From the Mighty 990 Broadcast Center, you're waking up in Starnes Country with Todd Starnes. Oh, wow. Hello. All right. All you folks in Collierville, you better grab a jacket.
It is a little chilly this morning, 45 degrees when you walk out the door. Good morning. Welcome to Stern's Country, broadcasting live in the principal of Toyota Memphis studio today. We have a lot going on, and what a great day in the Mid-South. We have literally Chamber of Commerce weather all the way to Friday, and then a few rain showers, and it's going to get a little bit cooler as we move into fall.
So, I want you to write down our telephone number. You will need this. We've got a little Memphis Grizzlies trivia coming up to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Grizzlies being here in the Mid-South. Our telephone number, by the way, is 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926.
And coming up a little bit later, well, it is Wednesday, and that means we're looking after your money with our good friends. Over at Strategic Financial Partners.com. Adam Martin and Chris Loft is dropping by to have a great conversation with us. You're going to want to stick around for that. And you might also be able to call in and ask a question or two.
So last night, I was at a gathering in. A German town, and by the way, got to meet the owner of the commissary, which was pretty awesome. And I told the guy flat out, it was as soon as he introduced himself and said what he did, I said, You guys have the best banana pudding in America. I just want you to know that, which is a little awkward thing to say during an introduction, but you know, I guess he'd heard it before. But anyway, it was just a great conversation, a wonderful group of folks celebrating our great senator, Brent Taylor.
And Senator Taylor. Has really done a remarkable job over his tenure and his time in office. You know, he has served in so many different capacities in our city, in our county, and he really does love Memphis. He cares about Shelby County, and he has been on this issue like a pit bull on a pork chop, making Memphis matter. And he's taken that message all the way to Washington, D.C.
And as a result of those efforts, we are seeing some really significant changes in the Mid-South. You know, I was one of the people there was David Parsons, who's the mayor of Bartlett. He was on our show Friday. And the mayor just really delivered some powerful and passionate remarks. And I think he really, you know, we've been talking a lot about vibe and how there's been just a vibe change in the Mid-South over the past month or so, right?
People feel safer. It's almost as if the veil has lifted. It's as if people can breathe again. And, you know, Mayor Parsons put it like this: He said, You know, he says, There's hope again. There is hope in our city, there's hope in the Mid-South.
And folks, I do believe we are coming out of this. But here's the thing: we're not going back, and we can't go back. And I don't think we will because there is a change in culture. Culture happening in our city. As a matter of fact, Antonio Parkinson was on, who's a Democrat, by the way.
He was on one of the T V shows yesterday. And he admitted that President Trump's safe Memphis or Memphis Safe Task Force is actually doing a good job in transforming the city. Take a listen.
So, what's your overall take, though, on the Memphis Safe Task Force? Because some are, of course, touting and saying crime numbers are really dropping down. Other folks are saying, well, I think they were already dropping before they got here. How do you see it, Reference? Yeah, you know, they were already dropping before they got here.
And apparently, they're dropping more. You know, you can't argue that. I mean, you know, you can see behavioral differences, you know, in our communities. You know, people are rushing out to get their tags now, right? You know, you can switch lanes without a Fin Finn almost knocking you off the freeway, you know, zipping past you at a thousand miles per hour.
There are behavioral differences that are happening, and it's evident. Yeah, it is evident. Have you seen it in your communities, in your neighborhoods? Have you been out on the streets? Have you noticed that people are slowing down?
I will say this: there are people that are still weaving in and out, and to a person, I've seen this happen five times over the past week, and I will say that all five times the person still had a drive-out tag. On their vehicle, but yeah, I'm with Parkinson here. I think that people are beginning you, people are beginning to change their behavior, and folks, the reality is, and just think about this for just one moment, just think about it. We didn't have to live like this, right? For years now, under Democrat rule, they have allowed the criminals to run our city.
They are the ones, the leaders at City Hall, the leaders at the County Commission, they are the ones who put us in this position. All of their soft on crime policies. And now, all of a sudden, people have money to go out and buy a car tag. Imagine that.
Well, from the Daily Memphian, and we got these numbers last night as well. And I just want to share these with you because this is something to celebrate here. And this is something to remember when you go out and vote. And we're going to keep pounding this into your brain and ours as we get closer to elections. Elections do matter, elections have consequences.
And as a result of Donald J. Trump, a Republican in the White House, Memphis is now becoming a safer city. These are the numbers since they launched the Memphis State Task Force. 1,267 arrests of violent criminals and gang members, specifically gang members, when you pull those numbers out, well, over 100 gangbangers have been arrested. And let me tell you something: many of these people are facing federal charges.
So it doesn't matter what Mulroy and the soft on crime judges do, the judicial commissioners, that doesn't matter anymore because these guys are facing federal charges. 239 illegal firearms seized. 51 sex offenders charged. There it and And this is a remarkable number. And Mike Dunovan, our brand new U.S.
attorney, shared these numbers last night. 67 missing children have been located. That is, I mean, first of all, and I mean, it's something to celebrate. But how tragic. Because these kids could have been found, they could have been rescued earlier, had City Hall, had the County Commission, Lee Harris, had Lee Harris and Paul Young actually done their jobs.
So far.
So far, there has been a 40% drop in violent crime. in Memphis. That is something that is just remarkable, remarkable, ladies and gentlemen. But beyond that, we were told last night. And I don't want to get I cannot remember the exact number, but I will say this, that calls for service, like 911 calls for people needing help, they have dropped some over twenty percent here in Memphis That tells us that Memphis is getting safer and it's happening very, very quickly.
Over 1,500 federal officers are here, and they're going to stay here as long as they need to.
So keep in mind, if you have. And again, we've been dealing with the situation where the Memphis Police Department, I mean, whoever you talk to, four, five, six hundred officers down from their full complement, if we had had those officers from day one, we would not be dealing with this issue right now. But now we have not only the full complement of law enforcement necessary, we have above and beyond that, which is what we've been talking about on this program: that we need about 2,000 officers out there, boots on the ground. We have a big setting. covers a lot of land.
So God bless Senator Taylor. And look, he represents, he doesn't even represent Memphis, right? He represents the suburbs. But as the senator said last night at the gathering, as Memphis goes, so go the suburbs.
So, we all have skin in the game here. And so, these brand new numbers just coming out, and I wanted to get that information to you.
So, this is very, very exciting news as we sort of go through these first weeks of having the National Guard here. By the way, another big story. You folks have been talking about Memphis, Shelby County. Schools, and we've got some new movement on that. And of course, there's going to be a major commission meeting.
We just need one. one commissioner to override Lee Harris's veto. That's it. And then we can put all these scoundrels and scandalous people on the ballot, get them out, and we can actually elect people who actually care about kids. instead of lining their pockets on our school board.
And so God bless State Representative Tori Harris. Democrat He has filed legislation that will give voters the ability to recall mayors, county commissioners, and school board members. And I love this. And we need this. We, the people, need to have the opportunity to recall bad eggs.
We've got to be able to do that.
So, thank you very much for that. Uh State Representative Tory Harris. 901-260-5926. Our telephone number, that's 901-260-5926. Oh, can I play this?
I forgot to play this audio. Take a listen to Cut 2. Fool, I ain't even gonna care when I say this, bruh. But since they brought the National Guard down to Memphis, I ain't heard no screeching ties out late at night. I ain't heard no gunshots.
These folk really putting belt to ass right now. That don't mean that crime ain't going on. But these folks really got these folks scared to go outside now like This crazy. There you go. BTA.
I love that. And it's a great slogan. All of you moms and dads out there ought to adapt that slogan. BTA Belt to Ass is what that stands for. And imagine, ladies and gentlemen.
What kind of a city we could have if we had more moms and dads doing the BTA? Better than that, could you imagine teachers and principals and what those schools would look like if we still had a BTA policy? I can tell you, growing up in South Haven at Hope P. Sullivan Elementary School, there was a BTA policy. And I'm telling you, those kids, we lived, we had the fear of God and the fear of the battle.
And it's amazing what little fear can do. It is a great encourager. All right, we have got to take a quick break here. A lot happening. You mentioned, you heard earlier today, on Friday, we're doing our entire show out at JoJo's.
It's going to be a fun, it's part of our fall flee tour. And we're going to be at JoJo's in Germantown. My favorite coffee house because it's right in my neighborhood, and I go there quite a bit. We would love for you to drop by, have some breakfast. The food is insanely good.
The coffee, they have the tea, whatever you guys drink in the morning, they're going to be able to fix for you. And it's going to be a wonderful, wonderful day. We want you to come and be a part of that. You can watch the show. You can actually pop on the show, win some prizes as well.
All of that starts at 7 o'clock Friday at JoJo's.
So write that down, and we want to see you there. All right, we've got to take a quick break here, folks, opening up the phone lines. What do you want to tell Senator Brent Taylor? You know, this guy does so much for so many people. He never never, never asked for anything in return at all.
So, what do you want to tell Senator Taylor this morning? We're going to open up our phone lines: 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. This is Stardust Country. All right, our good buddy Paul Shinklin.
He writes our parody bits, our funnies on the national show. Paul weighing in on these plunging crime numbers, and he said, So the root cause of crime really is criminals. Looks like Brent Taylor was right all along. Yeah, I mean, you're absolutely right, Paul Shanklin. And what I love, and this is really funny, you've got a lot of people who oppose Brent Taylor, even among his fellow Republicans.
And, you know, they were always giving this guy a hard time because. That's just not how Republicans are supposed to behave here. We're not supposed to raise our voices. We're not supposed to challenge people. We're not supposed to call them names.
We're country club Republicans. We have to, we're better than that.
Well, you know what, folks, you can't bring a croquet mallet to a knife fight unless you plan on swinging that mallet. All right. So, Senator Taylor is illustrating what Donald Trump did to Republicans nationwide. He's showing them how to fight back and to fight effectively. And, you know, a big part of that is the communication effort.
And one of the reasons why the local media really don't like us. Is because we just tell it like it is here on KWham. And by the way, we do it to all everybody, we don't work off anybody's talking points.
So that's how we do things, and that's why we really appreciate Senator Taylor. By the way, there was a huge protest last night. All of the city's unions are angry at City Hall and Mayor Paul Young. And you had 13 of them, all of them, that are protesting. Apparently, the city is trying to invalidate their collective bargaining agreements.
And people are really getting upset about this. One guy told Channel 5. That we are being forced into such a state that we cannot afford food.
So they're all wanting raises and more money. Which is great, but we got no money. And the question is: I mean, they're already raising our taxes.
So, if there's no money and these folks are demanding more money. Where's that going to come from? May I just say something here? All of these nonprofits that City Hall is funding, maybe that money should be used. To give pay raises to city workers or get more cops boots on the ground.
This guy goes on to say, I cannot afford baby formula for my newborn son. He's a month old right now, and I had to use my paid time off and sick leave just to take off for a month to be with him.
Well, well, let me just say this, and I feel bad for this guy, you know, that his child is not well, and we wouldn't wish that on anybody. But you know what? We all have those problems. And I can tell you that most people do not have a job where they could just take off a month to be with their sick child. You know, that's.
I'm It's a tough situation. No doubt about it. A very tough situation. And I feel for this guy, but the reality is maybe just maybe, if you're not making enough money working at your city job, you ought to consider taking a second job or you might consider finding another job altogether. I don't know about you, but when I was a kid growing up, you know, times were tough.
and dad had to go out and he had to find a second job. Just to make ends meet.
So sometimes you have to do that as the head of the household, as the man of the house. I'm just saying. 901-260-5926. Our telephone number, that's 901-260-5926. By the way, lots of celebrations.
Around the Memphis Grizzlies and celebrating 25 years here in the Mid-South. And let's hope and pray that thanks to this crime crackdown working, the Grizzlies are going to be here for another 25 years. But we've got a trivia question on the table. And if you've won something in the past, Don't call in. We want people to be able to win who have not won a prize from K-Wham.
And this is a Memphis Grizzlies-centric question. We want to know what city did the Grizzlies come from before they arrived in Memphis. Before Memphis, the Grizzlies were somewhere else. Can you tell us the name of the city that previously hosted? The Grizzlies.
Give us a call, 901-260-5926. Our number. That's 901-260-5926. Real quick, our friends in Germantown wanted to pass this along. The big City of Germantown Senior Expo.
It's coming up on November 6th. That's from 9 to 1 at the Great Hall and Conference Center over on South Germantown Road. It is going to be a lot of fun. You're going to get great food, some entertainment, and you're going to get health screenings, informational boosts, all sorts of great stuff, sponsored by the Aging Commission of the Mid-South and Germantown Community Theater.
So that's coming up on November 6th, the City of Germantown's Senior Expo at the Great Hall and Conference Center. And again, if you have an event, if you've got something happening that you want to announce, you can do that very simply by picking up the phone and giving us a call at 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. So there is a story in the Memphis Flyer. Oh my gosh.
These people are so liberal over at the flyer. It cracks me up. But they've got a piece here about the Schumer shutdown. And they're now saying that that And we've heard this from the Republicans that if the Democrats don't reopen the government, things are going to get very painful for a lot of people. And folks did not understand what they meant by that.
Well, it turns out that more than 150,000 people in Shelby County alone could stop getting food benefits, those EBT cards, if the government shutdown continues.
So the Tennessee Department of Human Services said it notified it got a notification from the Department of Agriculture that those SNAP benefits, they're not going to be available in November as long as the Schumer shutdown persists.
So, this is it's going to be painful for a lot of folks, and I feel bad for folks. But again, you need to be calling your Democrat. If you have a Democrat and they represent you, you need to be calling them because they're the ones responsible. All right, we've got to take a quick break here. Again, our trivia question.
Where were the Memphis Grizzlies before they got to the Bluff City? 901-260-5926, our number. This is Starnes Country. in the principal Toyota Memphis studio. All right, welcome back, everybody.
It is now 47 degrees in Collierville. We're really fonts and prayers for the people of Collierville this morning. It's a little chilly out there. Really, wherever you are across the mid-south, it's going to get warmer. And then the weekend, we've got more rain coming into the forecast.
Lord knows we need that. Not so much because I realize, though, that our tower site, the roof at our tower site is leaking. And fortunately, we've got a lot of great roofers that have volunteered to go out there and give us a price point. Let's just hope and pray we don't need a full roof replacement out at the tower site. Want to welcome in our good buddies from Strategic Financial Partners.
That's strategicfinancialpartners.com. Write that website address down. Adam Martin, who is a financial advisor, Chris Loftus, financial services rep, guys. Good to have you with us. I didn't realize we were talking at the break.
Both of you guys are big Memphis Grizzlies fans. That's right. And you can't answer the question. That was the whole thing, right? Yeah.
So you wanted to answer the question. Oh, I'd love to answer the question. You can't do that, though. But we do have a trivia question out there, ladies and gentlemen, and it is about the Grizzlies celebrating the Big 25. We need to know what city did they come from?
901-260-5926 is our number. That's 901-260-5926 if you want to play morning trivia. Before we get into the business of the day, 25 years, do you guys have any favorite memories of going to a Grizzlies game, guys? Yeah, I do have a. I played basketballs in my youth, and so we had a travel down there with the team, and we actually sat in the seats where you had your own server.
So people were coming and asking us for our orders. And as a kid, I was like, this is amazing, you know, watching live basketball and getting my order taken. Wow, that's high class right there. I love that. I would say, so I was born and raised in the grit and grind.
So Zebo, Mark Gasol, Tony Allen, those are personal local heroes of mine.
So for me, I'd say, you know, when they, I remember very vividly when they beat the Spurs to go to the Western Conference Finals. That was just an awesome experience. I'm a huge basketball fan, so much so when I was in college, we had one of the worst teams in college basketball. We hadn't won in like two or three years, like any games. And the coach was so exasperated.
Coach Reinhart, he's actually smoked a cigar on the sidelines. This is back in the late 80s, early 90s when you can still do that. And so they put out the alt call for basketball people, you know, try for the entire student body. We're going to have open tryouts. And the coach thought it can't get any worse.
And so I'm not sure what possessed Todd Starns to try out for the basketball team. But the coach stopped it. He stopped the tryout. He stopped at mid-tryout and he was rolled over laughing. And he said, What is your name?
And I told him, He says, You're the worst basketball player I've ever seen in my life.
So he made me the mascot.
So that's it. It is what it is.
Sometimes Starnes was at the half-court line going, I'm just going to let it fly. That's it. That's it. I thought I had skills. That's the bad part about it.
So I thought I was pretty fly for a white guy. Hey, you never know unless you try.
So there you go. All right. Guys, last week we were talking real quick about open enrollment period for Medicare, which actually started, what, October 15th?
So, So, folks, there is a deadline coming up for that. And I know that you guys handle all sorts of things, including giving guidance on Medicare. Yep, we do. And we actually have centers of influence who specialize in those types of, you know, which plans should I go with? When do I really need to start having this conversation?
So, we always say, bring in a specialist, bring us into the fold, and let's sit down and talk about what those options are because. I have a saying: what gets measured gets done. And so we want to be proactive in that planning so that there's not any kind of hiccups or any kind of ahas that you didn't foresee coming.
So, just a quick reminder, everybody, that the clock is ticking, so you want to get in on that very quickly. Meantime, fellas. 401ks and we We try to remind our crew how important it is to pay attention to your 401k. And that's what we're going to be talking about for the next few minutes. And I'm just curious, looking at a 401k, and a lot of businesses they offer that.
What are some of those common mistakes that people make with their 401ks? You know, I think the most common thing that we see is people want to contribute. And they get in there and they say, Yeah, I'm going to go ahead and just do what the minimum is, whatever, to get the match, which is a good thing. But they just set it and forget it. And then their lifestyle changes as they go about their working career.
So that may include your risk tolerance change. You know, you may start off really aggressive. But as you get closer to retirement, you need to scale back that risk some so that we're not taking major swings in the market for our retirement dollars. And is there like a method to that? I mean, would you recommend say somebody, let's say somebody graduates college, they're starting off.
With a company and they got a 401k. Is that the time of year that you should and time of life that you really should be aggressive? I'd say so personally. And the reality is, with you, if a young person comes in, they're just starting out. This is a great opportunity to start healthy, consistent habits of reviewing.
It's not supposed to be a once-a-year, one-done, okay, I don't have to think about this until next year. No, this goes along with, hey. You've got guys like Adam and I who we're supposed to walk alongside you as you're keeping this consistently in mind. Because guess what? Your goals aren't going to stay the same until you turn 50 or let alone 30.
They're going to change.
Well, guess what? Your benefits are probably going to change too. Your financial situation hopefully will also change. Those need to be consistently monitored, updated, and reviewed. That's a great point.
Yeah, I would say that, you know Here's what really happens. You get in there, you get signed up, you're aggressive. You should be aggressive to start because time value of money states that we don't need these dollars. We're even penalized to take some of these dollars before 59.5.
So why not keep the foot on the gas? It's paper money. It's a cliche statement. You're only realizing losses on paper, but you've got the time to recoup any kind of downturns. And that's what we remind people that have been in the market for a very long time, and you've got the markets going crazy, volatile.
Just keep your money there. You're not pulling out anytime soon anyway.
So there's just no need to panic. That's right. Realize a loss when you sell. All right, so let's just say somebody is not getting the match from their employer. A lot of companies will throw money in, a percentage.
Is it still worth it to contribute to a 401k, Adam? I think so. And the reason being is that we look at You know, end of the year, you may be looking at a tax bill that you have to pay the IRS.
Well, you may ask me, well, how do I reduce this tax bill? A 401 is a prime way to reduce that tax bill. And I always talk to my clients and say, Would you rather pay yourself or would you rather pay Uncle Sam? And the question nine times out of ten is I'd rather pay myself. And that's how you do it.
You pay into a 401k. Those are tax-deferred dollars.
So every time, let's just say you took $2,000 into it, you can deduct $2,000 from your taxable income because of the contribution to the 401k. You have one person out of every 10 people saying they want to pay Uncle Sam? That's impressive. There are those people out there. That's called a Democrat.
Chris, by the way, we've got Adam Martin with us, Financial Advisor with Strategic Financial Partners, and Chris Loftus, a financial services rep with Strategic Financial Partners. The website address, very simple, strategicfinancialpartners.com. We're going to share some phone numbers in just a moment if you want to give them a call. But again, every Wednesday we talk about protecting your money and making sure that you're saving, getting ready for retirement, you're investing correctly, and these guys can help you with all of those. You know, Chris.
How do we know if you're on track? Do you need to have a plan? Is it enough just to say, okay, I've got a 401k and that's it? Absolutely.
Well, that's always the start. And I'd say, actually, I'm going to kick it over to Adam for this one because I think you and I were actually working on a case just the other day where somebody, you know, they had an old 401k that they had started. They worked in a company five, seven years, and then they switched over to another company, just kind of forgot about it. They put it on the back burner and they didn't realize they had this old 401k and they just started rebuilding this new 401k at this new company. What again was that situation?
You know, If you really want to know if you're on track, the rule of thumb is if you can do 10% of savings into it, then we feel pretty confident that you're going to have enough there in retirement or at least be competitive for retirement. But for in that particular situation, and that's a valid point, is that when you transition from job to job, especially those young listeners, the likelihood of you staying with the first job for an entire career is very slim. And so, what are your options?
Well, you can move a 401k into another 401k plan if the plan allows it, or you can move it to an IRA. But we want you guys to stay on top of what you have and stay competitive in the market. Let's talk about professionals like you guys. How do you somebody comes to you and they say, Hey, I've got a 401k. How can I grow this thing?
What do I do with it? What do you tell them when they come to strategic financial partners?
Well, the first thing is bring us a statement. And another thing that I wouldn't say it's a mistake, but it's a common occurrence, is that people People get enrolled and they're stuck in what's called a target date fund, which is not a bad fund, but it's based on the closest year to your age 65. And so for these younger listeners or even for these older listeners, you may have been stuck in this target date fund for many, many years, not knowing that there was a lot of other investment options inside the plan. That just having a conversation with an advisor, we could look at and say, is there an opportunity to do better than what that target date is doing? And that could be the difference of a successful retirement or not.
And it goes back to our mantra of we don't want to throw you if say All benefits aside, if you come to us and want to work directly with us, and there's an opportunity there. We're not just going to throw you into a one-size-fits-all program. The temptation with benefits, with corporate benefits, is to make it a one-size-fits-all. When there are options that you can use to specifically tailor it to your direct needs and your direct goals, we want to make sure that people are aware of these so that, hey, they're not just saying, Oh, yeah, I'm just going to do what my neighbor's doing or the guy in the cubicle right next to me is doing. We want to make sure that you're taking ownership.
At the end of the day, of what you have available to you for you and your family. I love that. Yeah, Adam. Yeah, that's a valid point. You know, I would always say build your own plan.
Do not compare your life or your financial situation to somebody else's because, in our industry, there is not one financial situation that is the same as the next. And also, guys, you know, it's important, and this is how I know that you guys can be super helpful as well. You want to make sure you're diversifying your retirement plans and your savings plans.
So you don't want to have everything in a 401k. You want to make sure you're maybe in gold or silver or some other thing. That's a very, very important topic that you just, you know, diversification is key. And we don't want all of our eggs in one basket. The cliche statement is.
We talk about the three bucket strategies. We talk about what is tax-deferred dollars, what are tax-free dollars, and then what's subjected to just long-term capital gains tax.
So we do that and build those three buckets out.
So, in retirement, when we have to distribute money off of our portfolio, we're doing it in a tax-efficient way so that we're not paying. a high tax rate. On all tax-deferred dollars later in life. All right, let's give out some phone numbers here. Chris, if people want to get a hold of you, what number should they call?
That is 901-657-577. 3324. All right, 901-657-3324. If you want to talk with Chris Loftus, who's a financial services rep, Adam, you are a financial advisor. What number should they call?
901-260-2438. All right, 901-260-2438. You can reach out to the gentleman directly, or you can go to the website, strategicfinancialpartners.com. That's strategicfinancialpartners.com. Adam Martin, Chris Loftus, guys.
Good to see you. Good to see you. All right, hang tight, everybody. We've got to take a quick break. We'll check in with Commander Chuck standing by with a look at traffic.
Adam Martin is a registered representative of and offers securities and investment advisory services through Immal Investors Services, LLC, member SIPC, Supervisory Office, 949, South Shady Grove Road, Sweet 300, Mifisten C3-120-901-767-5951. Help DEA keep our communities safe and healthy by participating in National Prescription Drug Takeback Day, Saturday, October 25th. Take action right in your own home by cleaning out your medicine cabinet of unneeded medications. Keep them safe, clean them out, take them back. Find a collection site near you at DEATakeBack.com.
Do your part to lower overdose deaths and prevent prescription drug misuse before it starts. That's DEATAKEBACK.com. Welcome back to Stars Country, everybody. Good to have you with us. By the way, this I don't I don't think the trivia question was that difficult, but the guys from Strategic Financial Partners came up with, I think, an even better trivia question.
Where do the Grizzlies play before the FedEx Forum was built. Where did the Grizzlies play? Before the FedEx forum was built, 901-260-5926 is our telephone number. That's 901-260-5926. So look, um This crazy, there's a crazy story in the Memphis magazine.
Does anybody actually read the Memphis magazine? I mean, all of these poor businesses they spend thousands of dollars on advertising in this rag. And I'm wondering if people actually Read it. And the reason why is every year they do sort of a Uh I don't they call it a um city guide. where they list all of the um all of the music, arts, sports, faith, food, schools, so they've got all sorts of people mentioned in this thing.
So they did a s they did a section on Memphis Media. And the title of the story is Who Do You Trust? And they, John W. Sparks is the writer of this piece. I don't know this guy.
But anyway, they list all of the media and they did this last year. But they refused to list KWAM as a radio station as a station. They completely ignored us, which they did again this year. And I don't get that because we're the only, you know, people la people sort of try to marginalize K-WAM and they'll say, Oh, K-WAM is just that conservative radio station.
Well, it's a conservative radio station, no doubt about it. But we also do good journalism, journalism that is award-winning from the Tennessee Association of Broadcasters and national awards, the Edward R. Murrow Award that was presented. here to here in Memphis, to KWAM, the only the only radio station in the entire region to ever win an Edward R. Murrow Award.
I say that not to boast. I'm just saying we've got pretty good street cred.
So they completely ignored us, but this is fascinating. When you read the story, who do you trust?
Sorting out all the voices in Memphis Media.
So they went and they interviewed Otis Sanford. Um about the the most trustworthy News publications In Memphis, and I'm just going to read through these. They cite the Memphis Flyer, which is a far left radical communist propaganda paper. They listed the Daily Memphian, WKNOFM, which is supported by, well, previously supported by your tax dollars.
Something called Let's oh, they also mentioned the New York Times, CNN. PMS Now, which was formerly MSDNC.
Something called the tri-state defender. By the way, tri-state defender, we've got a. We have an update on that story. We had Dee Dee Manning on our show, and she was a freelance writer for them. Wrote or did a TikTok video about how she appreciated President Trump bringing the National Guard to town.
They fired her. She told her story on K-WAM. Then the tri-state defender turns around and says, She never worked for us.
So Dee Dee Manning posted another TikTok video, and she produced all of the evidence that not only did she write for them, but she was getting paid by them. And she showed us checks the whole nine yards. It's the craziest thing. But these people over at the tri-state defender are radical leftist. They also listed the Washington Post Pro publica ProPublica, which is another leftist organization.
Um WMC TV, W R E G WLOK Radio. W Y X R Radio Choose 901 and the Memphis Magazine. Those are the most trustworthy media voices. in the Mid South.
So look, they give this magazine to all the newcomers, folks moving to Memphis. And so if you need a doctor, you can scroll through the medical section and all this kind of stuff. But I'm just wondering, does anybody actually Does anybody actually read any of this? I'm just curious. Do you subscribe?
Through the Daily Memphis, or rather the Memphis magazine. By the way, If you If you can read between the lines over at the Daily Memphian, they are really struggling right now. And they're dealing with money problems. And it's tough, and you hate it for. But when you alienate your conservative audience, and we do have a lot of conservatives that live in the Mid-South, what do you expect?
When you refuse to cover the news of the day in your publication, I mean, really. What do you expect is going to happen? I mean, that's just crazy. But anyway, they're trying now.
So they added a columnist who actually supports the crime crackdown, and they're catching holy you-know-what from their regular leftist who listen to the or who read their publication. It's insane. Anyway, I want to get to this because there were two comments on this Memphis crime story. And Someone said this, William writing in. and about how there has been such a dramatic drop in calls for service.
And he said, when you look at the previous numbers William Wright said, when you look at the previous numbers before the cr the the surge in law enforcement, he says those numbers represent an overwhelming crime burden that no citizen in the USA should have to endure. A government incapable of providing order and protection to citizens cannot last. It's absolutely Absolutely true. And by the way, when you hear you hear people like Antonio Parkinson talking about how crime was down before the the National Guard got here, yeah, that's because we had already had the FBI boots on the ground. You just did not know about that, and they did not want you to know that.
So they could go out there and round up these very bad gangbangers. All right, it has been a lot of fun today, folks. A lot of information coming your way. 11 o'clock, the Todd Starn Show exclusively, right here on KWIM. Tell a friend, tune in.
Get out there. Have a great day, everybody.
