University of Dallas News

Issue date: 4/22/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Drew Johnson Michael Bruber operates the sound boards for 1310 The Ticket during both BaD Radio and the Hardline.

It's been happening every weekday, sure as the cafeteria serving Chicken-Fried Steak on Wendesdays. Following the intro music to 1310 The Ticket's drive-time show, The Hardline, co-host Mike Rhyner will introduce himself. Then it happens, a fill-in traffic reporter breaks in to announce: "I'm Doyle King."

Doyle King. A man who once spent his entire life savings on cocaine inside of a month. A man who has worked for seemingly every radio station in Dallas in some capacity. A former announcer for World-Class Championship Wrestling. But still, just a traffic reporter whenever regular reporter Barb Smith is out. So how did he work his way in to the intro of the show?

"First off, I just think the name 'Doyle' is funny," said Michael "Grubes" Gruber, sound board operator for the Hardline. "That's just me having a weird mind. Then he's got such a deep voice. I just thought it was really funny, playing back him saying 'I'm Doyle King.' I really can't explain it other than I'm really weird."

Gruber's weird mind is one listeners of the Ticket have come to be familiar with since he took over the board-op duties for the afternoon show, BaD Radio, in October 2004. He assumed his current duties of running the boards for both the Hardline and BaD Radio in August of 2006.

The sound board operator is a generally behind-the-scenes member of every radio broadcast. They are charged primarily with running commercials but are generally responsivle for the technical aspects of keeping the show on the air. Most shows play short bits of audio-dogs barking, fart noises, and the like-which are known as "drops" in the radio world.

Board-ops at the Ticket certainly retain these responsibilities, but some of the allure of the station is the added elements. First, the drops that are secondary elements that add little to most shows, they can really enrich the programming on the Ticket. The aforementioned drops of Doyle King, for example. When making drops on the Ticket, Gruber's stated goal is to make it as if the audio is speaking with the host.

"I like making drops feel like it's part of the show," Gruber said. "Like you're having a conversation with that person that's saying that drop."

Continued...

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