I had hoped to get something more substantial up for this notable accomplishment, but . . . failed.
Congratulations to Bob Sturm and Dan McDowell on their 5,000th show.
I was able to catch some of this today. Was a kick to hear Gribble, that Nice Young Michael Gruber, and T.C. Fleming again.
On the one hand, the show's obsessive self-chronicling (do they have every show on tape?) is a little self-absorbed. But forget that hand -- I'm really glad they take the show seriously and archive their stuff, keep track of show numbers, all the rest. Keep it up, lads. Whatever one may think of the show, it can't be denied that their show preparation is tops at The Ticket -- yes, topping even the Sainted Musers.
That shows respect to the listeners.
And we shouldn't forget that they turned down an opportunity for (it is said) more money to move to another station not so very long ago. There's some love there.
I do worry that Bob will take his Large Sports Brain to more lucrative fields full-time (TV, behind the scenes with a network, play-by-play, sports journalism, books), so let's enjoy the team while we can.
A question for wayback P1s: Don't The Hardline and The Musers each have more shows in the bag -- maybe not at their current time slots, but at least identifiably as the shows they still are -- than BaD? I don't want to detract from the 5,000-show milestone, but, in the words of an immortal BaD staffer -- am I wrong here, guys?
Again, best wishes and for many more shows to come.
I actually went to the Alamo presentation today. got a picture of myself with Bob, which I tweeted and then he retweeted, so I have that going for me, which is nice.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question, Bob said while I was there (between noon-1:00) that their 5000 is at least in 4th place among the Ticket shows. For what that's worth.
I particularly enjoyed the Rhyner segment, talking about how he came to hire them (spoiler alert: it wasn't his decision as much as someone named Brad Gilbert, so somesuch, who decided to combine existing evening host Bob with a new applicant from Ohio. Mike was careful not to take too much credit for that one.
I'm embarrassed by the number of typos in that comment.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to hear the very little amount of input The Old Grey Wolf actually had in this pairing. Was Brad Gilbert "the Irish Laddie" they talked about so much over the years?
ReplyDeleteNice to hear from Tom, Grubes, and yes, even TC. My only gripe for the day was why was Donavon cut so short? He had his State fair deal going on today but, Huh?
All in all still my favorite Ticket show.
Bruce Gilbert was a former Ticket Exec/Sports Radio Legend and still works for Cumulus and gives his cell number out when interviewed, but...
DeleteBrad Gilbert is a former ATP tennis player, now coach and very good ESPN analyst who had that funky tennis racket which was not an oval, but like 12-sided.
Mike Thompson, PD from 1995-...is the "the(Wild) Irish Laddie".
He was brought in after the station sale SFX Broadcasting in 1995. He was the one who let Skip go, placed Dunham & Miller in AM drive and put Rhyner/Greggo in PM drive.
He is @radyoguy on Twitter.
Relevant excerpt from The Athletic article about BaD's milestone:
ReplyDeleteAbout 10 minutes to noon on Monday, October 7, 2019, Bob Sturm and Dan McDowell came down from the fifth floor of the Cumulus building to the fourth. With the Cleveland Browns set to play on Monday Night Football, McDowell, an Ohio native, was sporting a Baker Mayfield shirt. Sturm, a Wisconsin native, was less than 24 hours removed from watching his home team, the Green Bay Packers, beat the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium.
The two centerpieces for BaD (Bob and Dan) Radio filed into the studio for Ep. 4,992.
Right at noon, the conversation started… about the movie Joker. Sturm had taken his son to see it, and part of the discussion centered around the appropriate age range of its viewing audience, while some of it had to do with the movie itself. So it went for half an hour. Finally, on the other side of the 12:30 p.m. break, Sturm and McDowell started dissecting the Cowboys’ loss to the Packers. After 20 years on air together, it’s a safe bet that their audience didn’t mind sticking around, either. Welcome to the genius of Bob and Dan.
“That 12:10 segment, they used to want us to start the show with our hottest Cowboys opinion we had, at like 12:01,” Sturm said (Full disclosure: Sturm is a staff writer at The Athletic, Dallas). “Now, they know they’re not going to get any Cowboys opinion until 12:35 or so. That does not happen overnight, trust me. In fact, it’s kind of a miracle it ever did happen.”
https://theathletic.com/1300973/2019/10/17/happily-ever-after-the-long-winding-road-to-bad-radios-5000th-show/
How much time did Donovan get? I didn't get to hear the entire show.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure that Donovan ever totally felt comfortable on BaD Radio. It seems like he was kind of shoehorned in and always fighting to be heard; especially when Jake came in as "producer". That was just too many cooks in the kitchen. I think Donovan has admitted that he never fully felt comfortable in his role on the show.
As I said, I didn't get to hear the whole show so I missed them talking with TC. Did he talk about what he's doing these days? I've always wondered why he quit and where he is now. Anyone know?
At one time after his departuer, T.C. said (I think via Twitter) that he didn't like being there. But he seemed pretty cool with being on 5000.
ReplyDeleteUnquestionably a polarizing figure at the station, and beloved of B and D.
And he hates this site. Or perhaps just its proprietor.
I think TC was frustrated when he left. He had been fairly high up in the hierarchy of non-hosts. He left & went to Florida and it did not work out, unfortunately. When he came back, he didn't slide back in to his previous role and had been surpassed by some people lower in the pecking order than where he was. And he wasn't advancing and it was clear that no spots were opening soon and the first open spot would be given to Jake. Plus, he was kicked in the nuts a lot by P1's.
ReplyDeleteRight, 700, by a lot of P1s and, I think, at least some of his colleagues. Maybe more than "some." Including some who mattered.
ReplyDeleteI'm liking Dan McD on post-game tonight.
ReplyDeleteI really like Dan McD, but is there a more uninformed individual that is on a sports intensive radio station? I love his schtick and think he's funny, but he's add very little (not nothing, but very little) in terms of true insights into much of anything sports related.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised they even allowed TC to come back after his scorched earth departure for Pensacola.
ReplyDeleteI dunno. When he's' not trying to force "sports humor" into BaD, I think he's pretty insightful on sportsy matters. It's more man-on-the-streetish than Bob, but so is most everyone.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Dan knows more about sports than most people, including some on the station. He was paired with a sports savant and his way to make it work is to be the funny guy and sometimes ask the dumb sports question to the sports computer. But when you get Dan talking baseball, he clearly is top 3 in knowledge at that station with Norm and Mike.
DeleteCorby continues to be an idiot. Channel 5 does not need to apologize for their handling of the game/tornado. Danny and Mike are totally correct. They had idea of the severity during the game and there are plenty of channel options, and they would have gotten their ass handed to them had they switched from the game. Corby, you're a moron.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy Corby sometimes, but he really embarrassed himself with his tornado segments. They were all about him, of course, even though he basically wasn’t affected at all other than having to leave dinner early. Littered with hyperbole and what sounded like flat-out lies, even by his standards. Just a stunning lack of self-awareness in terms of how he sounded. Very disappointing. I feel like more and more, he comes off as totally consumed with himself. Not exactly breaking news, I know, but it seems to be getting much worse.
ReplyDeleteAgree absolutely with Anon 12:19!
ReplyDeleteDan is the perfect counter for the incredibly sporty savant Bob and his common man approach to asking Bob questions and/or teeing up discussion points often with some irreverent humor makes BaD IMO the best all around show on the Ticket. I think there free-form non sports discussions are gold more often than not. Also agree that Dan is Baseball John the Baptist to go along with Baseball Jesus (Rhynes). Dan also pairs well when he goes on post game shows or is paired with other hosts. I think the underrated Dan is probably the most malleable host on the Ticket. You could literally pair him with anyone and he is good.
Yeah, I gues I agree about the comments on Dan. As I said, I really like him and find him to be pretty funny/witty. I had never thought about it as him being kind of the common man serving up questions for Bob. I've never really paid attention to his baseball talk as that sport just flat does not interest me.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, agree totally with Anon 7:48: Corby is the most self absorbed, unbearable host on The Ticket. He has his moments, but they are few and far between. He over estimates his importance and definitely his intelligence. Part of that is he just doesn't prep much before he goes on the air.
I have put on my asbestos underwear, so let me say that I agreed with Corby in that tornado segment.
ReplyDeleteBut if you listen -- these guys were essentially agreeing with each other but not hearing each other. EVERYONE agreed that the whole thing should have been handled with a split screen (originally suggested by Ty). The takeaway for me wasn't who was right or who was wrong, but that they don't pay attention to one another.
I know one thing, this having hockey on the Ticket is making me hate hockey.
ReplyDeleteAt Anonymous: 5:00
ReplyDeleteHere, here! I absolutely HATE that The Ticket broadcasts the games on the station. They're unlistenable and I'd much rather hear the The Ticket Top Ten.
1. It's "Hear hear!", not "Here here!"
ReplyDelete2. Hockey on The Ticket is greatness.
If it wasn't for the hockey contract you wouldn't get to hear the Hardline's compelling interviews with Monty every week.
ReplyDeleteI would be curious as to the listener drop off when hockey game starts.
ReplyDeleteAnon 11:19am, you must work for the station.
I wish I found Capt Doo Doo as funny as these guys do.
ReplyDeleteNo, I don't work for the station. But I do enjoy hockey on the radio, I don't mind the time it takes away from THL's BS or the rare Cowboys postgame show,and neither do I mind pointing out someone's grammatical error. So, in short: Got anything of substance to say? If not, later.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind my grammatical errors being pointed out. How else am I going to learn? So, "hear, hear to pointing out grammatical errors!". I'll get it right next time.
ReplyDeletePS I still hate hockey on the radio.
Here, here...me two!
ReplyDeleteThank you, 1147.
ReplyDelete