1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Kent Wolgamott (Lincoln Journal Star): February 9th, 10am

Episode Date: February 9, 2022

Kent joins the show after speaking with DP for a story about 93.7 The TicketKent's story of how he started and ended up back in LincolnAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

It's time to go one-on-one with D.P. Coming at you live from the couple Chevrolet GMC Studios. Here is your host, Derek Pearson, presented by Beatrice Bakery, on 937 The Ticket and the Ticket FM.com. Welcome to one-on-one. You can participate in this thing. We appreciate you hanging out with us. You can participate in the conversation.

42464-568-5. That's Harder Heyman text line. Honda of Lincoln Hotline. Call in. You can text in be a part of this thing. The video stream is up. So you could follow on Facebook, YouTube, Twitch to do that. Rico, we got, we finally got winners for the Super Bowl squares. Who were they? We finally got some winners. We have Ryan, who guessed correctly on Nebraska's leading score. Bo Spencer. Bo Spencer had 18 points. And Lemon comes in second with both players names. Bo Spencer, that has. actually had him with 19, which wasn't correct. But they got the Minnesota player correct. And that is, let me get his first name, Chip Armilin with 15 points off the bench for the Golden Gopher's.

Yeah, like who had that? You picked a tough one. It took a little bit for the Google fingers to work, but everybody got it. Ryan and Lemon, congratulations. You guys won your Super Bowl squares. I will enter you into that. Get your names in the box. And that was at Devaney.

That was not at PBA. So they are, Minnesota's 0 and 6 at PBA. So, ah, I love the history stuff. Speaking of, let's bring in our guests for one-on-one. And I feel I was humbled, flattered. When folks reach out and say, hey, we're paying attention to what you're doing, it's not always the thing that happens. So when it happens, I'm a priest who I'm grateful.

And we were talking and I said, all right, listen, Kent, we've got to figure out this out. I mean, just come on in and let's talk. So from the Lincoln, Jeterdorf, Scott, Kent, Walgham, right, thank you for doing this. Oh, anytime. I'm happy to do so. It's, so tell the folks what made you curious. Like, you reached out and said, hey, I want to, you know, I've got a couple of things I'm working on. Are you interested in participating?

And I was humbled and flattered and said, yes, I'm greatly appreciated. Why the ticket? Why the ticket? Well, it eventually even gets to me that there's something different going on out here than your, I guess you call it standard sports talk radio, right? I mean, it's not all hot takes and people that have never come within two feet of a game, given their highly educated opinions. about things. Right. And also, I think it just feels like, at least from the outside,

that there's kind of a, almost a community thing being built here. And that was what triggered it. Plus, here's this guy who came into Lincoln from much bigger places, doing much bigger things, running a little relatively speaking independent radio station plus you're being an African American

doing that you know all of those things are like this is this is interesting and it's something that's happened in our town that's never happened before never happened before it was and we sat

we said to you can't say it's like well we'll stop by we'll talk for about 30 minutes or so ended up being several hours of conversation over this thing and I wanted to have this conversation with you on air because I found your history

extremely interesting like no because not everybody travels and not everybody has the exposure or you're almost a Husker historian because of the amount of time you spend here in the circles you've been in. So for me to tap into that only make sense

because you can help me get a greater understanding of what this community is and about. And it's good to know that there are kents in the world, right? Who aren't afraid of something different. You aren't afraid of somebody talking a different, a little bit different,

looking a little different, thinking a little bit different. My thing with this thing, and as I told you, is just to create this super community and family of Husker fans who can get on the same page even when they disagree about semantics. But the basic premise would be that we're all rooting for Lincoln, the Huskers, and each other. And to me, the other part of that is you've also brought in Jay and Eric and the Huskers that. themselves, which that really makes, I don't know, it just resonates a different way with than, you know, some guy like me that sat and watched games for however long, you know, I can have my take.

I don't know what it's like to actually be doing it, right? Well, it's just, it's a greater understanding. Yeah. And I know that people want to be heard and people want their opinions, they want their voice heard and their opinions validated. My thing is it's really difficult right now currently to talk about the things that exist within the major programs because they're not doing what. Now, we can come in here and bang our heads against wall every day about how bad it is. Or we can reset and refocus and rethink.

One, be proud of. It's hard to talk about the national championship years and not be proud of it. but also it tells you what should be, could be happening now. Is that fair? Oh, yeah. And the other thing that needs to be sort of taken into account is how much things have changed within both society

and within the game itself, particularly in football, that sort of have contributed to the fact that they're not doing well. You know, it isn't always, oh, this guy can't coach and they're not, I mean, you have all kinds of things that have happened, you know, and we could run down that list as 100 miles long. But, you know, here's one thing that made a huge difference. I'll give you one example for Nebraska is as soon as every game of every team got on the television, that one of the advantages. that Nebraska had disappeared because Nebraska was consistently one of those programs was on ABC generally five, six times a year, right? Either regional or national game.

There weren't many other teams that were getting that many, that much exposure. Well, what does that do for you? You put your name in front of these kids that might come there. Well, now every team in the whole country is on every week. that advantage is gone. Yeah, it might make better if you're on ABC than on Big Ten network, but you're still on every

game still on. That made a big difference. People don't understand that, I guess. Yeah, a lot of a business, the business of college athletics is louder and more apparent, right? It's not the warm and fuzzy anymore of the

anonymity that happens behind the program. Now we know who all the spokespeople are. We know who all the communication directors are. Everybody has a voice because of social media. And sometimes that floods the market with information that isn't good for the players, team or community. Agree. Right?

That ultimately, while everybody deserves a space to vent, there still has to be accountability for it. Like, you have to be responsible for it. As a journalist, you understand fact-checking. and confirmation and going behind the story behind the story means as much to you as it does the outcome of the game. Right. Absolutely. As you put stories together, what are the building blocks that you use to put your story together?

Okay. The first thing that it, and this doesn't matter whether it's sports or anything else, is you start with some background, right? and you got to do a little research. You got to have some idea of what really, at least what's known about, whether it's true or not, at least the research. Then you take, like,

come out here and do an interview with you, and you try to do some sort of, what am I trying to say? Bring in other sources as well, whether it's written, you know, video, interviews, whatever, and you put all of those together, then you try to put it in a, or I try to put it in a context that is very straightforward. And here's what it is that I'm trying to write about.

There may be a, quote, slant on it because you can't help that, right? You're, again, based on your research, your work, your energy source, you then get to put some of your personal feeling into it. And you can't help it. The idea that there's some sort of, quote, objective journalism has never been. Because you've always done that. The human part matters. Exactly. And it's always going to be there.

But you try to be. And also my, you know, I hate the idea that I hate the fact the Fox used. this as a marketing slogan because it devalues the words. But I always try to be as fair as I can to everybody that I'm or every, you know, that I write about. And if there is a balance, right? And sometimes there's not, frankly. I mean, I think media sometimes gets into this. We have to have both sides. Sometimes they ain't both sides. Sometimes it just is. But to fair and the balance to it, right? you're not coming at it and trying to hammer home a point, right? That's your point.

How about, like, and this is kind of from my D.C. days, they would always talk about balance just means you're considering. Absolutely. Right? You don't have to set the pendulum in either direction. You can simply say, this is what this is. Now, others would say that it's another thing. Asking to consider, my professor would always ask me to argue the,

the pro and the con. Sure. And that's how you reach the truth. Yeah. Because if you can argue the other or write or discuss the other, that's fair consideration. Absolutely. Right through that. But what you don't want to do is say, you know, in some extreme case, that's a crazy example.

But like there's a crime, a murder, whatever. And then you want to write the other. side. I didn't, you know, right? There ain't no other side. There ain't no other side. There ain't no other side. Why they did it is why they did it.

They still did the thing. Exactly. Kent Walmart from the Lincoln Dr. Star and I was impressed. You were telling some stories about different events that have been here in town. How long have you been here? I came to school here in 1974. Okay.

Then I went to D.C. for a while. and worked for the U.S. Senate, I came back to the journals, it was two papers at the time. There was a star was a morning paper, journal was afternoon paper. I came back to the journal in 81. And so I've been at the journal since 81. As far as writing about Nebraska or the Huskers,

I did a little of that when I was in college, but not a lot. And then from 81 onward doing various things, I've done football. Pretty much I was trying to think last night or a couple nights ago. I think I probably missed, I would say, less than 10 home games from 81 up until last year, of course. That's a streak. That's a streak. Yeah.

That's a heck of a run. So I've seen, I don't know how many hundred games, a couple hundred, maybe, I don't know. So walk me through, give me a couple of moments in all of those home games that stick out on your mind as the most impressive, the most wonderful. I will tell you the single most, it isn't one moment. Okay. It's one quarter. Okay. Okay.

scoring explosion, you know, Turner and Mike and Irving and those guys messed around and we're behind Colorado at half time. And I think it was like 10 to 7 or, you know, 14 to 10, something like that. Nebraska comes out in the third quarter. They hung 48 points on Colorado in a quarter. And the only reason it wasn't 49 is they missed the extra point. 48 points in a quarter. I've never seen anything like that before or since. Wow.

Wow. What was the most disappointing game that you've been? Most disappointing. Or the one that hurt you the most. Well, I don't know how many times that Oklahoma would come in here and catch them at the very end. I don't know if disappointing is the right word. But, yeah, the, those games. But, you know, as far as disappointment goes,

I think the ones that are disappointing are where they, where everybody, where they, they don't play well, right? And you might even win a game. And it's not, you know, when a team, when it isn't a good game when they don't play well. And that's happened through the years. But boy, mm-hmm, there's been a few of those over the last, what six years or so this is where i trust the historians of folks who were here to pass along

and that's why in talking to former huskers guys who played in those games coaches who coached in those games and then fans who watch those games with with with that keen memory of being able to tell you how i felt in the moment um how is the game experience different now than it was in the 80s. Oh boy. For one thing, okay. Or 80s and 90s.

Let me talk about how the writer experience is, was before I talk about the game. Okay. Okay. In the 80s and 90s, we had much different access. And it was much

different access in large part because there wasn't as many of us, I think. I mean, we would, the weekly press conference that they have on Mondays, they still had that, but it was small enough. It fit into a room in the South Stadium and they'd bring in sandwich meats and whatever. And all the coaches had come in and sit and have lunch with us. That don't happen now. Oh. Okay. Okay.

Just let that marinate for a second of what that would experience would be like now. Okay. And I can tell you, here's a little personal anecdote that'll maybe convey something. I had, Tom and I had gotten Osborne had gotten sideways over something that I asked him that he did not appreciate. And I don't even remember it. It's 30 years ago or more. So I don't remember what it was. But we ran into each other in a health food store of all places and kind of had a little talk, like three minutes of, okay, I'm not after you. This is better.

Right. The next Tuesday, these lunches were on Tuesday back then. Tom comes in and intentionally. comes over and sits next to me. Okay? That's a different, whole different way that you're looking at. Because of the access and because you get to know the people. The other thing that happened that they did for years,

and I tell people this way, I learn more about football doing this than anywhere, is on Sundays after the game, Journal Star World Herald and I was there for the AP would go to one of the assistant coach's offices, and we'd go through the game that happened the day before. Well, when you're sitting in the office with Milk Teneper, and he's saying, well, here's this, this is this,

and he had a board up on, a white board up on his wall, had the name every lineman and the number of pancake blocks, the number of stuff, right? You start to learn those. You get a more intimate view. I tell George Darlington, who George is a friend of mine now, I tell George,

I learn more about football from him than anybody because it was usually George or Milt. And then of course George says, well, you haven't learned much yet. Darlington, he was on the captain show yesterday. And the storytelling is just,

he's top level. He's the greatest. It's top level. So from a journalistic standpoint and from an operation standpoint, why would that not happen now? Why would those type of engagements not happen now? Two things, I think. One is, as you talked about, the business, it has become much more, the access is much more controlled, okay? You know, you don't go to practice now.

We used to be able to go to practice. I never understood it. What was the justification then about not allowing you guys a practice? I think it's just it. I think part of it was size simply, you know, there used to be seven or eight would show up. And now there's 30 or 40. But that's not that much of a difference. Like it really wouldn't matter, right?

I don't think so. But I think the other is frankly paranoia. Oh, they're going to see something. tell whoever what we're going to do. But you guys saw as well. Right. And here's a deep, dark secret. We don't know what we're talking about most of the time.

Like that was the part, right? Like, I don't know why that wall has been built. Somehow they think they're protecting yourselves. To me, it's they're preventing their fans, like the people who pay the bills, from knowing the players. Yeah. and you can still get some player access, but it's always in these more controlled,

if you want to call it, situation, right? Where it's a Tuesday press conference and they bring in this kid, this kid, this kid, and this kid, and you can ask for two or three more afterwards. Well, that's nice, but when you're talking to a kid for five minutes, what do you really get? Well, under those circumstances, he's not going to... So as you and I talked about what my...

mission and plan for the station was, was to have young athletes having those conversations themselves, right? Because them talking to each other will give you more information than them talking to adults. Absolutely. Right? Like in a formal circumstance. And that's the branding that should be going on within the athletic program is to allow, I mean, think about it. Those players are pretty interesting, brilliant folks.

They're top level. Give them the microphone and let them explain themselves. And what you said about talking to appear, so to speak, rather than me, right, who's their age of their grandfather, makes a big difference, right? But even in a different sense, okay, this is odd, but true. There used to be a Taco Bell downtown. and one day I wandered in there at like one o'clock in the afternoon and Tommy Frazier was in there eaten why he's not at the training table I don't know but Tommy's in having him some fine Taco Bell so I said and he sees me and you know he recognized me I sat down and I got more out of talking to Tommy

for an, you know, 45 minutes eating Taco Bell than I did in ever in a press conference. And it's so much good in that. Yes. Because it allows trust to be built. As you said, you know, if you and Tom had a misunderstanding, it's much easier for him to come sit at the table and squash it or meet you and have three-minute conversation. Those things aren't being done, at least not in the space that I'm in. The players are doing it.

I'm not sure the coaches are doing it. And I think it's a missed opportunity. That's just me. Oh, I would agree with you. I just had another little thought that what happens when you develop this regular thing is I used to write almost exclusively about line, offensive line, defensive line, and post games. Dominic Rayola would come looking for me after the game. because he knew I was going to come talk to him eventually, so let's just get this done.

Let's get it done. Right? And nowadays, I don't think that happens. It was weird. I've told the story a couple of times that I was next to my neighbors and Matt Loop. And I felt so bad because I would almost try not to engage about football. Mm-hmm. Because I knew he was carrying stress with it,

and it just seemed like it was just piling on. He wanted to give information. I was like, no. No, you don't want to do that because that's not who you are. We talked about anything else. We talked about his family. I knew his dad, so I knew Sonny, so back from my Mountain West days. But I think it's a missed opportunity for both the journalists, for the media, for the fan base,

and for the athletic department itself to get back to some of the things that were productive, positive, and good for the program for everybody involved. I think that's, I absolutely think that's right. I think you see there are some, like SIP, for example, has some of those kind of relationships with people, but there's only one of him, right? I mean, I don't know if there's, whether somebody from the World Herald does or not, but it's clear that most of the writers, most of the journalists, are doing it at this. one step removed distance. Like I said, mine is through assistant coaches and the players and the fan base, of course, since I listen to them every day, even when they think I'm not listening.

I am. I am when they think I'm not reading, I am. And I think it's important. I think it's an easier way for us to get on the same page. There are people that really don't want to be on the same page, but I think the majority of Husker fans would love to be on the same page about what the expectation is, what the wants are, and then the access, because that's what. ultimately it's all about. Ken, can you hang out for a second?

Oh, absolutely. Okay, so we'll throw it the break, come back more. Look, I think this is a great conversation. We'll have more of it here on one-on-one. We've come back. Download our app by searching 93.7, the ticket in your app store. You're listening to one-on-one with DP on 937 the ticket and the ticketfm.com.