An update for you all. And apologies for not doing so sooner.
As most of you read on Twitter and X over the weekend, there was a huge falling out between Former NYC mayor and former President Trump confidant Rudy Giuliani and syndicator Red Apple Media/WABC Radio owner John Catsimatidis. The kerfuffle developed on Thursday (5/9) when Rudy attempted to discuss manipulations in the 2020 election. That topic was verboten by WABC, as it appears they, much like much of the lamestream media, bowed to threats of lawsuits by Dominion Voting Systems to shut up about the possible manipulations or be sued.
(NOTE: WABC is NOT owned by ABC. ABC-TV and ABC Audio - I guess Radio is a verboten word these days in corporate media - is owned by Disney. WABC Radio was bought by John "Cats" for a mere $12.5 million in cash in 2019. For a NYC radio station, that's chump change. If you want to know more about John Catsimatidis, check out the Wikipedia entry on him by clicking here.
More after the break.
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Say what you will about John Catsimatidis, you don’t become a billionaire by being reckless. He wants to protect his investment. It’s his radio station, his ballyard, his baseball, his bat. He who has the gold makes the rules. I was most offended by a show being taken off the air with no notice to us, and replaced with hosts many of our listeners had never heard of. No offense to Curtis Sliwa-talk host and Guardian Angels founder. No offense to Dominic Carter and John Catsimatidis. Our audience has no idea who they are.
My biggest complaint is that we did not learn of this kerfuffle from Red Apple/WABC. I learned of it from our trade media at 2pm on a Friday afternoon, two hours after the Curtis Sliwa replacement show had aired in New York City and three hours before it aired in Ely. Having been in Affiliate Relations for two different radio networks and having been in the radio business for nearly 50 years now, this is not how business should be done. I had the opportunity to talk with Red Apple/WABC president Chad Lopez on Tuesday morning right after I got off the air. We had a pleasant conversation and shortly following that conversation we received our release from our agreement to carry the successor show.
Significant questions remain over the conduct of the 2020 election, Dominion aside. In the state of Nevada the Department of Motor Vehicles BY DEFAULT registers everyone who does business with the department to vote. This has included a number of Green Card holders who are not eligible to vote. These events have been reported by Television Newsrooms, the Las Vegas Review Journal, and other media, but sadly, our flawed Secretary of State has turned a blind eye to this, as has our Democrat dominiated Nevada Legislature.
While it’s possible that any machine connected to the Internet CAN be hacked - see all the data breaches among major companies - the insecurity of the registration process introduced by the Democrat dominated Nevada Legislature is something that MUST be publicly discussed prior to THIS election and MUST be addressed in the upcoming 2025 legislative session. But no doubt the Democrats will ignore it. Again.
Coming back to my original topic, Rudy Giuliani is no longer on our station, and that is sad. While he is much maligned in the media today, what he did to bring New York City together following the 9/11 attacks is something that he should be remembered for in a positive light for decades to come. I’ll miss him.