Latest / The Chuck ToddCast / Interview Only w/ Ashley Trice & Rob Holbert - How a Free Alt-Weekly Became Alabama's Best Investigative Paper

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Interview Only w/ Ashley Trice & Rob Holbert - How a Free Alt-Weekly Became Alabama's Best Investigative Paper · The Chuck ToddCast

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Speaker 1: dot com use the code toodcast. So just because local
1:55
Speaker 1: news Day has come and gone, doesn't mean I'm done
1:58
Speaker 1: wanting to feature different life local news entrepreneurs as we
2:02
Speaker 1: essentially try to solve this problem of improving the nation's
2:06
Speaker 1: information ecosystem. Many of you know my philosophy. We got
2:11
Speaker 1: to we got to repair local before we'll ever repair
2:14
Speaker 1: trust in the national. My next the guests I have
2:19
Speaker 1: today this is a little more personal for me. Many
2:22
Speaker 1: of you know I spend a lot of time in
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Speaker 1: Pensacola and essentially the Pensacola media market. As I've learned
2:29
Speaker 1: over my twenty years of being being an aggressive visitor.
2:35
Speaker 1: I guess or I'm not a native. My wife is
2:38
Speaker 1: the native. Is that Mobile and Pennsylvania are one media market,
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Speaker 1: so that this joining me today are the founders of
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Speaker 1: the lan yapp daily, based in Mobile but basically covering
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Speaker 1: the Alabama Gulf Coast. That is, those of us that
2:53
Speaker 1: live in the just on the other side of the
2:56
Speaker 1: Florabama line. You know what happened. It's in the Alabama
3:00
Speaker 1: Golf Coast matters to the Florida Golf Coast too. So
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Speaker 1: Ashley Trice and Rob Hulbert are joining me. Welcome to
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Speaker 1: the podcast.
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Speaker 2: Thanks for having us, Chuck. We're excited to be here,
3:10
Speaker 2: glad to be here.
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Speaker 1: So, you know, I'm always curious how this got. Uh,
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Speaker 1: you know, let's give me the origin story. How how
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Speaker 1: did you come to be? I know that advanced media
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Speaker 1: and Alabama dot Com. Al dot com has been a
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Speaker 1: sort of the primary you know, the old mobile Press
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Speaker 1: register and things like that paint a picture of the
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Speaker 1: landscape and mobile and and what got you started in
3:35
Speaker 1: your origin.
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Speaker 2: Story got well, so I moved back from Austin, Texas,
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Speaker 2: and I really while I lived in Austin. I really
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Speaker 2: enjoyed the Austin Chronicle, their alternative paper, and I'm from
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Speaker 2: this area, and so I moved back home. And Rob
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Speaker 2: and I had mutual friends who was actually a journalism
3:56
Speaker 2: professor of mine at one time, and we start we're
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Speaker 2: talking of it was like, I can't believe this was
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Speaker 2: back in two thousand and two that my bill doesn't
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Speaker 2: have an alternative paper in a market that size. You know,
4:08
Speaker 2: we were one of the largest markets without an all weekly.
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Speaker 2: And Rob and I started talking and we raised the
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Speaker 2: astronomical sum of five thousand dollars to start a really
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Speaker 2: sad looking twenty page newspaper that I'm embarrassed to look
4:27
Speaker 2: at to this day. But we got to go in
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Speaker 2: with a five thousand circulation. You know, we thought we
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Speaker 2: would have you know, hundreds of advertisers by in six months,
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Speaker 2: and it probably is. We're still waiting for that to happen.
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Speaker 2: But we kept it going somehow, and we were about
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Speaker 2: twenty five years. We'll celebrate twenty five years next year.
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Speaker 2: But you mentioned, you know, the Press Register Advanced Media.
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Speaker 2: They you know, when they decided we were bi weekly
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Speaker 2: at first, and when they decided to they were going
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Speaker 2: to be a digital first publication. They went to three
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Speaker 2: times a week first and then now they've dropped to
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Speaker 2: only digital and that really you know, and they became
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Speaker 2: a statewide focused paper instead of Golf Coast and.
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Speaker 1: So they combined there, they basically combined the Birmingham and
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Speaker 1: mobile operations, all.
5:20
Speaker 2: Of them together. So it really gave us the opportunity
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Speaker 2: to step up hyper local coverage. We were more entertainment
5:27
Speaker 2: at first. Now we are really heavy on local news,
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Speaker 2: investigative recording, and you know, so that really opened the
5:34
Speaker 2: door for us and it's really helped. I mean, you know,
5:37
Speaker 2: I would say help us. I guess it's not the
5:39
Speaker 2: right word, but it gave us opportunity. So yeah, so
5:43
Speaker 2: here we are.
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Speaker 1: Give me the give me the revenue stream models. I mean,
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Speaker 1: I know everybody works on a combination of advertising, membership.
5:51
Speaker 1: Are you a nonprofit or for profit? I ought to
5:53
Speaker 1: probably start for that.
5:54
Speaker 2: We're for profit. We sort of have a hybrid model.
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Speaker 2: The paper started off as a free paper, or as
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Speaker 2: most all papers are. What we have done is our website.
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Speaker 2: We've transformed that into sort of the daily paper. So
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Speaker 2: if you want access to that is behind a paywall.
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Speaker 1: So Okay, well you.
6:12
Speaker 2: Can still if you want the readers digest can you know,
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Speaker 2: can readers digest version of the paper. You can still
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Speaker 2: pick it up for free if you want daily you know,
6:21
Speaker 2: seven eight non stories a day that we're doing. You've
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Speaker 2: got to pay for the paywall. So and it's been great.
6:27
Speaker 2: I mean, we we print is still our biggest revenue stream,
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Speaker 2: but we can survive without the digital income either.
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Speaker 1: At this point, it's interesting that you say prints the
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Speaker 1: biggest revenue stream because I've learned this as I've been
6:41
Speaker 1: doing I've spent about the last year or so trying to,
6:46
Speaker 1: you know, figure out, you know, what's you know it's this,
6:49
Speaker 1: is it scalable? What's something that could be done that
6:52
Speaker 1: could help sort of because you know a lot of
6:55
Speaker 1: these startups have hit you hit a ceiling, right and
7:01
Speaker 1: the next phase of expansion, you know it would if
7:05
Speaker 1: you could create a network effect, then then everybody could
7:08
Speaker 1: sort of break through to the next level. And just
7:10
Speaker 1: trying to figure out what would work and what doesn't.
7:14
Speaker 1: And I've run into quite a few entrepreneurs who now
7:19
Speaker 1: who make money on print now, but waited to do
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Speaker 1: it until they knew that it wasn't going to cost
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Speaker 1: them money, right, like they waited to do the You know,
7:28
Speaker 1: they in some ways print once a week and that
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Speaker 1: does well. They don't try to push it, you know,
7:34
Speaker 1: anymore unless they have the ad dollars to support it.
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Speaker 1: How would you describe and how often do you still
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Speaker 1: print just one weekly or doprint more often than that.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, we're doing just once a week still, you know
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Speaker 3: it is it's still as she said, it's still it's
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Speaker 3: the biggest part of our revenue. But the daily the
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Speaker 3: paper is daily at this point, and you know, we're
7:57
Speaker 3: sixty seventy stories a week online would probably as far
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Speaker 3: as news stories, we're probably putting seven or eight of
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Speaker 3: those in the papers. So there's huge difference in what
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Speaker 3: people can read online versus what they're reading in the
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Speaker 3: print version.
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Speaker 2: But there's no appetite I will tell you for us
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Speaker 2: to become a daily printed product ever, right, that will
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Speaker 2: not happen.
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Speaker 1: I mean, I mean there's not the demand for it, correct,
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Speaker 1: And it's just.
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Speaker 2: The expense, is right, I mean, it's it's crazy. I mean,
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Speaker 2: after payroll, it's our biggest expense and you know it,
8:31
Speaker 2: and finding a printer is even getting more and more difficult.
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Speaker 2: I mean, there are two printers in the entire southeast
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Speaker 2: that can do a publication like ourselves, kidding, So that's.
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Speaker 4: A big issue.
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Speaker 3: I mean, I think that's a huge issue for small newspapers,
8:46
Speaker 3: is right, printers. I mean I've often said that I
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Speaker 3: think that the printers will be the biggest recent newspapers
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Speaker 3: go away versus the Internet. Is printers fail.
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Speaker 4: There's just not.
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Speaker 3: Very many around and have very few options, you know,
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Speaker 3: from here we're printing Baton Rouge right now.
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Speaker 4: We have the next option is outside Atlanta.
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Speaker 1: So my word, yeah, that's just yeah, you know, so
9:13
Speaker 1: having to deal with that.
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Speaker 2: On a daily with a daily publication, there's no way.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, let me go to something you still consider your
9:22
Speaker 1: in this day and age of independent media, Does alts
9:26
Speaker 1: mean anything anymore?
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Speaker 2: Well not to us, I mean, like we're still members
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Speaker 2: of the Association of Alternative News Media, but we always
9:35
Speaker 2: feel like we're like the step children of it at
9:38
Speaker 2: this point. But I mean, especially since we are, I
9:42
Speaker 2: think everyone considers us the paper record here in Mobile
9:45
Speaker 2: Now I don't, I don't.
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Speaker 1: You're now the Mobile paper. And because the Press Register
9:50
Speaker 1: really is more of a state.
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Speaker 2: Wide paper, right exactly, so you know, I mean, and
9:54
Speaker 2: it was really important for us. I mean, one of
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Speaker 2: our driving philosophies is not to take you know, a
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Speaker 2: political lean to one side or the other. We want
10:04
Speaker 2: to be the paper for everyone, not just one side
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Speaker 2: of the aisle. I mean, and we're in Alabama. I
10:09
Speaker 2: mean it would certainly probably be advantageous for us to
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Speaker 2: be conservative, but we we thought we would. We don't
10:15
Speaker 2: want to lose readership, so it's very important. I mean,
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Speaker 2: of course we have opinion pieces and stuff like that,
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Speaker 2: but as far as the new coverage, we.
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Speaker 1: Try to well because I mean, look, let's be honest.
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Speaker 1: You hear the words Alt Weekly, and there's an automatic
10:26
Speaker 1: assumption that it's super lefty, not just liberal right, super lefty.
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Speaker 3: I mean they are, yeah, they are. And it's I mean,
10:33
Speaker 3: we are always a sort of strange animal when we
10:36
Speaker 3: go to the conventions, but it's like, yeah, it is,
10:40
Speaker 3: you know. I think the big thing for us always,
10:42
Speaker 3: I mean, when we we wrote up our statement of
10:45
Speaker 3: principles to begin with, you know, just to sit down
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Speaker 3: and say, like a big thing for us is to
10:52
Speaker 3: make a newspaper that people are dying to read, because
10:55
Speaker 3: then everybody's going to happen because you got to read it.
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Speaker 2: Ye at least like the you know, the county's biggest
11:01
Speaker 2: yam on the front page either were not paper either.
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Speaker 2: So yeah, I think we were.
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Speaker 3: I think we were in the state's most aggressive investigative
11:08
Speaker 3: newspaper without doubt.
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Speaker 2: I mean you did. So we have been venturing into
11:13
Speaker 2: the Florida market a little because our next governor is
11:16
Speaker 2: actually a Florida resident instead of.
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Speaker 1: One of my favorite stories I've seen that ad. So
11:23
Speaker 1: I we have. You know, I'm probably given away too much,
11:26
Speaker 1: but you know, we we spent a lot of time
11:28
Speaker 1: on Pennscula Beach and they have this little cable access
11:32
Speaker 1: channel about sort of you know the area if you will.
11:36
Speaker 1: It's probably more geared towards I'm still struggling with this
11:40
Speaker 1: calling it the thirty A district. You know, I know
11:43
Speaker 1: that that's got it's become branded and like you know,
11:46
Speaker 1: yeah right, the Amptons of the South rank. You know,
11:49
Speaker 1: I'm sure that the reality shows are all checking in
11:53
Speaker 1: on that. And I remember when Coach Tupperville would talk
11:58
Speaker 1: about how great it was to live in North Yeah,
12:01
Speaker 1: I mean those hats were right there. It was just
12:03
Speaker 1: little tourist AADs it might have been for Navarre Beach
12:06
Speaker 1: actually that he was doing it.
12:08
Speaker 2: He is closer to between the bar and seaside. But yeah,
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Speaker 2: our investigative reporter, though, has spent i mean hours going
12:15
Speaker 2: through all of the expenses, and you know, I mean
12:18
Speaker 2: it's pretty clear.
12:20
Speaker 1: I mean, if you really follow the letter of the law,
12:21
Speaker 1: there ain't seven years there. And he kind of knows it,
12:24
Speaker 1: doesn't he it's pretty tall.
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Speaker 3: He can't, he won't, he won't address it. So it
12:28
Speaker 3: seems like a simple thing to me go away.
12:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, is it done? I mean, if they've already allowed
12:34
Speaker 1: him to be on the ballot, right he is. His name.
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Speaker 2: Only only mechanism at this point is the court system.
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Speaker 2: And I don't think that I do anything unless his competitor,
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Speaker 2: Doug Jones also and the Democratic Party also files something along.
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Speaker 2: He's got a editor, a Republican candidate that has filed
12:53
Speaker 2: something at this point, but they haven't really moved on it.
12:56
Speaker 4: So yeah, I mean, I.
12:57
Speaker 3: Think it's a done deal as far as you know,
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Speaker 3: actual any sort of legal remedy. But you know, is
13:04
Speaker 3: it done in terms of voters?
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Speaker 4: I don't know. I don't know, you know, I don't
13:08
Speaker 4: think they love that.
13:09
Speaker 2: I mean everyone just assumed. I mean, do I think
13:12
Speaker 2: you will be the next governor?
13:14
Speaker 1: Yes, But I will tell you this, I look at
13:17
Speaker 1: one of those right in fact, I just.
13:21
Speaker 4: People.
13:22
Speaker 1: I always say this about governor's races, and it's true.
13:24
Speaker 1: In every state, no matter how red or blue it is,
13:28
Speaker 1: governor's races have more voters who take it more personally
13:32
Speaker 1: rather than ideologically. Like it's just there's a reason to
13:36
Speaker 1: get a Republican governor of Massachusetts at a fairly reasonable frequency.
13:40
Speaker 1: There's a reason to get a Republican governor of Maryland.
13:43
Speaker 1: There's a reason to get a democratic governor of Kansas,
13:46
Speaker 1: you know. And you get so close in a place
13:48
Speaker 1: like Mississippi, right there is it is. You don't see
13:51
Speaker 1: it in the center races. You don't see it in
13:53
Speaker 1: the federal races. That's a lot people usually wear. The
13:56
Speaker 1: voters wear their jersey colors in federal races, but governor's
13:59
Speaker 1: races it can be different. So I'm and you.
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Speaker 2: Want your governor to actually live in the state.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, there is that I I you know, and Doug
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Speaker 1: Jones is no shrinking violet. I mean, if I expect
14:11
Speaker 1: that race to be under five points at a minimum.
14:13
Speaker 3: I think I think we you know, we've had a
14:16
Speaker 3: pretty good history lately of of whoever the anointed one
14:20
Speaker 3: is South loses and that's.
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Speaker 4: Not quite a bit. And so you know, we'll see,
14:27
Speaker 4: we'll see.
14:28
Speaker 3: I think it's gonna be a lot tighter than people
14:30
Speaker 3: would suspect.
14:31
Speaker 1: Oh, I think so too. I mean, you know, there's
14:33
Speaker 1: also just governor's races in general. When you've had one
14:37
Speaker 1: party more than a decade, there is just fatigue, you know,
14:43
Speaker 1: there is there's a little bit of fatigue, and then
14:45
Speaker 1: you throw in the national wins and the other you know,
14:48
Speaker 1: and the idea of there may be needs to be
14:50
Speaker 1: a check right, a check on on super majority power
14:54
Speaker 1: and things like that.
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Speaker 3: Coming home very inactive governor at this point, and so
14:58
Speaker 3: we'll see what happens.
14:59
Speaker 1: You that's a that's a that's a very generous.
15:03
Speaker 4: I'm being generous today.
15:05
Speaker 1: The very generous description of the governor. You know, she's
15:09
Speaker 1: she's an enigma to me. I mean, she doesn't she's
15:15
Speaker 1: been pretty low key the entire time she's been there.
15:17
Speaker 4: I think that would be also very generous.
15:21
Speaker 2: I think that was her appeal though, because we had
15:23
Speaker 2: to come off you know.
15:25
Speaker 1: A couple of scandalous things as well.
15:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, gives us plenty to write about. So you know, we're.
15:41
Speaker 1: I will say this, I'm going to miss that k
15:43
Speaker 1: Ivy pistol ad.
15:48
Speaker 3: You know, yes, I think Tommy can probably match her
15:55
Speaker 3: in colloquialisms. We'll see. You know, he's got plenty of
15:58
Speaker 3: his sleeve.
16:00
Speaker 1: It's interesting to me that it's the Auburn coaches that
16:02
Speaker 1: I'll want to run for office and not the Alabama Yeah.
16:05
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean, I assume burst Borough will run
16:07
Speaker 1: at some point. I mean, yeah, I want to go
16:15
Speaker 1: back to how you're so when so you start as
16:20
Speaker 1: an all weekly, the Mobile Press Register starts to sort
16:24
Speaker 1: of shift its focus, uh, and you start to add reporters.
16:29
Speaker 1: Was it gradual? And and when do you feel like,
16:33
Speaker 1: you know, local government understood, Oh, these guys are going
16:36
Speaker 1: to cover what we do and the Mobile Press Register
16:38
Speaker 1: isn't anymore. Was it just sort of one of those
16:40
Speaker 1: all of a sudden it happened or was it a
16:43
Speaker 1: gradual shift?
16:45
Speaker 4: I mean I think it was.
16:47
Speaker 3: We started really dipping our toe into more investigative reporting
16:51
Speaker 3: and doing story I think people realized, even when we
16:53
Speaker 3: were a biweekly that we were doing stories that the
16:56
Speaker 3: Press Register wasn't doing. I thing really weird. We probably
17:01
Speaker 3: got a lot of people's attention was in a previous
17:04
Speaker 3: mayor's race that we really did a lot of reporing
17:07
Speaker 3: about some expenditure issues and going off to the city.
17:12
Speaker 3: And I think I had a big part of that
17:14
Speaker 3: mayor being replaced.
17:16
Speaker 1: And establishing a little credibility.
17:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think that's really where And then you know,
17:21
Speaker 3: once they once the press resister said they were going
17:24
Speaker 3: to go three days a week, we just realized we've
17:26
Speaker 3: got to go weekly to be.
17:29
Speaker 4: We're really filling the gaps.
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Speaker 1: Do you still feel like you compete against them.
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Speaker 4: No, not at all. They don't do anything here.
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Speaker 2: Really interesting reporters here, I think that's all that's.
19:21
Speaker 3: Honestly, don't even read it. It's rare that we even
19:26
Speaker 3: I mean, they're nice guys, but I just don't. It's
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Speaker 3: rare that we It's very rare.
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Speaker 2: But everything they're doing is really stated.
19:33
Speaker 3: They're really Birmingham Center, very Birmingham Center. They spend most
19:38
Speaker 3: of the time there, very little down here. It's very
19:42
Speaker 3: rare that.
19:42
Speaker 1: They break that's sort of surprising to me. Isn't the
19:46
Speaker 1: fastest growing part of the state the Gulf Coast.
19:48
Speaker 2: Yes, and which is right next to you know, is
19:53
Speaker 2: the fastest.
19:55
Speaker 3: We could probably spend several hours of dissecting their whole plan.
19:58
Speaker 3: Ail dot com.
20:00
Speaker 1: And is it still new house or did they get advanced?
20:04
Speaker 3: Yeah?
20:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's interesting, you know, it does. I think
20:08
Speaker 1: one of the most innovative UH local news sites going
20:13
Speaker 1: is an advanced media site in Massachusetts, mass Line. They've
20:17
Speaker 1: been incredible and and and they've been expansive and they've
20:21
Speaker 1: been though also a statewide focus, I think, but but.
20:26
Speaker 2: You know, and it might work in other states. I
20:28
Speaker 2: mean mobile, I mean and I know every city likes
20:30
Speaker 2: to think of themselves as the speciality.
20:32
Speaker 1: Sure there is sort of a coo. Yeah, but but
20:35
Speaker 1: in the South in general, where it's a little more parochial,
20:38
Speaker 1: right yeah.
20:39
Speaker 2: And I think, I mean, we consider ourselves more closely
20:42
Speaker 2: related to New Orleans than we do Montgomery or Birmingham,
20:45
Speaker 2: you know. So yeah, I think along.
20:48
Speaker 1: The right, I mean Mobile and Pensacola, Like I I
20:51
Speaker 1: you know, one of the things I've learned over the years,
20:53
Speaker 1: I worked at NBC and the Pensacola NBC affiliate is
20:56
Speaker 1: in Mobile, you know, And so it was you know
21:00
Speaker 1: where you have one of these where pet Sicole actually
21:03
Speaker 1: only has one affiliate that's technically in penscol And I think,
21:07
Speaker 1: what both CBS at CBS, Fox and NBC are automobile.
21:11
Speaker 3: Right, yeah, I mean it's it's a we have a
21:15
Speaker 3: lot more in common with the coast. Along the coast,
21:17
Speaker 3: I mean, it really feels more like a similar state.
21:21
Speaker 4: If you go New Orleans down to know more to I.
21:25
Speaker 1: Mean, you probably could go start at the thirty A
21:28
Speaker 1: and go all the way to New Orleans.
21:29
Speaker 2: Right And when they start talking about Montgomery and Birmingham things,
21:32
Speaker 2: no one cares down here, so you know it's I mean,
21:35
Speaker 2: they care, but you know, not as much.
21:37
Speaker 3: As it's a there's a big political divide in the state,
21:40
Speaker 3: and it really it does feel like Mobile is often
21:42
Speaker 3: left out, and I feel like that's kind of the
21:44
Speaker 3: way it is this in media coverage from ail dot com.
21:48
Speaker 3: It feels very much like I'm not to beat on them.
21:51
Speaker 3: I mean they are, they are, They're just they've sort
21:53
Speaker 3: of said, sort.
21:54
Speaker 4: Of done this area. I mean they rolled up the newspaper.
21:57
Speaker 2: They've really they built a giant builtuilding a huge building
22:01
Speaker 2: and then just shuddered it right main corridor.
22:05
Speaker 4: So one of the last big presses in the United States,
22:08
Speaker 4: the Mobile Press registered, I mean.
22:10
Speaker 3: It was and then they just sold it for parts,
22:13
Speaker 3: strapped thing and just they don't have really very much.
22:17
Speaker 4: It's not a big pro to them.
22:20
Speaker 1: So one of my thesis and one of my beliefs
22:24
Speaker 1: is that the best way to sort of grow local
22:28
Speaker 1: news is through youth sports and local sports and high
22:31
Speaker 1: school sports. Tell me about how you guys cover that.
22:36
Speaker 1: Is it an audience builder or not?
22:40
Speaker 2: Yes? And no, I mean you know it. I mean
22:43
Speaker 2: we have a full sports section and we focus I
22:47
Speaker 2: mean we have prep sports are definitely the main focus,
22:51
Speaker 2: but we also have Alabama and Auburn football, which is
22:53
Speaker 2: what everyone really really focused. So also have South Alabama football,
22:59
Speaker 2: which has just become the farm team for everyone else.
23:02
Speaker 2: But the but yeah, I mean, I think when you
23:07
Speaker 2: have coverage of you know, playoff games and you know
23:12
Speaker 2: a star, you know, we had Brian Williams come out
23:16
Speaker 2: of it to get Albama, I think you get more attention. Otherwise,
23:22
Speaker 2: if it's just you know, little Johnny having the fastest
23:26
Speaker 2: time at the cross country made, that doesn't really grow
23:28
Speaker 2: it as much as you know, the bigger you know stories.
23:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think I think from the standpoint
23:35
Speaker 3: you know, the big issue for us is always trying
23:38
Speaker 3: to get more subscriptions, because that's really the lifeblood.
23:41
Speaker 1: Where and what do you think grows subscriptions? What have
23:44
Speaker 1: you seen what works?
23:45
Speaker 4: I mean, it's like.
23:47
Speaker 3: It's something scandless happening in the rich.
23:49
Speaker 4: Part of town.
23:50
Speaker 1: Yes, that will okay, subscription, that's a little both little gossipy, right,
23:56
Speaker 1: Just get that to.
23:56
Speaker 3: Happen every day with being great shape.
23:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, scandals for sure. And stories animal stories, yes,
24:06
Speaker 2: it's always. But I mean and if no one else
24:09
Speaker 2: is doing it. Obviously, if we're having to compete with
24:11
Speaker 2: the TV stations for a story, I mean, you know,
24:14
Speaker 2: I mean it has to be something that only that
24:16
Speaker 2: we're the only ones doing it, you know, in which
24:19
Speaker 2: we have a lot of those.
24:20
Speaker 1: So well, I was just going to say, you know,
24:22
Speaker 1: one of the I'm not one hundred percent familiar with,
24:26
Speaker 1: uh the ownership status of the affiliates and mobile, But
24:29
Speaker 1: with the next tr Techno merger that's coming, you're going
24:34
Speaker 1: to see a gutting of local. We're going to see
24:36
Speaker 1: another sort of consolidation gutting right in my hometown in Miami.
24:40
Speaker 1: We already have the duopoly is in effect, Clara, And
24:45
Speaker 1: so there's a which which affiliates are they?
24:49
Speaker 4: In?
24:50
Speaker 2: The NBC and ABC affiliates are clear.
24:54
Speaker 1: And I didn't okay, I thought the NBC was Sinclaire.
24:57
Speaker 1: I didn't realize that that we're which is I guess
25:00
Speaker 1: technically Pensacola, right, yes, yeah, So and they have they
25:05
Speaker 1: done a merged newsroom.
25:07
Speaker 2: Well, they've cut their newsroom down to almost nothing in
25:09
Speaker 2: the weather personally.
25:11
Speaker 1: I mean, I bring this up because I think it's
25:13
Speaker 1: an opportunity. Yeah, because you're going to see and you
25:17
Speaker 1: might even find you know, you might even find people
25:22
Speaker 1: that worked at those stations that might be great assets
25:24
Speaker 1: for you guys.
25:25
Speaker 2: I think so because we really see ourselves becoming more
25:30
Speaker 2: of a full multimedia.
25:31
Speaker 1: Not just you have to. I mean, I you know,
25:33
Speaker 1: even if you didn't want to, there's no choice, platforms demanded.
25:38
Speaker 1: I don't mean, I'm mean, I'll be honest. I don't
25:40
Speaker 1: always love that this podcast is video and audio. I
25:44
Speaker 1: just love the audio part. I'm an audio listener, but
25:47
Speaker 1: we couldn't grow without the video. Course.
25:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're finding doing more of that.
25:51
Speaker 4: It's helpful. You know.
25:53
Speaker 3: The big issue is when we see what we've seen
25:57
Speaker 3: with subscription browth, it was going up up the plateau, right,
26:01
Speaker 3: we're plateaued.
26:03
Speaker 4: And it kind of staying there.
26:05
Speaker 2: The turn, of course is always you know.
26:07
Speaker 3: In the yeah and so, I mean, one of the
26:09
Speaker 3: things for us that is kind of a unique problem
26:13
Speaker 3: is that we do give the paper away, and when
26:15
Speaker 3: we do pulling and surveying, it's we're our number one competition.
26:20
Speaker 4: You know, you ask people why don't you subscribe?
26:23
Speaker 2: We'll get it for free, And the second most popular answer, though,
26:26
Speaker 2: is I'm never going to pay for news because we
26:28
Speaker 2: have trained people for the last thirty plus years, not
26:31
Speaker 2: that they should never have to pay for.
26:33
Speaker 1: News, although they always did pay for news put a
26:36
Speaker 1: quarter and used to put a quarter in that machine.
26:38
Speaker 4: You know it is.
26:39
Speaker 3: But those are the people that still subscribe. When we
26:42
Speaker 3: look at our age group of subscribers, they are the
26:44
Speaker 3: people who used to put a quarter in a machine,
26:46
Speaker 3: the people who can twenty years before.
26:48
Speaker 1: So obviously getting readers under thirty, I mean, if you
26:51
Speaker 1: don't do it digitally, you're just not going to do it.
26:53
Speaker 2: I mean we're you know, we're coming to do the TikTok.
26:56
Speaker 3: You know, they turned into readers who are forty, who
26:59
Speaker 3: have houses and all those things.
27:01
Speaker 1: Now I accept the premise that eventually people that I
27:05
Speaker 1: joke people will age into the demos. Just I used
27:07
Speaker 1: to reassure my bosses at it, you know, meet the press,
27:10
Speaker 1: I say, you know, look, there are there is a sense.
27:12
Speaker 1: When I was in my twenties, I curated my own news.
27:15
Speaker 1: Then you have kids, you have ball games you have
27:18
Speaker 1: to go to on weekends and all the extracurricular Suddenly
27:21
Speaker 1: I don't have time to curate my own news. I
27:23
Speaker 1: need somebody else. Sendbody else's health.
27:26
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's that's the really I mean, the big thing,
27:29
Speaker 3: you know, the big part we're trying to like everybody
27:33
Speaker 3: is trying to figure out how do you get these
27:35
Speaker 3: people to give you thirty cents.
27:37
Speaker 2: A day to remain and also you know, while also
27:42
Speaker 2: you know, we're constantly having to evolve with the technology,
27:45
Speaker 2: and of course AI is everyone has that. I actually
27:50
Speaker 2: asked chat GPT a couple of weeks ago. I was like,
27:53
Speaker 2: you know, I find you a really useful tool. I'm
27:55
Speaker 2: not scared of you, but are you going to uh
27:59
Speaker 2: what are you going to do to business? And it said, well,
28:02
Speaker 2: I'm not going to ruin it, but I probably will
28:05
Speaker 2: erode it.
28:06
Speaker 1: And I was like, you know, it's interesting on that front.
28:09
Speaker 1: I I you know, I'm one of those if if
28:12
Speaker 1: you if you have a business that can get cannibalized,
28:15
Speaker 1: then you better do the cannibalizing, right, you know, if
28:17
Speaker 1: somebody if it's that vulnerable. But there's some things with
28:21
Speaker 1: AI that AI is never going to be able to replace,
28:23
Speaker 1: and that's live and in person. Right, what's the event
28:27
Speaker 1: situation look like? And do you guys is that becoming
28:30
Speaker 1: is that a big.
28:31
Speaker 4: Do you.
28:33
Speaker 1: Know what do you what kind of events do you
28:36
Speaker 1: do when you go to the event space and are
28:38
Speaker 1: they money makers?
28:39
Speaker 2: Well, one of our biggest money makers of the year
28:43
Speaker 2: is our Reader's Choice Awards. That's a huge and that's
28:45
Speaker 2: still from all world, you know, that's still the best
28:48
Speaker 2: of in every all paper is still their biggest money maker.
28:52
Speaker 1: And that's like whether it's doctors, that's it's about foreigners, burgers, right,
28:58
Speaker 1: all that stuff.
28:59
Speaker 3: Right, if you come to mobile, you will see signs
29:02
Speaker 3: everywhere for Matthew Awards. Yeah, awards, and then they're just
29:06
Speaker 3: like it is. Yeah, it's ubiquitous. People love it. They
29:09
Speaker 3: got their banners hanging everywhere.
29:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean we're right in the middle of it
29:13
Speaker 2: right now. I mean it's it gets insane and pretty cut, right,
29:16
Speaker 2: but people trying to get other people disqualified for not
29:20
Speaker 2: being board certified and that kind.
29:21
Speaker 1: Of thing stuff.
29:23
Speaker 2: But it's still a big money maker, I mean, and
29:25
Speaker 2: that we have a huge ceremony.
29:26
Speaker 1: Well, in some ways, I'm guessing these things, you know,
29:30
Speaker 1: replace what people used to do in the Yellow pages, right,
29:34
Speaker 1: you know, meaning very much needed and looking for a
29:37
Speaker 1: vet and you know, I know we're aging ourselves, right,
29:40
Speaker 1: I'm looking for a vet and then the you know,
29:41
Speaker 1: you just look in the yellow pages and you you know,
29:45
Speaker 1: look and now you might look at your local you
29:48
Speaker 1: know here we have the news organization around here that
29:51
Speaker 1: does these things is usually a magazine called Washingtonian. They
29:54
Speaker 1: love the best of doctor's issues or this issue, that issue,
29:57
Speaker 1: all that' stuff. So I imagine they all are pretty important
30:00
Speaker 1: to these small businesses.
30:01
Speaker 3: They are.
30:02
Speaker 2: I mean, look, I use it to for doctor for finding,
30:06
Speaker 2: and I know better to do that because.
30:08
Speaker 3: If I don't know, if I don't know who I'm
30:10
Speaker 3: looking for, I'll go to the finalist pick one of those, okay,
30:13
Speaker 3: you know, somewhat by the community. Yeah, and I've always
30:17
Speaker 3: been happy.
30:18
Speaker 4: Yeah, so it does. It serves that first.
30:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, but that's probably our you know, I
30:23
Speaker 2: mean we do a lot of like, uh, radio appearances
30:27
Speaker 2: and stuff like that, but not you know, as far
30:29
Speaker 2: as the public goes, probably the Reader's choice ceremony is
30:32
Speaker 2: the biggest one we do.
30:33
Speaker 1: If you had a million dollar windfall for your budget,
30:39
Speaker 1: what what would you invest in.
30:42
Speaker 2: About ten more investigative reporters.
30:44
Speaker 3: Definitely more people's Definitely more reporters.
30:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what that's what makes I mean that's what
30:51
Speaker 2: gets loyalty and creates subscribers. It's great coverage. I mean,
30:55
Speaker 2: that is just it. It doesn't matter if we say, oh,
30:58
Speaker 2: you can have two years for free, or you know,
31:02
Speaker 2: or we'll send you a T shirt if you want
31:04
Speaker 2: to sign up or whatever. It is good coverage. That's
31:08
Speaker 2: what creates a loyal subscriber. And that's what and what
31:12
Speaker 2: does that take? More records?
31:13
Speaker 1: So how do you cover Montgomery and Washington? And how much?
31:19
Speaker 1: How how important our stories that impact Alabama in Washington,
31:24
Speaker 1: impact Mobile in Montgomery? And how do you I mean,
31:28
Speaker 1: do you have a bureaus, do you have bureaus? Do
31:30
Speaker 1: you have sort of freelance relationships.
31:32
Speaker 4: We don't have a bureau.
31:34
Speaker 3: We do cover Montgomery pretty heavily, and you know, we
31:38
Speaker 3: just try to keep up with what's going on.
31:40
Speaker 1: It's sort of in session. You'll have a couple of.
31:44
Speaker 3: And and things that are affecting us from there. As
31:46
Speaker 3: far as national stuff, you know, if it touches us,
31:50
Speaker 3: we tend to we do something with it. I mean,
31:52
Speaker 3: certainly things like coal, ash and EPA and things like
31:56
Speaker 3: that that are around here. We cover a lot of that.
31:59
Speaker 3: But I mean, are we you know, we don't try
32:02
Speaker 3: to get into the whole day to day Trumpton thing
32:06
Speaker 3: is I mean.
32:07
Speaker 2: Sure, right, people have enough places to find.
32:10
Speaker 1: That, right, No, I guess I'm just thinking more of well,
32:16
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean I was surprised did Pensacola beat
32:19
Speaker 1: out Mobile for a shipbuilder contract recently? If they did, okay,
32:26
Speaker 1: because there was something that's coming to Pensacola. And I
32:28
Speaker 1: thought Mobile built our ships and then once they were built,
32:31
Speaker 1: they hung out in Pensacola. I thought that was the
32:33
Speaker 1: relationship the two cities had with each other.
32:35
Speaker 2: We are currently dismantling one that we we were, We
32:40
Speaker 2: are the s s U y.
32:42
Speaker 4: Yeah, we're supposed to.
32:43
Speaker 2: Dismail and then we're sending the US over to Fort
32:49
Speaker 2: Walton to make a read.
32:51
Speaker 1: Yeah no kidding, that'll be.
32:54
Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah.
32:56
Speaker 2: That was in you know what New York?
32:58
Speaker 1: What what is growing in bill I mean we.
33:01
Speaker 2: Have airbus here, you know.
33:03
Speaker 1: So that's I mean, that's right, that's a big it's.
33:05
Speaker 4: A big ship building that's brung a lot.
33:09
Speaker 1: I twoured that hostile plant. That's an impressive facility.
33:13
Speaker 3: They've kind of flipped from just being aluminum based.
33:16
Speaker 5: Ships to now with steel and so they changed quite
33:20
Speaker 5: a bit, but I mean Airbus behind to Loose, France
33:23
Speaker 5: were the largest, you know, aerospace manufacturer in the world.
33:28
Speaker 3: It's growing tremendously. That is, that's become a big thing.
33:33
Speaker 3: You know, those big things I think that are really
33:35
Speaker 3: happening here. University has grown a.
33:38
Speaker 1: Lot, oh I know. I mean my my nephew went
33:41
Speaker 1: to South and we actually looked at it with my
33:47
Speaker 1: son before we ended up going somewhere. I was just
33:50
Speaker 1: blown away and how big the campus is. This felt
33:55
Speaker 1: like a felt like an old fashioned land Grant University campus.
33:58
Speaker 1: There was just land really is.
34:00
Speaker 2: Really grown and it scut you know. I actually went
34:04
Speaker 2: to South and it felt like you were going to
34:06
Speaker 2: college at a shopping center because quite literally, that is.
34:10
Speaker 1: Not what it felt like when we toured. My goodness,
34:12
Speaker 1: years later it is.
34:14
Speaker 2: It feels, it feels great, it's I'm proud of it.
34:17
Speaker 4: I went to.
34:18
Speaker 3: Spring Hill, you know, right down the street, and I
34:21
Speaker 3: came here in eighty five and with the South.
34:23
Speaker 4: And just thought, what is this.
34:24
Speaker 3: It's like treats out there and things, and now I
34:27
Speaker 3: don't want for eleven years anyways.
34:29
Speaker 1: You know which in Florida and South Florida, I used
34:32
Speaker 1: to you know, feel that way about FIU FAU U
34:36
Speaker 1: c f U S if they were all commuter schools,
34:38
Speaker 1: they were all these sort of little okays, but they
34:41
Speaker 1: were just sort of well, I didn't get into Florida,
34:43
Speaker 1: Florida State or Miami and you know, well not anymore.
34:47
Speaker 1: And it feels like South's that same way. You see
34:50
Speaker 1: that there and probably Troy too, right.
34:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, they're really blown up a lot. So that's
34:55
Speaker 3: that's really a big area. But the the medical is
34:59
Speaker 3: really going, uh, they're really trying to push. They really
35:04
Speaker 3: are trying to create sort of the same kind of
35:07
Speaker 3: thing that they have at uav Immobile.
35:10
Speaker 2: Of course, the port too, got about the port that
35:13
Speaker 2: one's a bait when we have the deepest port on
35:15
Speaker 2: the Gulf of Mexico and now right thought about that.
35:18
Speaker 2: But we've been fighting over what they do with the
35:21
Speaker 2: dredge sopoils that come from that because they go dump
35:24
Speaker 2: it into bay and that makes everyone who loves the
35:26
Speaker 2: fishing around here a very unhappy sit right.
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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I mean, look, one of our big investigative
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38:03
Speaker 2: It's got the most biodiverse, you know, waterway system in
38:09
Speaker 2: the entire country. And you know there's no political will
38:12
Speaker 2: to make them stop doing it. But you know, and
38:15
Speaker 2: you would think here in conservative Alabama it'll be oh,
38:18
Speaker 2: that's just a bunch of tree hugging hippies trying to
38:20
Speaker 2: stop him. But now it is pretty people are pretty
38:24
Speaker 2: united and saying this is not right.
38:26
Speaker 4: And and it's people who are not in office are
38:30
Speaker 4: united against it.
38:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, those who are not getting campaign contribution. Yes, I'm
38:39
Speaker 1: curious the how much the other independent media in the region.
38:47
Speaker 1: I think about my friend Warick Sabing Deep South today.
38:50
Speaker 1: I'm sure you guys are familiar with what they're what
38:52
Speaker 1: they're doing in Mississippi and Louisiana, and I think they
38:55
Speaker 1: want to expand Arkansas pretty soon. Do you do any
39:02
Speaker 1: of these? Is there a is there formalized networks that
39:06
Speaker 1: you think would be helpful to you guys?
39:08
Speaker 2: I think it would be helpful, but we don't. I mean,
39:11
Speaker 2: you know, I think the last time I made all
39:14
Speaker 2: of those Veen calls, I was like, hey, you're having
39:16
Speaker 2: a problem with our print or who do that?
39:19
Speaker 3: Right? Right?
39:20
Speaker 4: That it's just that, right, Yeah, I think it's just
39:23
Speaker 4: one of those things. Everybody's too busy.
39:25
Speaker 1: And yeah, well that's the sense I've gotten. It's like
39:28
Speaker 1: you could all use a lot. There are a lot
39:30
Speaker 1: of things that could be helpful in a scalable or
39:33
Speaker 1: a network effect. The problem is you just you know,
39:36
Speaker 1: like any startup, you know, you don't have time.
39:39
Speaker 4: You're taking the card all the other stuff.
39:41
Speaker 3: You know. It's like, I mean, you know, it's it's
39:43
Speaker 3: a it's a small business. You're busy everything, and it's
39:47
Speaker 3: it is hard. I would love to sit around and
39:50
Speaker 3: have and shoot a fact with these people and exchange
39:52
Speaker 3: ideas and think about ways we could help one another.
39:56
Speaker 4: But and even when that.
39:57
Speaker 3: Does occasionally come across radar iteverably comes to provision, right. No.
40:03
Speaker 1: I you know, I've been involved with these various summits
40:07
Speaker 1: in different states, and there's a lot of do gooders
40:08
Speaker 1: out there. And I mean that in the best sense
40:10
Speaker 1: of the word, right, whether it's the Night Foundation, whether
40:12
Speaker 1: it's MacArthur and Press Forward and what they're trying to do,
40:15
Speaker 1: and a few other but it is it is hard.
40:19
Speaker 1: I think because you guys are too busy. Yeah, I
40:22
Speaker 1: mean to sort of fully take advantage of those resources.
40:26
Speaker 2: I mean it's we're non stop on.
40:29
Speaker 3: If somebody says, okay, let's stop what you're doing and
40:32
Speaker 3: let's spend three weeks training this on this.
40:34
Speaker 4: And what.
40:41
Speaker 3: What?
40:42
Speaker 1: What have you learned about Google ads network and small
40:46
Speaker 1: business demands when it comes to advertising, And do you
40:50
Speaker 1: feel like you have convinced a small business operator that
40:53
Speaker 1: it's better to deal with you than to just use
40:56
Speaker 1: Google Ads.
40:58
Speaker 2: Well, we did have a man walk up to the
41:00
Speaker 2: door yesterday and say he was sick of using that
41:03
Speaker 2: and he he was going to try try us to
41:05
Speaker 2: get in it.
41:06
Speaker 1: So I mean, I mean, I hear this anecdotally all
41:10
Speaker 1: the time, right that the small business is are like,
41:14
Speaker 1: you know this automated stuff. I don't know who to
41:17
Speaker 1: deal with. I don't know who to talk to when
41:19
Speaker 1: you have an issue, and they sort of miss having
41:22
Speaker 1: an ad sales rep. I mean, to be totally, we
41:26
Speaker 1: do a lot of.
41:27
Speaker 2: The digital advertising for our clients now, so that's one
41:30
Speaker 2: part of you know.
41:31
Speaker 1: Well that's interesting. Like you so a business comes to
41:35
Speaker 1: you and says, hey, we want to penetrate the entire region,
41:40
Speaker 1: and you will place ads beyond just what's in yours
41:43
Speaker 1: of Facebook and Google it.
41:44
Speaker 3: You know, we have a far we have far more
41:47
Speaker 3: Facebook friends than they do. And so you know what
41:49
Speaker 3: we're selling ads, whether it's a print ad, there's going
41:51
Speaker 3: to be a digital that comes with that, and we've packaged.
41:55
Speaker 2: All that stuff and then we boost it and I'll
41:56
Speaker 2: do all that.
41:57
Speaker 4: I mean, were is someone who just wanted to do digital.
42:00
Speaker 3: Most people want to do print, and that did some
42:02
Speaker 3: digital with it, and then they can and think, Okay,
42:05
Speaker 3: I'm handling all this stuff and I don't have to
42:07
Speaker 3: talk to Google or Facebook and all that. Yeah, that's
42:12
Speaker 3: been sort of our solution to it is is to
42:14
Speaker 3: be a one stop shop for them a little bit
42:16
Speaker 3: and help them in that regard.
42:18
Speaker 2: We advertisers love that.
42:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, somebody to deal with and somebody else is
42:24
Speaker 1: going to navigate this mess and you guys have to
42:28
Speaker 1: become experts in it because you're trying to spread your
42:31
Speaker 1: own brand and do all those things. So that that
42:35
Speaker 1: seems like a really I assume that's a pretty good
42:38
Speaker 1: that's that's helped your advertising that you're also a vendor.
42:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, and we're not. I mean, we we
42:44
Speaker 2: are very aware that print will go away at some point.
42:47
Speaker 2: I mean, and we would all still like to eat
42:48
Speaker 2: for a few more decades around here, So we are
42:51
Speaker 2: we're trying to be nimble.
42:53
Speaker 1: So you know, I'm I'm I'm starting to be convinced
42:58
Speaker 1: that maybe print never he dies because we're seeing it.
43:02
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, the to watch the plateauing of
43:07
Speaker 1: digital books right and independent bookstores are thriving around this
43:12
Speaker 1: country now. They've been very event driven. I'm very friendly
43:17
Speaker 1: with an independent bookstore owner and he and he'll say,
43:20
Speaker 1: if we didn't have events, I wouldn't have anybody browsing.
43:22
Speaker 1: That's the only you got to bring people in. But
43:26
Speaker 1: the fact that there's still something about the tangible nature
43:28
Speaker 1: of things, and you know, I had one local proprietor
43:31
Speaker 1: tell me, you know, I realized people want the obituaries,
43:34
Speaker 1: and they want obituaries in print.
43:36
Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, but you know, I think that there's still
43:38
Speaker 3: I would agree with you completely. I do think that
43:40
Speaker 3: there's there's a level at which print may go down.
43:44
Speaker 3: But I do think that there will still be print
43:46
Speaker 3: for some length of time, maybe forever.
43:49
Speaker 4: I don't know.
43:49
Speaker 3: I think you know, it is just becomes less and less.
43:53
Speaker 3: I mean, the Internet becomes less believable every day. And
43:57
Speaker 3: you know, there is that tangibility, there is this this
44:00
Speaker 3: isn't fake well, I mean.
44:01
Speaker 2: Even I mean I think that's true with advertisers too,
44:04
Speaker 2: but I mean I see it with our own reporters.
44:06
Speaker 2: It means more to them when they have their words
44:09
Speaker 2: in print.
44:10
Speaker 1: Ye. Well, And the thing is, we're all learning and
44:13
Speaker 1: cognition stuff. Right What you read physic tangibly you remember
44:18
Speaker 1: better than what you read on a screen.
44:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's I think there's still room for it. And
44:25
Speaker 3: we you know, we're seeing growth this year in print
44:28
Speaker 3: sales are are going up again. We've had I think
44:33
Speaker 3: we're on pace for our best years since twenty nineteen
44:36
Speaker 3: right now.
44:36
Speaker 1: It's interesting, that would be that would be good. You
44:40
Speaker 1: have any specific reason.
44:42
Speaker 4: You think it's adjustments and hiring. We got somebody in
44:46
Speaker 4: gotcha really help and a.
44:49
Speaker 2: Sales manager, somebody who used to be a TV station
44:51
Speaker 2: and you.
44:52
Speaker 1: Understanding, No, I think there's going to be a lot
44:54
Speaker 1: of those. Uh. On those opportunities, we'll get you out
44:57
Speaker 1: of here.
44:57
Speaker 4: On that.
44:58
Speaker 1: You're in a community. I love them, I love visiting.
45:01
Speaker 1: We get over there a reasonable amount. Although I love
45:04
Speaker 1: my little pen I love my little Pensacola community, and
45:06
Speaker 1: we're I feel like we're twin cities right where, these
45:10
Speaker 1: twin little Gulf coast cities, and I feel like Mobile
45:14
Speaker 1: and Pensacola. You know, It's funny you tell people. I
45:18
Speaker 1: tell people who don't know the Panhandle very well, they
45:21
Speaker 1: just make an assumption based on the you know, And
45:24
Speaker 1: I'm like, now, these coastal cities are just they're different,
45:27
Speaker 1: you know, and it's everybody's pretty proud of them. And
45:32
Speaker 1: they're not a polarizing place. So how do you export that?
45:37
Speaker 1: Because it really is. Pensacola is less polarized than what
45:41
Speaker 1: anybody might think. And I feel the same way about Mobile.
45:45
Speaker 1: And yet people that don't live in the region are like, well,
45:48
Speaker 1: how's that the case? Well what would you say?
45:52
Speaker 2: I will tell you why. I mean, everyone has their
45:54
Speaker 2: own political beliefs, but we all live together down here,
45:58
Speaker 2: and we know that someone who might votes differently than
46:03
Speaker 2: you might would probably come and change your tire if
46:07
Speaker 2: you needed it, or would come and help, you know,
46:10
Speaker 2: bring you a casse role if your grandmother dies. And
46:13
Speaker 2: we don't hate each other as much. I think as
46:16
Speaker 2: sometimes if you're not living with people who are all
46:19
Speaker 2: different than you and they're all the same, you know,
46:21
Speaker 2: So that's my I mean, I'm never going to hate
46:24
Speaker 2: someone because they have some sort of political sign in
46:28
Speaker 2: their yard that I don't agree with, because I know
46:30
Speaker 2: they're not, you know, one hundred entirely, you know, terrible persons.
46:34
Speaker 2: And I think people we all live and work together,
46:38
Speaker 2: So it's just it's like that and we realize that.
46:41
Speaker 3: I think it's the coastal nature as well. You know,
46:44
Speaker 3: it's just the fact that people are coming in and
46:46
Speaker 3: out and who are from different places.
46:48
Speaker 1: And you know, you've got a little more transient.
46:51
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's transit. I mean it's Cola for sure. I
46:54
Speaker 4: mean there's a lot more with the with all.
46:56
Speaker 2: The base we have, all these international companies here. I mean,
47:00
Speaker 2: we've just got a very diverse population.
47:03
Speaker 3: There are a lot of people here who've been somewhere else. Unfortunately,
47:07
Speaker 3: for a lot of places that's.
47:08
Speaker 2: An elspare in the state, it's not like that as much.
47:11
Speaker 3: So yeah, well it's.
47:15
Speaker 1: Great to get to know you guys. And like I said,
47:17
Speaker 1: you know, I'm a I'm a part time you know,
47:20
Speaker 1: not not part time enough to get any of the
47:22
Speaker 1: advantages that your next governor takes advantage of. Bye by
47:26
Speaker 1: you know, by.
47:27
Speaker 3: Being wondering mobile right downtown to the line and stop,
47:30
Speaker 3: will go get somebody.
47:32
Speaker 1: Well, absolutely well. Good to get to know you. And
47:36
Speaker 1: where can people find your stuff, find your work?
47:39
Speaker 2: You can find us at lean outmobill dot com which
47:42
Speaker 2: is l A G N I A P p embill
47:45
Speaker 2: dot com.
47:46
Speaker 1: There it is uh great to get to know you,
47:49
Speaker 1: Ashley rob Thanks for the time.
47:50
Speaker 3: Thanks appreciate it.
47:52
Speaker 2: You got it.
47:55
Speaker 3: M