Pax Ticketa

Confessor Gypo Nolan commented:  "Hold on to your butts.  Big time."

That sent me into a frenzy of DFW sports media source checking, some of whom have tentacles into The Ticket.

Know what they all said?

Ain't nothing happening.  Hosts tied up.  No reports of rebellion or departure or retirement or unhappiness.  All good at 1310 AM, 96-7 FM.

But  .  .  .  what about Cumulus? I asked.

What about it? they replied. Next deadline with the lenders is sometime in 2019.

So Confessors, I did my due diligence, and came up with borscht.

Gypo, you got some 'splainin' to do.

Unless you're reporting on the Tony Romo thing, or something happening at ESPN or Fan, in which case if you don't say any more than "Hold on to your butts.  Big time" on a site dedicated to The Ticket, you haven't teased much of anything at all.

Give, Gypo, or forever lose your MTC cred.

Speculation Upon Speculation

So sometime Confessor Provocateur Gypo Nolan (a character from an old movie called "The Informer") threw up a comment last night that stated only "Hold on to your butts."  The last time he did that, Bob and Dan were flirting with The Fan.

When asked for clues, he responded only:  "Norm, Mike, Corby, Jake, Mino, Dan, and Bob .  .  ."

Which looks huge but is so huge that it really isn't much of a clue.  And how likely is it that Cumulus is really going to bust up its still-number-one schedule in any significant way?    And his last clue re Bob and Dan related to the Cuban Missile Crisis, so I don't think highly of Gypo's clues.

There was a time when I thought I knew who Gypo was but when I asked that individual directly, he denied it.  So now I think it's someone else.

We know Lew Dickey was in town last week.

We know T.C. Fleming is off to ESPN Pensacola to be on the morning show there.  (A big congratulations, we'll try to cover that soon.)

We know Norm is working on a new contract.

My few radio-related guys who sometimes know Ticket stuff haven't heard any Ticket stuff.

So all I can ask is that you stay tuned and keep the thread lively and civil.

In the meantime, I'll keep my ear to the ground  .  .  .

.  .  .  and check email frequently.

ThePlainsman1310@gmail.com

@Plainsman1310

Let's All Take a Deep Breath

So, is something afoot involving The Ticket, or isn't there?

Well, nothing happened yesterday, to my knowledge.

I would be tempted to say "sorry, irresponsible blogmeister reliance on anonymous sources here, my bad," and move on.

Except that Richie Whitt also thinks something big involving The Ticket is in the works, something he thinks he can keep the lid on until after the weekend.  Something that will "change the landscape" of DFW radio as we've  known it for "three decades."  Yeah, yeah, I know, it's Richie, but Richie is dialed in.  I don't think he'd stick his neck out unless he had something, or thought he did.

And except that yesterday's Summa Bash was really, really weird.  Odd hostly behaviors, unexplained references, awkward silences, Dan sentimentality, all wrapped around a catastrophic Scott Ferrall monopolization of at least two segments. 

And a peculiar reaction to a Jer drop -- I heard the Musers beating feet away from the drop, but didn't hear the drop.  I gather it was Mike R-flavored.

So we continue to speculate.  To sum up, not in order of likelihood:

(1)  Signal change, or signal swap.

(2)  CBS/Cumulus merger or acquisition.

(3)  Mark Cuban involvement somehow, perhaps a purchase of Cumulus.  (Lack of movement of Cumulus share price yesterday suggests no rumblings in the financial community that would indicate either (2) or (3), so they're kinda off the list.)

(4)  Retirement of Mike Rhyner or Norm Hitzges.

(5)  (4), accompanied by BaD taking over PM drive.  (No PM commuters reported to have jumped off the High 5, so it's kinda off the list.  [Just kidding, BaD.])

(6)  BaD's demise resulting from Bob's going off to do something else or Dan leaving, or something. 

(7)  The return of The Hammer, or reconciliation with Mike.  

(8)  Richie Whitt's affiliation with The Ticket.

(9)  Syndication of some of all of The Ticket.

(10)  The whole damned station is gay.  OK, I made that one up.

(11)  60% of the station is gay.

 

In evaluating these possibilities, I tend to throw out (2) and (3) for the reasons stated, and (6), (7), (8), (9), (10), and (11) as not sufficiently seismic.  Mike's retirement (or departure) would certainly be a landmark of DFW radio, whether or not accompanied by BaD's ascension to drive, as would moving The Ticket to a legacy signal (displacing its no-doubt longtime occupant).  Mikeish news would also tend to explain the cockeyed vibe surrounding Summa Bash.

 



 

But I keep coming back to Gypo Nolan's advice to "face Morton's Fork" and trying to puzzle out what it means.  (Confessors have started to turn on the estimable Gypo for his failure to be more forthcoming and for his obscurantism in this case.   I'm still intrigued, although I'm not sure what is says about me that I'm willing to give a guy named "Gypo" the benefit of the doubt.)   Earlier on, Gypo advised that something was either going to happen yesterday, or not happen at all, which, of course, is tautological -- he can't be wrong.  But maybe what he meant by "facing Morton's Fork" was to hark back to that tautology -- something big was going to happen yesterday, but the fact that it didn't means that it isn't -- at least not in the form or at the time Gypo expected it to. 

 

In which case, we've all had a real good time, and this site has gained some new readers on a pretty flimsy pretext.

 

The least I can do for my readers is to provide an image of
former Ticket Traffic Twist Alexis Smith -- HEY, MAYBE
SHE'S COMING BACK!  Now that would change a
landscape or two around here.

The speculation may continue, and if anything comes my way that I'm able to share, I'll let you know.

 

Y'all do the same.

 

*     *     *

 

Email:  ThePlainsman1310@gmail.com

Twitter:  @Plainsman1310



Speak to Us, Gypo Nolan

I said I was going to move on from Where's Greggo Talk, but did not anticipate the gigantic response to the last post.  Thank you, Google.

Thought I'd throw up a quickie just to freshen up the thread, which I think also set some kind of record for this site.

Gypo Nolan is an occasional Confessor who brings us some inside dish from time to time that has the ring of authority.  I'm thinking he's heard something about Greg Williams's situation and could fill it in if he feels able to do so.

I suppose we'll all be tuning in at 2 PM tomorrow.  A commenter to the last thread has promised us that Greg will be broadcasting.  And I believe everything that anonymous commenters say, especially when they sound like The Girlfriend.

In the meantime, what's the scuttlebutt on Ben and Skin?  Headed to The Fan?  Good move or bad?

See you tomorrow at 2.