Tuesday, May 26 - MHP, Mussard, Neill, and ECON 101

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This is the Montana News Network's Talk Back. Join the conversation at 721-1290 or 1-800-568-5300.

Christensen.

Peter Christian.

Hey, good morning everyone. It is, yeah, the holiday shortened week. I hope you all had a happy and safe memorial day. And I'm Peter Christian. That is Mr. Nick Christiansen. Good morning, Mr. Nick.

Good morning.

So what uh what did you do over the holiday, sir?

Uh, let's see, I was at the lake for most of it and then came back uh yesterday afternoon and watched uh the Mandalorian Grogu movie and then uh yeah, now I'm here.

Mandalorian Grogu, okay. You'd have to help me out with that. Oh Star Wars. Oh my gosh. Well What did you do? Well, uh basically my wife and I played golf. Uh we went to Tilinda Vista and we had a delightful time. It was br it was really crowded, of course, during the holiday weekend.

Yeah, we golfed the uh eighteen old course in Pulson on Saturday morning and yeah, that course was great shape and It was fun. It was perfect day, perfect weather and um got the boat on the lift on Sunday. So it's ready to go for next weekend. The water's still pretty cold, but might still take some uh boat rides next weekend and yeah, be ready for summer.

Sounds good. All right. So uh the uh w uh by the way it's open phones for the next few minutes and then we have special guests waiting to visit with us.

I'll give a rundown. We only got two minutes here. Um in uh in two minutes when we come back from the break it'll be uh Montana Highway Patrol Colonel uh uh Colonel Kurt Sager. He'll talk about the hundred deadliest days of summer and uh like I said, so we'll have him for ten minutes and then uh the ten minutes after that, uh it'll be uh Brian Massard. He's a Montana rancher and uh owns and operates um

Reminisc.

Yeah, Reminis Angus Ranch. So uh he'll be with us eight twenty to eight thirty and then from eight thirty to nine it'll be Riley Neal. She's a Democrat running for Montana's US Senate seat and then From nine to ten, the full hour we'll have uh econ one oh one.

Uh

CEO Grant Keir from the Missoula Economic Partnership. He'll be joined by Brian Elstad and Tim Damrow from the Missoula Montana Airport. They're gonna talk about the current state of travel, Missoula statewide and any national trends they're seeing. So very, very full day today.

All right, so there you go. And uh we are gonna take uh a break here in just just a moment and when we come back we will be talking with uh Montana Highway Patrol Colonel Kurt Sager. And I'm hoping that everybody out there had had a a a a safe and uh m uh I shall we say meaningful uh Memorial Day weekend. It was uh uh the time when we we take the time to go out to cemeteries and and uh ha you know, bow our heads and say a prayer.

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Dennis Bragg with your town square weather moving back into the work week with unsettled conditions over West Montana for at least a couple of days. Showers likely today and possible thunderstorms.

It's eyesworm in the early.

And some of those showers could be heavy at times.

Guys, yeah. developing in the afternoon.

to be sunny and warm again with highs back in the mid topper eighty.

Welcome back. This is the Tuesday, May twenty sixth edition of Talk Back. Peter Christian here.

Good morning. I'm doing well. How are you?

All right, good. Uh listen, uh we we just had a a wonderful Memorial Day weekend and So uh I'm I'm I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed that uh e everything went okay where we're uh uh t tell us what kind of uh reports that your your patrolmen are sending in for over the holiday weekend.

Well we don't have any final fallies yet. Um But hopefully it was uh calm. Calm, safe weekend for everybody. That's our hope, you know, Memorial Day especially, but uh every day, every weekend is that people can go out and enjoy all that Montana has to offer, but also do so safely.

Well Colonel, if you wouldn't mind, I I know this is this is what uh everybody refers to as the one hundred deadliest days of summer. Could you kind of uh focus on that for us and and uh and give us your your thoughts uh as we're out driving around and vacationing?

Yeah, the hundred deadliest days. Uh it's the time frame between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Um where we see the highest rate of fatal crashes across the state and across the country. We're not isolated in that. Um here in Montana every every place across the country really sees it. Um as people get out and about and enjoy nice weather and and try to

Let me ask you this. If if we're out with someone and and they have been drinking, uh and they're they're the ones that are driving, what what are things that we can do as a passenger to say, hey, this is not a good this is not a good thing, either let me out or let me drive?

Well, the best thing to do is try to get them convinced to let you drive. Take the keys from'em. If they absolutely will not uh allow it, I I would suggest try everything in your power to not let them drive because impaired driving is a very deadly situation.

Carl Sager, looking at the stats that you guys provided, I know that fatal crashes involving suspected impaired drivers have increased sharply and that alcohol involved fatalities have increased by thirty three percent and the alarming one was drug involved fatalities are up a hundred and thirty three percent compared to the same time last year. Can you talk a little bit about why that is?

Well, it's a little hard to put our fingers on exactly why it is. If if we knew it would be a lot easier to to help curb that. Um I think a little bit maybe has to do on the alcohol side of things anyway is that the weather got nice earlier, uh so people are more likely to be out. Um, you know, people still drink and drive in the winter, but as the days get longer and the weather gets nicer

What what are what are some tips uh that that uh we passengers uh that you as as the the the chief of the highway patrol, what are some tips that you can give us to try to urge someone not to be driving if they're impaired?

You know, I think trying to reinforce how dangerous it is and that uh their likelihood of making it home safely, uh, if they're impaired, is is not good and one bad decision could lead to either losing a life or taking someone else's life and having lifelong ramifications. It's just not worth it.

Now if if we're out driving and and we see someone that obviously is impaired, uh d do we call nine one one, do we call the highway patrol directly? What do we do?

Yeah, nine one one's probably the easiest that gets that would get routed to us, um and it's an easier number to remember. Uh and it'll like I said, it gets routed to the highway patrol and the local agencies so that everybody gets On alert that uh there's a potential impaired driver out there.

Now it might it might be worthwhile to just let folks know, uh in case they've forgotten, uh what the possible penalties are for being pulled over for driving while impaired.

Well, if it's first offense, obviously uh you're looking at a fine um and potential suspended driver's license and jail time. Uh but as I stated earlier, that's kind of the least of the worries uh is getting a D UI. It's the potential of of losing your life or taking someone else's life.

Wow. So n now y I I do know that you highway patrol uh uh officers uh worked in a s solitary manner all across the state. And uh uh how does that work for you? I I know that Uh uh w especially out in the in the eastern part of Montana, they're pretty much all alone uh you know, uh uh in their duties. So uh how how do you support them?

You know, we focus very heavily on training uh through the academy and through the first part of their career through field training, um, teaching them how they can operate by themselves, how they can be safe, how they can de escalate situations. uh but if a situation does exc escalate, uh they have very good training on how to take care of themselves and to take care of a threat.

Colonel Sager, I know that uh you you have a very busy day ahead and thank you so much for taking the time to share that with us. We appreciate it. And uh reminding us about the one hundred deadliest days of summer. We appreciate you, sir.

Thank you.

Take care. We're gonna be right back after this timeout.

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and waiting.

Welcome back to Talk Back. Our phone number 406-721-1290 or 1-800-568-5309. We are jumping right back on the phone here and talking with Brian Massard, is a Montana rancher and owner-operator of Reminisc.

Good morning, I'm doing great. How about you guys?

You bet. So tell us a little bit about your about yourself and your family and your ranch. Obviously it's a family operation.

Yeah. We're located down in southwestern Montana in Horse Prairie, the Horse Prairie Valley, which is in Grant, about forty miles southwest of Dillon. That's where we raise six hundred registered Angus cows and and we run a commercial feed lot and take care of other people's cows in the winter and so they can save feed for their main cow herd and we got into the beef business.

Yeah, but what what are what are the re rewards and challenges of operating a modern cattle ranch?

Uh, the rewards are the rewards are endless. Like today we're out. I mean springtime in Montana's great, all the birds are here, the geese just flew over and it's fun to see all that, you know, out changing dams and there's You watch a little Kiel Deer family that's on the little trail as you're heading out to your field and wondering how they're doing and then all of a sudden last night there's four chicks out there and you get to see that stuff daily and the deer and everything, the cycle of

Right.

Absolutely.

Absolutely outside of the Epstein files, beef is beef is there every single day. It's so expensive. Beef is expensive and the president's had to get involved. And the reason that is this isn't anything new. That's been going on for decades. Because if you're healthy

So Brian, are are you working with our congressional delegation or b better yet, are they working with you to try to to uh get you some relief there?

Yeah.

That's a bad question.

Oh, no.

I've worked I have tried to work with all of'em and y you know, you get a lot of you get a lot of uh you get a lot of talks, they pat you on the head, they say we love Montana ranchers but None of'em outside of Matt Rosendale have ever lifted a finger to do much. It's it's just kinda get along and go along and I I couldn't be more disappointed than all of'em. I really really couldn't

And

That's a challenge for them too. They get in there and and they just get there's a lot going on, but when it really comes down to fixing things, I haven't seen'em do much. So Little disappointed that way and I'm I'm I've been a lifelong Republican and they're all Republicans right now and I just

Oh well.

Well well Brian, i if if folks wan folks want to get beef from Remedy Angus Ranch, uh how how do we go about doing that? We got about le about a minute left.

Uh you can go to REM Angus dot com. We just came out with our beef and heart supplements. Cool. Very, very highly dense uh supplements and that's all that's in it. beef and heart. It's it's fantastic. Uh if you're if you have any ailments, if you have It doesn't matter if you've got cancer, if you're overweight, if you've got a chronic illness, you can go to r e mangus dot com. You can get our whipped tallows, everything else there.

Just what we needed, sir. Thank you so much for being with us and best of luck to you. Have a great summer.

All right, thank you. See ya.

All right. Thank you so much, sir. When we come back, we're gonna be talking with Riley Neal, Democratic uh a candidate for the the U.S. Senate for Montana. All that's coming up right after this quick timeout. So stay with us. Back on the Montana Talks Radio Network.

Hey, it's Peter Chris Springin?

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Dennis Bragg with your town square weather moving back into the work week with unsettled conditions over West Montana for at least a couple of years. Showers likely today and possible thunderstorms in the afternoon as highs worm into the mid-70s.

Showers continue overnight and in two years. Sunny skies more popular. Thursday looks to be sunny and warm again.

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Welcome back to Talkback. 72129406. 721290 is our number, one-eight hundred-five six eight five three zero nine. Statewide for for Montana. And we have a special guest on the phone right now. Riley Neal is a candidate, the Democratic candidate for the US Senate. And she's joining us on the phone right now. Riley, good morning, how are you?

Good, good. How are you this morning?

Peter. Doing fantastic and uh we we are thrilled to have you. So uh the first thing we we like to do whenever a candidate is on before we start taking calls from uh folks who want to visit with you We want to get your story. Uh if you wouldn't mind just sharing a little bit about yourself and why you decided to take the step to run for the US Senate.

Sure. Well it's great to be back on the air with K V G O. And I've been on the ground since twenty twenty four, the day after the election in twenty twenty four, listening to Montanans. And I've heard they want someone who shows up, who hears their concerns and responds meaningfully. I've been in public service in Montana for nearly thirty years. I ran a weekly paper for over a decade in Livingston. I served in the Montana State House.

Well if you wouldn't mind Riley, uh b uh uh Montana has been a red state, I'm a pretty bright red state for a long time, and you're a Democrat. So why I how how are you convincing people who may, you know, uh be along the conservative bent to say, Hey, listen to me.

Well, I'm a Democrat because I'm a woman and Democrats They protect women's rights. They're the party that have protected my rights. That's why I'm a Democrat. And right now on the ground. You know, Trump has promised lower grocery prices, lower gas, diesel prices. He's promised a utopia, no new wars and lower housing costs, no inflation, and you know what? You can promise things as a politician that you might not be able to deliver, but we're talking so many promises that are unkept

All right, we do have a caller on the line that wants to visit with you. Harry. Harry, good morning. You're on with Riley with Riley Neal. Go ahead, please.

Yeah, good morning, Riley. Yeah, first just a uh uh kind of a critique but then a question. But uh with all the Democrat

Uh

Uh can it is

I haven't I I

I don't get the internet, so I'm I'm out in the boonies. I don't have ac access to the internet so I I I haven't heard of your name except for s in your opponents mentioning you. And even then the other Democrat uh Kennedy I haven't heard hardly anybody at all, so you know um just uh critique that I think you guys should probably you know try to get your name out there a little more. But uh my question is how do what

Uh thank you so much. I appreciate your question. I differentiate myself because we're on the ground. We've been on the ground for a year and a half and not in just the big s big towns in Montana. We've been on the ground in fifty six counties. you know, we've been half a dozen, eight, nine times to Glendive and Dawson County, for example. So I don't know of any other Democrats who are doing that who have spent that time getting to know the people on the ground in Montana.

All right Harry, thanks for the call. Uh let's get Susan no, no, we but we're up against a break. We're gonna come right back. Seven two one twelve ninety is our number, one-eight hundred-five six eight five three zero nine. And again our guest on the phone is Riley Neal. She's running for the US Senate a as a Democrat here in Montana. And if you would like to visit with her, maybe offer some encouragement, maybe some tips, uh some some some issues you'd like to see taken to the US Senate.

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Fifty. Yeah.

Welcome back. This is the Tuesday edition of Talk Back. Peter Christian here. Nick Christianson is uh taking your phone calls this morning, specifically for Riley Neal, who's a Democrat running for the U.S. Senate. Here in Montana. And uh the phone calls are coming in. Susan, good morning. You're on with Riley. Go ahead, please.

Well, I'm assuming that when you say you're in favor of women's rights, you are in favor of killing a fetus, um, if a child is conceived. And in my that is murder. So I don't approve of that. Um but regardless, the the issue at hand from my standpoint would be a candidate for the Senate that supports a balanced budget. And Democrats traditionally have been in favor doing everything they can to increase social spending.

Susan quickly what what what what's your question?'Cause the phone lines are jammed.

I'm getting to it. Okay. I'm getting to it. Um I would like to have you outline how you plan to cut spending and um I I think that the Republicans need to work on this too. So, um outline for me how you plan to cut spending and how you need to continue to keep illegal aliens um out of our country and allow people who want to come to our country to uh to come in legally.

Susan, thanks for the call. Go ahead. Uh Riley, please.

Uh thanks, Peter. And thank you, Susan, for your comment. I respect the need for a balanced budget and I'm absolutely in favor of this. CI one hundred twenty eight passed in Montana and I do respect the will of the Montana voters who wanted to enshrine privacy.

Bet. Let's get uh Frank on the line. Frank, good morning. You're on with Riley Neal. Go ahead.

Hello, yeah. I just wanted to make a few comments. I wanted to remind everybody that uh When she says she's for women's rights, I don't believe that she's for and that she's for tan transgender rights and that she's gonna probably vote along the party line when she gets into Washington. Increased budget, more spending, higher taxes, open borders. And I just want to remind everybody that that's what the Democrats stand for.

All right.

Okay, your your response, Riley.

Yes, thank you for those comments. I'm I'm a woman and I'm a Democrat because I'm a woman primarily because this is the party that has historically in modern my modern era uh stood up for women's rights. I know we need immigration reform. I understand that. And I'm always going to vote for Montanans, not any party. not any special interest groups or dark money. I am going to DC to represent all Montanans, no matter what party you are.

All right, good to know. Let's uh get Dave on the line. Dave, good morning. You're on with Riley Neal. Go ahead, please.

Yes, I'd like it when they he asked the question earlier about social security. He what he wanted to know was uh that in five or six years from now social security will be will be have t having by law to give a like a twenty or thirty percent cut in in money going out to individuals uh if something isn't done differently. And as far as b balanced budget goes, uh you know, we're spending thirty percent almost Of every dollar that we spend in the

Yeah.

No, Dave.

I'm sorry, Dave. Uh uh thanks for the call. Appreciate it.

Riley, your response.

Thanks so much. And for clarifying um uh more of a question on social security, you know, absolutely we're facing this issue and it's we're also facing growing uh efforts for privatization, staffing cuts, we have long term funding gaps. And right now we're losing a lot of the workforce that that does the work of the Social Security Administration. We need to look at why these people are being let go or fired.

All right, we have another caller who's uh waiting and we have time to get let's let's get uh let's get Kathy on the line. Kathy, you're on with Riley Neal. Go ahead.

Hi, thank you.

for taking my question. Um I just wanna I just have a comment. I think it's a little bit insulting to say that you're Democrat because you're a woman, because I'm a Republican because I'm a woman, because I think that the Democratic Party does not support women's rights. I feel like we are being negated, completely neutralized, because the Democratic Party can't even define what a woman is. So that's my comment. I I just find it a little bit insulting for two women.

All right. Thanks for the call. Your response, O'Reilly.

Well, of course it's not my intention to insult anyone by stating my personal um perspectives and I also respect her personal res uh perspectives and and that that's how she feels. And I respect that about every Montanan and we all have a right to how we feel about things. And I don't have any right to tell her how she should feel. about anything. Um, right now on the ground, again, we're hearing about

You bet. Well we're we're thirty seconds away from a heart break. So when we come back we have uh other folks waiting to visit with you. Uh we have Katherine who's waiting to w with a question or a comment and several other phone lines open. Riley's going to be with us till nine o'clock. So if you have a question or a comment for her

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All right.

This is Talk Back for your Tuesday, May 26th. Peter Christian here, Nick Christiansen taking your phone calls. Riley Neal, Democratic candidate for Senate, is on the phone with Catherine. Catherine, good morning. You're on with Riley. Go ahead, please.

Yes. Good morning. Um do you consider that government is a necessary evil or a force for good and to that end, do you support or oppose a universal basic health care run by the government and a universal basic income run by the government. Thank you for the question. And I can tell you that Healthcare is a tough nut to crack. As long as healthcare is a for profit model, it's gonna be hard to fix.

All right. Thank you for the call. We appreciate it. So so here we are. Uh we have about five minutes left in our time together with you, Riley. So uh the phone lines are open, by the way. If you have a question for Riley Neal, give us a call at four oh six seven two one twelve ninety or one eight hundred five six eight five three zero nine. But uh Riley, what what kind of uh what kind of response are you getting while you're on the road running for the the Senate?

had the responses really good. And I'll tell ya, yesterday I got a call, I was on my way to the Yellowstone National Cemetery in Laurel for the wonderful memorial service there. It was it was really moving. And I got a call from someone in Billings who uh found my number somewhere and had seen a commercial saying I was against all these things and and she wanted to clarify, you know, exactly what my platform was. We ended up finding so much in common

Riley, we have another caller on the line at about three minutes left in our time together. Tony, good morning. You're on with Riley Neal. Please go ahead.

Good morning. Good morning to you, Ms. Dale. Uh real quick questions. Um, when Biden was in office were you for the open borders or against them? Um, I am I think we need immigration reform. I think we I didn't ask you that, Sam. Ma'am, I don't I didn't ask you about immigration. Were you for leaving the borders open the way they were?

All right, thanks for the call.

Um, okay, if I understand the question correctly, um I I don't know that our borders have ever been open. I know that there's a lot of illegal immigration and that that's being addressed by uh Border Patrol and of course I I'm I'm very you know, I'm very supportive of a strong Border Patrol presence.

All right.

But I'm also supportive of human rights.

All right. Now we have about two and a half minutes a little but about two minutes left in our time together. A stump speech, uh if you wouldn't mind sharing why peop people should vote for you for the U.S. Senate.

Sure. Sure. Absolutely. Montana

Every

Montanan deserves respect. And they deserve representatives that come to them, listen to them, and then go to DC and speak for them, not special interests, not their political party, and not any administration. We need representatives who stand up for the people and I will always be accessible to every single Montanan. And when I go to DC, I will be representing all Montanans.

Well if you wouldn't mind uh just providing your your email and your and your phone number for folks to write down and they can they can

Oh yeah.

Absolutely.

माने माने माने

Phone number Sure, four zero six three seven zero one four nine two. And our email is info I N F O at Riley R E I I L L Y. For Montana dot com. And you can also find our website at Riley For Montana dot com where you can read more about my platform. And it's not my platform actually, it's a platform we've built from Montanan's concerns across all fifty six counties.

All right. Well, Riley, it's been a pleasure talking with you and best of luck uh as you're campaigning and and uh I know it's a it's uh it's a long haul out there in Montana uh if you're on the road, so please be safe.

Thank you. It's a beautiful hall.

All right. Thank thanks again for for being with us today. We appreciate it. Econ one oh one uh Grant Kear is gonna be joining us in the Missoula Economic Partnership along with Brian Elastad and Tim Darrow from the Missoula International Airport. So we hope that you will be giving us a call talking about what's going on at the airport, our airport, ladies and gentlemen. We're coming right back after this quick timeout. So please stay with us here on Talk Back on the Montana Talks.

The views and opinions expressed on Talkback are not those of the staff management or advertisers.

This is the Montana News Network's Talk Back. Join the conversation at 721 1290 or 122. five six eight five three zero nine Producer Nick Christianson and your host Peter Christian.

Good morning everyone. Welcome back. It's hour number two.

Question to questions and take in your phone calls this morning. And we're excited once again to have Econ one oh one joining us here in the studio this morning. Grant Keir uh is with us from the Missoula Economic Partnership. Grant, good morning. How are you?

Good morning, I'm well and great to be back with you.

Good to have you in in the studio with two very tall gentlemen.

Tell me about it.

Yeah. They have to be working in an airport, yeah. But anyway, uh we w we have we have Brian Ellisted and Tim Darrow from the Missoula uh airport. So please let's take it away.

Yeah, thrilled to have Brian and Tim with us today. Uh Brian is the director of the Missoula Montana Airport. Tim Damro, the deputy director. And you know, there's been a lot of news lately about sort of changes in the airline industry, about fuel prices, about a lot going on and

Some level.

what feels like five or six years now. So where are we today in your sort of vision for where this airport is and where it's going?

So yeah, we pretty much wrapped up our terminal building. So multiple years of um different phases. Um the first phase was sixty seven million for something that if we had to you know, during COVID we broke ground and if we had to live in that we would live in it. But Uh we knew we needed more. Um so phase two was uh kind of a real bagage claim and more gates.

So maybe you could just stepping back for for listeners across the state who when they hear about these numbers are thinking, Oh my gosh. How am I going to pay for that? Could you talk a little bit about how our our airports across the state are organized and sort of where does the funding come from to to operate them and also to do these construction projects?

So we have no state um local tax um that um a local person would pay. It's all in your ticket. It's what's called a user fee. So at the bottom your ticket. You might see uh a four dollars and fifty cent charge that goes toward building construction, um, backs our debt. There's also some um a fee in there that pays for TSA. Uh but yeah, we're self sufficient. Uh most of the money we come from would be when our customers come and park a car or rent a rent rent a car. Um but yeah no local

Th this is one of those instances where at at Missoula Economic Partnership we sort of showcase how a lot of our visitors are sort of underwriting some of the assets that we end up with in terms of um those most of those ticket sales are likely to be uh

Yeah, absolutely. I mean really the rental cars, um when they come in and rent a car, that's a big chunk of um what we put toward the infrastructure that we that we do.

We have our guests here in the studio this morning on uh Missoula Econ one oh one Grant Cure. Uh along with Brian Ellistad and Tim Darrow in the Missoula uh airport. So if you have a question or a comment about what's going on here at in Missoula at the airport, please feel free to give us a call at four o six-seven two one twelve ninety or one-eight hundred-five six eight five three zero nine. Thanks for joining us on this Tuesday on the Montana Talks Radio Network will be right.

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Dennis Bragg with your town square weather moving back into the work week with unsettled conditions over West Montana preparation. of days. Showers likely today and possible thunderstorms.

It's highsworm in

Showers continue overnight and into Wednesday with partly sunny skies, more possible thunder.

developing in the afternoon.

Thursday looks to be sunny and warm again with highs back in the mid to upper 80s.

Hey, welcome back. This is talk back with us Tuesday, May twenty sixth, and it's Missoula Econ one oh one Grant Cure. Uh he's the CEO of the uh of the Missoula Economic Partnership. And guests this morning, Brian Alistad and Tim Damr d Tim Darrow rather of Missoula uh airport. So please go ahead.

Yeah, thanks Peter. So Brian, I uh happy to hear that we're free and clear of construction this summer here in Missoula. But what are we seeing across the state in terms of what uh travelers should anticipate for construction projects at other airports?

Uh I know Bozeman has a just they're did a big they're in the middle of a pretty big uh terminal expansion right now. I know they reached out for some of our leftover groundboarding uh So I think they'll have some extra co maybe construction delays are the best they can do, but um they have a big project going on right now that I'm sure will be managed well. Um Billings is doing some ticket counter work um that they're redoing their front of their their building.

Great. Thank you. So Tim, s y your background is sort of uh ticketing and and routing, if I understand that from an airline perspective. You worked for a Legion for a while or Legent Airlines for a while. Um w I think this is the crux question that most travelers in Montana. Um as we're looking at fuel prices uh going up across the board um and we're hearing about these big mergers or potential mergers and other airlines going out of business.

Geez, it's a great question. I'll let you know when I find out. Um I think that's one of the reasons why we work in this industry, is there's so many different dynamics that are in play at any given time. I mean, coming out of the pandemic, we were short on pilots, a lot of early retirements.

I I was just gonna t to say that uh we we spent a lot of time going back and forth to Seattle where our grandson is. And uh when we go to the Seattle airport, it's a very important thing. Sometimes it's a melee in there uh uh w with long lines and some uh some people getting a little angry, a little owlly, you know, just like why am I have to wait a lot?

You know, I don't know. I think I I'll point back at all of our staff. So that's one thing and I think one thing we take pride at the airport. We call ourselves Team MSO. And it's really it's it's why we all live here in Missoula. We love being here and we wanna treat you know, whether it's anyone flying out as a resident of Missoula or guests flying in from out of state. We want them to really have that world class experience. Why we live here, it's because of the people.

I know Brian, when uh uh when you first were were planning this expansion, uh one of the things that you really wanted to make sure of is that you planned for growth. I mean you planned for an increased number of people. Has it worked out the way you thought?

Well I think I think so. Um like for TSA. I mean we We old building we had three lanes. Um we designed it for five, potentially six. Um so right off the bat now we're up to four lanes and we have room for a fifth without doing any major construction. So

You're able to you're able to look at what's going on at the Missoula airport from from basically two levels from from the from the consumer and also from the operator.

We think we like to think we do, but you know, sometimes we you know we're we're human too. I mean we can mess up, but w really at the heart of the day we have our customers our number one and we wanna make sure they have a good experience.

Amen.

Right. Go ahead.

Yeah, I guess w one of the questions I I have just in terms of what we're seeing right now in Missoula, y I think of you guys as sort of a leading indicator for our health on a summer tourism season and I'm really curious what you're seeing for Uh folks coming into Montana and are we filling seats? Where w what are you seeing here in Missoula and and to the extent that you're seeing it across the state in terms of filling up flights?

Yeah, I think we're optimistic. I mean, as Brian said, there's a lot of work going on across the state, um at other airports and obviously this is the time people want to be in Montana.

Hey, our phone lines are open and our guests here in the studio at the Missoula Montana Airport uh are here to answer your questions. So if you have a question or a comment about the airport, how it runs, uh parking, whatever it might be, just give us a call at four oh six seven two one twelve ninety or one eight hundred five six eight five three zero nine. Again our guests

Flat over the past week, although they're matching the pace that led to all-time record prices in 2022. That's when we were paying$4.60 a gallon on average. Triple A Montana says our average gas price at four fifty seven yesterday evening, which is fractionally higher than a week ago, but it's considerably more expensive than the three hundred ninety one average a month ago and just three dollars and nineteen cents a year ago.

Many Montanans may not realize they already have access to all fifty-five Montana State Parks without paying extra at the gate. When residents register a light vehicle in Montana, a nine dollar state park Parks fee is automatically included unless they choose to opt out. That fee acts as an annual pass for unlimited day use access to state parks.

Montana FWP reports three point three eight million visitors went to a state park last year. That's a five percent increase in the previous year, twenty-seven percent jump over the past decade. Although Montanans make the most visitors, others in neighboring states liked our parks as well. Washington, Idaho, California, Colorado, and Oregon also at the top of the list. This is the Montana State News Network.

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On uh talk back and uh yeah, uh Dick chose the music just for me. So there you go. All right, let's uh let's continue on. Uh uh it's Missoula Econ one oh one. Grant Keir joining us here in the studio this morning along with Brian Ellistad and Tim Darrow. And Dave has been waiting through the break. So Dave, good morning. What's your question please?

Yes, whenever I drive by the airport, all I can see is a a h huge number of cars out there. And I was wondering if if the is a problem with parking it over there or do you plan on having some parking garages or or are you running out of room for parking?

Good question. Thanks Dave.

So hey Dave. Um so this is Brian. So um we recently expanded um for parking. So what you see is not all that we have. There's an economy lot. That would be just to the east of a of the current premium and long term lot. That's uh eight dollars a day instead of the higher rates in in s inside the circle. Um that's been very popular and then we have room to grow.

They're not cheap.

So so we are trying to delay that. We'd love to have it, but again we our goal is to keep parking rates as low as we can, so that's why we haven't um pushed that out there yet.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you for the call. All right. So Catherine, good morning. You're on talk back with our guests from the Missoula Airport. Go ahead, please.

Ah, yes, hi. Um From what I understand there are about twenty airports that have uh gotten rid of the TSA or privatized the screening process. Is Missoula airport thinking of doing this? And it does seem to be working out well for the airports that do do this.

So we constantly look at it. Um and I'll say we are just very happy with our current staff that's TSA proper for the lack of a better word. So um to change a benefit package on on them on them we just don't think that's the right thing to do unless they were to come to us and change it. Uh what you saw in the news is partially true. It all depends on where they are in their funding package. So

Mm. Okay. Thank you.

All right, thank you for the call. All right. So l let's talk about the recent shutdown and how how did that affect you folks?

You know, I think it was stressful obviously for the folks at TSA. Um I mean a I'll give another big thank you to the Missoula community. We put that out there trying to give these folks some support. Like Brian mentioned, I mean coming into work every day.

Small impact.

Well I th the thing I really enjoy about about our our airport is that when you walk in the door, everybody has a place everybody knows exactly what they're supposed to be doing. And so if y if you're lost or you can't find something, just ask somebody and they will d I mean I I've had m many times where I couldn't find where the gate was or wh which stairway to take or whatever. And they would always stop and very patiently, you know, send us where we need to go.

Yep, and again that's that Montana hospitality that we like to see. That's what we want. We want people helping each other out, getting them point A to point B as quickly as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Great. All right, let's uh let's get uh Tom on the line. Tom, good morning. You're on with our guests from the Missoula Airport. Go ahead, please.

Yeah, so this is where we need to go.

You know what I mean?

Yes, Tom, you're on. Go ahead, please. Yeah, I'm not.

you're familiar with, Mr. Longer. Yeah.

Yeah, so here in Missoula, um, as Brian mentioned, we just wrapped up our airport master plan. So what that is is that's gonna be kind of our fifteen to twenty year outlook at the airport and where we think we're gonna be growing. Um our prior plan we had a parallel runway on there as well. Um we did shift our parallel runway a little bit closer um to the existing. So we're still showing that as probably expansion off in the future. I think we're still probably looking fifteen to twenty years.

Thank you.

question.

Um,

Yeah.

Uh originally. Did that.

And their current

Plans are too

Upgrade that parallel.

Runway.

the same thing as the main runway.

Uh

Would your plans include

space

And upgrade a bit.

For that parallel runway.

Yep, and that's how it would start. It's it'd probably start out probably fifty percent of the size of our current runway.

Yeah.

Great. Thank you.

Tom, thanks for the call. And with that we're we're uh about uh thirty seconds away from a commercial break. And all of our phone lines are open, by the way. If you have a question for for uh Brian and Tim from the Missoula Airport, of course Grant Kierr with us, uh uh CEO of the Missoula Economic Partnership. Give us a call at four oh six seven two one twelve ninety is our number or one eight hundred five six eight five three zero nine. We hope

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Hey, we're back. This is Talk Back. Thanks for joining us this morning and it's Econ 101 and our guests here in the studio, Grant Keir, uh who is the CEO of the Missoula Economic Partnership, Brian Ellistad and Tim Darrow. are both with us from the Missoula airport. So let us continue, gentlemen, please.

Yeah, so there's there there's sort of two questions that a person in my industry always gets when when you're in Montana. The first is, when are you gonna get us a Trader Joe's? And the second is and the second is when are you gonna go to Southwest Airlines? And um

Not a commitment to buy you know chips at a certain volume. Right. Um but for Southwest Airlines or other airlines, maybe you could talk just uh for our listeners' benefit, sort of Yeah, I don't think we wake up one day and you guys just get to pick the next airline and the next route. How does this work where you guys think about strategically how you grow the services we provide and the and the places that we people can get to and from in in Montana?

So it's a long conversation. Um you know, it's The short answer is we are constantly talking with airlines. Um little different than Trader Joe's. We are we are out there pitching routes, pitching ideas. But we but we I I'll say we have developed kind of some a good reputation amongst all the airlines, they know we're not gonna pitch them Cleveland, Ohio or some random city out there that two people per

All right, let's wait. We have a caller waiting on the line. James is first. James, good morning. You're on with our guests from Econ one oh one. Go ahead.

Yeah, I was wondering, um, you guys used to have air shows a long time ago. And was wondering if they were gonna bring him back. My other question oh I had another one.

I'm going

And are they gonna hire for more TSA?

Possibly.

Hey James, I'll get that first one quick. So me and you, I guess both probably a fan of air shows. I think they're probably one of my favorite summer pastimes. Um here in Missoula, Brian mentioned it um the I think the biggest um I'll call it logistical issue that we have in Missoula is gonna be kind of our parking and our congestion issues that we have around the airport. Um we obviously any air show you want to bring in a huge, huge crowd.

Oh, I was wondering if um they were gonna need uh to hire more TSA possibly.

Yeah, I believe they're constantly hiring. Um I I know previously we did have a link on the Missoula Airport webpage as well for those um job opportunities. Um but believe there's usually um always open positions out there, so we'll make sure that that's um posted enough on our website.

All right, James, thank you for the call. Uh okay, we're we're about uh just a few seconds away from a break. We're gonna come right back and we have Tony waiting on the phone. Several other phone lines open, by the way, at four oh six seven two one twelve ninety or one eight hundred. five six eight five three zero nine. Thanks for joining us on this Tuesday edition of Talk Back right here on the Montana Talks.

Okay.

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May 26th edition of Talk Back. I'm Peter Christian. Your Christianson is produced. Talk back, taking your phone calls this morning. And uh of course we're talking folks with from the Missoula Airport, Grad Keir, along with Brian Ellist and Tim Darrow. And uh let's uh get Tony on the line. Tony, good morning. You're on.

Uh hi, good morning gentlemen. Uh question, uh do you have any trouble keeping air traffic controllers? And the second part of my question is what uh is your opinion of uh the Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy?

Okay, there you go. Thanks, thanks for the call.

Um so we have a v so we recently we got a we've always had been very lucky in getting great um tr local tra air traffic control managers. And I think that is part of the reason why we've been pretty lucky of maintaining a pretty stable Stable uh um s I know we have right now we have uh at least one trainee up the up in the up in the tower, um a couple more m at least one more I think in the pipeline.

Couple of years ago, uh, President Trump came came to speak in in one of your hangers. And it was a huge event. I mean you you had extra parking in in fields and that sort of thing. I realize it's kind of a once in a lifetime thing. But how do you plan for things like that? Because uh your y your venue is is great.

You know, it's just working with the the party that comes in. You know, they came in and um we just kinda sat down and kind of laid out some options and they were gonna bust people back and forth um for the cars. Um

So so do events like that h help you give you give you a guide to what to do next time? I mean uh obviously uh that that was kind of a once in a lifetime deal, but i if if th others want to do the same thing, I'm sure you probably have a plan in in place now.

Oh absolutely. Lessons you learn from everyone that you do. So yes.

All right. So our by the way our phone lines are open or it's seven two one twelve ninety or one eight hundred five six eight five three zero nine. It's econ one oh one. So Grant, go ahead, please.

you you mentioned Southwest and um and and I guess if if I'm honest, uh thinking about what most folks wanted Um having them come here after they abandon their low fare model might not be seen as quite the success. But uh but based on sort of the transition we're seeing with them and watching Spirit Air go out of business. Do you think the low fare airline is uh a broken model and sort of not long for the world?

You know, I don't think so. Um and I I would actually argue that it's maybe shifting more towards low fare. I think what you're seeing is a lot of the major carriers now, they're starting to separate that product out. Where you used to have a main cabin seat and a first class cabin. Now you're starting to see an economy portion of that cabin. You're starting to see what you know, our traditional main cabin, but then also first in business class.

So are uh go go ahead please. No, I was gonna say are are are there more plans for expansion? I know that you guys have gone through a huge expansion over the last twenty years or so, but uh are are there is there more uh on the way?

Yeah, we always have, as I mentioned, as part of that master planning process, we're trying to look ahead and really figure out what's that next piece, where are we gonna grow. Um so we have um, you know, whether it's the terminal, whether it's our parking lot, we have that next piece ready in place to go. Um the big thing we just need to fill planes up. Um and once we see service increase and as that grows, um we'll continue expanding.

Most important thing we can do for these listeners is is uh help people understand how to be savvy ticket buyers. Yeah. Uh so in a world where every dollar counts and people are really trying to um, you know, c connect with family, connect with friends and maintain relationships.

Oh that's a great question. It's one I love answering to. So you just gotta make sure you're really shopping around and using all the tools at your disposal. I mean we have several carriers in Missoula, whether it's any airport across the state. You have a number of ways to get from point A to point B. And I think probably everyone in this room we all have a loyalty maybe to a certain carrier, a certain credit card, whatever it is, wherever we're getting our points.

Well that's good because especially as as we're headed into the summer, I'm sure that's going to be it's gonna be a very, very busy time for you folks. So uh those strategies will work no matter what time of year it is?

Yep. Yep. A hundred percent. Um again I think the key is just always make sure you're planning. You never want to be last minute, but you never want to be too early. And all again, I'll just stress, you know, look at um the different carriers flying those routes. You know, you always try to open your options up. Never limit yourself to just one particular airline, but a number of ways to get from point A to pay point B.

Are th are there specific websites that we can go to to for smart traveling or do we have to depend on the airline um websites?

You know, there's several out there, um whether you're using an XPD or a priceline, they're all hooked up to the same database, pulling in roughly the same pricing and metrics. Um Google's the one I would typically use just because they're a pretty good aggregator of all those. But some of their more advanced features, again like the alerting, um being able to give you, hey, this is my price point, this is what I want to spend, tell me when it's there and I'll book my ticket.

We're gonna come right back. We'd love to have some more calls from you folks for the Bozo uh airport. Give us a call four oh six seven two one twelve ninety or one-eight hundred-five six eight five three zero nine. Thanks for joining us on Talk Back on the Montana Talks Radio Network. Back after this.

Hey if you're waking up

Very apropos, we have our own magic carpet at the Missoula Hair But I didn't plan that, but there there you go. Our guests here in the studio this morning, Grant Kier of Econ Mozilla Econ one oh one, uh Missoula Economic Partnership, Bryant Ellisted. And Tim Darrow joining us from the Missoula Airport. And Bruce is waiting on the line. Bruce, go ahead, please. What's your question?

Well, I'm getting ready to fly to Cincinnati here in a couple of weeks and I haven't flown for forty years, so what's the rule of thumb to how early I should show up before my flight time?

Well, do you have a real ID? That's probably your first c first question I'm gonna ask you.

So her

I got that.

Are you checking a bag?

No.

And what time of day are you flying out? Morning, midday

Ow.

About three forty five in the afternoon. Fly to Minneapolis, wait a while and then I go to Cincy.

So my general rule of thumb is I'm gonna tell you to be there a minimum of ninety minutes to to a two hours. So that's my baseline just to make sure you're covered. In the real

World.

You're gonna have people that are racing in but they miss their flight. Um so So th so for the general public out there if you're checking a bag, um the airlines have made some changes where you have to be in line and have your bag checked and it used to be thirty minutes, now I believe it's up to either forty five or fifty minutes.

Alrighty, ninety minutes it'll be. Thank you.

Bruce, thanks for the call. You bet. All right. So uh again the phone lines are open. We're we're we're running up on uh we're almost done with our our hour together with the folks on the Missoula airport. So If you have a question, if you've been uh thinking, oh, I always wondered about this about the airport, call us right now. We only have just a few minutes left at four oh six seven two one twelve ninety. So Grant, please go ahead.

Well I'll just give uh Bruce a tip because this is a this is an ongoing debate with my wife and I as exactly how early we need to arrive at the airport. Um Bruce, don't be stressed if you only get there an hour before your flight.

Yeah.

to go visit my wife's family on the eastern seaboard. Uh but it's two different airlines to get me out there and and I I'm just always really worried that that's gonna leave me stranded somewhere because the you know, somebody got me somewhere late and the next airline doesn't care about me anymore and Uh uh what kind of risk are we taking if we're using these flight aggregators as opposed to going onto a particular airlines website?

You know, I think there's always gonna be some inherent risk, whether you're booking through you know, directly through an airline flying on let's say Delta or Alaska the entire way.

We have about two minutes left in our time together, so let's wrap things up.

I mean I just on that note, Tim, I would say you're in the right business. Um and honestly, I I think what I want to note is just uh what great partners you guys are for for Missoula, the Missoula community, and certainly the Missoula

I mean that that that means a lot.

And when you walk out of an airplane in the Missoula airport today, I uh you are Greeted with probably one of the most stunning views you could see from an airport anywhere in the world. And I and I uh just wanna thank you guys for the vision and the investment and the commitment to continuing to create world class facilities for our community, uh for our state.

Uh yeah, it'll be uh Bob Seidenschwartz from the Montana World Affairs Council and he has uh two different guests uh each hour and uh we'll wait and uh see who those are tomorrow.

Sounds great. Again, thanks so much to the folks of the Missoula Airport and of course the uh Missoula Economic Partnership with Grant Keir. Thank you, gentlemen, for all the great uh all the great answers to the questions and thank you all for calling this morning. Have yourselves a great day. Get out and enjoy this absolutely beautiful Montana almost summer day, not quite, but pretty close. We're getting we're getting there every day.

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