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A view from the inside/outside of 105.3 and B&S!

E

ericmarc1977

Ben and Skin are gone!

I am sad about this news. I worked with these guys and they are two really nice, talented, intelligent and genuine guys! They got screwed when the station flipped formats, because they were hired on to do a lifestyle show and leave the sports behind at The Ticket. Then, suddenly they were forced to do ALL sports, literally overnight. I know that they loved the lifestyle stuff and they excelled at it as well. The weekly PPM ratings were trending up continually (as were Jagers) and if the station would have held on for just a tad bit longer it would have taken off on a rocket trajectory, in the old format of course. I truly think they had a bankable, profitable and quality show when it was lifestyle, but their souls were taken away when it went to caller driven sports talk. From my first hand observation and from conversations with the management at 105.3, they knew what their intentions were for Ben and Skin from the very beginning. Let me explain...

A few weeks after Pugs and Kelly walked out of 105.3 in June 2008, I, by chance, ran into an inebriated upper management figure from the station at a bar that my friends were playing an acoustic set. He was leaving the bar as I was walking in and he changed his plans with a friend he was having drinks with to sit down at the bar with me and have a few drinks and discuss the P&K situation. He was probing me for information about P&K. He then started to tell me that the station was in for some big changes and then divulged to me that the station was going after the Cowboys for the 2009 - 10 season. He also said the lifestyle talk format on this station would be dead by the end of the year and that I should start "brushing up on my sports." He told me about meetings with CBS Radio in New York (corporate) and how he was influencing the decisions. He said this several times and also told me to never repeat what he was saying. I promised and we moved on to more mundane ramblings from a drunk, loose-lipped management figure. I kept that promise till now, but seriously I burned that bridge and what do I have to lose?

When the station flipped they promised B&S that this was not their intention with them from the beginning. The intention of bringing over sports dudes to do lifestyle with secret plans to flip the formats and have sports guys already in place. I heard B&S say that they were told that it wasn’t their intention to flip when they brought them on by several figures in management. They lied to B&S in my assessment and I have seen them lie, manipulate and act one way only to do the completely opposite the next. All corporate people are slime and to trust them as a subordinate is simply naïve, especially in the radio industry. (Can anyone testify to this?)
I can’t speak on a first hand basis of what has happened to the station internally since I quit. I have heard rumors and if 5% of what I hear is true…It’s UGLY. The only thing I can say is that it breaks my heart that a truly viable station was ruined by people who are blind to the desires of their listening audience and that these two guys got caught in the crosshairs of this tragic experiment. www.whitesgonewild.com
 
Wow, I heard things were bad, but not that bad. If it wasn't for Jagger and his crew I almost would gladly give my ears a change in station.
 
Sorry to hear that. So how long until Jagger's out? Last December at the format change, several folks on here predicted a slow death for both shows (B&S and Jagger) due to their connection to the old Live 105 and that you just can't force someone to change topics to something they're not as passionate about. Now BDH, to me, is handling a mix of politics and lifestyle topics just fine after his 105.3 departure. Sports is a whole different animal...callers and "P1"s expect you to know the history of every sports, the details of every team's moves and changes and standings, etc...you just can't "wing it" when it comes to that.

Then again, there's always 1360. :)
 
I told a friend that I was not going to respond to this one but alas here I am. I was called in for an interview for a FT position about three weeks ago. First question- You are always in blank and blanks office, why? This went on and on for 15 minutes in what turned out to be a job performance review. After 15 minutes, he says any questions about the job you are applying for? Anyway, I was told to and I quote without hesitation that I am saying this accurately "do your job without being heard from or noticed". I didn't know this at the time but I soon found out I was taken off the schedule in my limited on air role as a 4th string sports flash anchor...wait recount I was the 5th string. Laugh if you will but it was a big deal for me.
Personally, I think this stems from the day prior when I walked by Bigby's office on my way to another office and simply said hi. (in which his response was "what do you want" but that is for another day) However, that is speculation and not the only reason. Heck I'll admit I was trying to do alot and be noticed because that is usually how you move up. So as they say my bad.
Anyway, that happened on a Friday, the following Monday I was offered another full time radio job and I said see ya to the fan. I still listen to it almost daily and really wanted it to succeed for guys like Newy, Sean, Pete, Mike O and while they were there Ben and Skin. But now this station is becoming a joke. How much longer can these lineup changes continue?

If I could add one more in relation to what Eric said. O'Malley was told when he was let go that he would be brought back but it would take about six months. Well it took 7. Any thoughts as to what the station was thinking when they told him that 7 months ago? Did they want Ben and Skin gone from the get go? They tried getting the hardline it didn't work...O'Malley was the next best thing I guess.
 
They have tried to hire several other talk host and were turned down. The word is out on Bigby, nobody wants any part of that crap. Dan and Whitt were the only ones left... That station is just this side of the worst station in DFW history 990 sports joke. It may be worse though because CBS should know better! They have done the unthinkable, make ESPN 103.3 look like they have a clue. At some point (who knows when) the y will realize this is not Detroit, and this ain't Philly. This is Texas and we don't want caller driven sports talk, we want people with a clue and real talent to talk sports and entertain us. If I want to hear my neighbor say something stupid about sports I'll walk next door, I don't want to hear that on the radio. All calls, multi-topics, lame hosts= Crap sports station. Breaking every rule (No re-set, no establishing of topics, straight to calls out of a break, 3 or 4 topics a segment) in radio doesn't make you interesting, it makes you suck.
 
I've worked in this narket for years, and a few months ago I decided I needed a change of scenery and, on the advice of a friend who worked there at the time, I gave Gavin a call and left a message. While I'm not a "name" in the market, most people in the business would know my name, at least. I never received a call back, even just a courtesy, "Hey how you doing, we're not looking for anyone but I did get your message," sort of thing. I found that rather rude, but after reading this board, it seems to be par for the course for that station and how they do business. After seeing how they work and treat their employees, I'm kind of glad it didn't work out!
 
One thing that stands out at me from all 3 sports stations in town...is the absolutely horrible "sports update guys". There's a couple on the Ticket that are ok...but most I've heard outside of them are sounding like they just left the Columbia School of Broadcasting with a D+. It's really sad how far the bar has fallen for everything in this business.
 
(sniff sniff) I smell bridges burning! Great insight though, we all love the juicy gossip!! Give us more!
 
ISaidSo said:
They have tried to hire several other talk host and were turned down. The word is out on Bigby, nobody wants any part of that crap. Dan and Whitt were the only ones left... That station is just this side of the worst station in DFW history 990 sports joke. It may be worse though because CBS should know better! They have done the unthinkable, make ESPN 103.3 look like they have a clue. At some point (who knows when) the y will realize this is not Detroit, and this ain't Philly. This is Texas and we don't want caller driven sports talk, we want people with a clue and real talent to talk sports and entertain us. If I want to hear my neighbor say something stupid about sports I'll walk next door, I don't want to hear that on the radio. All calls, multi-topics, lame hosts= Crap sports station. Breaking every rule (No re-set, no establishing of topics, straight to calls out of a break, 3 or 4 topics a segment) in radio doesn't make you interesting, it makes you suck.
Click to expand...

Its amazing. Caller driven sports talk works in just about every other MAJOR city in the US but this one. But its evident it doesn't work here for whatever reason. Maybe its just that the callers suck here. Forget NY, Bos, Philly, DC, where its all callers, and pretty entertaining, take Phoenix, a city that is a lot like Dallas, the radio is caller driven, and the callers are great. For some reason, when Jeff in Rowlett gets on the air, he can barely put a sentence together, and has zero personality. If its going to be done, it better be done the right way, the way Norm does and Cooperstein used to do it where they don't just take their comment and hang up, they actually argue with them, and the callers have an actual opinion.
 
Its amazing. Caller driven sports talk works in just about every other MAJOR city in the US but this one. But its evident it doesn't work here for whatever reason.
Click to expand...

No other city has mixed the Howard Stern formula with local sports hosts as successfully as The Ticket has.

Stern-type entertainment talk radio beats caller driven radio every time.
 
True, but aren't we talking about Sports radio? Entertainment talk will always, no matter the city, generate better ratings than pure sports talk, caller driven or not. Broader audience. The Ticket has a broader audience because they realize that purely talking sports will get you about a 2-3 rating, which is fine, its a nice niche, but its not what they are. The highest rated ALL sports stations in the country are primarily caller driven (WEEI, WFAN, WIP, WTEM, KTRA etc). But as we've found out over the last 16 years, caller driven sports-talk hasn't worked here, and may never work.
 
Marty Funkhauser said:
True, but aren't we talking about Sports radio? Entertainment talk will always, no matter the city, generate better ratings than pure sports talk, caller driven or not. Broader audience. The Ticket has a broader audience because they realize that purely talking sports will get you about a 2-3 rating, which is fine, its a nice niche, but its not what they are. The highest rated ALL sports stations in the country are primarily caller driven (WEEI, WFAN, WIP, WTEM, KTRA etc). But as we've found out over the last 16 years, caller driven sports-talk hasn't worked here, and may never work.
Click to expand...

Ok, I haven't listened to the other stations, but WFAN has HORRIBLE air talent. No wonder the callers are good.
 
So, basically the future of The Fan is riding on "Scott from Waxahachie"?? Uh oh, they're in trouble then!
 
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