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News Talk 1110 and 993 WBT proudly presents America's coolest conservative.
Well, Yeah. Proudly could be stretching it a bit. Welcome to the TJ Ritchie Show. All right, 706, News Talk 1110-993 WBT. It's the TJ Ritchie Show.
I'm Nick Craig. I host the Carolina Journal News Hour, which runs weekday mornings 5 to 6 right here on WBT. I also host the Nick Craig Show podcast, which you can find in all of your favorite podcast apps. I'm in for TJ tonight at 704-570-1110. If you want a text call, get in on the program this evening.
Love to have you. UNCW, that's the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, has been in the news a lot this past week. You may have seen or heard some of the chatter as to what was going on over at UNCW as a video went viral, in large part due to some of the chaos that has been unfolding on the campus over at Wilmington, where the college is.
So, just kind of set the stage as to how the situation that you may have seen on social media, which included left-wing agitators to face. Facing a Charlie Kirk memorial. How did we get to that situation?
So, Monday night of this week, you had the Turning Point USA chapter, which of course is Charlie Kirk's organization, and the College Republicans hold a candlelight vigil on campus. And that went off without a hitch. I went there Monday night for a while. Close to 2,000 or so people. And for a last-minute event, it was only announced, I think, late in the day on the Friday before that it was going to be happening.
About 2,000 people there. Great crowd, very emotional. It was great to hear from some of the students at UNCW that are politically involved, actively engaged as to what's going on, not only in their federal government, but their local government.
So that was Monday night, around 6:30 or so. Earlier in the day on Monday, there's a a piece of property known as the Spirit Rock. that exists on the campus of UNCW. Been there forever. It is just a large boulder that exists on the campus.
And it's called the Spirit Rock because it is frequently. Decorated by students and by various chapters and groups at the college with a variety of issues. You know, they have a big win in a soccer match. You'll see that The Rock is painted with the final score. You know, go Seahawks.
That's their school mascot.
So, this is a pretty important part of campus, and it's something that is constantly changed and is constantly moving. It's repainted three, four times a week.
So, a member of the Turning Point USA chapter at UNCW. spent about eight hours throughout the day on Monday painting this rock, putting a beautiful American flag on one side of it and on the other, a silhouette of Charlie Kirk and some quotes of his, and then his the year he was born and the year, unfortunately, just back a couple of weeks ago that he passed away. It was immediately clear to the college Republicans on campus and those that are part of the Turning Point USA chapter. That This was going to cause a problem.
Now, again, as I noted, This is a kind of living piece of art on campus. And it's important to note that there has been a gentleman's agreement, for lack of a better term. That You leave the rock alone for 24 hours. There's no... Set in stone policy on it, but it is referenced in the student handbook that the spirit rock is supposed to be left alone for 24 hours, which makes sense, right?
I mean, if you have somebody that puts in a couple hours painting something and then you just happen to be walking by it, it makes sense that you would leave it alone for a 24-hour window. I don't think that's too much to ask.
So the visual happens 6:30 Monday night, and immediately it is clear to the students involved on campus that left-wing agitators. Left-wing protesters who of course didn't bother to show up to the vigil and cause any sort of havoc or hell, they stayed away because there was a crowd of 2,000 people and they're cowards, they're scared.
So they didn't show up to that, but it was clear that they were going to deface this mural, which had just painted been finished, painted eight hours beforehand overnight.
So, you had a group of students that literally slept outside Monday night into Tuesday morning. to make sure that this thing This memorial to Charlie Kirk. was not defaced.
Now, if you have been seeing any of the social media chatter on this, and it's gotten some major national news. You'll see a lot of people saying well this wasn't truly a memorial This is a spirit rock. It's supposed to be changed, and it's not supposed to be a permanent fixture of the campus. I don't think anybody was under the auspices that this was going to be a permanent landmark on the campus. But you had a 2,000-person vigil on Monday night.
Somebody spent eight hours painting this and setting it up. And you want to just assume in a normal just society that people would follow that gentleman's agreement. But then, of course, you have to rationalize and wrap your head around how you're not dealing with rational, logical, follow-the-rules people. You're dealing with the progressive left. And not only are you dealing with the progressive left, you're dealing with those on college campuses.
which is a completely Different ballgame. You've got individuals. twenty, twenty one, twenty two years old. that have been indoctrinated through their entire public education. system K through twelve school They're studying, you know, underwater basket weaving or whatever ridiculous, stupid degree at UNCW.
and they are radical progressives. They don't believe that there are consequences for their actions because, frankly, in the past, there hasn't been. Frankly, in in the past, they've been able to act this way. In the past, they've been able to Pretty much do whatever they want unchecked. And everybody just kinds of kind of turns a blind eye.
Administration doesn't step in because you don't want to weaponize the progressive left against you as the chancellor or the administrator of any prominent college. And let me state this: I'm not. Beating up on UNCW. This is an issue I would argue on pretty much 99%. Of public college campuses across the United States.
This is not a unique issue to UNCW or, frankly, any UNC school at all. This is an issue with left-wing indoctrination, which is the most prominent. in college. In the later years of K through 12, in most cases, public education.
So you're dealing with a group of people that pretty much will do whatever they want.
So, you had about half a dozen or so, maybe between half a dozen and a full dozen students Monday night that literally slept outside next to a rock. Because there was a concern. There was a risk. that somebody would deface the mural that had been painted. And not follow.
the gentleman's agreement, the standard, the norm. of just leaving the thing alone for 24 hours. Fortunately, them sleeping outside during the night, a couple folks rotating who was sleeping, who wasn't, it wasn't defaced overnight. Monday into Tuesday. But as daybreak rolled around and his students were going to class mid morning, Well, that's when the situation that you probably saw on social media.
Maybe you saw it, it was all over Fox News and a couple of other outlets, unfolded. where you had a college student. Don't exactly know how old she is or was But a college student. who decided that she was going to pour light blue and pink paint all over the Kirk Memorial. And it's not like there wasn't anybody around.
You had actively, while this situation was unfolding, a small group had gathered. to say a prayer for Kirk. for his wife For his one and three-year-old daughter, who will now, of course, never see their father again. And for everybody involved in Turning Point USA. And while they were standing there and conducting their small prayer circle.
You had a radical unhinged out of control progressive leftist. who decided that was the time to strike. And all over the Charlie Kirk Memorial. We'll get into some more details on this. If you saw this over the last couple of days really going viral on social media, I'd love to hear from you.
You can text or call 704-570-1110. That's 704-570-1110. It's Nick Craig in for TJ Richie this evening, News Talk 1110 and 99.3 WBT. News Talk 1110-99-3. It's the TJ Richie Show.
Nick Craig is sitting in for TJ this evening, 704-570-1110. If you'd like to be part of the program, we're talking about a member of the UNC system here this evening. That's UNCW down in Wilmington. They've been in the news a lot over the last five days or so. Started Monday with a candlelight vigil put on by members of Turning Point USA at the college and the college Republicans putting about a 2,000 or so person.
event together Monday evening. And then really what sparked an incredible amount of outrage on social media and I'll note even across the community were the events that unfolded on Tuesday.
So this spirit rock that we've been talking about. It was painted Monday by a member of the TPUSA chapter on campus. And the gentleman's agreement, again, no policy set in stone. But the gentleman's agreement is You leave the rock alone for 24 hours. It's really not that complicated.
Somebody takes time to paint the rock with whatever. I'll note during the summer of peace and love in 2020, the rock frequently had BLM painted all over it. And it stayed up for days, weeks, maybe even months at a time. Nobody dared to touch that when it was up there during, again, the peaceful time when your cities were burned to the ground and looted during the summer of peace and love in 2020.
So it's not the first time that something political.
something that is controversial. has been painted on this rock. And within just hours of the work being done, somebody pouring eight hours over this thing and making it happen. You had left-wingers on campus. indoctrinated students radical progressive liberals that Aren't used to having to deal with any consequences for their actions, did exactly what you would expect them to do.
because they are of the mindset They have been told by those in the media They have been told by their liberal progressive friends, probably in some cases by their professors, that Charlie Kirk, in his support for Donald Trump and based on the things that he said, That Charlie Kirk was a racist, a fascist, a bigot, every ism you can possibly imagine in the book. And so with that thought, the rock being Painted in tribute less than a week after Charlie Kirk was politically assassinated. at the University of Utah Valley in the state of Utah. That was too much. for those progressives to deal with on campus.
And so they did exactly what you would expect them to do. Tuesday, mid-morning, while a group was around the rock trying to provide just some cover of protection for it.
Well, you saw the you may have seen the video that made its way through social media showing multiple college students defacing that memorial, defacing the beautiful tribute that had been painted on it, all in the name of justice.
Now I will give myself a shameless plug on this, absolutely no shame at all. I posted this on my X account Tuesday afternoon. And it received At this point in time, 9.2 million views. And it was reposted to many other accounts. I don't know what the aggregate is, but it's potentially tens of millions of views on Instagram, X, Facebook, and TikTok, all of the social media channels that you would expect.
It really blew up to the point that even the. A chairwoman of the College Republicans at UNCW was on Fox News last night with Jesse Waters talking about the situation that unfolded. And one of the things that I really took away from the the the video, which you can find if you're a an X user, it's posted over on my X account, which is uh at Nicholas M Craig. is that while this individual is Wiping, by the way, she's using her hands to paint.
So I guess her liberal arts degree of nothing is coming in beneficial here. Finger painting, I guess it does have some real world implications and some real use cases. While she's painting this rock with her hands. Completely covered in blue paint. Nobody is attacking her.
Nobody is forcing her to the ground. Nobody is taking the paint bucket out of her hand and pouring it over their head. Nobody is assaulting her with the paint bucket. Not at all. They're actually standing around.
And sang a prayer for her and the two other brave souls, the brave individuals. That stood up in the face of fascism. and paint it over this rock. And it really showed, and it was a topic on my podcast this week. That the way in which the left and the right deals with things are not comparable at all.
One of the names of my podcast this week, the title was: We Are Not the Same. And this video really emphasizes, and it's just one of many. It's not the first example, it's not the only example. that we just don't handle things the same way. God forbid this had been roles reversed.
I don't like to play whatabout-isms or anything like that. But had this been a left-wing political message that was painted on this rock? and had a group of conservatives. AKA, racists, Nazis, fascists, right? You know all the terminology there.
Had they done something similar?
Some of them may have been assaulted. to almost the brink of severe injury. They somebody could have potentially been killed. We have seen how the left operates and how the left deals with this. And then you compare and contrast that.
to how the right handles things. Saying A prayer for the individuals that are determining it is in the best interests of themselves to paint over this rock. It is truly Such a stark contrast. Between how the two different sides of the political aisle operate. And at the end of the day, Let me be perfectly clear and honest.
It's a rock. It's not the end of the world. I don't think anybody is blowing it out of proportion that it is the end of the world, even though that's what I've been accused of doing, having the audacity to post this video on social media. But to me it really boils down to something incredibly simple. All these students wanted to do.
was be given the exact same opportunity. that everybody else has had on campus for decades. They wanted the ability. to express their thoughts. Express their opinions.
and paint the spirit rock on the campus of UNCW. That's not a lot to ask. They wanted the same privilege that everybody else that attends that university is afforded. And because of the radical out of control, completely lost. political left.
They weren't afforded that. All they wanted was that. It was 24 hours. to remember their guy. that was killed by those on the left.
And that even that. was a bridge too far on campus. Even that. was too much to ask. And it's one of the things that I'm struggling with and trying to figure out how to explain and how to discuss, because a lot of this stuff is highly controversial.
Not Charlie Kirk, but everything that you've seen over the last couple of weeks, whether it's the murder of Irina Zaruska on the Charlotte Light Rail, the murder of Charlie Kirk, some of the other things that have been going on over the last couple of weeks. You get into a position where you struggle to explain what's going on. You struggle to try and wrap your head around how to describe. what you're seeing. what you're watching.
And that's kind of where I've been at over the last couple of weeks. I don't know how to describe the video. that I posted on my X account earlier in the week. These students just wanted to remember somebody that they looked up to. They weren't running around campus.
Yelling and screaming at people that they need to come to a prayer vigil for Charlie Kirk. They didn't put up red velvet ropes all across campus to tunnel traffic to make sure you had to walk by this rock and see what was on it. No. They just wanted to express their opinion. And the left, frankly, It's just not interested in that.
They have no willingness. To listen, see, or hear what the other side is doing. And God forbid. Conservatives do. try and express their opinion.
We Of course. saw what the result of that was at in Utah last Wednesday. And over on the campus of UNCW Tuesday, same situation. It's just not allowed.
So you spend eight hours, you would expect. That you would be afforded the same availability that everybody else is, 24 hours, just leave the thing alone. And it's it's just not good enough. Because the left doesn't believe in social norms. The left doesn't believe.
in any sort of normalcy as it relates to society. It is a very frustrating trend. And it is unfortunately something that is growing at a rapid rate. Right. I've got an interesting uh survey out from a group called FIRE.
Talking about some of the issues ongoing on college campuses. We'll get into those details coming up here in just a few minutes. Tropic Fan Fest is on at Tropical Smoothie Cafe now until Sunday, September 21st. And you know what that means? A free smoothie with bowler food purchased for Tropic Awards members every day all week.
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Rules and restrictions apply. News Talk 1110-993 WBT. It's Nick Craig in for TJ Ritchie this evening, 704-570-1110, as we talk about some of the insanity that continues to unfold on college campuses across the United States in the aftermath, of course, of the political assassination, the targeted attack against Charlie Kirk for, oh, I don't know, speaking his mind. Having the courage to go to college campuses and have divisive conversations. Challenge individuals on what they believe, he himself being challenged on the things that.
All of that. It's just too much for those. on the political left to handle, so they decided to shoot and kill him. Plain and simple. It's really as cut and dry as that, unfortunately.
And so I caught an interesting article over a course at CarolinaJournal.com for those that aren't familiar with me. I host the Carolina Journal News Hour weekday mornings, 5 to 6 a.m., right here on WBT. And the story headline is this, and we'll get into the details. But here's just to lay out the situation here: here's the headline. A third of college students say violence is an option to stop campus speech.
Just based off the headline, I would say that we have got a serious problem. that is currently existing on college campuses. Regardless of anything that you've seen over the last couple of years, of course, earlier this year. And through the later parts of last year, you had College students, Jewish college students at major, some private, some public institutions across the United States. that were literally being run off campus because of their religion, because Free, Free Palestine and all of those fun chants and all of all of that great movement saw that unfolding here, unfortunately, across North Carolina as well.
But man, is that not an incredibly disturbing headline for you? a third of college students. say violence is an option to stop campus speech. J speech. Not violence is acceptable to protect yourself.
Not violence is acceptable to physically defend yourself against somebody else. Violence is acceptable to stop speech. Because those on the left believe, and you've heard this phrase at nauseum, Words equals violence.
Somehow, we have driven to a point in society. Where somebody expressing an opinion is the equivalent to sucker punching somebody in the face. I mean, that's what. These folks on the left believe. You might as well go and knock them out cold.
EA Say something that they find highly offensive. It's the exact same thing to them. There is no distinction between those two things. And obviously, as a rational human being, you can understand how that makes absolutely no sense at all.
So here's the study. It was done by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. The acronym for that group is FIRE, F-I-R-E. And so they this is their sixth annual report, and they've been looking at over the last six years what has been going on with speech on college campuses.
So the survey asked this. How acceptable various forms of protest are against campus speakers. It included questions such as acceptability of blocking students from attending a campus speech, and another question on students, quote, using violence to stop speech. Most students, seventy two percent of them, responded that it is acceptable in limited circumstances to shout down a speaker on campus to stop them from speaking on a controversial topic.
Now, shouting somebody down, of course, is not violence. But 72% believe that if somebody has an opposing viewpoint, Somebody wants to say something that you don't agree with. They shouldn't be allowed to say that, and their voice is more important.
So that number in itself is concerning. Here's the really eye-popping number. Of the students surveyed, which by the way, it included 68,000 students. This is not a small sample size for anybody that. Folllows political polling.
Most political polls are even on the small end, 800, 900 to maybe a couple of thousand at the absolute most, two, three, thirty five hundred maybe. This survey 68,000 students across 257 college campuses. Of those students surveyed. 34% of them. Said using violence to stop someone from speaking is acceptable.
Taherni. Poor. Yeah. And according to the group FHIR that conducted this survey, This percentage has increased by 10 points. over the past four years.
So, in just a relatively small span of time, just over a four-year period of time, essentially, right, the entire Biden administration. You have seen this number jump from the low to mid-twenties to now the mid-30s. where it stands right now. The percentage of students who would shout down a speaker, block students from attending an event or using violence to end campus speech have all increased since last year and are all at record highs. Great.
That's phenomenal news to hear.
So here's the North Carolina connection. They broke this down by... uh states as well. In North Carolina, again, 34 was the national number. In North Carolina, the number's even higher.
Great. 36% of North Carolina college students. Asked in this survey, think it is acceptable to use violence to stop someone from speaking on campus, at least in in rare circumstances, they added and noted.
So, Sean Stevens, who is the chief research advisor to the group FHIR, that put on this survey, said, quote, Most students think uh more students than ever rather think violence and chaos are acceptable alternatives to peaceful protests. These findings cut across partisan lines. It's not a liberal or conservative problem. It's an American problem. And I would agree.
It is a massive problem. that is currently existing in our country. colleges which for the longest time have always been known as the bastions of free speech. The bastions of free expression Where you're allowed to have these divisive sometimes very highly controversial conversations. It has now been relegated to if you're a controversial speaker, 34% of the students on that campus think, no.
Lert's gonna beat you up. Worse, we'll shoot and kill you. Why? Because you spoke. Why?
Because you had the audacity. to oh, I don't know, use your voice? Express your opinions, express your thoughts. Again, folks, we're not talking about people running around college campuses yelling nasty derogatory terms towards individuals. We're not talking about somebody riding through campus on a bike yelling racial or religious epithets.
That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about people like Charlie Kirk. Talking about Individuals on the other side of the political aisle that do these college tours. that are simply having gatherings. I mean, do you do you remember the situation back a couple of years ago, Riley Gaines?
She was a college swimmer at the University of Kentucky. She was almost beaten to death. at a campus out on the west coast. She had to lock herself into a literal broom closet. and have police come and rescue her.
Because the students on that campus were so out of their minds. The students are so out of control. That she almost got beaten up. had literally had to lock herself in a closet. It's incredibly concerning what we're seeing.
The inability, and obviously we're talking about college campuses right now, but it goes well beyond college. I mean some of the unbelievably Hateful and vitriolic things I've seen over the last week and a half. I'm stunned. And I spend a lot of time on the internet. I spend a lot of time perusing comment sections all over the place to see what people are saying and thinking.
This past week and a half, two weeks. have been incredibly eye-opening, even for me. I consider myself a an internet veteran. as it relates to hateful commentary online. I've read it all, I've seen it all.
I try to consume it all to see what's going on, what's being said. Even some of it from me. has been pretty hard to try and digest.
So, I mean, the question is simple. Where do we go from here? When you have in North Carolina 36% nationally, 34% of students that say it's okay to use physical violence against somebody for speaking. their mind. for having an opinion.
Where do we go from there? How do we begin to roll these percentages back?
So that we can actually have some semblance of. normal conversation. New stock 1110-993 WBT Nick Craig in for TJ Ritchie this Friday evening. 704-570-1110 is our studio hotline. You can text or call, be part of the program this evening.
We're going through this report out from a group called FIRE. They do a national survey every year. They've done it now. This is their sixth year doing so. It's the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expressions.
That's the name of the group. And in their report out, which is called the 2026 Conference. College Free Speech Rankings Report, they look at a variety of issues with free speech on college campus. And as we just discussed, in a growing trend, 34% of students surveyed, as I noted, 68,000 students in total. 34% of them said using violence to stop someone from speaking is acceptable.
So as you dig into some more details on this report, it's blatantly obvious which side is having the bigger problem here. One of the questions that they asked in this poll was, and the question reads as this. Percentage of students nationally expressing difficulty discussing topics.
So it asks them. Which of these topics, and gave a laundry list of them, which one of these topics do you find an issue discussing on campus? At 53%, the overwhelming majority. is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And we know and we've got Yeah, w Hundreds of hours of video as to what those debates have looked like on college campuses.
which include Jewish students being run off of campus for, oh, I don't know, just happening happening to be Jewish. We've seen them blocked out of classrooms. We've watched uh places these some of these college campuses turn into essential Like little micro cities where people are camping out all over the place. It's just a mess.
So that was the top issue that students said they couldn't express freely, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Followed by abortion at 46%. We know which side loves discussing that at nauseum. The 2024 presidential election. I would have assumed by late September the next year We'd be over that.
But I guess maybe some on the left still want to rehash what the election looked like last November. All right, we move on from that. Transgender rights, 41%. Racial inequality, 34%. Gun control, 33.
Immigration, the same number, 33. And then it goes. on from there. The vast majority of these issues, we'll call them, these topics of conversation, are ones that the left has. Yeah.
And it's unfortunate. that this study shows You're not allowed to discuss these issues. You are putting yourself in And I'm not saying this lightly. I'm not trying to make a joke here or try and mock a situation. But you go on a college campus, whether you're a social media influencer, whether you're a a talk show host, a television host, a some somebody part of uh you know some uh some think tank organization.
You want to discuss one of these topics. Palestinian-Israeli conflict, abortion, the presidential election, transgender rights. These issues are so controversial. to those on the political left. That 34% of them think that the only solution to you being there is violence.
what that violence looks like. It could be a variety of issues. Physical threats are one thing. Of course, we unfortunately all got to see firsthand what that can look like manifest last Wednesday in Utah. Literally taking a bullet to the neck.
for speaking. on a college campus. This is an incredibly concerning and growing trend. And the question I asked before the break. was How do we roll these numbers back?
It It has jumped 10% to 34% over the last four years. What's it going to look like four years from now? You can have 50% of students saying, yeah, it's okay to physically assault somebody or worse, kill them. if they show up and speak about a controversial topic? How high is the percentage have to get?
Before everybody starts asking themselves, what do we do about this? Let's get ahead of it and do it right now. How do we get ahead of this? I think Some administrations, and this of course is very dynamic and unique depending on the college or the university that you're talking about. These administrators Need to step up.
These administrators need to not only make sure, but they need to absolutely guarantee. When Conservative figures. Right-leaning figures. Come on campus. that they and their speech are protected.
And it's unfortunate that we have seen, and same with everything else, there's dozens of examples of it. of events being canceled due to security concerns, which I get. If you've got a legitimate security concern and a legitimate security threat, you're not going to put your students or the speaker in harm's way. I I I totally get that. I'm not oblivious to that fact.
But these administrators, these chancellors, these deans, they need to make sure. that these events are allowed to go on in some manner, in some form. And really, I think the biggest way you begin to turn this back is you've you've got to look at the classroom. You've got to look at what is being taught. in a variety of these classes.
You've got to look at the level of indoctrination. The the level of actual viewpoint discrimination. that goes on in these classrooms where conservative students Do a thing that is called self-censor. Which means You keep your mouth shut. You don't voice your opinion.
You don't voice your concerns with, again, maybe a group discussion or a group topic that's going on. You self-censor yourself. Because A You don't want to have to deal with your fellow classmates. And B. You don't want to Risk Getting a bad grade.
You don't want to risk having the professor That is you know looking over teaching over the class You don't want to get a bad grade from them because, huh. My God. You're a conservative. By God. You have right-leaning opinions and thoughts.
So college students for decades now. have just kept their mouths shut. And I will contend to you this evening that that's just unacceptable. You don't have to like, there's plenty of people that I listen to on a regular basis that I don't agree with everything, hookline, and sinker. I don't agree with every word out of their mouth.
Charlie Kirk's a great example of it. I didn't agree with everything that he and Turning Point USA did. I thought they were flawed on a lot of their stuff. Doesn't mean I didn't appreciate the discussion. That doesn't mean I didn't appreciate.
being challenged on my own thoughts. Being challenged on things that I that I believe, things that I hold true. That's good. To me, it makes your belief system stronger. It can really in some cases solidify the things that you already believe in.
And I would gather from looking at this survey and anecdotal evidence that exists. You're not seeing that right now in a vast majority of.
so called institutions of higher learning across the United States. You're just not. Conservative students are fearful from their classmates and their professors, so they don't say anything. You've got these tenured professors that are radical progressives. That will turn a math class into political story hour.
And wh what's the end result? But you're seeing it play out right now. These students are so indoctrinated. They are so fearful to hear something that they don't agree with. They believe that words are violence, and anybody that doesn't agree with every single one of their beliefs is a fascist.
Is an authoritarian, is an existential threat to the existence of our country. All of those phrases, all of those things. It is so bad. That they want to run you off campus, or, you know, God forbid, literally kill you. for having that stance, having that viewpoint, having that opinion.
It's unacceptable. And it's going to unfortunately hit a tipping point. And I think we're probably pretty close to it right now. With what you saw in Utah last week. the reaction to that.
With Charlie Kirk memorials on college campuses all over the place being destroyed, being defaced. It's not good. And frankly, not only is it not good, it's not sustainable. It is not something that can continue to go on long term by any. Way.
It's just not possible. It cannot sustain itself. Tropic Fan Fest is on at Tropical Smoothie Cafe now until Sunday, September 21st. And you know what that means? A free smoothie with bowler food purchased for Tropic Awards members every day, all week.
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Now the land is gone. And so is a history that lived on it. This is what happens with heirs' property. The land is shared, but without legal protection? They can be sold or lost.
Don't let your family's story in the same way. Talk to your loved ones, create a will, work with a housing counselor or legal aid to clear the title and protect what your ancestors left behind. Land is more than property, it's legacy, it's wealth. It's power. Visit lisc.org to learn more about heirs' property and how to keep it in the family.
That's lisc.org. It's 4.07 a.m. Birds are starting to chirp. And while most people are still counting sheep, you count stock gains, inflation ticks, and quarterly earnings. Because getting ahead in business takes stubborn curiosity and a refusal to log off before the dots connect.
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proudly presents America's coolest conservative. Proudly could be stretching it a bit. Welcome to the DJ Ritchie Show. Kingdom 6, News Talk 1110, 99.3 WBT. It's the TJ Ritchie Show.
I'm Nick Craig, host of the Carolina Journal News Hour, which you can hear weekday mornings 5 to 6 right here on WBT and the Nick Craig Show Podcast, which you can find in all of your favorite podcast apps, sitting in for TJ this evening at 704-570-1110. If you'd like to text or call, be part of the show in our final hour here this evening. Has anybody else been Huh. Has anybody else been blown away? By how much media attention the Jimmy Kimmel story has gotten.
You're talking about a guy. that was barely breaking a million viewers a night. And while you might say, Nick, a million viewers is a lot of people. I I agree. I wish I had a million people listening to my podcast.
This The network that Kimmel was on. ABC. hundreds of millions of homes across the country. The potential size for his audience is massive. He is on a network that anybody with a television and an $8 antenna from Walmart can watch completely free.
So he is very accessible in terms of getting his content. It's not locked behind cable, it's not locked behind a paywall, it is literally free broadcast television. This guy was barely cracking a million viewers a night. As TJ talked about last night, and as you've heard coverage of throughout the day, and over the last day or two. He has been at least temporarily suspended, indefinitely pulled off the air.
Presumably will not come back on. Possibly, I d don't know yet. I my my crystal ball's not working. It's a little late on a Friday for that.
So not exactly sure what's going to happen, but at least for the time being, he's gone. And as I've had the pleasure of watching cable news over the last two days. It's literally like all they're talking about. I mean, you you would think That Jimmy Kimmel and his late night show on ABC had like 60 million viewers a night or something based on the amount of coverage it's getting. As I'm watching Chris Hayes right now on MSNBC, he's got a four-person panel, a two-person panel discussing this right now.
His show started seven minutes ago, eight minutes ago, right at the top of the eight o'clock hour. And he has been talking about this topic. from the start. He's now got some expert on that the the Chiron reads backlash. against Jimmy Kimmel being pulled off the air.
So the lo the larger, the more broad discussion that has been taking place since the announcement, which originally, by the way, was not from ABC, it was from two very large station operator groups across the U. S., Nexstar Media and Sinclair, Which own combined hundreds of television stations in local markets all across the country. They announced that they would be dropping his show indefinitely on Wednesday due to the incredibly stupid comments that he made Monday night during his monologue that, again, nobody really watched because he just doesn't have an audience. He made comments on Monday. He's got like probably a dozen writers, if not more, that work on his show nightly.
Those people screened what he said. I would And can only presume that somebody at ABC television knew generally the gist of what was coming in. Kimmel's monologue Monday. There was no objection to it. Kimmel himself, who is not a noob to the game.
Yeah. Been around for a very long time. He understands media. He understands television. He's not an idiot.
made his commentary made his monologue on Monday. And now he is dealing with the repercussions.
Now he is dealing with the consequences to the things that he said. And so there's a couple of different ways to take this discussion, and we'll dive into the rest of it here throughout the rest of this hour. Let's start. With the decision by ABC. From a pure Purely financial standpoint.
My guess would be, and I don't have any inside information, But my guess to w my guess would be That they are trying to cut Costs. And you can say, Nick, well, what evidence are you using to back that up? I mean, how can you make that statement?
Well, you just have to look at what CBS did a couple of months ago. There was no push from the FCC Commissioner and Brendan Carr. There was no push from the Trump administration to get Stephen Colbert off the air? CBS announced earlier this year That they would not be renewing his contract, and not only would Stephen Colbert no longer be with the network come early 2026. But they would not be replacing him, meaning that the late show, which is the name of the CBS show that Colbert hosts.
would no longer be on the air.
So, it's not like a guy gets fired and somebody comes and replaces him. CBS is dropping the show in its entirety early next year. And it makes sense as to why they're doing that. Colbert is making somewhere in the ballpark of $20 million a year. He has a support staff, all included.
This includes your writers, your technical directors, folks that are responsible for coordinating with the in-studio audience, the entire team. was estimated, I think it was from Axios or somewhere else, to be 100 people.
So you've got 100 people that you're paying, plus the host, at $20 million a year. And he's averaging. One and a half. 1.7 million viewers a night. It's a good size audience, don't get me wrong.
Again, I wish I was in the same ballpark. But when you look at the availability of the content how relatively accessible it is. It's literally free-to-air television. That's not a huge audience. CBS earlier this year made a business decision with Stephen Colbert and with The Late Show.
It's no longer making money. We can't support paying the host $20 million a year and paying 100 staff members to run a show that's being viewed by less than 2 million people. And you might say, well, Nick, what do some of these other shows look like? Greg Gutfeldt. Who's on cable news, which does have a relatively high bar.
A barrier to entry. You have to have a cable, satellite, or streaming subscription to watch it. The Fox News channel is not available for free. You can't just buy an $8 antenna at the store and watch Fox News. You have to pay for it.
He's averaging. More than almost between three and a quarter and three and a half million viewers a night on his show.
So there is an audience in late night television. But there is a huge drastic difference between Fox, which is again behind a paywall. And Free-to-air broadcast television like CBS, ABC, or NBC. And so when you look at what Kimmel said on Monday. You look at the reaction from Nexstar Media and Sinclair Broadcasting over announcing they were no longer going to air his show on their ABC affiliates and then ABC later saying, we're done, we're not going to air the show, we're putting it on suspension hold indefinitely.
To me, it seems like a business decision.
Now were there was there some Pressure. Yeah. Trump administration? I mean, if you consider a guy going on a podcast. And saying that he, as the FCC commissioner, is concerned with the kind of content that's being broadcast.
I guess so. But there was no legal challenge fire filed against ABC. The FCC did not formally introduce any sort of review. No investigation, nothing. I mean, Brendan Carr made comments on a literal podcast.
And ABC seemingly with the snap of a finger. Pulled the plug on Kimmel. It's a business decision. There's no audience. There's no money.
And it's incredibly expensive. When you're paying Kimmel, who makes $16 million a year and probably has a similar size support staff. that of Stephen Colbert. It is a hard thing to keep running long term. These shows, all of them.
Whether we're talking about Kimmel, Fallon, or Colbert on the three major networks. all of them. have essentially killed all of their viewership. I mean, you look at what late night television ratings were even back 15, 20 years ago. Exponentially higher.
than they are right now. And there's a good reason. Why the audience has left. Tropic Fan Fest is on at Tropical Smoothie Cafe now until Sunday, September 21st. And you know what that means?
A free smoothie with bowler food purchase for Tropic Awards members every day, all week. Download our app and join to get it on the font. Terms and conditions apply. Your grandparents worked hard for the land that they left you. It's more than fields and fences, it's their sacrifice.
Their gift. Their legacy, but if it's heirs' property and there's no will, or deed. That lamb. could be lost. Forever.
Families across the country face this every day. Shared land without clear ownership? can be divided.
Sold. or even taken away. But there's hope. You can protect your inheritance. Start by talking to your family, get legal help.
Create a will. Clear the title because land is wealth. Land is history. Land. is power.
Don't wait until it's too late. For resources and support, go to lisc.org. That's lisc. Dot org Welcome back to the TJ Richie Show, News Talk 1110-993 WBT. I'm Nick Craig, host of the Carolina Journal News Hour and the Nick Craig Show podcast in for TJ this evening at 704-570-1110.
That's 704-570-1110. According to CNN right now, breaking news. This is important, folks. Whatever you're doing right now, stop doing it. I've got breaking news from CNN.
Jimmy Kimmel. Met with ABC executives today. and did not resolve. His conflict with the organization. CNN has and MSNBC have been literally talking about this.
non-stop for the last two days. I was mentioning before the break. This is a guy that had like. less almost less than a million viewers a night on average. And just to kind of draw a comparison to where things have been in late night television in the past.
When Jay Leno was hosting the Tonight Show on NBC, which was the top-rated, at least in the early and later parts of the 2000s. when he was hosting The Tonight Show on NBC. On In 2002. He was averaging about 11.8 million viewers a night. That is an incredibly strong broadcast.
2002. Still early 2000s. As things progressed into the early 2010s. You had the rise of YouTube and podcasting and alternative forms of media and content. It started to drop off.
For example, in 2006, where The Tonight Show still led in ratings for its eleventh consecutive season. It had an average nightly viewership of still five point seven million viewers. This is 2006. You then flash forward to the mid-2010s when you've got the rise of these alternative forms. The show still.
had an average viewership nightly of about 4 million people. That's still a very strong audience. And so you look back. Mid-2010s is only a decade ago. You look at where the numbers are now in comparison to where they were.
Mm-hmm. Leno hosting on NBC. David Letterman. Hosting on CBS. It's a skeleton of what it used to be.
This is a uh an article from Late nighter.com. They're a media outlet that Provides information about late night television. They ran an article back in mid-July looking at the quarter to 2025 rankings or ratings, I should say, for the late night television shows that we're talking about. And as As I mentioned earlier, Stephen Colbert was. And he is going to be relieved of his position by CBS later this year.
Not because of any political pressure, but presumably because it was no longer making financial sense to keep him on the air at $20 million a year with 100 people running around producing the show. He is the strongest and continues to be the strongest in late night television, averaging. 2.4 million viewers a night. This was out of the quarter two. 2025 ratings.
Strong audience there for Colbert. Regardless of that, CBS said, we just can't afford to do it anymore. Yeah. So then you look at what was going on elsewhere. Jimmy Kim alive.
1.17 million viewers. Jimmy Fallon. On NBC. One point one nine. million viewers.
These guys are barely crazy. Cracking. a million viewers a night. And as I mentioned before, Greg Gutfeld. Who is on Fox News, a panel?
Pay for Cable satellite streaming subscription channel. is averaging three point two nine Viewers a night. 3.29 million average viewers a night. He is blowing all of these shows out of the water, and you have to pay. $70, $80 a month, they get access to Fox News on most basic cable plans.
So why are the numbers So abysmally low. There's obviously some interest in late night television. I mean Gutfeld's pulling almost three and a half million people a night. Obviously, people are up and want to watch.
So what's the issue? These shows have become increasingly irrelevant.
Now some of it, I will admit. Is due to the Very dynamic and hyper-evolving and always changing media landscape. You are looking at a model. this trade traditional terrestrial media model of late night television. that is dwindling its audience.
And that's typical with what you're seeing in media all over the place, whether we're talking about radio, traditional television, newspapers, we've seen. The hollowing out of many of those industries. And as somebody that loves radio and has a great passion for radio, it's sad to see. But it's a dynamic evolving media landscape. You can kick your feet yelling and screaming about it, or you can try and adapt and evolve with the times.
These shows have not adapted. Yes, they put their clips on YouTube. Yes, they post their content on TikTok and Instagram. That's not what I'm talking about. The show structures don't make sense.
And frankly, the show content, it it blows. It's not interesting. It's not funny. There's nothing that comes out of these shows that is even remotely interesting to the vast majority of the American people. That's not just my opinion on it.
That is a blatantly obvious based on the ratings. That is blatantly obvious based on the hollowing out of Of what these audiences were, which were in years past, you go back 30 or 40 years, tens of millions of people a night tuning in to watch people like Johnny Carson. Tens of millions of people a night.
Now Cable didn't exist throughout a large portion of that. You obviously didn't have social media. You didn't have YouTube and Rumble and all these various platforms. There was a little bit more of a kind of tightly controlled monopoly. And so back to Jimmy Kimmel and the crying that's going on over this by those on the political left that.
Yeah. Jimmy Kim Alive is seemingly suspended indefinitely going forward. You have to ask yourself for somebody like Kimmel, who's making $16 million a year. He's not an idiot. He's not a moron.
He knows the business. He's been involved in it long enough. At any point do you think he thought to himself Man, I am just absolutely losing my audience. I am just shedding listeners and viewers night after night after night, year after year after year. Maybe it's time.
to do just a little bit of self-reflection. and figure out Where my audience went. figure out where the American people went. I Would argue that that probably has never happened. Or if it did happen, it was such a quick reflection that no substantial changes were made.
These shows Whether it's the late show with Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel Live, or the tonight show with Jimmy Fallon. These shows have become nothing more than regurgitation Of Democrat left-wing talking points. There's nothing interesting on them. It is a regurgitation of all the other garbage that exists on television in terms of so-called political news, wrapped up in a little in-studio audience that uh claps and cheers when you say something bad about Trump and booze when you may every once in a while mention something about a Democrat. That's what these shows are.
The monologues aren't interesting. You've got Stephen Colbert a couple of years ago dancing around with COVID-19 vaccines. Mean that That's our level of humor. That exists right now. Stephen Colbert is going to tell you to get your COVID-19 vaccine.
And I'm supposed to be shocked. that 25 million people a night aren't tuning into that. That incredibly edgy definitely not forced by the federal government content from Stephen Colbert. Give me a break. We'll talk about the free speech stuff.
It's a valid discussion. But folks, plain and simple. This is a business decision by ABC. They know What the audience looks like. These ratings aren't secret to them.
They employ people and pay them large sums of money to look at ratings and to make suggestions. And so either A, the suggestions weren't made or B. Tropic Fan Fest is on at Tropical Smoothie Cafe now until Sunday, September 21st. And you know what that means? A free smoothie with bowler food purchase for Tropic Awards members every day all week.
Download our app and join to get it on the fun. Terms and conditions apply. Your grandparents worked hard for the land that they left you. It's more than fields and fences, it's their sacrifice. their gift.
Their legacy, but if it's heirs' property and there's no will, or deed? That land could be lost. Forever. Families across the country face this every day. Shared land without clear ownership?
can be divided.
Sold. or even taken away. But there's hope. You can protect your inheritance. Start by talking to your family, get legal help.
Create a will. Clear the title because land is wealth. Land is history. Land. is power.
Don't wait until it's too late. For resources and support, go to lisc.org. That's lisc. Mm-hmm. B Jimmy Kimball wasn't interested in what his bosses at ABC had to say.
It's 834. Welcome back. News Stock 1110-993 WBT Nick Craig in for TJ Ritchie on this Friday evening at 704-570-1110. That's where you can text or call, be part of the program this evening. We're talking about.
Apparently, what is a major story? I thought it would be in the news for like maybe a day. But here we are, night two, Jimmy Kimmel being suspended, not even fired. From ABC News is seemingly the biggest political story in the world to many major news outlets, including. MSNBC and CNN, who, as I glance over right now, Chris Hayes.
MSNBC is still talking about it. CNN has moved on to some other ridiculous topic, I'm sure. But Chris Hayes started his show. 35 minutes ago. And he is still Talking about Jimmy Kimmel.
getting suspended over at ABC. I'm not saying it's not. An interesting story, because it is. There's definitely some interest and intrigue in it. But is it really that big of a story?
We I just walk you through the audience. We just Together, walked through what these late night television show audiences used to be. in comparison to where they are now. And I'm going to be honest with you, and obviously, my subset of people I interact with, of course, is limited, like everybody's is. But I can tell you honestly.
I don't know a single person. That watches any of these late night shows. And I will even add to that: like, somebody like Gutfeld. I just, I don't know anybody that. is chomping at the bit to watch late night television.
The format to me is is kinda stale. Oh, yeah, you've got your live band, and you've got your announcer that you make funny jokes back and forth with. You've got your applause track, your studio audience that claps at your jokes. And yeah, you bring on some actress, you bring on a singer, and oh, wow, this completely unscripted thing that we're going to do. It's just kind of boring.
It's lame. It's not really interesting. It was interesting 40 years ago. It was even interesting 20 years ago. When I think there was some greater level of authentic content.
But that doesn't exist now. And what makes it even tougher for these shows, whether we're talking about Colbert Or Seth Meyer, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, who whoever. We talk about these guys. We talk about these shows. There is so much content available.
It's absurd. I remember just a couple of years ago, it was something like 100,000 hours a day of content was uploaded to YouTube. Just YouTube. Every single day. I'm sure that number has grown.
I'm sure if you added in other Social media platforms like Facebook and X and Instagram and TikTok, it would be hundreds of thousands, if not millions of hours a day worth of content.
So, you've got a very loud, or I should say, very large. pool of content to pull from. And so when you Watch. Kimmel or Fallon or even Colbert's show on CBS, which I'll note is the highest rated out of all of them. Are you seeing anything that is So interesting.
Are you seeing anything that is so Grasping from a content standpoint, that you say, Well, this is my routine now, this is what I have to do. And I would just argue that the answer is no.
So why is Kimmel suspended?
Well, he made In my estimation, stupid and verifiably untrue comments on his show on Monday. He opened his monologue talking about how it was a crazy weekend. As the so-called MAGA folks tried to distance themselves from the assassin that shot and killed Charlie Kirk last Wednesday. and indicated that somehow the individual with his trans boyfriend. or girlfriend, however you'd like to classify that.
His mother telling prosecutors that he had become radically. uh become a radical leftist in recent years. His back and forth exchange with his partner. Partner. About How hateful Charlie Kirk was, and how some hate just can't be reasoned with.
All of those facts, including The Utah County prosecutor at a press conference last Friday announcing in. walking the public through the text message exchange back and forth. Providing information, witness statements from his mother and other family members about how he had become radicalized to the left in recent years, with all of those facts out there. Kimmel went on his show. With 1.17 million viewers.
and tried to make the point. tried to claim That The Utah Valley shooter was, in fact, a Trump guy. He was one of us. Even though Not only is there no evidence to back that up, it is verifiably false. When you talk to and hear from the, oh, I don't know, the guy that's actually prosecuting the case.
The guy that is seeking the death penalty. against the shooter, against the killer. But that's his right to do so. And that kind of leads us and transitions us into this discussion over free speech. Jimmy Kimmel has, and still to this point, had free speech.
He was allowed Go on ABC television. His show available in hundreds of markets across the United States. and make that statement. Television transmitters were not immediately shut off in the middle of his monologue. Nobody took a pair of bolt cutters to the camera that he was talking to and got him off the air real quick.
There was no government censorship. He was able to do his entire show. He did, in fact, do his entire show. And Nothing was wrong. He, I'm sure, went home.
and enjoyed the rest of his night and came into work the next day. He had his free speech. He was allowed to make his point. He wasn't persecuted for that.
Now there was public reaction to his comment. There was outrage from American citizens, and then outrage from broadcasters. As they were getting calls from their local advertisers, which, by the way, a little dirty secret on how media works. Television and radio, at least those that are terrestrially available, we are an advertiser-supported business.
So if our advertisers get upset with us, If our advertisers say, we don't like what you're doing, we're gonna take our business somewhere else. That is a serious problem. It is an advertiser-supported model.
So when Nexstar and Sinclair are getting calls from their advertisers. Saying What are you guys airing? Why are you giving this guy a platform? Why are you giving him the availability to say this stuff? Those local broadcasters, they've got to make a business decision.
Right, this is this is the the business boycott that we've seen. And the fact of the matter is, in an advertiser-supported model, you are. at the whim of those advertisers. If that money dries up, you're out of business. You have no local newscasts.
You have no local shows. You have nothing. If there's no money, the station is off the air. It's a really simple equation.
So the local operators revolted. Saying, we're done, we're not airing this show. And then, of course, you have ABC probably deciding this might be a good time to cut some dead weight with Jimmy Kimmel and his $16 million a year salary. 704-570-1110 is our phone number. Let's head on over to line one.
John is hanging on the line. John, good evening to you. Welcome to the TJ Ritchie Show with Nick Craig. What's going on? Good evening.
Pretty good, my friend. Hope you are. Excellent. Hey, well, it's Friday. It doesn't get much better than that.
The thing about the Uh Fallon and and uh Kimmel and all that. You know, the the business model just doesn't work anymore. When they did these shows, started back in the 60s and 50s and whatnot. The idea was: hey, we get people to fall asleep watching this channel, and when they wake up, it's still on that channel when our money making shows come on, and hopefully, they will stick with us into the new the news and all that.
Nowadays, with most people don't even watching live, they're watching on streaming or whatever. But when you turn your cable off, when you come up, turn it back on the morning, it's no longer on the same station. My noise reverts back to the spectrum, and then you have to go where you want to go.
So it doesn't make money. And I mean, what's his name? The late show was losing $25 million a year.
So the business model doesn't make sense. And then you add on Kimmel You know, saying his dumb stuff, and it was like, you know, he's just not worth. the effort anymore. He's causing us more problems than it's worth. I think he was probably going to get canceled when his contract was up in May anyway.
just like uh the light show because it just doesn't make sense. And I think you're Alan will be next. I think you're spot on to it and you're making all really great and solid points. And as you know, that contract was up in the early parts of next year. And I'll remind you and everybody else, CBS made the same business decision.
And CBS's late night show was beating out everybody else's in terms of audience, was beating out everybody else's in terms of viewership and audience. They made that decision independently earlier this year, and I would suspect. At the high levels of ABC television. That they took advantage of this opportunity from a business standpoint and said, Alright, he's stepped in it this time. There's a lot of public outrage.
We are going to get ready to cut this show anyway. We can now use this as an opportunity to do it. I don't know that that's the fact. I don't know that we'll ever know for certain whether that is true or not. But when you look at the business model, you look at the audience, you look at the ratings, you look at the revenue, you look at the expense.
of operating this a show like that. It's a pretty logical conclusion, especially when we saw one of the other major broadcasters do essentially the exact same thing. earlier this year. Welcome back to the TJ Richie Show, News Talk 1110-993 WBT. Nick Craig sitting in for TJ on this beautiful Friday evening across North Carolina, 704-570-1110.
If you'd like to jump in on our final segment this morning as we continue our discussion of the Apparently now very popular Jimmy Kimmel. Everybody's seemingly talking about him at nauseum now. It's a guy that couldn't pull even one and a half million viewers a night on average. And now It has been non-stop news. Over the last couple of days about him.
And I just caught an interesting clip as I was scrolling through during the break. Apparently, this was just on Jesse Water Show on Fox News. Kimmel was seen today. going into a high-profile attorney office. in New York City.
So, as I told you, the breaking news earlier from CNN: breaking news, stop all the presses. Kimmel met with the ABC execs today and apparently things did not go his way.
So then I guess he called up a high profile lawyer in New York City and is going to try and take a legal challenge against this. And folks, I'll notice somebody that dealt with this myself last year. Yeah, Meatie's a ruthless business. It's a tough business. People get fired.
When the audience dries up, you say something you weren't supposed to, you get fired. I mean, it's an unfortunate reality, but it is a job hazard of working in media, especially if you are on an advertiser-supported model like television or radio. It's just a risk of doing the job. Nobody needs any sympathy for it, but it's the God's honest truth. It's a constant risk.
And so I want to end with the the free speech discussion, because that's where those on the political left who could not care any less about free speech want to frame this discussion. I'll remind you that it was just a couple of years ago. that you had people like the previous Vice President of the United States and Kamala Harris. speaking on a national stage that she was glad That somebody like Donald Trump would. was Essentially removed From social media.
You'll remember back after the 2020 election, he was removed from Twitter. At the time, it was called Twitter under the direction of Jack Dorsey. Zuckerberg at Facebook kicked him off. He was banned from YouTube, just essentially wiped off the internet. He then would go on to build his truth social platform, which he now uses as a major communication tool across the United States.
So you have people like the previous Vice President of the United States. Cheering on. people's alleged free speech. being removed. And I think it really comes down to a gross misunderstanding of of really what free speech is.
And and another part of all of this is Just because you can Or just because you are allowed to do something by claiming, oh, it's protected by free speech, doesn't mean that you necessarily should. I'll give you a great example. When you're in the presence of children, we're like talking like young children. When you're in the presence of children, whether it's grandchildren, niece and nephews, friends, and they've got kids. You probably are not using high amounts of profanity, correct?
You're probably watching your language just a little bit because there are children in the room. And we as a society understand that swearing in front of children is probably not the best thing to do.
So Do you run around to your family and friends? and claim that they are encroaching on your free speech. Because they don't want you dropping F-bombs in front of six-year-olds? No, of course not. That would be a ludicrous thing to...
bring forward.
So, just because you can, just because you're allowed to do something, it's my right to do so, free speech, my constitutional right. doesn't mean that you necessarily should. Jimmy Kimball. has Free speech. He used his platform.
His show. Into just over a million homes, close to that number, Monday night. He used. His free speech. He used his voice and the platform given to him by the executives at ABC Television to broadcast his mind.
And he did so. With no remorse, and apparently was going to do his monologue Wednesday, doubling down on it, which might be part of the reason why he was. Yanked off the air late in the day on Wednesday. Because he was going to double down on his ridiculously ludicrous and stupid statements about the Charlie Kirk assassination in Utah. They just said probably enough is enough.
You're costing us way you're costing us way too much money. and you're becoming a huge hassle to deal with. You're a liability for our organization and we don't want to deal with it anymore. And so the broader question of Is this an overstep? Is the Trump administration truly acting as now fascists?
Which and authoritarians, which by the way, folks, I was already under the impression that had has been happening. I've been told for the last ten years. that Trump was an authoritarian dictator. I've been told for the last decade that he's a fascist. And he's going to become a king in our country.
I Had the pleasure this evening of going to dinner with my girlfriend, and there was a car at a stoplight in front of us that had no kings painted on the back windshield.
So I was reminded. of the king that Donald Trump is becoming. He's been a fascist and a dictator for apparently 10 years. And so now he's actually a fascist, and now he's actually a dictator because he himself, single-handedly, Fired. Jimmy Kimmel from ABC.
Brendan Carr, who, by the way, is a phenomenal FCC commissioner. He is in local communities. He is talking to local broadcasters. This guy is a broadcasting nerd and a broadcasting nut, and I absolutely love it. That's who you need at the helm of the FCC, especially.
In the Ever Evolving, incredibly dynamic times that exist in traditional FCC-licensed media right now, whether you're talking radio or broadcast television. You need somebody like that at the helm of the FCC. And I'll note. Brendan Carr didn't just pop onto the scene yesterday. He has been on the FCC Commission for a significant period of time.
He was just recently appointed to the chairman post because it is the party, political party in charge of the president, which, of course, now is the GOP. That is responsible with tasking the chairman for the entity. It's a five-member board. Brendan Carr is not new to the FCC. He's not new to broadcast regulation.
He's not new to this industry. And what he was on Benny Johnson show on Wednesday, and he's done a plenty of other media. hits over the last couple of days as well. He continues to go back to one of the things that television and broadcast stations that are granted a license by the FCC. have to deal with.
is doing things that are in the public interest. That includes things like Local news. Local weather, sports, community interest stories, community events, so on and so forth. You're familiar with these kinds of things that are broadcast. He believes, and I think rightfully so.
That there is a growing trend of these broadcasters no longer serving a purpose for the communities that they are allegedly supposed to be. providing in terms of a public interest element.
Now Am I under the impression, and do I actually believe that the FCC is going to revoke ABC's license to broadcast? I I don't believe for a second that there's any likelihood of that happening at all. Do I think what is going on now with Jimmy Kimmel. Is potentially going to have some sort of ripple effect across the industry. I think so.
And I think it's about time. We've spent decades listening to these sorts of talk show hosts get their talking points from the Democrats, from those on the progressive left. We're finally said, enough is enough. We're done with it. We don't want to hear it anymore.
It's done.
So I think ABC made a business decision. I don't think it's free speech overreach, authoritarian decisions by Trump and Brendan Carr in any way. We'll see how it shakes out as Kimmel continues to meet with lawyers and the good folks over at ABC Television. It's been a great night filling in for TJ Richie, the TJ Richie Show. I'm Nick Craig, host of the Carolina Journal News Hour.
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