To pass a bit of your weekend time . . . .
(1) Is anyone else astounded/delighted/shocked by the fact that Gordon Keith is facing Bob Sturm in the Dallas Morning News DFW Sportscasters Bracket contest? (DMN Sportscasters Bracket) As of this writing, the results are Gordon 51.65, Bob 48.35. And does anyone think we will ever hear the end of it if Gordon, the least sportsy of the entire bracket, wins? Or even if he doesn't?
Gentle Confessors, this illustrates something I suggest from time to time, but it bears repeating: The fine stable of readers who comment on this site is not necessarily -- perhaps I should leave off the "necessarily" -- reflective of the Ticket fan base. Now Gordon is a DMN personality himself, and he shows up on the teevee from time to time, so we may be getting a number of voters here who like Gordon from his non-radio work.
But even so, that he's gotten this far, and may win, reminds us that there are many media consumers out there who don't think bullying is the signature feature of Gordon's work, in fact, who like him a lot. (Maybe the voters are doing a mass bit, but I doubt it.) He and Corby by far take the greatest gobkicking on MTC, and, while Corby didn't make it out of the first round, he's probably also a lot more popular than someone whose only source of information on the popularity of Ticket guys is this site would think. (Whoo. Bad sentence.) I would point to, uh, the ratings as proof. It's not just the shaky competition.
(2) Cat must have lectured the programs on "managing the back end." I am guessing this has to do with bringing segments smoothly to a close so Cumulus can pay for them with on-time commercials. But does anyone know for sure what this phrase, sneeringly referenced from time to time by hosts and producers, means?
(3) CONFIDENTIAL TO KEVIN TURNER:
KT, KT, KT.
I have no idea of all the indignities to which you were subjected at The Ticket.
No one has disclosed to me the various humiliations you suffered at the hands of BaD, Mike R, and Mitchell Karasik.
The soul-killing tasks you were ordered to perform remain hidden to me.
But I believe I can say with a fairish degree of certainty that The Ticket never, ever required you to eat the beard clippings of a Dallas Cowboys rookie out of his lap.
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| Mmm. |
Email: ThePlainsman1310@gmail.com
Twitter: @Plainsman1310
@KT: whenever you see this, please consider this P1's plea for you to give the real story behind Mitchell Karasik. Please.
ReplyDeleteDid anyone hear the not so subtle jab at Greggo's blog on WTDS? It was a direct shot at the Riggs penned and ever mentioned by Greggo "Sure, go ahead and say something bad about someone who has problems and who has made mistakes. Easy target. As if YOU are perfect" meme. I was laughing out loud. Dan started it and the rest of the gang piled on.
ReplyDelete@KT If you actually did that, I think the comment from the last thread (Birdie, was it?) was more right than wrong. Namely that you guys (B&S Show as a whole) are trying too hard. Pride, brother. Don't be like that "Awesome Jeff" dude. The guy who repeatedly subjects himself to being tased and other asinine stuff in order to get attention. In the long run it isn't worth it, man.
@Plainsman I think a lot of your readers are the new breed of Ticket listeners. For them Grubes (RIP), Jake, and a few others are their core guys. Not Gordon. For many, Gordon is Fake Jerry, Fake Norm, and that's about it. Thoughtful Gordo doesn't resonate with them at all. Also, that whole DMN poll was and is a joke. Bob alone influenced the poll immensely by getting all of his Twitter followers and listeners to vote for the FSSW Girls, Kamie and Liddie. The only reason they lost their last battle is because Bob forgot to do the bit. And Greggo asked to be taken out of the polling, and was. So don't put anything into it. It's meaningless.
Most people think the type of bullying Gordo does is funny until they're on the brunt end of it. Luckily for him very few people (relatively) are ever in that position.
ReplyDeleteJeez Teebox...what is the deal? They've been knocked off the air multiple times again today.
ReplyDeleteIt became obvious early on that nobody was going to take the Morning News bracket seriously. The first round was heavily leveraged by FAN minions, spurred on by active politicking from the on air personnel. Eventually even they gave up on the bit.
ReplyDeleteThe ultimate absurdity would have been Greggo winning a broadcasters popularity contest after being fired from his job. The second most absurd would have been the FSSW girls, so I was disappointed when they were eliminated.
Standing ovation for Orphanage/Cirque today.
ReplyDeleteThere is no real story behind Mitchell Karasik.
ReplyDeleteIt's not like I was forced to do the hair thing...I'm not an intern.
I've never heard of "Awesome Jeff".
I'm tickled by Gordon's frequent and urgent endorsements of Bob. He's terrified he's going to beat Bob, and I don't think it's a bit. Politics of the workplace, baby, can't get away from them.
ReplyDeleteOr, perhaps, "can't get away from IT." Sheesh.
ReplyDeleteKT
ReplyDeleteAwesome Jeff is on the GBagNation. He also has a show on after theirs. Get to know your workmates, buddy! Why on earth would anyone choose to do that? Choose energy, sure, but to choose to eat a beard......that's weird.
@959 I know Jeff Cavenaugh, but I don't call him "Awesome Jeff".
ReplyDeleteI didn't even swallow the hair dude, it's not a big deal. It's not like I ate a whole beard. It was like 5 little strands and then I spit them out afterwards. It turned out to be great station publicity.
I don't understand why you have a problem with it.
The DMN thing was stupid, but it still amazes me how many people buy into Gordon's BS self-branding as this thoughtful, wise philosopher who just happens to make funny voices over AM airwaves. Friday's nonsense about his missed graduation is the definition of community college level over-thinking/self-importance.
ReplyDeleteKT, I don't have a problem with it, man. But the very fact that you real or fake swallowed it is weird, dude. Sorry. I highly doubt I'm the only one who thinks this. Shit man, think about it yourself. It IS weird! And yeah man, Cavenaugh is Awesome Jeff. Whatever man, I'm not trying to start some war with you. I'm just pointing some stuff out. I still think you don't need to fake or real eat a beard. In fact, if you didn't actually eat the beard, it further makes my point that the whole thing didn't need to be done in the first place. It was idiotic to begin with. But not idiotic in a funny way. In a demeaning way. Now that you've been asked about it, you now say "whoa, it was a joke." Cool. I get it. But again, then what's the point? FM morning zoo radio at pm drive time? Ok. Well then expect more responses to what you dudes are doing like my response.
ReplyDeleteThe point was to throw in an extra wrinkle to add on to the beard shaving.
ReplyDeleteI could have just continued to interview Travis while he was getting his beard shaved, but overall the extra bit I added made the day more entertaining.
Give KT a break. He did a goofy radio bit. The little ticket has had guys jump out of planes, run around in baby outfits, and go door to door asking for cereal. KT stuck some hair in his mouth and got a few laughs. It's all good. In fact if you've never had some hair in your mouth, you're probably doing it wrong.
ReplyDeleteB&S made national news with the Cuban interview and local news with the beard. Not a bad week for those boys.
-M
Plainsman, I'd really like to read the piece of Gordo that you've been working on. I have some thoughts of my own where Mr. Keith is concerned. But I'd rather read yours. So what do you say? Post it up, please.
ReplyDeleteLooks like the Poll is closed and Gordo shows to still be ahead 51-48. Doesn't surprise me as Gordo has plenty of fans, including me. Bob on the other hand is very sports knowledgeable, but is one of those guys who grates on people because he knows way more than you. That's one of the reasons why I think he asks the long question, while answering and asking 3 in the process, to show off his knowledge. BAD radio used to be my favorite show, but I can only take so much of Bob. The Ticket has shown that they can mix the shows and have success (White Elephant), so I wish they would try that on a longer basis, like a week at a time. If still successful, I would love to see them mix and match BADD and THL. I barely listen to those 2 as they are now, but ratings show they're still successful regardless. Just a personal wish of mine.
ReplyDelete@M Well, if you say so. You sound like a hired shill, to be honest. Whatever. You convinced me. Putting the clippings of another man's beard into your mouth is funny. Ha ha. Ok. You betcha. Like I said, you dudes are trying too hard. Let the game come to you. I'm including you, M, because I'm fairly certain you're a part of the show.
ReplyDelete@KT
ReplyDeleteFor what it's worth, if I were you I wouldn't feel the need to respond to every criticism of your work -which so far you have. You can't win. Besides, if you're going to be playing a more public role, and if you are going to do stunts / purposely draw attention to yourself, you're going to need to grow some thick (er) skin, ASAP. I dig your work and have no problem with the beard stunt. You're merely doing what you feel you need to do in order to make it work. For better or worse. In the long and short terms. So this isn't a criticism of you. It's only a friendly piece of advice that you can obviously take or leave.
One more thing.
ReplyDelete@735
You don't know who M is. From the looks of it, you don't know anything other than how to lightly troll.
I think Kevin's responses have been entirely appropriate. Measured, not terribly defensive.
ReplyDeleteAnd, after all, I did address that portion of the article directly to him -- confidentially.
I will sooner or later unburden myself of my views on The Ben & Skin Show, but I'll just say this in the meantime: I think KT is something of a bright spot. Those boys have a tough job trying to eat into The Hardline's lead and keep GAC at bay. From time to time I would expect The OverBit to rear its tooth-picking head.
Whether M is a ringer or not, I don't care and there's no way to know. But he does remind us of something we noted at the outset -- Ben & Skin's friendly relations with local athletes is a plus for that show, at least for those listeners who like listening to athlete interviews. Myself, they're not something I look forward to, but because of B+S's prior relationships, they're pretty good interviews from what I've heard -- loose, candid, natural funny. If you're tuning into sports-talk radio hoping to hit on a stretch of sports talk, B+S might be your destination, especially if you like those interviews.
It's a two-edged sword, as any media person crossing over from reportage to opinion can tell you. Too buddy-buddy, and your analysis is going to be suspect. Too hard-nosed, and the stars may steer clear of your show. It remains to be seen how B+S will walk that line on The Fan.
* * *
Did The Fan really get pub because of the beardmunch segment? Where? (Other than here.)
At Yoko, trust me i've got thick skin. I wouldn't be around right now if I didn't. I would have been discarded years ago. It sounds like you've been listening some, and I truly appreciate that.
ReplyDeleteI normally don't like to comment on here much, but I wanted to clear it up that they didn't force me to stick some hair in my mouth.
@Plainsman, all the news channels were there and on Doocy's Sunday night sports show there was actual footage of me jamming the face pubes in my mouth cave.
ReplyDeleteWell, there you go. Pub.
ReplyDeleteOr, as you say, pube.
Save that footage. Something for the grandkids. Not to mention prospective parents-in-law.
Does YouTube have it yet?
I recently discovered MTC and have posted a few anonymous comments including the one above, signed -M. The thing is, I keep getting accused of being on the CBS payroll for liking B&S. So I'll sign in from now on and hereby introduce myself and say hello to fellow confessors.
ReplyDelete@plainsman, MTC is awesome. Wish I would have checked it out a long time ago. Having a community of P1's to talk to is better than beating my wife down every evening with something funny I heard on the ticket that day.
And just for the record, I'm not a CBS employee, just a guy who has the opportunity to listen to the radio all day at work.
As far as "managing the back end" goes, I sometimes listen to Jay Mohr during the dy (I live in Metro Detroit) and they are always mentioning it. I can only guess that there was some big, nation-wide PD meeting/conference and it was a buzz-word that was brought up.
ReplyDeleteMyko, thanks for joining our merry band and a big MTC welcome to you.
ReplyDeleteYes, we have some strong Ticket partisans who sometimes jump the gun on accusing those who express enthusiasm for other shows as shills. I do think we've had those from time to time, but yours didn't have that flavor to me.
Anyway, keep checking in and giving us your thoughts.
@Pman
ReplyDeleteThe Musers are gold, and Gordon carries his weight for sure. I don't see him as a bully as much as just acting like the wheels off friend some people have that will try to throw you under the bus at any given moment for a laugh, and that's what I enjoy about the chemistry with him and Jub. His 840 bits are mostly good, and I used to be a big gordonkeith.com P1 when he updated it a couple times a week. If you were to put Bob and Gordo next to each other, Bob is more likely to be more of a knowledge bully, and probably rightfully so. The guy lives sports, and Gordo, it just boggles my mind at times that he's on a sports station, but it works. I don't want to insert Corby into this as it'll get overwordy.
@KT
Thanks for popping on. You're working your butt off, keep it up. As much as someone might troll you, at the end of the day, you're following your dream and I can appreciate that.
re:B&S
Still flipping over when I get the chance. My opinion, I like when these guys are sportsy, they give you their take or do a great interview, really enjoy Skin a lot and Ben has a brevity to him, good traffic manager. I hate having to say what I like and don't like, but we're MTC'ers, and I put my finger on what pushes me away from them, and that's when they do wacky bits, like prank an intern or something. You know, it's not even a Ticket thing, because Russ used to do the hidden recorder stuff as well. I'd like to see something different from them that other people haven't done(that's easier said than done.) Good luck to them, I'm sure I'll be punching out of THL between 340-400 today when they do a music segment on the greatness of Cream or somesuch.
I don't get the Gordo bashing bit. I think some people are just way too sensitive. Gordo is good on TV, and I'll give credit to someone else...Richie Whitt wasn't bad on the 21 sports segment. Limit him to 5 minutes, and the doucher might have something. Anyone remember the time some brainchild had the bright idea to put Corby on channel 33? He tried to do a little comic bit, and it was a colossal failure! I was embarrassed for the guy. 33 pulled that bit REAL fast!
ReplyDelete@Brad Gilbert: The NAB convention is held every April. This year it was in Las Vegas.
ReplyDeleteAlso, there was a "Sports Radio Conference" in Miami on May 14 and 15. Lew Dickey was the keynote speaker but others like Chris Oliverio (SVP/Programming, CBS Radio), Chris Corcoran (Executive VP/GM, NBC Sports Radio), and David Gow (CEO, Gow Media dba "Yahoo Sports Radio") moderated breakout sessions.
http://www.sportsradioconference.com/pages/14658203.php?
Where the hell are the podcasts???
ReplyDelete@ My Name - Jake posted on twitter earlier that no one he knows or that he's asked on twitter knows why they aren't showing up. Sounds like he's done everything he has the ability to do but he is at a lost now.
ReplyDeleteHello, hello, hello!
ReplyDeleteI've been on holiday and severed from station. I just have to say that its great to be back with my super awesome cyber social club.
The beard bit sounded funny, although I wish I could find that Doocy tape b/c I need to see it. In all seriousness, I like the bit b/c it got people thinking and discussing. I like it b/c its weird; weird is interesting.
@KT Dude, you're the man. I respect you not in spite of the beard eating; I respect you because you ate the beard. I appreciate the heck outta ya. @1:36 said it best.
@2:56 Preach it! Do you know how you were born?
It's SG that Kamy and Liddy didn't win, but not SG that it was Gordon. Bob deserves some credit for taking a sort of lame bit by the Paper and turning it into this wacky radio fun we've all been having.
I happen to think that Gordon Keith is an extraordinarily thoughtful and wise philosopher; I also think he's in the Rich Little league of voice impersonators. He's both to me at the same time. Gordon can act like an A-hole (who doesn't?) but he's a wicked smart and funny A-hole. He does comedy, not church.
@Plainsman
I would gladly pay to hear something you wrote on the Great Gordo. I have some cool stuff for bartering. Your two-edged sword comment about analysis v. opinion is eloquently put. Right on. You've created this wonderful place. You have this warm, magnanimous tone like Santa Claus or something. You're the best.
@YokoYolo
I laughed so hard at that name. I love it!
pDub, thanks for giving this thread a shot of energy. It's been hard for me to tend to MTC lately but hope to be back at it soon. In the meantime, it's nice to have a solid and growing group of (mostly) responsible and interesting Confessors keeping an eye on things.
ReplyDeleteAnd, uh . . . how much exactly would you pay for a Gordon piece? Not accepting beard clippings in barter.
Listening to Greggo's podcast from yesterday. So now he was basically going to either quit or be fired for not playing along with the mandate that all hosts must be shills for the Cowboys. You can tell that he's actually convinced himself that this is what happened. He was fired because he wouldn't shill for Jerry. Incredible.
ReplyDeleteNote to Greggo and his followers and fans: When someone keep claiming that they're telling the "unvarnished" truth, it's pretty much guaranteed that they're not. Protesteth too much.
DAMN!!!!!!!!! Greggo just named Skin as one of the top two d-head sports guys in the DFW. Called him a know it all and a people stepper onner. He also said Corby and Mike probably make at least 500K per annum these days, and the rest around 400K.
ReplyDeleteI'm obviously not a host, so I'm not completely in the know. I can say that I haven't heard anything about being shills for the cowboys. That's news to me.
ReplyDeleteObviously I have been listening to The Fan more than I did when I worked at The Ticket, and none of the hosts appear to work from angles that would prove Greggo's words true.
[creep mode ON]
ReplyDeletePlainsman - there's an elephant in the room.
You never told us who the Aphrodite of a redhead from two posts ago is (I believe someone in that comment thread referred to her as a "fetching lass"). Random nameless Google image search result?
My attraction to cute redheads notwithstanding - my attraction to cute redheads in the face of the possibility that she's not a natural redhead, even (though her seemingly fair skin tone causes me to believe that she is) - she's an outright _knockout_.
There, it's been said, never to come up in civil discourse again.
[/creep mode OFF]
Oh, wait - it just occurred to me that I was away from your site for about a week and I haven't read all the comments from the thread in between. If you addressed it there, I do apologize for bringing it up again! =D
ReplyDeleteDanny's bar is now open for business:
ReplyDeletehttp://centraltrack.com/Food/3835/Loungin/A-Look-At-The-JustOpened-Twilite-Lounge-in-Deep-Ellum