Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / Tom Becka in studio!

Transcript

Tom Becka in studio! · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

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Speaker 1: I am your host, Jean Stothart. Peyton Hilock, my producer,
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Speaker 1: is also here. Good morning, Peyton, Good morning to you, Gene.
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Speaker 1: World Cup down to two, down to two and Spain
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Speaker 1: and Argentina. And are you going to be glued to
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Speaker 1: the television on Sunday?
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Speaker 2: I will, I got my calendar already blocked off Sunday.
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Speaker 2: I am on, Do not disturb, don't talk to me.
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Speaker 1: I can imagine that game was exciting yesterday. But thank
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Speaker 1: you all for being with us today. We want to
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Speaker 1: hear from you. We want to get your feedback. We
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Speaker 1: want to hear your comments, concerns, questions, complaints, anything goes.
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Speaker 1: We won't back away from anything, whether it's city, state, national,
0:35
Speaker 1: are the world. And we will have great guests, which
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Speaker 1: we have a great guest today, But you're also gonna
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Speaker 1: hear plenty. Yes, here he's babbling already. You're gonna hear here,
0:46
Speaker 1: here he goes already. You have to do it. But
0:50
Speaker 1: it is your chance to speak up and sound off.
0:53
Speaker 1: And we want you to call in if you have
0:55
Speaker 1: questions today for me and my guests, who I'll introduce
0:58
Speaker 1: in a minute, please to both of us and we
1:01
Speaker 1: will answer your questions. You can send your emails to
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Speaker 1: comment at kfab dot com, or you can call us
1:07
Speaker 1: at four oh two five five eight eleven ten. We
1:10
Speaker 1: are so happy that you're with us. And my guest
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Speaker 1: today is the one, the only Tom Becka. Welcome back.
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Speaker 3: Yes, it's it is weird being back here. I mean
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Speaker 3: this place has changed so much. There's just the uh,
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Speaker 3: the architecture in the building in that compared to when
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Speaker 3: I was serious.
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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I mean I look out this glass window
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Speaker 1: that is in this studio right here, and I don't
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Speaker 1: think it's been cleaned for one hundred years.
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Speaker 4: Oh no, that's not the same.
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Speaker 1: Okay. Well, see the only thing I've done different toime
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Speaker 1: since I've been here is I clean. See I've got
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Speaker 1: the new nickname instead of mean Gene, I'm clean Gene now.
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Speaker 1: Because they walked in here and I said, man, what
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Speaker 1: a man cave this place says I've been cleaning. I
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Speaker 1: really see it. It's this day. It is actually very
1:50
Speaker 1: nice here, I howdly recognize the place. We're glad you're back.
1:53
Speaker 1: I feel like we should switch we should switch spots here.
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Speaker 1: I always feel like you're you're in the saddle over
1:58
Speaker 1: here where I am today. What's it doesn't seem weird.
2:00
Speaker 3: Very very weird because I'm just asking the questions, not
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Speaker 3: answering them, you know.
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Speaker 4: So no, so that that is weird, you know.
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Speaker 3: And it's different like when I was on one time
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Speaker 3: with Scott, you know, recently not too long another a
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Speaker 3: couple months ago, and it was dinner with Scott, you know.
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Speaker 4: But you and I had a different relationship, you know
2:15
Speaker 4: where I was.
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Speaker 3: And I always tell whenever I asked you a question
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Speaker 3: or whenever I did something that you didn't like, because
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Speaker 3: then you would call me Tommy.
2:22
Speaker 1: Oh I did, Yeah, you were calling me to but yeah,
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Speaker 1: I didn't know. I send those those clues out there.
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Speaker 4: You were, you were great.
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Speaker 3: But every every every now and then, if I did
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Speaker 3: something that you weren't all that fond of, you know,
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Speaker 3: you're calling me Tommy.
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Speaker 1: And you always let me know how you feel too. Boy. Okay,
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Speaker 1: but remember, folks, if you remember Tom Becka, it was
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Speaker 1: always with honesty, integrity, and a sense of humor. Yes,
2:44
Speaker 1: that was your tagline right there, and you always did
2:47
Speaker 1: that whoa whoa too.
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Speaker 4: You know.
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Speaker 3: That's it's so interesting because that would just sort of happened.
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Speaker 3: I mean, I would be so intense on this time.
2:55
Speaker 3: Since I've not been doing this anymore, my blood pressure
2:58
Speaker 3: is normal.
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Speaker 4: You know.
3:00
Speaker 1: I found that when I wasn't mayor anymore, my blood
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Speaker 1: pressure dropped like thirty peahs. Yeah, seriously, it did you
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Speaker 1: think you you know, when you're in any kind of
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Speaker 1: business like this that you deal with the public every day,
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Speaker 1: you think you are handling it really, really well. And
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Speaker 1: I you know, for as long as I was mayor,
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Speaker 1: I thought I was handling it well. I'm sure you
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Speaker 1: did too. But then when you're not doing it, it's like, whoa, wow,
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Speaker 1: I feel like the way of the world is off
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Speaker 1: my shoulders. You know, It's just it's different. You internalize
3:29
Speaker 1: things and you don't realize I think you're internalizing things.
3:32
Speaker 1: But Tom Becka, let's talk a little bit about you. First,
3:35
Speaker 1: you were with KFAB for about thirteen years.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, I'll never take you.
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Speaker 1: It started in nineteen ninety four. Wow, you're old. I
3:44
Speaker 1: am old, you know, just I think I'm older than
3:46
Speaker 1: you though.
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Speaker 3: That's the thing is, it's like, you know, yeah, ninety four,
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Speaker 3: but that was just yesterday.
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Speaker 4: Right, Yeah?
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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, and then you were with you were
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Speaker 1: on the radio down in Kansas City for a while
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Speaker 1: five years. Yeah, for five years you were after you
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Speaker 1: left KFAB, you were on Fox forty two for a while.
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Speaker 1: You did Becka's Beat about eight years. Yeah, okay, and
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Speaker 1: you've you're doing some podcasts now Tom in his career, though,
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Speaker 1: I was. I was just kind of looking up, you know,
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Speaker 1: googling you last night and looking a few things. Just
4:15
Speaker 1: think what you've done though time and the time that
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Speaker 1: you have been on the radio. You have covered mayoral elections,
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Speaker 1: mayoral recalls, stadiums, arenas, civic events, contract negotiations, severe weather.
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Speaker 1: I mean, you've covered everything, you know.
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Speaker 4: You know, it's weird because.
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Speaker 3: I'm supposed to be putting together an archive for UNO's
4:38
Speaker 3: library about a lot of the stuff that I've done here.
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Speaker 4: I'm just too lazy to get it done.
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Speaker 3: But you know, when I look back on that, or
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Speaker 3: if I go back through some of my pictures, you know,
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Speaker 3: I mean, look, you know, I mean, I I had
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Speaker 3: a one on one interview with Donald Trump, you know,
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Speaker 3: right before he announced this as a tendidacy. You know,
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Speaker 3: you know I've I been able to I did my
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Speaker 3: show from Israel, you know, for a week I did.
5:00
Speaker 4: I was in Florida for the recount.
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Speaker 3: I mean, so I've been very blessed the people I've
5:03
Speaker 3: been able to meet, the things I've been able to do,
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Speaker 3: people I've been able to help.
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Speaker 4: Uh.
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Speaker 3: That that was one of the things that I always
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Speaker 3: enjoyed most about doing the radio was that I knew
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Speaker 3: that I could help make a difference, you know, and
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Speaker 3: I knew that I could help people out and uh
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Speaker 3: and UH I also enjoyed I also enjoyed you know,
5:19
Speaker 3: given callers a hard time and.
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Speaker 1: You did, you know you did, but that was your style.
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Speaker 4: Well here's the thing, though, I I just thought that
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Speaker 4: was entertaining.
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Speaker 3: And I realized now in hindsight that maybe it helped
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Speaker 3: create more of the atmosphere that we have today in politics.
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Speaker 3: You know that that that you know, my side's right,
5:39
Speaker 3: your side's wrong, sort of the uh. And there was
5:42
Speaker 3: a a literating study that I just read. UH when
5:46
Speaker 3: they went and they interviewed Harris voters and Trump voters,
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Speaker 3: and they asked, not you know who they vote, they
5:53
Speaker 3: asked what what one main thing happened to you in
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Speaker 3: the last year that really you concerned? And it was
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Speaker 3: the Harris and the Trump voters had the same. You know,
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Speaker 3: it was family matters, uh, you know, economics, you know,
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Speaker 3: health issues.
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Speaker 4: They were the top three were all the same in
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Speaker 4: the same order. Interesting, so we're a lot more of
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Speaker 4: light than we want to admit, you know.
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Speaker 3: But with talk radio was always about the conflict and
6:18
Speaker 3: the confrontation. It was it was you know to what
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Speaker 3: honestly it was it was entertaining. Yeah, you know it
6:23
Speaker 3: was entertaining. But you know, I mean to this day,
6:26
Speaker 3: you know, you're making fun of the way I.
6:27
Speaker 1: Was, you know, yeah, but that was just that was
6:30
Speaker 1: just your style. Let me ask you this, though your
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Speaker 1: voice is well recognized on the radio, do it out
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Speaker 1: in public? Do people recognize you or do they recognize
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Speaker 1: when you start talking and while they say you're Tom
6:42
Speaker 1: Becka Because you know what, I was sitting at lunch
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Speaker 1: with Gary Saddlemyer one day not that long ago, and
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Speaker 1: people just kept on walking by, going Hi, Hi mayor hygiene,
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Speaker 1: high mayor hygiene until he started talking and somebody goes, oh,
6:54
Speaker 1: you're Gary Saddlemyre. What do people recognize your voice all
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Speaker 1: the time?
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Speaker 3: And it's it's interesting what people say is like, wow,
7:01
Speaker 3: you sound just like you did on the radio, And
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Speaker 3: I said, if I could use a different voice, I
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Speaker 3: am sure as hell wouldn't be using this one.
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Speaker 1: Because we always talk about radio voices being that deep voice. Yeah,
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Speaker 1: like the guys that do the news here, they have
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Speaker 1: that great deep voice. But but you know, your voice
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Speaker 1: is well recognized. Okay, So talking about everything that you've covered,
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Speaker 1: can you name I'm just gonna pick your brain a
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Speaker 1: little bit. Can you name like one particular story that
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Speaker 1: you would think was the biggest story you covered in
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Speaker 1: the last twenty years?
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Speaker 4: Oh well, not eleven obviously. You know.
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Speaker 3: I was in Kansas City when that happened, and they
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Speaker 3: sent me to They sent me to New York and
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Speaker 3: they and also did to a DC during during that
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Speaker 3: time frame. That was huge, but it was it was interesting.
7:48
Speaker 3: And that benefit that I had in Kansas City was because,
7:51
Speaker 3: as you'll recall, we had Tom dirty Air with the
7:54
Speaker 3: Center for Afghan Studies out at UNO, and so I
7:57
Speaker 3: had an end to get them on as a regular guest.
8:00
Speaker 3: We're trying to figure out just what Afghanistan, what Afghanistan was,
8:02
Speaker 3: and who these people were and all this stuff. And
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Speaker 3: I can have him on as a guest and learn
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Speaker 3: so much from him through that That's the one thing
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Speaker 3: that I really loved about doing the show was the
8:13
Speaker 3: different guests I was able to have. Out of the
8:15
Speaker 3: people I was able to learn from and the insight
8:17
Speaker 3: that I got from some of these people.
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Speaker 1: Did you have like a mentor, did you have anybody
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Speaker 1: that was in broadcast already doing radio that you were
8:25
Speaker 1: that you definitely would call a mentor to you, or
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Speaker 1: somebody that you tried to copy and be like, I.
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Speaker 3: Don't think any copy and be light. I had a
8:34
Speaker 3: lot of people that I studied, studied.
8:36
Speaker 4: I'll recall that.
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Speaker 3: Because well, it started getting in radio, and you know,
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Speaker 3: I mean I was in UNO in the mid seventies
8:43
Speaker 3: and I tried to get on on the radio and
8:46
Speaker 3: I was working part time over at the Wow when
8:49
Speaker 3: it was top forty and the program Rectro over there
8:53
Speaker 3: at the time, Tom Barsani, you know, told me, you know, look, kid,
8:56
Speaker 3: get out of radio. You're a nice kid, but get
8:58
Speaker 3: out of radio. Because again, the voice at the time,
9:01
Speaker 3: you know, everybody had, you know.
9:03
Speaker 4: Yoda's twelve voice.
9:04
Speaker 3: Yes, and you know, here's another ten lid Zeppelin songs
9:07
Speaker 3: in a row, you know, And I was this guy,
9:09
Speaker 3: and you know, there was no there was no talk
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Speaker 3: radio then, so there was really no place for me.
9:14
Speaker 3: But it was something I just always wanted to do. Yes,
9:17
Speaker 3: Jerry Seinfeld has a great quote. He says of being
9:20
Speaker 3: a stand up comedian is like being a mass murderer.
9:24
Speaker 3: No matter how many times people try to talk you
9:26
Speaker 3: out of it, you're still going to do it. And
9:28
Speaker 3: the same was true with me with radio. It was like,
9:30
Speaker 3: I don't care how many times people try to talk me.
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Speaker 1: Out of it.
9:33
Speaker 4: Was I know, this is what I'm going to do.
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Speaker 3: And as far as I remember, one time, the light
9:37
Speaker 3: went off in my head when I was listening to
9:39
Speaker 3: Paul Harvey, you know who you'll remember, you know, he
9:43
Speaker 3: used to do news and views, Paul Harvey, and his
9:46
Speaker 3: voice was different too, and I realized, well, geez, Paul
9:49
Speaker 3: Harvey doesn't have a standard announce your voice either.
9:52
Speaker 4: So I said, okay, there's a place for me here, somewhere.
9:55
Speaker 4: I had to find it.
9:55
Speaker 3: I'll have to, you know, work on it and get
9:57
Speaker 3: a little bit lucky to get the break, but you know,
10:01
Speaker 3: there's a place for me.
10:02
Speaker 1: You're unique, and you know, anymore that voice is, she
10:06
Speaker 1: doesn't matter as much. I had a deputy chief of
10:08
Speaker 1: staff when I was Mayor Carrie Murphy, and she used
10:10
Speaker 1: to produce the news for KMTV here in Omaha. But
10:14
Speaker 1: she said, you know, she started many many years ago too.
10:16
Speaker 1: She's about my age. And she said for women, they
10:19
Speaker 1: used to tell him to smoke a lot of cigarettes
10:21
Speaker 1: to deepen their voice and make it deeper. And it
10:24
Speaker 1: doesn't matter as much anymore, I think, the voice. But
10:26
Speaker 1: there are still people like I think Lucy Chapman has
10:28
Speaker 1: a good radio voice for a woman. She does. Let
10:31
Speaker 1: me ask you this because I'm real interested in your
10:34
Speaker 1: in your history of your career. Did you have a
10:38
Speaker 1: favorite guest You said you're going to write a book
10:40
Speaker 1: one of these days. Did you have somebody that just
10:43
Speaker 1: really stood out that you thought was, Wow, this was
10:46
Speaker 1: the best interview I've ever done. You mentioned you interviewed
10:49
Speaker 1: Donald Trump, which I think I met Donald Trump right
10:51
Speaker 1: before he announced that he was running for president over
10:54
Speaker 1: at Potawatamie County. He was over there with the Republican
10:57
Speaker 1: Party and I met him over there and talk to
11:01
Speaker 1: him for quite a while, and so did But did
11:03
Speaker 1: you have And I found him to be really delightful
11:06
Speaker 1: because people think he I thought he was going to
11:08
Speaker 1: be arrogant and tough, and he was just the friendliest
11:11
Speaker 1: guy ever. But did you have anybody that stands out
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Speaker 1: in your career?
11:15
Speaker 4: I'll draw that in a second. But you visioned Donald Trumble.
11:17
Speaker 3: Yes, so I interviewed him at the press Club, but
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Speaker 3: probably the same time you saw him at probably here
11:22
Speaker 3: here's here for that whole thing.
11:23
Speaker 4: And I live remembered the press club.
11:26
Speaker 3: And then about two three four months later, right before
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Speaker 3: the Iowa traucus, he flew in uh to attend a
11:35
Speaker 3: rally in Council Bluffs, but he held a press conference
11:37
Speaker 3: on this airplane.
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Speaker 4: Okay, okay, you know the guy's a showman, right right.
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Speaker 3: So I'm going up the steps to his airplane for
11:44
Speaker 3: the press conference, and he looks at me and to
11:46
Speaker 3: get that look at his face, like you look flier.
11:49
Speaker 4: I have seen you.
11:50
Speaker 3: So I shake you out as a mister Trump. I'm
11:51
Speaker 3: Tom Becca. I interviewed you, interviewed you the last time.
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Speaker 4: You were here at Omaha.
11:55
Speaker 3: And he said, oh, that's right, you were very good
11:58
Speaker 3: to me. It wasn't it wasn't oh good to see you.
12:01
Speaker 3: Oh I thought you looked familiar. It was like, oh yeah,
12:04
Speaker 3: it's all about me. Yeah, you were good to me
12:06
Speaker 3: so so that that that always stuck in my head
12:08
Speaker 3: since you mentioned Trump.
12:09
Speaker 1: But it's good he remembered that too.
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Speaker 3: Yes, oh yeah, you know, Lord Lord knows what he
12:15
Speaker 3: would have done if I, uh yeah, if I hadn't
12:18
Speaker 3: been I don't know.
12:20
Speaker 4: One guess is the most memorable. That's a that's.
12:22
Speaker 3: A great question because besides besides me, besides you, right.
12:26
Speaker 4: Besides you. But but you know, you know, I mean,
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Speaker 4: the thing of it is is that, first of all,
12:31
Speaker 4: I don't have any favorites.
12:33
Speaker 3: I don't have a favorite restaurant, a favorites, a favorite food,
12:35
Speaker 3: a favorite band.
12:36
Speaker 4: I have things that I like better than others.
12:38
Speaker 3: But if you ask me for a favorite, I'll give
12:40
Speaker 3: you a different answer in a different day.
12:41
Speaker 1: I can't understand that.
12:42
Speaker 3: So, you know, favorite guests, I mean, you know how
12:45
Speaker 3: DoD comes to mind. How Dobb was always intense, you know,
12:48
Speaker 3: And I remember when we had the October storm and
12:51
Speaker 3: the power was out, and you know, how would be
12:53
Speaker 3: on the air. He would come in here and we
12:54
Speaker 3: would talk about what was going on. And so I
12:57
Speaker 3: felt that that was really because at the time when
12:59
Speaker 3: when that story hit, Kfab was pretty much the only
13:03
Speaker 3: station on the air because everybody else was dark.
13:06
Speaker 4: We had a generator. Uh.
13:08
Speaker 3: And this story has been told on the air before,
13:10
Speaker 3: but uh, but Ron Milhaven uh, who was also here
13:14
Speaker 3: at the time.
13:16
Speaker 4: Now he's an actually syndicated radio host.
13:17
Speaker 3: But at the time, mcdraw was here and he and
13:20
Speaker 3: I were on the air, and the generator went out,
13:25
Speaker 3: and Mike Shane, Mike Shane, who was the engineer, was
13:28
Speaker 3: able to make it so that we could have a
13:30
Speaker 3: telephone line.
13:31
Speaker 4: The telephone work still work, but the electricity wasn't there.
13:34
Speaker 3: He put a telephone line to the transmitter site and
13:38
Speaker 3: we ran this radio station on three nine bolt batteries
13:40
Speaker 3: and an old sure.
13:42
Speaker 1: Are you kidding?
13:42
Speaker 3: No?
13:43
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean yeah, we were. We were. We were
13:46
Speaker 4: in the we were in the dark.
13:48
Speaker 1: Peyton's looking at you like what No, it was there
13:50
Speaker 1: was a.
13:50
Speaker 3: Damnas, we're in the dark, literally literally with flashlights reading
13:54
Speaker 3: copy and stuff.
13:55
Speaker 1: Unbelievable.
13:56
Speaker 3: Uh. And that and we didn't we knew that we
13:58
Speaker 3: had calls coming in, but the phone lines weren't lighting
14:00
Speaker 3: up because of all electricity, So we were just going
14:03
Speaker 3: blind with every call.
14:04
Speaker 4: That you stayed on the air, and we stayed on
14:06
Speaker 4: the air and that.
14:06
Speaker 3: So that was probably one of the most memorable things
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Speaker 3: in my in my career was how this station Hewed
14:13
Speaker 3: KFAB really was such a part of the community when
14:16
Speaker 3: that power out and shit, because we were on the
14:18
Speaker 3: air and hardly anybody else was.
14:20
Speaker 1: Did you say that there weren't as many stations in
14:23
Speaker 1: this building back then, because now there's seven stations that
14:26
Speaker 1: broadcast out of this building. Was there that many then
14:29
Speaker 1: or was it primarily KFAB you.
14:32
Speaker 4: Know, as memory serve me was me and on our KFA,
14:36
Speaker 4: B and kgU are.
14:40
Speaker 1: Hey, Tom Beck is with us today. I think you
14:42
Speaker 1: recognize his politics. Let's talk, Let's dive into positive and
14:45
Speaker 1: you can ask me whatever you want to because let
14:48
Speaker 1: me tell you, Tom was a tough interviewer. I've interviewed
14:51
Speaker 1: with you many, many times and you never knew what
14:53
Speaker 1: you were going to pop out there. But you know,
14:55
Speaker 1: you challenge people you don't want to give interview usually
14:58
Speaker 1: is and let them prepare. You want to see how
15:00
Speaker 1: fast these you know, these people are on their feet.
15:03
Speaker 1: But as you know me, I've been in an elected
15:06
Speaker 1: position for twenty seven years. It was school board, then
15:09
Speaker 1: city council, than mayor, so I've been really actively involved.
15:13
Speaker 1: And I have found politics to just every single year
15:17
Speaker 1: it get there's more vitriol, it gets meaner. I mean,
15:20
Speaker 1: social media is so difficult to even look at. I
15:25
Speaker 1: really don't look at it anymore. I mean, it's not
15:27
Speaker 1: good for my mental health. So all of you out
15:30
Speaker 1: there writing in social media about the street being named
15:33
Speaker 1: after me or whatever, I don't even look at that,
15:36
Speaker 1: because bet talk about that, Tom, because I know you've
15:40
Speaker 1: experienced it too. First of all, do you spend any
15:42
Speaker 1: time on social media too much?
15:44
Speaker 4: Well, yeah, not as much as I not as much
15:46
Speaker 4: as I used to, but I spend time on it.
15:48
Speaker 1: And what's your thought about current the current political environment
15:52
Speaker 1: out there. Don't you find it to be so different
15:56
Speaker 1: than it used to be?
15:57
Speaker 4: All right?
15:59
Speaker 3: From my respectively, some insight on this. When I was
16:02
Speaker 3: doing talk radio in Kansas City. Uh, they used the
16:06
Speaker 3: same time lying to text as they used to call,
16:09
Speaker 3: and uh this is uh this was actually I was
16:12
Speaker 3: living in Omaha at the time, so this would have
16:13
Speaker 3: been I don't know, maybe about uh uh.
16:16
Speaker 4: Six or seven years ago.
16:18
Speaker 3: I was doing it from my home in Omaha, but
16:21
Speaker 3: a show in Kansas City, and I would get texts
16:27
Speaker 3: and at the time. Then then this is how people
16:29
Speaker 3: are today. Anyway, I would get maybe you know, ten
16:31
Speaker 3: texts for every folk.
16:32
Speaker 4: Roll uh and apologize.
16:39
Speaker 3: So one time I got a text and I read
16:42
Speaker 3: the text and it was like Becca blah blah blah.
16:44
Speaker 1: Blah blah blah blah blah.
16:46
Speaker 3: And two minutes later I get a text from the
16:49
Speaker 3: same number saying, dude lighting up.
16:50
Speaker 4: That was a joke. And I read it again it.
16:53
Speaker 3: Was like Becca blah blah blah blah blah blah, and
16:56
Speaker 3: it was kind of funny. But because the way I
17:00
Speaker 3: read it, it came across that way, And I do.
17:02
Speaker 1: Think, did it bother you?
17:06
Speaker 3: Well, you know, after a while, it's the same thing
17:08
Speaker 3: with you being mirror. After a while, you just developed
17:10
Speaker 3: the third skin. Yeah, im to it. Yeah, I'd be
17:16
Speaker 3: lying if I said it doesn't it somewhat. But but yeah,
17:20
Speaker 3: but uh uh that that one didn't bother me so much.
17:25
Speaker 3: It just save me an insight into how we read things.
17:28
Speaker 4: Right.
17:28
Speaker 3: Uh, you know you talk about social media and uh.
17:32
Speaker 1: It's terrible. We used to we used to call it
17:34
Speaker 1: in my office on social media because you know, I
17:37
Speaker 1: gotta tell you a quick little story because we couldn't
17:41
Speaker 1: put anything up there without seven hundred people complaining about it,
17:45
Speaker 1: no matter what it was. So Kerrie Murphy, that was
17:47
Speaker 1: my communication director, and I we we did a little
17:50
Speaker 1: we did a little, a little thing. One day and
17:52
Speaker 1: there was a post that the Ama Police Department put
17:55
Speaker 1: on the It was a little test put on their
17:57
Speaker 1: web page. And so they all comments, where, oh, you
18:00
Speaker 1: guys are so great, we love the Omaha Police Department.
18:03
Speaker 1: What a good idea. I can't even remember the subject.
18:05
Speaker 1: We took the exact same post, the exact same picture,
18:09
Speaker 1: and we put it on mine, and all the comments
18:11
Speaker 1: were negative, the same posts, the same picture. It's just
18:16
Speaker 1: and I used to tell myself it's not a lot
18:19
Speaker 1: of times, it's not what I'm doing, it's just what
18:21
Speaker 1: I represent. Yeah, you know, I represent a Republican mayor,
18:26
Speaker 1: and we're going to get to this in a blue
18:27
Speaker 1: dot city, you know. And and normally people just reacted
18:31
Speaker 1: differently than they did to the Omaha Police Department. But
18:35
Speaker 1: it got to the point it was almost unhealthy to
18:39
Speaker 1: put something on social media and then read it because
18:41
Speaker 1: people would We would have people I wouldn't even look,
18:44
Speaker 1: but Carrie would. And sometimes there would be people from
18:46
Speaker 1: the East and West Coast commenting on things the roads
18:49
Speaker 1: in Omaha. Sure, I mean, and you're like, why am
18:52
Speaker 1: I even bothering looking at this? So I just don't anymore.
18:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, you know, or you go and you'd see
18:58
Speaker 3: check out this person that wrote that. If I know
19:00
Speaker 3: they got two followers, you.
19:01
Speaker 1: Know, are their names or something like susie Q. And
19:04
Speaker 1: there was a picture of a cat on there. Yeah,
19:06
Speaker 1: and during a campaign, Tom, it's terrible during a campaign
19:10
Speaker 1: because there are trolls that just monitor your campaign web
19:14
Speaker 1: page and your social media and everything, and it's just terrible.
19:18
Speaker 1: So you got involved in a group called Free Speech Society.
19:22
Speaker 1: Let's talk about that a little bit, because there was
19:23
Speaker 1: an event on Sunday night that I was down there.
19:28
Speaker 1: I want to talk about this group because Rick Galusha,
19:30
Speaker 1: who's a professor, a PhD professor at U and O,
19:33
Speaker 1: I think he was instrumental in starting it. I think
19:36
Speaker 1: you were involved in it. But to me, the whole
19:39
Speaker 1: intent was can we find, like you said earlier, what
19:42
Speaker 1: our similarities are rather than our differences, and can we
19:46
Speaker 1: whether you're Democrat, Independent or Republican, can we work together
19:49
Speaker 1: to get something done. So there was a deck proclamation
19:53
Speaker 1: that was written and they wanted all the living mayors
19:56
Speaker 1: to sign it, and they did, and they got all
19:58
Speaker 1: the living mayors to sign it. Now the mayors that
20:01
Speaker 1: showed up the other night, or PJ. Morgan, Jim Suttle,
20:04
Speaker 1: hald Dobbin, myself, and we read that proclamation. But the
20:09
Speaker 1: event was to, in my opinion, was to show let's
20:11
Speaker 1: get let's get together and do something great for our
20:14
Speaker 1: community because we still can do it. Talk about it
20:16
Speaker 1: a little, am I correct?
20:17
Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, the Freesbee Society we meet the third Saturday
20:21
Speaker 3: every month out of the Centrist Credit Union one hundred
20:25
Speaker 3: and thirty second of Pacific. And basically the concept was
20:28
Speaker 3: I came about twenty fifteen or so when things really
20:32
Speaker 3: started and Trump was, you know, really crossing a lot
20:35
Speaker 3: of friction and that, you know, and people were yelling
20:37
Speaker 3: at each other more than talking to each other again
20:39
Speaker 3: going back to your social media comments, and what we
20:43
Speaker 3: did was a group of us always sit together on
20:46
Speaker 3: Friday mornings for breakfast, and Rich just started talking about
20:49
Speaker 3: this and me and Joe Sacro and Mike McDonald and
20:52
Speaker 3: Kerry Winterer and a bunch of others who were.
20:55
Speaker 1: Mike McDonald fire chief. No, no, no different though, yeah,
20:58
Speaker 1: okay I did to clarify that, but don old.
21:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, so you know, we all got together, and we
21:04
Speaker 3: all got together and yeah, Mike McDonald doesn't.
21:06
Speaker 4: Like me, like me, but well, you know, we not
21:14
Speaker 4: forget them.
21:14
Speaker 3: We said, you know, let's get together and just like
21:17
Speaker 3: I have a breakfast where you know, people on the
21:20
Speaker 3: left and the people on the right can get together
21:21
Speaker 3: and talk and turned down.
21:25
Speaker 4: The thing has grown rather rather large over the years.
21:29
Speaker 3: But what we found was the people on the far
21:32
Speaker 3: left and the people on the far right, I.
21:35
Speaker 4: Don't want to get along.
21:36
Speaker 1: I know, you know, they.
21:37
Speaker 3: Don't want to get along because we would have them
21:39
Speaker 3: there and and they little by little, those guys, the
21:42
Speaker 3: friends people on either side stopped coming to the meetings.
21:45
Speaker 3: But we found a group of people that are just saying, okay,
21:47
Speaker 3: let's try to find solutions, let's learn, let's let's get along.
21:51
Speaker 3: And you know, like I said, it's grown. We've got
21:54
Speaker 3: a Facebook page. You know, you talk about social media.
21:57
Speaker 3: I believe social media is a tool, just like a hammer,
22:00
Speaker 3: be used to create or destroy right And the our
22:04
Speaker 3: Facebook page is not you know, not a thousand or
22:08
Speaker 3: so followers and and you know it's people that have
22:13
Speaker 3: you know, just nice, respectful conversations about things.
22:17
Speaker 1: Uh. You know, you know my experience, you had, you
22:19
Speaker 1: held a debate between me and John Ewing before the
22:22
Speaker 1: election on a Saturday morning, and I was there, and
22:26
Speaker 1: you know, I felt that when I got in there
22:28
Speaker 1: and we started getting the questions asked of us, that
22:31
Speaker 1: the audience that came was very divided. I could tell
22:34
Speaker 1: there was an audience that was that was very conservative,
22:38
Speaker 1: and there was an audience that was very liberal. And
22:41
Speaker 1: I could tell who they were supporting because a lot
22:44
Speaker 1: of times when even I would try to speak, I
22:46
Speaker 1: would there would be comments from from the the audience
22:50
Speaker 1: that was there against me. So you can really tell
22:54
Speaker 1: that that room was divided that day.
22:56
Speaker 3: Well, that's because it was a political thing, because because
22:58
Speaker 3: you guys, you know, you had your supporters there, He
23:00
Speaker 3: had his supporters there. But we also deal with things
23:03
Speaker 3: in conversations like climate change, yes, you know, discussions like that,
23:07
Speaker 3: or a rank choice voting and things along those lines
23:10
Speaker 3: that aren't so much you know, Democrat versus Republican more
23:14
Speaker 3: you know, uh, social issues or uh issues that have
23:18
Speaker 3: you know me.
23:19
Speaker 1: But those issues have become agendas at the party too true. Okay,
23:23
Speaker 1: we have to take a break, you know how that is?
23:25
Speaker 1: Will you stay and come back after the break?
23:27
Speaker 4: I got nowhere to go.
23:28
Speaker 1: I have a lot more questions to ask you. So
23:30
Speaker 1: we will be back in a few minutes with Tom Becka.
23:33
Speaker 1: And we're back with Tom Becka. I think everybody remembers
23:36
Speaker 1: that name, you.
23:38
Speaker 4: Know, I guess, so, I don't know.
23:40
Speaker 3: It's weird with a distance, what I what I get
23:43
Speaker 3: now sometimes are like there's people like in their in
23:46
Speaker 3: their thirties, you know, and that they'll come to me
23:49
Speaker 3: and they'll say twenties and thirties.
23:50
Speaker 4: They'll come in and say, hey, you're Tom Becker. I go, yeah, yeah.
23:53
Speaker 3: When I was a little kid, yeah, my dad, I'd
23:55
Speaker 3: be in thee.
23:57
Speaker 4: So it is kind of cool to have that.
24:00
Speaker 1: I say, you got a legacy.
24:02
Speaker 4: A legacy may be too strong of a word, but you.
24:04
Speaker 1: Know, around for you do, let's talk. We're talking about
24:07
Speaker 1: politics and how how how dirty it can be anymore.
24:11
Speaker 1: I mean, people are just slinging stuff back and forth
24:14
Speaker 1: at each other all the time. And Tom is a
24:17
Speaker 1: member and belongs to this free speech society, and it
24:20
Speaker 1: was it was all about can we get together and
24:23
Speaker 1: get things done. But one of the things that came up,
24:26
Speaker 1: I brought up the debate that you guys held. One
24:28
Speaker 1: of the things that came up was this the blue dot.
24:31
Speaker 1: And you know, Chris Baker and I have done a
24:33
Speaker 1: couple commercials making fun of the blue dot. But let's
24:38
Speaker 1: talk about that a little bit, because you know, the
24:40
Speaker 1: blue dot. What it used to be was that. I mean,
24:44
Speaker 1: if you had a state that was primarily Republican, it
24:47
Speaker 1: was called a red state. If you had a state
24:49
Speaker 1: that was primarily Democrat, it was a blue state. If
24:52
Speaker 1: you had a state that was primarily Republican but there
24:55
Speaker 1: was one city that was Democrat, more liberal than that
25:00
Speaker 1: was the blue dot. It was simply how many people
25:03
Speaker 1: were Democrat or a Republican. That's what it used to be.
25:05
Speaker 1: It's not that way anymore. It's it's like symbolic of
25:09
Speaker 1: the agenda I think more of the Liberal Party right now,
25:14
Speaker 1: and they are fighting, I mean, they are really fighting
25:18
Speaker 1: to keep Omaha the blue dot. Talk about this.
25:21
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, well, okay.
25:22
Speaker 3: First of all, I was at the hearing that they
25:25
Speaker 3: had at the Union Cameron about this, right, and what
25:28
Speaker 3: I learned at that hearing. Is it surprise the hell
25:31
Speaker 3: out of me what I learned the head of the
25:33
Speaker 3: Republican Party from Scott's bluff. I forget the man's name,
25:37
Speaker 3: but he was in a wheelchair. So he made a
25:39
Speaker 3: real effort to make it to Lincoln to testify.
25:42
Speaker 1: Your and and I can't I'm blanking on his name too,
25:45
Speaker 1: but go on.
25:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, But and so you know, he goes up there
25:48
Speaker 3: and he announces his name and and his title, and
25:51
Speaker 3: I'm thinking, oh, okay, well this is going to be
25:53
Speaker 3: And he says, we got to keep things the way
25:55
Speaker 3: they are because if you go out to waging out
25:57
Speaker 3: west western Nebraska, there afraid that Omahan Lincoln is going
26:02
Speaker 3: to take over and therefore take away their vote.
26:05
Speaker 4: So and when I went.
26:06
Speaker 3: And testified on this, I testified and I said it
26:10
Speaker 3: shouldn't be called the Blue Dot. It should just be
26:12
Speaker 3: called the dot because this district votes for Republican presidents
26:17
Speaker 3: when there's a decent Republican president to vote for.
26:20
Speaker 1: And they voted for a Republican mayor for twelve years.
26:23
Speaker 3: Yes, and quite honestly, you know, you were one of
26:27
Speaker 3: the during the Trump era. During the Trump era, you
26:30
Speaker 3: and Don Bacon were the only Republicans I could vote for,
26:34
Speaker 3: you know, because Trump has poisoned the party so much,
26:39
Speaker 3: so much that I just can't support the Republican Party.
26:42
Speaker 1: You know, We're gonna get lots of emails about that.
26:45
Speaker 4: But I'm a libtard. I know, I get that.
26:48
Speaker 3: You know, no, I don't think so yeah, you know,
26:54
Speaker 3: I mean I get that stuff on social media.
26:56
Speaker 4: People say that I've changed.
26:57
Speaker 3: I'm the same guy I've always been, but the definition
27:01
Speaker 3: of what conservative the liberal is has.
27:03
Speaker 4: Changed so much.
27:05
Speaker 1: It definitely has. And and now I mean it's it's
27:07
Speaker 1: about the electoral votes too, the blue dot. I mean,
27:10
Speaker 1: because you know how the state of Nebraska, it's unique.
27:13
Speaker 1: There's only one other state in the country that, with
27:16
Speaker 1: their electoral votes, does it the way we do it.
27:18
Speaker 1: And I think, you know what when when Governor Pillen
27:23
Speaker 1: he wants to go to the winner takes all. I mean,
27:26
Speaker 1: we've talked about that many times and then it came
27:29
Speaker 1: back to saying, no, we want to keep this congressional
27:31
Speaker 1: district to blue, and then it became the blue dot.
27:35
Speaker 1: But how many times do you see I mean, even
27:38
Speaker 1: in my neighborhood where I live, there's blue dots in
27:40
Speaker 1: the yard and there's blue dots in the window, and
27:43
Speaker 1: it's like, it's it's strange what this has become. What
27:47
Speaker 1: the blue dot means?
27:48
Speaker 4: I went. I went to the UH.
27:50
Speaker 3: I went to the uh Dunise Powell Pete Blue Judge
27:54
Speaker 3: gathering earlier this week.
27:56
Speaker 1: Okay, tell, let's talk. Let's go into that. Let's talk
27:58
Speaker 1: about CD too.
27:59
Speaker 3: Place was packed, place was okay, okay, with people that
28:02
Speaker 3: were stood out in the heat for half an hour
28:05
Speaker 3: waiting for the doors open. I mean, you know, there's
28:07
Speaker 3: a real energy out there right now, and I do
28:09
Speaker 3: think most of it is anti Donald Trump, you know,
28:12
Speaker 3: I mean people that are afraid of.
28:14
Speaker 4: Losing our demordro And I'm one of these people. I'm
28:16
Speaker 4: one of these people. And let me ask you a question.
28:18
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, let's turn the tables here.
28:20
Speaker 4: Yeah, why are you proud to be a Republican right now?
28:23
Speaker 1: Probably be a Republican because I because I feel very
28:27
Speaker 1: very strongly about the original tenants of the Republican Party.
28:31
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, and they're not there anymore. But they're not
28:33
Speaker 4: there anymore, but.
28:34
Speaker 1: We need to bring it back.
28:35
Speaker 4: Well, okay, but how do you bring it back?
28:37
Speaker 1: And see and That's what my complaint was with our
28:40
Speaker 1: current Republican Party in the state. You know, I had
28:43
Speaker 1: Mary Jane Trumper on the other day just to talk
28:45
Speaker 1: to her about what her vision is for the Republican
28:48
Speaker 1: Party for the state. Let's get back to what we
28:50
Speaker 1: originally feel and why we are Republicans. The Douglas County
28:55
Speaker 1: Republican Party, I will I just throw up my hands
28:59
Speaker 1: with them. I mean, I think they've lost their mission,
29:02
Speaker 1: they've lost their goals. And in my race in particular,
29:06
Speaker 1: they came out and endorsed Mike McDonald in the primary.
29:10
Speaker 1: And when I asked why, they said, well, some of
29:13
Speaker 1: us didn't like the street car and he came to
29:15
Speaker 1: the meetings. Oh that's why you you endorse somebody a candidate.
29:21
Speaker 1: I think we have lost our way and we need
29:24
Speaker 1: to get back to I mean, I am pro life,
29:27
Speaker 1: you know. I feel like that that people should control
29:31
Speaker 1: the the what goes on, not government. You know. I
29:35
Speaker 1: feel like a strong national defense. I support the police department.
29:39
Speaker 1: When you look at the agenda now at the Democrat Party,
29:43
Speaker 1: it's it's like three things. It's anti Trump, it's anti police,
29:47
Speaker 1: and it's anti Ice. It seems like that's all I
29:49
Speaker 1: hear from many candidates, Well what do you feel about that?
29:52
Speaker 3: So, okay, so we've got we've got ICE agents shooting
29:55
Speaker 3: people in cold blood on the street.
29:57
Speaker 4: Are you for that?
29:58
Speaker 1: I'm not for that, but I yeah so so if.
30:00
Speaker 3: You complain about that, that makes you anti ICE or
30:03
Speaker 3: pro common decency.
30:05
Speaker 1: But what is ICE supposed to be there for. They're
30:08
Speaker 1: supposed to be there to protect us. They are they
30:11
Speaker 1: are immigration enforcement. That's why they are there. Let's get
30:15
Speaker 1: back to what they originally intended them to be. Of course,
30:18
Speaker 1: I don't like ICE agents shooting people in the street,
30:21
Speaker 1: but I think we need to get back to what
30:24
Speaker 1: their purpose is. Same with the police. Do you Tom
30:28
Speaker 1: beca support defunding and disassembling police departments?
30:31
Speaker 2: No?
30:32
Speaker 3: But actually the whole defund the police thing, I think
30:34
Speaker 3: that way out of whack. The phrase totally phrase, because
30:38
Speaker 3: what if you talk to the people that originally started
30:41
Speaker 3: that concept. It was more about, you know, training the
30:44
Speaker 3: police to the point where they're they're not, you know,
30:47
Speaker 3: so gun happy.
30:48
Speaker 4: They're not such a paramilitary.
30:49
Speaker 1: Force, but they are. They really are paramilitary. But I
30:53
Speaker 1: feel the same about ICE. I mean, let's get them back.
30:56
Speaker 1: I think the phrase ice or the term ice has
31:00
Speaker 1: now taken a turn to be something that it's really
31:02
Speaker 1: not intended to be. Same with the police department. That's why,
31:06
Speaker 1: you know, tom let me just let me bring up
31:08
Speaker 1: something like this, this primary that just happened in New
31:12
Speaker 1: York City. I mean, some of these people that won
31:15
Speaker 1: the primary are not cases that what's the woman's name,
31:19
Speaker 1: Chevalier that has the white glasses. She says on the
31:22
Speaker 1: news the other day, I was in a restaurant. My
31:24
Speaker 1: hands were filthy. I couldn't find a napkin, so I
31:27
Speaker 1: wiped my hands on the American flag. I mean, you
31:29
Speaker 1: you could not think that that is a good representative
31:34
Speaker 1: to be to win a primary talking about but she's not.
31:37
Speaker 3: But she's not indicative of of of liberals, of most liberals,
31:40
Speaker 3: or most Democrats.
31:42
Speaker 4: Any anymore, any more than Tommy Tuberville is.
31:45
Speaker 1: He's a communist. That woman, well, okay, so she is, she.
31:48
Speaker 3: Is, Okay, but that you can't such a broad brush.
31:51
Speaker 3: I mean to the same point, you know, you say,
31:53
Speaker 3: did you stand for what the Republican Party used to
31:55
Speaker 3: be right now.
31:56
Speaker 1: Or should be should be? Yeah? What the tenants of
31:59
Speaker 1: the party are not what.
32:00
Speaker 4: It is anymore. That's not what it is.
32:02
Speaker 3: Brett lins From finally had to get out of it
32:05
Speaker 3: if he wanted to actually, you know, uh be able
32:07
Speaker 3: to to win a win a race, because he couldn't.
32:09
Speaker 3: He couldn't win a primary. He couldn't win a primary.
32:12
Speaker 3: He could win a general, but he couldn't win a primary.
32:15
Speaker 1: What do you think about Brett Linstrom jumping in now
32:17
Speaker 1: that you mentioned his name here?
32:19
Speaker 4: Very interesting?
32:19
Speaker 1: I don't know.
32:20
Speaker 4: I really like and respect Brett.
32:22
Speaker 1: I like him too.
32:23
Speaker 3: Uh you know, I I think that I think that
32:25
Speaker 3: the Pillon isn't a lousy job as governor.
32:28
Speaker 4: Uh you know, I think that either.
32:29
Speaker 3: Lynn Walls or Brett Linstrom will be a better governor
32:32
Speaker 3: than Jim Pillins.
32:33
Speaker 1: Do you think Lindstrom jumped in to try to divide
32:35
Speaker 1: that conservative vote and help Lynn Waltz get in.
32:39
Speaker 4: I think I think that the business community.
32:41
Speaker 3: I think the business community was very concerned about pill
32:44
Speaker 3: And winning, and the business community got behind is getting
32:47
Speaker 3: behind Brett. Uh so, Uh, I can make the argument
32:52
Speaker 3: either way. Sure, I made the argument either way that
32:54
Speaker 3: Brett getting involved helps Pillon or Brett getting involved helps Lynn,
32:57
Speaker 3: or make the argument that Brett wins at all, there's
33:00
Speaker 3: too much between now and November to decide how this
33:02
Speaker 3: is all.
33:03
Speaker 4: Going to play out.
33:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, but it's gonna be here before you know it.
33:05
Speaker 1: Let's go back to CD two. So Denise Pal you
33:07
Speaker 1: heard her talk. Brinker Harding is her opponent. Brinker is
33:11
Speaker 1: a great guy that I know very very well. What
33:14
Speaker 1: did you think about about Denise Pal?
33:17
Speaker 3: Look, I don't know how. I don't know how she
33:19
Speaker 3: overcomes the Moniker dark money. Denise, I think you're right,
33:22
Speaker 3: But the Democrats did they ate their own during that,
33:26
Speaker 3: And quite honestly, the best candidate in the Democratic primary
33:31
Speaker 3: is kishla Askins. You want to have her on the show, seriously,
33:34
Speaker 3: Tish Laskins. She is Uh, she's smart, she's experienced, she's
33:39
Speaker 3: you know, a strong military background. I mean she is
33:42
Speaker 3: a sort of a version that we want to have
33:44
Speaker 3: in office.
33:45
Speaker 4: You know.
33:46
Speaker 3: Denise seems like a very nice person. I've had coffee
33:48
Speaker 3: with her one time I was at the rally. Uh,
33:51
Speaker 3: you know, she seems very nice.
33:53
Speaker 1: I think many tom are very angry at her about
33:56
Speaker 1: what her campaign did to Kavanaugh.
33:58
Speaker 4: I totally agree.
33:59
Speaker 1: I think the Credit Party is that nasty.
34:01
Speaker 4: I think the Democratic Party.
34:02
Speaker 3: Is slip but I also think there's an awful lot
34:04
Speaker 3: of people out there right now, and I would say
34:06
Speaker 3: the same thing, and the Democrats that control of the House,
34:08
Speaker 3: the Senate.
34:08
Speaker 4: And the White House.
34:09
Speaker 3: Anytime anyone party has control of all things, bad things happen.
34:13
Speaker 1: Well, it's usually happens that way, right, So a party
34:16
Speaker 1: in control, I like, so.
34:18
Speaker 3: You know, yeah, I like brinker Harding. Brinker Harding has
34:21
Speaker 3: you know, he's been a great public servant. Okay, I
34:23
Speaker 3: can't vote for him only because of Mike Johnson, because
34:25
Speaker 3: we've got to have a Democrat Speaker of the House
34:28
Speaker 3: to have a balance of power that checks and balances
34:32
Speaker 3: like our founding fathers originated.
34:35
Speaker 4: I mean, that's that's what makes this great.
34:37
Speaker 3: Donald Trump is going to get on TV tonight and
34:39
Speaker 3: talk about the twenty twenty election and what China got involved.
34:44
Speaker 3: Do his followers not realize that if what Trump is
34:47
Speaker 3: saying is true, which I don't believe it is, but
34:50
Speaker 3: if what he's saying is true, then China got involved
34:53
Speaker 3: in our elections while he was in charge our national security.
34:58
Speaker 3: And if they didn't get involved in twenty twenty four,
35:01
Speaker 3: it was when Biden was in charge of our national security.
35:04
Speaker 4: So who's the better person here? Tom?
35:06
Speaker 1: Becca is with us today and he is never short
35:09
Speaker 1: of his opinion.
35:10
Speaker 4: Blo.
35:10
Speaker 1: Okay, now it's blood pressure is going up. But you
35:13
Speaker 1: know what, We're gonna have to go on a break soon.
35:15
Speaker 4: Tom.
35:15
Speaker 1: I really appreciate you being here always. You are so
35:18
Speaker 1: honest with your opinion. But let me ask you this
35:21
Speaker 1: before we go, and you know how you know how
35:23
Speaker 1: it is When the time is drawing near, I'm gonna
35:26
Speaker 1: ask you a couple last questions. Any regrets with your career?
35:30
Speaker 3: Oh, I probably should have played the politics better. I
35:35
Speaker 3: probably should have played I should have probably played the
35:36
Speaker 3: office politics better. You know, the h and the they
35:41
Speaker 3: hire you for your opinion. Management hires you for your opinion.
35:44
Speaker 1: They just don't wanna and you are never short on opinion.
35:47
Speaker 3: They just don't want to hear what your opinion is
35:49
Speaker 3: of them. So I probably should have played the office
35:52
Speaker 3: politics better. But as far as the show itself do,
35:54
Speaker 3: it's not really no.
35:56
Speaker 1: And there was there any like important lesson that you
36:00
Speaker 1: think you learned with your career pathway now, you said
36:04
Speaker 1: before you said you better politician maybe or better with politics?
36:08
Speaker 1: Is that maybe the lesson that you learn.
36:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would say so, I'd say that, you know
36:13
Speaker 3: that I learned that, uh, you know, the people on
36:16
Speaker 3: the other end of the news stories, you know. I mean, look,
36:19
Speaker 3: you know, look, i'd be hard on you know, any
36:21
Speaker 3: elected official, all right, but the all of a sudden done.
36:24
Speaker 1: They're you know, they're human beings, and it's hard, you know.
36:27
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, but it terms of the territory, you know,
36:29
Speaker 3: if you just put yourself out there. I always felt
36:31
Speaker 3: sorry if people were like crawling up and going after
36:34
Speaker 3: uh you know, uh, you know, family member or something
36:37
Speaker 3: like that, because it was like, no, they're not in it.
36:39
Speaker 1: It's this person, you know, and that happens. It just
36:42
Speaker 1: happened all a lot and one one last thing I
36:45
Speaker 1: want to ask you, because have you ever changed your
36:49
Speaker 1: mind on any major belief because of what you learned?
36:53
Speaker 1: And you know, if you are in a position like
36:55
Speaker 1: me and you're running for an election, if you change
36:58
Speaker 1: your position on some think people will say, oh, you're
37:01
Speaker 1: a flip flopper. And I never thought it was wrong.
37:03
Speaker 1: If you got more information, you are more educated on
37:07
Speaker 1: a subject. If you changed your mind and said, well
37:09
Speaker 1: now I don't feel so strongly about this anymore, it
37:12
Speaker 1: was Okay, is there anything that you could think of
37:14
Speaker 1: that you really felt strongly about that once you got
37:17
Speaker 1: more information, you thought, you know what, I don't feel
37:20
Speaker 1: quite that way anymore.
37:21
Speaker 3: I'm sure there is. I just start can't think about
37:23
Speaker 3: what it is off the top of my head.
37:23
Speaker 1: You're gonna leave here and think about time.
37:25
Speaker 3: Well, well, and I know the things that I that
37:28
Speaker 3: nuanced differences, you know, but if you're talking about you know,
37:31
Speaker 3: I was anti abortion.
37:33
Speaker 1: And now in pro abortion, or I was not anything major, nothing, nothing.
37:36
Speaker 4: Like that, none of the major you know, I think
37:40
Speaker 4: I might have. I think I probably I probably softened
37:44
Speaker 4: my views somewhat on some of the social issues.
37:46
Speaker 1: Okay.
37:47
Speaker 3: You know, I think that I realized realizing that you know,
37:50
Speaker 3: that people are hurting, and then I think it's a
37:52
Speaker 3: government's job to maybe do more to help those people, Okay,
37:55
Speaker 3: and that not everybody that's on food stamps is you know,
37:58
Speaker 3: a lazy bum.
37:59
Speaker 1: Okay.
37:59
Speaker 3: You know that there are people out there that generally
38:01
Speaker 3: fall on hard times that need government support. And uh
38:05
Speaker 3: so I think that I think that maybe that is
38:08
Speaker 3: sort of the thing. I would also say that there
38:09
Speaker 3: are times that I might have a viewpoint, but I
38:14
Speaker 3: would embellish it on the air. What comes to mind
38:16
Speaker 3: is what I would go on my annual tie rate
38:19
Speaker 3: against bicyclists riding down Dodd Street. You know, I would
38:23
Speaker 3: talk about these biseless off the road and I would
38:26
Speaker 3: go off the rails and people would trawl in. It
38:29
Speaker 3: was great talk radio. Do the biseless on Dodd Street
38:32
Speaker 3: annoy me?
38:33
Speaker 4: Yeah?
38:34
Speaker 3: Did I make it sound as if it was the
38:35
Speaker 3: biggest problem, the problem facing Omaha?
38:39
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, so there were things like that.
38:42
Speaker 1: One last thing. Yeah, any advice for me, you.
38:45
Speaker 3: Know what, keep doing what you're doing. You know, it
38:48
Speaker 3: seems to be working for you. Uh, you know, I
38:50
Speaker 3: think it's I think it's interesting whenever I see politicians
38:53
Speaker 3: get involved in talk radio or talk radio hosted in politics,
38:57
Speaker 3: you know, they've had different the reason of success. But
39:01
Speaker 3: from everything I hear about you, you know you're doing
39:03
Speaker 3: well and uh, you know, just have fun with it. Well,
39:05
Speaker 3: have fun with it. Don't let it get to you
39:07
Speaker 3: too much. You know, try to try to help out
39:09
Speaker 3: the community. Uh, try to you know, do what you
39:12
Speaker 3: can to you know, inform and educate people and entertain
39:16
Speaker 3: them and just have.
39:17
Speaker 4: Fun with it. You know.
39:19
Speaker 1: When Scott first asked me to do this show. I said,
39:21
Speaker 1: why do you want me? But you know, Gary Sattlemeyer,
39:25
Speaker 1: I asked him the same thing, any advice for me,
39:27
Speaker 1: and he said, just be yourself? Yeah, and he said
39:30
Speaker 1: that that's that's all you can do. Just be yourself
39:32
Speaker 1: and and and you know, let the chips fall.
39:35
Speaker 4: People can sense a pH phony on the radio like that, right, Yeah.
39:38
Speaker 1: I think so too, Tom Beca. It was so great
39:41
Speaker 1: to the studio. We'll have to do it again. You
39:44
Speaker 1: are never short on opinions, and we got them today.
39:47
Speaker 1: Tom Becka was with us today.
39:49
Speaker 2: Thanks so much, a little a little quick hydration break there.
39:52
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Tom Becka for joining the cafebe
39:54
Speaker 2: comment line.
39:55
Speaker 1: We had a blast. We did have a blast. And
39:57
Speaker 1: I bit you that those phone lines and and those
40:00
Speaker 1: emails are fired up today because that's what Tom Becka
40:03
Speaker 1: can do. He never is short on letting you know
40:06
Speaker 1: what his opinion is. That he did today. We didn't
40:09
Speaker 1: have a chance to take your calls in your questions,
40:12
Speaker 1: but certainly the questions are the emails that you send
40:15
Speaker 1: in whether you agreed are not agreed. We will get
40:18
Speaker 1: to tomorrow for sure, most definitely, in this whole interview,
40:22
Speaker 1: This whole episode of the KFABE Comment Line is uploaded
40:24
Speaker 1: to the podcast page at kfab dot com or on
40:28
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app. Got about two minutes here gene to
40:31
Speaker 1: wrap up the KFABE Comment Line, and I did get
40:34
Speaker 1: a lot of questions, comments, and good the general consensus. Man,
40:39
Speaker 1: oh man, was it great to have Tom Becka back
40:41
Speaker 1: on the KFAB air waves. Yes, with honesty, integrity and
40:45
Speaker 1: a sense of humor. That's what he always used to say.
40:47
Speaker 1: But I loved it when he always used to do that.
40:49
Speaker 1: Wait wait wait, wait wait wait, and he did it
40:51
Speaker 1: for us today. Good. But he really, I mean, he's
40:54
Speaker 1: very opinionated and that's why people loved him when he
40:57
Speaker 1: was on the air. Chris Baker's the same, so he is.
41:01
Speaker 1: He is really a good entertainer. And I really like Tom.
41:05
Speaker 1: He was a tough interviewer. I mean he interviewed me
41:08
Speaker 1: dozens at times, and that's what you want, though, You
41:10
Speaker 1: want somebody to really push you right and make you
41:13
Speaker 1: stop and think and make you think on your feet too.
41:17
Speaker 1: So anyway, we will get to your questions or your
41:19
Speaker 1: comments about this interview with Tom Beckett the day. I'm
41:22
Speaker 1: so glad that he was on and I want to
41:24
Speaker 1: thank him again. That was fun to have him back
41:26
Speaker 1: in here, you know, just real quickly. On the way
41:28
Speaker 1: here this morning I heard Scott Voorhe's talking about Sesame
41:32
Speaker 1: Street and why why why do people always have to
41:35
Speaker 1: say can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?
41:37
Speaker 1: Because he said you should only have to know once?
41:39
Speaker 1: But why am I talking about this Because my son
41:41
Speaker 1: that lives in Cincinnati lives on Sesame Street. He really does,
41:46
Speaker 1: and my grandkids have a great time with that at
41:48
Speaker 1: school and when they ask him where they live and
41:50
Speaker 1: they say Sesame Street, they think they're lying to him.
41:53
Speaker 1: It's crazy. But anyway, Amy Melton Councilwoman Amy Melton from
41:57
Speaker 1: City Council District seven, will be on the show with
42:00
Speaker 1: me tomorrow. We have a lot to talk about. We're
42:02
Speaker 1: going to talk about the city council on Tuesday on
42:05
Speaker 1: a four to three vote approving the higher minimum wage.
42:08
Speaker 1: We're going to talk about that, We're going to talk
42:10
Speaker 1: about other city issues, and we're also going to talk
42:12
Speaker 1: about Tranquility Park, which is up in her district and
42:16
Speaker 1: what's going on up there. So that is it for
42:20
Speaker 1: us today. Unfortunately, that's all the time we have, but
42:23
Speaker 1: thank you for spending this hour with us and listening.
42:26
Speaker 1: We'd love for you to join us tomorrow. I'm Jean
42:28
Speaker 1: Stothard and this is eleven ten kfab Adopte