Monday, December 18, 2023

A Merry Christmas to All Confessors

54 comments:

  1. Enjoying some of the less familiar voices on DryDock. Good to hear Norm again.

    Crazy year.

    You all be safe, now.

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    1. Grow up, edgy skateboard child.

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    2. Evangelical Christianity is the worst scourge to come upon the United States in the last 100 years

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    3. try planet earth last 2000 years

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    4. Thanks for proving my point. NB to Pman: You gonna let "Nah's" comment fly? And a Merry Christmas to ya. Same to you, Church sucks/Nah/Happy Atheist. Oh, and ya might want to get your history straight about the last 2k years. While a great deal of evil has occurred in the name of religion, more so has in the name of/under the guise of humankind. If you wanna be an intelligent atheist, I point you toward the likes of Lucretius, Hume, Russell, and even Nietzsche. They knew what they were talking about and were honest brokers. By your little "gems" here alone, it would seem yours is of the Dawkins, Hitchens, Flying-chuckle chuckle-Spaggheti Monster, village atheist sort. Poor form, sport.

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  3. Merry Christmas P-Man! Merry Christmas to my fellow confessors.

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  4. Merry Christmas all.

    Thank you Pman for keeping this place running.

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  5. Merry Christmas PMan!

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  6. Merry Christmas, Plainsman and Confessors.

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  7. Happy Day of the Unconquering Sun

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  8. ^^^^^^^ 2006 called. It wants its version of phrenology back. Totz edgelord, bruh.

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  9. Part 1.

    Another year is nearly behind us, fellow Confessors. Time for 2024 predictions. Here are what I deem as possible events. Some conflict with others, so this isn't a list of things that will all take place.

    1. Upon returning from Dry Dock, one if not all Musers will make a major announcement concerning their future. This will entail yet another seismic shift in TT landscape; a shift that dwarfs THZ's departure. I believe nothing was set in stone at the onset of DD, but a lot of soul searching and all night conversations are being had, which will result in what's coming down the proverbial pike. If it's a Muser, the other two will carry on as a duo. If all three, I believe you will see a scheduling/show shake up: Bob, Donnie, and host TBD 6-10 / Sean and host TBD 10-1 / Monty and Mino 1-3 / Corby, Matt, and Davey 3-7.

    2. An on-air incident during one of the new midday shows will force another change. This will come in the form of Matt being careless and saying something that either didn't get dumped or controversial enough to cause a real issue. NB: This is in no way crapping on Matt. It's based on his self-admitted propensity to commit faux pas and his at times living on the edge on-air modus operandi. Having said that, I think Matt's done a mostly bang up job, keeps getting better, and his relationship with Donnie continues to gel.

    3. No matter what you might think of Corby, THL will continue to have success. But. See #4.

    4. Overall, TT's numbers remain strong throughout the year. However, the gap will narrow, and that tighter gap going forward will be the new norm. And just as there are now and have historically been, there will be certain dayparts that will be bested by TFAN. This is the case because the appetite for a more guy to sports talk ratio is trending the other way --this is reflected in the direction of the station over the past year and change *notice how socio-political talk is now far more muted than before, as are bits, and all non sports segments*-- which makes TT less unique, and opens the door for more direct competition. Moreover, the midday talent, sans Monty who is a producer, possesses little to no comedic chops and are all very much sports centric hosts. Caveat. See #5.

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  10. Part 2.

    5. The caveat is if whether TDZ goes to TF or not. And if so, are they occupyng the am or the pm drive slot? If yes and it's am, then I believe DnM will have genuine compeition. To the point that early on they might even come in 2nd a time or two. If yes and it's pm, I hold that there will be an epic ratings battle between THL and TDZ. Both shows will garner large numbers and ad rev, trading body blows each and every book.

    6. What of TDZ? Will they or won't they? I've gone back and forth on this, but I keep coming back to (full disclosure: I'm a subscriber) yes, they will be at TF come Jan 8. Jan 8 will mark their maiden voyage as TF's pm drive show. Per #5, pop your popcorn and get ready for a heavy weight radio fight like no other. I think this has been Dan's plan since the moment he found out Bennett/Cat were splitting up BaD and moving Bob alone to THL. That is what has fueled everything we've seen over the past year vis-a-vis THZ/DZ vs. Cumulus. It also would explain, again I'm a sub and a fan, TDZ's (and especially Dan's) at times extreme nonchalance about the thing that's putting bread on their tables, paying for college tuitions, etc. That and there have been far too many cryptic things said by mostly Dan and those associated with TF, along with a lot of Freak crossover since their departure from TT.

    7. As for TF: Julie will stay on with TDZ in some capacity; Rhyner and Cavanaugh will go off into that good night (in Mike's case, for good this time); B&S in their cockroach fashion miraculously keep their jobs; and TDB is jettisoned by May, replaced by unknown out of market names a la Bob and Dan. Oh, and with that, Sirois rides off into the sunset f/t with his brother, rebooting his Twitch channel; while Danny turns his full focus to his business ventures, done with the media biz forever.

    8. Lastly, and sadly, I believe '24 will mark the end of MTC's run. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if come Jan 1., Pman says he's closing shop. Whatever the case, at some point the doors will shutter. Pman's has more than hinted at this over the last couple of years. And this year in particular, while having record numbers of comments due to the DnJ situation, had our Pman less involved and for more prolonged periods of time than ever. Man do I hate saying these things because I love this place, but I do believe of all the above prognostication, this is the one to lay money on.

    Now tell me how wrong I am and how right you are!

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    1. I don’t think you bring in Dan and Jake for pm drive. If they come back to radio I think it is for the biggest time slot which would be am drive.

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    2. I went back and forth on that particular. The reason I went with pm was due to my (unoriginal) thesis that not moving to pm drive with Bob was/is the driving force behind what took place with DnJ vs. Cumulus. The thought being here is for Dan to show Cumulus their mistake, and him understanding that toppling THL 5.0 is a far less Herculean task than besting The Musers. But point taken.

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    3. That makes sense. Common sense. Prima facie, I'm in agreement. But, and here's where I'm likely to get walloped, the entire DnJ (putting emphasis on Dan) from the onset had a very personal feel to it. I've said this before --and it's not terribly observant or original: I began to notice 10 months to a year prior to their departure a setting of the table if you will for something. The sudden (at least on-air) interest in and nearly daily mentioning (obliquely or explicitly) labor laws, living wages, unfair/unjust practices of corporations, and lucrative forms of content creation stood out to me. Again, something seemed to be both "off" and "up." We all know what happened next. But, again, point taken. What you say makes perfect sense. It's just that I'm of mind to think that proving points and picking bones is more at play here is what's at stake. Thanks for the back and forth, Out of Demo.

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  11. Comically bad

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    1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    2. NoNoNoNeverNeverNeverDecember 21, 2023 at 1:28 AM

      This ain't is the comical one. A bad one at that. You got is just a fucking creep. Both of you go away and stay away. Losers.

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    3. Got everything under the treeDecember 21, 2023 at 3:02 PM

      'Sup weenie pincher. You at it again, ain't ya. Be careful. Keep pinchin' on that micropeen for too long and it'll plumb disappear.

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  12. @This ain't it
    You won't get an argument from me. Do you have any predictions? It's one thing to toss rotten fruit from the peanut gallery -- anyone can do that. While you're entitled to your opinion and to express it, this really isn't the place for Twitter/reddit machismo. But, to each her own. Regardless, hope your holidays are happy, and I'm sorry my thoughts fail to meet your approval.

    @You got nothing
    Appreciate you going to bat on my behalf. But I thought that once the DnJ/Cumulus situation died down this place had finally moved on from those back and forths. Oh well.

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  13. A very happy birthday to Craig "Junior" Miller.

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    1. Roland, I am an evangelical Christian, and I don't agree with your "shame on you" to PMan. He sees all kinds of comments come in here frequently, and the fact that he lets a couple come through that are rude or, in this case, juvenile, is not a dealbreaker for me. I'm not willing to shame him for such a small thing.

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    2. Here’s my predictions.
      1- there’s absolutely no Muser related announcement anytime next year.
      2. There will be no on air incident involving McClaren.
      3. Agree with OP above, THL will continue to do well.
      4. The gap will grow between TT and fan thru the first 6 months if the year. They did really well in Q4 based on a World Series win and Cowboys on a hot streak. The loss of those cume generators will see the Fan reverting to their mean.
      5-6. TDZ shows up at the Freak as soon as their non compete is up and they go to PM drive where they’ll make zero progress against THL. Rhyner was a PM drive personality, much better known and much better liked than Dan. (More on this later) . If the best Rhyner can do is ratings in the teens, why do we think TDZ will do much better?
      7- new PD has zero reason to keep B&S. They’ve been “mid” anywhere they go. Never great, never horrible, that’s the reason they’ve been in 5 stations in 15 years. Good enough to be given a shot, not good enough to be locked into a long term deal. And notice the new PD giving TF drydock time to Pugs and Sybil, that could be shear coincidence, but I think not.
      8.-wont hazard a guess on the Pman. Could I see him quitting, sure. Could I see him still posting up hot reds every few weeks for another decade, also sure.
      C

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  15. To go a little more in depth- I don’t think any sober PD is going to look at Dan McDowell and say “now there’s a compelling morning drive personality”. Dan has always been less focused, less concise etc than other Ticket hosts. He’s the one most prone to rambling off topic. Which is fine when you’re in the less important middays, where you have lower cume but higher TSL. But AMD? You need energy, momentum, the ability to spit out an HSO that will catch listeners attention. Or in other words, none of Dans strengths.
    People love Dan for his sense of humor, which he’s definitely got a good one. I’m not sure people love him for his HSO’s. And if the Freak hires TDZ, for any shift, what does Dan bring to the sports table that P1’s don’t already get with the current line up? TDZ departure did almost nothing to the ratings, why do we think their addition to Freak would radically change the status quo?
    C

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  16. May mean something, may mean nothing but 97.1's RDS now shows The Eagle instead of The Freak.
    Anyway: Merry Christmas everyone.

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  17. Gopher, I saw that too. I've also heard there's a real possibility that at least one show, if not more, will not be returning come January. That Pugs n Sybil are filling in during dry dock (perhaps quotation marks should be put around filling in?) has to mean something. I'm tempted to go back and listen to the pod of each show's final day before dry dock to see if whether some form of a not so veiled goodbye was issued. In The Speakeasy's case, I'll have to search for Rhyner's last day, as well. He hit dry dock earlier than the rest (shocked!).

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  18. Where are our ratings insiders? December should be out.

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  19. Also. TF will not be flipped in the first quarter of '24. At least that's what is being said. If it flips in '24, it wouldn't happen until Summet, earliest. If TDZ helms a slot, then I'd say the only flip would be to either a true guy talker or all sports. As is, TF is a weird, unsuccessful hybrid of sorts.

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  20. Something's definitely cookin' over at The Freak. Sybil is all over their reddit page. When questioned, not once does she say we (she and Pugs and a couple others) are merely filling in. She mentions when the show's will be back as they are named, but never says everyone's coming back or that she and the others will not be returning. KT, as he does every day, chimes in, and unlike he usually does (that is, gets defensive), he never once says don't worry, everyone's returning. He knows damn well what the same 8 people who populate Freak reddit are asking and implying, but will not specifically say there's nothing to see here. Something he always does whenever anyone dares breathe a notion that something might be wrong or changing at The Freak. Whatever's going on, something definitely is going down and going down soon.

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    1. My sources are saying big changes at TF beginning Jan 2. Not ending on Jan.2 but beginning. From what I'm hearing the station will only be partially recognizeable by the 3rd week of Jan. Some of the current talent will be staying on, many will not. Also hearing TDZ or Dan or Jake individually or under another show name is not part of the changes. Heave to and trice up if you know what I mean.

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    2. She is NOT all over the Freak subreddit /normvoiceDecember 27, 2023 at 8:58 AM

      Sybil appears in one thread on The Freak subreddit, in a post asking about who was on the air

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    3. Read that thread, you literalist dummy.

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  21. Here's the cume. 102.9 got an 8.9 share due to going all Christmas music. All stations sans 102.9 came down from the last book. This is the slow season and to be expected.

    TT #2 at 5.2
    TFAN #11 at 3.4 (this while the Cowboys on the whole were rolling)
    TF. #27 at 1.5

    Looking forward to Peter's daypart breakdown.

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  22. Trajan now advertising investing your retirement dollars in private equity.

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    1. Conspicuous ConsumerDecember 27, 2023 at 4:01 PM

      Bruh, c'mon. Gotta find a new angle. Use that big energy creativity that I know you have. Bitcoin? Blockchain? Whatevs. The milk's run dry on this teat, my dude.

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  23. Damn, The Freq got crushed right back to earth after that 1 straight month of improvement

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  24. Here's Peter's breakdown. Thanks so much, Peter.

    https://www.reddit.com/r/theticket/comments/18syg8s/2023_was_pretty_pretty_good_aka_dec_ratings/

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  25. Scattershooting while wondering whatever happened to:

    All the Sirois uber fanboys? The poor guy is barely hanging on with a 1.2 share. As a generational talent, and with the months on end of "The Ticket will rue the day they let The Sea Cow go. And by the way, you lost a listener" ejaculations on Twitter and reddit, you'd think The Army of The Loud would've long ago rode to the rescue and delivered to that poor, underserved, middle-aged man the audience and ratings he so desperately needs and merits. Now. Not a peep on any front. Not even r/TheFreak. Let's see where things stand this time next year with The Working Class Activists and their ad agency.

    Gordon's sense of humor? Anyone seen it around of late? The last time we heard a new and even remotely thought out bit segment, much less character, Dubya was still in office. Talk about losing your edge. Would be cool if the New Year brought with it a reenergized Gordo.

    Scott Farrell? That weirdo weirdie still kicking? Man do I miss me a shot and a beer, shot and a beer, shot and a beer, PUKE. Plus, Bob's appearances were always uncomfortable and therefore gold. Not to mention some of the clever local callers.

    Matt McClearin's old partner, Scot Harrison (yep, on "t")? Did he fart and fall of a ladder? Wonder if he's wondering why he didn't get the call to come back up to the Bigs with his old running buddy? Always found MaSS oddly entertaining. But it was a weekend show, and I never listened to their Bama gig, so who knows what 5 days, 52 weeks over and again would sound like.

    Plainsman's involvement in this thing? I get it, I get it. Life gets in the way and forces choices. Hear you loud and clear, brutha. But come on. Surely (Surly, Shurly, Shaggy, where are you, dude?) a single monthly article isn't too much to ask.

    Happy New Year you mother fers.

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    1. I think the answer on Gordon is pretty simple. He's gotten comfortable in his gig, as have George and Craig. New characters are problematic in the current climate. Best for all concerned to just set it on cruise control. Doesn't seem to be hurting the ratings any.

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  26. Noir:
    I wouldn’t qualify as a Sirois “fanboy”, but I really enjoy his work and was disappointed when he left the ticket. I find his show with Danny to be fantastic, reminiscent of earlier ticket days, and it’s also easily accessible with full podcasts after the show. I never saw anyone say the ticket would fail when Sirois left (I get it, hyperbole sells in online formats, but you seem angry at no one who actually exists). I do think it was a mistake for the ticket to let so much talent go over the last couple years. I find myself listening much less, almost never after 10am, and finding what else is out there. Yep, ratings are strong - never said my name was Nielsen, but I do know my own changing habits and know I’m not the only one.

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    2. CONFIDENTIAL TO NOIR: You obviously spent a lot of time on your lengthy comment and I regretted having to delete it. It contained some entirely gratuitous personal insults, so it's gonzo.

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    3. No prob. The dude is a liar. All you have to do is scroll through reddti. He himself has made the very comments. Plus, I know they read what I wrote.

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  27. New post up to mop up 2023. Happy New Year to all Confessors and reds.

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