Speaker 1: This is America's Trucking Network with Kevin Gordon.
Speaker 2: Welcome aboard, thanks for tuning in. Merry Christmas. Thanks to
Speaker 2: all the truckers out there. I want to start off
Speaker 2: by saying that thank you to all the truckers out
Speaker 2: there on the highway. You are out there keeping the
Speaker 2: wheels of the economy rolling, delivering all the stuff that
Speaker 2: people are going to be looking for after the Christmas season,
Speaker 2: as well as all the groceries people are going to
Speaker 2: be looking at to do their celebrations if they do
Speaker 2: more celebrations over the weekend. Again, also first responders want
Speaker 2: to thank shout out to the first responders, police and fire,
Speaker 2: hospital workers, food service employees. You know, if you go
Speaker 2: to a restaurant, if you and your family celebrate Christmas
Speaker 2: by going to a restaurant, those people are there on
Speaker 2: Christmas Day when they could be home with their families.
Speaker 2: That's why a lot of people in the food service
Speaker 2: industry and in other industries actually celebrate their holidays a
Speaker 2: day before, week before, the weekend after, or something along
Speaker 2: those lines. Also, you got your hotel and motel workers.
Speaker 2: If you're staying someplace, all those people that are taking
Speaker 2: care of you while you're at the hotel. There for
Speaker 2: you as well, store clerks and convenience store employees. And
Speaker 2: take the time if you will at some point, you know,
Speaker 2: when you go into these stores or you go someplace,
Speaker 2: just take the time to say thank you for being here.
Speaker 3: Now, first of all, and I want to talk about
Speaker 3: this a little bit.
Speaker 2: Christmas is not the end of the Christmas season. It
Speaker 2: is the beginning. There is the common misconception that the
Speaker 2: Twelve Days at Christmas actually occur before Christmas, when in
Speaker 2: fact the December twenty fourth and earlier are advent days
Speaker 2: and a period of preparation, not the actual twelve Days
Speaker 2: of Christmas. The Twelve Days at Christmas is a festive
Speaker 2: Christian season from just remember the twenty fifth, which is
Speaker 2: Christmas Day, to January the fifth, the twelfth night, ending
Speaker 2: with the Epiphany on January the sixth, marking the journey
Speaker 2: of the Magei to Jesus. The celebrations include feasts, religious observances,
Speaker 2: gift giving, caroling, et cetera. Now, again, as far as
Speaker 2: the timing is concerned, starts Christmas Day Day one ends
Speaker 2: on the twelfth night January fifth, leading up to the Epiphany.
Speaker 3: On the sixth.
Speaker 2: Now, the significance of this commemorates in the Nativity and
Speaker 2: the arrival of the Three Wise Men, known as the Magi.
Speaker 2: Activities of feasting parties, caroling famous song, lighting yule logs,
Speaker 2: exchanging gifts, often on the first day of first or
Speaker 2: last day, in a mix of religious and secular merriment.
Speaker 3: Now there are religious feasts during this.
Speaker 2: Specific days for saints like Saint Stephen, which was who
Speaker 2: was the first martyr on December the twenty sixth, as
Speaker 2: Saint John December the twenty seventh, and the Holy Innocence
Speaker 2: on December third, December twenty eighth. Now, going back into
Speaker 2: the time and the Bible, at that time, Herod, who
Speaker 2: was the king, had learned that the King of the
Speaker 2: Jews had been born, and because he didn't know who
Speaker 2: that was, and because he was fearful of somebody coming
Speaker 2: up and taking his title, he sent his people out
Speaker 2: to kill the first born male child of every family
Speaker 2: in the area first born male child a slaughter. Again
Speaker 2: the feast of the Holy Innocence. The origin of the
Speaker 2: traditions in Europe, solidified by the Church to unify celebrations
Speaker 2: around the winter solstice and the Eastern Church's Epiphany. Now
Speaker 2: a lot of Christian traditions because they were dealing with
Speaker 2: the time of where you know, at the start of
Speaker 2: the Christian religion, Catholic religion during the Roman times, Roman
Speaker 2: was pretty much pagan. A lot of areas around the
Speaker 2: world were pagan before non Christian, before Christianity came into
Speaker 2: existence in those areas, and kind of a way of
Speaker 2: melding the different celebrations for what they did versus what
Speaker 2: the Catholics did, they kind of changed things around and
Speaker 2: kind of incorporated them with those traditions again, Christmas Day.
Speaker 2: I'm not even sure when Christmas Day actually was in
Speaker 2: terms of going back into history, but it was solidified
Speaker 2: around the winter solstice in order to combine with the
Speaker 2: other people that might have been celebrating at that time
Speaker 2: that weren't Christian and kind of had the two celebrations
Speaker 2: going on at the same time. Course, decorations traditionally Christmas
Speaker 2: trees and decoration aren't taken down after the Twelfth Night.
Speaker 2: I never understood a lot of people, and I know
Speaker 2: some people that you know, Christmas Day, they have Christmas
Speaker 2: and so on, and then all of a sudden the
Speaker 2: next day there ripping do not ripping down, but taking
Speaker 2: down decorations and cleaning out the house and forget about Christmas.
Speaker 2: But to do Christmas right, it is not just the
Speaker 2: area or the time period up to Christmas, but it
Speaker 2: is a celebration of the Christmas season for the next
Speaker 2: twelve days. And of course many people know about the
Speaker 2: twelve Days of Christmas. Buy the song, of course, twelve
Speaker 2: days of Christmas, six birds, four groups of performers, one
Speaker 2: group of farm hands, one set of precious metals, and
Speaker 2: a tree. Well, if you're following it home, you added
Speaker 2: that up and you said, Kevin, that's thirteen items. How
Speaker 2: do you get the twelve days of Christmas from that? Well,
Speaker 2: you've got the partridge in a pear tree, which is
Speaker 2: part of the first day of Christmas. So again you've
Speaker 2: got basically those items. Now, PNC Bank and they've been
Speaker 2: doing this for a number of years, and I'll talk
Speaker 2: about that in a minute. Every year they come out
Speaker 2: with the PNC Chris Smith's Price Index. I have been
Speaker 2: following this every year as long as I can remember.
Speaker 2: Every time I'm on the air around that time period,
Speaker 2: I talk about the PNC Christmas Price Index. Interestingly enough, CPI,
Speaker 2: which is like the Consumer Price Index.
Speaker 3: Like I said, I have been following this.
Speaker 2: I always look forward to around the Thanksgiving season when
Speaker 2: this index is released, and I look forward to seeing that.
Speaker 2: Being a numbers guy, being a recovering accountant, I'm always
Speaker 2: interested in the details behind. I'm interested in the cost.
Speaker 2: I'm interested in the inflation and how that reflects the
Speaker 2: P ANDZ. To give you an introduction if you've not
Speaker 2: heard of this before, the PNC Price Christmas Price Index.
Speaker 2: It's an annual tradition which shows the current cost of
Speaker 2: one set of each of the gifts in the song
Speaker 2: the Twelve Days of Christmas. It is similar to the
Speaker 2: US Price and Consumer Price Index, which measures the changing
Speaker 2: prices of goods and services like housing, food, clothing, and
Speaker 2: transportation and more that reflect the spending habits of the
Speaker 2: average American. The goods and services in the PNC Christmas
Speaker 2: Price Index are far more whimsical, of course, and for
Speaker 2: most years the price changes closely mirror those of the
Speaker 2: Consumer Price Index. And it's been something that's been very
Speaker 2: amazing to me. Where you take a song, you add
Speaker 2: up the price of all those items with the various
Speaker 2: items about that and all the different components to that,
Speaker 2: and it very closely mirrors what's going on in the
Speaker 2: regular economy. For anybody that's interested in this, if you
Speaker 2: go to PNC their website, the p and C and
Speaker 2: just look up p and C Christmas Price Index, it
Speaker 2: is a great tool in order to teach kids about inflation,
Speaker 2: talk about goods, and talk about different things as far
Speaker 2: as the economy is concerned. And as I said, this
Speaker 2: is something where on a usual year, most years it
Speaker 2: closely mirrors what goes on as far as the economy
Speaker 2: is concerned. And the consumer price index fun way to
Speaker 2: measure consumer spending and trends in the economy. So even
Speaker 2: if Piper's Piping or Guisa laying didn't make it on
Speaker 2: your gift list this year, you can still learn about
Speaker 2: a lot about checking out their prices and how they
Speaker 2: have increased.
Speaker 3: Over the years or decreased over the years.
Speaker 2: It all started basically to go back to the beginning
Speaker 2: forty two years ago as a way to engage clients
Speaker 2: of PNC's predecessor, Prominent National Bank in Philadelphia during the
Speaker 2: traditionally light holiday weeks that hatched as the creative brainchild
Speaker 2: of the banks, and then Chief Economists has since grown
Speaker 2: into one of the PNC's most popular and anticipated economic reports.
Speaker 2: Over the years, trends of emerging the PNC Price Index
Speaker 2: and has often increased or decreased as the rate is
Speaker 2: consistent with the Consumer Price Index, a measure of inflation
Speaker 2: produced by the US Bureau Department of Labor. And then
Speaker 2: also through the years, four factors have kind of influenced this.
Speaker 3: The Internet.
Speaker 2: They've started adding into their what it would cost if
Speaker 2: you bought these items over the internet. The price of
Speaker 2: services overall has increased while prices of goods have slowed.
Speaker 2: This is a flip from forty two years ago when
Speaker 2: goods were much higher than services. Fuel costs have to
Speaker 2: be added in here. They have a major impact and
Speaker 2: major effect on shipping, and as we know, fuel prices
Speaker 2: have beencific significantly volatile over the last few years. Also
Speaker 2: especially challenging go back to the pandemic year and the
Speaker 2: fact that performers couldn't be out there. They had to
Speaker 2: eliminate a lot of that from the index, and so
Speaker 2: the cost of that index went way, way, way way
Speaker 2: down in conjunction with the way the economy behaved. And
Speaker 2: then since the PNC price Index. Just give me on
Speaker 2: a background. Since they launched the BLS and the Bureau
Speaker 2: of Labor Statistics CPI Consumer Price Index has increased two
Speaker 2: hundred and twenty three percent over those forty two years,
Speaker 2: while the PNC Christmas Price Index has only increased by
Speaker 2: fifty seven one fifty seven percent. I should say, let's
Speaker 2: get into the details of this coming up. I'm Kevin Gordon,
Speaker 2: America's struck in Network seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 1: I need this is the racing report on America's trucking
Speaker 1: network on seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 4: Lionel Racing has announced the top ten die cast of
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Speaker 4: Number four on the list of top ten die casts
Speaker 4: of twenty twenty five is Chase Elliott NAPA Children's Healthcare
Speaker 4: of Atlanta Echo Park Win. Fifth on the list is
Speaker 4: William Byron's Exalta Daytona five hundred win. Number six on
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Speaker 4: Champ and Chip car. Number seven is Kyle Larsons Hendrickcars
Speaker 4: dot Com Phoenix Race version. Number eight is Connor Zilich
Speaker 4: Red Bull. Number nine on the list is Josh Berry's
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Speaker 1: This is the breathing repard on America's Trucking Network on
Speaker 1: seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 3: Say Dennison, a t N picture this.
Speaker 2: You're on a date fucking network seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for being there.
Speaker 2: We're talking in the previous segment about PNC's twenty twenty
Speaker 2: five Christmas Price Index. The holiday cheer comes at a
Speaker 2: premium total of all the gifts. The has risen four
Speaker 2: point five percent compared to last year, out pacing the
Speaker 2: Bureau of Labor Statistic Consumer Price Index over the year,
Speaker 2: which is reading right around three percent. The data and
Speaker 2: I'll get this, okay. The data is compiled by the
Speaker 2: PNC's Investment off using sources from across the country including
Speaker 2: dance and theater companies, hatcheries, pet stores, and others. Over All,
Speaker 2: the twelve gifts of Christmas that comprise the p and
Speaker 2: C Christmas Price index increased to a tree topping. If
Speaker 2: you just bought each one of the individual items, we've
Speaker 2: cost you fifty one thousand, four hundred and seventy six
Speaker 2: dollars and twelve cents this year. According to Amanda Agatti,
Speaker 2: she is the chief investment officer of P and C
Speaker 2: Asset Management Group, this year's increase reflects labor market pressures
Speaker 2: and economic uncertainty, not tariffs. Truelove's list is all domestic now.
Speaker 2: That is you know again and what I've been talking
Speaker 2: about on this program. There are a lot of things
Speaker 2: in this economy that are not affected by tariffs, even
Speaker 2: though what we are hearing from the spoon fed regurgitators
Speaker 2: in the mainstream media. Again, she indicates this year's increase
Speaker 2: reflects labor market pressures, which is what I've been talking
Speaker 2: about a lot that people are not factoring that into
Speaker 2: the inflation rate. And because this is labored driven, it
Speaker 2: is at four point five percent increase compared to the
Speaker 2: overall consumer price index of three percent. Again not tariff related.
Speaker 2: So the true cost of Christmas, that is, if you
Speaker 2: were to buy the gifts as the versus repeat, is
Speaker 2: four point four percent higher at a whopping two hundred
Speaker 2: and eighteen thousand, five hundred forty two dollars and ninety
Speaker 2: eight cents tax. Sevy Tech Savy Santas might avoid long
Speaker 2: lines and parking lot of adventures by shopping online with
Speaker 2: its lower inflation rate of three point one percent, but
Speaker 2: the total shopping bill remains higher at fifty five thousand,
Speaker 2: seven hundred and forty eight which is above that fifty
Speaker 2: one thousand dollars number. The convenience of shopping at home
Speaker 2: still impacts by elevated shipping and packaging costs. Now, getting
Speaker 2: into the details of this, and this is one of
Speaker 2: the things you know as a recovering accountant. Digging into
Speaker 2: the numbers always fascinates me. And that's one of the
Speaker 2: things that I love about this particular survey or the
Speaker 2: PNC Christmas Price Index is again how it normally matte
Speaker 2: mirrors in normal years. The consumer price indict All the
Speaker 2: glitters is not All the glitters is gold five gold
Speaker 2: rings shine Bright, soaring thirty two point five percent year
Speaker 2: over year, the single largest increase by far in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty five, but a bargain compared to the forty five
Speaker 2: point forty five percent jump in gold prices as of
Speaker 2: October thirtieth, twenty twenty five. Serge wasn't holiday magic. It
Speaker 2: was driven by macroeconomic forces around the world because in
Speaker 2: times when economic uncertain and this is economic concertainty around
Speaker 2: the world, given the oil markets and going what's going
Speaker 2: on in the Middle East, what's going on with the
Speaker 2: war in Ukraine, and all the different economic areas around
Speaker 2: the world, those impacts have taken effect and people are
Speaker 2: looking at that. So the price of gold, as you've noticed,
Speaker 2: has gone up considerably, and so that is reflected.
Speaker 3: Again mirroring the economy. Five gold rings.
Speaker 2: Looking at this performance pricing pops, nine ladies dancing, Ted
Speaker 2: Lorren's ten Lords of Leaping, eleven pipers piping, twelve drummers
Speaker 2: drumming might demand an ovation this year. An aggregate price
Speaker 2: for performers increased five point four percent this year, an
Speaker 2: encore on top of last year's seven point nine percent,
Speaker 2: So last year's number actually came in at seven point
Speaker 2: nine percent increase. This year was relatively tamed below that
Speaker 2: at five point four percent. Although the partridge in a
Speaker 2: pear tree was unchanged. There was a fourteen point three
Speaker 2: percent jump in the price of the pear tree. Land,
Speaker 2: labor and fertilizer have driven up tree prices this year.
Speaker 2: The pear tree can also serve as a proxy for
Speaker 2: housing costs, which likewise continue to move higher. Despite the
Speaker 2: average mortgage rates falling off the rooftop by more than
Speaker 2: one hundred basis points because of the lower interest rates
Speaker 2: by the Federal Reserve.
Speaker 3: Price is held steady this year for two.
Speaker 2: Turtle doves, three French hands, four calling birds, seven songs
Speaker 2: of Swimming swimming, and eight maids of milking. The Core
Speaker 2: version of the PNC Christmas Price Index, like the Core
Speaker 2: version and the BLS CPI, which excludes most volatile components
Speaker 2: of the index. So every year kind of along lines
Speaker 2: mirroring the Consumer Price Index.
Speaker 3: The people that put this together, they will look.
Speaker 2: At certain items that are volatile that year pull them
Speaker 2: out so you get a better gauge for in terms
Speaker 2: of what is going on in the actual index itself.
Speaker 2: This year, the number of the item that was pulled out.
Speaker 2: Let's see the Swans. Swans typically have the most volatile
Speaker 2: price among items in the PNC Christmas Price Index. However,
Speaker 2: this year's price remained flat. That might actually be a
Speaker 2: positive signal for investors who have been bracing for the
Speaker 2: investment black swan sightings or finding coal in their stockings. Now,
Speaker 2: one of the things that wasn't mentioned in this is
Speaker 2: the actual item of geese a laying and what is
Speaker 2: interesting about that looking at the numbers on the six
Speaker 2: geez a laying again, they go into each one of
Speaker 2: these individual items to talk about what the total cost
Speaker 2: is and for instance, six GISA laying will be nine
Speaker 2: hundred and thirty dollars. Geese are loud creatures, honking for
Speaker 2: all manner of reasons and likely no reason at all.
Speaker 2: That's why they're modest three point three percent increase feels
Speaker 2: so uncharacteristically quiet this year. And they go into all
Speaker 2: the details in terms of this, and you know, they
Speaker 2: explain each one of them and talk about them in
Speaker 2: detail to kind of explain how they got to those numbers.
Speaker 2: And again, I just find this very fascinating and imagine
Speaker 2: the fun it would be if you were one of
Speaker 2: the members of this team that put this together of
Speaker 2: going around and checking the different prices of all these things,
Speaker 2: putting the components together and figuring out how you could
Speaker 2: actually manage to buy all these things.
Speaker 3: If you were to buy those all in one fell swoop.
Speaker 2: With the Federal Reserve signaling looser policy in twenty twenty
Speaker 2: six will reveal whether inflation finally cools or remains the
Speaker 2: lump of coal in a holiday stockings. Again, according to
Speaker 2: Amanda Agetti with PNC Bank, is what I'm trying to.
Speaker 5: Spit out here.
Speaker 2: So, like I said, every year, I get a real
Speaker 2: kick out of looking at this, looking at the individual
Speaker 2: details of it, talking about and I do spend some
Speaker 2: time looking at this in terms of what some of
Speaker 2: the prices are, where they're advancing and where they're holding flat.
Speaker 3: Now, you know, getting into it. You know, I mentioned
Speaker 3: at the beginning that you have.
Speaker 2: Basically six birds group of performers, you know, four groups
Speaker 2: of performers. You have those you know, ten lords of
Speaker 2: leaping and so on. Those prices are subject to what
Speaker 2: the normal performance rates are for the you know, the
Speaker 2: different performers and the different unions that they belong to.
Speaker 2: And the eight mades of milking kind of gives you
Speaker 2: an indication of what the farm prices are, what the
Speaker 2: labor costs are on the farm, and that type of thing.
Speaker 2: So again, this is one of those things that where
Speaker 2: you look at the individual details. When you look at
Speaker 2: the what's behind the individual numbers, what makes that up,
Speaker 2: whether it's feed costs you know, basically buy you know
Speaker 2: because of buying these things at a pet store or
Speaker 2: something like that, the cost of producing the birds and
Speaker 2: the various animals and whatever, and being able to put
Speaker 2: the all composite into a particular index. Like I said,
Speaker 2: I always find it fascinating. I hope you find it too. Again,
Speaker 2: I will post this on my Facebook page, the summary
Speaker 2: of this, and hope you enjoy it, because again every
Speaker 2: year this kind of tends to mirror what is going
Speaker 2: on as far as the economy is concerned, and the
Speaker 2: consumer Price Index coming up. We have Sam Collier that
Speaker 2: joins the program to talk about what is going on.
Speaker 2: After us being down at the twentieth anniversary of the
Speaker 2: Rush Enterprises Tech Skills Rodeo, I thought it would be
Speaker 2: great to talk to somebody about what's going on in
Speaker 2: the trades, and of course Gateway Community College Sam Collier,
Speaker 2: who is the dean of that department, will join us
Speaker 2: talking about what's available in the trades. I'm Kevin Gordon,
Speaker 2: americastruct A Network seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 6: News traffic and weather News Radio seven hundred WLW Cincinnati.
Speaker 7: Just how many more documents are loved to go through?
Speaker 7: The surprise is a large number. But if you're twelve
Speaker 7: thirty re parts, I'm Lee Mawen breaking Now. A surprise
Speaker 7: announcement from the Department of Justice. They say they need
Speaker 7: more time to sit through over a million more documents
Speaker 7: tied into the Jeffrey Epstein trial.
Speaker 8: It's a surprise Christmas Eve announcement that the FBI and
Speaker 8: Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have uncovered over a million more
Speaker 8: documents potentially related to the Epstein case. The Justice Department
Speaker 8: says it could take a few more weeks to review
Speaker 8: them and to make legally required redactions. Critics have accused
Speaker 8: the administration of moving too slowly to release the files
Speaker 8: and of blacking out too much, including the names of
Speaker 8: government officials and of potential co conspirators they referenced in
Speaker 8: internal emails.
Speaker 7: ABC News National correspondent Stephen Portnoy now the.
Speaker 6: Ladies forecast from a train heating and cooling weather center
Speaker 6: on news radio seven hundred WLJWG.
Speaker 9: After freely dropping down into the upper forties, ver Santa
Speaker 9: quickly push into the fifties by the time most of
Speaker 9: us wake up Christmas morning. That scattered rain will also
Speaker 9: be out there Thursday morning, but it should be out
Speaker 9: of here by early afternoon. While gloomy Christmas afternoon, it
Speaker 9: will be warm highs near fifty nine and we only
Speaker 9: cool off to forty six into your Friday morning. From
Speaker 9: your severe weather station, I'm nine first warning meter Religious
Speaker 9: Mark Stitz News Radio seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 7: Scattered rain now in central Butler County as it's starting
Speaker 7: to spread a little bit further. The heaviest rain is
Speaker 7: up towards Dark County in Greenville on its way to
Speaker 7: Troy and Pickwa in Miami County, but the best of
Speaker 7: the Tri States dry at forty nine degrees. The TSA
Speaker 7: are learning people about public internet and juice jacking. That's
Speaker 7: the act of installing malware at USB ports, across airports
Speaker 7: and other public places to steal information.
Speaker 10: Really encourage people to not use those free Wi Fi sites,
Speaker 10: or if you do, do not do anything with personal information, banking,
Speaker 10: anything like that. If you have to use free Wi Fi,
Speaker 10: just keep it real surface leveled.
Speaker 7: Eastern Carolina's bb be ALYSSA Parker recommending people use their phones,
Speaker 7: hotspot or a secure network to surf the net. Just
Speaker 7: in time for Christmas Day, the iconic since Night signed
Speaker 7: back on the Convention Center. The old side was pulled
Speaker 7: down the summer in favor of a new LED sign
Speaker 7: that's fully customizable and capable of playing videos. The Cincinnati
Speaker 7: Convention Center reopens January seventh. Your next up there is
Speaker 7: that one. I'm Ley Mawen, theos Radio seven hundred WLW
Speaker 7: progressive commer.
Speaker 11: Here's your trucking forecast for the Try State and the
Speaker 11: rest of the country. In the Try State, overnight showers,
Speaker 11: the low down to forty six for Christmas Day, a
Speaker 11: chance of morning showers and a slight chance in the
Speaker 11: late afternoon, otherwise cloudy. The high year sixty rain seen
Speaker 11: Friday coming to an end by early afternoon with cloudy skies,
Speaker 11: a high of sixty four, mostly claudy. Saturday highs in
Speaker 11: the upper fifties Nationally continuing through Christmas Day. Life threatening
Speaker 11: flash flooding scene over southern California, while heavy mountain snow
Speaker 11: and high winds also persist from the Upper Midwest into
Speaker 11: the mid Atlantic and Northeast. Contry weather we'll spread Friday. Meanwhile,
Speaker 11: and seasonably warm weather which could break daily record his
Speaker 11: in places continuing across the middle of the country through
Speaker 11: the weekend.
Speaker 2: I'm Kevin Gord in Americastrucking Network seven hundred WLW. I
Speaker 2: have the pleasure of bringing back to the program somebody
Speaker 2: we haven't spoken to in a couple of years, Sam Collier.
Speaker 2: He is the Dean of Manufacturing Transportation Technology at Gateway
Speaker 2: Community and Technical College.
Speaker 3: Sam, welcome back to the program.
Speaker 5: JA, Thanks guy, I appreciate you bringing me back. Yeah.
Speaker 2: For people or may not be familiar with him, he's
Speaker 2: got a very amazing background. He's been an ASA certified
Speaker 2: technician for twenty five years, got into that, became a
Speaker 2: division chair of transportation back in two thousand and six,
Speaker 2: worked as a mechanic for seventeen years, and now is
Speaker 2: the dean after graduating from CINCINNTI State Technical College with
Speaker 2: associates and automotive business. So up projecting all through and
Speaker 2: going back for continuing education to get where you are today.
Speaker 2: And that's a fantastic story to talk about.
Speaker 3: Sam. I applaud you for that, and I really admire
Speaker 3: you for that.
Speaker 12: Well, it definitely was not the planned when I graduated
Speaker 12: high school. But it has been a great ride, and
Speaker 12: I'm glad I'm where I'm at and able to work
Speaker 12: with all of these wonderful people in college and the
Speaker 12: students in the trades.
Speaker 5: It's been very rewarding.
Speaker 2: Well, I am going to skip down to something I
Speaker 2: was going to talk about earlier. Later I mentioned you
Speaker 2: off air that last week I was down at the
Speaker 2: in Nashville for the twentieth anniversary of Rush Enterprises Tech
Speaker 2: Skills Rodeo, and we got a chance to talk to
Speaker 2: a bunch of the technicians that competed. Over three hundred
Speaker 2: thousand dollars in prizes were given away in cash prizes,
Speaker 2: and well there was some fantastic looking trophies. But in
Speaker 2: interviewing them again, this came about and as you were
Speaker 2: talking about being able to get a career path in
Speaker 2: terms of not where you expected to be a lot
Speaker 2: of these people didn't know what they were going to
Speaker 2: do out of college a college or high school and
Speaker 2: found their way into a skill and just was open
Speaker 2: to that. So I guess before we get started, maybe
Speaker 2: talk a little bit about that how people can this
Speaker 2: may be something for them to explore, which is something
Speaker 2: different than what they had originally intended to be involved.
Speaker 12: In well and Kevin, you know, that's a great point
Speaker 12: because I talked to more and more and more students
Speaker 12: every year parents that because you know, again, when I
Speaker 12: was a kid, my.
Speaker 5: Dad worked on his own car. We quickly figured out
Speaker 5: I was much better at it.
Speaker 12: Than he was, and next thing you know, he's handed
Speaker 12: me the tools and I'm doing the work. So I
Speaker 12: was able to find my niche and figure out, hey,
Speaker 12: I'm pretty good at this and I really enjoy it.
Speaker 5: Those days are gone.
Speaker 12: The playing with a point where the appliances and taking
Speaker 12: things apart is gone. So many people don't know if
Speaker 12: they have interests, a skill, a talent in the trades
Speaker 12: at all unless they're have an opportunity where mother, uncle, grandpa,
Speaker 12: somebody does.
Speaker 5: Something in the trades that they get to tag along with.
Speaker 12: So we do a lot of touring and talking to
Speaker 12: students and introducing them to instructors and letting them come
Speaker 12: into labs and see what programs are about.
Speaker 2: Now is that geared towards the high school students at
Speaker 2: different schools and stuff.
Speaker 3: You go around and talk to them kind of basically recruit.
Speaker 5: Well. Yeah, so one thing, yes, obviously we're in the
Speaker 5: high schools.
Speaker 12: We have a whole team at Gateway that does that,
Speaker 12: and then you know, we'll arrange tours at the college
Speaker 12: for those that still have interest. You know, hey, if
Speaker 12: you say, man, I'm going to be a chemical engineer,
Speaker 12: and I know that for a fact, great, go be
Speaker 12: a chemical engineer. I got But they're like, I don't know,
Speaker 12: I think I want to work.
Speaker 5: With my hands. Okay, let's talk about what does that mean?
Speaker 12: Because that opens up so many different avenues, and so
Speaker 12: we actually have.
Speaker 5: High school what we we call.
Speaker 12: Them apprenticeship pathways where students can come in and their
Speaker 12: junior year and their senior year and just take a
Speaker 12: hodgepodge of classes. So they'll take a welding class, a
Speaker 12: machining class, a basic electrical class, an auto class, you know,
Speaker 12: and just kind of get a heating and air conditioning
Speaker 12: class and they just get a feel for you know,
Speaker 12: it's one class in each of these areas. All the
Speaker 12: classes would count towards either core or electives if they
Speaker 12: chose any of the technical classes, so they're not wasted,
Speaker 12: but they can actually come over and work directly.
Speaker 5: With That was so popular in the high schools.
Speaker 12: That we've actually expanded that now and we have a
Speaker 12: dedicated pathway for under employed folks. So when we're talking
Speaker 12: to twenty five, twenty six thirty year old who's working
Speaker 12: two or three jobs to make ends meet, you know,
Speaker 12: just because they're dead end jobs. Retail not the bad thing,
Speaker 12: but they're just really struggling and you know, hey, but
Speaker 12: I think I think I want to be you know,
Speaker 12: so we give them an opportunity to come in, take
Speaker 12: a couple of classes, and again get there see if
Speaker 12: you know, because let's face it, you don't want to
Speaker 12: come in and find out that you're you don't have
Speaker 12: technical skills, or that you're not interested, or that it's
Speaker 12: not fun for you, and then this is your career
Speaker 12: path for the rest of your life. So we've had
Speaker 12: to open up a lot of those avenues because people
Speaker 12: don't get a chance.
Speaker 5: To expand and explore those type of things.
Speaker 12: And it's not like you can be you know, you
Speaker 12: can't just walk into a manufacturing plant say I want
Speaker 12: to play with your machines. That's not going to happen,
Speaker 12: so you'd probably be arrested and or shot.
Speaker 10: Ye.
Speaker 2: So but this is cool because so a person could
Speaker 2: come in take on. By the way, we're speaking with
Speaker 2: Sam Collier. He is the dean of Manufacturing and Transporation
Speaker 2: Technology Gateway Community and Technical College. So they could actually
Speaker 2: try heating, air conditioning, electrical mechanic, diesel mechanic, and so on,
Speaker 2: just to kind of get a feel for what made
Speaker 2: what made.
Speaker 3: Interest them and so exactly.
Speaker 2: All right, Well, let's back up a little bit because
Speaker 2: I'm going to skip right back to the first question
Speaker 2: I was going to ask, but we got there was,
Speaker 2: you know, so many things to talk about to get
Speaker 2: to that. But since we last spoke, your duties have expanded,
Speaker 2: and so have the programs expanded as far as what's
Speaker 2: available at Gateway Community College and Technical.
Speaker 12: That is correct, yes, So you know, obviously the great
Speaker 12: news is we're seeing you know, well, the college in
Speaker 12: and of itself. Every year, the last four semesters, I
Speaker 12: believe we've seen growth, and a lot of that is
Speaker 12: in the trades. So I've had to add on more instructors,
Speaker 12: both full time and a lot of part time. And
Speaker 12: that's an interesting endeavor because you know, you first of all,
Speaker 12: they're working, and many of them are working swing shifts
Speaker 12: and things like that. So we've got to work with
Speaker 12: their schedules. They've already got an eight to five job,
Speaker 12: or at least a forty hour a week job. They've
Speaker 12: got families. But then they've also it's not like they're
Speaker 12: just coming in and teaching. I'm not saying, hey, come
Speaker 12: in and lecture to these students for an hour and
Speaker 12: go home. They've got to come in and actually teach
Speaker 12: the technical thing. So my welding part time instructor comes
Speaker 12: in and teaches a Saturday morning class from eight to one.
Speaker 12: He's a welder and he knows welding, but he's actually
Speaker 12: got to come in and make sure he understands the
Speaker 12: equipment and can you you know, know where everything is
Speaker 12: so he doesn't look silly when a student says, hey,
Speaker 12: I need a grinder. Oh, that'd be a great tool
Speaker 12: to have. I bet it's here somewhere.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 5: They need to learn, you know.
Speaker 12: They actually need to learn how where things are at,
Speaker 12: how we run our shop. Our rules are rags, so
Speaker 12: that come Monday when our students come back in, everything's
Speaker 12: back where it belongs.
Speaker 5: So it really is a big expansion.
Speaker 12: Also because the trades are so shorthanded, so I'm academic everything.
Speaker 12: I my life is around classes that are based on college.
Speaker 12: But we have what we call Workforce, and workforce works
Speaker 12: directly with industry and so they can do a customized class.
Speaker 12: I'm set to very set boundaries. This class is this long,
Speaker 12: and this is what you're going to teach in it.
Speaker 12: But Workforce can come in and say we're going to
Speaker 12: teach a basic business course or a technical course, or
Speaker 12: a welding course or.
Speaker 5: And it can be very specific.
Speaker 12: I need students to learn how to weld pipe and
Speaker 12: that's it.
Speaker 5: Okay, well that's going to be so. But when we're
Speaker 5: talking with companies.
Speaker 12: That group is not necessarily a subject matter.
Speaker 5: Expert in every area.
Speaker 12: So I spend a lot of my time now not
Speaker 12: a lot, some of my time actually working with workforce
Speaker 12: and with these companies talking over what is it that
Speaker 12: they actually need because they think they need you know,
Speaker 12: I need more people to do. But then when you
Speaker 12: start having the conversations with them, oh okay, it becomes
Speaker 12: broader or more narrow, or they want more or they
Speaker 12: think that that has to be college bound, and like, no,
Speaker 12: you come in, take three hour class, learn to do X.
Speaker 12: So I come in as the primary subject matter expert, although.
Speaker 5: I'm in no way, shape or form a subject maunter
Speaker 5: expert in a lot of these areas, but I know enough.
Speaker 2: O coumpaths are fairly open to this, which is a
Speaker 2: lot different than some of the stuff that I've seen
Speaker 2: from people that I've talked with. And we'll pick this
Speaker 2: up on the other side of the break, I'm speaking
Speaker 2: with Sam Collier. He is the dean of Manufacturing and
Speaker 2: Transportation Technology, Gateway Community and Technical College. I'm Kevin Gordon,
Speaker 2: America's Trucking Network seven hundred Wlwright.
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Speaker 3: When it's time to hit the road, time is money.
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Speaker 2: Continue our tent with Sam Collier, Deano Manufacturing and Transportation Technology,
Speaker 2: Gateway Community and Technical College. When we stepped out, we
Speaker 2: were talking about I don't know if you want to
Speaker 2: say train corporations, but being an ambassador with those corporations
Speaker 2: that to fill the needs that they have. They may
Speaker 2: come to you and say that they need, you know,
Speaker 2: five different skills, but you can give them somebody with
Speaker 2: three and we'll explain the process there. Because this is
Speaker 2: kind of unlike what I'm seeing in some of the
Speaker 2: corporate rule of other corporations and some of the other jobs,
Speaker 2: where if somebody doesn't meet all those criteria, their their
Speaker 2: resume gets thrown in the waste basket. In a lot
Speaker 2: of instances, I think it's a disservice not only to
Speaker 2: the company, but to the employee as well.
Speaker 5: And Kevin, I agree with you one hundred percent.
Speaker 12: And yeah, first of all, finding that unicorn that has
Speaker 12: all those five anymore, especially if it's a company that
Speaker 12: has something specialized, you know, it's just not going to
Speaker 12: happen because again, you used to steal somebody from another company,
Speaker 12: But the pay rates are at a point and companies
Speaker 12: know they can't go get somebody else, so they're willing
Speaker 12: to step up to keep that person they have. So
Speaker 12: the days of trading off and rotating through a how
Speaker 12: won't say they're gone, but they're definitely.
Speaker 5: Much less than they used to be.
Speaker 12: So so, yeah, we do have these you know, have
Speaker 12: to have these conversations with companies and we say, okay,
Speaker 12: you know what, I got students here that have you're
Speaker 12: asking for these five?
Speaker 5: I got three. But they're a good student.
Speaker 12: They've shown up for class every day, They've put forth
Speaker 12: a lot of effort, they show great initiative, they have
Speaker 12: people skills. Are you willing to work with them and
Speaker 12: train them? And then the training side can be multiple things.
Speaker 12: They mentorship where they put them with somebody in the company,
Speaker 12: and a lot of companies that we're working with are
Speaker 12: seeing that that's unnecessary evil I'm just going to have
Speaker 12: to pay somebody to not be quite as profitable because
Speaker 12: they're in a training mode. Or do they come back
Speaker 12: to Gateway as I was mentioning before the break and
Speaker 12: or with a workforce group like ours and design a
Speaker 12: very specialized class for those three or five people that
Speaker 12: they just hired to give them those skills that they
Speaker 12: didn't have.
Speaker 5: So, okay, come work for the company.
Speaker 12: You stay with me for three six months, you show
Speaker 12: up for work every day, and then I'm going to
Speaker 12: pay for this training that will help you and help
Speaker 12: me the company. And you know, now you're you know
Speaker 12: you've actually developed from within. The students wins, the company wins.
Speaker 12: The student feels like the company's investing in them, so
Speaker 12: they're you know, they're more likely to hang around. So
Speaker 12: it's a it's a win for everybody.
Speaker 2: And Gawayne and Gateway has gone to bat for these
Speaker 2: people to make sure that they get employed. It's not
Speaker 2: just hey, exactly, pay your fee, get a grade, and
Speaker 2: good luck.
Speaker 12: Well exactly, yeah, my god, I always you know, that's
Speaker 12: one of those things that we know when we're looking
Speaker 12: at programs and making sure that programs are viable, that
Speaker 12: is very important that there is first of all, career
Speaker 12: opportunnities that are good career opportunities.
Speaker 5: And we're not going to put you.
Speaker 12: Into a into a job that is fading away or
Speaker 12: that AI is taking over. That's not fair to our students.
Speaker 12: So are their career opportunities and are there companies that
Speaker 12: are willing to help, because again, you're just not going
Speaker 12: to find a ten year veteran sitting around looking for
Speaker 12: these jobs anymore.
Speaker 5: Well ly, in the.
Speaker 2: Economy, we have this no hire, no fire policy because
Speaker 2: of you know, people kind of holding back whether they're
Speaker 2: going to expand or not, and of course economic issues
Speaker 2: out there, which you know, I think are being overplayed
Speaker 2: by them.
Speaker 3: We won't go into that.
Speaker 2: But anyway, I think we've got a very strong economy.
Speaker 2: It's just that I think that a lot of companies
Speaker 2: are kind of waiting on the in the wings to
Speaker 2: possibly expand. But which is a good segue here, because
Speaker 2: again we talked about the fact that there you've expanded
Speaker 2: programs there, and those are more programs than what you
Speaker 2: originally well what we what you had the last time
Speaker 2: we spoke. So let's talk a little bit about that
Speaker 2: as well. Because again, as I've said before, as I
Speaker 2: mentioned in the previous segment, being at that tech schools rodeo,
Speaker 2: the trades have become cool again, not that they were.
Speaker 2: Actually they've always been cool. They were cool before cool
Speaker 2: was cool, you know, And so it's always been a necessity,
Speaker 2: and people are realizing that, yes, this is a necessity
Speaker 2: and it's a cool possibility of a good career path.
Speaker 2: So let's talk about some of the expanded programs. And
Speaker 2: as you mentioned, this isn't like just sitting there saying hey,
Speaker 2: let's start this program here, let's start teaching this today
Speaker 2: and then roll the red carpet.
Speaker 12: Out you're exactly right, and I'll be honest. When Gateway
Speaker 12: was a little bitty college many many years ago, when
Speaker 12: I started, it was kind of like that a company
Speaker 12: and say, hey, we think the world needs are our
Speaker 12: area needs X, and we'd go out and we'd try
Speaker 12: and set up whatever that was, and then we'd find
Speaker 12: out that there's two companies that actually need three people,
Speaker 12: and we just spent a lot of time and money
Speaker 12: on an area that's already now flooded. So you know,
Speaker 12: there are companies that actually do this research the nationally
Speaker 12: and then narrow it down to areas, and we were Gatway,
Speaker 12: like many colleges, works with those groups. We review that information,
Speaker 12: we take that information back to our companies and we
Speaker 12: have conversations with them and say, you know.
Speaker 5: Hey, statistically it says right.
Speaker 12: Here that we're going to need people doing this and
Speaker 12: I'll use So it's actually a crossover. We have a
Speaker 12: we've had a computer information technology program since before I started,
Speaker 12: but now we have a computer engineering technology program, which
Speaker 12: is a crossover between computers, the normal computer classes, and electronics.
Speaker 5: So this person is teaching students.
Speaker 12: You know, computers is kind of that replaced software update.
Speaker 12: Things keep up the kind of thing. But this person
Speaker 12: is actually looking more in more or in depth into
Speaker 12: the electronics side of it, the repair of a board,
Speaker 12: you know, getting more into the electronics side of it,
Speaker 12: the manufacturing side of it, you know, the actual manufacturing
Speaker 12: of components. You know, computers don't just build themselves yet,
Speaker 12: so somebody's actually got to design them and engineer them
Speaker 12: up and make sure that they're working right and then
Speaker 12: repair them. So that's one of the areas that's actually
Speaker 12: I'm not fully in charge of it there. It's a
Speaker 12: crossover between two divisions, but we looked at a lot
Speaker 12: of you know, did a lot of research again, went
Speaker 12: and talked to the companies. They're like, yeah, that's what
Speaker 12: I've been talking about, that's what I've been asking for.
Speaker 5: I'm like, well, you didn't say that, you know so.
Speaker 2: And which is interesting in that area because of the
Speaker 2: technology changing and by the way, we're speaking with Sam
Speaker 2: Collier of Manufacturing Transportation Technology at Gateway Community and Technical College,
Speaker 2: that technology is changing. It doesn't really do what he could.
Speaker 2: And I'm trying to think of a certain technology or
Speaker 2: a certain computer from ten to fifteen years ago doesn't
Speaker 2: help to know how to repair that when you've got
Speaker 2: the new computers that are out there. I mean, you've
Speaker 2: got to have exactly the current technology so that they're
Speaker 2: trained on what is going to be a profitable or
Speaker 2: a useful skill.
Speaker 12: Right and you know, and again we'll go back to
Speaker 12: manufacturing world just because that's one of the big ones
Speaker 12: in Northern Kentucky. A lot of the machinery now, you know,
Speaker 12: you go back fifteen years ago, you had a whole
Speaker 12: bunch of mechanical.
Speaker 5: Failures belt drives and things like that. But now it
Speaker 5: is computerized.
Speaker 12: It's you know, programmable logic control issues, it is electronic issues,
Speaker 12: it's computer software issues, it's that are causing plants headaches.
Speaker 12: So yeah, you've still got the maintenance of the line
Speaker 12: and all of the machinery, but you've also now got
Speaker 12: the maintenance and repair of all of this computerized equipment,
Speaker 12: you know, and automation and all of that stuff that
Speaker 12: there wasn't there wasn't a problem. You know, even pre
Speaker 12: COVID was less of a problem. COVID really accelerated companies
Speaker 12: going that route.
Speaker 5: Because they didn't have a choice. They couldn't have people
Speaker 5: on the floor. So yes, it really is a big
Speaker 5: deal that you continue to do.
Speaker 12: That research and you continue to look at Allied health
Speaker 12: is another area where we've added some programs. Again, thank goodness,
Speaker 12: not mine. You do not want me dealing with allied health.
Speaker 12: But but you know, we've added several different pathways and
Speaker 12: there's they're just minor changes in you know, to give
Speaker 12: students slightly different training depending.
Speaker 5: On where they're going.
Speaker 12: And and that's part of the job of the college
Speaker 12: is to look at that and then talk to your
Speaker 12: industry and say does this make sense. If they look
Speaker 12: at you like you you've got three heads, then okay,
Speaker 12: probably not. But if they say, yeah, that's what I'm
Speaker 12: talking about, then that's That's the way We've got to
Speaker 12: continue to grow and build. And I think we're going
Speaker 12: to continue to see that, you know, even within programs
Speaker 12: our Manufacturing Engineering Technology Program, which is a small program
Speaker 12: built inside of the manufacturing program more for students that
Speaker 12: want to get into middle management or go into the
Speaker 12: side of plant redesign or five S lean engineering type
Speaker 12: of technologies, you know, that side of it rather than
Speaker 12: the plant side. More. I'm going to work with companies
Speaker 12: to set up new plants or like the automotive industry
Speaker 12: where hey, guess what, Every year, a new car line
Speaker 12: comes out, so the plant has to totally be redesigned.
Speaker 2: We've only got about a little over a minute, actually
Speaker 2: about thirty seconds here to continue this. Some of these courses,
Speaker 2: I'm going down the list here, air conditioning technology, apprenticeship programs,
Speaker 2: Associate in Arts, business administration, automotive technology, all kinds of things.
Speaker 2: I would suggest people go to this website, which again
Speaker 2: is Gateway.
Speaker 3: You want to give the website out.
Speaker 12: Yeah, it's Gateway dot KCT, which is Kentucky Community Technical
Speaker 12: College System dot edu.
Speaker 2: Now, a lot of these courses, what is the length
Speaker 2: of these? How long does it take to go through
Speaker 2: some of these? I guess the shortest of the longest.
Speaker 5: Yeah, so the longest. I'll go backwards.
Speaker 12: Most of our programs are set up for a full time.
Speaker 5: Student to finish a degree in two years.
Speaker 12: But embedded in most at least the technical programs are
Speaker 12: short term certificates so I can come in and take
Speaker 12: just a very and we try and make those certificates
Speaker 12: industry ready so that you are at least getting enough
Speaker 12: skill to be employable. And that's that's the goal of
Speaker 12: those and some of those are as short as one
Speaker 12: semester sixteen weeks, you actually get a job.
Speaker 2: So if anybody is interested, if anybody's working third shift
Speaker 2: and says, you know, I got a dead end job here,
Speaker 2: I want to try something different, this is the opportunity
Speaker 2: for you and an area a career path that you
Speaker 2: should pursue. And again, the website is Gateway dot.
Speaker 5: KCTCS dot edu.
Speaker 2: All right, enjoyed the conversation, Sam, Folks. Just a wealth
Speaker 2: of knowledge here and I would very much suggest the
Speaker 2: trades are cool again. Get on board. I'm Kevin Gordon.
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