1
00:00:04,795 --> 00:00:21,435
Speaker 1: Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. Jack

2
00:00:21,595 --> 00:00:26,715
Speaker 1: Smith not only has Trump's Twitter direct messages, he has

3
00:00:26,835 --> 00:00:31,555
Speaker 1: Trump's Twitter deleted direct messages, and, as we posited here

4
00:00:31,635 --> 00:00:38,595
Speaker 1: last Thursday, jack Smith also has Trump's Twitter unsent direct

5
00:00:38,795 --> 00:00:44,555
Speaker 1: message drafts. We will return to Atlanta presently. But CNN

6
00:00:44,635 --> 00:00:47,795
Speaker 1: and The New York Times last night confirmed the obvious

7
00:00:47,835 --> 00:00:53,355
Speaker 1: without realizing they were also confirming the tantalizingly important. More

8
00:00:53,475 --> 00:00:56,595
Speaker 1: court papers were unsealed, and yes, when Jack Smith got

9
00:00:56,595 --> 00:01:00,155
Speaker 1: that court order to scrape Trump's Twitter account, he was

10
00:01:00,195 --> 00:01:05,075
Speaker 1: looking for Trump's direct messages, of which CNN reports there

11
00:01:05,075 --> 00:01:08,755
Speaker 1: are many. The Times then got closer to the true

12
00:01:08,795 --> 00:01:12,475
Speaker 1: significance here quote. The lawyer for Twitter told Judge Howell

13
00:01:12,675 --> 00:01:17,035
Speaker 1: that the company had found both deleted and non deleted

14
00:01:17,155 --> 00:01:21,155
Speaker 1: direct messages associated with mister Trump's account, which would probably

15
00:01:21,155 --> 00:01:24,355
Speaker 1: explain Trump's use of the word atrocity when somebody finally

16
00:01:24,395 --> 00:01:27,915
Speaker 1: told him about this, which was apparently only last Sunday.

17
00:01:28,955 --> 00:01:33,155
Speaker 1: But then The Times writes, almost as an afterthought, that

18
00:01:33,235 --> 00:01:37,315
Speaker 1: the judge had authorized Jack Smith to receive quote all

19
00:01:37,435 --> 00:01:43,515
Speaker 1: direct messages sent from, received by, or stored in draft

20
00:01:43,875 --> 00:01:49,355
Speaker 1: form by the account. I speculated also about this last Thursday,

21
00:01:49,355 --> 00:01:51,715
Speaker 1: but I have to say seeing it in print as

22
00:01:51,715 --> 00:01:55,435
Speaker 1: a reality takes my breath away. I mean, deleted direct

23
00:01:55,475 --> 00:01:59,395
Speaker 1: messages are enough to fuel several books of Trump scandal

24
00:01:59,475 --> 00:02:05,315
Speaker 1: fan fiction. But the drafts, what have you left in

25
00:02:05,435 --> 00:02:11,355
Speaker 1: your drafts on Twitter or anywhere else? The drafts could

26
00:02:11,435 --> 00:02:15,915
Speaker 1: be far more nefarious. In fact, they could be intentionally nefarious.

27
00:02:16,195 --> 00:02:19,195
Speaker 1: Drafts could be used, and there is no evidence that

28
00:02:19,235 --> 00:02:21,915
Speaker 1: this is the case, but it could be. They could

29
00:02:21,915 --> 00:02:24,795
Speaker 1: be used the way terrorists used to use drafts in

30
00:02:24,915 --> 00:02:28,675
Speaker 1: emails twenty years ago, as what the spies call a

31
00:02:28,795 --> 00:02:33,315
Speaker 1: dead drop, by which you leave messages for anybody else

32
00:02:33,355 --> 00:02:37,075
Speaker 1: who happens to have your password, and then after the

33
00:02:37,115 --> 00:02:45,075
Speaker 1: message is read, it is deleted. Except nothing is ever deleted,

34
00:02:45,355 --> 00:02:51,475
Speaker 1: deleted something else Trump apparently only found out on Sunday night.

35
00:02:52,475 --> 00:02:56,515
Speaker 1: If nothing else, this is a reminder that as slovenly

36
00:02:56,715 --> 00:03:00,075
Speaker 1: and careless as Trump has been with his hundreds and

37
00:03:00,235 --> 00:03:04,875
Speaker 1: hundreds of crimes and the mile long trails he leaves

38
00:03:04,995 --> 00:03:08,915
Speaker 1: every day in office and out, there is always the

39
00:03:09,035 --> 00:03:14,275
Speaker 1: probability that there is further evidence which we don't know,

40
00:03:15,235 --> 00:03:21,795
Speaker 1: but which now Jack Smith does know, and in turn

41
00:03:21,995 --> 00:03:24,275
Speaker 1: and I have said this for a year. With Trump,

42
00:03:24,515 --> 00:03:28,235
Speaker 1: whatever we think it is, the odds are strong that

43
00:03:28,315 --> 00:03:33,955
Speaker 1: it is far, far worse. Now back to Atlanta, Trump

44
00:03:33,955 --> 00:03:38,555
Speaker 1: will present his irrefutable, guaranteed, one hundred percent exonerating report

45
00:03:38,595 --> 00:03:42,555
Speaker 1: on presidential election fraud in Georgia, starting at eleven next

46
00:03:42,595 --> 00:03:45,355
Speaker 1: Monday morning at his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey.

47
00:03:45,635 --> 00:03:48,315
Speaker 1: Enter by the main gate, proceeds towards the first tea

48
00:03:48,355 --> 00:03:52,795
Speaker 1: and then make a left at Ivana. The larger point

49
00:03:52,955 --> 00:03:56,475
Speaker 1: is that nearly every Republican does not want Trump to

50
00:03:56,555 --> 00:03:59,475
Speaker 1: again use up all the oxygen in the room on

51
00:03:59,595 --> 00:04:04,355
Speaker 1: relitigating twenty twenty for the millionth time, and to that

52
00:04:04,515 --> 00:04:08,235
Speaker 1: point directly. But the headline here is Trump has hit

53
00:04:08,315 --> 00:04:12,475
Speaker 1: the bottom of the conspiracy barrel. This new report that

54
00:04:12,555 --> 00:04:16,795
Speaker 1: he is flogging, one hundred pages of it is reported

55
00:04:16,875 --> 00:04:20,595
Speaker 1: lee the work of like the the seventy ninth string

56
00:04:20,755 --> 00:04:26,395
Speaker 1: propagandist on the Trump roster. Where once he had Roy Cohne,

57
00:04:26,835 --> 00:04:31,595
Speaker 1: where once waddled William Barr, and then John Dowd and

58
00:04:31,675 --> 00:04:35,395
Speaker 1: Ty Cobb, and even the dubious likes of Sarah Huckabee

59
00:04:35,595 --> 00:04:40,275
Speaker 1: and Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump has placed his future in

60
00:04:40,315 --> 00:04:46,995
Speaker 1: the hands of Liz Harrington. The New York Times quotes

61
00:04:47,075 --> 00:04:50,675
Speaker 1: unnamed sources who say this Georgia election fraud report and

62
00:04:50,675 --> 00:04:53,595
Speaker 1: I understand copies will be available at the Trump Bedminster

63
00:04:53,675 --> 00:04:56,715
Speaker 1: pro shop for forty nine to ninety five was at

64
00:04:56,795 --> 00:05:01,555
Speaker 1: least partly Liz Harrington's work, and she has been preparing

65
00:05:01,595 --> 00:05:05,235
Speaker 1: it four weeks. If her name is not famili to you,

66
00:05:05,795 --> 00:05:11,035
Speaker 1: once she was the blonde, fairly articulate, heavily hairstyled spokesperson

67
00:05:11,395 --> 00:05:15,835
Speaker 1: for the Republican National Committee. But then the slightly strange

68
00:05:15,915 --> 00:05:19,555
Speaker 1: look in her eyes got far stranger. It's hard to

69
00:05:19,635 --> 00:05:22,995
Speaker 1: precisely describe. It kind of looks as if she is

70
00:05:23,115 --> 00:05:26,795
Speaker 1: staring at you while desperately trying to not let you

71
00:05:26,955 --> 00:05:34,955
Speaker 1: realize that she sees a ghost right behind you. One day,

72
00:05:35,155 --> 00:05:38,955
Speaker 1: Lizzy's TV booking started to dry up and Liz Harrington

73
00:05:38,995 --> 00:05:43,155
Speaker 1: and that really disturbing look in her eyes disappeared. But

74
00:05:43,235 --> 00:05:47,275
Speaker 1: two years ago, after Trump left Washington, she reappeared, now

75
00:05:47,915 --> 00:05:51,595
Speaker 1: brunette on one side of her head and mostly blonde

76
00:05:51,635 --> 00:05:55,315
Speaker 1: on part of the other, then later all brunette, and

77
00:05:55,355 --> 00:05:58,555
Speaker 1: without being sexist or judgmental, you would no longer describe

78
00:05:58,555 --> 00:06:02,035
Speaker 1: her as heavily hairstyled to cut to the chase, she

79
00:06:02,155 --> 00:06:07,515
Speaker 1: now looks nuts and possibly hitnatized. Georgia has among the

80
00:06:07,515 --> 00:06:10,875
Speaker 1: most corrupt elections in the country, Liz Harrington tweeted last night,

81
00:06:10,915 --> 00:06:14,635
Speaker 1: a rare instance of her tweeting anything besides screenshots of

82
00:06:14,675 --> 00:06:18,235
Speaker 1: Trump's social media posts. And they haven't gotten better since

83
00:06:18,235 --> 00:06:21,795
Speaker 1: twenty twenty. They've gotten worse, which is interesting, But Trump's

84
00:06:21,835 --> 00:06:26,875
Speaker 1: point is only about twenty twenty. Then a PostScript, tune

85
00:06:26,915 --> 00:06:31,275
Speaker 1: in Monday, which is in fact what Republicans, even true

86
00:06:31,355 --> 00:06:35,675
Speaker 1: Trump believers, maybe not as crazy as this Harrington, but

87
00:06:35,835 --> 00:06:39,195
Speaker 1: even them, it's what they don't want there to be

88
00:06:39,315 --> 00:06:43,315
Speaker 1: anything Monday to tune in. Four three times Trump has

89
00:06:43,395 --> 00:06:46,795
Speaker 1: been indicted or re indicted on a federal level without

90
00:06:46,915 --> 00:06:50,475
Speaker 1: resorting to relitigating the election fraud confidence trick, but the

91
00:06:50,555 --> 00:06:54,475
Speaker 1: Georgia indictments are apparently irresistible to him on this point,

92
00:06:54,715 --> 00:06:57,595
Speaker 1: and he is going to hold a news conference at

93
00:06:57,595 --> 00:07:01,755
Speaker 1: which he will again yoke the GOP with the albatross

94
00:07:01,795 --> 00:07:06,995
Speaker 1: that is the twenty twenty election non scandal, when even

95
00:07:07,035 --> 00:07:10,315
Speaker 1: the craziest of its congressmen and candidates want to talk

96
00:07:10,355 --> 00:07:13,355
Speaker 1: about twenty twenty three and twenty twenty four and Joe

97
00:07:13,355 --> 00:07:20,075
Speaker 1: Biden and anything but another Trump scam now anything Fannie

98
00:07:20,075 --> 00:07:24,755
Speaker 1: willis left undone last Monday. Donald Trump will finish for

99
00:07:24,835 --> 00:07:30,195
Speaker 1: her next Monday. He has metaphorically hanged himself and taken

100
00:07:30,235 --> 00:07:33,675
Speaker 1: the Republican Party with him. He writes that it's quote

101
00:07:33,875 --> 00:07:39,515
Speaker 1: a large, complex, detailed, but irrefutable report. Report is in

102
00:07:39,635 --> 00:07:44,115
Speaker 1: all caps, like an email scammer would capitalize million dollars,

103
00:07:44,835 --> 00:07:46,435
Speaker 1: And all of a sudden, we are back to the

104
00:07:46,475 --> 00:07:50,595
Speaker 1: embryonic version of political Donald Trump insisting that his investigators

105
00:07:50,595 --> 00:07:53,875
Speaker 1: had found irrefutable evidence that Barack Obama was born in

106
00:07:55,115 --> 00:07:58,355
Speaker 1: I don't know wherever, Canada, and then insisting that his

107
00:07:58,555 --> 00:08:02,155
Speaker 1: new investigators had found really irrefutable evidence. Or, as the

108
00:08:02,155 --> 00:08:05,715
Speaker 1: old Monty Python joke goes, the object of this expedition

109
00:08:06,115 --> 00:08:09,035
Speaker 1: is to see if we can find any traces of

110
00:08:09,355 --> 00:08:16,235
Speaker 1: last year's expedition. Moreover, Trump actually slipped from his usually

111
00:08:16,355 --> 00:08:21,355
Speaker 1: precise and expert professor Harold Hill patter, and he gave

112
00:08:21,395 --> 00:08:23,515
Speaker 1: away the Cohn to the marks. Never give away the

113
00:08:23,555 --> 00:08:28,835
Speaker 1: con to the marks. The indictments are quote already election interference.

114
00:08:29,035 --> 00:08:31,675
Speaker 1: But if the trials are held before the election, then

115
00:08:31,675 --> 00:08:34,035
Speaker 1: it would be interference on a scale never seen in

116
00:08:34,075 --> 00:08:40,555
Speaker 1: our country. So the trials quote, should be brought after

117
00:08:41,075 --> 00:08:45,955
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty four presidential election. Oh. In other words,

118
00:08:45,995 --> 00:08:48,795
Speaker 1: the indictments are the worst thing in human history, and

119
00:08:48,835 --> 00:08:51,395
Speaker 1: the election interference is the worst thing in human history.

120
00:08:51,475 --> 00:08:54,155
Speaker 1: And the trials, oh, the trials, my god, they would

121
00:08:54,195 --> 00:08:56,435
Speaker 1: be worse than the worst thing in human history. But

122
00:08:57,435 --> 00:09:00,195
Speaker 1: if we have to have them after the election, is okay?

123
00:09:00,235 --> 00:09:04,715
Speaker 1: See my secretary for the dates. We know why he

124
00:09:04,795 --> 00:09:08,435
Speaker 1: would say that, But he just gave the Marks their

125
00:09:08,475 --> 00:09:12,675
Speaker 1: first clue that he will live up to the guidance

126
00:09:12,995 --> 00:09:16,875
Speaker 1: of Winston Churchill and never give in, never, never, never,

127
00:09:18,275 --> 00:09:23,915
Speaker 1: except this one time. How many of them understand the

128
00:09:23,955 --> 00:09:31,395
Speaker 1: clue is debatable. It was, of course the district attorney

129
00:09:31,395 --> 00:09:33,995
Speaker 1: who put the first hole in that Trump fantasy world

130
00:09:34,035 --> 00:09:37,475
Speaker 1: of victimhood and martyrdom and Paranoi because she indicted Trump

131
00:09:37,635 --> 00:09:41,795
Speaker 1: and eighteen others. But the whole premise has been that

132
00:09:41,875 --> 00:09:45,635
Speaker 1: Trump is being indicted, being prosecuted to keep him from

133
00:09:45,715 --> 00:09:51,115
Speaker 1: being president. Rudy Giuliani isn't running for president. He was indicted.

134
00:09:51,355 --> 00:09:55,955
Speaker 1: Mark Meadows isn't running for president. Trevion Cootie isn't running

135
00:09:55,955 --> 00:09:59,955
Speaker 1: for president, Misty Hampton isn't running for president. Sean still

136
00:10:00,595 --> 00:10:05,035
Speaker 1: Still isn't running for president. Robert Chile isn't running for president. Frankly,

137
00:10:05,075 --> 00:10:08,635
Speaker 1: that's all I know about. Robert Cheeley. Trump and his

138
00:10:08,835 --> 00:10:13,515
Speaker 1: fine monkeys were immediately reduced, and we saw this yesterday

139
00:10:14,035 --> 00:10:17,395
Speaker 1: in the morning. They were reduced to claiming that Fannie

140
00:10:17,395 --> 00:10:21,115
Speaker 1: Willis was now prosecuting Trump's supporters in Georgia and you

141
00:10:21,235 --> 00:10:24,075
Speaker 1: might be next. And as much as that might scare

142
00:10:24,115 --> 00:10:26,795
Speaker 1: the more childish members of the cult, the trade off

143
00:10:26,875 --> 00:10:30,155
Speaker 1: is not worth it. Trump is not the only target.

144
00:10:30,795 --> 00:10:34,235
Speaker 1: People who aren't even employed by him have been indicted,

145
00:10:34,275 --> 00:10:37,555
Speaker 1: and suddenly Trump has to fight for leg room up

146
00:10:37,595 --> 00:10:43,635
Speaker 1: on that imaginary cross he has so meticulously built for himself.

147
00:10:43,675 --> 00:10:46,515
Speaker 1: Fannie Willis did something Jack Smith hasn't even tried to do.

148
00:10:46,595 --> 00:10:50,075
Speaker 1: She's pierced not just the Trump reality by indicting it,

149
00:10:50,875 --> 00:10:53,995
Speaker 1: She's also punctured a lot of the fantasy. She's reduced

150
00:10:54,035 --> 00:10:57,115
Speaker 1: him from the solo martyr to just the head of

151
00:10:57,155 --> 00:11:00,115
Speaker 1: a group of con men and con women who've been

152
00:11:00,155 --> 00:11:05,355
Speaker 1: spending most of their lives living in a Trumpster's paradise.

153
00:11:31,555 --> 00:11:35,915
Speaker 1: Thank you, Nancy Faust. No, I'm not singing Trumpster's paradise,

154
00:11:37,795 --> 00:11:40,675
Speaker 1: all right, to think about it. Lesser headlines and details

155
00:11:40,675 --> 00:11:43,155
Speaker 1: out of the Atlanta and Florida cases. Atlanta, there is

156
00:11:43,195 --> 00:11:48,915
Speaker 1: actually another judge in that city besides Robert McBurney. Scott McAfee,

157
00:11:48,995 --> 00:11:51,755
Speaker 1: new to the Fulton County Superior Court bench, will handle

158
00:11:51,795 --> 00:11:54,675
Speaker 1: this case. He may be perfect. In fact, he may

159
00:11:54,755 --> 00:11:59,475
Speaker 1: represent a way out of judicial partisanship. He is a Republican,

160
00:11:59,915 --> 00:12:03,035
Speaker 1: but he was appointed by Governor Brian Kemp, who slammed

161
00:12:03,075 --> 00:12:07,275
Speaker 1: Trump again yesterday. But he used to be a prosecutor

162
00:12:07,315 --> 00:12:11,355
Speaker 1: working under the leadership of Fannie Willis. But but but

163
00:12:11,795 --> 00:12:14,835
Speaker 1: he used to clerk for two Georgia State Supreme Court justices,

164
00:12:14,875 --> 00:12:19,515
Speaker 1: both Republicans, and one of them wants clerk for antonin Scalia.

165
00:12:19,715 --> 00:12:23,755
Speaker 1: Judge McAfee has so many seeming conflicts of interests and

166
00:12:23,835 --> 00:12:29,715
Speaker 1: political taints that they cancel each other out. Meanwhile, defendant

167
00:12:29,715 --> 00:12:31,755
Speaker 1: Mark Meadows wants the whole case, or at least his

168
00:12:31,835 --> 00:12:34,355
Speaker 1: part of it, transferred to federal court because he claims

169
00:12:34,395 --> 00:12:37,675
Speaker 1: whatever he did he did while acting quote under color

170
00:12:37,755 --> 00:12:40,595
Speaker 1: of his federal office, which would be a good argument,

171
00:12:40,635 --> 00:12:44,075
Speaker 1: except that, as just securities Ryan Goodman notes in Act

172
00:12:44,195 --> 00:12:47,475
Speaker 1: ninety six of the indictment, they quote a Meadow's text

173
00:12:47,515 --> 00:12:50,915
Speaker 1: message to a Georgia State investigator. Is there a way

174
00:12:50,955 --> 00:12:56,035
Speaker 1: to speed up Fulton County's signature verification? Meadows wrote, in

175
00:12:56,155 --> 00:12:59,795
Speaker 1: order to have results before January sixth, if the Trump

176
00:12:59,955 --> 00:13:05,635
Speaker 1: campaign assists financially unquote, which is a horse bleep of

177
00:13:05,675 --> 00:13:09,715
Speaker 1: a different color, isn't it. Trump has yet to file

178
00:13:09,835 --> 00:13:12,035
Speaker 1: to get the trial moved to a federal court, and

179
00:13:12,075 --> 00:13:14,395
Speaker 1: it turns out he might not, because even if it

180
00:13:14,435 --> 00:13:18,395
Speaker 1: were transferred, it would still be considered a Georgia state

181
00:13:18,475 --> 00:13:21,915
Speaker 1: prosecution and not federal, and thus not subject to being

182
00:13:21,955 --> 00:13:24,915
Speaker 1: dismissed by the Department of Justice now or later, and

183
00:13:24,995 --> 00:13:28,315
Speaker 1: any guilty defendants in that case could not get pardons

184
00:13:28,515 --> 00:13:32,355
Speaker 1: from any president even if it is transferred to federal court.

185
00:13:32,995 --> 00:13:35,635
Speaker 1: On the other hand, there was a lot of confused

186
00:13:35,675 --> 00:13:39,515
Speaker 1: reporting Monday about a mandatory minimum statute on RICO charges

187
00:13:39,555 --> 00:13:41,755
Speaker 1: in Georgia, and I contributed a little bit to that.

188
00:13:41,835 --> 00:13:45,035
Speaker 1: I think while there is a minimum figure for a

189
00:13:45,275 --> 00:13:49,115
Speaker 1: prison sentence, there is also lurking in the Georgia law.

190
00:13:49,515 --> 00:13:54,475
Speaker 1: A judge option to convert actual prison time into probation.

191
00:13:56,515 --> 00:13:58,835
Speaker 1: And we are back with another edition of the popular

192
00:13:58,875 --> 00:14:02,715
Speaker 1: brain teaser trumpel where we try to identify the unidentified

193
00:14:02,715 --> 00:14:06,715
Speaker 1: co conspirators. Nobody won the first round. Number six from

194
00:14:06,715 --> 00:14:09,835
Speaker 1: the first round is still unidentified, so the prize total

195
00:14:09,955 --> 00:14:12,635
Speaker 1: rolls over to this one, but you have to guess

196
00:14:13,115 --> 00:14:16,915
Speaker 1: all thirty of them. There are some early no brainers.

197
00:14:16,995 --> 00:14:20,755
Speaker 1: Number eight is identified as somebody Rudy Giuliani retweeted with

198
00:14:20,875 --> 00:14:23,755
Speaker 1: the quote of the tweet that was tough. A quick

199
00:14:23,795 --> 00:14:27,515
Speaker 1: search proves that is the current Georgia Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones.

200
00:14:28,275 --> 00:14:33,155
Speaker 1: Number twenty is somebody at the infamous December eighteenth Oval

201
00:14:33,195 --> 00:14:37,035
Speaker 1: office shouting match. The former FBI man Pete Struck is

202
00:14:37,075 --> 00:14:39,835
Speaker 1: certain it is either Mike Flynn or the overstock guy

203
00:14:39,915 --> 00:14:43,435
Speaker 1: Patrick Byrne, and incidentally, there is widespread belief that Burne

204
00:14:43,435 --> 00:14:47,955
Speaker 1: may be cooperating. Number three was at a Giuliani Jenna

205
00:14:48,035 --> 00:14:51,515
Speaker 1: Ellis Sidney Powell press conference, and additional evidence says that

206
00:14:51,595 --> 00:14:56,035
Speaker 1: of several choices it's Boris Epstein. Now, since there are

207
00:14:56,155 --> 00:14:59,555
Speaker 1: still twenty seven slots to fill and not that many

208
00:14:59,595 --> 00:15:03,595
Speaker 1: conspirators who weren't indicted. You gotta guess Lindsey Graham and

209
00:15:03,675 --> 00:15:06,795
Speaker 1: Tom Fitten to be in here somewhere. There is some

210
00:15:06,955 --> 00:15:10,195
Speaker 1: indication Fitten has pride of place. He may be unidentified.

211
00:15:10,235 --> 00:15:13,555
Speaker 1: Co conspirator number one doesn't say anything about a two

212
00:15:13,675 --> 00:15:17,515
Speaker 1: tight polo shirt. Also this formality from the marri Lago

213
00:15:17,595 --> 00:15:22,275
Speaker 1: documents case. Carlos the OLIVERA finally has a Florida attorney.

214
00:15:22,715 --> 00:15:25,475
Speaker 1: Let's hear it for him. So thus he finally has

215
00:15:25,515 --> 00:15:30,795
Speaker 1: a plea and shockingly enough, it's not guilty. The rest

216
00:15:30,915 --> 00:15:33,355
Speaker 1: of this story to the moment is something difficult to

217
00:15:33,475 --> 00:15:37,515
Speaker 1: convey on a podcast. It is the smell of desperation.

218
00:15:38,115 --> 00:15:42,515
Speaker 1: The Trump circle and America's fascists in general seem to

219
00:15:42,555 --> 00:15:45,355
Speaker 1: be having a much harder time with Georgia than with

220
00:15:45,435 --> 00:15:48,355
Speaker 1: the federal indictments. And if you're wondering why, you can

221
00:15:48,395 --> 00:15:51,435
Speaker 1: probably figure it out by examining the online reaction to

222
00:15:51,475 --> 00:15:55,035
Speaker 1: the last line of Trump's post about the irrefutable Georgia

223
00:15:55,075 --> 00:15:59,475
Speaker 1: election report. Harrington l author with the seventy six trombones

224
00:15:59,515 --> 00:16:03,555
Speaker 1: and also the new monorail attached quote they only went

225
00:16:03,635 --> 00:16:11,155
Speaker 1: after those that fought to find the riggers unquote riggers,

226
00:16:11,675 --> 00:16:18,475
Speaker 1: riggers in caps. Can you guess what Trump's white supremacist

227
00:16:18,555 --> 00:16:25,715
Speaker 1: base is now using riggers as a synonym for the

228
00:16:25,795 --> 00:16:29,715
Speaker 1: reactions overall are kind of many worst persons. Tim Poole,

229
00:16:29,795 --> 00:16:31,795
Speaker 1: the guy in the beanie. Actually the P, I believe

230
00:16:31,875 --> 00:16:33,515
Speaker 1: is pronounced like an F, so that would be Tim

231
00:16:33,595 --> 00:16:37,515
Speaker 1: Fool responded to the indictments by tweeting civil war, and

232
00:16:37,555 --> 00:16:40,475
Speaker 1: then later answered another fascist by writing, you are in

233
00:16:40,515 --> 00:16:45,435
Speaker 1: a civil war. Ben Shapiro was entertainingly hoist on his

234
00:16:45,475 --> 00:16:48,555
Speaker 1: own petard. Whatever you think of the Trump indictments, one

235
00:16:48,595 --> 00:16:51,515
Speaker 1: thing is for certain. The glass has now been broken

236
00:16:51,595 --> 00:16:55,115
Speaker 1: over and over again. Political opponents can be targeted by

237
00:16:55,195 --> 00:16:58,395
Speaker 1: legal enemies. Running for office now carries the risk of

238
00:16:58,435 --> 00:17:02,555
Speaker 1: going to jail unquote, which oddly enough was advocated for

239
00:17:02,915 --> 00:17:05,835
Speaker 1: on a Larry King Show of all Things in twenty

240
00:17:05,915 --> 00:17:10,275
Speaker 1: fourteen by why by the same guy who just announced it,

241
00:17:10,355 --> 00:17:11,195
Speaker 1: Ben Shapiro.

242
00:17:11,755 --> 00:17:13,435
Speaker 2: I'm not sure we can incit Washington, but I think

243
00:17:13,435 --> 00:17:17,835
Speaker 2: that certainly something was done. Washington was relatively clean. But

244
00:17:17,875 --> 00:17:20,115
Speaker 2: if you look at George W. Bush, or if you

245
00:17:20,155 --> 00:17:22,835
Speaker 2: looked at Bill Clinton, or if you looked at Ronald Reagan, sure,

246
00:17:22,995 --> 00:17:25,235
Speaker 2: I mean the answer would be that you could, and

247
00:17:25,315 --> 00:17:26,315
Speaker 2: people should be wary.

248
00:17:26,355 --> 00:17:27,475
Speaker 1: I mean, this is sort.

249
00:17:27,355 --> 00:17:29,395
Speaker 2: Of the case that I'm making, is that we've become

250
00:17:29,435 --> 00:17:32,515
Speaker 2: so comfortable with the executive branch of the government abusing

251
00:17:32,555 --> 00:17:36,275
Speaker 2: its citizens and violating our rights and violating what their

252
00:17:36,435 --> 00:17:38,515
Speaker 2: structure to do under the law, that we've.

253
00:17:38,355 --> 00:17:39,195
Speaker 1: Just become used to it.

254
00:17:39,315 --> 00:17:40,995
Speaker 2: And if we start treating them as criminals, maybe they'll

255
00:17:41,035 --> 00:17:43,075
Speaker 2: think twice before they act so criminally in the future.

256
00:17:43,275 --> 00:17:45,635
Speaker 1: Normally, Ben talks out of both sides of his mouth.

257
00:17:45,675 --> 00:17:49,075
Speaker 1: In far less time than nine years, Charlie Kirk, the

258
00:17:49,075 --> 00:17:52,675
Speaker 1: guy with the ever inflating Charlie Brownhead, told the Republicans

259
00:17:52,715 --> 00:17:55,435
Speaker 1: to threaten to shut down the entire government in response

260
00:17:55,475 --> 00:17:58,315
Speaker 1: to all this quote say that no spending is getting

261
00:17:58,355 --> 00:18:01,755
Speaker 1: passed until this crisis is resolved, and this effort to

262
00:18:01,915 --> 00:18:06,675
Speaker 1: criminalize the political opposition ceases, which seems like potent strategy

263
00:18:07,035 --> 00:18:10,595
Speaker 1: until you remember that most irreplaceable federal spending is done

264
00:18:10,635 --> 00:18:14,275
Speaker 1: in the Red States, and that any actual full government

265
00:18:14,355 --> 00:18:18,915
Speaker 1: financial shutdown would mean defaults and maybe bankruptcies in those

266
00:18:18,955 --> 00:18:22,795
Speaker 1: states within weeks, and maybe food shortages within months. But

267
00:18:22,875 --> 00:18:27,555
Speaker 1: you do you, Charlie. Alina Haba told Fox that she

268
00:18:27,715 --> 00:18:30,915
Speaker 1: disagrees with those warning Trump that the Atlanta indictments are

269
00:18:30,955 --> 00:18:34,155
Speaker 1: a perilous threat, quoting her, we do not agree that

270
00:18:34,195 --> 00:18:37,595
Speaker 1: it is a perilous threat because we actually have inside information.

271
00:18:38,515 --> 00:18:41,035
Speaker 1: She then said she could not say what the inside

272
00:18:41,075 --> 00:18:44,235
Speaker 1: information was. I think we all know what it was.

273
00:18:45,035 --> 00:18:46,955
Speaker 1: It's the Liz Harrington report.

274
00:18:48,315 --> 00:18:49,155
Speaker 3: There's a ghost.

275
00:18:49,795 --> 00:18:55,075
Speaker 1: There's a ghost behind you. But the all time lulu

276
00:18:55,275 --> 00:18:58,835
Speaker 1: of comments so far is from no less a figure

277
00:18:59,195 --> 00:19:02,995
Speaker 1: than Marjorie Trador Green. If there was not going to

278
00:19:03,035 --> 00:19:07,355
Speaker 1: be an actual Trump prescoon for it's Monday, don't park there.

279
00:19:07,435 --> 00:19:11,395
Speaker 1: That's Evanna's grave, all right, give me five dollars, you

280
00:19:11,395 --> 00:19:15,515
Speaker 1: can park there. If there were no press conference scheduled Monday,

281
00:19:15,555 --> 00:19:19,795
Speaker 1: I would say this quote would be unbeatable in the

282
00:19:19,835 --> 00:19:24,635
Speaker 1: faux PA competition going forward. Either way, this quote is

283
00:19:24,715 --> 00:19:29,475
Speaker 1: still stunning. Fonnie Willis should be going after child sex

284
00:19:29,555 --> 00:19:31,075
Speaker 1: predators and traffickers.

285
00:19:31,275 --> 00:19:32,915
Speaker 4: Fannie Willis should be going after.

286
00:19:32,875 --> 00:19:34,355
Speaker 2: Murderers, rapists.

287
00:19:34,515 --> 00:19:41,395
Speaker 1: Fannie Willis should be going after rapists, marge rapists.

288
00:19:42,515 --> 00:19:43,275
Speaker 3: She is.

289
00:19:49,195 --> 00:19:51,955
Speaker 1: Also of interest here. The new biography of Tucker Carlson

290
00:19:52,035 --> 00:19:53,795
Speaker 1: is out, and if you have not raced out to

291
00:19:53,835 --> 00:19:57,755
Speaker 1: buy it. Consider yourself part of the vast American majority.

292
00:19:58,275 --> 00:20:02,035
Speaker 1: It tanked, and I mean tanked. I'll tell you how

293
00:20:02,115 --> 00:20:05,915
Speaker 1: much it tanked. And Okay, obviously this is all already necessary.

294
00:20:06,595 --> 00:20:12,675
Speaker 1: I'll explain who Tucker Carlson is, who Tucker Carlson was.

295
00:20:14,115 --> 00:20:21,355
Speaker 1: That's next. This is countdown. This is countdown with Keith Oberman.

296
00:20:28,395 --> 00:20:32,075
Speaker 1: Postscripts to the news, some headlines, some updates, some snarks,

297
00:20:32,075 --> 00:20:36,875
Speaker 1: some predictions. Dateline, Atlanta, there has been a Herschel Walker sighting.

298
00:20:37,355 --> 00:20:40,915
Speaker 1: For the first time since July second, he has tweeted something.

299
00:20:41,275 --> 00:20:44,155
Speaker 1: For the first time since February seventh, he has tweeted

300
00:20:44,155 --> 00:20:49,595
Speaker 1: something touching on politics and not sports or vacations. Don't

301
00:20:49,635 --> 00:20:53,075
Speaker 1: you remember he was the Republican candidate for the Senate

302
00:20:53,155 --> 00:20:57,755
Speaker 1: in Georgia last year. The new tweet, Wow, what is

303
00:20:57,835 --> 00:21:01,715
Speaker 1: going on here in the great state of Georgia? A

304
00:21:01,755 --> 00:21:06,955
Speaker 1: little bit more specific, herschel going on about your senate campaign,

305
00:21:07,675 --> 00:21:14,755
Speaker 1: about your son, about your other kids, about their new foundness,

306
00:21:15,315 --> 00:21:19,195
Speaker 1: about Matt Schlapp, about the greatest SoundBite of the twenty

307
00:21:19,315 --> 00:21:23,235
Speaker 1: twenty two election season. And you did mean election right.

308
00:21:23,635 --> 00:21:26,515
Speaker 4: Well, first of all, this election is more than Hersha Walker.

309
00:21:26,555 --> 00:21:29,115
Speaker 4: This erection is about the people. Well, first of all,

310
00:21:29,235 --> 00:21:31,875
Speaker 4: this election is more than Hersha Walker. This erection is

311
00:21:31,875 --> 00:21:34,755
Speaker 4: about the people. Well, first of all, this election is

312
00:21:34,755 --> 00:21:37,355
Speaker 4: war than Hersha Walker. This erection is about the people.

313
00:21:37,755 --> 00:21:38,915
Speaker 3: Well, first of all.

314
00:21:38,675 --> 00:21:41,355
Speaker 4: This election is more than Hersha Walker. This erection is.

315
00:21:41,315 --> 00:21:47,515
Speaker 1: About the wise words stand the test of time. Herschel dateline, Amazon,

316
00:21:47,635 --> 00:21:52,755
Speaker 1: The biography of Tucker Carlson is out. Remember Tucker Carlson

317
00:21:53,315 --> 00:21:57,355
Speaker 1: America hasn't answered that question, and the answer is who.

318
00:21:58,195 --> 00:22:02,435
Speaker 1: Publishers Weekly reports that the much hyped bio by worshipful

319
00:22:02,555 --> 00:22:07,395
Speaker 1: propagandist Chadwick Moore of Tucker Carlson sold in its first

320
00:22:07,435 --> 00:22:12,595
Speaker 1: week of availability three two and twenty seven copies, not

321
00:22:13,035 --> 00:22:16,755
Speaker 1: just on Amazon, that's everywhere, and that was good for

322
00:22:17,035 --> 00:22:22,835
Speaker 1: fifty seventh place among biographies. The kindle version didn't even

323
00:22:22,835 --> 00:22:26,355
Speaker 1: make the top one hundred on the Publisher's Weekly hardcover

324
00:22:26,555 --> 00:22:30,955
Speaker 1: nonfiction list. The Tucker Carlson bio was fifteenth. Well, there's

325
00:22:30,995 --> 00:22:34,155
Speaker 1: your problem right there. It would be number one on

326
00:22:34,235 --> 00:22:52,635
Speaker 1: the hardcover fiction list, still ahead on countdown. So I

327
00:22:52,675 --> 00:22:54,715
Speaker 1: get into the office and they say did you take

328
00:22:54,755 --> 00:22:56,955
Speaker 1: the subway? And I say no, I walked, and they

329
00:22:56,995 --> 00:23:00,035
Speaker 1: say good because a guy got stabbed in the subway

330
00:23:00,075 --> 00:23:02,195
Speaker 1: and I say yikes, and they say yeah, but they

331
00:23:02,235 --> 00:23:05,475
Speaker 1: caught the guys who did it. They arrested forty one

332
00:23:05,635 --> 00:23:10,275
Speaker 1: people life at a radio network in Times Square in

333
00:23:10,315 --> 00:23:14,235
Speaker 1: New York in nineteen eighty one. Next, first time for

334
00:23:14,275 --> 00:23:16,875
Speaker 1: the daily roundup of the miscreants, morons and dunning Kruger

335
00:23:16,915 --> 00:23:21,315
Speaker 1: effects specimens. You constitute today's worst persons in the world.

336
00:23:22,035 --> 00:23:26,595
Speaker 1: Bronze Elmo Elon Musk per the Washington Post, if you've

337
00:23:26,595 --> 00:23:29,195
Speaker 1: tried to link off Twitter to say, the New York

338
00:23:29,235 --> 00:23:33,915
Speaker 1: Times or Facebook or something at Blue Sky or Reuters

339
00:23:34,555 --> 00:23:38,315
Speaker 1: and the phone or the laptop just sat there, Twitter

340
00:23:38,355 --> 00:23:43,235
Speaker 1: had installed a five second delay. Throttling is the technical term,

341
00:23:43,515 --> 00:23:46,275
Speaker 1: because Musk, who if he wasn't paranoid wouldn't have any

342
00:23:46,315 --> 00:23:53,435
Speaker 1: personality at all, was mad at those sites Times, Blue Sky, Facebook, Reuters. Okay,

343
00:23:53,835 --> 00:23:56,435
Speaker 1: after the Post called this out, some of the throttling

344
00:23:56,555 --> 00:24:00,395
Speaker 1: was discontinued late yesterday, and that is your free speech

345
00:24:00,595 --> 00:24:04,155
Speaker 1: absolutist in action. Now. It is clear, though, when Musk

346
00:24:04,235 --> 00:24:07,475
Speaker 1: said absolutist, he thought it had something to do with

347
00:24:07,555 --> 00:24:13,555
Speaker 1: absolute Vodka runner up Ron DeSantis. Remember Ron de Santis,

348
00:24:13,995 --> 00:24:18,955
Speaker 1: Governor Florida. Still, I guess the twenty twenty three Scott

349
00:24:19,035 --> 00:24:22,795
Speaker 1: Walker Award winner, the one who fought with Disney, sued

350
00:24:22,835 --> 00:24:26,155
Speaker 1: Disney cut off their input into governance, trashed them, et cetera.

351
00:24:27,075 --> 00:24:29,875
Speaker 1: I guess either that is now rebounded against him or

352
00:24:29,875 --> 00:24:33,395
Speaker 1: it has lost its effectiveness because now Ronda has gone on.

353
00:24:33,475 --> 00:24:38,515
Speaker 1: CNBC says he appreciates working with Disney, that he and

354
00:24:38,555 --> 00:24:41,755
Speaker 1: his wife got married to Disney World, and he says,

355
00:24:42,035 --> 00:24:46,515
Speaker 1: let's just forget it. Quote we've basically moved on. Dromp

356
00:24:46,595 --> 00:24:49,075
Speaker 1: the lawsuit you'll have this night that ranks as number

357
00:24:49,075 --> 00:24:53,835
Speaker 1: one for no economy. Let's move forward. Bob Iger should

358
00:24:53,875 --> 00:24:57,275
Speaker 1: move forward. He should move Disney World forward to Puerto Rico.

359
00:24:57,715 --> 00:25:03,915
Speaker 1: But our winner, Sage Steele, announced she is leaving ESPN

360
00:25:03,995 --> 00:25:07,875
Speaker 1: after sixt teen years life updates. I have decided to

361
00:25:07,995 --> 00:25:12,875
Speaker 1: leave so I can exercise my first Amendment, writes more freely.

362
00:25:13,715 --> 00:25:18,235
Speaker 1: Ah here we ef and go. Sage Steele wouldn't know

363
00:25:18,315 --> 00:25:21,675
Speaker 1: the difference between the First Amendment and the ESPN show

364
00:25:21,875 --> 00:25:26,475
Speaker 1: First Take. What happened was she hadn't been on ESPN

365
00:25:26,515 --> 00:25:29,995
Speaker 1: for nearly two years after her slow habit of internally

366
00:25:30,075 --> 00:25:33,995
Speaker 1: trashing everybody she worked with, then externally trashing some of them,

367
00:25:34,155 --> 00:25:39,275
Speaker 1: then trashing COVID vaccines, then trashing COVID vaccine mandates, then

368
00:25:39,355 --> 00:25:44,195
Speaker 1: trashing Barack Obama, then trashing transgender women in sports, then

369
00:25:44,315 --> 00:25:49,075
Speaker 1: suing ESPN and Disney. That slow process got a little faster.

370
00:25:49,955 --> 00:25:52,915
Speaker 1: This June, it was reported ESPN had filed a motion

371
00:25:53,075 --> 00:25:58,035
Speaker 1: to dismiss her lawsuit against them because virtually all broadcasting

372
00:25:58,075 --> 00:26:00,715
Speaker 1: contracts make it clear they don't have to play you,

373
00:26:01,075 --> 00:26:04,635
Speaker 1: they only have to pay you. Steele was reportedly offered

374
00:26:04,755 --> 00:26:07,635
Speaker 1: five hundred and one thousand dollars to settle the lawsuit,

375
00:26:07,915 --> 00:26:10,155
Speaker 1: and her attorney said that had been rejected. But now

376
00:26:10,195 --> 00:26:13,475
Speaker 1: six weeks later, I have decided to leave so I

377
00:26:13,515 --> 00:26:18,755
Speaker 1: can exercise my First Amendment rights more freely. Okay, for

378
00:26:18,835 --> 00:26:22,475
Speaker 1: the millionth time. The First Amendment is about you being

379
00:26:22,555 --> 00:26:27,235
Speaker 1: punished for your speech by the government, not being punished

380
00:26:27,235 --> 00:26:30,595
Speaker 1: for your speech by you know, Chris Berman.

381
00:26:31,595 --> 00:26:31,675
Speaker 4: What.

382
00:26:33,475 --> 00:26:36,915
Speaker 1: But Sage Steele would never accept that, because she knows

383
00:26:37,195 --> 00:26:41,995
Speaker 1: everything and everybody else knows nothing. I worked a couple

384
00:26:42,035 --> 00:26:45,555
Speaker 1: of sports centers with her in twenty eighteen, in twenty nineteen,

385
00:26:46,275 --> 00:26:48,955
Speaker 1: and at one point I asked an ESPN executive named

386
00:26:49,035 --> 00:26:51,955
Speaker 1: Dave Roberts why the essence of the show had been changed.

387
00:26:52,355 --> 00:26:54,995
Speaker 1: We used to look for moments in your days in

388
00:26:55,035 --> 00:26:57,035
Speaker 1: which one anchor would finish a story and the other

389
00:26:57,115 --> 00:26:59,435
Speaker 1: would start one, and the other could throw out a

390
00:26:59,515 --> 00:27:02,955
Speaker 1: quick aside or a sarcastic but friendly bit of snark

391
00:27:03,035 --> 00:27:05,595
Speaker 1: about what the other one had just said. But now

392
00:27:05,595 --> 00:27:10,115
Speaker 1: there were things called stamps, full sound blocks of play

393
00:27:10,115 --> 00:27:13,995
Speaker 1: by play calls or player comments that seemingly appeared every

394
00:27:14,035 --> 00:27:16,715
Speaker 1: time one of the anchors stopped talking and the other

395
00:27:16,755 --> 00:27:20,555
Speaker 1: one was about to start. I didn't mention Sage Steele's name,

396
00:27:21,035 --> 00:27:23,315
Speaker 1: but I did say the stamps were blocking us from

397
00:27:23,555 --> 00:27:25,395
Speaker 1: talking to each other, me and all of the co

398
00:27:25,555 --> 00:27:28,835
Speaker 1: anchors I worked with, And Dave Roberts answered, that's why

399
00:27:28,875 --> 00:27:31,555
Speaker 1: we have them. Have you heard our anchors talking to

400
00:27:31,635 --> 00:27:34,195
Speaker 1: each other? Have you heard Sage Steel trying to talk

401
00:27:34,235 --> 00:27:37,835
Speaker 1: to the other anchors? Given how little I actually worked

402
00:27:37,835 --> 00:27:40,315
Speaker 1: with her, there were a surprisingly large number of moments

403
00:27:40,675 --> 00:27:44,675
Speaker 1: when I got as another producer put it, Saged, here

404
00:27:44,715 --> 00:27:47,835
Speaker 1: are two of them. One of the top ESPN executives

405
00:27:47,835 --> 00:27:49,475
Speaker 1: did an interview in which he said I was the

406
00:27:49,475 --> 00:27:56,955
Speaker 1: greatest anchor Sports Center ever had debatable top five, three

407
00:27:57,155 --> 00:28:02,395
Speaker 1: two anyway? Who goes into that executive's office. But Sage

408
00:28:02,435 --> 00:28:06,035
Speaker 1: Steele quote, some of the night time people object to you,

409
00:28:06,195 --> 00:28:09,355
Speaker 1: calling him the greatest to do this, she told him.

410
00:28:09,715 --> 00:28:12,035
Speaker 1: He asked her who those nighttime people were, and she

411
00:28:12,035 --> 00:28:14,915
Speaker 1: wouldn't tell him. He not only told her that if

412
00:28:14,915 --> 00:28:17,115
Speaker 1: she wanted to change the all time rankings, maybe she

413
00:28:17,115 --> 00:28:19,435
Speaker 1: should do better on the show, but he then told

414
00:28:19,475 --> 00:28:22,155
Speaker 1: half the people in the company about what she had done.

415
00:28:23,595 --> 00:28:25,875
Speaker 1: And the other story is we were literally seconds to

416
00:28:25,995 --> 00:28:28,595
Speaker 1: air with me in New York and miss Steele in Bristol,

417
00:28:28,595 --> 00:28:30,555
Speaker 1: when the producer asked me to write like a ten

418
00:28:30,675 --> 00:28:33,795
Speaker 1: second version of a story that was just breaking to

419
00:28:33,955 --> 00:28:37,275
Speaker 1: headline the show as a quick tease. I wrote it,

420
00:28:37,395 --> 00:28:41,155
Speaker 1: and suddenly in my earpiece I could hear Sage Steele's

421
00:28:41,195 --> 00:28:44,675
Speaker 1: voice talking to that same show producer, and in that

422
00:28:44,795 --> 00:28:47,955
Speaker 1: voice was a mixture of rage and disbelief. What's this,

423
00:28:48,475 --> 00:28:51,875
Speaker 1: That's not how we do things. I talk first, make

424
00:28:51,955 --> 00:28:55,075
Speaker 1: him rewrite it. It had not occurred to her that

425
00:28:55,395 --> 00:28:58,675
Speaker 1: twenty seconds to air, they would have already opened her

426
00:28:58,715 --> 00:29:02,035
Speaker 1: microphone and I would be able to hear her. I

427
00:29:02,115 --> 00:29:09,475
Speaker 1: then said, Hi, Sage, and she said, and then dramatically

428
00:29:09,515 --> 00:29:13,195
Speaker 1: shifted tone, KAO, so good to hear your voice. Have

429
00:29:13,275 --> 00:29:17,475
Speaker 1: a great show. I have decided to leave so I

430
00:29:17,475 --> 00:29:21,715
Speaker 1: can exercise my First Amendment rights more freely using her

431
00:29:21,835 --> 00:29:25,115
Speaker 1: definition of First Amendment rights, which is talking trash at

432
00:29:25,155 --> 00:29:28,035
Speaker 1: work and not being responsible for any of it. It

433
00:29:28,155 --> 00:29:32,355
Speaker 1: is not physically possible that she could exercise them more

434
00:29:32,835 --> 00:29:38,955
Speaker 1: or more freely anywhere else on the planet, Sage, although

435
00:29:38,995 --> 00:29:41,235
Speaker 1: she would fit in nicely on Fox, except she and

436
00:29:41,275 --> 00:29:45,515
Speaker 1: Will Caine hated each other at ESPN Steal two Days,

437
00:29:46,435 --> 00:30:05,995
Speaker 1: worst person in the First Amendment word just ahead. So

438
00:30:06,075 --> 00:30:08,875
Speaker 1: you know Times Square right Disneyland, only it's in New

439
00:30:08,955 --> 00:30:11,875
Speaker 1: York and it has pizza. Could you imagine a Time

440
00:30:11,915 --> 00:30:15,155
Speaker 1: Square is so desolate and dangerous and full of porn

441
00:30:15,315 --> 00:30:19,635
Speaker 1: theaters that there were no restaurants open in Times Square

442
00:30:19,675 --> 00:30:23,035
Speaker 1: on the weekend. And I worked there, and I used

443
00:30:23,075 --> 00:30:25,435
Speaker 1: to have to bring in food from the rest of

444
00:30:25,475 --> 00:30:28,435
Speaker 1: the city for the whole office things. I promise not

445
00:30:28,475 --> 00:30:30,515
Speaker 1: to tell next first time to feature another dog in

446
00:30:30,595 --> 00:30:33,915
Speaker 1: need you can help. Every dog has its day. In fact,

447
00:30:33,995 --> 00:30:36,635
Speaker 1: it's a lot of dogs and cats and animals of

448
00:30:36,675 --> 00:30:40,235
Speaker 1: all kinds. At least three thousand of them missing, and

449
00:30:40,315 --> 00:30:42,555
Speaker 1: we don't have to claim that their plight is as

450
00:30:42,635 --> 00:30:45,155
Speaker 1: important as that of the humans who lost so much

451
00:30:45,435 --> 00:30:48,275
Speaker 1: in Hawaii. But the dogs and cats and the others

452
00:30:48,315 --> 00:30:52,675
Speaker 1: matter too. The Maui Humane Society is, as you would expect, inundated,

453
00:30:52,995 --> 00:30:55,875
Speaker 1: and the dogs and cats there now are the lucky ones.

454
00:30:56,195 --> 00:30:58,675
Speaker 1: They're trying to treat the injured and reunite the lost,

455
00:30:59,075 --> 00:31:01,675
Speaker 1: and they have started a fundraiser on Giving Grid with

456
00:31:01,715 --> 00:31:05,475
Speaker 1: what is not an especially ambitious goal, one thousand dollars.

457
00:31:05,995 --> 00:31:08,475
Speaker 1: Anything you can do to help will be gratefully accepted.

458
00:31:08,795 --> 00:31:11,995
Speaker 1: Find the Maui Humane Society at giving Grid, or I

459
00:31:12,035 --> 00:31:15,155
Speaker 1: will tweet out the link to the animals of Maui.

460
00:31:15,235 --> 00:31:27,115
Speaker 1: Thank you, and I thank you now from the files

461
00:31:27,155 --> 00:31:29,275
Speaker 1: of things I promised not to tell, and I recently

462
00:31:29,315 --> 00:31:33,315
Speaker 1: went past the building my second professional home, and I

463
00:31:33,395 --> 00:31:36,875
Speaker 1: was flooded with my memories of a place called the

464
00:31:37,075 --> 00:31:42,115
Speaker 1: RKO Radio Network. This is nineteen eighty and I'm nearing

465
00:31:42,115 --> 00:31:44,555
Speaker 1: my twenty second birthday, and I'm working real hard at

466
00:31:44,595 --> 00:31:47,475
Speaker 1: one radio network run by the United pres International Wire

467
00:31:47,555 --> 00:31:52,155
Speaker 1: Service in my second year and making around well nearly

468
00:31:52,235 --> 00:31:56,435
Speaker 1: twenty thousand dollars a year, and in September, a drunken

469
00:31:56,515 --> 00:31:59,355
Speaker 1: manager had tried to get me fired, tried to fire

470
00:31:59,395 --> 00:32:04,115
Speaker 1: me himself for being young, and I'll be damned if

471
00:32:04,115 --> 00:32:06,595
Speaker 1: I can remember, had consecutive days off there. This was

472
00:32:06,675 --> 00:32:08,995
Speaker 1: UPI in a nutshell. For my first few weeks there.

473
00:32:09,035 --> 00:32:12,275
Speaker 1: I thought whoever had decorated the newsroom had found the

474
00:32:12,355 --> 00:32:16,075
Speaker 1: floor tiles with the ugliest design pattern in history, and

475
00:32:16,115 --> 00:32:20,195
Speaker 1: that finally I saw a colleague grind his lit cigarette

476
00:32:20,235 --> 00:32:22,955
Speaker 1: into that floor, and only then did I realize that

477
00:32:23,115 --> 00:32:27,555
Speaker 1: was what the ugly design pattern was. Hundreds of ground

478
00:32:27,595 --> 00:32:33,435
Speaker 1: out cigarettes, years and years of ground out cigarettes in

479
00:32:33,475 --> 00:32:38,515
Speaker 1: the tiles. Anyway, the main advantage to working at UPI

480
00:32:38,715 --> 00:32:41,675
Speaker 1: was that everybody in what was then a flourishing radio

481
00:32:41,715 --> 00:32:45,435
Speaker 1: business knew UPI, and thus they knew you, and they

482
00:32:45,515 --> 00:32:49,435
Speaker 1: knew you were underpaid. The top all news radio station

483
00:32:49,515 --> 00:32:52,355
Speaker 1: in the country, WCBS in New York, had already asked

484
00:32:52,755 --> 00:32:55,075
Speaker 1: if I might be a candidate for a coming opening

485
00:32:55,115 --> 00:32:58,755
Speaker 1: in their sports department the previous spring. I'd actually interviewed

486
00:32:58,755 --> 00:33:02,235
Speaker 1: with two vice presidents at this thing. The yachtsman Ted Turner,

487
00:33:02,235 --> 00:33:04,755
Speaker 1: who owned the Atlanta Braves, was going to try to

488
00:33:04,795 --> 00:33:08,835
Speaker 1: start something he called cable news network, but they were

489
00:33:08,835 --> 00:33:11,315
Speaker 1: not initially interested in me, and after meeting with them,

490
00:33:11,315 --> 00:33:13,435
Speaker 1: I was certain they would never get it launched, let

491
00:33:13,475 --> 00:33:17,755
Speaker 1: alone get an audience for it. I was working there

492
00:33:17,795 --> 00:33:21,475
Speaker 1: literally fourteen months later. I had also been flown to Boston,

493
00:33:22,435 --> 00:33:25,275
Speaker 1: like they spent fifty five dollars on me by a

494
00:33:25,355 --> 00:33:27,715
Speaker 1: radio station that really wanted me to do a morning

495
00:33:27,755 --> 00:33:31,675
Speaker 1: sports shift for them, and they were offering forty thousand

496
00:33:31,715 --> 00:33:34,835
Speaker 1: dollars a year, twice my salary, and I was ready

497
00:33:34,835 --> 00:33:36,875
Speaker 1: to do it. And I was sitting in the office

498
00:33:36,915 --> 00:33:38,875
Speaker 1: in Boston trying to figure out where I could live

499
00:33:38,955 --> 00:33:40,795
Speaker 1: and how late I could sleep and still get there

500
00:33:40,795 --> 00:33:43,875
Speaker 1: in the morning. And then the news director said, now,

501
00:33:43,915 --> 00:33:46,195
Speaker 1: except if there's a big story, you can do the

502
00:33:46,235 --> 00:33:51,355
Speaker 1: afternoon sports cast from home over the phone, which is

503
00:33:51,435 --> 00:33:53,315
Speaker 1: when I realized I was supposed to do the morning

504
00:33:53,755 --> 00:33:56,195
Speaker 1: and the afternoon. I was essentially on the clock from

505
00:33:56,235 --> 00:33:58,995
Speaker 1: five am to six pm. And the forty thousand dollars

506
00:33:59,035 --> 00:34:01,115
Speaker 1: would have had to go to my sister because the

507
00:34:01,115 --> 00:34:05,595
Speaker 1: schedule would have killed me within three months. And then

508
00:34:05,635 --> 00:34:09,235
Speaker 1: there was this RKO Radio network UPI was in the

509
00:34:09,355 --> 00:34:13,755
Speaker 1: unique position of having RKO as a client, so RKO

510
00:34:14,035 --> 00:34:18,435
Speaker 1: heard and used our stuff all the time, and also

511
00:34:19,195 --> 00:34:22,315
Speaker 1: they had from their beginning used our UPI feed as

512
00:34:22,355 --> 00:34:26,435
Speaker 1: a kind of twenty four to seven constantly flowing turned

513
00:34:26,475 --> 00:34:30,795
Speaker 1: on spigot audition service. From the time I got to

514
00:34:30,915 --> 00:34:33,555
Speaker 1: UPI in July nineteen seventy nine, it seemed like one

515
00:34:33,715 --> 00:34:38,235
Speaker 1: radio paerson from UPI per month was hired away by RKO.

516
00:34:39,595 --> 00:34:41,995
Speaker 1: Sometime in the early autumn of nineteen eighty, I was

517
00:34:42,035 --> 00:34:44,515
Speaker 1: covering a New York Rangers game at Madison Square Garden,

518
00:34:44,515 --> 00:34:47,515
Speaker 1: and the guy next to me, smoking a cigar inside

519
00:34:47,515 --> 00:34:50,515
Speaker 1: the garden, right in front of all the fans, turned

520
00:34:50,515 --> 00:34:53,075
Speaker 1: out to be the sports director of this RKO network.

521
00:34:53,115 --> 00:34:56,875
Speaker 1: In fact, he was the entirety of the RKO sports department.

522
00:34:57,275 --> 00:35:00,355
Speaker 1: But we're doubling in size. I'm going to start doing

523
00:35:00,355 --> 00:35:02,675
Speaker 1: weekend sportscasts, and I get to hire a new person

524
00:35:02,715 --> 00:35:05,755
Speaker 1: to do the weekends. It's a union shop, so it's

525
00:35:05,795 --> 00:35:08,955
Speaker 1: fifty one dollars a sports cast. After there's ten a weekend,

526
00:35:08,995 --> 00:35:11,675
Speaker 1: so you get twenty two for eighty dollars to reports

527
00:35:11,715 --> 00:35:14,595
Speaker 1: for reports from the field, and you'd be my backup.

528
00:35:14,675 --> 00:35:17,555
Speaker 1: Twenty two bucks from the field and a guarantee of

529
00:35:17,555 --> 00:35:20,195
Speaker 1: five to ten weekend and you got to come in

530
00:35:20,435 --> 00:35:22,475
Speaker 1: one day a week to book the stringers for the

531
00:35:22,475 --> 00:35:26,155
Speaker 1: weekend games. That'd be free, but the guarantee is twenty

532
00:35:26,155 --> 00:35:29,635
Speaker 1: six thousand dollars plus those twenty two dollars every time

533
00:35:29,675 --> 00:35:33,875
Speaker 1: you have file a report from the field. You're interested. Well,

534
00:35:33,875 --> 00:35:36,595
Speaker 1: I did some quick math. This was about forty percent

535
00:35:36,755 --> 00:35:40,875
Speaker 1: more money for about forty percent less work, and there

536
00:35:40,875 --> 00:35:44,915
Speaker 1: were no five am to six pm schedules. When the

537
00:35:44,915 --> 00:35:47,155
Speaker 1: sports director called me back a few weeks later to

538
00:35:47,195 --> 00:35:51,195
Speaker 1: offer me the gig, I did not hesitate. His name,

539
00:35:51,235 --> 00:35:54,275
Speaker 1: by the way, was Charlie Steiner. Charlie would later be

540
00:35:54,355 --> 00:35:56,395
Speaker 1: a colleague of mine at Sports Center, and then he

541
00:35:56,435 --> 00:35:59,035
Speaker 1: did the Yankees games, and now he does the Dodgers games,

542
00:35:59,035 --> 00:36:02,435
Speaker 1: and he's been a friend for forty two years. The

543
00:36:02,475 --> 00:36:06,275
Speaker 1: network itself was also space sage, shiny and new, and

544
00:36:06,315 --> 00:36:12,155
Speaker 1: it had carpets, whereas UPI had the stubbed out cigarettes decorps.

545
00:36:12,555 --> 00:36:15,195
Speaker 1: RKO was literally the first radio network in this country

546
00:36:15,235 --> 00:36:20,195
Speaker 1: to deliver all of its programs to its stations via satellite.

547
00:36:20,355 --> 00:36:24,155
Speaker 1: No more scratchy, hyper expensive phone lines. RKO came through

548
00:36:24,355 --> 00:36:27,275
Speaker 1: crystal Clear, and that was our pitch to the stations.

549
00:36:27,515 --> 00:36:30,675
Speaker 1: All the newscasts, all the sports casts, all the features

550
00:36:30,755 --> 00:36:34,515
Speaker 1: ended with the same tagline YA Satellite, This is the

551
00:36:34,635 --> 00:36:39,875
Speaker 1: RKO Radio Network, and then a spot for Hubba Bubba

552
00:36:39,915 --> 00:36:42,995
Speaker 1: Gum for my first few weeks there. Part of the

553
00:36:43,115 --> 00:36:47,155
Speaker 1: job also included doing two sportscasts today for RKO's local

554
00:36:47,195 --> 00:36:51,315
Speaker 1: station WOIR. The first time I went up in the

555
00:36:51,315 --> 00:36:53,635
Speaker 1: elevator to their studio, it dawned on me that it

556
00:36:53,755 --> 00:36:57,355
Speaker 1: was the exact same studio where seven years before I

557
00:36:57,395 --> 00:36:59,835
Speaker 1: had been invited by the great comedians Bob Elliott and

558
00:36:59,915 --> 00:37:03,795
Speaker 1: Ray Goulding along with my dad to sit and watch

559
00:37:03,875 --> 00:37:07,555
Speaker 1: in amazed appreciation as Bob and Ray did their show

560
00:37:07,635 --> 00:37:12,755
Speaker 1: on WOR. So basically, as of December nineteen eighty, I

561
00:37:12,835 --> 00:37:18,555
Speaker 1: had accomplished all of my childhood goals. The only problem

562
00:37:18,555 --> 00:37:22,075
Speaker 1: with the place was the location. RKO was on the

563
00:37:22,115 --> 00:37:25,755
Speaker 1: southeast corner of Times Square, probably the low watermark in

564
00:37:25,795 --> 00:37:29,075
Speaker 1: the history of Times Square. It was in fourteen forty

565
00:37:29,115 --> 00:37:32,035
Speaker 1: Broadway at the corner of fortieth Street. There was a

566
00:37:32,075 --> 00:37:35,155
Speaker 1: back door at forty first Street and sixth Avenue, right

567
00:37:35,195 --> 00:37:39,435
Speaker 1: across from Bryant Park. On those occasions when I filled

568
00:37:39,435 --> 00:37:43,195
Speaker 1: in for Charlie Steiner on the weekdays for his morning show,

569
00:37:43,235 --> 00:37:46,755
Speaker 1: which they would tape overnight. I would often be at

570
00:37:46,755 --> 00:37:49,635
Speaker 1: the studios until two or three am, and my walk

571
00:37:49,675 --> 00:37:52,555
Speaker 1: home was a little sketchy. In point of fact, I

572
00:37:52,555 --> 00:37:55,675
Speaker 1: would not walk home. I would run, I mean run, run.

573
00:37:55,955 --> 00:37:58,915
Speaker 1: From that back door at forty first and sixth, I'd

574
00:37:58,955 --> 00:38:02,075
Speaker 1: pass Bryant Park on my right as fast as I could,

575
00:38:02,395 --> 00:38:05,555
Speaker 1: passed all the drug dealers and other folks, then dart

576
00:38:05,595 --> 00:38:07,915
Speaker 1: on the north side of forty second between sixth and fifth,

577
00:38:07,915 --> 00:38:10,275
Speaker 1: and once you got to that corner of fifth and

578
00:38:10,355 --> 00:38:14,955
Speaker 1: forty second, you were back in civilization, with good street

579
00:38:15,035 --> 00:38:17,635
Speaker 1: lights and other people on the streets, no matter how

580
00:38:17,715 --> 00:38:19,555
Speaker 1: late the hour, or as we called them in New

581
00:38:19,635 --> 00:38:24,955
Speaker 1: York then witnesses. Occasionally I might have to walk in

582
00:38:25,115 --> 00:38:30,595
Speaker 1: Times Square itself, usually when it was daylight. What surrounded

583
00:38:30,635 --> 00:38:34,475
Speaker 1: me there was about as far from today's Disneyland East

584
00:38:34,515 --> 00:38:37,315
Speaker 1: Times Square as you could imagine. In fact, you could

585
00:38:37,395 --> 00:38:42,755
Speaker 1: not imagine. There were porn theaters everywhere. And it wasn't

586
00:38:42,795 --> 00:38:46,435
Speaker 1: just porn theaters. They were spaced part and in between

587
00:38:46,435 --> 00:38:51,755
Speaker 1: them other businesses existed. Porn peep shows, porn sex shops,

588
00:38:51,795 --> 00:38:56,195
Speaker 1: and porn video rental stores. I remember always making sure

589
00:38:56,235 --> 00:38:58,795
Speaker 1: I was walking on the outside edge of the street,

590
00:38:59,275 --> 00:39:01,115
Speaker 1: nearest the gutter, on the premise that in the event

591
00:39:01,155 --> 00:39:03,315
Speaker 1: somebody tried to mug me, I stood a much better

592
00:39:03,395 --> 00:39:07,115
Speaker 1: chance by running right out into automobile traffic. Besides which,

593
00:39:07,835 --> 00:39:09,555
Speaker 1: I used to worry that if I walked too close

594
00:39:09,595 --> 00:39:11,675
Speaker 1: to the porn theaters and the shows, and the shops

595
00:39:11,675 --> 00:39:13,955
Speaker 1: and the video stores one day, I might just get

596
00:39:13,995 --> 00:39:20,635
Speaker 1: stuck to the sidewalk. Time Square was so different in

597
00:39:20,715 --> 00:39:23,475
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty and nineteen eighty one that I really can't

598
00:39:23,515 --> 00:39:27,795
Speaker 1: imagine that the annual income made there from anything but

599
00:39:28,155 --> 00:39:33,395
Speaker 1: porn and the RKO radio network was more than twenty

600
00:39:33,435 --> 00:39:35,875
Speaker 1: dollars a year. In total. There was nothing else, I

601
00:39:35,875 --> 00:39:39,315
Speaker 1: mean nothing. On weekends, walking over from my home on

602
00:39:39,355 --> 00:39:41,795
Speaker 1: the East Side, I would decide which fast food place

603
00:39:41,795 --> 00:39:46,155
Speaker 1: I'd be getting lunch from, somewhere on Fifth Avenue or Lex.

604
00:39:46,195 --> 00:39:48,355
Speaker 1: I'd go to the nearest payphone, I'd call the RKO

605
00:39:48,515 --> 00:39:50,715
Speaker 1: newsroom desk, and I would offer to bring in food

606
00:39:50,795 --> 00:39:54,515
Speaker 1: for everybody. For the simple reason that in Times Square

607
00:39:55,195 --> 00:40:00,555
Speaker 1: forty years ago, there were no restaurants open on weekends.

608
00:40:01,835 --> 00:40:06,435
Speaker 1: I'll say that again. In Times Square forty years ago,

609
00:40:06,635 --> 00:40:10,635
Speaker 1: on the weekends, all the restaurants that existed there were

610
00:40:10,835 --> 00:40:17,555
Speaker 1: closed during the day, and forget public transportation to Times Square.

611
00:40:17,795 --> 00:40:20,235
Speaker 1: I would finish my brisk, twenty five minute walk to

612
00:40:20,275 --> 00:40:22,755
Speaker 1: work one night in that frigid winter of nineteen eighty

613
00:40:22,795 --> 00:40:27,275
Speaker 1: eighty one and see my colleagues looking unusually pasty and drawn.

614
00:40:28,475 --> 00:40:31,115
Speaker 1: You didn't take the subway in, did you, asked one

615
00:40:31,115 --> 00:40:33,315
Speaker 1: of the editors, Tom Ryan. I looked at him like

616
00:40:33,355 --> 00:40:36,155
Speaker 1: it was crazy. Well good, some guy got stabbed by

617
00:40:36,195 --> 00:40:39,195
Speaker 1: the stairs closest to our building. I asked if he

618
00:40:39,275 --> 00:40:42,635
Speaker 1: was okay. No, he's not okay. He's dead. But they

619
00:40:42,675 --> 00:40:46,235
Speaker 1: got the guys who did it. They arrested fifty one people.

620
00:40:48,115 --> 00:40:51,275
Speaker 1: One guy got stabbed to death, fifty one people were arrested.

621
00:40:51,475 --> 00:40:54,395
Speaker 1: I asked if they had been restaging a reenactment of

622
00:40:54,475 --> 00:40:59,195
Speaker 1: the assassination of Julius Caesar. Still, the equipment was brand

623
00:40:59,235 --> 00:41:01,875
Speaker 1: new and easy to use, and the staff was all young.

624
00:41:02,275 --> 00:41:04,635
Speaker 1: We all had fun, and we had parties and every

625
00:41:04,675 --> 00:41:06,235
Speaker 1: but he lived in the city, and for the most part,

626
00:41:06,275 --> 00:41:08,275
Speaker 1: it was a pleasure to work there. And it was

627
00:41:08,515 --> 00:41:12,275
Speaker 1: way more lucrative even than Charlie Steiner had suggested. Those

628
00:41:12,355 --> 00:41:16,035
Speaker 1: twenty two dollars voice reports from the field. They piled

629
00:41:16,115 --> 00:41:19,875
Speaker 1: up fast. The baseball players went on strike that June

630
00:41:19,955 --> 00:41:23,155
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty one, and every time I covered a bargaining session,

631
00:41:23,195 --> 00:41:25,395
Speaker 1: I could be certain of at least another forty four dollars.

632
00:41:25,435 --> 00:41:27,835
Speaker 1: And if that doesn't sound like much, the rent on

633
00:41:27,915 --> 00:41:31,435
Speaker 1: my very nice studio apartment never got higher than four

634
00:41:31,515 --> 00:41:36,435
Speaker 1: hundred and ninety eight dollars a month. RKO's location also

635
00:41:36,475 --> 00:41:40,035
Speaker 1: provided me with some wacky logistical problems. I filled in

636
00:41:40,075 --> 00:41:42,555
Speaker 1: for Charlie on most holidays, plus I did the same

637
00:41:42,595 --> 00:41:47,475
Speaker 1: thing at a local radio station WIW. This made the

638
00:41:47,595 --> 00:41:52,595
Speaker 1: actual Christmas into my metaphorical Christmas. If I had to

639
00:41:52,595 --> 00:41:55,675
Speaker 1: fill in for both of these operations on the same day,

640
00:41:55,715 --> 00:41:59,035
Speaker 1: my schedule went like this, Get into RKO in Times

641
00:41:59,035 --> 00:42:03,275
Speaker 1: Square at maybe two AM, tape Charlie's morning show by

642
00:42:03,355 --> 00:42:08,555
Speaker 1: four AM, then Crosstown very quickly to wnew over on

643
00:42:08,635 --> 00:42:12,435
Speaker 1: Third Avenue and do those sportscasts live between five thirty

644
00:42:12,475 --> 00:42:14,355
Speaker 1: and nine, and then go home and maybe take a nap,

645
00:42:14,395 --> 00:42:16,195
Speaker 1: but not a long one because I would have to

646
00:42:16,195 --> 00:42:19,035
Speaker 1: be back at RKO by one pm to do Charlie's

647
00:42:19,035 --> 00:42:24,275
Speaker 1: afternoon show Rinse repeat, a lot of work. On the

648
00:42:24,275 --> 00:42:26,355
Speaker 1: other hand, just one week of those days paid the

649
00:42:26,395 --> 00:42:30,155
Speaker 1: rent for two months. On a wet New Year's Eve

650
00:42:30,235 --> 00:42:33,435
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty one, I treated myself to a cab to

651
00:42:33,555 --> 00:42:35,995
Speaker 1: go to RKO, which put me in the bizarre position

652
00:42:36,315 --> 00:42:38,475
Speaker 1: of getting into a cab on the East Side at

653
00:42:38,475 --> 00:42:42,275
Speaker 1: one thirty am New Year's Morning and saying take me

654
00:42:42,355 --> 00:42:45,355
Speaker 1: to Times Square and the driver saying, you missed it, buddy,

655
00:42:45,395 --> 00:42:47,395
Speaker 1: it's been nineteen eighty two for an hour and a half.

656
00:42:48,635 --> 00:42:52,035
Speaker 1: Nothing like being the only person going into Times Square

657
00:42:52,395 --> 00:42:59,075
Speaker 1: while one million people are leaving it drunk. Most of

658
00:42:59,115 --> 00:43:02,915
Speaker 1: the sportscasts I did at RKO or pretty textbook. But

659
00:43:02,955 --> 00:43:05,195
Speaker 1: there did come the day that I walked to fill

660
00:43:05,235 --> 00:43:07,195
Speaker 1: in for Charlie who was at Wimbledon. So this is

661
00:43:07,195 --> 00:43:10,155
Speaker 1: the summer of nineteen eighty one, and the newswires were

662
00:43:10,195 --> 00:43:13,835
Speaker 1: full of this story of some unnamed American radio reporter

663
00:43:13,915 --> 00:43:17,515
Speaker 1: getting into a brawl with a London tabloid writer at

664
00:43:17,515 --> 00:43:22,035
Speaker 1: a Wimbledon press conference, and it slowly evolved that the

665
00:43:22,115 --> 00:43:26,595
Speaker 1: reporter was Charlie, my boss, and we were going to

666
00:43:26,675 --> 00:43:29,715
Speaker 1: have to figure out a way to cover this. At first,

667
00:43:30,275 --> 00:43:33,155
Speaker 1: Charlie wanted to do it in the third person and

668
00:43:33,235 --> 00:43:35,355
Speaker 1: say the reporter did this, and the reporter said that,

669
00:43:35,435 --> 00:43:36,835
Speaker 1: And I said, you know, I really don't think we're

670
00:43:36,835 --> 00:43:39,875
Speaker 1: going to get away with that, given how much wire

671
00:43:39,955 --> 00:43:42,475
Speaker 1: copy I'm seeing here, Charlie, this is probably going to

672
00:43:42,515 --> 00:43:43,795
Speaker 1: be on the front page of the New York Times

673
00:43:43,835 --> 00:43:46,315
Speaker 1: in the morning. Sure enough, it was above the fold.

674
00:43:47,915 --> 00:43:50,675
Speaker 1: We're still unbeknownst to Charlie, his fight took place in

675
00:43:50,715 --> 00:43:54,075
Speaker 1: a corner of the Wimbledon press room, right under the

676
00:43:54,115 --> 00:43:56,475
Speaker 1: camera that fed out a shot of that room twenty

677
00:43:56,515 --> 00:44:00,275
Speaker 1: four to seven to every television network.

678
00:43:59,995 --> 00:44:00,715
Speaker 3: In the world.

679
00:44:02,115 --> 00:44:05,835
Speaker 1: Sure enough, the last item on ABC's six thirty newscast

680
00:44:05,875 --> 00:44:10,035
Speaker 1: that night with Peter Jennings was a feature on Charlie

681
00:44:10,075 --> 00:44:12,795
Speaker 1: Steiner fighting with the British over how they broke up

682
00:44:12,835 --> 00:44:15,875
Speaker 1: the John McEnroe post match press conference, and he was

683
00:44:15,915 --> 00:44:18,035
Speaker 1: pissed off because that meant he wouldn't get any sound

684
00:44:18,035 --> 00:44:22,275
Speaker 1: bites from McEnroe. I managed to run home from RKO

685
00:44:22,435 --> 00:44:24,955
Speaker 1: and record the report by Dick schaff and when Charlie

686
00:44:24,955 --> 00:44:28,595
Speaker 1: got back from London, I loaned it to him. This

687
00:44:28,715 --> 00:44:33,555
Speaker 1: was in July nineteen eighty one. Charlie still hasn't given

688
00:44:33,595 --> 00:44:36,315
Speaker 1: me the tape back. Every time I see him, he

689
00:44:36,355 --> 00:44:38,795
Speaker 1: swears he's still looking for it. It's in a box somewhere.

690
00:44:39,195 --> 00:44:41,515
Speaker 1: But I'm beginning to think he may not be telling

691
00:44:41,515 --> 00:44:45,315
Speaker 1: me the whole truth about what happened to my video cassette.

692
00:44:46,835 --> 00:44:50,635
Speaker 1: But my favorite RKO story is about Charlie's sudden and

693
00:44:50,755 --> 00:44:54,315
Speaker 1: inexplicable obsession with the story during that nineteen eighty one

694
00:44:54,355 --> 00:44:56,755
Speaker 1: baseball strike I mentioned in the middle of this thing

695
00:44:56,875 --> 00:45:00,235
Speaker 1: which stopped the season for fifty days and was really

696
00:45:00,355 --> 00:45:02,875
Speaker 1: really the beginning of the end of that time when

697
00:45:02,915 --> 00:45:06,995
Speaker 1: baseball truly mattered in this country. When every day in

698
00:45:07,075 --> 00:45:10,275
Speaker 1: that strike, somebody on all the TV newscast set, and

699
00:45:10,315 --> 00:45:14,195
Speaker 1: the baseball strike is in its twenty third day, a

700
00:45:14,275 --> 00:45:17,675
Speaker 1: story broke that George Steinbrenner, the owner of the Yankees,

701
00:45:17,755 --> 00:45:19,875
Speaker 1: was going to meet with Baseball Commissioner Buy Qun and

702
00:45:19,915 --> 00:45:21,835
Speaker 1: a couple of other owners who realized that the work

703
00:45:21,835 --> 00:45:25,995
Speaker 1: stoppage was financial madness. As George told me years later,

704
00:45:26,675 --> 00:45:30,435
Speaker 1: he was losing about a million dollars in revenue every

705
00:45:30,555 --> 00:45:34,435
Speaker 1: day so that the Milwaukee Brewers could save five thousand

706
00:45:34,515 --> 00:45:39,475
Speaker 1: dollars in salaries every year. Well, my boss, Charlie Steiner,

707
00:45:39,515 --> 00:45:41,355
Speaker 1: decided he was going to scoop the world about this

708
00:45:41,395 --> 00:45:44,595
Speaker 1: secret Steinbrenner Kune meeting. So he told me to come

709
00:45:44,635 --> 00:45:47,555
Speaker 1: into the office on one of my off days and

710
00:45:47,675 --> 00:45:51,475
Speaker 1: work the phones. Work the phone. Sun. Two of us,

711
00:45:51,475 --> 00:45:54,035
Speaker 1: me and the newly hired producer, my friend John Martin,

712
00:45:54,435 --> 00:45:57,155
Speaker 1: were supposed to call everybody we knew and find out

713
00:45:57,195 --> 00:46:00,035
Speaker 1: for Charlie when these guys were meeting and where and

714
00:46:00,075 --> 00:46:03,875
Speaker 1: who would be there, and to not go home until

715
00:46:03,915 --> 00:46:09,635
Speaker 1: we had nailed down. Well, it was madness. I didn't

716
00:46:09,675 --> 00:46:12,915
Speaker 1: know anybody in baseball, let alone anybody who knew where

717
00:46:12,955 --> 00:46:14,915
Speaker 1: the owner of the Yankees was going to meet in

718
00:46:14,955 --> 00:46:18,755
Speaker 1: secret with the Commissioner of Baseball, let alone who knew

719
00:46:18,795 --> 00:46:22,595
Speaker 1: all that and would tell me. But I tried everybody

720
00:46:22,595 --> 00:46:25,715
Speaker 1: I could think of, and had already suggested to John

721
00:46:25,755 --> 00:46:27,715
Speaker 1: Martin that I was just going to start dialing ten

722
00:46:27,835 --> 00:46:31,715
Speaker 1: digits at random and asking whoever answered if they knew when.

723
00:46:31,835 --> 00:46:35,195
Speaker 1: After about eight hours of this, well past my dinner time,

724
00:46:35,515 --> 00:46:37,475
Speaker 1: I was on the phone with some executive of some

725
00:46:37,595 --> 00:46:40,115
Speaker 1: West Coast team when he said, hold on a minute,

726
00:46:40,115 --> 00:46:42,715
Speaker 1: I've got another call. And a moment later, from the

727
00:46:42,755 --> 00:46:46,435
Speaker 1: adjoining room in my office, I heard John Martin say,

728
00:46:46,515 --> 00:46:48,915
Speaker 1: mister Smith, Hi, this is John Martin from the RKO

729
00:46:49,075 --> 00:46:53,995
Speaker 1: Radio network. And yes, RKO Radio Network, Yes, I'll hold sir.

730
00:46:55,235 --> 00:46:57,835
Speaker 1: Mister Smith picked up my call again and said, is

731
00:46:57,875 --> 00:47:00,395
Speaker 1: this really two of you calling me about this crap

732
00:47:00,435 --> 00:47:03,155
Speaker 1: at the same time, from the same network, And I

733
00:47:03,235 --> 00:47:05,875
Speaker 1: said yes, and I apologie, and I told him I

734
00:47:05,915 --> 00:47:09,675
Speaker 1: was going home. If Charlie doesn't like it, I told

735
00:47:09,795 --> 00:47:14,155
Speaker 1: John he can fire me, so follow me on this

736
00:47:14,475 --> 00:47:17,355
Speaker 1: because I had missed dinner. When I got back to

737
00:47:17,395 --> 00:47:19,955
Speaker 1: my street on the East Side, I was famished. I

738
00:47:19,955 --> 00:47:23,075
Speaker 1: don't know nine o'clock, ten o'clock. The last two blocks

739
00:47:23,075 --> 00:47:25,595
Speaker 1: of my walk home was always identical. I'd come up

740
00:47:25,635 --> 00:47:28,475
Speaker 1: Third Avenue and then hang a right at the southeast

741
00:47:28,475 --> 00:47:30,915
Speaker 1: corner of Third Avenue and fifty fifth Street. I lived

742
00:47:30,955 --> 00:47:32,355
Speaker 1: at the other end of fifty fifth Street in your

743
00:47:32,395 --> 00:47:35,595
Speaker 1: second Avenue. But now I was going to go pick

744
00:47:35,675 --> 00:47:38,635
Speaker 1: up some pizza in a very nice place on the

745
00:47:38,635 --> 00:47:42,955
Speaker 1: northwest corner of this same block. I got the slices,

746
00:47:43,035 --> 00:47:46,635
Speaker 1: the lights changed. Now I was crossing towards the northeast

747
00:47:46,635 --> 00:47:49,235
Speaker 1: corner of fifty fifth and Third, which itself was the

748
00:47:49,235 --> 00:47:53,395
Speaker 1: home of a famous New York bar, PJ. Clarks. Ordinarily

749
00:47:53,435 --> 00:47:55,555
Speaker 1: I would never have been on that side of the

750
00:47:55,595 --> 00:47:58,395
Speaker 1: street at that hour, but there I was. And as

751
00:47:58,435 --> 00:48:01,275
Speaker 1: I slipped past the ancient front door, I saw the

752
00:48:01,395 --> 00:48:04,195
Speaker 1: side exit open on a burst of bright yellow light,

753
00:48:04,795 --> 00:48:09,115
Speaker 1: like in an Edward Hopper painting shoot out, onto a

754
00:48:09,195 --> 00:48:12,395
Speaker 1: limo waiting on fifty fifth Street. Then, as I walked,

755
00:48:12,635 --> 00:48:16,555
Speaker 1: carrying my box of pizza and wearing my RKO Radio

756
00:48:16,635 --> 00:48:21,235
Speaker 1: Network black jacket, who emerges from that light of that

757
00:48:21,435 --> 00:48:26,755
Speaker 1: side door at PJ. Clark's but George Steinbrenner in a tux.

758
00:48:28,275 --> 00:48:29,035
Speaker 3: I gasped.

759
00:48:29,915 --> 00:48:32,795
Speaker 1: I tried to summon the courage to approach Steinbrenner as

760
00:48:32,835 --> 00:48:35,635
Speaker 1: he walked towards his limo and ask him about his

761
00:48:35,715 --> 00:48:38,635
Speaker 1: planned meeting with Commissioner Kun And just before I admitted

762
00:48:38,635 --> 00:48:41,355
Speaker 1: to myself that no, at the age of twenty two,

763
00:48:41,395 --> 00:48:44,755
Speaker 1: I did not have such courage, I saw Steinbrenner stop

764
00:48:44,795 --> 00:48:47,635
Speaker 1: at the limo, and I heard him yell back towards

765
00:48:47,675 --> 00:48:49,835
Speaker 1: the light shining through the still open side door to

766
00:48:49,875 --> 00:48:54,915
Speaker 1: Clark's Eddie Eddie, And with that Edward Bennett Williams, the

767
00:48:54,915 --> 00:48:58,355
Speaker 1: owner of the Baltimore Orioles, leaned out, also in a

768
00:48:58,435 --> 00:49:04,835
Speaker 1: tux and said, with evident exasperation, what now, George Steinbrener shot,

769
00:49:04,995 --> 00:49:07,195
Speaker 1: what time are you and I and Chiles meeting with

770
00:49:07,235 --> 00:49:12,955
Speaker 1: Bowie tomorrow? I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe my luck.

771
00:49:14,435 --> 00:49:16,755
Speaker 1: Williams had not seen me. Steinbrenner had not seen me.

772
00:49:17,035 --> 00:49:22,315
Speaker 1: Williams sighed again for the tenth time. George nine nine

773
00:49:22,435 --> 00:49:27,475
Speaker 1: thirty in the morning, George nine thirty Booie's condo. I

774
00:49:27,515 --> 00:49:30,555
Speaker 1: now plastered myself against the wall of Clark's. I hope

775
00:49:30,555 --> 00:49:32,755
Speaker 1: they had not seen me at all, without so much

776
00:49:32,795 --> 00:49:35,075
Speaker 1: as asking the question. I had learned at the Orioles

777
00:49:35,115 --> 00:49:38,435
Speaker 1: owner and Chiles Eddie Chiles, the owner of the Texas Rangers.

778
00:49:38,595 --> 00:49:41,355
Speaker 1: They would be accompanying Steinbrenner to the meeting and it

779
00:49:41,395 --> 00:49:44,075
Speaker 1: would begin at nine thirty at the condominium of Commissioner

780
00:49:44,115 --> 00:49:46,075
Speaker 1: Buie Kun. And I was wondering if I could try

781
00:49:46,115 --> 00:49:50,595
Speaker 1: to fake Steinbrenner's voice and shout, Eddie, where's Booie's condo?

782
00:49:50,755 --> 00:49:51,075
Speaker 3: Again?

783
00:49:51,595 --> 00:49:56,115
Speaker 1: When suddenly I heard Steinbrenner say, Eddie, where's Booie's condo again.

784
00:49:57,835 --> 00:50:00,555
Speaker 1: By now Edward Bennett Williams had re lit a cigar

785
00:50:00,635 --> 00:50:05,155
Speaker 1: he was holding. George, write it down this time five

786
00:50:05,795 --> 00:50:15,235
Speaker 1: seventy five, Park, five seven five. I could barely breathe.

787
00:50:15,555 --> 00:50:16,075
Speaker 3: Good God.

788
00:50:16,115 --> 00:50:19,675
Speaker 1: They had handed me everything but the cross street. Eddie, Eddie,

789
00:50:19,795 --> 00:50:23,835
Speaker 1: what's the cross street? Williams now swore, Oh, for f's sake,

790
00:50:23,915 --> 00:50:27,515
Speaker 1: George sixty third, sixty third in Park five seventy five

791
00:50:27,595 --> 00:50:32,475
Speaker 1: Park at nine thirty in the morning, Okay, Steinbrenner got

792
00:50:32,475 --> 00:50:35,315
Speaker 1: into the limo. It squealed off, the door closed. I

793
00:50:35,395 --> 00:50:37,235
Speaker 1: wrote what I had heard on the top of the

794
00:50:37,235 --> 00:50:39,235
Speaker 1: pizza box and took off at a dead run to

795
00:50:39,275 --> 00:50:41,315
Speaker 1: my apartment at the corner of fifty fifth and Second,

796
00:50:41,395 --> 00:50:43,355
Speaker 1: pausing only to take a quick bite of pizza. I

797
00:50:43,395 --> 00:50:46,115
Speaker 1: called John Martin back at the RCAO Radio Network. I

798
00:50:46,155 --> 00:50:49,515
Speaker 1: got it, John said, you got what I got everything

799
00:50:49,515 --> 00:50:53,555
Speaker 1: about the meeting. John said, I'll get the boss soon.

800
00:50:53,995 --> 00:50:56,755
Speaker 1: All three of us were on the phone. Charlie did

801
00:50:56,795 --> 00:51:00,555
Speaker 1: not believe I had gotten him any information, so I

802
00:51:00,635 --> 00:51:04,995
Speaker 1: laid it on thick. You're writing this down, boss, nine

803
00:51:05,155 --> 00:51:08,995
Speaker 1: thirty tomorrow morning. It's at Booie Kune's condo at five

804
00:51:09,115 --> 00:51:13,075
Speaker 1: seventy five Park that's the corner of sixty third, of course.

805
00:51:14,755 --> 00:51:16,875
Speaker 1: Then there was silence at Charlie's end of the phone.

806
00:51:17,715 --> 00:51:20,475
Speaker 1: Oh and uh, Edward Bennett Williams of the Orioles and

807
00:51:20,555 --> 00:51:23,075
Speaker 1: Eddie Child's of the Rangers. They'll be there too. I

808
00:51:23,355 --> 00:51:26,875
Speaker 1: don't know, Charlie, if it's just them or there are others,

809
00:51:27,555 --> 00:51:31,515
Speaker 1: but those four will certainly be there. Booi's condo, five

810
00:51:31,635 --> 00:51:37,355
Speaker 1: seventy five Cross Street is sixty third. Charlie started to

811
00:51:37,355 --> 00:51:37,955
Speaker 1: make a kind.

812
00:51:37,835 --> 00:51:41,475
Speaker 3: Of butt butt noise. But but, but how did you

813
00:51:41,555 --> 00:51:43,995
Speaker 3: find out? How on the hell did you actually find out?

814
00:51:44,355 --> 00:51:48,275
Speaker 3: Why do you think it's true? I had been waiting

815
00:51:48,435 --> 00:51:52,155
Speaker 3: for this for several moments, and my answer had been

816
00:51:52,195 --> 00:51:55,995
Speaker 3: rehearsed in my mind at least as far back as

817
00:51:55,995 --> 00:51:59,115
Speaker 3: my elevator ride up to my apartment. With the most

818
00:51:59,155 --> 00:52:03,475
Speaker 3: nonchalant I had ever mustard in my life, I answered

819
00:52:03,675 --> 00:52:04,435
Speaker 3: Charlie Steiner.

820
00:52:05,595 --> 00:52:24,595
Speaker 1: Well, Charlie, I ran into Steinbrenner at Clark's. I've done

821
00:52:24,595 --> 00:52:26,715
Speaker 1: all the damage I can do here. Thank you for listening.

822
00:52:26,755 --> 00:52:29,155
Speaker 1: Countdown has come to you from our studios high atop

823
00:52:29,195 --> 00:52:33,475
Speaker 1: the Sports Capsule Building in New York. Here the credits.

824
00:52:33,475 --> 00:52:35,955
Speaker 1: Most of the music was arranged, produced, and performed by

825
00:52:35,955 --> 00:52:38,755
Speaker 1: Brian Ray and John Phillip Shanelle, who are the countdown

826
00:52:38,835 --> 00:52:43,355
Speaker 1: musical directors. All orchestration and keyboards by John Phillip Shanelle, Guitars,

827
00:52:43,395 --> 00:52:46,515
Speaker 1: bass and drums by Brian Ray, produced by Tko Brothers.

828
00:52:47,155 --> 00:52:49,955
Speaker 1: Other Beethoven selections have been arranged and performed by the

829
00:52:49,955 --> 00:52:53,475
Speaker 1: group No Horns Allowed. Sports music is the Olderman theme

830
00:52:53,475 --> 00:52:56,355
Speaker 1: from ESPN two and it was written by Mitch Warren

831
00:52:56,395 --> 00:53:00,195
Speaker 1: Davis courtesy of ESPN Inc. Musical comments by Nancy Faust.

832
00:53:00,315 --> 00:53:03,355
Speaker 1: The best baseball stadium organist ever. Our announcer today was

833
00:53:03,395 --> 00:53:06,755
Speaker 1: my friend John Dean. Everything else is pretty much my fault.

834
00:53:07,355 --> 00:53:09,555
Speaker 1: Let's countdown for this the nine hundred and fifty second

835
00:53:09,595 --> 00:53:12,915
Speaker 1: day since Donald Trump's first attempted coup against the democratically

836
00:53:12,915 --> 00:53:16,235
Speaker 1: elected government of the United States. Arrest him again while

837
00:53:16,275 --> 00:53:19,355
Speaker 1: we still can. Plenty of time left in this week.

838
00:53:19,435 --> 00:53:19,795
Speaker 3: Huh.

839
00:53:20,235 --> 00:53:23,195
Speaker 1: The next scheduled countdown is tomorrow. Bulletins as the news

840
00:53:23,235 --> 00:53:27,315
Speaker 1: warrants till then, I'm Keith Olreman, good morning, good afternoon, goodnight,

841
00:53:27,435 --> 00:53:39,555
Speaker 1: and via satellite good luck. Countdown with Keith Olreman is

842
00:53:39,595 --> 00:53:44,395
Speaker 1: a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit

843
00:53:44,435 --> 00:53:49,115
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.