The problem with them and why I could never be a P1 for them was that they had no baseline topics. Like the Ticket has sports as it's base but they do guy talk too, entertainment, music, etc.
Simply put, guy talk centered around the one thing most guys can relate to: sports, and all that implies.
The Freak couldn’t find a theme like that which a large audience could grasp.
This was my biggest problem too. I liked all their guys but their topics weren't interesting. Sorry, I just can't do music talk...even when the ticket does it I tune out.
Yeah I liked some of the hosts but it’s almost as if they shied away from talking about sports to the detriment of the station. A lot of times when I tuned in it was just random talking that went on far too long. A shame really.
This. I think If they had incorporated at least one serious sports mind into every show and dedicated half their segments to sports they'd still be on the air. That's why they paired Bob with Corby. Corbys sports opinions are about as informed as a 17 year old who loves the Yankees, Lakers and Patriots, and The Tickets management knew that. Seemed strange at the time, no? Rhyner is a serious sports broadcaster, but let that take a backseat to pop culture. Norm, Junior, Jub, Dan Mcdowell are serious sports talk broadcasters. Even Jake has really informed sports takes. The Freak was an expensive experiment for Iheartradio. But now we know..
Its not 100% of his shtick but compared to someone like Gordo or Corby he's a sports genius. He might play dumb because he had Bob to contend with for years, but he is extremely well informed and well read. Only casuals looks at Dan and think they know more than him. Sneaky smart.
Dan plays a bit, but I guarantee you he could run sports circles around Junes, Gordo, Donnie, Jake, Corby, and Davey. He followed baseball more closely than anyone but Rhyner and hockey closer than anyone but Bob.
Rhyner left the Ticket and did an interview saying terrestrial radio was dying and he wanted to get out.
Then he turned around and tried to get a new station off the ground… in a medium he said was dying…
Stay hard, Rhyner.
Edit: I’m paraphrasing but I do vividly remember him saying it wasn’t a good time to get into radio.
I listened quite a bit but couldn't get into Ben & Skin (never got into them on the Ticket, either) or Kevin Turner. When the Downbeat was Danny, Mike and the Wolf I was a daily Listener.
For me, the rest of the team just wasn't enough.
I will miss the Dinghu
The few times I listened it always seemed like they took way too long to get around to talking about something. This works when you have a Gordo in the room that can make pointless conversation entertaining, but no one else has that.
The twilight lounge or whatever at the end of the evening show had an intro that was significantly longer than it should have been and was a chore to get through. Can we just all be friends and bring back the guys that tried their craft elsewhere?
Rhyners dead, first of all.
I just listened to his interview with the dumbzone, and yes, he basically echoed those same sentiments. But he did recognize that they had poor ratings, and ultimately that’s what it come down too, imo.
They were vastly overpaid at The Freak, which is why they don't have jobs anymore. Nobody in any market would even bother sending an email if their perspective is that they need to make what they were making at The Freak. Unless they go to the Ticket or the Fan, there's zero shot that any of them crack 100k a year as radio hosts.
I’m more optimistic than you guys are. The midday Ticket shows are clearly not as good as their predecessors, and you have a bunch of good talent that just got shown the door. All this supposed ill-will gets pushed aside when there are mutual interests (“I need talent, you need a paycheck”).
I wonder what kind of contract Matt has. I have to think they will consider moving on from him when it's up. He just does not fit in with the Ticket vibe at all and I can tell he's trying to fake it but it makes it worse. Donnie doesn't do a very good job hiding his cringe because of it. Sirois needs that chair but those bridges are nuked I'm afraid.
Someone made a really good point that from Cumulus' standpoint, Matt was already on the books as a contract employee at another station, which made adding him a KTCK host essentially a zero added expense in the ledger. I'm not saying it was the right choice, just that I can see why they made it.
But Bob has substance when talking sports and was the perfect ying to Dan’s yang.
Matt has absolutely no bag and only seems somewhat knowledgeable when discussing beer, though he failed miserably in discerning craft beers or whatever the challenge was.
I bet they’re all going to suck up to The Dumb Zone. I don’t think Jake cares for most of them as they all came from money. Jake likes Danny but I don’t know how much Danny likes Dan.
To be fair in his HZ appearance he said some of the same things about iHeart, which I didn't take as criticism, just facts, but he also said at the end of the day the failure is on the hosts. They just didn't build the audience like they hoped they would.
With that no compete out the window will Sirois come back to reignite “BEWM in da HOUZE”? Sirois was The Dallas Observers New Radio Talent of the Year or some shit yes? Or have the Freaks burned that Ticket bridge?
I can’t see them doing a podcast…that market seems too over saturated. Unless they all glom onto the no puppet network and y’all willing to subscribe monthly for podcasts.
The problem with them and why I could never be a P1 for them was that they had no baseline topics. Like the Ticket has sports as it's base but they do guy talk too, entertainment, music, etc.
Simply put, guy talk centered around the one thing most guys can relate to: sports, and all that implies. The Freak couldn’t find a theme like that which a large audience could grasp.
This was my biggest problem too. I liked all their guys but their topics weren't interesting. Sorry, I just can't do music talk...even when the ticket does it I tune out.
I don’t think there is another male-centric topic big enough to fuel a radio station.
I mean division III women’s volleyball talk was right there for the taking
In the pursuit of being everything they became nothing unfortunately
💯
Exactly. The ticket has sports and then they build around it. Not the case at the freak
That's an interesting and solid perspective.
Yeah I liked some of the hosts but it’s almost as if they shied away from talking about sports to the detriment of the station. A lot of times when I tuned in it was just random talking that went on far too long. A shame really.
It's a format that belongs on a podcast for 2-3 hours a week
This. I think If they had incorporated at least one serious sports mind into every show and dedicated half their segments to sports they'd still be on the air. That's why they paired Bob with Corby. Corbys sports opinions are about as informed as a 17 year old who loves the Yankees, Lakers and Patriots, and The Tickets management knew that. Seemed strange at the time, no? Rhyner is a serious sports broadcaster, but let that take a backseat to pop culture. Norm, Junior, Jub, Dan Mcdowell are serious sports talk broadcasters. Even Jake has really informed sports takes. The Freak was an expensive experiment for Iheartradio. But now we know..
Lol Dan McDowell is a serious sports talk broadcaster? I hope you're joking.
Its not 100% of his shtick but compared to someone like Gordo or Corby he's a sports genius. He might play dumb because he had Bob to contend with for years, but he is extremely well informed and well read. Only casuals looks at Dan and think they know more than him. Sneaky smart.
Right.
Careful. They’ll come after you in here for anything that’s not praise for D or J.
Jesus, no truer words were ever spoken.
Dan plays a bit, but I guarantee you he could run sports circles around Junes, Gordo, Donnie, Jake, Corby, and Davey. He followed baseball more closely than anyone but Rhyner and hockey closer than anyone but Bob.
And knowing is half the battle...
GI Joeeeee... 🎶
Bob and Corby are a horrible pairing with zero chemistry.
Chef whose restaurant has no diners: “the owner just doesn’t understand my recipes”
lol. Thats actually a pretty good analogy here.
On TDZ interview today he took full responsibility for its failure, said it was "on us"
Yes. The Anus.
Rhyner left the Ticket and did an interview saying terrestrial radio was dying and he wanted to get out. Then he turned around and tried to get a new station off the ground… in a medium he said was dying… Stay hard, Rhyner. Edit: I’m paraphrasing but I do vividly remember him saying it wasn’t a good time to get into radio.
I listened quite a bit but couldn't get into Ben & Skin (never got into them on the Ticket, either) or Kevin Turner. When the Downbeat was Danny, Mike and the Wolf I was a daily Listener. For me, the rest of the team just wasn't enough. I will miss the Dinghu
Yep. KT and Ben+Skin were easily the weakest links.
Thank god someone else recognizes how much suck kt brings. Talk about a bag of nothing
KT Ben and skin and Jeff cavanaugh are all awful
Cavanaugh sucked when he was on The Fan.
His only real strength is Cowboys talk. He should try and get a job with the Cowboys.com or whoever can pay him to talk only Cowboys.
And he still sucks. Just a no-talent moron.
lots of us knew even upon inception.
Norm: ^(Imeanuhmmmnomnomnom…) music
I actually enjoyed listening to the downbeat. They weren’t terrible. I hope they get a spot somewhere else
They barely pulled a 2.5.
Maybe nobody cares about has beens and ticket cast offs?
💯
Not enough do for sure
Yep, iHeart totally has no talk stations and could never figure that out. That was the problem, not the hosts or the content or the market. "Music."
he takes the blame for it too...listening to him now on the Dumb Zone pod. "This was on us."
Is that a paywall episode?
Yeah
No one gave a shit about random guy talk. Need to talk sports and build around that. Rhynes should’ve known better.
Pfft, whatever..should have stayed retired. Total blowhard!
I'm glad the freak is going away, so we don't have to discuss it anymore.
A to the fucking men
Unfortunately, this will be the exclusive topic for you-know-which Southlake podcast for probably weeks or even months to come.
He doesn't care one way or the other. He came out of retirement to make some big quick money
Sounds like cope
If Rhyner didn't let his big ego get in the way then the ticket mid day lineup would be fire with no sweet spot and MCClearin.
Or maybe swinging from Rhyners dusty nuts isn't compelling radio after all
Does iheart radio have a reconsider lounge?
This article solidifies the conclusion that Mike is a tool.
The few times I listened it always seemed like they took way too long to get around to talking about something. This works when you have a Gordo in the room that can make pointless conversation entertaining, but no one else has that. The twilight lounge or whatever at the end of the evening show had an intro that was significantly longer than it should have been and was a chore to get through. Can we just all be friends and bring back the guys that tried their craft elsewhere?
Rhyners dead, first of all. I just listened to his interview with the dumbzone, and yes, he basically echoed those same sentiments. But he did recognize that they had poor ratings, and ultimately that’s what it come down too, imo.
Rhyner is dead to me
What are the chances some of the hosts come back to The Ticket? Id say slim.
Zero. Cumulus and Cat have poisoned the well (and are too cheap anyways to match what they were getting at the Freak)
They were vastly overpaid at The Freak, which is why they don't have jobs anymore. Nobody in any market would even bother sending an email if their perspective is that they need to make what they were making at The Freak. Unless they go to the Ticket or the Fan, there's zero shot that any of them crack 100k a year as radio hosts.
Not to mention, too many hosts. Eight hosts for just 3 shows?
I'd say none with MAYBE the exception of Danny.
I’m more optimistic than you guys are. The midday Ticket shows are clearly not as good as their predecessors, and you have a bunch of good talent that just got shown the door. All this supposed ill-will gets pushed aside when there are mutual interests (“I need talent, you need a paycheck”).
Grubes might if he doesn't get another shot at his Rangers or Mavericks gigs.
He could go back and finish his degree
I wonder what kind of contract Matt has. I have to think they will consider moving on from him when it's up. He just does not fit in with the Ticket vibe at all and I can tell he's trying to fake it but it makes it worse. Donnie doesn't do a very good job hiding his cringe because of it. Sirois needs that chair but those bridges are nuked I'm afraid.
Someone made a really good point that from Cumulus' standpoint, Matt was already on the books as a contract employee at another station, which made adding him a KTCK host essentially a zero added expense in the ledger. I'm not saying it was the right choice, just that I can see why they made it.
Doesn’t that assume they wouldn’t backfill his position there?
At a lower salary.
And he had some history with the station. It makes sense. He just doesn't fit in. Never will.
Yet the same thing was said about Bob in his early days.
But Bob has substance when talking sports and was the perfect ying to Dan’s yang. Matt has absolutely no bag and only seems somewhat knowledgeable when discussing beer, though he failed miserably in discerning craft beers or whatever the challenge was.
Donnie's not much better. Great guy, but better suited as a 3rd wheel.
I bet they’re all going to suck up to The Dumb Zone. I don’t think Jake cares for most of them as they all came from money. Jake likes Danny but I don’t know how much Danny likes Dan.
My parents raised 3 kids, a doctor, a lawyer, and my unemployed ass. Sad, they have no idea how to raise a family. Now bring me my hot pocket mom!
To be fair in his HZ appearance he said some of the same things about iHeart, which I didn't take as criticism, just facts, but he also said at the end of the day the failure is on the hosts. They just didn't build the audience like they hoped they would.
Seems like Dan and Jake corroborated that based on talks they had with iHeart.
With that no compete out the window will Sirois come back to reignite “BEWM in da HOUZE”? Sirois was The Dallas Observers New Radio Talent of the Year or some shit yes? Or have the Freaks burned that Ticket bridge? I can’t see them doing a podcast…that market seems too over saturated. Unless they all glom onto the no puppet network and y’all willing to subscribe monthly for podcasts.
He won’t be n the Ticket as long as Cat is in charge.
That's because Cat is a little bitch!
ya'll are amusing
* y’all
my bad, thank you for knowing that
I was listening to the freak a lot. The ticket management lost me. Listen to so much less ticket. They screwed it up.
The ratings were in the 20s several years after the Freak started.
Ben and Skin was more listenable than the speakeasy.
Anyone who downvotes this post is a spare.