If it's a '99 it's just a cheapo piece of "faux" wood that is held by some adhesive at the top and two clips on the bottom. Carefully pry it away, the bottom switches for the heated seats stay are mounted to it. To get the radio out you need two special tools that go into the little slits on each side near the bottom. If the ticking noise you're hearing is the HVAC servo it might be about to go, and is expensive to fix (have to take out the whole dash !). Good luck