So What's the Deal on Dave Lane?

I came to The Ticket after the main Davey Lane years, I think.  I started listening in late 2004 or thereabouts.  I never heard The Rant, but maybe I wasn't tuning in weekends at that time -- thought I was, but maybe not. 

I did hear The Orphanage for many years.  Loved it.  Miss it.

Whenever I hear him on the air, I think:  This is good.  This sounds like a Ticket guy.  Sounds, in fact, like a Ticket host.  Has, in fact, that Craig "Junior" Miller crazy/cool vibe. 

Would most of us consider his appearances with Corby and Danny this week to be a success?  I would.  (And it reminds us, as we have been reminded many times, that Corby can be really good when he's away from The Hardline setting.)

So I ask, why not more Dave Lane?

And why did he leave The Ticket to begin with?

I ask it reluctantly, because I fear it may provoke answers having something to do with some unfortunate employment situation, or internal Ticket problem, or domestic issues, that are really none of this site's business.  Well, maybe internal Ticket problems are.

I can see why a guy might leave a station voluntarily.  If, for example, he wanted to make an actual living instead of waiting on a Ticket host to die.

But, if LinkedIn is to be believed, the man is somewhat at loose ends right now, and has been for awhile. 

But, alas, there is no room for him at The Ticket most of the time.  With full-time JVs scrabbling for airtime and fill-in host duties, there just aren't a lot of slots for cameos by Historical Ticket Figures.

I'm rambling.  I don't have a point.  I just like listening to Dave Lane, I wish he were on more often, I'm sorry he's not a full-time Ticket star, and MTC wishes him well.

Little Weak Jeremy and Anonymous – It’s Just Confession! (PART 3)

After Little Weak Jeremy’s initial comment and Anonymous’s point-by-point response, each offered one more comment apiece.

Little Weak Jeremy Continued:

Maybe I'm beating my head against a wall, but I would suggest you listen to an episode or two of IJB before judging Jake Z based on "space is super gay". He's spoken at length about how that type of opinion doesn't represent his general attitude toward intellectual topics, etc. (the latest IJB actually deals with Jake having received his Master's degree). Sure, the "super gay" is Jake's most famous drop and the one that will be a thorn in his side forever and ever, but don't judge the man's contributions solely on that unfortunate moment (no, I don't agree with that particular opinion of his either).

As far as the bigger Ticket picture goes, if you and I are looking at the same set of info, and you come to the conclusion that this thing is headed for the shitter, and I don't, then I'm not sure what else I can do to argue the point further. We look into the crystal ball and simply see different fortunes. I suppose we've reached an endpoint in that discussion.

Finally, Anonymous Took the Last Word – Actually, a Fairish Number of Them:

First off, my comments are not personally aimed toward IJB/Jake Z. I believe this is rather clear. I only used IJB to illustrate my point regarding what I perceive to be a niche audience and its relation to The Ticket's future.

As to Jake Z's education and intellectual interests: I'm not sure what that has to do with the program content that he has chosen to put forth. If he's into, oh, I don't know, biochemistry, great. But why would he talk about it on a podcast such as he and TC have constructed? It wouldn't make sense. Thus one's interests outside of a genre might make interesting talk once in a blue moon for a change of pace, but in general they don't work. So, I'm a bit puzzled about your statement. Furthermore, if Jake Z has spoken at length about the things that truly interest him, then perhaps he ought to change the direction of the show to reflect said interests (?).

I have listened to several of the IJB podcasts. I enjoyed the Rhyner interview (perhaps because they were on their best behavior/Rhyner is interesting to me). I used the "space is gay" quip because most readers of the blog, I imagine, would know what I'm talking about. I judge the man's contribution to The Ticket by his work on The Ticket. Especially his one chance at actually hosting his own show.  [PLAINSMAN:  Is this a reference to the late-night IJB experiment?]  It was a trainwreck. Both the callers and the hosts demolished the thing. There's a reason why they weren't asked to do it again. I can see that you enjoy the content and presentation that IJB puts forward, and that's great. However, they are minor figures at the station. I will be stunned if Jake Z or TC are ever offered jobs as hosts. Hell, I'll be stunned if they're still at the station in any capacity three years from now. IJB is a podcast that is not a part of the station; and it never will be.

I agree with your second overarching point (agreeing to disagree). Though I would like to reiterate from my previous comments that I've never claimed that The Ticket is going down the shitter. My claim is that if the new hosts/programs that management is hiring/airing are any indication as to where this is going, then the special nature of The Ticket will die away with each loss of the mainstays; it will submerge into the homogeneity of sports/guy talk radio. And that will be a crying shame. I hope that's not going to be the case.

Finally, I'd like to address the age-difference issue:

I remember in my 20s listening to the Rant (even before it was the Rant, when it was on late night Saturdays) and thinking "how can anyone not find this hysterical, smart, and even at times genius?" Some of it actually was. But most of it wasn't. I used to record the shows on a very early version of an MP3 recorder (thank God for the CCrane radio company). Three years ago, when I was 35, I went back and listened to a very large sample size of the Rant shows. Like I said, most of it wasn't very good. In fact, it was tough to find the gems (they were there, though). I, along with my buddies, used to scratch our heads as to why the Rant wasn't on everyday. After going back and listening, I now see why. I see why it was on once per weekend. It was on the whole devoid of content; it was on the whole one big inside joke with its own highly privatized language; a language and a joke that only appealed to a niche audience.

While this niche audience calls in to screenless segments, tweets and e-mails, etc., and is very much into the aspects of the station which they find interesting (i.e., comedic value), it moves on when it outgrows or finds new avenues of entertainment to fill what the station once satisfied. I remained a listener because I am a sports talk radio fan. Most of my buddies eventually began to stop listening altogether. The thing is, The Ticket is Sports Radio 1310, The Ticket; it is a sports station first and foremost; sports talk will always be its engine. While the guy talk/comedic value is what keeps the engine running smoothly, it is not the engine. I think we agree that it's that perfect mix of sports/guy-comedy talk that makes The Ticket great. But the day the station leans too far one way, its greatness will quickly fade. If I would have had my way, way back when, I'd have had it all Rant all the time. And The Ticket would have faltered. I'm not saying that you want it as such, I'm just saying that the greater niche audience that I believe you're a part of does . . . and if management allows for it to happen, different days are ahead.

Anyway, once again I've rambled on far too long.

It's been a great back and forth, LWJ.

*     *     *

Indeed it has.  Since I’m interested in these same things, I don’t think either Little Weak Jeremy or Anonymous rambled on too long – sometimes it takes saying the same thing in different ways to get the overall points across.  I think both succeeded, behaved like gentlemen (I am guessing), and they have my gratitude.

I’ll have a postscript up on this in a few days.

In the meantime, thanks to The Nation for great comments on these thoughts to date.

*     *     *

Follow Your Plainsman on Twitter:  @Plainsman1310

Danny Draws Back the Curtain

A post or two ago I tossed a bouquet to Jeff Catlin , Program Director at The Little One (he may have a different Cumulus title, not sure).  He drops a line now and then, always polite, usually pointing out areas of disagreement, but always in pretty neutral tones.  I appreciate his communications and said so in the post.

An "Anonymous" poster, however, observed:  "Cat is a douche and doesn't respect all of his employees and most of the P1's."

I can't speak to Mr. Catlin's attitude towards his employees.  Although one does get the impression of a certain uneasy distance between JC and his charges, especially when he's referenced by Mike R on The Hardline.   As to the P1's, Your Plainsman mostly hears good things about his responsiveness, although I recall one commenter who didn't get a response to an email.  I imagine Mr. Catlin gets hundreds a day and probably doesn't (can't) respond to all of the genius suggestions he receives from The P1 Nation.  But perhaps Anonymous has information I lack.

Which is why I found this morning's Orphanage of interest.  (I'd been able to catch a fair amount of Cirque du Sirois (damned clever name) substituting for the Teebox.  Based on early returns, CdS is a pretty good show that suffers only from the Ben-and-Skin disease of the hosts sounding too much alike -- in this case for pretty good DNA-based reasons.  I'll have more to say about it in the future.)

Anyway, a caller on the "Ask the Orphanage" segment asked why The Ticket didn't run The Orphanage as a substitute programming for the regular weekday shows when those hosts were on vacation, since (in that caller's and his pals' opinion) the Orphanage was the best show on The Ticket.

Danny's initial response was "Because Cat hates us."  Upon brief reconsideration, he said that there were two reasons. 

First -- if I understood him correctly -- Danny explained that The Orphanage, as a successor to The Rant, got "grandfathered in" as a show that was not required to conform strictly to the X-percentage-of-sports-talk format.  Other shows, he said -- and I tend to credit this account -- are constantly importuned to maintain a substantial amount of actual sports talk.  The number Danny threw out was 60%, but I'm not sure if that was intended to be an accurate report or just an illustration of Cat's instruction to emphasize sports talk.  But The Orphanage is apparently exempt from that requirement, and Danny thought that Cat would not "trust" them to do a conventional sports-talk showgram substituting for a regular weekday show.  (Ironically, today's show was heavily sports-oriented, and probably had the most intensive World Cup coverage I've heard to date on The Ticket -- and since I usually tune such talk completely out, it was a tribute to the show that I didn't.)  

Second, he said, "Cat hates us."

I can understand why Mr. Catlin might have a problem with Mr. Balis.  I don't have a firm grip on Dave Lane's persona -- I gather he may have had a more prominent role on The Ticket in the past, perhaps before I got to Dallas in the mid-Oughts.  (I could never figure out who "Gen-X Davey" was.)   And I assume Dave has an actual paying job elsewhere.  Danny, however, gives every indication of being an actual honest-to-Jah free spirit who enjoys his freedom more than his radio gig and probably would not be the favorite of any supervisor who wanted employees to, you know, comply with his employer's instructions and policies, as employees are universally required to do.   

Cat's problem (if Danny's suggestion that there is a problem is to be credited), of course, is that -- putting aside attitude for the time being -- Danny is a truly gifted human.  Let's see:  He's a composer; producer; musical performer; witty; funny (not the same thing); a talented broadcaster as a secondary sidekick; a talented broadcaster as a show host; and a notable content provider ("What's On Mike's Mind" intros and other similar contributions).  Also a man-about-Dallas through his performing and his friendships with the Wilonskyesque Observer-orbit hipster element.  And a thoughtful mentor to that nice young Michael Gruber.     

And, I suspect, a Galaxy-Class pain in the ass to the KTCK/Cumulus overlords.

And it's true that the Dark Cloud emerges from time to time to annoy the hoi polloi P1 Nation with his overcool musical tastes and his cynicism about matters that may call for it in the abstract (for example, most of pop culture), but which he tends to oversmack on The Hardline.  But man, if he weren't there M-F 3:30-7, you'd miss him terribly. 

 (By the way -- does anyone know why George refers to him as "Big Dumb Danny"?  When I hear that [although I haven't heard him say it in awhile], I get this image of George walking around in a big glass house, with me standing outside with a chunk of feldspar -- or perhaps gneiss -- in my hand, ready to chuck.)

But returning to the original point -- doesn't it say something positive about Mr. Catlin that despite what he may see as unacceptable disrespect for Cumulus programming goals by the obstreperous Danny B, he recognizes what he's got and not only declines to terminate the the SOB, but actually gives him his own showgram?   

Before I sign off:    Will one of my faithful Confessors please remind me to post sometime on the extremely intriguing Danny B/Gordon K dynamic? 

Ah, dammit.  It's Great to Listen to The Ticket. Hurrah for the freakin' Fourth of July, everyone.