Skipper

There was probably a path they could have taken (different format/content, at least for now., not recording (and admitting to it) while still employed by the Ticket, completely different name/IP, not referencing/discussing The Ticket, etc. ) that very well could have let them skate without Cumulus action even if Cumulus had a technical claim. As I've mentioned, I still think litigation is damaging for the Ticket Brand under any circumstances. But D&J either gave no f's and didn't even consider their contract (or ignored legal advice) or intentionally forced Cumulus' hand. I lean towards the former but it would not have been difficult to put themselves in better legal standing (again, unless there are somehow facts in their favor we aren't aware of).

I paused YTTV and added FUBO this summer just because there is literally nothing on TV I'm interested in watching (outside of locals) other than the Rangers (and my wife only needs locals + Bravo). FUBO kind of sucks compared to YTTV both from an interface and reliability standpoint. It worked fine for the first month or so but not sure what's going on as I've had to reinstall app on 3 different TV's this week and 2X on my main TV. Incredibly frustrating. Once MLB regular season ends I'll flip back to YTTV and just hope something is figured out for Stars/Mavs by January or so. I haven't been following the play by play of the Sinclair BK but really hoping there will be a resolution sooner rather than later.

Yeah, I mean it's pretty clear to the extent there are any public comments at all from the Ticket guys they will be pro-cumulus. They don't really have a choice. I fully expect them to keep quiet entirely on the litigation front. I also agree given the brazen way Dan and Jake went about this, absent information we just don't have currently, they pretty much forced Cumulus' hand on this. Which is why while I still STRONGLY lean towards this just being Jake and Dan being business idiots with no real plan, there is a slight chance D&J are forcing Cumulus' hand in order to build Cumulus/Ticket backlash that will help if they want to directly compete at a rival station down the road. That would be a savvy move. I'm sure Cumulus decided they really didn't have a choice once D&J chose to ignore their demand letter if they want their contracts with other talent to have any teeth, but it's still horrible optics and a big blow to the Ticket brand when they fail to sign top talent (pissing P1's off) then sue them.

Corby absolutely did disparage Mike personally once he started competing. They all rallied the troops. They might do the same if D&J actually do compete via another station. Who knows - they actually seem to be closer to D&J compared to Mike. We'll see. I'm really just interested in how it all plays out over time.

That's your personal viewpoint. I'm talking Macro. Obviously none of us will know unless Jake and Dan actually do compete via another station 6 months from now then we can look at ratings. I'm speculating there was a material subset of listeners that would have never listened to The Freak (putting aside the shitty content) out of loyalty to The Ticket. I just think that loyalty may start to diminish after this chain of events.

I fully appreciate that distinction but wrote it the way I did intentionally as I think it's getting harder to separate the 2. Obviously most Ticket listeners have despised Cumulus over the years. I just think this messy of a divorce between Tier 1 talent and Cumulus blows up the facade that The Ticket is this fun, independent station that is separate (but beholden to) Cumulus. We've already heard George/Corby, etc. go somewhat "corporate" in their support of The Ticket. It's probably only going to get messier among "friends". This all just pulls back the curtain on The Ticket and is evidence that it's all just business (which deep down we've always known). I just think that realization will strip out some of the loyalty factor. I think Dan + Jake absolutely have an opportunity to put on a better drive time show than the Hardline. If they do, I'll be listening to them on the drive home wherever they land. I think a lot of "P1's" historically just never change the station. This chain of events may change that if there is better content elsewhere.

On one hand, as mentioned above, Dan and Jake are clearly flying by the seat of their pants even more than I assumed. The IP stuff is either pure incompetence or laziness or both but never thought these guys had much business acumen in their business Tuesday segments and that is clearly looking to be the case now. That all being said, I still think this is a horrible decision by Cumulus from a PR and listener loyalty standpoint. I still don't think the corporate brass at Cumulus has any understanding why The Ticket has worked and has been so successful, or, they flat out don't care and will just milk what they can until it blows up for good. The facade that it's just a bunch of guys that are all best friends goofing off on the radio together and not a real "business" is why it's worked and has developed such a cult following. That facade started to crumble with Sirois and Danny leaving (and the airing of grievances that came along with it), but (i) lowballing and letting top tier talent walk and (ii) then suing that top talent may blow up a lot of that loyalty. It's hard for the remaining hosts to "rally the troops" like they were able to with the start of The Freak when their alleged "good friends" are being effectively sued by The Ticket. Could Jake and Dan actually be playing chess here and forcing Cumulus' hand so when they end up at The Freak they can say "we didn't have a choice, Cumulus shut down our podcast venture" and then actually compete with the Ticket in a way the current group (with their perceived pettiness) never could? Going to be interesting to see how all this plays out. Cumulus is such a shit and cheap corporation it's easy to root for Jake and Dan here. If they ended up in Drive Time at The Freak I'll definitely move with them.

Need Jonah back ASAP!

Got on the black drum in the bay today. Limited out and tacked on a trout and big redfish to boot. Great morning on the water after striking out Monday. Watching Rangers in the room with an ocean view now making kids rest so they can make dinner later. One more big beach day tomorrow before the long haul back to Dallas. Love this island.

I haven't listened to a second of the new format, no desire to, but what were they thinking? Doesn't it make way more sense to come up with some configuration where Danny and Sirois are in the vacated hang zone slot to try to grab share from ticket listeners?

Particularly considering some of the lower end places will probably be losing revenue over the course of the week due to lower foot traffic with all of the chaos/construction. Places with strip views are paying rent based on those strip views. Hoping someone challenges F1 in court if they go through with putting up barriers.

Jake has said some things that make me think he's pretty bitter about the way he was treated as non-host and how they continue to treat non-hosts. Makes me think he may have been very well aware they will net less money but he wasn't going to continue to work for cumulus unless they got the exact deal they wanted. As others have said though, given they seem to really be winging it, it's also interesting that they thought Cumulus would fold. I don't get the sense either of them are too business savvy. I'm betting cumulus corporate thought it was amateur hour negotiating with those guys - particularly if they were doing bits during negotiations per their exit video. Not a great approach to getting what you want in a negotiation. Kind of easy to see how it all fell apart.

Yep, really should have won that damn game Monday, but considering the schedule we've played since the break and that Houston had 6 against the f'n Rockies and A's, holding serve with a 2 game lead is a W.

Garbage City. Garbage, Cheating Franchise. Fuck Em

Heading down next week so bumping. Any new spots in the last year or places that have elevated or fallen off? I know the island pretty well but things are always changing. Ceviche Ceviche and Mahi Nicks are places I didn't get to try last trip (end of last summer) but hope to hit up this year. Also, planning to get up early and drive down in 1 day from Dallas in time to get a little beach action in then dinner. My kids (4 and 6) are shitty at restaurants to begin with and I'm sure will have a lot of energy after the drive. Trying to think of places they can move around and get excess energy out with some live music. Best place I can think of is that big ass deck/dance floor at Clayton's. No idea what the food is like as it's been years since I've had a meal there but can't imagine it's great. Any place I'm not thinking of? Wanna Wanna is a must during the trip but if I recall the dining area is pretty packed and my kids are too young to go run around the beach at night without supervision. Longboard Bar and Grill is the other place I can think of with a small dance floor area close to the tables that might work ok and their food is decent.

No doubt on Q-Anonfans.com it's a commonly accepted fact. Carry on over there.

Welp. That was not the shut down inning we expected.

Rejected again. Next year is the year!

Agreed this is the biggest problem. The best content on the Ticket is the interaction between each other. The best bit all year was Picks With Friends with the culmination of the Corby bus trip. That was just epic radio all the way around and was a must listen to segment each week. All the hosts really need each other. That's why it works. Dan and Jake had a great show on the Ticket but a big reason for that is because it was on the Ticket. I'm not sure they can recreate that on a podcast. Or on another station with no talent.

The thing Corby said that was a bit enlightening is how he could never voluntarily leave and essentially that if he tried to get something out of management and was told no (i.e., side podcast independent of Hang Zone) he would have just said "Ok" and signed the contract. I'm interested to see how this plays out. I get the feeling Corby thinks Jake is making a big mistake. And based on the tone of that video yesterday I'm starting to think that may be the case as well. Seems plausible that Dan really drove this and Jake was talked into it. If it really is just a podcast and not The Freak or Fan 6 months from now - put me in the camp that doubts they will monetize it sufficiently to match whatever their offer was. Similarly, if they do show up at The Fan or Freak (with their side podcast), do they at that point lose loyalty from P1's (after saying they didn't plan to compete with The Ticket). Starting to really question their end game and how committed Jake is going to be to it if it doesn't work out. Dan is older and seemed to have had his foot out the door for a while but Jake is walking a way from a clear path to drive time down the road.

Thanks for heads up. It's clear Bob and Corby are both genuinely bummed. Interesting Bob said that until a few weeks ago (when he did his new deal) his and Dan's contract have always been exactly the same. Corby's point assuming that eventually Jake would always be around including when he's done (I'm sure he envisioned one day working with Jake on the HL, which really would have worked) is what stinks big picture. Those guys know there just isn't anyone waiting in the wings, except potentially Donny, when anyone on the HL or Musers decides to hang it up. Also feel bad for Donny as his ratings are going to go down by default without a strong show following his slot. Or do they move him to the 2 slot and give up on 10-12? Tough decisions.

I tend to like Corby until football season then he drives me crazy. It's not only the Sooner BS, it's how uneducated he is while simultaneously having hot takes. About everything. There is no reason those of us with full blown professional careers should be more educated about college football than a sports talk radio guy that claims to be the "College Football Blowhard" but then every year I listen to him flat out misstate or misrepresent facts. That's when I turn on Corby. 3 games into the season and I'll know more about the OU football team than Corby does. Maybe this will be the year he surprises me. Hey Corby - if you're reading this pick up the damn Phil Steele preview and read it cover to cover before opening day as a starting point.

Hard to know for sure without being involved in the negotiations but I would be willing to bet there was a dollar amount (and a dollar amount that certain other hosts make) that would have made them ok without something on the side. And don't get me wrong, I get where cumulus is coming from on the podcast side. It would be pretty damn hard to have both content for a show and for a pod and also to not inherently lose listeners 12-3 that would elect to just catch up on the pod. It all makes sense why it was a hard deal to get done. I think Corby, Gordo and Bob (at least) took it more seriously than Jub and Junior as they probably aren't even thinking about retirement yet. And they know what this means long term for the station (not to mention inside baseball on the Company's position their next round of negotiations).

If you listened to any of Gordo's twitch last night it was pretty clear he was fighting as well. Not sure about Jub or Junior. Something set George off but I agree it was probably unnecessary for that segment.

I thought pretty clearly he was referencing the folks at The Freak. I haven't seen what was said on the socials but something set him off.