All right, here we go again. January two, twenty twenty six. Some people working today. I think most people that took the day or the time off Christmas week, they're not back at work. Look who I'm filling in for. But I think most people that took the Christmas week off, I think they're off today. It's nice, long break. It's good. You got three days left of that and then it's back to absolute hell. But listen, you'll worry about Monday
when Monday rolls around, right. I mean, if you plan too far and ahead to get too worried about what is on the horizon, you miss the beauty of the sunrise or the sun set, or whatever it may be. As a wise man once said, great to be with you. It's the average American in for the great American right here. Until you see football this afternoon, you see the Liberty Bowl against Navy. This is going to be, as they say it, tough out for UC. UC doesn't have its
top quarterback. Brendan Soresby is in the transfer portal, which by the way, open today. This whole nil thing is just turned college football in college basketball on its head. You're rooting for uniforms. Now you realize that it's the old Seinfeld joke. You're literally each year you're not rooting for players, you're rooting for uniforms because the players they
come and they go. But anyway, the Liberty Bowl is coming up three thirty airtime today, and that'll be Dan Horde and Tony Pike and I believe Moeggar is down there too in Memphis. All of that on our horizon. Look, the one thing I think we all want to be in twenty twenty six is better than what we were in twenty twenty five. I think, both as people in our personal life and our family life, at our job. I mean, it'd be pretty sad if you didn't want to be better than you were last year in any
of those things. I also think we all want to be better off financially at twenty twenty six than what we were in twenty twenty five. But that requires a little bit of work, not a lot of work, a little bit of work. And if you work at it coupled with what should be coming this year with tax cuts, it could be that way. So you're saying, well, okay, little bit of work, a little bit, what's the work here? Well,
the work is strengthening your safety net. Look for other income opportunities and listen to Mark Hamrick from bankrate dot com. He is their chief financial analyst. This is a guy who's been around for a while. In fact, at one point he ran the business news operation for the Associated Press in Washington, DC. Did that for twenty years, past
president of the National Press Club in Washington, DC. And the survey is out for twenty twenty six, and this survey from bank rate says one in three, about thirty four percent of us say we believe our personal finances will get better in twenty twenty six. Eleven percent of us believe it will significantly get better. Now. That's down from where it was in twenty twenty four. Younger generation more optimistic. Why not, they have more opportunity at their feet.
Among those who believe their personal finances will get better in twenty twenty six, the top reason is rising income, followed by better spending habits. So what else can we do? The aforementioned Mark Hamricks standing by it, and I want to get him on today because it all starts, well, it started yesterday, but it all starts really from a business standpoint, this coming Monday, Mark how are you on this glorious day after New Year's Day?
Ken, There's no one I'd rather be able to speak with, and that's such a great opportunity.
I appreciate your kindness very much.
Well, I'm looking at this survey and it's on a number of levels. It's encouraging. On a number of levels, it's not. I guess the discouraging part is that only one in three of us a little more than that, believe that our personal finances will get better in twenty twenty six. And it cuts across political lines, as most of these things do. But if you're a Democrat, you're
not so optimistic. If you're a Republican, you're a little more optimistic, and if you're younger, you're a little more optimistic. So I suppose there is the good and the bad, I guess is the way I would put it. Right.
Well, it's America, right, I mean, that's number one. And we talk all the time about the economy which favors the wealthy here so called K shaped economy. People who own their home, people who are invested in the stock market, and they are just building further financial momentum that of course existing within the result of inflation, which is affordability challenges which have really, in a sense unfairly claim casualties
among middle income and lower income Americans. So you've basically got something for everybody in the economy, and you've got something or not for everybody, as it's seeing in this in this survey. But I would say ken, and this isn't undermine the survey because I love the survey.
I run this survey every year.
Is that it is somewhat backward looking, meaning that people were reflecting on their recent experience with their personal finances and the economy, and none of us really know what the year will bring and then and that's part of the risk and opportunity. So if things turn out for the better, then maybe people will be more even more optimistic, and we run this a year from now, and if it's not, then you know that'll be the consequence as well.
Well. I guess the current inflation rate is three point one percent, and that's up a little bit from where it was last month, but the fact of the matter is it's down significantly from where it was in the
summer of twenty twenty two. So I don't know, do you think Americans are still paralyzed by that, or do you think they're actually feeling And I know this is your opinion, it's not necessarily as whole, but do you think they're actually feeling that when they go to shop, either for groceries or for something during the holiday season? What do you think?
Well, first of all, they tell us that that is the case.
When those who expressed the pessimistic point of view or ask why is your outlook for worse personal finances? Number one was continued high inflation, interestingly enough, in a very political environment, and this, of course a national survey where
we have politically polarized views. Four out of ten said they're pessimistic because of quote the work by elected officials, and you know, I would paraphrase that to say, perhaps the lack of work by elected officials as well, but you know, can Here's an important distinction with respect to your question, and that is, I know you are a very well informed individual, and your questions are always the best that I get in the many media interviews that
I do. Most Americans don't look at the rate of inflation. They look at their lived experience with affordability issues, and that's why they go off when they see something that like eggs have gone from two today dollars a dozen, even though that's not going to have particularly massive consequence on their personal finances, and more recently spent things like coffee, you know.
The drill.
So the reality is it's about affordability. Inflation is something that creates affordability challenges or not. And so you know, a three percent annual increase of inflation means you've gone up a couple of more stare steps with the price changes that have occurred roughly twenty five percent since early two thousand and twenty, I should.
Say, yeah, and you're right. It is more of an experience than it is in number. I think it's it's always been that way. The number seems to exist for political purposes, and the experience exists for the rest of us.
The good in this report that I saw is that four and five of us, in fact, it comes to eighty five percent have financial goals for twenty twenty six, and of those four and five of us, the main financial goal is to create is to create an environment for themselves where they pay down debt and have more control of spending. Look, the government might not have more control of its spending it's incumbent upon us to have it because the banks aren't exactly as forgiving for us
as they might be for the government. So this is good. I think that people understand you can't live the rest of your life in debt, or you're just going to live the rest of your life in squalors. So I think that's that's something I think I take out of this that's really really positive, And.
It's also meaningful, Ken, in the sense of, you know, if we were to start our financial lives as you and I young men again, that certainly would be something that I would have tried to correct my earlier behavior with. But I also note the second part of the goals in ranking here, which is fourteen percent of Americans say they want to get a higher paying job or additional income.
And you know, we just had a job report. It was relatively lackluster, the unemployment rate at the highest level in four years, but still at historically a low level. And Ken, I'm sure you see, as I do almost every day, just how enterprising people are in this economy, many of whom are people who've come to the United States for the opportunity to work and perhaps escape some horrible things, or at least less than optimal things in
their home country. Point is that there is opportunity out there. It may not be you know, a slam dunk, to use a sports analogy with respect to employment, but so many people take advantage, for example, of the gig economy, or we've had surveys in the past that told us that the youngest of Americans a pretty fair percentage want to start their own companies.
So there is opportunity out there.
And sometimes I think I might be part of the problem in the sense that we talk so nuanced about the way the economy is changing, and the reality is that, you know, we can to some degree create our own reality out there through enterprise and hard work.
You know, you raise an interesting scenario. If I went back and talked to my thirty five year old self, it would be a rather lengthy conversation in it. But if there's one thing that you could go back and talk to your thirty five your old self with regards to finances, what would it be?
You know, probably three things, Ken, and I'll just sort of level set the ground a little bit. Is that I came from a very much working class family where money was not discussed at all. If anything, it was discussed in the context of a situation that wasn't going particularly well for my parents, and so I had to learn everything essentially on my own and through experience, and then other than great opportunity to do the work I do these days.
But again, three things.
Number One, I did have a job when I was fifteen in radio, by the way, in coffee Bill, Kansas, not far from where you worked once in Tulsa, and.
So I did have income.
I should have done a better job of putting that income to work through investing in saving.
That's number one.
And if I had saved in the equivalent of an S and P mutual fund back then, i'd.
Be talking to you from a yacht right now. That's number one.
Secondly, I would have been more diligent about managing debt because I did not do a good job.
With that when I was early in my career.
And making let's say sub are incomes and broadcasting that both people are familiar with that scenario. But I would say those are the two major things I've been very blessed with my career. But the payoff for that was a little long in coming.
Yeah, yeah, it is it's it's interesting. I mean, that's that's that's an interesting dynamic if and it's an interesting thing to sit down and think about. At some point, what would you what would you say to yourself? So maybe you're at a different destination in life. Mark Comrick is our guest. He joined bank Grade twelve years ago, twenty thirteen. He is the guy at bank Rate and
it'd worked for many, many years. He mentioned he worked in radio, also was business news for Associated Press Broadcasts for two decades and past president of the National Press Club. We keep hearing, and I want to just crystal ball twenty twenty six a little bit. We keep hearing from the administration, the Trump administration, Scott Best in particular, that it is going to be a robust twenty twenty six. You just wait and see what happens. All of this stuff,
the tariffs is going to pay off. Often. We might even be getting two thousand dollars checks each of us from the president. And I'm thinking to myself, well, yeah, I guess that could happen. But a lot of times in politics it's paid no attention to the man behind the curtain. You know. It's I just don't I just don't know where we're going, and I'm not sure anybody does. But if you had to pick between encouraged or discouraged, what would it be.
I just wrote a piece about this for LinkedIn that'll show up later this year.
The Federal Reserve in its meeting recently actually upgraded the AULA for twenty twenty six. And among the reasons is that, for example, the tax bill will take effect and whether you love hate or somewhere in between, the so called one Big Beautiful Bill, it is a tax cut and there's going to be more money going into American's bank accounts because of income tax refunds. That's going to prove, that's going to provide some tail winds pushing the economy
forward early in the year. I obviously can you know me well enough that I don't align myself with any politician that's that would be foolish.
But well there's that.
But you know, their primary motive is to employ rhetoric toward a political end, and it's our job, and I think we both do it with trust, is to try to see through that. And so I'm telling you that based on everything I can see and you know the facts, I think there are reasons to be optimistic for twenty twenty six.
Are there risks?
There?
Sure are If.
We think about the things that really hindered the economy in twenty twenty five, Two of the three were self inflicted tariffs, the federal government shut down, and persistent inflation. I think inflation probably should be alleviated somewhat in twenty twenty six, But geopolitically, I'm very worried because the world is an unsafe place right now.
If just one thing sort of.
Unraveled and you name, you know, you name the location, much the same as Russia's invasion of Ukraine created another leg up for inflation, that could really be the one thing that knocks us out of Kilder. But those things
always exist in the sense of a risk. So I'm sort of looking to measure the things I can measure, and I think between the pig is moving through the python and the sense of one time price adjustments with tariffs that should further level out in the coming year, And so I'm hoping we get better news with less inflation, that we have more affordability out there. For Americans, they get the benefit of the tax cut and perhaps the worst of the job market woes will be behind us.
And also we also get a bit of a push early in the year because if they can avoid another federal government shutdown at the end of January, then we should be able to restore some, not all, the lost economic activity that was caused by that unnecessary event.
The pig is moving through the python. Well that'll be in my few days. Yes, indeed, Mark Hambrick, Happy new year for you and for your family. A robust twenty twenty six and we will visit down the road. Thank you.
The same to you, my friend, Thanks so much. I appreciate it him. They'll look forward to speaking with you again in the new year.
Yes, sir, Yes, sir, Mark Hamrick Bankgreat dot Com. Of those who believe their personal finances will not improve next year, the top reason by a wide margin is continued high inflation. Well this was done then, the I guess the survey was done prior to the inflation numbers coming out for the month of November. I mean, it's inflation is coming out. The problem is Trump said he was going to lower inflation, and in essence he has. But inflation is a compounded number.
So when you hear well, inflation is at two point nine percent. Yeah, well that's two point nine percent on top of where it was the year before. And if you go back to the bad old days of Biden when inflation was it nine percent, that was nine percent above where it was the year before. So it's shipping away at This is not anything that's going to happen overnight, but the indicators are. It's it's coming down, interest rates coming down. The Fed is going to have a new
leader after May. I guess of this year. Jerome Palace has been very reticent to lower the prime He's been doing it in twenty five about a quarter percent is what he's been doing it. He's very proditious on that. And it's not going to effect the cost of a house or the mortgage of a house directly, but it will have an effect on it. So these are the things hopefully that it will jump start this thing and get it back on the track again. I think it is.
You look at energy rates. Energy rates are back on the track. Diesel fuel is coming down. That's what powers this country. It gets product from point to point B. But it's not going to happen overnight. So mixed bag here on the bankrate dot Com analysis for twenty twenty six. It's probably be a good thing to hang on to and see where we are in a year. Right, We're going to file it right there, coming up on twelve, twenty six, it's the Average American in for the Great
American News Radio seven hundred WLW. I don't know about the boys this summer, but what about now, I could use one of those heat waves this summer. Welcome back the Average American in for the Great American on this January second, twenty twenty six. Great to w with us. We have used football this afternoon, Yes one more time. Those who have remained in uniform are going to play today for the University of Cincinnati. It's I mean, it's not. Some of these teams that show up for bowl games.
They're a shadow of what they were in the regular season, and some are not. Some have their full go and that's exactly what Navy has today. The team that you see will face. Of course, in the Naval Academy, there is no such thing as the portal. The portal probably gets you on a boat. No Navy, there is no such thing as that you are in one of the major institutions military institutions and you go on and serve this country in uniform, so their entire football team will
be there today. It's a football team that runs the ball, run, They run an option offense, very difficult to defend, and they have a quarterback that runs it marvelously. And you see, of course, doesn't have its quarterback. Brendan Sorosby is in the portal going to somewhere as you have to be determined, as are several other players. Several players just sitting it out getting ready for the NFL Draft or the Senior Bowl or whatever. But we will have all the play
by play for you beginning at three. I'm here to three thirty to help you get ready for that and very happy about it. We talk a lot about what twenty twenty six will bring. We were talking about financial prosperity, and we're talking about health and all of that. One thing I hope it brings is a more appreciation, a
better appreciation for employees. I just think that there is a pervasive attitude throughout business in this country that the smartest people are the people that run it, and the rest of the people that work there are just worker bees to get the job done. All of these corporate all of these corporate giants, all of these c suite managers. They yap about culture, but in the final analysis, there is no culture except get the job done. And then
when they don't need you anymore, what do they do? Audios? Don't let the door hit you where the good lord splitcher. And it's even worse now because there is a tendency among big companies like Amazon among others, to fire or let go of employees remotely by zoom or some other things. I mean, it has happened with US. I mentioned Amazon, some online companies, US mortgage Company for example, Better dot Com fired nine hundred workers over zoom this past year. Carvana.
You hear a lot about Carvana. They let twenty five hundred workers go in the same way. And it seems to me, if you're going to hire somebody and the hiring is a personal process, then why shouldn't the termination be a personal process. It was a movie made about that, I think years ago. We'll find out now from somebody who believes that remote firings are just not a good thing.
He is John Bowerman. John Bowerman is the chief operating officer of Stealth consulting, which works with companies to try and make them better. That's what consultants. And one of the ways you make companies better is to better appreciate the people that actually do the work for you. And I wanted to get John on today to talk about this because this is a trend that's disturbing. I don't know, we seem to be a more distant society. We seem to be a society that would rather text each other
than talk to each other. But I wanted to get his thoughts on this because he has a company that addresses this kind of thing, and so he was kind enough to carve out some of his time today to join us for a few minutes. And John Bauerman, how are you in this glorious January the second?
Hey, good afternoon, Ken, I'm doing good.
Yeah, I'm glad you're with us here. Look, I'm sure you saw the movie back in two thousand and nine, right up in the air. George Clooney was in it, and it was a movie built around this same topic where companies just virtually fire employees. They don't do it face to face. They do it either by a conference call or whatever it may be. When did we get to be so impersonal about telling somebody that their services are no longer needed.
I know, as soon as we tipped over the edge.
Of describing easy as efficiency, unfortunately, you know, unfortunately had to let go several hundred people, and over the course of a few decades there's several different companies, and in each one still I believe that you have to show up and treat people as human and even if that process only takes sixty to ninety seconds, you still owe it to the people at your company.
Easy as opposed to efficiency. Sometimes easy is efficient, as you well know, but this seems like the coward's way out to do this. You're right, these are people that have real lives and real people depending on them, and the network that goes out from those other people extends au infinitems. So I'm just easy can be efficient delineate the two of you.
Could for us, absolutely, And it's also very short sighted because in the short term it feels like, well, okay, we're going to be able to virtually eliminate even if it was one hundred positions, and instead of having to have ten minute phone call set up, we're just going to send it out in mass, And what's really shortsighted about that is two things.
One is your reputation.
So if you are if someone has a great experience, they're going to tell one other person, if they have an awful experience, they're going to tell one hundred. So you're looking at just what is this, how is this going to affect one hundred people, and not thinking about how's this going to affect one hundred times one hundred people? Is one and two what you're doing is also opening up the door for very costly problems. So people we
look at technology today as it never goes wrong. I've seen it at numerous times, especially in these kind of circumstances where the wrong people get on the list, and now all of a sudden is you're opening yourself up to potentially losing great people that you never intended to in the first place, all in the name of efficiency.
That doesn't happen.
When you're showing up in person.
How prevalent is this? This virtual these virtual firings or layoffs. I mean I'm reading where Amazon laid off like fourteen thousand employees last month, and some learned of their faith by a text message telling them to consult their inboxes, which is pretty dang to cold. But I'm just are more companies than not doing this? And I would guess
it would be larger companies. It would be hard. I would think for somebody that has maybe one hundred employees to do this, I mean they could, but it certainly would want ramp it through that company and probably lead to a lot of other people leaving on their own. But these bigger companies, how how how prevalent is this, these these virtual firings in virtual layoffs.
Typically you only see this in large enterprises. I think in your in your medium mediums, a small business, you would rarely uh see a virtual.
Layout, but.
You know people are. But I see that shift.
Happening where it will become more common occurrence the smaller and smaller the company. And here's the excuse that's being put out there is that.
Well, this is what the next generation prefers.
The next generation would prefer not to have a phone call, would prefer not to be on camera, and so that represents the justification. All we're doing is giving the people what they prefer, and that is a you know, unfortunately, is a really misguided excuse, because no one prefers that one of the most pivotal moments in their in their life, uh, to not be treated uh is that is if they matter.
And it should.
It should correlate with the expectation that they've had every day. And maybe they've been there for a year or two years and they've been expected to show up every day in this one very uh uh pivotal moment, you know, you need to be able to show up for them.
Yeah.
It's a it's a chicken crap way to end unemployment, it really is. I mean, it just shows. So it's gutless, is what it is. And if you don't want that cease week position, then don't take the difficult things that come along with it. And the difficult things aren't always keeping the investors or the board or whatever happy. We have become a less personal society since the invention of personal technology, whether it be Twitter, whether it be emails,
whether it be i Ams, whatever it may be. And the younger as we become younger in the corner suite, we become populated in that corner suite and therefore in middle management with younger people who grew up on two hundred and eighty characters as opposed to face to face meetings, for using a phone simply to text as opposed to talk. And I'm just wondering if this isn't all a product of just where we are as a society.
What do you think, Yeah, that's interesting because in many ways it's contradictory. So we are, you know, we're past the age of industrialization, We're we're living now in the age of authenticity. People want authenticity more than ever. We we don't want to see the stock photo. We want to see what we're really going to get. You see the emergence of craft versus mass production, and it's what
people want. They want the real thing and this and while technology enables that, going virtuals on things like this really goes against what people are really craving, which is connection and authenticity where you know, we're more connected and feel less connected more than ever.
You said something a couple of minutes ago. One of the one of the things that you said that that really stuck out with me is that what do you have a bad experience, whether it's at work, whether it's at a restaurant, department store, where it may be, if you have a bad experience, you won't be shy about telling other people. If you have a good experience, chances are you're not going to tell anybody. You'll just have that experience, say hey, that was nice at all.
Leave.
If you have a company that is doing these kinds of things, and I'm not talking about you know, the companies that employ a million people worldwide or wherever, not not the Amazon dot Coms of the world, but just the companies that might have an employee base of one hundred,
one hundred and fifty two hundred people. You start doing something like this, not only will it create the unrest inside your company, but true to try and attract good people to come and work or replace them, or whenever you're ramping up for more business, the world will be out on the street. It's it's kind of it's kind of counterintuitive, is it not?
Absolutely?
And I would venture to say there's probably a lot of companies that are doing virtual layoffs, and they would send you a pamphlet on their core values and it probably includes work like integrity and people first, and you know, we're a family and in all of that, and then you know, this is the behavior that is actually projected unbelievable.
You're with stealth consulting. You started Stealth consulting? What is that? What are are these some of the things you consult companies on?
Absolutely a past Life grew a very large digital agency and we were focused on large scale growth, exited that that industry and wanted to get a little more hands on with companies and so Stealth was a way that we could do that to bring in fractional marketing teams to companies versus trying to go out and find that unicorn,
uh that's going to do everything. And that's a that's allowed me to get you know, real hands on with multiple C suite executive teams where behavior and decisions really need to start, you know, because there's a there's a lot of misguided perception that well, we can expect differently from the team than they can.
Expect of us.
And one of the big things we go in and do is shift that perception.
Yeah, can you teach management? I mean, if somebody doesn't really have great management skills, can you really teach management to anybody? Because this is what we're talking about here, I think anyway, is how you treat employees, how you manage those employees to get the most out of them.
So that the company becomes profitable. But I think I think you probably would find so a lot of people just get promoted so the company doesn't lose someone they view valuable, but yet they get promoted to a position where they have no business being I think that happens a lot, don't you.
Absolutely, And it's you know what I would what I would inform people of and cover in the book not lost you're just starting? Is that really everyone, even if you work for a company. So there's a big misconception around on spreneurship that to be an entrepreneur you have to start a business. And my belief is that everyone in the world should show up like an entrepreneur. And what that means is that you're the CEO of yourself.
So Ken is the CEO of the Ken Company, and even if Ken works for another company, you show up as if the company you work for is one of
your clients. And when you look at your employer like a client, then you know that guess what I could that client I could lose at any time, And so you're better prepared for any moment, even if it's a virtual layoff that okay, I've got a backup plan and I'm looking out, I'm going to negotiate on behalf of myself and you just approach approach the world differently, and you're in a better position.
To have to have to change paths.
And as I was considering that for my kids, was that in helping coach them as to.
You know, what should they go to college?
What what career should they pursue? In all likelihood with the world that's ahead, they might have to change that a dozen times and they need to be prepared for that.
Yeah. Again, the book is You're not lost, You're just starting, and it's available on Amazon dot Com. If indeed Amazon has enough employees to get it to you, that's true, that's a conundrum. You've got a great book. Now. You hope Amazon doesn't lay off as many people as they say they're going to John Bowerman, it's it's been enlightening. We appreciate it. Stay well. Yours is a voice that needs to be heard, and hopefully we can visit down the road.
Thanks all right, appreciate you bet.
Yeah, you know, and I think I go back to what we talked about. It leads to morale problems and then when you try to hire someone else you know words out look, this is this company doesn't treat people all that well. And look what happened to Joe or Mary or whomever. They just got canned. They didn't have the chance to plead for their case or even get the respect of an in person in firing. And you know, it's something I don't get. But can I see it coming? Yes?
Can I see AI being involved? Yeah? Can I see good companies doing it? Gosh, I hope not coming up on twelve fifty four, it's the average American in for the Great American. I like the way he said, I'm the CEO of my own company. Now I just got to find a company. News Radio seven hundred WTLW twelve fifty eight. News Radio seven hundred WDLW. The average American in for the Great American. Counting down to UC football. They play Navy in the Liberty Bowl. I don't know
about the whole bowl structure anymore. I mean, after the college football Playoff, it kind of renders these other bowl games relatively meaningless unless you're a huge fan of your team or you're somebody that likes to gamble on these things. And that's I think going to be a major point of contention going going forward, these college football playoff games have just been so dramatic. I mean, I watched that
game last night, Ole miss in Georgia, Trinidad. Chambliss great story, won the national championships at the FCFS level, now at the FBS level, even his coach taking a hike on the team. Three hundred and sixty two yards and two touchdowns, forty seven yard field goal, Yeah, forty seven yard field goal with six seconds left, and Mississippi knocks out Georgia thirty nine to thirty four. There are a lot of
storylines in this game. But when Kiffin left and took a just I mean just really a what It's one of the things that that's wrong with athletics these days. But leaves on November thirtieth. They put defensive coordinator Pete Golding in charge, and he's been the interim guy since then, then promoted to fill the vacancy at the top of the staff. They asked Golding after the game, you know, a lot of teams at this time of the year are teams that you didn't project to get this far,
including yours. What is it about your team? Listen to what he had to say about his team, I think you're.
Gonna have the right guys. What I mean by that, I think they gotta be tough. I think they gotta be competitive. I think we gotta love football. And I think you got a lot of guys on other teams that don't love football. There's one thing about this group. They love football. They love competing, they like practicing, they
like preparing, and they like playing. And I think at this point in the year, you better have a group of guys that still wants to play, because every time you go out there and you spot the ball, you're playing for another opportunity to play.
And these guys aren't tired of playing. And it's fun watching them that Next up, next up Miami in the Fiesta Bowl. Miami, of course, is the team that sent Ohio State packing. Yeah, that was the terrific weekend of college football. It really was. And again it's you see a Navy in the Liberty Bowl coming up at three point thirty today, All right, coming up here, Iran is
boiling up? Is it boiling over? And would there finally, after some fifty years, be regime changed there and the end to what has just been a suffocating Dictatorship straight ahead on news Radio seven hundred WLW one O seven on this Friday, January the second, twenty twenty six. It's the average American in for the great American and great to have you with us as well. However you are listening, whether it's through this great medium of terrestrial radio or
through the iHeartRadio app, we welcome you on. In little college football. Note we count down to Navy and you see in the Liberty Bowl right here till three point thirty. That's airtime. By the way, the University of Cincinnati quarterback I guess X quarterback. According to twenty four to seven Sports, Brendan Soresby is set to visit Texas Tech and LSU back to back. That is from cbssports dot com relayed through twenty four to seven Sports. Texas Tech has been
a rumored destination for him for quite a while. LSU is a new player, be careful what you ask for down there in Baton Rouge with Lane Kiffin. But nevertheless, he is seeking a new home and according to twenty four to seven sports portal rankings, he is the number two quarterback. So there you go. Everybody knew Soresby was going to take a hike after this season, and you know, the money is much greater at Texas Tech. Texas Tech allegedly was the best college football nil destination. They went
out and just bought a team. It was twenty eight million dollars. I believe that Texas Tech spent on players this past year. Well, it got them to the playoff. But nevertheless, Brendan Sorosby is looking like he's going to be an even richer man before all of this transfer stuff is over. Iran is boiling over and I don't know if it leads to regime change. We'll find here in just a moment what one expert thinks. But there
is a lot going on in Iran right now. President Trump said today that the United States is quote unquote locked and loaded to respond if Iran kills protesters. Protesting has been happening in the streets of Iran for about the last four or five days. It started as a market protest. Those are the vendors that work the streets. The economy in Iran is crumbling. They have nothing over there except oil. Other than dirt and oil, they got
nothing else going on over there. And when the United States took out their nuclear facilities by and large, or crippled them greatly, would be a better way of putting it back In the summer, it dealt around a serious blow to its economy that was already struggling, and now you have unrest in the street, not just because of the economy, but for other reasons as well, not the least of which their water over there is horrible. They
have water management problems over there. The other thing that's going on over there is soaring inflation, systematic oppression, religious persecution, executions if you dare say anything against the quote unquote holy people that are in charge over there, And this denial of basic freedom is causing unrest to build, not just among the marketers, not just among the vendors, but
among the common everyday people. There have been shots that have been fired on both sides, and Trump is saying that if Iran shoots and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue. Now what that means, I don't know. Put that against the backdrop of Ukraine, Russia and what's going on in Venezuela and other hotspots around the world. Standing by the way, in on. This is someone who
was born in Iran, grew up in Iran. He was once the dean of College of Engineering at the University of Connecticut. He now teaches mechanical engineering at the University of Connecticut. And he seems to be somebody that's plugged in as to what is going on over there in Iran right now. He is doctor Kazim Kazarunian. And doctor Kazarunian is someone who is at the very least anxious to see what becomes of his country that he fled from under the oppression of the Shaw long before all
of this happened with Ayatola Hoomani and those that followed him. So, doctor Casaronian is standing by to join us right now. And doctor, how are you on this glorious day?
Thank you very much.
I'm delighted to be with you today on this called winter day.
Yes, yes, I know you're watching what's transpiring on the streets of Iran, and it seems like there's great unrest. It also seems like that the government there is cracking down on some of these protesters. It began from what I can tell as a protest by shop managers because of the economy which is predicated largely on their nuclear program. Their economy is in some sort of collapse over there? Am I right about that?
You're absolutely right?
Yeah, yes, what started as an economic protest has become a nationwide uprising. You know that, I would use the word boiling rather than simmering. It's the uprising has expand cities, universities, and many marginalized provinces in Iran. The protests are the professors are attacking regime symbols. They're not only asking officials. They want a total regime change.
No.
Chants are very explicit now, they are political. Probably the main core chant is death two dictators, death too common ae and the regime. The regime has started using live ammunitions, which to me it signals that they have a fear, They have an existential fear for their own survival.
Well, this is yes, it began as an economic uprising, but I mean there there is just untold oppression that goes on in our country. From what I'm told, you have religious persecution, executions if you question the government, basic freedoms. Water is not in great supply over there, so this is blossomed. It might have started as a protest among those in business, the shop managers and whatnot who are feeling the effects of an economy that is a cratering,
but also just the whole lifestyle over in Iran. I don't know how to describe it to anyone unless they have actually been there. You've been there, you were there when the Shah was there. I'm sure you know people who live there now and is what is it like living there?
So throughout my life in Iran, the first twenty first, twenty first year of my life in Iran, all the time through my years as a university is student in Iran, My family and I lived on their fear under show. In many ways, hominy and the current regime that we have is the result of the suppression and of shorts regime Show created Slovak. There were so many instances that I was in the class in the university and the
Slovak police shows. Security police came into the class, took some students away because you know they have read the wrong article, or.
They have.
Where they were carrying the wrong paper or the wrong book and you would never see or hear of those people again.
And that type of suppression.
That to a fundamentalist regime like Homeni, which has become a threat to to to Iran.
So it has always been whether.
Before nineteen seventy nine revolution or after, it has all always been a dictatorship as long as I know, probably for the past one hundred years. And on the other side of the coin is that people have for the past century Iranian people have struggled for freedom. Iranian people and their rich is very clear. They want democracy, They want the secular government, they want a republic form of government.
They don't want crown, they don't want turbine, they don't want a religious dictatorship, they don't want a monarchist dictatorship.
The change, as you well know, must come from within. Rare is it that there's an outside force that can command and foster regime change and then preside over regime change. This country has been guilty. Our country has been guilty of trying to do that in many, many instances. How strong do you think this resistance is, this uprising is in Iran? And from what what you can piece together,
do you think it's enough to force regime change? This has been a regime the how many regime change has been in existence for almost fifty years now is it strong enough this internal uprising.
Yes, if you take a very serious look at the Iranian regime, they have lost many of the cards they had to play.
They have lost the credibility on nuclear threats. They have lost their proxy forces.
In the region that they were using to blackmail the region and blackmail the world, and that they have lost a lot of power on the streets of Tehran and on people. And at the same time, you know, you refer to what can the world do you know? I was listening to President I was reading President Trump's statement on how he supports and is ready to support the Iranian people on the.
Streets, And that statement, to me, matters a lot because it sends a.
Clear warning to the regime that mass killing will not be ignored. Moral and political support for Iranian people is important, especially when the regime relies on silence to escalate violence in Iran. But at the same time, I should say that this uprising does not belong to Washington, does not belong to any other capital in the world, and it does not need to be managed from outside. Iranians are not asking for intervention or.
Boots on the ground or imposed and engineered solutions.
They're asking for a space to decide their own future, without bullets, without prisons or executions, but support matters, and support should mean standing with the people's right to resist, people's right to self determination, holding the regime Iranian regime accountable for their clients, and isolating the IRGC. So in those ways, I really appreciate the American administration and many other administrations in Europe to have to have enhanced the
sanctions against IOLOGC and the Iranian rulers. The future of Iran must be written.
By the Iranians, by.
People in Iran, not by the clerics, not by monarchists, not by the remnants of shots a Walk or short.
Family who are who might be dreaming of coming back and becoming kings again.
All five powers.
You mentioned the i r GC for those that don't know that, as the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps. Basically it's the military in Iran. The military over there has been successful in its attempt to squash down these uprisings, maybe not as big as what we're seeing now, but I mean that's the only way you're going to get what you're talking about is if somehow, some way THERGC is compromised, either by laying down their weapons or being threatened by something,
maybe an attack from an outside force. Life the United States, we did pretty well with their nuclear plants there back in the summertime. But the fact of the matter is, as long as the IRGC is still operating, this is going to be a very difficult thing for this uprising to be successful. I'm just wondering, how vulnerable do you think this Islamic Revolution guardcore is.
So I don't believe that IRGC is an ideological force. There might have been maybe decades ago, but right now there are a group of thugs.
That control the corruption in Iran.
They have been they have been sending a lot of money to through their own family ties, so outside the country, getting ready to escape Iran. When the time comes, and the time is almost here, is here, And so I don't think that when they see there and clearly they are going to resist, they're going to escape. And we are seeing those cracks right now, We are hearing those cracks right now within IRGC, and at the same time, no ILGC is one of the several military and military forces that Iran has.
There's a lot of fighting among them for power.
There's a lot of fighting among various factions in Iran for power.
So I think that at the end of the day, they're going to put up some resistance.
I don't think that toppling them would be very easy, but that resistance is at the same time have.
Been forming inside Iran through.
The resistance units of the National Council of Resistance of Iran and People's Giving Organization of Iran, who are the main opposition groups fighting the.
Iranian regime for the past five decades.
So when when the the power is going to shift in Iran and we're seeing the beginning of it, and when when the IRGC members see that they're not going to resist they're not ideological.
You mentioned the n c r I. I know these are a lot of initials, but that's the National Council of Resistance of Iran, and that seems to be the force that would at least initially go in there and and try to establish a more demo democratic government in Iran. This is a this is a group in exile, the NCRII. I know there are a few of the ncri I,
quite a few actually based here in the United States. Doctor, you know what's going on over there, and you know the strength of the particular resistance groups that are based here. What do you think is the outcome of this uprising? Leave beside your hope what you hope for, but realistically, what do you think the outcome of this this uprising in Iran will be?
So the current uprising that started a few days ago, I cannot predict what is where it will be next week or a few days or next month. But one thing that is utterly clear in my head is that the Iranian regime has been accelerating down in its power, in its great on the country, and the economy is totally broken. There's a water bankruptcy inside Iran, and it's and and and then shocking water shortage in Iran. There the Iran in regym is losing its greep on hour.
So and then at the same time you see that resistance have been unascending. The resistance units have been increased significantly, both in numbers and the quality of the tactics that they use. So when you when you draw these two lines, there is no doubt in my mind looking at it scientifically, that these two lines are going to intersect.
How soon that could be, I don't know. It is very soon. But I cannot predict the day.
Doctor. We appreciate your time here on seven hundred w l W. I know it's a very per and passionate thing for you. Thanks for enlightening us here as to what's going on there, and hopefully we can phone you up and do this again as this situation develops, and I think you're right. Who knows where it goes, but it will develop. Thank you again, doctor, and all but save everything safe, happy in health in this new year. Thank you, thank you and much.
That was my pleasure to be with you, sir.
Yeah, I mean we've seen this before in in lesser things around Iraq. I'm sorry, in Iran, and it's it's obvious that what happened in the summer with the nuclear attacks, you know, the attacks on the nuclear sites there in Iran has had a devastating effect on their economy that was in pretty bad shape before all of that. Now where it leads to, I don't know. I don't have the same kind of hope that doctor Heronian had about the actual police over they're the military or whatever. Maybe
they're hired guns, maybe they're not. But I think it all depends on whether or not the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps would be faithful to the Homani regime, or if it would just you know, in essence, be be what they are hired guns, and they might realize that all of that's transpired there in the wake of the Shah being disposed and sent into exile back in nineteen seventy eight. It's been fifty years. We'll see. I don't know. The
change though, has to come from within. It's not going to be somebody like the United States or Russia or anybody like that coming in and trying to do a regime change. It just it never works. We will keep an eye on. It's something that's just popped up in the last five days and I think a very interesting situation.
I hope you did too. Twenty seven on this Friday News Radio seven hundred WLW Mickey Mouse and the copyright that Disney has on Mickey Mouse is expiring at the end of this year, and that means that the character Mickey Mouse can be used for anything. Could Mickey Mouse be in porn? Hello, quiet Skokes, I'm broadcasting seig mouse porn, mouse porn. You're a big fan of mouse porn, aren't you? No, I am Mickey Mouse alone. Mickey Mouse is in the
public domain. Well, steamboat Willy is in the public domain, seg so that means he can be used for anything. Uh whatever, we got like everything else, right, Betty Boop just went into the public domain. Wait a minute and stand by, because I guess in like three years. According to Dave Keaton, our produmer, Fudd keeps trackless, no snow white in the Seven Dwarfs. No way, I'm telling that's it. That's it. I've had it. You could.
You could have those people doing anything. Dope be sleepy and the rest of them.
And songs, two songs come into the public It's unbelievable. It's going to be happening here.
Ken Breuthie is fouture Port is a proud service of your local tame Star Heating and air Conditioning dealers Tamestar quality you could feel in Cincinnati called Stacey Heating and Air Solutions five one, three, three six seven.
H E A T spots.
Thank you, Roxy. We also want to thank Lear's Prime Market for our lunch today. Deluxe Delli located in beautiful downtown Milford Learsprime dot com. Lear's Prime always a cut above you know. I go in there a lot sick. It's a good place. They got a great I mean the fresh meats, and they're unbelievable guys. They chop it up right in front of you.
Amen. They got some sandwiches there, delicious. Then they got they got fruits and vegetables. They sell their a magnificent wine selection and a craft beer bar. It's unbelievable. What's going on in that place? About that? If you've never been there, you got to get there, Melford there, got to go there. I might see you there. You probably will. At some point. You'll probably see me up there at the b counter saying, get me some skinless, boneless chicken.
Now, let's see ken brew. Indiana smokes Alabama. Last night in the Rose Bowl, Oregon knocks off Texas Tech and Old Miss upset the Dogs of Georgia. So now the semi finals are set next Thursday, Fiesta Bowl in Arizona, Miami, and Old Miss Friday, January ninth, and the Peach Bowl of the atl It gonna be Oregon and Indiana.
I like Indiana. I think Indiana wins that game. Yes, not sure about Old Miss. I think the Hurricanes are gonna win. That one. Yeah, the Hurricanes are playing good. Old Miss might have had their best swing at it last night.
And the the big and mighty Southeastern Conference now in bowl games this year two and six?
How about Old Miss? Their coach leaves Miss leaves goes and grabs the money, right, and so now his team, they point the defensive coordinator is the head coach? Correct? Keep the same team? Yep, team plays great. And now Lane Tiffin's down there in LSU trying to get some of his assistants to join him from Old Miss. And he can because they're still playing football. Correct?
And how about the and Lane Kiffin who left last month? As you know, yes I do, received a half million dollar bonus from his new employer at LSU thanks to his former team winning last night. The bonus is part of an agreement LSU reached to with the coach to lure him out of Old Miss.
I love when people get lowered, that's that deal. I love when people get loose.
So he's made nine hundred thousand dollars on Old Miss and he's not there anymore.
And look at me. I was trying to scrap together enough money to go get a salami sandwich.
Thank you and also can brew. The poor is open. Thank god, the door is open. Brendan soarsby. The former UC Bearcat number one quarterback, apparently in the portal rankings, could earn up to five million.
He's gonna, he's he's set up.
He's visiting Texas Tech today in LSU tomorrow.
Say, the whole world's out of whack? Have you noticed that you're not kidding? And college football you're not. You're not rooting for players that you're rooting for uniform correct, I mean, I mean you have to Half the time you don't know who these people are. They show up in the uniform. So of Cincinnati basketball, I'm sure if you were into it, knee deep into it, you're following it every day. I mean, I you know, I try to stay as on top of it as possible. This
season began back in October of that. Who are these people? I never I never saw them before? Where do all these players come from? Today?
In college football, there's more players as Memphis, Tennessee, the site the home of the King, the Liberty Bowl will take place as Cincinnati Bearcat. It's a number twenty two Navy three point thirty right here on seven hundred WLW.
Here's your problem with that game? Yeah, Brendan Soorsby has taken interviews at Texas Tech right in LSU. Yeah, and there's not a single Navy player that's entering the portal. The only portal they're entering is the one that gets them on a boat for a submarine. Exactly.
College basketball tomorrow Big twelve opener for the Bearcats. They host eighth rated Houston one thirty here on seven hundred WLW Big East. Tomorrow, Xavier's in Chicago take on De Paul at one thirty fifty five KRC fourteen to oh. The Miami RedHawks are home to Malett Hall. Hopefully it's packed against the Akron Zips.
You know, I think about Dan Horde a lot. Yes, we've intersected. He's the Bengals play by play guy. I used to be the Bengals play by play guy. He is on local TV here, I was on local TV here. Correct. What game do you think has the best chance of ending in a win for Dan Horde? Would be the UC football game today now at the Liberty Bowl now, or the UC basketball game tomorrow against Houston. It'll be the Bengals on Sunday. Well, I only put those two
out because they were the kay cut. By the way, the quarterback at Kentucky is in the transfer I know who isn't. Well, I don't know who isn't the portal. If you could go in the transfer portal to any radio station in the world, would you enter the portal? Now, which of the celebrities that host shows here on seven hundred W WELW, which one do you think would be the one that would garner the most interest in the radio transfer portal? William D. Cunningham. Ah, but you got
to ask yourself. Got to ask yourself or Lance, got to ask yourself. Oh okay, I'm gonna ask myself. Popularity with age, how much time? How much can you give where you're going? Tom Brown? Hey, well there you go. Now you're thinking. Now you're thinking a younger, younger, got younger compared to most of us here, younger guy, and uh, he would command I think a lot of attention and moolah if he were to enter the radio transferred portal. Now, a guy like me at one time, maybe, but not at my head.
But they're probably gonna end up with the senior transfer portal now, you're talking and then like a like a sophomore, like a freshman talking sophomore, junior and senior, like like like this college you're supposed to go to.
If they ever had radio programs for the home, I think we could put together an all starline to enter that unbelievable Are you kidding? We call ourselves whom the home, and we'd all be in that portal, that's correct. The only guy at in wheelchairs, you know, Brennaman probably wouldn't, Rocky probably wouldn't. Now Eddie Fingers, he may open the door of the portal. He got willing. Yeah, oh Sloan's nose spring shipping. Now you're getting to Gary Cheff. Now
you're getting to Sterling. I mean we're talking about one for the aged here. I mean, thank God said that you and I are on the right side of that argument. Amen to that.
Bengals update brought to you by Good Spirits, Winding Tobacco and Party Town Beautiful. Let's see thirteen convenient locations in Northern Kentucky and Good Spirits and Party Town. Bengals winded up Sunday against those Browns.
Thank God.
Nine am with you, Moe and Tony Pike. Yeah, a lot of people drinking early that day. RNL Carriers pregame Sports Talk Shoe Yeah, presented by Cincinnati Northern Kentucky Toyota Dealers Live at Holy Grail Kick Office at one. Then you're going to have the Tri State Chevy Dealers postgame show presented by Arnel Carriers. After the game live at Buffalo Wings and Rings in the Liberty Township with the Chickster and number thirty three.
David Fulta. Do you know who the hardest working man is on Bengal game days? Mike Mills. That's correct and extrawd in air here that keeps us on the air. That's true. That guy is. That guy is packing and unpacking equipment like he's headed for some cruise. Man, He's just throwing stuff in a trunk, opening the trunk at the next place, set it up, and throwing it in the trunk and then driving back.
Chase Brown's gonna play Sundays and Charlie Jones and Joseph o'sire out.
For a while. O size in his contract.
Heres, sir, EHL Hockey Tonight, I beloved Cyclones are along the Big River downtown against Toledo. What if they go on strike after the first period. I don't think so. They just got a five year deal. But it doesn't matter. Maybe they maybe they just they're not walking out.
You have no idea, no, nobody has any idea what happens when.
They do the play the hole Leagu's gonna fold in a week. It's gonna be like the.
W h A.
Well, they're only paying those guys ten to fifty an hour. I think they got I think they're up to minimum wage now. According to the President, Winter Winter Classic gets set for tonight in Miami at Lone Depot Baseball Park, ken Brew the New York Rangers and Florida Panthers playing in a baseball park.
Some people don't like this.
They wanted the you know, they wanted a pond hockey and up north and snowing and cold, and but you know, the Tampa Bay in a month, Tampa Bay, on February first, is going to host the game at Raymond James Stadium in Florida.
Just that's that's that's crazy. I mean, I'm just looking at at Florida right now. Right it's it's like seventy eight degrees in Miami, right and Tampa what are they in Tampa February. First, it's gonna it's gonna be eighty degrees, seventy five degrees. I think you had. The ice is going to melt. They'll be putting on swimming expeditions, exhibitions.
Down look, good, look at the summer games. Then I'm just oh, let's see the New York Rangers can brew are five and oh in these outdoor games.
How about that? That's pretty impressive inside not so good? No, that's true. So I'm saying saying that a lot of a lot of times you try to reinvent the wheel, you know what I'm saying, Well, that's trying to be the smartest guy in the room. Games in Florida, the ice is gonna melt.
Well, what a couple of years ago they had it when it was at Ohio Stadium with the Jackets.
That's right. Now, I've got an idea. You and I talked about this idea several years ago. All right, one of the most underused facilities in the world is pay Corpse Stadium. Right, Yes, why couldn't you put on a Winter Classic at pay Corpse Stadium and you would have two games in there? Yes, you would have the Cincinnati Cyclones in the Indie Fueld taking on taking on the Cleveland Lumberjacks Minor League hockey game, and then and then say you would put on eyes the Columbus blue jacket
against the Chicago Blackhawks a double head. I'm telling you, I don't know if they get sixty three thousand, but I bet you they'd get forty five fifty thousand. And then you know what happens after that. Then people say, wow, Cincinnati, why don't they have a franchise in the National Hockey League. And that's some dude with a lot of money, you know, maybe living out in some you know ranch with six girlfriends in Las Vegas, diamonds dripping off everyone, cash coming
out of his pocket like it's lint. He's going to say, hey, I might want to finance that. It all begins with a seed said, it all begins with an idea.
There you go, Ken prew We'll see what I Maybe Bill de Witt'll come back.
He's still here, Yeah, Saint Louis. I think I saw him the other day up here Indian Hill.
He's still here. So I mean, bring him back here, bring them back where they probably got the uniform still down there, Bryan Hea, can is he still alive?
Oh? Bring him back? Yes?
You get John Barrett from Western Southern about the sentas guy.
Now we're talking there, you go. All you need now is an arena some dude with two billion dollars to get a franchise and ice. After that, we're all set. Okay, sech get us out of the Stooge report.
Ken Brew in honor of a sunny day here in the Tri State and temperature's going up, Thank goodness.
We leave you with the immortal words of the stew Report. Well, what if they unleash Goofy on Mickey Mouse and Goofy takes Mickey Mouse out and that's it? And then Goofy is like he's like a fourth or fifth line character. Nobody cares what Goofy's going to do. I mean, they could really have a lot of fun with this and really traumatize a lot of children.
Not kidding. What about Pluto and Mini Mouse? What would Mini Mouse do?
Hang on? Stand BYO is in the public domain this year.
Uh oh.
He was an early character. He was Rover. Initially he was Mini Mouse's pet, but then he was unleashed as the main character. So Pluto is out there in the public domain. So you're saying snow White and the Seven Dwarfs are next. I'm telling you this thing could be the They could be all kinds of just absolute What about what about Mary Poppins, Well, I know, I think she's I think she's safe for a while. I think Mary Poppins is safe for a while. What about the Dalmatians.
Dick van Dyk is like a hundred, so he could be in the he could be at the public domain at any moment. You could have all kinds of degenerate things out there with these characters being unleashed for god knows what. I think we ought assume them. And we're sitting around here worrying about Venezuela drug boats and Ukraine and Russia. We should be worrying about Mickey Mouse characters in the public domain doings. What on film, Walt Disney's
terrorizing children and god fearing people all over the world. Yeah, that's what I'm That's what I'm wrapped up there right, All right, there we go, seg I'll see you in an hour. Yes, their ken Brew. All right, I'm glad we could get to the bottom of these things me too. God knows where that leads to. Well, it's coming up on two fifty three. Stand by, we've got the top five New Year's resolutions for twenty twenty six. Oh, by the way, say, did you know that eighty percent of
New Year's resolutions never get realized, just get punted? Yeah? Thank you? And in the first two months. It's a staggering number. It's like seventy percent of it happens in the first two months. Or what about the first few hours? I would yeah, or days? What about today? You may made a resolution the other day it's already gone. You make a resolution when you're drunk. You wake up in like four or five hours, and I said, what I'm gonna do? What I'm gonna do that way? And the hell I'm doing that?
Correct?
One f three News Radio seven hundred.
W l W two.
Seven on this Friday, January second, nineteen hundred. Wait a minute, miss that one. By about twenty six years, twenty twenty six. Great to have you with us, the average American in for the great American. I think a lot of us are trying to live better in twenty twenty six, right, I mean, as I talked about a few hours ago, twenty twenty five. You can do nothing about the only thing we have really is today, but really is this
year that we're in. And a lot of what we try to do to make life better for us is out of our control. A lot of things that happened from an economic extense, be it inflation, be it the cost of fuel and whatnot, we don't have any control over that. We can just you know, suck it up and suffer the consequences and move on, or get bogged down by that thought and just absolutely get paralyzed by it, or we can we can do other things that make
ourselves better. And it's funny, you know a lot of the people that make New Year's resolutions, they don't followed through on them. I just saw this the other day. Most people don't high rate failures of New Year's resolutions, often around eighty to ninety percent. And a lot of those resolutions that you make, you're not resolving yourself to do just two weeks into a new year. But there is a poll out top five New Year's resolutions for
twenty twenty six. You gov is the upholster, and it revealed that thirty one percent of us will come up with a resolution set of goal heading into twenty twenty six, and the number one on that list is exercise more. Twenty five percent of us say that's what we want to do. People that were surveyed under forty five they want to save more money, not thirty percent. Well, that's that's one poll that's out there. How about somebody that knows a little bit more about that than what you
gov does? I think she does. We've had Lisa W. Mill around with us many times before or She is a nationally known researcher, keynote speaker, and author, and she's been in places like The Wall Street Journal, NBC, Nightly News, Fox, and other places around the country. She has just completed a survey on resolutions, and it's great to have Lisa with us again. Lisa, how are you on this glorious day.
I am doing great. Thank you so much for having me in the Happy New.
Year, Happy and healthy new Year to you as well. I think that I don't doubt that people say to themselves on New Year's Eve, you know what, I'm going to do this in this case twenty twenty six. I am going to be better at this, better at that. But we seem to as a people lack the resolve with our resolutions. Why do you think that's the case.
Well, I think that's a pretty easy one, honestly, is that we get so distracted with you know, day to day living and that old adage of it takes twenty one days to create a new habit. And so that's why a lot of people by you know, the third week of January. They've even started coining it a name, which is by you know, by the third week of January, like how are you doing on your New Year's resolution? But for me, what I always think about is how
do you think of it? Less about this you know date on the calendar, and really instead of a new Year's resolution, it's really just you know, people want to be happier. Sure, people want to save money and drink more water and exercise all those things that are on that you gov poll. But at the end of the day, generations are different and kind of what we need as humans kind of varies by the life.
Stage we're in.
Yeah, absolutely, there's no question about it. You reach a certain stage in life and things like wealth or building more wealth is just I mean, it's just almost impossible. But when you're younger, all things are at your footstep and your your poll you pulled genders and I've thought a lot of this thing. A lot of the this
poling was interesting, financial intensity, digital boundaries. With the younger crowd, with the gen Z crowd, this is getting more more traction than with some of the older the millennials and the and the boomers and people like that. What is it about gen Z that made it interesting to you to survey them?
Well, and my survey was eighteen plus years old, and so I can talk about not only gen Z because that was really fascinating, but how they compare to millennials and gen X and boomers depending, you know, a lot of different listeners out there. But for gen Z, why it caught my eye was that the number one gap, meaning that they were significantly higher than total population, was happiness. They were full fourteen points higher on the idea I
just want to be happy. And it goes in line with the fact you know that all the jobs, you know, there's all this press that all the AI is taking all the jobs, you know, unemployment and all of these things, and so being happy is just pretty foundational. But to your point that financial intensity the fact that at a much higher rate, it's you know, the time value of money, you know, like a guy like Dave Ramsey, It's like, if you start at gen Z, then if you start
saving money, the compounding effects. So they're kind of getting that. But then this idea of you know, putting down their phones, you know, creating those digital boundaries. We know that generation and is really the first to grow up, you know, the whole Their phones were in their hands when they were thirteen years old versus millennials they came later. And so they they're realizing that destruction is just not good
and it's not good for their goals. It's not good for their mental health, which is also one thing that you know, we the gen Z are working on as well as just eating better. So when you're younger, you definitely are more all in on New Year's resolutions. But it's just interesting to see what out of thirty things, these are the items that really scored higher for gen Z than the rest of the rest.
This, yeah, be happier. Now we have a quarterback for our football team in this town. You may or may not have heard of Joe Burrow, but he's making hundreds of millions of dollars. He's very good.
I know, I know of him.
So his last news conference of the season was just a couple of days ago, and someone asked him what his year New Year's resolution was, and he said, be happy. And he's a he's a borderline gen z Er, he's at the upper end of gen Z. But he said be happy. And I said that struck me at you know, a money can't buy happiness. You and I both know that. But with your survey in mind, why why is that in your opinion? Why is that such a big thing for gen Z Are they Are they just not a
happy group? Or is it something else?
Well, definitely the data shows that they are by far not the most lonely, you know, with all the digital connectivity, they are highly like highly lonely. In fact, two times more lonely, four and ten gen Z actually report feeling lonely versus about twenty three percent for the rest of
the country. And if you think about this, think about maybe when you were twenty years old or twenty five years old at that time, we lived in a different error, even millennials for that matter, you know, things were you didn't have this constant violence on your phone, whether it's you know, school shootings, violence within cities, wars, tragedies happening. And then the other thing is even just simple things about corporate you know, bad behavior and corporate CEO salaries
and all these things. We didn't have that growing up in this generation. You know, since they were thirteen years old, all of that's been in their pocket, and so it's it's kind of tainted in a way, you know, the possibilities. They just have had a lot more exposure to things that the rest of us didn't see till way later.
And so as a result that idea of just that basic happiness, you know, can We've talked so a lot of times over the years, and you know, every single day there is joy and happiness around us, but sometimes it's hard to see just because there's so much negativity around us. And so that's why I think gen Z is just ultra all in on you know, finding you know, being happy, just the simple basic being happy.
Yeah, And I think it plays into something else that you have in your survey, thirty two percent of gen z ers aim to reduce screen time. That's a twelve point gap, so thirty two percent digital boundaries look, the world, as you just mentioned, is full of bad news. All you have to do is doom scroll and you'll find all of it. Again, this is a phenomena of the iPhone, which came in I think two thousand and five, two
thousand and six. But the fact of the matter is, it stands to reason if you put digital boundaries on yourself, all of these outside forces will not affect the way you think. Certainly, you've got to stay up on what's going on in the world for safety and other reasons, but over and above that, you don't have to be constantly on that device. This group, the gen Z group, tends to get that more so than others. I think that's encouraging, don't you.
I do. And I think the other thing, there's two other trends that are kind of bubbling up, and we'll see where they go. Particularly gen Z. You know, they're hearing how AI is going to take all the jobs and all the entry level and there's some merit to that. But the thing that's interesting they're finding, Yes, they use gen Z a lot compared to other age groups, but
they also are getting the cringe factor. So you know, we've seen newsletters in our inboxes and we read social media posts and you know, the longer they get and then they just there words that are not what that person might speak. And so gen Z is like onto it, like in the transparency, like you know, don't be lazy.
You know, if social media, particularly, I think there's going to be a little bit of a backlash and we'll see how it gets to all this AI generated content and and things like that, and where humanity and being human sounds crazy as it is being human and those human characteristics are going to be you know, harder to find but even more important because of all the AI sure content and such.
Yeah. Well, I mean, the company that owns this radio station is onto it. iHeart has got a whole campaign out that we're totally human, we're not AI. But unfortunately, there are so many things that are out there, not just in radio but in in social media. Who knows where else you could certainly find it. Certainly if you go on to a newspaper's website and you'll see a
disclaimer some of this was AI generated. So I think, yeah, maybe they maybe they do get the fact that you know, I might trick mom and dad, but it's not going to going to trick me and I I maybe and that's a lesson probably for mom and dad. Would you not? Would you not? Agree?
Definitely? And that's what's you know, I have kids that are in their twenties, and when you look at it, you know, I try to learn what I can from their generation. I have two gen zs and one millennial actually, and you know you as parents, we do have to kind of keep up with what's going on and and
try to live a day in their world. I'll tell you one thing on this gen Z idea and around being happy, honestly, And if there's parents out there, maybe you can relate to this, which is if you have a child, whether maybe you know, middle school, high school, college or whatever, and you're maybe frustrated to say, maybe they're not doing exactly what you want them to doing, whether it's you know, applying a job or you know, finding that job or finding you know, that college application.
As parents were like when I was you know, when I was your age, this is what I did. That is the death and I mean guilty is charged. And the fact of the matter is they're growing up in a materially different.
World than we did.
And I know every generation probably has said this, but it's actually it is very much true that this generation has grown up so differently, and it does start with it. You know, two thousand and seven, you know when the iPhone came out, it changed everything.
Lisa W. Miller is our guest. She's a researcher and author. She's done her own survey about New Year's resolutions and the gen Z crowd. The top one is be happier. I'm just wondering this has really more the way you go about this. Polling is such a difficult thing anymore, particularly in politics, to get to get the right amount of people from the right demographic, to make sure you
come to the right conclusion. How difficult is it to do surveying and polling in this day and age where a lot of people if they see a number they don't like, they don't answer, or if they see a text they don't care about it, they let it go. It's difficult. This polling difficult.
Yeah, And I think two things on that. Ken is so when I do my surveys one thousand people every single month, and believe it or not, from the pandemic March twenty twenty, I'm up to ninety thousand consumers surveyed over that FOT. Yeah, it's crazy, But what I have to do each and every time is that you know, quality data is so important in my work, and that we have to make sure that the sample is representative across geography, age, income, ethnicity, so many variables because garbage
and garbage out. But the other big thing is in the today's world in research, you have to be worried about bots taking surveys, and so there's a lot of safeguards that are put into place to make sure that a human is actually taking the survey. So that's another kind of thing that in my world we have to worry about. But the other thing, specifically when I'm talking to gen Z in a separate survey, not this necessarily New Year's literally at the front of the survey ken,
I said, I am an independent researcher. I don't work for a company or I want to know your true heartfelt thoughts and opinions on these questions. And the reason I did that was to have them really think about what the questions were and not just be an automatic pilot taking it. And on the back end, I said, what else would you want to tell me? And literally, I had hundreds and hundreds people saying, you get me. It's the first survey that I feel like understands my generation.
Thank you for doing it. I wish you the best. It was insane, and so when you ask different questions and you ask good questions, people want to share their opinions. So that's part of getting good quality data.
Well, I'm sitting here thinking, why wouldn't a major political party hire you? Maybe they have, I don't know, but hire you because all this pulling that we see in and around election time, most of it is just absolutely inaccurate. And I'm thinking to myself, why wouldn't they hire somebody like you to do that? Are you? Are you involved with that end of it when it comes to polling.
Well, here's the sunny thing, Ken is so I was a political science major when I started college, and then I turned to marketing. I turned to marketing. So I am one of those crazy people that I geek out a lot and political polls and such, because honestly, I do feel like I could ask better questions. But to answer the question, has anybody ever hired me to do polls for politics?
No?
But I will say in the different elections since I've been doing this, mine has definitely predicted the outcome, and you know, with precision kind of can tell why. So I think asking better different questions you get to better answers.
Yes, all of this polling you've done with gen Z, this particular one, the other poll you mentioned gen Z, I think it's a bad rap. I really do. I think it's a different You have to engage a gen Z or differently for all of the reasons we just talked to. But I think when I look at that, make it a age group and using understandably this as an umbrella and not necessarily in any specific way, but
I'm encouraged by that group. I just think you've got to you got to understand what makes them tick, and if you do, I think you're going to get a lot back in return. That's how I found it, just anecdotally in my everyday life.
It sounds like you have to, Oh my gosh, Ken, that is exactly why I did the survey among gen Z because I feel like they are getting a bad rap and it is so annoying to me when I see headlines that say gen Z is not employable. I saw a survey in one of the large you know papers, national papers, and it was a university professor that tested a hypothesis to say gen Z's unemployable. And then I'm like, well great, So then gen Z sees all these negative
headlines and like, well, everybody's out to get me. And so yeah, my whole mission, you know, since I've started this work, is giving gen Z a voice because they're very onto the very creative. And if you want people to help figure out the next phase, next phase of growth and digital transformation, and AI hire gen Z. Yeah, you know, if you if you try to ask gen Z, I'm sorry, if you ask AI the questions that I ask,
you get bogus answers. But nobody's taking the time to really say if AI is giving you good quality data, and a lot of times it's not. So beware out there there's a lot of bad data, you know that's being quoted in AI.
A university professor saying, is are gen Z people employable? And if I'm sure he came to the to the conclusion no, but just go ahead and keep sending me your money so I can educate your kids so they're not employable. I mean, it's just yah, Well.
But the crazy thing on that particular newspaper article was the fact that what they did was a survey and they basically said what matters to gen Z at work, and then what matters to managers at work, and then because there was not a high overlap, it just says
gen Z is unemployable. And I'm like, maybe there's a different outcome, which is maybe you know, we have to adapt and you know it's a different world and leverage their strengths versus always saying calling out there lazy or unemployable because they're not.
Absolutely Lisa W. Miller you can find her at lwmdash Associates dot com. Lwmdash Associates dot com. It's it's great talking to you again, and I say this all the time. We need to hear your voice. So stay well and hopefully we can do this again real soon.
Thank you, Thank you so much, Ken, and happy New Year too.
Yeah.
I do think gen z ers are getting a bad rap. And it'd be to say like boomers. Now Boomer says something on Twitter or some other and everybody, okay, Boomer, Well that's that guy. It's not every guy. It's not every Boomer. It's not every gen Z person. But unfortunately that's what we want to do. We want to drop drop tags on people and and things like that. Not here though, not here to twenty seven, counting down to you see football at three point thirty today, you see
a Navy in the Liberty Bowl. News radio seven hundred WLW, And where are the Cleveland Browns?
Hello?
Quiet, and I'm Scots, I'm broadcasting.
Seguy wouldn't bro broadcast or boast of being the Cleveland brown now, just saying no, that's true. You're right. Do you ever see that that movie Draft Day with Kevin Costner, who's the general manager of the Brown Yeah, I'll watch that show way it is now? I guess yeah, I guess it is now. But that guy was wheeling and dealing. Yeah, wheeling and dealing. I don't see.
You can't too much wheeling the dealing when you got what Deshaun Watson in two hundred and ninety dollars in there and it's like, okay, what do we do now?
Well, see, that's why I say he played a lick. Yeah, I'm just saying, you know, those are the reasons why SEG we watch sport, not necessarily to see who wins correct? See who melts down at his correct can? And where are the Cleveland Browns? Good luck to you? That could be the pep talk before Sunday's game.
Now, ken Brew, they a Stoot reporter is the proud service every local tame Star heating and air conditioning dealers. Temestar quality you could feel in Cincinnati, calwayoming air one eight eight eight nine nine six h.
V A C Thank you Roxy.
Let's see the football college football playoffs right well, you got college football today, a home of the kig Ken Bruce Liberty Bowl, Elvis Auto Zone Liberty Bowl. He's e everywhere, Bearkats at number twenty two, Navy three point thirty with the pregame.
Shoot, what do you think, seg who wins this game?
I think Navy's got They're gonna run it like crazy. I mean there's no uh you know. I mean, Dante Corleone's not playing a couple of the other defensive guys. You know, there's running backs out. I guess he's got a whole team to play. I don't know what are you gonna do?
I mean, you know, the way I look at this way is most of these bowl games don't matter they're they're exhibitions, right, What are these teams? One team just declined to go to any ball game because they didn't have that state, Kansas State. Yeah, it's just like I look at these things. I think I think these these non playoff bowl games or dying breed. They're floated only
by ESPN money. And as soon as the mouse does an audit of ESPN and see how much waste is there, I think a lot of these bowl games go by the wayside.
Your good friend Brandon Soresby ken Brew is listed as the number one quarterback in the portal. Now some say he could earn up to five million, five plus million.
He's got that. He's visiting Texas Tech today, LSU tomorrow. Wow. You know what, Troy's got a wide receiver named DJ Epps and he's gonna visit West Virginia early next week. And then you see next what yeh?
College football semi finals are all set next with Thursday Fiesta Bowl, the Canes and the Rebels go at it. Then next Friday, a week from the night, Oregon the Ducks take on number one Indiana and the Peach Bowl.
How about Kurt Signetti, That guy has got his humor is so dry, it's like licking the dirt in the Sierra desert. Amen. I like that he's getting it done. He's getting it done.
Of course, what you see, officials had him in for a talk of before.
Again enough experience. Yeah, you didn't have enough experience. That's okay. Yeah. Kentucky quarterback transfer Cutter Bowl he expected to visit Arizona State tomorrow. How about that? Yeah? So what money's going all over the place, sig Amen. College basketball? That's right, we got it. We got nil here at seven hundred WLW.
You know it's called endorsements college basketball. Tomorrow, Big twelve opener, the Bearcats are home up against eighth rat at Houston. Good luck with that one thirty right here on seven hundred WLW, Big East Plazavior looks to rebound from the loss against Yukon. The Musketeers are in the windy city of Chicago to you and me against those blue demons of DePaul one on fifty five KRC, the home of
Dale Donovan. Elsewhere fourteen and O the Miami RedHawks, who are rolling rolling baby er at Malett Hall tomorrow up against Akron, Kentucky and Alabama and Dayton at Loyola Chicago.
Unbelievable. Seg. So if you keep track of time a little bit. Yeah, you ever heard this song? Go ahead? Oh yeah, Ladies and gentlemen, from the George Harrison album All Things Must Pass? We offer you this hit let's song that's called what Is Life, which answers the age old question, how the hell would I know? This was forty five years ago today? Seg. When All Things Must Pass started a seven week run at number one. Oh my gosh, the post that was Dusty Roaches prime right there.
It was bitches, that was Dusty and his prime right there. Oh our seg what is Life? It's right here, ken Brew on the radio, You and me, Willie, everybody. Fifty five years ago All Things Must Pass number one on the US album's chart. Wow, how about that? That's when George Harrison was going through the whole Harry Kresh and all that. That's right. Yeah.
And then she broke up the Beatles, didn't she? No, that was Yoko Ono was completely different, Bengals up. They brought you My Good Spirits. Winding Tobacco and Party Town, where dry January is covered with an incredible selection of non alcoholic beers and wines, celebrate socialized stick to your goals, can brew at any of their thirteen convenient Northern Kentucky locations. Good Spirits and Party Town. Bengals winded up Sunday against those Browns.
We're the Cleveland Browns. That's right. Well, if I was in Cleveland, I wouldn't be dry January. I drinking heavily this month. Thank you and shovel and snow.
Nine am, Sunday, Best Bengals coverage begins with you Pike Egger at RNL Carriers pregame sports talk show presented by Northern Kentucky Cincinnai, Northern Kentucky Toyota Dealers Live You Bet the Holy Grail kickoff at one and then the Tri State Chevy Dealer's postgame Show presented by R and L Carriers. You can talk about what's ahead, the changes that might be happening down at pay Corps.
Who's on that show?
Live at the Buffalo Wings and Rings and Liberty Twip Township. That is the uh that is a number thirty three, the Pride of Arizona State.
Oh yeah, David fotcha David Fulcher, my favorite still had him around, you know, I don't know where they would play him at his side his playing size, Yeah, because he was a little he was big for a defensive back. True in the day, Corall, they might have to play him at outside linebackers, and they might have to go to three to four defense and have him as an edge rusher.
And then ken Bro of course, you're good friend. Number ninety five Miles Garrett is in town on Sunday and he's one sack away from the record, aren't we?
All?
Cyclones? Cyclones home tonight. They're not on strike down. No, the EHL strike is over. They're getting better pay, better equipment, everything else more to get evicted a little a little bit better, a little bit better than what they had in slap shot. But the cyclones are home tonight, up against those pesky Toledo Walleye.
Yeah. See, the ECHL paid for their housing. So these dudes are gonna go on strike. They were gonna get evicted from their homes like yesterday, right, Yeah, you know, the wives and the girlfriends were, we're gonna leave where you're making fifteen dollars an hour. We're gonna live where?
Well they could they could, well, no, they couldn't. They couldn't go to the arena because they couldn't sleep in the arena. Yeah, that's true. Oh you never know. They got plenty of room. Might be a little cold, but could be cold. I don't know.
That place is an easy place to fall to sleep in.
Two.
Yeah, I'm just saying, do you have a New Year's resolution?
I don't do that stuff, do you. I tried like years ago, mean too, I just I just gave up out wait and a few other things. I mean, you know, it's like, here's my resolution. When I go to bed at night, I resolved to wake up in the morning.
They get bigger. If I don't, who's gonna know that I broke my New Year's Resolution's right?
And you're not that statistic. What is it two days after or something that eighty percent of people break it? But you know, like in the month of January or something, it's ridiculous.
Yeah, I mean it's it's every they stay within by January ninety percent of these resolutions. You go to a gym and you see all these people you haven't seen before in your life, and three weeks later they disappeared. Yeah, they're back to they're back to you know.
Plus exercise, it's a weight, it's smoking, it's drinking, you know, everything.
Just there running around. Yeah, dogs and cats living together. I mean it's just it's horrible. Yeah, that's true. Say you got to get us out of the Stooge Report. Here, I'm here for an extra half hour. Do you think, wow, you got it? What you're hitting over time today? I don't know. I mean, I'm here a three thirty and the Liberty Bowl. We're all waiting for the Liberty Bowls.
You're going to talk about America leading into the Liberty Bowl, aren't you.
I'm going to talk about the cracking the bell is for Memphis. Yeah, now, did the Liberty Bell get a crack in it? That would be a great topic for a show. That's something you could talk to. That's true. If he ever comes back to work, he could he could tackle How did the Liberty Bell get its crack?
Who hit it? Hit him in the head? Who don't hit him in the head? Could have been butted by a ram nobody knows ken Brew. In honor of the Weekend, the Weekend, the group, no, just the weekend guy, we leave you with the immortal words of the Stooge Report.
The Highway patrol story next week is a very unusual one.
We hope he'll be with us.
Until then.
Remember the clowns at the circus are real funny him, but on the highway their murder. This is Rodrick Crawford saying, see you next week. I was a man right there. You're not cambered Highway patrol. Oh yeah, he was big, amen. He and Jack Webb probably threw down some whiskey at a bar in Los Angeles when they were, you know, filming those segments so I could see him. Uh, the guy that played wiat and and Jack Webb throwing down some shots at a bar in Hallway. The guy that
played Cannon William Conrade. That guy. I think that guy like the booze. And I'm not certain what do you think he did? Say? Guy gotta go yes or ken Brew. I'll talk to you at a later date. Have a great weekend and happy New Year. Same to you, Kevin on seven hundred w l W