Jimmy Failla to replace Mark Levin on WPHT

[fordranger797]

Exactly. And his drops are stupid.

I think this is where the generation gap is coming into play. I respect what Levin has accomplished in his career and think he’s a very talented broadcaster, but as a younger listener I cannot relate to him. Failia is more of a fresh voice, and he brings a sense of humor to talk radio.

I can get straight up reporting elsewhere. If I’m going to bother listening to radio for talk and opinion content, it will be for a host that provides more of a comedic and lighthearted approach.

 

[TheBigA]

The only reason they ran Levin was because he's originally from Philadelphia.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

Soros is doing his best to destroy conservative radio. That is why he bought Audacy.

This is a joke, right?

 

[atthestars]

This is a joke, right?

If not a joke... it's bait.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

If not a joke... it's bait.

Fair point

 

[Radio Wreck]

Fair point

The purchase hasn’t gone through yet but if it does, do you honestly believe that Soros will allow those stations to continue to air conservative programming? I can promise you that he’s not buying up radio stations at the age of 94 because he wants to preserve the format(s) for future generations.

 

[TheBigA]

The purchase hasn’t gone through yet but if it does, do you honestly believe that Soros will allow those stations to continue to air conservative programming? I can promise you that he’s not buying up radio stations at the age of 94 because he wants to preserve the format(s) for future generations.

To be clear: He didn't "buy up radio stations." He bought up debt. It's a very different thing.

He is a big investor in the Latino Media Networks, and he didn't change any of the station programming.

I own a lot of stock in a lot of companies. None of them allow me to get involved with running those companies.

He's not in management, he's not in programming. If he didn't like the company, he wouldn't have invested.

Also Audacy owns 22 conservative talk stations. Less than 10% of their group. It's not a big part of what they do.

 

[Radio Wreck]

To be clear: He didn't "buy up radio stations." He bought up debt. It's a very different thing.

He is a big investor in the Latino Media Networks, and he didn't change any of the station programming.

I own a lot of stock in a lot of companies. None of them allow me to get involved with running those companies.

He's not in management, he's not in programming. If he didn't like the company, he wouldn't have invested.

Also Audacy owns 22 conservative talk stations. Less than 10% of their group. It's not a big part of what they do.

I own stock too, but I’ve never bought over 25% of a company resulting in congressional hearings over national security interests. You may not believe that the purchase is a national security threat (and maybe it isn’t) but that doesn’t change the fact that said hearing are taking place as we speak.

 

[TheBigA]

I own stock too, but I’ve never bought over 25% of a company resulting in congressional hearings over national security interests. You may not believe that the purchase is a national security threat (and maybe it isn’t) but that doesn’t change the fact that said hearing are taking place as we speak.

There aren't any hearings. Congress is not in session. There are no national security concerns about Audacy. That's all made up crap.

 

[Radio Wreck]

There aren't any hearings. Congress is not in session. There are no national security concerns about Audacy. That's all made up crap.

You obviously aren’t aware that FCC commissioner Brendan Carr testified in a September congressional hearing about George Soros’ purchase of radio stations and the term “national security” was used several times. You don’t have to take my word for it, you can easily find the video on YouTube and watch it for yourself. You’re certainly entitled to your own opinions but you aren’t entitled to your own facts.

 

[TheBigA]

You obviously aren’t aware that FCC commissioner Brendan Carr testified in a September congressional hearing about George Soros’ purchase of radio stations and the term “national security” was used several times.

I'm very aware of it. I posted about it on the General board. If national security was a problem, the Media Bureau would not have approved this before it went to the five commissioners. The only reason it went to the commissioners is because Ted Cruz demanded it in August. But the application was made back in March, and the FCC took as much time with this application as they did with Cumulus and iHeart.

George Soros is a US citizen. He has no criminal record, and is not a national security risk. He bought $400 million in debt from what is now a private company. The transaction is completely legal. What Carr and a couple of reps are complaining about is "procedure." They feel the decision was rushed. But it wasn't. There is still a Foreign Ownership review that is taking place, and if it's discovered that Soros is an agent for the Chinese Communist Party or some similar issue, then that part of the deal will get voided. But it's likely that some of his money is in the Bahamas or Virgin Islands, and is therefore considered foreign. That information was in the FCC application. If it was relevant, Carr or the reps would have said something. They didn't, so it's clearly not an issue. There was no need to delay a financial plan over something that's not related. Even if Soros planned to make programming changes with the stations (which he isn't), that would not be grounds to reject a bankruptcy plan.

As I said, a Soros investment firm is also an investor in about 20 radio stations owned by Latino Media. So the FCC is familiar with him as an investor in radio. If there was any national security issue with him or his money, it would have come up when that sale took place two years ago. So as I said, this is all made up crap.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

The purchase hasn’t gone through yet but if it does, do you honestly believe that Soros will allow those stations to continue to air conservative programming? I can promise you that he’s not buying up radio stations at the age of 94 because he wants to preserve the format(s) for future generations.

🤣🤣🤣🤣I promise you he doesn’t give a s**t about few talk stations. He isn’t running day to day operations. I know people make him a boogeyman who…what, pays every rally attendee for democrats, buys every editorial board that endorses a democrat, now buys the debt…not operational control…of one company to get to a pa,try few stations that air talk? Seriously? That’s what we’re going with?

 

[TheBigA]

We should be clear that this sidebar has nothing to do with WPHT or Jimmy Failla. Jimmy's show is syndicated by Fox News, and Jimmy is a Fox News employee. He is no crazy liberal or anything like that.

 

[Radio Wreck]

🤣🤣🤣🤣I promise you he doesn’t give a s**t about few talk stations. He isn’t running day to day operations. I know people make him a boogeyman who…what, pays every rally attendee for democrats, buys every editorial board that endorses a democrat, now buys the debt…not operational control…of one company to get to a pa,try few stations that air talk? Seriously? That’s what we’re going with?

It’s amazing to me that you are so sure of yourself that you’re able to “promise” anyone anything about this deal. With his purchase of the debt, he’ll control about 40% of the company. That may not be enough of a stake for him to make operational changes on his own but it certainly gives him one of the largest (if not the largest) stake in the company. All he would need is another 11% to side with him and he could do whatever he wants.

There are people within our own government who have described conservative views as a “problem.” Would Soros be able to shut down the talk stations or would he even have any desire to do so? I have no idea. But to openly dismiss the possibility or pretend to know his intentions seems a little over zealous to me.

 

[atthestars]

It’s amazing to me that you are so sure of yourself that you’re able to “promise” anyone anything about this deal. With his purchase of the debt, he’ll control about 40% of the company. That may not be enough of a stake for him to make operational changes on his own but it certainly gives him one of the largest (if not the largest) stake in the company. All he would need is another 11% to side with him and he could do whatever he wants.

There are people within our own government who have described conservative views as a “problem.” Would Soros be able to shut down the talk stations or would he even have any desire to do so? I have no idea. But to openly dismiss the possibility or pretend to know his intentions seems a little over zealous to me.

Did you have this same level of agita when Romney's Bain Capital purchased (then) Clear Channel?

Fearmongering the possibility of Soros changing the format of all the conservative talk stations when there is no indication that it will happen seems a little over zealous to me.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

It’s amazing to me that you are so sure of yourself that you’re able to “promise” anyone anything about this deal. With his purchase of the debt, he’ll control about 40% of the company. That may not be enough of a stake for him to make operational changes on his own but it certainly gives him one of the largest (if not the largest) stake in the company. All he would need is another 11% to side with him and he could do whatever he wants.

There are people within our own government who have described conservative views as a “problem.” Would Soros be able to shut down the talk stations or would he even have any desire to do so? I have no idea. But to openly dismiss the possibility or pretend to know his intentions seems a little over zealous to me.

WPHT and its handful of sisters in talk isn’t even a rounding error. Nobody is out there coming for conservative talk radio. The supposedly wildly liberal CBS kept it going when they owned it. Soros is most certainly not getting involved in a blip in the portfolio of one of many entities an investment arm takes a debt stake in. There is not a boogeyman around the corner coming for talk radio. It’s the grim reaper who comes for the audience that will do whatever is going to happen.

 

[TheBigA]

Would Soros be able to shut down the talk stations or would he even have any desire to do so? I have no idea. But to openly dismiss the possibility or pretend to know his intentions seems a little over zealous to me.

What we know is what he's done with the 20 radio stations he already owns, which is nothing. The same repubs who are challenging this sale also challenged that one, giving the same view that he would impose liberal talk on conservative stations. In fact several local talk hosts at those stations quit rather than work there. Nothing happened. No changes in programming. The stations are doing the same thing now that they did two years ago when they were sold.

But the fact is that the FCC can't deny a sale based on the politics of an investor. They also can't deny a sale based on potential programming changes an investor might make. The FCC didn't prevent EMF from buying a bunch of commercial stations and flipping them to religion. We as a free people should be concerned if the government in fact had that power and could impose what it wants on radio & TV. There's a reason why the federal government is in fact prohibited from owning broadcasting. These politicians can't stop the sale, so they're trying to delay it until after the election. Can you say "election interference?" That's what they claim Soros is doing. It's all projection. That's what they would do if they were in power.

 

[Radio Wreck]

Did you have this same level of agita when Romney's Bain Capital purchased (then) Clear Channel?

Fearmongering the possibility of Soros changing the format of all the conservative talk stations when there is no indication that it will happen seems a little over zealous to me.

Honestly I don’t know anything about Bain Capital and Clear Channel. If I ever knew, I’ve forgotten all about it. No one is fearmongering, and I’m not losing sleep over any of it either. All I said is that no one knows Soros’ intentions (if he has any at all).

 

[Radio Wreck]

What we know is what he's done with the 20 radio stations he already owns, which is nothing. The same repubs who are challenging this sale also challenged that one, giving the same view that he would impose liberal talk on conservative stations. In fact several local talk hosts at those stations quit rather than work there. Nothing happened. No changes in programming. The stations are doing the same thing now that they did two years ago when they were sold.

But the fact is that the FCC can't deny a sale based on the politics of an investor. They also can't deny a sale based on potential programming changes an investor might make. The FCC didn't prevent EMF from buying a bunch of commercial stations and flipping them to religion. We as a free people should be concerned if the government in fact had that power and could impose what it wants on radio & TV. There's a reason why the federal government is in fact prohibited from owning broadcasting. These politicians can't stop the sale, so they're trying to delay it until after the election. Can you say "election interference?" That's what they claim Soros is doing. It's all projection. That's what they would do if they were in power.

No disagreement here on the FCC approval. If he has the money, he’s free to buy whatever he wants so long as they give the green light. Regarding election interference, that’s a completely different discussion.

 

[TheBigA]

All I said is that no one knows Soros’ intentions (if he has any at all).

No one knows David Field's intentions either. He can change formats for any reason, and he has. But what we're talking about is people in government using their power to prevent or delay the approval of a bankruptcy plan based on nothing. That is tyranny.