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To Endorse or Not Endorse... · The M&M Experience

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  Speaker 1: Stevie Wonder has been around on the radio for a
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  Speaker 1: sixty year. More than the sixty years fingertips early sixties.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: He is seventy six today. A little superstition. Mike Gallagher
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  Speaker 1: joins US truck China moments ago.
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  Speaker 2: Are you superstitious about like new company ownership? Boy? Big
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  Speaker 2: Big Broadcasting News yesterday announced that Waterstone has taken control
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  Speaker 2: of Salem Media, which is a company we've been working
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  Speaker 2: with for about a year and a half. They're great people.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, there was just an article I just
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  Speaker 2: finished reading an article that I want to share. If
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  Speaker 2: you're interested in the radio world and you're interested in broadcasting,
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  Speaker 2: there's a piece that was just posted at Barrett Media
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  Speaker 2: by a writer named Garrett Seawright what Salem Media's future
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  Speaker 2: looks like following acquisition by Waterstone. And it's a spot
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  Speaker 2: on And I couldn't help myself. I said to the
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  Speaker 2: I know the guy. He's done it. Yeah, I think
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  Speaker 2: he wrote about you before, about me. He's a great
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  Speaker 2: he covers the radio and broadcast industry. And I said, Garrett,
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  Speaker 2: you got to tell me, do you have somebody on
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  Speaker 2: the inside? And he laughed, he said, well, no, he goes.
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  Speaker 2: I based it on the release. It's so smart and
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  Speaker 2: so accurate about the culture of Waterstone and the culture
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  Speaker 2: of Salem Media. You know, we're a company been around
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  Speaker 2: for over fifty years. It's kind of strange to think
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  Speaker 2: I've been an employee of Salem for half of that.
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  Speaker 2: I've been in a Salem and you know, I've worked
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  Speaker 2: for Salem for twenty five years, and so this is
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  Speaker 2: the first time I'm going to have a new set
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  Speaker 2: of you know, big bosses, you know, the regular The
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  Speaker 2: management team is in play still, but and it's such
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  Speaker 2: a great analysis about how these aren't just venture capitalists
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  Speaker 2: trying to get a quick turnaround their mission. Alliance on
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  Speaker 2: a mission. It's a mission. And taking the company private
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  Speaker 2: is the big of course takeaway.
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  Speaker 1: The big thing is we're not going to be publicly
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  Speaker 1: traded or we're not a stockholder or anything. We're going
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  Speaker 1: to be a privately owned company, which means that audience
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  Speaker 1: is an advertise. There's going to be the concerns to
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  Speaker 1: be addressed, which works for me just fine.
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  Speaker 2: Oh it works for me big time. I mean, he
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  Speaker 2: writes in the piece and I've posted it on my
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  Speaker 2: x account. So if you're interested in radio and kind
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  Speaker 2: of the you know, I know it's a little inside
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  Speaker 2: baseball here, but if you're interested in the comings and
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  Speaker 2: goings of a big acquisition like this, check out my
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  Speaker 2: ex page. Just follow me at Gallagher Show because I
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  Speaker 2: just reposted it on my x account. But Garrett see
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  Speaker 2: Wright writes, look, this is a bold step. It's also
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  Speaker 2: the right one when you're when you're not publicly traded.
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  Speaker 2: You know, when you're publicly traded. Every programming decision, every
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  Speaker 2: content investment, every strategic bet gets filtered through the lens
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  Speaker 2: of how it is going to play out on Wall Street.
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  Speaker 2: But for a company like Salem, one that operates with
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  Speaker 2: a very specific set of values, a very specific audience,
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  Speaker 2: and a very specific mission, that's a structural mismatch. And
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  Speaker 2: he is right. He says, Salem's identity isn't complicated. It
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  Speaker 2: wants to serve conservative news talk radio audiences. He wants
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  Speaker 2: to remain a fixture in Christian media. Those aren't incidental features.
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  Speaker 2: Those aren't incidental features of the company. They're the whole point.
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  Speaker 2: And it's easy to see why operating in service of
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  Speaker 2: a stock price can create friction with that kind of
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  Speaker 2: mission driven focus. So going private removes that friction. He
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  Speaker 2: quotes our CEO, Dave Santrella, who said, you know, this
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  Speaker 2: is a meaningful shift. Waterstone understands who we are and
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  Speaker 2: why Salem has mattered for over fifty years.
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  Speaker 1: So when I and you're as a twenty five year veteran,
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  Speaker 1: I am still the mere newcomer at coming up at
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  Speaker 1: fourteen exactly what I said. It's what nbap. The old
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  Speaker 1: joke was, what do they call you after eighteen years?
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  Speaker 2: The new guy?
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  Speaker 1: Because of Alja and.
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  Speaker 2: Don Harris and Bill Mecker.
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  Speaker 1: So yeah, fourteen years in. I remember when I first
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  Speaker 1: came in. I can't remember who told me this. He said,
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  Speaker 1: we're about two things, saving souls and save in the country.
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  Speaker 1: Because there's a portion of the Salem umbrella that is
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  Speaker 1: like one hundred point seven the word Christian ta taching
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  Speaker 1: and talk and obviously are technically secular but still very
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  Speaker 1: faith filled. If people like you, people like me, people
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  Speaker 1: like Eric Metaxtas, people like Larry Elder, people like you Hewitt,
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  Speaker 1: people like Larry are very faith forward in our dealing
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  Speaker 1: with conservative political news talk. So nobody buys a company
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  Speaker 1: to mess up what it does. It is too enlightened
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  Speaker 1: to lift up what we do, and in so doing,
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  Speaker 1: we try to lift up America and lift up a
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  Speaker 1: Christian ethic and specifically in our teaching and talk stations
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  Speaker 1: and as a flavor as a portion of the things
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  Speaker 1: that we do topically here. So I couldn't be more pleased.
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  Speaker 2: I often think, I often think how lucky we are
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  Speaker 2: that because I hear horror stories from colleagues about how
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  Speaker 2: they get called into the office and you're supposed to
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  Speaker 2: say this, and you're supposed to do this, and you're
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  Speaker 2: supposed to and I think they've twenty five years, they've
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  Speaker 2: never told me ever what to say on anything. They
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  Speaker 2: don't do that. There's no reason to think that's going
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  Speaker 2: to change. And it won't. I mean, because look, we've
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  Speaker 2: been around so long and we're we have well established audiences.
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  Speaker 2: But isn't it a joy mark to come to work
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  Speaker 2: for a company that truly values what we bring to
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  Speaker 2: the table. They leave us alone? And that can't be said,
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  Speaker 2: And not just in broadcasting. There's a lot of people
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  Speaker 2: who are very in very unhappy circumstances because they they
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  Speaker 2: work for an employer that is, you know, awful and
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  Speaker 2: tells you you know, it cracks the whip and it's awful,
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  Speaker 2: and they tell you what to do and blah blah blah.
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  Speaker 2: We don't have that, and we're so lucky. We're so
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  Speaker 2: lucky for it.
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  Speaker 1: Mark in five months after I came through the door
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  Speaker 1: in June of twenty twelve, it was Thanksgiving and we
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  Speaker 1: had our employee Thanksgiving lunch, and I remember my eyebrows
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  Speaker 1: went up a little bit when it was time for
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  Speaker 1: everybody to bow their heads and pray. I've worked for ABC,
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  Speaker 1: I've worked for Disney, worked for cap Cities, work for Cumulus,
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  Speaker 1: and by the way, I have nothing badness that work
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  Speaker 1: for Susquehanna. I have nothing bad to say about any
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  Speaker 1: of those companies. But they are secularized by nature et cetera,
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  Speaker 1: et cetera. That they they do not have the guiding
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  Speaker 1: beacon that that we have, and their Bibles on the
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  Speaker 1: desks around here, and.
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  Speaker 2: You get arrested for doing that. At ABC, they informs
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  Speaker 2: what we do. And I pray before they take you
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  Speaker 2: on handcuffs, they would take you away, all right. I'm
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  Speaker 2: in the right place for this redistricting drama. South Carolina.
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  Speaker 2: A boy, is it? It's well five five recalcitrant Republicans.
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  Speaker 2: H I e rhinos that do you know that the
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  Speaker 2: the Senate majority leader here yesterday stood up and said,
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  Speaker 2: it's a it's a good thing to have competition with Democrats. Uh,
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  Speaker 2: it's good to have vibrant Democrats here in South Carolina.
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  Speaker 2: That's the Senate that's the Republican Senate majority leader who
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  Speaker 2: which proves that these guys don't know how to fight.
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  Speaker 2: They just don't want to win, and they're they're all nervous.
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  Speaker 2: Look it, you'd pick up an extra congressional seat. And
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  Speaker 2: I saw some analysis last night that if South Carolina
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  Speaker 2: doesn't come through, and if I think it was Mississippi
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  Speaker 2: and Alabama, two or three other states that are having
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  Speaker 2: you know, a sticky time doing this, it might make
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  Speaker 2: the difference. It could cost us the House in the midterms.
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  Speaker 2: It just is well, guess what, that's why you that's
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  Speaker 2: why you got to move heaven and earth. Trump is right.
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  Speaker 2: And let me tell you something. I pity these five
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  Speaker 2: South Carolina Republicans because they are going to be under
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  Speaker 2: a microscope. I mean, Trump is pressuring everybody. Now, there's
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  Speaker 2: jockeying with the governor. Now I've known the governor. I've
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  Speaker 2: interviewed him for years. He's been around forever, Henry McMaster,
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  Speaker 2: and he's a Trump ally. And the latest is that
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  Speaker 2: if he calls a special session, that they call him
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  Speaker 2: back in and it's some procedural you know, pooh bah process.
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  Speaker 2: There's a way to still do this. There's a way
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  Speaker 2: to still get it done. The rumor is that McMaster
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  Speaker 2: is going to call on President Trump to endorse his
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  Speaker 2: lieutenant governor, Pamela Evan. Pamela Evan, who, by the way,
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  Speaker 2: I like her a lot, and I mean I've known
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  Speaker 2: her for years and interviewed her, and she's real tight
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  Speaker 2: with Joey Hudson and and you know, she's she's a fighter,
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  Speaker 2: and she's a warrior, and she's smart and she's sharp.
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  Speaker 2: And so the story from Fits News, which is kind
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  Speaker 2: of the muck raking media outlet here in South Carolina,
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  Speaker 2: is that Henry McMaster is asking Trump to formally endorse Pamela.
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  Speaker 2: If he does that, well then Henry will call a
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  Speaker 2: special session and bring everybody back in. It's like, it's
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  Speaker 2: like all these backroom deals trying to go on. It's
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  Speaker 2: a it's a look, it's an unholy mess. And no
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  Speaker 2: question about it.
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  Speaker 1: As soon as you invoke the true endorsement, it gets
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  Speaker 1: very very interesting because President Trump, those are very tactically
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  Speaker 1: deployed things. There is a reason President Trump has not,
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  Speaker 1: and I totally believe will not endorse in Cornin versus
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  Speaker 1: Paxton here in the in tech what is that right?
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  Speaker 1: Because there's no upside for him at all. This is
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  Speaker 1: going to be very very close. If you an endorsement
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  Speaker 1: of one person is kind of a big shive in
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  Speaker 1: the ribs to the other or others. If he endorses
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  Speaker 1: corn In, which people thought you would do for about
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  Speaker 1: five minutes, I said, no way. It would be a
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  Speaker 1: slap in the face to Ken Paxton, who's been an
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  Speaker 1: ally for ten years. If you endorse that ally, Ken Paxton,
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  Speaker 1: who's been an ally for ten years, it's a big
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  Speaker 1: middle finger to Cornyn, who really has been a good
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  Speaker 1: soldier right now in Trump two point zero and is
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  Speaker 1: still a sitting senator. So the smart thing has always
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  Speaker 1: been for him to leave. Just leave that to us.
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  Speaker 1: Texans will take care of it, et cetera, et cetera.
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  Speaker 1: Now in South Carolina there's Pamela Evatt, but there's also
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  Speaker 1: is Nancy Mace mystified that she didn't just walk to this,
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  Speaker 1: to this primary victory.
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  Speaker 2: She's not particularly popular in South Carolina. I'm going to
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  Speaker 2: say that.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, Well, she's We've talked about how quirky she is,
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  Speaker 1: and that's probably being kind by a step or two.
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  Speaker 1: There's a lot to like about her. There have been
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: moments of hers that I've liked, but there's been some weirdness.
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  Speaker 2: There's been some There was the air there was the
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  Speaker 2: airport meltdown, and the video surveillance that showed her berating
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  Speaker 2: TSA agents and she gets really she's very quirky and
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: very she's a little kooky, you know, and she's when
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  Speaker 2: she's good, she's really good. But let's go back to
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  Speaker 2: Texas for a moment. Let's talk about this endorsement, because
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  Speaker 2: a Trump endorsement is worth its weight in gold. You
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  Speaker 2: saw what happened last night, right, Trump endorsed candidates across
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  Speaker 2: West Virginia and Nebraska in their special elect nine and zero.
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: Trump endorse candidates were nine and oh last night. So
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  Speaker 2: they matter. Now here's what is. Can't wait to get
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: your reaction to this. I see this headline yesterday, I
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  Speaker 2: thought this can't possibly be true. Senator John Cornyn, who
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  Speaker 2: is currently seeking President Trump's endorsement in the US Senate
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  Speaker 2: runoff in Texas, introduced a bill to name a highway
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  Speaker 2: after the President on Tuesday. The bill is Cosponders, a
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  Speaker 2: co sponsored by Cynthia Loomis, Republican from Wyoming. If approved,
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  Speaker 2: it would upgrade the seventeen hundred and ninety one mile
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  Speaker 2: highway running from Montana to Port Arthur, Texas. Mark Davis,
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  Speaker 2: please tell me that John Cornyn isn't so desperate for
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  Speaker 2: a Trump endorsement and realizes that he's losing in the polls.
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  Speaker 2: And frankly, I got no skin in the game here.
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  Speaker 2: I'm going to tell you Ken Paxton's gonna win. Ken
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  Speaker 2: Paxton's going to win this runoff. I'm going to tell
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  Speaker 2: you that right now. Circle your calendar. I don't think John,
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  Speaker 2: I think the Texas voters have had it. He's you know,
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  Speaker 2: there's two minute stuff, establishment stuff. It's a there's a
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  Speaker 2: new wave going on, there's a new new vibe in
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  Speaker 2: the air. But that's just me. I could be dead wrong,
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  Speaker 2: but that's my production.
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  Speaker 1: Well, listen, the polls indicate it, the mood indicates it.
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  Speaker 2: And now this the reason I'm gonna name a highway
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  Speaker 2: after him? Are you kidding? Oh? Please, daddy, Hey, daddy,
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  Speaker 2: I'm gonna name a highway after you. Will you please
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  Speaker 2: endorse me?
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  Speaker 1: I'll light slightly alternative tap, no, no, it's it's really
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: just different by one molecule. It's not so much an
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: attempt to maybe get a Trump endorsement, which he by
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: now must know he's not going to get, but rather
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  Speaker 1: an attempt to ingratiate him to the Trump fan base
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  Speaker 1: in Texas, which is largely a Packton fan base. That
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: means tim to lure the folks over because Cornyn's entire
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: gig has been looked. You don't have to vote for
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  Speaker 1: Ken to get a Trump ally. I will be a
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: Trump ally too. And people either believe believe that or
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  Speaker 1: they don't, and we'll find that out.
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  Speaker 2: But Martin, the Trump fan base ain't stupid, Okay. The
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  Speaker 2: Trump fan base is capable of cringing like the red
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: stuff is. The Trump fan base can look at a
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  Speaker 2: headline say, wait a minute, you're going to try to
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  Speaker 2: name a highway after him right in the middle of.
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  Speaker 1: It looks looks like panderin a little bit.
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  Speaker 2: It looks like pandurin. Uh huh, yeah, a little bit
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  Speaker 2: holyly well, and it does appear to be I've got
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: to be just try to be analytical. You're an act
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: of desperation, which means that he doesn't think it's going
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  Speaker 2: well for him.
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  Speaker 1: And if you, if you were ahead in the polls,
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  Speaker 1: he wouldn't have done it.
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  Speaker 2: So what So you know Texas politics better than anybody
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: in America. So let me just ask you. You've heard
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: the conventional wisdom. Cornyn can beat the Democrat in the general.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: Paxton cannot totally said to that, total nonsense.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: Either of them can beat Tallarico unless we hand Tallarico
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  Speaker 1: a Senate seat by refusing to unite after this bloody
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: primary is over. I continue to hold out confidence that
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: we will unite. The corn In people that they lose
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: will dust themselves off and vote for Ken. The Paxton
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: people that they lose will dust themselves off and vote
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: for Cornying, not all of them. There will will be grudges,
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: but there'll be enough to where we will not get
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: woke Opie in the United States Center.
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: That's why Mark Davis is Mark Davis Wednesday, All right,
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: what do you want to do after the show? Today podcast.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: Let's do a little M and M extra, shall we.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: I'm on YouTube YouTube, eleven o'clock Central, noon Eastern.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: We'll live on YouTube, and let's make sure we get it.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: Let's get a big family in there on YouTube today
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: at noon Easter in eleventh Central because and people can
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: make comments. We'll read your comments. Check it out. We'll
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: be live at noon Easter in eleventh Central. And then
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: the podcast wherever you get your podcasts, Apple, Spotify, eminem Extra.
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: And I think you'll enjoy it.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: That we shall, and we will enjoy the Mike Gallagher
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: Radio Show. It starts as soon as we are done
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: at ten right here on six sixty am. The Answer