunday of rain and broken branches and leaf-clogged drains and slick streets, it stopped, and summer was gone.
     Somehow, the summer seemed to slip by faster this time. Maybe it wasn’t this summer, but all the summers that, in this my 40th summer, slipped by so fast. There comes a time when every summer will have something of autumn about it. Whatever the reason, it seemed to me that I was investing more and more in baseball, making the game do more of the work that keeps time fat and slow and lazy. I was counting on the game’s deep patterns, three strikes, three outs, three times three innings, and its deepest impulse, to go out and back, to leave and to return home, to set the order of the day and to organize the daylight. I wrote a few things this last summer, this summer that did not last, nothing grand but some things, and yet that work was just camouflage. The real activity was done with the radio—not the all-seeing, all-falsifying television—and was the playing of the game in the only place it will last, the enclosed green field of the mind. There, in that warm, bright place, what the old poet called Mutability does not so quickly come.
     But out here, on Sunday, October 2, where it rains all day, Dame Mutability never loses. She was in the crowd at Fenway yesterday, a grey day full of bluster and contradiction, when the Red Sox came up in the last of the ninth trailing Baltimore 8–5, while the Yankees, rain-delayed against Detroit, only needing to win one or have Boston lose one to win it all, sat in New York washing down cold cuts with beer and watching the Boston game. Boston had won two, the Yankees had lost two, and suddenly it seemed as if the whole season might go to the last day, or beyond, except here was Boston losing 8–5, while New York sat in its family room and put its feet up. Lynn, both ankles hurting now as they had in July, hits a single down the right-field line. The crowd stirs. It is on its feet. Hobson, third baseman, former Bear Bryant quarterback, strong, quiet, over 100 RBIs, goes for three breaking balls and is out. The goddess smiles and encourages her agent, a canny journeyman named Nelson Briles.
     Now comes a pinch hitter, Bernie Carbo, onetime Rookie of the Year, erratic, quick, a shade too handsome, so laid-back he is always, in his soul, stretched out in the tall grass, one arm under his head, watching the clouds and laughing; now he looks over some low stuff unworthy of him and then, uncoiling, sends one out, straight on a rising line, over the center-field wall, no cheap Fenway shot, but all of it, the physics as elegant as the arc the ball describes.
     New England is on its feet, roaring. The summer will not pass. Roaring, they recall the evening, late and cold, in 1975, the sixth game of the World Series, perhaps the greatest baseball game played in the last fifty years, when Carbo, loose and easy, had uncoiled to tie the game that Fisk would win. It is 8–7, one out, and school will never start, rain will never come, sun will warm the back of your neck forever. Now Bailey, picked up from the National League recently, big arms, heavy gut, experienced, new to the league and the club; he fouls off two and then, checking, tentative, a big man off balance, he pops a soft liner to the first baseman. It is suddenly darker and later, and the announcer doing the game coast to coast, a New Yorker who works for a New York television station, sounds relieved. His little world, well-lit, hot-combed, split-second-timed, had no capacity to absorb this much gritty, grainy, contrary reality.
     Cox swings a bat, stretches his long arms, bends his back, the rookie from Pawtucket who broke in two weeks earlier with a record six straight hits, the kid drafted ahead of Fred Lynn, rangy, smooth, cool. The count runs two and two, Briles is cagey, nothing too good, and Cox swings, the ball beginning toward the mound and then, in a jaunty, wayward dance, skipping past Briles, feinting to the right, skimming the last of the grass, finding the dirt, moving now like some small, purposeful marine creature negotiating the green deep, easily avoiding the jagged rock of second base, traveling steady and straight now out into the dark, silent recesses of center field.

      The aisles are jammed, the place is on its feet, the wrappers, the programs, the Coke cups and peanut shells, the detritus of an afternoon; the anxieties, the things that have to be done tomorrow, the regrets about yesterday, the accumulation of a summer: all forgotten, while hope, the anchor, bites and takes hold where a moment before it seemed we would be swept out with the tide. Rice is up. Rice whom Aaron had said was the only one he’d seen with the ability to break his records. Rice the best clutch hitter on the club, with the best slugging percentage in the league. Rice, so quick and strong he once checked his swing halfway through and snapped the bat in two. Rice the Hammer of God sent to scourge the Yankees, the sound was overwhelming, fathers pounded their sons on the back, cars pulled off the road, households froze, New England exulted in its blessedness, and roared its thanks for all good things, for Rice and for a summer stretching halfway through October. Briles threw, Rice swung, and it was over. One pitch, a fly to center, and it stopped. Summer died in New England and like rain sliding off a roof, the crowd slipped out of Fenway, quickly, with only a steady murmur of concern for the drive ahead remaining of the roar. Mutability had turned the seasons and translated hope to memory once again. And, once again, she had used baseball, our best invention to stay change, to bring change on.
     That is why it breaks my heart, that game—not because in New York they could win because Boston lost; in that, there is a rough justice, and a reminder to the Yankees of how slight and fragile are the circumstances that exalt one group of human beings over another. It breaks my heart because it was meant to, because it was meant to foster in me again the illusion that there was something abiding, some pattern and some impulse that could come together to make a reality that would resist the corrosion; and because, after it had fostered again that most hungered-for illusion, the game was meant to stop, and betray precisely what it promised.
     Of course, there are those who learn after the first few times. They grow out of sports. And there are others who were born with the wisdom to know that nothing lasts. These are the truly tough among us, the ones who can live without illusion, or without even the hope of illusion. I am not that grown-up or up-to-date. I am a simpler creature, tied to more primitive patterns and cycles. I need to think something lasts forever, and it might as well be that state of being that is a game; it might as well be that, in a green field, in the sun.


42 comments:

  1. And father of the great Paul Giamatti.

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  2. Giamatti was a good man, a good commissioner. However, forgive me if I'm unmoved by anything, no matter its eloquence, that is Boston sports-related. They. Are. The. Most. Insufferable. Sports. Fans. Ever. Period.

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  3. I wanted to add a comment to the discussion about ratings. I am a long time stream only P1 (live out of market) and I've noticed something this week - the stream no longer has it's own commercials. I've even been able to hear this post's commercial about the Rangers. Perhaps this is a mistake and now it's going to end, but it's been nearly a week now. I'm hopeful this is a permanent change. I am curious if this is to help with tracking of ratings in some way.

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  4. Thanks PMan. Having grown up in CT, I've been a life-long BoSox fan. Embarrassed to say I don't recall that particular game, but those names sure brought back mems, Jim Rice and Freddy Lynn were my heroes when I was a kid.

    I agree NE fans are tough to take today but we weren't back then. I was 10 or 12 and we were long suffering, everything hung on the Red Sox then.

    Times have changed and all the Boston franchises have experienced success over the last 15 years which takes the magic out of it a little and I suppose changes the fan bases's perspective.

    I'm a Texas fan now, of all 4 franchises, having been here for 23 yrs. The '04 Series was wonderful and sated my appetite. But I'll never forget those years, when my sports consciousness was awakening in New England.

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  5. If I was Mike Doocy I would've punched Gordon in the head a long time ago.

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  6. Thanks for this post P-Man, I have been trying to remember where I had heard that passage before. It is a poignant statement on the place Baseball holds in many of our hearts and how it can be much more than a simple game.

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  7. Guest Booking League = tired bit

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  8. Awesome broadcast for THL today. None other than corky manages to announce that Meghan Trainor has CANCELLED her show at the Granada tonight, 2/27. He announced this because he thought he "read it somewhere." Apparently every Granada theater employee from up and down the management chain starts blowing up his phone and Danny's to correct corky's lazy, unverified, unprofessional assumption. No corky, the concert is not cancelled and you did not read that anywhere. Doesn't the Granada spend a lot of Ad money with The Ticket? Does Kat or the Account Exec or the Sales Mgr get pissed? Maybe it's not a big deal. Who knows.

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  9. I can't top that, blergoyen, but -- and please correct me if I'm wrong about this, I was rocketing over icy bridges during some of this -- Corby teases eNews, LEADING with "rock star accused in sex abuse case" or something like that, and then mentioning Leonard Nimoy's death.

    I listen.

    eNews leads with Nimoy's death. Talk about it, eventually deciding it needs a whole segment at a later date.

    Segues into Christina Aguilera's impressive mimicry skills.

    No mention of the rock star's sex abuse problems. Not a whisper.

    While Jeff Catlin is not my leader, I do think he's a pretty excellent PD, but surely, in the whip-cracking that's gone on lately owing to the sagging ratings, he has urged his charges to keep faith with the teases.

    Did anyone hear a story in eNews about rock star sex abuse? If so, I'll take this down and apologize.

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  10. I'll take the baseball ad anytime over the Scott's Lawn Care products commercials. That Scott is driving me mad.................

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  11. I think the story he teased but never got around to is that Gary Glitter was sentenced 16 years for a pedophilia-related conviction.

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  12. APOLOGIES TO AN ANONYMOUS POSTING AT 8:04. YOUR POST WAS ACCIDENTALLY DELETED. RETRIEVED IT. HERE IT IS:


    I had the exact same experience you did re E-News and the tease, Pman.

    Plus one, blergoyen.

    Corby has Paul Revere Syndrome. We all have that person in our circle who's always first to send out a mass text that so and so has died, is the first person you heard the gossip about so and so, etc. That's Corby. Except in Corby's case, he's often times doing it in front of an audience that happens to be a major metropolitan area--a top five market in fact. Along with "you heard it here first-itis" is the enjoyment of being an insider and the sharing of inside info, and from whom the info comes from, and the insider circles said Paul Revere runs in. Hence the other day when discussing the sad tale of Ted Williams and family, Corby makes a joke that the Staubach's will go through such a thing. Immediately, and even though it's obviously a joke, Corby says "I'm just kidding, Jeff, you know I love you and you know I would never think you'd do that to Roger!" Yay. Corby is friends with Jeff Staubach (one of Roger's sons) and wants you to know it. He's so tight, that it's all spoken of in a totally "it's casual" sense. He does the same thing with Rhett Miller, Tony Romo, and a whole plethora of local celebrities and their relations.

    It's plain obnoxious. Though he'll never see it that way. He honestly believes himself to be just a dude making his way through it all, like me and you. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Some guys just can't leave the frat house.

    For all you who can't understand why Corby is the way he is, bear in mind that he was, is, and will always be a Frat Daddy to the core. If you don't know what that means from first hand experience, you my friend are lucky. But by virtue of Corbles, you do. Our Cobra embodies all that that term means. Understand that and you understand Corby, and it all makes sense. He will never change, it is not an act in any way. There is no "off mic" Corby. Unlike many who proclaim to be a WYSIWYG guy, Corby truly is.

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  13. ANOTHER ANONYMOUS FROM 8:08 ACCIDENTALLY DELETED. APOLOGIES. HERE 'TIS:

    Maybe Corby was pulling another account executive prank.

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  14. Confidential to a Certain Valued Confessor of Long Standing: You were not deleted for linking to another site. Your post was not objectionable per se, but went into a host's personal life in more detail than I was comfortable with. I more or less -- and not always consistently -- try to steer clear of those topics. That's why I dropped your comment.

    It wasn't in Rules of the Confessional, but maybe I'll go back and amend.

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  15. Point taken and I respect your decision.

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  16. Plainsman, I didn't catch the Celebrity Sex Abuse tease (that sounds so bad), but that's a good catch and another example of corky's lazy lack of planning and lack of professionalism. Other corky observations: the hypocrisy of his lauding complementary superlatives over minority entertainment figures in the face of persistent racism (I am one of YOU!, I'm worth 2 native Americans minus the alcoholism, He Hoo HO! Oh Si si si!). How would that passive-aggressive prank he pulled on the female acct. exec be viewed at another company? I can only conclude that corky is the way he is because he doesn't suffer consequences. The reason for this is because of the one thing he really excels at within the Ticket biosphere, which is politically aligning himself with the people who hold power. I really believe if Rhyner and Catlin left, corky may very well face termination. However that's probably hope more than belief, because I proudly admit I hold the maximum amount of Schadenfreude capable by a human for corky.

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  17. With all the well deserved Corby bashing on here recently it got me to thinking... what do you do with him when Mike finally hangs it up? Say it's another 10 years from now. Does a 55 year old Corby get to keep 3-7? If BAD is still around do they move in and you send Corby to mid-day? Or is the little Ticket completely different in 10 years with no D&M or maybe just no M, no Norm, no Mike?

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  18. blergoyen and others who are confounded by Corny and-or think he's a dope, I ask you to look no further than 2/27 920pm for what I think is the best analysis of what and who Crony is. Well done sir or madame, whoever you are. You put your finger squarely on Cruddy's pulse, checked it, and made a full diagnosis.

    See with Carly it's all a big joke. It's funny. Don't you get it? Racism, sexism, all the isms are hy lair e us as long as you don't really mean it because you can't because everyone knows you're not that kinda person. Get all that? Life's a Comedy Central Roast! It's all in fun. Only an idiot would find offense. Specially from an enlightened, progressive soul like Cootie.

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  19. Off the cuff I'd say Mike gives his very public blessing (on air, in the Observer and DMN) to a Corby and Danny HL (possibly with Jake as the third man), and the thing keeps going. Although you might have a not so behind the scenes feathers ruffled because they weren't given the spot BaD.

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  20. What is the salary of a Ticket host???? all make over 150k???
    I expect Norm and Mike to make well over 150.

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  21. I've said this before - when Mike leaves, THL loses it's identity. If they keep Corby on the show, it's just B&S. Rhyner's the heart and soul of the station. Just listen to the way Corby replies to statements. When he says "let me tell you something", that is straight from Mike. Except when Mike said it, you knew (or know) something good will follow because he's got the experience and knowledge. And the way Corby says, "Look..." Followed by the expulsion of breath - that is straight from Mike, too. I miss Greggo. It was bad when he went off the rails, but when he was at the top of his game, THL was so great.
    The Musers still work hard and are still must listen radio IMO.

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  22. Noon Anonymous: We've all speculated from time to time on Ticket salaries. I don't know the answer. My guess is that all of the major hosts make at least a half-million a year and it would surprise me a little if Craig, George, Mike and Corby don't make significantly north of that. And some of them may have some separate income from endorsements. Just a guess, but it's well, well north of 150 large for the main hosts.

    The comparisons are not necessarily good, but Greenberg and Golic each make in the $2 million range. Yes, that's NYC, and that's a national show, but the market leader in a major market like DFW is still going to pay talent pretty well. Mike North made $1MM a year on local WSCR in Chicago a few years back. Don't know George Dunham's personal financial affairs or his sources of wealth, but you don't raise a family and build a fabulous home on an estate acreage on $150,000/year.

    So yeah, circumstantially, at least, I'm guessing mid-to-upper six for the main guys.

    By contrast, everyone BUT the main hosts (excluding Gordon and Donovan, maybe 1-2 others) make absolute borscht.

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  23. If THL is in a ratings battle, the solution is obvious.

    Bring back Greggo. The audience anticipating and looking for a sign of the next meltdown would be enourmous.

    Of course, that will never happen.

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  24. I've said this before too, I would love to see a +1 with Greggo maybe 2-3 times a month. I will go even further to say Mike actually paid him a compliment the other day. I can't remember exactly what was said but it was respectful. I'm thinking it was during some sort of cross talk, maybe Ticket stock.

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  25. $500k, vow... Mike, Gordon and George, all three have talent, so $$$ spend is worth it. Norm and Bob, sports nerds, so they should be paid. Rest of the crew, I would pay about $28,545 per year.

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  26. @The Plainsman:
    George, in talking to BaD Radio about his last UNT game, mentioned that 20 years ago, he NEEDED to hustle and work all the other jobs. Dunham Manor was created because he was hustler from PBP (play-by-play) job to Texas Stadium PA to other PBP job. Even with his kids college to think about, he wouldn't have still hustled this much if he was making $500K just on AM drive. His Cumulus salary is not that high, but the hustle/personal services contracts (e.g.: AT&T, Raising Cane's, Bob's, Classic BMW...) are where the dollars add up for the on-air talent. Even those post-game shows, like Diamond Talk are hustles.


    The Mike&Mike analogy is far from being comparable since ESPN Radio is syndicated and part of the syndication is that stations must carry at least Mike&Mike and/or Colin Cowherd. Radio stations pay ESPN for those programs then sell advertising.

    I think you are overstating the salaries again. Since the economic downturn, radio contracts are now shorter in length and lower in salary since they are losing listeners. Plus, Cumulus does not have any of the top billing stations nationally. The Bay Area is the next largest market after DFW and the top sports radio host makes $300K (former NBAer Tom Tolbert). The court filings by his former co-host listed that his salary was cut to $300K from $400K by Cumulus in 2010.

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  27. Imagine bring back Greggo. The buildup to the actual day, then the show itself. The other stations would have to shutter their windows.

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  28. Well, if you look at all the sports franchises, all of them have doubled or tripled in value over the last 3 years... stock market has doubled over the last few years, so a 500k host might be the avg salary now.

    Norm- he has to be worth over 20 billion :) I saw his flip phone last year, cannot afford a smart phone.

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  29. DA, you're more clued in than I am, but I note you haven't hazarded any guesses on Ticket salaries. I'll stick with my "at least half-mill" guess for the four drive-time pillars.

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  30. It occurred to me to check the Whitt-authored "The Hard Lie" in the Observer about the Greg Williams departure. Bearing in mind that that article appeared seven years ago, it states: "Long before The Ticket and The Hardline earned No. 1 in their coveted (men 25-54) demographic for two consecutive years, Williams sported more alter egos than Herschel Walker—Greggo, Uncle Greggo, The Hambonita, Robot Greggo, Li'l Girl Greggo, Motorcycle Greggo, et al. He soaked in his celebrity, attracting TV cameos, a short feature in Sports Illustrated and a salary that topped out at $500,000 last year."

    Could Cumulus have beat down some of the drive hosts in interim negotiations? Maybe, but I am doubtful that Mike and Craig would have accepted less to stick around. Maybe a small haircut? Could be. But I think I'm pretty close with the mid-to-mid-plus six figures. BaD, Norm, somewhat less. Remember that BaD turned down more money offered by CBS to stay at The Ticket, so stations are still willing to shell out for talent.

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  31. I have given a guess before when this topic was brought up prior. Their salaries are in that $300K range for The Musers and THL, which I base on the next market down, SF, and that Cumulus sports hosts in Nashville top out at $250K.


    Also, in other Cumulus news, they will release Q4 earnings next week and hedge fund thinks that CBS Radio needs to consolidate with Cumulus.

    http://www.thedeal.com/content/tmt/cbs-under-pressure-from-sandell-over-combination-with-cumulus.php

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  32. Fair enough, DA. Could Williams have conceivably fibbed to Whitt? Could Whitt have conceivably inflated Greg's salary in anticipation of negotiations he might already have had in mind? Betcha.

    And thanks for the industry news.

    But I'm sticking strong to my guess. These guys have been dominant -- top of the market almost since they went on the air -- in a big-time market for 20 years, and they've had lots of contract renewals AND a couple of changes of ownership along the way. A wild guess, but I'm guessing they leveraged their position when new ownership came in, getting commitments for money to stay with the station when their contracts were up, assuming they even had contracts at the time. (If not, in an even better position to get healthy raises out of the deal right on the spot.) That's 20 years and a lot of contracts and a lot of change events. If they're NOT making north of 500 large, they should get new lawyers.

    You think they only make 50 large more than sports hosts in Nashville? Is that 104.5 The Zone? It's website doesn't identify a single host. The Ticket is host-driven.

    DA, you're Mr. Radio and I respect your expertise. We'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

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  33. Consider this:

    In 2004, The Ticket's ad revenue was -- guess? -- $23 million.

    In 2010, the last year I could find numbers for -- $20 million, bearing in mind that The Fan entered the picture in 2008 and ESPN had been puttering along for awhile.

    Still, a pantload.

    That revenue is generated by the four guys we're talking about, and others. They get paid.

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  34. Google KTCK billing dallas or similar and you'll find a sports business article that says they billed 20mil in 2010 or 11 ( I forget, it's been a while since I looked this up)
    It's possible that the. 500k figure is right, but I've been told greggo flat out lied to Whitt
    My source was a pretty high ranking cumulus employee that had worked in the build ness department
    I believed the guy for a couple of reasons . He explained that sales takes 5-15 percent off the top in commission. Then they have to pay all those other departments - business promotions production engineering etc. and pay their share of rent, etc.
    Google Neilsen fees and you can find an article that says it's about 30k a month . Somebody has to pay Bennett catlin, etc.

    Like I said I beloved this guy, who said when he was there the main hosts were skl around 200k base salary with talent fees and ratings bonus on top of that. Said 500k seemed really high to him, thought they were more likely to be near 350k as a high.

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  35. @The Plainsman
    By no means will accept that or any moniker given, I just read court documents which stated a PM drive host's salary at KNBR and know that KNBR historically is a higher biller* than The Ticket because they have the Giants, the Warriors and the 49ers. One of my closer friends was a ESPN Radio national host in the from circa 99-08, was with Yahoo! As well and now freelances who knew what others were making via his agent.

    Even in 2007, KNBR was billing more than The Ticket and only third toWFAN and Entercomm's WEEI (Boston). The Ticket was fourth, but according to reports*, $5M behind KNBR. WEEI is an interesting case in itself since around that time they reportedly gave host Glenn Ordway one of those “$1 million deals”. Cut to 2013 and Ordway's was let go, but before that allegedly was making half of what he originally signed for because ratings fell. He was replaced by Mike Salk from Seattle for $150K. Salk lasted a year and went back to Seattle to host AM drive and be PD at the same station he left.

    Over the air radio revenues essentially “peaked” in 2008* and have fallen by 15%.

    This is my last post of the evening as I have other commitments.

    *-The billing numbers which any of us will claim are all estimated made by BIA/Kelsey.



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  36. CONFIDENTIAL to Three-Part Anonymous: Loved your comments, and I think they deserve a post of their own, maybe more than one but probably just one jumbo post in the proper order. With your permission, I'm going to give them their own post, identifying them as those of an anonymous Confessor.

    Drop me a line (ThePlainsman1310@gmail.com) if you would prefer that I simply approve them as comments to this article. Hope you're OK with a little more visibility.

    If I don't hear from you, I'll post them after one more from me that will go up later tonight or tomorrow morning.

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  37. FURTHER CONFIDENTIAL to Three-Part Anonymous:

    Suggestion: Next time you post, give yourself a name. Predicting your fellow Confessors and persons of influence who cruise by this site from time to time will want to hear more from you.

    Would be interested to know how you stumbled on MTC.

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  38. Three part poster here. Glad you find my musings interesting. Post them up however you wish. I've been visiting MTC for years, commenting from time to time. Haven't in a many moons, but the recent content, in no little part to the much appreciated and needed rules, has been so good, that I thought it time to chime in and "publish" the findings of my recent research, if you will.

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  39. Hello, Larry.

    I'm sure the Confessor will await your analysis with growing anticipation. They'll have to sit through one of my blasts first.

    Thanks.

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  40. Now that's a tease, Pman! Where's your new one, where's Larry's? C'mon, man, lay it on us!

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  41. Larry in Mowry did say that he was moved to comment owing in part to the vast improvement in the comments since the Rules of the Confessional were imposed and enforced.

    And I have to say, the last couple of threads have been of exceptional quality.

    Many thanks to all Confessors, legacy and newcomers.

    Thank you for shopping at My Ticket Confession.

    -- Plainsman

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  42. Well hello, Larry (hello, Larry)
    You talk to people all day for a living (hello, Larry)
    But all those easy answers you are giving
    Are you really living your life that way?
    Portland is a long way from L.A. (A long way

    Hello, Larry (Hello, Larry)
    Two kids to raise alone just ain't that easy (hello, Larry)
    The questions they are asking aren't that breezy
    The answers you are giving don't always pay
    But that's the way it is with kids today

    The calls are coming in
    You better start to grin
    'Cause you never know just what they're gonna say
    (Hello, Larry) Hello, Larry
    (Hello, Larry) Hello, Larry
    (Hello, Larry) Well hello, Larry!

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