I Give My Leader the Benefit of the Doubt + Bonus STD on Drops

And that leader, you may recall, is Jeff Catlin, Program Director of KTCK (The Ticket) and Operations Manager for it, KESN, KLIF, KPLX, KLIF FM, WBAP, and KSCS (that is, Cumulus Dallas).

I think he is a pretty smart chap and has made some pretty smart decisions about The Ticket.

So I can only assume he has some reason -- a market study, perhaps; micro-ratings analysis; maybe getting a feel from his email; could even be sponsor feedback -- for countenancing what seems -- isn't, but seems -- to be nonstop talk on a number of the shows about cable/Amazon/Netflix dramatic presentations.

A day or so ago, it was The Musers with "The Push."  Today, I look forward to one of my rare tune-ins to BaD, and I hear Bob say that they were not able to properly finish their discussion of "The Push" in the prior segment(s?), and so they were going to trash the sports talk they had planned on the run sheet so they could talk about it some more.  Then, on The Hardline, E-news is all about that subject, then, following a single segment about Cowboys stuff (Dez Bryant absolutely, 100%, take it to the bank, absolutely no way, will renegotiate his deal), Corby announced they were going to discuss another Netflix show in the next segment.

Maybe the Confessor is interested in these things and the New World Catman has made another wise choice.  Maybe lots of P1's watch them and enjoy our lads' extensive and frequent discussion about these shows.  And the discussion itself -- hey, for all I know they may be television analysts of the most sublime perspicacity.  But, speaking here only for myself, I'm interested in none of it, and, to the extent I am, I am certainly not interested in the cascade of spoilers these guys sling.  I heard Corby say that viewership for these shows is plummeting and he once again assured listeners with absolute certainty that in 5 years there would be no Netflix, no Showtime, no HBO, so one wonders why a disproportionate slab of showgram time up and down the broadcast day is devoted to these presentations.

Now -- I invoke Jeff here, but in fact, I don't think he has much to do with the programming of individual segments on these shows.  He's not telling them to devote segments to TV/cable/internet dramatic programming.  His role, if there is one, is pretty much a negative one -- stop doing this, don't do that, clean up your tweets, throw some cold water on the social commentary.

Anyway, that's my STD (Scorching Ticket Disquisition) for the day.

"Corby said this show was the greatest in the history of human communication."

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Wait, there's more.

What's this about The Ticket being ordered to -- erase? archive? stop using? -- certain, or a certain number of, or a certain volume of, drops?  Heard it mentioned a couple of times this afternoon, most notably by Mike R observing that a station like The Ticket, which basically carries some of Cumulus's less popular offerings, should be forced to cut back on drops for any reason.

I didn't get the impression that this was a programming move -- Jeff saying, per my suggestion above, "use a lot fewer drops."  Don't think that's what's happened, although could be in error about that.  I believe that for some reason, a large batch of Ticket drops are no longer available for use; D Mino suggested to that effect.   Mike, and I think Corby, both suggested that this was some kind of an economic move.  But how is that possible?  Digital storage costs approximately nothing (or am I wrong here, guys?).   Someone out there knows more about this.  Please advise in the comments, or drop me a line.

ThePlainsman1310@gmail.com

@Plainsman1310

Is There Tension?

I ask this question sincerely.  I invite daily BaD listeners to weigh in, because I've recently heard something on BaD that I did not expect to hear.

I have been able to tune into BaD twice in the last couple of weeks.  I regret that I can't listen more often, because I've kind of been warming up to the show over the past year or so.  But I did have a chance to punch in a couple of times recently.

Both times I heard a very tense moment between Bob and T.C.

T.C. would pop on.  Now, in T.C.'s defense, if he needs one, these pop-ons did not seem to me to be any more annoying than T.C.'s usual pop-ons.  You listen to BaD, you're going to hear T.C. pop on.  It goes with the territory.  One of them was a little sarcastic -- I don't recall the subject matter of either -- but well within T.C. historical tolerances.  Some people are OK with T.C.'s pop-ons, others less so, others not at all, but these sounded to me like not-out-of-the-ordinary pop-ons.  I did not take particular note of them, did not think T.C. was out of line in comparison with what he's apparently been allowed to do in the past.

But Bob took note and -- I don't think the phrase is "snapped at T.C."  I think the phrase is more like "expressed very distinctive annoyance at T.C. popping on, or perhaps at the said popped-on content."

In both cases -- my recollection may be a little thin here -- he paused before he spoke, as though considering his words carefully, or to signal that something unusual was coming.

In both cases, he called T.C. "Chuck."  Is that new?  Does he call him "Chuck" when he intends to make a slighting reference?

In the most recent episode he made reference to T.C.'s mic always seeming to be on.  In another he sarcastically -- the sarcasm was not veiled -- "thanked" T.C. for his contribution.

Dan did not speak during these uncomfortable passages.

In the most recent instance, Justin M was sitting in for Jake and had been participating in the show, although less than Jake usually does.  No interaction between Justin and T.C. during these passages (or at all).

I guess this could be a bit.  Again, I don't listen to BaD enough to know if this is some ongoing schtick, or if Bob is growing unhappy with T.C.'s always-bubbling-beneath-the-surface desire to participate in the show. 

Confessors, please -- this is not an invitation to unload on T.C.  We've seen enough of that in the past and we all know how you feel.  I mainly want to know if either Bob or Dan has been spatting with T.C. on the air, or whether what I heard on my two recent flybys was anomalous.

T.C., you're  .  .  .  you're so much more than banter.

PSA

Did you catch it on The Teebox this morning?

"It's just the tip of the icing."

        --  Craig Rosengarden

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Guys and dolls, sorry I've been absent.  I've been out of town and working seven days and evenings.   That will last probably around another week.  I had an STD  I was going to offer about BaD, but it's gotten a little stale.  I might still throw it out there if I get some time, but until then, here's a ginger for you.

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RANDOM TICKET OBSERVATION:  No Ticket host of any age should ever call another host "dude."  Or anyone else, for that matter.