DALLAS — The Rant farm system rolls on.
And if you don’t get that reference, hold tight. We have a lot to cover.
Sportsradio 96.7 FM/1310 The Ticket (KTCK-AM) announced a slew of staffing changes during Thursday afternoon’s Hardline, including the addition of a third host on the drive-time show.
Dave Lane, a longtime contributor to the station, will take the seat alongside Corby Davidson and Bob Sturm.
Lane has worked part-time at The Ticket for years and was a fixture on weekend programming, first with The Rant – the Gordon Keith-hosted Saturday show, which produced the colloquially-named “farm system” of Lane, Davidson, and morning board operator Jeremy Moran – and The Orphanage, which he co-hosted with longtime Hardline producer Danny Balis.
Lane will be a familiar voice for Ticket listeners, but the revamped Hardline will still mark a big change on the program.
Balis, who produced the Hardline for over 20 years and was a prominent voice on the show, resigned last month.
On Twitter, Lane said he didn't have any conversations about joining the Hardline until Balis and Mike Sirois – the producer of the Ticket's Norm And D Invasion who resigned last week – had decided to leave.
"I've always wanted to be part of the Ticket," Lane tweeted. "I'm sad this is how it happened, but I hope to make the most of the opportunity."
In Balis' place as producer – also announced Thursday – will be David Mino, currently the Hardline board op. Matt Bermingham, the host of the nightly Ticket Top 10, will replace Mino on the board, for both the Hardline and the noon-3 p.m. show, the Hangzone.
And that wasn’t the only staff shuffling announced Thursday.
On the early shows, Sean Bass got the bump from Ticket Tickers on the Morning Musers to producer of the Norm And D Invasion, hosted by Norm Hitzges and Donovan Lewis.
Bass will fill the spot opened by the departure of longtime Hitzges producer Mike Sirois, who resigned last week.
DJ Ringgenberg will slide into Bass’ former role on Tickers, while Ty Walker will expand his Ticker shift to cover Ringgenberg’s midday slot.
Caught up yet?
Indeed, it’s been a busy couple weeks at the Ticket, following the back-to-back departures of Balis and Sirois.
Both left on their own accord. And while they've indicated their roles and pay as potential factors, they've also explained more in depth the reasons behind their decisions.
"I don't want this to be about money," Balis told ex-Hardline host Mike Rhyner on Rhyner's podcast earlier this month. "I don't want this to be, 'Well they didn't pay me enough.' It's not necessarily about not getting paid enough. It was more about feeling undervalued, or not utilized or appreciated in a way that reflected what I had put into this thing. And it's nobody fault. It's not their fault they have a budget. It's not their fault that nobody is really retiring to open up a spot for you to maybe shine a little bit more and do the things you want to do."
Sirois, who'll now be working full-time with his brother's companies, said it was time for him to find a new challenge.
"It's almost too easy, this job, and working with you guys and my contributions to it," Sirois said on-air after announcing his resignation. "I'm at the age now where I feel like I want to challenge myself and do some new things, try some new things. It would be very easy to just stay here and laugh every day and continue doing what we're doing.
"I'm sort of proud of myself for doing something that is really hard and leaving something that is so great, and so great to me. But I want to bet on myself, or try to get more out of myself, and try to kind of move on," he said."
Sirois congratulated Lane, Mino and Bass in a tweet Thursday night.
Jeff Catlin, the Ticket program director, declined to comment on the recent changes, deferring to the on-air announcements, which spanned two segments Thursday.
Davidson explained the addition of a third Hardline host as a longtime goal since the departure of Greg Williams in 2007. A two-person show “hasn’t been the vision,” said Davidson, who co-hosted with Mike Rhyner until 2020 and then with Bob Sturm the last two years.
“I was part of a three-man show for the longest time,” Davidson said of his early days on the Hardline.
“We’ve been trying and trying and trying to figure out a way to incorporate [a third host] back into the 3-7 shift,” Davidson said. “And lo and behold, we have found a way to add a third host, a third voice. Everybody up here has been trying to figure out a way to get Dave up here in a full-time basis for the longest time. And it’s just funny how it all works.”
Joked Lane, “It’s funny how as soon as I quit caring and gave up, that’s when it happened.”
“That’s right,” concluded Keith, the original ringleader of Davidson and Lane on The Rant. "That’s a lesson to be learned. Always give up.”