Pensive in Pensacola -- T.C. Out at The Buzzer

T.C. Fleming:  Terminated at WBSR in Pensacola.  Read from the bottom:

1. TC Fleming ‏@TC1310  1h

   @sportssturm thanks man

    View conversation

   •  Reply 
   •  Retweet 
   •  Favorite 
2. TC Fleming ‏@TC1310  1h

   Also if you have any job leads…. I kind of need them :) Radio is the preference, but I'm open to new experiences!

   Expand

   •  Reply 
   •  Retweet 
   •  Favorite 
3. TC Fleming ‏@TC1310  1h

   @jffcrmr Very excited about the Marshall extension

    View conversation

   •  Reply 
   •  Retweet 
   •  Favorite 
4. TC Fleming ‏@TC1310  1h

   Sorry for hijacking your feed. Since I don't have a show to prepare for, I'm going to go watch that new Godzilla now. Thanks for listening.

   Expand

   •  Reply 
   •  Retweet 
   •  Favorite 
5. TC Fleming ‏@TC1310  1h

   It's a pretty embarrassing episode. I'm gonna try to learn as much as I can from it and try to be a better person going forward.

   Expand

   •  Reply 
   •  Retweet 
   •  Favorite 
6. TC Fleming ‏@TC1310  1h

   We didn't put on an amazing show. It was worse than everything on KTCK. But for a first try, I thought it was passable and getting better.

   Expand

   •  Reply 
   •  Retweet 
   •  Favorite 
7. TC Fleming ‏@TC1310  1h

   I've uploaded all of the shows we recorded here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/38gralluahcbrrn/AAAgq_5-QgB-jbvgq7atemJja … Those shows are far from perfect, but I think they're good

    View summary

   •  Reply 
   •  Retweet 
   •  Favorite 
8. TC Fleming ‏@TC1310  1h

   The owner also fired my cohost, Tommy, saying our show was not working out. I disagree and invite you to listen and judge for yourself.

   Expand

   •  Reply 
   •  Retweet 
   •  Favorite 
9. TC Fleming ‏@TC1310  1h

   I remain stunned by that because, though I admit my faults, they are the same faults I had two months ago when he hired me

   Expand

   •  Reply 
   •  Retweet 
   •  Favorite 
10. TC Fleming ‏@TC1310  1h

    I did work there that I am proud of. If this were decided by a vote among my coworkers, I'd still be there but it's the owners' call.

    Expand

    •  Reply 
    •  Retweet 
    •  Favorite 
11. TC Fleming ‏@TC1310  1h

    Well guys, I got some bad news. I was informed today that things at ESPN Pensacola are not working out, and I've been let go.

Regrettable.  I rather loudly said that I thought T.C. would succeed.  That's not why it's regrettable.  Guy pulls up stakes, makes the move, two months, gone.  Seems unfair.

Some interesting things in that thread.

He reports he was cool with his colleagues, but the "owner" didn't like the show.

Or  .  .  .  maybe didn't like T.C.  He says he is going to "try to be a better person going forward."  Present faults are the same ones he brought to the show to begin with.   Shows don't usually get cancelled after that short a time because ratings didn't improve.  Oh, it's happened, but usually a show gets a chance to get its feet under it, find its audience (vice versa, actually).  So there's probably some inside baseball there.  Maybe It's Just Banter will get the scoop.

I never heard any of the show.  My recollection is that the few listeners who checked in said it was OK, and that wouldn't surprise me.   Any radio boards on the T.C + Tommy Show?

No, I'm guessing there may have been some conflict other than the owner not liking he on-air content.  Just guessing.  My last T.C. guess was wrong.  Well, just as I and others wished him well on his Pensacola adventure, I wish him well again and hope he lands somewhere where he can make a stand.

No Foolin' -- Time to Freshen Up This Dog // BREAKING: RICH PHILLIPS UPDATE

(1) Best wishes to T.C. Fleming as he starts his serious broadcast career on afternoon drive on The Buzzer, WBSR in Pensacola.  (I think I"m the only one who calls it that, but maybe it will catch on as a sportsy nickname for the station and I'll watch those commissions roll in.)   I trust some Confessors will be streaming that show and will give us a report.  I predict it will be a pretty good little show.

(2) It would be very hilarious if there were mass DFW-area defections to WBSR during T.C.'s show, seriously wounding The Hardline.  I predict this will not happen.

(3) Gordon Keith:

MORE:   Dan McDowell impression.  He may have been doing this for awhile, but lately he seems to be trying it out more.  It's pretty Jay Leno-ish right now, but you can hear him tossing it out there in short bits every once in awhile to see what happens.  During the 5:30 am segment today, he was working on it, but everyone was talking at once so it was hard to pick it out.  Pretty funny, though.  I think it would be a tough one to do because Dan talks fast so the impressionist has to have something worked out in his head to keep the bit going.

LESS:  Drought Man.

*     *     *

BREAKING

Although my sources are being somewhat coy, it does appear (as suggested in a comment below) that there is at least one major change afoot at The Ticket, and it involves Rich Phillips.

No details, but other than his departure or a violent office coup deposing Jeff Catlin, I don't know what it could be.  

Will be limited in my ability to follow this today, so please advise if you have information.  If my info is faulty, apologies to Rich, The Ticket, and y'all.

BREAKING BREAKING BREAKING

1:20 PM:  We waterboarded that uncertain source.  This remains unconfirmed.  However, best current information:

Rich Phillips will be taking a position with the Texas Motor Speedway in the nature of media relations or overall broadcast operations.  Sounds sweet.   Best of luck to Rich.

You Watch -- T.C. Is Going to Kill

Fare well, T.C.

I mean it.  I think everyone who has commented on his departure has been sincere in wishing him good luck with the new engagement on ESPN Pensacola, WBSR, 1450 AM, 101.1 FM.  (Do they call it "The Buzzer"?  They should.  Maybe T.C. can rename his show.  T.C., I hereby grant you an irrevocable royalty-free license to use it.)

But with all of the well-wishing, there's also a "but  .  .  . " to many of these comments, suggesting some shortcomings that kept him down at The Ticket.

I think this is misguided.  I think we need to do some celebrating.  Not because he's left, but because he's on his way.  I'll come back to this thought.

If I'm reading his Twitter feed correctly, he's going to be "host/PD," so other duties other than on-air, it sounds like.  Good strategy, keep one's hand in management.  He tweets that he's starting on-air on March 24.  I cannot find any announcement of this on the WBSR website or any kind of a press release.  Any radio types out there who can give us more details about T.C.'s show?  Again, his Twitter feed says it's "Good Morning Pensacola."  (Co-hosting with Chad Brillante, the incumbent? Solo shot?)  Nor any chatter out there, really.  I just Googled ["T.C. Fleming" WBSR], just like that, and got seven hits.   Probably not a gigantic media event so nothing should be expected, but thought there would be some account of this other than T.C.'s.   NOT DOUBTING that he's going to be on, just curious about how ESPN is handling it.

I did not hear one second of any of the T.C. sendoff segments, nor have I listened to It's Just Banter on this subject.  I get the impression from Confessors who did that there was an overtone of ill grace from T.C.  I hope that's not the case.

If it is, it's too bad.  I feel pretty positive about T.C. and about this move.

His Ticket persona was among the most interesting I can recall.  He was the Zelig of The Ticket:

     --  The eager BaD intern who would do anything for the show and their hosts.

     --  The presumptuous insider, pre-on-air days, who rubbed certain other hosts the wrong way.

     --  The shy, soft-voiced guy who would show up occasionally on-air, do a roving-mic bit, mocked and humiliated by certain hosts.

     --  The ambitious would-be host, given a brief shot with Jake, and the two of them even taking over a Hardline show with Mike in September 2011.

     --  The co-host of It's Just Banter with Jake, which gained something of a following.

     --  The host of The Top 10, sounding very different both from IJB and from his shy, soft-voiced guy.

     --  The more mature fill-in guy whose shot selection had vastly improved.

In the past, I had not been interested in commenting on T.C. because it was so very obvious that he was so very ambitious to be an on-air guy, and I did admire the lengths to which he had gone to move up at The Ticket, but  .  .  .  .    And I thought he did a very, very good job with The Top Ten.  The truth is, and I've admitted this in the link you'll find in the next paragraph, I pulled my punches with T.C.

My past T.C. views got their most thorough airing in the comments to this posting, which featured the T.C./Jake Hardline appearance with Mike R on September 2, 2011:  What Did We All Think of The Hardline Today?  Which, if you take the time to read through it, was exactly that I did not care to engage in extensive T.C. nutkicking because I really did not want to knock a guy who was just starting out.  Reading between the lines, yeah -- I didn't see him as Ticket host material, at least at that point.  Which, combined with the nutkicking from Confessors, did not endear this site to him.  I believe he once referred to it as the worst website ever, OWTTE.

But that was a long time ago.  He's a hard worker, he's very smart -- I don't think he gets enough credit for his brains in these parts, I really don't -- he'll prepare the bee-jeebers out of his Florida shows, and I'll bet he'll do extremely well.

Who would have thought that T.C. would beat all other recent J.V.'s to hosting a drive-time show on an ESPN property?  (Elf wasn't drive; B&S, Matt & Scot -- not ESPN.)   This is a credit to his strategies at The Ticket and with IJB.  Come on, Confessors, we need to do more than just wish the guy luck -- we need to acknowledge that if the standard is personal advancement, T.C.'s tenure at The Ticket was a success, and he made most of it happen by sheer industriousness and, yes, talent.  There is no reason to think that he won't continue to work on his skills and keep his audition tape shiny and current.

I'll go out on a limb here:  I think T.C. has a great career ahead of him.  He's an ESPN team member now.  He's ambitious.  He's smart.  He's interesting.  He's young.  He has an interesting look.  He has a great-sounding media name.  He works hard.  Yes, he can talk.   I think he is going to move up the ESPN ladder and we're going to see and hear a lot more of T.C. Fleming.  And I think we will think that is a good thing.

And that's My Ticket Confession for the day.

Best to you, T.C.

*     *     *

ThePlainsman1310@gmail.com

@Plainsman1310