610 STRIP TEASE MORNING SHOW
Nick Wright has been in the Houston a little over 2 months and the time is right to analyze “The Nick”. It’s still very young but the show has not achieved the point of “I must hear or I will miss something” level. In all fairness, I have heard Nick ask fans to continue to listen and he will deliver.
I have listened to In The Loop consistently for almost 6 weeks until Texans training camp and then reality set in. Below, I itemize the positives and negatives of what I am hearing.
Let me start by saying, Nick radio persona is cool as hell. When you listen to Nick, you feel like you are listening to a “Down to Earth” guy. I like the way Nick can weave in and out of sports and social issues effortlessly and if he’s called to the carpet, he will admit to being wrong if that’s the case. Nick seems like a person who you can bump into while walking your dog and find yourself in a conversational debate until midnight. In otherworld’s, Nick is extremely opinionated. Nick’s strong opinions are the one attribute I like most. I am not saying everything Nick is delivering to the audience does not contain an element of sensation but for the most part, Nick presents what he’s willing to defend.
Another aspect I like about Nick is his work ethic. From the month in a half I have listened, you know this guy bust his tail prepping information for a show. Contrary to popular belief, show prepping is not feeding off the next shows hot topic or spot checking Twitter and ESPN for the hot story. When I hear Nick, I know he’s going beyond in his prep what most fans are not willing to do. Some in this market are tenured and think they can get away with “winging it” and that’s why I have an appreciation for hosts like: Craig Shelton, Sean Pendergast, Adam Wexler, Lance Zierlein (football), Josh Innes, ND Kalu, Mike Melser, David Nuno, and Nick Wright. Matters if you think the information they are presenting is trash or spectacular, the point is, they are behind the scenes trying to deliver what they feel may interest you.
There is no way I can write this article without talking about Nick’s interactive Social Media presence. Nick is one of the few personalities in this market who are strong on the social media front. This is not one of the media types who retweets “ass kissing” tweets, he will get down with you on a variety topics.
Now the Negatives
BLACK ACTIVIST
As I previously wrote a few weeks ago, I do not need Nick to shoot me every single race related story. Everything is not about race and if you are going to address race, the subject matter needs to have substance. I don’t care to hear about Joe Blow White Guy owning a pair of black boots so you obviously know what that means. Some of the things Nick tries to hit on are reaching and it comes off “poverty pimpish” to me.
VOICE
Admittedly, Nick does not sound as nasally as what I heard when he was in Kansas City but Alvin Chipmunk is still there. Just when I begin to accept Nick’s voice, oddly Texans Training camp started and marc Vandermeer joined In the Loop, that’s when it hit me again. When Marc and John are talking, it sounds weird to hear Nick’s voice appear. It’s similar to listening to grown men in conversation and Former Dr. Dre artist Michelle’ pops into the conversation.
OVERTALKING
Some may say, Lamont why is Nick’s voice not a problem when he’s working with John daily. The answer is simple, he’s over talking John and Brien Straw so much, his voice is the only thing you hear. This clearly has to come from working as a solo host for an extended period of time. This is where it gets tricky, is Nick really over talking John or is John underprepared and giving Nick the floor. Over the years of listening to John Lopez, I think he is perfectly ok with Nick’s presentation. Here is where it really gets odd, I am bitching about Nick talking too damn much but I ask myself, do you really want to hear more of John? Nevertheless, Nick is going to have to manage it or he will receive more backlashes.
CALLER INTERACTION
It’s simple, they don’t tend to like calls and they rather text you to death. I was told by Nick, his producer is to screen callers to see if it’s a good call before putting you on the air. Yes, you have to perform for a call screener before talking to THE NICK. The text allows them to blast you with no rebuttals because it’s not like they are going to read a follow up. What I truly don’t understand about Nick’s caller logic, if you don’t bad callers, why are you ok with reading bad texts?
THE STRIP TEASE RADIO
Outside of wanting to hear some Texans Xs and Os, the last element of Nick that has made me turn the dial frequently is ALL OF THE DAMN TEASES. My goodness, I never heard anything like it in any genre of radio. Nick Wright teases the teases. If you are not following me, allow me to reenact a typical Strip Tease Morning.
THE TEASE At 7:30 we are going to hit on this, at 7:45 we are going to talk about that but at 7:40 we are going to follow up on what we talked about 7:15 and 8:00 we will recap everything we hit on in the 7 O Clock hour.
Or
When John or Brien finally gets a question in, you will likely hear. We are going to talk about that at 8:30 and I will have a guest on to elaborate on it in the 9 O clock hour.
It’s so annoying, as a long time listener to radio I guess I am accustomed to certain things and time/content memory is one I am not ready to take on. I know in Nick’s mind he feels he’s providing a service but I wonder if he also factored in unintended consequences. If you are laying out the times of when every single topic is going to be discussed, what will stop me from saying, I will check out the Big Show or Madd Hatta until he hits on what I want to hear. However it’s not only the teases on top of teases it’s the volume of topics and the rapid pace they run through them. They do not allow a topic to marinate long enough before moving on to the next topic. The one good thing I can say, it lets me know, there are very few topics In The Loop is going to miss which also points back to Nick’s ability to show prep but I don’t like it and I much rather listen elsewhere.
WRAP IT UP
I think Nick will do find in this market but I think he has to address some minor things in his arsenal. Nick is fun and do not have a problem making fun of himself and from what I have heard, he seems to take criticism. I think In The Loop is fun but the time of the year(football) and a few elements I do not care for has yet to make it a MUST LISTEN for me.
OUT
LM aka SIR BLOG ALOT
