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Handel on the News · The Bill Handel Show

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM 640, the Bill Handel Show
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  Speaker 1: on demand on the iHeartRadio.
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  Speaker 2: App.
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  Speaker 3: And now, Handel on the News. Ladies and gentlemen, here's
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: Bill Handel.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Good morning.
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  Speaker 1: It is now a hump day, Wednesday, September 16th, as
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  Speaker 1: we start the morning show. And just let me say
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: hello to everyone. Kono, good morning to you.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, me first.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Yes, you first.
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  Speaker 3: See, I got you first.
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  Speaker 1: And there is the ever lovely Amy.
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  Speaker 4: Hello, Bill.
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  Speaker 1: Hi, Andy. Ever even lovelier or not as lovely or
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  Speaker 1: the same as lovely?
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  Speaker 3: Look at how politically correct I am.
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  Speaker 1: Anne, good morning.
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  Speaker 4: Wow.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and the most lovely, it's Neil.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning.
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  Speaker 2: I'd like to put in a vote for Anne being
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  Speaker 2: a cutie.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, I think Anne's a cutie.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks, man.
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  Speaker 3: She is a cutie.
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  Speaker 4: Just like a tangerine.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, oh, there you go. There you go. That's me.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, cutie, tangerines aren't tangerines anymore. And then Will Kohlschreiber.
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  Speaker 3: I'm not a cutie?
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  Speaker 1: No, you're far from a cutie. I think Will's a cutie.
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  Speaker 3: Your head is shaped like a cutie. Thanks. If you
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  Speaker 3: were trying to do an impression of Donald Trump.
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  Speaker 1: And painted your face and your head bright orange, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: you'd be a cutie.
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  Speaker 3: Hey, we're going to cover that.
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  Speaker 1: The first story we're going to do, Will, is going
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  Speaker 1: to be the helicopter crash, the NBC or the KNBC
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  Speaker 1: helicopter crash. And Ann tells me you were on that
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  Speaker 1: thing for five years.
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  Speaker 3: Yep, yeah.
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  Speaker 5: I was the last reporter before her, full time, before Eliana,
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  Speaker 5: the girl who died yesterday.
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  Speaker 3: So it was very rough.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll bet. And now a lot of people don't
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  Speaker 1: know that. And I think all of these news aircraft
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  Speaker 1: don't actually belong to the station. They are outsourced to
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  Speaker 1: a private company. So you actually work. No, you worked
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  Speaker 1: for the station, correct?
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  Speaker 5: Actually, in this case, I worked, as did Eliana, for
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  Speaker 5: Angel City Air, the aircraft company. And an interesting side
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  Speaker 5: note about that, it is owned by Lawrence Welk III, the.
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  Speaker 3: Grandson of the band leader, Larry Welk. Oh, wow. I
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  Speaker 3: didn't know that.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.
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  Speaker 5: He, he reported for a long time for, uh, channel
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  Speaker 5: nine back in the day.
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  Speaker 4: Oh, Lawrence.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and did when he, uh, the announcement of the
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  Speaker 1: deaths that he say, uh, we, uh, and a one,
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  Speaker 1: two people died.
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  Speaker 3: Is that too early by the way?
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  Speaker 2: Way too early.
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  Speaker 6: Hey, I have a note by the way, I was
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  Speaker 6: reading up on her, uh, I, you know, just have
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  Speaker 6: to honor the dead by knowing them, I guess. And
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  Speaker 6: as I was reading through her social media back in July,
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  Speaker 6: Will left a comment on her sitting in the helicopter
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  Speaker 6: saying they haven't changed any of the insides. I hope
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  Speaker 6: they've taken care of the mechanical parts or something.
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  Speaker 5: And I, well, no, they have to, but no, of course,
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  Speaker 5: it was a very flippant comment. I was, I was,
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  Speaker 5: I noticed she was sitting on the, the, they hadn't
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  Speaker 5: upholstered the seats in a while.
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  Speaker 3: It was, they were all falling apart.
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  Speaker 5: And I would just kind of, I was, I was,
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  Speaker 5: it was a, it was a jokey comment.
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  Speaker 2: But it actually, it, I didn't have that response.
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  Speaker 6: Well, I had the response that my response was about
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  Speaker 6: you knowing that how delicate the situation is and dangerous
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  Speaker 6: inherently being up in the air as someone who's done
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  Speaker 6: it yourself. I didn't I understood it was a joke,
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  Speaker 6: but to me, it foreshadowed in the way that you
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  Speaker 6: knew the seriousness that when you go up in those
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  Speaker 6: things and you were talking about it this morning with
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  Speaker 6: Amy about that hovering is the most dangerous and vulnerable part.
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  Speaker 6: I put that together. I didn't see it as flippant
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  Speaker 6: like that. I took it as someone who had insight.
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  Speaker 1: Have you ever been in one of those? What kind
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  Speaker 1: of copter was it? First of all, was it a
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  Speaker 1: Bell Ranger? No, it's called an A-Star.
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  Speaker 3: An A-Star. Oh, French. It's a French copter. It's a
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  Speaker 3: French copter, yep. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: The French are very strange with the helicopters because the
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  Speaker 1: rotors turn the other way. Yes, they do.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, you know that.
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  Speaker 1: And the collective, everything is backwards. Yes. And the French
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  Speaker 1: just do that to screw with people. That's the French.
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  Speaker 1: I'm serious, by the way. They do it just to
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  Speaker 1: screw with people. There is no reason whatsoever not to
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  Speaker 1: have a universal standard. Basically, the wheel is on the
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  Speaker 1: other side, and everything is reversed. But it's a good helicopter,
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  Speaker 1: from what I understand.
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  Speaker 2: Really good helicopter.
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  Speaker 1: The LAPD uses A-stars in– And if you've ever been
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  Speaker 1: on a helicopter, Neil, and certainly Will will attest to it,
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  Speaker 1: not so much the A-Star, but the Bells, that these
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  Speaker 1: helicopters look like they're very small for aircraft. Until you're
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  Speaker 1: in it, you don't realize how small they actually are.
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  Speaker 1: And it looks like it's sort of riveted together. They're
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  Speaker 1: not smoothly done on the outside. The rivets aren't flush.
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  Speaker 1: It's fascinating stuff. But anyway, so let me ask you something, Will,
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  Speaker 1: before we get to the news. Does this portend the
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  Speaker 1: use of drones as traffic, quote, helicopters up there? Paying
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  Speaker 1: for an airplane, paying for reporters. I mean, you sit
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  Speaker 1: down in your report, you know, we're KFI on the ground.
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  Speaker 1: We used to be KFI in the sky. We don't
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  Speaker 1: say that anymore anymore. Because I would always say, and
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  Speaker 1: now let's go to— The.
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  Speaker 4: KFI on the ground just doesn't have that same ring, too.
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  Speaker 1: You know what?
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  Speaker 3: Management called me and said, maybe you don't want to
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  Speaker 3: do that, Bill.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think drones are eventually— you know, right now they're
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  Speaker 5: not at the.
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  Speaker 3: Point of being— able to replace reporters up in the sky.
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  Speaker 5: But I 100% think that 10, 15 years maybe?
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  Speaker 3: Well, look at you.
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  Speaker 1: We don't have anybody in the sky. And you are
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  Speaker 1: in front of a bunch of computer screens, KFI on
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  Speaker 1: the ground. And you're doing 10 times the better job
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  Speaker 1: because you're not flying over a freeway. And there's a
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  Speaker 1: report that you now have to fly 12 minutes away.
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  Speaker 3: It's right there.
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  Speaker 1: And you're reporting in real time. So I think that's the.
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  Speaker 3: Wave of the future.
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  Speaker 1: And then no one dies. And then you don't pay
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  Speaker 1: for a helicopter, which are insanely expensive to maintain. All right.
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  Speaker 1: Let's do it, guys.
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  Speaker 3: It is time. That's our lead story.
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  Speaker 1: Kono.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, you went too quick. I did go too quick.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, no, I get it. Amy, Neil, and me.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, okay. You know, you're right. You're right.
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  Speaker 2: Here we go.
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  Speaker 1: Handle on the news. Amy, Neil, and me. Lead story.
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  Speaker 1: And it is exactly what Will was talking about. The
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  Speaker 1: helicopter affiliated with the NBC local station KNBC went down.
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  Speaker 1: And the traffic reporter that Will knows, Eliana Moreno, died.
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  Speaker 1: And someone on the ground died also. And the pilot died.
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  Speaker 4: The pilot was George Marcineau.
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  Speaker 1: Was he known? I don't think so. It's just a reporter. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: and is it one reporter? Because some of these helicopters
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  Speaker 1: carry two reporters up there. Will?
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  Speaker 3: It was just one. She runs the camera and reports.
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  Speaker 1: Okay.
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  Speaker 3: And the person on the ground, unfortunately.
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  Speaker 2: And she's a mom?
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  Speaker 3: I don't know. She wasn't when I knew her.
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  Speaker 4: She's from Orange County. I think she went to Chapman.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 5: So many young TV people in the L.A. area come
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  Speaker 5: from Chapman. It's amazing.
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  Speaker 1: It's a good school. Yeah. Chapman is a very good school. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: we can do one more and then we'll take a
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  Speaker 1: break and then really get into it.
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  Speaker 4: The price of war with Iran is huge. The war
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  Speaker 4: has cost $ 38 billion so far. That amount is projected
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  Speaker 4: to go up by $ 3 billion a month. It's expected
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  Speaker 4: to increase inflation by 0.5% in the first three months
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  Speaker 4: of 2027, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The cost
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  Speaker 4: is close to the $ 37. 5 billion that Defense Secretary Pete
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  Speaker 4: Hegseth reported at a Senate hearing yesterday. On July 21st,
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  Speaker 4: majority of the costs stem from the rapid drawdown of munitions.
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  Speaker 4: And the budget office is estimating it could take five
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  Speaker 4: years to replenish U.S.
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  Speaker 1: Stockpiles. And now keep in mind, the administration, the Defense Department,
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  Speaker 1: the White House says we have more than enough musicians, munitions,
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  Speaker 1: ammo and stockpiles to serve the commander in chief's strategic
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  Speaker 1: goals and beyond.
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  Speaker 3: And we're getting information from the Pentagon itself.
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  Speaker 1: Well, let me put it this way, not officially, but
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  Speaker 1: people in the know who, of course, have to talk
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  Speaker 1: in anonymity because they'll get canned by Hegseth and saying
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  Speaker 1: that is not the truth at all.
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  Speaker 3: It makes sense.
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  Speaker 1: Look at the munitions, the level of the bombing, the missiles,
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  Speaker 1: the high-grade munitions that were spent.
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  Speaker 3: Why do I want to say musicians?
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  Speaker 1: OK.
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  Speaker 3: All right.
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  Speaker 6: An anti-war Republican congressman introduced rather articles of impeachment just
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  Speaker 6: yesterday against Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth. This all ties into
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  Speaker 6: the Iran war. And this is going to be a headache.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's just stop it. It's not going to happen.
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  Speaker 3: It's a political statement.
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  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, but that's what I'm saying.
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  Speaker 3: It's not going to do anything. It's just going to
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  Speaker 3: make a headache happen. Nothing's going to happen.
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  Speaker 1: It's like the Trump administration indicting these people. It has
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  Speaker 1: no chance of going anyplace. And then the Democrats now
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  Speaker 1: are moving for impeachment against Hegseth, which has no chance
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  Speaker 1: of passing.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, and this is typically what legislators do.
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  Speaker 1: During hearings, for example, when they have these investigative hearings
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  Speaker 1: in front of Congress, Senate, or the House, what do these, quote, investigators,
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  Speaker 1: the Congress people do? They give a four-minute and 40-second
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  Speaker 1: diatribe on their political position, and then spend 20 seconds
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  Speaker 1: actually asking questions.
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  Speaker 3: It's all stupid.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: It's all stupid.
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  Speaker 6: Yeah, but the fact that it's got Thomas Massey, a
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  Speaker 6: Republican who's not a fan of Trump.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: No, he's not, and he's a Republican, which is kind
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: of interesting because this is Kentucky's representative, and Kentucky likes
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  Speaker 1: Donald Trump, to say the least.
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  Speaker 4: Death penalty is off the table. Prosecutors have taken that punishment.
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: Out of consideration for the killing of Rob and Michelle Reiner,
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: their son Nick is the one who's accused of killing them.
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: Apparently Rob and Michelle Reiner were both against capital punishment.
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  Speaker 4: That's from L.A. County D.A. Nathan Hockman. And also Hockman
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  Speaker 4: said he talked to Jake and Romy Reiner, the Reiner's
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  Speaker 4: other two children. said they made their views very clear.
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  Speaker 4: We took that into consideration and ultimately decided not to
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  Speaker 4: go after the death penalty.
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know if the last time that happened
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  Speaker 1: or to this extent, maybe because it's gone public. Also,
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: it makes no sense anymore to give the death penalty.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: Makes no sense. If it turns out that someone was
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: actually put to death, it's hundreds of millions of dollars
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: per execution because of the automatic appeals that happen that
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: the state has to pay for. where if someone's given
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: life imprisonment without parole, for example, that's it. You know,
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: you're just sitting in jail and rotting. Then the state
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: doesn't pay for medical expenses or it doesn't pay for
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: the legal appeals. So why spend the money? Because the
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: guy's not going to, he's going to die natural causes anyway.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: Because what is it, 35 years, 38 years now for
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  Speaker 1: someone to be convicted and then to be executed, all
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: of which the appeals are going crazy. Now, now you
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: can't do it anymore. unfortunately can't do it because death
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: penalty is so entertaining one of the best days of
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: my life is when i was a witness to an
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  Speaker 1: execution and man i i love that you know the
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: way you love disneyland uh neil amy yeah uh that's
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  Speaker 1: my ride of the future uh death penalty uh witnessing
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  Speaker 1: fantastic very strong.
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  Speaker 6: Okay Nothing like envisioning you rocking back and forth, hugging
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  Speaker 6: yourself while watching one going, it's a.
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  Speaker 2: Whole new world.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, absolutely. All right.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: Newsome does something smart. Oh, that's not the headline. Thousands
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: of L.A.
• 12:50
  Speaker 6: County homeowners, if you remember after the fires, were complaining
• 12:53
  Speaker 6: because they had to battle with insurance companies. To protect
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  Speaker 6: their house from not burning down, but having all the
• 13:02
  Speaker 6: soot and ash and nastiness and chemicals and particulates be
• 13:07
  Speaker 6: absorbed into their home. But since it didn't burn down,
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  Speaker 6: they weren't being paid by insurance. Well, this is the.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: Way the insurance companies, how they describe damage, only fire damage,
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  Speaker 1: physical fire damage. Yeah. And in reality, when something burns,
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  Speaker 1: even the house next door, the smoke and the particulates
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: actually are absorbed even by the drywall.
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: You can't get rid of it.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: It sucks up. You have to go down to the studs.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: You have to go down to the studs and redo
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: your entire house. And they're saying that's not smoke damage
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: or that's not fire damage.
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: Don't you love insurance companies?
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: You gotta love it.
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  Speaker 6: So this is the first in the nation and he
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  Speaker 6: signed it yesterday and it's going to require insurance companies
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  Speaker 6: to pay for associated costs. And he says, California will
• 13:59
  Speaker 6: not leave survivors to navigate recovery alone.
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  Speaker 1: You wonder why it took so long to do this
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: and to argue that smoke damage from a fire is
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  Speaker 1: not fire damage is just stupid. And look at the
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: cost of fire insurance in this state. Look at the
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: cost of insurance. Does that mean insurance is going to
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: go even higher? Yeah, probably, because the insurance companies, what,
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: how many billions of dollars do they have to pay? Oh,
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: here's an interesting factoid, by the way, and that is
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: the private insurance companies that have fire insurance, which is
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: all of them, they actually have enough money to pay
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: the claims of their insured. There are enough reserves in
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: the piggy bank of theirs. The agency that doesn't have
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: enough money is the California Fair Plan. The California Fair Plan,
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: which is the insurance company of last resort, because there
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: are areas that the major insurance companies won't touch, fire areas.
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  Speaker 3: They're just not interested. They're not going to get near it.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: The California Fair Plan, that doesn't have enough money, and
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: that could go broke. Okay.
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: Just thought I'd mention. Octoid City.
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  Speaker 4: You want to do one more?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely one more.
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  Speaker 1: Okay. This is a big one.
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  Speaker 4: Lawmakers are joining forces to make sure that you can
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: listen to KFI in your car. More than 300 people
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: have co-sponsored this. There is a House bill. They're expected
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: to pass the proposed AM radio for every vehicle act.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: But.
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: The challenge has been getting it to the floor for
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: a vote. That finally happened late yesterday. Lawmakers voted overwhelmingly
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: by a voice vote to move the proposal forward, which
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: would require AM receivers in vehicle dashboards. You know, they
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: don't have them in a lot of new cars.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: But the bill also allows the manufacturers... to use or
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: comply by using equipment capable of receiving digital AM station,
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: digital signal. So it's basically the same thing, isn't it?
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  Speaker 1: When you think about it, what has happened? Does this mean,
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  Speaker 1: to your point, does this mean that there has to
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  Speaker 1: be a button or there has to be, all you
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: do is press on a screen and you get AM?
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  Speaker 4: The latest version of the Radio for Every Vehicle Act
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  Speaker 4: would issue a rule within one year requiring AM reception
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  Speaker 4: as standard equipment in passenger vehicles sold.
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  Speaker 3: In the U.S.
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  Speaker 1: All right, so it doesn't have to go through. This
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: is inside radio. The story is not correct because I
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: think it's what the AM people do. The companies like
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: iHeart was pushing for AM accessibility, and it makes sense.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: because first of all, a lot of people listen to AM.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: And second of all, the emergency broadcast system is on AM.
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  Speaker 1: We cover, you know, the testing we do all the time,
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  Speaker 1: you know, that high pitched noise that comes out during testing.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: The one that you see in Mars attack where their
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: heads explode, that's our signal. And people pay attention to it.
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  Speaker 1: And the bill was, and the car manufacturers were going
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  Speaker 1: to say, no, we're not, we don't want to spend
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: the money.
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  Speaker 4: Well, I thought that isn't, Wasn't Tesla's argument that somehow
• 17:22
  Speaker 4: or another the AM signal interfered with some of the
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: operations of the car or something?
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that was one of the arguments. But
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: the good news, it's over. And I'll tell you who
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: really supported this, our next advertiser, the Lemon Law people,
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: thought it was a very good idea to keep AM going.
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: So I'll do the commercial in just a moment.
• 17:44
  Speaker 6: Ed Sheeran is on his loop tour right now, but
• 17:48
  Speaker 6: he has zero customers.
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: Supporting acts.
• 17:50
  Speaker 6: I guess originally the main act was Macklemore, and Macklemore
• 17:57
  Speaker 6: came out and said a bunch of pro-Palestinian comments on stage,
• 18:05
  Speaker 6: and I guess the promoter, the tour's promoter, dropped the
• 18:10
  Speaker 6: Grammy-winning rapper, and And Sheeran said he didn't want to
• 18:16
  Speaker 6: be pulled into the war in Gaza and all that stuff.
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: But now no one will open for him.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but not because of Ed Sheeran and not because
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: of the pro-Israeli position. It's because the performers were talking
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: about the Palestinian rights and what Israel is doing to Palestine.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: And then the issue is, does a performer have a
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: right to espouse a political position?
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: I don't care.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: But obviously, I think it was who was the owner,
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: Steve Kraft, I believe. Is that his first name? Who
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: owns the venue?
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: And he's the one that said, not interested. Robert Kraft.
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: Robert Kraft. Thank you.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: And he whatever venue he owned, whatever stadium he owned, said, nope,
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: not going to happen. And he canceled the entire tour
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: or threatened to cancel the tour. So everybody bails out.
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: Anyway, let's move on.
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: Trying to sweep this one under the rug. An investigation
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: found the L.A. Department of Transportation issued more than 12,500
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: street sweeping tickets on days when no sweeping was scheduled.
• 19:32
  Speaker 4: The total fines? Nearly a million dollars. The Department of
• 19:37
  Speaker 4: Transportation apparently tried to downplay the problem, saying it occasionally
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: dismissed tickets issued in error proactively and sent reimbursement instructions
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: to motorists who had already paid, but it wasn't. occasionally dismissing.
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: It was like 12,500 of them.
• 19:52
  Speaker 6: And this all has to do with some days they
• 19:56
  Speaker 6: don't sweep the streets. And you can find out by
• 19:59
  Speaker 6: looking it up, but they're not supposed to tag you
• 20:02
  Speaker 6: if a street sweeper.
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: Is not coming that day, even if it's scheduled.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: By the way, before we take this next break, a
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: word about the inflation and what the Fed's going to
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: do and the interest rates. At 11 o'clock this morning,
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: our time, it looks like the Feds are going to
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: raise interest rates for the first time in three years.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: So we'll see what happens as a result of that.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: Matter of fact, a lot longer than three years. I
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: don't remember the last time a Fed did raise interest rates.
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 20:30
  Speaker 6: All right, Americans, median household income rose to $ 87, 460 or 2.6%
• 20:37
  Speaker 6: in 2025. This is the first year President Donald Trump's
• 20:44
  Speaker 6: second term. This is the Census Bureau data released just yesterday.
• 20:49
  Speaker 6: So highest household income, which is adjusted for inflation, of course.
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: Since the agency started measuring it in 1967.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, this is great news, except the fact that inflation
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: is beating income rise. And that doesn't bode well in
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: the long term. The only way really good news is
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: wages go up, median income goes up, and inflation is
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: not as high as wages going up. We don't have
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: that right now, but it's still good news around the board.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: Can you imagine median wages? That's 50% above, 50%.
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: Below, $ 87, 000.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: That includes people that are really, really poor and people
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: that are really, really rich. And you look at all
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: of them. I don't think it means a lot in
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: terms of statistics, but it says something. Oh, it's a
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: great story.
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: The Kennedy Center is closed. The board voted yesterday to
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: immediately shutter the Performing Arts Center, saying it's because of
• 22:00
  Speaker 4: its dire financial and structural shape. They did have some damage,
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: apparently after some heavy rains. Part of the ceiling collapsed
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: last week or actually earlier this month. But the vote
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: came shortly after a judge in Washington said, rejected the
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: board's latest effort to add president trump's name to the
• 22:19
  Speaker 4: facade of the building as you'll recall he put the
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: name up it was ordered to be taken down then
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: they said oh here let's do it this way instead
• 22:28
  Speaker 4: and the judge said no he can't have his name
• 22:30
  Speaker 4: on this building it's for kennedy okay now look at.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: This uh they're shutting it down because uh it uh
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: is falling apart OK. And also, no one is performing
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: there anymore.
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: Very few. And the subscriptions and attendance is way down.
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: So now would be a good time to do the renovation.
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: You would think so.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: And the president said, we're shutting it down unless my
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: name goes on it. And then we're not shutting it down.
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: So either it needs to be shut down or it
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: doesn't need to be shut down. Which one is it?
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: Would you like to tell me? If the president's name
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: is on it, it's not shut down. If the president's
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: name is on it, or the other way, if it's
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: not on it, it shuts down. If it's on it,
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: it doesn't shut down. And he has raised some money
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: for it. He has, but it's going to take the
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: government to really pay for all of it.
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: Well, Congress had already appropriated $ 250 million for the job
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: last year.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: But it doesn't matter because it's shut down. It cannot
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: be kept open. It is in such a horrible, horrible condition.
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: Except if the.
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: President's name is on it, then it's not in a
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: horrible condition and we're going to keep it open. And
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: this is one of those where, I mean, it's blatant.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: There is no question about it. It is blatant. If
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: my name is not on that building, we are not
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: going to use it.
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: How exciting. I know.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: It's just it's insanity. It is completely insane. But of course,
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: no shocker there. And then some pretty bad news in
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: terms of production here.
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we've this is more on top of more on
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: top of more.
• 24:13
  Speaker 6: Earlier this year, Fox's The Masked Singer made plans to
• 24:18
  Speaker 6: vacate its space on the Fox lot. Out here and
• 24:22
  Speaker 6: then in Los Angeles and then it headed to New Jersey.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: Better tax credits.
• 24:28
  Speaker 6: Another hit, Shark Tank relocated to Atlanta from Sony's Culver
• 24:33
  Speaker 6: City lot here. And now American Idol. Is it going
• 24:39
  Speaker 6: to stay in L.A. or is it moving to Atlanta? Well,
• 24:43
  Speaker 6: it's moving to. We'll tell you right after this break.
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: No, I'm kidding.
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: That's what they do all the time. And the winner is, yeah,
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: they're moving to Atlanta.
• 24:54
  Speaker 6: So basically we are the Detroit of the industry.
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: And this is, that's true. Good point, LA. So here's
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: the question.
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: What are they going to say now when they win
• 25:06
  Speaker 4: their ticket?
• 25:08
  Speaker 6: You're moving, you're going to high Atlanta.
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: Doesn't have the same ring to it.
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: Doesn't have the same ring.
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: Money speaks, man. This is it. We're done.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: And other jurisdictions are giving all kinds of tax breaks. Now,
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: it's a little controversial on those places that are getting
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: the production because you've got citizens there that are saying,
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: we're losing money on these productions coming. It is costing
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: us money. And so there's an argument one way or
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: the other. Nothing is uncomplicated in life. There's always two
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: or three or four sides to the coin. And this
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: one is, it's still a shame because Hollywood is now
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: just becoming a tourist, a tourist attraction.
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: I'm talking about Hollywood. Have you ever gone along Hollywood Boulevard?
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: Many times.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: It's basically tourism. That's basically it.
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: It's basically criminal activity.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: Well, criminals who are tourists.
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: Dirty and gross now.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Criminals who are coming as tourists to commit crimes
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: and then they leave.
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: That's correct.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: Or the fun part is at the Chinese theater. where
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: you have the various characters, Superman, Batman. You could take
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: a picture with the Marvel characters and other film characters.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: And remember the story where the two Batmen were fighting
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: it out and went into the hospital?
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: Oh, there's been a couple.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, just really good ones.
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: It's nuts.
• 26:32
  Speaker 6: And the Chamber of Commerce has worked their butt off
• 26:35
  Speaker 6: to keep everything clean. And the city just does not
• 26:38
  Speaker 6: back them up.
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: No, and they're right.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: The city, the Chamber of Commerce is a great organization,
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: particularly since it gave me the star. OK, guys, we
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: are like I changed my mind completely after that. All right,
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: we're done. We are finished coming up. American businesses have
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: no idea how do you charge, what are prices are
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: you going to charge consumers with the craziness that's going on?
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: And I'll share that with you when we come back.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: KFI AM 640. You've been listening to The Bill Handel Show.
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: Catch my show Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.