Saturday Morning with Rick and Craig

A couple of weekend quick hits:

I had an errand to run up north today  and it being the first Saturday of the month, I thought I would grab a young auto enthusiast relation of mine and drop by Cars & Coffee at Classic BMW.  The Teebox Golf Show (that's what they call it on The Ticket website) usually broadcasts from that event.

Never been there before.  It was quite a thing.  Huge crowd of women and (mostly) men and some amazing vehicles.  Parking was a double sawbuck, but there was no place to park -- actually, the cool older cars were kind of interspersed with the regular old parking.  I found a place where my heap wouldn't look too out of place.  I was interested in the vintage cars but my companion made a beeline for the Ferraris, Maseratis, and his favorites, the Lamborghinis.  I asked him how much he thought they cost.  He was off by a factor of about forty, so I suggested that he go with the leveraged buyout specialist as a career choice, and maybe put "Jedi" on the back burner for the time being.

I looked around for the Teebox, looked for the mast of the broadcast truck, couldn't find either.  I was looking for the usual remote setup, hosts sitting at a table, speakers blasting the show.   Then my companion saw some guys and said, "Is that the radio show?"   Sure enough, there were a couple of guys, Rick Arnett and Craig Rosengarden, with headsets on relaxing on some comfy chairs smack in the middle of the showroom with a couple of guys, an engineer and some other guy who was just kind of a guy sitting there enjoying the presentation and checking his phone.  (Craig on the left with the red cap, Rick with his back to the camera on the right.)  

[[CORRECTION:  I am reliably advised that the "kind of a guy" checking his phone isn't just any old guy, but the guy who is a good friend of Corby Davidson, the one and only Eric Maas, owner of Classic BMW.  By the way, if you haven't been there -- it's a gorgeous dealership.  Wonder what he'd take for the Conestoga.]]

A Coupla White Guys Sitting Around Talking Gahf

There were no speakers set up in the showroom to broadcast the show to the shoppers, and I wonder how many of them even knew that one of the original Day One Ticket guys (Rick) was even at that  moment broadcasting in their very midst.

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By the way, Rick Arnett has a nice Avid Golfer blog you should check out.  Gahf and babes.  It's listed on the Ticket-Friendly Links, and here it is:  Avid Golfer Blog

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Did someone throw some cold water on Eli Jordan?  I was listening to a Ticker this morning and I thought -- I know this voice, but there's something different.  It was Eli, speaking in normal human tones. 

I like Eli's overheated narratives.  I hope they haven't asked him to calm down.

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Back to Cars & Coffee for a minute:  When we drove out there was a long line of people along the Parkway.  They seemed to have a couple of banners but they were kinda crinkled up and I couldn't read them entirely, although one displayed the partial phrase "CROSS THIS LINE," as though it were some kind of demonstration.  Anyone know what that was about?

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I may regret this, but I'm going to suspend moderation and see what happens.  I was browsing some older threads and came across one where the Confessors were talking about moderation.  Some liked it, but a thin majority didn't.  So I thought I'd take off the leash and see if the dog stayed close.

Take it easy, Confessors.  I derive no joy from deleting comments.  The Rules of the Confessional remain in effect:  READ 'EM HERE

ThePlainsman1310@gmail.com

@Plainsman1310

Comment moderation suspended (for now).

MTC Congratulates the Teebox

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I'm not a golfer but I've always gotten a kick out of the Teebox.  Not just in anticipation of a Craig Rosengarden malapropism; it's a cool listen at work on Saturday mornings, 8 to 10.  Craig and Rick Arnett, a Ticket pioneer, have a nice easy manner, and like Rich Phillips and NASCAR, because of the skill of the broadcasters I find myself listening with some interest to talk about a subject I care nothing about.

However, this site has on several occasions noted that Teebox remotes were the worst-sounding show on The Ticket.  I won't repeat the detail, but the sound on their remotes was gargly and gravelly and hard to listen to.  Here are some early reports:

The Teebox Sounds Absolutely Terrible This Morning

Once Again, the Teebox Seems to be Broadcasting from Pluto

It never got any better, and I eventually quit mentioning it. 

The other day I thought I heard Rick say that they'd gotten some new equipment for their remotes.  I tuned in last week and my impression was that someone needed to get his money back, there was still a hedgehog in the gear somewhere.  But this morning they're broadcasting from a Park Place dealership in Fort Worth and it sounds great, studio quality.  So they must have gotten the toys installed.

It didn't seem right that they'd be so handicapped in their mix'n'mingle with George DiGianni.  Aurally, at least, they can now hold their own with him and The Orphanage.  Congratulations to them.

Can We Get a Report on Today's Mix 'n' Mingle Between George DeJohn and the TeeBox?

Was able to hear a little of the Train Station Fitness Show but wasn't near the channel at 8 AM.  Can we get a witness?

MORE BREAKING NEWS: The Fan Invades The Ticket's Backyard

I was thinking that maybe The Fan had some Cowboys pre-game, so when the Hardline took a break I switched over.

I switched over just in time to hear a Major Station Announcement on RaGE. 

The Major Station Announcement was that The Fan has acquired the space formerly occupied by The Board Room in Victory Park (8000 sf) and is going to open The Fan Sports Bar.  I may not be recalling the name correctly, it may be The Fan Sports Lounge -- I was dodging texters on the Tollway at the time.  It will obviously be 100% Fan-promotional, and programs will originate from there from time to time.

Not far, I would imagine, from The Ticket's new studios, should they ever actually ever move into them.  I know that the move has been complicated by the recent Citadel acquisition, but that move to Victory Park ahs turned into something of a joke, has it not?  It is certainly not treated very seriously by any Ticket host.

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All right, Confessors, I want you to bear with me for a minute here.  You know Your Plainsman likes to look at the big picture, so after almost no careful consideration, I'd like to share with you a couple of thoughts for you to comment on:

The Fan may suck.  Richie Whitt may suck.  Greggo may suck.  The whole damned station may suck, and CBS may suck.  And we can all have a good laugh about The Fan's lousy ratings.  And we can all be very smug about the superiority of Ticket programming, talent, bits, history, all the rest.  I will concede that that smugness has been richly earned, because The Ticket is superior to The Fan in any way that matters to a day-to-day listener.

But I gotta ask you -- be fair now --:   Isn't there a spot of genius in this?  The Ticket moves into studios in Victory Park, but The Fan one-ups them with 8,000 square-feet of fan-friendly promotion right next door.  The Ticket does remotes and they're great, but The Fan is throwing up a permanent remote where listeners can come and identify with the brand while they're doing their favorite things (drinking beer, observing breasts, eating bar food in a bar, watching sports).  And The Fan guys are going to be rubbing elbows with listeners there in a way that Ticket guys haven't had to do in awhile (because they don't have to, because they're local gods).  I'm not criticizing Ticket hosts, who by and large get really good marks for dealing decently with P1's at remotes and in public.  Just saying that The Fan hosts are hungry in a way that The Ticket hosts haven't been, for awhile.  Those hosts and their listeners are part of a community of pain that can be a powerful springboard to improved ratings.

Even if you disagree with me that this is a very imaginative and progressive way to promote the station:  It ought to mean something to Cumulus and The Ticket guys that CBS continues to be willing to pour a ton of dough into promoting The Fan.  This is a signal that they're in it for the long haul, and they're going to fight The Ticket tooth and nail, right next door to our boys.

And all of this with Mike Rhyner's contract coming up.  What?  You don't see any way that The Fan's continuing well-financed assault on The Ticket has anything to do, conceptually or otherwise, with Mike's contract?  You say that Mike has been heard saying that Your Plainsman is a rank fool?  

In the words of the magnificent Rick Arnett, "I don't think so."  

It's going to be an interesting six months, and I hope that all Confessors hang in there for the ride.

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Follow Your Plainsman on Twitter:  @Plainsman1310

Corby Has a Real Sweet Stroke

Have the Rangers energized the Hardline?  I have no idea.  But I think the show has been especially good recently.

I was reading with the showgram on today, and was only half-listening.  Even without my full attention, I caught enough to feel that it had the spirit of The Hardline at its hardest.

One segment made me put down my book and listen.

It was Corby's analysis of The Masters.  I don't know much of anything about golf (surprise), so one who does might cavil at one or another of his analyses or predictions.  But just listening to him play it straight and produce a thoughtful and, to my untrained ear, authoritative report on what was coming up was interesting and entertaining.  Corby at his non-yuk best.

I believe I heard a promo teasing that Corby's going to be on the Tee Box this Saturday morning, 8-10.  He and Rick Arnett should put out some interesting radio.  Might should give it a spin.

Anyone Catch The Teebox on March 13?

The (incomparable) AP from The (really incomparable) UnTicket advises that Rick Arnett and Craig Rosengarden gave this site a mention on The TeeBox a week ago.  Mrs. Plainsman and I were headed out to Carmel for a tenth anniversary vacation and we'd parked the Conestoga at DFW just as The Train Station Fitness Show (with George DeJohn) was drawing to a close, so I missed The TB for the first time in a long time.

Had a great time.  Missed the tsunami (which did cause some damage in California), but Mrs. P and I do seem to be giving off a faint glow.

If any of you heard it and can recall anything that was said, I'd be grateful for a report.  Many thanks.

More Teebox Journalism from the Nation -- or at Least the Part Controlled by Casey Millen

The Nation is aware that Your Plainsman has a soft spot for The Teebox.  Saturday morning, 8 to 10 am.  Rick Arnett -- one of the original Ticket Seven -- and his colleague Craig Rosengarden talk golf and a lot of other things.  To my ear, very entertainingly.  A lot of P1's sleep through it, but if you're up going for a jog or starting your errands or waiting for The Orphanage, give it a spin.  I'm not a golf guy but I still like the show.  Nice, easy, frequently funny.   Just a a real  nice sound to start the weekend.

Confessor email correspondent C.S. applauds the recent contributions to that showgram of one Casey Millen.  Now, I must say, I suspect C.S. is a female and may have an intimate correspondence with Casey, so there may be some special pleading here.  But even discounting the comment for this possibility, I think his/her remarks are of interest:

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"The up and coming Casey Millen seems to be getting a lot more attention from Ticket fans for his blue one-liners and irregular bits. Today Casey performed a bit of high comedy on the Tee Box and I’m a bit confused on what to think.

"The bit featured his creation called “Golf Metal” which was wildly inappropriate for the venue (duh). I think it was a stroke of comedic genius that played like an Andy Kaufman bit because Craig and Rick didn’t seem to understand the gag.

"I attached the audio. I think this Millen kid has something, and I look forward to seeing where it goes. I’m curious as to whether any other P1s heard this bit, and what they’re thoughts were.
 
"Either way you look at it, the Tee Box has become a bit cooler due to this guy’s shtick."

https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=b64d39f068&view=audio&msgs=12ead1c254318d3f&attid=0.1&zw

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Many thanks to C.S., Millen intimate or not, for the clip and the comment.

I think The Teebox is getting better as time goes by, too, and I agree that C. Millen may have a little something that the Nation should keep an eye on, C.S.'s special pleading notwithstanding (if I'm right that this email is something of a plant).

I do think that Rick and Craig basically got the bit, but since it was about 12 seconds long, there wasn't much they could do with it.  They also mentioned a creative "open" to the show that Casey had done.  I'm out of town and missed the showgram today, but I would welcome the Nation's views on Casey (or the Teebox).

This is NOT the Promised STD -- It's About Craig Rosengarden's Tickers on This Morning's Teebox and Tickers Generally

I had promised that there would be two consecutive STDs (Scorching Ticket Disquisitions, if you're new to the site), starting with the "Black Ticket" article just below.  But today's Teebox inspired a thought I thought I'd knock off to give the Nation some weekend content:

Whether you like golf or not, the Teebox is a great little show, 8-10 am on Saturdays sandwiched between the dubious (George DeJohn's Train Station Fitness Show) and the sublime (The Orphanage).  Rick Arnett and Craig Rosengarden have a fine old time talking about golfy things but also about other items on their minds and stuff that's happened to them during the previous week.  Always enjoyable.  Even if you haven't ever been up on a Saturday morning to check it out, you will be familiar with its most famous series of utterances -- Craig's "the anus is on him" and Rick's "the anus?!" and "I don't think so."  (My recollection is that Rick's "I don't think so" was not in reaction to Craig's misuse of "anus," but to Craig's attempt to explain his way out of it.)  Yes, Confessors, I was actually tuned in for that immortal exchange.

Anyway, on last week's show Craig expressed the thought that he might like to give Tickers a whirl. 

Today, he realized his dream.

It is not my intention here to criticize Craig's Ticker efforts.   If I understand matters correctly, he wrote the first one, and regular Ticker guy Casey Millen wrote the second one.  (There may have been another one or two but I did not hear the middle of the show.)    He was a little halting and uncertain on the first Ticker, but when he read the second one he'd found his stride -- even though Casey had written in some rather, uh, blue material. 

Here's what struck me -- reading out loud is a skill.  Put aside the skill needed to bang together a mini-broadcast as sporty news piles up during the day, gotta get the clips ready, gotta get a tease ready, maybe a couple of jokes, and then you have to write solid, succinct text that gets the info across in a clear and efficient way. 

Our Ticker guys are really good at all those things.  But again, my focus today is on reading the written word out loud.  Craig, of course, reads just fine.  But he is clearly reading.  It's not seamless.  He's not just talking into a mic, he's obviously reading.  His inflection is non-conversational, his cadence somewhat forced.  But Rich, and Ty, and Sean, and Casey, and all the other Ticker guys just blast it right out.  They're reading too, of course, but there is a seamlessness and polish to their delivery that does not call attention to that fact.  It has nothing to do with speed -- it's just a talent for reading out loud without sounding like a third-grader, on the one hand, or Franklin Roosevelt, on the other.  Expression; pace; continuity.  A mini-speech that is pleasing to the ear and does not call attention to its own delivery. 

So -- Craig's bit was fun, he was perfectly fine.  Rather brave, in fact, to undertake the Tickers. 

But let's take a moment to reflect on the skill it takes to sling out a good Ticker, and to thank the unthanked Tickermen of SportsRadio 1310 The Ticket.

Happy 17th Birthday to the Little One and the Magnificent Seven

The Magnificent Seven, present at the creation, being:

Mike "The Founder" Rhyner

Craig "Junior" Miller

George "For Some Reason, Called 'the Commander'" Dunham

Gordon "Gordon" Keith

Mike "Fernando" Fernandez

Steve "Cactus" Pryor

     and

Rick "The Immortal" Arnett

Thanks for everything, gents.



Now I Can Die

I heard Rick Arnett and George DeJohn talking romance (not with one another) on The Train Station Fitness Show this morning. 

Actually, as odd as that sounds, it was pretty good.  I mean, they're right that:

(1) You should continue to date your wife.

(2) Spouses should avoid complacency about their health and appearance.

Hard to argue with that. 

MARCHING ORDERS (1): Go to Bed Now, and Tune in to The Teebox at 8 AM Saturday on SportsRadio 1310 AM, 104.1 FM, The Ticket

A real darned nice showgram, even if you're not a golfer, as I am not.

And you never know when Craig Rosengarden will issue forth yet another classic drop.

If you're really ambitious, and batshit crazy, you can tune it at 7 AM and hear the Train Station Fitness Show with George DeJohn.

Have a fine holiday, Confessors all.

Teebox Resume Talk

I like the Teebox non-golf segments.  Always something of interest there.  Yesterday they discussed the awful resumes they were getting and the inexplicable cluelessness of job applicants for their expanding operation.

I sympathize.  I'm not in management or an HR guy, but my employer asks me to look over resumes and other materials submitted by prosective employees from time to time.  It's astounding how bad some of them are.  Like Rick and Craig, I'm amazed that in this economy persons seeking work aren't more careful about what they throw out there.   Especially since there is lots of free online help for persons creating resumes and trying to make a good impression.

(BTW:  I'm on the side of those who want to see cover letters.  Unless it's a commodity-type job were personal impressions and communications skills are of no importance, I want all the evidence I can get on the way a person presents himself or herself.  You can even learn something about an applicant by judging whether they have taken care to ensure that their cover letter leaves an overall pleasant visual impression, quite aside from its prose.)

It is a symptom of a larger problem, which is the poor work attitude of persons in their twenties these days.   The children of yuppies, they carry with them a sense of entitlement.  They emit the vibe that upon their arrival they have nothing to prove, that they're too talented to be given the scut work that they were hired to do.  They've been overpraised throughout their childhood and academic careers, have never developed any realistic self-awareness, and are unprepared for the reality that by the time they score a top job they're average or worse among their peers.

In addition, I question the education that some of them are receiving.   Even those from supposedly reputable schools arrive for their first responsible job with poor habits of thought.  They are not thorough, they are not imaginative, they lack initiative, and they struggle to express themselves.  Whenever I hear some progressive educator criticizing the "back to basics" movement, I wish he or she had to deal with some of the poorly-trained prima donnas I've seen over the past decade or so.  No surprise that their resumes suck, too.

There was one absolutely precious moment in the show.  Craig Rosengarden (who else?) was talking about the crappy resumes he'd been reviewing, and he said:  They even spelt my name wrong."

Teebox Under Water Today

Worst sound quality to date.  Rick sounds worse than Rob, but both suffer the same electronic malady. 

I don't know enough about sound engineering to know what might cause the awful gurgling quality to some of the Teebox's remotes.  (Not all of them.)   No other Ticket remotes seem to have this problem.  It sounds like a bad digital transcription of one kind or another.  It's a hollow sound, like there's a very slight digital echo dialed in.

Right now I'm listening to the handoff to the Orphanage, and the difference in sound quality is very dramatic.

Good show, though.

Once Again, the Teebox Seems to Be Broadcasting from Pluto

On April 10, I made a note of particular horrible-sounding broadcast of The Teebox.  I don't mean the content was bad -- I mean the sound was atrocious.  A week or so later, even Danny made note of it on the handoff to The Orphanage.  RickArnett seemed very surprised that Danny had remarked on how bad the broadcast sounded.  So apparently he and Craig Rosengarden aren't aware of this.

I'm listening to it right now and I can't believe that The Ticket hasn't corrected this.  Other remotes don't sound like this.  This is not a signal-strength or reception problem -- this is a hardware problem.  Somewhere between the hosts' lips and the transmitter some foul and awful thing is happening to those soundwaves. 

I'm not sure how I can describe it.  It sounds like a digital broadcast where only about a third of the bits are coming out of the speaker.  A very rough sound, like these guys should be clearing their throats after every word.  Incredibly unappealing.  Other remotes don't sound this way.  I'm wondering if The Avid Golfer buys this time and uses non-Cumulus equipment. 

The Orphanage has just come on and it sounds fine.  Nope, something is rotten in the bowels of The Teebox's technology.  Someone should tell these guys.

Too bad.  It's a really nice show.  And I don't even play golf or particularly like anything about it.  But, like a lot of stuff on The Ticket, it holds your interest because of the skill of the hosts. 

The TeeBox Sounds Absolutely Terrible This Morning

The first radio program in history where the hosts gargle their entire conversation.

Of all the lousy audio we hear from remotes, nothing approaches the lousiness of this one. 

I'm not even sure how it is possible to make a broadcast sound like this.  It's not overdriven mics; it's not a phone line; it sounds like there's dirt in the cables.

George DeJohn was his usual resonant self, but during the handoff it sounded like NASA having a conversation with someone on the moon.