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.

A "Where's Greggo 2013" Inventory

We're not hearing much of substance other than from the frantically tweeting Girlfriend, so I'm going to give this one solid posting and if there aren't any developments I'm going to move on, main-topic-wise.  (Comment section always open for RaGE/Greggo/Fan talk.)

What to write about?  How about a listing of all current theories, some of which overlap, and many of which are not mutually exclusive.  (An annoying way of saying "it could be a combination of several of these things.")   And it may be none of these things.  These are not in order of likelihood, just the order they're coming to mind.  Let's get to it.

(1) He is sick, perhaps hospitalized.

(2)  He ran into trouble with Fan management over his absence relating to Chris Kyle's funeral.

(3)  He's angry about The Prank.  (RaGE Prank on Greggo)

(4)  It's a bit to draw attention to the station and RaGE.

(5)  Management is preparing to make some changes at the Fan or RaGE that he's unhappy about and he's pouting.

(6)  The Richie-Sybil relationship and perhaps a growing role for Armen has resulted in a diminished role for Greggo and he's feeling that the same thing is happening to him there as (he believes) happened on The Hardline (not his fault, of course).

(7)  The Richie-Sybil relationship and perhaps a growing role for Armen has resulted in a kind of ganging up on Greggo and as the most experienced radio hand on the show, he resents it.

(8)  The Richie-Sybil relationship has created an intolerable and almost indescribably icky and eeeeeww-inducing sexual tension that has eroded whatever professionalism RaGE was starting to develop.

(9)  He's fallen off the wagon.

(10)  The station is in major upheaval up and down the line and it's just all too much for the Hammer, who's getting out while the getting's good.

(11)  He's been suspended, possibly fired, for misbehavior that hasn't been publicized.

(12)  He's a petulant childish jerk who can't stand even the tiniest slight to his real or imagined importance to RaGE.

(13)  He's a major radio talent who is undeservedly taking abuse from the less-talented Richie and Sybil.

(14)  It's time, buddy; it's time.  Greggo's chief addiction is to self-featuring drama, and he can't go for more than a couple years without writing himself another one, so he's off the reservation for no reason that any of us would find rational.

In happier, but less focused, times.

*     *     *

 

Twitter:  @Plainsman1310

Email:  ThePlainsman1310@gmail.com



November 2, 2012

-   -   -

     --     I had never heard the "Motorcycle Greggo" bit before.  It was played after the Hardline closing theme and before the cavalcade of ads before poor T.C. has to cram his Top Ten into the time allotted time.  (T.C., who really lights up the Top Ten with his between-bit patter, was forced into auctioneer-speed talking tonight.)    Is this an old bit?  It was incredibly savage.  Wondering if The (Incomparable) UnTicket has it (it may want to run it by its attorneys first); I'd like to hear it again.  Let's see -- there was a reference to white trash, a whore, and, the most intriguing reference:  something about Greggo somehow acquiring money that belonged to Ticket staff members.  I can't remember the wording of that last gag, but it was astonishingly bitter and astonishingly inside; would love to know what that joke was about.  Surely this is an old bit, and some of the references would probably mean something to longer-time listeners.  I was entertained, but it was really, really harsh about a guy who isn't even a pimple on The Little One's ass.  Can anyone provide us some context here?

     --     I still don't get Corby's Scot Harrison impression.

     --     I was impressed with Corby's knowledge of NBA rosters during the discussion of the accusations of overwhiteness against the MN Timberwolves.  He could have been reading the info off his screen, I suppose, but I don't think so.  Maybe he knew what was going to be on Mike's mind and studied up.  Or, quite possibly, he knew what he was talking about.

     --     I noticed that one of the followers on this site was a gentleman named Dana Porter.  In his minibio, he said that his thumbnail was a painting by his late grandfather, Henry C. Porter.  Intrigued, I Googled "Henry C. Porter" and discovered that he was noted artist with some really fascinating and beautiful images, both representational and abstract.  You can check them out here. 

http://www.aviscafineart.com/Gallery_Artists/Henry_Porter/Porter_Between_Past_and_Here_Catalog.pdf

Dana, thanks for calling this to our attention.

October 30, 2012

1:10 pm (10-29-12):  Hey  .  .  .  did I miss something, or am I not listening enough?  I'm sitting here trying to avoid doing my job, and the only thought that pops into my head is:  I can't remember the last time I heard Casey Millen on the joint.  Is he still engaged in sportsy broadcasting on The Ticket?  Or, as Confessors never tire of reminding me, am I a bad P1 for (a) not listening enough, or (b) not knowing what news there is to know about Casey Millen?  Is he still up-and-coming?

5:45 am:   I don't care about seeing Obama's Columbia transcript.

I would, however, like to see Jason Garrett's Princeton transcript.

6:27 am:  I liked George's sports talk this morning about trading Romo.  Not because I think it's a good idea, but because it was at least creative and he had some sound reasoning behind it.  And it was not the same two or three points we've been hearing since the post-game show, and which we all knew in advance because we all saw the game and all the other games and we all think the same thing about this team.   I've got a Cowboys HSO that's been perking for awhile that is much less credible than George's.

And it was nice to hear George chip in with some independent sports thinking.

8:23 pm:  Got an odd question for you:  I was checking my referring sites, and one of them was a Yahoo search page where someone had searched for "Greg Williams absenteeism The Rage".  Has he been away lately?  I wasn't aware that there was any issue relating to his attendance in recent months, not since his battle with throat demons a year or so back.  Not that a Yahoo search is evidence of anything, but thought I'd ask.

May 29, 2012

+     +     +

7:40 a.m. -- Playing around with something different.  With my time availability dwindling and likely to dwindle further, I'm going to try to get quick hits up from time to time for whatever interest they may have, but mainly to provide a continuing and occasionally refreshed forum for those who care enough to leave a comment.

The usual articles and thought pieces will continue to appear as I'm able to get to them.  I invite anyone with a hankerin' to write a piece to drop me an email, and, of course, I will be pirating emails to generate content for this space either anonymously or credited (with permission only). 

In any given day, there may be added material that will be headed by the time it was posted, thrown up as things occur to me.

*     *     *

I was out of town over the weekend.  Did The Orphanage comment on last week's technical disasters (I understand they had some technical challenges of their own)?

Did George DeJohn and the TeeBox have a real handoff on Saturday?  (The prior weekend the handoff was torpedoed by the worse TeeBox transmission quality ever, and the week before that, I 1think, was the George D-Craig R tiff.)

Does anyone have any information on Greg Williams's medical condition?

*     *     *

1:35 p.m. -- We hear from folks who think I'm (and some commenters are) overblowing the whole Ticket technical crisis.  Entirely possible they're right.  The show does manage to go on, mostly.  

But the commenters here and to the site that T4 directs us to (see comments to this post), including a well-known local broadcaster, makes the same point I made a week or so ago -- when things go bad and good people start to leave, everything suffers.  Not just the ability to stick plug A into port A, but morale, initiative, the desire to do well, the desire to come to work every day.  It shows in the product, and, eventually, it will show in the cast of characters who emerge on the air.

Make MTC Your Source Today for Responsible Former-Ticket-Host Journalism and Breaking News re Same

=======================

UPDATED 9-19-11 1:55 PM:    Greggo is on RaGE today and is, in fact, the first voice heard interacting with Josh and Elf.   So in the short run, at least, they're powering through this weekend's differences.

=======================

If you don't know what that headline means, first thing you do, you go back and read the prior article, which is here:  BREAKING NEWS: Is This the End of Greggo?  

Read the comments to that article as well.

Next, consider a Richie Whitt Tweet unearthed by an Anonymous commenter late last night: 

"richiewhitt Richie Whitt
Bull. Ess. >RT @TCUWhiteTrash: Wish I was welcomed at Frankies today..but the other hosts have made thoughts know...being fired hurts..."

So clearly, Richie and Greggo are at odds.

How serious is it?  Will hands be shaken and all forgiven by showtime?  Or will Greggo's pathetic public poor-pitiful-me-the-Fan-guys-won't-let-me-play performance over the weekend persuade the CBS/Fan suits that they need to act before The Final Meltdown?

So we count down to 2 PM, unless there is a prior announcement.

Now, of course, this site is not a "source" for anything.  But we've got some helpful Confessors here who keep us advised of more-or-less reliable industry scuttlebutt and what the Internet is revealing.   You got it, bring it here.  You can also write me at ThePlainsman1310@gmail.com.

Comments:  (1) No (or only very mild) profanity.  (2)  Stay on the right side of the fuzzy line between criticism and personal attack.

And again:  This site's current editorial position is that when Greg Williams is present and audible he hasn't been bad on RaGE, and on occasion has been very good; it would like to see RaGE continue with a healthy and responsible Greggo, at least through Mike Rhyner's contract negotiation; it does not find Richie Whitt a terrible sports-talk host, although not a particularly compelling one.  And finally, it hopes that Greg is well or gets well, and stays that way.

Thank you for shopping at My Ticket Confession.

*     *     *

Follow Your Plainsman on Twitter:  @Plainsman1310

A Few Quick HIts

(1) I hadn't tuned in to RaGE in awhile, so after Mike and Corby did their "how will the Cowboys do" review, I flipped over for a segment.  They were conducting a roundtable on "What did you like most, least/most surprising/etc." about training camp.  Greggo was actually pretty sharp, making some very pointed observations about Montre Holland's poor condition upon arrival at camp.  Richie and Armand were OK, Sybil was of no value.

(2) I caught just a minute or two of RaGE later on.  Richie informed Mickey Spagnola that they were going to call his segment "Cowboy Confidential."  I'm not saying Richie is influenced by this site, but I suggested that a revamped and improved Ranch Report be called (among other suggestions) "Cowboy Confidential" on February 10, 2010 and again on August 18, 2010.  (The latter was just a reprint of the former.)

(3) I was interested in The Hardline's agitated discussion today of the failure of Cumulus to attempt to syndicate them in some other Texas metro areas.  This site has suggested that Cumulus should be leveraging The Ticket's popularity via syndiation,   A couple of commenters have thrown out some reasons why syndication is not in the cards, but it is apparent that at least the on-air insiders ain't buying any excuses.  (Could have been a bit.  The Ticket didn't syndicate when Mike was a part-owner, either.)  The Hard Ones specifically linked syndication to generating some additional cash, at least enough to get Danny a chair where the spring isn't boinging him in the ass.

*     *     *

Follow Your Plainsman on Twitter:  @Plainsman1310

Is Richie Whitt Good for Greggo?

My last RaGE meanderings for awhile, I promise.

Every time I do an article that touches on Greggo the Hammer or RaGE, I receive comments or emails that express the view that Richie Whitt is "enabling" Greg's, shall we say, questionable lifestyle choices.

My current view is to the contrary. There are probably Confessors who know more about the history here than I do, but I find that judgment harsh and, based solely on what I know about the history of Whitt and RaGE – concededly, I am not a profound scholar of those relationships -- not supported.

Preliminary question, not too interesting:  Have we concluded that Greg's absences, laryngitis, current voice troubles, bicycle mishap are in fact the result of the same kind of irresponsible substance use and other bad behavior that landed him in trouble with (a) The Ticket, (b) John Clay Wolfe, (c) RJ Choppy, (d) Richard Hunter?  I've phrased the question prejudicially, begging the answer "yes," but in fact I really don't know.

The reason I'm hesitant to conclude that Greg hasn't learned anything is that for all his current physical issues, I've never heard him incoherent or out of it on the air since he's been with 105.3.  I've heard him sling out some pretty good HSO's from time to time.  He doesn't sound impaired to me, just tired and rough.   Maybe his absences suggest a different answer, but again, I’m reluctant to conclude that Greg is continuing his historical behavior in the absence of evidence.   Anyone have a different listening experience? 

Actual question, much more interesting:  Is it fair to accuse Richie Whitt of "enabling" Greg?

I've read Whitt in The Observer for a long time and have always thought his journalism was pretty good.  I’m not one of those who found “The Hard Lie,” his cover story in The Observer, slanted.  In fact, I thought it was fair and when I finished it I didn’t think The Hardline or The Ticket had been maligned.  It more-or-less supported my previous view that things happened just about the way they should have.  

I am not aware that Whitt has a reputation as someone who is exploitive of others.  (I have heard that about other local media figures, but not Whitt.)   It is undoubtedly true that he has wanted a radio gig for a long time, but I would hope that we are not holding mere ambition against him.  I'd take an opportunity to get into show biz myself if I had (i) the chance and (ii) a molecule of show-biz talent.  Commenters have also expressed the view that he was angry that he didn't get a full-time Hardline gig after his plus-one tryouts, but I don't know what evidence there is for that, either.  (Again, anyone with knowledge, drop me a line.)

But let's put those aside and simply ask about his relationship with Greg Williams.  Let's assume that (1) in reporting on The Ticket and Greg’s travails, Whitt put aside reportorial objectivity and developed a friendship with perhaps even sympathy for the man; (2) that that friendship and sympathy might possibly have had as an element the possibility that he could vault himself into an on-air position; and (3) that he actively promoted the idea of a Richie-Greggo partnership to Fan management.  Now let me stress:  I have no idea if any of these things is true – I am solely interested in the issue of enabling, not whether Richie or Greggo was “using” the other to get to the spotlight (or, in Greg’s case, to get back to it).

But even if we make these somewhat accusatory assumptions:  Isn’t the result here that instead of Greg sitting at home feeling sorry for himself with lots of time to get into mischief and play with his guns and listen to questionable advice, he’s working?  Working hard, in fact, the famous face of a major-network prime-time five-hour program?  Isn’t the conclusion here that, whatever Whitt’s motivations and his true relationship with Greg, what he’s done has been beneficial for Greg?  Again – while the voice issues, the motorcycle accident, the absences are all somewhat puzzling, there has been (to my knowledge) no recurrence of any broadcast disasters.  Almost a year into the RaGE onslaught, he’s still broadcasting, struggling through the voice issues, not causing any internal issues at 105.3 (again, that I’ve heard).  He seems prepared to discuss the topics at hand, more or less.  If you didn’t know his history, would you think he was something other than a (somewhat fragile) Texas-bred sports-talk guy who’s  an interesting listen from time to time?

We may find Richie Whitt a not-terribly-compelling broadcaster; we may find Greggo a shadow of the old Greggo; we may find the role he has been asked to play unsuited to his talents.  But I think it’s going too far to accuse Richie of enabling the kind of behavior that has gotten Greg into trouble in the past.  I'd actually go a step further and say that those who remember Good Greggo and continue to wish for his recovery -- quite a lot of us, I would reckon -- owe Mr. Whitt some thanks.

I am certain that Confessors will take me to task for naiveté, and maybe I deserve it.  But I have a hard time concluding that Whitt is guilty of much more than helping himself by helping a man he regards, truly, as a friend.

=====

Commenters:  This is a sensitive topic.  If you have information to share, please make sure it is credible, sourced (if possible – for example, reporting on something you heard on the air), and respectfully expressed.  I’m interested in all points of view, but I’m extremely reluctant to air anonymous reports that sound only malicious.

If you think you have something valuable but a little hot to handle, please feel free to email me and I'll review it and post if it passes.

Of course, you’re entirely welcome to disagree with me.

Some Interim RaGE Thoughts

This is not the Richie-Greggo post I promised last time out.  It'll be up soon, I promise.

FIRST INTERIM RaGE THOUGHT:

Commenter Anon D posted a comparison of the Hardline and RaGE ratings for the last little while.  I'm cutting and pasting his stuff:

They haven't made ANY dent in the Hardline's ratings. None. Zero. Zip. Nada.
Here's the monthlies, Men 25-54, 3-7p.
July Ticket 7.7 #1, Fan 1.8, 27th
Aug Ticket 7.9 #1, Fan 2.3 18th
Sep Ticket 8.9,#1, Fan 2.6,17th
Oct Ticket 9.7 #1, Fan 3.3, 12th
Nov Ticket 9.2 #1, Fan 4.3 6th
Dec Ticket 7.7 #1, fan 2.9 13th
Jan Ticket 8.4 #1, Fan 1.8, 27th
Feb Ticket 7.7 #1, Fan 1.7 22nd

As you can see, even the Fan's increase due to the playoffs and WS didn't hurt KTCK, due to the overall increase in sports listening (in other words, to paraphrase Rhyner, even the marginal p-3 found themselves listening to more sportsradio at that time)
And if you want a fun game- name 21 other stations that appeal more to men 25-54 than the Fan. Ticket and ESPN, 4 rock stations, a couple of country stations, a couple urban, 4 hispanic stations, you're still only at 14. Couple of news or talk, couple odds and ends (KERA? KEOM?), you're still only at 18. That's because stations like KISS and i93 (that appeal to teens) and KVIL (that appears to soccer moms) are more popular with men aged 25-54 than KRLD-FM.

The Fan thought they'd come in and take some of that big Ticket audience. And all they've managned to do is erode ESPN's numbers. (Down from a 4.1 Tie for 8th in July to a 2.6 and 17th in Feb for 3-7p. Down from a 3.7 to a 3.0 in M-F 6a-Mid.

Thanks once again to Anon D, this was absolutely terrific information, nicely digested.  Amazing stuff, astounding that RaGE, for all its publicity and presence of Greg Williams, has done absolutely nothing in almost a year.  (I have no idea whether it's doing better than what it replaced, which would at least be something -- I'm sure Anon D or some other hip commenter can enlighten us.)

Several readers have suggested that RaGE can't last long in its current configuration.

Here's my view -- it will last at least until February 2012, when,, we have surmised and Mike Rhyner has hinted, his Ticket future will be set.  If he departs (I think this unlikely, but the possibility has been floated), RaGE will soldier on, because the calculus of drive competition would have pretty drastically changed.  105.3 knows that Corby has a love/hate relationship with the P1 and might well have the RaGE hang on to see if Mike R's absence might shake loose some listeners.

==================

SECOND INTERIM RaGE THOUGHT

Since we're on a RaGE roll here, I've tried to tune in.  Today wasn't a bad day to do so, as I'd already heard the Cubs fan thing on Gordon's segment on The Musers and there was too much hockey talk.  When I spent some time on RaGE, I listened closely to see if I could identifiy what it was that was so frackin' weird about it.

I found it.

Whenever anyone other than Greggo is talking -- usually Richie -- that person uses the word "Greggo" constantly in his or her own remarks.  This gives the impression that the speaker is (1) calling for Greggo to pay attention and (2)to  respond to the speaker.

I never noticed it before.  I invite you to tune into RaGE and listen to it for 10 minutes and count the number of times you heard the word "Greggo."  Compare that to normal human conversation, including conversations you hear on The Ticket; listen to how often (seldom) a speaker uses the names of the other people in the conversation.

It's disconcerting.  It's uncomfortable to listen to. It has to be some program regulation that is designed to remind us all that good old Greggo is present -- which would be helpful for flyby listeners, of which there are probably a lot -- and will be heard from soon. 

It absolutely has to be intentional.  Otherwise, it's just goofy.  Or pathological  Actually, it's goofy and pathological anyway.

RaGE -- One Year In (Almost)

I’m jumping the gun a little here, but after the last article, had RaGE on my mind.  The article you’re reading now started out in an entirely different direction, so I’ve hacked that out and will run it as the next article in a few days, also RaGE-related.

It seems impossible that RaGE has been on the air for almost a year, but it began its assault on The Hardline (and the last hour of BaD, not to mention WTDS) in May 2010.  The consensus among correspondents to this site seems to be that it has not been a success, at least by comparison to our heroes on The Hardline.  I have not checked the ratings, but I gather it has not made a significant dent in The Hard One's popularity. 

(Can anyone give us a report on whether RaGE and The Hardline are up or down?  I gather that The Hardline is still number one by a mile in the target demo in PM drive, but is there any evidence of even slight RaGE impact?)

I have heard some good things on RaGE and noted them from time to time, but on the whole I would have to agree with most Confessors that it's just not a very good presentation.   Confessors have suggested numerous issues, and I've got a few more:

          (1) Richie Whitt just isn't a compelling radio voice or personality.  He’s knowledgeable, but his voice is flat and dry and he is not particularly droll.   I don’t find him an offensive radio presence, just a colorless one.

          (2) The show spends too much time jabbing Greg, and not enough talking sports, which means that the only reason for Whitt to be on the show -- his sports knowledge -- goes to waste.  I don’t listen enough to know if there’s much in the way of interesting guy talk or pop-culture talk.  Whenever I turn in, there seems to be a sports theme, but it develops the Ben-and-Skin Disease of self-referring asides and conversational loops.  By at least attempting to talk sports, perhaps they’re trying to address a criticism one hears (but not from me) about The Ticket from time to time -- not enough sports.  Fine -- but get on with it.

          (3) Greg too often sounds pretty unhealthy.

          (4) RaGE tries to make Greg bear the weight of the presentation, and he just doesn't have the chops for it.   PS:  Could it be that his voice troubles are a result of doing a five hour show where he's expected to do quite a bit of the talking?

          (5) The other hosts patronize Greg, and it shows.

          (6) Attempts to copy The Hardline are doomed to failure, and the hosts know it, so the attempts are without conviction and fall flat.

          (7) Three persons with not-terribly-distinctive radio characters (Richie, Armen, Sybil) plus one distinctive radio character (Greg) does not add up to two distinctive characters.  Instead, they try to generate interest by frenetic talking and patently artificial jollity.  A Confessor or two mentioned this in comments to the last article, and I think this is the show’s biggest problem.




Sybil Summers.  Hey, why not?

Having said all this, I personally don't find RaGE all that horrible to listen to, and I've noted segments that I thought were very good.  But since there's a choice to listen to something much more interesting from start to finish, RaGE barely gets any of my listening minutes.  I don't doubt that should The Hardline disappear tomorrow (and not replaced by something good), I'd probably tune in to RaGE, or maybe 88.1 The One KNTU-FM, Little Steven's Underground Garage on Sirius-XM 25, or maybe road noise.

If I had to offer one piece of advice to RaGE -- and you know how much my advice is treasured in the DFW radio community -- it would be:  calm down and speak to one another like normal human beings having an ordinary conversation.  You don’t challenge The Hardline by doing the same things that The Hardline does.  That would be easy, and, as we have seen, it hasn’t worked in the past.  The Hardline succeeds (in addition to the innate talent and personalities of its hosts) because the shows present themselves as conversations between guys – not as shows that are scared to death of dead air and unplanned content.  That takes a special kind of talent and experience.  Greg might have had the knack at one time and I suspect he still does, but until they stop treating the poor guy like a Chatty Kathy doll who must be constantly goosed to keep the whole thing afloat, they’ll continue to sound ordinary, and The Hardline will steamroll them in every book.

========

As always, no limits on the subject matter of comments.  However, the next article will focus solely on the Richie-Greggo relationship, so if you want to remark on that, why don’t you hold those thoughts for a couple of days.   Focus on the show overall – if you can’t wait, no problem.  Blast away.

And, as always, contrary views appropriately expressed are welcome.  I’d love to hear from some RaGE fans.

Can I Get a Witness?

I haven't listened to RaGE in quite a long time.  Since the beginning of the year, I've had only one punch-out moment on The Hardline and haven't been inspired to switch over during commercials.  Don't know what possessed me to do so today as I sat in traffic.  But I briefly switched over.

Greggo's voice sounded terrible.  He didn't sound addled, the content of his remarks made sense (but were not of particular interest).  His voice was terribly hoarse and -- I can hardly describe how it sounded -- just beat-up somehow.  A couple of times he simply could not finish sentences because his voice trailed off into crackly air.  Richie and Sybil, the latter apparently having some gig at the Texas Motor Speedway where RaGE was doing a remote (although I only listened for a few minutes -- if I've got this wrong, apologies), made occasional reference to it. 

Then, just before they went to break, Richie invited people at the remote to stop by and say hello to him and "punch Greggo in his other eye," or WTTE.  Suggesting that Greggo had some unfortunate encounter that caused some injury to one of his eyes.

Does anyone know what, if anything, is going on with Greggo, these days?  Is this another laryngitis flareup?  What's the poop? 

(PS:  I must have heard three ads where they talk about The Fan not sucking as much as it used to, and at least one of them talked about how Hammer screwed up at The Ticket and is now not sucking at The Fan.  On the one hand, it's clever to be modest in a hip kind of way.  On the other hand, too many reminders of past suckitude makes overall station decisionmaking seem deeply flawed.  So I dunno whether it's a risky attention-getting strategy that works (because it makes me think about The Fan), or whether it's a pathetic and failed effort at charming self-effacement (because it makes you think that sucking is their customary mode of broadcasting).  On balance, I think it's very slightly cool that they admit that they formerly sucked and invite you to determine whether they still do.)

Anyway, if we have any regular RaGE listeners out there, Your Plainsman would be grateful for a report.

The Rage of Mike Rhyner

I haven't rambled in awhile.  On this Super Bowl Sunday, I find myself with some time on my hands.  Always a dangerous thing.  So I'm going to ramble a bit.

One of the reasons I started this site was because I was worried about the Hardline.  That was back in mid-2009.

Most Confessors know the recent history of the Hardline -- years of toil, growing success, spectacular success, Greg Williams's departure, flirtation with some plus-ones, settling into simply doing without Greggo -- and continued spectacular success.

Recently, The Hardline and BaD have faced a new competitive threat in the form of a revived 105.3 The Fan.   Both competitors feature former Ticket guys, including Greggo against The Hardline, the show starting an hour earlier than Mike and Corby hit the air.  There are Confessors out there who follow the ratings more closely than I do, and I'm hopeful we can have a report later in 2011  My own feeling is that any ratings comparison is going to be meaningless until at least 6-9 months out, since some listeners will switch out of curiosity for awhile but eventually wander back.  It will take awhile before any meaningful trend may be discerned.  And, as various Confessors have noted, the holiday/drydock ratings are probably not very meaningful.

More than most of the showgrams, it seems to me, a "wave theory" may be applied to The Hardline.  It goes through cycles where it's sharp, followed by a period of time when it seems to descend into a kind of funk.

Galvanic skin responses of a group of 20 Confessors listening to
The Hardline over a four-year period.

The period following Greg's departure was good.  In those months the show was still finding its way but it was solid, dramatic radio as we all tuned in to see if and how they would sustain the high-wire act.  As it turned out, they sustained it pretty well.  The increased role of Danny Balis was a very positive development, and the show was funny and sharp.

To my highly-subjective ears, the graph headed south around mid-to-late 2009.   I started this site in June.  The issue, for me, was one of balance. 

I wrote about my concerns in a five-part series one year ago this month.  I identified a number of issues, but chief among them was balance.   The Corby/Danny axis was overwhelming Mike, and good as those guys are, it was too much juvenalia.  (By the way:  That series concluded not-very-presciently with the radical suggestion that Mike Bacsik should join the showgram -- it's hard for Mrs. Plainsman to keep my crystal ball clean in a sod house.)

Ironically, by the time those articles appeared, I thought that The Hardline was actually on an upswing and through, oh, summer 2010 I thought The Hardline had returned to form.  I had my usual issues with vulgarity but those are largely personal; most of the Confessor Nation does not find even the raunchiest Hardline material very troublesome.  That aside, however, I thought things were going pretty well.

Come fall, however, I thought the showgram once again seemed to run out of gas.  Whenever I get that feeling, I ask myself whether it's just me needing a change, or if there really is a difference in the show.  One of the interesting things about doing this site is that as it has gained readers and I hear from them, is that I can compare my own impression to theirs.  Since this site discourages what I call the Corby Sux School of Ticket Journalism, Confessors weigh in with thoughtful views on the showgram and have proven to be an excellent reality check for my own listening.   As it turns out, I got the same feeling from the Nation -- lots of Corby, Mike checked out.

I found this odd because with the Rangers in the World Series, one would think that Mike would be energized and engaged.  He was -- about the Rangers, and during playoff/World Series time.  But that temporary enthusiasm did not seem to pay off for the show as a whole.  The New York City trip, for example, never really got off the ground for some reason.

So in the latter part of 2010.  I found myself punching out more, exasperated at the OverCorby, wondering what was on Mike's mind after 4 PM since he himself so rarely reported on it, awkward real-time show prep, the usual Hardline struggles.  Of course, by that time the Richie and Greggo Extravaganza had hit the air, so I sampled that from time to time (and, in general, found it wanting but with the occasional bright spot). 

Then came drydock.  I was pretty sure people were tired of reading about the same old Hardline issues so didn't quite know what, if anything, I was going say about it.

As it turns out, it was unnecessary.  To my ear The Hardline has been very good since the New Year.  A couple of Confessors have also noted that recent showgrams have been better.

The reason is not hard to discern.  As Mike Rhyner goes, so goes The Hardline.

Other than the occasional amusing cutting reference, The Hardline appears to have made no formal or structural response to RaGE at all.  That is, the showgram itself hasn't changed its personnel, segment organization, bits.  Wait, they restored the Trifecta, but that's about it.   (Confessor Anonymous B has perceptively asked whether this is a response to RaGE's "Dead and Gone" segment.  Quite possible, I would think.)  Good.  There's no reason to show concern over RaGE at this point by any kind of obvious tinkering with the showgram, and more important, it'd be dangerous to mess with a successful formula absent evidence that it had lost its punch.

But more to the point -- over the long haul, the success of The Ticket showgrams isn't driven by bits anyway.   It's driven by the desire of listeners to spend time with the personalities that the hosts project on the air.  When Confessors complain about The Ticket, it has rarely to do with content -- it has to do with liking or not liking the performance, personality, dedication, attitude of a particular host.

Mike Rhyner, in addition to being the driving on-air force behind The Ticket's founding, is its most distinctive voice, its guiding spirit, and, not coincidentally, a hypnotic radio presence, a font of aural charisma the likes of which is not to be found elsewhere in Dallas radio.  When he is serious about what he is doing, he absolutely commands the listener to keep his fracking mitts off the presets.

Lately, I've been hearing some of the Mike Rhyner that guided me to The Ticket in 2004.  I don't know if it's the new competition.  Wouldn't stun me if Hammer's presence up the dial had something to do with it, but dunno.   I can tell you that the first time I really sat up and took notice was a segment right after drydock when Mike was positively shouting into the mic, his voice a good register higher than normal, about his newly-found and freely-confessed man-love for the most unique-looking Blake Griffin.  We heard it again when he was recounting his personal encounter with Griffin at a booster luncheon.   (I've named Mike's revived passion "Racially Ambiguous Griffin Ecstasy" -- RAGE.) 

Whatever it is, we've heard more Mike lately.  You could see it on the Webcam.  Previous Webcam presentations have showed Mike looking about as uninterested as he sounded.  There on Radio Row, however, he was animated, sitting up, head always in motion, gesturing with arms and hands, always keen on what was being talked about.  And would the Nation agree with me that those shows this past week were pretty good?   Would you agree that they've been better since drydock than in the couple-three months before?

Notice that I've said nothing about Corby or Danny.   Got no problem with them at all.  (Or Ty, or That Nice Young Michael Gruber, for that matter.)   But the past few weeks have confirmed, for Your Plainsman, at least, that The Hardline rises and falls with the attitude and interest of Mike Rhyner.  Lately the showgram has once again attracted his attention, and life in DFW is the better for it.

This Was Not the Greggo Article I Intended to Write -- AN MTC STD*

The Greggo article I intended to write would have gone something like this (but, because I am Your Plainsman, much longer):

I don't remember why I switched over to The RaGE the other day, but I noticed something about Greggo.  Oh, he sounded fine.  Unimpaired.  He and Richie were talking about the recent Rangers trade.  Made sense.  In fact, Greg made the same point that Junior made the next morning – this means trouble for Michael Young.  Absolutely nothing unusual about the conversation.  Except for one thing.   While Greggo sounded like the old Greggo, something was amiss.  His voice was huskier than it used to be – hell, we're all a little older than we were in 2007 – but it also sounded like he had dentures that didn't fit.  Or he'd lost bone mass in his jaw.  Or his tongue was swollen.  His speech was really whistle-y and kind of wet, he had some trouble pronouncing some words (but again, not because of inorganic impairment).  It wasn't extremely obvious, it wasn't awful to listen to, but it was noticeable.  It was as though he'd grown very old all of a sudden. 

I don't know where I was going to go with that, just something that a Plainsman surveying the sports talk radio horizon should notice.  As I say, the segment was fine, Greggo just sounded like an elderly man.

Today, Mrs. Plainsman had sent me out to do some hunting and gathering and I had The Hardline on.   I was waiting for her call and I was dozing in a parking lot.  The Hardline was doing a segment on whether Corby was going to turn into The Snake by talking to some very young woman about anal bleaching.  Early-forties Corby talking to early-twenties woman about anal bleaching.  Now there's an image that sharpens the appetite.  At that point, Mrs. Plainsman called and instructed me as to her dinner preference and I escaped that segment without further injury.

When I came back and turned on The Ticket at 6:30, it was Ralph and Razor.  I like Ralph and Razor.  But it is fair to say that I have more interest in:

   --  the State of the Union Message,

   --  not only watching paint dry, which is a fairly dynamic process, but watching a sealed can of paint, or

   --  103.3,

than hockey on the radio.

So I switched over to The RaGE, still broadcasting at 6:30.

They were talking about the Texas Longhorn TV network deal.  And Greggo was on fire.  He knew his facts, and he not only had an HSO, he had an ultra-HSO that I thought he supported reasonably well:  That the deal might not only mark the beginning of the end of the Big 12, but the beginning of the end of the NCAA.   I don't recall all the details, but I recall that it made sense, and was actually somewhat visionary.   Now, you can agree with that or disagree, but it was real good radio, and Greggo sounded just fine.  It made me think about his hypothesis and other circumstances that pointed in the same direction.  And I care less about the NCAA than I do about Stars hockey on the radio.

Now I'm not going to start listening regularly to The RaGE.  I'm not advocating that anyone else do so.  But I gotta tell you:  When they went to break, I tried to remember the last time I heard a Hardline SPORTS segment that provocative.  Now, the Hardline guys are interesting, and they talk in an interesting way, and an amusing way, and I'm as addicted to the showgram as you are, and I think Greggo did them dirt.  But numerous Confessors have mentioned it:  Those gents do not do significant preparation for their show, not so's one could notice.  Oh, they mention show meetings.  What happens in them is not entirely clear.  They're talented enough broadcasters, every one of them, that they get away with it and it's great radio and I listen whenever I can for as long as I can.

And the fact is, Mike R's increased interest over the past few weeks has been noticeable,  leading to something of a renaissance for that showgram.  I had intended to call attention to it in an article, and probably will sometime.

But the point is – The RaGE isn't messing around.  There's some hard-core content there, content that someone has thought about for more than a quarter-minute before it is uttered on the air.   Several recent comments have noted Corby's apparent near-total unpreparedness for E-News and Community Q-Hits, and, defend Corby as I might, that perception is widely shared and difficult to shake.  P1's want to be entertained, and our lads do that quite well.  But if they think they're being shown disrespect, they may go shopping to that new mall up north on the dial.

Now, please excuse me while I Google "anal bleaching."
_______________________________

* Scorching Ticket Disquisition

Someone Needs to Tell Me What to Think

I was in my jalopy early today so I heard the beginning of Why Today.   I forget how Greggo came up -- it wasn't by name, maybe Grubes played a Greggo drop, maybe there was a casual mention of the competition, and Mike took a direct shot,  saying something very close to:  "I already checked it out and he wasn't loaded, so there's no reason to listen." 

I chuckled.

But I wondered whether it is prudent for That Certain Hardline to take these shots.  (Confessors have reported others, some veiled, some direct.)   When I heard Mike's jab, my first reaction was to switch over and listen.  (With that particular jab, he implied that sometimes Greggo is loaded during the RaGE, which also would tend to make one curious to listen.)

I don't mind the sniping from a Hardline-content point of view.   My only question is -- is it good for the Hardline?  Doesn't it tend to elevate RaGE by acknowledging it as something worth sniping at?  Doesn't it make the back-and-forth  a kind of game that would tend to lead to curiosity about what RaGE is slinging?

I really don't know.  I think there may be some danger in treating RaGE as something that The Hardline is even noticing.  Anyone have any thoughts?

(PS:  My RaGE listening is rare and usually brief.  Depending on what one thinks about the cause of Hammer's endless laryngitis -- I guess I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt on that one, although Ticket guys clearly do not, nor did Jagger -- I've never heard him incoherent or obviously affected by anything.  Anyone out there heard anything during the RaGE showgram suggesting drug/alcohol/nacho abuse affecting Greg's broadcasting these days?  Personally, I have not, but if any of you heard anything peculiar (I mean other than Greg's inherently peculiar ideas) issuing forth from Hammer, please let us hear from you.  Come to think of it, there was the unexplained disappearance in the middle of Cowboys post-game show, but this was during the claimed laryngitis battle.)

Got a Question; Actually, a Question and Then a Little PS Question

OK, Cowboy season over.

At the beginning of this season, the national consensus was that the Cowboys had top talent, some depth, and were favored to make a strong run to a championship of one sort or another.  Although blown out in their final game in last season's playoffs, they finished strong during the regular season (especially the defense) and won a playoff game, yay.

Turns out, they sucked.

They sucked for a variety of reasons.  Phillips sucked.  Players with strong 2009s sucked in 2010.  There was a dinstinctive lack of on- and off-field nonsucking leadership among the elite players.  Coaches, oh yeah, they sucked too. 

Now that the whole season has sucked, however, I'm hearing things like "the talent was overrated" and "we've got to draft at [name any one of a half-dozen positions] because we have no depth and our starters suck."

In other words, the pre-season expert conseusus has completely turned around, and those same experts (and Cowboy fans who agreed with them) are now saying exactly the opposite.   Now mark:    They're not saying that the players just sucked in the course of playing their 2010 games -- they're saying that the talent level sucked from the outset.  

I don't propose to argue this one way or the other.  Here's my Tickety question:  Did anyone at The Ticket predict anything like this?

This is a sincere question, and not one intended to be critical.  There's no reason for the Ticket experts to have had any insights that the national experts didn't have.  I'm only curious as to whether anyone at The Ticket -- anyone, hosts, producers, weekend guys, Alexis, board ops, the Ticket Mouse -- saw this coming.  I'm not sure whether to count guys like Mike R who seem simply to dislike the Cowboys.  (Or am I wrong about that?  I may be.)  Yeah, I think we can count Mike R -- what was his pre-season outlook?  Was there a discouraging word from anyone up or down the broadcast day?

I don't get to hear Norm or BaD very often, so don't know their pre-season views on the Cowboys.  I have a dim memory that maybe Dan McDowell was skeptical. 

I recall an interview with a pre-season analyst who puts out a detailed mathematical analysis of the teams in some kind of a magazine or yearbook or something.  I think the interview was on BaD Radio.  The analyst thought that the Cowboys would be last in the division.  (I recall that among the reasons he gave was the age of the offensive line.)  I don't recall BaD's reaction.

As I say -- I'm not saying that the Ticket guys are bad analysts -- I'm just wondering if someone at the station deserves a pat on the back as having seen things more clearly than the rest of us way back when.  Maybe the Sports Humorist?

==========

PS:  Isn't Greg Williams usually on the Cowboys post-game show?  He doesn't seem to be on this evening.  Anyone know if he's on vacation for the holidays?  Has he been on RaGE?

Have a fine 2011, all.

Last Greggo Post for Awhile Unless Something Interesting Happens

No Hardline yesterday so I turned in The Richie and Greggo Extravaganza. 

Greggo was back, sounding raspy but not, uh, overmedicated or anything.

You know, "extravaganza" is the wrong word to describe that show.  "Experience" would be better.

It's really not good.  It's anything but extravagant.  But since I've only caught 15-20 minutes at a time, and maybe only a half-dozen times, I'll reserve further judgment until I can listen to more of it.  If I can stand it.

The last of my preliminary takes, which is a lot like my first one:  They all sound nervous.  They all talk very rapidly, talk over each other.  In the segment I listened to yesterday, Richie and the other guy were constantly correcting Greg's factual mistakes.  And Greggo, bless his heart, just does not have enough interesting and original to say to be the focal point of that show.  The best guy on it is the non-Richie/Greggo guy who I don't know.  They're always trying to throw the conversation to Hammer, and he tries, starts hammering away, but there's very little there.  He just sounds dumb, and it's sad.   He's more hyperbolic even than Corby.

But it might get better, the balance might improve, they might find a plus-one who will make all the difference.  For now, though, unless Greg disappears again, I'm out.

Where's Greggo? -- Part 23

Tuned into The RaGE yesterday a little after five during a Hardline advertising/Traffico/Traffico/Ticker extravaganza.  I didn't hear Greg or any reference to him.  Anyone RaGE listeners out there who can enlighten us on whether the RaGE participants offered any explanations for his absence?

====

New topic:    Face it, when you're alone in your car or just listening casually, you rarely laugh out loud at The Ticket.  Not because it isn't amusing, but because when you're flying solo there's no occasion for the social interaction that laughter enhances.  But today I had one of those solo LOL moments, actually, a couple -- The Musers' obit photo talk.

The Musers: Not So Gentle on Greggo the Hammer

I don't remember the context, but this morning I believe I heard Craig "Junior" Miller make reference to someone being "hoarse," which was quite obviously a not-so-oblique reference to Greg Williams's vocal woes over on The Fan 105.3 RAGE showgram.  "Whatever the cause," he said -- or words to that effect, I was getting out of the shower at the time and my notepad was in my other towel. 

George and Gordon played along, i.e., pretended not to know what he was talking about, while knowing perfectly well.

The takeaway here is that The Exquisitely Gentle Musers disbelieve that Greggo's problem is laryngitis. 

There's some industry scuttlebutt here known only to local media insiders of the sort that used to be reported by Richie Whitt, but, of course, no longer. 



It's not beyond belief that Hammer had and has laryngitis.  (His voice sounds better by the day, on the brief snippets that I catch during Twin Peaks commercials on The Little One.)    I don't even know what kind of historical Greggo-style abuse would cause a loss of voice of the seriousness and duration of Hammer's.  So, in the absence of any definitive reporting by industry insiders -- or, heaven forbid, actual local media reporters -- I don't know that we have a choice other than to go with the official Fan version:  an organic source for Greggo's rasp.

That's Some Laryngitis

I thought I could do without The Fart Game today so I switched over to RAGE on 105.3.  Richie and some other guy were talking about Greggo, and the other guy reported that Greggo had "severe inflammation of the larynx, complete with pus pockets."  They said they hoped he would be back Monday.  He said that when he spoke to Hammer's girlfriend, she said he was in the bedroom punching the pillow out of frustration of not being able to broadcast.

O  .  .  .  kay.

How does one develop severe inflammation of the larynx?  Severe enough to generate (one of Junior's favorite words) pus?

Do we have any otolaryngologist Confessors out there?

Any Post with "Greggo" in the Title Probably Isn't Good News

OK, something new this morning. 

Before I get to that, Confessor Scott left a very nice comment about Greggo on my previous post about Greggo's whereabouts. Check it out.

Let's review:

(1)  Caught the midday show a couple of times, very briefly.  Hammer sounded OK.  Show wasn't too exciting, but Greggo was the most interesting thing on it.  I think they call it RAGE, for Richie [Whitt} And Greggo.  I don't know if  the E stands for anything, but you can't call it RAG.

(2)  Caught the post-game show the week before last.  Greggo didn't sound drug-addled, but he sounded sick and extremely hoarse.

(3)  Greggo apparently disappeared from yesterday's postgame.  I only heard him say a couple of things, but he didn't sound hoarse to me as he had the week before.

(4)  This morning I decided I could do without "Muse in the News" and switched over to 105.3 The Fan.  Jagger and some guy named Henson?  And some chick.  I don't know who all was on the show.  It was awful.  Anyway, they were talking about yesterday's broadcasting day and they said something about Greggo not being there.  And then someone said:  "Greggo was there, but he has some kind of bad laryngitis."  And one of the other hosts said, with a smirk in his voice:  "OK, we'll go with that."

In other words, the morning guys did not believe that Greggo was off the show on Monday because of any legitimate illness.

Thus, I conclude -- very sadly, because like a lot of other people I grew very fond of Greggo the Hammer --that based on the past several years of Greggo disappointments, and just a few snippets from the past two weeks, Greg Williams is headed for trouble at The Fan, if he hasn't already arrived there.

Again, any 105.3 The Fan listeners are invited to comment with additional information, or to correct my impressions.