February 8, 2026 • 33 mins
Hour 2: Former tech executive Adam Miller talks about his new campaign for L.A. mayor; L.A. City Hall may develop a fund for creators of “vertical shorts”.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
This is Michael Monks Reports on Michael Monks from KFI News.
The race for La Mayor is set, and it doesn't
look anything like what many of us thought it would.
There's no Rick Caruso, there's no supervisor Lindsay Horvath, and
former LA School Superintendent Austin Butner has dropped out following
the tragic loss of his twenty two year old daughter. Instead,
Mayor Bass faces a challenge from former reality TV personality
(00:27):
and Palisades Fire survivor Spencer Pratt, Democratic socialist community organizer
Ray Hwang, and now city councilwoman Nitthia Rahman, who's long
been an ally of Mayor Bass. If you missed our
first hour where we broke down the dynamics of the race,
check out the podcast at KFIAM six forty dot com
or get on the iHeartRadio app and search for Michael
(00:48):
Monks reports. There's another candidate whose name is less known
in LA political circles and in general. He's former tech
executive and entrepreneur Adam Miller. So who is this guy?
Let's find out. Adam Miller is our guest.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Adam Miller.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Thanks so much for taking some time for KFI. We
appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Michael, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
You know, we've been on mayor's race watch for many
weeks now, wondering who's going to jump into the field,
maybe some candidates that we've seen before, maybe some current
electeds in other offices. And then we get a news
release that Adam Miller is running for mayor, and respectfully,
a lot of people are like, who's Adam Miller? So
let me ask you, Adam Miller. Who's Adam Miller?
Speaker 4 (01:29):
So?
Speaker 3 (01:29):
I'm an entrepreneur, I'm a nonprofit leader.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
I've been living and working and building businesses and organizations
in Los Angeles for decades and have gotten to not
only know the city and love the city, but understand
some of the issues and challenges that the city's facing
in a very deep way.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
And that's why I'm running for mayor.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Well, tell me more about that. I mean, a decision
to run for mayor is a big one. You're not
someone without recent ors is you're not someone without experience
in the city. But explain more about that calling to
jump into this race for one of the most high
profile offices in America.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Yeah, and you know, my first business here was a
restaurant in Westwood. My second was a technology company called
Cornerstone that I ran for literally two decades twenty years.
Started in my apartment and grew to a multinational public
company with three thousand employees and tens of millions of
(02:32):
people using our software to get educated, do their professional development,
build skills and experiences to move up in their careers
and do better in their jobs.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
And I had the.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
Good fortune of being able to not only build it,
but sell that business. And October of twenty one, after
having run Cornerstone, working with many other corporations, and having
helped build and multiple nonprofits, I thought, for my second act,
(03:05):
I'm going to really give back to the community and
give back to the city.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
And that's exactly what we did. So my wife and
I started a foundation called onep dot org that's focused
on intractable problems, and we started working on the biggest
issues facing us as residents, as citizens, and as humans.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
And so we worked on issues facing the city, the nation,
and the world. And I was extremely interested in addressing
the homeless problem. And as you know, homelessness in Los
Angeles has reached completely unacceptable levels. Not that it's ever
acceptable have somebody unhoused on the street, but certainly we
(03:48):
could do better than seventy thousand people living unhoused in
LA County.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
And spent about a year and a half.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
Trying to understand the issue in detail, what was working,
what didn't work, what worked in other cities.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Or counties or countries.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
And what we found was it is an extremely complex
problem that requires a complex solution. So start an organization
called Better Angels that has been focusing on five pillars
to address the homeless problem, prevention, services, shelter, housing, and
technology and have gone after it. I also, during a
(04:28):
similar timeframe, have been very involved in workforce development. We
have certain industries that are doing quite well in LA
and other industries that are struggling, and one of the
dichotomies is the technology industry relative to other parts of
the city. And so after George Floyd was murdered, I
(04:50):
started a workforce development initiative called the Thousand Interns Initiative
with a focus on bringing eight into twenty four year
olds from underrepresented communities in LA into the tech world.
And we did that not just for engineers, but really
anybody that wanted to have more opportunity. The job was
(05:17):
challenging because there were very very few people from those
communities in these technology companies. There was an argument that
maybe we should try to do ten or one hundred
such internships.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
I really pushed that.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
We did a thousand, and today we've done over two
thousand and still going.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
So it sounds like you've had a strong focus on
both of those things. Homelessness and workforce development both key
issues here in Los Angeles. But let's talk specifically about
homelessness because that is going to play a major role
in any campaign for mayor in Los Angeles, because the
problem persists. And Mayor Bass, the incumban who is running
for reelection, has her signature inside Safe Programs. She touts
(06:00):
numbers from the LA Homeless Services Authority indicating that street
homelessness has dropped for a couple of years in a row.
But the truth is, I'm not speaking for all residents,
but I do have eyes. Also, it doesn't look any better,
and as you noted, it's sad when anybody is living
on the street, but it doesn't feel like the situation
is improving. And it also feels like we've thrown a
(06:22):
significant amount of money for it not to be improving,
which is angering folks. So what would be the biggest
difference if you were in the mayor seat on this issue.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
Well, that's a great question, because we've spent upwards of
ten billion dollars in the last decade to address the problem.
During that period of time, the problem got dramatically worse. Yes,
it is improved, but slightly, and we still have tens
of thousands of people living on the street, which is
(06:56):
simply unacceptable. In the city, it's closer to forty thousand
people pople in the county, it's closer to seventy thousand people.
Way way too many people in that situation, and there's
much we can do. One of them is we could
do a much better job around prevention. We started a
program leveraging micro finance techniques to help people who are
(07:17):
vulnerable had a financial shock, interfacing eviction, and we've helped
thousands of Vanagolino's stay housed. We also understand that housing
is a huge issue in la We can do a
much much better job building net new housing, both market
(07:39):
rate and affordable.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Both will help mitigate the problem.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Because at the end of the day, we have demand
that greatly outstripped supply. Right now, when it comes to housing,
and what does that translate to two things? One very
high rent which makes La very unaffordable for many many people,
and homelessness because when there's not enough housing, who ends
(08:05):
up with a housing The people who are most vulnerable,
and that's exactly what we see on the streets.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
We'll continue with La mayoral candidate Adam Miller next and
later what is a vertical short and why does La
City Hall want to look at giving money to producers
of them? Our Heather Brooker will be with us.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
This is Michael Monks reports on Michael Monks from KFI News.
You know La Mayor Bass and you know her challengers
in this year's election, councilwoman Nitthia Rahman, reality TV personality
Spencer Pratt. There's also Democratic socialist Ray Huang and former
tech executive Adam Miller. He is our guest. Let's continue
with Adam Miller. Now we've seen this La City Council
(08:47):
very recently cap the ability of landlords to raise rents
and rent controlled units, despite the outcry from those landlords
that they would not be able to keep up the
maintenance required of those properties not see a return on
their investments. We've also seen the LA City Council member
who pushed for measure ula known as the mansion tax,
to go in front of our own colleagues and the
(09:09):
public very recently and say, we kind of screwed up
with this. We're actually slowing housing down by discouraging investment
in Los Angeles. It seems that this is a city
council that enjoys shooting itself in the foot when it
comes to housing. How are you prepared to confront the
city council on this issue. This isn't New York City
where the mayor gets all of the attention and all
(09:29):
of that executive power. You've got to work with the council.
What would your message be to them on that look.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
I've been an executive both at corporations and nonprofits. In corporations, yes,
the CEO has tremendous power and can dictate some of
the things that happen. In the nonprofit world, it simply
doesn't work that way. It's much more collaborative. It's much
more based on consensus building. I know how to operate
in both environments.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
I know how.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
To set goals, get alignment, bring people together, and get
things done, and we simply haven't been able to do.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
That in this city.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
I'm not going to blame any specific people or specific policies,
even I think we are in a situation today where
LA is broadly viewed, both inside LA and importantly nationally,
as one of the most difficult cities in America to
build new housing. And so we have prevented many national
(10:31):
real estate developers from coming into LA and building housing,
and we've prevented emerging real estate developers from successfully getting
off the ground. And we've pushed many of the existing
real estate developers to focus on luxury housing, which quite frankly.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
We don't need more of.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
We need market rate, workforce housing and affordable housing, and
we could do a much better job of delivering that.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Our guest is Adam Miller, a tech entrepreneur and executive
turned nonprofit director who is running for mayor of Los
Angeles and outam you major campaign announcement, your big launch
event on Friday at a building in downtown Los Angeles,
and I'm a resident of downtown LA. I won't speak
for all residents, but the consensus, according to surveys of
(11:22):
downtown residents, is that things are not good downtown. But
the truth is it's kind of a microcosm of the
entire city. I get to drive up to Burbank every
day to work here at KFI, and you can tell
when you have left La city limit and entered Glendale
or Burbank from whichever side. It's striking how filthy the
(11:42):
city is, how dark the street lights are, how uninviting
the environment is around here. And as the guy at
KFI who covers city Hall, I never hear a sense
of urgency about dealing with the esthetics of this city.
What's your plan?
Speaker 3 (12:00):
I love this question.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
I never get asked this question because one of the
elements of my plan, which is about having La be
a city that thrives, is the v which is for vibrancy.
And I believe we have an enormous opportunity to make
La as amazing as it should be from a natural
(12:23):
beauty perspective. Right our sidewalks should be for walking, our
parks should be for playing, our beaches should be beautiful,
our mountains accessible and hikeable. There is tremendous opportunity to
clean up the city to bring back the vibrancy that
we all know should be.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Here and to make La a city that everybody loves.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Well, let's get a little more specific on that, because
we're looking at thousands of street lights, for example, that
are out all across the city. Councilwoman Rahmen just put
a video up on social that I was baffled by
because she basically said, only forty percent of those thousands
of street lights are out because of copper theft. The
rest are because of the age and the infrastructure involved
(13:09):
with forty percent are out because of copper theft. And
there's not a whole lot that this city council wants
to do to address the criminal element to that. I mean,
the basic question is how do you get the lights
back on?
Speaker 4 (13:22):
Yeah, And so it's an interesting multidimensional question if you
think about it, because what we're talking about is public
safety and crime because why are people allowed to steal
all this copper wire. It's about economic opportunity because why
are people in the position where they feel like crime
(13:42):
is their only option? And it's about getting a city
that works effectively because why is it that we're not
able to respond when a light is out, or there's
a pothole on the street, or there's.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
A pile of trash in the middle of a sidewalk.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
All of that is about management and being more effective
in knowing how to operate and making systems that work.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
There's also elements of budget there.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
Right. We often are worried about the budget that we have.
I have a finance background, I have an accounting degree,
I have experience from multiple businesses, and I've run a
public company. I understand finance, I understand treasury. I understand
how to run budgets and optimize things. And this is
(14:33):
not a money problem. This is a leadership problem, and
I think I can solve that.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
The city faced a billion dollar budget shortfall as the
new fiscal year, the current fiscal year that we're in
was approaching last year. Watching this city council and this
Mayor's office operate, my suspicion is that this spring, when
it's time to roll out a new budget for the
next fiscal year, it's not going to be significantly better
and possibly could be worse. Do you have a plan
(15:02):
to address this city's financial challenges.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
Look, that's one of the issues that we also have
challenges with regard to the Olympics, there are a lot
of people involved with the Olympics today, Olympics twenty twenty eight,
not the ones that started today in Italy, and there
is a lot of concern that the Olympics, which should
be revenue generating for the city and should be a
(15:26):
huge opportunity for financial success for the city, because of
the way it's being headed right now or the interplay
between the city and the Olympic Committee, it's on its
way to be a deficit for the city and we
certainly can't handle that right now. So some of this
(15:47):
is about budgetary discipline. Some of this is about financial optimization.
Some of this is about again working together with public
private partnerships. Some of this is about out bringing business
back to LA. We've had a lot of businesses flee
and I don't need to tell anybody in LA that
(16:08):
Hollywood has left Hollywood.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
We need to bring it back.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
That creates lots of jobs, lots of opportunity, and also
a lot of revenue for the city.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Adam Miller hopes to be the guy who can do
better for Los Angeles. He's running for mayor. Mister Miller,
thank you so much for taking some time here for KFI.
We know that the primary election is coming up in June.
If you're in the top two, you'll move on to
the November race. So I hope we have other chances
to talk again.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
I appreciate it. Thank you. Mike.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Up Next, the LA City Council is looking to help
producers of vertical content. So what is it? Michael Monks
reports continues.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
This is Michael Monks reports on Michael Monks from KFI News.
LA City Hall is exploring financial support for producers of
media content known as vertical shorts or micro dramas. Councilman
Bobba Bloominfield explains what he sees as the opportunity.
Speaker 5 (17:02):
The market is, as I said, fifteen billion by twenty
twenty eight. In the past few months, they are about
thirty to forty vertical short productions each month in Los Angeles.
That's per Rolling Stone, and each episode is usually one
to two minutes, with a series lasting twenty to one
hundred episodes. I'm sure you've all seen them.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
On your phone.
Speaker 5 (17:20):
It's a lot of production that we don't think about,
a lot of jobs and serious potential for growth.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
So what are these things? Anyway? Heather Brooker from KFI
News is with us. Heather, good day to you.
Speaker 6 (17:31):
Well, hello Michael Monks.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
And you've also got a podcast. What is it? Where
is it?
Speaker 7 (17:34):
It is entertain Me with Heather Brooker And you can
listen anywhere you get your podcast and of course on
the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Is this podcast the one that's nominated for the Golden
Michael Ward?
Speaker 6 (17:43):
It is thank you for remembering.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Yeah, wow, we both have some nominations and we're going
to talk about We're going to brag a little in
our next segment by why not. Yeah. First, we got
some news to talk about, as we just heard City
council Member Bob Blumenfield pushing hard to have the City
of Los Angeles help support micro dramas. And I guess
now at this point, I'm kind of scared to admit
that I know what they are because I love TikTok.
(18:07):
It's my favorite app to scroll. I can just absolutely
log off of my brain and log onto TikTok and
scroll and I will laugh for forty five minutes. And
I get hit by these things. They pop up, these
little short videos and like what is this They're trying
to tell a story. It's like an episodic show that
you would watch thirty minutes or an hour of, but
these are like one minute, two minutes and there's like
(18:30):
one hundred and fifty episodes of them.
Speaker 7 (18:32):
Yes, that's how they get you, that's how they hook
you in.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
But how big of a deal is this industry now?
Speaker 7 (18:38):
So vertical shorts are a multi billion dollar industry and
they're only going to continue to grow over the next
several years. That's why you're seeing large creators like Topper
Guild dar Man. They are getting massive deals, massive views online.
If you don't know those names.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
I was gonna say, I don't know those names, and
I don't say that shadily because there are a lot
of famous people these days. There's so many ways to
be famous and there's no way to know them all.
But how are they big creators?
Speaker 7 (19:05):
So Darman has been creating content since I think about
twenty eighteen. He started YouTube videos. That's how a lot
of creators, really large video creators these days, got their
start on YouTube and they have since transition over to
TikTok and Instagram and so on. So Darman started out
creating videos that were sort of inspirational, meaningful, had like
(19:28):
a message, like feel good videos, and it has now
grown to he still does a lot of that content,
but now it's like stories, storytelling, you know, more short form.
For people who don't know what a vertical short is,
there's a couple different types of short form content. You
got like short film that can be cut down to
(19:50):
size to your phone screen.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
That's why they're called vertical because they're meant to be
viewed holding the phone up right, that's right.
Speaker 7 (19:57):
So then there's also the kind vertical short where they
take like an almost feature length type of film and
cut it down into one minute segments for not about
let's say it's an hour and a half long, you've
got a ninety seconds. Then then you've got ninety videos
that you can put on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and you're
(20:20):
then making money off of all those videos. And that's
just one film. So Darman, what he's done is he's
built a studio here in Burbank. He has also just
signed a huge deal with Fox to start making forty
original films, forty of these original vertical shorts, which is
(20:40):
great because that means more jobs more content, you know,
more work here in the LA area. The only problem is,
and what some critics don't like about this type of
content is that it's non union.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
I was gonna ask, this is a union town. There's
no way you're gonna have SAG aftra or the Writer's Guilt,
any of those unions, the IATZ or whoever. The people
that work on the crew, these folks are not going
to support any type of propping up of any type
of show business that is not union. Yeah.
Speaker 7 (21:10):
I think that's where the biggest criticism is coming from.
But it's such a tough situation because they really are
some of the largest products coming out of LA right now,
and it's growing. With this deal that Darman Studios has
made with Fox for you know, Bill for this billion
dollar industry, it's not going anywhere. So you're talking about
(21:34):
let's say an average SAG actor on a one day
co star a very small role on a TV show
maybe where they have someone that has a couple of lines.
They're gonna make the SAG minimum, which is I think
around nine hundred and sixty dollars one thousand dollars. On
these vertical shorts, that same actor with that same role
they're working one day, maybe have just a couple of lines.
Speaker 6 (21:54):
They're going to make two hundred bucks.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
But that actor would be prohibited from doing it right
because of the union.
Speaker 7 (21:58):
Dash actor cannot be in a non union project. So
all of the non union actors have incentive to be
in all these projects. They're not making a lot of money,
you know, but it's the incentive to be in them
because that's what's actually happening. But SAG actors no, cannot
be a part of this. I think the goal, or
you know, I don't want to speak for the union obviously,
but I think their goal would be to bring in
(22:20):
these vertical shorts and these vertical projects to the union
so professional actors can start making the you know, getting
the benefits of SAG pay.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
People seem to see a future for this, a lucrative
future for this. And just quick disclosure, we are members
of SAG after all the voices you hear here on KFI,
but we are the AFTRA in SAGAFTRA with the less
glamorous part.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Of that union.
Speaker 6 (22:43):
It's all one now.
Speaker 5 (22:44):
I know.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
We are the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.
Speaker 6 (22:47):
That's right.
Speaker 7 (22:49):
And with here's what I will say about that. With
this billion dollars I mean billions of dollars in the
vertical short industry, there is no reason for them to
not be SAG After Franchise Writers Guild, a lot of
people say that these vertical shorts are written by AI,
and if you've watched a few of them, it sounds
like they're written by AI because it's not great content.
(23:11):
It's just highly addictive because everyone is chronically on their
phones just very.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Quickly before we go to break. This reminds me of
this ambitious effort from about six years ago called Quibbi. Yeah,
there was a network, I mean some heavyweights from the
industry were creating and this was all supposed to be
short form content, but scripted and probably union because they
had well known people hosting games shows, putting shows together,
(23:36):
with the idea being, look, people are watching shorter content
on TikTok, Twitter, all the different social media Outlet's let's
put an app together where the content is designed to
be this way. The problem, it seems for Quibi was
that then the pandemic happened immediately after its launch, and
suddenly everyone had nothing but time to watch Tiger King
and sopranos and all of those things.
Speaker 6 (23:54):
Well, do you know what changed? You know what shifted it? TikTok.
Speaker 7 (23:58):
TikTok shifted the content the way we can absorb vertical
content and short form content in such a massive way
that Quibi was almost a little ahead of its time.
It wasn't the right time.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
I feel that way now in retrospect too. It was
funny to dump on it, I guess for a while
because it failed so spectacularly, and Quibi was I think
it's for quick bites.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
It was.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
It was quick bites Quibi, and then it failed because
suddenly everybody had so much time. And yes, you're right,
it was ahead of its time. We'll continue with Heather
Brooker and we're going to talk about kfi's ten Golden
Mic nominated. It's award season and Hollywood and KFI is
not being left out ten Golden Mic nominations at that
big award show. I know you're dying to see the
red carpet up. We'll continue with Michael Monks Reports.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
This is Michael Monks Reports. Michael Monks from KFI News,
happy to be with you this weekend here in Southern California.
I hope you're making it a good one. I'm excited
to say that this show, Michael Monks Reports, is nominated
at the seventy six annual Golden Mike Awards coming up
(25:11):
in March, presented by the Radio and Television News Association
of Southern California. This is up for Best Public Affairs Show,
which is very, very cool. But that's not the only one.
KFI has ten nominations at the Golden Mics, and Heather
Brooker from KFI News is with me as well, and
she's got a few of those nominations, and so do I.
(25:31):
We kind of kind of did a good things. How
about that?
Speaker 7 (25:35):
That was so fun? I mean, honestly, what is it saying?
It's an honor to be nominated, it's an honor to
be a finalist.
Speaker 6 (25:41):
But it is more fun to win. Yeah, we go
home with a lot comment for NPR.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
It's over, man, We're excited. Yeah, So it's a nice event.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Though.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
I know we talked about award shows.
Speaker 6 (25:51):
It's ever been.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Oh I got to go on my first year here.
They let me go because they had an extra tick
and like, come see this award shows. I was really surprised.
Everybody from rad and TV stations here in Los Angeles.
Speaker 7 (26:02):
Yeah, golle Will, all the big Frank Buckley, all the
big thing.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
They're all dulled up.
Speaker 7 (26:08):
They got their fancy glitter on.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
There's wine. Yes, it's it's really well done, and there's
a lot of awards. It goes a little long, but
it's it's exciting when you're nominated. I can tell you
that because we've got ten nominations, and I'm happy to
say that this show is one of them. Our fire
special that we did, not the one that just aired recently,
which we're also proud of and we'll probably submit for
(26:30):
Consederation next year, but the one that we did in
the immediate aftermath of the fire in twenty twenty five.
That's that's up for Best Feature Documentary or something.
Speaker 7 (26:40):
Yeah, you know, I mean, it's your category.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
I filled in for the week of anchoring the news,
and the way that it works to get like best
Newscast is that the competition tells you what week the
newscast will be considered.
Speaker 6 (26:55):
And then after tell yeah yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
And so everybody tries to put together their very best,
which we try to do anyway, but you want to
be particularly meticulous because this is when you're going to nominate,
and then after that week ends they send you okay,
this is the day you can choose your newscast from,
so that you can't you can't know exactly which newscast.
Speaker 7 (27:12):
Well, d our news day happened to be a day
where everybody in the newsroom had the plague.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
Everyone was out.
Speaker 7 (27:18):
Amy King was out, I was filling in for her,
Deborah was out sick. You were filling in for Deborah.
So Michael submitted his newscast and you already won.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
You found aye.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
One's true.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
There are a couple categories where we know the outcome,
and I'm excited to say that I won for that
the twelve pm News with Michael Moss.
Speaker 7 (27:36):
But it's just so funny because it's not even your
regular no shift or.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Is that we have a deep bench here at KFI,
Yeah we do. I also won for best Live Reporting.
You may recall last June when the immigration protest in
Los Angeles really took off. I got called out on
a weekend because it was getting a little hairy in
downtown LA and outside the Federal Building. I got tear
gassed along with a bunch of other people, but we
(28:02):
kept reporting. Yeah, and we do know for sure that
we won.
Speaker 6 (28:06):
I mean to be honest, you ran into that tear gas.
You were like, Oh, I was thinking, my golden mic,
this is my moment.
Speaker 7 (28:12):
I'm going to run right into that tear gas.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Golden mic months agitator.
Speaker 6 (28:16):
Yeah, trying to get that.
Speaker 7 (28:17):
I was here anchoring that night and I remember that
happening and being like, oh my god, it is Michael okay,
and like pulling all the sound that we needed to
have to make sure we were on top of it.
Like just a really active news weekend for sure. But yeah,
you you already won.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
I like to bring these up because we we're still
working hard here at KFI. We are bringing you the
news and not just fast and accurate way, but we're
doing it in a way that is still a standard
in the industry. And I hope, I hope we walk
out with our bags and you Your podcast Entertaining Me
(28:54):
is one of the nominees.
Speaker 7 (28:55):
My podcast is nominated for Best Podcast, Best Interview Podcast,
which truly is such an honor because it's such a
joy for me to do.
Speaker 6 (29:04):
It's I get to have fun.
Speaker 7 (29:05):
I get to be a little more silly, you know
than we you know, get to do on the air
when we're reading regular news stories. So it's a fun show,
you know. And also my I was honorating for Best
Entertainment Report for a story I did about a family
who lost their homes during the Altadena fires and then
ended up going on America's Got Talent as a you know,
a finalist. And then I did a story, a very
(29:27):
personal story, which is something I don't do very often.
I don't share a lot too much personal about myself.
But I did a story about my mom and her
battle twice with cancer and what it's like being sort
of in the Sandwich generation, as it's called, having to
care for a young child and also care for an
elderly parent. And so that was nominated for a Best
(29:50):
Medical Story, Best Medical Feature. And then I'm very excited
because you and I are going head to head in
the Best Writing cap I hope that this very special
feature you did about your mom wins the medical reporting
because it's not winning the writing category.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
Because I'm also nominated in the writing category it's you
and me and it's my I did a special feature
on these people that are always taking you hear me
when I'm covering City Hall from the news room and
just streaming it and collecting sound of these people that
go down and say all these horrible things, crazy square
words that they put on complete shows. And I did
a features piece called City Hall gad Flies and that
(30:26):
that is nominated in the writing category and also in
the long feature Yes category.
Speaker 7 (30:32):
So I'm curious to see if because we're up against
somebody from NPR right Elistlical, MPR, so I'm curious to
see if it's going to go to a ka fire
or if it's going to go.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
I almost hope she wins, and I've listened to her.
I'm a fan of theirs. I'm a fan of all
of our our media outlets here in Los Angeles. We're
all college. But I'm competitive, and you're competitive. You know
secretly we want to win, but.
Speaker 6 (30:56):
Trip her on the way up to the.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
The piece that we're If she wins, it will be
well deserved. It's fine, no big deal. In fact, it
should be the I know you're an avid TikTok user.
You're prolific on social media. I'm jealous. I beg you
to teach me how you refuse because I've got stories
to tell you how funny thing's happening in my life.
Speaker 6 (31:12):
You have your own show how to do it.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
I anticipate there will be a lot of content coming
from these awards, and I can already see a video
being made of us waiting for the announcement of that
award in particular, and we both lose.
Speaker 7 (31:26):
I know we both said there God, NPR. We I
want to hear from I would love to hear from people, though,
who are listening, if anybody is listening right now, no offense,
I'm sure people listen.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
To That's enough of that. I would love to know
the Golden Mic nominated Michael Monks reports.
Speaker 7 (31:41):
I would love to know from people who they think
will win. Like you gotta place bets. Is it going
to be Michael Heather or NPR. I want to hear
from people, and let's get let's get some money on it.
What is what is it? The prize picks?
Speaker 6 (31:53):
Is there a prize picks for the gold Well?
Speaker 2 (31:54):
We can certainly do a little sign bet now that
you mention, its happy to do that. All right, it's
it's the big Game is this weekend. I've got thirty seconds.
What is as an entertainment person? This is not just
the biggest sports event. This is a big entertainment event.
Alftime show, the commercials, the culture around the Super Bowl.
What is the one thing as an entertainment person that
(32:15):
you were looking for.
Speaker 7 (32:16):
It's going to be a controversial answer, but I'm going
to be watching the Bad Bunny halftime show. It's he's
going to make history as the first Latin solo artist.
It's going to be all in Spanish. He is a
prolific entertainer, very fun to watch. I think I'm going
to be watching that. I mean, I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
All right, Well, let's get out of here and get
ready for the game. Yes, all right. Heather Brooker from
KFI News. The podcast is entertain Me. You can find
that at KFIAM six forty dot com and on the
iHeartRadio app. We'll talk again soon. Thanks so much for
listening to Michael Monks reports here on KFI AM six
forty
Speaker 1 (32:51):
KFI AM six forty on demand,
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
This is Michael Monks Reports on Michael Monks from KFI News.
The race for La Mayor is set, and it doesn't
look anything like what many of us thought it would.
There's no Rick Caruso, there's no supervisor Lindsay Horvath, and
former LA School Superintendent Austin Butner has dropped out following
the tragic loss of his twenty two year old daughter. Instead,
Mayor Bass faces a challenge from former reality TV personality
(00:27):
and Palisades Fire survivor Spencer Pratt, Democratic socialist community organizer
Ray Hwang, and now city councilwoman Nitthia Rahman, who's long
been an ally of Mayor Bass. If you missed our
first hour where we broke down the dynamics of the race,
check out the podcast at KFIAM six forty dot com
or get on the iHeartRadio app and search for Michael
(00:48):
Monks reports. There's another candidate whose name is less known
in LA political circles and in general. He's former tech
executive and entrepreneur Adam Miller. So who is this guy?
Let's find out. Adam Miller is our guest.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Adam Miller.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Thanks so much for taking some time for KFI. We
appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Michael, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
You know, we've been on mayor's race watch for many
weeks now, wondering who's going to jump into the field,
maybe some candidates that we've seen before, maybe some current
electeds in other offices. And then we get a news
release that Adam Miller is running for mayor, and respectfully,
a lot of people are like, who's Adam Miller? So
let me ask you, Adam Miller. Who's Adam Miller?
Speaker 4 (01:29):
So?
Speaker 3 (01:29):
I'm an entrepreneur, I'm a nonprofit leader.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
I've been living and working and building businesses and organizations
in Los Angeles for decades and have gotten to not
only know the city and love the city, but understand
some of the issues and challenges that the city's facing
in a very deep way.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
And that's why I'm running for mayor.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Well, tell me more about that. I mean, a decision
to run for mayor is a big one. You're not
someone without recent ors is you're not someone without experience
in the city. But explain more about that calling to
jump into this race for one of the most high
profile offices in America.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Yeah, and you know, my first business here was a
restaurant in Westwood. My second was a technology company called
Cornerstone that I ran for literally two decades twenty years.
Started in my apartment and grew to a multinational public
company with three thousand employees and tens of millions of
(02:32):
people using our software to get educated, do their professional development,
build skills and experiences to move up in their careers
and do better in their jobs.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
And I had the.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
Good fortune of being able to not only build it,
but sell that business. And October of twenty one, after
having run Cornerstone, working with many other corporations, and having
helped build and multiple nonprofits, I thought, for my second act,
(03:05):
I'm going to really give back to the community and
give back to the city.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
And that's exactly what we did. So my wife and
I started a foundation called onep dot org that's focused
on intractable problems, and we started working on the biggest
issues facing us as residents, as citizens, and as humans.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
And so we worked on issues facing the city, the nation,
and the world. And I was extremely interested in addressing
the homeless problem. And as you know, homelessness in Los
Angeles has reached completely unacceptable levels. Not that it's ever
acceptable have somebody unhoused on the street, but certainly we
(03:48):
could do better than seventy thousand people living unhoused in
LA County.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
And spent about a year and a half.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
Trying to understand the issue in detail, what was working,
what didn't work, what worked in other cities.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Or counties or countries.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
And what we found was it is an extremely complex
problem that requires a complex solution. So start an organization
called Better Angels that has been focusing on five pillars
to address the homeless problem, prevention, services, shelter, housing, and
technology and have gone after it. I also, during a
(04:28):
similar timeframe, have been very involved in workforce development. We
have certain industries that are doing quite well in LA
and other industries that are struggling, and one of the
dichotomies is the technology industry relative to other parts of
the city. And so after George Floyd was murdered, I
(04:50):
started a workforce development initiative called the Thousand Interns Initiative
with a focus on bringing eight into twenty four year
olds from underrepresented communities in LA into the tech world.
And we did that not just for engineers, but really
anybody that wanted to have more opportunity. The job was
(05:17):
challenging because there were very very few people from those
communities in these technology companies. There was an argument that
maybe we should try to do ten or one hundred
such internships.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
I really pushed that.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
We did a thousand, and today we've done over two
thousand and still going.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
So it sounds like you've had a strong focus on
both of those things. Homelessness and workforce development both key
issues here in Los Angeles. But let's talk specifically about
homelessness because that is going to play a major role
in any campaign for mayor in Los Angeles, because the
problem persists. And Mayor Bass, the incumban who is running
for reelection, has her signature inside Safe Programs. She touts
(06:00):
numbers from the LA Homeless Services Authority indicating that street
homelessness has dropped for a couple of years in a row.
But the truth is, I'm not speaking for all residents,
but I do have eyes. Also, it doesn't look any better,
and as you noted, it's sad when anybody is living
on the street, but it doesn't feel like the situation
is improving. And it also feels like we've thrown a
(06:22):
significant amount of money for it not to be improving,
which is angering folks. So what would be the biggest
difference if you were in the mayor seat on this issue.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
Well, that's a great question, because we've spent upwards of
ten billion dollars in the last decade to address the problem.
During that period of time, the problem got dramatically worse. Yes,
it is improved, but slightly, and we still have tens
of thousands of people living on the street, which is
(06:56):
simply unacceptable. In the city, it's closer to forty thousand
people pople in the county, it's closer to seventy thousand people.
Way way too many people in that situation, and there's
much we can do. One of them is we could
do a much better job around prevention. We started a
program leveraging micro finance techniques to help people who are
(07:17):
vulnerable had a financial shock, interfacing eviction, and we've helped
thousands of Vanagolino's stay housed. We also understand that housing
is a huge issue in la We can do a
much much better job building net new housing, both market
(07:39):
rate and affordable.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Both will help mitigate the problem.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Because at the end of the day, we have demand
that greatly outstripped supply. Right now, when it comes to housing,
and what does that translate to two things? One very
high rent which makes La very unaffordable for many many people,
and homelessness because when there's not enough housing, who ends
(08:05):
up with a housing The people who are most vulnerable,
and that's exactly what we see on the streets.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
We'll continue with La mayoral candidate Adam Miller next and
later what is a vertical short and why does La
City Hall want to look at giving money to producers
of them? Our Heather Brooker will be with us.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
This is Michael Monks reports on Michael Monks from KFI News.
You know La Mayor Bass and you know her challengers
in this year's election, councilwoman Nitthia Rahman, reality TV personality
Spencer Pratt. There's also Democratic socialist Ray Huang and former
tech executive Adam Miller. He is our guest. Let's continue
with Adam Miller. Now we've seen this La City Council
(08:47):
very recently cap the ability of landlords to raise rents
and rent controlled units, despite the outcry from those landlords
that they would not be able to keep up the
maintenance required of those properties not see a return on
their investments. We've also seen the LA City Council member
who pushed for measure ula known as the mansion tax,
to go in front of our own colleagues and the
(09:09):
public very recently and say, we kind of screwed up
with this. We're actually slowing housing down by discouraging investment
in Los Angeles. It seems that this is a city
council that enjoys shooting itself in the foot when it
comes to housing. How are you prepared to confront the
city council on this issue. This isn't New York City
where the mayor gets all of the attention and all
(09:29):
of that executive power. You've got to work with the council.
What would your message be to them on that look.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
I've been an executive both at corporations and nonprofits. In corporations, yes,
the CEO has tremendous power and can dictate some of
the things that happen. In the nonprofit world, it simply
doesn't work that way. It's much more collaborative. It's much
more based on consensus building. I know how to operate
in both environments.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
I know how.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
To set goals, get alignment, bring people together, and get
things done, and we simply haven't been able to do.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
That in this city.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
I'm not going to blame any specific people or specific policies,
even I think we are in a situation today where
LA is broadly viewed, both inside LA and importantly nationally,
as one of the most difficult cities in America to
build new housing. And so we have prevented many national
(10:31):
real estate developers from coming into LA and building housing,
and we've prevented emerging real estate developers from successfully getting
off the ground. And we've pushed many of the existing
real estate developers to focus on luxury housing, which quite frankly.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
We don't need more of.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
We need market rate, workforce housing and affordable housing, and
we could do a much better job of delivering that.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Our guest is Adam Miller, a tech entrepreneur and executive
turned nonprofit director who is running for mayor of Los
Angeles and outam you major campaign announcement, your big launch
event on Friday at a building in downtown Los Angeles,
and I'm a resident of downtown LA. I won't speak
for all residents, but the consensus, according to surveys of
(11:22):
downtown residents, is that things are not good downtown. But
the truth is it's kind of a microcosm of the
entire city. I get to drive up to Burbank every
day to work here at KFI, and you can tell
when you have left La city limit and entered Glendale
or Burbank from whichever side. It's striking how filthy the
(11:42):
city is, how dark the street lights are, how uninviting
the environment is around here. And as the guy at
KFI who covers city Hall, I never hear a sense
of urgency about dealing with the esthetics of this city.
What's your plan?
Speaker 3 (12:00):
I love this question.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
I never get asked this question because one of the
elements of my plan, which is about having La be
a city that thrives, is the v which is for vibrancy.
And I believe we have an enormous opportunity to make
La as amazing as it should be from a natural
(12:23):
beauty perspective. Right our sidewalks should be for walking, our
parks should be for playing, our beaches should be beautiful,
our mountains accessible and hikeable. There is tremendous opportunity to
clean up the city to bring back the vibrancy that
we all know should be.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Here and to make La a city that everybody loves.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Well, let's get a little more specific on that, because
we're looking at thousands of street lights, for example, that
are out all across the city. Councilwoman Rahmen just put
a video up on social that I was baffled by
because she basically said, only forty percent of those thousands
of street lights are out because of copper theft. The
rest are because of the age and the infrastructure involved
(13:09):
with forty percent are out because of copper theft. And
there's not a whole lot that this city council wants
to do to address the criminal element to that. I mean,
the basic question is how do you get the lights
back on?
Speaker 4 (13:22):
Yeah, And so it's an interesting multidimensional question if you
think about it, because what we're talking about is public
safety and crime because why are people allowed to steal
all this copper wire. It's about economic opportunity because why
are people in the position where they feel like crime
(13:42):
is their only option? And it's about getting a city
that works effectively because why is it that we're not
able to respond when a light is out, or there's
a pothole on the street, or there's.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
A pile of trash in the middle of a sidewalk.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
All of that is about management and being more effective
in knowing how to operate and making systems that work.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
There's also elements of budget there.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
Right. We often are worried about the budget that we have.
I have a finance background, I have an accounting degree,
I have experience from multiple businesses, and I've run a
public company. I understand finance, I understand treasury. I understand
how to run budgets and optimize things. And this is
(14:33):
not a money problem. This is a leadership problem, and
I think I can solve that.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
The city faced a billion dollar budget shortfall as the
new fiscal year, the current fiscal year that we're in
was approaching last year. Watching this city council and this
Mayor's office operate, my suspicion is that this spring, when
it's time to roll out a new budget for the
next fiscal year, it's not going to be significantly better
and possibly could be worse. Do you have a plan
(15:02):
to address this city's financial challenges.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
Look, that's one of the issues that we also have
challenges with regard to the Olympics, there are a lot
of people involved with the Olympics today, Olympics twenty twenty eight,
not the ones that started today in Italy, and there
is a lot of concern that the Olympics, which should
be revenue generating for the city and should be a
(15:26):
huge opportunity for financial success for the city, because of
the way it's being headed right now or the interplay
between the city and the Olympic Committee, it's on its
way to be a deficit for the city and we
certainly can't handle that right now. So some of this
(15:47):
is about budgetary discipline. Some of this is about financial optimization.
Some of this is about again working together with public
private partnerships. Some of this is about out bringing business
back to LA. We've had a lot of businesses flee
and I don't need to tell anybody in LA that
(16:08):
Hollywood has left Hollywood.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
We need to bring it back.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
That creates lots of jobs, lots of opportunity, and also
a lot of revenue for the city.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Adam Miller hopes to be the guy who can do
better for Los Angeles. He's running for mayor. Mister Miller,
thank you so much for taking some time here for KFI.
We know that the primary election is coming up in June.
If you're in the top two, you'll move on to
the November race. So I hope we have other chances
to talk again.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
I appreciate it. Thank you. Mike.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Up Next, the LA City Council is looking to help
producers of vertical content. So what is it? Michael Monks
reports continues.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
This is Michael Monks reports on Michael Monks from KFI News.
LA City Hall is exploring financial support for producers of
media content known as vertical shorts or micro dramas. Councilman
Bobba Bloominfield explains what he sees as the opportunity.
Speaker 5 (17:02):
The market is, as I said, fifteen billion by twenty
twenty eight. In the past few months, they are about
thirty to forty vertical short productions each month in Los Angeles.
That's per Rolling Stone, and each episode is usually one
to two minutes, with a series lasting twenty to one
hundred episodes. I'm sure you've all seen them.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
On your phone.
Speaker 5 (17:20):
It's a lot of production that we don't think about,
a lot of jobs and serious potential for growth.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
So what are these things? Anyway? Heather Brooker from KFI
News is with us. Heather, good day to you.
Speaker 6 (17:31):
Well, hello Michael Monks.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
And you've also got a podcast. What is it? Where
is it?
Speaker 7 (17:34):
It is entertain Me with Heather Brooker And you can
listen anywhere you get your podcast and of course on
the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Is this podcast the one that's nominated for the Golden
Michael Ward?
Speaker 6 (17:43):
It is thank you for remembering.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Yeah, wow, we both have some nominations and we're going
to talk about We're going to brag a little in
our next segment by why not. Yeah. First, we got
some news to talk about, as we just heard City
council Member Bob Blumenfield pushing hard to have the City
of Los Angeles help support micro dramas. And I guess
now at this point, I'm kind of scared to admit
that I know what they are because I love TikTok.
(18:07):
It's my favorite app to scroll. I can just absolutely
log off of my brain and log onto TikTok and
scroll and I will laugh for forty five minutes. And
I get hit by these things. They pop up, these
little short videos and like what is this They're trying
to tell a story. It's like an episodic show that
you would watch thirty minutes or an hour of, but
these are like one minute, two minutes and there's like
(18:30):
one hundred and fifty episodes of them.
Speaker 7 (18:32):
Yes, that's how they get you, that's how they hook
you in.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
But how big of a deal is this industry now?
Speaker 7 (18:38):
So vertical shorts are a multi billion dollar industry and
they're only going to continue to grow over the next
several years. That's why you're seeing large creators like Topper
Guild dar Man. They are getting massive deals, massive views online.
If you don't know those names.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
I was gonna say, I don't know those names, and
I don't say that shadily because there are a lot
of famous people these days. There's so many ways to
be famous and there's no way to know them all.
But how are they big creators?
Speaker 7 (19:05):
So Darman has been creating content since I think about
twenty eighteen. He started YouTube videos. That's how a lot
of creators, really large video creators these days, got their
start on YouTube and they have since transition over to
TikTok and Instagram and so on. So Darman started out
creating videos that were sort of inspirational, meaningful, had like
(19:28):
a message, like feel good videos, and it has now
grown to he still does a lot of that content,
but now it's like stories, storytelling, you know, more short form.
For people who don't know what a vertical short is,
there's a couple different types of short form content. You
got like short film that can be cut down to
(19:50):
size to your phone screen.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
That's why they're called vertical because they're meant to be
viewed holding the phone up right, that's right.
Speaker 7 (19:57):
So then there's also the kind vertical short where they
take like an almost feature length type of film and
cut it down into one minute segments for not about
let's say it's an hour and a half long, you've
got a ninety seconds. Then then you've got ninety videos
that you can put on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and you're
(20:20):
then making money off of all those videos. And that's
just one film. So Darman, what he's done is he's
built a studio here in Burbank. He has also just
signed a huge deal with Fox to start making forty
original films, forty of these original vertical shorts, which is
(20:40):
great because that means more jobs more content, you know,
more work here in the LA area. The only problem is,
and what some critics don't like about this type of
content is that it's non union.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
I was gonna ask, this is a union town. There's
no way you're gonna have SAG aftra or the Writer's Guilt,
any of those unions, the IATZ or whoever. The people
that work on the crew, these folks are not going
to support any type of propping up of any type
of show business that is not union. Yeah.
Speaker 7 (21:10):
I think that's where the biggest criticism is coming from.
But it's such a tough situation because they really are
some of the largest products coming out of LA right now,
and it's growing. With this deal that Darman Studios has
made with Fox for you know, Bill for this billion
dollar industry, it's not going anywhere. So you're talking about
(21:34):
let's say an average SAG actor on a one day
co star a very small role on a TV show
maybe where they have someone that has a couple of lines.
They're gonna make the SAG minimum, which is I think
around nine hundred and sixty dollars one thousand dollars. On
these vertical shorts, that same actor with that same role
they're working one day, maybe have just a couple of lines.
Speaker 6 (21:54):
They're going to make two hundred bucks.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
But that actor would be prohibited from doing it right
because of the union.
Speaker 7 (21:58):
Dash actor cannot be in a non union project. So
all of the non union actors have incentive to be
in all these projects. They're not making a lot of money,
you know, but it's the incentive to be in them
because that's what's actually happening. But SAG actors no, cannot
be a part of this. I think the goal, or
you know, I don't want to speak for the union obviously,
but I think their goal would be to bring in
(22:20):
these vertical shorts and these vertical projects to the union
so professional actors can start making the you know, getting
the benefits of SAG pay.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
People seem to see a future for this, a lucrative
future for this. And just quick disclosure, we are members
of SAG after all the voices you hear here on KFI,
but we are the AFTRA in SAGAFTRA with the less
glamorous part.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Of that union.
Speaker 6 (22:43):
It's all one now.
Speaker 5 (22:44):
I know.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
We are the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.
Speaker 6 (22:47):
That's right.
Speaker 7 (22:49):
And with here's what I will say about that. With
this billion dollars I mean billions of dollars in the
vertical short industry, there is no reason for them to
not be SAG After Franchise Writers Guild, a lot of
people say that these vertical shorts are written by AI,
and if you've watched a few of them, it sounds
like they're written by AI because it's not great content.
(23:11):
It's just highly addictive because everyone is chronically on their
phones just very.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Quickly before we go to break. This reminds me of
this ambitious effort from about six years ago called Quibbi. Yeah,
there was a network, I mean some heavyweights from the
industry were creating and this was all supposed to be
short form content, but scripted and probably union because they
had well known people hosting games shows, putting shows together,
(23:36):
with the idea being, look, people are watching shorter content
on TikTok, Twitter, all the different social media Outlet's let's
put an app together where the content is designed to
be this way. The problem, it seems for Quibi was
that then the pandemic happened immediately after its launch, and
suddenly everyone had nothing but time to watch Tiger King
and sopranos and all of those things.
Speaker 6 (23:54):
Well, do you know what changed? You know what shifted it? TikTok.
Speaker 7 (23:58):
TikTok shifted the content the way we can absorb vertical
content and short form content in such a massive way
that Quibi was almost a little ahead of its time.
It wasn't the right time.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
I feel that way now in retrospect too. It was
funny to dump on it, I guess for a while
because it failed so spectacularly, and Quibi was I think
it's for quick bites.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
It was.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
It was quick bites Quibi, and then it failed because
suddenly everybody had so much time. And yes, you're right,
it was ahead of its time. We'll continue with Heather
Brooker and we're going to talk about kfi's ten Golden
Mic nominated. It's award season and Hollywood and KFI is
not being left out ten Golden Mic nominations at that
big award show. I know you're dying to see the
red carpet up. We'll continue with Michael Monks Reports.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
This is Michael Monks Reports. Michael Monks from KFI News,
happy to be with you this weekend here in Southern California.
I hope you're making it a good one. I'm excited
to say that this show, Michael Monks Reports, is nominated
at the seventy six annual Golden Mike Awards coming up
(25:11):
in March, presented by the Radio and Television News Association
of Southern California. This is up for Best Public Affairs Show,
which is very, very cool. But that's not the only one.
KFI has ten nominations at the Golden Mics, and Heather
Brooker from KFI News is with me as well, and
she's got a few of those nominations, and so do I.
(25:31):
We kind of kind of did a good things. How
about that?
Speaker 7 (25:35):
That was so fun? I mean, honestly, what is it saying?
It's an honor to be nominated, it's an honor to
be a finalist.
Speaker 6 (25:41):
But it is more fun to win. Yeah, we go
home with a lot comment for NPR.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
It's over, man, We're excited. Yeah, So it's a nice event.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Though.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
I know we talked about award shows.
Speaker 6 (25:51):
It's ever been.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Oh I got to go on my first year here.
They let me go because they had an extra tick
and like, come see this award shows. I was really surprised.
Everybody from rad and TV stations here in Los Angeles.
Speaker 7 (26:02):
Yeah, golle Will, all the big Frank Buckley, all the
big thing.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
They're all dulled up.
Speaker 7 (26:08):
They got their fancy glitter on.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
There's wine. Yes, it's it's really well done, and there's
a lot of awards. It goes a little long, but
it's it's exciting when you're nominated. I can tell you
that because we've got ten nominations, and I'm happy to
say that this show is one of them. Our fire
special that we did, not the one that just aired recently,
which we're also proud of and we'll probably submit for
(26:30):
Consederation next year, but the one that we did in
the immediate aftermath of the fire in twenty twenty five.
That's that's up for Best Feature Documentary or something.
Speaker 7 (26:40):
Yeah, you know, I mean, it's your category.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
I filled in for the week of anchoring the news,
and the way that it works to get like best
Newscast is that the competition tells you what week the
newscast will be considered.
Speaker 6 (26:55):
And then after tell yeah yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
And so everybody tries to put together their very best,
which we try to do anyway, but you want to
be particularly meticulous because this is when you're going to nominate,
and then after that week ends they send you okay,
this is the day you can choose your newscast from,
so that you can't you can't know exactly which newscast.
Speaker 7 (27:12):
Well, d our news day happened to be a day
where everybody in the newsroom had the plague.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
Everyone was out.
Speaker 7 (27:18):
Amy King was out, I was filling in for her,
Deborah was out sick. You were filling in for Deborah.
So Michael submitted his newscast and you already won.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
You found aye.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
One's true.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
There are a couple categories where we know the outcome,
and I'm excited to say that I won for that
the twelve pm News with Michael Moss.
Speaker 7 (27:36):
But it's just so funny because it's not even your
regular no shift or.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Is that we have a deep bench here at KFI,
Yeah we do. I also won for best Live Reporting.
You may recall last June when the immigration protest in
Los Angeles really took off. I got called out on
a weekend because it was getting a little hairy in
downtown LA and outside the Federal Building. I got tear
gassed along with a bunch of other people, but we
(28:02):
kept reporting. Yeah, and we do know for sure that
we won.
Speaker 6 (28:06):
I mean to be honest, you ran into that tear gas.
You were like, Oh, I was thinking, my golden mic,
this is my moment.
Speaker 7 (28:12):
I'm going to run right into that tear gas.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Golden mic months agitator.
Speaker 6 (28:16):
Yeah, trying to get that.
Speaker 7 (28:17):
I was here anchoring that night and I remember that
happening and being like, oh my god, it is Michael okay,
and like pulling all the sound that we needed to
have to make sure we were on top of it.
Like just a really active news weekend for sure. But yeah,
you you already won.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
I like to bring these up because we we're still
working hard here at KFI. We are bringing you the
news and not just fast and accurate way, but we're
doing it in a way that is still a standard
in the industry. And I hope, I hope we walk
out with our bags and you Your podcast Entertaining Me
(28:54):
is one of the nominees.
Speaker 7 (28:55):
My podcast is nominated for Best Podcast, Best Interview Podcast,
which truly is such an honor because it's such a
joy for me to do.
Speaker 6 (29:04):
It's I get to have fun.
Speaker 7 (29:05):
I get to be a little more silly, you know
than we you know, get to do on the air
when we're reading regular news stories. So it's a fun show,
you know. And also my I was honorating for Best
Entertainment Report for a story I did about a family
who lost their homes during the Altadena fires and then
ended up going on America's Got Talent as a you know,
a finalist. And then I did a story, a very
(29:27):
personal story, which is something I don't do very often.
I don't share a lot too much personal about myself.
But I did a story about my mom and her
battle twice with cancer and what it's like being sort
of in the Sandwich generation, as it's called, having to
care for a young child and also care for an
elderly parent. And so that was nominated for a Best
(29:50):
Medical Story, Best Medical Feature. And then I'm very excited
because you and I are going head to head in
the Best Writing cap I hope that this very special
feature you did about your mom wins the medical reporting
because it's not winning the writing category.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
Because I'm also nominated in the writing category it's you
and me and it's my I did a special feature
on these people that are always taking you hear me
when I'm covering City Hall from the news room and
just streaming it and collecting sound of these people that
go down and say all these horrible things, crazy square
words that they put on complete shows. And I did
a features piece called City Hall gad Flies and that
(30:26):
that is nominated in the writing category and also in
the long feature Yes category.
Speaker 7 (30:32):
So I'm curious to see if because we're up against
somebody from NPR right Elistlical, MPR, so I'm curious to
see if it's going to go to a ka fire
or if it's going to go.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
I almost hope she wins, and I've listened to her.
I'm a fan of theirs. I'm a fan of all
of our our media outlets here in Los Angeles. We're
all college. But I'm competitive, and you're competitive. You know
secretly we want to win, but.
Speaker 6 (30:56):
Trip her on the way up to the.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
The piece that we're If she wins, it will be
well deserved. It's fine, no big deal. In fact, it
should be the I know you're an avid TikTok user.
You're prolific on social media. I'm jealous. I beg you
to teach me how you refuse because I've got stories
to tell you how funny thing's happening in my life.
Speaker 6 (31:12):
You have your own show how to do it.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
I anticipate there will be a lot of content coming
from these awards, and I can already see a video
being made of us waiting for the announcement of that
award in particular, and we both lose.
Speaker 7 (31:26):
I know we both said there God, NPR. We I
want to hear from I would love to hear from people, though,
who are listening, if anybody is listening right now, no offense,
I'm sure people listen.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
To That's enough of that. I would love to know
the Golden Mic nominated Michael Monks reports.
Speaker 7 (31:41):
I would love to know from people who they think
will win. Like you gotta place bets. Is it going
to be Michael Heather or NPR. I want to hear
from people, and let's get let's get some money on it.
What is what is it? The prize picks?
Speaker 6 (31:53):
Is there a prize picks for the gold Well?
Speaker 2 (31:54):
We can certainly do a little sign bet now that
you mention, its happy to do that. All right, it's
it's the big Game is this weekend. I've got thirty seconds.
What is as an entertainment person? This is not just
the biggest sports event. This is a big entertainment event.
Alftime show, the commercials, the culture around the Super Bowl.
What is the one thing as an entertainment person that
(32:15):
you were looking for.
Speaker 7 (32:16):
It's going to be a controversial answer, but I'm going
to be watching the Bad Bunny halftime show. It's he's
going to make history as the first Latin solo artist.
It's going to be all in Spanish. He is a
prolific entertainer, very fun to watch. I think I'm going
to be watching that. I mean, I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
All right, Well, let's get out of here and get
ready for the game. Yes, all right. Heather Brooker from
KFI News. The podcast is entertain Me. You can find
that at KFIAM six forty dot com and on the
iHeartRadio app. We'll talk again soon. Thanks so much for
listening to Michael Monks reports here on KFI AM six
forty
Speaker 1 (32:51):
KFI AM six forty on demand,
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