From the vaults: Our review of the Ticket’s book when it turned 15

Many FWBP readers are Ticket listeners. Here was one shoutout from 10 years back when The Ticket celebrated 14 years. This was one of our best read stories at the time.

Lone Star Library: – ‘Wheels off’ story of The Ticket is a ‘Homer Call’ not to miss

Fort Worth Business Press (TX) – February 5, 2009Browse Issues

Author/Byline: RUDY J. KLANCNIK

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Full Disclosure, The Completely True Story of the Marconi-Winning Little Ticket

By Scott Boyter (Benbella Books, $16.95) The book will be generally available in June, but is available at selected Ticket events currently.

For a radio station that many had dead and buried before it even turned on the power in December 1993, The Ticket (1310 AM) has become quite a force in Fort Worth and Dallas. In fact, the unique “guy-talk” or “guy soap opera” format now is a blueprint for many stations around the country, especially as 24-7-365 sports talk shows have become commonplace in most every major media market.

Full Disclosure, The Completely True Story of the Marconi-Winning Little Ticket recently became yet another brand extension of The Ticket. And like anything having to do with the station, it comes to its listeners with tons of shameless promotion on the station. The Ticket’s on-air personalities never miss a good chance to talk – and brag – about themselves. But what might come off as arrogance to some actually seems to work more times than not. It’s one of the many elements that has made the programming package and the personalities who pull it off so successful. So when the guys on The Ticket talk about a book like this, expect it to move some copies with their hardcore fans.

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If you’re a sports guy looking for in-depth discussion from experts who have covered a beat or played the game, The Ticket probably isn’t your first choice. ESPN Radio (103.3 FM) might be more your speed. There you’ll get old sages like Randy Galloway, Hall of Famers like Michael Irvin and even Horned Frog play-by-play. When you put the dial over to The Ticket, it’s more than likely you’ll hear a lineup such as “Community Quick Hits,” “Emergency Brake of the Week,” “Gay or Not Gay,” “Homer Call of the Week” and “The Concert Calendar.” Not exactly sports talk, but then again, that’s the whole point.

As for the book, Full Disclosure does a solid job piecing together a comprehensive timeline of events over the past 15 years thanks to a healthy dosage of interviews with on and off-air personalities from Day 1 to today. While longtime listeners to the station (also affectionately known as “P1s” ) don’t get much in terms of revelations from the book – after all the P1s have heard much of the history for years – the work should be well received as yet another tribute to a radio station that has always followed the beat of its own drummer.

Each chapter is devoted to one of the many on-air personalities who began as nobodies and now have reached minor celeb status among their P1 fan base. The morning drive-time boys, Craig Miller and George Dunham, the man of a thousand voices, Gordon Keith, and the Hardline, now starring Mike Ryhner and Corby Davidson, account for the most interesting stories thanks to their long tenures with the station.

The book’s leading man, Rhyner, deserves much of the credit for having the vision of The Ticket and actually sticking with it through some rough early days. Rhyner hosts the afternoon drive-time show called “The Hardline,” a four-hour stretch as devoted to deciphering the latest musical offering from Tom Petty as breaking down the Rangers’ rotation.

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I found chapters about some of the early hosts such as Skip Bayless and Chuck Cooperstein particularly interesting since both of those guys were semi-stars in their own right at the time. Because of their semi-star status, they had been asked to come on board to anchor the station. But too much sports and not enough guy talk quickly made them square pegs among increasingly round holes.

Every book needs a hook and this one likely will be the autopsy of the ugly parting of ways of long-time afternoon drive-time host Greg “The Hammer” Williams. Again, fervent listeners already heard a ton of the scoop over the last year, as the station is rarely reluctant to air its own dirty laundry or, to use Ticket terminology, “pull back the curtain.” Williams, one of the station’s original hosts, has acknowledged publically that he was forced to leave when a drug problem caused issues at work. But the book does a comprehensive job recapping the particulars of what became the most tumultuous time in the station’s history.

Today, The Ticket still does well in the ratings, although ESPN Radio, where Williams now works, has built a very healthy audience for its authentic brand of sports talk as well. And if you thought two all-sports stations weren’t enough, 105.3 FM The Fan recently tossed its ball cap into the ring as well. Three 24-7 sports stations talking about the Cowboys backup quarterback situation, who the Mavericks need to trade and the need for a playoff system in the BCS? Well, it beats the heck out of the financial headlines of late.

Klancnik is general manager for the TCU ISP Sports Network.