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."
There will be a lot of comments on the apparent demise of The Freak after 18 months. Not sure what I have to add to what I, and others, have said in the past. Although it did end up with one bright spot -- the revamped morning show with Danny Balis, Mike Sirois, and Kevin Turner -- it never delivered. All of its problems derive from two mistakes, and one of those mistakes was probably a result of the other one.
(1) The UR-mistake was: No management, no strong program director, no one to kick each program's ass to come up with some interesting content, knock off the stupid contests and internet lists, replace hosts with not much to say with new talent who might have the breadth of interests and experience to let the station live up to its slogan.
"We have Mike Rhyner, cool, huh?" was never going to be a compelling ratings strategy to anyone who had listened to The Hardline for the past half-dozen or so years of his tenure at The Ticket. I have seen it said that the failure of The Freak will not dim his celebrity in the radio world, but I wonder if his waning attention to The Freak almost from its birth has suggested something about his standing among radio peers, as opposed to Ticket fans from years back.
(2) And that lack of direction resulted in a catastrophic multi-week circle-jerk debut, annoying The Freak's built-in initial audience of curiosity seekers and fans of the individual talents. The only person who could have really enjoyed the first several weeks of The Freak was Mike Rhyner, whose ring must have rusted from all that kissing.
There was some talent on The Freak. Danny Balis, Mike Sirois. Michael Gruber. I happen to like Kevin Turner. If they want media careers, I think there are careers out there for them. Ben and Skin take a beating here, but c'mon, that show is listenable if not great. Jeff Cavanaugh is an earnest, sportsy voice somewhat at sea on a station that claimed not to be so sportsy. I wish them all well (and the rest, too) and it's a shame they didn't have -- I'm going to say it -- a Jeff Catlin to wrangle those shows into some kind of shape.
This flame-out will be a case study in schools of communications for years to come.
Well, not sure that I’ve ever seen anyone else on the internet refer to the B&S show as listenable, let alone great.
From what I can tell, you were never going to like The Freak and probably never listened enough to make up your mind. Instead, you relied on what you felt like you already knew from being a Ticket listener. That’s good and fine - you do you - but by most accounts, those who were listening LOVED The Downbeat with Danny, Mike, and KT. Enjoyed/loved The Speakeasy with Mike, Jeff and Julie. Almost all negative feedback is about how cringey and lame B&S are as radio personalities. So who knows. My point is - just because the station’s shows weren’t for you doesn’t mean they didn’t work.
Still, they all needed help, and as someone who listened daily, I don’t think you’re far off on your other judgements. There was no support. The hosts were also the producers, and it seemed that none of the changes they made really helped carve out those roles in any actionable way.
Ultimately the big fail is that they started a talk station with owners who clearly didn’t want to be involved with talk unless it was going to dominate the market, and no matter who you are, or how good you are, you don’t take down existing giants by sending people out there unsupported and undersized to compete.
It’s my genuine hope that rumors of an investor group seeing the potential profitability as opposed to looking for ratings could resurrect the shows I came to love over the last 18 months, whether that’s streaming/podcasting/live local or whatever. Just miss my friends.
This is the worst attempt at spin I think I've ever seen. Moreover, I' recognize thus stylistically. Grayson, is this you? No matter. Your narrative is demonstrably false.
I sometimes wonder if the architects of The Freak overvalued the Ticket negativity on social media and figured there was a great hunger out there for something not The Ticket, but kinda Tickety, and who weren't getting their non-Ticket entertainment from The Fan.
I believe Sirois overvalued his own talent and following as well as overvaluing the Ticket negativity and used that to sell Rhyner (who was bitter for some reason) and management on The Freak.
Quite possibly, Nandor, although I happen to think Mike Sirois is a good listen. My question is: While we know that no one from iHeart management seemed to be in charge at least up until the past several months, who among the entire Freak team was SUPPOSED to be directing operations? Rhyner? Sirois? Who ran the meetings? Who should have been the one to say, "This ain't working"? Who reported up to iHeart management?
Rhyner was bitter because the Ticket survived, and thrived, without him. His ego couldn’t handle realizing he was part of something bigger than himself. And the billboards were symptomatic of the ego centric, self centered nature of the whole station. Billboards with a RADIO personalities face on it. That’s genius level thinking. Billboard says “I’m back”. Dude, look at the ratings. You were popular, but 90 out of 100 people had no idea who that was on the billboard. They needed a PD to throw out the whole “we say what we want” idea. I’m convinced if they’d gone all sports they would have done better than the Freak. C
Agree C-, but Mike R's bitterness predated his ostentatious retirement. There's a lot of inside baseball we don't know, but I'll bet some of it is that management suggested to him that he up his interest and participation in The Hardline, and he was shocked, shocked I tell you, that his foundational importance to The Ticket was not going to be recognized in a way that would allow him to sleepwalk through the rest of his broadcast career.
If Jeff Catlin was smart, he would use the Freak's demise as a mea culpa of sorts and use that talent to help bolster the Ticket lineup.
Assuming Cat and Dan Bennett could influence Cumulus Management to add staff, increase payroll and assuming that the ex-Freaks would even want to come back, here is what I would do.
1) Relegate Matt McClaren to another market, partner Donnie back up with Mike Sirois and add Julie Dobbs as their producer for the Invasion from 10am-12pm. 2) Create a new 12pm-3pm show with Kevin Turner, Bob Sturm and Justin Montemayor with David Mino producing. 3) Create a new Hardline 7.0 with Corby, Davey Lane and Dingu with Sean Bass producing.
Relievers when needed in drydock: Mike Doocy, Rich Philips, Joe Trahan, Mike Rhyner (never will happen I know) and Norman "Adolph" Hitzges.
a mea culpa for what? Kicking ass in the ratings for the entirity of time this dumb experiment lasted? He didn't fire a single one of those people - they all chose to leave. This is the bed they made for themselves. This is NOT anyone at Cumulus' fault.
and seriously, the station had ONE bad month - maybe it has another bad month in May - but it is still better than the stations 30 year historical average and the idea that it needs some programming overhaul is ridiculous on the heels of 12+ months of those insisting that TF just needed time.
But let's run with your suggestion, Mr Kid.
so Catlin rehires a bunch of shit-talking runaways, each who connived to create a direct competitor which after 18 months resulted in utterly crap ratings history - would be put in the place of guys (who'd you'd have to demote and reduce salaries accordingly) that have, in much shorter amount time, actually produced ratings.
I have to agree with Poor. None of the Ticket shows are going to change for a long time.
McClearin is hard sports and pretty good at it, and that's the way The Ticket is going to trend with the Fan creeping up.
The Ticket is not wanting for eager JVs (although, My Ticket Confession for the day is that I am having a hard time telling them apart).
Mike S and Danny B have burned too many bridges too thoroughly. Unnecessary, but they did it.
No current host will ever be demoted to producing -- it's up and out, but not up and down.
Mike R, it is sad to say in light of his broadcasting excellence for so many years, has for almost the last decade exhibited a profound indifference to the daily listener, although from time to time he waxes effusive about what they all owe the P1 and whatever Freak listeners are called.
The only Freak alum who might find a spot is that nice young Michael Gruber, the Sara Lee of radio personalities/behind-the-scene-guys, but it's hard to imagine he'd want to stay in radio at this point. Even there, you'd have to move a producer -- Michael seems to me unlikely to want to board-op into his middle age.
We have to remember: When some of these ex-Ticketeers were given the chance to star, they did not attract listeners. This is now on their resumes, and those resumes don't look like ones that would prompt responsible management to push out any of their current hosts or producers to make room for them, much as we remember how much we enjoyed them when they were on The Ticket.
They're gone. You were hearing replays of recent segments thrown together by someone at the station. That went on until they could get the national News Guys or whatever the show is called piped in. By the way, Rhyner's leading the charge in excuse making (shocked!!!!), claiming talk isn't iHeart's bag and that they just didn't get what they were doing and didn't provide the infrastructure to make it happen. What a load of b.s.! iHeart has top billing talkers in markets all over the country. The infrastructure wasn't there because Rhyner, Sirois, and B&S (specially B) sold the outgoing dingdong running 97.1 on the idea that this bunch was so talented, such all pro vets at every position, they could run their own shows. That and add the $$$ that would go to a larger support staff onto their salaries and benes, which were rather fat. None fatter than Rhyner's. I don't like seeing people lose their jobs. I really wanted TF to be greatness. But from the jump, and I mean literally from Week 3, it was obvious that wasn't going to happen. I hope Rhyner makes amends with his former supposed besties and with the station he founded. Right now and for the past few years, I think he's damaged his rep to the precipice of no return. I'm talking about within the industry. One cool thing about this country and its denizens is that we're all about redemption and 2nd and 4th chances. Fingers crossed Rhyner comes back to earth and realizes what he made, what he had and with whom.
Not the OG here, but it's my understanding that the reason being is that they are tied to the Mavs radiocast, which presently is going nowhere, and therefore were not let go. The Mavs do not employ either the radio or tv talent. Follow, Harp, etc., are iHeart employees, the tv crew, Bally's (poor bastards). Not sure if Grubes falls into that category. Grubes isn't a host, makes far less money, and is a tech/production pro. His job (until AI takes it over) is valuable. Makes sense they'd retain his services. But as to the B&S show continuing on, it's my understanding that it will not.
DallasBasketball.com reports that the entire on-air lineup has been let go. The midday Ben & Skin Show was running best-of today before the station abruptly switched to the WTKS-FM Orlando based “The News Junkie”.
So #1 - want to get rid of Mcclarin and replace him with 2 unpopular radio people that have proven they don’t have either the talent and-or work ethic to draw ratings. #2- you want to hire KT, who has no record of drawing listeners, and pair him with a guy coming off a few years of hosting PM drive during TTs historic ratings run, and shove them in middays, the least important of the main dayparts. #3- you want to break up the show that provided the best PM drive numbers in the history of TT , and remove one of the hosts and replace him with a host from a station that just had to change formats because (again) those hosts either don’t have the talent, work ethic, or draw to get ratings. C
#1 - Sirois and Julie Dobbs ultimately did not have success outside of the Ticket but your characterization that they are "unpopular radio people that have proven they don’t have either the talent and-or work ethic to draw ratings" is very insulting and off-base. When it was Donnie and Sirois with Julie popping in during the Invasion, it was amazing chemistry and it made me want to listen. This new version of the Invasion is fucking terrible.
#2 - I think KT is really great. Him, Bob and Justin would be an entertaining listen as compared to the Sweet Spot.
#3 - See above for the mischaracterization of Dingu. Did you ever actually listen to Danny Balis whenever he used to be on the Hardline? He was great, and was that connecting thread back to the glory days of the Hardline in the mid-2000s.
This place is for mostly subjective opinions, and you truly have them in spades. Let me give you an example. MInd you, these words came straight from this person's mouth on their own podcast. Mise en place: Julie was given a solo segment during the first few months of the AM version of TSE. Less than two weeks into it, poof, the segment no longer existed. Later, Julie, on her own pod, The Mom Game, said the reason it went kaput is because she couldn't come up with ideas and that doing as such was difficult. That, my friend, speaks to work ethic. Full. Stop.
As to TI, while I disagree that it's "fucking terrible," I do think it and TSS need work. They, like TDZ (are you a fan?), are still finding their sea legs. One question: Are you a bits/primarily guy talk listener? If so, then your venom for TI makes more sense. They and TSS are sports-centric. In truth, they have more in common with The FAN than not -- which bested them this past book.
I'm sorry, I just find it hard to process hearing that Julie, a former Stars beat reporter, who beat cancer, and is a mom, now has a bad work ethic because she couldn't sustain a radio segment. Agree to disagree on that point.
In terms of being a bits/guy talk kind of listener, I am probably 60% sports and 40% bits/guy talk. The Ticket used to have a great mix of both. Right now, you are right, the Invasion and Sweet Spot are heavy on the sports talk and less on the bits/guy talk. But I just don't find their overall content very compelling at all. And when I want my sports fix, there are so many outside podcasts that do it way better as compared to the 10am-3pm shows, in my opinion.
So is it being a Mom or beating cancer that give you a work ethic? And is it being a mom and actually giving birth, or is just having ovaries enough to birth a work ethic? What Blinkered mentioned is EXACTLY what I was thinking about Julie. When you can’t be responsible for ONE segment in a 4 hour show it speaks to either work ethic or talent. There’s a talent to being able to take something that happens in your life and make it into a story that listeners can relate to or be entertained by. The same basic comment applies to Sirois. There’s stories of how Norm would show up at 6 or 7am and starting cutting g up his newspaper and building his show. Sirois by some accounts would show up 9ish, and leave at Noon. As for Dingu, I’ve heard more new songs from Danny in the last 18 months at the freak, then we heard in his last 10 years at the Ticket. Danny admitted that toward the end of his ticket days, he was burnt out, didn’t want to (and wouldn’t) watch the games, etc. when part of your job is commenting on those games, not watching is reflective of poor work ethic. C
As for great chemistry, for me Julie is like the inert firefighting foam that will kill any fire. Doesn’t matter if it’s gas, wood, electrical, that foam will kill any flame. Just as Julie would kill the interest in anything. Julie has one of the least interesting personalities I’ve ever heard on radio. Great personal story, but the total inability to BE interesting. C
Tricky Kid, you should've quit while you were, well, at least not in last place. Now you are. You seem like a well meaning soul, but you're thinking emotionally here and it's coming off rather poorly. The non sequiturs from that last reply are flying off the screen at a pace that makes them too difficult to dodge.
Blinkered, with all due respect, I could care less if I come across poorly to you or anyone else on this site. The Plainsman created this page for P1s to talk about the station and post their opinions. As a P1 since 1994, I naturally have my thoughts on how I wish the station was run and will continue to post my thoughts as I wish, even if they run contrary to others.
Look, Tricky, with all due respect to you, you've now twice pulled a rather shitty rhetorical move, and it's tiring. First you not so implicitly state I or anyone else who criticizes someone who has/has battled (and thank God in her case, won) a disease is heartless. Same goes with being a mother. Those are cheap rhetorical, ahem, tricks (actually it's the same one employed twice). Then you, again, not so implicitly claim that I and others who disagree with you are intolerant of yours and implicitly others who hold contrary opinions to my/our own. Another cheap rhetorical ploy. All of which is more than a bit insulting.
Told ya'll just a few days ago. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Ditto with the talent. Here comes the old brigade, some former former real old school and even local (show) Eaglettes, some former KISSers.
IF there is truly a problem with The Ticket, it is the complete lack of creativity. Musers relying on Gordo’s old characters. The station isn’t moving forward. BaD was (to me) a great show because two very different types made each other better: there was energy, creativity, and comedic awkwardness. It worked! Sirois was “creative.” Segments line Left over shrimp? Okaaaaay. Fate of Man? Not a bad idea it just didn’t go anywhere. He doesn’t add anything. Apart from Danny Balis who is musically creative and Grubes…why bring anyone back? MOVE FORWARD TICKET!
@OGW Is that actually a quote from Mike? Where did you see it? If so, dang. I wonder if that means he'll attempt or is attempting to mend some fences. It would be awfully cool to see that happen. I'd love to hear him back on The Ticket. Imagine he and Corby and Jub and the gang having a big old radio group hug on-air. I think it'd be cathartic for so many P1s.
Getting fired is very UnFun, but this also ain't all that surprising. Terrible ratings, no clear vision on what the Station was (we're not going to be all Sportsy like that OTHER station...we're going to have Mike rank his favorite fish). Pman's previous comments were spot-on. Especially the "kissing of the ring", C-J that the Freak started off on. It was so off-putting, and then they, a Brand New Endeavor, goes on their own dry-dock?! I was completely out at that point - when I heard of the show lineup swaps, my only thought was the potential courting of Dan & Jake. Welp... This may be that Throw in the Towel moment for some in regards to radio/media. One thing's for sure - if you have been known for speaking into a microphone as a profession (even to a limited audience) it's tough to believe no one wants to hear your voice anymore. Luckily - Everyone Has a Podcast. Godspeed, Freakers.
As I have said 1000 times, the problem with the Freak was “They say what they want” but had nothing to say. There was absolutely no edge to any of it. There was no “They say out loud what I think.” There was no knowledge or insight. Every time I tried to listen, it was a giant circle jerk. It sounded like the chatter of a bad morning show during commercial breaks.
To address some earlier comments, the mea culpa is for Jeff Catlin's mismanagement of the talent that originated years ago that has led us to here. The ratings are great for the Musers and the Hardline. I get that. I am in the minority but I think Bob is mismatched with Corby and Davey. The new Hardline is okay but the irreverant humor the show used to have is gone. Bob's sensibilities don't vibe with the other guys. That is why I would move him up back to the 12pm slot and give him his own space to cook, like he did with BaD Radio. I don't think it would have to be framed as a massive demotion.
Cat also mismanaged the Invasion and let Norm stay on way too long. He should have eased him out years ago which would have kept Sirois as the natural partner with Donnie - those two had amazing chemistry together and that pair was a much better listen than McClaren and Donnie currently.
In terms of shit-talking runaways, there is nothing that Sirois, Dingu or Julie Dobbs said that would get them blacklisted from being re-hired at the Ticket. Yeah I saw the Twitch call with Gordo where Mike was complaining about staff being underpaid but people have short memories. I don't think Cat or anyone else really cares what he said.
Bottom line is, these are my suggestions and I am fully aware none of these are going to occur. But Cat is going to have to do something because they are losing the ratings battle for middays so this is the time for some outside-of-the-box thinking, assuming Cat is capable of it.
I'm sorry, Tricky Kid, it's obvious that you're well intended, but this is pure rubbish. Let me count the ways.
Nothing Cat did years ago led to "this." What, exactly, is "this," by the way? The latest ratings? The small in actual number but overly obnoxious urine drinking keyboard warriors here and on reddit? Have you not seen the books for the past 5 years? They. Are. Phenomenal. Every station in the USA would kill for those books. So you have a single book where all shows across the board are down. Guess what, so too were The FAN's. So you have your middays in a neck and neck battle with your nearest competitor, even being bested some months. Guess what, that happened both for BaD and THZ. In fact, THZ fared far worse some months that either TI or TSS to date has. This can be shown empirically, it's not mere opinion. Rhyner, Sirois, Danny, Julie, Dan, and Jake ALL LEFT ON THEIR OWN ACCORD. Jake, freshly minted with his self stated dream job CHOSE to leave. Cat has no authority whatsoever to offer anything other than what he's directed to. This direction comes from Atlanta. This pertains to salaries, contracts, and hirings. He can ask, he can suggest, but ultimately he has bosses who in turn have bosses. Are you suggesting he should go against them, get fired, and the outcome for, e.g., DnJ, be the same? That makes a lot of sense! As a related side/example, it is very much known that the McClearin hire was how shall we say, "massaged," by a certain Cumulus higher up in Atlanta that also happens to be the mother of one of MM's childhood buddies. Doesn't mean that Cat didn't want him, but it does mean he's not some utterly autonomous decision maker. Oh, and there's Dan Bennett, who's above Cat, who also makes decisions, and who''s also beholden to bosses who have bosses.
Tha's all just for starters, but you get the picture. As to burning bridges, we'll see. But I highly doubt it. It's one thing to shit on HQ a la TC and get rehired, it's another to repeatedly (one might say systematically, even) shit on a specific individual who might not have all the say, but has enough "hand" to say "no thanks."
"iHeartRadio is a music company that really doesn’t do that much talk radio, and the talk radio they do is not local or locally originated, and they got caught into something [97.1 The Freak] they didn’t know anything about, and they were kind of overwhelmed by it, and they decided that ‘this is not our bag.’” ---Mike Rhyner (Dallas Morning News).
This is an abject, out and out, lie. iHeart has nearly 200 talk stations across the country. Almost all of them are comprised of both local and nationally syndicated shows. Some more local, others more syndicated.
They own Premier don’t they? They do Fox Sports Radio, which are National. How many talk stations does IHeart have in Houston? More than one. I think they have a sports talk station in Los Angeles that is tbe Dodgers flagship.
A quick sidenote from Freak news - turns out the DZ "lost" another episode, 2+ hr patreon only episode wasn't saved correctly. I wondered to myself if maybe them constantly shifting recording locations - Den, possible Studio, random people's houses. Which then led me to - how much of a beating must it be for them to essentially Turn Tricks for $700 and go to these houses....i suppose this falls into a Pro/Con diagram for their current situation. But hey, No Puppet.
As is, their modus is unsustainable. They need guidance from someone who's title doesn't read 'esq." I think they can succeed in a big way, but they have to stop with the headless chicken, Benny Hill opening routine. While they're at it, stop bashing The Ticket and get rid of the lawyer bullsh. These guys have talent. A lot of it. But they're going to learn a hard lesson if they don't either become businessmen or hire an actual business person(s) to help steer the ship. You can't live off the past, and you certainly can't live off of emnity and resentment. Look no further than The Freak for your example of what not to do. I want The Dumb Zone to flourish. We need real options. They engender healthy competition, and healthy competition in turn brings out the best in everyone. Go Dumb Zone. Go Ticket.
Let me add to the above that I am well aware of The Dumb Zone's nearly 6k subscribers. I am one of them, thank you very much. As impressive as that feat is, and make no mistake about it, it is. Those numbers can drop significantly in no time flat. Once all the dirt has been aired, (and it hasn't yet, it's obvious they're purposely revealing bits and pieces at a time, *smartly* milking every ounce of it), and /or they continue to talk about it until it becomes beating a dead horse, you will see that number decrease and stay there and/or continue to fall. That won't occur if they ditch ASAP the big old meanie Cumulus/Ticket and here's one of our lawyers tack and focus on a real path toward the future.
Good to hear it. Let's hope it's one of the competent ones who wasn't a part of the coke crowd. Let's also hope that this old exec gets them to focus on their product alone and not someone else's.
lol the former Kraddick “executive” is Rob Chickering, known to P1’s by the Rhyner anointed nickname of “the skydiving chief”. He’s an engineer, not a a CEO. But Chickering is an engineering expert, Blake in comparison is an operator. Rob is the one to design and build your studio, Blake is the one to record the show. Until he screws that up like he did today, C
The bridges are burned between the former Ticket guys but I would like to see them pick up Jeff Cavanaugh whenever the Sweet Spot and McClearin experiment ends. He was already an existing fan of the station and knows some of the guys there...they need another real football ace. Him and Bob would be awesome during football season and the draft
A PDs job is to get ratings and help to monetize those ratings. So looking at Cavanaugh thru that lens you’re asking Catlin to hire someone who was unable to get ratings in either AM or PM drive. Why would Cat hire Cav? I don’t think the reappearance of Rich Phillips right after a bad book is a total coincidence. If they’re looking to replace someone, there’s no need to hire a failure like Cavanaugh.
The other comment on burning bridges- maybe Cavanaugh is a possibility. He was a competitor, but look at how Danny, Sirois and julie left. Whether it’s “I’m going to focus on my bar”, “I’m going to work with my brother” or “ I want to spend more time w family/kids”, none of them were truthful in their departure. In a text thread with some friends, the only 2 people we can name that were hired back were Elfenbein and TC. Elf’s slotted into Sunday mornings and TC (to the best of our recollections) had a full time gig, left, and was only rehired as a part time fill in. Has any full time ticket staffer left and came back to the same or a similar full time position? So maybe Sirois can do a weekend gig, but why would they hire someone who didn’t draw ratings for a full time gig? C
Quote” Has any full time ticket staffer left and came back to the same or a similar full time position?”. If I remember correctly he was on a Sunday show with Scott somebody - Sunday Mass, the Matt and Scott show. He left for Birmingham, came back to ESPN with JJT, then left again for Birmingham again. Was he ever a full time ticket employee? C
VERY interesting DZ today. Mike R was on discussing the end of TF. At one point he actually said, "Perhaps they were [iHeart] sold a bill of goods. Yeah, maybe they were." He also said, to OGW's comment, that he now holds Ticket management [Cat] in much higher esteem than he did while at TT. Jake admitted that neither BaD or THZ were ever barred from doing anything creatively by management [Cat]. Mike went on to say that the failure, and that it is a failure, falls squarely on the talent. Compelling stuff to say the least. Dan was excellent. He asked some hard questions, and to Mike's credit he answered them all unflinchingly.
Everyone from The Freak I assume just moves on with their lives (Except Ben and Skin….cockroaches never dissapear). No one is returning to the Ticket, anytime in the near future at least. Maybe mid days retools in a year or so.
I assume podcasting attempts for some are coming, but most must know this is it.
I think you're more right than not. I bet Danny and Sirois try the pod-Twitch route. The others might, but it'll be part time and most likely short lived. The latter probably becomes the case for Danny and Mike after a month or two. It's all a shame, but it was all predictable. Man, those squandered first few months. All that press, hype, billboards, and jazz....wasted by virtue of the world's longest self-congratulatory victory lap. Someone on reddit absolutely nailed it. You can't sustain a station on spite. And if Rhyner and TT expats are honest with themselves, that's exactly what TF was founded on, what it lived off of. I agree with 6:56. Let's hope TDZ learns from TF's mistakes.
Dan: "Do you regret that the experiment of the Freak.......may have affected some of your friendships at the Ticket?"
Mike R: "Um, well if it did, it's doing it on their end, not mine. I still think the same of those people as I always have & from where I sit nothings gonna change that. Now if they think differently of me, I understand that & hopefully we'll be able to sit down someday and work some of that stuff out".
You left off the part where he says, "If they don't, well that's fine too. I'm good with it either way." Really unflattering self-portrait there, Rhynes. Says a lot. Seems like he lives quite the Bubble Boy life. He also said he's game for another pod or gig. If memory serves didn't an old caller dub him The Oak Cliff Con Man?
I'm just very confused about The Freak. Considering the state of terrestrial radio, I would assume that all of these radio veterans would have known that starting an all-talk station in 2022 was destined to fail. Even me, someone with no radio experience and only surface level understandings of the industry/business knew this wasn't going to last. And then when they hit the airwaves, it was a sloppy, half-assed effort that made us wonder if they were really serious about this thing or were they all just trying to scam iHeart for an easy paycheck for as long as they could.
Start your own blog, make your own rules, comment on grammar and style. Past that, STFU and let others do their thing as they do it. Better. Contribute meaningfully. Dbag.
Whoa whoa whoa. Lemme get this straight. The dude who comes into the comment section of a fanboy blog and craps on other's writing has the sagger of a sac to act like he's one up on it all? Holy shit. You're that guy. Juice Machine, my man, you got it all wrong. The living alone thing is the other way round. You're fuccin funny.
Rhyner has his fans, and I enjoyed him on the ticket, even when he was mostly having Corby do the work. With that being said, I really don’t get how people still find him likeable or worth listening to the last couple of years.
What seems to have been lost in all of this is the reality that while the thing we wasted a lot of time discussing and concerning ourselves with, because it turned out to be DOA, when it did finally give up the ghost, quietly and ironically at the same time, it’s The Fan which is #1 m25-54.
In fairness to you, there's a lot of verbiage on this site, so it's understandable. Not that I mind the long form stuff. Some of it's quite thoughtful and well written. Some, oy vey, not so much.
The Freak did have some ratings, just not a lot. With their departure, those folks that listened to it will go somewhere. You would think more would choose TT over TF, but who knows.
Podcasting is about to be every bit as corporate and stifling as terrestrial, trust me on thisApril 27, 2024 at 11:04 AM
I mean, ya know, it's KT. He's a spin meistet. This sirta thing reminds me if buddies who long ago played in a band that never really went anywhete but did just enough to say they did a little something. As time passes, the band's accomplishments begin to inflate and the idea that if only A and B happenef and C did not, well, let's just say they were on the cusp. That's KT, only the timeframe is sped up. While I find KT's spinning everything off putting to day the least, I'll give him this: He's loyal to his job and coworkers and he's a hard worker. If the rest of those coasting schmucks would've put in the effort and cared half as much as KT, this might've had a different ending.
I haven’t been on here for months. After some attacks were directed towards me. I left here never to return. I didn’t need that negative energy that caused me to reduce reading r/theticket. But when a buddy of mine emailed me the news, I just needed to get this out. (Not responding to any comments here as I do intend on leaving after this & honestly I’m not in the mood to deal with BS.)
To anyone who’s reading this on r/theticket, MTC, or any social media, this is directed at you: if you’re happy that you got what you wanted & people are unemployed, then all I have to say is this; shame on you. For 18 months you wanted everything to be stuck in the past & you had to be a jerk about it. You harassed innocent people because you couldn’t comprehend that (gasp) these are humans & they can take any job they please. It’s a radio station! Some of you have made being a P1 your whole personality, & it shows! This is fan entitlement, pure & simple.
I guess now that it’s all said & done, some of you are celebrating. I just have this to say; I hope I never meet you in real life. You’re nothing but a sad excuse for a human. It’s pathetic how I’m younger that most of you & I act much more mature & rational over a radio station. If you get upset at me, then that proves my point further.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll get back to a thing that I have called a life. -Grayson P1
That might be the silliest thing ever, and I mean, ever, and that's saying A LOT, posted on any Ticket related platform. Tell me it's a belated April Fool's joke. Better, can you rell me where it hurts?
This has to be a troll. HAS TO BE. If so, it's fucking genius. Nothing left to chance with this one. All angles of fuckery are covered. If not, then I'm sad.
Geez, man. Please make good on your promise to never return. Never seen one comment go on for so long and get every single point wrong. There's misreading the room, a situation, but you took it to a new level. What a weirdly skewed, warped understanding you have of this particular. You must be a hoot to be around.
Haha please please let there be more Dumb Zone pods with TC, or Julie, or Mike, or anyone Dan can turn into an awkward or long winding interview/spot. Either Dan is playing the Long Long Long game......or, maybe, this. just. is. not. a. good. place. for. him. Some ppl might just need a clock & PD to exceed.
I will forever be convinced the plan (from the start) was for THZ to end up doing PMD on TF coinciding w/ Rhyner announcing his retirement and the end of their non-compete (which is part of the reason they settled the suit).
But to everyone involved surprise, TF miserably flopped, the iHeart Market Manager changed (for the 2nd time in 18 months), and that plan either never got very far or evaporated before it could be signed.
With all due respect, that Kingston tweet is infantile BS. Right up there with “why don’t a bunch of P1’s pool together & buy the Ticket?” Media conglomerates don’t sell single high-powered or profitable frequencies. That’s not how the business works.
If you want to buy a station in DFW, there are stations you can buy. But they aren’t profitable or on in the middle to high end of the FM dial.
While we are at it, I was thinking of going to the Ferrari dealer & making an offer at the end of the month on the one that’s been on the showroom floor for 3 months.
That’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this works. And suggesting it is only shows you don’t know what you’re talking about & are only trying to impress those that don’t know better.
I've tried to warn all the DZ fans out there about Kingston. I was his neighbor for over 10 years. If Dan and Jake remain hitched to his wagon, it will be their downfall. And it will be a spectacular one. The moment the downfall begins to occur, Phillip will be nowhere to be found. Please go to the DMN site and search for The Aldrege House. The entire fiasco was and still is a product of Kingston's massive ego and incompetence. I truly hope for TDZ's sake they sever ties with him. But if the 4/20 YT opening is any indicator, that does not seem to be the case. Unless they soon steer a different course, Dan and Jake in all likelihood are going to learn a difficult lesson.
Ha. I knew there was something going on when DnJ began popping up on TF, but only on shows with former Ticket hosts, and same with Ticket expat hosts coming TDZ way. Not only is this shit fantasy world stuff, I'm going to go out on a pretty short limb and say the very and I mean VERY deep pockets of the DFW's thirstiest legal eagle is the purchaser a healthy chunk of the nealy 6k DZ subs. When you put the disclosure of this attempted move and begin piecing everything together from late '21-early '22, a picture begins to form. I'll say this and leave it at this: One day actual light will be shed on what took place from late '21 on.....regarding TT, the expats/the almost suspicious staggered resignations, all citing the same labor related issues, the incoherent at times out and out fabricated Freak founding narrative, the appearance of Kingston and Co. and The Case, TDZ/Freak snuggie, and this latest disclosure. When it does, none of them are going to look good. Some will look far worse than others, but nevertheless, no one will come out unscathed.
Never thought of it that way. Will say that TDZ sub data is interesting. I need to look at other Patreon creators sub numbers and see if their data comports to TDZ's. I find two things interesting about TDZ sub data. One somewhat, one very much. 1. Their numbers remained fairly constant then suddenly jumped by several factors, remaining steady. But this has taken place in a small timeframe, which is unusual. 2. The almost set a watch to it drastic dip at the end of each month, only to immediately go back to the constant number. Now you might think that has to do with patrons resubbing each month. But that's not how Patreon works. As I said, it's interesting and somewhat curious. Interesting too, other than the regularly occuring dip/gain phenomenon, is the the constancy of the sub numbers. I'm going to do some diving and see how their's shakes out with other's. Might be that this is, as Dan likes to say, "the way it is." MIght not. I'll report back with my findings.
Oh shit, look out. The tinfoil hats are being passed out, gratis. Come on 245, you can't be serious. Barring a DumbZone breakout or demise (betting on the former), I'm so done with this place. For every single sane comment there's 60 nutters. Later.
No tinfoil hat, Radical. I'm not saying "I know" all this to be true. I'm merely taking known knowns, adding a pinch of not too spicy deductive thinking, and attempting to put together a puzzle that never made a lot of sense to me. Yes, I admit wondering aloud if Kingston is paying for a bunch of subs to inflate numbers is total speculation on my part. I'm not claiming he definitely is. Again, just trying to make some sense of this odd thing that keeps getting odder as time passes. I mean, c'mon, that X/Tweet of his was so far out of left field, you had to read it thrice to make sure you actually read it right. If the picture I'm beginning to see is accurate or mostly accurate, and does come to light, no one involved is going to look good. I'm not claiming anything nefarious or criminal took/is taking place. Not in the least. Let me make that very clear. Just a lot of "stories" had been told, and most folks don't appreciate those kinds of "stories." But you know what? Give it 2 days and it's all forgotten. That's the beauty of The Information Age, ain't it.
Took me all of 10 minutes to see that TDZ data aligns with other's. The dip/return at the end then beginning of each month is common. Ditto sudden, large spikes in subs. See, you learn something new when you actually do the research so we don't have to. At least I did. Keep on keeping, Dan and Jake and Blake.
Grubes said he still works for iHeart (presumably):
I’m thankfully still employed, though I don’t know my new role yet. I had an absolute blast working with so many awesome people and getting to play fart drops again. I’m a lucky dude!!
Contrary to what Kingston says in his tweet thread, if you call a company’s GC, said GC has no obligation to call you back. If you leave a message & say I want to discuss doing X deal with your client/employer & you talk to your exec team & they say they have zero interest in that, you don’t have to call a lawyer back out some ethical obligation or whatever Kingston is suggesting there.
The hilariously amateur comment by Phillip is that TF “could have been a $10m station”.
Phil, KEGL was already MORE than a $10+m station before the flip and with a fraction of the overhead. TF lost, on avg, 19% each month from the year prior. IIRC, Jan’24 was down almost 25% from Jan’23 and that was down almost 20% from Jan’22
Let’s just say for the sake of argument his $3.5m expenditure is accurate - the idea that “wasn’t enough” in 2024 radio reality is exactly why he’s showing his ignorance of the business.
Worked at a place & we shut down a division. The GM said we didn’t give them a chance. 4 years & a $20 million loss wasn’t giving him a chance.
These guys need to quit whining. I worked for a very profitable bank & the parent shut it down & I was out of a job because they didn’t like the regulatory environment.
…and while I’m here, can someone please explain the point to Kingston’s tweet thread?
What is the goal of “finally telling this”? All it does is solidify for the rest of us what the plan was all along and when iHeart (probably in fall 2023 at the one year mark) said - “no more” - they tried then to, ahem, buy the station?
Also, literally nothing prevents anyone tomorrow from doing exactly what Kingston suggests people wanted to do. If you want a DFW FM frequency, there are frequencies to be had. The only thing stopping it are non-competes and the little fact this is all vapor ware.
Ya know what? Anyone else recall those early days of the official farewell of DnJ? Specifically the D Mag interview (believe he alluded to it elsewhere as well)? Anyone remember Jake claiming that at some point down the road all TT talent would be thanking them, that he and Dan would be the good guys, heroes even. This PK tweet and some of the above comments and theories have got me to thinking (I'll try not to hurt myself too badly). Hmmmmm. Kinda would make sense of the whole "Oh man we have no idea what we're doing here. We're winging it" statements DnJ always make. They make those statements yet they also have this entire legal team filing major cases, building a studio, hiring technical people, getting advertisers and sponsors onboard, and all that. Doesn't sound like walking the tightrope without a net to me. Hmmmmm.
RadioKnobTurnedCounterClockwise is dead on correct. The Kingston Tweet lays it bare. Whitt was right. What happened was that by the time Dan and Jake's NC expired, it was obvious TF was gonzo. The headscratching show and host flips were all to make room for a 4th show. It's why the lenght of the shows seemed off. So. Once it became apparent TF would flip, PK cooked up the idea to buy the station from iHeart, the plan being for him to be the new Spence and DnJ, the new Rhyners. From there they'd get the gang back together again. After all, many of the beloved (successful) Ticket hosts have contracts coming due over the next year and change. You can extrapolate from there.
Putting my tinfoil hat gently atop my head. Someone else can pull the brim low on their own noggin and fill in the blanks.
1. Rhnyer "retires." Starts and abandons various pods and endeavors. All the while is a regular guest on TT.
2. Next up, sequential departures from Tt. All claim management and its treatment of labor is the primary factor. Rhyner now admits it was managment issues for him too. However, all who left are long time vets of the industry, know well how it works, went in with eyes wide open, yet suddenly are angry and want a better situation--not just for themselves but for all employees present and future.
3.Around this time THZ begins bringing up and discussing on a regular sometimes daily basis labor issues (right in line with 2), the death of terrestrial radio. All the while whipping up somewhat of a frenzy on Ticket social media pertaining to concepts such as Just and Living Wages and labor issues as a whole.
4. Richie Whitt breaks TF news. Claims DnJ will bolt in the spring.
5. TF debuts. Contrary to what's being now spun by Rhyner in the aftermath of its failure, lots of hype, billboards, ads, puff pieces galore in print, on tv, and on social media herald the advent of the new station.
6. TF spends 3 months circle jerking and going out of their way to say how they finally work for a company and with people that care.
7. DnJ enter into negotiations and by D's own admission, knew they were asking for things Cumulus (Atlanta, not local management) would never agree to. "Non negotiables." They inform Cumulus they're not reupping, and subsequently are gone.
8. Almost on cue prominent labor law specialists rear their heads, DnJ openly state they will and make good on their promise to break their agreed upon Non Compete. Cumulus responds exactly how their lawyers knew they would and wanted them to, and now we have a case that only exists to hopefully open the door for a Federal labor case.
9. DnJ for all intents and purposes win the case but still must wait out the NC. While they continue to pod, they do so in what appears to be a half hearted manner. as if this isn't the end game, as if it's merely a stop-gap waypoint.
10. Soon thereafter it becomes obvious that TF is not long for this earth. DnJ's NC will soon expire. They hire veteran engineer Rob Chickering and begin constructing a studio. Suddenly, they get serious, and so, begin acting more like a station than 3 guys having a J Off session.
11. With TF merely days away from folding, DnJ begin appearing on ex Ticket host's shows and vice versa. Most discussions center around the future of broadcasting.
12. TF is dead . 13. Phillip Kingston, legal mouthpiece and apparent business partner of sorts of DnJ inexplicably (at least on the surface) posts the Tweet in question.
Forgot to add that in the past few hours it's come out that Jake has admitted that they did have discussions with iHeart about going to TF. Poor, I do recall you laying a theory or two out, but some of the later points are freshly baked. Plus, I'm not putting forth any theory. I'm just laying out in a clear way what transpired.
Look, who knows what is what if anything. What I will say is that the very idea of Rhyner starting a new station seemed utterly preposterous. The stuff of a twisted mind. But it happened. Then add in that Danny and Sirois would leave The Ticket to join Rhyner and you're going "no way in hell." Then tell me Jake is going to get his dream job. A job likened to a pro or D1 coaching position. The rarest and most coveted thing to get that no one says no to. That he's gonna get that job and turn right around and say no thank you. I would've said you're f'n nuts and need to be sedated. Then if you said Mr Dallas Radio Mount Rushmore himself's new radio station would fail miserably from the start, well I'd tell you to go f yourself. But here we are. All of which to say at this point I know nothing. This is like something out of a Kafka short story. The ball really do crazy things, don't it.
Holy S, Batman! A guy goes out of town and goes techless for a weekend and look what happens! So much has been said and I've nothing novel to add so I'll just say that I'm truly sorry for all who lost their jobs. Hopefully, they're all getting packages and unemployment, and I hope too they all soon find new gigs -- within the industry if that's what they desire. One more thing too must be said that's already been stated, I'm sure. Not for one second did I ever wish anything negative on TF. I so badly wanted it to succeed and succeed in gangbuster fashion. I remember the days of KZEW and Q102 battling it out. Nothing short of radio magic took place because of that rivalry. It brought out the best in everyone, resulting in radio gold for us listeners.
Stay hard, Freak and now former Freakers. Who knows, maybe one or more will eventually turn back up on TT. Stranger things than that have happend around here.
The tale of the Pied Piper is a cautionary one. The drama unfolding in front of us, I contend, has not one but three Pied Pipers. Care to guess who the three might be?
Months ago I told you all that for some of you, your heroes are not entirely what they seem.....and your villians, well, perhaps there too you've been led astray.
People and their constitution and the framework from which they operate an ultimately express their manner and style are rather easy to read if you pay careful attention.
No, so why dont you tell us Arful Blogger who the 3 pied pipers are. Your foundational assumptions of the groundings for a definitive determination of the framework of which the 3 pied pipers operate seems very Cumulus-centric. I suppose you posit that any straying from the wishes and desires of Cumulus is overt demonstration of questionable character. Having said that you too can get a 30 percent bonus on an annuity.
I clearly stated, "Care to guess who the three might be?" I would never, under any circumstance, trust financial advice from such a poor reader. This is even more the case with one who is not only a poor reader, but also poorly expresses their thoughts. Finally, I want no truck with such an emotional thinker. I value my assets.
Gee, Trajan, wasn't it in the last thread that you accused others of this and that motive and were immediately proven to be a tool? You even acknowledged you should do better. You don't learn from your mistakes, do you? Ditto Artful, I wouldn't trust a thing that came out of your mouth when it comes to finance. Sheesh.
Does seem to all add up in a sense. I think the “proof” that many provide of Dan and Jake bringing up noncompete clauses in the spring of ‘23 is some of the more legit “evidence” of them going to the freak or highly considering it.
The two kinda just made it seem like they wanted to stay but they just couldn’t get everything worked out with cumulus and they bailed. And are happy with it. But if that was the case, would they have been thinking about noncompetes beforehand like that?
Also maybe a bit more of a stretch, but they may have known the freak was failing and them waiting 6 months to broadcast would be too late.
No, bud. The seeking out was mutual. Reread PK's tweet and listen to the latest IJB. While at it, take off the blinders. They didn't merely field calls. By the way, that's not nefarious. It's self interest.
One more thing & I will let the Kingston thing go. (I just find this thing so irritating). From time to time, I run into people that “want to have a meeting.” Said meeting usually involves someone with only the most surface level of understanding wanting to pitch some kind of business that involves no risk to them; tremendous upside for them; some fundamental lack of understanding how the industry works; some weird promise for how this will be “great for everyone.” (& always a right of first refusal is in there somewhere). These meetings are always a waste of time & aren’t worth having and certainly aren’t worth the time of pursuing. The pitching party then gets pissed because you decide not to spend the mental energy to counter a 10¢ to the dollar offer & send a polite “no thank you” email. You then get a lecture in an email or voicemail for how you “don’t get it” & aren’t professional for not making a counter.
100% that the words “I’m smart; I’m a lawyer.” have come out of Kingston’s mouth more than once.
Make no bones about it: The Freak was a Sirois Industries-driven concept. Rhyner was merely open-minded. When he signed on, it was enough to get the ball rolling.
The narrative Rhyner tossed out there was that he was gonna fill in for Ben or Skin (don’t remember which) and Cat told him he couldn’t. This was while Rhyner was still employed by KTCK.
But this was a post facto narrative. Or, if it happened as Rhyner says it did, it speaks more to his arrogance than anything. He knows BS and likes them.
It was a selling point for Sirois. That , hey! We already have them there. If we get you, and then later Dan and Jake, we can dominate.
I believe this entirely. Sirois was the truly bitter guy. I guess he thought they should push a Norm, a Texas Radio HOFer, who had ratings and loyal, out the door because he, Sirois, was sometimes quick on his feet if he wasn’t hungover or on vacation. You could see him ingratiate himself with Rhyner in the year or so before The Freak.
They are affiliated with The Mavs broadcast. All Mavs media related talent on the radio/tv side of things are employed by the broadcaster and not The Mavs. Hence, B&S are still employed by iHeart. It really is that simple. Were they on-air today, letting you know that last tune you heard was by Shinedown?
What was it, 1-2 weeks in when the really bad and unfunny idea to refer to listeners as Glenns came about and increduously the lot of them hammered down on it? That one I'll never understand. But yeah. That's when I knew. That's when anyone with half a brain knew. The Freak was dead in the water before it broke the 1 month barrier. Gobsmacking to think no one at the station, no one with any say, with any sense of marketing, no one at iHeart HQ, not even a brave on-air personality stood up athwart bad taste and poor judgment and exclamed: "NO!"
Bubble livin' is free and easy as long the bubble has thick walls. Once those walls begin to thin, things get dicey.
As to Jake and Dan. International Chirp Chirp's anger, Joonz's silence, and Gordo's semantics, like the fatuous"Glenn," told you the story. And that story will eventually, probably sooner rather than later, out. Make no mistake about it. Cumulus acts and was made to look by The Legal Dream Team, the fool. But Jake and Dan weren't exactly honest brokers. Either with Cumulus or their former coworkers or you.
I feel bad for Cavanaugh, for KT, for Danny, for Krystina, and for Sirois. They worked hard. They fought the good fight. Whether it was because they weren't good enough, those around weren't, or a combination of both, they seemed to genuinely care about their position and the listener. Here's to all of them landing on their feet, onto bigger and better things. As for those not mentioned. No ill will toward them whatsoever. By every measure they seem to be fine citizens, family members, and friends. But often times in life what you get out of something is commensurate to what you put in. Perhaps one or more of them will or have already learned from this experience. That next time, if there is a next time, they'll go about things differently.
Really provacative stuff, bruh. They don't see this. They don't care for you. Focus on TC's stream. Like a plastic straw after a nuclear war, it's the only thing that will be left standing.
Are they your only "friends," chumley? Is that why you just can't help yourself? Whatcha gonna do next year when Dan's doing middays in Hartford and Jake's running is mother's and step father's business? The Boys don't read this, turbo. They don't. You're not fighting any good fight. In fact, you're on the wrong side, pappy. Wait to you see the Kabuki theater that's about to unfold with The Boys and Their Investors. Even one as committed as yourself to The Narrative, The Cause, will begin to have doubts creep into that myopic mind of yours. Then and only then will you understand what The. Steel. Boot. mean all along.
There hasn't been a single poster on this website that has been more wrong than you have for the last 2 years. You're even wrong about Ben & Skin not staying on. It's impressive, actually, how wrong you've been and continue to be
There are investors. Where do you think well over half the 6k comes from. Part of the investment. Will help drum up interest, ie., ad rev and other opportunities. If 6k was real, sosh numbers and traffic would reflect it. They do not. We'll see how long this lasts. Ticket II plan has been scaled back. More soon to follow. Out.
Oh brother. THIS guy. There's Mr. Dallas, well meet Mr. Thirsty. To think the "smartest guy in the room" (yeah buddy, I remember those comments here all those years ago) is in cahoots with this modus operandi. It doesn't get more amateur, more transparant.
Kingston said Iheart spend 3.5 million. I’d love to know where that number came from. Let’s count staff. Danny, Sirois, KT, Ben, Skin, Christina Ray, Rhynes, Cavanaugh, Julie and the other board op(Steve something). 3.5 million, over 18 months, divided by 10 people. It works out to just under 200k per person-194k. That’s an AVERAGE of 194k. If I remember court details correctly, Jake made 80k when he finally got his host salary, and he moved to 120k after his hold out. I can understand maybe you have to pay Rhyner way above average, but Cavanaugh? KT? Julie? Even Ben and Skin, Danny and Sirois. If they were really making 200k, even 150k, did they not see the insanity of that compared to the Ticket. Jake is making 80-120 as a host of a midday show that’s top 5 in the ratings, often first. But everyone at the Freak is averaging 30-70k more per year for a show consistently in the high teens or 20s? A commentator here talked about how the Ticket was like a low budget start up, while the Freak had an entitlement mentality, best symbolized by their 2 week plus dry dock, 3 months into the stations run. If that 3.5 million is really just payroll, I completely understand why Rhyner came out of retirement and why Danny, Sirois and Julie left the ticket. But damn how do you not see that coming?
Look, who in the hell wouldn't jump at those salaries? Do you blame any of them? I sure don't. Even if you enter into the thing with full knowledge of what you've agreed to vis-a-vis support staff and expectations, wouldn't you put your trust in that old Rhyner Magic repeating itself? That somehow, someway it would work out. How could it not? You got The Godfather. You got everyone's favorite hard partying, up for anything, say anything, uncle . . . Mike Sirois. Oh shit, and that beloved, cool guy vet with the musician's bona fides Danny will be coming online soon to round out what'll surely soon be a PM Drive juggernaut. Poor Hardline 5.0 won't know what hit 'em. I mean all that alone and if you're a Freaker you have to be thinking, no brainer, this is happening. Hell, all we gotta do is show up and gab. To paraphrase Rocco Pendola, we can fart for 3 hours and they'll eat it up. Thing is, that's exactly what they did.
And they never stopped. By the time the new PD flipped the AM/PM Drive shows, it was already too late. To that, it must be said that Danny and Sirois gave it a go and a damn fine one I say. If you gave them a listen, it was evident they had more than a little something. Again, it was already far too late in the day. PM Drive? Cavanaugh and Grubes made do with what was on hand. Let's leave it at that. Sure, the AM/PM flip might've been a move to make room for a 4th show. Better and more likely is that the PM Drive reconfig was a placeholder for The Boys. Regardless, as I said the writing was on the wall. Either The Boys were coming in to attempt to save the day or the tent would soon fold. We know which way the wind blew on that one, don't we. Though it's starting to come out via a press happy, loose lipped lawyer that the latter was most definitely in play, at least in some meaningful way.
Madness you say? Yes. Madness. Maybe folly is more apt. The entire premise was based on a once in a generation, maybe two or three generations, event. A perfect storm. Lightening in a 30 year old bottle. Those things manifest themselves. They cannot be manufactured. They are self-directing.
Godspeed to all the former Freakers. Here's wishing you all the very best. Here's to The Boys and their Investors finding that frequency. Here's to The Ticket.
I hope Cavanaugh, Balis, and Sirois saved and/or invested wisely. The rest will be just fine. But what's your point, Receipts? You stated something already known to all.
I think both -C and Corn Oil have said some things that cannot be overlooked. P1s love TT. And they are a big deal. But perhaps not as big as folks who come to this blog believe they are. Billboards with Rhyner’s face mean nothing to a very large group of denizens. TT calls themselves America’s Favorite Station, and they talk a lot about being the toast of talk radio. This is true, but it is also a simple promotional technique. Talk about how everybody is talking about you: it makes those tuning in for the first time feel FOMO.
I mention this because, while many of us were surprised / interested when Dan or Jake popped up on 97.1, folks who simply had that station on their preset when it was hard rock had zero idea who D or J were. They didn’t know who Rhyner was. They didn’t know who Danny or Sirois were. They didn’t have the back story, and they didn’t care to get that deep in the weeds. They turned on the station one day to hear AC/DC for the ten-millionth time and were met instead with these strange people gabbing about who knows what. Some of them stuck around. But just as KTCK one day flipped from LDS owned orchestra music, how many stuck around for the long haul? Five percent, if lucky ?
Point being. Your average commuter didn’t ask to be a Glenn, didn’t understand it, didn’t care, don’t care, would never care.
I'll go you one better - the National Head of Programming of iHeart is Brad Hardin (and may still have some direct oversight of Dallas), who is also responsible, over the last 20(?) years for any number of FM Talkers, AM & PM "guy talk" shows.
Funner fact: A few of them are #1 in their market. E.g., WLW in Cincinnati.
Look. Hey. Dill. These guys have to get their head right with ball. They've cooked up some spin and it's helping them numb themselves to the fact that it was them, not iHeart, that failed and failed spectacularly. Rhyner's cheap "admission" that it's ultimately on them was farcicle. He said that after 5 minutes of excuse making/blaming iHeart. After saying it he continued excuse making/blaming. Since then every bite he's offered has gone down that path. Ditto the rest of them.
Having said all that, can you blame them? It's what we humans do. And can you REALLY blame Rhyner? I can't imaging that sort of blow to the ego. It's no secret that his ego is massively humble a la Garth Brooks. You're talking about a guy in his 70s who produces a meme (not the first one) of himself saying, "I'm back, bitches." That's not tongue in cheek. Same when he claims your way is through him.
I'm thinking the fog of war effect that's blinded Mike since '19 is beginning to lift and that thete will be a back channel apology tour. Wouldn't be shocked if we witness a hero's prodigal son welcome back Kotter moment either on TT or at a T event in the not too distant future. And wouldn't that be cool.
I listened to the interview (thanks for the URL, Norm!). Pretty good stuff, but more of the same. Yes, Mike admits to the talent falling short, but he always adds in there were other things occurring. One thing very evident is that any idea of Mike losing his mental fastball is a wrong idea. He rehashed a lot of The Ticket founding story. Went into The Freak but was vague and wouldn't give any specifics, sort of skirted around issues. Honestly, there's nothing in the half hour and change that you haven't already heard.
I can't shake the feeling that if the Mike in this interview was the Mike on The Freak, The Freak would still be on-air. As the general goes, so do the troops. Just as this truism follows on the battlefield, it too followed course at The Freak. I tried on many occasions to listen to The Freak. Especially The Downbeat and then The Speakeasy (Mike's shows). Unfortunately, the Mike in this interview was nowhere to be found. Segment after segment he would remain silent, having to be prodded aloud by his cohosts to participate. He literally wouldn't know what was under discussion; it was obvious he was preoccupied with other things. If what many. at The Ticket said over the years is true, I think that's what was going on at The Freak. That is, Mike was more concerned with Petty Theft and other outside, personal endeavors than his full-time gig. Whatever took place and whatever was on Mike's mind, it's a shame the hoped for by so many of us re-energized Mike was nowhere to be found, and as a result The Freak always seemed to be teetering on flatlining.
I used to comment here often but haven't in a long while. Not since the first month or so of The Freak coming into existence. From that point forward, and especially from the moment it became evident something was up with The Hang Zone, MTC sadly has become dominated by some very loud, brash, and sometimes downright crazy voices. Still, there are some here who remain true to the original spirit of the blog.
Stay hard, Mike Rhyner. Stay hard, The Freak. Stay hard, MTC.
If you have a subscription to the DMN, I suggest you check out the piece that came online this afternoon. Both Rhynes and Julie are quoted extensively. Both confirmed the next move. All about that pod, about that pod, about that pod. Between this and Kingston's "well, I guess I can let the cat out of the bag that no one knew existed or really needs to know but I'm a very thirsty man so I will" Tweet, it's obvious where things are heading.
At this point, whatever. All a bit of a yawn, frankly. High School Confidential writ large. The lot of it, the lot of them. From Mike to Julie to Ben & Skin to Jake to Dan to Phillip Kingston, just stop it already. Go do your thing, do your best. Tiredhead with this bunch.
Yup. To those that were previously radio personalities that I never tuned into - good luck on your upcoming Youtube livestreams or Twitch or Podcasts that I still will not tune into.
It's interesting the "shocking" part of this news differs so much from certain perspectives!
No Puppet, Inc. is happening. Already in full swing ahead mode. Where do you think the $$$ for the studio, Rob Chickering, etc. is coming from? The Investors. It was The Investors (one of them is KIngston), with Kingston as the pointman, that bizarrely tried to purchase or lease the 97.1 signal (ludicrous). And it's The Investors who are putting up the seed money for the new talent soon to come onboard. Everyome is just waiting for the fallout from the flip/firings before making anything official. Get ready to see all Ticket now Freak expats and a couple of the others rounding out the No Puppet roster of pods. I hope they plan on hiring a competent management team, or at least manager with genuine skins on the wall. One that will be listened to and whose direction will be heeded. Else, just like The Freak, it'll be DOA. Going to be interesting to watch unfold. I just don't know where the money will come from to pay everyone. I guess the same nearly 6k subs that seem to never fluctuate (wane or grow) will pay $6.90 per pod, every month for the foreseeable future? Um. OK. Anyways. Tune in tomorrow for more of the soap opera.
No Puppet Inc. - will be a good case study to see how someone launches an independent podcast network and succeeds or fails in 2024.
The more host/shows they add, the higher the overhead - but that doesn't mean an increase in an equitable number of subscribers, especially if the monthly fee goes up (which you would assume it would have to).
If Dan or Jake are counting on non-subscriber revenue to substantially buffer their income - best of luck. As discussed here, the reality is sponsorship sales of individual podcasts, is both difficult (sales is hard) and not particularly deep (what's the ROI for the advertiser?).
All of it is completely doable, the big question is, what are their expectations in terms of income? With the freedom of not "working for the man", comes with probably less income, more work. And they all may be just fine with that.
The irony is, as they try to grow this beyond Dan and Jake, they become, "the man".
Same for me, never paid for a podcast and can't imagine starting now. There is one that I listen to regularly and it is 1-1.5 hours, once per week. And sometimes I get behind on that.
I’m with you, I just barely have time listen to the podcast I dig now. Much less paying for one that run, what, 6 hrs a week total? I listen to the ticket because I like the vibe of the station in general and all I have to do is turn on the radio…
Same. Ticket is easy. Don’t look for episodes, which ones I listened To or not. Just press play. Also never paid for a pod. Wife is bigger on podcasts and she hasn’t either.
How successful can a "local" podcast network be though? In my opinion, to make it big and worth the cost and effort, the goal would be to go national and attract a bigger audience. When you're already a national personality like Dan LeBatard then you can leave ESPN and have a successful podcast. But are these former Ticket folks going to grow their audience like that or will they just be catering to their current P1 fanbase?
The online P1 who will follow along to the podcasts don't represent the overall Ticket listeners who are just daytrippers - many only listen in their cars and especially for sports talk. The Dallas Cowboys effect is real as well. There are Cowboys fans across the country who tune into both The Ticket and The Fan during football season and the important weeks of the offseason. (Also sidenote, my theory to why ratings were lower for both stations in March can be partly attributed to the most non-eventful Cowboys offseason in recent memory coming off another playoff failure where many fans wanted heads to roll)
I don’t discount your Cowboys theory, but let me add icing to your cowboys cake. I’ve been told that the Ticket is hit especially hard by spring break because their listeners are the types that can afford to vacation for spring break or take time off with the family -think staycations- during spring break, etc. all of which lessens panelists with meters being surveyed: C
I just double checked Welpton post to confirm. March of 2022 the Ticket had a 5.5 and ranked 4th M-s6a-mid. March of 21 they were 8th with 4.1 Last year was great for them (1st with a 9.0) but are 4th and 8th “so good”? It may be rationalization, but I’m friends with some of their sales guys, they tell clients to expect a wobble in March for Spring Break and in July pre training camp. They know when listeners leave town and tune out. C
6a-mid? What a weird block to choose, when 6a-7p is what matters. They were #2 in the market and destroyed the Fan in 2022, and were number 1 and almost tripled their number in 2023
Yes what a weird block to choose, when it’s the first one reported in the trades, top line if Welpton ratings posts, etc. did you happen to look at 2021? When they were 5th? C
I think the biggest issue may be circumstances. When THZ hit their Atlanta roadblock the Ticket was 6 months into a historic 18 month run at (or damn near) the top of the ratings. For the whole market, not just their target. The Freak shows are coming off a less than spectacular run ranging from high teens to low 30s in that same market. The Freak had if I remember correctly about 1/5th the AQH listeners as the ticket. THZ/TDZ left to a cavalcade of publicity and buzz. How many out there really care that they can’t hear Cavanaugh or Julie or Ben and Skin. Will people pay to listen to people most of them were already actively ignoring? The math works for TDZ at 6K subscriptions, does it work for TSE, DB, etc at 1200 subs (1/5th of TDZ) ? Quick math 12x7x12, just over 100k, minus fess and expenses, split 2 or 3 ways and congrats, you’re now making less than you were in your “low paid” positions at Cumulus. C
My one other question about TDZ hiring Chickering, looking for studios, etc is why now? What changed from even a few months ago? I think their plan all along was to go to the Freak- see Kingstons they need one more show comment-. It’s only once the iheart deal fell through (probably because they wouldn’t let them keep their podcast independent) that the TDZ deal fell through, Iheart decided to pull the plug, etc. be damn ironic if Dan and Jake think themselves as hero’s for fighting the evil corporation, and it ends up that the heroes kill the careers of their friends by insisting on their outside gig. C
The only think that killed the Freakers' careers was their utter lack of compellng/entertaining content. TC said it on his Twitch last week. iHeart was sold a "bill of goods" (Mike R used that language) that The Freak could actually give The Ticket a run for its ratings money from the absolute jump. Like they actually were expecting to be well inside the Top 10 and neck-and-neck with The Ticket. Then the first full month book came out at it was an absolute disaster. 30th place and sub-1 numbers
I keep shaking my head in some sense of disbelief. Local media, to me, is interesting. TF flipping came as no surprise to me or anyone. But what beggars belief and what clearly demonstrates what, at heart, went wrong with a format and a talent pool that should've done so much better, is that all former hosts across the board (sans somewhat Rhyner, but he always qualifies) keep saying they have no regrets, they just loved having fun with their friends on-air, and that they wouldn't have changed anything from a hosting perspective. Why just this evening I watched Cavanaugh and KT on YT. Unreal. The interfacing lasted roughly 45-50 minutes. The first 25 consisted of inside jokey, meandering chatter that lead into deli meat discussion (including a brief ranking), which lead to an online game. No different from what every show did in order to kill time. Nothing substantive whatsoever. Nothing that left you wanting more. Nothing that made you think, oh man I can't wait for them to pick this up tomorrow. It's nuts. They just don't get it. Contrarywise, Cavanaugh's Cowboys YT channel is focused and successful. Yes, there is non-Cowboys banter and a bit of humor tossed in, but it's focused. And it's good. Boggles the mind, these people. I think KT has something to say, and about many things. I don't understand why he and the rest, and I mean all the rest, can't discuss topics that have teeth. You don't have to dive into the national socio-political cesspool to do it. You don't have to go all sports. As KT himself said, who's now frequenting reddit Ticket, he's really into local talk about local things. Awesome. Great idea. Go for it. But here he and Jeff are today, totally unfettered. I mean, boy howdy, they can actually say whatever the hell they want. Yet they chose to pratter on about nothing, rank something stupid, and then play a game for nearly a 1/2 hour. You want to go local? Bone up on local issues and talk. There's definitely an audience for it.
As a very flawed but unique radio voice once said about Corby and Danny "imitating" Rhyner's penis: "Yeah, I guess I just don't get it."
One Hundo. George knew. Not everyone at TF was happy about it. They knew what it meant. A certain someone who wasn't a faux disgruntled former employee let it slip to Jub rarly on that Whitt's source was correct. That's why he was pissed. Once DnJ realized TF wasn't going to be what they thought ("bill of goods" for $500, Alex) and saw it was failing, they changed direction, plans, and attitude. It's why TC refers to the bill of goods. Sorry, Cult Members, The Boys are just like anyone else in that industry.
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ReplyDeleteThe main thing is that management was never fully committed to it. iHeart got talked into doing something that went against their nature.
ReplyDeleteOH TOO BAD...but
ReplyDelete. . . but not enough of what listeners wanted.
ReplyDeleteThere will be a lot of comments on the apparent demise of The Freak after 18 months. Not sure what I have to add to what I, and others, have said in the past. Although it did end up with one bright spot -- the revamped morning show with Danny Balis, Mike Sirois, and Kevin Turner -- it never delivered. All of its problems derive from two mistakes, and one of those mistakes was probably a result of the other one.
(1) The UR-mistake was: No management, no strong program director, no one to kick each program's ass to come up with some interesting content, knock off the stupid contests and internet lists, replace hosts with not much to say with new talent who might have the breadth of interests and experience to let the station live up to its slogan.
"We have Mike Rhyner, cool, huh?" was never going to be a compelling ratings strategy to anyone who had listened to The Hardline for the past half-dozen or so years of his tenure at The Ticket. I have seen it said that the failure of The Freak will not dim his celebrity in the radio world, but I wonder if his waning attention to The Freak almost from its birth has suggested something about his standing among radio peers, as opposed to Ticket fans from years back.
(2) And that lack of direction resulted in a catastrophic multi-week circle-jerk debut, annoying The Freak's built-in initial audience of curiosity seekers and fans of the individual talents. The only person who could have really enjoyed the first several weeks of The Freak was Mike Rhyner, whose ring must have rusted from all that kissing.
There was some talent on The Freak. Danny Balis, Mike Sirois. Michael Gruber. I happen to like Kevin Turner. If they want media careers, I think there are careers out there for them. Ben and Skin take a beating here, but c'mon, that show is listenable if not great. Jeff Cavanaugh is an earnest, sportsy voice somewhat at sea on a station that claimed not to be so sportsy. I wish them all well (and the rest, too) and it's a shame they didn't have -- I'm going to say it -- a Jeff Catlin to wrangle those shows into some kind of shape.
This flame-out will be a case study in schools of communications for years to come.
Be cool, Confessors.
RIP.
You had me right up until you said that BS "listenable if not great"
DeleteWell, not sure that I’ve ever seen anyone else on the internet refer to the B&S show as listenable, let alone great.
DeleteFrom what I can tell, you were never going to like The Freak and probably never listened enough to make up your mind. Instead, you relied on what you felt like you already knew from being a Ticket listener. That’s good and fine - you do you - but by most accounts, those who were listening LOVED The Downbeat with Danny, Mike, and KT. Enjoyed/loved The Speakeasy with Mike, Jeff and Julie. Almost all negative feedback is about how cringey and lame B&S are as radio personalities. So who knows. My point is - just because the station’s shows weren’t for you doesn’t mean they didn’t work.
Still, they all needed help, and as someone who listened daily, I don’t think you’re far off on your other judgements. There was no support. The hosts were also the producers, and it seemed that none of the changes they made really helped carve out those roles in any actionable way.
Ultimately the big fail is that they started a talk station with owners who clearly didn’t want to be involved with talk unless it was going to dominate the market, and no matter who you are, or how good you are, you don’t take down existing giants by sending people out there unsupported and undersized to compete.
It’s my genuine hope that rumors of an investor group seeing the potential profitability as opposed to looking for ratings could resurrect the shows I came to love over the last 18 months, whether that’s streaming/podcasting/live local or whatever. Just miss my friends.
This is the worst attempt at spin I think I've ever seen. Moreover, I' recognize thus stylistically. Grayson, is this you? No matter. Your narrative is demonstrably false.
DeleteI sometimes wonder if the architects of The Freak overvalued the Ticket negativity on social media and figured there was a great hunger out there for something not The Ticket, but kinda Tickety, and who weren't getting their non-Ticket entertainment from The Fan.
ReplyDeleteI believe Sirois overvalued his own talent and following as well as overvaluing the Ticket negativity and used that to sell Rhyner (who was bitter for some reason) and management on The Freak.
DeleteQuite possibly, Nandor, although I happen to think Mike Sirois is a good listen. My question is: While we know that no one from iHeart management seemed to be in charge at least up until the past several months, who among the entire Freak team was SUPPOSED to be directing operations? Rhyner? Sirois? Who ran the meetings? Who should have been the one to say, "This ain't working"? Who reported up to iHeart management?
DeleteRhyner was bitter because the Ticket survived, and thrived, without him. His ego couldn’t handle realizing he was part of something bigger than himself. And the billboards were symptomatic of the ego centric, self centered nature of the whole station. Billboards with a RADIO personalities face on it. That’s genius level thinking. Billboard says “I’m back”. Dude, look at the ratings. You were popular, but 90 out of 100 people had no idea who that was on the billboard.
ReplyDeleteThey needed a PD to throw out the whole “we say what we want” idea. I’m convinced if they’d gone all sports they would have done better than the Freak.
C
Agree C-, but Mike R's bitterness predated his ostentatious retirement. There's a lot of inside baseball we don't know, but I'll bet some of it is that management suggested to him that he up his interest and participation in The Hardline, and he was shocked, shocked I tell you, that his foundational importance to The Ticket was not going to be recognized in a way that would allow him to sleepwalk through the rest of his broadcast career.
Delete"Bye Kevin.................James". I see what you did there, Ol Monty
ReplyDeleteYeah he said bye to Kevin Landrum like they all say goodbye to each other every day
DeleteIf Jeff Catlin was smart, he would use the Freak's demise as a mea culpa of sorts and use that talent to help bolster the Ticket lineup.
ReplyDeleteAssuming Cat and Dan Bennett could influence Cumulus Management to add staff, increase payroll and assuming that the ex-Freaks would even want to come back, here is what I would do.
1) Relegate Matt McClaren to another market, partner Donnie back up with Mike Sirois and add Julie Dobbs as their producer for the Invasion from 10am-12pm.
2) Create a new 12pm-3pm show with Kevin Turner, Bob Sturm and Justin Montemayor with David Mino producing.
3) Create a new Hardline 7.0 with Corby, Davey Lane and Dingu with Sean Bass producing.
Relievers when needed in drydock: Mike Doocy, Rich Philips, Joe Trahan, Mike Rhyner (never will happen I know) and Norman "Adolph" Hitzges.
None of this will happen.
DeleteWhat you don’t think Bob would jump at the chance for a massive demotion?
Deletea mea culpa for what? Kicking ass in the ratings for the entirity of time this dumb experiment lasted? He didn't fire a single one of those people - they all chose to leave. This is the bed they made for themselves. This is NOT anyone at Cumulus' fault.
Deleteand seriously, the station had ONE bad month - maybe it has another bad month in May - but it is still better than the stations 30 year historical average and the idea that it needs some programming overhaul is ridiculous on the heels of 12+ months of those insisting that TF just needed time.
But let's run with your suggestion, Mr Kid.
so Catlin rehires a bunch of shit-talking runaways, each who connived to create a direct competitor which after 18 months resulted in utterly crap ratings history - would be put in the place of guys (who'd you'd have to demote and reduce salaries accordingly) that have, in much shorter amount time, actually produced ratings.
Got it.
I have to agree with Poor. None of the Ticket shows are going to change for a long time.
DeleteMcClearin is hard sports and pretty good at it, and that's the way The Ticket is going to trend with the Fan creeping up.
The Ticket is not wanting for eager JVs (although, My Ticket Confession for the day is that I am having a hard time telling them apart).
Mike S and Danny B have burned too many bridges too thoroughly. Unnecessary, but they did it.
No current host will ever be demoted to producing -- it's up and out, but not up and down.
Mike R, it is sad to say in light of his broadcasting excellence for so many years, has for almost the last decade exhibited a profound indifference to the daily listener, although from time to time he waxes effusive about what they all owe the P1 and whatever Freak listeners are called.
The only Freak alum who might find a spot is that nice young Michael Gruber, the Sara Lee of radio personalities/behind-the-scene-guys, but it's hard to imagine he'd want to stay in radio at this point. Even there, you'd have to move a producer -- Michael seems to me unlikely to want to board-op into his middle age.
We have to remember: When some of these ex-Ticketeers were given the chance to star, they did not attract listeners. This is now on their resumes, and those resumes don't look like ones that would prompt responsible management to push out any of their current hosts or producers to make room for them, much as we remember how much we enjoyed them when they were on The Ticket.
The best part?
ReplyDeleteBen and Skin being the lone survivors.
*Chef's Kiss*
They're gone. You were hearing replays of recent segments thrown together by someone at the station. That went on until they could get the national News Guys or whatever the show is called piped in. By the way, Rhyner's leading the charge in excuse making (shocked!!!!), claiming talk isn't iHeart's bag and that they just didn't get what they were doing and didn't provide the infrastructure to make it happen. What a load of b.s.! iHeart has top billing talkers in markets all over the country. The infrastructure wasn't there because Rhyner, Sirois, and B&S (specially B) sold the outgoing dingdong running 97.1 on the idea that this bunch was so talented, such all pro vets at every position, they could run their own shows. That and add the $$$ that would go to a larger support staff onto their salaries and benes, which were rather fat. None fatter than Rhyner's. I don't like seeing people lose their jobs. I really wanted TF to be greatness. But from the jump, and I mean literally from Week 3, it was obvious that wasn't going to happen. I hope Rhyner makes amends with his former supposed besties and with the station he founded. Right now and for the past few years, I think he's damaged his rep to the precipice of no return. I'm talking about within the industry. One cool thing about this country and its denizens is that we're all about redemption and 2nd and 4th chances. Fingers crossed Rhyner comes back to earth and realizes what he made, what he had and with whom.
Deletelol nope Ben and skin (and Grubes!) are still employed by iHeart/97.1
DeleteNot the OG here, but it's my understanding that the reason being is that they are tied to the Mavs radiocast, which presently is going nowhere, and therefore were not let go. The Mavs do not employ either the radio or tv talent. Follow, Harp, etc., are iHeart employees, the tv crew, Bally's (poor bastards). Not sure if Grubes falls into that category. Grubes isn't a host, makes far less money, and is a tech/production pro. His job (until AI takes it over) is valuable. Makes sense they'd retain his services. But as to the B&S show continuing on, it's my understanding that it will not.
DeleteDallasBasketball.com reports that the entire on-air lineup has been let go. The midday Ben & Skin Show was running best-of today before the station abruptly switched to the WTKS-FM Orlando based “The News Junkie”.
Deletehttps://radioinsight.com/headlines/267954/format-change-imminent-at-97-1-the-freak-dallas/
No, chumley, I know you're wrong. Actually we all do now.
B&S put out a statement on X they're gone too. Lol. Liars fucking suck, don't they, I think you're wrong. Oh, hold on, you're a lying pos.
DeleteGo read the statement again and report back
DeleteSorry, chief. They're gonzo. All but Grubes. But you keep putting that bs out there, bub.
DeleteSo #1 - want to get rid of Mcclarin and replace him with 2 unpopular radio people that have proven they don’t have either the talent and-or work ethic to draw ratings.
ReplyDelete#2- you want to hire KT, who has no record of drawing listeners, and pair him with a guy coming off a few years of hosting PM drive during TTs historic ratings run, and shove them in middays, the least important of the main dayparts.
#3- you want to break up the show that provided the best PM drive numbers in the history of TT , and remove one of the hosts and replace him with a host from a station that just had to change formats because (again) those hosts either don’t have the talent, work ethic, or draw to get ratings.
C
#1 - Sirois and Julie Dobbs ultimately did not have success outside of the Ticket but your characterization that they are "unpopular radio people that have proven they don’t have either the talent and-or work ethic to draw ratings" is very insulting and off-base. When it was Donnie and Sirois with Julie popping in during the Invasion, it was amazing chemistry and it made me want to listen. This new version of the Invasion is fucking terrible.
Delete#2 - I think KT is really great. Him, Bob and Justin would be an entertaining listen as compared to the Sweet Spot.
#3 - See above for the mischaracterization of Dingu. Did you ever actually listen to Danny Balis whenever he used to be on the Hardline? He was great, and was that connecting thread back to the glory days of the Hardline in the mid-2000s.
This place is for mostly subjective opinions, and you truly have them in spades. Let me give you an example. MInd you, these words came straight from this person's mouth on their own podcast. Mise en place: Julie was given a solo segment during the first few months of the AM version of TSE. Less than two weeks into it, poof, the segment no longer existed. Later, Julie, on her own pod, The Mom Game, said the reason it went kaput is because she couldn't come up with ideas and that doing as such was difficult. That, my friend, speaks to work ethic. Full. Stop.
DeleteAs to TI, while I disagree that it's "fucking terrible," I do think it and TSS need work. They, like TDZ (are you a fan?), are still finding their sea legs. One question: Are you a bits/primarily guy talk listener? If so, then your venom for TI makes more sense. They and TSS are sports-centric. In truth, they have more in common with The FAN than not -- which bested them this past book.
I'm sorry, I just find it hard to process hearing that Julie, a former Stars beat reporter, who beat cancer, and is a mom, now has a bad work ethic because she couldn't sustain a radio segment. Agree to disagree on that point.
DeleteIn terms of being a bits/guy talk kind of listener, I am probably 60% sports and 40% bits/guy talk. The Ticket used to have a great mix of both. Right now, you are right, the Invasion and Sweet Spot are heavy on the sports talk and less on the bits/guy talk. But I just don't find their overall content very compelling at all. And when I want my sports fix, there are so many outside podcasts that do it way better as compared to the 10am-3pm shows, in my opinion.
So is it being a Mom or beating cancer that give you a work ethic? And is it being a mom and actually giving birth, or is just having ovaries enough to birth a work ethic? What Blinkered mentioned is EXACTLY what I was thinking about Julie. When you can’t be responsible for ONE segment in a 4 hour show it speaks to either work ethic or talent. There’s a talent to being able to take something that happens in your life and make it into a story that listeners can relate to or be entertained by.
DeleteThe same basic comment applies to Sirois. There’s stories of how Norm would show up at 6 or 7am and starting cutting g up his newspaper and building his show. Sirois by some accounts would show up 9ish, and leave at Noon. As for Dingu, I’ve heard more new songs from Danny in the last 18 months at the freak, then we heard in his last 10 years at the Ticket. Danny admitted that toward the end of his ticket days, he was burnt out, didn’t want to (and wouldn’t) watch the games, etc. when part of your job is commenting on those games, not watching is reflective of poor work ethic.
C
As for great chemistry, for me Julie is like the inert firefighting foam that will kill any fire. Doesn’t matter if it’s gas, wood, electrical, that foam will kill any flame. Just as Julie would kill the interest in anything. Julie has one of the least interesting personalities I’ve ever heard on radio. Great personal story, but the total inability to BE interesting.
DeleteC
Tricky Kid, you should've quit while you were, well, at least not in last place. Now you are. You seem like a well meaning soul, but you're thinking emotionally here and it's coming off rather poorly. The non sequiturs from that last reply are flying off the screen at a pace that makes them too difficult to dodge.
DeleteBTW, Tricky Kid, to be clear I am referring to the first part of your reply, not the second.
DeleteBlinkered, with all due respect, I could care less if I come across poorly to you or anyone else on this site. The Plainsman created this page for P1s to talk about the station and post their opinions. As a P1 since 1994, I naturally have my thoughts on how I wish the station was run and will continue to post my thoughts as I wish, even if they run contrary to others.
DeleteLook, Tricky, with all due respect to you, you've now twice pulled a rather shitty rhetorical move, and it's tiring. First you not so implicitly state I or anyone else who criticizes someone who has/has battled (and thank God in her case, won) a disease is heartless. Same goes with being a mother. Those are cheap rhetorical, ahem, tricks (actually it's the same one employed twice). Then you, again, not so implicitly claim that I and others who disagree with you are intolerant of yours and implicitly others who hold contrary opinions to my/our own. Another cheap rhetorical ploy. All of which is more than a bit insulting.
DeleteYou have a good evening.
Told ya'll just a few days ago. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Ditto with the talent. Here comes the old brigade, some former former real old school and even local (show) Eaglettes, some former KISSers.
ReplyDeleteIF there is truly a problem with The Ticket, it is the complete lack of creativity. Musers relying on Gordo’s old characters. The station isn’t moving forward. BaD was (to me) a great show because two very different types made each other better: there was energy, creativity, and comedic awkwardness. It worked! Sirois was “creative.” Segments line Left over shrimp? Okaaaaay. Fate of Man? Not a bad idea it just didn’t go anywhere. He doesn’t add anything. Apart from Danny Balis who is musically creative and Grubes…why bring anyone back? MOVE FORWARD TICKET!
ReplyDeleteI have a lot more regard for the way they run things at the Ticket than I did while I was there
ReplyDeleteBruh. Don't go there.
DeleteIt’s a quote scro
DeleteNot the content, the handle, turbo.
Delete@OGW Is that actually a quote from Mike? Where did you see it? If so, dang. I wonder if that means he'll attempt or is attempting to mend some fences. It would be awfully cool to see that happen. I'd love to hear him back on The Ticket. Imagine he and Corby and Jub and the gang having a big old radio group hug on-air. I think it'd be cathartic for so many P1s.
DeleteGetting fired is very UnFun, but this also ain't all that surprising. Terrible ratings, no clear vision on what the Station was (we're not going to be all Sportsy like that OTHER station...we're going to have Mike rank his favorite fish).
ReplyDeletePman's previous comments were spot-on. Especially the "kissing of the ring", C-J that the Freak started off on. It was so off-putting, and then they, a Brand New Endeavor, goes on their own dry-dock?! I was completely out at that point - when I heard of the show lineup swaps, my only thought was the potential courting of Dan & Jake. Welp...
This may be that Throw in the Towel moment for some in regards to radio/media. One thing's for sure - if you have been known for speaking into a microphone as a profession (even to a limited audience) it's tough to believe no one wants to hear your voice anymore. Luckily - Everyone Has a Podcast. Godspeed, Freakers.
As I have said 1000 times, the problem with the Freak was “They say what they want” but had nothing to say. There was absolutely no edge to any of it. There was no “They say out loud what I think.” There was no knowledge or insight. Every time I tried to listen, it was a giant circle jerk. It sounded like the chatter of a bad morning show during commercial breaks.
ReplyDeleteTo address some earlier comments, the mea culpa is for Jeff Catlin's mismanagement of the talent that originated years ago that has led us to here. The ratings are great for the Musers and the Hardline. I get that. I am in the minority but I think Bob is mismatched with Corby and Davey. The new Hardline is okay but the irreverant humor the show used to have is gone. Bob's sensibilities don't vibe with the other guys. That is why I would move him up back to the 12pm slot and give him his own space to cook, like he did with BaD Radio. I don't think it would have to be framed as a massive demotion.
ReplyDeleteCat also mismanaged the Invasion and let Norm stay on way too long. He should have eased him out years ago which would have kept Sirois as the natural partner with Donnie - those two had amazing chemistry together and that pair was a much better listen than McClaren and Donnie currently.
In terms of shit-talking runaways, there is nothing that Sirois, Dingu or Julie Dobbs said that would get them blacklisted from being re-hired at the Ticket. Yeah I saw the Twitch call with Gordo where Mike was complaining about staff being underpaid but people have short memories. I don't think Cat or anyone else really cares what he said.
Bottom line is, these are my suggestions and I am fully aware none of these are going to occur. But Cat is going to have to do something because they are losing the ratings battle for middays so this is the time for some outside-of-the-box thinking, assuming Cat is capable of it.
I'm sorry, Tricky Kid, it's obvious that you're well intended, but this is pure rubbish. Let me count the ways.
ReplyDeleteNothing Cat did years ago led to "this." What, exactly, is "this," by the way? The latest ratings? The small in actual number but overly obnoxious urine drinking keyboard warriors here and on reddit? Have you not seen the books for the past 5 years? They. Are. Phenomenal. Every station in the USA would kill for those books. So you have a single book where all shows across the board are down. Guess what, so too were The FAN's. So you have your middays in a neck and neck battle with your nearest competitor, even being bested some months. Guess what, that happened both for BaD and THZ. In fact, THZ fared far worse some months that either TI or TSS to date has. This can be shown empirically, it's not mere opinion. Rhyner, Sirois, Danny, Julie, Dan, and Jake ALL LEFT ON THEIR OWN ACCORD. Jake, freshly minted with his self stated dream job CHOSE to leave. Cat has no authority whatsoever to offer anything other than what he's directed to. This direction comes from Atlanta. This pertains to salaries, contracts, and hirings. He can ask, he can suggest, but ultimately he has bosses who in turn have bosses. Are you suggesting he should go against them, get fired, and the outcome for, e.g., DnJ, be the same? That makes a lot of sense! As a related side/example, it is very much known that the McClearin hire was how shall we say, "massaged," by a certain Cumulus higher up in Atlanta that also happens to be the mother of one of MM's childhood buddies. Doesn't mean that Cat didn't want him, but it does mean he's not some utterly autonomous decision maker. Oh, and there's Dan Bennett, who's above Cat, who also makes decisions, and who''s also beholden to bosses who have bosses.
Tha's all just for starters, but you get the picture. As to burning bridges, we'll see. But I highly doubt it. It's one thing to shit on HQ a la TC and get rehired, it's another to repeatedly (one might say systematically, even) shit on a specific individual who might not have all the say, but has enough "hand" to say "no thanks."
The folks on The Freak are dead in the water.
Delete"iHeartRadio is a music company that really doesn’t do that much talk radio, and the talk radio they do is not local or locally originated, and they got caught into something [97.1 The Freak] they didn’t know anything about, and they were kind of overwhelmed by it, and they decided that ‘this is not our bag.’” ---Mike Rhyner (Dallas Morning News).
ReplyDeleteThis is an abject, out and out, lie. iHeart has nearly 200 talk stations across the country. Almost all of them are comprised of both local and nationally syndicated shows. Some more local, others more syndicated.
They own Premier don’t they? They do Fox Sports Radio, which are National. How many talk stations does IHeart have in Houston? More than one. I think they have a sports talk station in Los Angeles that is tbe Dodgers flagship.
DeleteA quick sidenote from Freak news - turns out the DZ "lost" another episode, 2+ hr patreon only episode wasn't saved correctly.
ReplyDeleteI wondered to myself if maybe them constantly shifting recording locations - Den, possible Studio, random people's houses. Which then led me to - how much of a beating must it be for them to essentially Turn Tricks for $700 and go to these houses....i suppose this falls into a Pro/Con diagram for their current situation. But hey, No Puppet.
As is, their modus is unsustainable. They need guidance from someone who's title doesn't read 'esq." I think they can succeed in a big way, but they have to stop with the headless chicken, Benny Hill opening routine. While they're at it, stop bashing The Ticket and get rid of the lawyer bullsh. These guys have talent. A lot of it. But they're going to learn a hard lesson if they don't either become businessmen or hire an actual business person(s) to help steer the ship. You can't live off the past, and you certainly can't live off of emnity and resentment. Look no further than The Freak for your example of what not to do. I want The Dumb Zone to flourish. We need real options. They engender healthy competition, and healthy competition in turn brings out the best in everyone. Go Dumb Zone. Go Ticket.
ReplyDeleteLet me add to the above that I am well aware of The Dumb Zone's nearly 6k subscribers. I am one of them, thank you very much. As impressive as that feat is, and make no mistake about it, it is. Those numbers can drop significantly in no time flat. Once all the dirt has been aired, (and it hasn't yet, it's obvious they're purposely revealing bits and pieces at a time, *smartly* milking every ounce of it), and /or they continue to talk about it until it becomes beating a dead horse, you will see that number decrease and stay there and/or continue to fall. That won't occur if they ditch ASAP the big old meanie Cumulus/Ticket and here's one of our lawyers tack and focus on a real path toward the future.
ReplyDeletePretty sure they (the dumbzone) hired an old exec from Kidd Kraddik to get their shit together.
ReplyDeleteGood to hear it. Let's hope it's one of the competent ones who wasn't a part of the coke crowd. Let's also hope that this old exec gets them to focus on their product alone and not someone else's.
ReplyDeletelol the former Kraddick “executive” is Rob Chickering, known to P1’s by the Rhyner anointed nickname of “the skydiving chief”. He’s an engineer, not a a CEO. But Chickering is an engineering expert, Blake in comparison is an operator. Rob is the one to design and build your studio, Blake is the one to record the show. Until he screws that up like he did today,
ReplyDeleteC
The bridges are burned between the former Ticket guys but I would like to see them pick up Jeff Cavanaugh whenever the Sweet Spot and McClearin experiment ends. He was already an existing fan of the station and knows some of the guys there...they need another real football ace. Him and Bob would be awesome during football season and the draft
ReplyDeleteA PDs job is to get ratings and help to monetize those ratings. So looking at Cavanaugh thru that lens you’re asking Catlin to hire someone who was unable to get ratings in either AM or PM drive. Why would Cat hire Cav? I don’t think the reappearance of Rich Phillips right after a bad book is a total coincidence. If they’re looking to replace someone, there’s no need to hire a failure like Cavanaugh.
DeleteThe other comment on burning bridges- maybe Cavanaugh is a possibility. He was a competitor, but look at how Danny, Sirois and julie left. Whether it’s “I’m going to focus on my bar”, “I’m going to work with my brother” or “ I want to spend more time w family/kids”, none of them were truthful in their departure.
DeleteIn a text thread with some friends, the only 2 people we can name that were hired back were Elfenbein and TC. Elf’s slotted into Sunday mornings and TC (to the best of our recollections) had a full time gig, left, and was only rehired as a part time fill in. Has any full time ticket staffer left and came back to the same or a similar full time position?
So maybe Sirois can do a weekend gig, but why would they hire someone who didn’t draw ratings for a full time gig?
C
Dang McClearin is that irrelevant huh?
DeleteQuote” Has any full time ticket staffer left and came back to the same or a similar full time position?”. If I remember correctly he was on a Sunday show with Scott somebody - Sunday Mass, the Matt and Scott show. He left for Birmingham, came back to ESPN with JJT, then left again for Birmingham again. Was he ever a full time ticket employee?
DeleteC
VERY interesting DZ today. Mike R was on discussing the end of TF. At one point he actually said, "Perhaps they were [iHeart] sold a bill of goods. Yeah, maybe they were." He also said, to OGW's comment, that he now holds Ticket management [Cat] in much higher esteem than he did while at TT. Jake admitted that neither BaD or THZ were ever barred from doing anything creatively by management [Cat]. Mike went on to say that the failure, and that it is a failure, falls squarely on the talent. Compelling stuff to say the least. Dan was excellent. He asked some hard questions, and to Mike's credit he answered them all unflinchingly.
ReplyDeleteEveryone from The Freak I assume just moves on with their lives (Except Ben and Skin….cockroaches never dissapear). No one is returning to the Ticket, anytime in the near future at least. Maybe mid days retools in a year or so.
ReplyDeleteI assume podcasting attempts for some are coming, but most must know this is it.
It’s The Ticket and The Fan. Pick your poison.
I think you're more right than not. I bet Danny and Sirois try the pod-Twitch route. The others might, but it'll be part time and most likely short lived. The latter probably becomes the case for Danny and Mike after a month or two. It's all a shame, but it was all predictable. Man, those squandered first few months. All that press, hype, billboards, and jazz....wasted by virtue of the world's longest self-congratulatory victory lap. Someone on reddit absolutely nailed it. You can't sustain a station on spite. And if Rhyner and TT expats are honest with themselves, that's exactly what TF was founded on, what it lived off of. I agree with 6:56. Let's hope TDZ learns from TF's mistakes.
DeleteDan: "Do you regret that the experiment of the Freak.......may have affected some of your friendships at the Ticket?"
ReplyDeleteMike R: "Um, well if it did, it's doing it on their end, not mine. I still think the same of those people as I always have & from where I sit nothings gonna change that. Now if they think differently of me, I understand that & hopefully we'll be able to sit down someday and work some of that stuff out".
You left off the part where he says, "If they don't, well that's fine too. I'm good with it either way." Really unflattering self-portrait there, Rhynes. Says a lot. Seems like he lives quite the Bubble Boy life. He also said he's game for another pod or gig. If memory serves didn't an old caller dub him The Oak Cliff Con Man?
DeleteI'm just very confused about The Freak. Considering the state of terrestrial radio, I would assume that all of these radio veterans would have known that starting an all-talk station in 2022 was destined to fail. Even me, someone with no radio experience and only surface level understandings of the industry/business knew this wasn't going to last. And then when they hit the airwaves, it was a sloppy, half-assed effort that made us wonder if they were really serious about this thing or were they all just trying to scam iHeart for an easy paycheck for as long as they could.
ReplyDeleteCaught up on the comments tonight.
ReplyDeleteSome of you live alone. Be succinct.
Start your own blog, make your own rules, comment on grammar and style. Past that, STFU and let others do their thing as they do it. Better. Contribute meaningfully. Dbag.
DeleteWhoa whoa whoa. Lemme get this straight. The dude who comes into the comment section of a fanboy blog and craps on other's writing has the sagger of a sac to act like he's one up on it all? Holy shit. You're that guy. Juice Machine, my man, you got it all wrong. The living alone thing is the other way round. You're fuccin funny.
DeleteRhyner has his fans, and I enjoyed him on the ticket, even when he was mostly having Corby do the work. With that being said, I really don’t get how people still find him likeable or worth listening to the last couple of years.
ReplyDeleteWhat seems to have been lost in all of this is the reality that while the thing we wasted a lot of time discussing and concerning ourselves with, because it turned out to be DOA, when it did finally give up the ghost, quietly and ironically at the same time, it’s The Fan which is #1 m25-54.
ReplyDeleteFrom more than a few comments, it seems folks are quite aware of your last point.
Deletefair enough - suppose I'm not haunting those places where that's being discussed. or, i'm a crummy reader if it's in this space.
DeleteIn fairness to you, there's a lot of verbiage on this site, so it's understandable. Not that I mind the long form stuff. Some of it's quite thoughtful and well written. Some, oy vey, not so much.
DeleteThe Freak did have some ratings, just not a lot. With their departure, those folks that listened to it will go somewhere. You would think more would choose TT over TF, but who knows.
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/ktfuntweets/status/1783922918872829982
ReplyDeleteIt might be just a teeny, little itsy bitsy sliver of a stretch to compare the short-lived existence of the Freak to this. Potato, Kalamata olive.
I mean, ya know, it's KT. He's a spin meistet. This sirta thing reminds me if buddies who long ago played in a band that never really went anywhete but did just enough to say they did a little something. As time passes, the band's accomplishments begin to inflate and the idea that if only A and B happenef and C did not, well, let's just say they were on the cusp. That's KT, only the timeframe is sped up. While I find KT's spinning everything off putting to day the least, I'll give him this: He's loyal to his job and coworkers and he's a hard worker. If the rest of those coasting schmucks would've put in the effort and cared half as much as KT, this might've had a different ending.
DeleteI haven’t been on here for months. After some attacks were directed towards me. I left here never to return. I didn’t need that negative energy that caused me to reduce reading r/theticket. But when a buddy of mine emailed me the news, I just needed to get this out. (Not responding to any comments here as I do intend on leaving after this & honestly I’m not in the mood to deal with BS.)
ReplyDeleteTo anyone who’s reading this on r/theticket, MTC, or any social media, this is directed at you: if you’re happy that you got what you wanted & people are unemployed, then all I have to say is this; shame on you. For 18 months you wanted everything to be stuck in the past & you had to be a jerk about it. You harassed innocent people because you couldn’t comprehend that (gasp) these are humans & they can take any job they please. It’s a radio station! Some of you have made being a P1 your whole personality, & it shows! This is fan entitlement, pure & simple.
I guess now that it’s all said & done, some of you are celebrating. I just have this to say; I hope I never meet you in real life. You’re nothing but a sad excuse for a human. It’s pathetic how I’m younger that most of you & I act much more mature & rational over a radio station. If you get upset at me, then that proves my point further.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll get back to a thing that I have called a life.
-Grayson P1
That might be the silliest thing ever, and I mean, ever, and that's saying A LOT, posted on any Ticket related platform. Tell me it's a belated April Fool's joke. Better, can you rell me where it hurts?
DeleteIs there anyone more obnoxious than a clueless, self-righteous, scold? Why yes, there is. One who also has an emotional IQ of 40.
DeleteThis has to be a troll. HAS TO BE. If so, it's fucking genius. Nothing left to chance with this one. All angles of fuckery are covered. If not, then I'm sad.
DeleteGrayson, I'm with you homie.
DeleteIt’s so so sad you took the time to write that and hit Publish.
Delete"McFeeley." I would hope you stand and stand proud and tall with Grayson. Like seeks like.
DeleteGeez, man. Please make good on your promise to never return. Never seen one comment go on for so long and get every single point wrong. There's misreading the room, a situation, but you took it to a new level. What a weirdly skewed, warped understanding you have of this particular. You must be a hoot to be around.
ReplyDeleteDan has tweeted that he is joining TC tonight on a podcast. Great move. Leave a dream job to join TC on a podcast . Awesome !
ReplyDeleteYes that’s exactly why he left 10 months ago. To appear on a twitch stream (that’s not a podcast fyi) in April 2024
DeleteDan went on IJB a few times even while working at the Ticket. Not sure what you’re getting at.
DeleteSo did Bob, multiple times
DeleteHaha please please let there be more Dumb Zone pods with TC, or Julie, or Mike, or anyone Dan can turn into an awkward or long winding interview/spot. Either Dan is playing the Long Long Long game......or, maybe, this. just. is. not. a. good. place. for. him.
DeleteSome ppl might just need a clock & PD to exceed.
Now that this has played itself out:
ReplyDeleteI will forever be convinced the plan (from the start) was for THZ to end up doing PMD on TF coinciding w/ Rhyner announcing his retirement and the end of their non-compete (which is part of the reason they settled the suit).
But to everyone involved surprise, TF miserably flopped, the iHeart Market Manager changed (for the 2nd time in 18 months), and that plan either never got very far or evaporated before it could be signed.
https://x.com/philiptkingston/status/1784593087806795856?s=46
DeletePhillip Kingston probably wanted a venue to showcase his prodigious gas bag
DeleteRight there with you, Knob.
DeleteBen, Skin, nowhere they are going
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect, that Kingston tweet is infantile BS. Right up there with “why don’t a bunch of P1’s pool together & buy the Ticket?” Media conglomerates don’t sell single high-powered or profitable frequencies. That’s not how the business works.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to buy a station in DFW, there are stations you can buy. But they aren’t profitable or on in the middle to high end of the FM dial.
While we are at it, I was thinking of going to the Ferrari dealer & making an offer at the end of the month on the one that’s been on the showroom floor for 3 months.
That’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this works. And suggesting it is only shows you don’t know what you’re talking about & are only trying to impress those that don’t know better.
I've tried to warn all the DZ fans out there about Kingston. I was his neighbor for over 10 years. If Dan and Jake remain hitched to his wagon, it will be their downfall. And it will be a spectacular one. The moment the downfall begins to occur, Phillip will be nowhere to be found. Please go to the DMN site and search for The Aldrege House. The entire fiasco was and still is a product of Kingston's massive ego and incompetence. I truly hope for TDZ's sake they sever ties with him. But if the 4/20 YT opening is any indicator, that does not seem to be the case. Unless they soon steer a different course, Dan and Jake in all likelihood are going to learn a difficult lesson.
ReplyDeleteHa. I knew there was something going on when DnJ began popping up on TF, but only on shows with former Ticket hosts, and same with Ticket expat hosts coming TDZ way. Not only is this shit fantasy world stuff, I'm going to go out on a pretty short limb and say the very and I mean VERY deep pockets of the DFW's thirstiest legal eagle is the purchaser a healthy chunk of the nealy 6k DZ subs. When you put the disclosure of this attempted move and begin piecing everything together from late '21-early '22, a picture begins to form. I'll say this and leave it at this: One day actual light will be shed on what took place from late '21 on.....regarding TT, the expats/the almost suspicious staggered resignations, all citing the same labor related issues, the incoherent at times out and out fabricated Freak founding narrative, the appearance of Kingston and Co. and The Case, TDZ/Freak snuggie, and this latest disclosure. When it does, none of them are going to look good. Some will look far worse than others, but nevertheless, no one will come out unscathed.
ReplyDelete“Ha. I knew there was something going on when DnJ began popping up on TF, but only on shows with former Ticket hosts”
DeleteUm, there were 3 shows on The Freq and all 3 of them were full of former Ticket Hosts
Hmm.
ReplyDeleteNever thought of it that way. Will say that TDZ sub data is interesting. I need to look at other Patreon creators sub numbers and see if their data comports to TDZ's. I find two things interesting about TDZ sub data. One somewhat, one very much. 1. Their numbers remained fairly constant then suddenly jumped by several factors, remaining steady. But this has taken place in a small timeframe, which is unusual. 2. The almost set a watch to it drastic dip at the end of each month, only to immediately go back to the constant number. Now you might think that has to do with patrons resubbing each month. But that's not how Patreon works. As I said, it's interesting and somewhat curious. Interesting too, other than the regularly occuring dip/gain phenomenon, is the the constancy of the sub numbers. I'm going to do some diving and see how their's shakes out with other's. Might be that this is, as Dan likes to say, "the way it is." MIght not. I'll report back with my findings.
ReplyDeleteOh shit, look out. The tinfoil hats are being passed out, gratis. Come on 245, you can't be serious. Barring a DumbZone breakout or demise (betting on the former), I'm so done with this place. For every single sane comment there's 60 nutters. Later.
ReplyDeleteNo tinfoil hat, Radical. I'm not saying "I know" all this to be true. I'm merely taking known knowns, adding a pinch of not too spicy deductive thinking, and attempting to put together a puzzle that never made a lot of sense to me. Yes, I admit wondering aloud if Kingston is paying for a bunch of subs to inflate numbers is total speculation on my part. I'm not claiming he definitely is. Again, just trying to make some sense of this odd thing that keeps getting odder as time passes. I mean, c'mon, that X/Tweet of his was so far out of left field, you had to read it thrice to make sure you actually read it right. If the picture I'm beginning to see is accurate or mostly accurate, and does come to light, no one involved is going to look good. I'm not claiming anything nefarious or criminal took/is taking place. Not in the least. Let me make that very clear. Just a lot of "stories" had been told, and most folks don't appreciate those kinds of "stories." But you know what? Give it 2 days and it's all forgotten. That's the beauty of The Information Age, ain't it.
ReplyDeleteTook me all of 10 minutes to see that TDZ data aligns with other's. The dip/return at the end then beginning of each month is common. Ditto sudden, large spikes in subs. See, you learn something new when you actually do the research so we don't have to. At least I did. Keep on keeping, Dan and Jake and Blake.
ReplyDeleteI believe the fluctuation is due to credit card numbers expiring and being updated.
ReplyDeleteGrubes said he still works for iHeart (presumably):
ReplyDeleteI’m thankfully still employed, though I don’t know my new role yet. I had an absolute blast working with so many awesome people and getting to play fart drops again. I’m a lucky dude!!
tweetgrubes
Contrary to what Kingston says in his tweet thread, if you call a company’s GC, said GC has no obligation to call you back. If you leave a message & say I want to discuss doing X deal with your client/employer & you talk to your exec team & they say they have zero interest in that, you don’t have to call a lawyer back out some ethical obligation or whatever Kingston is suggesting there.
ReplyDeleteThe hilariously amateur comment by Phillip is that TF “could have been a $10m station”.
ReplyDeletePhil, KEGL was already MORE than a $10+m station before the flip and with a fraction of the overhead. TF lost, on avg, 19% each month from the year prior. IIRC, Jan’24 was down almost 25% from Jan’23 and that was down almost 20% from Jan’22
Let’s just say for the sake of argument his $3.5m expenditure is accurate - the idea that “wasn’t enough” in 2024 radio reality is exactly why he’s showing his ignorance of the business.
Worked at a place & we shut down a division. The GM said we didn’t give them a chance. 4 years & a $20 million loss wasn’t giving him a chance.
DeleteThese guys need to quit whining. I worked for a very profitable bank & the parent shut it down & I was out of a job because they didn’t like the regulatory environment.
Dan and Jake were the RMS Carpathia. They just arrived a bit too late for the drowned.
ReplyDelete…and while I’m here, can someone please explain the point to Kingston’s tweet thread?
ReplyDeleteWhat is the goal of “finally telling this”? All it does is solidify for the rest of us what the plan was all along and when iHeart (probably in fall 2023 at the one year mark) said - “no more” - they tried then to, ahem, buy the station?
Why admit this publicly?
Kingston wants to be seen as the savior of the little Ticket from the evil empire that is Cumulus/iHeart.
DeleteAlso, literally nothing prevents anyone tomorrow from doing exactly what Kingston suggests people wanted to do. If you want a DFW FM frequency, there are frequencies to be had. The only thing stopping it are non-competes and the little fact this is all vapor ware.
ReplyDeleteYa know what? Anyone else recall those early days of the official farewell of DnJ? Specifically the D Mag interview (believe he alluded to it elsewhere as well)? Anyone remember Jake claiming that at some point down the road all TT talent would be thanking them, that he and Dan would be the good guys, heroes even. This PK tweet and some of the above comments and theories have got me to thinking (I'll try not to hurt myself too badly). Hmmmmm. Kinda would make sense of the whole "Oh man we have no idea what we're doing here. We're winging it" statements DnJ always make. They make those statements yet they also have this entire legal team filing major cases, building a studio, hiring technical people, getting advertisers and sponsors onboard, and all that. Doesn't sound like walking the tightrope without a net to me. Hmmmmm.
ReplyDeleteRadioKnobTurnedCounterClockwise is dead on correct. The Kingston Tweet lays it bare. Whitt was right. What happened was that by the time Dan and Jake's NC expired, it was obvious TF was gonzo. The headscratching show and host flips were all to make room for a 4th show. It's why the lenght of the shows seemed off. So. Once it became apparent TF would flip, PK cooked up the idea to buy the station from iHeart, the plan being for him to be the new Spence and DnJ, the new Rhyners. From there they'd get the gang back together again. After all, many of the beloved (successful) Ticket hosts have contracts coming due over the next year and change. You can extrapolate from there.
ReplyDeleteHmm.
DeletePutting my tinfoil hat gently atop my head. Someone else can pull the brim low on their own noggin and fill in the blanks.
ReplyDelete1. Rhnyer "retires." Starts and abandons various pods and endeavors. All the while is a regular guest on TT.
2. Next up, sequential departures from Tt. All claim management and its treatment of labor is the primary factor. Rhyner now admits it was managment issues for him too. However, all who left are long time vets of the industry, know well how it works, went in with eyes wide open, yet suddenly are angry and want a better situation--not just for themselves but for all employees present and future.
3.Around this time THZ begins bringing up and discussing on a regular sometimes daily basis labor issues (right in line with 2), the death of terrestrial radio. All the while whipping up somewhat of a frenzy on Ticket social media pertaining to concepts such as Just and Living Wages and labor issues as a whole.
4. Richie Whitt breaks TF news. Claims DnJ will bolt in the spring.
5. TF debuts. Contrary to what's being now spun by Rhyner in the aftermath of its failure, lots of hype, billboards, ads, puff pieces galore in print, on tv, and on social media herald the advent of the new station.
6. TF spends 3 months circle jerking and going out of their way to say how they finally work for a company and with people that care.
7. DnJ enter into negotiations and by D's own admission, knew they were asking for things Cumulus (Atlanta, not local management) would never agree to. "Non negotiables." They inform Cumulus they're not reupping, and subsequently are gone.
8. Almost on cue prominent labor law specialists rear their heads, DnJ openly state they will and make good on their promise to break their agreed upon Non Compete. Cumulus responds exactly how their lawyers knew they would and wanted them to, and now we have a case that only exists to hopefully open the door for a Federal labor case.
9. DnJ for all intents and purposes win the case but still must wait out the NC. While they continue to pod, they do so in what appears to be a half hearted manner. as if this isn't the end game, as if it's merely a stop-gap waypoint.
10. Soon thereafter it becomes obvious that TF is not long for this earth. DnJ's NC will soon expire. They hire veteran engineer Rob Chickering and begin constructing a studio. Suddenly, they get serious, and so, begin acting more like a station than 3 guys having a J Off session.
11. With TF merely days away from folding, DnJ begin appearing on ex Ticket host's shows and vice versa. Most discussions center around the future of broadcasting.
12. TF is dead
.
13. Phillip Kingston, legal mouthpiece and apparent business partner of sorts of DnJ inexplicably (at least on the surface) posts the Tweet in question.
I don’t want to be a dick, here. But I’m pretty sure I laid this all out about eightish months ago.
ReplyDeleteForgot to add that in the past few hours it's come out that Jake has admitted that they did have discussions with iHeart about going to TF. Poor, I do recall you laying a theory or two out, but some of the later points are freshly baked. Plus, I'm not putting forth any theory. I'm just laying out in a clear way what transpired.
DeleteThis has played out like a Marvel movie plot.
DeleteLook, who knows what is what if anything. What I will say is that the very idea of Rhyner starting a new station seemed utterly preposterous. The stuff of a twisted mind. But it happened. Then add in that Danny and Sirois would leave The Ticket to join Rhyner and you're going "no way in hell." Then tell me Jake is going to get his dream job. A job likened to a pro or D1 coaching position. The rarest and most coveted thing to get that no one says no to. That he's gonna get that job and turn right around and say no thank you. I would've said you're f'n nuts and need to be sedated. Then if you said Mr Dallas Radio Mount Rushmore himself's new radio station would fail miserably from the start, well I'd tell you to go f yourself. But here we are. All of which to say at this point I know nothing. This is like something out of a Kafka short story. The ball really do crazy things, don't it.
ReplyDeleteHoly S, Batman! A guy goes out of town and goes techless for a weekend and look what happens! So much has been said and I've nothing novel to add so I'll just say that I'm truly sorry for all who lost their jobs. Hopefully, they're all getting packages and unemployment, and I hope too they all soon find new gigs -- within the industry if that's what they desire. One more thing too must be said that's already been stated, I'm sure. Not for one second did I ever wish anything negative on TF. I so badly wanted it to succeed and succeed in gangbuster fashion. I remember the days of KZEW and Q102 battling it out. Nothing short of radio magic took place because of that rivalry. It brought out the best in everyone, resulting in radio gold for us listeners.
ReplyDeleteStay hard, Freak and now former Freakers. Who knows, maybe one or more will eventually turn back up on TT. Stranger things than that have happend around here.
The tale of the Pied Piper is a cautionary one. The drama unfolding in front of us, I contend, has not one but three Pied Pipers. Care to guess who the three might be?
ReplyDeleteMonths ago I told you all that for some of you, your heroes are not entirely what they seem.....and your villians, well, perhaps there too you've been led astray.
People and their constitution and the framework from which they operate an ultimately express their manner and style are rather easy to read if you pay careful attention.
No, so why dont you tell us Arful Blogger who the 3 pied pipers are. Your foundational assumptions of the groundings for a definitive determination of the framework of which the 3 pied pipers operate seems very Cumulus-centric. I suppose you posit that any straying from the wishes and desires of Cumulus is overt demonstration of questionable character. Having said that you too can get a 30 percent bonus on an annuity.
DeleteI clearly stated, "Care to guess who the three might be?" I would never, under any circumstance, trust financial advice from such a poor reader. This is even more the case with one who is not only a poor reader, but also poorly expresses their thoughts. Finally, I want no truck with such an emotional thinker. I value my assets.
DeleteGee, Trajan, wasn't it in the last thread that you accused others of this and that motive and were immediately proven to be a tool? You even acknowledged you should do better. You don't learn from your mistakes, do you? Ditto Artful, I wouldn't trust a thing that came out of your mouth when it comes to finance. Sheesh.
DeleteDoes seem to all add up in a sense. I think the “proof” that many provide of Dan and Jake bringing up noncompete clauses in the spring of ‘23 is some of the more legit “evidence” of them going to the freak or highly considering it.
ReplyDeleteThe two kinda just made it seem like they wanted to stay but they just couldn’t get everything worked out with cumulus and they bailed. And are happy with it. But if that was the case, would they have been thinking about noncompetes beforehand like that?
Also maybe a bit more of a stretch, but they may have known the freak was failing and them waiting 6 months to broadcast would be too late.
Jake has acknowledge that they were courted at various times by Iheart. Nothing nefarious to speculate about.
DeleteNo, bud. The seeking out was mutual. Reread PK's tweet and listen to the latest IJB. While at it, take off the blinders. They didn't merely field calls. By the way, that's not nefarious. It's self interest.
DeleteOne more thing & I will let the Kingston thing go. (I just find this thing so irritating). From time to time, I run into people that “want to have a meeting.” Said meeting usually involves someone with only the most surface level of understanding wanting to pitch some kind of business that involves no risk to them; tremendous upside for them; some fundamental lack of understanding how the industry works; some weird promise for how this will be “great for everyone.” (& always a right of first refusal is in there somewhere). These meetings are always a waste of time & aren’t worth having and certainly aren’t worth the time of pursuing. The pitching party then gets pissed because you decide not to spend the mental energy to counter a 10¢ to the dollar offer & send a polite “no thank you” email. You then get a lecture in an email or voicemail for how you “don’t get it” & aren’t professional for not making a counter.
ReplyDelete100% that the words “I’m smart; I’m a lawyer.” have come out of Kingston’s mouth more than once.
Make no bones about it: The Freak was a Sirois Industries-driven concept. Rhyner was merely open-minded. When he signed on, it was enough to get the ball rolling.
ReplyDeleteWhy does everyone say it was Ben and Skin?
DeleteThe narrative Rhyner tossed out there was that he was gonna fill in for Ben or Skin (don’t remember which) and Cat told him he couldn’t. This was while Rhyner was still employed by KTCK.
DeleteBut this was a post facto narrative. Or, if it happened as Rhyner says it did, it speaks more to his arrogance than anything. He knows BS and likes them.
It was a selling point for Sirois. That , hey! We already have them there. If we get you, and then later Dan and Jake, we can dominate.
I believe this entirely. Sirois was the truly bitter guy. I guess he thought they should push a Norm, a Texas Radio HOFer, who had ratings and loyal, out the door because he, Sirois, was sometimes quick on his feet if he wasn’t hungover or on vacation. You could see him ingratiate himself with Rhyner in the year or so before The Freak.
Delete*loyal advertisers
DeleteSpeaking of, did Sirois chill out with the vacations when he was at the freak?
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ReplyDeleteI thought they were Richard, Dinesh and Gilfolye
DeleteJenny Z, a.k.a. @SteampunkMuppet, said what everyone is thinking regarding B S
ReplyDeleteThey are affiliated with The Mavs broadcast. All Mavs media related talent on the radio/tv side of things are employed by the broadcaster and not The Mavs. Hence, B&S are still employed by iHeart. It really is that simple. Were they on-air today, letting you know that last tune you heard was by Shinedown?
DeleteNote that the next Mavs game will be on Lonestar 92.5
DeleteiHeart station? Very interesting.
DeleteWhat was it, 1-2 weeks in when the really bad and unfunny idea to refer to listeners as Glenns came about and increduously the lot of them hammered down on it? That one I'll never understand. But yeah. That's when I knew. That's when anyone with half a brain knew. The Freak was dead in the water before it broke the 1 month barrier. Gobsmacking to think no one at the station, no one with any say, with any sense of marketing, no one at iHeart HQ, not even a brave on-air personality stood up athwart bad taste and poor judgment and exclamed: "NO!"
ReplyDeleteBubble livin' is free and easy as long the bubble has thick walls. Once those walls begin to thin, things get dicey.
As to Jake and Dan. International Chirp Chirp's anger, Joonz's silence, and Gordo's semantics, like the fatuous"Glenn," told you the story. And that story will eventually, probably sooner rather than later, out. Make no mistake about it. Cumulus acts and was made to look by The Legal Dream Team, the fool. But Jake and Dan weren't exactly honest brokers. Either with Cumulus or their former coworkers or you.
I feel bad for Cavanaugh, for KT, for Danny, for Krystina, and for Sirois. They worked hard. They fought the good fight. Whether it was because they weren't good enough, those around weren't, or a combination of both, they seemed to genuinely care about their position and the listener. Here's to all of them landing on their feet, onto bigger and better things. As for those not mentioned. No ill will toward them whatsoever. By every measure they seem to be fine citizens, family members, and friends. But often times in life what you get out of something is commensurate to what you put in. Perhaps one or more of them will or have already learned from this experience. That next time, if there is a next time, they'll go about things differently.
Still waitin’ for that steel-toed boot to drop.
DeleteAny minute now, I’m certain.
Really provacative stuff, bruh. They don't see this. They don't care for you. Focus on TC's stream. Like a plastic straw after a nuclear war, it's the only thing that will be left standing.
DeleteKeep lickin’ those steel toed boots scro
DeleteAre they your only "friends," chumley? Is that why you just can't help yourself? Whatcha gonna do next year when Dan's doing middays in Hartford and Jake's running is mother's and step father's business? The Boys don't read this, turbo. They don't. You're not fighting any good fight. In fact, you're on the wrong side, pappy. Wait to you see the Kabuki theater that's about to unfold with The Boys and Their Investors. Even one as committed as yourself to The Narrative, The Cause, will begin to have doubts creep into that myopic mind of yours. Then and only then will you understand what The. Steel. Boot. mean all along.
DeleteThere hasn't been a single poster on this website that has been more wrong than you have for the last 2 years. You're even wrong about Ben & Skin not staying on. It's impressive, actually, how wrong you've been and continue to be
DeleteHaha. Bruh. Who you talkin' at? Livin' in yo head rent free, chumley. Hee hee. Sad little clown. Goin' down to clown town, aren't we, scromeister.
DeleteThere are investors. Where do you think well over half the 6k comes from. Part of the investment. Will help drum up interest, ie., ad rev and other opportunities. If 6k was real, sosh numbers and traffic would reflect it. They do not. We'll see how long this lasts. Ticket II plan has been scaled back. More soon to follow. Out.
ReplyDeleteOh brother. THIS guy. There's Mr. Dallas, well meet Mr. Thirsty. To think the "smartest guy in the room" (yeah buddy, I remember those comments here all those years ago) is in cahoots with this modus operandi. It doesn't get more amateur, more transparant.
ReplyDeletehttps://barrettsportsmedia.com/2024/04/29/could-the-freak-resurface-in-dallas/
Played golf today. It went well.
ReplyDeleteSweet.
DeleteKingston said Iheart spend 3.5 million. I’d love to know where that number came from. Let’s count staff. Danny, Sirois, KT, Ben, Skin, Christina Ray, Rhynes, Cavanaugh, Julie and the other board op(Steve something). 3.5 million, over 18 months, divided by 10 people. It works out to just under 200k per person-194k. That’s an AVERAGE of 194k. If I remember court details correctly, Jake made 80k when he finally got his host salary, and he moved to 120k after his hold out. I can understand maybe you have to pay Rhyner way above average, but Cavanaugh? KT? Julie? Even Ben and Skin, Danny and Sirois. If they were really making 200k, even 150k, did they not see the insanity of that compared to the Ticket. Jake is making 80-120 as a host of a midday show that’s top 5 in the ratings, often first. But everyone at the Freak is averaging 30-70k more per year for a show consistently in the high teens or 20s?
ReplyDeleteA commentator here talked about how the Ticket was like a low budget start up, while the Freak had an entitlement mentality, best symbolized by their 2 week plus dry dock, 3 months into the stations run.
If that 3.5 million is really just payroll, I completely understand why Rhyner came out of retirement and why Danny, Sirois and Julie left the ticket. But damn how do you not see that coming?
I put one in the woods on 6.
DeleteDon't forget Grubes' $.
DeleteThe whole thing was madness from the word go.
Look, who in the hell wouldn't jump at those salaries? Do you blame any of them? I sure don't. Even if you enter into the thing with full knowledge of what you've agreed to vis-a-vis support staff and expectations, wouldn't you put your trust in that old Rhyner Magic repeating itself? That somehow, someway it would work out. How could it not? You got The Godfather. You got everyone's favorite hard partying, up for anything, say anything, uncle . . . Mike Sirois. Oh shit, and that beloved, cool guy vet with the musician's bona fides Danny will be coming online soon to round out what'll surely soon be a PM Drive juggernaut. Poor Hardline 5.0 won't know what hit 'em. I mean all that alone and if you're a Freaker you have to be thinking, no brainer, this is happening. Hell, all we gotta do is show up and gab. To paraphrase Rocco Pendola, we can fart for 3 hours and they'll eat it up. Thing is, that's exactly what they did.
And they never stopped. By the time the new PD flipped the AM/PM Drive shows, it was already too late. To that, it must be said that Danny and Sirois gave it a go and a damn fine one I say. If you gave them a listen, it was evident they had more than a little something. Again, it was already far too late in the day. PM Drive? Cavanaugh and Grubes made do with what was on hand. Let's leave it at that. Sure, the AM/PM flip might've been a move to make room for a 4th show. Better and more likely is that the PM Drive reconfig was a placeholder for The Boys. Regardless, as I said the writing was on the wall. Either The Boys were coming in to attempt to save the day or the tent would soon fold. We know which way the wind blew on that one, don't we. Though it's starting to come out via a press happy, loose lipped lawyer that the latter was most definitely in play, at least in some meaningful way.
Madness you say? Yes. Madness. Maybe folly is more apt. The entire premise was based on a once in a generation, maybe two or three generations, event. A perfect storm. Lightening in a 30 year old bottle. Those things manifest themselves. They cannot be manufactured. They are self-directing.
Godspeed to all the former Freakers. Here's wishing you all the very best. Here's to The Boys and their Investors finding that frequency. Here's to The Ticket.
"I love you." --Norman Elizabeth Hitzges
The ex ticket people made 3-5x what they were making at The Ticket. It is known.
DeleteZulu, you and lawyer man have something in common: A deep thirst. By the way, in this context 6 ought to be Six. Composition Police, my ass.
DeleteI hope Cavanaugh, Balis, and Sirois saved and/or invested wisely. The rest will be just fine. But what's your point, Receipts? You stated something already known to all.
DeleteSirois put his $ in top shot
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DeleteI think both -C and Corn Oil have said some things that cannot be overlooked. P1s love TT. And they are a big deal. But perhaps not as big as folks who come to this blog believe they are. Billboards with Rhyner’s face mean nothing to a very large group of denizens. TT calls themselves America’s Favorite Station, and they talk a lot about being the toast of talk radio. This is true, but it is also a simple promotional technique. Talk about how everybody is talking about you: it makes those tuning in for the first time feel FOMO.
ReplyDeleteI mention this because, while many of us were surprised / interested when Dan or Jake popped up on 97.1, folks who simply had that station on their preset when it was hard rock had zero idea who D or J were. They didn’t know who Rhyner was. They didn’t know who Danny or Sirois were. They didn’t have the back story, and they didn’t care to get that deep in the weeds. They turned on the station one day to hear AC/DC for the ten-millionth time and were met instead with these strange people gabbing about who knows what. Some of them stuck around. But just as KTCK one day flipped from LDS owned orchestra music, how many stuck around for the long haul? Five percent, if lucky ?
Point being. Your average commuter didn’t ask to be a Glenn, didn’t understand it, didn’t care, don’t care, would never care.
Bad decision, Coach.
Fun fact: iHeart has more than 200 stations described as either “sports” or “news/talk.”
ReplyDeleteMake of that information what you will.
Sooooo….
I'll go you one better - the National Head of Programming of iHeart is Brad Hardin (and may still have some direct oversight of Dallas), who is also responsible, over the last 20(?) years for any number of FM Talkers, AM & PM "guy talk" shows.
DeleteFunner fact: A few of them are #1 in their market. E.g., WLW in Cincinnati.
DeleteLook. Hey. Dill. These guys have to get their head right with ball. They've cooked up some spin and it's helping them numb themselves to the fact that it was them, not iHeart, that failed and failed spectacularly. Rhyner's cheap "admission" that it's ultimately on them was farcicle. He said that after 5 minutes of excuse making/blaming iHeart. After saying it he continued excuse making/blaming. Since then every bite he's offered has gone down that path. Ditto the rest of them.
Having said all that, can you blame them? It's what we humans do. And can you REALLY blame Rhyner? I can't imaging that sort of blow to the ego. It's no secret that his ego is massively humble a la Garth Brooks. You're talking about a guy in his 70s who produces a meme (not the first one) of himself saying, "I'm back, bitches." That's not tongue in cheek. Same when he claims your way is through him.
OGW actually took more of the blame in his appearance today on the Dave Williams podcast Conversations.buzz
DeleteI'm thinking the fog of war effect that's blinded Mike since '19 is beginning to lift and that thete will be a back channel apology tour. Wouldn't be shocked if we witness a hero's prodigal son welcome back Kotter moment either on TT or at a T event in the not too distant future. And wouldn't that be cool.
ReplyDeleteI listened to the interview (thanks for the URL, Norm!). Pretty good stuff, but more of the same. Yes, Mike admits to the talent falling short, but he always adds in there were other things occurring. One thing very evident is that any idea of Mike losing his mental fastball is a wrong idea. He rehashed a lot of The Ticket founding story. Went into The Freak but was vague and wouldn't give any specifics, sort of skirted around issues. Honestly, there's nothing in the half hour and change that you haven't already heard.
ReplyDeleteI can't shake the feeling that if the Mike in this interview was the Mike on The Freak, The Freak would still be on-air. As the general goes, so do the troops. Just as this truism follows on the battlefield, it too followed course at The Freak. I tried on many occasions to listen to The Freak. Especially The Downbeat and then The Speakeasy (Mike's shows). Unfortunately, the Mike in this interview was nowhere to be found. Segment after segment he would remain silent, having to be prodded aloud by his cohosts to participate. He literally wouldn't know what was under discussion; it was obvious he was preoccupied with other things. If what many. at The Ticket said over the years is true, I think that's what was going on at The Freak. That is, Mike was more concerned with Petty Theft and other outside, personal endeavors than his full-time gig. Whatever took place and whatever was on Mike's mind, it's a shame the hoped for by so many of us re-energized Mike was nowhere to be found, and as a result The Freak always seemed to be teetering on flatlining.
I used to comment here often but haven't in a long while. Not since the first month or so of The Freak coming into existence. From that point forward, and especially from the moment it became evident something was up with The Hang Zone, MTC sadly has become dominated by some very loud, brash, and sometimes downright crazy voices. Still, there are some here who remain true to the original spirit of the blog.
Stay hard, Mike Rhyner. Stay hard, The Freak. Stay hard, MTC.
If you have a subscription to the DMN, I suggest you check out the piece that came online this afternoon. Both Rhynes and Julie are quoted extensively. Both confirmed the next move. All about that pod, about that pod, about that pod. Between this and Kingston's "well, I guess I can let the cat out of the bag that no one knew existed or really needs to know but I'm a very thirsty man so I will" Tweet, it's obvious where things are heading.
ReplyDeleteAt this point, whatever. All a bit of a yawn, frankly. High School Confidential writ large. The lot of it, the lot of them. From Mike to Julie to Ben & Skin to Jake to Dan to Phillip Kingston, just stop it already. Go do your thing, do your best. Tiredhead with this bunch.
Yup. To those that were previously radio personalities that I never tuned into - good luck on your upcoming Youtube livestreams or Twitch or Podcasts that I still will not tune into.
DeleteIt's interesting the "shocking" part of this news differs so much from certain perspectives!
https://media1.tenor.com/m/Df-M17pF914AAAAC/alonzo-mourning.gif
No Puppet, Inc. is happening. Already in full swing ahead mode. Where do you think the $$$ for the studio, Rob Chickering, etc. is coming from? The Investors. It was The Investors (one of them is KIngston), with Kingston as the pointman, that bizarrely tried to purchase or lease the 97.1 signal (ludicrous). And it's The Investors who are putting up the seed money for the new talent soon to come onboard. Everyome is just waiting for the fallout from the flip/firings before making anything official. Get ready to see all Ticket now Freak expats and a couple of the others rounding out the No Puppet roster of pods. I hope they plan on hiring a competent management team, or at least manager with genuine skins on the wall. One that will be listened to and whose direction will be heeded. Else, just like The Freak, it'll be DOA. Going to be interesting to watch unfold. I just don't know where the money will come from to pay everyone. I guess the same nearly 6k subs that seem to never fluctuate (wane or grow) will pay $6.90 per pod, every month for the foreseeable future? Um. OK. Anyways. Tune in tomorrow for more of the soap opera.
DeleteWhat makes any of that a soap opera?
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DeleteI'm crappin' you negative
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DeleteI said here some time ago I do not get podcast networks. But I am not a guy that pays to subscribe to podcasts.
ReplyDeleteI didn’t feel compelled to listen to these people when it was free (except for Dan & Jake) & I doubt I will start now.
These people not going to be better by being able to meander around without getting to the point and being able to use the F word.
No Puppet Inc. - will be a good case study to see how someone launches an independent podcast network and succeeds or fails in 2024.
ReplyDeleteThe more host/shows they add, the higher the overhead - but that doesn't mean an increase in an equitable number of subscribers, especially if the monthly fee goes up (which you would assume it would have to).
If Dan or Jake are counting on non-subscriber revenue to substantially buffer their income - best of luck. As discussed here, the reality is sponsorship sales of individual podcasts, is both difficult (sales is hard) and not particularly deep (what's the ROI for the advertiser?).
All of it is completely doable, the big question is, what are their expectations in terms of income? With the freedom of not "working for the man", comes with probably less income, more work. And they all may be just fine with that.
The irony is, as they try to grow this beyond Dan and Jake, they become, "the man".
It’ll be hilarious when Dan and Jake are both in Rhoback head to toe doing an ad before a stream
ReplyDeleteI can't keep up with all the free podcasts I follow. Can't imagine that I would ever pay for one. Maybe I'm just an outlier.
ReplyDeleteSame for me, never paid for a podcast and can't imagine starting now. There is one that I listen to regularly and it is 1-1.5 hours, once per week. And sometimes I get behind on that.
DeleteI’m with you, I just barely have time listen to the podcast I dig now. Much less paying for one that run, what, 6 hrs a week total? I listen to the ticket because I like the vibe of the station in general and all I have to do is turn on the radio…
DeleteI just don’t have space for another podcast.
Same. Ticket is easy. Don’t look for episodes, which ones I listened To or not. Just press play. Also never paid for a pod. Wife is bigger on podcasts and she hasn’t either.
DeleteHow successful can a "local" podcast network be though? In my opinion, to make it big and worth the cost and effort, the goal would be to go national and attract a bigger audience. When you're already a national personality like Dan LeBatard then you can leave ESPN and have a successful podcast. But are these former Ticket folks going to grow their audience like that or will they just be catering to their current P1 fanbase?
ReplyDeleteThe online P1 who will follow along to the podcasts don't represent the overall Ticket listeners who are just daytrippers - many only listen in their cars and especially for sports talk. The Dallas Cowboys effect is real as well. There are Cowboys fans across the country who tune into both The Ticket and The Fan during football season and the important weeks of the offseason. (Also sidenote, my theory to why ratings were lower for both stations in March can be partly attributed to the most non-eventful Cowboys offseason in recent memory coming off another playoff failure where many fans wanted heads to roll)
I don’t discount your Cowboys theory, but let me add icing to your cowboys cake. I’ve been told that the Ticket is hit especially hard by spring break because their listeners are the types that can afford to vacation for spring break or take time off with the family -think staycations- during spring break, etc. all of which lessens panelists with meters being surveyed:
DeleteC
So why were ratings for the previous 2 March books so good? The "Spring Break" narrative is hilarious
DeleteI just double checked Welpton post to confirm. March of 2022 the Ticket had a 5.5 and ranked 4th M-s6a-mid. March of 21 they were 8th with 4.1
DeleteLast year was great for them (1st with a 9.0) but are 4th and 8th “so good”?
It may be rationalization, but I’m friends with some of their sales guys, they tell clients to expect a wobble in March for Spring Break and in July pre training camp. They know when listeners leave town and tune out.
C
6a-mid? What a weird block to choose, when 6a-7p is what matters. They were #2 in the market and destroyed the Fan in 2022, and were number 1 and almost tripled their number in 2023
DeleteYes what a weird block to choose, when it’s the first one reported in the trades, top line if Welpton ratings posts, etc.
Deletedid you happen to look at 2021? When they were 5th?
C
I think the biggest issue may be circumstances. When THZ hit their Atlanta roadblock the Ticket was 6 months into a historic 18 month run at (or damn near) the top of the ratings. For the whole market, not just their target. The Freak shows are coming off a less than spectacular run ranging from high teens to low 30s in that same market. The Freak had if I remember correctly about 1/5th the AQH listeners as the ticket. THZ/TDZ left to a cavalcade of publicity and buzz. How many out there really care that they can’t hear Cavanaugh or Julie or Ben and Skin. Will people pay to listen to people most of them were already actively ignoring? The math works for TDZ at 6K subscriptions, does it work for TSE, DB, etc at 1200 subs (1/5th of TDZ) ? Quick math 12x7x12, just over 100k, minus fess and expenses, split 2 or 3 ways and congrats, you’re now making less than you were in your “low paid” positions at Cumulus.
ReplyDeleteC
My one other question about TDZ hiring Chickering, looking for studios, etc is why now? What changed from even a few months ago? I think their plan all along was to go to the Freak- see Kingstons they need one more show comment-. It’s only once the iheart deal fell through (probably because they wouldn’t let them keep their podcast independent) that the TDZ deal fell through, Iheart decided to pull the plug, etc.
ReplyDeletebe damn ironic if Dan and Jake think themselves as hero’s for fighting the evil corporation, and it ends up that the heroes kill the careers of their friends by insisting on their outside gig.
C
The only think that killed the Freakers' careers was their utter lack of compellng/entertaining content. TC said it on his Twitch last week. iHeart was sold a "bill of goods" (Mike R used that language) that The Freak could actually give The Ticket a run for its ratings money from the absolute jump. Like they actually were expecting to be well inside the Top 10 and neck-and-neck with The Ticket. Then the first full month book came out at it was an absolute disaster. 30th place and sub-1 numbers
DeleteThey started looking for studios a while ago.
DeleteGee. Who sold iHeart on the bill of goods? 3 Pied Pipers. 3 Movements in what can only be aptly described as a poorly written sonatina.
DeleteI have an idea
DeleteHmm.
ReplyDeleteI keep shaking my head in some sense of disbelief. Local media, to me, is interesting. TF flipping came as no surprise to me or anyone. But what beggars belief and what clearly demonstrates what, at heart, went wrong with a format and a talent pool that should've done so much better, is that all former hosts across the board (sans somewhat Rhyner, but he always qualifies) keep saying they have no regrets, they just loved having fun with their friends on-air, and that they wouldn't have changed anything from a hosting perspective. Why just this evening I watched Cavanaugh and KT on YT. Unreal. The interfacing lasted roughly 45-50 minutes. The first 25 consisted of inside jokey, meandering chatter that lead into deli meat discussion (including a brief ranking), which lead to an online game. No different from what every show did in order to kill time. Nothing substantive whatsoever. Nothing that left you wanting more. Nothing that made you think, oh man I can't wait for them to pick this up tomorrow. It's nuts. They just don't get it. Contrarywise, Cavanaugh's Cowboys YT channel is focused and successful. Yes, there is non-Cowboys banter and a bit of humor tossed in, but it's focused. And it's good. Boggles the mind, these people. I think KT has something to say, and about many things. I don't understand why he and the rest, and I mean all the rest, can't discuss topics that have teeth. You don't have to dive into the national socio-political cesspool to do it. You don't have to go all sports. As KT himself said, who's now frequenting reddit Ticket, he's really into local talk about local things. Awesome. Great idea. Go for it. But here he and Jeff are today, totally unfettered. I mean, boy howdy, they can actually say whatever the hell they want. Yet they chose to pratter on about nothing, rank something stupid, and then play a game for nearly a 1/2 hour. You want to go local? Bone up on local issues and talk. There's definitely an audience for it.
ReplyDeleteAs a very flawed but unique radio voice once said about Corby and Danny "imitating" Rhyner's penis: "Yeah, I guess I just don't get it."
Soooo we’ve all come around to the reality that DnJ were always heading to 97.1?
ReplyDeleteOne Hundo. George knew. Not everyone at TF was happy about it. They knew what it meant. A certain someone who wasn't a faux disgruntled former employee let it slip to Jub rarly on that Whitt's source was correct. That's why he was pissed. Once DnJ realized TF wasn't going to be what they thought ("bill of goods" for $500, Alex) and saw it was failing, they changed direction, plans, and attitude. It's why TC refers to the bill of goods. Sorry, Cult Members, The Boys are just like anyone else in that industry.
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