Lots of skipping this morning.

Please bring Dick Hicks back more often.

Ohhh. It's Red Balloon League , not Red Balloon Leak.
What does a children's hospital had to due with balloons that don't hold air?

I liked these past few years profiles with the jokes filtered in. Don't care about the serious draft profiles

Did they mention why Junior was out the last two days?

In reply to Ervin Burrell

Ervin Burrell said:

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Did they mention why Junior was out the last two days?

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He is probably out with is "buddies" taking it up the a... hill on a cycling trip.

In reply to Ervin Burrell

Ervin Burrell said:

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Did they mention why Junior was out the last two days?

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At fiesta texas in San Antonio

Mouth sores

In reply to J.P. 03

J.P. 03 said:

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I assume a lot of people on this thread also follow the one for The Freak, but in case you don't, this got posted earlier:

https://athlonsports.com/nba/dallas-mavericks/dallas-basketball/news/dallas-mavericks-big-changes-format-flagship-radio-station-971-freak-mike-rhyner-fired

Quote:

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Hours before the Mavs host the Clippers in Game 3 of their first-round series at American Airlines Center, local iHeart Radio employees - those involved on KEGL 97.1 The Freak - attended an emergency meeting Friday morning at which they discussed the station's continually lagging ratings and imminent change-of-direction.

One source at the meeting indicated "The staff is going to be let go."

Said another source involved in the station, "We all see the writing on the wall. It could all come down today."

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Does this mean we can get Sirois back?

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I wish Sirois would come back as he is my leader but think he burned too many bridges. The only one I can maybe see coming back would be Julie if she wanted to.

There's no way that Cumulus will pay to get them back. Their wage bill to have Donny, Matt, Sean, and Mino from 10-3 has got to be a ton cheaper than having Norm, Donny, Dan, and Jake. There's no way Cumulus is giving that up.

In reply to Stymied Not that off the wall. I could see that happening

"emergency meeting Friday morning", never a good thing

In reply to Stymied

Stymied said:

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Off the wall possibility.... what if some of them moved to create a separate show under the Dumb Zone umbrella? Rhyner was in their latest video on Twitter. Adding another show helps spread a lot of the fixed costs of producing and distributing the Dumb Zone and it could also create some extra umph for their new ad generating ideas.

It's kinda where a lot of media is going. I wouldn't be surprised to see it happen. Both groups are pretty anti-Cumulus right now so that might create some added resolve too.

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I could absolutely see that happening. Probably not all of them but probably the Ben and Skin show and maybe recreating the original afternoon show with Rhyner, Sirois, and Danny.

Short video of Rhyner removing the Freak sign in his front yard:

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/U9xiqXwsYkYKprsb/?mibextid=K35XfP

In reply to powerbelly

powerbelly said:

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Legal Custodian said:

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Stymied said:

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Off the wall possibility.... what if some of them moved to create a separate show under the Dumb Zone umbrella? Rhyner was in their latest video on Twitter. Adding another show helps spread a lot of the fixed costs of producing and distributing the Dumb Zone and it could also create some extra umph for their new ad generating ideas.

It's kinda where a lot of media is going. I wouldn't be surprised to see it happen. Both groups are pretty anti-Cumulus right now so that might create some added resolve too.

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I could absolutely see that happening. Probably not all of them but probably the Ben and Skin show and maybe recreating the original afternoon show with Rhyner, Sirois, and Danny.

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The demand for ben and skin seems to be zero. They keep moving around and keep getting low ratings

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Fair enough, I have never listened to one of their shows. I just figured they were popular cause of their name

In reply to powerbelly

powerbelly said:

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Legal Custodian said:

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Stymied said:

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Off the wall possibility.... what if some of them moved to create a separate show under the Dumb Zone umbrella? Rhyner was in their latest video on Twitter. Adding another show helps spread a lot of the fixed costs of producing and distributing the Dumb Zone and it could also create some extra umph for their new ad generating ideas.

It's kinda where a lot of media is going. I wouldn't be surprised to see it happen. Both groups are pretty anti-Cumulus right now so that might create some added resolve too.

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I could absolutely see that happening. Probably not all of them but probably the Ben and Skin show and maybe recreating the original afternoon show with Rhyner, Sirois, and Danny.

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The demand for ben and skin seems to be zero. They keep moving around and keep getting low ratings

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They actually had very good rating on the eagle before the format change.

I used to listen to Ben & Skin on ESPN (I think?) back in the early teens prior to discovering the Ticket. One of them is a huge horn tshirt fan and it wore on me with the tu comments/talk. Had to cut them off.

https://athlonsports.com/nba/dallas-mavericks/dallas-basketball/news/dallas-mavericks-mike-rhyner-freak-fired-no-regrets-explains-radio-flagship-station

Quote:

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"The main thing is that management was never fully committed to it," Rhyner said. "iHeart is a music radio company, and they got talked into doing something that went against their nature."

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https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/971-the-freak-to-return-to-rock-radio-format-fires-mike-rhyner-19223461

Quote:

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The Freak crew were told that the station will revert back to its rock music programming as 97.1 The Eagle beginning on Monday, April 29.

"I could be standing at the New Mexico border and still see this coming," Rhyner told the Observer over the phone on Friday. "It's a feeling that I and plenty of others at the station had been getting for some time now.

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In reply to Decay

Decay said:

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I don't doubt management was skeptical but I struggle to see how they didn't give them the resources to succeed. They had basically everyone who has ever worked in sports radio in DFW on staff.

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Was more the workspace/funding for events/ability to really say what they want despite the mantra

Giveaways transitioned from mainly Mavs tickets to metal concerts and the talent definitely poked fun at it. They went from having in show mixes, long clip filled outros, and short bit gameshows to formulaic 21 minute segments about sports, a current event, a news story, or interviews.

Last week while Kevin was in Italy, Danny and Sirois basically did an "ask me anything" and said there's been a ton of frustration with corporate and what they can/cannot do.

The Schtick is what made the station fun to begin with. Even though I know hosts of other shows, the personalities weren't there to make the corporate formula work outside of the morning show, which again was pretty damn good. Danny began to show he was more than the "big bag of nothing" many claimed he was. Sirois was full on Sirois at all times. And KT was the one that kept the show from going off the rails. Those three made a great team.

Ben and Skins best format, and if they ever read this I'm sorry guys, was their original format at The Fan before the station cut out the bits. They hated it, but 80% sports talk 20% bits worked a lot better for them than what they did on The Freak.

Rhyner was definitely a shell of his former self, and despite Julie and Jeff Cavanaugh having a goodish chemistry, Rhyner gave basically nothing outside of "make fun of the old man" and stories from the past.

And one last thing…

Did Sirois burn that bridge, or did cumulus screw him and others over enough that they finally had enough and voiced it. Same thing with Danny. Same thing, to a point, with Julie and Grubes (though more money for those two and not getting lead spots).

In reply to The Shank Ag It's a combination. Cumulus definitely took advantage of paying off-air wages to on-air talent just because they were "producers". But they could have always left since it's not indentured servitude. That's just the deal with that role and it was consistent across shows- pay is **** but you will get exposure. But leaving and publicly torching them probably ends it though

I'm just relieved that Tisha got herself some clearsight lenses since she doesn't qualify to take the racehorse diuretic Lasix.