Ticket Seismic Change Thread

React here.

Your Plainsman will try to be by his keyboard to comfort or celebrate.  (Considering the range of opinions on what's good and what's not, probably both.)

Is The Ticket a Good Buy?

This site's good friend DA writes in a comment at the end of the last thread:

Say The Musers make 40%+ of the station revenue.  If Cumulus sold The Ticket and the 1310 signal, what would the investors by buying long term? Mike and Norm are at the end. Each of the Musers could move on quickly if Cumulus voids contracts and trying to bill equal to The Musers after if even one leaves becomes an issue. Plus, the off air staff costs and sales turnover is a constant radio issue.

That is a very interesting and valid point.  I would issue not so much a mild and respectful disagreement, as a perspective that shifts the assumptions somewhat.

DA's point applies broadly to any asset that depends on individual talent.  Think about a sports team.  It's worth more if it's talent is good and the talent is assured of sticking around for awhile.  What distinguishes the teams that are valuable year after year from those that have their ups and downs?    It's management -- the ability to keep the inventory of talent strong and fresh.  It's other things, too, but I'm focusing here on DA's point.  (NB:  The analogy is not perfect -- there are a limited number of Big Four sports teams to buy and sell, and so scarcity drives up the price irrespective of athletic or management talent.)

My view is that The Ticket is like those teams with lots of talent that is backed by strong and savvy management.   Think about it:  The individual talent of the hosts is undeniable.  But management -- invented, in the beginning, by Mike Rhyner and other founders -- is responsible for both permitting and encouraging the highly-personalized, draw-back-the-curtain type of talk that results in an identification between them and the listeners.  It combines this with strongly show-identifiable features (O-Deck, Homer Call, E-News, etc.), station promotions (GNO, Fight Night, etc.), and other lesser touches that make the station stand out.  The talent is the foundation, but management provides the framework and direction -- and sometimes the discipline -- in which it can succeed.

Even though the current hosts have all been around a long time, I would also suggest that a critical element of The Ticket's success is management's identification and strategic promotion of new talent.  New voices are added, some stick and fit in with the Ticket ethos, some don't.  Gradually, some get more exposure.  How does this fit with DA's point?  Consider his scenario of host departure for some reason.  Wouldn't most of us listen to Country Force over the competition if it got a slot?  Shake Joint? Cirque (when not on a frequent vacation; also, Cirque probably the least likely replacement as its hosts have other things to do)?  Not a Podcast has its partisans.  And wouldn't that keep The Ticket on top?  And valuable?

[Side note:  Unless there were a bankruptcy, I am doubtful that Cumulus would be able to unilaterally "void contracts."  But to DA's major point -- contacts certainly do expire and Cumulus could chose not to renew them.]

"I'll start the bidding at $700 -- but I only want David Mino."

Despite rumbles of it being near the end for Mike and Norm and even some younger hosts who want to do other things, I think both of those worthies, and even the younger voices, are going to be around for quite some time.  Got no concrete inside poop on this and DA may well be right that their days are numbered.  But it's just the feeling I get.  The P1 has been anticipating their exit for quite some time, but my sense is that this is just way, way too sweet for each of them, and Norm has some big fans in upper management.


Another point is that the a buyer of a business will take steps to avoid the very problems DA has identified.  It would make sure it had its main hosts under contract for a meaningful future period. It would also likely insist on noncompetes, for which it would pay the affected hosts extra as part of the deal.   And it would tie up key managers and executives in exactly the same way.

So if The Ticket were on the block, I think buyers with dollars would be lined up around it.

ThePlainsman1310@gmail.com

@Plainsman1310

Quick Question from the Bench

I happened to turn on Ferrall last night (Thursday) around 8:30 or 9, and he was talking about The Ticket.  I wasn't near the radio when he began, so I didn't catch all of what he was saying, but I believe he may have specifically mentioned BaD Radio. 

He was talking about the Cowboys at the time, making the same point that Jerry made in almost the same words, that he was "stunned" that they didn't win any of those seven games.

Anyway, if anyone heard this, please report.  Sorry I didn't catch it all clearly.

Maybe this will make you feel better.

bubba begs somewhat to differ

Confessor bubba had some thoughts at variance with Larry in Mowry's.  I'm not sure they're contrary, but bubba does pitch matters a little differently.  He thought they might work as a post, and I did too.

I am delighted to receive proposed posts from Confessors.  However, if you want to suggest some text for a post, please send them as emails and not as comments.  It is easier for me to handle them that way.   If I like your submission but decide not to use it as a post, I'll stick it in a comment myself with attribution if it meets the Rules of the Confessional (link at bottom of this post).  So one way or the other you'll get published.  Thanks.

I'm hopeful to have Larry in Mowry's exegesis on ESPN's offerings sometime soon.  

I have edited bubba's text very lightly for cleanup and clarity.

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Back to Larry's main comments re: the Fan/Fail (to be referred to as the ‘F’ in this post for ease) and the way it has so effectively ripped from the Ticket as to make it their own  --  I disagree. And by that I mean no disrespect.

Yes, they have done a decent job of the whole "guys talking guy stuff in addition to sports," but their station totally lacks the thing that makes the Ticket so unique (and nearly impossible to copy):  a steady, long-term relationship with its listeners.

Maybe they will get there at some point, but that rapport takes years to build.

Just look at this blog and others (unTicket, reddit etc) as an example. What other radio station (anywhere) has enough dedicated listeners to put together multiple sites in which all they discuss is all things related to that station? We’re like a bunch of women gossiping about "The Bachelor" or some soap opera for heaven's sake.

And the ways that relationship was built will not be easily duplicated (by the F or anyone). The inside jokes that take months or years to get up to speed on as a listener, the vast library of drops, the way you feel a kinship with each host in some personal way (which requires a steady hosting lineup over long periods of time), the way the hosts and the whole station laugh at themselves and celebrate their own mediocrity.

I truly don’t think we will see another station/relationship like this in our lifetimes. Which I guess is kind of distressing in itself. What will we turn to when/if the beloved Little One is no longer?

Does the Ticket have problems? Absolutely. I don’t disagree with what people are saying about their complacency nor the need for Corby to back off/Mike to step up and for the web site to get out of the 90s. But to worry that the F will be able to supplant the relationship the Ticket has with its P1s seems a bridge too far (though why doesn’t someone at the Ticket use some version of the ‘F text’ during shows? It would be easy to do and it’s a great tool).  

The main thing the Ticket needs to worry about is NOT the F or ESPN taking their place. They need to worry about staying relevant and bringing the next generation of P1 into the fold. Because if they can’t create a relationship with the new P1 like they have with us, then all they have is "guys talking with guys about sports," and THAT’S where the F and ESPN could have an in. In fairness to Larry, he hammers this point home as well.

I am pretty comforted by the fact that BaD could easily take over for THL when Mike hangs it up, and there are several good choices to fill after noon (TSJ, Sirois). Norm is virtually irreplaceable from a knowledge/chops standpoint, but his time slot isn’t as important and can be filled with current talent. But when the Musers hang it up, especially if it’s near Mike’s retirement, then we’ll really need to hold on to our butts. Here’s to hoping things change organically enough that the Little One remains relevant for us and the next generation of P1 long into the future.  

Likely not bubba

Likely not relevant to bubba's post

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Hello, Larry

A week or so back an Anonymous Confessor who later identified himself as Larry in Mowry (love it) submitted a three-part comment.  (He said he had commented in the distant past, but was recently inspired by the uptick in comment quality.)   Many of his observations will have been made by Confessors from time to time, but I thought the presentation was original and thoughtful and the writing colorful.  I'm going to give you all three parts here, so it will go on a bit.  I have edited very slightly for for clarity.

I was purposely flipping between TSJ and The FAN this morning. Heard an interesting B&S ad: "Two best friends who grew up in Richardson and who relate to you...The Ben and Skin Show." Those weren't the exact words, but damn near. Obviously it's a double-edged sword strike. 

     --  1. "THL doesn't get you anymore, they're too big time." 

     --  2."We're like The Ticket and THL used to be; we live like/where you do, think like you do, have the same problems you do." 

Maybe I'm a sucker, but I thought it was a pretty effective commercial. There was another spot that touted K&C Masterpiece being "guys like you and your buddies," and one more about how The FAN has more local programming than the other two stations. Again, me, a sucker?, perhaps; but I found them effective.

Overall I've tried to give The FAN a fair amount of listening the past few weeks--during all hours of the weekdays/nights and weekend days/nights. In full disclosure, I'm a D1P1, so yeah I'm biased towards The Ticket, even if I'm trying my best not to be. Having said that:

Flat out, The Ticket is better than The FAN across the board where weekdays are concerned. Flat out. "No question," as Corby would say. I'd go as far to say that other than Mike Bacsik (Ticket ex-pat) and AT TIMES B&S (Ticket ex-pats), the shows and hosts are not good to plain awful. GBag, the show Bacsik is on, might be the worst of the lot (though he's solid). Then again New School might be the worst. But.

I can see why The FAN (I'm going to devote likewise listening time to ESPN for the next 2 weeks beginning Monday, so I'm not discussing them) has gained on and in some places tied or even surpassed The Ticket. Moreover I can see why this isn't a trend, why it'll most likely continue, and thus how we are probably witnessing, barring some big gestures by The Ticket, Rome fall. Not go away, mind you, but to no longer be an empire.

     -- 1. The FAN has, on every level, coopted damn near everything The Ticket does. This includes lingo, attitude, aping Ticket hosts, copying promotions and listener-love events such as Ticketstock and Summerbash, and damn near everything and anything else and in every possible way that makes The Ticket, The Ticket. They have been doing it long enough now that, they've gotten really really good at it. To the point that it sounds organic, seamless. It used to not be that way. However, they have hired enough Ticket ex-pats and have done enough homework, and have hired management types such as Gilbert and now Spittle who either helped shepherd The Ticket to its heights (Gilbert), or aped The Ticket to such a degree (and to such a success) in another market (Houston) that that station's hosts and listeners actually get pissed and think The Ticket has ripped them off (Spittle).

      --  2. I also heard the Corby "I love you Jeff (Staubach)" moment last week. That plays right into [the] B&S spot I heard. Frankly, the spot has a ring of truth to it. One thing I didn't hear from any FAN host was the self-promotion for one's band or the kickass concert seats/suite or being in some local celeb's suite for the Mavs or Stars game or about hanging/texting/chatting with local musician celeb A, B, or C. You might hear a sports figure's name dropped. But it's always tied into the sports topic at hand, and not in a personal "my close friend/running buddy"kind of way like we find on The Ticket (mostly THL, to be fair).

      --  3.While the guy talk aspect of the equation is definitely a player on The FAN, sports takes precedence. Other than Norm and to some extent BaD (at least for the B side of BaD), it's the other way around at The Ticket. I know this is going to sound crazy to the bit lovers out there, but the majority of sports-guy talk listeners tune in primarily for sports talk.

      --  4. Signal. Signal. Signal. You can hear The FAN anywhere in the DFW area and even into the vast hinterlands. The Ticket, not so much. The FM signal is not good. It's better in some places, worse in others. Indeed it's the perfect counterpart to its AM sister.

      --  5. "I" know who CBS is, what's a Cumulus Station?

      --  6. Website, apps, and web presence in general. The FAN = solid, industry standard job; Ticket = Y2K disaster did happen, but only to The Ticket -- which never recovered.

Final Analysis: [LiM is engaging in a little theater of the mind here; he's a D1P1, recall.  Sorry for the overexplaining.] I'm new in town/I'm 15-16 and discovering sports radio.   Hmmm. OK. Here's a CBS station called The FAN. I know what CBS is, and hell, it's the station that comes in the best. They have the Cowboys and the Rangers. If there was another station, I've never been able to pick it up where I live, or not very well. Wow. These guys speak to me. They're besties from Richardson who dig what I dig and have the same problems I have (maybe not the young "discovering" listener). They have cool listener appreciation gatherings. Etc. Oh, I finally found out about and gave The Ticket a try. I don't know, their supposedly badass show, THL, does nothing but gossip like my wife or gf with her friends about tv shows and Hollywood and talk out of their asses about everything they have no knowledge on (and about music like a teenager or college student does) .  .  .  and has no interest in talking about what they actually know, or are supposed to know (sports and everyday mundane guy crap). Besides, both stations sound just alike in lingo and for the most part in presentation. Except The FAN breaks at regular intervals and has more content per hour.

Then you have the Ticket listener, from D1P1 to P1 to P2 who, after having been kicked out of the treehouse so to speak by the cool kids, says "I'll try something else for a while," and finds out that yes, The FAN isn't as good on the whole, but the dialogue and language itself is familiar; and you know what? they actually seem to want me in their club. These guys are dealing with the same bulsh I am. We're all sitting in Section 233 at the Stars game, having some beers, having a good time.

The Ticket IS a much better station. But The Ticket is in trouble. Not sure if they can fix it. One thing is for sure, they did it all to themselves.

Not Larry in Mowry

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Before posting, please read Rules of the Confessional.  Thank you.] 

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BREAKING: Bad

The world of radio, and, in this case, the world of DFW radio, and, further to this case, the world of DFW sports radio, is pretty small.  News travels fast.  Sometimes it travels fast this direction.

The Ticket/Cumulus has terminated Logan Gourley.

This site does wants to be scrupulously fair to Logan, and does not want to unduly publicize this unfortunate event.  (Yeah, then why you posting this?  Well, you're not going to be hearing Logan on The Ticket any more, so most Confessors could figure it out before too much time passed.)  There are usually two sides to every issue.  Not always two equal sides, but at least two stories.  I only have one.

Reportedly, there were performance issues of the sort sometimes seen with young men and women of the present generation in their inaugural encounter with the requirements of professional employment.

Thought the guy had something, was at least holding his own among the latest generation of JV.

This site wishes Logan the best of luck.

Comment moderation temporarily suspended

Two Decades

Confessors, I feel I have let you down.

You've been kind enough to join me here for the past several years to talk Ticket.  Here we are coming up on the biggest Ticket date in forever, and I disappear.  No excuses.  Well, I have some, but who cares?  I finally tore myself away from other stuff I needed to do at least get one acknowledgment of this event up here before it passes entirely.  Thank Jah for A P1 Wasteland for throwing up some solid content for you.

I don't have a topic.  Oh, I got a bunch written down, but none of them are good for an event of this magnitude.

So I'm gong to meander a bit, toss out a few Tickety thoughts as they occur to me.

I moved to this area in 2004.  I was happy to do so, for Mrs. Plainsman's family was down here, and it's a wonderful family, and Mrs. Plainsman is wonderful.  And Mrs. Plainsman was from here, and had moved to my city Up North to pursue and marry me, a goal in which she thankfully succeeded.  And Mrs. Plainsman had job prospects down here.  And many friends.

I wanted to stress all that about the great family and great Mrs. and my pleasure in making them happy by moving down here, because I'm trying to take some of the edge off the pathos when I report that I had no job prospects, no family of my own, and no friends in this area.

But I had a car.  It had a radio.

I don't know the date of my first tune-in to The Ticket, but I know exactly where I was to within a few feet of roadway.  I believe the first voice I heard was that of George Dunham, although it took me quite a long time to figure out who was who and even the name of the damned show (was one of them named "Donovan Miller"?) -- at that time I didn't tune in at 6 AM where the Musers introduce themselves.  For some period of time measurable probably only in days, I believe I thought it was George's show, with Craig as his sidekick and Gordon as local color.  That didn't last long and eventually I sorted everyone out.

I loved the humor and the sports talk, but what really drew me in was the cadence and tone of the show.  It wasn't blustery, it wasn't announcerish, it wasn't stagey or overly bit-driven.  There were topics that served as a pretty loose skeleton for conversation, but that's what is sounded like -- conversation.  It wasn't intimate or too-inside, it just hit the right balance between holding you at distance as an audience to be entertained, and inviting you in as a friend.   It never bored.

I don't have a strong recollection of my introduction to the other shows.  I'm sure I left 1310 on in the hope that I'd actually found an all guy/sports station for DFW in that unlikely spot on the dial, and sure enough, here comes along The Hardline, and BaD, and even Norm.  That turned out to be the last good time for The Hardline, and a good time it was.  Mike was fully engaged, Greg was a native wit, and Corby filled in some gaps that needed to be filled.

I don't recall how I discovered 104.1 FM, it wasn't right off the bat -- but it was where I parked for almost ten years.

Eventually I got a job,  Got some better ones as time went by.  Family kept growing.  As you know from past reports, I've never really warmed up to the Metro, but when you spend several hours a day with The Ticket, you really don't need to be much of anywhere else.

But one thing was missing:  No one I knew listened very much to The Ticket, not even the male relatives in that great family I told you about.  Those who did know the station didn't listen to it for hours at a time like I did and so didn't have same attachment to it that I did.

And because of the nature of my job and my time commitments, I didn't really make any guy friends (more pathos) and so when I'd think of stuff that interested me about The Ticket, I didn't have anyone to talk to about it or say "hey, did you hear  .  .  .  .?"

So on  Tuesday, June 30, 2009, at 8:38 p.m., I tossed up the first post on My Ticket Confession.

And now, I have lots of friends.

Thank you.

And thank you, George Dunham, and Craig Miller and Gordon Keith and Norm Hitzges and Bob Sturm and Dan McDowell and Donovan Lewis and Mike Rhyner and Corby Davidson and Danny Balis and yes, Greg Williams, and all JV past and present, and the stout leatherlunged Tickermen and hearty and unthanked board operators, and by Jah, Jeff Catlin and, why not, the whole damned CTO.

See you at Ticketstock.

ThePlainsman1310@gmail.com

@Plainsman1310

Is Mark Cuban Doing Something Amazing with The Ticket Today?

Our mysterious insider Gypo Nolan has made an oblique reference to something akin -- or of equal significance -- to the resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis occurring today.

At first I focused on "crisis."  But perhaps it's "Cuban."

That's all I know.

But I like to get out front on stuff, even if I'm wrong.

A Hardline Quick Hit Prompts a Larger Thinking

It was pointed out in a prior comment that Jake had a busy Friday, filling on-air roles for The Musers and The Hardline, and board-opping midday.  Don't have any thoughts on his board-opping, but his fill-ins went real well, I thought.  He wasn't intrusive, he was ready when his segs came up, and he held his own when everyone was talking.

One thing I did find interesting on The Hardline:  With the team dispersed and in different roles, there was a notable disruption in the rhythm from time to time.  People not quite sure when to talk, when to stop talking, when to cut off a line of humor that was too inside, when to stop and let the other guy talk.  Didn't screw up the show, just some passages of mild confusion.

Which brought to my recall that there's more to a successful show than strong, distinctive personalities who are enjoyable to listen to.  (Yes, I enjoy Corby, as I do Jake.)   There is that ineffable quality known variously as "comfort level," "familiarity," and "seamlessness," and probably some other words and phrases that aren't coming to mind.  One of the thing that makes all of the shows on The Ticket great (and, I'm sure some would say, sometimes makes them stale) is that their participants have been doing it with one another for a long time.

It's not just the yuks -- we're drawn in as well by the cadences and rhythms of guys talking who talk -- and listen -- to each other a lot.  The almost imperceptible undersignal to The Ticket's hilarity and chaos is on a frequency of old friends, and old friendships.

That's a gift, grown over years, and it renders counterprogramming almost futile.

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Email:  ThePlainsman1310@gmail.com

Twitter: @Plainsman1310

A Quick Thought on Originality and Corby

My time and ability to be by the station has been limited lately.  Sorry that new posts have been few and far between.  Hoping that will ease soon.

The prior batch of comments contains some interesting reports on Fan filching of Ticket bits, some of them of long-standing and not even that frequently heard on the station any longer.

I thought of this when I was able to catch about an hour of The Hardline today.  I heard Corby's new bit, Bad Follow-Up Question Guy.  (I don't have that quite right -- it wasn't "Bad," was it?  Someone here will remember.  Yeah, maybe it was.)  He was interviewing a Cowboy hopeful, a second-year guy, I think, whose name I did not catch.  Corby was doing a legitimate interview, the guy was responsive and cooperative, but after every response, Corby would throw in a complete non-sequitur, sometimes a random remark, sometimes a question, would pause for a moment, and then would go on to a legitimate question.  The guy eventually caught on and chuckled some at what he probably figured out was a bit.

I'm not a big fan of Ticket ambush interviews, but I gotta say that I laughed at this.  Corby's non-sequiturs were masterful, and delivered with just the right offhanded lack of emphasis.

This made me think about the comments we had on RaGE swiping old Ticket bits.

Corby came up with a successful original bit.  Why can't RaGE?

This got me thinking about whether Greggo or anyone on RaGE could even have performed that bit if it had been given to them.  I don't think so.  Oh, they could have tried it, but it would have fallen completely flat.

Why?  Because of Corby's unique talent for manufactured sincerity.   He gets his share and more of ballbusting by readers here, some of it accurate (although sometimes overheated, in Your Plainsman's view), but this is a true gift, and I don't intend this opinion as damning with faint praise.  It's what makes him the best interviewer on The Ticket.   Who else on Dallas sports radio could have drawn superstars like Shaq or impossible interviews like Parcells into some really great radio?

I hadn't intended this entry as a celebration of Corby, although I'm always glad to be positive about The Little One.  My point started out to be that it isn't just bad decisionmaking that keeps The Fan down -- it's a major talent gap.   I've said it, we've all said it in one way or another:  In the words of an early commenter on this site, The Ticket is lightning in a bottle.  Whether the assembly of the host lineups throughout the day was brilliant on the part of the station's founders and early managers or merely fortuitous, we should enjoy the hell out of it while we can.

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I'll try to catch The Train Station Fitness Show tomorrow to see if George Di addresses last week's much-remarked-on interaction with his somewhat addled guest.

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It's Not Too Early to Ask Some Hard(line) Questions -- PART 2

A couple of weeks ago I started sticking my digital nose into Mike Rhyner's business.  It's going to get worse.

First thing we explored was whether we want Mike to sign on again.  You can read my timeless thoughts on this subject here.  I certainly do, and I think the sense of the Nation is that it does as well. 

But that's not important now.  Our next topic is:  Does Mike want to re-up?

For quite a long time, Mike's sometimes (?) adversarial relationship with the CTO would be hinted at on The Hardline.  About every presentation or two, something would inspire him to grumble "Won't somebody come in here and buy this thing?"  And it didn't sound like a bit.

And from time to time someone who sounds like they might have a spot of inside knowledge will leave a comment on this site suggesting that Mike's relations with the CTO are consistently less than rosy. 

But somewhere along the line, something happened to Mike's public dyspepsia about his supervisors.  I'm thinking it may have been the internal Cumulo-Ticket fallout to those sodden ruminations on the shores of Lake Mingus when Mike, transfixed by the flickering campfire and addled by his shot-o-beer-a-minute heroics, suggested that February might be his Ticket schwanz-song.   (Actually, I don't remember if that was the same night he did the beer-shot challenge.)

Whatever it was -- suddenly, it seemed to me, he started to keep whatever hostility he felt under wraps.  I don't recall any requests that someone come in and buy the station since then.  It's doubtful his attitude changed, but I just don't remember hearing anything about it, other than the occasional grumbling about balky hardware in the soon-to-be-abandoned Ticket studios.

The guessing seems to be that Mike wants to keep broadcasting with The Hardline, and I think that's right.  Probably not so much about money.  Probably did OK when the founders sold, but I sometimes wonder if he wishes he and the other founders had held on a few more years.  Probably makes some good coin -- oh, we'll be looking into this in a future installment,  you may be certain --  and he's got Petty Theft for some walking-around money.

Nah, I think that for all his curmudgeonliness and rare checking-out, he is strongly committted to The Ticket and The Hardline.  Consider -- Mike almost never, ever  misses a show.   In general, Ticket hosts are a hearty bunch, but I can't remember any shows Mike has missed due to illness.  He's had the odd family commitment, but on at least one of those occasions I think he switched duties with Craig to allow a midday getaway rather than to miss a day of broadcasting.

But I think the biggest clue to his intentions is his performance.  This site was started one day when I was worried about Mike's slipping interest in the showgram and how out-of-balance it had become a year or so after Greggo the Hammer's departure.  I started to write about it.   Turns out I wasn't the only one who perceived this; in the years since, many Confessors have said the same thing.  However, in the last year-and-a-half, it seems to me that Mike's attitude has changed.  He's much more involved in helming segments and in participating in the ones that Corby or Danny initiates.  He's just more there than he was for a long period of time.  The Hardline has been as good in the last six months or so as it has ever been.  He's working it.  He wants to continue.

We think of him as the "Old" Grey Wolf but he's not, very, as talk-show stars go.  Early sixties; heck, he's got a lot of years left, as long as the listener demo doesn't start dying off.   Another topic for another day, that maddeningly shifting demo.

And what else would he do?  OK, Petty Theft.  But coming in to do a four-hour stretch with pretty minimal show prep, sitting and talking, and doing a lot of listening to Corby -- is a pretty sweet shot.   Replacing that with -- sitting around?  Traveling?  Giving interviews (right)?  Nah.

There's something else:  As marvelous a radio presence as Mike is, he's less notable when he's away from The Hardline.  We've mentioned it before:  When he sits on on a pre-game, or even participates in a roundtable, he pretty much vanishes.  It's hard to imagine him risking an attempt to transfer chemistry he has with Corby and Danny (and Nice Young Michael and even Ty and sometimes Rich) to strangers on a strange station.

So yeah, I think he's going to listen when the CTO come calling, if they haven't already.

But what about the CTO?  Part 3 coming up.

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OPEN THREAD: The Little One's Mavs Parade and Celebration Coverage

I didn't get to hear much of it --

a little Musers/Gordo;

about two minutes of Norm who seemed to be in some distress, actually conceding that he needed a break;

about two minutes of BaD featuring some very astute commentary from Dan;

and a little bit of The Hardline which for some reason I don't remember.  Must have been working or something.

So I'd be grateful for reviews of all the shows, what you liked/disliked; how you reacted to the hosts' reactions to this amazing, historical, dramatic championship; technical aspects of the coverage; the hosts' substantive sportsy commentary.

Heck, I'll even take Mavs talk.

Living La Vida Ticket -- PART 2

[You can read Part 1 here.]

In Part 1, I began some rather diffuse musings on the relationship of the P1 to The Ticket.  My question was whether those who are not as devoted to the station have a point when they deride the fanatic devotion that many of us feel towards The Little One.  I asked how Confessors listened to the station and got a variety of responses, most of which sounded a fair amount like my own listening habits. 

Makes sense.  The ratings have been stratospheric for a long time, so obviously lots of people are listening, and since the ratings for the shows are tops up and down the broadcast day, they're obviously listening a lot. 

So -- are we excessively geeked over The Ticket?  Are we the radio equivalent of Star Wars enthusiasts (sorry, Ty, I love Star Wars, too) or people who confuse their video game experience with actual living?

I've lived in major metro areas on both coasts and the Midwest.   I have listened to sports radio for as long as it's been around.  Some pretty good stations, some interesting hosts.  When I married Mrs. Plainsman, we were living elsewhere, but her family is all here and I had no family where we were living.  It was inevitable that we would move to the Dallas area, and we did so in 2004.

I was looking forward to living in Dallas.  No, not because of the TV show.  I believed I would find a progressive modern city that had done what many metro areas had done with their downtowns.  I apologize to all DFW natives and other enthusiasts, but I was and remain disappointed.  (I wrote an article on my feelings about Dallas here.)  Since that article, we've had the debacle of the Super Bowl week.  Yeah, unusual ice and snow -- but the fact is that Dallas gets lots of ice storms compared with other cities because its temperature hovers around freezing more than elsewhere.   The city's response to this would have been appalling even if it hadn't occurred during the most anticipated sporting event in the country; its torpid reaction to the weather emergency during SB Week was symptomatic of a city that's governed by amateurs. 

Enough.  So I find myself in this overhyped city thinking I'll probably live out my days here, and not too happy about it.  (Other than my relationship with Mrs. Plainsman's family, which is delightful.)

But then one day, weaving down the expressway on my way to work poking at the scan function on my car radio, I cruise into one of The Ticket's in-and-out pockets of signal coverage and fortuitously punch in 1310 Amplitude Modulation and hear Those Oh-So-Gentle Musers trading quips about something or other.  I'm not sure if I picked up on whether it was supposed to be a sports-talk situation, but it was clearly some guys who were having a good time and not hollering into the mics or talking over one another.

I eventually figured out that they were on 104.1 Frequency Modulation too, and by adroitly switching back and forth I could usually cobble together a reasonably coherent listening experience.

And from that point on, my Dallas experience got a lot better.

So I think that if I'm honest with myself I have to concede that I do have an emotional attachment to The Ticket.  It's more than just passing entertainment for me.  As I mentioned in Part 1, running this site gives me a somewhat different relationship with the station -- it's more of a hobby than it would otherwise be -- but even in the pre-MTC days I always looked forward to my daily dose of humor, outrage, bad taste, the occasional nugget of information, fart drops, and almost no unpleasant news of the world.  During those hours, I probably am living La Vida Ticket.

But I don't feel geeky.  My admiration, while vast, is not unqualified.  That's what this site is about:  celebrating what's great about the station (most of it) and (I hope fairly) raising concerns where they appear.  The Little One cultivates a personal relationship with its audience, and, like any friendship, it has its rocky patches.  The P1 may stumble through them from time to time, but the friendship endures.

My conclusion:  Factoring out the hours I spend on this site, I think my relationship with Sportsradio 1310 The Ticket is just about perfect, and has not warped my personality to the point of obsession.

Factoring back in those hours  .  .  .  maybe, some.  (Can one be a little obsessive?)

So I'll leave you with this question:   Irrespective of when or for how long you listen, how do you actually feel about your relationship with The Ticket?  Not The Ticket itself -- I assume we all like it a lot -- but the extent to which it affects your life?  That's a pretty touch-feely question, but it has been on my mind for awhile.  Do you sometimes, like I do, feel like you're living The Ticket Life?

OPEN THREAD: Draft Coverage

Wow, that is one dull topic.  But maybe we can have a spot of fun with it.

My employer has thoughtlessly demanded that I work from rising in the morning until turning in at night, so I've been unavoidably detained.  I know I owe you a PART 2 to that PART 1 of a few days ago.  I'll get to it.

So I'm giving you a cut-rate post and asking you to give the Nation your thoughts on The Ticket's draft coverage.

My cut-rate view:  It was excellent, as always.  I follow exactly one college football team, and if the players involved aren't from that team my interest is somewhat attenuated.  But during my normal listening hours, I listen to The Ticket's draft coverage as though it were a regular showgram.

I have two highlights, and one new element that I'd like to hear your views on.

The highlights, which I think most Confessors will agree with, are

(1) Bob Sturm's analysis.  I have no idea if he's right or wrong most of the time, but it sells me.  I especially enjoy it when he cocks his radio eye at a proposed pick, asking how that pick would fit into the selecting team's scheme.  Ooo, good point!

(2) Junior Miller's droll mini-summaries of the players selected.  Very funny.  More important, he's trying.  Rewarding the P1 for tuning in -- he cares enough about a quality presentation to give them something to anticipate.  I think it almost always works.

The DCC signal the drafting of kicker David Buehler
in the 5th round of the 2009 draft

OK, here's the wild card I'd like your views on:  Jean-Jacques Taylor's contribution.  I'll hold off on any major JJT STD.  I'll just say that (a) he's still damned hard to hear and understand if you have your radio -- expecially your car radio, which is fighting with tire and engine noise -- tuned to hear the normal radio voices at normal volume (which I've griped about on an earlier occasion), and (b) I make a special effort to make sure I do hear what he has to say.   For now I'll just say -- well, nothing.  I'd rather hear what you have to say.

Thanks for checking in during this quiet time.

Living La Vida Ticket -- PART 1

I’ve been kicking this one around for awhile.  It’s still not well formed so  it will meander somewhat more than is my custom, and that's some meandering.     I’ll leave you with a question which I hope will provoke some comments, and I’ll bounce off those comments for Part 2.

Most of the people who visit this site like The Ticket.   There is the occasional naysayer with a grudge of one kind or another, either against this site or a Ticket personality, or, on occasion, with The Little One itself.   Once in awhile, a commenter will take me or the Confessor Nation to task for taking it all too seriously, for, in effect, caring too much about what is, after all, just a sports/guy-talk radio station.

I blather on a lot about fairness in these articles, so let’s be fair to these critics:  Are they right?  What does it mean to be a P1?  Does it materially affect our lives?  Would we really miss it if it disappeared tomorrow?   Certainly the station encourages its listeners to listen every moment of every day.  Mike daily requires listeners to mill about the premises making sure that every radio is turned to The Ticket.

So I invite you to join me in an informal exploration of the impact of The Ticket on our daily lives; whether it is a positive or negative influence; and if your relationship with the station has changed over the years.

I believe that almost without exception – and perhaps without any exception – Ticket personalities deeply and sincerely appreciate the loyalty and enthusiasm of the P1.  They express it on the air.  Most pay some attention to email and Twitter exchanges.   The station spends an enormous amount of energy and cash staging free events that the P1 enjoys.  This site occasionally hears from station personnel, and on very rare occasions I’ll get a private email of comment, correction, or appreciation.

And yet, do you sometimes get the feeling that even they are overwhelmed with the obsession that some listeners exhibit?  Don’t you sometimes hear jeez, give it a rest in their voices?  I’m going to explore the relationship between the P1 and the hosts as human beings in an upcoming post, but the point I want to make here is that it’s not just grumpy commenters that exhibit occasional impatience with the intensity of some listeners’ enthusiasm for 1310 AM/104.1 FM.

The Ticket does play a big role in my life, and I would have said that even if I’ve never started this site.   It is the case that keeping this this site going has changed that role.   My need to come up with topics of interest to The Nation means I listen with greater care, scribble down things that strike me, and get by the channel during times when in my pre-MTC life I might have been spending my time in that most idyllic of states -- quiet burger reflection.

But for guys like me and AP and maybe a couple of others we hear from, following The Ticket has turned into a fairly time-consuming hobby.  This site started in 2009, and after a slow start where I was talking mainly to myself, I’ve averaged around 15-20 posts a month.   (I’ll never forget the Confessor who, after I’d been blog-silent for awhile and maybe would get a handful of hits a day, wrote to say how much he liked the site and how I should write more.  Got me going.)  I keep a list of potential topics.  Looked at it the other day.   Got about forty items on it right now.  A lot of them are stale; others look less interesting to me now than they did when I wrote them down.  Others are gigantic topics that would take me chunks of time I haven’t had the last few months.  (By the way – I do a general-interest blog that I neglect and that I have more than once thought of emphasizing at the expense of this one – to date, it’s decidedly the other way around.)    Others I realize I’ve done already.  For example, among my recent favorite moments on The Hardline are the Mike/Corby live spots for GumOut – but I did a piece on that last July [LINK]..     (But wait!   I just noticed something interesting in rereading that article.  Ooo, I’m going to save this one.  The only thing I can promise is that it will be another one of my Listening Too Hard entries.)  

A typical gathering of P1's

But let’s put aside my extra Ticket obligations, since they are atypical.  Here’s the extent of my devotion to The Ticket:   I begin listening right around 5:30 am, as Rich is finishing up his pre-Musers Ticker.  Mrs. Plainsman indulges my listening while we share the bathroom, as long as I turn on cable news before I leave.  I have a fairly long commute, and I get to my workplace almost two hours before the place starts hopping.   So I listen to The Musers from the beginning of the show until the 8:40 bit, which I’m going to hear the next morning anyway.  I’ll miss the last hour and change.   If I’m on the road during the day I listen to Norm and BaD, but unfortunately those opportunities are limited.  If I’m paying attention to the clock, I’ll flip on The Hardline sometime between 3:30 and 4, and listen as much as I can for the balance of the work day, on the drive home, and at home until I hear Mrs. Plainsman putting the oxen back in the shed.  I am fortunate to have an employer who lets me have a radio on in my work area. 

I should listen to the Top Ten to get some notion of what Norm and BaD are up to, but family duties, the other blog, and even writing these pieces invariably intrude.   I’ll strap on a radio and headset if I’m off for a jog or bike ride (although in general, I think it’s dangerous to listen to the radio whilst biking and I’ve pretty much quit that).   I listen as much as I can on weekends.  I don’t listen to podcasts; alas, I rarely even listen to clips on The (Incomparable) UnTicket unless it’s a big deal that a site like this should know about or something that AP has commended.  I don’t follow anyone on Twitter.   I only very rarely ever stream the station if I’m not in range of the sputtering terrestrial signal.

I’ve only been to a couple of remotes, and then only briefly to check in.  (Remotes are on my article-to-do list.)  Never been to a Ticket event.  Never called a show.  Never spoken to a Ticket employee other than once at a remote just to say a brief “thanks” before I left, which the host politely acknowledged.  Wait, I think I asked a Ticket Chick for a T-shirt once.  Don’t have any buddies or relatives who listen much at all. 

So there you have the extent of my average-guy devotion to The Ticket.  Four to six hours a day during the week, and probably two to four hours over the entire weekend.

That doesn’t strike me as a crazy Ticket-listening schedule.  I listen when I can and when the time is otherwise unchallenged by much of any other activity.    I’d like to know how you guys (and Jonaessa, and Christie, and all distaff Confessors) listen to The Ticket.  I’d also be interested in your thoughts not on The Ticket’s content, but on how you feel about the time you spend with it. 

I’ll conclude next time with some thoughts on how the P1 relates to The Ticket, and whether the Ticket-geek accusation has some truth to it.

VOICE OF THE NATION: Campout Open Forum

Fresh on the heels of my exhaustive analysis of the clues that resulted in a triumphant correct guess for the campsite published at 7:56 yesterday morning, for which I am claiming priority (changed immaterially later in the day, but that's not important now) -- boy, talk about grasping for scoreboard -- I need a couple days off.

Mule Lip Bar, Mingus, Texas
(Thanks to Confessor James)

Loved the last two days of broadcasting.  Let's have your views.

--  Funniest moments.

--  Interpersonal dynamics.

--  Mike R's woozy retirement talk.

--  Obsessive campground guessing.

Lots of stuff there.  Gotta love The Ticket.  Thanks for checking in on my campground quest the last couple days.

I Was Wrong About Lake Mingus -- Next Guess

Corby gave a description of the private property they were on during the Pool Party.  His description does not match the landforms around Lake Mingus.  So Lake Mingus was wrong.

Here are the new clues:

Lake is 110 acres.

There are animal pens, oil wells, hay fields, savannah-type meadows.

If one attempted to swim across the lake from the campsite, one would encounter a "thicket" of trees.  There was some debate about how far this was.  Mike thought it was nowhere near a mile -- Corby thought it was further.

There are the new clues.

Pass the beans, please.

I'm still intrigued by two of the earlier clues:  the 7:32 sunrise, and a nearby town with a bar beginning with the word "Mule."

So I'm still scouting the Mingus metro

If you check the map, go north about two miles and a little to the east, and you will find Lake CB Long.

There is a privately-owned CB Long Ranch in Palo Pinto county.

There are also oil wells in Palo Pinto county.

Turning to Google Earth, we find open fields adjoining the lake -- savannah-like, to my eye.

If you zoom in on the lake and scout the area near the shore, just south and west of the easternmost bulge of the lake you will see a single boxy structure.  Cabin-like, to my eye.  I believe that the straight part of the shore at that point is the C.B. Long Dam.  There is a road crossing the northern lobe of the lake, but I don't thnk it's a dam.

Google Earth does not have a scale on it that I can find, but Google Maps does.  A square mile is 640 acres, so a 110-acre lake is about .17 square miles.  A square mile is 5280 feet squared, or about 4.7 million square feet.   .17 times 4.7 million = 806,000 square feet, or about 900 feet on a side. 

Regrettably, Lake CB Long is not square, so forget all of those calculations.  However, if on Google Maps you place the lake next to the scale (sized to show a linear mile) and try to imagine whether you could get 5 Lake CB Longs -- scrunched into an appropriate shape -- into a square mile, it's imagineable.  Especilly if the part of the lake north of the road crossing it (which looks rather murky -- the lobe, not the road) is excluded.

Returning to Google Earth:  If you imagine the campsite somewhere near the eastern edge of the lake (remembering the location of the possible cabin) and look directly across, you will see a peninsula that has on it some trees -- to my eye, a thicket.   (A thicket on the Ticket, if you will.)  It is nowhere near a mile -- maybe between a third- and a half-mile.

I cannot find much information about the C.B. Long Ranch, except in this memorial article about a ranch foreman who passed away in 2008:  http://www.texashuntfish.com/app/journals/19716/The-Passing-of-a-Great-American-Cowboy.  (Steve Holub, sounded like a wonderful guy -- foreman there for 50 years.)  If you read it, you will see that one of the chief products of the ranch is -- hay.

So there's my new guess:  The southeast quadrant of Lake CB Long.

Having been wrong the first time (but close, I still think), I won't scoreboard myself this time around.  Mike V would have nothing to do with a loser like me.

=========

One more thing:  This is of little probative value, and highly circumstantial, but:  After I emailed Junior this morning about my Lake Mingus guess, I heard no further discussion of P1's guessing.   If I was pretty close with Lake Mingus, one would not expect to hear that anyone had guessed correctly (or, in this case, close to correctly) even if the host didn't name the actual location, because after a bit a hundred souls or so might have checked in to Your Humble Site and seen the guess.  (And within an hour or so I'd thrown Lake CB Long out there as well, in the comments.)   Pretty flimsy, I know, but it crossed my mind.

Campout Quick Hit -- My Guess

You'd think a Plainsman would be able to figure out where these guys are.  We've heard several hints.  My guess -- somewhere in the vicinity of Mineral Wells, and my more precise guess is near Mingus in the Cross-Timbers area near Palo Pinto Creek Reservoir or Lake Mingus.  Hints:

     --  Danny suggested that they went west, making a vague reference to the landscape that sounds more like West Texas than East Texas.  Gordon made a reference to "Louisiana" this morning, but this was an obvious Gordon misdirection play (lie).

     --  Junior made a reference to a 7:32 sunrise.  Sunrise this morning in Mineral Wells is at 7:32.  Mingus is south of Mineral Wells and just slightly west.  When I go to http://www.weather.com/, I see that sunrise in Mingus is also stated to be 7:32.

     --  The temperature in Mingus this morning is in the mid-to-low forties.

     --  Mike R let slip that there was a bar in town starting with "Mule."  There is a "Mule Lip Bar" in Mingus.

     -- Mingus is a few miles from a major lake, the Palo Pinto Creek Reservoir.  Now, there are lots of lakes in this area of Texas -- however, if I'm recalling correctly, PPCR adjoins the 7R Ranch development, for which Gordon Keith used to do commercials and might have had, as Danny might say, "a good in" with them. 

         There is also a Lake Mingus just north of town, which might be a better guess, because this morning someone wasn't sure whether the lights in the east was the town or the sunrise.  This indicates that there is a town east of the camp.   The town in question might be Gordon, which is to the east of Lake Mingus, and somewhat larger than Mingus.    So I'm going to give Lake Mingus the edge.




Gratuitous Ticket Campout Woman Photo


Therefore, I conclude that the campout is somewhere near the shores of Lake Mingus, or possibly the Palo Pinto Creek Reservoir, in any event not far from Mingus.

Please do not hassle them.

WAIT -- They're talking about where they are.  Junior named several lakes that they're NOT near, and none of them was PPCR.  So I'm in the running.

I had some more quick hits but I'll let this one simmer a bit.

Anyone Got Anything on Last Week's Ticket Broadcasting?

Sorry I've not been able to post new material lately.  I have a couple of items lined up, but since I was out of town last week, I thought I'd check to see if anyone had any blasts they'd like to offer.  Didh't hear a word of the channel, and it was rough, let me tell you.

Thanks to everyone who posted on the Voice of the Nation open forum.