Grubes Is My Leader

Been thinking a lot about the lower class men at The Ticket, and wanted to talk a little about Grubes. Has any JV had such an impact on the Ticket? During his decade at the station, the young man left an unrivaled mark. Grubes was not the inventor of the drop, however he was the one to harness its power and cement its place in everyday Ticket broadcasting (sorry Jer, but Grubes was the one to elevate the drop in our opinion). He cemented the chair of fun, and who could not love hearing his soft bearded chuckle waft through the studio, picked up by probably Danny's mike and played on air.

 We were truly saddened the day Mike discussed his departure. It was truly emotional to hear how he called up THL individually to tell them his decision to go back to school and leave The Ticket. Even though Jake was able to slide in and take over quickly, the P1 shed a tear or two. It was just not the same, and many argued that the show suffered for it. And Grubes moved on, going back to school full time in Denton, stopped drinking and apparently got on the straight and narrow. Even though since he has dropped back out of school and started working for the Stars/FSSW/The Observer. Not the point of this post.

His legacy goes beyond the extensive work he did archiving drops in the ENCO. Grubes created a connection with the P1 that none of the hosts can. As one would listen to THL when he was board op, it almost felt like you were sitting next to Grubes, listening to the guys on the other side of the glass and waiting for the next drop to play. Chuckling along with him as Danny and Snake ganged up on Mike about his Celine Dion hockey jersey. Off air he was accessible, you could find him playing with Gribble at Barley House almost weekly and drink a beer with the guy. And Twitter, geez. There are even T-shirt companies that sell merch with his face on it. While we don't much understand the site, the GIML message board is very active and has an almost cult like following. He created a Ticket sub-culture if you will.

Grubes was the secret leader of all the 20 somethings that listened to the Ticket during his time, and it remains to be seen who will take his place. TC lost his chance, his reputation was tarnished early. Jake is destined for a big role at the station. Sean Bass, well, just not happening. Mino? Who knows. Fact of the matter is, there may never be another Grubes at the station, because there may never be another afternoon board op who will match his tenure.

George is still out...

And the balance of power is skewed towards absurd shock jock discussion with the Dooce in Jub's place. Gordon is unleashed to talk about carrying dixie cups of ejaculate around, or insinuating that Doocey's vocal cords were damaged during oral sex. Wow, my fingers burn just from typing that. Junes doesn't offer any help either. There are no rodeo clowns to control the bull when Jub Jub is out.

Also, got a question for you P1's out there. Why does it seem like the first three Muser's segments are so short? The later segments are regular length, but the first few seem to go by so fast and turn to commercial in about 4 minutes. Something we have noticed over the years. 

1310 The Ticket - The Movie! Part 1

If there was to be a movie made about The Ticket and its 20 years of existence, who would act in it? Who would the director be? When would it take place within the two decade history? We each drank a case of Schlitz while chain smoking a box of Black and Mild's and came up with a plot summary and casting. Part 1 of the script and most roles are below:

Director: Scorsese

Lead Roles:
Gary Sinise as Mike Rhyner 
Jonah Hill as George Dunham
Val Kilmer as Craig Miller
Dwayne Johnson as Greg Williams 
Shia LeBeouf as Gordon Keith
James Franco as Corby Davidson
Skip Bayless as Skip Bayless
Curt Menefee as Curt Menefee
Spence Kendrick as Spence Kendrick

Backup Roles:
Omid Djalili as Jeremy Moran 
Matt Bomer as Danny Balis


Opens in 1995 at the Ridgelawn rental where Gordo, Greggo and the Junes are living. Shows a shot of Gordo sleeping on the ground with his clothes in a grocery sack in the corner. Audio over-layed on the scene is from the Skip Bayless morning show and the shot cuts to Skip in front of the microphone. Cuts back to Ridgelawn where Greggo is now arranging some Cowboys regalia on his shelf. Cuts back to Skip. Cuts back to Ridgelawn and now Junes is riding a stationary bike in the kitchen while flipping some eggs and drinking OJ. Cuts to airborne-helicopter shot of Dallas and a rising sun. Next it cuts to Junes and Jub in the parking lot as they are walking up to the station, both dressed in silly 90's clothes. Jub with big glasses and Junes with sneakers and shin high white socks, both exuding the sweet bird of youth. They walk into the station and into a quite control room with Mike looking silently through sound proof glass as Curt Menefee talks into a microphone. The shot only shows Mike's back at first, his arms crossed, with Junes and Jub walking in next to him, saying hello. Shot snaps to close up of Mike's expressionless face, with the broadcasting room reflecting off his tinted glasses. "Morning boys. Another day in the jungle of radio. See you in the prep meeting." Shot now goes into the broadcasting room as Curt takes a caller and you hear a brief snippet about the upcoming Cowboys super bowl. Shot switches to control room with some board op kicking a smoking computer tower, wild music on in the background, half eaten sandwiches everywhere. Riotous chaotic feel continues as camera goes back into broadcasting room, with Jub and Junes belly laughing about their college days at UNT. Junes has one hand over his mouth and the other slapping his knee. Jub bounces around like that officer in Super Troopers on the other side of the car during the Meow incident. Riotous feel continues as someone does a Ticker and 1310 jingles play on. Scene abruptly cuts to a quite meeting room, with Jub, Junes, Mike, Greg, Gordo, Skip and Spence Kendrick. Mike is again serious, talking behind dark sunglasses about the logistics of their trip to Atlanta for the Superbowl. "Now, we will be staying at this hotel here and broadcasting will be next to the stadium. Check your folders for all the information." Gordo speaks up, asking as he dumps the contents of the folder on the floor, "Hey Mike, are there drink tickets in here?" Jub rips a fart and the room erupts into laughter. Mike slams his fist on the table, stands up and bellows, "You jackasses think this is all a joke. Well I tell you what, this station is hanging on tooth and nail and this trip to Atlanta is a big God damn deal." Mike wheels around, and walks out of the room.

End part one. Tune in for more.

The Enduring Car Radio

There must be a reason this primitive technology we call radio has hung around this long. Its theater of the mind, human voice coming at you untethered by visual information. Your companion while you navigate 75. On road trips to Austin or Houston we always tough out the static until human voice is beyond discernible. And on the ride home we sit on the channel until it comes back, giggling with excitement as soon as we can recognize a host's voice. But lets focus on the thing itself, the radio.

The radio is the one piece of technology in our cars that has remained relatively the same since it was introduced. The Galvin Brothers put a Motorola radio into a Model A in 1930 and this became the first commercially successful car radio. Since then, the car radio has remained relatively the same. An antennae, tuner, receiver and speaker, pieces of technology that have been around since the 1920's. Seat belts were not even in cars until Congress made them a requirement in 1959. Many gadgets in your car have evolved or been replaced. The manual window roller is obsolete, the cigarette lighter is rare and who the hell still sticks a key in the door to unlock it?

More and more people today take in their radio programs via satellite or internet. Interesting to think about the traditional radio transmitters that carry commercialized signals becoming obsolete, and people catching their tunage solely via the internet. But there is something special about being in the metroplex and being able to tune in to the KTCK torch. Hard to tell what will happen to the car radio, but for the foreseeable future it is sticking around.

 

Some early P1's tuning in. 

Dale Hansen, that guy that left the Ticket for 103.3, unplugged

We saw a familiar face at the top of the pile this morning on Reddit. Ol' Dale is going viral as we speak. His opine on Michael Sam was impressive and draws on the irony of how the public accepts the blatant felonic wrongdoings of others in the NFL but cannot accept a gay man. Here is the link from Reddit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Olc5C4SXAYM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Like Sturm says, unfortunately his place in the draft will be interpreted largely by those without proper understanding of the valuation of an NFL player. This will be the story that dominates the draft, no matter what.

We don't see it like Dale does necessarily. Yes, this is a huge story. The first active player to come out as gay within the wide world of sports in the USA, is a big deal. However, we don't see Sam as being patronized or abused for it. We don't think Sam is not being accepted in the NFL, its just a big deal since he is the first. People are confused about this, should we celebrate? Should we get pissed? Should we even be talking about it? His team mates in college apparently knew, and it was no big deal. How this never came out until Sam wanted it to, and the way he wanted it to, is impressive. The horse beaten story about his father is sad, and has given the media another thing to latch on to and drag this story out. While he apparently has little support within his family about this, the media and his peers around him have shown nothing but support from what we can tell.

Writing on sensitive topics like this is difficult. But lets be honest, you and I were becoming tiresome of that unfortunate picture of Jonny Weir on our homepage. So carry on, and let us know what you think.

Norman? Oiieeeehh oooohhhh ohhhhh, Norman?

Its been a hazy morning for us here at the Wastelander hovel. Norm is out on some vacation right? Seeing him hobble around at Ticket Stock makes me wonder how he is the resident world traveler at the mothership.

Donny-Doo with Rich is a pretty good bit. Black and Quack create some interesting demographical and generational (that looks like genital) discourse. The pace of the segments is fast and we get to hear Jer more than we usually would.

Carry on then. 

By the way, down hill skiing. OMG. And Jonny Weir, so hot right how.

 

You serious bro? Gold fish in those heels?

Ticket Employee Review: TC

Next up in our review of every Ticket Employee Ever, is TC Fleming. TC was hired in February 2009. He formerly lived with Jake. Corby says he is slow, brilliant in his own way. Not trusted to handle himself in an executive meeting. Seemingly stricken to work at the Ticket forever and destined to ride behind Jake, until the very end.He is the current Top Ten host, driving the rehash of the day's great on air moments backed by a Super Mario Brother's soundtrack. Co-host of the podcast It's Just Banter with Jake. Punching bag for all the hosts at the station. Epitomizer of the personality who never had older siblings. The room mate that leaves unwashed dishes in the sink. Keeps a piece of cake on the kitchen counter to nibble on for a few days, crumbs everywhere. The one who is messy; but you feel bad chastising him into cleaning up his act. The golden hearted puppy that means well but just hasn't had a wife or significant other to foster a higher level of cleanliness. TC is and was the messy room mate you or your buddy had in college that seemed like he barely had it together; but was a true genius, capable of accomplishing big things that took you by surprise. Kid with a unique posture. Any picture of TC the P1 lays there eyes on features his trademark "look". Shoulders drooping slightly, with a characteristic forward head jut like he is trying to peer into a book and see a finer print. A wide no teeth grin with the cheeks of an 18 month old shining at you. Shaggy hair. 

Tiny Jake, or TC standing on a box? He ain't that tall is he? At least he's wearing a belt. 

His Current Work
The Top Ten has been a spring board to a few JV startups. For TC we think it is a good place to hone his often awkward on air delivery, and to display his creative flair. For management it was probably similar to handing a child a sparkler while the big brothers are lighting artillery shells. Let him get after it, with little chance of disaster. Stars hockey beats out his hosting most nights it seems recently, which is a drag for us. We actually enjoy listening to TC ramble to himself during that time slot, imagining how much fun he is having being The Guy at the little Ticket for a few hours everyday. We have started listening to Its Just Banter recently. Always knew it existed, just never forayed into the JV audio that was not on air. Reminds us of a Bob and Dan relationship, with Jake being the level headed sports bully and TC the abstract mind scraping the dark under belly of topics they discuss.
 
His Perception at The Ticket
Each JV (non-host non-producer short timers) at The Ticket often gets known as the one who did "_____". For Jake, its the "space is super gay" audio from his podcast. For Ty, its his "I'm Ty Walker!" sign off making him sound mentally challenged. For Grubes it was playing some song at the Barley House, or his inability to hold conversation on air. 

For TC, it was his 8:40 bit prank call aimed at Corby (the "hah huf fa hah hah" incident came much later). TC needed some material for the bit, and he decides to call Corby, at home, late at night, while he is asleep. The call rouses the Snake and his wife, keeping them awake until the early morning. While it was probably misguided, what prank at the Ticket isn't? And is Corby so innocent? TC was dressed down on air regarding the incident the next day. Corby and Danny teamed up and hurled the insults, citing pasta induced comas, turning girls lesbian and his lack of relationships. The wave of anger directed at TC was stoked by TC's reaction to it, a reaction of cockiness and disregard. Bad idea on his part, but such an unfortunate start to his Ticket persona. Will he have to leave the Ticket to overcome this sour taste that has persisted for four years? Who knows, these hosts are like elephants, and so are the listeners...

Which brings us to: His Future
He is the future of the Ticket, along with guys like Ty, Sean and Jake. When you look at the big picture, someone like TC is destined for a big time position at the mother-ship, if he stays around long enough for it to happen. Long enough being 5-10 years. Let's be honest, at a station where change is rare and the lineup has been the same for about 15 years, things happen slowly. He has built a strong body of work with his pal Jake, and in a minor league farm system with about 5 guys in it, he is no slouch.

Barring any Bacsik like pop-offs on Twitter or hot boxing the studio during the Top Ten, TC should be safe at the mother ship on Victory. His current on air persona is still raw, we think he has a ways to go before he is ready for any regular conversing presence on air. Top Ten is done well, but he has a conversation with himself the whole time. Its Just Banter is shocking and funny, but its a podcast recorded out of the back of Jake's car. The kid is dedicated to his craft, which in our books is the most important thing he has going for himself with respect to longevity. And yes we don't care what the haters say, but we think the kid has real talent. The management sees something in him that is special, or he would not have been allowed to hang around this long.

So carry on TC. Good luck with your bottom. 

Post Shake Up Observations

We have been tuning in closely the past few days, and have heard little difference in the delivery of the on air content. We think Mino is doing a great job so far. If you can step in to that position, insert drops with precision and make even the Balis Black Cloud laugh, then you are doing a good job. Jake's presence is still heard on BaD, and his absence on THL is nothing to fret over. To us his THL cut ins, while interesting and impeccably delivered, gave the feeling of a crowded house, too many cooks in the kitchen if you will. It has not phased the hosts, at least on air. No telling what behind the scenes interactions are going down. All in all, the station seems healthy after the switch, albeit its only been three days. We consider it a sign of strength to weather a shake up like this one and not flinch.

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Live Action Update!!!
Never done this before, change a post after publishing. But we found a relevant comment on Reddit we thought was timely and worthy of pasting in here. From our friend Ruffianstjames:

As someone who is a big Ticket JV supporter, seeing early results like this is very encouraging. Mino is a real good dude, and I had no doubt he'd slide into the role with ease. He's more fluid already three days in, you can hear him hitting the staples. This is going to sound a bit demeaning, but Mino is much more a prototypical board op type.

It leads into my theory about Jake. Jake was awesome in the chair of fun, but at the same time it was keeping an every day ready prospect in a bench role. He needed more at bats if you will. So shifting him over to where Tom is, and putting Mino where Jake was is basically using your resources in a more optimal fashion. Now Mino gets to play in the big leagues, which he earned, and Jake gets a starting role which was made by moving Tom away.

Speaking of Scoops', as much as it sucked to see Tom leave the friendly confines it was the least objectionable option. You weren't going to move a host, and Fernando/Sirois/DanPaul are well ensconced. Tom was also, but he's also out of the four the most likely to succeed at ESPN. He works hard, but is also probably the most polarizing out of the four producers. Giving him a move up to ESPN(if those rumors are true) can be construed as a reward for putting up with Bob and Dan, a Herculean task.

 Thanks, Mr. Ruffian. Good luck with, your bottom. 

MTC Brings us NEWS:

Breaking News at MTC


The Plainsman at MTC brings us the news that Gribble is out to ESPN as a producer, Jake is moving to
BaD as producer and Mino is moving in to take Jake's spot as 12-7 PM boardop.


Gut reaction to this is, well okay. Biggest adjustment here for the P1 will be getting used to Mino at the board. Jake was becoming a major force on THL as well as BaD. He was delivering a bill of goods at the board similar in quality to what Grubes was capable of, enriched with solid on air commentary during segments. Going to miss Gribble though, however under the radar he was. Always a sad day when one of the long-timers leaves for different pastures.


Now, as things settle down this week and people get readjusted, one must think what affect this will have on the other JV. How will Sea Bass, Ty and TC feel about it? We don't think this behind-the-host realignment is an affront to anyone. All the other JV have solid roles and have been performing their jobs exceptionally the past year. 


That is all we have. This next week will be interesting. 

 One Month Birthday

We're one month old. Just a few weeks ago this blog was thrown together in a PBR fueled rage and has grudgingly continued to be your fart-and-fall-down HQ. Now we have like 6 regular visitors and that is pretty neat. Thanks Plainsman, Cactusflinthead, charlie0712, livinginreality, Pablonius Monk, HotGuts and the rest. We tallied 4,000 views, mostly thanks to bot tracking sites like vampirestat.com, so apparently internet robots really like our website too. Thanks, robots!

But space is super gay and so is Lee Corso's baby arm. We have a lot of fun writing fun and yuks for the sweet clean P1. And sometimes calling into the station to shamelessly plug blogs like this one and MTC to open up our conversations about the Ticket to more people. Like Craig once said, "It is good when people are talking about the Ticket."

So here is to some more months of distilling your Ticket experience into even less cohesive thought and serving it up in a big glass made of Wastelander drivel.

We're havin' fun here, no?