0:00:01 - (Mike Rhyner): Nobody would have thought that I would be the one. Reiner, sports talk. Baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball. Oh, with the big mic. Oh, okay. All right. Yeah, okay, now I get it.
0:00:17 - (Craig Way): We got a lightning strike, boys. What happened over there, Grego? We had a little lightning strike right outside the window. The Texas Rangers win the World Series.
0:00:30 - (Mike Rhyner): All right, all right. Here's a tip for all these Americano league teams.
0:00:34 - (Craig Way): Don't. Wait, you said tip?
0:00:35 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, tip with a P. Keep jamming the ticket colon. Nothing but a big Gen X jerk off sale. Is this a cool night or what? Although somebody would hear that and go, I'm back. And hello to you and hello to you and hello to you and hello. Hello to everybody. Hello to the world. Welcome to another episode of your Dark Companion. We are glad to have you with us here today. This is the 23rd of September, I believe, and I do know it's episode 156 of your Dark Companion.
0:01:26 - (Mike Rhyner): So there you're up today. Now, we are coming to you today from Dudley's. Dudley's is a new sports bar that is located on Henderson in the swinging Knox Henderson area. It's a relatively new place. We are inside the. The back hovel where the cool people, where only the cool people or only those who know, or I don't know, maybe there's some sort of password or maybe there's some sort of code or some such that makes its way out there in ways that none of us can possibly even comprehend, let alone understand.
0:02:07 - (Mike Rhyner): But that's where we are today. So if you'd like to drop by Dudley's, you can try and get in here and watch this if you want. I don't know what kind of success you're going to have, but you can make the effort. Now, I'm very excited about this today because I'm not exactly sure how we're going to make this work, but we'll figure it out. Because we have a guy here today that I've known for a long time.
0:02:36 - (Mike Rhyner): And he is the kind of guy that anybody can carry on a conversation with. And that conversation is going to last for a long time because he's just that way. I mean, he draws you in and the next thing you know you're listening to him talk about stuff that you never thought you'd be talking to anybody about.
0:03:00 - (Erin Hartigan): Back roads to Bandera, for instance.
0:03:02 - (Mike Rhyner): Right. Back roads to Bandera.
0:03:04 - (Erin Hartigan): Few minutes ago.
0:03:06 - (Craig Way): Exactly.
0:03:07 - (Mike Rhyner): Now, you hear him doing all manner of Texas sports these days. And when I say Texas, I mean the university. He does football, he does basketball. You do baseball, right? Anything else?
0:03:20 - (Craig Way): Women's basketball too.
0:03:21 - (Mike Rhyner): Women's basketball too. Okay. He's doing all of that. He is the great Craig Way.
0:03:28 - (Craig Way): Hey, it's great to be here. I consider it highly honorable to have been asked to join you because I'm a fan of the program. I love making it back to the Metroplex. I lived here for 18 years, matriculated through at the University of North Texas. So it's always great to be. And I'm up here every Friday night during the fall anyway due to the avocation the other vocation of high school football. So yeah, it's great to be here. Thank you.
0:03:54 - (Mike Rhyner): Well, it's great to have you. But wait, there's more. Uh, oh, let's introduce the other end of this three pronged confluence today.
0:04:06 - (Erin Hartigan): He's like, where do I begin on this? How do I describe that?
0:04:11 - (Mike Rhyner): Well, I don't know how to describe that. I'm going to let you describe that because in this case that is you. You saw her on Bali, probably Fox, Vandu.
0:04:26 - (Erin Hartigan): Yeah, all of the names.
0:04:28 - (Mike Rhyner): Yes.
0:04:28 - (Erin Hartigan): That we were. That we once were.
0:04:30 - (Mike Rhyner): Everything that that channel which formerly, which formerly was known and started out as hse. Everything that has matriculated to and through since then she has been a part of. She is the great Aaron Hartigan.
0:04:46 - (Erin Hartigan): Thrilled. I'm, I'm, I was told I'm, I'm filling in for groups which I'm not even going to attempt. Like those are large shoes to fill. Right?
0:04:54 - (Mike Rhyner): They are.
0:04:54 - (Erin Hartigan): So how would you advise I move forward in his role today? I mean it's, that's a pretty powerful one here on ydc.
0:05:02 - (Mike Rhyner): On this show when people ask me how they should be, I give them.
0:05:08 - (Erin Hartigan): Three letters because I can't be groups.
0:05:10 - (Mike Rhyner): No, you can't be groups. Just yby.
0:05:13 - (Erin Hartigan): Oh, you be. You love it. I can do that.
0:05:16 - (Mike Rhyner): That is all we want here today. That's all I ever want.
0:05:21 - (Craig Way): You know what? One of the ultimate examples of Aaron being Aaron.
0:05:27 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh, no, I, I'm say you two do know each other, right?
0:05:29 - (Erin Hartigan): Oh yeah, yeah, we go. But we go back a ways. We went to high school together.
0:05:32 - (Craig Way): We're we working a lot of high school football together. She's also really become real chummy with my wife and my wife with her. Now I've been married three years and Linda and I got married at Myrtle beach at the Dunes Golf Club and she made it a point to fly to Myrtle beach to come for the wedding. So she did. And we, we had this nice reception and everything and it was one of those destination wedding things, Ryan.
0:06:08 - (Craig Way): And we had 75 people show up. And it was nice. But what everybody, the vast majority of the people, especially the guys, walked away from was who was the tall, willowy blonde in the bright green pistachio colored.
0:06:27 - (Erin Hartigan): Forest trying to dance at our wedding? Attempting to dance. I was dancing with the. With the kids.
0:06:34 - (Craig Way): Yeah. My grandkids had a blast. Yeah. So. So she was. She. She was the bell of the ball in a lot of ways.
0:06:42 - (Mike Rhyner): Was this more in a, shall we say, curious sort of way or.
0:06:48 - (Erin Hartigan): Well, the best was when we found out Ashley Pickle, who is also one of our Texas high school football mates, she and I found out the bar was not serving shots. So we called in reinforcement.
0:07:02 - (Craig Way): Yeah. So there was an open bar thing, but they were not really wanting to just hand out shots.
0:07:12 - (Mike Rhyner): Right.
0:07:13 - (Craig Way): So they mentioned something. Melinda here, she's walking up in her wedding dress. She walks up. But what seems to be the issue here?
0:07:19 - (Erin Hartigan): And he says, well, these degenerates want shots.
0:07:23 - (Craig Way): I can't. The bartender said, I really can't. She said, listen, I want four tequila neat.
0:07:30 - (Erin Hartigan): That's what you call reinforcement. You can't tell the bride no on her day. So.
0:07:34 - (Craig Way): Yeah. So four tequila neat were poured out and Chi and Pickle and.
0:07:41 - (Erin Hartigan): But Linda immediately became our favorite way. She is most definitely our new favorite way.
0:07:45 - (Craig Way): When you see the woman in her bride's dress throwing back a shot with the rest of you, you have to become a fan. So that's how. But yes, we've known each other.
0:07:54 - (Erin Hartigan): We do have a little history.
0:07:55 - (Craig Way): Yeah, we've known each other a while. You and known each other a long, long time. Yes, it goes back. I was telling Aaron, it goes back to our days in what you correctly dubbed the back of the bus, which was the auxiliary press box at old Arlington Stadium. You for all of your pioneering work that you've done in this market and how you and your group. But your vision, which you, I think I read, hatched while in the back of the bus for what you would do with sports radio, how you revolutionized sports radio, not only in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex being the first all sports, but across the country in the way it was, revolutionized.
0:08:37 - (Craig Way): All of that that came while being up there in that auxiliary press box, Right?
0:08:43 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah. The template for it was pretty much conceived and actually hatched up there. Now, taking that template and getting something done with it was a whole nother thing. But.
0:08:57 - (Craig Way): But you have to have a dream and a vision first. And you have that. Yeah, just like, and I had a dream and a vision for what, what could be done with high school football in terms of making it kind of like a sports center of high school football. And John Hickey had that dream and vision as well at Fox Southwest and, and old producer, the high school scoreboard or the High school Extra show, Jeff Watts. We all kind of shared this dream about how it could be like sports center for high school football. And it ultimately involved evolved into that.
0:09:28 - (Craig Way): And Aaron was a big part of it and Greg Tepper was a big part of it. And like I said, John Hickey and all the people were at the time. And so that's. It kind of took. But it, but it begins from a dream, just like yours did.
0:09:37 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, I mean it's, it's got to start somewhere.
0:09:40 - (Craig Way): Yeah.
0:09:40 - (Mike Rhyner): And that somewhere is just with the germ of an idea. Now I'm interested in this because, you know, I always compare the way we did it to the way others do this type of thing. Do you remember the first conversation you had with somebody about, you know, getting this thing off the ground and getting it to where you thought it should be?
0:10:04 - (Craig Way): I do, I do.
0:10:05 - (Mike Rhyner): Who was that with?
0:10:06 - (Craig Way): That was with Jeff Watts, who was the producer of High. And he initiated the conversation. He asked me to fill in for. Remember Tim Matthews asked me to fill in for Tim Matthews on a locally produced Channel 11 show called McDonald's High School Roundup. And Jeff, they would do segment, stop, segment stop, three highlights stop, GameStop. So what they did was they handed me the highlight sheets and I went into. And they had this little garage studio in Grand Prairie and that's where we shot it.
0:10:36 - (Craig Way): And they said, okay, just start going. So I start going and said, well, south Grand Prairie taking on Garland and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I said, meanwhile, Carter was taking on Kimball. And I get about four segments into it and they go, stop, stop. Now what did I do wrong? Nothing. We need to stop. So it was, it was like. And so when it was over, Jeff walked over me. He goes, can you do this some more? And I said, well, yeah, I guess. And he said, I gotta. He goes, I gotta be honest with you.
0:11:02 - (Craig Way): His side, this, this was his side hustle. His main deal was he cleaned. He had an office, janitorial service. And on Friday nights he used to say, I'm cleaning potties with my 2 year old strapped on my back listening to you do the KRLD high school scoreboard, saying, there's gotta be a way to take this to television. So he had a vision and Then we all just kind of mixed it around together, and that's how it happened.
0:11:26 - (Erin Hartigan): Is this the same Jeff Watts that owns the. That owns all the trucks?
0:11:31 - (Craig Way): That's him, Yep. He didn't have all those trucks back then.
0:11:35 - (Erin Hartigan): He's clean with his child strapped to his back.
0:11:37 - (Craig Way): He's in his backpack while he's mopping a floor in an office.
0:11:41 - (Erin Hartigan): I'm slacking in parenthood, then. That might be.
0:11:44 - (Craig Way): Be coming, though. I don't know. So that. That's how. That's how that began.
0:11:48 - (Mike Rhyner): That's amazing. I don't know if I've ever met Jeff Watts, but if I do, if I have, I have a whole new level of respect for him now. I look at him in a completely different way.
0:11:58 - (Craig Way): He went from doing color tile videos and fishing shows to that building the high school football and the. In the games that would air on channel 33 and all that sort of stuff with Doogie and all of that. So he. He built it from that. He's recently retired, but he. He. He really did an awful lot.
0:12:18 - (Mike Rhyner): All right, so there's your backstory. There's mine. What about yours, Aaron?
0:12:24 - (Erin Hartigan): Gosh, my backstory.
0:12:26 - (Craig Way): Ms. Nebraska.
0:12:27 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah. How did you wind up here? First of all. First of all, where are you from?
0:12:31 - (Erin Hartigan): Yeah, so I'm originally from Omaha, Nebraska. Originally. I played softball at West Texas A and M out in Amarillo Canyon. Are you familiar with the. The Panhandle of Texas?
0:12:41 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh, yes.
0:12:41 - (Erin Hartigan): Okay.
0:12:42 - (Mike Rhyner): Greatness of Palo Duro Canyon all.
0:12:45 - (Erin Hartigan): What up? We need one in the Metroplex. They had the best burritos.
0:12:47 - (Craig Way): Can't get that bean burrito.
0:12:49 - (Erin Hartigan): Oh, my gosh. Especially early in the morning. No. I played softball there for four years, studied broadcast journalism, and I actually. Out of college, I covered college football recruiting, which at the time was like, that's a thing. Like, people care about where kids are being recruited and what. And. And it's blown up since, right? I mean, now. Well, now it's a very different industry now.
0:13:11 - (Mike Rhyner): Come to find out, they kind of did care.
0:13:12 - (Erin Hartigan): I would hate to be covering it today, just with all the money being thrown around. It's, you know, it's dirtied the game a little bit, but it was great. When it was kind of my start, it allowed me to, you know, get in with high school coaches across the state and kind of begin building relationships. And I would go on Fox Sports Southwest High School Spotlight with Rick Renner on Sundays to talk recruiting. I went on Big 12 showcase with Emily Jones to talk recruiting. You know, I was kind of like, hey, if you need, you know, if you need anyone who know, if you need a recruiting nut, I'm your girl, girl. You know, no one else cared. So they're like, all right, we'll bring her on. She can, like, vomit a few things, and then we'll call it a segment. No, I don't know. And I don't know if you guys, you know, kind of relate to this, but in this industry, and I tell college kids and young kids this often, you never know who's watching or listening.
0:14:02 - (Erin Hartigan): And someone happened to be.
0:14:04 - (Mike Rhyner): I can relate.
0:14:05 - (Erin Hartigan): You can't. Yeah, get it. And. And it's. It. You know, the. The coordinating producer, Dave Evans, happened to me that day, really liked what I brought to the table. He's like, how would you like to be part of our high school coverage? And from 13 on, I co hosted the Friday nights with Rick Renner and Greg Tepper and Craig. And. And so I think that's why this year when the network kind of disbanded, it was.
0:14:31 - (Erin Hartigan): It was kind of a. It was a halt that I wasn't expecting, but are we ever really expecting, you know, like, in this industry especially? It. I, I. Coincidentally, it. It happened when I was on maternity leave, the network. So I. It was funny because friends and family were like, oh, so when do you have to go back to work? I'm like, well, I guess. I guess I could take as much time as I want. And it's honestly been the best thing. Motherhood has, like, slowed. I don't know if parenthood slowed you. No. Who am I. Who am I kidding? These two never slow down.
0:15:04 - (Erin Hartigan): Parenthood has slowed me down quite a bit, and I've enjoyed just, like, being in this season of Life. So I'm happy to be here with you, too.
0:15:10 - (Mike Rhyner): Now grandparenthood has slowed me down.
0:15:13 - (Erin Hartigan): Okay.
0:15:14 - (Mike Rhyner): Some. Okay, not much, but some.
0:15:17 - (Erin Hartigan): What's your name? What's your. What's your. Like, Grandpa.
0:15:20 - (Craig Way): She's asking this because she knows my name. She knows my grandma.
0:15:23 - (Erin Hartigan): I always like knowing, like, what do they call you?
0:15:25 - (Mike Rhyner): I am Pops.
0:15:27 - (Erin Hartigan): Pops. That's strong. That's strong.
0:15:30 - (Mike Rhyner): I gave her mother, my daughter, the option to name me. I would be whatever she wanted me to be. And she said she wanted me. Me to be Pops. Oh, because that's something that she used to call me from time to time when she was a little girl, mostly when she wanted something.
0:15:49 - (Erin Hartigan): Right now the grandkid gets anything they want. It's about question.
0:15:54 - (Mike Rhyner): It's not even a discussion. Yeah.
0:15:56 - (Craig Way): I walk into the house, boompa, you know?
0:15:59 - (Erin Hartigan): Yeah. You gotta tell them the origin behind Yornet Boompa.
0:16:02 - (Craig Way): Well, it's.
0:16:02 - (Erin Hartigan): No one understood when I called you that on air, by the way.
0:16:04 - (Craig Way): Yeah, well, my father wanted my kids, his grandkids, to call him that. And I was like, why? And he said, it's from the Jimmy Stewart movie, Mr. Hobbs takes a Vacation. Why does you keep calling me Boom Pa? You know that. That's what it. That's what it actually started from. I guess so. Anyway, that's. That's how I became Boompa.
0:16:23 - (Erin Hartigan): Yeah. So, yeah, so we shared the desk together for. For, gosh, over a. Over a decade.
0:16:28 - (Craig Way): Yeah. Yeah.
0:16:30 - (Erin Hartigan): And I don't know, the industry is evolving. I mean, look at you. You were on the rate. You were on the ticket for how long? How many years?
0:16:36 - (Mike Rhyner): 26.
0:16:37 - (Erin Hartigan): Okay, so. And now you're podcasting. Like, did you ever think you would make a pivot like that at this point in your career?
0:16:45 - (Mike Rhyner): Back then, no. But once I got out of the game and started wanting something to do, seemed very natural.
0:16:52 - (Craig Way): At the time that you got out of the game, did you think that there's going to come a point where I'm going to want it? Because I remember the famous walk off that you did, the famous, you know, I'm out of here type of thing. It was really well done, by the way.
0:17:05 - (Mike Rhyner): Thank you.
0:17:07 - (Craig Way): But I wondered, in watching you, knowing how you had traversed your professional existence, I wondered, is it going to happen where he's going to want to, if not get back in the game, have some sort of feel for it some other way? And you found another avenue.
0:17:27 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah. And as things turned out, both of those things happened. I got back into the game for a very ill fated short spell, but then wound up doing this. And I like this. This is good.
0:17:42 - (Craig Way): You know, life is full of reinvention.
0:17:45 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, it is. And, you know, I've been. I was very, very lucky during my time in the game because I got to go around and got to meet and make friends with a very vast array of very fascinating people like yourselves. And I always thought, man, I'd really like to be in a situation where I could get those people to tell their stories. But you can't do that in radio, you know, because you work at a radio station, you do something else. And I work at a radio station. Never the twain shall me, you know?
0:18:21 - (Craig Way): Yeah, yeah.
0:18:22 - (Erin Hartigan): And you got breaks and you got sponsors.
0:18:24 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh, yeah, you got breaks, you got sponsors, you got commercials, you got all that stuff. But here you got a nice long form, you got a nice, nice clean tablet to work on and it can go wherever you want. I think that's kind of cool. I like it.
0:18:40 - (Craig Way): Yeah, I think it. I think. And you might not necessarily have to adhere to any kind of a dress code. I love his Anaheim Amigos t shirt. The ABA expansion year of 67, 68. I grew up in North Carolina, was a Carolina Cougars fan there. So I have love for the long lost days of the aba.
0:19:01 - (Mike Rhyner): Yes. This is ABA stuff we're talking about, folks.
0:19:04 - (Erin Hartigan): I feel overdressed. Like, I'm gonna come in a T shirt next time and I'm just gonna, like, chill.
0:19:09 - (Mike Rhyner): Cool.
0:19:09 - (Erin Hartigan): I also feel like I joked with them before coming on. Like, I mean, I'm sitting here with two of the, like, wisest men on this planet with so much, you know, a vast array of experience and, and stories for days. Like, I feel like I need to just be, like, sitting on the floor just, like, listening to you. You know, I'm. I'm curious to know so much about the two of you. I just want to sit back and enjoy.
0:19:28 - (Craig Way): I would only say this to you. Don't confuse the ability to carry on a conversation with intelligence, okay? Because there is. There's lots of people who can talk and talk ad nauseam and, you know, all that kind of stuff might not necessarily mean they're that intelligent. In his case, that's true, but that he is. But. But it isn't always the case in our industry. Wouldn't you agree?
0:19:54 - (Mike Rhyner): I totally would agree.
0:19:56 - (Craig Way): We've met people like, oh, yes, many.
0:19:58 - (Mike Rhyner): Many people can talk. Show me the man that can make sense.
0:20:03 - (Erin Hartigan): When did you two cross paths and what was your, like, initial impression of one another? Well, I want to know what you thought of, like, a young Craig way coming, fresh out of Texas.
0:20:12 - (Craig Way): Well, I will tell you this. I will tell you this. The first time I ever heard Mike Reiner. I moved to Texas from North Carolina in December 1978, and shortly thereafter, sometime in 79 or whatever. I'm listening to the Morning Zoo, who had the big hit show Labella and Rhodey. And they were going, John LaBella and John Rhodey. And then they said, let's get a sports update from Mike Reiner. And you'd hear the sound effect, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck. Like, running up the steps.
0:20:37 - (Craig Way): And then Mike delivers this great sports cast where he's talking about Rangers or, you know, whatever's going, cowboys or whatever. And they get done as a. And Labella turns around. What do you think Rhodey's like? I didn't think he was Very good. I kick him down the steps. Didn't you hear this? The sound effect going like they kicked him down the step. They used to do that to you from time to time.
0:20:55 - (Mike Rhyner): From time to time.
0:20:56 - (Craig Way): From time to time. But they appreciate that. That's. That's pretty new.
0:20:59 - (Erin Hartigan): Were you pretty new? Okay, how old, how old are we talking? Yeah. Like what, what. When was this?
0:21:05 - (Mike Rhyner): This would have been in 19, probably the very early 80s.
0:21:10 - (Craig Way): 80S.
0:21:10 - (Erin Hartigan): 80.
0:21:11 - (Mike Rhyner): 80.
0:21:11 - (Craig Way): Yeah. 80, 81. Right in there.
0:21:13 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah. That was my first radio gig. You know, I was. I actually had another function that I served with him. I was their producer on the Morning show, which basically consisted of writing John Rhodey's news stories. And that was really about it because whatever production labella did, he wouldn't let me touch that.
0:21:33 - (Craig Way): It was his own world.
0:21:34 - (Mike Rhyner): He wanted to do that himself. And that was my. For my first real job in radio, producing the labella and Rhodey Morning Show.
0:21:44 - (Craig Way): It was a good show. It was a very good show.
0:21:46 - (Erin Hartigan): Little did they know who you'd become. That's why you're always nice to like the, the young ones, the newbies. Right. You know, I mean, look who you became.
0:21:53 - (Mike Rhyner): I try to be.
0:21:56 - (Erin Hartigan): You always are.
0:21:57 - (Craig Way): But. But we got to know each other in days when I was working at KRLD and we were. We were up in the press box in Arlington. Like I said, the old back of the bus days up there. And there'd be. And the reason why he dubbed it the Back of the Bus was because you had the main press box, which wasn't that large anyway, at Arlington Stadium. But they only had room for, as Brad Sham liked to call them, the Ink Stained Wretches. Actually, he got that from Blackie Sherrod. Yes, the Ink Stained Wretches, which would be beat writers like Phil Rogers and Tracy Ringlesby and Jim Reeves, of course.
0:22:28 - (Mike Rhyner): The great Jerry Fraley.
0:22:29 - (Craig Way): Jerry Fraley and then the Colonists. Randy Galloway would be in there. So you would have that. And there was a room for them. But for the local radio and television reporters and personalities, we were in the auxiliary press box, which was down the right field line. And that's where we were sitting the night that ODB McDowell hit for the cycle.
0:22:49 - (Mike Rhyner): Yes.
0:22:50 - (Craig Way): And you know, so that was. Yeah, we were, we were in the back of the bus down the right field.
0:22:54 - (Mike Rhyner): The Rangers constructed this big, big building down the right field line. And I think, I don't know this, but I think the idea was to sell it. Sell sweets in it.
0:23:07 - (Craig Way): Yep.
0:23:08 - (Mike Rhyner): And that never really materialized too much.
0:23:11 - (Craig Way): So it was a place to stuff the excess media.
0:23:13 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:23:14 - (Erin Hartigan): What did Brad call him again?
0:23:15 - (Craig Way): The Ink Stained Wretches were the. And then. And then the radio people were talking dogs. Talking dogs. For years, Brad had a license plate was TLK Dog because Blackie Sherrod had bestowed that upon him. The late, great Blackie Sherrod said, you guys are talking dogs. Talking dogs were radio or TV personalities. Ink Stained Wretches were the writers.
0:23:36 - (Erin Hartigan): Okay. Do you remember when you first kind of caught a glimpse of Craig fresh out of unt?
0:23:43 - (Mike Rhyner): I don't remember the first time, but probably in the course of going to games, probably something he said or a conversation that I was eavesdropping on with him and somebody else got my attention and I thought, okay, this guy that has something, let's go down there, sit next to him, talk to him and see what we think. And I did. And the rest is history. I just left thinking, man, he would.
0:24:10 - (Craig Way): He would ask.
0:24:11 - (Erin Hartigan): He worked with George Dunham and all.
0:24:13 - (Craig Way): I mean, George Dunham and Craig Miller were good friends of mine and followed me at North Texas. George is godfather to my oldest child. So we were. George did color with me on the KRLD high school game of the week for several years. We did. I remember we had a. We had a new guy come in as the program director, and he called me in and said, we've got to kill off this high school game of the week. And I said, why? And he said, it doesn't belong on a 50,000 watt major market station.
0:24:41 - (Craig Way): I said, well, we have $250,000 in sponsorship. And he goes, okay, continue. So it went on for another couple of years as we did. But yeah, I was friends with all those guys and. And then when I moved to Morning Drive, then first George and then later Craig came in and they were in the back of the bus with you. And it was with you guys and Greg O. And all the other group that this whole thing really started to germinate and take root. Yeah.
0:25:10 - (Mike Rhyner): The back of the bus is where it was built.
0:25:13 - (Craig Way): Yeah.
0:25:13 - (Mike Rhyner): I mean, all the pieces were put in place up there in the. Or. All the pieces appeared, let's say up there in the back of the bus. And the idea was to put them together, find something to do with them. And we did. And you know the rest of that story.
0:25:32 - (Craig Way): Yeah, well, it was. It was amazing.
0:25:34 - (Erin Hartigan): One that shredded you. You're one of your first high school reports. Was it sham.
0:25:40 - (Craig Way): Oh, no, I know what you're. You're. Brad and I have talked about this before. There was a. There was a story. There was an athlete and she was at Roosevelt High School and her name was Christy Gaines. She became an Olympian, but she was winning the Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year award. Brad, with Chuck Kuperstein and me and Brian Briscoe on staff, would sometimes assign different things to us. Sometimes he would just call in and go.
0:26:12 - (Craig Way): He'd been reading the Agate that morning in the papers. Have you called about this minor league bowling thing? We used to call it the Reign of Terror. You know, when Brad would call in and say, you need to do these features. And we would do features. And he was so forward thinking about it and he said, there's an athlete who's getting this award. And I'd heard about it and he said, I want you to go down to the press conference at the Anatol cover that come back and put me together a little thing with sound bites and your voice on it, blah, blah, blah. A little two, three minute thing.
0:26:42 - (Craig Way): So I go down there. Well, the press conference started late, didn't start until 4:30. And you remember Sports Central started at 6:00'. Clock.
0:26:48 - (Mike Rhyner): Yes.
0:26:49 - (Craig Way): So by the time I got back, it was about 5:30. 5, 5:40. And I had 20 minutes to put this together. So I'm going and I'm slamming it together. And Brad says to me, all right, I'm going to do 15. He would do the headlines for the first 15 minutes and he said, I'm going to do the headlines. Get me that report before the headlines are done because then it's open, open lines for people to call in. So I'm slamming things now. That sound bite didn't sound good. This one here. And I'm going in, blah, blah, blah. And time's ticking and I can see it and I can see it. And so then the show starts at 6. I know I've got about 10 minutes to finish it and I'm still slamming it together and it's not recording right. And this and that.
0:27:26 - (Mike Rhyner): You gotta write it and voice.
0:27:27 - (Craig Way): Write it and voice it, voice it and edit it. And Brad's like popping this intercom thing to me, like, you gonna get this thing done? So I slam it and I get it together. It's like that scene in the movie Broadcast News where Holly Hunter's running down the hall. Bobby, Bobby, Bobby, Bobby. Running into the file cabinets. And I run in there and I hand it to him as another report's playing. And he looks at me and it's about 6:13.
0:27:52 - (Craig Way): And he goes, maybe you can live like that, but I can't. So he takes it. I slink back to the edit station and I just feel awful. I feel it. And so. And I thought, I'm gonna listen, make sure I didn't skip and edit and blah, blah, blah. DISD athlete earns a special word. KRLD's Craig Way. He has the report and he fires it off and it goes. And it's in it. Actually, I thought it sounded pretty good. It had voice on it and had all these different people.
0:28:19 - (Craig Way): And it gets done and he goes.
0:28:21 - (Erin Hartigan): All right, you can see sham, can't you?
0:28:22 - (Craig Way): Oh, yeah. So then it ends and then Brad pitches a break and he goes. Coming up, we'll take your calls. Next on krld pitches the break. And I'm just sitting there. And then on the intercom here, Craig, come in here. And I thought, oh, he's going to barbecue me again. And I walk in there and he hands me the piece and he goes, save this. It's going to win a Katie award. And it did.
0:28:43 - (Erin Hartigan): That's one of my all time favorite stories.
0:28:46 - (Craig Way): So it was that type of instruction and leadership that he had for all of us that made us better at what we did. That was a big part of it. That was his, his leadership off that. That's why he and the late Bill Mercer are my, my two broadcast mentors. I learned so much from both of them that I crafted into my daily life.
0:29:09 - (Erin Hartigan): I think that's why part of it, one of my favorite stories of yours is because it. You can see how that's shaped you today. You know, I mean, but everyone, that's what I've learned in this business. Everyone operates differently. You were literally a robot. We were joking about it with Reiner before the show. I mean, you were like, you are nonstop and you, you can do something last minute. It's like Emmy award winning. Like, I can't operate like that. So I try to learn from you. But then I realized, you know what? Like, we are just two totally different people.
0:29:37 - (Erin Hartigan): But I think that's why it worked our show, because we each brought something different to the table.
0:29:41 - (Craig Way): Absolutely. Absolutely. Your preparation was always, was always, you know, non paral. You always had great prep on that. And I always tell people, you know, your preparation is a big part of what you do in doing. And you. This from your years of being the voice of the Rock Wall Yellow Jackets?
0:29:56 - (Mike Rhyner): Yes, sir.
0:29:57 - (Craig Way): That your preparation for the broadcast is Paramount. You really have to have that.
0:30:03 - (Mike Rhyner): And then it was the Terrell Tigers, but go ahead.
0:30:05 - (Craig Way): Oh, yeah, it was. Terrell Tigers. Yeah, that's right.
0:30:07 - (Erin Hartigan): Just had a pretty big win.
0:30:09 - (Craig Way): Yeah. Yeah, they did. Yeah. But you're right.
0:30:12 - (Erin Hartigan): Terrell Tigers also forgot the Cleveland Yellow Jackets.
0:30:14 - (Mike Rhyner): And the Cleveland Jackets, too.
0:30:16 - (Craig Way): That's right. That's right. See, so a lot of this is. Is rooted in what Texas high school football is all about. Community, family and football.
0:30:26 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah. You know, you told that story a second ago, and I hadn't thought of it in years, but I've heard you tell the story with the famous Bradsham quote.
0:30:40 - (Craig Way): Maybe you many times, maybe you can live like that, but I can't. And there was lightning in the man's eyes, I'm here to tell you. And I felt about that.
0:30:52 - (Erin Hartigan): I would not want to be on the receiving.
0:30:53 - (Craig Way): End of those eyes, but he always had a great vision for and great ear for what sounded good. And by the way, the other side of that, if I did a feature or if Chuck did a feature or Brian did a feature that he thought was less than what it should have been, he'd let us know. That's a sloppy edit. You need to. Why would you say this about that? He taught me. I learned different things from him and Bill Mercer about play by play.
0:31:24 - (Craig Way): One thing Brad taught me was try to stay away from saying the words near and far. Near side of the field. Far side of the field. People who are listening on radio might have a hard time envisioning near and far. If you say left and right, you can kind of envision that on your mind. That's why I always say, at the start, longhorns will move left to right, north to south, as you picture your mind's eye across your radio dial.
0:31:49 - (Craig Way): Well, nobody dials a radio anymore, but you can envision it.
0:31:52 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:31:52 - (Craig Way): Looking from left to right. So, yeah, we all learn things over time.
0:31:57 - (Mike Rhyner): You do tell us about some of your mentors.
0:32:00 - (Erin Hartigan): I already feel. I feel like I need to apologize because I'm just, like, stepping all over you and your show here today. I'm not being a very good grooves today. Grooves. Grooves. Kind of like helps care.
0:32:09 - (Mike Rhyner): There's only one groups.
0:32:10 - (Craig Way): You be you.
0:32:11 - (Erin Hartigan): That's true. That's true. No, we love Gru. Grew. We. I miss having groobs in my ear at the studio. He's. You know, it's like. He's. He was, like, part of it, too, you know, that's what I love, I think, about this industry is that, like, when you really step back and you examine everyone's role in making it run like we were the sitting at the desk. We were the least important people, really. Like, if you think, you know, to. To get us on the air.
0:32:37 - (Erin Hartigan): I just have such an admiration for what everyone did behind the. The camera. They just don't get the credit.
0:32:44 - (Mike Rhyner): But there are so many of them, and they do so much, and they are so important and so much part of the finished product. Yet the people on the other side, when they think of the finished product, they think of you. You and only you.
0:32:55 - (Erin Hartigan): Yeah. Like Ashley getting this set up in like an hour today.
0:32:58 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:32:58 - (Craig Way): Yeah.
0:32:59 - (Mike Rhyner): I mean, and I always try to include her. I try to tell everybody how great she is.
0:33:03 - (Erin Hartigan): She is. She's wonderful. She worked at Fox with us. Yeah. I mean, this is one big, small world, really, if you think about it, the number of paths across. We've been Facebook friends for years, and I think, like, we finally met in person today, which is. But I feel like I'm not bad. You know what? I feel like I've known you because what you do so well on the air is open yourself to viewers, to like, to get to know you. You. You're. You're so open and honest and vulnerable that we.
0:33:34 - (Erin Hartigan): You kind of let us in. That's a skill that you either have or you don't.
0:33:39 - (Mike Rhyner): He was many people who would strongly disagree with all that, but I appreciate it.
0:33:45 - (Craig Way): No, you wouldn't. You did. And what you would do is you would open yourself, and you didn't give a damn what they thought, but you would open yourself to people. So that's. That's fair. You know, if somebody wanted to listen to you or watch this and then draw their own conclusions. You've always been great with all that same thing in your days, in the past, yet you form your own opinion, all that, it's not going to change or ruin my world.
0:34:11 - (Craig Way): But you're welcome to your own opinion about it. And I think in a society where we live today, which has so much divisiveness, it's good to respect opinion.
0:34:21 - (Erin Hartigan): And believe me, I've listened to a lot of. Of radio. I mean, it's really. Anyone on air, whether it's radio waves, television, streaming, now platforms, you can separate the ones that are just talking at you and the ones that are talking to you or you feel like you're just sitting right there next to them. That's why I told you, like, I miss, like, I miss the free, because I miss, like, you and Jeff and Julie and Danny. I mean, like, there would be, like, times I'm driving home from work or wherever, you know, and I.
0:34:52 - (Erin Hartigan): I'm listening to y', all, and I'm like, I would be laughing out loud in my car alone. And there were so many times I thought, like, I need to, like, I'm big on, like, vocalizing if someone has, like, a gift or a strength that I admire or, like, they make an impact on me. Like, whatever it may be, I'm big on, like, vocalizing that. Like, letting them know that. Right. Because you don't know if they need to hear it or not. But I'm like, I don't know if Jeff's tuning in, but I. There were so many times he would have me laughing out loud in my car, and I'm just like, I need to let him know. He's.
0:35:17 - (Erin Hartigan): He's genuinely, like, one of the most, like, funny guys I've ever listened to, you know? And he was just being him.
0:35:23 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh.
0:35:23 - (Erin Hartigan): He was like, you're hilarious.
0:35:24 - (Mike Rhyner): Amazing cat. He really is.
0:35:27 - (Erin Hartigan): And I'm like, I should have let him know that. I always let Julie know how awesome she is. She knows, though. She. Julie knows She's. She's awesome. But you guys had a good thing going, and I. I just. I enjoyed that as a listener. So I just wanted to. Wanted to let you know that, you know, I.
0:35:41 - (Mike Rhyner): That's very meaningful coming from you. I hear a lot from people all the time that they thought it was good and they were disappointed when it went away, but there are certain things that are just out of our control here. All right, we got to do this. You're telling me? You're telling me we got to do this? You're telling me. Okay. All right, then. This is Craig Way. She is Erin Hartigan. I'm Mike Reiner. This is your dark companion.
0:36:10 - (Mike Rhyner): And right now, it is time for the dreaded and feared mid show read, which is where I do a live spot. Now, the live spot today is not for me to read it off the teleprompter the way I normally do. Instead, I'm just gonna have to wing it. So, all that said, who do we have here today? Who do we have? Oh, yes. All right. Let me tell you about the house of healing. Now, there are a lot of people roaming around out there who are in pain of some kind, some kind of physical pain.
0:36:51 - (Mike Rhyner): Maybe you got a bum knee, maybe you got a shoulder that's going wrong. You know, this, that. Whatever it may be, maybe it's keeping you up at night. Maybe this pain is so bad that you can't sleep at night. Well, you need a little something to help you out here. And the CBD House of Healing is here for that purpose and only that purpose. At the CBD House of Healing, they've got stuff that can help you out. Now you may be thinking, okay, I'm going to go there and get some gummies, I'm going to go in there and get some pot stuff and everything like that. No, there's more to it than that. If you are in pain, you need to go in there and talk to their owner.
0:37:32 - (Mike Rhyner): She is also a registered nurse and she is very, very good about helping people out who are in pain. And she's very, very good about getting you out of that pain. So what you need to do is go by there and tell her what's going on. She will know what to do about it. The House of Healing is located in the northeast quadrant of the burgeoning intersection of Northwest Highway Plano Road. So go in there and tell them you how to heard about it from us here on your dark companion and get whatever is wrong fixed at the House of Healing.
0:38:12 - (Mike Rhyner): All right. Now, in here today, Eric Friedlein. Eric.
0:38:19 - (D): Yes, sir.
0:38:19 - (Mike Rhyner): And what is your situation here at Dudley's?
0:38:22 - (D): I'm a partner in the business and the executive chef.
0:38:26 - (Mike Rhyner): Partner in the business and the executive chef?
0:38:28 - (D): Yes, sir.
0:38:29 - (Mike Rhyner): Well, since you're a partner in the business, I will tell you this is a cool place.
0:38:33 - (D): Awesome. Thank you so much.
0:38:35 - (Mike Rhyner): This is a neat place, you guys.
0:38:37 - (D): Thank you.
0:38:37 - (Mike Rhyner): And it is located on Henderson, right off of Central Expressway. Just east of Central Expressway.
0:38:44 - (D): Yes, sir.
0:38:45 - (Mike Rhyner): Go to that exit, turn right on Henderson and look to your right and you will see it. It's just, it's not exactly on the corner. But it's right there.
0:38:54 - (D): Yes, sir. Absolutely.
0:38:55 - (Mike Rhyner): And you guys have been around for how long now?
0:38:57 - (D): We're going into our fourth week right now here at this location. We have original location in Rockwall, Texas and that one has been open for a year and a half or so.
0:39:07 - (Mike Rhyner): Cool. Well, it's a really cool place. I dig it. We appreciate you guys having us in here today. What you got there?
0:39:15 - (D): So we brought out some of our signature snacks that we really think highlight what we do here. And so, you know, we want to be a sports bar for sure, but also, you know, elevated food but still within the sports bar range of things.
0:39:30 - (Mike Rhyner): Right?
0:39:31 - (D): We have a smoked brisket, deviled egg with our candied jalapenos. We have our. These are chicken and cheese stuffed jalapenos that are wrapped in bacon and then they're barbecue glaze. This is a giant 10 ounce pretzel and we have a couple of accoutrements with it. We've got this honey herb butter, beer cheese, and a little bit of a spicy mustard that goes with that as well.
0:39:55 - (Mike Rhyner): Can I tell you something?
0:39:56 - (D): Yes, sir.
0:39:57 - (Mike Rhyner): I myself imbibed in these stuffed jalapenos here earlier today.
0:40:02 - (D): Oh, awesome.
0:40:03 - (Mike Rhyner): And I found them to be quite, quite good.
0:40:07 - (D): Thank you. Thank you very much. It's definitely a labor of love. You know, we smoke the chicken breast, and then we shred the chicken breast, and then that gets mixed in with all the cheese mixture. And then they have to clean the jalapenos, keeping the two sides together so that we can then stuff it with the chicken cheese mixture. And then we wrap them in bacon, smoke them again, then they get picked up in the fryer so they get nice and crispy. And then we glaze them with a barbecue glaze.
0:40:30 - (Mike Rhyner): Cannot recommend them enough. Yeah, I live here in the hood. It's not far at all. So I will be back. And I will be back looking for more of those, if that's all right.
0:40:42 - (D): Absolutely. Anytime. And so we have our. We have our grand opening October 3rd.
0:40:46 - (Mike Rhyner): So you haven't had your grand opening yet?
0:40:48 - (D): No, you know, we. We kind of. We let it. We let the. The cooks kind of get a feel and let me feel going on first so that we. We make sure we roll out with our.
0:40:57 - (Mike Rhyner): Did you do it right?
0:40:58 - (D): Yes, sir. Yeah, sir. Absolutely. So October 3rd, and there'll be stilt walkers in here, and there'll be a miniature Highland cow, and, I mean, a whole bunch of fun stuff going on. So it'll be a really, really neat party.
0:41:10 - (Mike Rhyner): October 3rd.
0:41:10 - (D): Yes, sir.
0:41:11 - (Craig Way): 5 o'. Clock.
0:41:12 - (Mike Rhyner): I like a good party.
0:41:13 - (D): Yeah, it'll be a lot of fun.
0:41:15 - (Craig Way): It'll be. It'll be. We.
0:41:16 - (D): If there's one thing that my business partners know how to do is throw a party.
0:41:19 - (Mike Rhyner): So those are the kind of partners you want to stay in?
0:41:23 - (Craig Way): Yeah.
0:41:24 - (D): Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Yes, sir.
0:41:26 - (Mike Rhyner): Well, we appreciate you having us in here today, man.
0:41:29 - (D): Awesome.
0:41:29 - (Mike Rhyner): And thanks for the.
0:41:31 - (D): Yeah.
0:41:33 - (Mike Rhyner): You do have a little snack for us. I don't know if I want to eat on camera, but, you know, it's a.
0:41:38 - (D): It's okay. I understand.
0:41:40 - (Mike Rhyner): But afterward, why not?
0:41:41 - (D): Yes, sir. 100%.
0:41:43 - (Mike Rhyner): All right, you guys need to check out Dudley's here. Dudley's is a pretty cool, comfortable, awesome place, I must say.
0:41:52 - (D): Awesome. Thank you so much.
0:41:53 - (Mike Rhyner): Thank you.
0:41:54 - (Craig Way): Awesome.
0:41:55 - (Mike Rhyner): Appreciate you, man. All right, so that's a little left turn for a ydc. The first time we've ever had to do a live spot. All right, if Craig and Aaron haven't left here yet, let's. Let's resume here.
0:42:16 - (Erin Hartigan): We're just waiting to come back on so they can eat with you.
0:42:18 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh, it isn't, you know. Okay, well, they can dig in. Like I say, I did that earlier today, so. So I will just. I'll just watch for right now.
0:42:28 - (Craig Way): I have no such proclivity, you know? I know.
0:42:32 - (Erin Hartigan): Okay, first of all, these look like egg rolls. She's like, no, no, they're jalapeno poppers. I'm like, yeah, there ain't no popping about them.
0:42:39 - (Mike Rhyner): I mean, they're jalapeno poppers, but there's no popping.
0:42:43 - (Erin Hartigan): There's no popping in them. Yeah, but they're good.
0:42:46 - (Mike Rhyner): They're good. I really did have some of those earlier today. They're excellent.
0:42:49 - (Craig Way): I'm feeling one of the devil eggs are outstanding.
0:42:52 - (Erin Hartigan): Yeah. What? Okay, in order, top three, like, of. Of what we got here. The assortment.
0:43:00 - (Mike Rhyner): Jalapeno. Jalapeno. Jalapeno. That's the top three for me. My God, I'm not a big guy.
0:43:06 - (Erin Hartigan): I love spicy. I love hot. That's phenomenal.
0:43:11 - (Mike Rhyner): It is, isn't it?
0:43:11 - (Erin Hartigan): And we're back. Yes.
0:43:13 - (Craig Way): Isn't that one of the great things that we used to enjoy a lot was media meal. That was a big thing.
0:43:21 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh, yeah.
0:43:22 - (Craig Way): And we go into the media dining room at Arlington Stadium, where or. Or what is now Choctaw. What you. Some of it famously dubbed the temple when it was Rangers ballpark in Arlington.
0:43:35 - (Erin Hartigan): And he did the essay for it, by the way, for Fox. It was great.
0:43:37 - (Craig Way): Yeah, absolutely.
0:43:38 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh, thank you. And together in about three minutes.
0:43:44 - (Erin Hartigan): You pulled a Craig way. Then we're sham when we need him to be like, I don't work. No.
0:43:51 - (Craig Way): So it was. Anyway, it was. It was great in those days when he would do that. Even the dynamics on a lot of that stuff with the media mill has changed now. First of all, most professional teams and even some college teams, they charge.
0:44:05 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh, yeah.
0:44:05 - (Craig Way): For them now, which they used to.
0:44:07 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I've come to expect it, you know.
0:44:11 - (Craig Way): Yeah.
0:44:11 - (Erin Hartigan): The only time I'd ever experienced that was state championships.
0:44:15 - (Craig Way): You go up in that press box.
0:44:16 - (Erin Hartigan): Up there, and Jerry, who's hurting for money, right. Would have a half price concession stand up there conveniently for. For the. I'm like, really, like. I mean, I'm like a poor kid out of college and I'm paying like, you know, eight bucks for like a little thing of Popcorn or something.
0:44:32 - (Craig Way): So, yeah, that. It's, it's. That dynamic has changed over time.
0:44:36 - (Erin Hartigan): That's when you get in with the food people, right. That's when you kind of make friends with the people that can kind of like hook you up with a little. You know, I had to learn how to do that for some. Some food along the way, Mike.
0:44:46 - (Mike Rhyner): Well, at Arlington Stadium, there used to be guys who had media credentials who would come up there to eat and then they'd leave. Yeah, yeah, they were gone.
0:44:55 - (Erin Hartigan): Really.
0:44:56 - (Mike Rhyner): They were there to eat free and only eat free. They could have cared less about the game.
0:45:01 - (Craig Way): Now, and I will say this, and I think, Michael, agree with me, there are a lot of times when that media meal was better than the quality of the baseball that was going on on the field.
0:45:11 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh, many times.
0:45:12 - (Craig Way): Many times.
0:45:13 - (Mike Rhyner): Many times.
0:45:14 - (Craig Way): Be that as it may, I can't.
0:45:17 - (Erin Hartigan): Really blame those that might.
0:45:18 - (Craig Way): Well, I started saying I couldn't abide just going there, eating and then leaving. I had to stay and watch some baseball.
0:45:24 - (Mike Rhyner): I never did that either. Yeah, I'm proud to say I never did that.
0:45:28 - (Craig Way): Yeah, neither did I. I was always.
0:45:30 - (Mike Rhyner): Very eager to accept the food, but if I was going to accept the food, then I was going to accept the level of baseball, which most of the time was not real high, that was going to be played before me that night.
0:45:42 - (Craig Way): How did you, over all the years of living here in the Metroplex and all of the, if we're being really honest, bad baseball you saw for decades. Decades, decades bad baseball. And I would think about guys like you and obviously the great Eric Nadell, the voice of the Rangers, and how great it was when they finally broke through in 96 to win a division title. And then obviously, all the years later, winning, finally winning a World Series.
0:46:11 - (Craig Way): How you were able to compartmentalize the frustration and disappointment and continue, Continue to go out and continue to support this problem.
0:46:24 - (Mike Rhyner): For me, this probably goes back to my early days as a sports fan. And this goes back to the arrival of football, pro football in our Fairburg, where we woke up one morning and went out to the front porch to bring in the morning paper and find out that overnight somebody had left not one, but two pro football teams on the front porch. One of those teams was not good. The other team was okay, pretty good. There was a team in their division that was better than they were, but they were okay.
0:47:03 - (Mike Rhyner): You know, work around them. They're going to win most of the games they played, and two years in, they finally got him a good quarterback and the Next thing we knew, they were going to the AFL championship game. Not only were they going, they were winning it. So at the age of 12, I had a championship. Now it didn't really bothered me that well. Yeah, it did bother me too. But it was kind of odd that probably about three weeks after winning that championship they made it known that they were leaving, that they were moving, which I didn't understand and my dad wouldn't explain to me because he said I was a kid and I wouldn't understand these things, which he was probably right about that.
0:47:52 - (Mike Rhyner): But that was. That was my first real brush with a sports high and a sports low here in town. Did I. Yeah. Did I answer your question there?
0:48:03 - (Craig Way): Yeah, absolutely. And the Dallas Texans became what we now know as the Kansas City Chiefs. And the other pro football team was really bad for a while. Oh yeah, The Cowboys were not good.
0:48:13 - (Erin Hartigan): Yeah. What did you guys think of the documentary on the. There was a lot I didn't know because again, I didn't grow up here.
0:48:21 - (Craig Way): Well, we were living it at the time. I was going to say it's interesting. The Saturday Night massacre news conference, February 25, 1989. I actually anchored our coverage of it on KRLD because Brad Bradsham was at his nephew's bar mitzvah in Chicago. Now what he did do was get to a payphone and we had a dial up number and he listened to the whole thing. And I'm anchoring our coverage. But even though I'm anchoring our coverage, I did not see one second of it because we had that studio there at Valley Ranch.
0:48:53 - (Craig Way): So I was in the studio where it had the broadcast line to the deal. And I had somebody tell me, hey, it's getting ready to start. And they would break in at krldn. So now we're bringing you this news conference. And so then I just shut up for a while and Jerry did the talking, obviously, and textram and all that. And it was going on. And I know, and I saw this in the documentary. I couldn't agree more. And I bet you were thinking the same thing.
0:49:17 - (Craig Way): It all seems so weird and surreal. Is this really happening that this guy is coming in and turning the world upside down in terms of even with the Cowboys having the struggles that they had? They're in 88 going 3 and 13. Brad later did a commentary on it and he said everybody knew that change eventually would have to come, but nobody wanted or expected it to be like this. It wasn't supposed to be like this, you know, and.
0:49:48 - (Craig Way): And it Was. It was shocking. It was disrupting.
0:49:51 - (Erin Hartigan): Should I look for appearances from you two in this?
0:49:53 - (Craig Way): You won't see. You won't see. Like I said, I was back in the studio. You won't see it.
0:49:57 - (Erin Hartigan): But I'm like, I know John Ratigan has had a few, there have been a few Ratigan sightings on this thing.
0:50:01 - (Craig Way): The local TV guys are all over it. Jerry Orr is all over it. You know, there's lots of guys that are. Oh yeah, I was not on that.
0:50:10 - (Mike Rhyner): The crazy thing about it is that, you know, that was like 20 years into the Cowboys existence. Actually it was over 20 years into the Cowboys.
0:50:22 - (Craig Way): It was almost 30. It was almost 29 years.
0:50:25 - (Mike Rhyner): It was almost 30 years into the Cowboys existence. They had never been sold before. And I, at least I maybe, maybe you too were kind of conditioned to think that nothing like that could ever happen to the Cowboys.
0:50:42 - (Craig Way): Yeah. Yeah. And it was in part of that was the whole America's team motif and all that kind of stuff. It was like they were in this exalted place and you didn't for, for, for richer, for poor, for better or worse, whatever it was going to be. You didn't expect the Cowboys to fall into that category, but it was going to take something that disruptive, that shocking that, that you know, that completely different in the person of Jerry Jones to completely blow up that model.
0:51:17 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah. Now they had actually, they had been sold once already to Bum Bright.
0:51:23 - (Craig Way): Yeah.
0:51:23 - (Mike Rhyner): Right.
0:51:23 - (Craig Way): Yes.
0:51:24 - (Mike Rhyner): And. But Bum Bright was a very hands off owner. You didn't. He was like Clint Merkerson, the original owner.
0:51:31 - (Craig Way): The only thing you knew about him was he was an Aggie and he did not like Tom Landry.
0:51:35 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:51:35 - (Craig Way): That was, that was the only thing you really knew about him.
0:51:38 - (Mike Rhyner): And I'll bet Texram's life during that period of time was very, very interesting.
0:51:43 - (Craig Way): Yeah. Had to be.
0:51:44 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:51:45 - (Erin Hartigan): What I gathered. It's hard, it would be hard not to like Landry. Right. Wasn't he just kind of universally beloved?
0:51:52 - (Craig Way): Yeah. Well respected at least. I mean there were a lot of people and this came out in the documentary and I remember this. There was a, there was a fan poll after the 3 and 13 season of 88. And the fan poll I think Dallas Morning News did it was should Tom Landry be fired? And most of the fans said yes. But the way it went down.
0:52:16 - (Erin Hartigan): Yeah.
0:52:17 - (Craig Way): Is what freaked out.
0:52:18 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:52:19 - (Craig Way): So many people.
0:52:20 - (Erin Hartigan): It's wild to me to think there are kids today that are like the Cowboys were once good. Like they have. I mean they weren't Born back when they were having the success they were the Super Bowls. I mean, like, there, there's a whole generation that has no idea that they were once. They haven't lived it yet.
0:52:37 - (Craig Way): Here's something to keep in mind to your point. They went 29 years with Tom Landry as the coach, won two Super Bowls and had been to five in 29 years. There has been 29 seasons since. And they've been to three. One, two.
0:52:55 - (Erin Hartigan): It's wild.
0:52:55 - (Craig Way): And then. And then lost in 95 and haven't been back since 30 years ago, 1995.
0:53:02 - (Erin Hartigan): So it's like my Huskers. So I'm a very loyal sports fan, if. If nothing else. If you look at all my teams.
0:53:10 - (Craig Way): No, but it was going to take something revolutionary to blow it all up. And that's what it ultimately became, unfortunately, in that respect. Now, you know, after the turnaround and they won the two Super Bowls, it was back in that kind of exalted place. And then, and, and, but then it slowly, you know, kind of withered away.
0:53:30 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah. After they won two Super Bowls, Cowboy fans kind of fell back into that vibe of thinking, well, this is going to last forever.
0:53:38 - (Craig Way): That's right.
0:53:38 - (Mike Rhyner): And you know, these days in sports, nothing lasts forever.
0:53:43 - (Craig Way): And you guys were in your, if not infancy, certainly your youthful days at the ticket when it was first started out and when you started it was right on the heels of them winning the back to back Super Bowls and then going to the, to the 1 in 95. So it was, it was a monster that fed itself media wise and fan wise as well.
0:54:06 - (Mike Rhyner): It was a wonderful stroke of timing for the ticket.
0:54:10 - (Erin Hartigan): I was gonna say no shortage of content. I mean, that was gold.
0:54:13 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh, yeah. Of all the things that worked out right for the ticket back then, and believe me, there were a lot of them. There's a phrase up there called ticket luck. And we definitely had ticket luck on many different occasions over the years.
0:54:29 - (Craig Way): Yeah. And I will also say this. You guys were ready for the luck to happen. The old coach, Royal Darrell Royal thing about luck is when preparation meets opportunity, opportunity came and you guys were prepared for it, and that's when it took off.
0:54:43 - (Mike Rhyner): We were. But there were a lot of things that, that worked out right. That just drove people to us. Unfortunately, once they drove, they were driven to us. They kind of stayed.
0:54:55 - (Craig Way): Yeah. There was some serendipity. No doubt there was. But you guys were prepared for the challenge and that's why it took off the way it did.
0:55:02 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:55:02 - (Erin Hartigan): When did you two know you wanted to do this like, did you have a. Would you remember a vivid moment when you were like, I kind of want it. Like, could I do that for a living?
0:55:14 - (Mike Rhyner): I came to it pretty a little bit later in life than most people did. I spent a lot of years playing music and thought I was going to do that, but I kind of burnt out on that. Looked around for something to do and I thought this would be something neat to pursue. But the only thing was that I was not very well cut out for it at all. I didn't have a lot of the things that they were looking for. I wasn't good looking enough to get on tv.
0:55:46 - (Mike Rhyner): I had a really weird voice with a really weird accent.
0:55:50 - (Erin Hartigan): Okay. I can't. I. Yeah, that's hard to believe.
0:55:53 - (Mike Rhyner): Well, believe me.
0:55:56 - (Erin Hartigan): Is okay. Is he, Is he being like.
0:55:58 - (Mike Rhyner): No, no.
0:55:59 - (Erin Hartigan): I am absolutely saying it was. We had a fro.
0:56:02 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, I had a. I did, I did.
0:56:05 - (Erin Hartigan): I have. It didn't. I'll. I'll show you stuff. I thought you were being my. I had a weird voice. I'm like, Mr. Modest Ash is like, no, it was weird. And he had a fro.
0:56:14 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah. I mean if you could have heard, you could have heard some of the first tapes. The first tape time. First times my voice was on tape, then you'd see what I was.
0:56:26 - (Erin Hartigan): What I'm talking about, I need. Yeah, we need this. We need this footage. We need.
0:56:30 - (Craig Way): I was 14 when I knew because I was a freshman in high school and this was kind of ahead of its time. 1974, 75 had its own closed circuit TV studio. And we produced a live newscast, 30 minute newscast in high school. It was actually started like in the middle school would be like 7th, 8th, 9th, even though your 9th grade counted as part of your high school record. But it was actually started Jamestown Junior High and the ninth graders got to do this and I auditioned for the sports anchor job and got it.
0:57:08 - (Craig Way): And we. And so we did this sportscast newscast, a 30 minute newscast, news, weather. We had a couple of special reporters and I was the sports anchor. 30 minutes in a homeroom from 8:30 to 9 every day. And then when we got to the spring we got ambitious and said, let's do some play by play. So we televised the championship game of the homeroom basketball tournament.
0:57:32 - (Erin Hartigan): Oh my God.
0:57:32 - (Craig Way): And I got to. That was my first play by play at age 14, calling Mr. Busick's homeroom, beating Ms. Unger's homeroom 21 to 14 in the championship game. That was my first play by play. And I was Hooked then. Spring of 75.
0:57:46 - (Erin Hartigan): Wow. See, I knew he would. Yeah. He would be like. Well, I was eating a steak, medium rare, when the moment hit me that. I mean, like, he's so detailed. I love. He remembers it like it was yesterday.
0:57:56 - (Mike Rhyner): He's incredible.
0:57:57 - (Craig Way): Like.
0:57:57 - (Erin Hartigan): Yeah.
0:57:58 - (Mike Rhyner): I mean, ever since I've known him and I've known him since we were both quite a bit younger.
0:58:04 - (Craig Way): Yeah.
0:58:04 - (Mike Rhyner): Shall we say.
0:58:05 - (Craig Way): Yeah. Right.
0:58:06 - (Mike Rhyner): He has always been that way. I mean, this guy has a memory and a retention of detail ability that are like few others.
0:58:16 - (Erin Hartigan): Yeah.
0:58:16 - (Craig Way): All right, Now, I make it weird enough for everybody. You guys don't have to make it weird too, you know, I mean. I mean, that's me, you know, I understand.
0:58:23 - (Erin Hartigan): I'm here for the weirdness. And you know me, I'm like, okay.
0:58:26 - (Mike Rhyner): Nobody'S ever had to talk me into the weird.
0:58:28 - (Erin Hartigan): Yeah, I was gonna say.
0:58:30 - (Craig Way): But anyway, that's how it started.
0:58:31 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:58:32 - (Craig Way): And then. And then from there, I kind of followed it and got into it. Interested in it from there. Exactly.
0:58:38 - (Mike Rhyner): Now, what about you? What drove you to where you were?
0:58:43 - (Craig Way): You were a volleyball player.
0:58:44 - (Erin Hartigan): Okay. Well, he was doing newscasts, like, in middle school, like, my sister and I were doing them, like in our. Our basement with. With our old. Do you remember, like the old vhs?
0:58:52 - (Craig Way): Absolutely.
0:58:53 - (Erin Hartigan): Honking camcorders. We'd take, like, our. We'd take my dad's camcorder. We do our own little newscast in our basement. So it was nothing like what Craig was doing. I was not getting that sort of experience. But I. I always wanted to be a writer. I loved writing. I still love writing. Like, I would love to write a book someday. That's, like, on my bucket list. If you know anyone, guys let you know. Although that takes a lot of work.
0:59:13 - (Craig Way): Erin needs a ghost author.
0:59:14 - (Erin Hartigan): I'm also Squirrel Mom Brain. I. I loved writing. And then I think in college was. I realized that I could study broadcast journalism and still write. Writing is really the basis of anything in this field. Writing, advertising, sure, Whatever it may be. But make myself more versatile. And I'm glad I went that route because as you guys know, versatility is kind of what keeps you in this game these days. Right? You gotta.
0:59:39 - (Mike Rhyner): You gotta these days for sure.
0:59:40 - (Erin Hartigan): You gotta. I mean, look at you. Like you said, you never thought. I mean, you probably thought you were gonna be doing the ticket it for you. You'd retire and. And that would. You know, you thought that. But think about it. When you're into. When you're in.
0:59:51 - (Craig Way): Oh, yeah. But seriously, you did kind of do that.
0:59:53 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:59:53 - (Erin Hartigan): When you're in certain chapters, like, you think, like, oh, this is gonna last forever. And then when it doesn't, you're like, oh, you turn around and look back. You're like, oh, I pivoted. And, like, I was okay.
1:00:03 - (Craig Way): Which launches out.
1:00:04 - (Erin Hartigan): Right.
1:00:04 - (Craig Way): Which launches the reinvention.
1:00:06 - (Erin Hartigan): There you go. At that point, like. Like, it. Change can be good, right? Like having.
1:00:11 - (Mike Rhyner): You know, it's what you make it. Like anything else, it's what you make it. If you make change good, then change will be good for you, and you will benefit from it. If you don't, then other more dire consequences will happen, and they won't be as much fun.
1:00:27 - (Erin Hartigan): Not as much fun.
1:00:30 - (Mike Rhyner): Well, I'm getting the signal that we are about to wrap things up here. Man, I cannot thank you two enough for this.
1:00:38 - (Craig Way): This is fun.
1:00:39 - (Mike Rhyner): This was wonderful. So much fun.
1:00:42 - (Craig Way): I'm. I'm gonna come back and just sit in the studio audience and watch.
1:00:46 - (Erin Hartigan): Yes. New live studio audience. No, I. I can't thank you enough for having us again. I'm. It's. It's an honor for me just to. To be sitting here with you, too, because you're. You're icons and. And mentors for me in this game, so I appreciate y'. All.
1:01:00 - (Mike Rhyner): Well, you were great yourself.
1:01:02 - (Craig Way): Yeah.
1:01:03 - (Mike Rhyner): And like I say, it's just been. I didn't know how this. I will tell you, I didn't know how this was going to go here today because, you know, Craig and I know each other well enough to where we could really drill down on sports and do nothing but that.
1:01:20 - (Craig Way): And this is from a guy. And listen, we haven't seen each other face to face in.
1:01:25 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
1:01:26 - (Craig Way): Years.
1:01:26 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, years.
1:01:27 - (Erin Hartigan): I know, which is why I felt like the third wheel today. I told grooves that I'm like, am I third wheeling right now, kid? I should have just been over here, like, snacking and, like, again, listening to y', all, you know, don't mind me again.
1:01:39 - (Craig Way): You guys talk about the Rangers, I'm gonna have another double day.
1:01:43 - (Erin Hartigan): You talk about the weird. I'm like, let me bring that. I'm good. That's my lane. Okay. No, but. So thank you for letting me. Thank you for tolerating me today.
1:01:51 - (Mike Rhyner): Well, I will have either one of you back individually or together any old time.
1:01:57 - (Craig Way): That'd be great.
1:01:58 - (Mike Rhyner): Great.
1:01:58 - (Erin Hartigan): I'm in.
1:01:59 - (Mike Rhyner): All right. Thank you, Ashley. Thank you, Becca, and thanks to this wonderful establishment of ours for having us in here today. It has been a blast. Now, let me tell you, if you were out there on the other side of this and you like what we do here on ydc, then what we need you to do is like us and share us amongst your friends, because that will spread the word. And, you know, doing that kind of thing means everything to those of us who swim in the waters of the podcast around here.
1:02:35 - (Mike Rhyner): And while you're at it, if you want to write a review and leave it up on Apple Podcasts or, I don't know, wherever you get your podcast, as they say, you can do that, too. We will take that. But anyway, thank you very much for watching. We love you. Bye. All right, I'm gonna go take my pants off. Your dark companion is a stolen Water Media present.