Customer Reviews

The Ticket: Full Disclosure: the Completely True Story of the Marconi-winning Little Ticket, a.k.a., the Station That Got Your Mom to Say 'stay Hard'

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Note: The review that follows is of the hardbound edition.

Opinions in the Dallas/Fort Worth area about radio station 1310 AM have been sharply divided among those who have been listening to it after it began broadcasting in 1994. There have been several owners of "The Ticket" and what seems like normal turnover of hosts and co-hosts of various segments during the years since its launch. Most of the alumni remain active in the DFW area and include Chris Arnold, Skip Bayless (an exception, now on two ESPN TV programs), Chuck Cooperstein, Mark ("Friedo") Friedman, Mark Followill, Dale Hansen, Richard Hunter, Curt Menefee (another exception, now current host of Fox NFL Sunday), John Rhadigan, Ben Rogers and Jeff ("Skin") Wade, Kevin Scott, and Greg Williams (one of the original hosts together with Bayless, Menefee, and Mike Rhyner). It was Rhyner's original "dream" that became The Ticket 15 years ago and he continues as a co-host of The Hardline with Corby Davidson. What we have in Scott Boyter's book is "the completely true story of the Marconi-winning Little Ticket (a.k.a. "The Station That Got Your Mom to Say `Stay Hard'").

The current weekday programs are The (Gentle) Musers co-hosted by George Dunham, Craig Miller, and Gordon Keith (5:30-10 AM); The Norm Hitzges Show (10-Noon); BaD Radio co-hosted by Bob Sturm, Dan McDowell, and Donovan Lewis (Noon-3 PM); The Hardline co-hosted by Rhyner and Davidson (3-7 PM); and The Dan Patrick Show (9-midnight). The Saturday programs include The Train Station/Fitness Show, The Tee Box, The Orphanage, Race Week; Mark Elfenbein has a program on Sunday mornings.

After examining the events that led up to the establishment of The Ticket in Section One, Boyter dedicates a separate chapter to Dunham, Miller, Keith, Hitzges, Sturm, McDowell, Lewis, Rhyner, and Davidson in Sections Two-Five before shifting his attention in Section Six ("Where Are They Now?") in which he discusses "alumni" Cooperstein, Menefee, Rocco Pendola, Chris Arnold, and Williams. In the final section (Chapter 21), he suggests what the future of The Ticket could be.

The sports talk radio public in the DFW area are familiar with those to whom Boyter devotes most of his attention in this book but, to his credit, he acknowledges -- and includes the acknowledgement by others - the important contributions made to The Ticket over the years, notably Geoff Dunbar, Spence Kendrick, David Vaughn, Mike Thompson (a.k.a. "The Wild Irish Laddy" or just "The Laddy"), Bruce Gilbert, and especially Dan Bennett and Jeff Catlin. It should be noted that Mark ("Friedo") Friedman's behind-the-scenes efforts and occasional on-air remarks while producing The Norm Hitzges Show also made substantial contributions to the show's success. What fascinated me while reading Boyter's "completely true story" of The Ticket's establishment and subsequent development is that its success occurred so quickly and unexpectedly. There are several major reasons. For example, "Mike Rhyner never envisioned The Ticket as a hardcore sports station, where conversation about the Cowboys' prevent defense ruled the day. He knew that if the station had tried that approach, it would have lasted about three months - if that long." Indeed, depending on which program is heard, the differences between and among the various co-hosts have guaranteed from the beginning that the station's on-air conversations throughout the day would offer something for everyone, ranging from members of the Delta Tau Chi fraternity at Faber College to George Will. Granted, during the first year, The Ticket acted (with mixed results) as if (in Dunbar's words) "we were a big time operation. I'm operating out of rented studios with one board, a production room I've got to share and no office space for the sales staff," he added. "I can't hire enough sales people because there aren't any benefits. It was like a monkey fucking a football."

However, sooner than later, The Ticket hit its stride and soon dominated the ratings, especially among the most coveted demographic in radio (i.e. men aged 25-54) and drive-time slots. The focus was always and remains on the personalities of the hosts. As Gilbert explains, "The Ticket was something completely different in the sense that its listeners didn't just like the station, they were ambassadors for - and fanatics of - the station. More importantly, of the talent. The Ticket as a business was a combination of the DNA of all the hosts." Gilbert "fired the incendiary Rocco Pendola (the subject of Chapter 18), replaced him with the venerable Norm Hitzges (Chapter 10), and hired Bob Sturm (Chapter 11) to take the noon-3 PM slot."

Any key reason for The Ticket's success is the extent to which all of its hosts work so hard to help promote the station, whether they are on or off the air. I know of no other station in the U.S. that schedules more remote broadcasts, not only at the locations of its major sponsors but also at restaurants that are most appealing to their "ambassadors," their evangelists, who are called P-1s. Also, let's not forget the Ticketchicks who also appear at the locations of most remote broadcasts. Throughout Boyter's narratives, managers as well as hosts cite the collective efforts to support promotions such as the ones scheduled for this book. One of my favorites is Chris Arnold who hosted the morning slot now held by another favorite of mine, Norm Hitzges. Arnold was perhaps the most popular and probably the hardest working host but eventually became worn out. "It was crazy. How I did it I don't know. Back then, I just had a lot of energy. I stayed in shape, worked out a lot, and basically didn't have any other life except sports." Boyter observes that "holding down three jobs at one time is crazy; four is insane." A compliment to Arnold from one of his friends, Michael Jordan, helped him to decide to leave The Ticket in order to focus on his association with the Dallas Mavericks and he continues with local radio station K104 FM. As recalls fondly, "The Ticket's a never-ending soap opera. And the listeners are in on it. That's the Ticket's big secret: you're in on the deal." Boyter adds, "Speaking of soap operas, here's the chapter you've been waiting for: The Ticket's most notorious ex-host, Greg Williams." He is the subject of Chapter 21 and, frankly, the details of Williams' association with The Ticket - and speculation about ended it -- are best revealed within the narrative, in context. Suffice to say now that no one at The Ticket flew higher and then fell further than Williams did. Now he has embarked on the process of rebuilding his career and, more to the point, rebuilding his life.

My guess (only a guess) is that this book will be of greatest interest to two different groups of people: Those who are interested in knowing more about the key people who have been involved with The Ticket since it began broadcasting in 1994, and, those who are interested in knowing what it requires to plan, fund, launch, and strengthen a radio station in one of the most competitive media markets in the United States. I happen to be a member of both groups and thank Scott Boyter on a lively as well as informative presentation of "the completely true story of the Marconi-winning Little Ticket."

Personal request: Include an index in the next edition.

A great read for fans of The Ticket. Lots of background on the forming of the Ticket and the behind the scenes things you don't hear on the ticket. Also added some insight on Greg Williams leaving the Hardline. I wished they would have talked more about some of the great bits on The Ticket, but otherwise a great read.

I was very excited to get this book, as I've been a devoted P1 since the day the station launched - but my move to California several years ago made it difficult for me to follow what was going on. Often times, I'd catch it online and would miss a lot of the jokes, so I'd have to call out to my P1 friends in DFW for explainations. I figured this book would not only share the history of how the station started, but what has been going on while I was away. Especially the Greggo fiasco.

While I learned a little bit about the history and who was involved in putting the station together, I was disappointed in how quickly the book put that aside and moved on to current day goings on.

Once it got into each show, as another reviewer said, it was the same stuff we've heard for years ad nauseum. If you're a fan enough to buy this book, there's nothing in there you haven't heard already. That's where I think the book failed. Instead of focussing on stories of each show or character, go into more details of the behind-the-scenes stories. I worked at The Ticket via an outside vendor and heard more stories those few days than I learned in this book.

It's also written pretty poorly. No offense to the author, but some of the sentence structures are junior college level - at best.

I picked up this book hoping to catch some insight into my favorite radio station. While there were a few interesting tidbits, most of the talking points had been discussed ad nauseam over the years. I did find it useful to get the whole story of Greggo. The writing style was overly simplistic and I suspect the "quotations" found throughout the book were heavily paraphrased. Overall a good read but you might borrow a friend's copy instead of purchasing and support the little ticket with a bumper sticker.

The writing didn't always flow but it was the dude's first book. Very insightful. A must for any P1.

Great story about starting one of the most listened to Radio Stations in the country