Saturday, February 20, 2016

SLIGHTLY BREAKING: Sources, I've Got Sources


A radio-industry source who has a cup of coffee on this site from time to time emails Your Plainsman to state:

(1)    Barry Horn is not always careful about the way he interprets and describes data.

(2)    ALL radio stations report streaming listeners.

(3)    Streaming accounts for a very tiny percentage of ratings points.   The ratings effect is probably minimally visible for the Ticket -- maybe a half-point -- and at or near zero for the other sports talkers.

If this is correct, it looks like those ratings are probably apples-to-apples.

No, my source is not the Pan-American Catman.  But a bit of digging suggests that the source probably knows whereof it speaks.

Everyone having fun at TicketStock?  I haven't even been able to tune in.

=======================

Here are those ratings one more time:

The Musers (Ticket), 6-10 a.m. - 11.5
BaD Radio (Ticket), noon-3 p.m. - 6.9
The Hardline (Ticket), 3-7 p.m. - 6.5
Norm & Donovan (Ticket), 10 a.m.-noon - 6.3
Ben & Skin (Fan), 3-7 p.m. - 4.4
Mike & Mike (KESN), 5-9 a.m. - 4.1
G-Bag Nation (Fan), 10 a.m.-3 p.m. - 3.9
Shan & R.J. (Fan), 6-10 a.m. - 3.9
Cowlishaw & Mosley (KESN), 3-6 p.m. - 2.2
Dennis & Friedo (KESN) 11 a.m.-3 p.m. - 2.1
Dan Le Batard (KESN), 9-11 a.m. - 1.5 

Back off, Ty!


ThePlainsman1310@gmail.com
@Plainsman1310





44 comments:

  1. Search "Nielsen enhanced encoding". It came into the Dallas market on Nov. 10, 2015. Nielsen claims that is assists news/talk stations more than music, too.

    Could the new CBET/enhancement was to assist operators, like Cumulus which did not purchase it as opposed to CBS Radio and Entercom? IDK.

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  2. Caught a little of a couple of the roundtables and maybe 10 minutes of T.O. I thought both were quite good.

    Owens is a pretty lucid guy. I was tickled with his list of NFL players who would testify to his non-corrosiveness in the locker room. I'm far from a Niffle expert -- and this may prove it -- but I never heard of any of those guys. Were any of them Cowboys?

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  3. BREAKING: A reader emails directing us to @MYTQuinn1 for TicketStock descriptions and accounts, including the Timewasters' performance. I have not previewed these items, so view at your own risk.

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  4. Saw the periscope. It was cool to see. But it was also kinda, I dunno, weird to see, too.

    Jub clearly LOVES being on stage playing in front of a crowd. Almost a too much. Rhyner was sort of a penis. Way too much "old pro" 'tude for such a gathering. Not only that, he wasn't very good. Exactly who told him he could sing? Gordon was good but he tries to hard to imitate the singer whose song he's playing. Which unless you can dead ringer it, it always ends up sounding more karaoke than not. Now Dan Balls nailed Linemen Ski. If you're gonna try to ape another voice, that's the way uh huh uh huh you do it, uh huh uh huh (h/t KC and The Sunshine Band). Donnie was great. He and Sirloin's Under Pressure/Upper Decker parody was the Tits McGillicutty. Jake, TC, and the rest did a solid job. Specially since they don't fancy themselves as musical (well, 'cept Jake Z who seems to fancy himself just about any and everything cool). Oh yeah, Descending Hunan kicked major posterior. Love me some Joonz. Strangest dude at The Little One and I love him for it.

    Not sure if it was the periscoper's perspective and-or phone (btw, 'preciate the shit outta ya pal for doing that great service for all us), and I wasn't there, but it seemed like the crowd wasn't all that into it. Sounded like a bunch O meh response to a lot of the numbers. Maybe someone who was there can confirm or deny?

    No more TS song til next Jan. Hopefully they'll come up with something better next year. No offense towards Donnie and I mean no offense when I say AND pre say this as well as not intending any criticism when I both pre and for real say this, but this years tune sucked worse than most. I still think of the TS Coldplay When I Ruled the World song every time that goofy tune's played on the radio. Now THAT was a TS tune worthy of TS. "...we got the Time Wasters, and Kareem Abdul Jabbar..."

    That was the good shit, babies.

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  5. Forgot to say...

    Anyone else besides me think that whole varsity popping on Jer each others show last Summer like they used to do in the Halcyon Days was strange days indeed, most peculiar momma, roll? Hell, Norm went out of his way to say that, like Choose Energy, in the coming days and weeks ahead the hosts were gonna be totally inorganically and oh so unTickety like making appearances on each others showgrams. Did for a bit then, poof, dunzo. Rode like the wind, then it was gone. What was the deal with all that--says Jerry S?

    I guess now that the ratings and all that shit be back in order, tain't no one going anywhere. Be it the oldfolks home or down the FM dial. Good good thing as far as I'm concerned. Manana am with The Gentle Ones, yamobethere.

    And remember kids, don't jar.....unless you got a urinary tract infection. In that case, things could get innerestin'.



    "There ain't no Coupe de Ville hiding at the bottom of a Cracker Jack box."
    --Meat Loaf, "Two Outta Three Ain't Bad"

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  6. I kinda cringe when I hear Mike sing, because he can't very well. He can pull it off in a Petty cover band, because Petty's not a great singer either.

    I enjoyed the round table with T.O. Owens. The guy's a real enigma. World class locker room cancer but totally disarming and likeable in an interview (although Mike wasn't buying into it).

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  7. Glad T.O. Owens cleared up that absolutely nothing was his fault.

    Gas Cap Louie is a top 5 8:40 character. Brilliant.

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  8. Mike had the nuts to diss T.O. while he was still in the building Saturday afternoon. The Musers waited until the comfort of the mother ship to turn on him.

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  9. That's having "nuts"? I'd say it's more like poor form from a senior citizen cum kewl kid who never quite grew up.

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  10. Anon 1:46: Mike was on the roundtable with T.O., so why didn't he diss him then, to his face? I'm not sure that waiting until you're done talking to someone and they've left that stage and THEN you call them out is having "nuts."

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  11. Thank you Corby and Danny for my afternoon giggle.

    Expressed bewilderment over how Marcia Clark lost the O.J. case just because Mark Fuhrman used the N word.

    Aren't these the same guys who officiated over the public crucifixion of Levi Pettit for using the N word?

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  12. I'm guessing there is a station policy about calling B.S. on a live guest. Heard it done on a recorded interview but never live.

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  13. And I'm not counting telling Stevie Wonder to shut up.

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  14. These rating confirm a question I was having. I was debating if THL was even the 2nd rated show, and isn't your PM drive-time supposed to be the juggernaut of the station? I think the last time I listened to a full HL show, Corby was wailing on poor ole Pam Oliver about having a bad hair day on NFL Sunday. Then he said how bad she was, and lucked into her job. I laughed thinking: talk about the pot calling the kettle! I like Mike, and would miss him, but it's passed time for a change in that slot, and lets be real, it hasn't been THL for many a year. I think there is some good week-end talent that could shake it up. I find THL very tiresome, but it's going to take Rhyner retiring for any changes to happen: he just garners too much respect, and deservedly so.

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  15. The Musers have ALWAYS been the station's ratings juggernaut.

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  16. THL once was too, Shaggy. Slinky's right, a PM Drive show is ideally a dominating bookend to your morning show.

    Have to agree with most of what slinky says. It's time for Mike to either get interested and remain so or let someone else have his spot that will. I honestly think it's time for him to hang it up, move on, and go do ALL those tribute band projects running around inside his head. I can't imagine he needs the money, so why not let someone else take hold the reins. Like slinky and many other a Confessor has said over the past several years, THL isn't THL anymore. Hasn't been for a decade now. Yes, that's right, before Greggo left. Hasn't been THL since they turned it into a 3 man booth. Thing is, it's done more than just fine as a 3 man booth and Greggo-less. Thing also is, it began to slip about 4-5 years ago and hasn't regained its footing since. Just keeps slowly, and at times painfully, sliding down that gentle hill into that good night.

    Now, is there actually a JVer who can fill that spot? I don't know. Jake? Hmmmm. You already have Corby, isn't one polarizing figure per show enough as it is? And yes, Jake is polarizing. I like him, but I can see why others don't. Danny, as much as I can identify with him, is not prime time, every day, week/month/year in and out host material. He just isn't. I really think Corby and Dan would make a great pairing. Leave Bob to his own thing middays. Heck, there's your place for Jake. Middays with Bob.

    Whatever the case, like slinky, I also think it's time for a HL shakeup.

    Anywho, just my two or three cents.

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  17. Mike and I are the same age and I believe that we think alike in many ways. I'm thinking Mike is looking at 25 as a nice round number to go out on.

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  18. I had to laugh at Mike and Corby talking about other stations being able to do something like TicketStock or listeners who "get it" like KTCK listeners do. I know Mike remembers KZEW World, the Grandfather of Ticketstock. I submit that Ron Chapman had a similar following, so much so they followed him from KVIL to KLUV. Remember the 105.3 Young Country stunt that destroyed a Dallas area library? They announced they had hidden money in books at the library and the fans trashed one looking for it. KLIF had listener parties that drew some pretty good crowds in the mid to late 90's.

    The Ticket is good strong, but they aren't the only ones to have a large and faithful following.

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  19. I don't think there are any JVers ready for drive time. I am glad to see that BaD radio has righted the ship.

    It was quite comical listening to THL butcher the homerun for tickets story. They basically had every fact wrong, and all the P1s knew it because the guy was on with BaD radio at 12:30. That is what bothers me the most about THL, just the lack of prep, and then talking like they are experts on the subject. They were basically just spit-balling a segment and I am glad the P1s called them on it on Twitter.

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  20. Gopher, I think the distinction they were making had to do with the sheer size/scope, longevity and annual nature of the event in conjunction with it being well attended, each and every year. There's a difference between that and listeners following talent from one place to another, a one off stunt, and a short lived listener event (KZEW World--btw, you rightly state that it's the grandfather of Ticket Stock).

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  21. I would also add that, Ticket Stock is a two day event (used to be three days). That in itself is significant.

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  22. I heard somebody say today that there were more people at the Timewasters than at Pat Green.

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  23. Corby claimed that yesterday, too. If that's true, I'm surprised. As I was under the impression (mostly from Georgio) that Pat Green is huge. The way it was being talked about by George, you'd think the Irving CC wouldn't be able to hold the numbers who would want to see PG play.

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  24. Pat Green is huge in the Texas country music scene, but I don't know how many P1s are into that. A person that is not a ticket listener might not have known about the concert or may not have wanted to go see Pat in that setting.

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  25. Yeah the crowd looked pretty small from the pics or vids I saw of the Pat Green show. They kept talking about how it was free but you needed a wristband so get out there early on Saturday before they were gone...but then they kept mentioning that right up until it was time for him to go on.

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  26. I was never going myself (it's Irving) but I was surprised all the Pat Green tickets didn't go instantly.

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  27. RE: THL, Mike is not done, he just needs a different partner.

    Among other things, the mark of a good partnership is for each person to bring out the best in the other. This is the problem with THL. Say what you will about Greggo, but he brought out the best in Mike and Mike brought out the best in him, and it worked so well, until the lifted skirt and painted lips of cocaine got involved. This is NOT the case with Corby and Mike. Corby's overbearing, high-handed, cockiness has the effect of making Mike clam up, jump into the back seat, and dis-engage. And when Danny is thrown into the mix it just gets worse, because he rewards Corby's misanthropic behavior.
    I like Corby. I like Mike. I like Danny. I'm gonna go on the record, right here my fellow confessors, and state that the problem is the pairing. The problem is the matchup. The CTO's should have replaced Greggo, and kept Corby as the yuk monkey back when they had the chance.
    I'm going on the record a second time here, my friends, to say Mark Followill would've been a perfect replacement for Greggo. I can't remember what his status was at the time of Greggo's departure, he was probably unavailable due to contractual obligations with the Mavericks, but I'd love to see a Hardline with Mike and Mark, Corby as the yuk monkey and Danny producing. Mike is interested and engaged every time Mark Followill makes an appearance and there is genuine affection between the two. There is none of that with Corby. Followill seems to mesh well with Corby and Danny too. Its too bad that this will never happen.

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  28. Tangent:
    You are right, the Followill dream will never happen.

    I don't think Corby is misanthropic, at all. Could you explain what you mean?

    The issues with Greggo predate the coke, pills, and booze problem. Those things only served to exacerbate an already bad situation; they hastened a demise that was already well on its way down that path. Oh, the issue. That would be compulsive, pathological lying.

    I agree that Mike AND Corby are noticeably better when saddled with others. Corby is too dominant of a personality to be paired with someone who has a tendency to sit back and observe.

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  29. Anon, 3:07,

    You summed up what I mean about Corby in the last sentence of your post: Corby is too dominant of a personality to be paired with someone who has a tendency to sit back and observe.

    I think we both have the same observation. "Misanthropic" may not have been the best word choice.

    Point is, they are both better when paired with others. So why not consider a change? THL is good. But when you think "good" is "good enough".... That's when the competition will get ya'.

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  30. Neither probably would have let it happen but Norm and Corby work well together and Mike and Donovan do too. Donnie brings out the engaged, playful side of Mike we don't see too often anymore. Norm is a strong enough personality to keep Corby in check. I wonder how long that pairing would last, though.

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  31. First let me say that I am huge mike guy. He's my leader and I can only pray my life is as kickass as his once in reach my twilight years. But his lack of "involvement" isn't only because of Corbys domineering personality. The dude is 65 years old. Does he contribute more and generally have more to bring to the table when paired up with others? Sure, but I attribute this to him being out of his comfort zone and wanting to match whomever he's broadcasting with that day. If he were paired with another personality on a permanent basis, I believe it would eventually revert back to him playing second fiddle and checking down to his cohost to bring the majority of opinions and talk time to most segments. Not trying to devalue mike or anything, he's still one of the best in the business, but as they say, father time catches up to us all.

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  32. You make a good case, 1020. My only retort is this: how does this explain Mike's performance for the last 7-10 years? It's been spotty, at best.

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  33. A few years ago Bob and Corby were paired up for a white elephant day and it was really good radio. That is a pairing that could work well and speaks to what Tangent and others have said that Corby needs a partner that won't back down.

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  34. Digging this thread. Has an old school gentlepersonly MTC vibe to it. Agree, disagree, agree to disagree, all done respectfully, no subtle shots, and well thought out and written. Great stuff.

    If anyone heard Norma and Donnie's bird segment this morning, I think you aurally witnessed the next set of things one may find in Norm's underwear. Holy smokes did he offer up some potential drop gems!

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  35. Always a good day on BADD & WTDS when Jake is out and The Machine is filling in. Would love if some day Justin Monty got the 10-3 ticker gig and The Machine got the producer job. I'd listen more 12-3 if that were the case.

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  36. Yes, corky and mike bring the worst out in each other. They are both much better with other drive-timers. I'm sure it's because of most of the reasons mentioned here.

    Whether you like it or not, Catman has invested too much in Jake to not eventually use him to replace someone at some time. I doubt The Machine is seen through the same lens. The Machine reminds me of the barback at The Twilight who is over-passionate about solar panels and won't stop telling you how much "heat" was in the bar last night.

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  37. some people call me the space cowboy, yeah.February 26, 2016 at 9:21 AM

    Midlife crisis talk was great. Wish they'd invited Mike on to share his views. He's still going through his.

    Speaking of whom. Interesting stance Mike has taken on Steely Dan. He claimed the other day that he probably wouldn't go see them this time through Dallas because of the (Mike's term) "dom vi" allegations re Fagan. OK. I can understand and applaud that stance. However, it means very little if it's not seen through in a consistent manner. Meaning, MIke, are you also considering not watching/supporting MLB, NFL, many of the bands/musicians you like? Better never listen to Hendrix again, for starters.

    It's kinda like Apple and the Feds: Apple is taking this stand. Well, prima facie, yeah, I'm right there with them. Oh, wait. Apple has already and continues to do this exact same thing for the Chinese government. And on the same phone model. Oh, wait. Apple also sells the data they collect from our computer usage and purchasing inclinations and interests.

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  38. Warren MD in Fort WorstFebruary 26, 2016 at 11:37 AM

    Space Cowboy,

    Please provide support documentation of Apple selling data collected from phones or computers or them working with the Chinese government to create a backdoor to undo their encryption. Those are wild accusations, and I've found nothing to verify these claims.

    On another topic, great IJB this week. The second half of the podcast was about TC's grandmother/right to die/contemplating your own mortality from an atheistic and religious perspective. For those who think Jake and TC only care about points for sex or analytics will get a better perspective about these dudes.

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  39. "Great IJB" is impossible. Like a unicorn.

    Given how Jack feels about anyone born before he was my guess is he wants her to pass on to the next plain since she's using up resources...his words.

    They are both big jerks...and I'm not kidding.

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  40. some people call me the space cowboy, yeahFebruary 26, 2016 at 4:16 PM

    Warren, you must've not looked too terribly hard.

    http://www.lowyat.net/2015/45277/apple-allows-chinese-government-to-examine-ios-source-code/

    It doesn't take a brilliant analyst to read between the lines in this one:
    http://www.lowyat.net/2015/45277/apple-allows-chinese-government-to-examine-ios-source-code/

    https://www.rt.com/usa/apple-zip-code-lawsuit-987/

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  41. Warren MD in Fort WorstFebruary 27, 2016 at 9:26 AM

    Space Cowboy,

    I was talking about support documentation from well recognized, legitimate new sources. The sources you listed are Malaysian and Russian websites.

    Regardless, those links say nothing about Apple allowing the Chinese government backdoor access through their encryption which is the matter at hand with the FBI.

    Apple does play by different rules with China, that is the cost of doing business with a Communist country that censors their citizens. The though of Apple's American user data being stored on US government servers would never fly here, but that happens in China. Similarly, Google allows the Chinese government to censor their search results.

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  42. Warren, ought of curiosity I checked those links. They're legit. Apple has already been in cahoots with the NSA. That's pretty well known. I think Cowboy's claim is about the hypocrisy where China and the US Fed is concerned.

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  43. I meant out, not ought. Damn autofill.

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  44. Apple already allows the NSA to access all of their information. The point is to set the precedent that the gubmint has the legal right to trample on your privacy.

    Danny & Corby + politics = death of the Hardline. Regardless of your personal political beliefs, why alienate 1/2 of your audience? 3rd place and soon to be 4th (behind Norm & D). The lead balloon afternoon drive show. Bring Davey on with Mike. It would be gold.

    IJB (TC & Jake) are fine. That being said, they don't know what the hell they are talking about, ever. I chalk that up to being young and having zero life experience. Jake will become a conservative once he begins paying enough taxes. TC will get his degree and become a teacher.

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