Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand Love.
Speaker 2: AM radio talk radio streaming of course now through the
Speaker 2: iHeartRadio app. You can leave a recorded comment there. You
Speaker 2: can give me a call if you feel strongly about
Speaker 2: anything you've heard over the past hour. So one eight
Speaker 2: hundred five two oh one five three four you heard
Speaker 2: from the news from Eileen Gonzalez and others. Pope Francis
Speaker 2: remains in critical condition today in the hospital in Rome.
Speaker 2: Blood test show early kidney failure, but the story is
Speaker 2: that he remains alert and quote well oriented and even
Speaker 2: attended Mass today.
Speaker 3: He's eighty eight years old.
Speaker 2: He's battling pneumonia and what's been described as a complex
Speaker 2: lung infection. He's been Pope since twenty thirteen. And to
Speaker 2: talk more about this, we're joined on the phone by
Speaker 2: Tom Gibbons.
Speaker 3: Father.
Speaker 2: Tom Gibbons is the vice president of Polished Productions, which
Speaker 2: is a Catholic media company here in Los Angeles and
Speaker 2: also serves at Saint Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Westwood.
Speaker 2: And I believe we have a good mutual friend. Father,
Speaker 2: Thanks for coming on with us, Oh.
Speaker 4: Great, thanks for having me. Phil appreciate it.
Speaker 2: So what are you hearing sort of on the inside,
Speaker 2: if you will, beyond what we already know about the
Speaker 2: pope's condition anything.
Speaker 5: Well, I mean, I think what I've been talking with
Speaker 5: some friends in Rome, and I think everyone is just
Speaker 5: kind of like an a wait and see.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 5: One of the things that we know about this pope
Speaker 5: is he's very very strong willed. It doesn't surprise me
Speaker 5: that he's still alert as he's going through all this.
Speaker 5: He's always been a pope who's had a lot of
Speaker 5: things to do and wanted to get a lot of
Speaker 5: things done. So but you know, I also know this
Speaker 5: is a pope is a very very spiritual man. Of
Speaker 5: course he is because he's the Pope. But you know,
Speaker 5: I think he's also someone who is a man of
Speaker 5: deep prayer and is also just open to whatever happens,
Speaker 5: you know, and whatever is god God's will for him.
Speaker 5: So I think he's been aware that he's been sick
Speaker 5: over the last couple of months.
Speaker 4: He's been he.
Speaker 5: Promoted, he extended the term of his dean that would
Speaker 5: that would be the person that should put France's past,
Speaker 5: would manage the College of Cardinals in any conclave. So
Speaker 5: I think he intends to. I think it's this, it's
Speaker 5: this like halfway space between. He intends to keep on going,
Speaker 5: and he's also open to God's.
Speaker 4: Will, whatever God's will is.
Speaker 5: And I think that's kind of the balance that I
Speaker 5: think we're all kind of living in.
Speaker 3: Right right right.
Speaker 2: One point four billion Catholics in the world. The United
Speaker 2: States has three hundred and forty one million in the
Speaker 2: Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which includes La of Ventura and
Speaker 2: Santa Barbara Counties.
Speaker 3: I believes the largest in the in the world with
Speaker 3: fin million men.
Speaker 4: I believe that's correct.
Speaker 2: Yes, So everybody here in Southern California that's a member
Speaker 2: of the archdiocese, and of course beyond that, is paying
Speaker 2: close attention to this. I mean, what impact does a
Speaker 2: pope have on the day to day life of Catholics
Speaker 2: here in southern California.
Speaker 5: Well, I mean the pope is is somebody who I
Speaker 5: think what the one of the main impacts that any
Speaker 5: pope has is that wherever we're from, it reminds us
Speaker 5: that we are part of this parish family, whatever our
Speaker 5: parish would belong to, UH are our bishop, our archbishop
Speaker 5: Gomez reminds us that we're part of this larger archdiocesan family,
Speaker 5: and the Pope reminds us that we're part of this
Speaker 5: larger world family.
Speaker 4: You know that he's the figure, you.
Speaker 5: Know, as Archbishop Gomez is our as our like kind
Speaker 5: of father figure here in Los Angeles, like you know,
Speaker 5: the pope is. You know, you go to to poland
Speaker 5: there's a picture of the Pope, you go to a
Speaker 5: church in Africa, there's a picture of the pope, Like
Speaker 5: it reminds us, you know, that the Catholic Church really is.
Speaker 5: You know, the word Catholic means universal, and I think
Speaker 5: the pope is whomever the pope is really reminds us
Speaker 5: of that, and especially particularly this pope, because this pope was,
Speaker 5: as we all know, was the first pope from the
Speaker 5: Western hemisphere, you know, or from the America. So I
Speaker 5: think it's also that he serves as yet another reminder
Speaker 5: of that universality of the church.
Speaker 2: Now, I believe his predecessor was the first pope in
Speaker 2: like hundreds of years who actually resigned due to advanced
Speaker 2: age and health reasons. I mean, would it be appropriate
Speaker 2: at some point to expect a resignation of someone is
Speaker 2: in such poor health or that's really not a discussion
Speaker 2: for right now, I you.
Speaker 4: Know what I mean. I think it's it's a fair question.
Speaker 5: I mean, it's funny because before Pope Benedict, that's not
Speaker 5: a question anybody would have been asking. But you know,
Speaker 5: I know that question has come up, and so I think,
Speaker 5: you know, I mean, what we everything we are hearing,
Speaker 5: uh from a prod about Pro Francis's condition is that
Speaker 5: he is absolutely is enduring many serious physical element ailments.
Speaker 4: But mentally he is still there.
Speaker 5: And I'm not suggesting that Benedict was not there when
Speaker 5: he resigned. He was, you know, he was fully a
Speaker 5: lot and I think he he made his decision for
Speaker 5: different reasons.
Speaker 4: So I think it's something.
Speaker 5: My guess is you know that it's something Pop Francis
Speaker 5: might be open to, but I think it's I also
Speaker 5: kind of know that he's someone who likes to keep going.
Speaker 3: So he's in a wheelchair.
Speaker 4: Did this and he's in He had.
Speaker 2: A great quoto. Did you see this? The church is
Speaker 2: governed using the head and the heart, not the legs.
Speaker 5: That's a very po Francis thing to say. And one
Speaker 5: of the reasons Pope Francis went into a wheelchair is
Speaker 5: because for a very long time he had been suffering
Speaker 5: from sciatica, so in many ways that like his current
Speaker 5: lung issues have been a problem, but it's really been
Speaker 5: and he started doing wheelchair just to kind of ease
Speaker 5: off his back a little bit in many ways, so
Speaker 5: we could kind of not think about it back so
Speaker 5: much so he could keep on doing the work that
Speaker 5: he's been doing in the Vatican.
Speaker 3: Well, we of course hope that he recovers.
Speaker 2: But you mentioned the term Conclave, which is particularly timely
Speaker 2: today because today is the Screen Actors Guild Awards. The
Speaker 2: movie Conclave is up for an award as his Ray
Speaker 2: Fines the star of Conclave, and that movie most recently
Speaker 2: gave so much of those who saw it a real
Speaker 2: insight into the role of selecting a new pope. I'm
Speaker 2: read that it was very historically accurate, although the movie
Speaker 2: itself was somewhat controversial. Did you do you mind if
Speaker 2: I ask you to just see that movie and what
Speaker 2: did you think of it?
Speaker 4: I did see the movie.
Speaker 5: You know, it's kind of like living in la you're
Speaker 5: kind of like you want to you know, sometimes we
Speaker 5: see stories in the news and we think it's part
Speaker 5: of like an Oscar campaign.
Speaker 4: And I.
Speaker 5: Don't know everything that's going on in the Vatican, but
Speaker 5: I feel very confident in saying that what's going on
Speaker 5: in the back again has nothing to do with an
Speaker 5: Oscar campaign for cockpway.
Speaker 2: No I know, was that was that a Was that
Speaker 2: an accurate movie about the process?
Speaker 5: I think there is a lot about the movie that
Speaker 5: is pretty accurate. They bring in all the cardinals, you know,
Speaker 5: how they are sequestered. I think one of the I
Speaker 5: think there was kind of like a moment and there's
Speaker 5: like one scene where I think there is a question
Speaker 5: as to whether Ralph race Finds character broke the seal
Speaker 5: of confession, and I don't think that would have happened.
Speaker 5: But I think that, you know, there's usually you know,
Speaker 5: we like to think that there's not a lot of politicking,
Speaker 5: but you know, sometimes there is, and so I think
Speaker 5: it's and it was also like a great representation of
Speaker 5: bringing in everyone together. So have I ever, I think
Speaker 5: they got a lot wrong.
Speaker 3: I think they got the opportunity to meet the Pope.
Speaker 4: I did I did?
Speaker 3: What did you say to him?
Speaker 4: It was it was pretty amazing.
Speaker 5: In twenty eighteen, Oscar Romero was being candidized in our
Speaker 5: production company. Paul's Productions had originally done the film Romero
Speaker 5: in nineteen eighty nine.
Speaker 4: Starring Rold Julia.
Speaker 5: So I had the opportunity during Romero's canonization to present
Speaker 5: a DVD of the film Romero to the Pope.
Speaker 4: Wow.
Speaker 5: And you know, I think when people go to Italy,
Speaker 5: it's like that's kind of one of their their main things.
Speaker 4: They want to meet the Pope.
Speaker 5: And I kind of knew somebody who was able to
Speaker 5: kind of slip me in and it was just a
Speaker 5: really special, you know, experience. And I think and everybody,
Speaker 5: almost everybody who says this, who meets the pipe, says,
Speaker 5: you know, at.
Speaker 4: Some point the Pope will say to the person, and
Speaker 4: he did say to me, pray for me.
Speaker 5: And I think that's you know, because I think, you
Speaker 5: know that the Pope is somebody.
Speaker 4: Who the Bishop of Rome, he's the weight of.
Speaker 5: His world, the weight of the world on his shoulders,
Speaker 5: and he's also aware of how much he needs and
Speaker 5: we all need God's.
Speaker 4: Help for that.
Speaker 5: So I think it's I'm sure like those words are
Speaker 5: very true today. Is you know, the Pope is always
Speaker 5: encouraging us to pray for one another, and you know,
Speaker 5: I am so grateful that how many people are praying
Speaker 5: for the Pope today, particularly in is a physical situation.
Speaker 3: Well, thank you so much for talking with me.
Speaker 2: Father Tom Gibbons from Paula's Productions in Saint paul the
Speaker 2: Apostle Catholic Church in Westward, a beautiful church.
Speaker 3: I've been there. Love to talk to you off the air.
Speaker 2: I got a great joke which I think you'll like,
Speaker 2: about growing up in a mixed marriage. And also, do
Speaker 2: you know the name Rabbi Harold Kushner?
Speaker 3: By any chance, I am aware of that.
Speaker 2: Rabbi Harold Kushner was a rabbi of my temple growing
Speaker 2: up in Natick, Massachusetts, and after a personal tragedy, wrote
Speaker 2: the book the international best seller called When Bad Things
Speaker 2: Happen to Good People, which was sort of an ex
Speaker 2: explanation about how you can believe in God and yet tragedies,
Speaker 2: whether it's the loss of a child or something else
Speaker 2: or a fire, can how you can justify that?
Speaker 5: And I read that book and I love that book.
Speaker 2: Very power non you know, for people of all religions
Speaker 2: right right, and had quite an impact on me growing
Speaker 2: up as a youngster in Hebrew School and then Hebrew
Speaker 2: High School.
Speaker 3: Rabbit Harold Kushner.
Speaker 2: So if people are out there are struggling with any issues,
Speaker 2: when bad things happen to good people, definitely help well.
Speaker 3: One of the good people, Tom Gibbons.
Speaker 2: Very nice to meet you on the phone, and look
Speaker 2: forward to talking to you again in the future.
Speaker 4: Great, look forward to talking to you. Thanks so much.
Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI A M six forty on demand.
Speaker 2: There's so much going on in southern California every day
Speaker 2: that it's just sometimes overwhelming, right. I mean just the
Speaker 2: things we've talked about here, the Pope, safety, I mean,
Speaker 2: the fires, the fire chief, the mayor, the governor. I mean,
Speaker 2: this is a Sunday afternoon, just another another day, right,
Speaker 2: and it's filled with interesting characters and politics aside. Okay,
Speaker 2: politics aside, which is a big aside. One of the
Speaker 2: most interesting characters that we've come across in recent years
Speaker 2: is Elon Musk.
Speaker 3: We're gonna talk more about that in just a minute.
Speaker 3: But I am.
Speaker 2: Told that we've had some listeners who have actually left
Speaker 2: us some messages on the art iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3: Right, let's listen to one of them.
Speaker 6: So it's always wonderful when you are on. I appreciate you,
Speaker 6: but I wanted to add another category to news junkies.
Speaker 6: It's people who like me who just listen at the
Speaker 6: ear I stay up on everything, but I don't write
Speaker 6: emotionally control me and I listen to all side.
Speaker 3: Well, that was great.
Speaker 2: That was when I was talking earlier about sort of
Speaker 2: three broad categories of people news junkies that pay attention
Speaker 2: to everything, and then there's the complete opposite, which are
Speaker 2: people that just tune out because that's too overwhelming, and
Speaker 2: then sort of in the middle or people might have
Speaker 2: like a special interests. So I appreciate that. Let's listen
Speaker 2: to one more and then we're going to go back
Speaker 2: to ELNG.
Speaker 7: How is it that the mayor of la was the
Speaker 7: only person in the city, county, state, or the nation
Speaker 7: that did not hear about the extreme danger to wildfires
Speaker 7: in southern California that were about to hit us? Was
Speaker 7: she busy packing her bags for her trip to Africa?
Speaker 2: So that is a great, great comment. So my friend
Speaker 2: and colleague Alex Michaelson, who's the anchor on Fox eleven News,
Speaker 2: who's a frequent guest here on KFI, he did an
Speaker 2: interview with Mayor Bass earlier in this week, and in
Speaker 2: the interview, which was her first extended sit down interview
Speaker 2: with a TV reporter since since the fires, she basically
Speaker 2: said that she was unaware of the extreme nature of
Speaker 2: the fire threat and the wind threat, even though her
Speaker 2: own ex slash Twitter account was tweeting out like specific
Speaker 2: warnings about that and everybody knew about it. But her
Speaker 2: contention is that in the past, the fire chief has
Speaker 2: actually called her personally to alert or to the severity
Speaker 2: of the threat, and this time that didn't happen. So
Speaker 2: that was to me a really just hard to believe
Speaker 2: and hard to believe that she would even say that
Speaker 2: and expect people to accept that it faced value definitely
Speaker 2: a mark against her in her critique of her leadership
Speaker 2: since the fires. So back in two thousand and nineteen
Speaker 2: for Fox Livenus, I'm in federal court. Elon Musk was
Speaker 2: on trial a defamation suit. Do you remember the story
Speaker 2: about the young boys that were trapped in a cave
Speaker 2: in Thailand in June of twenty eighteen, and Musk was
Speaker 2: one of those involved in the rescue attempts and he
Speaker 2: was accused of defaming a British expert by using a
Speaker 2: slur which I don't necessarily have to repeat, but he
Speaker 2: actually was in federal court and we're all waiting outside
Speaker 2: on the sidewalk, I think on Temple or First Street
Speaker 2: in downtown Los Angeles, trying to get a shot of
Speaker 2: Elon right, because you can't go into the courtroom, and
Speaker 2: you can't even go onto the property with cameras outside
Speaker 2: Federal Court and down in all federal courts. So we're
Speaker 2: all on the sidewalk and this tesla pulls up right,
Speaker 2: this blacked out windows tesla pulls up in the front,
Speaker 2: and we're all like, oh, there's Elon's gaining A couple
Speaker 2: of bodyguard looking dudes get out with the sunglasses and
Speaker 2: the suits and everything, and we're waiting for Elon to
Speaker 2: get out. We're waiting for you Lon to get out.
Speaker 2: We're waiting for you Lin to get out. He never
Speaker 2: gets out, only for all of us losers in the
Speaker 2: media to realize that it was a diversion and that
Speaker 2: Elon had been dropped off around the block and came
Speaker 2: in with a huge group of bodyguards on foot and
Speaker 2: behind us, all while we were distracted by the tesla
Speaker 2: that pulled up in front my brief Elon story, and
Speaker 2: then in court we're allowed to go in court as observers,
Speaker 2: not with the cameras, And I remember thinking to myself,
Speaker 2: this guy is really a piece of work. He wouldn't
Speaker 2: answer one question straight. Are you a wealthy man? Well,
Speaker 2: it depends on what your definition of wealth is. Well,
Speaker 2: how much money do you have? Well it depends you know,
Speaker 2: money is relative.
Speaker 3: I mean, go on.
Speaker 2: Whatever question the lawyers would ask him, he would never
Speaker 2: give a clear answer. This is the plaintiff's attorneys. He
Speaker 2: ended up winning that case. He was not found responsible
Speaker 2: for defaming that that British expert. But I've always kind
Speaker 2: of kept track of Elon, and of course now as
Speaker 2: the co president, he's really interesting. And you know, nobody
Speaker 2: questions the validity or the merits. I shouldn't say nobody,
Speaker 2: but few people would question the merits of trying to
Speaker 2: eliminate waste and fraud from government expenditures.
Speaker 3: But I just every day it's like, really, So.
Speaker 2: He sends out the request to all federal employees send
Speaker 2: an email with five things that you accomplished this week.
Speaker 2: I think the deadline to send that email in is tonight.
Speaker 2: Failure to send the email will be considered a resignation.
Speaker 2: So then, just to make things more confusing, the FBI
Speaker 2: and the entire Department of Justice apparently is saying to
Speaker 2: its employees.
Speaker 3: Just ignore that, you know, don't worry about it. So
Speaker 3: who's running the store here?
Speaker 2: I mean, do we have like a well fought out
Speaker 2: organized effort to trim waste and fraud and excessive expenditure
Speaker 2: in the federal government? Or is Elon just sort of
Speaker 2: making things up as he goes along? And President Trump
Speaker 2: may or not be aware of it. He's firing all
Speaker 2: the generals at the PENT I mean, it's just on
Speaker 2: the national.
Speaker 3: Federal level, it just filters down.
Speaker 2: Like you wonder, it's the same questions we've been asking
Speaker 2: the state local level. It's like who's in charge? Like
Speaker 2: where does the bucks stop? Does anybody actually have like
Speaker 2: a coherent strategy here? Or they sort of making it
Speaker 2: up as they go along. It's not very reassuring. All Right,
Speaker 2: we're gonna take a break. When we come back, we're
Speaker 2: gonna get back to the fire coverage with James Rainey
Speaker 2: from the La Times.
Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand, Happy.
Speaker 2: To be joined right now by a veteran LA Times reporter,
Speaker 2: Award winning writer and reporter, James Rainey. Jim, thanks for
Speaker 2: coming on with us to talk about Malibu and the
Speaker 2: fires and the coverage by the LA Times.
Speaker 4: My pleasure are great to be here.
Speaker 3: I appreciate your time.
Speaker 2: On January twelfth, you wrote of such a powerful piece
Speaker 2: I believe it was called My Elusive Malibu Life, in
Speaker 2: which you wrote about going back back to Malibu to
Speaker 2: see if your family home of fifty years I believe,
Speaker 2: had survived the fire.
Speaker 3: And it was so well written and so emotional.
Speaker 2: What do you remember if people haven't read that, share
Speaker 2: a little bit about what that process was like and
Speaker 2: what that peace was like.
Speaker 4: If you would, Yeah, well, thanks so much for saying that, Phil,
Speaker 4: I really appreciate that, it would say. I mean, you
Speaker 4: know this. You've been a reporter I think here as
Speaker 4: long in southern California as I have, and sometimes the
Speaker 4: stories get really personal. So on that day, we had
Speaker 4: had a strange experience because I now live on the
Speaker 4: east end of the city. I live in the Pasadena area,
Speaker 4: and we had a bunch of people evacuate to our house.
Speaker 4: The first night of the fires all coming from the
Speaker 4: Altadena fire, and one of those families ended up losing
Speaker 4: the house. I spent the whole first morning up early
Speaker 4: and ran out to the scene of the Altadena fire
Speaker 4: and was just sort of rushing around doing what we do,
Speaker 4: talking to fire victims in Altadena. And it was and
Speaker 4: I realized that given where our family home was up
Speaker 4: this canyon in Malibu, that it also was threatened. So
Speaker 4: in the back of my mind this whole time, as
Speaker 4: I'm talking to other folks about the loss of their houses,
Speaker 4: I kind of realized that we were under threat with
Speaker 4: this house. And you know, we've been through so many
Speaker 4: fires out there. When we moved in there, I was
Speaker 4: a kid. I was ten years old and lived there
Speaker 4: until I went away to college, and so you know,
Speaker 4: this is an incredible place to grow up. Right, We're
Speaker 4: less than half a mile from the beach, up a canyon,
Speaker 4: ocean view, pretty idyllic, and we had dodged i'd say
Speaker 4: at least a dozen wildfires, really serious ones, over the
Speaker 4: course of I mean it's hard to believe now half
Speaker 4: a century, and in fact, the ninety three fires, my
Speaker 4: parents were sure that their house had burned down and
Speaker 4: I was able to go up there with my press
Speaker 4: pass and find that it hadn't, so this time I
Speaker 4: went up there. Going up pch you've probably been up there.
Speaker 4: It's something that most of your listeners haven't seen yet,
Speaker 4: but they will eventually. And it's pretty shocking once you
Speaker 4: get past the Panga Canyon headed up Highway one, and
Speaker 4: as I got closer and closer to Carbon Canyon, which
Speaker 4: is where our family houses, I had a pretty sinking
Speaker 4: feeling in the pit of my stomach that our luck
Speaker 4: had run out. And sure enough, went around the big
Speaker 4: band right before where our house has been. It was
Speaker 4: built in the forties, and you could see what now
Speaker 4: in a lot of these neighborhoods looked more like tombstones.
Speaker 4: But those were the two chimneys. We had two fireplaces
Speaker 4: in the house. Saw the two chimneys and didn't see
Speaker 4: much else. So it was I mean, it was on
Speaker 4: the one hand, given the level of destruction, it wasn't
Speaker 4: surprising at all, But when you've been around the house
Speaker 4: for almost fifty six years, you kind of expected always
Speaker 4: to be there, So it was pretty shocking.
Speaker 2: To talk with James Rainey, veteran reporter from the LA Times,
Speaker 2: part of a team that's been doing great coverage since
Speaker 2: January seventh. Did you know right away that you wanted
Speaker 2: to write about it? Did you wrestle with it because
Speaker 2: it was so personal and so emotional?
Speaker 4: I don't know. I just I feel like it's such
Speaker 4: a privilege what we do as journalists to get to
Speaker 4: tell these stories, and usually it's telling other people's stories.
Speaker 4: But part of what felt important to me was that,
Speaker 4: I mean, I grew up there, and look, you know,
Speaker 4: I will claim the privilege that I had as a
Speaker 4: young person to grow up in that area, but it's
Speaker 4: not You've been around La long enough to know these
Speaker 4: places aren't always exactly the stereotype, right. So Malibu, yes
Speaker 4: has the rich and famous, but it also has working
Speaker 4: class people. In fact, the guy, only guy I quoted
Speaker 4: in that story was a guy I've known out there
Speaker 4: named Bill Stang. I've known Billy Stang since we were,
Speaker 4: you know, teenagers, and this guy serfs and he's in
Speaker 4: the building trades and he's just an incredible guy who
Speaker 4: understands the kind of tides and the winds. And what
Speaker 4: Bill always talks about is old world Malibu, Old world Malibu.
Speaker 4: I love that expression, and that's the world of people
Speaker 4: like him. His dad was an LA County lifeguard, but
Speaker 4: back in the day in the nineteen sixties, as an
Speaker 4: LA County lifeguard, he could afford a house in Malibu.
Speaker 4: And my dad was in the business. He was a
Speaker 4: character actor, but you know, he wasn't a famous one.
Speaker 4: And that house they bought in the sixty thousand, it
Speaker 4: was less than seven twenty thousand dollars. And so there's
Speaker 4: this whole other side of especially longtime residents who are
Speaker 4: they're kind of from a different world. They're more middle
Speaker 4: class or slightly upper middle class. And I really felt
Speaker 4: that was something that I knew in my gut that
Speaker 4: I could capture that most reporters, especially younger ones, wouldn't
Speaker 4: have any way of understanding or knowing about. So that's
Speaker 4: why I felt I'm going to go ahead and write
Speaker 4: about this.
Speaker 3: Well, you certainly did it.
Speaker 2: And you know, one of the things I've been talking
Speaker 2: about here for the past couple of hours is the
Speaker 2: role at the LA Times and other news organizations. But
Speaker 2: to be honest, mainly the LA Times has played in
Speaker 2: holding officials accountable and trying to really examine why the
Speaker 2: devastation was so widespread. I mean, Karen Basson announcing the
Speaker 2: firing of the fire chief said, as we all know,
Speaker 2: there were a thousand firefighters that were not held over
Speaker 2: and their morning shift.
Speaker 3: And it's like not as we all know.
Speaker 2: It's because as a result of reporting that the La
Speaker 2: Times has done, and in a time when President Trump
Speaker 2: labeled the news media as fake news, it was insulting
Speaker 2: and it just reminds us of the importance of local news.
Speaker 2: I mean, the TV stations were on around the clock,
Speaker 2: the radio stations were on around the clock, the LA
Speaker 2: Times and other print journalists, and of course now it's
Speaker 2: all on the web as well. I mean, this is
Speaker 2: an important work that we all do, and it hurts
Speaker 2: when when we're insulted and labeled as fake news. So
Speaker 2: I just wanted to give ourselves a collective pat on
Speaker 2: the back. Not that we need to be thanked for
Speaker 2: what we do, but you mentioned it, and I agree
Speaker 2: with it. It is a privilege to tell people stories,
Speaker 2: and in your case, you got to tell your own story.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Now, I'm really glad you're saying that. And you
Speaker 4: know we've been in the I used to be the
Speaker 4: as you remember, Phil, I used to be the media writer.
Speaker 4: So I covered others for years and I had a
Speaker 4: column about the media. And one of the things that
Speaker 4: has been going on for decades now is there has
Speaker 4: been a concerted effort to demean and to dem to
Speaker 4: demonize the mainstream press. And here's the thing that's crazy
Speaker 4: about that is the vast majority of what we write
Speaker 4: is not ideological, you know, whether the fire truck showed
Speaker 4: up or not. And we're pre deployed as we learned,
Speaker 4: as you said, thanks to the La Times, they were
Speaker 4: not Is that a left wing position, Is that a
Speaker 4: right wing position? No, it's a it's a common sense.
Speaker 3: It happen.
Speaker 4: It's a fact, and it's a fact. And I appreciate
Speaker 4: you crediting my colleagues because you know, we are definitely
Speaker 4: not the size and the we're not as formable Times
Speaker 4: as we used to be, but we still are by
Speaker 4: far the most important news organization in LA and frankly
Speaker 4: you know west of the Potomac. I mean, we are
Speaker 4: still a substantial organization. And as much as there are
Speaker 4: great reporters in medium TV and radio, they most of
Speaker 4: them don't have the heft to do what we do.
Speaker 4: They also aren't willing to go to court to get
Speaker 4: public records. So usually, and you know, luckily we have
Speaker 4: some veterans in TV and radio like you who can
Speaker 4: do their own reporting. But a lot of times you
Speaker 4: and I know it's rip and read where you will
Speaker 4: pick up the La Times in the morning, at every
Speaker 4: radio station and TV station in LA.
Speaker 3: Don't credit you for it.
Speaker 4: No, and often I you know, God bless them. I
Speaker 4: hear my daughter now works at LAist Radio and she's
Speaker 4: a great young reporter there. But I also note that
Speaker 4: I hear LAist reporting news that was first reported in
Speaker 4: the La Times. And it's true of every outlet in
Speaker 4: LA anyone who's honest that those outlets will admit it.
Speaker 4: And you know, if the La Times gets diminished, every
Speaker 4: news outlet in southern California is diminished. So it's really important.
Speaker 4: I can't emphasize enough if people want that kind of reporting,
Speaker 4: like is going to tell you up to the minute
Speaker 4: what is happening, and then afterwards explore the causes of
Speaker 4: the fire. Why wasn't there water, why weren't the engines
Speaker 4: pre deployed? We had detailed maps of where the destruction was,
Speaker 4: you know, all sorts of We've had what we call
Speaker 4: tiktoks in the business of minute by minute where were
Speaker 4: people in the escape during the escape and what was
Speaker 4: going right and wrong? Nobody else is doing that. And
Speaker 4: you know, it's sixty bucks a year I think now
Speaker 4: for a digital subscription.
Speaker 3: So yeah, like a couple of tips of Starbucks.
Speaker 2: I think the promotional rate, because I actually checked it
Speaker 2: this morning when I knew I was going to be
Speaker 2: talking to you, I think the promotional rate, believe it
Speaker 2: or not, for the first month is four dollars. I
Speaker 2: think we can I think we can handle that. We
Speaker 2: have to support we have to support local journalism. James
Speaker 2: Rainey from the La Times. We're up against the break.
Speaker 2: But I really appreciate you, appreciate you coming on and
Speaker 2: thanks for what you and your colleagues continue to do
Speaker 2: every day.
Speaker 4: Yeah, right back at you, Phil, I appreciate you.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2: You might consider me a little bit biased in favor
Speaker 2: of what we do, but you do have to support
Speaker 2: local journalism, whether it's just listening on the free KFI
Speaker 2: iHeartRadio app, whether it's subscribing to the La Times, the
Speaker 2: New York Times, one of the many local websites LA
Speaker 2: Current Value Current's a good one, or just going to
Speaker 2: free news aggregators, pay attention, be informed, be educated. If
Speaker 2: you're listening to us here on KFI, I don't have
Speaker 2: to tell you that because you already are doing your
Speaker 2: part or trying to stay current and try to stay involved.
Speaker 2: As I mentioned, we're getting some comments on the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 2: which I greatly appreciate. Let's listen to another one of them.
Speaker 8: Phil, I don't need several news outlets. All I need
Speaker 8: is KFI and Fox Channel eleven in sun California. That's
Speaker 8: all I need. I look into MSN on the internet
Speaker 8: every now and then to see what the left wing
Speaker 8: lunatics have to say. But anyway, KFI and Fox News,
Speaker 8: is it okay?
Speaker 5: Well?
Speaker 2: That was interesting. Left wing lunatics might be a little extreme.
Speaker 2: And what's what's also interesting about Fox eleven News And
Speaker 2: we talked about this a little bit before. Fox eleven
Speaker 2: News is a station that is owned and operated by Fox,
Speaker 2: which is the parent company, but it's an independently run
Speaker 2: local television station. Like Channel four, like Channel five, like
Speaker 2: Channel two, Slash nine, like Channel seven. They all have
Speaker 2: corporate parents. So Fox News, the cable network, of course,
Speaker 2: by most accounts, would be described as right wing conservative.
Speaker 2: That's not Fox eleven News. A lot of people confuse
Speaker 2: the two, conflate the two. I mean, we do have
Speaker 2: the same corporate parent, we have a similar logo, we
Speaker 2: have the word Fox in our name. But I can't
Speaker 2: tell you how many times where I've been out on
Speaker 2: a story with Fox eleven News and people who are
Speaker 2: say left of center accuse us of, you know, being
Speaker 2: Fox News and don't want to talk to us. Okay,
Speaker 2: that's your right, that's certainly your opinion. But just to
Speaker 2: be clear, Fox eleven News, and this gentleman did a
Speaker 2: little bit of that at the end of his comment,
Speaker 2: Fox eleven News is separate and distinct from Fox News.
Speaker 2: All right, that's our quick media lesson for today. All right,
Speaker 2: So coming up at four o'clock if you're a regular
Speaker 2: listener on the weekends here on KFI, before doctor Wendy,
Speaker 2: who I really want to speak to you more about
Speaker 2: learning the Lessons of Love off the air, But Chris
Speaker 2: Merrill is coming up at four o'clock, and Chris, is
Speaker 2: he with us on the phone?
Speaker 3: Yeah, right now, No, not even on the phone. I'm
Speaker 3: just like basically a studio.
Speaker 2: Oh you're in the studio in a different studio. I
Speaker 2: can't physically see you, right, but I feel like we're
Speaker 2: friends even though we've never met. We've never met in person,
Speaker 2: but I listen and I really enjoy you on the radio.
Speaker 2: And so I don't know if you've got a chance
Speaker 2: to listen to much of what we've been talking about
Speaker 2: here the past couple of hours, but a lot of
Speaker 2: defense of the local news against President Trump labeling us
Speaker 2: as quote fake news, and the importance of what we
Speaker 2: do on the radio, in the newspaper on TV, especially
Speaker 2: in the light of what we've been going through here
Speaker 2: in southern California since since January seventh.
Speaker 9: I know you're a part of all that. Yeah, and
Speaker 9: I'm so glad that you did that too, And you
Speaker 9: try to draw that distinction. And it's a message that
Speaker 9: we just can't say enough times. But it doesn't help
Speaker 9: either that you know, you have some some accolytes who
Speaker 9: who will use their their local you know, call letters
Speaker 9: or network affiliation in order to boost their own stature
Speaker 9: within a part twoicular party or in right right, and
Speaker 9: and the best example I have of that is I
Speaker 9: was doing a lot of work in Arizona. And of
Speaker 9: course Carrie Lake is a former Fox anchor, Okay, and
Speaker 9: I you know, she kind of tried to use that
Speaker 9: in parlay it. And and I don't think that the
Speaker 9: Fox affiliate there really wanted to dissuade anyone from leaning
Speaker 9: into that. I think they felt like it was good.
Speaker 9: You know, they had a few other very conservative hosts.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a delicate situation though, right, Yeah, I sort
Speaker 2: of balance that.
Speaker 9: Yeah, And I know that I've sat in the meetings
Speaker 9: for NBC News Radio a number of times, and I
Speaker 9: can't tell you how many times they go through laboriously
Speaker 9: to try to make sure that their presentation walks the
Speaker 9: line don't go too far this way, don't go too
Speaker 9: far that way. And and you know, listening to the
Speaker 9: heads of that you know, that group that will they're
Speaker 9: not scrutinizing the reporters so much as they're trying to
Speaker 9: teach the reporters. When you approach a story, do it
Speaker 9: in this manner, you know, make sure you're using the
Speaker 9: language that doesn't key into certain.
Speaker 2: Because so many people feel now reporters have some kind
Speaker 2: of an agenda local news reporters, Yes, and and you
Speaker 2: know our agenda is just do a good job and
Speaker 2: tell a fair story. Now, now, I'm not Sean Hannity, right,
Speaker 2: I'm not Chris Cuomo, I'm not Bill O'Reilly with a
Speaker 2: point of views as a commentator now here, it's been interesting, Chris,
Speaker 2: because you'll appreciate this because as a as a news reporter,
Speaker 2: which I've been my career, I'm not really you're not
Speaker 2: really you're not really sharing your opinions. But here on
Speaker 2: talk radio, oh that's all we do. We they want
Speaker 2: your opinions. So it's been an interesting learning experience, a
Speaker 2: little bit out of my comfort zone because I got
Speaker 2: plenty of opinions, believe me. But it's it's been a
Speaker 2: fun challenge, right because people do you know you you
Speaker 2: do have your own opinions and you have to work
Speaker 2: to keep them out of your news coverage. But when
Speaker 2: you're coming on the role as a talk show host,
Speaker 2: it's a little bit of a different ballgame, right.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 9: In fact, I know that that's a tough one for
Speaker 9: for people like you or others who are are sort
Speaker 9: of walking that line and you're and you're maintaining your
Speaker 9: credibility and your neutrality, and then you walk into this
Speaker 9: uh space, and all of a sudden, it's a different ballgame.
Speaker 9: And sometimes it can be a little bit delicate for
Speaker 9: someone like you, because what you don't want is for
Speaker 9: someone to be listening and go, well, I heard Phil
Speaker 9: say this on KFI. So when he's doing that story,
Speaker 9: I know he doesn't feel that way.
Speaker 2: Right because he's already has you know, his own We
Speaker 2: already know what he thinks about, you know, the mayor
Speaker 2: or the fire chief or the fire Yeah.
Speaker 9: I thought you did a nice job by saying, you know,
Speaker 9: there certainly are some un answered questions. I find that
Speaker 9: to be when you were talking about Bass. You know,
Speaker 9: I find that to be a bit incredible that she
Speaker 9: would say that, and you know that she wouldn't know
Speaker 9: what the weather is, right, which.
Speaker 3: I'll get into here to start. Yeah, so what do
Speaker 3: you what do you have coming up on you on
Speaker 3: your you know, I'm gonna talk about that.
Speaker 9: I don't talk about you know, the fire department is
Speaker 9: responding and they're they're basically, you know, God bless him.
Speaker 9: L a FD is doing a really good job of
Speaker 9: giving Mayor Bass rope and they're just.
Speaker 3: Saying, go ahead, just keep talking. Here's what we did.
Speaker 9: You know, we put out all these different alerts and
Speaker 9: I'm sorry somebody didn't.
Speaker 3: Call you while you were on your flight, right, Yeah,
Speaker 3: yours to what she's going with. Yeah, that's what she's
Speaker 3: going with. I can't believe that.
Speaker 9: And honestly, I think this is this is really bad
Speaker 9: for her, not just now, but in the future. This
Speaker 9: is one of those things that they don't forget. Come
Speaker 9: next election.
Speaker 2: No, and we're talking earlier today. The election is next year,
Speaker 2: believe it or not. Man, Man, does that go by fast?
Speaker 2: I can't believe it, and I'm not sad about it,
Speaker 2: but I uh it just it flies. So we'll talk
Speaker 2: about that. And we're on Pope Watch twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2: Lots of thoughts in prayers going to Rome right now,
Speaker 2: So we'll do that. We'll talk LA law and.
Speaker 9: Is it possible the Menendez brothers, speaking of elections, just
Speaker 9: got hosed based on the DA election.
Speaker 3: Totally possible.
Speaker 9: That's all coming up in the first hour that we'll
Speaker 9: talk about politics as usual, and don't forget. We also
Speaker 9: have our show business segment. There is no business like
Speaker 9: that is a straight Ahead sag After Award. It's underway
Speaker 9: here in in just a few minutes, so we're keeping
Speaker 9: an eye on that today.
Speaker 3: Too, while the show goes on Big Program, Big
Speaker 1: Program KFI AM six forty on demand