Latest / Sid & Friends In The Morning / Lee Harris | Vice President of News for WABC Radio | 05-07-26

Transcript

Lee Harris | Vice President of News for WABC Radio | 05-07-26 · Sid & Friends In The Morning

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  Speaker 1: Say yes to summer with Towhey and secure your holiday
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  Speaker 2: Years and years ago, when my stay at WPN was over,
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  Speaker 2: Mark Charnoff came to the realization, in like ten minutes,
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  Speaker 2: I got to get this guy back. Bottom line, I
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  Speaker 2: need sid. So he came up with this brilliant idea.
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  Speaker 2: He said, listen, I can't hire you back at the
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  Speaker 2: fan right away, Mason and all those guys that are
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  Speaker 2: against it. Let's get you back into the family and
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  Speaker 2: you'll ease your way back into that seat at wf an. Okay, great,
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  Speaker 2: what's the idea. We'll get your job at ten ten wins?
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  Speaker 2: I go, what are you talking about? That's all news
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  Speaker 2: all the time. They've got Mark Ron. They don't want
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  Speaker 2: buy more. It's like the mob don't want about more.
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  Speaker 2: We'll take care the more.
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  Speaker 3: Said Okay, who am I working with? Lee Harris? I
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  Speaker 3: know Lee, of course, he's a genius and an all
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  Speaker 3: time great. And Judy Deandres. I'm like, but Judy, I
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  Speaker 3: heard thing like Judy to me.
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  Speaker 2: I was told that Judy was basically the female version
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  Speaker 2: of Imus that you was going to be very tough,
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  Speaker 2: break your balls, not going to be easy, mind you.
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  Speaker 2: I will tell you my experience for the one year
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  Speaker 2: with Judy was not that she was actually great, But
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  Speaker 2: Lee and I became really good.
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  Speaker 3: Friends, and I believe he is the greatest.
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  Speaker 2: No disrespect to Scott Stanford and you right now know
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  Speaker 2: because you're doing a talk show. But in terms of
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  Speaker 2: straight news talk, I think he's the best morning I
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  Speaker 2: can ever And now he's walking around the holes at
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  Speaker 2: WABC talking about the Worldwide News Network, I think, and
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  Speaker 2: I have no idea what that is. And I work
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  Speaker 2: at this station. I'm the number one way and his
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  Speaker 2: guy at this station. So I'm happy Lee is here
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  Speaker 2: because I love him and he's a magnificent talent, magnificent.
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  Speaker 2: But I have no idea what the hell you're doing here.
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  Speaker 4: I could clue you in if you gave me a
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  Speaker 4: couple of minutes to talk. You're on the mic right now, handsome,
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  Speaker 4: so take it away.
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  Speaker 2: Hey.
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  Speaker 4: I was never happier at Winds than when you came on,
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  Speaker 4: because I thought it was the most new Yorkiest thing
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  Speaker 4: that had ever in New York. When you came on,
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  Speaker 4: here's a guy hiding out down in Florida. You know
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  Speaker 4: he's probably cutting out, is exactly right. It was kind
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  Speaker 4: of like the Witness Protection program Halfway Halfway House for radio,
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  Speaker 4: and it just sounded so New York even though it
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  Speaker 4: was originating from down there. You know, he was a
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  Speaker 4: guy who's paying a lot of attention to the scores
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  Speaker 4: because there might be a buck or two riding on them, right,
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  Speaker 4: And I was just so happy every time you came on.
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  Speaker 4: I think we I think we put it across. We
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  Speaker 4: have our credentials. Now, not everybody from WINS was from
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  Speaker 4: in town. They weren't all Brooklyn guys like that. So
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  Speaker 4: you gave us, You gave us a lot of cred
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  Speaker 4: during your your brief stay.
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  Speaker 3: It was fun and you what terrific. So thank now.
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  Speaker 4: So this is the radio station that made me want
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  Speaker 4: to get into radio, is why?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah?
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  Speaker 4: Because I heard guys working three hours a day playing
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  Speaker 4: records and making jokes, and I was a pretty lazy kid,
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  Speaker 4: and I thought that's a job for me. Now it
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  Speaker 4: turned out who was some of those guys. Some of
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  Speaker 4: them Dan Ingram I wanted to be Dan, of course,
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  Speaker 4: and Brucey Harry Harrison in the morning. I didn't think
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  Speaker 4: he was that funny, and he wasn't. He wasn't, you know,
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  Speaker 4: but he had to be the traffic cop in the morning. Yeah,
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  Speaker 4: and Ron, but he did do the Beatles breakfast, which
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  Speaker 4: was a big deal. Oh you didn't love the Harry
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  Speaker 4: Harrison Beatles Breakfast. I probably wasn't up early back then.
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  Speaker 4: You know, it was this slip into one. But you know,
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  Speaker 4: I later discovered I wasn't a very good DJ, so
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  Speaker 4: I wound up in news and you know, it worked out.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, okay, you were a legend. What did you start
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  Speaker 3: actually doing the morning anchor on ten ten wins.
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  Speaker 4: In nineteen ninety three? So how long did you end
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  Speaker 4: up keeping that job? Was almost thirty years?
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  Speaker 3: Wow, thirty years. Now did you work with Judy the
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  Speaker 3: whole time? I don't think so.
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  Speaker 4: I worked with Judy till twenty fifteen. Then Bridget Quinn
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  Speaker 4: came in. Oh yes, and she was very good and
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  Speaker 4: a little less flighty than Judy. Yeah, and well, judiada moments.
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  Speaker 4: I ended up loving Judy. Yeah, I thought what I
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  Speaker 4: heard about her before was not accurate. But but she
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  Speaker 4: did get a little feist every now and then. Well,
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  Speaker 4: she was from the stage. She had been on Broadway. Yeah,
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  Speaker 4: apparently for one night in a show starring Meat Loaf
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  Speaker 4: call Rocker by Hamlet. She put her talents to good
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  Speaker 4: use at ten ten.
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  Speaker 3: Well, you guys had a great team. I liked it too.
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  Speaker 3: She was very, very good.
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  Speaker 2: So now we're reading about this worldwide news network. It's
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  Speaker 2: all over your friend Alan Snippns's message board, and you
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  Speaker 2: seem to be the man in charge of this.
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  Speaker 3: So what is that all about?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, Well, as a lot of your listeners may know,
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  Speaker 4: the CBS Radio network is going out of business. Two
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  Speaker 4: weeks from tomorrow. They will broadcast for the very last
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  Speaker 4: time after ninety nine years really starting the radio news business.
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  Speaker 2: What do you think they're going out of it? Look,
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  Speaker 2: the clear answer is that I'm making money, okay, and
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  Speaker 2: that's why CBS AM Radio went out of business. Plus
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  Speaker 2: the fact I was killing that morning show, killing them,
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  Speaker 2: and it's very difficult to stay afloat if you're not
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  Speaker 2: doing well waitings wise in the morning. But CBS had
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  Speaker 2: both ten ten wins and CBS afford to only keep one.
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  Speaker 2: Alavero made ten ten wins in FM station as well,
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  Speaker 2: and CBS Radio went away.
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  Speaker 4: Why is this the case now, though, well, don't forget,
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  Speaker 4: we're talking really about two different companies now. So CBS
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  Speaker 4: Radio Network is actually owned by CBS News, and the
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  Speaker 4: reason why they're getting rid of it is a little
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  Speaker 4: more complicated the company.
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  Speaker 3: That's Barry Weiss's decision.
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  Speaker 4: Well, yes and no, not too contradict but she's part
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  Speaker 4: of it for sure. CBS in its current form is
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  Speaker 4: not interested in broadcasting, as you and I know it.
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  Speaker 4: They are interested in subscription. They want you to sign
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  Speaker 4: up for paramount plus. Rather than chase ad dollars, which
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  Speaker 4: is increasingly more difficult, they would like you to just
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  Speaker 4: subscribe and give them the money directly. And that's where
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  Speaker 4: the CBS Radio Network does not fit. There's no subscription
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  Speaker 4: model for that. No one's going to give you ten
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  Speaker 4: dollars a month to hear a newscast at the top
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  Speaker 4: of the hour. That said, it is a great business
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  Speaker 4: done properly, and fortunately we have the leadership here that
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  Speaker 4: understands that, and that is the business we will be
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  Speaker 4: in when CBS Radio Network goes down eleven thirty one
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  Speaker 4: pm on May twenty second. At midnight May twenty third,
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  Speaker 4: the World News Network Worldwide News network will take its place.
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  Speaker 4: We will rise up when they fall midnight, we will
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  Speaker 4: grab the flag and carry on. That's very exciting, better
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  Speaker 4: than ever, and there will be people who work there
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  Speaker 4: who come to work for us. It'll sound pretty similar,
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  Speaker 4: but I think it will have better editorial guidance.
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  Speaker 3: Let's just put it that way.
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  Speaker 2: I'm with you one hundred percent, all right, cool and
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  Speaker 2: give us a date one more time, Lee Harris.
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  Speaker 4: We will be up at May twenty third, at midnight.
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  Speaker 4: You will hear it on WABC. You'll hear the first
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  Speaker 4: three minutes of the network every hour. Try to get
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  Speaker 4: to it on time, sid and then we'll follow that
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  Speaker 4: up with local news. It's a hard joint, as we
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  Speaker 4: say here in showbiz. This is the pinnacle of my career,
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  Speaker 4: thirty years of wins.
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  Speaker 3: That was nice. Yeah, this is the pinnacle. It's so
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  Speaker 3: good to see you till You're a great guy and
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  Speaker 3: a great talent, and.
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  Speaker 2: We're very lucky to have you here in this new
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  Speaker 2: endeavor of ours at WABC, which should be a huge success.
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  Speaker 3: So it's great to see you every morning, Lee Harris.
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  Speaker 4: And it's great to see you. I mean, you know,
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  Speaker 4: we used to not see each other sure, three thousand
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  Speaker 4: miles away. I have to thank mister katsumat Eatings for
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  Speaker 4: having the vision. A lot of doubters about what went
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  Speaker 4: on here. You can see them on the message board today,
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  Speaker 4: and I must admit to some skepticism myself initially, but
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  Speaker 4: I've been proven wrong, not for the first time. So
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  Speaker 4: thanks to mister Katsimatides and our fearless leader Chad Lopez
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  Speaker 4: for seeing this through and giving us what we need
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  Speaker 4: to do this.
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  Speaker 3: Agreed, You're great, and so would they.
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  Speaker 2: Lee Harris, congratulations, best of luck. You and I will
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  Speaker 2: talk often on this program, I'm sure.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you so much. It's a great Lee Harris. Folks,
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  Speaker 3: thanks for listening to Sit In Friends in the Morning.
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  Speaker 4: You can hear Sit in Friends in the Morning weekday mornings.
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  Speaker 3: It's six.
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• 8:16
  Speaker 5: and X See you next time for a new episode,
• 8:19
  Speaker 5: so you never have to wonder what the heck
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  Speaker 3: Is going on here.