Duelling Insiders

I like it when Confessors have inside information and share it with us.  Or claim to have it.  Truth to tell, persons claiming special knowledge in this space do not have a great record.  Many years ago I heard from a Ticket person who said that he got his laugh for the day every time he would see in social media someone claiming to have inside information.  But I'd love to have a reliable pipeline, even if anonymous.

In the last thread, we had one confessor saying that Bob Sturm was going to move to The Hardline.

More recently, another said that a Muser, tired of the early mornings, was going to move to PM Drive.

Either would be fine with me.  Even if Jake ended up being a Muser, I'd absolutely listen to an AM show with a George/Jake/Gordon lineup.  I think the sparks would soon fly between Jake and Gordon -- Gordon isn't always  .  .  .  welcoming to other funny people on the show, and Jake has done some fantastic bits filling in when Gordon's gone.  But that would be a good Muser lineup for me.  And would love to hear Craig on PM drive, when I can hear a bigger chunk of the show most days.

Ditto with a Jake and Dan show.

But I think those scenarios are not likely.  One show was blown up by Mike's departure.  I do not see the CTO blowing up another historically successful show.

Unless  .  .  .  contract time is coming up for the likes of Craig, and he has the leverage of his own retirement.  But wait -- didn't the Musers all just re-up a month or so back?

So my money is on Jake to The Hardline.  Transforms a stale show with a jolt of energy that "the kids" who, we hear, are deserting The Ticket, find lacking in the aging hosts.

The real controversy Cat will have to deal with is:  Who will replace Jake as BaD producer?  My money would be on either Justin Montemayor or David Mino.  I'm a fan of Justin's "radio sound" and attitude, but David has sharpened up his act on Work in Progress.  There are some other JV guys, Ticker and board op guys, who will probably toss their chapeaux in the ring.

Good luck to all.  The Ticket is in for a wild social media ride.  Stay tuned to My Ticket Confession, Your Source for Quality Ticket Journalism.

No disrespect:  Kobe Bryant, RIP.

Whither Mike?

I think that last post set a record for responses, about 120.

We can keep up the speculation on who will replace Mike.  My money's still on Jake, but I'd be OK with Mike Sirois or Dave Lane.  Or Bob, although I discount pretty much all info from persons claiming to have inside information other than me.  One reason I don't have much confidence in any of my predictions is that I don't know what the competition sounds like.  I don't really tune into G-Bag, so I don't know what, if anything, the demographic likes about it that they're not finding in The Ticket.  I have to believe that Cat is going to have this in mind as much as just how the various candidates sound with Corby.

But I want to turn now to another topic, and that is what Mike is going to do with himself. 

I need to find some time to listen to the Ben & Skin interview.  I gather from comments we've seen to date is that some Confessors are getting the impression that he may be waiting out his noncompete and will hit the airwaves elsewhere again.  They note that the word "retirement" has not been used.

A couple of thoughts on that possibility -- not that I have any information that that's what's going through Mike's Mind:

(1) If he does land elsewhere, then we'll know that the "I just had that feeling, I knew in my bones, it was just time to go" was not entirely true, was not even mostly true -- he had some problems with what management was saying to him.

(2)  If he does land elsewhere, how will we all feel about that elegaic speech and the looooooong hallway walk and opening and closing doors and whatnot?

(3)  But here's the main thing:  Recall that the feeling was pretty much unanimous that Mike was not, shall we say, fully engaged in The Hardline.  Love the guy, truly do, given me hours of pleasure, but recent years  .  .  .  .  Not a lot of prep, and voluntary surrender to Corby's enthusiastic monopolization of the mic.  In other words, he wasn't keeping his game sharp.

So what if he pops up on another show, and whaddya know, we hear a fully-engaged and participatory Mike?  How will we feel about all that affection he reported that he has for the station and the people there?   If we don't hear a fully-engaged Mike, then why try the act elsewhere?  If we don't hear that, then how would he expect to be a success?

That all sounds pretty snarky, I know, but here's where I come out on this:  Because I don't think Mike is that kind of guy, a guy who will give his best elsewhere when he wasn't inclined to give it to Cumulus/Ticket/Hardline.   I don't think Mike will go to another station, or another show, or another medium, only to cast off his Hardline torpor and be a star again.  If he is willing to work hard now, why would he have been unwilling to do so for the home team?  My answer is:  When he left The Ticket, even though he may not have used the word "retirement," he was intending to convey a truthful impression that he was done with sports/guy-talk radio.  My answer is that he is a man of integrity, and that he won't be returning to radio full-time on a daily talk show.  I expect to hear him on one-offs, and on interviews, and maybe even as a guest commentator from time to time, but nothing much more than that.

Thanks for everything, Mike.

A List, and Some Thoughts

I'm still thinking Corby and Danny stay where they are in the positions they now have.  I don't think Danny will be elevated, if he even wants that with his other outside interests.  He may not.


The thought I have is that the replacement must have sports knowledge.  Must.  This is where The FAN eats The Ticket's lunch.  It's where The Hardline has weakened over the years in a way that there simply was almost no serious sports talk on the show except maybe when Corby would talk tennis or college football, and even then  .  .  .  .

The second thought I have is that the replacement needs to have some weight, some heft, some adult credentials to rein in Corby/Danny's more juvenile tendencies.  Although, on further consideration, maybe The Ticket is looking to get younger at all positions, bring in some guys at the lower end of the demo that they seem to be losing.

So let's go through the list:

Of the current hosts, only Donovan strikes me as a potential Hardline replacement, and I don't see that working, much as I like Donovan.  Just not enough razzle-dazzle, and I think Corby and Danny would be tiptoeing around him to some degree.  While he and Corby do seem comfortable together and can put on a good show, that combo just doesn't spark for me.

Cat isn't going to break up BaD, and is not going to move BaD into The Hardline slot -- I don't think.  


That leaves, in no particular order:

Jake:  Leading coming out of the turn.  Sportsy, loquacious, smart, snotty.  At first I thought Jake with Corby would be too much snot for one show, but of the people at the station, he's probably tops.  There's no weightier Ticket guy available except Donovan, assuming neither Bob nor Dan graduates to The Hardline.  (And, if so, it would have to be Bob.  Dan -- Corby would say, "Are you kidding me?"  Besides, I think both Bob and Dan really like their time slot and massive intern support where they are now.)

Mike Sirois:  Love Mike Sirois.  Sportsy enough?  A little thin-skinned sometimes, makes for some interesting radio.  Cirque is frequently replaced, although he seems to be present for his producer duties with The Invasion.  He doesn't suffer fools gladly and he and Corby/Danny might be a tense fit.

Sean Bass:  Oddly, Sean seems to be a polarizing figure with the Confessor.  I like him.  Is he flavorful enough to boost The Hardline?  He's been moved into a semi-management role at The Ticket, so there's some weight there, and he is sportsy.  I don't recall a Sean/Corby pairing in the past but I'd like to hear it.

I don't see anyone more junior than Jake, Mike or Sean being serious candidates, as talented as some of them are.  Both Justin Montemayor and David Mino have turned into accomplished hosts on the Work in Progress Sunday show, they're both very good.  But with them there's the weight problem.

Ty Walker:  Like him on Country Force, and he can talk baseball.  He's gotten kicked in the cojones for so long by hosts -- all in fun, sure -- could he be elevated?

Dave Lane:  Again, a guy I like whenever I hear him.  I didn't think his +1 coat-and-tie "interview" appearance last week showcased him to good advantage.  His Mike tribute was great, but overall he didn't seem to be at his best.

I like Eli Jordan quite a lot, but I just don't see him leapfrogging more tenured in-house candidates.

One possibility is to do nothing.  No replacement.  Leave it as the Corby/Danny show.  Anyone else thinking that Corby sounds more responsible without Mike present?  Danny too?  Maybe I'm imagining things.  The Confessor seems to think that would not be a good idea, but I wouldn't mind it.

Let me throw out a couple of longshots:

David Moore.

Mike Doocy.

They're both sportsy; they're both adults.  I have no idea whether they are available or willing.  I do believe that Doocy, at least, could keep his current gig and still do the afternoon show.  David has to be present at Cowboy events and skulk around the locker room, so his availability is less certain.  However -- what is it that is making me think that David Moore is not a young man?  I went looking for his age and couldn't find it, but I think I heard somewhere that he's actually out of the demo.  (David, sorry if I've misheard that somewhere.)  He may be ready for a regular radio gig and broadcast paycheck.  Both are familiar to Ticket listeners.  Both have a sense of humor.  Doocy would need to tamp down his natural inclination to deference.  And again -- The Ticket may not want to replace Mike with an actual adult.  No idea whether either would blend with Corby/Danny.

And I think Lee "Hacksaw" Hamilton is available.

I'm probably forgetting someone's favorite, and when you tell me who I've forgotten I'll smack my forehead and apologize.

A Couple of Things to Keep In Mind

The P1 mind is reeling with possibilities, questions, speculations, all occasioned by the gaping hole left by Mike Rhyner's retirement.  In mulling this over for the past day, I'm thinking a couple of things:

(1)  Corby and Danny aren't going anywhere.

(2)  And they're going to stay in that time slot.

Recent ratings uncertainty aside, The Ticket is a gigantic success.  (I don't want to downplay the ratings angle, but I don't see it playing a major role at least until current procedural issues are sorted out with Nielsen, and a number of ratings books have passed thereafter -- year or so at least.)  And I think that anti-Corby sentiment is disproportionately expressed on social media, including this site.  A lot of people, and I think a lot of female listeners, as odd as that may seem, love Corby.  He is frequently mentioned as a "leader" on Why Today Doesn't Suck.  And despite his approaching middle age, he comes across as the kind of immature (and I mean that in only the nicest, most complimentary sense) frat-boy type that will not turn off the younger demographic.

But I wandered off-point there:  The point at which I was aiming is that The Ticket isn't going to mess with success.  There is not going to be a rejiggering of the show times.  There is not going to be a reshuffling of hosts.  They're going to fill that slot with someone and soldier on.  Or maybe put Danny in that chair full-time and slide producers and board-ops around, much like when HeeHoo was invited to spend his afternoons elsewhere -- keep the team as is, maybe give a new producer (Justin? Mino? Sirois?) the chatty-producer role that Danny has now.  Maybe change the name of the show, but I'm very doubtful that we will even see that change.  In any event, it's going to be Corby and Danny at a minimum, and it's going to be 3-7 PM, and in all likelihood it's going to be The Hardline.

(3)  The Ticket is, as drops so frequently remind us, A Cumulus Station. 

And Cumulus is a big company. 

And big companies have policies and procedures. 

And among those policies and procedures are those governing job openings. 

Because of (1) and (2) -- that is, because (my opinion, no inside dope) they're not going to make fundamental organic changes -- Mike's departure will be regarded as leaving a "job opening."  And if that's what ends up happening, it means  the CTO (Cumulo-Ticket Overlords) in the person of The New World Catman will have to "post" the position and consider internal applicants for the job.*  That is, Ticket colleagues will have the opportunity to request the slot and compete for that position in a formal kind of way.  I don't know what the Cumulus employee handbook says, but it wouldn't surprise me if the job will be externally posted as well. 

So while Mike's departure will mean Big Changes, my guess is that it will likely only mean one Big Change:  Who will sit in Mike's chair.  If it's Danny, then sure, there will be a producer/board op ripple effect, and that's not a small thing.  But after all is said and done, unless Cat ends up hiring Kathy Griffin for the slot, the changes will not be seismic.
 ____________
*  I will want to consider this at a later date, but when things like this happen, politics that simmer below the surface tend to take on much greater importance.  Rivalries, interpersonal conflicts, and personality mismatches that don't mean much when ain't nothin' goin' on will erupt when an extremely rare and valuable advancement opportunity arises.  Although it is a pretty cohesive bunch, some JV aren't crazy about other JV; very doubtful any will report to me, but if I get wind of anything  .  .  .  .

 

ThePlainsman1310@gmail.com

@Plainsman1310

BREAKING: Mike Rhyner Leaves The Ticket

Not exactly breaking; I'm among the last to know.

The first of a couple of handfuls of shoes to fall.

Classy way to do this, and a nice presentation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ew3-jdTeS4

Lots to say about this.  But thought you'd like a nice fresh thread to get started.

Sounds like this has been in the works for awhile.

My first thought is that something prompted this other than the passage of time.  Could it be the apparent -- even if possibly illusory -- shift in the ratings?  And he doesn't feel like going through some adjustment in procedures and presentation that this might require.  No reason to think that, but what I thought when I saw his presentation was -- he looks tired.

My second thought is that with the cornerstone taking a walk, those whose who have been committed to The Ticket monolith because it was a monolith might feel less sentimental about entertaining other employment now that the face of the station is stepping away -- Bob and Dan coming to mind.

Anyway, let's hear from the Confessor.

My Ticket Confession thanks Mike Rhyner for his service, and wishes him a long life, good health, and as much happiness as he's given for the past two dozen years.

Jason Garrett's available.

 

ThePlainsman1310@gmail.com

@Plainsman1310