Thursday, November 15, 2007

Dallas radio's big mystery - semi-solved?


For the past several weeks, America's favorite radio station, KTCK Sports Radio 1310 - "The Ticket" - has been working with a man down. Greg Williams, one of the Ticket Originals and one-half of the the top-rated afternoon drive program The Hardline, has been missing in action since disappearing mid-show back on Oct 12.

Since that time, no one connected with The Ticket or parent company Cumulus Media have had ANYthing to say about fan-favorite Williams.

Williams (he of many, many nicknames, including The Hammer, The Ham-Bonita, Huggy Bear, The Husky Hugger, and on and on) has battled addiction in the recent past. His bad back led to serious problems concerning prescription pain pills and a stint in rehab back in 2004. Over the past few months, he's appeared to be confused and distracted on the air, and has been suffering from an "allergy" attack which has left him barely intelligible for weeks on end. There has been much informal speculation that Greggo (another nickname) has relapsed and is back in the Lindsay Lohan Suite at a local rehab center.

Fueling the speculation was The Hammer's left-high-and-dry broadcast partners, who worked in obscure references such as playing Amy Winehouse's "Rehab" as return music, followed by a pre-recorded drop of Greggo shouting "No! No! NO!" I'm not so sure they've got his back.

Well, word from the great Richie Whitt on Unfair Park is that he's spoken to Williams, the absence is drug-related, he's been in rehab, and he wants to come back to The Hardline by the end of the month.

I am a huge fan of The Ticket in general, The Hardline in particular. The show is an integral part of my day, and never fails to provide laughs no matter what sort of day I've had. Williams has been a HUGE contributor to the overwhelming success of the station. To a guy on the outside, it sure seems like The Hammer deserves another chance. But it's not me he abandoned in the middle of a show...

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