Why Today Didn't Suck.

 This is truly great. Well my Dad's birthday was yesterday and my wife's birthday was Saturday so I decided to blend them both together.  I also really wanted to hear Norm and Gordo fight.  Here it is.  Also I'm really looking forward to writing more. Its very therapeutic.  I have no formal training in writing and I'm working off a public school education so I'm not sure how great its going to be.  Give me time and I might surprise some people.  Thanks to everyone.

White Elephant Day Reviewed

I will just say I of course didn't get to listen to every minute of White Elephant.  I listened to some of the morning show, most of Ty's show, just about all of Bob and Corby's and All of the Rhyner and Gordo's show.   I enjoyed most of what I listened to. Wheels off moments and added comedy.  Its The Ticket's one day to take off.  They will discuss Cowboys but most the day is the interactions that don't usually happen on a regular shift.  Listening to see how some Ticket host interact.  Are you going to get much info from the Tickers? Not a chance.  The Ticket has a full day of recess essentially.  And in all honesty, I don't know another station that can do the same thing and make it work. The Fan has done it before but it was pretty boring and they just talked sports like usual.  This day is very different.

Well I caught the 8 o'clock hour of the morning show.  SPORTS DUCK IS SPARE. That's all I have to say about that.  The Tickers from Sean Bass was pretty entertaining and I think he was pretty happy to not have to do the same ole boring tickers.  He did Tickers from the past which was great, also he had some audio I haven't heard before.  He even had a special guest Leila Rahimi, former Ticker chick who brought us one the most memorable meltdowns ever on the Ticket. She even got to redeem herself.  Norm played the Gordo and did his Nose in the News and Norm's Corner.  He even surprised everyone with a Ticket Mouse which was...meh. It wasn't awful, it just wasn't very good but if it meant having the magic of the 3-7 shift, it was fine.
Grade: C-
Segment to listen to: All Sean Tickers.....I think that's it. 

Ty Walker's show was much better than anticipated. I haven't heard anything from anyone but I believe Cat or someone told Danny Balis and Donovan to help Ty. Ty talked wrestling (cool), baseball I think and Star Wars (which wasn't as boring as I thought it would be)  I had some time to kill during that show and it seemed to go pretty fast listening to that show. So thanks Ty for not sucking.
Grade: B
Segment to listen to: Wrestling and Star Wars are both decent.

Next was Bob and Corby which is a show that could totally be a regular show and be pretty popular. I think they have great chemistry.  Bob talked about his run in with Ian Rapoport on twitter which was pretty great.  Having trouble remembering many of the segments but no complaints here. (I did got back and listen, they did talk some college football and it wasn't bad.)
Grade: A-
Segment to listen to: Bob Sturm getting into a fight with Ian Rapoport

The 3-7 shift was the show I was looking forward the most.  Mike Rhyner and Gordon Keith would be taking care of the hosting duties and Junior Miller would be the Yuk Monkey.  Dan McDowell delivering his give up Tickers with time wasters and jokes and actually bringing back Alexis Smith for a cameo.  Rhynes and Gordo have really interesting chemistry, Gordo takes it far and Rhyner instead of deflecting, actually takes it further. I was picking my daughter up from school and I actually had to turn it down during part of it.  Maybe it was the part about auto-errotic asphyxiation.   Junior did E-News and Community Quick Hits, did a fine job.  In my opinion, Mike and Junior with Gordon Keith as a third wheel would of been a fine show.
Grade: A+
Segment to listen to: ALL OF THEM! 

White Elephant Day is a true example of "We can do what they do, but they can't do what we do."  Any other station and any other city, no one would understand or even get White Elephant Day.  They would most likely just scream at their radio wishing for more sports talk.  The Ticket wins and they will continue to win.

SIDE NOTE! I received a call from 1310 The Ticket today to tell me I have won tickets to the live show on KTXD Ch47.  My friend Jacob and I will be attending so get ready for a full report. 

Best Day Of Radio For The Ticket

Tomorrow (Wednesday Dec. 4th 2013 depending on when you read this) is WHITE ELEPHANT DAY!  This my favorite day of the radio year.  Mix and matching of host and shenanigans will ensue.  Host doing awful tickers or doing fun bits and other stop down moments.  I for the most part try to catch every second of White Elephant Day.    Here is the line up: 




5:30-10am
Rich & George - Hosts
Norm - Yuk Monkey
Sea Bass- Ticker Anchor
Tom- Producer

10am-12n
Ty Walker - Host
Donnie - Ticker Anchor 10a-3pm
Danny - Producer

12n-3pm
Bob & Corby - Hosts
Fernando- Producer

3-7pm
Rhyner & Gordo - Hosts
Junior - Yuk Monkey
Dan - Ticker Anchor
Sirois- Producer

I can tell you right now, I'm not waking up super early to catch the morning show.  Rich is a host which will be awful.  George is great but only with the right partner. Norm is Norm.  I bet there will still be moments but that's not a really stellar cast. 

10-12 should be slightly better only because I hope to hear Danny kick Ty Walker in the nuts.  Donovan is always good for a laugh when it come to a ticker and he has the long shift.

12 to 3 should definitely be good. I enjoy Bob and Corby, they hosted together I believe a few years back.  Fernando will say and do just about nothing so who really cares. 

3-7 is the basically what I'm calling the main event.  Rhyner and Gordo are hosting with Junior "Junez" as the Yuk Monkey.  Dan will be delivering the tickers and hopefully butting in with greatness.  Sirois is producing which I'm sure he will just stay out of the way and let the greatness happen.

Should be a fun time, too bad Kevin Turner won't be there to help with the Tickers. Oh well. 

Sports Radio Spares

Left to Right: Kevin Turner, Some Old Guy, Jake Kemp and Mike Marshall

Did you know I love sports radio? Did you know I love radio in general?  I really enjoy the current guys on the radio but I actually really enjoy the "young" talent on the radio.  I feel like I relate to them a little more than maybe Mike Rhyner or Randy Galloway. I'm 26 years old so its good to relate to guys my age.  I've compiled a list and its not a top 10 its just list, no particular order.  I have taken guys from all sports radio stations.  These guys are not currently hosting and in all honesty, pretty spare. 

Jeff Cavanaugh

First up is Jeff Cavanaugh, he the producer and on-air personality for the G-Bag Nation on 105.3 The Fan.  I know some people will roll their eye seeing someone from The Fan on this list, especially first.  Jeff is funny, loud and almost obnoxious.  Jeff is an acquired taste but one thing I really like about him is that he is fearless.  Everyone is wanting to do safe and clean radio.  Jeff wants to be different and bring something more than box scores to the table.  For all the people looking at this still wondering why they should give a crap about Jeff, well he is an original listener of 1310 The Ticket and you can really tell while listening to him. Jeff makes people uncomfortable and is not afraid to mess up. I can really respect that and that is something I enjoy.  I realized he was something special when he asked the great and almighty Mickey Spagnola a question.  Jeff asked him a question about Mickey basically contradicting himself. Mickey twisted off!  Jeff backs away from the mic and looks over at his other co-workers.  They look in concerned, as if, "what have you done Jeff?"  Jeff looked back and said "who cares".   The Fan needs more uncomfortable moments like this instead of trying to pull off flawless boring radio.  Jeff Cavanaugh may not be perfect in his sports mind, but I believe he is a shining star with The Fan.  Don't let him know that I said that, if he hears that make sure he knows that I said he sucks.

Not Actually Landry Locker

Next is Landry Locker.  This one is quite controversial.  Out of all the people on my short list, this is the one that listen to the least.  Landry is young guy with a good amount of knowledge of sports.  He is not a conventional thinker.  He does make me bang my head against the dash a little but I guess I appreciate his courage.  He is pretty enjoyable on twitter and I thought he was in radio there for second with ESPN/Cumulus take over.  He has managed to come back on air at some capacity. Not exactly sure what he is doing. I haven't had the time to flip over to that channel lately.  But the amount that I have listened to and read on twitter, I think there is something there.  Keep an eye out for Landry.

Left: Kevin Turner  Right: Mike "The Machine" Marshall

Kevin Turner aka KT aka @KTfuntweets.  The producer for the Ben & Skin Show on 105.3 The Fan and former spare on 1310 The Ticket.  Kevin Turner is something of an enigma.  I swear there are joke he tells that only me, Kevin and one other person are laughing at.  KT is out side the box when it comes to comedy.  I've listened to KT for quite a while going back to listening to a dumb podcast with him and Mike "The Machine" Marshall.  KT was on The Ticket as a spare for Sirois brothers show and an actual hand picked successor for Gordon Keith.  KT left for greener pastures over at The Fan, when I mean greener, I mean they actually paid him.  KT was basically working at The Ticket for slave wages.   He was treated like a third class employee like most Ticket employees without a name on a show.  KT is super funny but extremely knowledgeable about sports.  Right now he is playing the Yuk Monkey for Ben & Skin and doing in my opinion a fine job.  He has a good head on his shoulders and I believe he is another young star on that struggling but up ticking station.

TC Fleming or Fat Lesbian?

Now on to America's favorite radio station 1310 The Ticket. I will start with TC Fleming.  Some might think I'm wasting my time with this entry.  Some only see TC as red velvet cake eating nerd.  Some would be correct.   I've been listening to TC for about 3 years now.   Listened to hours and hours of his podcast with Jake Kemp, Its Just Banter. TC seems like a very difficult guy to be around. Seems like he always has to be right and for some reason I think he might be. No doubt he has his moments of being full of shit.  TC is an analytical guy and extremely knowledgeable about sports.  TC in my mind will never amount to much at The Ticket if its true that Jeff Catlin hates him but I believe if given a chance he would succeed.  Check out It's Just Banter podcast to hear more from TC Fleming and realize how talented he really is.

Jake Kemp

Jake Kemp, 1310 The Ticket's board op for BaD Radio and The Hardline. Also one half of The Shake Joint, his Sunday show with Sean Bass.  Jake Kemp thinks space is gay and Tyson Chandler was a good player to pass on. Jake has come up the ranks rapidly lately.  He started his journey as the only known Hardline intern and then a Ticket Spare doing odd jobs and Tickers.  Then his big break came when Chris House decided to leave as The Ticket Top 10 host and Jake took over.  Jake Kemp then was hired on as the board op after Grubes left to go to school but mostly because he was being paid peanuts. Not confirming anything but the rumor is that after Bob and Dan got their contract from Cumulus, Jake was given a significant raise.  Nothing crazy but much much more than a basic board op can make and he should be paid handsomely for the work that he does.  If you didn't know he also has a little podcast with TC Fleming.  I've heard more than enough, again I've listened to almost all of IJB's 216 episodes.

Now who is Jake Kemp?  He is a down to earth guy and an advanced stat advocate.  When he talks sports it is always solid but I think he really comes into his own when he talks about world issues. I learned about Cameron William Todd and the Georgia Guidestones from IJB.  Jake will be a major host on a radio station barring he doesn't get drunk at bar while watching a Mavs loss.

Here is the honorable mention.

Mike "The Machine" Marshall who if I'm correct, is still the producer of the Sirois Brothers show and a fill in producer for Norm Hitzges. I still think he's a funny guy but he has been heard less and less on The Ticket.  I still think he will be okay but I just haven't heard much from him lately. I think he is doing a podcast with Mike Fisher on Dallasbasketball.com

Roy White is the producer for New School for 105.3 The Fan. He is a former Ticket intern and he had done some on air work with the Ticket before he jumped ship.  Not a huge bucket of personality but he isn't bad at what he does.  He was actually there the day TC Fleming got thrown out of the Rangers visitor clubhouse for asking silly questions.

Sean Bass is I guess part of the young crowd and even though he is balding and I think over the age of 30 years old.  He is a Ticker guy from 10-3 on The Ticket and Sunday host with Jake Kemp on The Shake Joint. He is a little sensitive on twitter but all in all a good listen when it comes to talking baseball.

Brenden Smith is a board op for Ben & Skin who followed them from ESPN radio.  He isn't just a guy who plays audio but is actually given his own segment that sounds closely like "Community Quick Hits".  You be the judge.

"Cray" Trey Mitchell does something at the Ticket but I'm just not sure exactly what. He doesn't have a face for radio and almost doesn't have voice for one either. I liked a few bits he did and he is a pretty good follow on twitter.

Breaking: Non-Sports Post

This just made me giggle. Thank you Mike Sirois

NASA wrote back to me. pic.twitter.com/pu5LjGpKVO
— Jamie Jones (@JamieDMJ) November 23, 2013

Random Radio Rants

I just had a few thoughts about my radio listening experience lately.  I've started a new job so I've been limited to a few segments a day.  I catch most of The Musers in the morning getting ready and I try to catch BaD Radio for lunch.  I might catch a Hardline segment here and there but not nearly as much as I use to.  Now I also told everyone I was keeping an open mind with The Fan as well.  I hear the New School when I'm not listening to the Musers.  I will catch a G-Bag Nation every now and again. They stay pretty vocal on twitter so if they are talking about something I wanna hear I can find a radio.

G-Bag Nation is actually the reason I decided to write today.  I was driving to work when I heard a mix between New School and G-Bag Nation where there was an extensive and serious discussion over......Tony Romo being clutch.  Romo had won the game in the last minute and there was still question of him being clutch.  Again like clutch is an actual thing is up for debate.  I believe there isn't really clutch, I think you are either talented or your not.  Regardless I thought it was pretty useless segment. There was so many great things to talk about with that game.  They chose at that moment to talk about an intangible that can't be measure by any kind of metric.

Now everyone thinks I just pick on The Fan but I had a nice little run with Craig "Junior" Miller from The Ticket.  The segment in question was in regard to the Cowboys lack of running game.  They wanted to run more and of course I believe they tried to and it didn't work.  Then Junior decided to poke the "Stat freaks" (his words not mine) which I thought was pretty short sided.  Running less isn't a bad thing, especially when the ability to run isn't there
.  But really who cares, I just think Junior was being an old man who doesn't care to evolve the game he loves. I got into it with Junior on twitter.  He called us stupid or something I dunno who cares really.  I ended the twitter fight by telling Junior that I love him.

I wanted to briefly go over my meet up with The Fan hosts last week.  It was in Fort Worth at Overtime Bar which isn't far from where I work.  I went after work. Ran into RJ Choppy which I have frequent correspondents with.  He bought me a beer and we chatted up radio stuff. We then met up with Jeff Cavanaugh, real funny dude.  If I remember he brought up a hypothetical that I can't discuss...anywhere...but it interesting. Jeff would do anything for money.  We talked a lot about radio business....lots I can't talk about either.  It was very interesting and I would like to say I made some good friends.   The best part I would say was when Ben Rogers came by. I stopped him, he was just telling other people that he was heading home.  I told Ben who I was and he was floored because he was shocked that would ever show my face in front of him. (we've had our history on twitter, some good, some bad...mostly bad)   He sat down automatically and said "oh now I'm staying".  Ben Rogers then proceeded to basically go over his entire career and how he got to where he is now.  Very interesting story and of course....tons of stuff I can't repeat.  For a radio geek like me, this was a great night.

I'll end all of this with you should look through Greggo's twitter pictures. Tons of old photos from back when he was with the Ticket.  I believe someone is feeling reminiscent of the good ole days....

967 Reasons to Love The Ticket

This Monday I turned the radio on to 96.7 FM which previously was the home of WBAP News Radio and before that was some generic Country Music station.  I wasn't turning it on to listen to Rush Limbaugh, I turned it on to listen to my favorite radio station.  1310 The Ticket has branched out to FM radio (AGAIN).  I live in Aledo which is west of Fort Worth and I can rarely listen to 1310 AM The Ticket in my vehicle in the morning or in the evening clearly.  Power lines: I can't hear a thing.  Under a bridge: I can't hear a thing.  The Ticket hasn't been perfect and its still amazing they have stayed so popular with such an awful signal. I remember that buzz from as long as I could remember.  I lived in Grand Prairie when I was kid and I never remember it being crystal clear.  There was always a little buzz.  For people who didn't regularly listen to it, its extremely annoying, for those who were regular P1's, this is just the way it is.

So I turned to 96.7 FM and Listened to the Musers and I thought I was in a dream.  I listen to The Ticket regularly streaming online but there is something different listening to them on FM.  Its an indescribable thing.  The traffic reports and the Ticket Tickers were even great to listen to.  The Ticket just became a larger player in the DFW radio and will be able to reach a lot more listeners, especially listeners who don't venture off to the AM dial.  Bob Sturm briefly spoke about this being targeted to the younger listeners, I agree.  I'm 26 and I can tell you, my age and younger don't even understand why AM radio exist.  Its for old effs listening to conservative news radio.

Hopefully The Ticket recognizes how much money they opened themselves up to.  Now instead of only advertising for the great Dallas area, now they will be able to branch out further west into my area.  I know The Ticket is awesome, now my neighbors need to recognize.  The Ticket was big before 96.7 FM and now they will become even BIGGER.  105.3 The Fan has to be a little worried (more than usual).   Will you be listening?