Dallas/ Ft. Worth Radio!

Well I’m about to open up a can of worms and make a lot of people really on edge with this blog!

The truth needs to be spilled as to the goings on in our fair metroplex, and what the corporate suits think of YOU, the patron, the listener, the person who is going to LISTEN to the advertiser on their station!

THEY DON”T CARE! PERIOD!

They really don’t… from the Station Manager, to the Sales Manager, the Program Director, the only person that might care are the on-air personalities, and that’s just pushing it!

These people don’t give a rat’s ass, if you listen or not, as long as MR ADVERTISER buys a schedule and the Account Executive can sell them a bunch of crunched numbers that anyone can manipulate and make work for them, to promote and sell their shows!

This goes for talk shows, or music stations!

Lets put it more on my level! Sports Talk Radio, in this market sucks!

There is a revolving door going on over at CBS Owned 105.3FM the FAN—and their AM sister station KRLD 1080, a station that has a legacy in this market, is nowhere to be found on the ratings sheets, unless there is severe weather, or really breaking news. WBAP AM and FM have more of a chance of beating 1080, but that is a toss up.

Let me give you some insight about how this business really works.

Twenty years ago, I ran into a young man at a place in Arlington, called Fatso’s Burgers and Blues, where a radio show was being produced on Tuesday Nights for 17 weeks, called Cowboys Live, starring Cowboys Star Running Back Emmitt Smith, and Channel 11 sportscaster Timm Mathews!  The radio station was KGBS AM1190, and one of their mainstays on the station was a man named Morton Downey Jr.

Now this young man that was working at Fatso’s comes up to me, and asked me if he could get a job working at the station, and I told him to arrive at 5AM the next day, and he did, and was an intern for a mere 2 weeks before they put him on payroll to be the associate producer for the Gerry Oher show, then later the Tony Hill Show (yes the same Tony Hill that caught a Touch Down pass from Roger Staubach against the Washington Redskins)… in any case, this young man works for the station for a year or so, before he jumps ship and joins a start up station on 1310 AM frequency, their calls become KTCK the TICKET!

This young man works for one of the shows called the Hardline as their producer, and he later leaves and goes to work for KCMO, a legend station in Kansas City.

He returns as the program director of KTCK the TICKET and joins the ranks as the PD that secures a Marconi Award, the tops in the business, and when someone calls him up to congratulate him, or ask him if there is an opening for a job, or just to say HELLO!, and you he doesn’t return any of the calls, one starts to wonder, what sort of EGO does this young man.

Short memory, and a large ego will do it to you every time! Jeff Catlin, when someone opens the door to you and allows you into our hallow fraternity, and you don’t give the time of day to the person who allowed to walk through that door, you show me that you have no integrity, nor honor!

I could have sworn I taught you better than that, but like a parent who’s child has turn their back on them, I guess I feel that same pain in my heart, because, all you had to do is return the call, or say “sorry my friend, but I just don’t have anything available right now.”…. you would think just that gesture alone would be suffice, but I guess not!

So now the revolving door at 105.3 THE FAN, has caused some un-ease among some of the mainstays of the station!

Lets see, first, Jasmine was let go from the morning show, and what is on the air is very questionable, I like RJ Choppy and all, but they teamed him with someone who he has no idea anything about this market, and they don’t know each other. I mean what makes the TICKET work, is the fact that every talk show host are friends with each other, they know how they breathe, they know how they think, and they know what buttons to push to get the best out of the other!

The FAN, they throw people together for no reason other than—oh this might work, look at Shawn and RJ Choppy, or Mark and Slatter in the mid-day, at least Greg and Richie Witt had some history before they were thrown together on the air, but personally I never like Richie on the air, I believe he was a great writer, but as a talk show host, he lacked the punch you need for the afternoon drive and especially for five hours on the air.

Gavin Dawson and Chris Arnold in the evenings are good, but then again, I know Chris Arnold and he can work with just about anybody, I know how good he is—its not just that he is professional but also he can fit with anyone on the air!

YOU CAN”T THROW talk show teams together in the fourth largest market in the country, this is not the 125^th market—this is FRIGGIN NUMBER FOUR!

That means New York, L.A., and Chicago are only bigger! REALLY!

Corporate America, and especially Radio, will tell you that they know best, really—you went to college and got a degree and all, but the fact is—YOU know NOTHING about marketing, because what made local radio work, was the fact that there was a connection with the listener to the station but once the cluster of stations started—that went away.

.

In the mid to late 70’s, a station in Dallas/Ft. Worth created such a sensation that they were the number one station in the metroplex in most day parts for over 10 years! TEN FRIGGEN YEARS!

KVIL 103.7FM with Ron Chapman and the promotions department, made it exciting to listen to local station with their give a ways, and their prizes like cars for the rest of your life, and money and trips.. bumper sticker promotions for cash, and other fun and games!

They had a jingle that asked “Whatever happened to radio?” Damn good question!

Someone needs to take back the airwaves and concern themselves to the business of the listener because you are loosing them to IPODS, Iphones, and Ipads…. Along with CD’s and other devices that we listen to for our entertainment!

You want to win them back, you have to convince your advertisers to jump a bit and get into the deep end and start contest that will involve them and your listeners, the best interaction with your station and the listener is give them something worth while to listen to, and win something for doing it!

WHAT A CONCEPT!

You think for one moment that corporate America will do that—you got live visions of CBS, Culmus, Disney, and others would do this? Not a chance in Holy Hell!

Because remember—they know more than the old timers—I have bad news for you 30 something year old PD’s… NO YOU FRIGGIN DON”T! So deal with the fact that there are some people out there that do know MORE than you do! And LISTEN TO THEM!

Just a thought!

Teacher..... LEAVE US KIDS ALONE!

My apologies to those who are Pink Floyd Fans, but the truth is... I think a chord was struck by an 18 year old High School Sophomore, who "Laid" into his teacher for NOT teaching!

A Duncanville High School student named Jeff, who was videoed by a fellow student when he started his tirade against his teacher for NOT teaching in a manner that would excite, and entice his fellow students to learn.

This young man said something that, lord knows, I have been saying for a number of years! TEACH THE CLASS!

The State of Texas as a whole along with many other districts across this country, have dug itself into a major hole, trying to put all of the eggs into one basket! They call this the STARRS test or TAKS or whatever else you wish to call it.

Its based solely on the numbers game! How many can past this test, and in turn, how much money can the district receive from Federal and State coffers to keep the schools ratings as exemplary!

REALLLY! For G-DS SAKES PEOPLE! WAKE UP!

This is the future that you are talking about, and a future that is on the brink of not knowing how to write properly, how to use math properly, because we have machines that do it for us! EXAMPLE: The computer that I am using to write this piece with, has spell check! I REFUSE TO USE IT! I will work the spelling out myself before I break down and use that device! HOWEVER! Students have gotten so use to using spell check or for that matter TEXT SPELL, which is ridiculous! I KID YOU NOT, when I received a resume' a few years back... the person wrote in their cover letter "... my last job in radio was GR8!" ...

REALLY????? this is what we send our children to school to learn?

THROW AWAY THE DAMN TEST! and start teaching again! Lets face it-- pretty soon history book will no longer be needed because no one cares to teach the history of not just our country but the world.!

IF you graduated in the 1970's or 80's! Think about how the world has changed, just in boundaries alone! I mean, there is no more USSR, there are changing lines of every country in the Baltic States every decade or so!

There was an old saying-- if you don't know where you have been, how do you know where you are going?!

This young man stood up for his RIGHTS to be taught by a teacher who says that this is her PAY CHECK! Damn right its your pay check-- and if you wish to keep getting one-- I suggest that you start teaching and reminding yourself that the minds that you have in front of you are there not just because they have to, but because they need to be taught what it is that YOU know!

Here's an idea-- instead of spending millions of dollars on athletes who entertain us-- why don't we have the owners of major sports teams-- give a few million dollars a year to education and see if we get a better source of teacher in the classroom and see how many wish to continue the great tradition of teaching instead of losing qualified educators to outside sectors of industry, because it pays better!

Damn right it pays better because we are too concerned about our HEROES earning enough to keep them happy and in some cases, in trouble with the law!

Our dropout rate would decrease and our crime might decrease as well! WHAT A FRIGGEN CONCEPT!

Jeff! I applaud you, and for those of you who wish to see the video, here is FOX 4 's report on it! http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/story/22201163/duncanville-students-teacher-rant-goes-viral#.UYse-G7d44A.facebook

Its one for the books...

Just a thought

Trying to Follow in the Footsteps!

Once upon a time ago there once was a man who spoke his mind, and did it with S-A-T words that most of us had to go and look up in dictionaries, only problem was, that we didn't know how to SPELL the damn words that he was using!

We lost Howard Cosell back in 1995 due to a heart attack at the age of 77... and in that lost was the most prolific sports caster we knew of our generation.

His voice, his cadence, the way he spoke, was a package that was often imitated, but never duplicated.

The one constant with Cosell was his ability to just speak his mind, and not worry about who he was going to offend, or step on toes, be it the fan or the athlete he was talking about.

Most often though-- he offended the sports fan, because he "told it like it was"... and never backed off his opinion, be it with the Muhammad Ali situation in 1968, when he refused induction into the United States Army for duty in Viet Nam, or if it was seeing a running back make his way up the gridiron calling him a little monkey!

Now that got him fired.. but the fact is.. he once called his grandchildren little monkeys and that was a term of endearment.

In any case, that brings us to now!

A radio show, something that has no pictures, other than what we can let you see with your minds eye, and a show that talks about sports-- but more importantly a show that tells it like it is. No fluff, nothing to hold us accountable because we are a flagship station for what ever professional team we have to talk about.

Seriously, if you are the flagship station of the NFL, NBA, MLB, or NHL team in your town, and you are paid by that team to air your games, or better yet you paid them to produce the games, then you are a little careful of what you say about them.

In our case, we aren't that way, we have no allegiance to a specific team. WE are a fan of the games, be it football, baseball, hockey, or basketball.

BUT! IF you suck as a team, or you have made bonehead mistakes on the field or off the field, or your management does some really stupid stuff, we are going to call you out, and we will do it with facts and not just spouting off from the top of our heads without thinking about it.

I have listened to enough sports talk radio, and been a part of talk radio in the 4th largest radio market in the country, and I have had to endure the likes of those who think that they are experts in the field of sports. Funny thing is, most of them never picked up a ball or a bat, or a stick and played the game outside of high school or pick up games.

Its a different beast when you step between the lines of a professional field, and think that you know what goes on in the minds of those who actually played the games.

I for one will always ask those who DID play the games, but my opinion is more about the business side of the game, or the likely hood that I know someone who is or was a professional athlete and in that particular sport and ask them for their response! I am a believer of asking the questions and getting the answers.

NOW as for standing on a soap box and airing my opinion of what I THINK needs to happen in sports or with a team, that goes without saying- thats the same as anyone of you that want to sit around a table and have a conversation about certain teams or games or whatever!

Questions such as, do you think that Tony Romo deserved the contract extension or did Elvis Andrus deserve his 120 million dollar contract, or what about having Brendan Morrow trade to Pittsburgh for youth, do you think that the Dallas Mavericks will EVER see another championship in their midst or were they like the New York Jets and be one and done?

Do you think that Bull Durham is the best sports movie ever- or maybe Raging Bull, what about For the Love of the Game, maybe Remember the Titans.. .what was YOUR favorite?

Those are the things we are going to talk about and get to know YOU about more, when we have you text us or "chat" with us while we are on the air.

Log on to learn more, hear more, and be entertained more, on Davradio Productions... www.davradioproductions.com and find out what Dave Michaels has to say!

Its just a thought! 

One of the Most Hated Athletes--- the Winner is: Tony Romo!

Yep that’s what the headline said on one of those all sports stations! The results of an online survey!

Dallas Cowboy Quarterback Tony Romo! Hell, he was ranked up there with the likes of Lance Armstrong, Tiger Woods just to throw some names out there.

And as the survey said, the likes of Woods and Armstrong, are based on their problems away from their sport, but Romo… his has more to do with the fact that he is the quarterback for a team that has won only ONE playoff game since he took over the full time position of quarterback in 2006.

In 2007, he was rewarded for taking his team to 13-3, and somehow lost to the eventual Super Bowl Champions, New York Giants, in the first round of the playoffs… oh let’s not forget that he bobbled the snap on a field goal against the Seattle Seahawks in ’06, and that cost them that win.

Still, Tony Romo, is NOT a bad person, he has not lied to the media, cheated on his wife, took illegal substances to enhance his performance, he has not committed ONE fault, say one! He has not WON in the clutch, and for this—he is hated!

I don’t get it, I really don’t…. I mean in the 1980’s the Cowboy didn’t win a championship, albeit, that they went to the playoffs, and they continued to win at a pace that even the likes of the Celtics, the Maple Leafs and the Yankees only could dream of—they might have some championships in their trophy cases, but they cannot brag about 20 consecutive winning seasons! The Cowboys CAN!

However, lets talk about the 1980’s, that was a decade that saw the leaving of Roger Staubach and the emergence of Danny White, and for what it is worth, he had the same success as another Dallas Cowboy Quarterback had in the ‘60’s, who’s name is Don Meredith. He too, could not win the “Big One”… next years champions, but none the less, he lead the Cowboys out of the rag-tag mess that was the expansion team and brought them to the front page of newspapers, as he and the rest of those Cowboys, almost knocked off the Green Bay Packers as the best team in the NFL.

Then comes Craig Morton, who took the Cowboys to their first Super Bowl against the Baltimore Colts (yes children they were in Baltimore before Indianapolis), where they lost on a Jim O’Brien field goal to win it. It wasn’t until the following year that Coach Tom Landry handed the reigns over to the 1963 Heisman Trophy winner and let him lead the Cowboys right back to the Super Bowl and defeated the Miami Dolphins.

So when Captain America retired in 1979, the young man that was the teams punter and back up quarterback, took over and he steered the Cowboys to THREE NFC championship games, losing all three of them.

HOWEVER! In doing so, Danny White broke every record held by either Don Meredith, Craig Morton, or Roger Staubach in his career, he set new standards, that is until the end of 1989, when a young man out of UCLA came to town, and took over for the new owners and new coach and led this team back to the promise land for a few winning seasons. Troy Aikman, then took control of the record book, and then he had to retire. In doing so, the Cowboys went through quarterbacks such as Quincy Carter, Drew Bledsoe, just to name two that stood out, then came Tony Romo in a game against the Giants in the middle of the ’06 season, and led the Cowboys back to the playoffs.

We know that story, and now he we are just six years later, and again, we talk about how he can’t win in the clutch, can’t make it to the playoffs, yet, his Quarterback Rating is higher than Staubach, White, Aikman, and two of those three are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Romo also holds the Cowboys records for quarterbacks, and still, everyone is “hating” on him.

He is THIS generations Danny White. (Sorry Danny still love ya man) but the truth is, you can be the best at the position, but unless you have a running game, a blocking scheme that works, your butt is going to be on the turf, and you are going to be looking up at a lot of “Ugly” standing over you!

So instead of hating on the young man, lets see how in the off season, he can get some help!

For instance: A front line that blocks, and can open up holes for a running game to give the passing game a chance to develop instead of, everybody figuring that the Cowboys are going to have to pass to stay in the game or get the lead in the game.

How about a running game period, I like Felix Jones and I like DeMarco Murray, but they are not healthy runners, they seem to spend more time on the Injured list than on the playing field. OH and I know that the former Running Back for the Giants is now a free agent—hint hint!  I like Bradshaw for what its worth.

Tony Romo cannot do it all himself, I was disappointed when the Cowboys released Andre Gurode a couple of years ago, here was a guy that was a FIVE TIME ALL PRO CENTER, and you just don’t grow them on trees, and I get it about Leonard Davis, and maybe even Marc Columbo, but you need a guy like “a’ Gurode to anchor that line and keep them together.

My opinion is simple, you can hate on winners, like the Yankees (Evil Empire) or the even teams that became dynasties, like the Steelers, or the 49ers in the 80’s or the Celtics in their hey day, the Bulls, the Lakers, you see where this is going.

The Cowboys haven’t been to the SHOW in 17 years, and the last time they were there was against the aforementioned Steelers.

As fans we have called for Mr. Jones to remove himself as the General Manager, as fans we expect more from the Silver and the Blue, but AS fans, we have to place ourselves in the shoes of those who play the game, and that’s not easy to do. Tony Romo is hated, and he is on a list that says so, he was the 10^th player on the Forbes list, behind the likes of Michael Vick, Manti Te’o, Alex Rodriguez, and we already mentioned Lance Armstrong, and Tiger Woods.

One has to figure that there is better choices out there to hate, but if you are going to put a Cowboy on the list, why not the most visible there is, the Quarterback!

Just a thought!

Here We Go Again!

Its as if no one really listens or takes a lesson!

It wasn't that long ago--- maybe six weeks, that we were reading and hearing in the news how a Dallas Cowboy lost control of his car-- flipped it side over side on a service road along highway 114 in Irving, Texas, and killing the passenger of the vehicle, who was also a teammate.

Josh Brent, killed his best friend, his "brother", has he called him, and in doing so, has set himself up for Intoxicated Manslaughter, which will carry a penalty of up to 20 years in prison. We have heard that his alcohol intake was twice the legal limit, and to add insult to injury, he was on the sidelines of a Dallas Cowboys Game, that caused a lot of people to be upset that this person was allowed to be a part of his team on that particular Sunday.

He got the message, and left when he felt that he was being more of a distraction than a cheerleader for his team.

Now we move to early Tuesday Morning on January 22, 2013, along a stretch of highway that might sound a bit familiar-- 114... yep that same stretch of road, only about 10 or 12 miles to the west of where the other accident took place... this time in the town of Grapevine.

Once again its a Dallas Cowboy, once again, its a Defensive Lineman-- this time, once again, it is a name that most people recognize, and this time, this person was arrested at the scene, only no one was seriously hurt or killed in the accident.

Yes boys and girls, we are talking about Jay Ratliff. The starting Nose Tackle for the Dallas Cowboys, who was under the influence of alcohol, and hit the back end of an 18 wheeler on Hwy 114.

DID YOU NOT LEARN A THING???? REALLY!!!! Mr. Ratliff... WHERE YOU NOT THERE? INSIDE THE LOCKERROOM? WHERE YOU NOT THERE WHEN THEY PUT THAT DECAL OF NUMBER 53 and slapped it on the back of your helmet? DID I MISS SOMETHING?

What in the world do we have to do, to make these young athletes understand, its not like the good ol days when Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford, or Billy Martin, or a handful of other famous people would go and tie one on... and then go home.

In those days, the media left you alone, in those days it was not uncommon for the media to be sitting right there with you at the restaurant or bar and buying you the drinks themselves, but not for the story, but to hang out with you, and be your friend.

Today, its camera phones, and Ipads and every other device you can think of, to instantly take that photo or video and up load it to Facebook, or Google Plus, or You Tube, or whatever, and in the end, our little world comes crumbling down.

Drunk Driving first and foremost is STUPID-- and we all know the adage that "YOU CAN"T FIX STUPID!". Its true, you can't, but you CAN prevent it.

Our athletes, are not like the ones we grew up with. OUR heroes, were "GODS"! I say that, more to say that we worshiped their "fetes" on the field of play, be it any of the sports!

WE didn't care what they did off the field, as long as they didn't kill someone, but most time they didn't! Most of the time, they just blew off some steam and went about their lives, and it pretty much didn't affect their play the next day.

Hell, if we had our "instant" media in those years, guys like Babe Ruth, and Ty Cobb would have been banned from Baseball for life, Joe DiMaggio would have never had married Marilyn Monroe, because he would not have been able to take all the bombardment of media at his front door waiting on them to drive up or run into them at the restaurants. What did happen still was enough to make Joltin Joe divorce the sex siren after a short marriage.

Today-- its different, our "heroes" are not bullet proof anymore, and that might be the crux right there, they aren't guys and gals that can dodge the media bullets, and with that comes the price, and it is a heavy one at that. DWI's are pretty bad, and more than that, they are deadly, just ask Josh Brent about that.

So Mr. Ratliff, learn from this mistake, and Mr. JONES! Yes JERRY JONES! You hired Calvin Hill (former running back for the Cowboys in the late 60's and early 70's) to help the team with situations like this and financial, something fell through the cracks, time to fix it once again! AND you better hurry before another player is arrested for the same thing, and maybe once again your team assembles for a funeral! 

NONE of us wishes that on anyone! NONE OF US!

Just a thought!