Why does The Ticket hardly ever take live calls anymore? (As opposed to the voicemail compendium BaD does, the name of which escapes me.)
Not counting voting on E-Brake or Cowboys post-game.
We have been reminded recently of Paul the Damned Viking, and commenters to the last thread listed many other notable identifiable callers from The Ticket's past. Names unfamiliar to me, and I've been listening for over ten years: Greek Man, Rogers in Hammerstein, Dr. Matt, Side Show Bob, JD, Hippie in Euless, Blue in the Grove, Glenda (RIP), Sterling. Hong Kong Paul (more of a remote fixture, with at least one notable call-in).
Confessors seem to remember these names with fondness. I wonder if there's a touch of nostalgia here. I had my fill of Mike from Duncanville on the post-game, and I wonder if maybe Cat, or the hosts, were wary of listeners with a lot of time on their hands hanging on hold, trying to become Ticket fixtures with canned material.
Sure -- lots of callers are terrible and obviously unbright. But some are good -- Hakeem in Frisco is always a reasonable voice after Cowboys games. And lousy or dumb callers can be fodder for colorful host responses, including but not limited to Norm meltdowns, Mike dismissals, Gordon sarcasm, Dan destruction. It's not like all of these shows have a backlog of topics to get to, or careful show prep to exhibit -- I'd rather hear unpredictable calls than Corby stumbling through an article he just found during the previous break (although I have to admit, it's kind of entertaining when he does).
And although I assume producers have a lot to do, couldn't they screen calls for a segment or two to ensure droolers don't get through, and let through people who seem to have a clue? And there's a delay for the bombers and trolls.
I'll bet there's an answer to this question, and probably a good one. They haven't done it for years, and some of the hosts clearly disdain it. I just don't know why. I think it would be interesting to schedule a call-in segment, give it a name, and have it sponsored. I wonder if MTC could afford a spot.
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| "Hello, Mike? Thank you for taking my call. I met you once after a Petty Theft show and you guys were great, so cool to meet you! I wanted to ask a question about why the Cowboys hardly ever use the counter trey, but first I wanted to tell you that the test came back . . . ." |
Musers and BaD still take callers regularly. I assume Norm takes the most of any show but I never listen.
ReplyDeleteIf Musers take calls "regularly" they must do it after 8:45, which is when I usually have to sign off. I can't remember the last time I heard a Musers phone-in segment, other than the occasional Gordon 8:40 bit, which tends to have some kind of focus.
ReplyDeleteBack in the day, they had no other filler. The bits hadn't been established yet and they depended on the callers for content. It soon reached a point where they didn't need caller driven content to fill the shifts.
ReplyDeleteNorm at KLIF had callers, so did Galloway, and Coop and Brad, and Fish, and Wally and Leon. We don't need callers to entertain you. Since they reached that point they have made fun of any station that was caller driven. It's just what the Ticket does.
At this point, any caller driven show would be so full of ticket Schtick it would be unlistenable.
You're probably right Gopher. But it was so funny back in the day when J.D would call in. Talk about the ULTIMATE cowboy fan. They could do no wrong...they were Amurica's team, and don't you forget it!! Wonder if he is still alive? Who was the guy that kinda sounded like Elvis, and would always tell Mike and Greggo..."You're still tha best thing on tha Ticket baby"?
ReplyDelete...we didn't realize how good we had it back then!
ReplyDeleteThis morning's 5:30 penalty kill was a good example of why they don't take calls like they used to. They opened the phones for callers to report road conditions and all they got was shtick. Funny because it was epic fail, but I'm sure it was defeating for the Musers.
ReplyDeleteRhyner gave up on calls long ago because of Longhorn homers and Cowboy homers.
All I can say is, coming from my first sports talk radio exposure in Houston, callers are, for the most part, dumb as hell and incredibly biased and have very little meaningful input regarding anything. I'm so glad The Ticket doesn't waste time with it. Crow Line is wonderful, though.
ReplyDeleteGordon has Fantastic Friday Fan Feedback on Gordo’s Corner every week. I pre-emptively punch out...
ReplyDeleteI can do without callers, particularly for sports talk. Paul the Viking and some of the others you list here are exceptions. But many callers just want to engage in homerism, or ask beaten-todeath stuff like should Pete Rose be in the Hal of Fame. When you have talented on-air guys, you don't need the callers.
ReplyDeleteTake a swing through Dennis and Cowlishaw when the Hardline is being dumb and listen to them take calls. That's why. Not exactly the cream of society's crop.
ReplyDeleteSports talk radio used to be dominated by callers. It was part of the format. KTCK was a pioneer in getting away from that. It is part of Mike’s old line “We can do what they do; they can’t do what we do.” Having callers drive your content is lazy.
ReplyDeleteIt predates, but dovetails with Dan’s argument when sport stations hire newspaper columnists for drive time because they are names. Dan’s argument is “Wouldn’t it make more sense to have, ya know, professional broadcasters?” Likewise, KTCK learned that with rare exception, listeners want to hear the hosts.
My recollection is that the drift away from callers was in 2 stages. First, pretty early on, they stopped taking calls from kids and stopped allowing fake names. Then, much later, post BAD Radio debut, they basically quit taking calls altogether. Norm continued to do so until he was paired with donnie.
If we are honest, the callers suck. Years ago, it was an endless stream of bad trade proposals and uninformed nonsense and occasional stupid nicknames. There were a handful of callers that stood out, but it is like music from when you were a kid; you tend to remember the good stuff fondly and forget all the crap.
Somebody mentioned Houston and I lived there for 3 years. Their sportstalk is crap and they take a lot of calls. They basically allowed some callers to have their own mini-shows.
That being said, callers are worse now because since nobody takes calls, when they announce they will take calls, the schtick guys leap to the phones. It can be funny, but also hard to listen to.
Sideshow Bob here - that Paul The Damn Viking appearance yesterday REALLY took me back to the golden era of The Ticket back in the mid-/late-'90s. I miss so much from those days, ESPECIALLY Fax Fodder (for selfish reasons, obviously...)
ReplyDeleteI believe when Norm was still at KLIF he would get lots of calls that were obvious Fantasy Football questions. He started setting aside specific segments for Fantasy Football to keep that from dominating his show.
ReplyDelete@slinky - that guy you're thinking of was the late, great R.O. in Copeville
ReplyDeleteBob talked about the callers thing in pretty great detail on an episode of IJB a while back.
ReplyDeleteEpisode 122, starting at around 20:45
SMUwild said " It was part of the format. KTCK was a pioneer in getting away from that. It is part of Mike’s old line “We can do what they do; they can’t do what we do.” Having callers drive your content is lazy."
ReplyDeleteThe last word of that quote is the problem that I have with the content that several of the host are putting out. "LAZY"
Still work at their craft - Craig, Bob, Jake
Sometimes work at their craft - George, Gordo, Donnie, Dan
Stopped working on their craft - Norm, Mike, Corby
I don't know how you fix it. Maybe keep everyone that wants to stay and shake up the lineup.
Dan: busts his ass. Created a persona when he got here to play off Bob. He may have no memory but he works hard.
DeleteDonnie: I would imagine it is hard to work with Normwho still has very set ideas on how “his” show should go. I don’t fault Donnie for anything wrong with NormAndD.
So, I would move Dan and Donnie to the “Still work” and Craig to “sometimes.”
I think Corby works as hard as ever on his craft; it's just that his "craft" isn't worth anything! Have you ever really listened to The Hardline? It's about 80% Corby. It's not the Hardline anymore, it's The Corby Show.
ReplyDeleteI live out of market now and when people ask me why I still listen to the ticket despite not being a fan of any Dallas teams, reason #1 or #2 is always 'they just don't take phone calls.'
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I listen to the ticket because I like the hosts and I want to hear what they have to say; nobody cares what some dude in Garland thinks about how the Rangers should get this unobtainable player for a bag of balls. Secondly, it messes with the flow of the show. if I call in with a great sports point about X and sit on hold for 20 minutes, by the time they get to me, they've moved onto Y.
I punched out for Paul the Viking. I get that he's excited, but I didn't need to hear him whooping.
Had I known Paul the Damn Viking was on, I would have tuned in simply because I haven't heard him in so long. Back in the day, I'll bet THL only took calls from certain people. These people mentioned, kind of reached "celebrity" status. If my memory is correct, Paul even got gigs as the featured celebrity at certain promo events.
ReplyDelete...but yeah, I'll admit, he was kind of a beating back in the day, but I fought thru it!
ReplyDeleteThoughts on if this, or a similar memo was read last week during their all-staff meeting (or within the Dallas cluster)?
ReplyDeletehttp://richliebermanreport.blogspot.com/2018/01/cumulus-sf-secret-memo-from-atlanta-on.html?m=1
Note that two host on KGO-AM, a talk station, were let go last Friday.
I think that Dan used to bust his ass. He did a lot that build the framework for Bad Radio but that was years ago.
ReplyDeleteAll he does today is mainly audio, much of which has already been played by other shows. He does Homer Call but that segment has become a time for me to check what is happening on 105.3.
I like that Dan calls people on things that they say but that is reactionary and not prep for the show.
So I would keep Dan in the "Sometimes works on his craft".
That memo at 5:08 linked to. I read it & immediately thought of Norm.
ReplyDeleteDaN is outstanding and a great counterpoint to Bob's sportsyness. I couldn't disagree with Anon 5:18 more.
ReplyDeleteDaN is fantastic IMO
I'm behind the times. What song is the Ticketstock promo parodying? Some Ed Sheeran or Sam Smith snoozefest?
ReplyDeleteI have the same question. No idea about this tune.
ReplyDelete21 Pilots - Heathens. It's on the Suicide Squad soundtrack.
ReplyDeleteIt might just as well be Wagner.
Thankee, 1007.
ReplyDelete