A Tale Of Two Leaders

Prepping for my radio show on Wednesday the contrast could not have been more clear. As I sat in my studio with the wall-sized monitor behind me lit with the rapidly changing headlines of the day I could not help but be struck by the divide playing out in the day’s news cycle.

In the James S. Brady press briefing room at the White House, Secretary of Defense James “Mad Dog” Mattis looked anything but a former fierce general with a flare for sometimes going off script and routing his enemies by mere intimidation. In fact his tone and pleas much more conversational and pleasant, simply, quietly, without much fanfare, was making his case for the prioritization of funding for the military.

He discussed how such budget uncertainty has an effect on troop morale. He was asked about and answered how yet another shutdown would impact operations. He pledged to spend the money with the greatest discernment and stewardship possible. He put forward the needs the military currently faces. He went long on the need to revamp our nuclear arsenal. He spoke bluntly about the need for our enemies not to miscalculate our capacity. In short it should have been something every American — who desires to see and keep us strong — should’ve been sympathetic to.

On the other side of the mall Nancy Pelosi, the Democrat minority leader in the House, was filibustering for a number of hours on why no such spending allowances should go through. They shouldn’t, she argued, unless we gave in to her demands for allowing 700,000-3,000,000 non-citizens to stay in America, gain full benefits of American life, and even become U.S. citizens. She argued for this even though each of these individuals have had the chance for numbers of years to begin the citizenship process and for many could have completed it long before now—but for some reason chose not to.

Here just two weeks since the last shutdown, a Democrat leader was holding court threatening the needed funding for our military—and funding that her colleague in the U.S. Senate had already agreed to—unless her pet project of DACA be completely agreed to and adopted post haste.

Whether or not such stunts are ever successful is always a debate for historians and professors.

The assessment I take away from it is one that fundamentally speaks to our greatness as a nation.

Why?

Read the entire piece at Townhall.com

LOSING OUR COLLECTIVE MINDS… over nothing!

It was one of the weirdest series of events I’ve witnessed.

This past Saturday as George Soros began busing in “spontaneous” protestors to local airports, I reported the events as they occurred. On the night it was occurring I reported the facts of how many were being detained/released, approximate crowd sizes, and other such factual information.

Because I had little to no additional information I decided to withhold commentary until I did. You can see for yourself…

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Hour 1, Hour 2

I did what I often do then, went home and fell asleep…

But when I awoke on Sunday morning, Christian missionaries I knew working with an organization in DC were sputtering obscenities, liberal friends were sharing steam-out-the-ears-emojis, and even some less diligent were posting befuddled confusion about what had happened on Saturday–the first full day of the new executive order instructing our security departments to pause immigration from dangerous areas, and to refit our vetting process.

Much of the bluster-sputter was because of a highly slanted New York Times’ piece that was high on emotion, low on fact, and off the chart in rhetoric. That coupled with an individual’s own overly-vexed anxiety that the media has been feeding everyone since November 8th could easily have accounted for half of all heart attacks on Saturday night.

Soon–and I knew it wouldn’t take long–some of us were able to dissect the issue at hand.

Reading the executive order in question is always a good idea… But why bother doing so when you already hate the President? I’d love for my left of center friends to answer this… Sadly they stopped reading when I mentioned the emojis (or was it the cursing missionaries?)

I digress…

David A. French, a near candidate who would’ve opposed Trump in 2016, a lawyer, and a man who served his nation in Iraq then penned the best analysis I’ve seen on the matter.

I also decided to have Mr. French on today’s show and he expounded on the legal, historic, and cultural ramifications of the order (good and bad.)

Also another 24 hours since, even though there were initially 109 total people detained on Saturday. All of them were eventually allowed to get where they needed to be. The rate of detention as of today is almost nil.

The administration needed to implement immediately so as not to send the signal to those attempting to use the refugee process to suddenly burst in under a deadline. And remarkably it is all but completely calm in the detention areas of airports now.

This didn’t stop actors at the SAG awards, Bishops/Pastors/Priests in pulpits, and lots of truly uninformed mouthpieces from sounding off on things they had nearly no accurate information on.

Which is sad really… if for no more than the sake of one’s own dignity.

But let me demonstrate some points that should give EVERYONE a much greater degree of comfort.

  1. TRUMP isn’t the first President to call for a pause. FDR banned Germans, Japanese, and Italians. Carter banned Iranians. Clinton banned Haitians. Obama banned Iraqis and Cubans. And in Obama’s case with the Iraqis it was specifically because two Islamic radicals had used our refugee program against us, had begun to recruit for ISIS, and were shipping weapons to their “brothers.”
  2. TRUMP’s order is temporary. 120 days for the worst offenders. 90 days for the slightly less. If the new vetting system is not in place by the end of the 120 it reserves the right to continue to pause on Syrian refugees. (Probably should also include Yemen because both countries are Islamic radicalization cesspools.)
  3. The majority of the order is focused on instructing the Departments of Defense, National Security, and Homeland Security to focus on finding the vetting soft spots and to report back on how to eliminate them. But throughout there are timelines that they must respond by.
  4. Green Cards will be accepted and Visas will eventually have greater validity. To be candid those issued under weaker rules most likely will not always be seen as favorably. But U.S. citizens will NOT be endangered.

In the time since lawyers for the Attorney General’s office in Washington state and attorneys for CAIR have filed a lawsuit against the order claiming religious discrimination. They have. It will go nowhere.

So where do we go from here?

The embarrassment of how unimportant this issue will be within the next week will begin to set in on everyone that made it ground zero of the meltdown of the century. That’s ok. We’re going to love them as if it never happened!

The Depts of Defense, and Homeland Security are going to begin compiling the information to see how vetting systems should be improved (as the order instructs.) And this is important because Paris, Brussels, Munich (Christmas Eve rapes,) Istanbul 1, Nice, Istanbul 2, Berlin, Istanbul 3, Chattanooga Recruitment Station, Minnesota Somali Mall Stabber, and Ohio State University Driver/Stabber, WERE ALL ATTACKS carried out by people that used the “refugee” story to sneak into the victim country and worked their evil once inside.

The Trump administration will win these court challenges. The law says the executive branch can suspend people from coming in from anywhere for any reason. History says every President that has had this challenged has always won the argument because… the law says.

The vetting system will be improved, strengthened, and put back together with greater confidence.

Immigration will resume, refugees will be welcomed. And the lives of both the immigrant AND the American will be better as a result.

Lastly and this truly may be the best part. Americans will see for themselves the pathetic con that the progressive left played on us. The marchers will see with their own eyes that things are better 120 days from now, and the nation will have greater reason to focus on the other significant challenges awaiting our new President and the nation he desperately hopes to help.

Don’t let your hate for Trump blind you to the truth of actual events.

You’ll never get back all the days of bitterness wasted in such a pursuit.

 

Welcome to the Universe: Kevin McCullough Radio

LISTEN, DOWNLOAD, SUBSCRIBE to ALL Broadcasts: Soundcloud, iTunes

Saturday Night (9-11 LIVE, 11p-1a replay):

img_0269RADIO NIGHT *LIVE*: An upbeat look at the events of the week. Humor, Lifestyle, and Breaking News are all on the docket as your listeners get to unwind with great conversation that they can always be part of. The Ladies’ Lounge features conversation with brilliant women in media. And Live coverage of any and all breaking news as it occurs on the weekend, when often local stations don’t have the ability to provide. Add this bright white hot Saturday night sizzle to your weekend this week!

Radio Syndication:
Genesis Communications Network – AdamMiller
Salem Media Group – John Butler

Television Syndication:
BizTV – Mark MacGregor
BizTV – Scott Miller

MONDAY-FRIDAY:
enlight1KEVIN McCULLOUGH RADIO
exists to provide you more news, what it means, and why it matters. In 2014 one of America’s largest News Talk broadcasters conducted one of the largest studies ever performed on the news talk listenership in America and what it unearthed was profoundly simple. More news, what it means, and why it matters. These are the things that your news talk audience is looking for and this is what Kevin McCullough Radio delivers on!

National Syndication Release: XtreMEDIA of NY, 888.340.3373

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NEWS THAT MAKES YOU THINK daily news features available by 6:30am EST for use. 2 min in length. Some customization on region available. Perfect for networks and stations with low budgets but still looking to provide meaningful news coverage from 2 to 8 releases per day.

National Syndication Release: XtreMEDIA of NY, 888.340.3373

Leaner, Cleaner, Simpler – 2017 and forward!

Oh how much difference a year makes!

Last year at this time I reported to you about the status of 4 of the 5 broadcast entities that I hold responsibility for, and for reasons that I will explain, none of those entities any longer exist. But growth was aggressive this year and the results proved it. More on that in a bit as well.

Last year at roughly this time I was able to tell you that we had moved the late night show up to afternoon drive here locally on AM 970 The Answer. Pretty much everyone was happy with the move. Advertisers got a much better time slot. The station picked up a big, white hot show that was locally produced, and of course the audience numbers were bigger. We rebranded/imaged the content away from the “Late Night” persona and fought like mad to step up the pace. Our new focus began to reinforce the findings  of some study work that had been done on our audience. This in  addition to rolling into an election year we had intense interest! We were given an opportunity to shine and we tried as best we could to take advantage of the opportunity. And towards the end of our first full year in the timeslot, and focusing on the things that our audience study told they wanted we enjoyed the most listened to single hour of the day for the station for two of the final three months. In measurement by cume and in share we have consistently tripled what had previously been in the timeslot previously. We are by no means satisfied and ramping up additional strategies to promote, attract, and deliver what talk radio listeners need.

In addition our Syndicated work continued to grow, and in fact we had the largest expansion of syndication we have had in more than three years. More than a dozen additional television markets, and more than two dozen radio affiliates picked up our products.

More on all of this as we go along.

AM 970 The Answer also saw some additional weekday changes due to the untimely knee injury of New York legend John Gambling. Between his grandfather, own father and himself the John Gambling show had been on the air in New York consecutively in excess of 90 years! We miss John but wish him well with his recovery and with all the playtime he’s getting with his grandkids now. The new line-up for AM 970 since runs like this:

The line-up runs:
6am – Joe Piscopo
10am – Mike Gallagher
1pm – Dennis Prager
3pm – Michael Medved
5pm – Kevin McCullough

An astounding line-up and a quick pace. Join Us Daily. http://am970TheAnswer.com

Another change taking place today:

With the audience growth of afternoon drive on AM 970 at 5p and the continued consistency on AM 570 at 3pm our sales team has begun to utilize the power of both station’s dayparts to add revenue. In addition to hosting the talk show on AM 570, I’m also the daypart host for the entire afternoon drive on the station. Hence I literally am on both stations as the PM drive host against each other. But considering all the other non-traditional ways I’ve been creatively inserted into almost every on-air possibility, this seems normal to me now. When you add up the amount of commercials endorsed, newscasts produced, daypart hosting, anchoring of our special cause campaigns, and the actual hosting of talk shows, mine is the most heard presence on the cluster of two stations.

The Kevin McCullough Show (nationally daily syndicated) is in as high a demand as ever, releasing daily at 4pm EST, and covering for a national audience the biggest stories of each day. The biggest markets – Los Angeles, Phoenix, DC, and Atlanta release at 5pm EST.

Over time seeing the effect of the synergy between the two daily broadcasts, cross promoting the efforts of each, it sort of hit me that the task was being complicated by two many different “brands.” In reality the shows are in essence the same–a look st the breaking news of the day through the lens of Kevin McCullough. My job is to ensure they know what is happening since they last tuned in, what it means to them, and why THAT matters. When you combine that effort with my desire to obliterate confusion, amplify truth, and to pursue clarity, I realized we are making the process harder than needed.

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Hence as of 2017 we will pare down the number of “talk shows” and in their place–Monday through Friday–create sort of an endless stream of content. “Kevin McCullough Radio” will replace both “The Kevin McCullough” as well as “After Hours with Kevin McCullough” and narrow our focus even more on reporting the breaking news of the day/minute and provide even better for our listeners “what it means” to the listener and “why it matters.” And when we are off air, the resource to keep “Kevin McCullough Radio coming will be found online and via social media.

With the election of 2016 finally behind us. Breaking news and front page stories will dominate the conversation as opposed to a primary focus on politics. My Monday-Friday team is excited about this and we are all gearing up for the pace this will put on all of us.

The News That Makes You Think” will now be powered by “Kevin McCullough Radio” having been picked up by two more networks and now has 1200+ affiliate releases each day.

Baldwin/McCullough *LIVE* — This broadcast came to an uncelebratory end, after about eight years. And in its place is an infant broadcast that works to draw an audience via television as equitably as it does the long term radio listenership of Baldwin/McCullough *LIVE*.

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Radio Night LIVE — This broadcast took the timeslot of Baldwin/McCullough. Adapting the highly successful imaging and format from the previous “Late Night with Kevin McCullough” the show focuses on a humorous, sometimes tongue in cheek, irreverent look at the news and news makers of the week. The popular “Ladies Lounge” feature was carried over as well–featuring the voices of brilliant women in media. The house band is The Hot Sardines who had helped us beat up the cold NYC late nights previously as well. The response to the new show has been as strong as any work we’ve ever launched – 15 new television affiliates (most in major markets) and an additional number of new Salem Media Group radio markets as well. We stand in teasingly grateful for the supportive team at BizTV, SalemMediaGroup, GCN Radio, and the extended affiliate family we are unable to name here. The new show has expanded the footprint of what was already the most syndicated live weekend radio talk show in production. The staff has expanded from 4 to 7 persons and the feedback we continue to receive confirms this signature product of our portfolio is still a hot performer!

Digital Listenership has also become a high priority for us. Given that every station we are on (for the overwhelming most part) has begun to use digital streaming, given that we are now podcasting every episode of every show, and given that TuneIn, IHeartMedia, iTunes.com, ChristianRadio.com, ConservativeRadio.com, GCNLive.com, all have track of separate streams it is nearly impossible to know exact numbers on who is where. But that’s not to say that we aren’t able to track some, and what we have uncovered is just humbling. On my two primary stations in New York alone, we fluctuate between 200-300k streams per station per week–this includes all doorways into the station–apps, websites, and the aggregators. On the CRN network they report 750k-1,000,000 streams per month. Obviously those numbers are network/station-wide so our portions of them are much smaller. Our podcast archives are seeing dramatic growth. Since the launch of our SoundCloud page we’ve seen an increase year over year since the first month of 5000%. More than 112,000 individual users have or are using the archives at any given time. And our podcasts have been promoted on more than 1400 different web-page urls, and more than 300 individual listening apps. (And none of that includes any numbers for iTunes which Apple does not release.) This also doesn’t account for any viewership live via our television partner “BizTV’s” digital delivery, nor any of our numbers of online viewing each Saturday Night via UStream.

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TheBingeThinker.com – The online home of all things written editorial from me went live last year. A couple of exciting developments from its first year online. The first is that dozens of my columns on news or political editorial went viral. The second is that we have launched two additional verticals of editorial and will aggressively be promoting them equally to the op-ed in 2017. “Resource Startegies” focuses on helping readers access the massive brain and knowledge of some of the best people I have access to from every area of life. A food motivated vertical will also look at varieties of food and various subsets of subjects. We are also adding writers for these verticals and if you have interest in joining us we’d b eager to take a look at some of your work.

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FoxNews — Many have noticed, and a few have asked, “Are you a regular contributor on the FNC now?” To be very clear about imagethe exact parameters of everything: “contributor” is a very tricky word in the hallowed halls at Fox. And though I am now a weekly guest/commentator on the News Channel, I am not yet an official contributor. My name came up in the conversation of those who make those decisions, and we prepared the materials needed for the application process. I will keep you posted as no one would love to be a contributor at the most watched news channel than yours truly. None the less if you perceive that I have been contributing a great deal of commentary to FoxNews mostly on Happening Now weekday mornings, you would be correct. Usually Wednesdays or Thursdays you will find me cheerfully disagreeing with a bevy of center lefties and attempting to get clarity mixed into the equation at every turn.

Final Tally — For now, and we know this number will move soon, but with the new networks, stations, digital users, podcast downloads, and the limited metrics we can see, we are confidant that we have never reached as many people as we are now. Unique radio outlets now being reached number 787+, daily affiliate releases of any single piece of content we produce 1780+, digital universe total reach 900k-1.2m per month, television affiliate households reach 66 million households. Put a different way, there is no day of the week content we are making isn’t being heard or seen.

At the beginning of this new year I want to pause, reflect, and thank YOU for making all of this possible. I also renew my solemn commitment to you to do all of it to the very best of my ability and to the highest quality that can be found in talk radio! With the headlines screaming out for someone to try to make sense of it all, I am eager to man my post and help you–each day–for the coming year–do just that!.

Thanks for joining me, thank you for your prayers (I will never view them as mere platitudes) and here’s to many more hours spent together on television, internet, smart-phone, tablets, and of course radio!

Friday Food Stuff: Barolo Week(s) at Eataly NYC

As a public figure who has his formal education in journalism and theology, and spent the majority of my career observing sociopolitical cultural issues, and who has only recently opened himself up to the idea of opining on things beyond those narrow spheres I am unsure how my thoughts on food and the life we draw from it will be received.

But being a lover of food, and not just for the nourishment it brings us, but for the intangibles of life we live around it, I’ve decided to share them anyway.

As a small boy some of my favorite times spent with my mom, in particular, centered on trying to learn what she knew about food. She was not fancy. She did not think of herself as gourmet, and we were poor. Which meant we opened more things out of cans than most.

But I didn’t know that because she did all she could to try to make me and our family feel loved through the preparations she served us.

I think about Mom a lot, especially on Saturday mornings.

That’s when #DaddyChefKMC takes to the kitchen and now my three anklebiters climb up to the center island and talk to me as we make the from-scratch-bourbon-vanilla pancakes every Saturday.

We laugh, we talk, and then we eat… And as it should be, we spend time just being.

And there’s the food, right in the center of it all.

Food is not merely the fuel for our bodies, but it is the embodiment of life.

So be warned, in addition to my observations of all things cultural (here at The Binge Thinker,) and in addition to our new series Resource Strategies (ideas to help you live life to the fullest,) we’re adding “Friday Food Stuff” and what it will be I won’t always know. But if you’ve followed my Instagram you know that I love food. (So why not share a love with you that you may love too?)

Which brings me to this past week.

With the craziness of my work schedule, and with the long string of contacts with the public I’ve gathered over the course of a career spent in media, I’ve been invited to some pretty amazing things.

Lunch at Manhattan’s famous FlatIron Eataly was certainly one of them.

But not just any lunch… In fact it was more of an education.

I have for the better part of my adult food life decided that my favorite all time region of the planet for great wine is Chateauneuf-du-Pape in France. In fact my bride and I have a taste for wines from across the Rhone valley but we’ve always been drawn to the CDP’s in particular.

This week at the invite of Barolo Wines I sat down to taste a flight of six vintages that they were kicking off “Barolo Weeks” in the Eataly eateries across the globe. (Eataly simultaneously had “white truffle week” corresponding.) Barolo is one of the finest vintages of the FontanaFredda winery in the Piemonte region of Italy.

The six vintages we tasted were: Serralunga D’Alba (of the Barolo Riserva) 2010, 2005, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1996.

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These six verticals have recently been put together in a boxed set for Barolo that retails for between $800-$1000 per set.

Long story short… this was fantastic wine. They also poured (just for fun) the Barolo 1967 and the Barolo Riserva 1982.

Since the day I attended the event I had a good deal of work to yet accomplish my tastes were truly that, just tastes (leaving more in each glass than I consumed–and they were short tasting pours to begin with.)

But to my palette here’s how they drank to me:

Serralunga D’Alba 2010 – The nose had big ripe cherry notes, the mouth was full-bodied, and just the right acid finish. I am a big fan of big reds and this younger (youngest of the vintages we tasted) had some of my favorite notes. Paired with  Carne Cruda E Funghi. img_8332

Seraalunga D’Alba 2005 – The nose had big fruit up front, spicy and balsamic on the mouth, and a finish that to me seemed to evaporate as quickly as it came.

Serralunga D’Alba 2000 – The nose was rich, ripe, red fruit, a very balanced mouth of cinnamon and clove hints, and a very satisfying long finish.

Serralunga D’Alba 1999 – Only a year removed from the 2000 but by far my favorite of the entire tasting. Garnet red, with perhaps slight orange hues in the color, a full nose with hints of mint, a superb balance on the mouth between ripe fruit and hints of mushroom, and the *perfect* long lasting acidic finish. The structure of this wine was one of the most perfect I’ve ever tasted. Paired perfectly with Short Rib over Creamed Polenta with shaved white truffles. img_8333

Serralunga D’Alba 1998 – The nose is floral, fruity, and a bit spicy with notes of liquorice, tobacco, and balsamic hints. The mouth sits very dry, and the finish is a long lasting silky balance.

Serralunga D’Alba 1996 – The nose is a balanced bouquet of mature fruit, mint, and eucalyptus. The mouth is full-bodied, long lasting balanced tannins and good acidity.

The beloved chef at Eataly prepared three courses to pair with these six tastes. The menu incorporated the style and ingredients of the Piemonte region of Italy (the native home of Fontanna Fredda.)

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The experience left me with a renewed perspective of Italian wine potential. I intellectually have always known that great wines can come (and do) from regions of every nook and cranny across the globe. But its now a point for me to pursue finding those especially well done vintages that are standing the test of time. And for Barolo Wines the Serralunga D’Alba verticals I’ve identified here definitively are.

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Of course it doesn’t hurt to showcase them against the backdrop of Eataly, NYC!

“Mangia!”

Twitter, Trump, & Twisted Scripture!

Friday’s second hour on After Hours turned into great hilarity. We shone the bright harsh light of a mirrored Twitter feed back to Charmaine Yoest and made her “defend” her choice of tweets-n-re. You can actually do this with intelligent people who post interesting things because they have reasons why they posted it to begin with. (This is not suggested practice for those of you with Donald Trump on your interview list in the near future.)

Then Dr. Greg Thornbury stopped in to break down Donald’s latest use of scripture.

You know between the time he said discussing scripture was just too personal to do in a quiet one on one interview, then an eye-lid flash later and he’s expounding on Two Corinthians in front of 20,000 kids and the cable channels, and now finally his favorite lesson from scripture being “an eye for an eye.”

Ah yes we miss the Donald that just said “punch them in the face and I’ll pay your legal bills…”

Don’t we?

And in hour 1, David Limbaugh weighed in on the dreaded mess #Decision2016 has become.

Psalm 65:5-8

“By awesome deeds You answer us in righteousness, O God of our salvation, You who are the trust of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest sea.

Who establishes the mountains by His strength, being girded with might? Who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the tumult of the peoples?

They who dwell in the ends of the earth stand in awe of Your signs; You make the dawn and the sunset shout for joy.”

Need encouragement?

These lines remind us of some deeply core truth:

1. God (the Creator) answers us (the Created.)
2. God saves us.
3. God holds all of creation–and its trust!
4. God establishes mountains and calms seas.
5. God is the reason the masses are in awe.
6. God does these things day/night.

Need encouragement?

Who do you know who can do any of these things?

And yet He knows you!

He is not missing for duty. He is ready for your worries and cares and needs today. He can do it! Open your heart and trust.

Grab the mane!
#AslanROARS

Why The TRUMP *Gotcha* Just Isn’t True

A lot of chest puffing has been going around in the talk radio world this election cycle. Lots of people on talk radio’s right claiming that they will hold no ill opinion of any of the GOP candidates so that they won’t have to “eat any crow” when the general election gets here. They give it cutesy names like “#Switzerland” or “#NeverDems” or “#GOPTrain.”

The theory is simple enough, “If we ‘mask’ the weaknesses of the (sad) GOP candidate we put forward, then we’ll trick enough people into not seeing their weaknesses and perhaps enough of them will be fooled so that they can vote for them in November.”

One of the dumbest things the right has ever thought up if you ask me.

It is especially ridiculous thinking this year, as the likely nominee has considerable garbage that he’s not even trying to clean up. He just keeps rolling around in it, sadly, without learning anything.

With that said here’s my most important reasons why I refuse to play the charade.

  1. My listeners deserve better. In every election cycle I come off of doing massive amounts of other news, just so that I can talk about the political process. Average talk radio audiences can not hold up under 24/7 politics, 365. So for 2.5 years I talk about the things that impact their lives. Stuff from the front page. I explain to them my opinions about those stories. I make assertions, and I debunk assumptions. Unintentionally I am also doing a great deal of trust building and teaching. Trust building in that I never lie to my audience. If I bring them an issue, a story, a product, or a service, they know that they can trust it, because it comes from ME. This is key to my long time survival for my family, and my short term goals of career. If suddenly I started getting neutral in an area of moral clarity, when the rest of the years they hear me pronounce definitive positions, then they immediately know.
  2. I don’t care about tricking people. The most conservative candidate in the race when the general election rolls around will have weaknesses. Pretending they do not exist is dishonest and silly. With opposition research going down there will be things extrapolated, made up, or possibly turn out to be true. But it’s far better to discuss them openly, and have as much transparency to the process than to hide them and hope people don’t notice.
  3. Being tough helps the candidate. They will never admit it but dealing with tensions and stress (and specifically as early as possible) will make statements about the character and dependability about the candidate. How do they deal with being treated fairly with accusations that have merit. And the one I find more revealing–how do they respond when dealing with the things that are untrue? Character is refined and exposed under the bright lights of intense pressure. The campaign should be one of the most grueling things that person will ever have to endure. It should be that way so that those of us making the decision to hire or not hire have a clear understanding of what we are getting.

There are many more reasons I could list but for the purpose of this communique I’m gonna leave it there for now.

As 2016 has progressed I have been beyond dismayed at how this cycle has failed the voters. For having bar none the greatest field of candidates when we started the race we are closing it out with some of the oddest realities I’ve seen.

Somehow in a field that included a bunch of the most talented governors in our nation’s history, the three most visible U.S. Senators that had led the grassroots charge to reform DC from a thing called the Tea Party, and three of the most talented public sector candidates the GOP had ever engaged.

A Billionaire, a gifted female CEO, an African American Neurosurgeon, an Indian American southerner, two Cuban dissident children, a Rust belt Governor, a Mid-Atlantic Governor, a Corn belt Governor, and four Bible belt governors. We even had just a plain old former Senator from Pennsylvania.

I was guilty early in the race of saying, “elect them all, let the billionaire assign their positions, and turn ’em loose.”

And somehow, in some way, in a way that defies explanation that I can not even fully connect the dots to in terms of how it could have — but it ALL fell apart.

Most of the talented executive Governors were tossed in the early rounds. The only one who stayed in is one that has no prayer of winning.

As the field winnowed it was clear that it was the outsiders (Tea Party Senators, and public sector candidates) that had ALL of the momentum. And the two that have now ended up capturing more than 90% of the GOP Primary support was a tea-party Senator that tried to shut down Washington DC in order to keep promises to the people of America, and a Billionaire who on day one basically promised to blow everything up.

From that original talented field of orators we are left with three very different types of communicators. A bully, a boy scout, and the uncle who always laughs at the wrong things at family gatherings.

The billionaire who jumped out to the early lead, suddenly revealed that he himself had been tricking some people. We discovered that he had literally no limits. Journalists confessing that he had attempted to “woo” them just before announcing for President. Watching mortified as he made fun of disabled people. Slipping from time to time into hateful stereotypes of hispanics. Revealing that the secret to his way with women is to treat them like sh*t. And most annoying his preemptive marketing labels that he put on all of his opponents. But even that wasn’t enough…

During and through out it all I continued to say repeatedly that while I’m a fan of dislodging the brokered power-base in Washington DC, I am convinced that it is not necessary to elect the most profane human being to ever run for the office to do it.

I was chastised by fellow personalities on talk radio, internet, television, and in person.

I was told not to engage in “circular fire” because it was going to play into the hands of the new boogieman “the establishment.” (As if suddenly the elected choices of we the people were suddenly voided once they were elected.) But as time went by the profanity, the crass ugly, the inhumane mindset of the billionaire front runner never lessened.

Simultaneously another oddity began to occur. Said billionaire’s actual record began to be exposed. But since he’s never been in political office somehow his supporters believe his behavior will be different IN OFFICE than it was prior to office.

But has that ever been anyone’s experience?

Power hungry megalomaniacs have never improved their behavior once given absolute control.

As the investigation into his actual record began to be revealed it became obvious that he was a fraud on every level.

  1. He claimed he was against the establishment, and then it was revealed that he had been in bed with the establishment more than in other person in American history. He had played all sides–and still is. He is a great “deal cutter” became his motto. When we are trying to elect someone who doesn’t cut deals.
  2. He claimed to be pro-life. But continuously evolved even in the campaign cycle to demonstrate a hardness towards cutting funding for Planned Parenthood and whose position today would be to leave 100% of the funding they currently get–in place.
  3. He claimed he’d be tough on radical terrorists. But can not bring himself to define the difference between radical islamists seeking to destroy Israel, and the diligent people of Israel who seek merely to protect themselves.
  4. He claimed to acknowledge the problems of immigration but then told the New York Times in one interview that when the atmosphere at the rallies would hit a lull that he would “just say, ‘build the wall’ and the place would go nuts.” And in a later interview that he refuses to release, people with first hand knowledge of the recordings say that he said “ALL of his policies on immigration were negotiable.”

I could list a dozen more instances but for brevity’s sake…

The problem in not responding to these obvious hypocrisies is that they will be exposed and exploited in the general election.

And then my fellow media colleagues chastise me–using a method that Trump supporters use online, dozens of times, daily–they thrust me into the ultimate “gotcha” question. Or so they believe.

“Well if Trump is the candidate, who are you gonna support between him and Hillary?”

I’ve languished about it a good deal, and until day before yesterday–TO MY SHAME–I was STILL–undecided on what to do in such an equation. (My immediate strategy has been to remind everyone that we are still in the midst of a primary battle and that with each passing day and Cruz win the billionaire’s chances of reaching the convention cleanly get dimmer.)

But let’s just say for the moment that all the billionaire supporting mouth breathers are right for a minute.

Let’s suppose he gets the nomination.

Until two days ago I was still ready to consider pulling the handle for him.

The thinking is that he would have the support and be surrounded more people that I trusted than those that are on the other team. But watching his ability to wildly disappoint my expectations–that is not a given. And given his ability to throw people away like trash I can not trust his decision making nor his character.

And that was brought home very clearly two days ago…

I say it all the time, “The truest measure of a man is how he treats those people who can do nothing for them.”

My listeners hear it, my boys hear it, everyone on earth hears me repeat it.

But I forgot to measure Trump by those same standards. The assertion speaks to the moral core of the person. And because of this moral issue, I can no longer distinguish a moral difference between Hillary and Donald. They both use people for their own edification. They manipulate, lie, pivot, and adjust. Maybe in the business world they “have to” do it. I could talk to you for hours how hard it is to work very hard and come up short.

But its how they treat people that has me equally vexed.

Trump got mad two nights ago because a third party SuperPAC made an online ad about his wife. They did so using an easily accessible nude image of her. (In fact its harder to google her name and NOT have a copy of the image pop up in your search results than the other way around. Interesting aside: Also was photographed on Donald’s own plane.) Trump didn’t like the fact that this third party (with documented zero connection to Cruz in any way) simply pointed out that Mrs. Trump would be the first porn subject to become first lady.

In response over two nights he first threatened and then attacked Ted Cruz’s wife.

Heidi Cruz had no connection to anything. So why did Trump focus on her?

Because she couldn’t do anything for him.

So to be clear, the billionaire bully was willing to injure the most innocent person in the entire, sad, episode.

I suddenly realized, this is no better than lying to the Whitewater investigators, its no better than lying about your husband’s felony lying and infidelity, its no better than lying to the families of Benghazi–sorta similar in terms of the pain actually, and no different than lying about one’s emails.

Trump lies, Hillary lies.

They both live for themselves and believe themselves to be the center of the universe.

They both use people to reach objectives.

They both are so hungry for this job–and for all the wrong reasons.

Donald Trump never mentions the Constitution. Neither does Hillary. Both will fund Planned Parenthood at the same levels it is now. Both will put lousy judges on the federal judiciary–Trump saying maybe his sister would be great. Fantastic let’s make your son secretary of defense, and Ivanka the head of the IRS.

Hillary and Donald both exercise the cruelest form of payback. They are about the same on national defense, and neither of them are going to do away with the tax code. They both desire some form of Government involvement in health care. And they are both beholding to Wall Street.

So my answer when asked, “So between Trump and Hillary–who is it?”

The only honest answer is–they’re the same. Cruel, mean, vision-less people, who lack grace, decorum, or class.

So to go from in essence the most talented field of potential presidents and to now find ourselves lying in this gutter, it just doesn’t really matter.

#NeverTrump
#DevilYouKnow
#CruzOrBust

And I guess that makes me #NotSwitzerland… But you already knew that.

Texas Gov predicts Big Cruz win!

On this edition of the Nationally Syndicated Kevin McCullough Show, Texas Governor Greg Abbott says Cruz will win. ALSO Trump retweets Il Duce then adopts a policy like Il Duce’s. And finally… One of the most horrific realities of why we must fight for what is right!

On what do you base it?

The very reason we have a primary process is to vet the purity and strength of the candidates who would dare to say they are able to serve us…

Enough with the worry about “circular fire!”

We are NOT yet running a general election cycle. The rationale of “shut up for the sake of Trump” has zero merit to it.

The very first Continental Congress felt so strongly about the principles over which they argued that canes were broken over one another’s heads and representatives spent the night in the pokey for fisticuffs.

Let’s do what the process is expected to do… And leave the handwringing for lesser generations!

When Presidential Candidates Quote Me

It hasn’t happened often but every now and then something sneaks through…

You know… Presidential candidates quoting me and all… You know…

Posted by Kevin McCullough on Wednesday, February 3, 2016

But it’s just how we roll…

Leftist Thinking: Mass Shooting Victims Wouldn’t Want Lawful Guns

The arguments in the on-going debate over guns and having them in the hands of private citizens is easy to win on the merits. What is more difficult is dealing with the tactics of how the discussion is carried out, and what happens when you begin to dismantle the arguments with pure rational thought.

20160115: Guns & 2016

America's Newsroom 20160115: Martha MacCallum, Emily Tisch Sussman, and Kevin McCullough discussing Marco Rubio and Governor Chris Christie on the issue of #Guns in #2016

Posted by Kevin McCullough on Friday, January 15, 2016

In the clip you see Emily Tisch Sussman playing the same cards so many have before her.

The problem is that almost zero of them hold any truth. There aren’t 30,000 gun murders a year, its closer to 11,000 (which in a nation of 370,000,000 people is statistically invisible at .00002%. She effectively moves the goal posts in the conversation so that after each observation she gives is dismantled, there is a different one to focus on.

She claimed that the South Carolina shooting was evidence of the need for more executive action from President Obama–which would be unnecessary completely had only one person in the Bible study been armed.

She claimed that law-abiding gun owners are more likely to have those guns wind up in the hands of people that do bad things with them. Really? With 300,000,000 legally owned fire-arms in the nation, how is there anywhere near that many nefarious acts being carried out?

She claimed that–even when faced with the evidence that the Garland, Tx (Pam Gellar, Draw Mohammed) attempted shooting was thwarted by “good people with guns”–that “good people with guns” is mythical.

She claimed that the Fort Hood shooting demonstrated why “guns didn’t stop” a mass shooting. But she ignored or forgot that Armed Services personnel aren’t allowed to carry their sidearms on Ft. Hood premises.

Lastly and unbelievably she made the argument that the victims of mass shootings themselves would in some way NOT WISH to have someone to be armed and to shoot back in the midst of one of these killing sprees.

Sadly she notes that one victim from the Virginia Tech shooting incident has stated that he would not have had the clarity to know who the shooter was or how to take him down.

My contention is that if we are going to take a survey of the victims of mass shootings and their feelings on private gun ownership–let’s begin with interviewing everyone who has died at the hands of these merciless killers–with no lawful means of defending themselves.

Of all the arguments the left proffers on taking away guns (under the guise of stopping gun violence) there is not a single one of them that has merit.

Which is why we must not let those making the arguments and moving the goalposts get away with such rigorous intellectual dishonesty.

Hillary’s Women’s Issues Fair Game?

Donald Trump’s Instagram video ad kept the issue alive a bit longer. But when Bill and Hillary begin to avoid the questions that press and others begin asking, it’s naturally going to produce MORE interest.

They may not like it, but it’s going to happen.

Now…

The question is raised, “Is it fair?”

(FULL DISCLOSURE: I was the male voice in a discussion about the treatment of women, as it relates to a female candidate, booked by a female producer, as it is being hosted by a woman, and whose counter point foil is also a woman. In essence it’s dicey waters to wade in to. Wanting to respond with common sense, sensitivity, but as always TRUTH… So how’d I do?)

#ICYMI: Are Clinton’s issues fair game?

Posted by Kevin McCullough on Saturday, January 9, 2016

Obama: “I’m brilliant… No guns for you!”

I don’t know about you but my ears have grown weary with the amount of condescension we have endured–from a man who is in essence our employee–for the last 8 years.

Even when announcing his executive orders, commenting how he can see the second amendment “on the paper” (a fact he sounded as though he wished he could change.) Then going on to say that has taught “constitutional law” and that “he knows a thing or two about it.”

The hubris was met with satisfactory affirmation there in the East Room of the People’s House. But across the airwaves (see above still shot) he just looked angry.

So with that as his opening context he proceeded to list a series of events we are all intimately familiar with, said some words about how awful those experiences were–as if we hadn’t lived them–and announced initiatives to add restrictions to the ability of law-abiding people to purchase guns, while announcing zero initiatives that would’ve had any impact on the awful situations he had just taken the time to retrace for us.

After all the hype, urgency, anger, and all-to-convenient alligator tears–he finally had given us the pressing gun reform he had promised for such a long time.

In reaction to today’s announcement by the President, I felt it was important to offer some genuine fact-based analysis and response to a government that attempted to further swipe freedoms from law-abiding people.

I was told by some community leaders, pastors, and law enforcement that it was the best “unpacking” of the matter by anyone in the media today.

Those were very kind and encouraging words to hear, but I will let you judge for yourself. All I want to do is to help people think more clearly.

Listen and weigh in on the comment section below.

And if you’d never want to miss another broadcast. Please go here: http://soundcloud.com/KMCRadio and subscribe for free!

#ICYMI: From Terror To Joy–*LIVE*

#ICYMI: A pretty incredible night!

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1. We are so thrilled to welcome Portland, Oregon and “TALK 1640 – News-Talk-Business” to the Baldwin/McCullough family. Reaching much of Oregon and a good chunk of southern Washington we couldn’t be more excited to be part of the Salem Media Group family in the Great Northwest!

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2. In such a busy *news* week we wanted to make sure we advanced the conversation as it pertained to the biggest story of the week. San Bernadino WAS an act of terror. It has been so admitted by the FBI. But the White House was far more worried about whether or not people were being “bigoted” in their use of the word “Islam.”

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3. Enough of the bad news. We also sat down with musician Keith Getty. Having been featured on CBS This Morning and the subject of a PBS Christmas special that has now been viewed by 40,000,000 viewers, the Getty entourage invade Carnegie Hall (and other historic locales across America) this week to present “Joy-An Irish Christmas.” A pre-holiday treat for all the uber-emotionally-gooey holiday lovers–just like KMC.

Truly an episode of Baldwin/McCullough *LIVE* you did not want to miss!

To VIEW the television version Hour 1: http://ustre.am/:5mlAA

To VIEW the television version Hour 2: http://ustre.am/:5mmqQ

The Radio audio only version:

Growing Pains: Here, There, & Everywhere

So a bit of an update for those of you who have interest in such.

November 2015–it can now be said–was the single biggest change in the wild life that my time in media has seen. My schedule, time with family, attention to business, ability to even think or take time to go for a walk have all been put into a blender and had the “liquify” button pushed. But on the other side of this historic month, I am starting to get my sea legs, and it couldn’t have happened at a better time.

The most immediate change was the moving up of “Late Night with Kevin McCullough” in New York on AM 970 The Answer. On November 5th we launched “After Hours with Kevin McCullough” on AM 970 The Answer. Advertisers, listeners, staff, and I were all thrilled at the move, but it created pain for the family, and the program lineup juggle was tricky to navigate through. Whereas prior to the changes we had been tape delayed for three of the five hours between 5-10pm, AM 970 is now 100% LIVE and able to take your calls from an incredibly astounding 6am-11pmEST every day.

The line-up runs:image
6am – Joe Piscopo
9am – Mike Gallagher
11am – John Gambling
1pm – Dennis Prager
3pm – Michael Medved
5pm – Kevin McCullough
7pm – Hugh Hewitt
9pm – Steve Deace
11pm – Eric Metaxas

An astounding line-up and a quick pace. Join Us Daily.
http://am970TheAnswer.com

So how did the move into the “NewsTalk” Universe affect everything else?

image-300x194Well on AM 570 The Mission I’m still heard weekdays at 3pm. The focus of that show is to reach an exclusively church focused audience giving them the Biblical perspective on the news of the day that help them contextualize the meaning of the events they are living through–but doing so from a primarily Biblical world view.

The Kevin McCullough Show (nationally daily syndicated) is in as high a demand as ever, releasing daily at 4pm EST, and covering for a national audience the biggest stories of each day. The biggest markets – Los Angeles, Phoenix, DC, and Atlanta release at 5pm EST. The CRN radio network also picked up the daily release on their 200+ affiliates, airing twice daily.

The “News That Makes You Think” was added as the news service for the new faith based channel at the CRN radio network (200+ affiliate cities, and up to 4 additional releases per day.)

Baldwin/McCullough *LIVE* — still the oldest of the syndicated work I do, now in it’s eighth full year of production added five new television markets with our TV partner “BizTV,” it was picked up by the CRN radio network, and as of December 5, will add the number 23 radio market of Portland, Oregon on the Salem Media Group station there–AM 1640 KDZR–a flame thrower that hits much of Oregon and much of southern Washington.

Digital Listenership has also become a high priority for us. Given that every station we are on (for the overwhelming most part) has begun to use digital streaming, given that we are now podcasting every episode of every show, and given that TuneIn, IHeartMedia, iTunes.com, ChristianRadio.com, ConservativeRadio.com, GCNLive.com, all have track of 12115763_979928348730236_6029193301226517273_nseparate streams it is nearly impossible to know exact numbers on who is where. But that’s not to say that we aren’t able to track some, and what we have uncovered is just humbling. On my two primary stations in New York alone, we fluctuate between 200-300k streams per station per week–this includes all doorways into the station–apps, websites, and the aggregators. On the CRN network they report 750k-1,000,000 streams per month. Obviously those numbers are network/station-wide so our portions of them are much smaller–but consider this–the Iowa Caucus for President in January will be decided by less than 60,000 voters. Our podcast archives are seeing dramatic growth. Since the launch of our SoundCloud page we’ve seen an increase year over year since the first month of 5000%. More than 35,000 individual users have or are using the archives at any given time. And our podcasts have been promoted on more than 1400 different web-page urls, and more than 300 individual listening apps. (And none of that includes any numbers for iTunes which Apple does not release.) This also doesn’t account for any viewership live via our television partner “BizTV’s” digital delivery, nor any of our numbers of online viewing each Saturday Night via UStream.

TheBingeThinker.com – The online home of all things written editorial from me went live only a little more than a week ago. Over 1000 shares across only a handful of original posts indicates to me that while this is one of the smaller portals presently, it has great potential for me to put a landing spot down in the wordy interwebs and attempt to bring the fight for clarity there as well.

FoxNews — Many have noticed, and a few have asked, “Are you a regular contributor on the FNC now?” To be very clear about imagethe exact parameters of everything: “contributor” is a very tricky word in the hallowed halls at Fox. And though I am now a weekly guest/commentator on the News Channel, I am not yet an official contributor. My name came up in the conversation of those who make those decisions, and we prepared the materials needed for the application process. I will keep you posted as no one would love to be a contributor at the most watched news channel than yours truly. None the less if you perceive that I have been contributing a great deal of commentary to FoxNews mostly on America’s Newsroom weekday mornings, you would be correct. Usually Wednesdays or Thursdays you will find me cheerfully disagreeing with a bevy of center lefties (most of whom are female) and attempting to get clarity mixed into the equation at every turn.

Final Tally — For now, and we know this number will move soon, but with the new networks, stations, digital users, podcast downloads, and the limited metrics we can see, we are confidant that we have never reached as many people as we are now. Unique radio outlets now being reached number 660+, daily affiliate releases of any single piece of content we produce 1500+, digital universe total reach .5-1 million per month, television affiliate households reach 40 million households. Put a different way, there is no day of the week content we are making isn’t being heard or seen.

At the beginning of the month of November in the midst of our launch into PM Drive in NYC, I was leading listeners through Israel. The next week Paris happened. The next week we tried to unplug and be thankful over the holiday. Before I knew it an entire month had passed and even though I had wanted to update both you, and the industry on what all was happening, I am alas–only now–getting to it.

It has been fun, historic, and eventful. I absolutely KNOW that I am supposed to be in afternoon drive doing breaking news and giving perspective on it. Paris, Colorado Springs, and San Bernadino scream for the attention, but 2016 looms, and thus the fight to think clearly presses on.

Thanks for joining me, thank you for your prayers (I will never view them as mere platitudes) and here’s to many more hours spent together on television, internet, smart-phone, tablets, and of course radio!

President Obama Gets Ding’d

Just how exactly is the President expecting those of us in the marketplace society to comprehend his idea that we can fight terrorism by resetting our thermostats?

It is a fair question given the reality that this last week the President himself told us that the MOST courageous way we could fight ISIS was for him to go to the Global Summit on Global Warming.

So today we discuss the President’s 3 minutes at the podium in Paris. (*ding, ding, ding*)

Also a number of social media trolls have trolled me on the response of the GOP in regard to the Colorado Springs shooting. So today we will unveil (due mostly to lack of time) the ACTUAL responses by the top tier candidates to the events.

Also… The police who work NFL games want permission to wear their weapons. Believe it or not this is controversial…