Elf Out, G-Bag Middays

I'm behind the curve on this one, but for those wishing to comment further on a major change at The Fan:

Mark Elfenbein & Jane Slater out, Gavin Dawson and team moving to middays.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/more-sports/headlines/20130918-shakeup-at-the-fan-radio-station-mark-elfenbein-jane-slater-shown-the-door.ece

I liked Elf's weekend show on The Ticket, but what I heard of The Fan midday show, both before and after Slater came on board (which concededly wasn't much, in either case), seemed to me to denature the guy, dilute his strengths.

I've caught some G-Bag.  Usually a quick switch to the Top Ten, but not always.  Chris Arnold was gone from The Ticket by the time I got to DFW, haven't found him compelling to date on what I've heard, but not objectionable, either.

Letters, I Get Letters: A Guest Article on Josh Lewin

Posting this in the ayem because I heard The Musers are going to talk about the Josh Lewin departure later today.

A few days ago I got an email from Confessor DallasDon.  I thought he had an interesting observation and he kindly gave me permission to post it,  Here's DallasDon:

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I would really like to see a discussion about Josh Lewin, more specifically the chemistry between Josh and Tom, whether that led to Josh's departure.

I saw about 150 TR games last year, and really liked Josh. More than Tom.

Did you ever notice when they were on the road, and they would banter about what they did earlier in they day before game time?

It seems they were never together!

Tom would say "I had lunch at ..." and Josh would relate similar stories, but I never heard them say "we went to the ...".

Quite a contrast to the Ticket hosts on the road. 

Just a thought, might be interesting to see if others picked up on that.


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Confessors seem to have a lot of STDs on Josh Lewin, so please let us hear from you.  I haven't heard much of the Lewin-Elfenbein show, but reports on that would be welcome as well.

For the record, I liked Josh as a Rangers broadcaster.  I did think the Josh-Tom chemistry was unusual, but I really got used to it and grew to look forward to it.

Thanks to DallasDon for permission to publish.


[Don't ask me why Blogger is screwing up my fonts.  If Google can rule the world, you'd think it could make an online word processor/publisher that was worth a poopoo.]

Quick Sunday AM Question

I only caught a few minutes of the Sunday AM show today.  It sounded like Cirque.  Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I thought that Jean-Jacques Taylor was taking a shot at that slot. 

Anybody know what's up with the Sunday AM showgram? 

I'm thinking perhaps JJ was at one of the playoff games and not available to host this morning, which I could probably confirm for myself if I just picked up a Dallas Morning News.  Or visited http://www.dallasnews.com/.

But it's easier and more fun to ask you guys.  Besides, its slick out there.  Cold, too.

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Speaking of the Sunday morning show, I was able to listen to a little of Elfenbein/Lewin this past week.  Didn't make a strong impression either way.  They seem to have solved some of the technical problems with the show, but Elf still sounds really dry and denatured for some reason.  Content was OK, didn't grab me but didn't repel me, either.  Anyone have any reactions to that show?

Josh Lewin (2d from left) in

full semiformal regalia

Mark Elfenbein and the Larger Changes

I share AP's regret at Mark Elfenbein's departure from Sunday mornings for a midday gig at 105.3.

This site has had occasion to remark on Elfenbein's unique broadcast sound in this market.  I'll miss him on Sunday mornings.  He had a solid show and good chemistry with his guys.

However  .  .  .

I have also thought that Elfenbein is probably best in small doses.  A few hours of an all-Elf show a week was probably about right.  I wish him the best on his everyday gig (real estate biz must really be depressed), but if I were Fan management I'd look for a strong co-host for him, or at least a sidekick that will offset his somewhat spicy delivery.  He works well with other voices on the show, doesn't seem to have big ego issues.  [[SEE CORRECTION BELOW.]]

Could they have found an everyday slot for Elf?  If it were up to me, I'd ditch the Top Ten and install a nighttime host, and Elfenbein would have been perfect for that. 

Richie Whitt in his report suggests that Elf may have been ill-treated by The Ticket, as a second-class citizen weekend host not worthy of standing with the weekday guys in the recent 15th anniversary celebrations.  So there may have been some behind-the-scenes stuff that made it uncomfortable for him to stay, or easy to go.  Maybe some anonymous insider in the know will lift the veil for us.

I'd been meaning to talik about some of the larger changes at The Ticket, but I don't know exactly what's going on.  New studio; new signal.  Elf leaving.  And all those ads for new sales and technical guys.  Sounds to me like The Ticket is going through some behind-the-scenes stuff, some of it good for P1s, some of it bad. 

Some of it, of course, is natural turnover in the volatile world of local radio.   Well-regarded but poorly-paid second-stringers at the mic and at the board looking for a better living elsewhere.

The Fan is not sitting still.  So far its all-Ticket hiring policy isn't working out for it, kind of like the Bengals' Cowboy poaching.  But they're in there slugging, and somewhere along the line, somewhere during the broadcast day, they're going to strike a little gold.

Note that in the portrait above, that Your Plainsman is "scanning the sports radio horizon," despite the name of the site.  I've been switching channels more frequently lately, checking out the competition when I've wearied of some tired bit or overexposure of one host or another.  Anyone want to steer me in the direction of good sportstalk elsewhere, lemme know.

CORRECTION:  I didn't realize they were going to team Elfenbein up with Josh Lewin..  Wow, an all-Jewish midday on The Fan.  Interesting.  That might be a potent alternative to BaD Radio.  If you're tired of all the bickering over there, Josh and Elf might seem worth a listen.

ADDENDUM, 2:30 pm:  Looks like Todd Archer is also changing his affiliation to ESPN.   Todd's OK, but this is not an immense loss from a daily broadcast standpoint.  The question I have is -- what does it mean about what's going on at The Ticket or, perhaps more meaningfully, what's ESPN's management up to?  Guessing that they're tired of looking foolish in this market (although promoting Hammer to five endless hours of drive is unlikely to prove an inspired strategy) and going to spend some bucks to class up their output.

Elf Quick Hit -- That Sound He Makes

[[This was drafted a couple of weeks ago.  I forgot to hit "publish post."  So this one's a little stale.  Sorry.  -- Plainsman.]]

One day a couple of weeks ago the Musers were teasing Mark Elfenbein about the promo he taped for the show since he appeared to endorse the concept of a fourth playoff game for the Rangers and Rays.  Elf called in to defend himself.  He re-ran the Musers segment on his show Sunday morning.

They got to talking about that ngyah-ngyah sound that Elf makes at the end of all his promos these days.  If I had to describe it, it is a sound of amused anxiety.  I thought sure I knew where he got that sound, but he didn't mention it, so I'll throw it out my speculation --

It's the sound the late Dom DeLuise used to make with some frequency.

Corby Misuses "Meshuggenah"

While the station is on hiatus, here's a throwaway observation:

Corby misuses the Yiddish term "meshuggenah." It is heard most frequently when the group is talking about the ambush of Billy Joel, when Corby referred to "meshuggenah comedian Alan King," or words to that effect.

I think Corby must think that "meshuggenah" means "ethnic Jewish Catskills-type," because "meshuggenah" does not describe Alan King in the slightest. "Meshuggenah" means crazy, real crazy, wildly insane. It is not an adjective one pairs up with "comic" or "comedian." (One also sees it used as a noun, to refer to a person or a quality.) If you Google "meshuggenah comic" or "meshuggenah comedian," you come up with nothing.

Mark Elfenbein uses it in a punning way to refer to Michigan fan Stewart Cedar ("Mr. Meshuggenah"), which is perfectly fine. (My notes on Elfenbein's ethnic approach here.)  But Corby needs to brush up on his Yiddish.

Mark Elfenbein -- A Very Unique Broadcaster

I'll have more to say about Mark Elfenbein in the future. In general, I think he has a terrific show.

Something occurred to me the other day as I was listening to the program: He is the most explicitly Jewish program host on any station I can recall in the past several decades in the several markets I'm familiar with. There may be programs and even entire stations dedicated to subjects of interest to members of the Tribe -- I'm not talking about those. I'm talking about a general-interest talk-show host. His inflections, his insertions of Yiddish phrases and words -- that just isn't something you hear a lot in these times of homogenized talk radio.

I find it refreshing and charming, although from time to time the Tribal references are a bit . . . inside and forced. But it's a really unique cadence for a radio host -- especially a sports radio host -- and The Ticket deserves some credit for programming a host of his particular flavor for local programming on a Sunday morning, when they could be running some of the unbearable syndicated stuff.

Overall, a well-done, aurally distinctive program.