The Continuing Story of Dugout Ron

The theater of the absurd surrounding the Ron Washington’s ride on the “white horse,” continues to evolve into one of the strangest, most wheels-off sports story, in the history of Dallas, which considering the Dallas Cowboys, says a lot.

Randy Galloway, a favorite target of Geoausch.Com, wrote a piece for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram this morning alleging a blackmail scheme, on the part of a disgruntled Rangers’ employee, brought this festering pustule to a head. While I may not agree with everything Galloway writes, I do acknowledge that of all the Dallas/Fort Worth media members, his connections in the Rangers’ organization are the deepest.  I tend to believe what I read in his column and have no doubt that the Rangers would have never spoken a word of this incident had Sports Illustrated not obtained the leaked information.

According to Galloway, some of this former employee’s demands were met; however, the officials inside the organization refused to write the employee in question a letter of recommendation.  In other words, team officials were afraid their integrity would be tarnished if they fudged on a letter extolling this guy’s (or gal’s) worth as employee, but didn’t think twice about the reputation of the club being ran by a junkie manager.

Yes, I called the man a junkie, because Ron Washington’s drug history goes far beyond this one little bump.  Anthony Andro, writing for the Rangers blog on the Dallas Morning News’ website, reports that Washington admitted to using “amphetamines” and “marijuana” during his playing days. It was the 1970′s and everyone was using “bennies” and smoking grass, but it makes Washington’s statement yesterday-that he only used coke once-even that much more unbelievable.

While I’ve never had the desire to snort anything up my nose, I have been around cocaine and have had several friends fall victim to the drug’s addictive agents.  One thing I know about the drug is that you don’t do it just once and you certainly don’t try it for the first time when you’re 57-years old. While cocaine may not spawn daily cravings–users can go months or years without using–the taste for the drug never leaves your system. Let’s hope Washington is lying about his past cocaine use, because if he really did try coke out on a whim at the age of 57, his problems are much deeper than they appear on the surface. First of all, does that type of person have the maturity necessary for leading a professional sports team?

This story is just beginning to sprout. I firmly believe that as we near the start of the season (and the official sale of the franchise) more information will come to light regarding this situation and Washington’s past use of illegal substances. Based on Washington’s own statements, we can construct a history that leads us to believe that this type of behavior will repeat itself. Whether or not the Rangers will be open with their fans when such an event occurs is open for debate.

One thing is for sure, I bet the Dallas Morning News is regretting cutting the Rangers’ beat writer position.

105.3 The (Irrelevant) Fan

In the past, I’ve offered my analysis of both ESPN 103.3 and The Ticket. In all fairness, I think it’s time that I offer my assessment of the newest sports talk radio station in Dallas, 105.3 The Fan. I first became aware of The Fan flipping through the stations shortly before the start of baseball season. I heard the familiar voices of Ben & Skin, made famous by their weekend show on The Ticket, and thought I would give it a chance. Though their show lacked some of the comedy from their Ticket days, I still thought the station had potential to serve as an alternative on days when The Ticket was involved in shameless self promotions (i.e. Girls Night Out, Ticket Stock, The Great Game, etc.).

Over the next few months, I had the opportunity to catch some of the other shows, but never found a show that really engaged me. Based on the latest numbers, not many people have. The Ticket continues to dominate the male 25-54 demographic, ESPN is a distant second and The Fan brings up the rear of sports talk radio. Ironically, the Kevin Scott-Greg Hill experiment was the only Fan program not to finish dead last in head-to-head time slot competition with the other two stations, yet The Fan still decided to part ways with them.

They weren’t the only casualty, just ask Ben and Skin.  Ben and Skin pulled horrible numbers, but that says less about their appeal and more about the appeal of The Hardline. Look at it this way, a large part of Ben and Skins audience are loyal listeners to The Hardline and when given a choice between the two, the old reliable will win out. It would have been interesting to see what the numbers might have been if The Fan had decided to move the Ben & Skin time slot, say up against Norm Hitzges.  Instead, they canceled the show out right.

Why is The Fan in such bad shape and what can they do?

In addition to simply recycling on-air talent thrown away by other stations, The Fan takes their name too seriously. Sure, obnoxious, self-absorbed, know-it all hosts drive listeners away. Most people desire a radio program that engages the listener, not a program where the host spouts his opinions for 3 hours. The secret to good radio is knowing how to engage your audience without using the phone, text or e-mail as a crutch. These mediums should be used to supplement the programming, but never be the main focus of a program or a station.

The Fan throws out several, unrelated, inane topics to their audience over the course of a segment.  The on-air personality rarely issues an opinion and as such never develops their on-air persona. We learn more about “Gary in Garland” or “Joe in Prosper” than we do about the actual hosts. Contrast that with the personalities on The Ticket, loyal P1′s can you tell you everything about their favorite hosts. Vanilla hosts create vanilla programming, which in turn will drive down the ratings. In essence this is what plagues The Fan.

The station is not going anywhere. They have deep pockets and just signed contracts to carry both the Rangers and Cowboys, still they will continue to struggle with ratings as long as they continue down this path. What can they do to fix the problem?

First, address their identity problem. What type of radio station do they want to be?  From the outside looking in, it appears that they experimented with two different philosophies–the ESPN way and The Ticket way–bringing in personalities from each discipline. Kevin Scott and Ben & Skin got the ax, while Sean Salisbury and Newy Scruggs remain, so it appears that they have opted for generic sports talk, yet their hosts still engage in “man talk”, which can either be awkward or just plain terrible radio.

My best advice to program director at The Fan–talk to David Smoak. As we reported earlier this week, Smoak resigned as sports director and talk host at KTBB radio in Tyler. He brings close to 20 years of on-air experience and is well connected in the Dallas community.  Start him in the Noon-3 slot, against BaD Radio and Michael Irvin. Smoaky’s style would appeal more to the Irvin audience, but he might be able to steal a few from BaD Radio occasionally. No one is going to displace Dunham & Miller in morning drive (I still don’t understand the show) and The Hardline and GAC will be 1 & 2 as long as Galloway is still working. The noon-3 slot is the weakest point, relatively speaking, for both stations and is where The Fan should attack first. They can then build around that time slot.

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Now playing: Pearl Jam – In My Tree
via FoxyTunes

Who reads this blog?

Barry Horn does, well maybe.

Who is Barry Horn? Old dude who works for the Dallas Morning News covering “sports media” .  Just days after I published my list of Best/Worst D/FW Sports Media Personalities, Mr. Horn released what he called the “Media Mount Rushmore–Dallas Edition.”

How do our lists compare? Horn had Kevin Sullivan, Randy Galloway, Blackie Sherrod and Mike Rhyner on his list. I actually had Mike Ryhner right on the outside of my Top 5, but didn’t have Sullivan or Galloway anywhere near my Top 5. Sherrod is a legend, but asking me my opinion is like asking me my opinion of the playing career of Roger Staubach. Sure, I was alive at the end of his career and I know he was great, but I never got to experience his greatness first hand as an adult.

I would love to see who Horn would put in his Bottom 5…

Best (and worst) Sports Media Personality in Dallas

I’ve devoted several posts on this blog to sports media, a particular industry that combines two of my very favorite things–sports and communication.  I consider myself lucky that I live in a city with such a strong sports media contingency.  Though I’ve lived either directly in or on the fringe of the Dallas market my entire life, it wasn’t until I moved to Dallas proper in 2005 that I realized how large and diverse the sports media was here. I grew up reading Randy Galloway in the Dallas Morning News and watching Dale Hansen on Channel 8, but I soon learned there was much more out there,  so much that I was a little lost and confused.

With so many different media outlets and so many media personalities I wasn’t sure where I could get the information I wanted delivered in a an entertaining and engaging manner.  Over time, I feel that I’ve become a Barry Horn of sorts and have a pretty good handle on the sports media personalities in Dallas. One thing all sports media personalities seem to agree on is the importance of rankings and lists. Therefore, I decided to compile a list, ranking the Top 5 and Bottom 5 Sports Media Personalities in the Dallas/Fort Worth media market.

Top 5

1. Bob Sturm – Bob gets “it”! Sports are fun; sports are entertaining. It’s fun to be a fan, to be passionate about a particular team (or player) and it’s even more fun to be a sports dork and possess a mind full of sports trivia, capable of numerous parlor tricks. However, in the end, sports are sports.  It’s foolish to take the games too seriously.  Sturm is the co-host of a mid-day program on the The Ticket, a sports talk station known as much for their bits as their “hot sports opinion.” Out of all The Ticket personalities, Sturm finds the best mix of sports and “guy talk.” There are not many weaknesses in his game.

2. Norm Hitzges – Hitzges is one of the D/FW sports media personalities I grew up with because of his work with the Texas Rangers. Sure, his rants against steroids can be a kick in the shorts and his obsession with gambling is worrisome (and annoying), but those are small prices to pay for the overall content and entertainment of his program (also heard on The Ticket).  No sports media personality in the Dallas market is as knowledgeable about sports in general as Hitzges and though he may not mix in obtuse pop culture references in his shows, Hitzges often appeals to the cerebral listener with his poingnant, nuanced approach to sports talk radio.

3.  Jamey Newberg – A lot of fans publish blogs about their favorite teams, few fans can say they are the leading authority on the team they cover. Jamey Newberg can. His Newberg Report is a must read for all Texas Rangers fans. Newberg earned the number 3 spot for a number of reasons. First, he understands the changing face of emerging media, something lost on some of the area’s “old baseball guys” (i.e. Randy Galloway). Additionally, Newberg published the Newberg Report as a “hobby”; he is an attorney by trade. Yet even though it’s his hobby, his report contains  complete analysis of the Rangers system from low A to the “big leagues.” Newberg represents the future of sports media.

4. Babe Laufenberg – Dallas may not have a Bob Griffin, but Babe Laufenberg comes close.  Plus, I have a soft spot for most former Cowboys.  When it comes to Cowboys coverage, no one comes close to the job that Laufenberg does with Channel 11. It doesn’t hurt that he’s a former player and current color man for the radio broadcasts. Regardless, his Cowboys analysis is always down the middle. While other TV sports guys enjoy employing a “shock and awe” method of operation when it comes to the Cowboys, Laufenberg secures the best interviews, presents the best analysis and still manages to be more entertaining than the other TV stations in town.

5. Evan Grant – If Grant were still with the Dallas Morning News, he probably wouldn’t appear on this list. Though Grant’s coverage of the Rangers was always top notch, newspaper are so 1985 and I refuse to put any newspaper people in the Top 5.  Grant has evolved with the world of emerging media and currently runs the “Inside Corner” blog/website on D Magazine’s website.  Like Newberg and Sturm, Grant has successfully integrated social networking into his craft and his Tweets on Twitter are not to be missed.  Grant’s new gig allows his personality and humor to come out in ways that print media couldn’t.

Bottom 5

1. Fort Worth Star Telegram Sports Staff – Randy Galloway leads this cast of characters and they all strive to mimick his caustic style. They are masters in an archaic craft and they have been left behind. Jim Reeves, Jennifer Floyd Engel–the entire sports staff–lacks any relevancy with anyone under the age of 50. They resist change and continue to embrace the dying print media. I wouldn’t be surpised if they favor typewritters over computers.

2. Brian Estridge – Even though I can’t stand print guys interviewing other print guys on the radio, I can tolerate Galloway’s radio program in small doses, until Brian Estridge chimes in…I don’t believe I have ever heard Estridge utter single positive thing about any local team with the exception of TCU. Estridge is the perfect lap dog for Galloway, echoing his every crotchety syllable.  He’s more pretentious than Chuck Cooperstein, but at least Coop knows what he is talking about.  I have never heard an original thought come out of the mouth of Estridge.   I’m still trying to determine how he got a gig in a top 5 market.

3. Steve Dennis – Yet another disciple of Randy Galloway. He’s loud, obnoxious, pompous and totally incapable of talking about anything not related to sports. Even though he is not a print guy, he embraces many of their archaic principles and rejects younger journalists who represent the emerging media.  Laufenberg is the brains behind CBS 11′s sports department, Gina Miller is the beauty (and a quality journalist I might add) and Steve Dennis is the dunce.

4. Craig “Junior” Miller – I like The Ticket, but I’ve never understood the allure of the Dunham & Miller Show. To me, it’s generic morning radio talk show–loud, obnoxious and annoying (sounds like Steve Dennis). I hear P1′s rave about “Junior” Miller and I don’t get it. I find “Gordo” to be annoying, but I can see where his humor could appeal to some people, a rather large swath of the 18-45 crowd actually. Miller’s appeal mystifies me. He isn’t funny; he has virtually no personality. He doesn’t seem to have any great knowledge on anything except for bicycles and Oklahoma football. So, he appeals to a few yuppy listeners in Lakewood and Collin County and a few Okies north of the Red River? Am I missing something with him?

5. Rick “Goose” Gosselin – I realize that I will be crucified by die hard NFL fans on this one. I realize he is a Hall of Famer; I realize that he is well respected by most of my Top 5. Again, I just don’t see the greatness.  In full disclosure, I am a fan of the NFL because of the Dallas Cowboys. I was born into a family of Cowboys’ fans and will be a Cowboys fan until my dying day. More than any other sport, I am extremely biased when it comes to the NFL and I don’t really care about other NFL teams unless they are playing the Cowboys or battling the Cowboys for a playoff spot. Gosselin is extremely straight laced and there seems to be very little room for fun in his world. All in all, I find him to be very dry and biased AGAINST the Cowboys. I don’t like boring and I don’t like Cowboys haters.

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Now playing: Kenny Wayne Shepherd – While We Cry
via FoxyTunes

Sports Talk Radio

I love talk radio, especially sports talk radio, and I’ve been lucky enough to experience talk radio not only as a consumer of the product, but also as “on-air talent.”  I will not lie; part of me thinks my brief radio experience, in a very small media market, qualifies me as an expert on the subject. So every day, while at work, I turn the dial until I find some program to critique.  From Rush Limbaugh to Thom Hartmann, from Mike and Mike In The Morning to The Hardline, if they are talking, I’ll listen and many times I’ll end up writing about something I heard that day.

Today is no different!

Since moving to Dallas, I’ve been amazed at how The Ticket (KTCK 1310 AM) kicks the local ESPN radio affiliate’s ass (ESPN 103.3 FM). Ask any Metroplex male in between the age of 24-50 and you’ll probably get a hundred different answers on why they prefer The Ticket to ESPN radio, but I suspect 95% of those answers would deal with entertainment value. In the end, sports talk radio exists to entertain. If a station fails to entertain, it fails to serve its’ purpose and will eventually fail.

What makes for entertaining radio? Well, it’s kind of like pornography–you’ll know it when you see it, or in this case hear it.  I think we can begin by listing what makes radio NOT entertaining.

1.) Phones Sure, listener feedback can be helpful and possibly even entertaining, in small recommended doses, but when I tune into a radio program, I do so to listen to the on-air talent and not “Doug in Garland“. As I began my journey into radio, a great talent taught me that an on-air personality should not go to the phones more than one segment per hour. Tune into ESPN 103.3 and their shows contain a ton of phone calls and text messaging, especially Randy Galloway‘s program.

2.) No Experts Needed In the world of sports, experts don’t exist and anyone who claims to be one is lying out their ass. Sure, it helps to understand the techniques and nuances associated with the games; however, in the end, there are way too many intangibles to attempt to proclaim some universal truth.  Sports journalist serve two functions—report and entertain. The last thing I want from a sports journalist is conversations with other media members. If I wanted to know what Todd Archer thought about the Dallas Cowboys, I’d read the Morning News. If I cared what John Clayton thought, I would watch ESPN. If, for some reason, I turn on Randy Galloway’s radio program I do so with the hope (or fear) of hearing Grandpa Urine. The on-air talent who depends on “experts” expresses low confidence in their ability to both report and entertain.

3.) Tunnel Vision We have all read the various studies; we live in a country of shrinking attention spans. Yet some radio producers failed to read the memo. Many sports talk radio stations, especially the generic sports talk stations, want to take a 3 hour radio program and focus on one or two issues. Even in July, material exists to fill a 3-hour program. Sure, you may have to venture off the sports page, but being cultured and diverse never hurt anyone. In short, after two segments on a subject, it is time to move on to another subject. After that time, you’ve said all that can said and you risk rambling or even worse yet, becoming cliché.

4.) Don’t Take Yourself Too Seriously Jock talkers are the worst when it comes to egos. Turn on sports talk and you’re going to hear extreme bravado. While I think it is necessary to be self confident, on-air personalities need to realize that in the end, they’re talking sports, which is entertainment and for which there are no experts. For example, let’s take Dallas sports talk personality, Chuck Cooperstein, “Coop” carries himself as a man’s man. He speaks with the deep baritone falsetto of “radio voice” and issues strong opinions, often against the home team, to appear non-biased. He grows impatient if talk deviates, even for one second, from sports and grows even more irate if the conversation turns to certain sports topics he feels are not worthy of “talk” (i.e. high school football, fantasy sports, etc.). “Coop” needs to realize he might be a little more successful if he broadened his horizons.