On Sunday we finally get the local music show we've been hounding KXT about for years, except we're getting it on Sportsradio 1310 The Ticket. You know, the all-sports station that's legitimately the best music station in the area. Captained by the ex-KDGE The EDGE DJ Mark Schectman, "The Local Ticket" hopes to provide the area with a glimpse into what's going on in the North Texas music scene, and not just the homogenous, focus-grouped glimpse other stations provide.
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This has been a long time coming for both Schectman and the Ticket. Christmas Eve the last few years has been the haven for those in search of quality music on Dallas airwaves, as the Dallas Morning News' Robert Wilonsky has hosted an annual Christmas show that would turn into a version of his old "Till Two" show he hosted on the station. This was met with rapt applause, and many (like us) started calling for the station to host a full-time show.
As luck would have it, Schectman was looking for something new to do. His stint at The Edge had recently come to an end after the last year saw the cancellation of not only his beloved late night, all-local show "The Local Edge," but also the cancellation of Dallas radio mainstay "The Adventure Club," a show Schectman had taken over when long-time host Josh Venable was let go.
"Looking back on the past several years, I'm really proud of what I was able to accomplish with The Local Edge and The Adventure Club," Schectman says of his time at KDGE, which ended when left the station just last month. "Those shows were small dreams come true that I didn't even realize would be possibilities."
But between the cancelation of those shows and ultimate exit from KDGE, Schectman found himself stuck in corporate drive time. Still, though, he was doing everything he could to promote local music. This led to him reviving an old "Local Edge" promotion strategy and partnering with the Gas Monkey Bar 'N' Grill to host a series of concerts featuring local acts. Thus when the opportunity with The Ticket came up he'd hardly missed a beat.
If anything, the new format with The Ticket should only open up the possibilities for Schectman as he not only looks to build on his time with "The Local Edge" but also be able to appeal to a new listenership.
"It's organized chaos," Schectman enthuses about the culture of his new radio station, which always carved out time for its love of music, be it with in-studio guests or brilliant segments like "Fun with Country Music." "It's not just deep sports talk. I've always thought referring to it as just 'guy talk' is a reduction. And it diminishes the fact that there are tons of female P1s out there. It really has become a cultural cornerstone."
Format-wise, Schectman is excited to be taking his new show to a live, on-air format, rather than having it prerecorded. "The fact that The Local Ticket is live opens up so many new possibilities," he says. "I've always wanted to mix the shows I book with a live broadcast, and I'm hopeful that I'll get that opportunity this year. There's nothing more fun than the wheels-off nature of a remote broadcast at a concert."
Of course, picking up the Sunday night time-slot brings "The Local Ticket" into direct competition with Dallas' other most notable locally driven radio show, "The Paul Slavens Show" over on KXT. But it's not new territory for Schectman, either: "Ever since my KNTU days on The North Texas Jukebox, I've carved out a niche on Sunday night radio, and I feel like all of that has led up to this show on The Ticket," he says.
A bigger question for P1's may be what will happen when the Mavericks or the Cowboys play a game on Sunday night. But Schectman isn't too concerned about that either. ""I think we'll be able to work around it, for the most part," he says. "I don't think there will be many, if any, instances where the show will get bumped completely, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
In the meantime, Schectman is hunkering down for his final push to get ready for the first airing of the new show, which takes places this Sunday night at 8 p.m. "It's kinda ridiculous how much work I put into each episode, but I've had three weeks to think and over-think this first show," he expains. "So needless to say, I can't wait to get this thing started."
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