1 00:00:04,795 --> 00:00:20,515 Speaker 1: Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio, of 2 00:00:20,755 --> 00:00:29,235 Speaker 1: Arson cooperation, and a string of uh so if that 3 00:00:29,355 --> 00:00:33,835 Speaker 1: had been Joe Biden and not Mitch McConnell stopping mid 4 00:00:33,915 --> 00:00:38,595 Speaker 1: sentence and then going catatonic, eyes glassy, unblinking for thirty 5 00:00:38,635 --> 00:00:41,955 Speaker 1: seconds before he had to be led away by his colleagues, 6 00:00:42,315 --> 00:00:45,355 Speaker 1: then reappearing later to mumble he was fine and make 7 00:00:45,395 --> 00:00:49,595 Speaker 1: a bad and inappropriate joke. What would our world be 8 00:00:49,835 --> 00:00:54,515 Speaker 1: like right now if that had been Biden? How many 9 00:00:54,595 --> 00:00:59,155 Speaker 1: Republicans would have already demanded Joe Biden resign? How many hundred, 10 00:00:59,355 --> 00:01:03,075 Speaker 1: how many thousand? How many of the more reasonable Republicans 11 00:01:03,075 --> 00:01:05,315 Speaker 1: would have demanded that the cabinet and invoke the twenty 12 00:01:05,355 --> 00:01:09,355 Speaker 1: fifth Amendment? How many of the really reasonable ones would 13 00:01:09,395 --> 00:01:12,595 Speaker 1: have merely asked why he hadn't been taken instantly to 14 00:01:12,675 --> 00:01:15,875 Speaker 1: Walter Reed Hospital, would have demanded to have had the 15 00:01:16,035 --> 00:01:19,755 Speaker 1: full diagnosis and prognosis and history and have it supplied 16 00:01:19,795 --> 00:01:24,075 Speaker 1: to them immediately, would have insisted on written proof that 17 00:01:24,155 --> 00:01:27,555 Speaker 1: this was the first time and would be the last time. 18 00:01:28,515 --> 00:01:32,555 Speaker 1: And how many of them would have been shouted down, overwhelmed, 19 00:01:32,835 --> 00:01:38,115 Speaker 1: drowned out the reasonable ones by the instantaneous claim of 20 00:01:38,315 --> 00:01:41,635 Speaker 1: cover up and scandal and crisis and disaster, and the 21 00:01:41,675 --> 00:01:45,075 Speaker 1: barely hidden glee and the thinly veiled hopes it was 22 00:01:45,115 --> 00:01:47,995 Speaker 1: a stroke or fatal And the only question would have 23 00:01:47,995 --> 00:01:50,155 Speaker 1: been if Fox and Newsmax and all the others would 24 00:01:50,155 --> 00:01:53,595 Speaker 1: have dropped all commercial breaks to keep the drum beat 25 00:01:53,675 --> 00:01:59,235 Speaker 1: going episodes stroke, aneurysm, tia, seizure in confidence that was 26 00:01:59,275 --> 00:02:02,995 Speaker 1: a double the real one. Fled the country, Resign, resign, resign. 27 00:02:05,395 --> 00:02:07,675 Speaker 1: I guess that would not be the only question, because 28 00:02:07,715 --> 00:02:10,235 Speaker 1: we could only guess how many times and how many 29 00:02:10,475 --> 00:02:14,195 Speaker 1: ways Hunter Biden would have been worked in there, And 30 00:02:14,315 --> 00:02:18,595 Speaker 1: maybe most importantly of all, we must guess how many 31 00:02:18,715 --> 00:02:23,235 Speaker 1: of the so called news operations and liberal networks network 32 00:02:23,755 --> 00:02:27,635 Speaker 1: would have done exactly the same thing Fox and Newsmax 33 00:02:27,675 --> 00:02:30,555 Speaker 1: would be doing. And I get it. I get the 34 00:02:30,595 --> 00:02:35,915 Speaker 1: one actually relevant point in here. The difference in importance 35 00:02:35,955 --> 00:02:38,675 Speaker 1: between the President of the United States and the minority 36 00:02:38,755 --> 00:02:41,395 Speaker 1: leader of the Senate is so vast that, for all 37 00:02:41,435 --> 00:02:44,755 Speaker 1: intents and purposes, it is approximately the same as the 38 00:02:44,795 --> 00:02:47,475 Speaker 1: difference in importance between the President of the United States 39 00:02:47,475 --> 00:02:51,675 Speaker 1: and a passerby at K Street and fourteenth in Washington. 40 00:02:52,915 --> 00:02:55,915 Speaker 1: But as the Mitch McConnell video was treated so matter 41 00:02:55,995 --> 00:02:59,875 Speaker 1: of factly, an NBC reporter headed it with the word flag, 42 00:03:00,315 --> 00:03:03,755 Speaker 1: as in keep this in mind for later. The next 43 00:03:03,835 --> 00:03:08,475 Speaker 1: Star TV reporter called it an odd moment. Almost all 44 00:03:08,515 --> 00:03:11,555 Speaker 1: other reporters referred to what was at minimum a post 45 00:03:11,635 --> 00:03:17,715 Speaker 1: concussion trauma event as quote freezing. All I could think 46 00:03:17,755 --> 00:03:22,075 Speaker 1: of was the Trump COVID hospitalization in October twenty twenty, 47 00:03:22,075 --> 00:03:26,275 Speaker 1: and how the nation was flat out lied to about 48 00:03:26,315 --> 00:03:29,235 Speaker 1: how serious it was, and how they were on the 49 00:03:29,315 --> 00:03:32,715 Speaker 1: verge of intubating him. And I also thought of the 50 00:03:32,755 --> 00:03:36,675 Speaker 1: still mysterious Trump trip to Walter Reed in November twenty nineteen, 51 00:03:36,995 --> 00:03:40,035 Speaker 1: which we did not get a hint about for nearly 52 00:03:40,115 --> 00:03:43,675 Speaker 1: two years until one of his former press secretaries finally 53 00:03:43,715 --> 00:03:47,675 Speaker 1: wrote it was a colonoscopy, and Trump refused to let 54 00:03:47,715 --> 00:03:50,835 Speaker 1: them tell anybody it was a colonoscopy because he thought 55 00:03:50,835 --> 00:03:53,355 Speaker 1: it would make him look weak and that everybody would 56 00:03:53,355 --> 00:03:56,075 Speaker 1: make the obvious butt jokes about him, even though if 57 00:03:56,075 --> 00:03:59,115 Speaker 1: he had said that part about the butt jokes, it 58 00:03:59,155 --> 00:04:02,475 Speaker 1: would have been the first sign of self awareness in 59 00:04:02,555 --> 00:04:08,435 Speaker 1: his entire life. I'm thinking about Trump president of the 60 00:04:08,555 --> 00:04:10,955 Speaker 1: United States, no matter how that happened, and no matter 61 00:04:10,995 --> 00:04:15,235 Speaker 1: what it means to you, lying through his teeth about 62 00:04:15,235 --> 00:04:19,075 Speaker 1: his health, and once lying through his teeth about his 63 00:04:19,155 --> 00:04:22,235 Speaker 1: health and nearly killing a garden full of people as 64 00:04:22,235 --> 00:04:25,995 Speaker 1: a result, and then Mitch McConnell yesterday turning into a 65 00:04:26,195 --> 00:04:29,995 Speaker 1: statue four months after a concussion, and when they finally 66 00:04:30,275 --> 00:04:33,915 Speaker 1: get a comment from him, he turns it into something 67 00:04:34,195 --> 00:04:38,875 Speaker 1: insulting about President Biden's health. And the incident where Biden 68 00:04:38,915 --> 00:04:42,715 Speaker 1: tripped over a badly placed counterweight at the Air Force 69 00:04:42,755 --> 00:04:46,195 Speaker 1: Academy commencement, Well, when President called to check on me, 70 00:04:46,995 --> 00:04:51,475 Speaker 1: I told him I got a sandbag. Oh answer, how 71 00:04:51,515 --> 00:04:53,995 Speaker 1: are you feeling now? Have you seen a doctor? Are 72 00:04:53,995 --> 00:04:58,195 Speaker 1: you going to see it? Any idea what I'm fine? 73 00:04:59,675 --> 00:05:05,275 Speaker 1: Or remembering that in similar circumstances, his party's last president 74 00:05:05,315 --> 00:05:09,075 Speaker 1: and likely next nominee would happily push a Democratic Senate 75 00:05:09,155 --> 00:05:11,835 Speaker 1: leader down a flight of stairs if he thought nobody 76 00:05:11,915 --> 00:05:15,315 Speaker 1: could prove he did it. How generous if Mitch McConnell 77 00:05:15,635 --> 00:05:19,115 Speaker 1: to respond to the President's concern, to respond to his 78 00:05:19,275 --> 00:05:23,435 Speaker 1: old pal Joe Biden's concern, And I am sure the 79 00:05:23,475 --> 00:05:25,595 Speaker 1: concern was genuine, but it doesn't matter even if it 80 00:05:25,595 --> 00:05:28,555 Speaker 1: was merely tactical, Trump wouldn't have called for any reason. 81 00:05:28,715 --> 00:05:31,955 Speaker 1: How generous it was of Mitch McConnell to turn it 82 00:05:31,995 --> 00:05:39,075 Speaker 1: into a shot at Biden's own health, and oh nice, 83 00:05:39,555 --> 00:05:45,355 Speaker 1: the reporter says, don't ever tell me again. We have 84 00:05:45,755 --> 00:05:51,115 Speaker 1: a liberal media in this nation. I have said this before, 85 00:05:51,155 --> 00:05:54,515 Speaker 1: and I will say it again. God knows how many 86 00:05:54,595 --> 00:06:01,435 Speaker 1: thousand times I have five hundred complaints about sports media 87 00:06:01,515 --> 00:06:04,275 Speaker 1: in this country. But if tomorrow we left the top 88 00:06:04,315 --> 00:06:07,315 Speaker 1: twenty people in each field exactly where they were, but 89 00:06:07,435 --> 00:06:11,675 Speaker 1: we swapped all the rest, all of the sports reporters 90 00:06:11,715 --> 00:06:15,275 Speaker 1: for all of the news reporters immediately, without training nor 91 00:06:15,395 --> 00:06:18,715 Speaker 1: time to get their feet wet, the quality of political 92 00:06:18,755 --> 00:06:29,555 Speaker 1: coverage in this country would improve ten thousand percent. The 93 00:06:29,795 --> 00:06:35,195 Speaker 1: collapse of the Hunter Biden plea deal is actually a 94 00:06:35,275 --> 00:06:38,915 Speaker 1: news story for once, though of course, not the news 95 00:06:38,915 --> 00:06:41,915 Speaker 1: story you may be hearing. Firstly, the judge who knocked 96 00:06:41,955 --> 00:06:48,115 Speaker 1: it down, the Trump appointee, yes, a Trump appointee, a Democrat, 97 00:06:48,635 --> 00:06:51,675 Speaker 1: whom Biden has since considered for a higher court nomination 98 00:06:52,275 --> 00:06:56,075 Speaker 1: nominated by Trump. I'm sure kicking and screaming is part 99 00:06:56,075 --> 00:06:59,715 Speaker 1: of a bipartisan package deal of judges from both parties, 100 00:07:00,035 --> 00:07:04,675 Speaker 1: so that umbrage against her is misdirected, as is report 101 00:07:04,675 --> 00:07:09,275 Speaker 1: publican celebration over their great victory. Two important points that 102 00:07:09,355 --> 00:07:12,835 Speaker 1: were missed once again, not just in the great overflowing 103 00:07:12,875 --> 00:07:16,395 Speaker 1: toilet of right wing propaganda affixed with the brand name 104 00:07:16,515 --> 00:07:19,755 Speaker 1: quote news unquote, but by a lot of the supposed 105 00:07:19,795 --> 00:07:23,635 Speaker 1: real news as well. Two important points in this story 106 00:07:23,755 --> 00:07:28,795 Speaker 1: yesterday that nobody wanted to notice. The judge noticed a 107 00:07:29,075 --> 00:07:33,235 Speaker 1: small detail that Hunter Biden and his attorneys clearly thought 108 00:07:33,235 --> 00:07:37,395 Speaker 1: they had negotiated blanket immunity in this plea from any 109 00:07:37,435 --> 00:07:41,235 Speaker 1: further prosecution for anything connected to this, while the Department 110 00:07:41,275 --> 00:07:44,075 Speaker 1: of Justice just as clearly thought the deal pertained only 111 00:07:44,195 --> 00:07:48,875 Speaker 1: narrowly and specifically. The revised deal may actually turn out 112 00:07:48,915 --> 00:07:51,275 Speaker 1: to be more generous to the President's son than the 113 00:07:51,275 --> 00:07:54,115 Speaker 1: one he had agreed to, thanks to this judge's intervention, 114 00:07:55,355 --> 00:07:59,835 Speaker 1: and more relevantly to the nonsensical political circus here, only 115 00:08:00,035 --> 00:08:04,315 Speaker 1: Jim Jordan, of all people that I saw, noticed that 116 00:08:04,395 --> 00:08:06,635 Speaker 1: the fact that the plea deal has been for now 117 00:08:06,675 --> 00:08:10,315 Speaker 1: set aside and Hunter Piden has pleaded not guilty means 118 00:08:10,315 --> 00:08:14,315 Speaker 1: that this is once again in unequivocal terms an active 119 00:08:14,515 --> 00:08:17,795 Speaker 1: Department of Justice investigation, and guess what, the Department of 120 00:08:17,955 --> 00:08:20,995 Speaker 1: Justice never lets Congress have its choice of who it 121 00:08:21,035 --> 00:08:26,435 Speaker 1: gets to hear from on an active Department of Justice investigation. 122 00:08:27,315 --> 00:08:32,835 Speaker 1: Jordan says he wanted to call twelve different DOJ officials 123 00:08:32,835 --> 00:08:40,915 Speaker 1: to testify before his committee on manufacturing controversy. But quote, 124 00:08:40,955 --> 00:08:43,795 Speaker 1: my guess is now that it's ongoing, because of how 125 00:08:43,795 --> 00:08:46,795 Speaker 1: it all goes, they'll probably tell us we can't talk 126 00:08:46,835 --> 00:08:53,555 Speaker 1: to those folks until the investigation is completed. Unquote, Jordan 127 00:08:53,795 --> 00:08:57,195 Speaker 1: will get to hear from the prosecutor David Weiss, and 128 00:08:57,235 --> 00:08:59,475 Speaker 1: he better be happy that he gets that much, and 129 00:08:59,555 --> 00:09:04,275 Speaker 1: he better smile while he listens. Nobody will ever stop 130 00:09:04,315 --> 00:09:09,995 Speaker 1: repauls intent on avoiding actual issues and actual governance and 131 00:09:10,075 --> 00:09:13,715 Speaker 1: replacing them with raw meat for their morons. But Judge 132 00:09:13,715 --> 00:09:16,995 Speaker 1: Noriika in Delaware just reminded us that while you can't 133 00:09:17,035 --> 00:09:28,355 Speaker 1: stop them, you can hope to contain them. Something has 134 00:09:28,475 --> 00:09:33,475 Speaker 1: been going on with the Jack Smith Trump Washington grand Jury. 135 00:09:34,275 --> 00:09:37,075 Speaker 1: I'll be damned if I know what, and I'll be 136 00:09:37,195 --> 00:09:39,955 Speaker 1: damned if I know if it's big or if it's trivial. 137 00:09:40,635 --> 00:09:42,475 Speaker 1: And I'll be damned if I know if it means 138 00:09:42,515 --> 00:09:45,715 Speaker 1: the next indictments will be sooner or will be later. 139 00:09:46,355 --> 00:09:54,915 Speaker 1: But something is going on. Trump's freakout continued into its 140 00:09:54,995 --> 00:09:56,995 Speaker 1: second day yesterday, and I mean it's a freak out 141 00:09:56,995 --> 00:10:00,475 Speaker 1: beyond his usual state of freakout. His social media feed 142 00:10:00,555 --> 00:10:03,715 Speaker 1: is full of those things he does that read like 143 00:10:04,195 --> 00:10:11,035 Speaker 1: trans described sheep bleats, election interference bah wait trunt bah 144 00:10:11,315 --> 00:10:17,875 Speaker 1: prosecretorial misconduct bah. The Smith Grand Jury is believed to 145 00:10:17,915 --> 00:10:21,875 Speaker 1: be meeting today at one pm, unless it isn't. It 146 00:10:21,915 --> 00:10:24,515 Speaker 1: now looks like it did not meet, or in any event, 147 00:10:24,555 --> 00:10:28,075 Speaker 1: it did not meet about Trump on Tuesday, and yet 148 00:10:28,115 --> 00:10:31,875 Speaker 1: Trump freaked out minutes after it would have finished its 149 00:10:31,915 --> 00:10:36,595 Speaker 1: business for the day Tuesday. It is absolutely possible that 150 00:10:36,635 --> 00:10:39,595 Speaker 1: it is just Trump knowing more indictments are coming and 151 00:10:39,635 --> 00:10:44,195 Speaker 1: not knowing when, rather than knowing when. But I have 152 00:10:44,395 --> 00:10:47,355 Speaker 1: known this monster for forty years now and that is 153 00:10:47,395 --> 00:10:49,915 Speaker 1: not my sense of this. And he may enrage me 154 00:10:50,275 --> 00:10:53,395 Speaker 1: as skillfully today as he did in nineteen eighty three, 155 00:10:53,715 --> 00:10:58,675 Speaker 1: but he doesn't surprise me anymore. Maybe Trump was freaking 156 00:10:58,675 --> 00:11:02,115 Speaker 1: out over the spotting of Mark Meadows in Washington yesterday, 157 00:11:02,275 --> 00:11:06,675 Speaker 1: apparently at random by accident by NBC. He was asked 158 00:11:06,715 --> 00:11:09,035 Speaker 1: if he had testified in the January sixth case, and 159 00:11:09,075 --> 00:11:13,715 Speaker 1: he said, I don't talk about anything J six related. 160 00:11:14,075 --> 00:11:16,955 Speaker 1: And if you were wondering if Meadows has flipped, he 161 00:11:17,035 --> 00:11:21,115 Speaker 1: erased your wonder by using that shorthand you do not 162 00:11:21,675 --> 00:11:26,195 Speaker 1: call it Jay's six unless you are so tired of 163 00:11:26,235 --> 00:11:29,115 Speaker 1: talking about it, because that is all you have been 164 00:11:29,275 --> 00:11:35,235 Speaker 1: talking about to prosecutors and grand juries. Maybe Trump was 165 00:11:35,275 --> 00:11:38,835 Speaker 1: freaking out over the Rudy Giuliani cover of Midnight Confession 166 00:11:39,235 --> 00:11:44,635 Speaker 1: by the grass Roots, conceding overnight Tuesday Wednesday, stipulating in 167 00:11:44,755 --> 00:11:48,475 Speaker 1: legal parlance that he did make false statements about Georgia 168 00:11:48,515 --> 00:11:53,035 Speaker 1: poleworkers Ruby Freeman and Shay Moss. This is, in some 169 00:11:53,155 --> 00:11:56,515 Speaker 1: respects like the Hunter Biden Flea deal. Rudy thinks he 170 00:11:56,715 --> 00:12:01,595 Speaker 1: just saved everybody's lawyer's fees by saying he said those 171 00:12:01,675 --> 00:12:04,595 Speaker 1: things about the two poll workers. But the wording of 172 00:12:04,755 --> 00:12:08,115 Speaker 1: the actual filing that he provided includes the admission that 173 00:12:08,155 --> 00:12:13,675 Speaker 1: what he said proves quote intentional infliction of emotional distress, which, 174 00:12:13,715 --> 00:12:17,275 Speaker 1: as several lawyers noted, means he is omitting both the 175 00:12:17,315 --> 00:12:21,035 Speaker 1: falsity of his statements and his bad intent in making 176 00:12:21,115 --> 00:12:27,195 Speaker 1: those statements. If Trump somehow understands all that, it is 177 00:12:27,275 --> 00:12:30,995 Speaker 1: absolutely possible he is wondering what Rudy is willing to 178 00:12:31,115 --> 00:12:36,475 Speaker 1: confess to next, or maybe Trump is freaking out about 179 00:12:36,555 --> 00:12:40,675 Speaker 1: ken Buck. Ken Buck is the Colorado congressman more importantly 180 00:12:40,675 --> 00:12:45,075 Speaker 1: from the Judiciary Committee and more relevantly from the Freedom Caucus. 181 00:12:45,715 --> 00:12:51,315 Speaker 1: This is impeachment, theater. Buck said yesterday, I don't think 182 00:12:51,355 --> 00:12:55,395 Speaker 1: it's responsible for us to talk about impeachment, and he added, 183 00:12:55,475 --> 00:13:00,995 Speaker 1: Kevin McCarthy is using it as a quote, shiny object. 184 00:13:01,475 --> 00:13:05,555 Speaker 1: And there is no question that right now, Ublican leadership 185 00:13:05,635 --> 00:13:10,515 Speaker 1: is far more worried today about ken Buck's brain than 186 00:13:10,555 --> 00:13:19,395 Speaker 1: it is about Mitch McConnell's. And then, for comic relief, 187 00:13:19,715 --> 00:13:25,915 Speaker 1: there's Marjorie Toddler Green. Marjorie Toddler Green went on Newsmax 188 00:13:26,075 --> 00:13:29,795 Speaker 1: and showed she believed, perhaps correctly, that the Trump cult 189 00:13:29,875 --> 00:13:32,595 Speaker 1: is dumber than we can measure with the science currently 190 00:13:32,635 --> 00:13:36,675 Speaker 1: available here in the twenty first century. Not only is 191 00:13:36,715 --> 00:13:40,515 Speaker 1: the Russian invasion of Ukraine a Joe Biden plot, she says, 192 00:13:40,555 --> 00:13:45,355 Speaker 1: but quote I would argue that there is collusion between 193 00:13:45,515 --> 00:13:50,555 Speaker 1: Joe Biden and possibly more people with the impeachment hoax. 194 00:13:52,235 --> 00:13:57,075 Speaker 1: So Joe Biden literally out of office, out of all offices, 195 00:13:57,755 --> 00:14:00,875 Speaker 1: from the day Trump became president until the day he 196 00:14:00,995 --> 00:14:07,195 Speaker 1: stopped being president. Joe Biden was involved in impeaching Trump 197 00:14:07,475 --> 00:14:19,675 Speaker 1: twice because magic, and incredibly, that wasn't even the dumbest thing. 198 00:14:20,235 --> 00:14:26,595 Speaker 1: Marjorie Toddler Green said this week, just what the hell 199 00:14:27,395 --> 00:14:31,195 Speaker 1: was this yesterday supposed to mean? 200 00:14:31,515 --> 00:14:34,795 Speaker 2: This type of funding eighty six million dollars again should 201 00:14:34,795 --> 00:14:38,435 Speaker 2: not go towards educating people about gender and gender bias, 202 00:14:38,875 --> 00:14:42,875 Speaker 2: educating people about their skin color, educating. 203 00:14:42,435 --> 00:14:43,795 Speaker 1: People about how they. 204 00:14:43,835 --> 00:14:47,155 Speaker 2: Unthink unconsciously without knowing how they think. 205 00:14:48,035 --> 00:14:56,475 Speaker 1: Hamenahmenahmena educating people about how they unthink unconsciously without knowing 206 00:14:56,515 --> 00:15:04,675 Speaker 1: how they think. Unthink somebody read George orwell unthink unconsciou 207 00:15:04,955 --> 00:15:10,595 Speaker 1: lee without knowing how they think. Yeah, no, you're right, 208 00:15:11,275 --> 00:15:14,675 Speaker 1: you know me too. Well. I would do another Mitch 209 00:15:14,755 --> 00:15:18,075 Speaker 1: McConnell joke here, but I'm already feeling queasy about having 210 00:15:18,115 --> 00:15:26,075 Speaker 1: done the first one. Okay. Also of interest here, Yeah, 211 00:15:26,115 --> 00:15:28,155 Speaker 1: I got some bad news about your plans for your 212 00:15:28,195 --> 00:15:31,835 Speaker 1: next vacation, also about your plans for the next fifty years. 213 00:15:32,275 --> 00:15:35,755 Speaker 1: Remember the underground temperatures in Sicily that I mentioned being 214 00:15:35,795 --> 00:15:40,235 Speaker 1: so high that they melted all the electrical cables. Well, 215 00:15:40,875 --> 00:15:44,835 Speaker 1: the above ground temperatures in Arizona are so high that 216 00:15:44,915 --> 00:15:47,875 Speaker 1: they are sending people who simply fall and who fall 217 00:15:47,995 --> 00:15:51,315 Speaker 1: down instead of falling up and thus hit the asphalt. 218 00:15:51,795 --> 00:15:55,595 Speaker 1: The temperatures are sending people who hit the asphalt to 219 00:15:55,795 --> 00:16:00,195 Speaker 1: the burn ward also just to cover the whole earth. 220 00:16:00,595 --> 00:16:04,875 Speaker 1: The underwater temperatures are so high off of Florida you 221 00:16:04,915 --> 00:16:09,435 Speaker 1: will not need a jacuzzi anymore. It's no big deal. 222 00:16:09,995 --> 00:16:15,115 Speaker 1: It's just climate change, skipping climate crisis and going directly 223 00:16:15,155 --> 00:16:22,235 Speaker 1: to climate catastrophe. That's next. This is countdown. This is 224 00:16:22,395 --> 00:16:34,155 Speaker 1: countdown with Keith Oberman post scripts to the news, some headlines, 225 00:16:34,235 --> 00:16:38,635 Speaker 1: some updates, some snarks, some predictions. Dateline, Manatee Bay, Florida. 226 00:16:39,395 --> 00:16:42,555 Speaker 1: They are waiting for verification of these measurements, but a 227 00:16:42,595 --> 00:16:46,235 Speaker 1: buoy off the Florida coast registered one hundred point two 228 00:16:46,395 --> 00:16:50,835 Speaker 1: degrees Sunday night and one hundred and one point one 229 00:16:50,915 --> 00:16:56,035 Speaker 1: degrees Monday night, and those would be the two highest 230 00:16:56,275 --> 00:17:01,675 Speaker 1: water records for Earth. That is the temperature they recommend 231 00:17:01,675 --> 00:17:05,555 Speaker 1: for your jacuzzi. In fact, to the south. In Florida, Keys, 232 00:17:05,675 --> 00:17:10,755 Speaker 1: kayakers are reporting widespread bleaching of coral reefs and many 233 00:17:10,835 --> 00:17:16,035 Speaker 1: deaths of coral reefs. Dateline Maricopa County, Arizona. Every one 234 00:17:16,235 --> 00:17:19,195 Speaker 1: of the forty five beds at the Arizona Burn Center 235 00:17:19,235 --> 00:17:23,075 Speaker 1: in Phoenix is occupied. The director there says one third 236 00:17:23,115 --> 00:17:27,715 Speaker 1: of the victims are people who simply fell and hit 237 00:17:27,755 --> 00:17:33,595 Speaker 1: the ground and suffered burns from being exposed to the ground. 238 00:17:34,555 --> 00:17:37,675 Speaker 1: Serious burns are being recorded after just a few seconds. 239 00:17:37,755 --> 00:17:40,555 Speaker 1: Third degree burns are being recorded from those who hit 240 00:17:40,595 --> 00:17:43,275 Speaker 1: the pavement and stay there for as little as ten minutes. 241 00:17:44,035 --> 00:17:47,995 Speaker 1: Some burns, the doctors say, are like those received by 242 00:17:48,035 --> 00:17:51,715 Speaker 1: people who have survived a burning house. The temperatures of 243 00:17:51,795 --> 00:17:56,195 Speaker 1: the asphalt in Phoenix have reached one hundred and eighty 244 00:17:56,555 --> 00:18:02,075 Speaker 1: degrees dateline Yazed, Iran. It is one of the driest 245 00:18:02,155 --> 00:18:04,475 Speaker 1: and hottest cities in the world, and it does not 246 00:18:04,515 --> 00:18:07,795 Speaker 1: have air conditioning, which as I mentioned yesterday, doesn't work 247 00:18:07,835 --> 00:18:10,875 Speaker 1: anyway in the Sicilian city of Catania because the one 248 00:18:10,955 --> 00:18:14,395 Speaker 1: hundred and fifteen degree temperatures there melted all the underground 249 00:18:14,475 --> 00:18:19,435 Speaker 1: electrical cables and yazed. They have seven hundred badiers which 250 00:18:19,435 --> 00:18:23,275 Speaker 1: are cooling towers built right into homes using techniques developed 251 00:18:23,275 --> 00:18:26,435 Speaker 1: twenty five hundred years ago to draw cooler air down 252 00:18:26,515 --> 00:18:30,835 Speaker 1: from higher in the atmosphere, and also connots shafts from 253 00:18:30,955 --> 00:18:34,875 Speaker 1: underground water supplies that draw the water and the cooler 254 00:18:34,915 --> 00:18:39,355 Speaker 1: air upwards from underground. We may want to build some 255 00:18:39,515 --> 00:18:42,555 Speaker 1: of them fast. And by the way, I don't know 256 00:18:42,555 --> 00:18:45,475 Speaker 1: what to make of that UFO hearing yesterday in Washington, 257 00:18:45,515 --> 00:18:48,355 Speaker 1: other than to wonder if there is a government conspiracy here, 258 00:18:48,875 --> 00:18:51,755 Speaker 1: if it's to send the craziest sounding people to talk 259 00:18:51,755 --> 00:18:54,715 Speaker 1: in public about how they have seen them. I don't 260 00:18:54,755 --> 00:18:57,755 Speaker 1: know if they exist or if we have encountered them. 261 00:18:58,195 --> 00:19:01,555 Speaker 1: I would bet however, if they are coming here, they 262 00:19:01,595 --> 00:19:04,235 Speaker 1: are coming here to see Earth before we destroy it. 263 00:19:05,155 --> 00:19:08,955 Speaker 1: The Alien Earth tour companies, in fact, may be holding 264 00:19:09,475 --> 00:19:26,155 Speaker 1: a going out of business sale. Thank you, Nazi Faust 265 00:19:26,635 --> 00:19:29,635 Speaker 1: dateline Hollywood hard to believe. A month after his firing, 266 00:19:29,755 --> 00:19:33,875 Speaker 1: Chris Licht is still screwing up CNN. You may remember 267 00:19:33,955 --> 00:19:38,595 Speaker 1: him from the ninety seven episodes of this podcast, where 268 00:19:38,995 --> 00:19:41,395 Speaker 1: I may have mentioned that back when we worked at 269 00:19:41,435 --> 00:19:44,515 Speaker 1: the same time at MSNBC, we all used to think 270 00:19:44,555 --> 00:19:49,555 Speaker 1: he ate paste. The Hollywood industry publication Variety did a 271 00:19:49,555 --> 00:19:53,155 Speaker 1: little revisionist history of the firing of Chris Lickt at CNN, 272 00:19:53,835 --> 00:19:57,915 Speaker 1: four thousand words of it, written by the executive editor 273 00:19:57,915 --> 00:20:01,315 Speaker 1: of Film and Media Tatiana Segel, in which Lickt is 274 00:20:01,355 --> 00:20:05,795 Speaker 1: presented as the victim of a campaign of character assassination 275 00:20:05,955 --> 00:20:09,115 Speaker 1: led by his predecessor, Jeff Zucker, which would be a 276 00:20:09,235 --> 00:20:12,115 Speaker 1: neat trick since Chris Licht would need to have some 277 00:20:12,355 --> 00:20:16,835 Speaker 1: character to be assassinated. Siegel wrote of sources telling her 278 00:20:16,875 --> 00:20:20,355 Speaker 1: that Zucker had held meeting after meeting with this foreign 279 00:20:20,355 --> 00:20:23,515 Speaker 1: investor or that foreign national to get money to help 280 00:20:23,595 --> 00:20:27,835 Speaker 1: him buy CNN. Each meeting, though in the article was 281 00:20:28,035 --> 00:20:33,195 Speaker 1: forcefully denied on the record by a Zucker spokesman. Siegel 282 00:20:33,275 --> 00:20:36,115 Speaker 1: also attacked the reporting in the piece by Tim Alberta 283 00:20:36,195 --> 00:20:39,555 Speaker 1: in The Atlantic, the piece that finished Licked Off, claiming 284 00:20:39,595 --> 00:20:42,955 Speaker 1: Alberta had had just four meetings with Licht, used off 285 00:20:42,995 --> 00:20:45,355 Speaker 1: the record quotes that he was not supposed to use, 286 00:20:45,555 --> 00:20:48,075 Speaker 1: and that, according to two sources, there was a problem 287 00:20:48,115 --> 00:20:52,315 Speaker 1: with the most lingering and damaging of the anecdotes. When 288 00:20:52,475 --> 00:20:56,075 Speaker 1: Licked at his trainers at five point thirty in the morning, 289 00:20:56,675 --> 00:21:00,915 Speaker 1: allowing a reporter to be present there, finishes a strenuous 290 00:21:00,995 --> 00:21:06,275 Speaker 1: workout and says quote, Zucker couldn't do this spit the 291 00:21:06,355 --> 00:21:09,835 Speaker 1: Variety writer. Siegel says it was the Atlantic writer Alberta 292 00:21:09,835 --> 00:21:13,035 Speaker 1: who actually said that, and Licked was merely repeating it. 293 00:21:14,635 --> 00:21:16,995 Speaker 1: The editor in chief of The Atlantic issued a long 294 00:21:17,075 --> 00:21:20,115 Speaker 1: reply to the Variety piece, which begins with one pretty 295 00:21:20,195 --> 00:21:24,635 Speaker 1: much unanswerable statement journalistically wise quote, no one quoted out 296 00:21:24,755 --> 00:21:28,715 Speaker 1: Alberta's fifteen hundred word story, and no one associated with 297 00:21:28,795 --> 00:21:32,515 Speaker 1: the issues raised in the piece has asked us to 298 00:21:32,675 --> 00:21:37,515 Speaker 1: correct any aspect of the article. Tim Alberta also replied 299 00:21:37,595 --> 00:21:40,715 Speaker 1: himself to Tatiana Siegel, saying he used zero off the 300 00:21:40,755 --> 00:21:43,875 Speaker 1: record details or quotes he met with Lickt on seven 301 00:21:43,995 --> 00:21:46,875 Speaker 1: different days, and as to the Zooker couldn't do this 302 00:21:47,075 --> 00:21:50,395 Speaker 1: quote with two sources complaining, Alberta said it and Licked 303 00:21:50,435 --> 00:21:54,675 Speaker 1: merely repeated it. Alberta notes there were only four people 304 00:21:54,795 --> 00:21:58,715 Speaker 1: present at the time, himself, Licked, the CNN PR person 305 00:21:58,795 --> 00:22:01,795 Speaker 1: who didn't quite hear it and asked Alberta to tell 306 00:22:01,875 --> 00:22:05,675 Speaker 1: him what Lickt had said, and the trainer, who was 307 00:22:05,715 --> 00:22:08,235 Speaker 1: on the other side of the room and didn't hear it. 308 00:22:09,555 --> 00:22:12,875 Speaker 1: In short, the Variety piece looks like a very late, 309 00:22:13,075 --> 00:22:16,435 Speaker 1: very shoddy attempt to make Chris Licht look like the 310 00:22:16,515 --> 00:22:21,315 Speaker 1: victim that in itself seems to have backfired significantly. It 311 00:22:21,395 --> 00:22:23,995 Speaker 1: was suggested to me yesterday that if Chris Licht had 312 00:22:24,115 --> 00:22:27,035 Speaker 1: a future left in television, he blew it with this 313 00:22:27,315 --> 00:22:31,035 Speaker 1: obvious involvement in whatever way he was involved with the 314 00:22:31,115 --> 00:22:34,755 Speaker 1: Variety answer, the piece that fell apart the day it 315 00:22:34,875 --> 00:22:38,035 Speaker 1: was published. It was suggested as well that Lickt might 316 00:22:38,115 --> 00:22:40,915 Speaker 1: now be able to get a production assistants job on 317 00:22:41,075 --> 00:23:00,075 Speaker 1: MSNBC's Morning Joe might still ahead on countdown what would 318 00:23:00,115 --> 00:23:03,075 Speaker 1: have been my dad's birthday and two of my favorite 319 00:23:03,115 --> 00:23:06,275 Speaker 1: stories about him out of the two hundred or so 320 00:23:06,875 --> 00:23:10,235 Speaker 1: Mile two thousand, first time for the daily roundup of 321 00:23:10,235 --> 00:23:13,715 Speaker 1: the misgrants, wrons and Dunning Kruger effects specimens who constitute 322 00:23:13,995 --> 00:23:17,995 Speaker 1: two days worst persons in the world. Le Bronze, Elon 323 00:23:18,155 --> 00:23:23,195 Speaker 1: Musk things are getting scrambled at X see what I did. 324 00:23:23,275 --> 00:23:26,515 Speaker 1: There After, Elmo implied that the cardiac arrest suffered by 325 00:23:26,555 --> 00:23:29,675 Speaker 1: lebron James Junior was the result of the COVID vaccine. 326 00:23:29,835 --> 00:23:33,395 Speaker 1: The Twitter community notes system added the relevant fact to 327 00:23:33,475 --> 00:23:37,195 Speaker 1: his tweet that the risk of myocarditis in teenage boys 328 00:23:37,195 --> 00:23:41,155 Speaker 1: who were vaccinated like Brownie James was was half of 329 00:23:41,195 --> 00:23:44,595 Speaker 1: that of the risk of myocarditis in teenage boys who'd 330 00:23:44,595 --> 00:23:48,875 Speaker 1: had COVID. That community note appended to the Musk tweet 331 00:23:48,955 --> 00:23:56,875 Speaker 1: suddenly vanished. Coincidence, no doubt the runner up Elon Musk, Wow, 332 00:23:56,915 --> 00:23:59,915 Speaker 1: what are the odds? The Wall Street Journal reports that 333 00:23:59,955 --> 00:24:03,995 Speaker 1: Elmo has warned advertisers that starting in two weeks, their 334 00:24:04,115 --> 00:24:07,155 Speaker 1: brand name Twitter accounts will only get to keep their 335 00:24:07,475 --> 00:24:12,355 Speaker 1: gold check marks their verification if they have spent one 336 00:24:12,355 --> 00:24:16,355 Speaker 1: thousand dollars in Twitter advertising in the previous thirty days 337 00:24:16,795 --> 00:24:19,435 Speaker 1: or six thousand in the previous one hundred and eighty days. 338 00:24:20,195 --> 00:24:24,075 Speaker 1: Not only is that extortion blackmail, a threat to let 339 00:24:24,115 --> 00:24:27,555 Speaker 1: other people pretend to be the brand on Twitter, But 340 00:24:27,595 --> 00:24:33,515 Speaker 1: it's it's cheap extortion. Hey, Amazon, you better spend checks 341 00:24:33,595 --> 00:24:37,275 Speaker 1: blackmail note twelve thousand dollars a year with us or else. 342 00:24:38,355 --> 00:24:43,315 Speaker 1: But our winner Wait, no way, the winner is also 343 00:24:43,435 --> 00:24:48,555 Speaker 1: Elon Musk. Britain's Telegraph newspaper reports that Musk's company has 344 00:24:48,595 --> 00:24:53,115 Speaker 1: gained control of the Twitter account at X, which it 345 00:24:53,155 --> 00:24:55,795 Speaker 1: did not have control of when Musk changed the name 346 00:24:55,835 --> 00:24:58,875 Speaker 1: of the company to X. Given that some of the 347 00:24:58,875 --> 00:25:01,635 Speaker 1: people who had single digit Twitter account handles back from 348 00:25:01,715 --> 00:25:03,875 Speaker 1: two thousand and seven when the handles were given out, 349 00:25:04,155 --> 00:25:06,955 Speaker 1: like the guy who who has at EN, they claim 350 00:25:06,995 --> 00:25:10,235 Speaker 1: they have been offered up to fifty thousand dollars for them. 351 00:25:10,595 --> 00:25:13,075 Speaker 1: One would expect that the owner of at X, San 352 00:25:13,075 --> 00:25:17,595 Speaker 1: Francisco photographer gene x Huang got some coin for it, 353 00:25:17,675 --> 00:25:20,595 Speaker 1: or at least got something cool. Now he says he 354 00:25:20,715 --> 00:25:22,955 Speaker 1: just got an email saying that all Twitter handles are 355 00:25:22,995 --> 00:25:26,995 Speaker 1: Twitter's property or X's property, and it was taking at 356 00:25:27,395 --> 00:25:31,035 Speaker 1: X back since the bad publicity, Huang says he's been 357 00:25:31,035 --> 00:25:35,355 Speaker 1: offered the opportunity to meet some X leaders of the 358 00:25:35,475 --> 00:25:39,995 Speaker 1: company and also to get some ex merchandise, which would 359 00:25:39,995 --> 00:25:42,635 Speaker 1: of course make it worse. On the other hand, they 360 00:25:42,635 --> 00:25:49,115 Speaker 1: did give him a cool new handle at X one two, three, four, five, six, seven, 361 00:25:49,235 --> 00:25:54,395 Speaker 1: eight nine nine eight seven sixty five. I can't decide 362 00:25:55,035 --> 00:25:58,315 Speaker 1: does this final breakdown for Elon Musk and more like 363 00:25:58,795 --> 00:26:02,155 Speaker 1: with him starting to spew like Kanye West, or more 364 00:26:02,315 --> 00:26:05,675 Speaker 1: like he's about to hold up a bank to find 365 00:26:05,675 --> 00:26:07,995 Speaker 1: the money to keep the servers going for Twitter for 366 00:26:08,035 --> 00:26:12,635 Speaker 1: another twenty four hours. Elon Musk not just the worst 367 00:26:12,715 --> 00:26:34,315 Speaker 1: but today's worst three persons in the world. See the 368 00:26:34,355 --> 00:26:36,915 Speaker 1: number one story on the countdown and my favorite topic, 369 00:26:36,995 --> 00:26:39,755 Speaker 1: Me and Things I Promised Not to tell And my Dad. 370 00:26:39,875 --> 00:26:44,915 Speaker 1: Theodore Colan Olderman was born ninety four years ago this Saturday, 371 00:26:45,395 --> 00:26:48,235 Speaker 1: and he died thirteen years and four months ago in 372 00:26:48,275 --> 00:26:52,275 Speaker 1: March of twenty ten. If you are an orphan like me, 373 00:26:52,515 --> 00:26:56,035 Speaker 1: young or old, you know that processing the death of 374 00:26:56,075 --> 00:26:59,715 Speaker 1: a parent is not just unlike anything else you experience 375 00:26:59,755 --> 00:27:04,395 Speaker 1: in life, but it's also utterly nonlinear. It is tougher 376 00:27:04,435 --> 00:27:07,155 Speaker 1: for me to deal with today than it was the 377 00:27:07,235 --> 00:27:09,835 Speaker 1: day it happened, but not as tough as five years 378 00:27:09,835 --> 00:27:13,955 Speaker 1: ago in but tougher than at seven years and less 379 00:27:13,995 --> 00:27:18,235 Speaker 1: tough that you get the idea and the idea that 380 00:27:18,315 --> 00:27:21,315 Speaker 1: my dad is gone thirteen years, that the span is 381 00:27:21,355 --> 00:27:23,835 Speaker 1: now identical to the length of time it took me 382 00:27:23,915 --> 00:27:27,475 Speaker 1: between the day I graduated from college and the day 383 00:27:27,595 --> 00:27:31,635 Speaker 1: I started on Sports Center is way more difficult to 384 00:27:31,675 --> 00:27:34,435 Speaker 1: get my head around than is the fact that he 385 00:27:34,675 --> 00:27:38,435 Speaker 1: is gone. As I'm sure is also true for you. 386 00:27:38,515 --> 00:27:43,195 Speaker 1: I could tell you six months uninterrupted stories about my dad. 387 00:27:43,875 --> 00:27:46,275 Speaker 1: But I happened recently to be thinking of two of them, 388 00:27:46,555 --> 00:27:49,515 Speaker 1: connected not in time but in topic, and I thought 389 00:27:49,515 --> 00:27:52,915 Speaker 1: you might be as amazed by them as I continue 390 00:27:52,955 --> 00:27:57,395 Speaker 1: to be amazed by them and by him. Understand, my 391 00:27:57,555 --> 00:28:02,195 Speaker 1: dad was born basically two months and change before the 392 00:28:02,235 --> 00:28:06,515 Speaker 1: stock market crash of nineteen twenty nine. His dad was 393 00:28:06,555 --> 00:28:10,475 Speaker 1: a pretty mercurial guy, and that's a polite way of 394 00:28:10,475 --> 00:28:13,115 Speaker 1: describing him. He had a city job in the pits 395 00:28:13,155 --> 00:28:15,515 Speaker 1: of the depression. He got a promotion. He showed up 396 00:28:15,555 --> 00:28:18,195 Speaker 1: to work in a sports shirt that first day because 397 00:28:18,235 --> 00:28:20,795 Speaker 1: he liked my dad like me, had a weird neck 398 00:28:20,835 --> 00:28:24,435 Speaker 1: and throat things and collars and ties hurt. And when 399 00:28:24,475 --> 00:28:26,675 Speaker 1: they said, Harry, you got to wear a shirt and 400 00:28:26,715 --> 00:28:28,795 Speaker 1: a tie you got a promotion, he said, the hell 401 00:28:28,875 --> 00:28:31,675 Speaker 1: with that. And he asked to have his old job back, 402 00:28:31,715 --> 00:28:33,995 Speaker 1: and they said, Harry, the moment you got promoted, we 403 00:28:34,035 --> 00:28:37,075 Speaker 1: had eight hundred and thirty seven applications, it's the depression. 404 00:28:37,315 --> 00:28:40,875 Speaker 1: So he said, I quit. And so my dad, at 405 00:28:40,875 --> 00:28:43,795 Speaker 1: the age of seven maybe eight, and his two brothers, 406 00:28:43,915 --> 00:28:46,995 Speaker 1: one older one younger, saw the family income drop from 407 00:28:46,995 --> 00:28:50,395 Speaker 1: like four thousand dollars a year to as dad put it, 408 00:28:50,475 --> 00:28:52,955 Speaker 1: the two hundred bucks or so we made collecting and 409 00:28:52,995 --> 00:28:58,235 Speaker 1: recycling old comic books. The next year, so a decade 410 00:28:58,355 --> 00:29:02,835 Speaker 1: after that, when my father graduated as the valedictorian of 411 00:29:02,955 --> 00:29:06,395 Speaker 1: the New York High School of Industrial Arts, and he 412 00:29:06,475 --> 00:29:10,195 Speaker 1: was offered a full scholarship to a major architecture college. 413 00:29:10,355 --> 00:29:13,435 Speaker 1: His dad, who never understood that his own son was 414 00:29:13,475 --> 00:29:17,235 Speaker 1: not just dudlin, said flat out that if my father 415 00:29:17,315 --> 00:29:19,555 Speaker 1: went to college, that would mean his younger brother Bill 416 00:29:20,035 --> 00:29:22,075 Speaker 1: would have to quit high school and go to work, 417 00:29:22,075 --> 00:29:27,595 Speaker 1: because otherwise the family would starve. My dad had to 418 00:29:27,635 --> 00:29:33,595 Speaker 1: turn the architectural college scholarship down. He went to work, 419 00:29:34,275 --> 00:29:36,715 Speaker 1: went to work in a department store, and then he 420 00:29:36,755 --> 00:29:40,795 Speaker 1: became a draftsman, and he finally got his architectural license 421 00:29:40,915 --> 00:29:45,155 Speaker 1: twenty years after that. Twenty years. Never went to college, 422 00:29:45,355 --> 00:29:47,995 Speaker 1: just some night school and just finding out about a 423 00:29:48,075 --> 00:29:51,835 Speaker 1: key law that said, if you could pass the architecture exam, 424 00:29:51,995 --> 00:29:53,955 Speaker 1: the state of New York had to give it to you. 425 00:29:54,875 --> 00:29:57,595 Speaker 1: He wrote them they had to give it to him. 426 00:29:57,875 --> 00:30:00,515 Speaker 1: They gave it to him. He passed. Then they changed 427 00:30:00,515 --> 00:30:03,275 Speaker 1: the law, which apparently had been written in eighteen fifty six. 428 00:30:05,555 --> 00:30:08,475 Speaker 1: My father was licensed in forty of the fifty states, 429 00:30:08,715 --> 00:30:11,475 Speaker 1: and basically every bask In Robin's ice cream parlor in 430 00:30:11,515 --> 00:30:14,235 Speaker 1: this country was something he had designed. And I don't 431 00:30:14,275 --> 00:30:17,595 Speaker 1: know how many more stores he built for his other clients, 432 00:30:17,595 --> 00:30:20,475 Speaker 1: but it must have been in the thousands and five 433 00:30:20,595 --> 00:30:23,275 Speaker 1: years after he finally got his license. He had a 434 00:30:23,315 --> 00:30:26,315 Speaker 1: Cadillac and got a new one through the lease every 435 00:30:26,355 --> 00:30:29,075 Speaker 1: other year. I was in a private school and he 436 00:30:29,195 --> 00:30:31,875 Speaker 1: was turning down architectural assignments because he just didn't have 437 00:30:31,915 --> 00:30:35,555 Speaker 1: the time. So when it came time for me to 438 00:30:35,715 --> 00:30:38,715 Speaker 1: go to college, my dad said, apply anywhere you think 439 00:30:38,755 --> 00:30:42,235 Speaker 1: you can get in. Pick the thing that's best for you. 440 00:30:42,795 --> 00:30:47,715 Speaker 1: We'll pay for it. I narrated down to Boston University, Cornell, 441 00:30:47,795 --> 00:30:50,635 Speaker 1: and Harvard. I had lined up an internship through a 442 00:30:50,635 --> 00:30:54,155 Speaker 1: friend with the Boston Celtics. Boston University had the top 443 00:30:54,155 --> 00:30:57,595 Speaker 1: communications program in the nation. Harvard was Harvard, and Cornell 444 00:30:57,755 --> 00:31:01,075 Speaker 1: was there. In case something went wrong, it be you, 445 00:31:01,195 --> 00:31:04,675 Speaker 1: and Harvard wouldn't let me in. Frankly, now, in those days, 446 00:31:04,715 --> 00:31:08,715 Speaker 1: these high school kids did not strategize, beginning at age two, 447 00:31:08,795 --> 00:31:11,555 Speaker 1: as to how to get into a good college. So 448 00:31:11,675 --> 00:31:14,075 Speaker 1: when I sent in my applications, and I noted I 449 00:31:14,115 --> 00:31:15,875 Speaker 1: had not only been the sports editor of the high 450 00:31:15,875 --> 00:31:19,195 Speaker 1: school newspaper and yearbook and radio station, but I also 451 00:31:19,235 --> 00:31:22,755 Speaker 1: had been the associated editor of the first baseball memorabilia 452 00:31:22,835 --> 00:31:25,795 Speaker 1: reference book, and I was the paid editor of a 453 00:31:25,835 --> 00:31:30,355 Speaker 1: professionally produced memorabilia magazine. This was the kind of extracurricular 454 00:31:30,395 --> 00:31:33,715 Speaker 1: activity these schools would not see on every other application. 455 00:31:33,995 --> 00:31:38,155 Speaker 1: They would see it about once a decade. My dad 456 00:31:38,155 --> 00:31:39,995 Speaker 1: and I go to bu for the visit, and we 457 00:31:40,035 --> 00:31:42,955 Speaker 1: are greeted not by some guy from the admissions office, 458 00:31:42,995 --> 00:31:46,475 Speaker 1: but by the dean of the School of Public Communications, 459 00:31:47,115 --> 00:31:49,195 Speaker 1: and all three of us talk for maybe half an hour, 460 00:31:49,275 --> 00:31:51,955 Speaker 1: and at the end of it, the dean asks my 461 00:31:52,075 --> 00:31:55,435 Speaker 1: dad about the financials, and he says, look, mister all 462 00:31:55,475 --> 00:31:58,195 Speaker 1: rumind we don't do this a lot, but we really 463 00:31:58,235 --> 00:32:01,115 Speaker 1: would like Keith to be here. We don't have a 464 00:32:01,155 --> 00:32:03,875 Speaker 1: lot of latitude on these things, but I've gotten approval. 465 00:32:03,875 --> 00:32:06,275 Speaker 1: We can occasionally do this. We can offer you a 466 00:32:06,355 --> 00:32:10,435 Speaker 1: merit scholarship. My dad didn't really register this, but I 467 00:32:10,595 --> 00:32:13,675 Speaker 1: did immediately because I've been reading about all the application 468 00:32:13,835 --> 00:32:17,155 Speaker 1: processes around the country. And I gasp, and I say 469 00:32:17,675 --> 00:32:21,715 Speaker 1: a free ride and the dean says, yeah, everything but food. Food, 470 00:32:21,755 --> 00:32:24,955 Speaker 1: you have to pay for yourself. And my father knits 471 00:32:24,955 --> 00:32:27,435 Speaker 1: his eyebrows and he looks at me, and then he 472 00:32:27,515 --> 00:32:29,395 Speaker 1: knits his eyebrows again, and he looks at the dean, 473 00:32:29,435 --> 00:32:32,275 Speaker 1: and then he bursts out laughing. That's what he had 474 00:32:32,315 --> 00:32:36,075 Speaker 1: been offered twenty seven years earlier at the Architectural College, 475 00:32:36,115 --> 00:32:38,995 Speaker 1: and he could not take it. So the Dean now 476 00:32:39,035 --> 00:32:41,675 Speaker 1: takes us on the tour of the Boston University School 477 00:32:41,835 --> 00:32:45,755 Speaker 1: of Public Communications, heart of the city, trolley trains clanging 478 00:32:45,795 --> 00:32:50,515 Speaker 1: past every ninety seconds, busy, bustling, clean enough trees to 479 00:32:50,515 --> 00:32:53,995 Speaker 1: make it look like a college. The Celtics Internship is 480 00:32:53,995 --> 00:32:58,755 Speaker 1: a short ride on the tee away and free. Now 481 00:32:58,795 --> 00:33:01,715 Speaker 1: we see the ultramodern dorm for freshmen, and it's great, 482 00:33:01,755 --> 00:33:04,955 Speaker 1: and the professional radio station which was NPR and played 483 00:33:04,955 --> 00:33:07,835 Speaker 1: classical music, and all the guys are wearing ties, and 484 00:33:07,875 --> 00:33:10,195 Speaker 1: the dean says, this is mostly grad students, but I 485 00:33:10,195 --> 00:33:12,395 Speaker 1: have no doubt that you can find a place here. 486 00:33:12,795 --> 00:33:15,355 Speaker 1: And then he takes us to the undergrad radio station 487 00:33:15,435 --> 00:33:18,395 Speaker 1: and it's a little seatier, but it's still first class equipment, 488 00:33:18,595 --> 00:33:20,755 Speaker 1: lots of different studios and there's a kid in the 489 00:33:20,795 --> 00:33:24,475 Speaker 1: on air studio playing rock and he's like six four 490 00:33:24,715 --> 00:33:29,875 Speaker 1: and forty pounds, greasy, springy, curly hair hanging to his 491 00:33:30,355 --> 00:33:34,955 Speaker 1: forty pound waist and little granny glasses. And the dean 492 00:33:34,995 --> 00:33:37,635 Speaker 1: waits until the disc jockey turns off the on air light. 493 00:33:37,755 --> 00:33:42,435 Speaker 1: He opens the door to the studio and he says, well, well, well, 494 00:33:42,595 --> 00:33:47,515 Speaker 1: if it isn't my favorite student, great timing, believe it 495 00:33:47,635 --> 00:33:49,795 Speaker 1: or not, I'm going to leave you this very qualified 496 00:33:49,875 --> 00:33:52,635 Speaker 1: applicant in your hands for a couple of minutes because 497 00:33:52,675 --> 00:33:54,875 Speaker 1: I got a class I have to go teach. You 498 00:33:54,915 --> 00:33:58,355 Speaker 1: tell him whatever you want to tell him, Keith, mister Olderman. 499 00:33:58,395 --> 00:34:00,875 Speaker 1: Whenever you decide, as we hope you will, to join us, 500 00:34:01,315 --> 00:34:05,075 Speaker 1: call me directly, call collect mister Olman if you would 501 00:34:05,715 --> 00:34:07,635 Speaker 1: walk me out to the front door here and just 502 00:34:07,635 --> 00:34:11,235 Speaker 1: a little talk, a little of the logistics. And now 503 00:34:11,315 --> 00:34:13,715 Speaker 1: they leave, and when it's just the jock and me, 504 00:34:13,835 --> 00:34:15,675 Speaker 1: the jock says to me in a deep voice, New 505 00:34:15,755 --> 00:34:19,435 Speaker 1: York accent, good to see a dean. And the door 506 00:34:19,475 --> 00:34:23,875 Speaker 1: closes and he adds, you fraud kid. He says, don't 507 00:34:23,875 --> 00:34:26,875 Speaker 1: make my mistake. Don't come here. And I'm shocked, and 508 00:34:26,915 --> 00:34:29,275 Speaker 1: I explain, it's going to be free. Well, what's that? 509 00:34:29,395 --> 00:34:32,635 Speaker 1: They say, you get what you pay for, right, Listen, 510 00:34:33,035 --> 00:34:35,475 Speaker 1: the grad students were in the real station. They won't 511 00:34:35,475 --> 00:34:37,555 Speaker 1: even let you wash the toilets at the real station. 512 00:34:37,835 --> 00:34:39,595 Speaker 1: Took me two years just to get in here to 513 00:34:39,675 --> 00:34:43,515 Speaker 1: this lousy midday show twice a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays. 514 00:34:43,595 --> 00:34:46,035 Speaker 1: Tuesdays and Thursdays. I'm going to be the best dish 515 00:34:46,115 --> 00:34:48,955 Speaker 1: jockey of all time. You don't even get to take 516 00:34:48,995 --> 00:34:53,755 Speaker 1: any communications classics here until you're a junior, just general studies. 517 00:34:54,595 --> 00:34:57,035 Speaker 1: And the dean, let me just put it this way, 518 00:34:57,075 --> 00:34:58,875 Speaker 1: I'm not his favorite student. I don't know if you 519 00:34:58,875 --> 00:35:05,155 Speaker 1: could tell kid any questions. I was speechless. Then I 520 00:35:05,195 --> 00:35:07,395 Speaker 1: see my dad reappear outside the studio and he comes 521 00:35:07,475 --> 00:35:09,635 Speaker 1: in and shakes this kid's hand, and the kid says, 522 00:35:09,675 --> 00:35:12,675 Speaker 1: don't worry, Dad, I told your boy everything he really 523 00:35:12,715 --> 00:35:17,955 Speaker 1: needs to know, and we leave. We go back to 524 00:35:18,035 --> 00:35:20,155 Speaker 1: Logan Airport, we get on the shuttle, we go home. 525 00:35:20,635 --> 00:35:24,555 Speaker 1: That night, I read the Boston University catalog from front 526 00:35:24,595 --> 00:35:28,035 Speaker 1: to last page, and everything that the world's next greatest 527 00:35:28,035 --> 00:35:33,075 Speaker 1: disc jockey has told me. Damn it, he's right. Two 528 00:35:33,195 --> 00:35:36,875 Speaker 1: years of general studies. You can't even get into a 529 00:35:36,915 --> 00:35:41,075 Speaker 1: communications class, let alone the radio station, let alone the 530 00:35:41,235 --> 00:35:44,675 Speaker 1: undergrad radio station, until you are a junior. Also, they 531 00:35:44,715 --> 00:35:47,515 Speaker 1: will not even give me college credit, not one for 532 00:35:47,595 --> 00:35:51,595 Speaker 1: the Celtics internship. Then comes the news story a couple 533 00:35:51,555 --> 00:35:53,795 Speaker 1: of days later that in that brand new, ultra modern 534 00:35:53,835 --> 00:35:57,315 Speaker 1: freshman dorm they found a dead student in the hallway. 535 00:35:57,835 --> 00:36:00,075 Speaker 1: And I don't know what it was, but between what 536 00:36:00,115 --> 00:36:02,875 Speaker 1: the world's next greatest disc jockey ever has told me 537 00:36:03,235 --> 00:36:06,155 Speaker 1: and the dead body in the hall, I'm thinking it's 538 00:36:06,195 --> 00:36:09,635 Speaker 1: going to be Harvard or Cornell, meaning it's almost certainly Cornell, 539 00:36:09,675 --> 00:36:11,435 Speaker 1: because I don't think Harvard's going to let me in. 540 00:36:11,955 --> 00:36:15,275 Speaker 1: And my dad says, you know, I think they've probably 541 00:36:15,315 --> 00:36:18,715 Speaker 1: removed that body by now, And then he says, I 542 00:36:18,795 --> 00:36:20,835 Speaker 1: can't argue with the restrictions on not being able to 543 00:36:20,875 --> 00:36:22,555 Speaker 1: be on the radio station until you or a junior. 544 00:36:22,595 --> 00:36:24,435 Speaker 1: What's the point of that. I will remind you just 545 00:36:24,475 --> 00:36:29,755 Speaker 1: once though, of one other detail. It is free. A 546 00:36:29,835 --> 00:36:31,955 Speaker 1: couple weeks later, we go to Harvard for the interview. 547 00:36:31,995 --> 00:36:33,995 Speaker 1: That goes well. They like me. They don't have a 548 00:36:33,995 --> 00:36:36,515 Speaker 1: communications major, but I could go in under English or 549 00:36:36,595 --> 00:36:39,595 Speaker 1: history or general studies. And the admission guy says, your 550 00:36:39,635 --> 00:36:42,995 Speaker 1: extracurriculars are extraordinary and the internship is great, but you 551 00:36:43,075 --> 00:36:45,915 Speaker 1: have a numbers problem here. There's seventy kids in your 552 00:36:45,955 --> 00:36:49,835 Speaker 1: senior class. Four of you guys have applied, and how 553 00:36:49,875 --> 00:36:52,235 Speaker 1: are your grades compared to theirs? And I gulp, and 554 00:36:52,275 --> 00:36:54,715 Speaker 1: I say, well, there are the two guys who've had 555 00:36:54,715 --> 00:36:56,795 Speaker 1: the four point zeros since they were in the womb, 556 00:36:57,355 --> 00:36:59,235 Speaker 1: and then there's the other guy who's had once since 557 00:36:59,235 --> 00:37:01,675 Speaker 1: the third grade. And then there's me. And I'm only 558 00:37:01,835 --> 00:37:04,435 Speaker 1: National Honor Society and like, you know, three point eight 559 00:37:04,475 --> 00:37:07,115 Speaker 1: five or something, but I am a fifteen year old senior. 560 00:37:07,315 --> 00:37:10,915 Speaker 1: And the admission guy says, ordinary year that would get 561 00:37:10,955 --> 00:37:13,275 Speaker 1: you in. If you're the only applicant from your school 562 00:37:13,315 --> 00:37:16,435 Speaker 1: that would get you in, you're number four out of four. 563 00:37:16,715 --> 00:37:21,115 Speaker 1: It's going to be tough. So Dad and I go 564 00:37:21,155 --> 00:37:23,715 Speaker 1: to Cornell and the campus is like my high school, 565 00:37:23,755 --> 00:37:27,115 Speaker 1: only it's a thousand times larger, and everything is uphill. 566 00:37:27,955 --> 00:37:31,475 Speaker 1: There is no downhill at Cornell. It's only uphill from here. 567 00:37:33,635 --> 00:37:37,675 Speaker 1: And the communications department is a joke. We go see 568 00:37:37,675 --> 00:37:40,515 Speaker 1: the facilities in the fall of nineteen seventy four and 569 00:37:40,555 --> 00:37:44,595 Speaker 1: they are in a converted barn with broken windows in 570 00:37:44,635 --> 00:37:48,395 Speaker 1: the barn and rusty razor blades for editing audio tape. 571 00:37:48,435 --> 00:37:51,475 Speaker 1: And there are no students in there, just broken windows 572 00:37:51,475 --> 00:37:54,795 Speaker 1: and rusty razor blades. Any TV, I ask, and the 573 00:37:54,795 --> 00:37:56,675 Speaker 1: guy says, well, we have TV on campus and I 574 00:37:56,715 --> 00:37:59,955 Speaker 1: say no, I mean any TV station or classes for 575 00:38:00,075 --> 00:38:03,435 Speaker 1: the students and communication arts and he laughs. He says, 576 00:38:03,475 --> 00:38:05,755 Speaker 1: I think you can rent one of those new video 577 00:38:05,875 --> 00:38:08,555 Speaker 1: cameras and tape decks for like fifty dollars an hour. 578 00:38:09,835 --> 00:38:11,955 Speaker 1: But there is a really good radio station. He says, 579 00:38:12,115 --> 00:38:13,915 Speaker 1: we don't own it or anything. We don't even run it. 580 00:38:14,035 --> 00:38:17,355 Speaker 1: The students own it. And it's commercial. They sell commercials. 581 00:38:17,475 --> 00:38:21,195 Speaker 1: You should go see it before you leave town. Now, 582 00:38:21,235 --> 00:38:23,515 Speaker 1: I'm just shaking my head and praying that the guy 583 00:38:23,555 --> 00:38:25,595 Speaker 1: at Harvard will get me in. And my dad offers 584 00:38:25,635 --> 00:38:27,395 Speaker 1: to take me over to the radio station, and I say, 585 00:38:27,395 --> 00:38:30,435 Speaker 1: why bother? And we start the five hour drive home, 586 00:38:30,475 --> 00:38:33,795 Speaker 1: and I say, the good thing here is the communications 587 00:38:33,835 --> 00:38:38,075 Speaker 1: program is inside the Agriculture College, and the Agriculture College, 588 00:38:38,355 --> 00:38:41,595 Speaker 1: although it's first rate might be actually a little tougher 589 00:38:41,635 --> 00:38:44,795 Speaker 1: than some of the arts school it's a state school, 590 00:38:45,315 --> 00:38:47,275 Speaker 1: so if you're a New Yorker, the tuition is a 591 00:38:47,315 --> 00:38:49,275 Speaker 1: tenth of what should pay in the Arts college. And 592 00:38:49,315 --> 00:38:51,075 Speaker 1: you can take all the history in the English classes 593 00:38:51,115 --> 00:38:53,155 Speaker 1: you want. And if that radio station is any good, 594 00:38:53,595 --> 00:38:55,995 Speaker 1: I can spend most of my time over there. And 595 00:38:56,035 --> 00:38:58,995 Speaker 1: it's not free, but it's a lot less than my 596 00:38:59,075 --> 00:39:03,315 Speaker 1: high school currently costs. But it ain't Harvard, And my 597 00:39:03,395 --> 00:39:06,795 Speaker 1: father says, I told you before, I want you to 598 00:39:06,915 --> 00:39:12,075 Speaker 1: do what you decide is best. If it's Harvard and 599 00:39:12,155 --> 00:39:16,755 Speaker 1: it costs us Harvard money, don't think twice. I get 600 00:39:16,755 --> 00:39:20,195 Speaker 1: it about bu I get it about Cornell. None of 601 00:39:20,275 --> 00:39:23,955 Speaker 1: us have graduated college in one hundred years. You figure 602 00:39:23,955 --> 00:39:26,915 Speaker 1: out what's best, I'll figure out how to pay for it. 603 00:39:28,835 --> 00:39:32,835 Speaker 1: So Harvard turned me down the two four point zero 604 00:39:32,915 --> 00:39:35,715 Speaker 1: since the womb guys got in. The four point zero 605 00:39:35,715 --> 00:39:37,715 Speaker 1: guy who'd only been there since the third grade, he 606 00:39:37,755 --> 00:39:40,355 Speaker 1: got weight listed. I got the we know it's our 607 00:39:40,555 --> 00:39:44,515 Speaker 1: loss letter, which was dated April ninth, nineteen seventy five, 608 00:39:44,515 --> 00:39:47,515 Speaker 1: in which I received April eleventh, nineteen seventy five, after 609 00:39:47,555 --> 00:39:49,235 Speaker 1: the folks and my sister and I all got back 610 00:39:49,235 --> 00:39:51,715 Speaker 1: from the Yankees home opener at Chase Stadium, a five 611 00:39:51,755 --> 00:39:53,875 Speaker 1: to three loss to the Detroit Tigers. Not that I 612 00:39:53,915 --> 00:39:56,915 Speaker 1: remember everything, or not that I'm still bitter, or not 613 00:39:56,995 --> 00:39:58,875 Speaker 1: that I wrote them back and said, you bet it's 614 00:39:58,915 --> 00:40:01,515 Speaker 1: your loss. That's just a rumor, no comment, no comment. 615 00:40:03,035 --> 00:40:07,115 Speaker 1: Cornell accepted me. I went to Cornell. There are a 616 00:40:07,155 --> 00:40:11,555 Speaker 1: couple of postscripts. The kid with the long stringy hair 617 00:40:11,595 --> 00:40:14,835 Speaker 1: who was, you know, six four and forty pounds, and 618 00:40:14,915 --> 00:40:17,235 Speaker 1: the New York accent who was going to be the 619 00:40:17,275 --> 00:40:19,435 Speaker 1: greatest disc jockey of all time. The kid who talked 620 00:40:19,475 --> 00:40:22,195 Speaker 1: me out of going to Boston University was, of course, 621 00:40:22,915 --> 00:40:27,755 Speaker 1: Howard Stern. When I first saw him on TV in 622 00:40:27,915 --> 00:40:30,435 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty eight or so, I said, that guy looks 623 00:40:30,475 --> 00:40:32,115 Speaker 1: exactly like the kid who talked me out of going 624 00:40:32,115 --> 00:40:36,595 Speaker 1: to Boston University. Years later, I was at Howard's show 625 00:40:36,635 --> 00:40:38,955 Speaker 1: and we had a conversation about this. No, it wasn't me. 626 00:40:39,155 --> 00:40:41,995 Speaker 1: I don't remember meeting you. I said, well, we hadn't 627 00:40:41,995 --> 00:40:45,155 Speaker 1: even exchanged names. Then, I don't remember any of it. 628 00:40:45,475 --> 00:40:47,475 Speaker 1: And I said, did you and the dean there not 629 00:40:47,555 --> 00:40:51,275 Speaker 1: get along? Oh? Man? The Dean hated me, like one day. 630 00:40:51,275 --> 00:40:53,555 Speaker 1: He came into the studios one time with some high 631 00:40:53,555 --> 00:40:56,355 Speaker 1: school kid and his father. Oh boy, we gave each 632 00:40:56,355 --> 00:40:58,795 Speaker 1: other a hard time after that, he says, I talked 633 00:40:58,835 --> 00:41:00,955 Speaker 1: him out of it, and I said, that was my 634 00:41:01,075 --> 00:41:03,475 Speaker 1: dad and me. Not a chance I would have remembered 635 00:41:03,475 --> 00:41:06,835 Speaker 1: meeting you. I said, we didn't mentioned names. Howard. Also, 636 00:41:06,915 --> 00:41:12,355 Speaker 1: I was like five inches shorter and I was fifteen. No, 637 00:41:12,475 --> 00:41:14,355 Speaker 1: it wasn't you. It wasn't me. I promise you. And 638 00:41:14,395 --> 00:41:17,715 Speaker 1: I said, Howard, your shift was Tuesdays and Thursday's mid 639 00:41:17,795 --> 00:41:20,875 Speaker 1: days and you didn't like it. Yeah, And I said, 640 00:41:20,915 --> 00:41:23,195 Speaker 1: how many other kids at the radio station who were 641 00:41:23,195 --> 00:41:27,035 Speaker 1: at dish jockeys looked like you? He said, none, Nobody 642 00:41:27,075 --> 00:41:30,995 Speaker 1: looks like me. And I said, how would you know 643 00:41:32,075 --> 00:41:34,395 Speaker 1: if you were me about the Dean and you if 644 00:41:34,635 --> 00:41:37,995 Speaker 1: if you hadn't seen it or heard it. I don't know. 645 00:41:38,155 --> 00:41:41,235 Speaker 1: I don't remember meeting you. The guy was Howard's stern 646 00:41:42,395 --> 00:41:45,115 Speaker 1: so at Cornell. The PostScript is this. It turned out 647 00:41:45,155 --> 00:41:49,355 Speaker 1: the radio station was the greatest training ground in the 648 00:41:49,475 --> 00:41:54,355 Speaker 1: radio business. It turned out ten to twenty professional broadcasters 649 00:41:54,795 --> 00:41:58,755 Speaker 1: per year. We sold about a quarter million dollars in 650 00:41:58,795 --> 00:42:01,155 Speaker 1: advertising every year. And this is in the three hundred 651 00:42:01,195 --> 00:42:04,475 Speaker 1: and fifty first largest market in the country, and when 652 00:42:04,515 --> 00:42:07,635 Speaker 1: you're three hundred and fifty first, the word largest is inappropriate. 653 00:42:08,995 --> 00:42:12,635 Speaker 1: There was an organized training program at WVBRFM that was 654 00:42:12,715 --> 00:42:16,835 Speaker 1: better than any college course anywhere. By the time of 655 00:42:16,835 --> 00:42:19,875 Speaker 1: my sophomore year, I was the sports director. By my 656 00:42:20,035 --> 00:42:22,635 Speaker 1: junior year, I was running the training program for the 657 00:42:22,635 --> 00:42:25,475 Speaker 1: whole station. After my senior year, I was well enough 658 00:42:25,515 --> 00:42:27,435 Speaker 1: trained and had been on the air so many times, 659 00:42:27,595 --> 00:42:31,915 Speaker 1: like fifteen hundred times, that I went directly from WVBR 660 00:42:31,995 --> 00:42:34,915 Speaker 1: to a one thousand station radio network, and I took 661 00:42:35,035 --> 00:42:38,795 Speaker 1: every history in English class I could, and Dad paid 662 00:42:38,875 --> 00:42:40,715 Speaker 1: one tenth with all the other dads of all the 663 00:42:40,755 --> 00:42:43,315 Speaker 1: other kids in the English and history classes paid. And 664 00:42:43,355 --> 00:42:45,555 Speaker 1: when I went back for a visit in twenty eleven, 665 00:42:45,635 --> 00:42:47,755 Speaker 1: the three history professors I had took me out to 666 00:42:47,835 --> 00:42:54,755 Speaker 1: lunch because they were fanboys. Very little to this point 667 00:42:55,035 --> 00:42:57,635 Speaker 1: would suggest that this is really a story about my 668 00:42:57,835 --> 00:43:02,675 Speaker 1: father and not about me, But it is. It is 669 00:43:02,955 --> 00:43:06,995 Speaker 1: entirely about him. My freshman year, when it started, the 670 00:43:07,035 --> 00:43:10,115 Speaker 1: whole family took me up, and I believe this was strategical. 671 00:43:10,155 --> 00:43:12,355 Speaker 1: It was better that way. With three of them, they 672 00:43:12,355 --> 00:43:14,675 Speaker 1: were able to bar the doors and force me to stay, 673 00:43:14,715 --> 00:43:18,075 Speaker 1: which was not my inclination my sophomore year, which was 674 00:43:18,075 --> 00:43:20,395 Speaker 1: a little easier on me. It was just my dad 675 00:43:20,435 --> 00:43:24,075 Speaker 1: and me. We drove up there in a borrowed pickup 676 00:43:24,155 --> 00:43:26,275 Speaker 1: truck with all my stuff in the back, and somehow 677 00:43:26,275 --> 00:43:28,715 Speaker 1: we get onto the campus via a back route, and 678 00:43:28,715 --> 00:43:30,835 Speaker 1: he's lost, and I say, wait, don't worry, I know 679 00:43:31,115 --> 00:43:33,315 Speaker 1: where we are. I know it from here. Besides which, 680 00:43:33,835 --> 00:43:35,435 Speaker 1: it works out. You look, if you make the last 681 00:43:35,475 --> 00:43:38,275 Speaker 1: next left, we can see something you'd probably like to see. 682 00:43:38,275 --> 00:43:41,235 Speaker 1: It's the Architecture College. It's called and I'm about to 683 00:43:41,275 --> 00:43:43,915 Speaker 1: name it. I'm about to say rand Hall, which was 684 00:43:43,915 --> 00:43:46,155 Speaker 1: the name of the architecture college, and he interrupts me, 685 00:43:46,755 --> 00:43:49,755 Speaker 1: and my dad says, matter of factly, rand Hall. Yeah, 686 00:43:49,795 --> 00:43:53,995 Speaker 1: I know, right at the bend of the avenue here. Yeah, 687 00:43:53,995 --> 00:43:57,275 Speaker 1: I remember I told you about the architectural scholarship that 688 00:43:57,315 --> 00:44:00,235 Speaker 1: I couldn't take. And I still don't realize what's coming. 689 00:44:00,635 --> 00:44:03,675 Speaker 1: I say yeah, and he goes, yeah, well it was here. 690 00:44:03,675 --> 00:44:06,075 Speaker 1: It was Cornell. This place offered me the scholarship I 691 00:44:06,115 --> 00:44:12,635 Speaker 1: couldn't take. Are you hungry? I'm damned hungry. I couldn't speak. 692 00:44:13,795 --> 00:44:17,715 Speaker 1: I can barely speak now. This is nineteen seventy six, 693 00:44:17,755 --> 00:44:21,435 Speaker 1: and I still haven't gotten over this. Through all of 694 00:44:21,475 --> 00:44:27,875 Speaker 1: this back and forth about college that consumed a year, Cornell, 695 00:44:28,195 --> 00:44:32,955 Speaker 1: b U, Harvard, merit scholarships, free rides, the dead student 696 00:44:32,995 --> 00:44:37,435 Speaker 1: in the hallway, the Celtics internship, the New York State discount, 697 00:44:37,635 --> 00:44:40,115 Speaker 1: go to Harvard if you get in, Howard Stern, his 698 00:44:40,235 --> 00:44:42,915 Speaker 1: own father, his brother, the depression. Through all of that, 699 00:44:43,315 --> 00:44:47,995 Speaker 1: my dad never once mentioned that Cornell had been his dream, 700 00:44:48,355 --> 00:44:51,955 Speaker 1: his escape, his free ticket that he had to give up, 701 00:44:52,475 --> 00:44:54,635 Speaker 1: that he had to replace with working as a draftsman 702 00:44:54,675 --> 00:44:57,115 Speaker 1: and going to night school for nearly twenty years. Never 703 00:44:58,355 --> 00:45:04,595 Speaker 1: mentioned it. Finally I spoke. Could have been hours later, 704 00:45:04,835 --> 00:45:11,875 Speaker 1: could have been days later. You didn't tell me. How 705 00:45:11,955 --> 00:45:16,835 Speaker 1: did you resist? He pulled into a parking spot in 706 00:45:16,835 --> 00:45:22,715 Speaker 1: front of a diner. Do you think, after what my 707 00:45:22,955 --> 00:45:26,515 Speaker 1: father did to me, that I was going to try 708 00:45:26,515 --> 00:45:32,435 Speaker 1: to influence your decision about college, even put that thought 709 00:45:32,435 --> 00:45:36,275 Speaker 1: in your mind about going here because I couldn't go here. Never, Never, 710 00:45:36,315 --> 00:45:50,675 Speaker 1: in twenty lifetimes, he's gone thirteen years. Around year three, 711 00:45:51,355 --> 00:45:52,915 Speaker 1: me and a bunch of the other alums from the 712 00:45:52,995 --> 00:45:56,155 Speaker 1: radio station decided that our successors who had kind of 713 00:45:56,235 --> 00:46:00,475 Speaker 1: fallen on hard times, and WVBRFM was now operating out 714 00:46:00,475 --> 00:46:04,155 Speaker 1: of the basement of something called the National Heffer's Association. 715 00:46:05,115 --> 00:46:09,275 Speaker 1: We decided that we needed to get them out from 716 00:46:09,355 --> 00:46:13,555 Speaker 1: under the cows, that they needed an entirely new radio 717 00:46:13,595 --> 00:46:17,475 Speaker 1: station to learn in as we were privileged to, as 718 00:46:17,595 --> 00:46:21,315 Speaker 1: I was privileged to. Thanks to my dad, I'm proud 719 00:46:21,395 --> 00:46:23,675 Speaker 1: to say I paid for nearly the whole thing, and 720 00:46:23,795 --> 00:46:26,595 Speaker 1: therefore I got to name it. And I named it 721 00:46:26,635 --> 00:46:30,475 Speaker 1: for two people, one of whom was my friend Glenn Cornelius, 722 00:46:30,475 --> 00:46:34,955 Speaker 1: who was the program director who died very young. You 723 00:46:34,995 --> 00:46:36,795 Speaker 1: can guess the name of the other person I named 724 00:46:36,795 --> 00:46:39,715 Speaker 1: it after. So if you're ever in Ithaca, New York, 725 00:46:40,475 --> 00:46:42,635 Speaker 1: go to six hundred and four East Buffalo Street and 726 00:46:42,675 --> 00:46:49,315 Speaker 1: you will see it. WVBRFM, WVBR Cornell Media Guild, the 727 00:46:49,355 --> 00:46:54,795 Speaker 1: Olderman Cornelius Studios. My dad would say two things about that. 728 00:46:54,915 --> 00:46:58,555 Speaker 1: I believe clever the way you named it after me, 729 00:46:59,795 --> 00:47:03,915 Speaker 1: But it also just happens half your name in it too. 730 00:47:03,995 --> 00:47:06,955 Speaker 1: And then he'd say, also, good ordering of the names. 731 00:47:07,555 --> 00:47:09,995 Speaker 1: You wouldn't want anybody actually thinking there was ever somebody 732 00:47:10,115 --> 00:47:28,435 Speaker 1: named Cornelius Olderman. I've done all the damage I can 733 00:47:28,475 --> 00:47:30,555 Speaker 1: do here. Thank you for listening. Here are the credits. 734 00:47:30,595 --> 00:47:33,195 Speaker 1: Most of the music arrange produced and performed by Brian 735 00:47:33,315 --> 00:47:36,515 Speaker 1: Ray and John Phillips Shaneil. They are the Countdown musical directors. 736 00:47:36,835 --> 00:47:40,475 Speaker 1: All orchestration and keyboards by John Phillip Shanel, Guitars, bass 737 00:47:40,515 --> 00:47:44,275 Speaker 1: and drums by Brian Ray, produced by Tko Brothers. Other 738 00:47:44,315 --> 00:47:47,155 Speaker 1: Bethsoven selections have been arranged and performed by the group 739 00:47:47,195 --> 00:47:50,635 Speaker 1: No Horns Allowed. Sports music is the Olderman theme from 740 00:47:50,835 --> 00:47:53,915 Speaker 1: ESPN two. It was written by Mitch Warren Davis courtesy 741 00:47:53,955 --> 00:47:57,795 Speaker 1: of ESPN musical comments from Nancy Faust the best baseball 742 00:47:57,835 --> 00:48:01,315 Speaker 1: stadium organist ever. Our announcer today was my friend John Dean, 743 00:48:01,475 --> 00:48:05,955 Speaker 1: and everything else was pretty much my fault. Remember. Countdown 744 00:48:05,995 --> 00:48:09,115 Speaker 1: is now also available on YouTube if you'd like to 745 00:48:09,115 --> 00:48:13,755 Speaker 1: look at me talking off camera. That's countdown for this 746 00:48:13,795 --> 00:48:16,835 Speaker 1: the nine and thirty third day since Donald Trump's first 747 00:48:16,875 --> 00:48:19,835 Speaker 1: attempted coup against the democratically elected government of the United 748 00:48:19,875 --> 00:48:23,315 Speaker 1: States arresked him again while we still can. The next 749 00:48:23,315 --> 00:48:27,555 Speaker 1: scheduled countdown is tomorrow. Bulletins as the news warrants till then, 750 00:48:27,595 --> 00:48:30,835 Speaker 1: I'm Keith Oldreman, good morning, good afternoon, good night, and 751 00:48:30,915 --> 00:48:44,595 Speaker 1: good luck. Countdown with Keith Oldraman is a production of iHeartRadio. 752 00:48:44,875 --> 00:48:50,035 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 753 00:48:50,315 --> 00:48:52,275 Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts.