"I hate 'em. I hate Cumulus a lot," former FM105 "The Ticket" afternoon show host Mike Morris told me.
Morris and Bob Sansevere, the presumably big-ticket items at "The Ticket," recently got dumped by Cumulus Media in a weekday purge of local programming.
Morris said it was a horrible place to work. "I wouldn't say it's the worst, but I don't know anybody worse than them," he said when I ran into him at Winter Park last week. "Anything else?"
Morris did not even sound angry. A former long snapper for the Vikings and a former KFAN show host, Morris sounded the way he always does — like a man without a worry.
Sansevere told the Pioneer Press that ratings for local programming were not good. He told me he's going to do a podcast on the Tom Barnard Network. Barnard works for KQ92, a Cumulus station, on a long-running morning show and he also has started a podcasting business. For 25 years, Sansevere was a Barnard sidekick on KQ92 until that ended a few months ago. Sansevere was on "The Ticket" for 15 months, according to thebsblog.com. With more time for thebsblog, he's writing every day now. Sansevere and Morris started doing a local afternoon show together on "The Ticket" in September 2013, but more recently were separated, which meant more local programming.
While local programming is off the weekday schedule, I still heard the "Cold Omaha" guys one recent Sunday.
"Great guys. I hope they do well. I hope everything works well for those guys, I really do. But certainly, I'm glad to be out of there. It was a garbage dumpster to work for," said Morris. He said he has a meeting this week with Hubbard Broadcasting.
Meanwhile, he's still lifting weights and still as rock hard as any NFL player.
Overheated Aikman sighting
Troy Aikman still looks in fabulous shape, although I can't report on his musculature since we did not hug.
Aikman was at Winter Park last week. I noticed the Fox Sports NFL analyst, Hall of Famer, former Cowboy, UCLA Bruin, Oklahoma native and short-term Sooner standing next to Vikings' media guy Bob Hagan. I asked Hagan about the social media rules, which I believe include no tweeting or live streaming when the media is allowed to watch the Vikings during OTAs. He said I could take a photo of Troy, so I asked Aikman, noting that I was a Sooner, too. He posed for the picture and wanted to know more about my OK heritage.
It took about one hour for my pulse to slow to the point where I stopped sweating.
Gorgeous man and a lovely guy, as underscored by this Texas Monthly story about Aikman showing up for a fan's 100 birthday party Saturday: http://tinyurl.com/q7zoanz.
Skin doctor liked what he saw
"I've never seen so many good-looking people," Dr. Al Zelickson remarked while waiting for the valet to bring his car after the private opening for Il Foro. "The older you get, the better they look."
Zelickson is always a husband-in-waiting at these events where his wife, foodie writer legend Sue Zelickson, is always the belle of the ball. She said that Il Foro looks just the way she remembers it, in all its art deco glory, back when it was the Forum Cafeteria.
Il Foro was packed June 13 for this private party. Finance exec Jack Grundhofer was there; Vikings tight end Brandon Bostick briefly behaved as if there was a curfew and he shouldn't be seen.
I am sure the folks behind Il Foro — Josh Thoma, Kevin Fitzgerald, Lorin Zinter and Jack Riebel — hope all the people who enjoyed the free samples find their way back as paying customers.
Saw the Zelicksons again Saturday at the '50s-'60s themed joint birthday party for Schussler Creative exec Steve Schussler and his veep of sales and marketing Sunhi Ryan.
Schussler was dressed like a Rat Packer, in smoking jacket and loafers, while Ryan was Audrey Hepburn. Businessman John Goodman wore a leather jacket and a belt that read "Bad Boy."
C.J. can be reached at cj@startribune.com and seen on Fox 9's "Buzz." E-mailers, please state a subject; "Hello" does not count. Attachments are not opened.
C.J.: Jerry O'Connell gets support from Wendy Williams for talk show
