BREAKING: The Ratings Go Up, the Ratings Go Down

Thanks to Anonymous 718 for passing along the latest ratings in a comment to the last post:

October Sports Radio Ratings

The Ticket is still comfortably ahead overall in prime time in the prime demo.  Cat should give The Musers a nice gift card to All-Pro Foundation Repair, as they seem to be shouldering the burden of keeping The Ticket on top when everything is averaged out.

I don't know if there is much to be made about the rest of it.  I think it's fair to say that over the last several ratings periods, The Hardline and Ben & Skin are in a pretty close battle.

All of this must be viewed against the backdrop of continuing controversy nationwide over the accuracy of radio ratings since Nielsen switched to the personal people meters.  (What other kind of a meter would a personal meter be?)  (I wrote about the controversy in this post.)  As I also wrote in that post, The Musers' steady dominance tends to undercut the argument that the methods for measuring ratings are seriously flawed -- although I think that its much broader appeal means that it will tend to weather random ratings variations better than the other shows that don't offer as much variety.

I find The Hardline/Ben & Skin race less interesting than Norm & Donovan + Bad Radio's struggles against G-Bag Nation.  Norm & Donovan are significantly behind, while this time around the delta with BaD is about the same as between The Hardline and Ben & Skin.  I guess the jump in The Ticket's ratings at noon means some people are switching from G-Bag to BaD -- but not enough to vault BaD into the lead.

 The Hardline continues to get slagged in these pages, but as I wrote after Cat's AMA, it does seem to me like Mike is making his presence felt to a greater degree than he was there for awhile.  And it makes it a better show.   Show prep seems a little better.  Not a lot, but better.  But I do hear those Confessors who are weary of the lo-info cultural criticism that seems to have become a feature of most episodes.

I've been thinking about auditing Ben & Skin and G-Bag to see if I can discern its appeal.  My very hit-and-miss listening to Ben & Skin hasn't impressed me, but I haven't really given it a fair shot.  Maybe I'll take that up.

In the meantime, your views always welcome.

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A few readers need to revisit The Rules of the Confessional.   I've rejected several comments lately that were fine with the exception of entirely unnecessary shots or insults of other Confessors.  That's a deletin'.

GUEST POST: East Texas P1 Schools Superlative Corby and Mike on Texas-A&M "Hatred"

You guys know how I like it when a Confessor volunteers a piece I can use here.  Long-time responsible Confessor East Texas P1 asked some time back if he could do a piece on a Hardline segment that struck a nerve with him.  Sure, I said, would love to see it.  He cranked it out over a weekend and sent it to me and I offer my sincere apologies to him that it took me this long to get to it -- he and I both would have preferred that it have run closer to the segment he's commenting on.  Sorry, Tex.

And you have got to love a Confessor who supplies his own redhead, in this case his favorite East Texas beverage consultant and technician (who, he assures me, has given permission for her photo to appear here).  

I have edited very lightly for clarity but left it pretty much intact.  Please send your submissions to theplainsman1310@gmail.com.  After six years, my topic wheel needs some air.

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On Thursday, September 30th 6:40 segment Corby took the stage about “bits going on at Texas A&M."  Evidently a regent at A&M posted a message on Facebook that the A&M/UT game should be reinstated. However, his reason was not to restore the rivalry but because UT had become a “cupcake” program and would offer a rest between the SEC schedule and A&M's current non-conference schedule.  You can find the audio here about 3:47 into the program.

http://www.theunticket.com/ticket-shows-9-30-15/

I agree that all schools have the 1% - 3% of knuckleheads, whether they are students, alumni or regents, that positively “hate” the other school.  The TAMU regent who posted about the “cupcake” school was definitely wrong, maybe trying to be funny or tongue-in-cheek, and it did not work.  Corby exposited that most TAMU fans would shake their heads and be like: "Dude, shut up."  Mike, however, offered the observation that no, most Aggies were more like "hell yeah!" (my words, not his).  

This is where it turned weird, to me.  Corby (and to a lesser extent, Mike) went on a long rant about how much each school “HATED” the other and did not respect one another.

My question to Corby:  Where doe you infer this so-called hatred?  There were phrases thrown out that there was “a superiority complex,”  “no respect between the two and never has been,” and, “the hatred is so strange to me.”  And then the references to schools like Notre Dame v. Southern Cal, Ohio St. v. Michigan and even Oklahoma v. Texas, who do things right.  Give each other the “knowing nod.”

I am not a multi-generational Aggie though I have been a fan since 1979.  My daughter graduated from there, class of ’10.  My family is a mixed family, with some nieces and nephews graduating from both schools.  My brother graduated from UT.  I don’t know of any “hatred” between the schools.  I asked my daughter and her answer (and her husband’s, Class of ’09) was that it was a friendly rivalry, intense at times but nothing more or less.  There are well-entrenched opinions on both sides of the ball but that is true at all schools, not just these two, whether they be SEC, Big 12, FBS, FCS or whatever.  (Again, we'll put aside the small number of knuckleheads at any school.)

My first point of the bond between the schools would be to reference “The Burning Desire,” the documentary about the bonfire collapse.  Unfortunately, copyright protections keep most of this off the internet so I can’t post a link.  However, in this documentary, produced by A&M, the uplift and support by Texas students in the days after the collapse and preceding the game was very well recorded.  Blood drives, cancelled hex rally, Mack and Sally Brown’s support, etc.  Believe me, there was no “hate” during that week and the same feeling has continued.  Look at the respect the UT band gave A&M during halftime.  Brought everybody to tears is what it did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rLj3vw5fwI  

Last 2:32 minutes of the Longhorn band performance.  Watch that and tell me if your allergies didn’t act up just a little.  

There was another article about the meeting of mascots.  Interesting read.  http://www.texasmonthly.com/the-culture/the-meeting-of-two-mascots/  I

I think the interesting quote from this article is from Daylon Koster, Reveille VIII’s handler:  “It was a dot dot dot moment. To be continued,” Koster said. “I wouldn't say friends, I wouldn't say enemies. There was utmost respect between schools and mascots”.  Please note in the story this was in 2013.

Then there is this from 2011, 12 years after the collapse.  A UT fan left a piece of paper at the Aggie memorial to the bonfire collapse.  It references the statements made at the time by UT vice-president of student affairs at that time, Eric Opiela (also referenced in The Burning Desire).   Are we seeing a trend here, Corby?

http://www.dailytexanonline.com/opinion/2011/11/21/thank-you-longhorns.  

Finally, and while this is not directly applicable to the A&M/Texas situation, I think it goes to the culture of TAMU from someone who is not indoctrinated / drinking the Kool-Aid that sometime infects A&M fans and others.  A Florida fan comes to TAMU for the first ever TAMU SEC game:

https://tabmetrodallas.wordpress.com/2012/09/09/74/

So if Corby was doing a bit, then I get it.  But I don’t think he was.  I was speaking with my brother after the Texas-Oklahoma State game about all the freshman / sophomores on the Longhorn team.  Corby and Mike opined that Texas will be back sooner than later.  As a TAMU fan I agree.  I told my brother that I did not see any quit on this team from any of the players, and the malcontents that did not like playing under Charlie Strong are gone.  As superlative Corby spoke “I don’t know when they will be back but they will be back.”  I agree, and I give it two years.  Give Charlie Strong two years and that A&M regent will be eating that “cupcake”.  (This piece was started before the TCU game but I still stand behind my opinion.) 

  

Yes, I want an A&M-Texas game.  As a mixed family (as noted above), Thanksgiving dinners were so much fun when half the house was for one team, half for the other.  I may be wrong, but this is how I feel it is between the majority of fans of the two schools.   I want that atmosphere back.  So Corby, come eat Thanksgiving with us.  We don’t hate.

BREAKING: New Ultimo CTO Mary Berner Sez: "No Bankruptcy Planned."

New Cumulus CEO Mary Berner addressed Cumulus employees yesterday in a webcast.

Here's a report:

Cumulus CEO Mary Berner Addresses Employees

Her message:  The need to change "corporate culture."  Chapter 11 bankruptcy is not currently on the table.

Right.

Mike Rhyner's boss Mary Berner

SPECULATION ALERT: I Think The Cowboys Have Leaned on The Ticket in an Act of Irrational Discriminaton Against Harmless Neighborhood Rodents

Folks, for absolutely trivial guesses about things that don't matter that concern Our Ticket, you simply have no choice but to come to My Ticket Confession.

I have been nursing this speculation since sometime during training camp, but I didn't have any evidence for my thinkings -- until I heard a piece of evidence for it this past week.

I had the feeling that something had been missing from The Musers' coverage of the Cowboys this season.

Oh hell, no point in being coy about it -- I knew exactly what it was:

The Musers have stopped referring to Cole Beasley as "The Squirrel."

I remember the day that Gordon came up with the simile last season:  "He's like the squirrel that the kids let into the house when they've left the door open," OWTTE.  I thought at the time -- that's clever and perfect.

The Musers must have thought the same thing, because they recalled this felicitous comparison in the days that followed, and began referring to him as "The Squirrel."

In fact -- and my memory may be tricking me here -- I have a recollection that they interviewed Beasley one day and asked him if he minded the nickname, and he seemed to be OK with it.

This year, I can't recall The Musers ever referring to Beasley -- who has been prominent on the field -- as "The Squirrel."

Which set me wondering if some Cowboy functionary -- or could it have been Beasley's agent? -- made a call to the New World Catman or someone equally influential Cumulo-Ticket Overlord and respectfully requested that The Ticket bury that nickname.

I didn't think much more about it until this past week, when someone -- Craig or Gordon -- referred to Greg Hardy as "Machine-Gun Couch" (probably Gordon, who had probably forgotten Hardy's name), and George said:  "I don't think that's an approved nickname for Greg Hardy."

Italics mine.

So there's my observation, and my evidence.

I fully expect someone to comment and say, "Plainsman, you are a bad P1.  I have heard Mr. Keith refer to Mr. Beasley as 'The Squirrel' several times this season." 

In which case you may regard this as a burnt post.

INVESTIGATIVE REPORT: Kelly McClure (Insert Stock Wolf Whistle Here) May Be a Great, I Mean a Really Great Lawyer . . .

.  .  .  but she doesn't seem to be referred to as "The Bulldog." 

Except possibly by herself.

And maybe not even by herself.

Except in that ad.

The Confessor is aware that Your Plainsman does what he can to protect him or her from questionable advertising claims broadcast on The Ticket.

Lately the P1 has been subjected to what has to be one of the worst, most tone-deaf ads ever to cause our jaws to drop with its awfulness.  Yes, I'm referring to the one offered by domestic relations attorney Kelly McClure, principal of The McClure Law Group. 

The most jaw-dropping aspect of which is that she believes it will appeal to "high-net-worth" men, presumably possessed of a touch of class, to make reference in her ad to her physical allure.  I'll say this – she dresses absolutely killer:

Which you can do if you charge fees to high-net-worth individuals, I guess.  As for the rest, I will leave it to the always-fair Confessor to determine.  For a woman in her mid-fifties – sure, that's worth a whistle from gentlemen of a certain age, if you like those sorts of  .  .  .  amendments.   And an impressively volumized, if dubious, coiffure.

I have heard of the McClure Law Group and I even knew that Ms. McClure cleaned up fair.  But I was suspicious of the claim that she is known as "The Bulldog."  We've all heard of "Jim Adler, The Texas Hammer" (whose moniker, truth to tell, is probably also self-created).  But I have never heard of "Kelly McClure, The Bulldog."  Or "Kelly 'Bulldog' McClure." 

So I interrogated MTC's research database, viz., Google.  A search yields zero hits for ["Kelly McClure" bulldog] other than those associated with her own website – which, oddly, also does not seem anywhere to refer to her as "The Bulldog."   Bing – from which, I confess, I have never retrieved a useful search result – and Yahoo yielded similar results. 

So if she is generally, or even a little bit, known as "The Bulldog" outside of her premises -- indeed, beyond her recent advertising -- it has escaped the notice of The Internet.

She would seem more credibly canine if she got her grammar right.  She declaims that she is "sometimes referred as The Bulldog."   She's missing a "to" in there, although I'm not going to thrash you with the explanation.  (Because I don't zackly know it.)  Maybe she used to drive bus.

Could she be known as "The Bulldog" among those in the know in the Dallas domestic relations community, which is probably one helluva tough community with all of the high-dollar marriages and divorces around here?  Sure.  She's obviously very successful, and you can't succeed in that very challenging, emotionally-charged practice if you haven't got some sand.  So if she wants to be, or become, known as "The Bulldog," fine by me.   

But if any Confessors work at the McClure Law Group, do a little experiment for Your Plainsman and drop us a report:  Next time you see her in the hallway, say "Hey, Bulldog!"  If she gives you the stinkeye, just tell her you were influenced by her memorable advertising on The Ticket.  Or you were singing the Beatles song.  Or you thought she had gone to Yale.

Gentlemen:  Let's keep the comments gracious here. 

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