A home for those who love almost everything about The Ticket (1310 AM, 96.7 FM, Dallas-Fort Worth), and who would like to discuss -- respectfully and fondly -- their thoughts on how (and whether) to eliminate the "almost."
Children, there was a time when the song "Norman" would be played in reference to The Ticket's very own Norman Hitzges. You don't hear it much anymore; I haven't heard it in a long time. Catchy little novelty tune by John D. Loudermilk, the chorus being:
Norman, Oo oo oo oo oo oo oo Norman, Mm mm mm mm mm mm mm Norman, Norman my love.
Anyway, Sue Thompson, the songbird who sang that cheerful little ditty, has passed away at the age of 96.
1. Gopher, if you wouldn't mind, post up a URL to DG's page. Would be most appreciated, pal.
2. "Norman" is a great little novelty ditty. RIP, Ms. Thompson. You contributed.
3. Julie has another "special guest" role on today's HZ. I guess as "hockey expert"? Or are we going to re-live some of her "classic" Ticket moments?
4. Inre 3., kinda grown weary of The Legend of Judo. There's not much there other than a seemingly nice person who's rather thirsty for airtime. Nothing wrong in that, but the host driven hagiographies, constant appearances for no real reason, and all the rest. Yep, either hire her back on f/t with all the accoutrements or let it die.
The phone tech problems they've been having all week are absolutely ridiculous; how can they possibly still not have them fixed? If I were a host, my head would be exploding. Cumulus really does seem like just a shit company all around.
Listening to Danny's cop/kitten story. Sad situation but cop did nothing wrong. Maybe handle somewhat differently in future, but move on! Danny, if you want to call for medical assistance for the kitten, and you can foot the bill, go for it!
Oh boy, look who got ferreted out...the "woke wisperer" Surly! 🤣 Anon 7:59pm, I'm going to try to lay out a little scenario for you; it's steeped in reality, so you may not be able to relate. I'm going to assume you heard Danny's CQH's segment. To begin, the officers have confronted a situation they're probably never going to encounter again. I doubt very seriously anything of response to this is taught at the academy. The officer should be commended on his actions; I'm sure it wasn't pleasant for him. Ok, now let's get to that "reality" part! Danny stated that they should have (or he would have) gotten help for the kitten. That's great! That's a very kind thing to do! But...the cops cannot wait for medical assistance, they can't drive the kitten, so, it's on the OWNER to take the responsibility, which apparently they were not willing to do. The officer actually went above call of duty and did the humane thing. Now, if Danny happened to walk by and say, "Hey, don't do that! I'll take the little kitten to a vet down the street!" That's awesome! But Danny will probably have to pay for it. Add the fact that Dallas is already down about 500 police officers, there was no need for this type of negative spin. But anon 7:59pm, you're right, I don't know what I was thinking! Ya know, having an opinion and all...
Yeah, you totally missed my point, slinky. But that's what happens when you caper through life with blinders on. Forest and trees.
I fail to see what wokeness has to do with Surly's comment. The comment is valid; it has no socio-political leanings whatsoever. None. Moreover, as an oft self-professed, commonsense, everyman, the aim of Surly's remark ought to be manifest. And yet, for the bastion of commonsense, it's not. Indeed, one would think a no-nonsense fellow like yourself would have no truck with The Ticket anylonger. After all, the thing's turned into a wokey woke-fest, helmed by morons who've lost their capacity to reason, who long ago abandoned adulthood, retreating into an early second-childhood.
Man, I look away for a couple days, and we're arguing about cops and kittens.
One comment taken down for name-calling.
I'm looking for a new free blogging platform for this and maybe get it back to life a little. I tried WIX but found the interface baffling. Anyone have any experience with any of the others.
I've asked this before. Please remember that not every Confessor listens to every hour of every show.
Although you may feel self-conscious doing it, when you post about a particular segment on The Ticket, DESCRIBE THE FREAKIN' SEGMENT AND WHAT YOU'RE REACTING TO.
I did not hear the cops/kitten story and came thisclose to deleting the whole damned thread.
Sucks that you took my comment down for calling slinky an a-hole, but come on Plainsman, you have to admit his schtick is played out beyond played out. Piss, moan, bitch, whine, rinse, repeat. At this point, it's pathological. Look, the posture has gotten so ridiculous, that I'm defending Surly's comments!!!! (Pre-say, no offense to you Surly, good sir.)
But... it's your blog and they're your rules, and we must play by them. So be it.
Ok..ok, I gotta respond here. Lol!! Anon 12:21, my original post was basically only because of the highly unusual circumstances the cops were facing! The kitten was bleeding and such bad shape that the only realistic thing to do was put it out of it misery. The cop was willing to do that, the owner, probably not! And I wasn't demeaning Danny in ANY WAY!! (Sorry you took it that way, but I know how sensitive you wokers are) it was just Danny that said they may should have gotten the kitten medical help. Plains, if I remember correctly, police officers were called to respond to mauling by a dog that left a kitten beaten and bloody and clinging to life. Seems like there was discussion between the cops and owner and was agreed it was best the officer put it down. (Think i got it right or close) Somehow my comment warranted being called an A$$hole and told not to listen by Surly.
slinky, again, you miss the forest for the trees. Either you're purposely being obtuse (i.e., trolling) or you're, and let me be charitable here, not a very careful reader.
For the final time: It's not the one comment. It's your corpus. Ugh.
When I saw the quote I immediately thought of Neil Young, not Def Leppard. Maybe it's just me or I am not in the same demo. Was never really a fan of either but Neil Young is more in my demo. Anon 5:03 I had to look up on YouTube the Phil Collen reference.
The P-man has posted many times how busy he is. Also, he has (graciously) allowed other P1's to post articles. He allowed me to post one on Florida's visit to Texas A&M on the Aggies first game in the SEC.
So not to back P-man in the corner but we can step up and contribute. Hopefully he does not knock me in the head but what have you got to lose? I propose that some P1 start posting on this site, a "Scattershooting' post. Wondering what a happened...? Craig Miller has molded his Friday 8:40 on this
For those too young to know. Blackie Sherrod was a columnist for the Dallas Times Herald (and maybe a Ft Worth paper, not sure). So someone (me?) pick up the slack and just add a post "Scattershooting while wondering?.
I will start - Scattershooting while wondering what happened to Greggo. Looks like his twitter is inactive.
And some history from the great Robert Wilonsky. https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/scattershooting-while-wondering-whatever-happened-to-blackie-sherrod-7145063
Apologies for my absence. Been dealing with two serious illnesses in my family as well as getting a new novel out.
It is not my intention to abandon MTC, not yet, anyway. In fact, I spent some time trying to get a new blog site going on a platform less crappy than Blogger, but it was taking too much time and I have abandoned that effort for the time being.
I do try to catch as much of The Ticket as I can, but I'm a few weeks from getting out from under the current crush as far as devoting much time here.
NOT looking for sympathy -- just explaining. Please continue to post -- and remember, PLEASE explain what you heard on the station that you're posting about. We can't all listen all the time.
To be honest, Plainsman. The Ticket is no longer compelling. It's rather blah. I do believe there are many mitigating factors that explain why this is the case. But if pressed, I'd say the chief reason is because the hosts are no longer compelling. Not a one. Each show blends into the next, seamlessly. It's all one big blob. Even when there are points of disagreement between hosts and shows, these points often come off as manufactured. Many "interview" segments seem to be more paid advert than actual interview (hence the quotations marks). And it's been many years since I thought "oh yeah, me too!" while listening to a "guy talk" segment. Those segments, that is, the segments that kept you sitting in the car already 10 minutes late for work and having to pee like a racehorse, are no more and haven't existed for a long while now. Instead, we're regaled with the "whip" (anyone remember the old Ticket lingo?) of luxury boxes/front row-center seats and backstage passes, famous friends, and giving their progeny a platform--for starters. The bottom line is that not only are the hosts/shows boring and essentially all the same, they also are unrelatable to the listener (which, is the exact thing that propelled The Ticket to its heights). What's worse is that the poor bastard JVers who desperately try to hang onto their crap paying jobs in order to keep the Jake Wet Dream that will never happen for them alive have to play along, imatating the Varity, and as a result they too become more and more unrelatable.
How the f'n hell did "imitating" come out as "imatating"? And I might as well have typed "Verity" instead of "Varity." Would've made more sense. Oh well, that's what happens when you type things out on a phone and your thumbs resemble sausages coming out of their casing.
It's your best friend from high school who sees you and wishes you well You try to breakthrough but you run out of stories to tell So you bid him goodbye and you step into space There are so many questions that you cannot face
Poignant lyrics, for sure. But it's not a case of changing phases, different times, "go woke and go or not go broke," etc.--by either The Ticket or the listener (at least listeners who've been around awhile, the kind of listener that shops MTC). Rather, per my previous comment, it's the homogeneity of the station. In short, what we now have is that in lieu of The FAN's futile aping of The Ticket in order to best it, The Ticket has regressed into The FAN. Blame it on Cumulus or your bogeyman du jour, I believe there are many factors involved. I say this and you may come back and correctly point to the ratings: Ticket rules, FAN drools. Forget those numbers and look instead at The Ticket's overall numbers compared to the rest of the market. You will see a now long term trend of, to put it in Seinfeldian terms, "significant shrinkage." Meaning, that while it's true The Ticket on the whole wipes the floor with The FAN (some times more than others), its foothold in the bigger picture is attenuating. In part this speaks to the state of the sports/guy genre. As fast as it rose, in the larger scheme of things, it quickly crested and has been in free-fall(in'--h/t Petty and Petty Theft) for years. The Ticket, while superior to its sole, local rival, is no longer a rival itself. That's not good. It means the niche it carved out for itself is fading/is gone. Indeed, that niche was flimsy to begin with vis-a-vis the general market. But it was the uniqueness of the hosts and their presentation--that is, their unum pluribus...who they were (just like you and me) and the everyday-ness of their daily lives and the way in which they expressed them--that set the station apart from not only their sub-par competition, but also delineated it from every station in the market, regardless of genre, of audience. But not only this market, but over and against any market, any genre. It's why The Ticket, for a time, became the paradigm, the trend setter then standard bearer of what it meant to connect (truly, meaningfully, profitably) with a market. In short, it was by their very ordinariness and relatability that they became extraordinary and thereby unseated both old guard rivals (Galloway, et al.) and comers on (ESPN Dallas, The FAN) as well as challenged every corner of the market. We all wanna go where "everybody knows [our] name and they're always glad [we] came." That's how The Ticket became a juggernaut. It was Cheers. It was your "local." It was where Steve-O and Jersey Ron damn near come to blows over the Nets win over the Mavs only to forget about it 5 minutes later while downing a coupla shots of Jack. Now, not so much. Now, seamless sameness and backstage passes. And like The FAN and pretty much every sports/guy station in the country, it's manufactured blah. "Hey! We're local like you!" Yeah, you guys might live here, but you're nothing like us. And despite the Musers' "why are we fighting?" (h/t Mick at Altamont) cum Dr. Phil "let's get real" seggies, it's all a one note drone. No pedal point here.
P1D1's are now generally 50-75 years old with pensions/401(k)s/nice nest eggs with incomes similar or greater than Tier 1 folks for the last 25+ years. Not sure why you think the hosts' lifestyles would be that different than a large swath of their listenership.
And according to Peter Welpton, the Ticket is the number 1 station in the demographic in Dallas. Not by genre. Number 1 overall.
I'm in that demo, as are most of my friends. And while we are all comfortably middle to in some cases upper middle-class, in no way do we live backstage pass lifestyles.
As to Peter's ratings, when he says "full market" I take it he intends the sports-talk genre. If you look at the Talkers and the Radio-Online pages you will see that The Ticket as #1 in the market is not the case.
So.
Gopher, I'm not claiming that no one is listening. What I am claiming is that the station has become boring and mostly unrelatable. To the former it has devolved into The FAN; to the latter, a less annoying version of a nationally syndicated poop shoot. Hell, there are times, for examperer, when Corby's rolling on his latest ass kicker you'd think he's Ferrall waxin' the mahogany with the singer from Buck Cherry while watching the Sooners from The Boz's suite. That's the opposite of what got them to where they are. And at some point sooner rather than later (the longer, overall trend is bearing this out) they will be in direct competition with The FAN--as opposed to the big brother/cart meets horse game that's been played out since The FAN's inception.
Having said this, absolute thanks to Surly and Gopher for engaging. Much appreciated, fellow Confessors. I'll mosh with you two anytime,
What surprised me was the Ticket was in the top 10 of the overall most listened-to station in the market. They had better numbers than some traditional heavy hitters in October. I take it these are overall ratings and not demo specific. Still impressive numbers.
Peter is saying full market, since The Fan falls anywhere between #9 and #17. I don't believe there are 17 sports/talk stations but perhaps I'm just unaware of all of them.
And, you did claim that listenership has fallen dramatically:
"Forget those numbers and look instead at The Ticket's overall numbers compared to the rest of the market. You will see a now long term trend of, to put it in Seinfeldian terms, "significant shrinkage." "
Surly, I believe you have to pay for that detailed breakdown. Uncle Barky used to publish that info in the DMN years ago but when the collection process changed they started charging for that information. Uncle barky was upset about it.
That's what Peter is posting. The detailed breakdown. That's why I'm curious that these other sources are posting numbers that do not agree with the actual numbers
Surly, Gopher is correct. That deeper data requires a subscription. I don't feel right about copying and pasting information that others (i.e., me, et al.) pay for. However, the numbers (which come from Nielsen) are indeed actual numbers. Numbers per se tell us nothing. They are interpreted, and can be interpreted in many ways--both advantageously and otherwise. I'm not claiming Peter is being misleading, at all. Peter seems like a fine, decent sort and a smart cookie. But there are ways of parsing/classifying the numbers that, while evince a particular view, do not reflect larger trends and therefore give only a partial picture. And that's what I am getting at: If you look at the longer view (last 8ish years) vis-a-vis the market as a whole (not v. The FAN, the defunct ESPN, and even KEGL *especially when RM was prominent*), you will see on the whole (excepting certain quarters), the trend is a downward slant. Granted, where the now two horse race of sports/guy talk is concerned, The Ticket dominates. No question (h/t Corby). That's not my point. My point is that the regression of the station--i.e., the "FAN-ening" of the product, among other factors (I claim the FANening is the chief factor)--is making it less and less relevant in the market. These things don't happen overnight. And what might seem to you as no big deal, not actually occurring...it is happening. Sorry to be a broken record, but it can't be stressed enough: you need to look at longer term trends to see the trajectory.
Good stuff, man. Agree or disagree, I love these conversations.
I just don't think that's true. The Ticket is the #6 station in Dallas overall with ALL listeners 6+ for Mon-Sun 6a-midnight. I don't know that they've EVER been that high for that demographic for that time period.
Surly, if you're interested in getting a broader view *I believe* you can access the general market numbers through any of the aforementioned sites, gratis. You should be able to go back at least a decade. There was a time period when The Ticket was over all (if memory serves) behind only KLTY, a Spanish language station, and KISS (not Gene and Co.). But, as I said, there are both upswing surges and downswing dips; it's the general arch I'm speaking of. And look. I am neither insider nor expert (the former does not necessitate the latter in any field, for sure). I am, however, an in the middle of middle-age Gen Xer with a life long interest in radio--hence I actually pay for access to industry sites. My opinions are just that: my opinions. Per my previous posts, my contention (based on a historical cum projected out analysis of the data) is that The Ticket's relevance is fading, and doing so in a steady manner...if, again, viewed from above and not moment to moment. My central thesis is that this is due in main to the slow-burn, death by 1000 cuts, frog in a pot of boiling water regression towards homogeneity (hello, FAN and 98% of all sports/guy talk). Said homogeneity, regardless of origin, is beared out by the hosts. Done so in the sameness with respect to opinion, presentation, and style. This, combined with constantly discussing their life experiences that are in most ways no longer relatable to the listener--to repeat from before... which was the very thing that catapulted the station from being a "will never work in this town" pipe dream to a "how in the hell do we get us some of that secret sauch *h/t Stephen Jones* machine--has ultimately made the station, across the board a bore. Because it is a bore, listeners that normally would not gravitate but once did because Ed in HR told Marcy and Mark who have no interest in sports that, no, this is different and lo and behold M and M are P and V-1s. That ain't happen'n, Cap'n.
So, that's it in a not so nutshell of a nutshell of a verbosity.
Like I said, it's been a pleasure doing business with you, Surly and Gopher. If you two or anyone else (Pete? PLainsma?) has the historical data that says diffferent, that I've misread the numbers and tea leaves, by all means, please, lay it on me. I'm all about getting at the heart of matters. I love debating ideas and analysis. And if you can keep yourself (myself!) from snark and ad hominem, you (me!) might damn well learn something.
I would love to see an overall breakdown of the age of Ticket listeners and of the various shows. I think we would all agree that with streaming and access to other media, overall listenership is down on all AM and FM stations. One has to wonder what the future of over the air media will bring. Next time you are on a road trip away from the Metroplex, scan the radio dials and see what's not out there. For an old-time radio junky, it's scary.
I'll put this poll from Reddit up without comment other than streaming counts in the ratings these days. https://www.reddit.com/poll/qpwthu?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=usertext&utm_name=theticket&utm_content=t3_qpwthu
Evidently he's gone into reading books for epublication. Well at least one book. A republishing of Jim Schutze's book on racism and Dallas. That pod-vid thing or whatever it was on Vokal wasn't good. If the guest didn't take over and was also interesting like Dale Hansen was, it was basically 2 people staring at each other with nothing to say. That or it was a butt sniff fest. The Wilonsky episodes were a tough listen. Both dudes couldn't stop fawning.
Thats's OK, BKH, you got your own jams to jam on. Yeah, I'm giving the initials. Known it's been you all long. As do others. Including the proprietor. He's just too nice and too above the childishness to say the name.
Handles change, Anons are used, but the rest not so much.
Children, there was a time when the song "Norman" would be played in reference to The Ticket's very own Norman Hitzges. You don't hear it much anymore; I haven't heard it in a long time. Catchy little novelty tune by John D. Loudermilk, the chorus being:
ReplyDeleteNorman, Oo oo oo oo oo oo oo
Norman, Mm mm mm mm mm mm mm
Norman, Norman my love.
Anyway, Sue Thompson, the songbird who sang that cheerful little ditty, has passed away at the age of 96.
https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/oldest-living-country-music-legend-sue-thompson-dead-at-96/
RIP.
The board is acting up this morning.
ReplyDeleteDavid Gold mentioned that ironic note yesterday on his page.
1. Gopher, if you wouldn't mind, post up a URL to DG's page. Would be most appreciated, pal.
ReplyDelete2. "Norman" is a great little novelty ditty. RIP, Ms. Thompson. You contributed.
3. Julie has another "special guest" role on today's HZ. I guess as "hockey expert"? Or are we going to re-live some of her "classic" Ticket moments?
4. Inre 3., kinda grown weary of The Legend of Judo. There's not much there other than a seemingly nice person who's rather thirsty for airtime. Nothing wrong in that, but the host driven hagiographies, constant appearances for no real reason, and all the rest. Yep, either hire her back on f/t with all the accoutrements or let it die.
5. Out.
Driver:
ReplyDeleteSearch David Gold on FB. He is basically doing his radio show on the page.
https://www.facebook.com/davidtalker/posts/10225913500407811
Thanks, Gopher.
ReplyDeleteGreat to see a new post Pman, thank you.
ReplyDeleteThe phone tech problems they've been having all week are absolutely ridiculous; how can they possibly still not have them fixed? If I were a host, my head would be exploding. Cumulus really does seem like just a shit company all around.
It's a nationwide cyber attack. Seems to be somewhat out of their hands
ReplyDeletehttps://www.zdnet.com/article/bandwidth-ceo-confirms-outages-caused-by-ddos-attack/
A cyber attack? Wow. The ball do crazy things.
ReplyDeleteListening to Danny's cop/kitten story. Sad situation but cop did nothing wrong. Maybe handle somewhat differently in future, but move on! Danny, if you want to call for medical assistance for the kitten, and you can foot the bill, go for it!
ReplyDeleteSlinky. Again. Why. Do. You. Listen.
ReplyDeleteOh boy, look who got ferreted out...the "woke wisperer" Surly! 🤣
ReplyDeleteAnon 7:59pm, I'm going to try to lay out a little scenario for you; it's steeped in reality, so you may not be able to relate.
I'm going to assume you heard Danny's CQH's segment. To begin, the officers have confronted a situation they're probably never going to encounter again. I doubt very seriously anything of response to this is taught at the academy. The officer should be commended on his actions; I'm sure it wasn't pleasant for him.
Ok, now let's get to that "reality" part! Danny stated that they should have (or he would have) gotten help for the kitten. That's great! That's a very kind thing to do! But...the cops cannot wait for medical assistance, they can't drive the kitten, so, it's on the OWNER to take the responsibility, which apparently they were not willing to do. The officer actually went above call of duty and did the humane thing. Now, if Danny happened to walk by and say, "Hey, don't do that! I'll take the little kitten to a vet down the street!" That's awesome! But Danny will probably have to pay for it. Add the fact that Dallas is already down about 500 police officers, there was no need for this type of negative spin.
But anon 7:59pm, you're right, I don't know what I was thinking! Ya know, having an opinion and all...
Wow! So Angelo cataldi is retiring?
ReplyDeleteYeah, you totally missed my point, slinky. But that's what happens when you caper through life with blinders on. Forest and trees.
ReplyDeleteI fail to see what wokeness has to do with Surly's comment. The comment is valid; it has no socio-political leanings whatsoever. None. Moreover, as an oft self-professed, commonsense, everyman, the aim of Surly's remark ought to be manifest. And yet, for the bastion of commonsense, it's not. Indeed, one would think a no-nonsense fellow like yourself would have no truck with The Ticket anylonger. After all, the thing's turned into a wokey woke-fest, helmed by morons who've lost their capacity to reason, who long ago abandoned adulthood, retreating into an early second-childhood.
Man, I look away for a couple days, and we're arguing about cops and kittens.
ReplyDeleteOne comment taken down for name-calling.
I'm looking for a new free blogging platform for this and maybe get it back to life a little. I tried WIX but found the interface baffling. Anyone have any experience with any of the others.
By the way:
ReplyDeleteI've asked this before. Please remember that not every Confessor listens to every hour of every show.
Although you may feel self-conscious doing it, when you post about a particular segment on The Ticket, DESCRIBE THE FREAKIN' SEGMENT AND WHAT YOU'RE REACTING TO.
I did not hear the cops/kitten story and came thisclose to deleting the whole damned thread.
Sucks that you took my comment down for calling slinky an a-hole, but come on Plainsman, you have to admit his schtick is played out beyond played out. Piss, moan, bitch, whine, rinse, repeat. At this point, it's pathological. Look, the posture has gotten so ridiculous, that I'm defending Surly's comments!!!! (Pre-say, no offense to you Surly, good sir.)
ReplyDeleteBut... it's your blog and they're your rules, and we must play by them. So be it.
Ok..ok, I gotta respond here. Lol!! Anon 12:21, my original post was basically only because of the highly unusual circumstances the cops were facing! The kitten was bleeding and such bad shape that the only realistic thing to do was put it out of it misery. The cop was willing to do that, the owner, probably not! And I wasn't demeaning Danny in ANY WAY!! (Sorry you took it that way, but I know how sensitive you wokers are) it was just Danny that said they may should have gotten the kitten medical help.
ReplyDeletePlains, if I remember correctly, police officers were called to respond to mauling by a dog that left a kitten beaten and bloody and clinging to life. Seems like there was discussion between the cops and owner and was agreed it was best the officer put it down. (Think i got it right or close)
Somehow my comment warranted being called an A$$hole and told not to listen by Surly.
slinky, again, you miss the forest for the trees. Either you're purposely being obtuse (i.e., trolling) or you're, and let me be charitable here, not a very careful reader.
ReplyDeleteFor the final time: It's not the one comment. It's your corpus. Ugh.
Has anyone commented on the ubiquity of always-about-to-giggle, vocal-fry-intensive voiceover chick?
ReplyDeleteDavid, if you are referring to the woman who says "This is a KTCK sports presentation" before things like the Cowboys pre-game, the answer is yes.
ReplyDeleteI have.
I don't think she has done any new ones, but perhaps I have missed them.
From 2016:
https://myticketconfession.blogspot.com/2016/04/ask-and-your-plainsman-shall-deliver.html
I don't know if she does that, but she does pretty much every commercial that requires a female voice. Probably her most recognizable line:
ReplyDelete"You can't drink beer in line at the DMV!"
Does the Flying Fish ad about how nobody has as much fish as Flying Fish, too.
And everything else.
She's become the Nicolas Cage of Ticket ads.
So this is it for old MTC? What did Phil Collen sing all those years ago? "It's better to burn out, than fade away."
ReplyDeleteLet's hope not.
ReplyDeleteAnon 5:03 and Gopher -
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw the quote I immediately thought of Neil Young, not Def Leppard. Maybe it's just me or I am not in the same demo. Was never really a fan of either but Neil Young is more in my demo. Anon 5:03 I had to look up on YouTube the Phil Collen reference.
The P-man has posted many times how busy he is. Also, he has (graciously) allowed other P1's to post articles. He allowed me to post one on Florida's visit to Texas A&M on the Aggies first game in the SEC.
So not to back P-man in the corner but we can step up and contribute. Hopefully he does not knock me in the head but what have you got to lose? I propose that some P1 start posting on this site, a "Scattershooting' post. Wondering what a happened...? Craig Miller has molded his Friday 8:40 on this
For those too young to know. Blackie Sherrod was a columnist for the Dallas Times Herald (and maybe a Ft Worth paper, not sure). So someone (me?) pick up the slack and just add a post "Scattershooting while wondering?.
I will start - Scattershooting while wondering what happened to Greggo. Looks like his twitter is inactive.
And some history from the great Robert Wilonsky.
https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/scattershooting-while-wondering-whatever-happened-to-blackie-sherrod-7145063
Greggo started a new Twitter account last year.
ReplyDelete@geg_williams
Here's what he posted following Gary Patterson's departure:
I’m gonna need a few days to digest this idiotic move....
Good morning, Confessors.
ReplyDeleteApologies for my absence. Been dealing with two serious illnesses in my family as well as getting a new novel out.
It is not my intention to abandon MTC, not yet, anyway. In fact, I spent some time trying to get a new blog site going on a platform less crappy than Blogger, but it was taking too much time and I have abandoned that effort for the time being.
I do try to catch as much of The Ticket as I can, but I'm a few weeks from getting out from under the current crush as far as devoting much time here.
NOT looking for sympathy -- just explaining. Please continue to post -- and remember, PLEASE explain what you heard on the station that you're posting about. We can't all listen all the time.
I'll try to get up a new red soon.
To be honest, Plainsman. The Ticket is no longer compelling. It's rather blah. I do believe there are many mitigating factors that explain why this is the case. But if pressed, I'd say the chief reason is because the hosts are no longer compelling. Not a one. Each show blends into the next, seamlessly. It's all one big blob. Even when there are points of disagreement between hosts and shows, these points often come off as manufactured. Many "interview" segments seem to be more paid advert than actual interview (hence the quotations marks). And it's been many years since I thought "oh yeah, me too!" while listening to a "guy talk" segment. Those segments, that is, the segments that kept you sitting in the car already 10 minutes late for work and having to pee like a racehorse, are no more and haven't existed for a long while now. Instead, we're regaled with the "whip" (anyone remember the old Ticket lingo?) of luxury boxes/front row-center seats and backstage passes, famous friends, and giving their progeny a platform--for starters. The bottom line is that not only are the hosts/shows boring and essentially all the same, they also are unrelatable to the listener (which, is the exact thing that propelled The Ticket to its heights). What's worse is that the poor bastard JVers who desperately try to hang onto their crap paying jobs in order to keep the Jake Wet Dream that will never happen for them alive have to play along, imatating the Varity, and as a result they too become more and more unrelatable.
ReplyDeleteHow the f'n hell did "imitating" come out as "imatating"? And I might as well have typed "Verity" instead of "Varity." Would've made more sense. Oh well, that's what happens when you type things out on a phone and your thumbs resemble sausages coming out of their casing.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6Lgtno_ks8
ReplyDeleteLonely Feeling - Robert Earl Keen
It's your best friend from high school who sees you and wishes you well
You try to breakthrough but you run out of stories to tell
So you bid him goodbye and you step into space
There are so many questions that you cannot face
Poignant lyrics, for sure. But it's not a case of changing phases, different times, "go woke and go or not go broke," etc.--by either The Ticket or the listener (at least listeners who've been around awhile, the kind of listener that shops MTC). Rather, per my previous comment, it's the homogeneity of the station. In short, what we now have is that in lieu of The FAN's futile aping of The Ticket in order to best it, The Ticket has regressed into The FAN. Blame it on Cumulus or your bogeyman du jour, I believe there are many factors involved. I say this and you may come back and correctly point to the ratings: Ticket rules, FAN drools. Forget those numbers and look instead at The Ticket's overall numbers compared to the rest of the market. You will see a now long term trend of, to put it in Seinfeldian terms, "significant shrinkage." Meaning, that while it's true The Ticket on the whole wipes the floor with The FAN (some times more than others), its foothold in the bigger picture is attenuating. In part this speaks to the state of the sports/guy genre. As fast as it rose, in the larger scheme of things, it quickly crested and has been in free-fall(in'--h/t Petty and Petty Theft) for years. The Ticket, while superior to its sole, local rival, is no longer a rival itself. That's not good. It means the niche it carved out for itself is fading/is gone. Indeed, that niche was flimsy to begin with vis-a-vis the general market. But it was the uniqueness of the hosts and their presentation--that is, their unum pluribus...who they were (just like you and me) and the everyday-ness of their daily lives and the way in which they expressed them--that set the station apart from not only their sub-par competition, but also delineated it from every station in the market, regardless of genre, of audience. But not only this market, but over and against any market, any genre. It's why The Ticket, for a time, became the paradigm, the trend setter then standard bearer of what it meant to connect (truly, meaningfully, profitably) with a market. In short, it was by their very ordinariness and relatability that they became extraordinary and thereby unseated both old guard rivals (Galloway, et al.) and comers on (ESPN Dallas, The FAN) as well as challenged every corner of the market. We all wanna go where "everybody knows [our] name and they're always glad [we] came." That's how The Ticket became a juggernaut. It was Cheers. It was your "local." It was where Steve-O and Jersey Ron damn near come to blows over the Nets win over the Mavs only to forget about it 5 minutes later while downing a coupla shots of Jack. Now, not so much. Now, seamless sameness and backstage passes. And like The FAN and pretty much every sports/guy station in the country, it's manufactured blah. "Hey! We're local like you!" Yeah, you guys might live here, but you're nothing like us. And despite the Musers' "why are we fighting?" (h/t Mick at Altamont) cum Dr. Phil "let's get real" seggies, it's all a one note drone. No pedal point here.
ReplyDeleteAh, fuck it. We had some good innings, for sure.
P1D1's are now generally 50-75 years old with pensions/401(k)s/nice nest eggs with incomes similar or greater than Tier 1 folks for the last 25+ years. Not sure why you think the hosts' lifestyles would be that different than a large swath of their listenership.
ReplyDeleteAnd according to Peter Welpton, the Ticket is the number 1 station in the demographic in Dallas. Not by genre. Number 1 overall.
So.
It was also number six in the market overall 6+ ratings in October.
ReplyDeleteSomebody is listening it appears.
I'm in that demo, as are most of my friends. And while we are all comfortably middle to in some cases upper middle-class, in no way do we live backstage pass lifestyles.
ReplyDeleteAs to Peter's ratings, when he says "full market" I take it he intends the sports-talk genre. If you look at the Talkers and the Radio-Online pages you will see that The Ticket as #1 in the market is not the case.
So.
Gopher, I'm not claiming that no one is listening. What I am claiming is that the station has become boring and mostly unrelatable. To the former it has devolved into The FAN; to the latter, a less annoying version of a nationally syndicated poop shoot. Hell, there are times, for examperer, when Corby's rolling on his latest ass kicker you'd think he's Ferrall waxin' the mahogany with the singer from Buck Cherry while watching the Sooners from The Boz's suite. That's the opposite of what got them to where they are. And at some point sooner rather than later (the longer, overall trend is bearing this out) they will be in direct competition with The FAN--as opposed to the big brother/cart meets horse game that's been played out since The FAN's inception.
Having said this, absolute thanks to Surly and Gopher for engaging. Much appreciated, fellow Confessors. I'll mosh with you two anytime,
Shoot. Let me add that if via Talkers/Radio-Online you will see The Ticket is neither number one in either the demo or overall.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 3:12
ReplyDeleteWhat surprised me was the Ticket was in the top 10 of the overall most listened-to station in the market. They had better numbers than some traditional heavy hitters in October. I take it these are overall ratings and not demo specific. Still impressive numbers.
https://radioinsight.com/ratings/dallas-fort-worth/
Peter is saying full market, since The Fan falls anywhere between #9 and #17. I don't believe there are 17 sports/talk stations but perhaps I'm just unaware of all of them.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.reddit.com/r/theticket/comments/qm60la/october_ratings_goodness/
So where does radio-insight say that the Ticket falls in M25-54 in each daypart?
ReplyDeleteOr radio-online/talkers or whatever. Numbers would help, since Peter is very detailed with the numbers he posts
ReplyDeleteAnd, you did claim that listenership has fallen dramatically:
ReplyDelete"Forget those numbers and look instead at The Ticket's overall numbers compared to the rest of the market. You will see a now long term trend of, to put it in Seinfeldian terms, "significant shrinkage." "
Surly, I believe you have to pay for that detailed breakdown. Uncle Barky used to publish that info in the DMN years ago but when the collection process changed they started charging for that information. Uncle barky was upset about it.
ReplyDeleteThat's what Peter is posting. The detailed breakdown. That's why I'm curious that these other sources are posting numbers that do not agree with the actual numbers
ReplyDeleteSurly, Gopher is correct. That deeper data requires a subscription. I don't feel right about copying and pasting information that others (i.e., me, et al.) pay for. However, the numbers (which come from Nielsen) are indeed actual numbers. Numbers per se tell us nothing. They are interpreted, and can be interpreted in many ways--both advantageously and otherwise. I'm not claiming Peter is being misleading, at all. Peter seems like a fine, decent sort and a smart cookie. But there are ways of parsing/classifying the numbers that, while evince a particular view, do not reflect larger trends and therefore give only a partial picture. And that's what I am getting at: If you look at the longer view (last 8ish years) vis-a-vis the market as a whole (not v. The FAN, the defunct ESPN, and even KEGL *especially when RM was prominent*), you will see on the whole (excepting certain quarters), the trend is a downward slant. Granted, where the now two horse race of sports/guy talk is concerned, The Ticket dominates. No question (h/t Corby). That's not my point. My point is that the regression of the station--i.e., the "FAN-ening" of the product, among other factors (I claim the FANening is the chief factor)--is making it less and less relevant in the market. These things don't happen overnight. And what might seem to you as no big deal, not actually occurring...it is happening. Sorry to be a broken record, but it can't be stressed enough: you need to look at longer term trends to see the trajectory.
ReplyDeleteGood stuff, man. Agree or disagree, I love these conversations.
I just don't think that's true. The Ticket is the #6 station in Dallas overall with ALL listeners 6+ for Mon-Sun 6a-midnight. I don't know that they've EVER been that high for that demographic for that time period.
ReplyDeleteSurly, if you're interested in getting a broader view *I believe* you can access the general market numbers through any of the aforementioned sites, gratis. You should be able to go back at least a decade. There was a time period when The Ticket was over all (if memory serves) behind only KLTY, a Spanish language station, and KISS (not Gene and Co.). But, as I said, there are both upswing surges and downswing dips; it's the general arch I'm speaking of. And look. I am neither insider nor expert (the former does not necessitate the latter in any field, for sure). I am, however, an in the middle of middle-age Gen Xer with a life long interest in radio--hence I actually pay for access to industry sites. My opinions are just that: my opinions. Per my previous posts, my contention (based on a historical cum projected out analysis of the data) is that The Ticket's relevance is fading, and doing so in a steady manner...if, again, viewed from above and not moment to moment. My central thesis is that this is due in main to the slow-burn, death by 1000 cuts, frog in a pot of boiling water regression towards homogeneity (hello, FAN and 98% of all sports/guy talk). Said homogeneity, regardless of origin, is beared out by the hosts. Done so in the sameness with respect to opinion, presentation, and style. This, combined with constantly discussing their life experiences that are in most ways no longer relatable to the listener--to repeat from before... which was the very thing that catapulted the station from being a "will never work in this town" pipe dream to a "how in the hell do we get us some of that secret sauch *h/t Stephen Jones* machine--has ultimately made the station, across the board a bore. Because it is a bore, listeners that normally would not gravitate but once did because Ed in HR told Marcy and Mark who have no interest in sports that, no, this is different and lo and behold M and M are P and V-1s. That ain't happen'n, Cap'n.
ReplyDeleteSo, that's it in a not so nutshell of a nutshell of a verbosity.
Like I said, it's been a pleasure doing business with you, Surly and Gopher. If you two or anyone else (Pete? PLainsma?) has the historical data that says diffferent, that I've misread the numbers and tea leaves, by all means, please, lay it on me. I'm all about getting at the heart of matters. I love debating ideas and analysis. And if you can keep yourself (myself!) from snark and ad hominem, you (me!) might damn well learn something.
Stay hard, keep jammin', and we'll see ya.
Sorry, I sent that last one from my phone. And lot of typos and oddities ensued. But you get the drift, I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteI would love to see an overall breakdown of the age of Ticket listeners and of the various shows. I think we would all agree that with streaming and access to other media, overall listenership is down on all AM and FM stations. One has to wonder what the future of over the air media will bring. Next time you are on a road trip away from the Metroplex, scan the radio dials and see what's not out there. For an old-time radio junky, it's scary.
ReplyDeleteI'll put this poll from Reddit up without comment other than streaming counts in the ratings these days.
https://www.reddit.com/poll/qpwthu?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=usertext&utm_name=theticket&utm_content=t3_qpwthu
Anyone think Mike will come on and reprise his annual "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"?
ReplyDeleteSure hope not. What a beating.
ReplyDeleteside note looks like he gave up on podcasting
Evidently he's gone into reading books for epublication. Well at least one book. A republishing of Jim Schutze's book on racism and Dallas. That pod-vid thing or whatever it was on Vokal wasn't good. If the guest didn't take over and was also interesting like Dale Hansen was, it was basically 2 people staring at each other with nothing to say. That or it was a butt sniff fest. The Wilonsky episodes were a tough listen. Both dudes couldn't stop fawning.
ReplyDeleteWOW
ReplyDeleteKTCK wins the Marconi for Sports Station of the Year and The Musers (finally) win for Major Market Personality of the Year
Yeah, congrats to The Courage Boys and The Littlest of Ones.
ReplyDeletePop over for the first time in years and we're still doing the Ticket is doomed thing. lol. Never change, MTC.
ReplyDeleteThats's OK, BKH, you got your own jams to jam on. Yeah, I'm giving the initials. Known it's been you all long. As do others. Including the proprietor. He's just too nice and too above the childishness to say the name.
ReplyDeleteHandles change, Anons are used, but the rest not so much.
New red up.
ReplyDelete