An Anonymous Perspective on the Greggo, Richie And Sybil Smackdown (GRASS)

This is too good not to highlight for Confessors.  From an Anonymous commenter to the last post, I offer the following.  Yes, it could be made up, I could be a sap.  But it's not sensationalistic, it has the ring of truth.  Best, it gives us a very helpful framework for considering both Greg's and Richie's account.  Bosses change, and what was OK one day might not be OK the next.

Accounting for everyone's claimed shock at their sacking.

It basically tells a story of the inmates running the asylum, sponsors stopping by for a look-see, but those who stick around sometimes thinking they're more inside than they really are.  Result:  breakdown of professionalism and discipline.  Sometimes no choice but to get out the brooms, which CBS eventually determined to do.

Here's the comment from Anonymous, who has my thanks:

Talked to a buddy of mine today who is in the industry. No he doesn't work for any of the sports stations. Nor does he work for Cumulus or CBS. But the insight and bits of scuttlebutt he gave me were interesting so I thought I'd pass them along.

Ratings and RaGE. Whitt has always maintained that it's advertising dollars that matter, not ratings. Well ratings don't matter as much as we think and so they're not the end all be all measure of success. Buddy says that's partly true but it's a bit misleading. The 2 go hand in hand. Without ratings sponsors will eventually look elsewhere. CBS is big enough to keep finding clients willing to give them a shot, but the bigger clients usually leave as soon as their contract is up. Most of RaGE's sponsors were on the nickel and dime plan and the few that remained for a long period of time ended up being friends of the show, which can and from what buddy says in a few cases did become problematic. Wanting special favors, access, deals, and stuff like that. 

Also told that from what he's heard for months now, way before the firing went down, that this move had been in the works for a long time. Long before Whitt's Nov. 15th Greggo Armageddon that he writes about. Kinda like the ads, RaGE and the management before Spittle and the receptionists and everyone else had all gotten way too close. It was an unprofessional and unproductive work environment. Everyone was having way too good of a time, but in their own ways. Everything was OK'd and permitted by the 2 regimes prior to Spittle. The proverbial other way was looked on just about everything for every member involved. So when Whitt says his relationship and all the rest was approved by management he speaks the truth. But that was the problem. You can't have such a permissive work place and still think it's going to end well. When you have people like Williams and Whitt, guys who will take advantage of a situation, though one obviously in a much different and disturbing way than the other, and such an anything goes work environment the outcome won't be good and it wasn't. After re reading Whitt's last two blog posts and looking at the Twitter material it's very obvious that my buddy while maybe not in the direct know, does know enough to have the gist of the heart of the matter. Some of that Twitter material and some of the things said are the sorts of things that any properly or sanely run work place steers well clear of. Unless you want HR involved in a nanosecond.

Basically Spittle was brought in to clean up and clean house. That meant RaGE. Buddy says he's heard that there will be more changes but nothing mind blowing like The Ticket and The FAN merging or the whole thing going national. Spittle is most likely watching each show closely until around mid July and at that time see who if anyone needs to be replaced by new talent.

Thanks again, Anonymous.  Although you neglected to pass along what your pal said about this site's and its readers' immense influence on the DFW sports/guy radio scene.

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CONFIDENTIAL TO RICHIE WHITT:  Richie, I'm sure you're too busy to visit some of your favorite websites, but in case you swing by here:  You have got, got, got to get rid of the charcoal background to your comment section with its black typeface.  Or get rid of the black typeface and go to white.   Why make your readers any more sour towards you than some of them, at least, are already inclined to be?

Let me know if you need a consult on cultivating a highbrow online community of readers.  

BREAKING: THE END OF RaGE? or THE END OF RaGE!

Confessors, I'm in the middle of my work day and can't write much.  Two comments to prior post have advised that (1) Greggo tweeted that he has been terminated, and (2) Richie/Sybil have been removed from The Fan website.

I have NOT confirmed these items.

Tell us what you know, and your very politely expressed reaction.

Speak to Us, Gypo Nolan

I said I was going to move on from Where's Greggo Talk, but did not anticipate the gigantic response to the last post.  Thank you, Google.

Thought I'd throw up a quickie just to freshen up the thread, which I think also set some kind of record for this site.

Gypo Nolan is an occasional Confessor who brings us some inside dish from time to time that has the ring of authority.  I'm thinking he's heard something about Greg Williams's situation and could fill it in if he feels able to do so.

I suppose we'll all be tuning in at 2 PM tomorrow.  A commenter to the last thread has promised us that Greg will be broadcasting.  And I believe everything that anonymous commenters say, especially when they sound like The Girlfriend.

In the meantime, what's the scuttlebutt on Ben and Skin?  Headed to The Fan?  Good move or bad?

See you tomorrow at 2.

Had to Laugh in the Car at Something Greggo Said Today

Rhads and Followill were enjoyable enough, but it struck me that I hadn't checked out RaGE in awhile, so I punched over.  They were talking to some FANfan (their latest catchphrase -- at least I hadn't heard it before) who had won a contest and was sitting in on the show.  One of his interests was camping.

GREGGO:  Why would anyone want to go camping?

SYBIL:  You can go out in the woods and drink beer, not shower for three days.

GREGGO:  I can do that at home.

Dunno, just struck me funny.  Didn't listen for long, no other major impressions. 

Except that they're still around and not taking time off over the holidays.  I recall commenters predicting their demise well before now, but they're hanging on.

PS:  Question:  I thought I heard Rhads say that BaD was going to do some PM drive shows during the break.  Did anyone hear that or know what days that will take place?  Thanks.

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Follow Your Plainsman on Twitter:  @Plainsman1310

Some Interim RaGE Thoughts

This is not the Richie-Greggo post I promised last time out.  It'll be up soon, I promise.

FIRST INTERIM RaGE THOUGHT:

Commenter Anon D posted a comparison of the Hardline and RaGE ratings for the last little while.  I'm cutting and pasting his stuff:

They haven't made ANY dent in the Hardline's ratings. None. Zero. Zip. Nada.
Here's the monthlies, Men 25-54, 3-7p.
July Ticket 7.7 #1, Fan 1.8, 27th
Aug Ticket 7.9 #1, Fan 2.3 18th
Sep Ticket 8.9,#1, Fan 2.6,17th
Oct Ticket 9.7 #1, Fan 3.3, 12th
Nov Ticket 9.2 #1, Fan 4.3 6th
Dec Ticket 7.7 #1, fan 2.9 13th
Jan Ticket 8.4 #1, Fan 1.8, 27th
Feb Ticket 7.7 #1, Fan 1.7 22nd

As you can see, even the Fan's increase due to the playoffs and WS didn't hurt KTCK, due to the overall increase in sports listening (in other words, to paraphrase Rhyner, even the marginal p-3 found themselves listening to more sportsradio at that time)
And if you want a fun game- name 21 other stations that appeal more to men 25-54 than the Fan. Ticket and ESPN, 4 rock stations, a couple of country stations, a couple urban, 4 hispanic stations, you're still only at 14. Couple of news or talk, couple odds and ends (KERA? KEOM?), you're still only at 18. That's because stations like KISS and i93 (that appeal to teens) and KVIL (that appears to soccer moms) are more popular with men aged 25-54 than KRLD-FM.

The Fan thought they'd come in and take some of that big Ticket audience. And all they've managned to do is erode ESPN's numbers. (Down from a 4.1 Tie for 8th in July to a 2.6 and 17th in Feb for 3-7p. Down from a 3.7 to a 3.0 in M-F 6a-Mid.

Thanks once again to Anon D, this was absolutely terrific information, nicely digested.  Amazing stuff, astounding that RaGE, for all its publicity and presence of Greg Williams, has done absolutely nothing in almost a year.  (I have no idea whether it's doing better than what it replaced, which would at least be something -- I'm sure Anon D or some other hip commenter can enlighten us.)

Several readers have suggested that RaGE can't last long in its current configuration.

Here's my view -- it will last at least until February 2012, when,, we have surmised and Mike Rhyner has hinted, his Ticket future will be set.  If he departs (I think this unlikely, but the possibility has been floated), RaGE will soldier on, because the calculus of drive competition would have pretty drastically changed.  105.3 knows that Corby has a love/hate relationship with the P1 and might well have the RaGE hang on to see if Mike R's absence might shake loose some listeners.

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SECOND INTERIM RaGE THOUGHT

Since we're on a RaGE roll here, I've tried to tune in.  Today wasn't a bad day to do so, as I'd already heard the Cubs fan thing on Gordon's segment on The Musers and there was too much hockey talk.  When I spent some time on RaGE, I listened closely to see if I could identifiy what it was that was so frackin' weird about it.

I found it.

Whenever anyone other than Greggo is talking -- usually Richie -- that person uses the word "Greggo" constantly in his or her own remarks.  This gives the impression that the speaker is (1) calling for Greggo to pay attention and (2)to  respond to the speaker.

I never noticed it before.  I invite you to tune into RaGE and listen to it for 10 minutes and count the number of times you heard the word "Greggo."  Compare that to normal human conversation, including conversations you hear on The Ticket; listen to how often (seldom) a speaker uses the names of the other people in the conversation.

It's disconcerting.  It's uncomfortable to listen to. It has to be some program regulation that is designed to remind us all that good old Greggo is present -- which would be helpful for flyby listeners, of which there are probably a lot -- and will be heard from soon. 

It absolutely has to be intentional.  Otherwise, it's just goofy.  Or pathological  Actually, it's goofy and pathological anyway.

RaGE -- One Year In (Almost)

I’m jumping the gun a little here, but after the last article, had RaGE on my mind.  The article you’re reading now started out in an entirely different direction, so I’ve hacked that out and will run it as the next article in a few days, also RaGE-related.

It seems impossible that RaGE has been on the air for almost a year, but it began its assault on The Hardline (and the last hour of BaD, not to mention WTDS) in May 2010.  The consensus among correspondents to this site seems to be that it has not been a success, at least by comparison to our heroes on The Hardline.  I have not checked the ratings, but I gather it has not made a significant dent in The Hard One's popularity. 

(Can anyone give us a report on whether RaGE and The Hardline are up or down?  I gather that The Hardline is still number one by a mile in the target demo in PM drive, but is there any evidence of even slight RaGE impact?)

I have heard some good things on RaGE and noted them from time to time, but on the whole I would have to agree with most Confessors that it's just not a very good presentation.   Confessors have suggested numerous issues, and I've got a few more:

          (1) Richie Whitt just isn't a compelling radio voice or personality.  He’s knowledgeable, but his voice is flat and dry and he is not particularly droll.   I don’t find him an offensive radio presence, just a colorless one.

          (2) The show spends too much time jabbing Greg, and not enough talking sports, which means that the only reason for Whitt to be on the show -- his sports knowledge -- goes to waste.  I don’t listen enough to know if there’s much in the way of interesting guy talk or pop-culture talk.  Whenever I turn in, there seems to be a sports theme, but it develops the Ben-and-Skin Disease of self-referring asides and conversational loops.  By at least attempting to talk sports, perhaps they’re trying to address a criticism one hears (but not from me) about The Ticket from time to time -- not enough sports.  Fine -- but get on with it.

          (3) Greg too often sounds pretty unhealthy.

          (4) RaGE tries to make Greg bear the weight of the presentation, and he just doesn't have the chops for it.   PS:  Could it be that his voice troubles are a result of doing a five hour show where he's expected to do quite a bit of the talking?

          (5) The other hosts patronize Greg, and it shows.

          (6) Attempts to copy The Hardline are doomed to failure, and the hosts know it, so the attempts are without conviction and fall flat.

          (7) Three persons with not-terribly-distinctive radio characters (Richie, Armen, Sybil) plus one distinctive radio character (Greg) does not add up to two distinctive characters.  Instead, they try to generate interest by frenetic talking and patently artificial jollity.  A Confessor or two mentioned this in comments to the last article, and I think this is the show’s biggest problem.




Sybil Summers.  Hey, why not?

Having said all this, I personally don't find RaGE all that horrible to listen to, and I've noted segments that I thought were very good.  But since there's a choice to listen to something much more interesting from start to finish, RaGE barely gets any of my listening minutes.  I don't doubt that should The Hardline disappear tomorrow (and not replaced by something good), I'd probably tune in to RaGE, or maybe 88.1 The One KNTU-FM, Little Steven's Underground Garage on Sirius-XM 25, or maybe road noise.

If I had to offer one piece of advice to RaGE -- and you know how much my advice is treasured in the DFW radio community -- it would be:  calm down and speak to one another like normal human beings having an ordinary conversation.  You don’t challenge The Hardline by doing the same things that The Hardline does.  That would be easy, and, as we have seen, it hasn’t worked in the past.  The Hardline succeeds (in addition to the innate talent and personalities of its hosts) because the shows present themselves as conversations between guys – not as shows that are scared to death of dead air and unplanned content.  That takes a special kind of talent and experience.  Greg might have had the knack at one time and I suspect he still does, but until they stop treating the poor guy like a Chatty Kathy doll who must be constantly goosed to keep the whole thing afloat, they’ll continue to sound ordinary, and The Hardline will steamroll them in every book.

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As always, no limits on the subject matter of comments.  However, the next article will focus solely on the Richie-Greggo relationship, so if you want to remark on that, why don’t you hold those thoughts for a couple of days.   Focus on the show overall – if you can’t wait, no problem.  Blast away.

And, as always, contrary views appropriately expressed are welcome.  I’d love to hear from some RaGE fans.