Cheap White Elephant Comment String

 

Pretty good so far (9:30 AM at this writing).

Corby's good on these shows.  Jake's a good writer.  Junior laying back.  Donovan doubling down on his "Magic did not have HIV/AIDS" conspiracy theory.  Stevie Wonder theory makes more sense.

Comment.

Your Destination for White Elephant Commentary

Please check in.  Shaping up to be an entertaining day.  The prewritten gags are always jewels.

I find it of interest that the two most senior hosts -- Norm and Mike -- got to keep their regular slots.

Fix:  in.

I've Been Away

and not able to listen to The Ticket (even streaming) or post.  Thanks for your patience. 

Anyone got the WED lineup?

Hope to have some news up shortly.

White Elephant Listening Post -- Let's Make It a Lively but Respectful Thread

I know it's a lame redhead-related-to-elephant image, but the only other two on the entire Internet I'd already used, and they weren't choice, either.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) is the day.  Should be fun.

Look, everyone, I know everyone's favorites Corby and T.C. will be doing a show together, but let's keep thing civil, OK?  (Have you caught the reaction -- including by Corby -- on the shows when mention is made of their noon-3 partnership tomorrow?  There's a novel between the lines there.)

But there's always great stuff from the hosts doing lower-tier tasks.  Danny states he is only going to read tonight's hockey score for each of his tickers ftom 10 to 3.   I'll listen as much as I can, but as usual, you guys will have to do most of the work.  You know there will be gold, and some tension as well.

Enjoy it, Confessors.

And report.

Please Check In with White Elephant Reactions Today

The Ticket has turned White Elephant Day into glorified round tables, since every guy is in his accustomed role as host, producer, Tickerman, etc.  More bits, that's about the only difference.

Still worth listening to, if only for the bits. 

I'm going to try to listen as much as I can, but would rather hear from you.

White Elephant Day is one of the biggest days of the year for visits to this site -- most of them, I suspect, from JV, although with JV now relegated to typical JV tasks, they'll probably check in less to see what people think of them. 

In any event, keep your comments thoughtful, please -- you never know who might be watching.

Thanks.

The "Stay In Your Silo" Theory Results in a Snoring White Elephant

Early reviews on the White Elephant drawing are not enthusiastic.

Interesting that Cat has required that hosts stay hosts, producers stay producers, no participation by weekend JV.

Any organization will inevitably segment itself into castes -- remember high school "cliques"? -- who tend to stick together, excluding those in lesser castes and yearning to be accepted into the greater castes.

The "silo theory" eliminates the possibility that the resulting tension will add any interest to White Elephant day.  It might end up being fun, always enjoyable to hear guys who don't hang together too much do a show.

But it will be pretty  .  .  .  white.

If This is Wed., It Must Be WED // BREAKING: Enhanced Babe Elephant Photo

Okay, Confessors, let's get some real-time reactions to White Elephant Day.

Bob, Norm Craig, Sirois have been great so far.  May have to leave the Philco on all day today, hide from the field chief.

Sirois's hep-cat beatnik poem is cracking me up.

I will try to check comments frequently to get stuff up right away.

*     *     *

BREAKING:  You have perceived that I try to match ginger photos with the theme of the post.  Not always possible, never easy.  Try Googling "gorgeous redhead with elephant" and see what you get. Help has arrived in the form of an email from Confessor The Road Not Taken, who offers this replacement for the kind of girl-next-door photo above.

 

Thank you, Road.

I Got Yer White Elephant Thread Right Here, With Redhead

The White Elephant Approacheth

I'm going to make a real effort to keep the radio on all day tomorrow.  I've missed too much cool stuff over the years.

However, that does not relieve a single one of you from listening carefully and giving us reviews and updates of your favorite and/or cringe-inducing performances.

This morning, Craig mentioned that some P1's take the day off to listen to White Elephant Day.  Is this correct and are any of you among those lucky ones?

OPEN THREAD: White Elephant Day

My hits go through the roof on White Elephant Day.  It has been suggested that this is the result of Ticketarians of one level or another checking in to see what the Nation has to say.

So please post your carefully-considered observations on what you hear.  Me, it's going to be dicey for being able to be much by the channel, so I'll be waiting for your thoughts just like the most curious Cumulus employee goofing off by checking MTC every few minutes.

White Elephant Day is a lot of fun, but the interactions are seldom awkward.  The best part is that every  host who may be reaching a different audience, and every JV guy who gets some spotlight time, goes out of his way to put on a good show, with the possible exception of Mike R.  The highlight for me has always been The Joonz's Tickers.

[Speaking of awkward interactions, they don't get much more awkward than George and Fernando sniping at each other this morning (Tuesday) over the Tim-Duncan-flipping-the-bird-to-a-fan-taking-his-picture story.]

Thanks for contributing, everyone.

Your White Elephant Assignment

Not sure how much time I'll be able to spend by the channel tomorrow.  I'll appreciate careful reportage from the Confessor Nation.

I'm less interested in bits (although your reviews of indivdual performances are always welcome) than with listening between the lines to gather clues about relationships between the players: 

Who is tense with whom;

who makes a slighting reference about whom that doesn't seem entirely friendly;

what combo hits it off that you might not expect;

who is not enjoying the experience;

who takes advantage of (or squanders) a rare opportunity to shine?

Stuff like that.  As always, thanks.

We'll be back to irritating Mike very shortly, unless there is another Casey Millen eruption.

Query:  If something like the CMillen contretemps had happened on, oh, say, KDFW or KXAS, wouldn't The Little One be all over it?  Always depends whose ox is gored, I guess.  That's the nice thing about running a one-guy blog -- limited opportunities for scandal.

*     *     *

Follow Your Plainsman on Twitter:  @Plainsman1310

FYI

Many thanks to faithful Confessor Jonaessa for collecting the White Elephant information for us:

Morning Drive
Producer – Killer
Host #1 – Norm
Host #2 – Corby
Yuk Monkey – Bob
Tickers – Sean Bass

Ten to Noon
Producer – Gribble
Host – Gordon

Noon to Three
Producer – Danny
Host #1 – Mike
Host #2 – George
Tickers – Donovan

Afternoon Drive
Producer – Fernando
Host #1 – Craig
Host #2 – Ty
Yuk Monkey – Dan
Tickers – Rich

I'll be interested to know how Gordon fills up his two hours.  I always look forward to Craig's tickers, but not this year, I guess.  I think Craig and Ty will make an interesting pair, as will George and Mike.

Your thoughts welcome.

I still want to know who did that T.C. imitation on The Hardline last Wednesday.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.   I'm underwater at work right now, so new articles may dribble out irregularly for awhle.  Thanks for your patience.  I may cannibalize some of your comments for articles just to keep the content monster sated. 

*     *     *

Follow Your Plainsman on Twitter:  @Plainsman1310

White Elephant Memory

This one is a little late.  I actually had started it right after White Elephant Day (WED), but got sidetracked with a suggestion from AP, my rant on "Thicket on the Ticket," and the STDs from numerous Confessors.  Thanks again, can't tell you how much I appreciate it when people comment.  (It also steers me toward topics of interest to The Confessor Nation.)  The different impressions people have of the different hosts is fascinating -- and explains why Cumulus/Ticket management doesn't tinker with host lineups.  Every host has his big fans, as well as detractors.  Dan, Junior, Corby, and Gordon are the main lightning rods, and I find  it particularly fascinating that Craig is in that group.  I'll have more to say on that in future blasts.

And another thanks again to all Confessors who reported on their impressions of WED.  Very entertaining.   In reading these comments, I had a thought that morphed into another thought that resonated with something that Mike R said on Thursday's showgram.

Which means that I'm about to get to the point. 

First, let me say that I'm a big WED fan and supporter.  I am certain that The Ticket does it because of its inherent popularity and the unpredictable fun and disaster that it promises.   So please accept my representation that this thought applies to, oh, somewhere on the order of five to eight percent of overall WED theory.

As I say, I got this theory in reading Confessor accounts of WED.   The thought that perhaps some of the guys we don't hear that often might not quite be ready for prime time.

And I thought -- you know, Ticket management knows this, too.

And then I thought -- maybe, just maybe, there is a tiny segment of the collective intelligence of Ticket management that says to itself:  We get a lot of static from the P1 about this host and that host and this program or that program.  Well, let's see how they like it when we turn the whole day into amateur night.

Just the slightest flash of the old middle finger to the P1.

I thought, nah.

Then, as I was driving back from DFW on Thursday, the day after WED, I was listening to The Hardline.
 
Mike R was talking about the Cliff Lee derby.  He was talking about the Yankees and their ever-escalating offers to the guy.

Mike was very exercised on this topic.  He might have even used the "middle finger" image.  The Yankees do this all the time, he said, because they can.

Then he said -- I swear, you can look it up -- It's just like what we did yesterday.  We did it because we can.

Which I took to mean -- we can throw out pretty much anything, and get away with it.  Because we're The Ticket.  We're the Yankees of Dallas radio. 

That is not untrue.  I'm not saying that what Mike said was wrong, or disrespectful to the P1.  That was certainly not his intention.  I'm saying that there is a part of The Ticket that knows that WED represents, at its heart, sub-par broadcasting if it were offered every day.  By associating these two things, I think his thought was something like -- Just like the Yankees' overbidding on OK baseball talent isn't good for baseball, our throwing out utterly random showgram lineups results in something you don't want to hear everyday.

Yeah yeah yeah, I'm overanalyzing a few Mike R syllables.  But I thought it was a telling moment.

But only about 5-8% telling.  Maybe not the middle finger, maybe just the pinkie.  And just for a moment.

How . . . White . . . Was It?

OK, Confessors, Your Plainsman doesn't ask much of you (although I suppose slogging through my prose can be something of a chore).

But I do have an assignment to hand out.  No math.

I am in San Diego and will not return until after White Elephant Day.  I'm hopeful that you will take a moment and drop a comment if you hear anything that you find interesting. 

I hope you will pay particular attention to what goes on between the words.  If you saw a transcript of a lot of these showgrams, you would never get a full picture of the relationships at The Little One.  White Elephant Day is a great day for testing theories, revealing animosities, and unearthing new stars given a chance to shine.  I applaud The Ticket for taking these kinds of chances.

So P1 Steven, Christy, Scott, Douglas, Anonymous A through F, and all other Confessors -- get by the channel, as Mike R would put it, and let The Confessor Nation know what you find out tomorrow.

PS:  Thanks to AP from the (incomparable) UnTicket for offering to supply Your Plainsman with segments.  I'm doubtful I'll have time to review any of the showgrams, but if something blows up you know I'll be tuning in to the site. 

Well, By Golly, Let's Get That White Elephant Thread Underway! I'll Start.

Geez, I didn't think that White Elephant Day would excite much of anyone, but several commenters to the last post or two have already mentioned that they have some STDs about it (Scorching Ticket Dish).

I never paid a lot of attention to it, although in general I favor it.  It's a way for The Ticket to expose some hosts that people don't hear to a larger audience, assuming that midday hosts end up doing one of the drive segments.  Got no problem with it as a promotional device.  Haven't given it a lot of thought.

The best part about it, from Your Plainsman's point of view -- that is, from the point of view of a guy who needs fresh material to write about -- is that it is an opportunity to test theories about the pecking order at the station, who likes/dislikes who, that kind of thing.   White Elephants and other wife-swap opportunities are, for example, one part of my General Unified Theory of Bad Radio, which is that Dan McDowell and the other guys kind of hold each other at arm's length.  This automatically makes the morning drive the one not to miss (George, Dan, Norm, Tom, and Ty).

As for the others:  The 12-3 Junior/Rich/Danny/Donovan show should be good -- in fact, that wouldn't be a bad permanent team.  PM Drive with Mike, Gordon, Bob, Mike Sirois and Donovan should be interesting for the Bob-Gordon dynamic.   I'm interested in the Gordon-Danny relationship at the station, but there are few too hints of its existence to base much of a theory on, not that that has stopped me before.

Unfortunately  .  .  .  I will be out of town and not able to listen to the stream next Wednesday, so I would invite all Confessors to keep careful notes and let this site have your thoughts.

Hey, by the way:  Why is it called White Elephant Day?  A "white elephant" is a possession whose cost of upkeep, space it takes up, and other costs do not justify having it, but its owner can't get rid of it for one reason or another.  Is is named after the "white elephant swap"-type parties, which it also doesn't resemble?

Have at it, friends.