I'm Shocked -- Shocked, I Tell You . . .

.   .   .   to discover that The Ticket and its dad Cumulus actually do not need my advice on how to be a successful radio station. The Little One continues to kick broadcast toches in the latest Arbitron book for men 25-54.  Incredibly, the Cowboys had a better season but their radio ratings went down after moving from the signal-challenged Ticket to 105.3 The Fan.

One of these days I’m going to get around to trying to dissect whether The Ticket is ascendant because of the quality of its presentation, or because its competition is so abysmal.  Sometimes when I’ve overdosed on The Ticket I’ll switch to another channel.  I ask myself if it’s possible that the dreary stuff I hear out of the other sports talkers only seems dreary because I don’t listen enough to “get” whatever schtick the program is offering. I haven’t answered that question yet. Someone is listening to these stations.  Someone likes these stations better than The Ticket.

And if it is true that The Ticket is truly a superior content provider, why has its formula been (apparently) impossible to duplicate? It’s not like the format has any intellectual property protection; when a format is successful, imitators spring up all over the place.  Can it be the case that of the tens of thousands of people wanting to get into broadcasting, the only talent for The Ticket broadcast strategy ends up only at The Ticket?

When I figure it out, I’ll let you know.  Station managers and program directors, stay tuned for the kind of valuable advice that, as noted, is worth every penny you pay to visit this site. 

In the meantime, I welcome the thoughts of all faithful Confessors.