What is the best Dallas sports talk radio?

[ilovejerry]

I want to thank everyone for their responses and opinions. It looks as though there isn't a consensus on who's the best. That was my initial thought this past week as I was vigorously channel surfing.

It's a shame but I must say that the Philly Sports Talk stations are so much better then Dallas. The two major players are hardcore sports talk. Very little fluff. They take callers all day and give those callers 2-minutes to speak their peace. I assumed this would be sports talk Dallas also. Guess I was wrong.

Thanks to viman96 for suggesting the Cowboys app and to Eric_H for pointing me towards podcast subscriptions. This is the way I'm going to go until the media runs out, then I guess I'm back to channel surfing until new podcast content is available.

The ones in Dallas are beyond awful...Tried everyone and couldn't listen ...the commercials were brutal and these guys are awful....Jody Mac in Philly is great he used to be on WFAN and is a huge Cowboy Fan,,,, Get siruis and listen to Stern,, forget sports radio .....Same crap all media hype no information at all.

 

[Fmart322]

That may be, but, if you want to hear about football instead of the hosts talking about their weekend, Philly is better.

Sponsors dictate some of this.

Say what we want,but Dallas sports radio destroys most markets as far as ratings go

The Fan, for example, is the 7th highest rated sports radio station in the country.
Nothing in Philly is anywhere close

 

[Fmart322]

If you don't care about what Jim from Plano thinks, then why do you visit message boards?

I would hate that. I don't give two craps about what Jim in Plano thinks about the Cowboys. The reason I listen to The Ticket is to hear their radio personalities talk about things I want to hear about.

 

[Fmart322]

The ticket is talking about a wrestling bear right now. How is that better than people calling in?

 

[CATCH17]

Anyone know what happened to Ian Fitzsimmons?

 

[Fmart322]

Now they're talking about food.
Great sports talk, huh?

 

[Venger]

The Ticket is guy talk. It's guys. Talking. Now, guys talk about sports. A lot. But they talk about other stuff too. So, you get other stuff too.

It is a sports heavy talk station that abhors "pure" talk radio, and frankly, with due cause. How many times can you hear call in questions like "who are your favorite 5 football players" and "should Pete Rose be in the hall of fame" kind of bilge.

I've listened to Dallas radio for decades now - the old days of 570, with Norm and Fish and Wally Lynn and Leon... and the first day of the Ticket with craphat Skip Bayless kicking things off. The old stations have all died, except The Ticket. It's guy talk. Which, listening in long stretches, is far superior to just sports talk. Because there is only so much to say about last nights game...

 

[Fmart322]

I just drove 30 minutes and didn't hear about any football. It's like the view or the talk. Sad.

 

[remdak]

Out of the radio stations, I think the fan is the only one at training camp. But I think the Cowboys Podcast are the way to go for the most Cowboys news.

Yep. Especially, since I live in Ohio, the podcasts from Cowboys.com are great. I can listen to them whenever I want, and I can fast forward through the boring stuff (Spagnola talking about the weather, etc.)

 

[jazzcat22]

The ticket is talking about a wrestling bear right now. How is that better than people calling in?

That is the downfall, too much of that type of stuff. I know at times it can be ok, but they do it too much.
Shaving cream, razors, and yes, I hate their talk about their weekends, vacations, trips to the store. That's when I change stations.
Get to know their times, and it makes it much better

And what interests them, don't really interest everyone. Craig Miller talks about bicycling too much. I would think most people do not want to hear about this. I would rather have the callers at that point.

They have a segment...the biggest show coming to town....that's ok, I can understand that, but I can tune into the fan if I don't want to listen at that time. Sometimes it's ok. If you like going to concerts. You can get some info here. But if they talk brands of peanut butter...no thanks...

 

[mldardy]

The ticket is talking about a wrestling bear right now. How is that better than people calling in?

Calling in is absolute boring talk radio. If you want to listen to meatball talk show host give his random take and then go to a bunch of callers for a 20 second take or ask a question. That is such boring radio. That's why I love the ticket because they don't take themselves seriously and talk about sports all freaking day. There is nothing going on right now to talk about sports all the time.

 

[jazzcat22]

On another note, when they do talk about their trips or vacations, it's always some issue, or problem, or some other person causing a problem. Someone doing something stupid. Never just a normal vacation. Lol.
But I see people doing stupid things everyday, but don't go talking to my friends about it.

But as been said, can't be all sports all the time, I get the break from it at times. Just need better content.
Gordo is that nice comical break and his segments. As well as some off the wall news you may not go looking for yourself. The fan tries to emulate some of the parodies and comedic relief, but it never comes off as well.
The ticket and their hi jinks seem naturally funny, as the fan or other stations seem to contrived.

It's like Leno trying to hard to be like Letterman........

 

[Fmart322]

Didn't training camp start?
That's something to talk about.
Seriously though, with more then one sports stations in the area, one of them can take some calls. They all don't have to be the same.

Calling in is absolute boring talk radio. If you want to listen to meatball talk show host give his random take and then go to a bunch of callers for a 20 second take or ask a question. That is such boring radio. That's why I love the ticket because they don't take themselves seriously and talk about sports all freaking day. There is nothing going on right now to talk about sports all the time.

 

[mldardy]

Didn't training camp start?
That's something to talk about.
Seriously though, with more then one sports stations in the area, one of them can take some calls. They all don't have to be the same.

They are at training camp, are you not paying attention? They've done interviews with players, coaches, talked about what has gone on training camp. How much do you want them to talk about it? Do you want them to give you a freaking play by play description? That is a quick way to lose your audience.

 

[ragman]

You know why I don't listen to more local sports radio? Too much of it is shtick and not sports related. Boring!

 

[Fmart322]

I guess you didn't see my earlier posts. They talked more about nonsense then football. Radio stations need to understand that most people don't or can't listen all day. A few well screened call an hour would make their show much better.
The passion of fans elevate the intensity of the show. They bring up information that the girls don't seem to care about.

They are at training camp, are you not paying attention? They've done interviews with players, coaches, talked about what has gone on training camp. How much do you want them to talk about it? Do you want them to give you a freaking play by play description? That is a quick way to lose your audience.

 

[peplaw06]

With training camp starting, and the Ticket being in Oxnard, basically every show has at least one Cowboys interview every day. Marinelli was on Norm and BaD Radio this week. Gordon talked to Garrett. Byron Jones, Tyler Patmon, Travis Frederick, every Garrett presser, etc. plenty of football talk on the Ticket now.

If you listen in the offseason and expect to hear Cowboys talk all the time, you're going to be disappointed. That's when all the guys take their vacations, and that's the only time you hear a lot of vacation talk. During football season, these shows are all doing multple segments on the Cowboys every day. And that's 5 days a week for one game. Plenty of football talk.

Norm will take callers from time to time... he and Mike from Duncanville get into it pretty regularly. But count me in with the guys who don't want to hear fans call in all the time, especially on the Ticket. You'd get 15 callers talking about how Romo is a choker, and 15 guys saying "vaginal slice born born."

If you want to hear callers talk about the Cowboys, listen to the postgame show... After a few minutes of that, you'll get so frustrated about why the one play call on 3rd and 15 was stupid, you'll shut it off.

 

[ElGatoGrande]

I listen to the Ticket

The Ticket is guy talk. It's guys. Talking. Now, guys talk about sports. A lot. But they talk about other stuff too. So, you get other stuff too.

It is a sports heavy talk station that abhors "pure" talk radio, and frankly, with due cause. How many times can you hear call in questions like "who are your favorite 5 football players" and "should Pete Rose be in the hall of fame" kind of bilge.

I've listened to Dallas radio for decades now - the old days of 570, with Norm and Fish and Wally Lynn and Leon... and the first day of the Ticket with craphat Skip Bayless kicking things off. The old stations have all died, except The Ticket. It's guy talk. Which, listening in long stretches, is far superior to just sports talk. Because there is only so much to say about last nights game...

This is a great description. I tried listening to The Fan but just couldn't find anything enjoyable, they try to be funny but they're not, just annoying. The Ticket has likeable, funny announcers and some decent Cowboys tidbits, The Ranch Report, etc. I listen to them until they start talking hockey/baseball/basketball and then I'll switch to Pandora for a while.

Now if they would just dump that idiotic Flo and her Progressive commercials,,,

 

[DTown214]

103.3 seems to talk more Cowboys than anyone else. The guys on 105.3 The Fan are completely obsessed with the Texas Rangers. I understand them talking about them more now, being that the Cowboys and Mavs are both in the offseason... but it's like that year-round. I remember a couple months ago when the Mavs were in the playoffs against one of their biggest rivals (Rockets), all 105.3 could talk about was the Rangers, who were in like the first month of their season. It drives me crazy because the guys on there are really funny and entertaining, but their fascination with baseball is just ridiculous.

 

[CowboyManDan]

If you were moving to Dallas, it would be easy. Set your dial on The Ticket and get immersed in the "inside" nature of the station, and you'll have a lot of laughs and still get your Cowboys talk and breaking news. It's the top-rated AM station in the United States for a reason (it's on FM, too). However, if you're just going to be here for a couple of days, it's not the place to go. You can't get up to speed quickly enough with all the jargon and back stories to know what's going on. They break all the rules of radio in that regard, but it's why they've been so immensely successful. Norm Hitzges and Bob Sturm are the ultra serious sports guys on the station. Very nice balance, although I feel changes coming soon. The Hardline in the afternoon is losing its way a bit, and I find myself punching out of it more and more. The morning show is still phenomenal.

I agree with your whole post, but especially this part about the Ticket. If takes a little bit to learn the history of their comedy and whatnot. But then you quickly get hooked.