All right, it is six so five here Kentucky in this morning news coffee and company with you on news Radio eight forty whas. Thanks for hanging out with us and spending your Friday morning with us. We're with you for the next few hours and of course getting you set for the weekend. I mentioned earlier as we started the show that I'm gonna be I'm going to be a solo dad this weekend. My wife's going out of town and she's going to a concert, and I'm happy that she's going to go have a good time. She
deserves a little weekend away. And there's really no this is nobody's fault, but I'm just curious. I can't be alone. As far as being very close to my kids, I'm with them a lot. It's not uncommon that I just have them whenever I pick them up from school, daycare, whatever it may be because their moms at work or their mom's doing something. So it's not like I've never been left alone with my kids by myself. I have often,
but I don't get jealous. It's just the way it is, where like sometimes they just want mom, and I'm gonna be dealing with that all weekend. I could take some pointers, some advice if any, but he hasn't. He just to distract them because they'll know that she's I mean, they'll be made aware that she's going to be gone and she'll be traveling, and she'll she'll return Sunday, but that is not going to keep either of them from asking me where she is when she's going to be back,
probably every every ten minutes or so. Uh so, And I I don't feel any any way of like, well, hey, because because here's the thing. Whenever at times a father has asked for like hey, you know, can you help me with the kids? Or it's not because they're helpless and they don't know what they're doing, but like there's just certain things that like your kids want their mom
to do more so than the dad. And you know, that's what I'm going to be, you know, I say, dealing with like I'm like, I like, it's some hardship that I'm going to have to recover from. Thoughts and prayers please for me. But it's just you know, they want their mama sometimes and we'll have fun, we'll make the best of it. But that's that's the beauty of
like FaceTime. That could but that could be like that could backfire, right, Like I could see my daughter seeing her mom and then realizing, wait a second, I just really realized you're not here, and I'm gonna be upset about it and I'm gonna cry and let you know that you need to come home. So anyways, we'll have fun, and this would be a nice weekend to be out and about and just let them play outside and have fun and.
Really let them get worn down so they go to bed early. That's kind of what I'm hoping for there.
But I may get you know, I may feel like a bad father having them out in this heat, because it's gonna be brutal. It is going to be sticky, humid, and uh, that's that's not very fun. So we'll probably find a pool and uh and make the most of it. John, you've got any big weekend plans.
Nothing super substantial.
I didn't that great.
Sometimes this is kind of this is the calm before the storm, because next weekend we have week zero college football?
Is that next weekend?
It is?
You shut your mouth.
I'm kidding, super Just get let's get through this heat and we're gonna have a few college football games next Saturday, and then things really hit the ground running in two weeks when all of our local teams get get.
Started, and then and then it's then it's on right then then we've got college football parlays we're building every week. We've got college basketball not too far away from that. And that is when life is just better for me, as somebody who probably probably relies on sports to you know, keep my pass exactly that. That's a really good way to put it, really good way to put it. So yeah, it'll be here soon. Speaking of college football, we'll talk
about this coming up on the other side. So ESPN and the NFL have merged, and I don't know the exact terms of the overall arrangement, but basically ESPN now owns Red Zone, like the brand and in the Red Zone channel where you watch NFL games in that in that format is a beautiful thing.
I love it.
I don't think there's a better sports experience really than just sitting in front of the TV on a Sunday and watching the Red Zone as they keep you updated about what's going on in every game. It's awesome. I cannot wait for it to happen. But because now that they've bought the rights to utilize that for other sports. There's been talk about doing it for college football, but the issue here is that not every conference has a media right to deal with ESPN, and we found out yesterday.
I guess the likelihood of that eventually happening, and we'll get to that next and I would love it, but for reasons i'll explain coming up here shortly, it doesn't make any sense for the other leagues that don't work with ESPN to do that, especially the other networks that paid a lot of money to monetize the rights of having exclusive games for the Big Ten and some other leagues. So we can get into that a little bit later on. And we're loaded here on a Friday morning. Mayor Greenberg
set to join us coming up at eight o'clock. Looking forward to that. Certainly a lot to discuss after a big week here in Louisville, with some great news as far as just the corporations that are extending their stay here in Louisville. I say stay, I mean textas throathouse. They've been here forever and they're not going anywhere, and that's good news, but also some not great news when it comes to just the week that we've had with violence. So Mayor Greenberg set to join us, coming up at
eight o'clock and we'll keep it rolling along. Here your next update of Travick Weather right here, right now on news Radio eight forty Whas. All I would I really had to do is just look at the calendar and I would have known this. But thank you John forgiving me news that I didn't realize and that we are just this is the last weekend without some.
Legitimate football exciting.
Yeah, Week zero is not is not what you're going to get for the next set, you know, the many saturdays to come. But it's it's a taste, it's an appetizer and I'll take it.
I remember last year you had Florida State playing in Ireland and they ended up being god awful.
They had a lot of high expectations. They end up winning two games that season.
Oh yeah, and I think Week zero is a real is a real good opportunity to make a statement potentially. Now a lot of it depends on who you play, but when you are one of just a few games, maybe one game, you're the only game as far as notable power for type opponents, when you get that level
of exposure and you look really good. I mean, it didn't mean everybody's going to think that you're great, but I just think there's so much value and the standalone opportunities, which that's why I think it really depends upon who you play and where you are as a team, but playing on Thursday night and Friday night can help you.
I mean people make fun of it, like.
That's when high school teams play, but you command so much more attention because you're not competing with other games that are going on. And let's be real, college football is a sport where the perception matters way more than it should. It's not based as much off results like it should be. It's a popularity contest to an extent, which I don't know how you fix that because you
only play twelve games. It's impossible now with these conferences being as big as they are, to actually put a schedule together for every team that is that is comparable.
You just don't know.
I mean Idiana is the best example of that. They had no clue that despite having the two teams that played in a national championship game the year prior on their schedule the next year that their schedule was going to end up being as weak as it was comparatively speaking, Did I just go back to being a sports host if.
I think like it's blacked out? No, it's fun. It's fun Week zero and then yeah.
But one reason I wanted to bring this up is just to extend the conversation from the last segment as far as a potential college football red zone channel, just like we get on NFL Sundays, and I mean, it would be great. I'd love it, but I never expected it. And it sounds like we now know that it's not going to happen, and it's for good reason. I mean, you got to keep in mind the reason that college
sports is really now not college sports. It's much more pro sports because everybody's making big time money, including a lot of players. Not every player, but the TV rights I mean, right, the media deals, the Big ten, the SEC specifically, and let's be real, the ACC in the
Big twelve. They're making a lot of money too. So these networks they pay a lot of money to have exclusive broadcast rights and they have to monetize that in order to make a lot of money after what they initially invested to have the rights to monetize it, so you'd be foolish to let somebody else use it. So the scenario where the Big Ten and who else is this is the Big twelve. I think the relationship with the Big twelve is weird. I think they're just kind
of with everybody. Yeah, they're dipping around, which is not a bad way to go. I actually think there's I actually find that to be I actually find that to be Potentially, you know, you got to take the best money that that is the best thing financially for everybody in your league. But there could be a benefit in being in different markets, within different networks and kind of splitting it up because it does, you know, it does
give you a little bit of leverage, I think. But yes, the I mean ESPN having the NFL's red Zone brand name got college football fans excited because they did tease it. But there are I mean Fox's Big Ten package is shared with CBS and NBC and again these this is relatively new, Like this is relatively new arrangement where the Big Ten is not in any way. I mean their new media rights deal when they brought in the West Coast schools. I mean, again that's this is just the
second year of those schools being there. So the scenario where they were going to license over the rights to broadcast it, that would make it way less monetizable, and it just would make no financial business sense at all. So, and I don't know if I would enjoy college football red.
Zone as much as the NFL.
I could maybe, you know, maybe I'm wrong, and I would love it, But you know, when I'm watching college football, I'm more so focused on individual games, not as much perusing but one o'clock slate in the NFL. But from a gambler's perspective, it could certainly be a lot of fun to keep up with what you got wagered out there.
All right, we've got trafficking weather updates on the way. Also, we got another sports update coming your way right here at Kentucky and his morning news news Radio forty whas. Thank you very much, mister Lincoln. It is Kentucky and is morning news here at news Radio eight forty whas, six thirty four on a Friday morning.
That's right. Can you feel it? Can you smell it? It's Friday.
We made it to the weekend, and we're going to get your set for the weekend here on News Radio eight forty whas I want to do a follow up on a story that we talked about. I believe it was last month that I just thought was was awesome. It is a non to one to one dispatcher who decided to leave what was I believe, a pretty successful career elsewhere and just wanted to help service community and being a non to one one operator was I mean,
by the way, that is absolutely serving your community. It's it's certainly an important job and there's way more that goes into it, I'm sure than any of us know. But Anthony Gore, Yeah, this was in May when it happened, but I believe we talked about it in June. He answered what WKY and their story that Addie Minors did the most exciting phone call of his career because on the other line was an expecting father, Ronnie Elsey, whose
wife was in labor and throughout he helped. Throughout this phone call, Anthony Gore, the non one one operator, he walked them through the birth of their child. And WOKY did a story on this, just updating the situation. As the dispatcher, mister Gore, he now has met the couple whose baby he helped the liver over the phone, and we'll let you hear this, but I'll tell you what is is a father of two. And maybe I know
I'm not alone here, but I'm sure everybody's different. There's just things during that experience, tension to detail, little things that just stick with you forever because of what that experience is when you when you have a child. So this guy, like it or not, he's going to be a part of their memory of bringing this baby into the world forever. And really it's a it's a it's a beautiful thing. I would want to meet this individual
as well if I was these parents. But this is the nine one one call that took place in May when this situation happened out.
Oh, oh about God, We'll go push you out a push push, push, push, push, push push water first.
Ended like this.
Oh.
On Thursday, nearly four months after nine to one one call taker Anthony Gore helped Ronnie Elsy and his wife Heather deliver their baby. The two finally got to say thank you in person.
If it hadn't been for him helping me focus with my breathing and to stay calm and to remember how to push whenever the pressure was happening. I honestly don't know how it would have ended up.
And earthing was moved.
You talk to me. You did a good, great job.
The three first met over the phone back in May when Heather unexpectedly went into labor at their home. So Ronnie called nine to one one and Anthony picked up.
He said, we're looking to see what the baby's coming at us.
But I tell him I did that the baby was halfway and he was sticking.
That, Hey, the baby's out.
When the baby starts crying, it's usually a good sign.
And I heard, uh, the little baby start crying, and I said, okay, it's a downhill from here in a good way.
Skinned the skin, contact the baby on your kids, and then cover the baby with a dry towel on blanket.
It wasn't chaotic, but it was just surprising because it happened all at once.
Heather and Ronnie now have a healthy baby boy named Ronnie Elsie the Third, and they say it's thanks to the help of Anthony Gore.
The little baby is adorable.
It's an adorable little child, a complete joy. He's always happy. And we came out healthy and that's all that we could ask for.
That was awesome.
And I know, again everybody's situation is different, but I remember vivid details just about the nurse and what would let me and this this, And I don't have a great memory compared to most.
I don't think I don't. I don't know.
Maybe I do, but like I remember going to the vending machine and seeing there were only three options for me to pick as we were, as I was pacing my wife, she she had gotten a repidural and at that point it's just kind of the waiting game. And and I don't remember what I had for dinner last night sometimes, and yet I remember those things because it's just it's it's it's an experience that is a special
one in every way. And this is this one's a little more memorable, I would say than others, because it's not often that this happens. But hey, that's it's one of the many reasons why None one one operators are very very important. And uh, yeah, John, you are a new father, and I'm sure you know that day for you is one that you know obviously you're gonna remember
it forever. But I think the mother and father clearly a much different situation whenever a baby's being born, right the mother carries it and another one going through birth, and you know you want to do everything you can to kind of help throughout that process. But you know, it's also you're not bringing the child physically into the world, but you are becoming a dad, or maybe for the first time, or maybe you're adding a kid to the family, and it's just, I don't know, there's so much emotion
that goes with it. I can't really I don't think you could really describe it until you've been there.
Yeah, and especially the way that it worked out for us. I won't get into the details with the birth or anything, but we were just going for one of our routine appointments and we were about a month away from our due date for the baby, and we just kind of found out like, hey, this is uh, we're gonna go ahead and push her out now, just because of some
things that were going on internally. And you know, thankfully, she's been very healthy since then, and she wasn't the nick you for about eleven days whenever she was first born. But we're both very thankful and blessed that those at Norton women's and children's were very They were about as accommodating and great as they could have been during the whole process and provided a very memorable experience and a good overall experience for both me and my wife.
Well, and you know, that's that's their job. They sign up to do that. They go to work every day. But to do that and still, you know, don't just see it as you punching the clock and working you are you are, because man, that's all I need is is just somebody to kind of, you know, give me some reassurance that, like, you know, because they'll tell you stuff.
I just remember that they would talk about the process and I didn't know what a lot of it meant, thought I did, and I would ask questions and you know, I could be a panic dad and they know that they get that every day, but also doing a job, doing their job to kind of make me feel more at ease about certain things. So yeah, it's a I mean, it's it's a it's an important job in a variety of ways to to be there in the hospital during
that process for a variety of reasons. And uh, that's why I mean again, I'll remember these two, these two nurses that helped us bring both our kids into the world. I'm sure they don't remember me, but I remember them. But but Anthony Gore, this is this guy is I mean, what a story. He's previously a prosecutor, but he left the court to service city in this way. So his late father was a police officer in courtroom bailiff and that inspired him early to get into the career of
being a prosecutor. But you know, he decided to once he once he shifted careers, he still wanted to help out the community. And that's probably one of the many non one one calls that he's received and will receive that I'll never forget.
So good stuff there.
All right, We've got an update of trafficking weather coming your way right here right now on news Radio eight forty whas it is Friday morning here at Kentucky and his morning news coffee and company with you here on News Radio eight forty w h as had a busy morning thus far, and that will that will continue. We've got a couple of guests set to join us at
seven o'clock. Will be joined by l and PD spokesman Dwight Mitchell here in studio and then also Mayor Greenberg set to stop by at at eight o'clock, and again looking forward to those to those conversations. But one of the things that we were discussing a little bit earlier
is the the JMI deal that UK signed. And I don't want to get too deep into the weeds on it, but I want to look at this more so from just a sports fan perspective than just a sports story, meaning things on the court, on the field, and whatnot. So this is more rare than I realized, meaning there is not another high level college athletics program as of right now that is essentially signed away what Kentucky has
signed away. And the reason is just because of the amount of money that JAMI was willing to throw out there to have the ability to kind of own everything. They're not just owning the media rights broadcast rights, they own the licensing for the brand, and they have done that for a while. But what's different here is that JMI is now in charge of all NIL, all players arrangements, contracts.
They don't seem like contracts because the players can do whatever they want when they get paid, but nonetheless there's something in writing as far as these NIL deals, and if you're Kentucky Mitch Barnhardt, I mean, was so much un certainty going on in college athletics. It's been that way for quite some time. If you've got a chance to take this deal and already cover the annual twenty plus million dollars you're going to owe to the student athletes with revenue share, I mean, it'd be hard to
turn that down. I mean that that's for sure money come in your way. That helps you breathe a little easier, knowing that that's not going to be a challenge to you quite like.
It is others.
But you also just have to hope that JMI is able to do that part of their gig, of their role effectively, because again these other there's there's other schools.
Let me give you an example.
UCLA and I believe Ohio State are also they have arrangements with JMI, and and for example, if you ever heard of lear Field, that's that's the same thing. U of L has lear Field where they they own the broadcast rights, but they don't really limit what UL does in other areas.
But with JMI, they're not.
Kentucky's not going to have an nil collective Ohio State and UCLA they have a similar arrangement. But when it comes to recruiting, selling players and putting together deals rounding up money, they're still going to have those outside collectives. So this is a new world for JMI, and I
get it from their perspective. It has become so so hard to make back the money and then make money from your investment because whenever JMI, lear Fields those types of companies that again they pay a lot of money to these schools so they can then sell the advertising. The banners that you see in them Center and rapp Arena, those are not sold by UK. Those are sold by
these companies like JMI and Learfield. Well, a lot of the corporate money, a lot of the big sponsors that you see in the YOUM Center or at LNN Stadium. When college sports completely flipped on its head and the floodgates opened up and you had to pay players in order to get them, they started having to give money not just to you know, to pay for the billboards in the arena and whatnot, and the advertisement that you hear during the commercials for the games on the radio.
They had to start footing the bill to pay players too. So out of nowhere, this just changed overnight, and the ability to make back the money that you invest became much more difficult.
So with that, they're.
Doing everything they can to try to monetize the fact that they had exclusive rights. So they're now asking Kentucky fans to choose. I mean, you don't have to, but they're giving you five tier options from a fans perspective, and you get I mean, it comes with things that I'm sure would be appealing and of interest two fans, but it's just I don't know, it's an added expense that just you know, and look, here's the reality college sports fans on one of them.
We're suckers. We love this stuff, we're passionate.
It's a big part of us, and we'll pay what we can afford to support.
But I just hate knowing.
That it's needed to this level because you know, the game's changed in every way. This is pro sports, it's really what it is. But we'll get into the options that you have as a fan, because I'm just curious. If you're a fan, you know they're going to ask you to fifty a month. You get the Elite package, and we'll tell you what's in there, and I just everybody's financial situation is different. But I don't know if
I could justify the cost. I just don't, you know, it's not something that I could see.
Really.
If I was gonna do it, I would be doing it just because I feel like, hey, I'm going to help out because I'm a fan. And look, many fans will do that because again, we are that passionate about the programs around here when it comes to UK and U of L.
All right, we've got a traffic and weather update coming your way.
Also, Scott's back for another sports update, and then we'll hit the seven o'clock hour right here on News Radio eight forty whas