December 30, 2025 • 24 mins
(December 30,2025)
Starbucks doesn’t want to be on every corner in NY and LA anymore. What is says about you if you hate the New Year. Why you should probably skip Dry January. Analyzing TV hits and bombs w/ Heather Brooker.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Star Bussy filling.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
Number cup Star, bussy jacking me up, start bus ten
thousand degrees And yeah, I take a day in the
shouty something to eat.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
I'm always hold enough to like because I'm might be
a little Tuesday. And I do appreciate the.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Fact KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. Hey,
happy Tuesday to you, Nil Savadri in the morning crew here.
Handle has the week off, but so does Amy and
so does An. But we don't feel abandoned. We got
Heather Brooker, Kono's here. Of course, Will's here, and Matthew
(00:44):
is in four an. It's not abandonment, right coono eh? Possibly?
All right, there was a day when Starbucks prolifer proliferated.
Easy for me to say, like nobody's business, I mean
(01:08):
every single corner. And I've told this story on the
show before, and that is that when I was in
Israel many years ago, and I was in Bethlehem, and
they had this coffee shop right across from the purported
birth area of Christ.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
That looked familiar.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
It caught my eye and I glanced over and it
said Stars and Bucks. It was a coffee shop, like
a blatant rip off of the logo.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Stars and Bucks.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
So obviously it is something that's become synonymous with coffee
getting the boost, not only in the morning but throughout
the day. Many people I remember here at the station,
you know, three clock, two o'clock, whatever rolls around, it's like,
let's go for some Starbucks. They used to have one
(02:05):
right down the stairs. As a matter of fact, they
had one right on the corner. And it's become a
part of American life so much so that the joke
is that there's one on every corner.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Right everywhere you look, there's a Starbucks.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
You go to Disneyland and on main Street Disneyland, there
is a Starbucks. So they're everywhere. But that strategy is changing.
Having stores everywhere is going to be a thing of
the past. Company closing about four hundred stores nationwide part
(02:45):
of a one billion dollar restructuring, and there's a lot
of reasons behind this that we'll get into, but these
are in large meta as New York City lost forty
two Starbucks location that's about twelve percent of its total.
(03:07):
More than twenty locations closed here in Los Angeles. You
got additional closures in Chicago, San Francisco, other big cities,
and in Manhattan, you know, where Starbucks was the largest
coffee chain at one point. They've lost their spot to Duncan,
(03:28):
you know, but Duncan is you know, predominant in a
lot of these areas. You know, in some of these areas,
you can be driving down the highway and you don't
even have to exit. You just kind of partially move over,
slow down to get gas and they have Duncans and
then you just zip right back. There's nothing on that
(03:48):
It's not even an off remp. There's nothing on that
little barrier area except gas station and a dunkin Donuts.
So these, you know, disappearing Starbucks are becoming.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
More and more.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
The company says that many closed stores were and this
is the same old thing we hear all the time,
underperforming or in this case, unable to meet brand standards.
Not sure what that last part means, but you have
a lot of local coffee shops. Where I live on
the eastern side of Los Angeles, there are.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
There are back to.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Back to back to back to back to back independent
coffee shops. I couldn't walk to a Starbucks. Let me
think in my head, Nah, I couldn't easily walk. No,
not because I'm a fat code.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
There's one, there's one ten feet from my house.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
I can't walk to star but no smart Assas. But
I could walk to at least a dozen independent places.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
It's on. The best coffee actually in Los Angeles is
in my area.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
But and so these mom and pop shops or these
smaller shops are taking a bite out of the whole thing.
So they've got more competition than ever from these local shops,
but also smoothies and bubble tea and all these other
places that pop up from time to come time. Then
you have remote work. And I said this then and
(05:32):
I will say it again. Both sides politically reacted stupid
to COVID, but in California, shutting down California the way
they did, and then it moving throughout the US is
something we will not recover for from for decades. That
(05:56):
means children that were taking out of school, That means
pop shops that were closed, that means chains that have
been affected just radically and unnecessarily, in my point of view,
took down a massive amount of the structure of.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
What we do.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
So you've got that reduced foot traffic, people working from
home now downtown business districts. If you look at LA,
it's a weird city. You go anywhere else and it's
they're working cities. People live in the city, people worked
in the city. Downtown La. They tried, they started moving
(06:36):
that way before COVID, and you know, with lofts and
all kinds of living opportunities there, people were starting to
get out and actually go out and downtown and that
closed up during COVID, and it's still crime went up
and all kinds of issues there, rising rent, labor costs.
(06:57):
Of course, safety concerns is on what is safety concerns.
Homelessness in rampant crime also went up during COVID, so
a lot of pressure there. They ended their open access
policy for restrooms and loitering earlier this year, and the
(07:18):
reason why they did that is because they would be
sued or there were issues, some legitimate and then some
that were just bogus. So they are shifting their growth
towards suburban drive through locations, which is big. The drive
through locations they have to deal with you coming in
with your to write your I don't know, book or
(07:39):
manuscript or whatever there. Starbucks plans to remodel about a
thousand stores with seating and power outlets, and they'll have
that in some areas, but really pushing towards these drive
through chairs of Starbucks are down about six percent this year,
and analysis say, you know, balancing that grab and go
(08:00):
kind of customers with the sit down patrons has just
been a challenge. I've sat down in a Starbucks a
couple time. I'm not a huge Starbucks fan. I like
some of their food, I'm not crazy about their coffee.
Never been crazy about their coffee. And when you live
in an area like me where you know you can
(08:20):
get such great coffee, it's never been my thing to
go through a Starbucks for any reason. But that shows
a very major shift in not only the the play
and the business plan, but the personality is Starbucks and
how that's got to change, and how I think it's
(08:43):
not going to stop there.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
I think you're going to see more and more of.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
This type of response because companies just aren't cutting it
with their original kind of let's be loosey goosey and
welcoming to everything. It just it's not working all right.
Bill Handle is off this week. Happy to be with
you through Friday. And we've got Heather Brooker in for
Amy k King. We have Matthew in for Anne, and
(09:08):
then ConA Will and I. ConA Will, No, ConA Will
and me. I can hear my mom yelling at the radio.
You take away the other person and then you say
it and.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Got it, got it? Love you mom? Got it? Got it?
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Will?
Speaker 2 (09:29):
You like the New Year's do you go out?
Speaker 3 (09:33):
I'm gonna be working for New Year, so I don't
really go out.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
No.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
I used to, but it's an amateur hour, right, Yeah,
it's like, how do you get home if you've been drinking.
You've got to hire like an uber for five hundred dollars.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Oh yeah, and they're hard to find because everybody else
is doing that. ConA, you got kids now, you're not
going anywhere.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Pre thirty man, yeah, ragers, Yeah, post thirty New York.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Yeah, that's the best thing. You can wrap it up
at nine. I usually stay.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
I can't stay up till midnight, celebrate with the family
and then come in here at four. That's not gonna work,
you know what I'm saying. That's not I don't think
it will. We'll see I have not. I usually celebrate.
We usually go up to Big Bear and celebrate up there,
but I'll be here happy to do it.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
But uh, I like New Year's. It never made me
depressed or anything.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
But apparently there are people that get really bummed about
New Year's for for reasons.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
You know, basically, what they're saying is people report feeling
sad or you know, generally low or unmotivated as the
New year approaches, and the therapists are saying that it
triggers harsh self evaluation in comparison. And you know what
I want to conor you do not have to compare
(11:03):
yourself to me. Buddy, I'm gonna let you off the
hook this year.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Thank you. You know, it's unrealistic for you to tain't
that much weight in one day city on one day
a year. I like when you fight back.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
You make me laugh, Son, make me laugh, Sully, I'll
kill you last, all right.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
So there.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Yeah, I get why people would do that, especially with
social media. Every listen, it is amateur night. There's no
joke that people are trying to squeeze money out of you.
For you to pretend that you're having a great time
on New Year's Now, there was a time in my
stupid youth where I went, wow, that was uh that
(11:54):
could have been filmed for a movie with my buddies,
and you know where you end up waking up and
just general craziness, all of those things. I'm sure we
all have those stories. But January is is. It's just
a day. It's a new day, a new year. I
(12:17):
get it. If you want to use that as a
starting point, not as pressure, but as a starting point,
say hey, you know what I'm.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Going to do, X, Y and Z.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
I have a really really simple My standards are the
same every year.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
I want to be a good husband and good dad.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
If I can be on this radio station and hang
out with you folks, I'm honored every time I get
in front of this mic.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
I'm honored.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Been listening to KFI since I was in my teens,
probably earlier, and absolutely honored. That doesn't change, it doesn't
get old to me. It doesn't go like I don't
take it for granted. I lose this job any day.
I love my life. Doesn't mean it's always roses very human,
but I love my life. However, this year, I'd like
(13:09):
to start building an R two unit from scratch.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
That's that's the big R two D two. You mean,
what's that are used? Are you a trekky or something.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
That's but that's like I would like to start that.
That would like to be a big multi year project.
I'm guessing, and that would be something. But as far
as trying to be a good person or those things,
I think we should do that stuff all the time, right,
there's no pressure. If you want a fresh start, yeah,
that's a great excuse. But don't get overwhelmed, don't get discouraged.
(13:48):
High achievers fixate all these goals. Maybe they didn't get them.
I think goals are walls, not hurdles. I think goals
and I really believe that you should know what you
want to do and do it. But sometimes I think
goals are an excuse not to do something.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
It's weird.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
I think it has the opposite effect on people. So
you feel like you laid something behind or you didn't
achieve some certain thing. Time is passing. You're very aware
of your age every single year. Listen thermodynamics. Man, it's happening.
We're all getting older. There's things I can't do anymore.
(14:30):
Don't say it cono. There's you know, things change in life,
and this if you want to use it as a
as a jumping off point for something new.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Great.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
But the thought of going into the new year like wow,
I haven't done this or I haven't done that. Man,
that is that is depressing.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
You know.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Sometimes coming off the mountain is what they call it.
That's a Moses reference. You know, after you see the
face of God, you're the you deal with God. There's
no comparison. So you wait all year for the holidays,
and then you come down off the holidays and you're like, oh.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
The trees down, the lights are down. The way we
life is great.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
There's all kind of lights going on in life, neat
things all the time. Not because life is always perfect.
It's because life is a great start on its own, right,
Like just waking up each day going I'm alive is
pretty great and every day you have that potential. So
winter weather sometimes affects people. They have that seasonal effective
(15:40):
disorder that can give people low moods if they like,
you know, the sun and the winter comes in. But
mental health experts they say January isn't a scorecard, no
moral judgment. Don't let that weigh on you. The lower
your expectations, not because you're less than, but don't compare
(16:01):
yourself to someone else. You have your own timeline, your
own set of things to do. If there's something you
want to do, something you want to start, go ahead
and start it. But don't go to the gym because
it's January first. Go to the gym because you go.
I want to go to the gym, and I want
to make I've been wanting to do this. I'm just
going to go ahead and do it. I'm giving you permission,
your old piled Neils Vaders. Giving you permission could just
(16:22):
be you be a regular old person come January first,
kno has already started.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Did you want to go to the gym? No? Okay,
I even believe it. Do they have snacks? Did they
bring your own snow to have cakes? That sounds sucky.
What do you do with a gym? Just hang out?
Look at dude's look at it? Oh, also something Neil
would like?
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Wow, okay, it's a pick on the handsome, funny, smart
guy day.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Okay, I'll take it. What are you looking for? Will
are you lost? By lost?
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Well?
Speaker 4 (16:55):
Just wanders the hall.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Sometimes there's a little congestion in the mid hall. I
don't want to take a different route.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
He came in here today. It was in the middle
of a newscast, just coughing away, and I was like,
what are you doing?
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Get out?
Speaker 1 (17:09):
You know Conway he loves a good cough. Yeah, he
loves germs. Oh yeah, yeah, he loves them. He does
not if you come if you sniff around him. He
has a bucket, you know how like at the end
of a big game, they take gatorade and they pour
it over the coach. He has like sanitary uh lotion
(17:34):
like wipes, yeah, but he dumps that over his head.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
He has a I know that. They keep the booth clean. Yeah,
oh yeah, No.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
They have a whole team that come in here and
strip everything down like Nascar.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
They pull the mics out, they put new ones in
and does that too.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
She does that before Gary and Shannon go in there too.
She keeps everything clean. It's just courtesy. I mean we
keep it clean. It spits when we keep it cleaning.
The news booth too. And I was in here one
day wiping down and Amy goes, what is this COVID?
And I was like, I don't know. I don't want
to get anything. So just in case, I'm like cleaning
the whole place.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Eh, get me sick?
Speaker 1 (18:13):
No AnyWho, Neil Savader in the Morning crew here, happy
to be with you. I'm going to bring Heather Brooker
in on this one because I one enjoy her insight
and combo. But this deals with the theater. But not
that theater, not old ladies and gay men theater. This
(18:34):
is what like Broadway, right, Broadway is for everyone, not
just yeah. But if you go, you'll see old ladies
and gayment and me, how old are you?
Speaker 2 (18:46):
None of your business?
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Gay are you also none of your business? Hey?
Speaker 1 (18:53):
I love theater, I really do. I love a good musical,
don't get me started to bring it doon?
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Am I right?
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (19:00):
But Brigadoon is a musical? It is Oh no, I
know you're telling me. I was like, I know that,
I know, but he's from the Ie. It's like that
is that that weird TV? But without the box and
the glass? Yeah, it's called stage. I saw Producers with
Martin Short back in the day. Also a good musical. Yeah,
(19:22):
great musical.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
But we're talking about the movie theater.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Yeah, so a lot of disappointing. It's a disappointing year.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
I I'm not that excited about film in the same
way I'm not Yeah, and I love film, I love
going to movies.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Well, you're not alone.
Speaker 4 (19:40):
There's a lot of people who are clearly not excited
about it either. Because Hollywood missed their their goals, their
mark by a couple of billion dollars analysts had thought
that they would reach. Normally, they reach about ten to
eleven billion dollars in the industry. This year, they are
gonna not even reach nine billion in domestic ticket sales.
(20:00):
A lot of people aren't going to the movies. And
there's quite a quite a few reasons why.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
A second year in a row, second year.
Speaker 4 (20:07):
In a row. Yeah, So it's it's it's not good.
And I think, you know, there's a couple of factors
at play here. You know, one of them is superhero fatigue.
A lot of the big Marvel ten pole movies that
they thought were going to do well this year did
not do well. Captain America Brave New World came out
in February, did not do as as well as they thought.
Thunderbolts also fell short. Fantastic Four fell short.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
I haven't seen a Fantastic Four started it and then
just didn't have It was.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
Kind of a little slow and a little boring, to
be honest, it wasn't. Also, it's a franchise we've seen
already three or four times before, so it's kind of like,
why do we keep rebooting these?
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Yeah, but at least they rebooted it with that kind
of the spin on the period, yes, and made it
a period piece and things like that. But and I
like all the actors in it, but I and I
like superhero movies, and I've always loved Fantastic four about
the film adaptations, But and I didn't really get that
(21:13):
much excitement. I love Marvel and all that, but a
lot of these things Stunnerbulks was okay, it was a
little depressing.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
It may just.
Speaker 4 (21:19):
Be one of the situations where, you know, throughout the
history of movies, different genres rise to, you know, popularity
at different times. Like there was a time when the
westerns were all the rage. There was a time when
sure gangster movies were all the rage, you know, And honestly,
from about what two thousand, maybe twelve to twenty twenty two,
(21:43):
Marvel movies and superhero movies were it like, you know,
they were hard.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
What do you think the next thing is then?
Speaker 4 (21:48):
I mean, I think the next thing we're going to
start seeing is stuff coming from maybe overseas. The biggest
movie of the year, the highest grossing movie of the year,
wasn't even English language production. It was from China and
it was an animated sequel.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Anime is huge, huge. It was Naizatu.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
I don't know if I'm saying that right, but it
made two point one billion dollars just this one movie alone.
And so I think also to some of the biggest
movies that came out this year were family friendly movies.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
I think they they hit with those if they if
it doesn't have some weird political spin to it or
something like that, I think those tend to do well.
So even Meg did better than PG thirteen, that's right, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
A minecraft movie, huge juggernaut of a movie that caught
everybody off guard. It was fun, it was silly. Leelo
and Stitch did big numbers. Zootopia two at the end
of the year here also did huge numbers. And I
think it's because what's happening is the audience is telling
you what they want to see more of, and they're
doing it with their dollars. On entertain Me, I interviewed,
(22:55):
which is my little podcast that I do. I interviewed
Kevin Getz, an industry analyst, and he says what needs
to happen is we need to start reviewing the movies
more in advance and having having more conversations about the
types of movies that people want to see. And what's
(23:16):
happening is your marketing and your long term plans and
budgeting is not aligning with what people are telling you
that they want to see in the trends that are happening. Also,
you've got a problem too because the theatrical window for
new releases used to be much longer. Like there used
to be when new movies went into the theater, they
were there for ninety days before they were at home
(23:39):
and streaming. But COVID changed all that. Now that window
where movies are in theaters is down in some cases
to thirty or forty five days. So people are not
going to go drop one hundred bucks at the movie
theater when they know they can just wait a few
weeks and watch it at home. So there's a lot
of factors at play here. You've got international market coming
in with blockbuster movies that has an international, you know,
(24:02):
worldwide fandom, you've got movies that have a short release
period at the box office, and then quite frankly, you've
just got movies that people are not interested in at
this time.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Yeah, or they'll be willing to wait and then watched
on their couch right exactly.
Speaker 4 (24:18):
So it's a there's multiple problems that the industry and
studios are facing and it's going to be they're hopeful
that twenty twenty six will rebound. There's some big titles
coming out this year that you know, a lot of
Spider Man brand, New Day is coming out, Avengers Doom
Day has a lot of.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Buzz around it.
Speaker 4 (24:34):
So we'll see how all the next year will fare.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
But they got to do something, they got to change something. Well,
we shall see.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
KFI and KOSTHD two, Los Angeles, Orange County.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
You've been listening to the Bill Handles Show.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
Catch My Show Monday through Friday, six am to nine am,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Star Bussy filling.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
Number cup Star, bussy jacking me up, start bus ten
thousand degrees And yeah, I take a day in the
shouty something to eat.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
I'm always hold enough to like because I'm might be
a little Tuesday. And I do appreciate the.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Fact KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. Hey,
happy Tuesday to you, Nil Savadri in the morning crew here.
Handle has the week off, but so does Amy and
so does An. But we don't feel abandoned. We got
Heather Brooker, Kono's here. Of course, Will's here, and Matthew
(00:44):
is in four an. It's not abandonment, right coono eh? Possibly?
All right, there was a day when Starbucks prolifer proliferated.
Easy for me to say, like nobody's business, I mean
(01:08):
every single corner. And I've told this story on the
show before, and that is that when I was in
Israel many years ago, and I was in Bethlehem, and
they had this coffee shop right across from the purported
birth area of Christ.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
That looked familiar.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
It caught my eye and I glanced over and it
said Stars and Bucks. It was a coffee shop, like
a blatant rip off of the logo.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Stars and Bucks.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
So obviously it is something that's become synonymous with coffee
getting the boost, not only in the morning but throughout
the day. Many people I remember here at the station,
you know, three clock, two o'clock, whatever rolls around, it's like,
let's go for some Starbucks. They used to have one
(02:05):
right down the stairs. As a matter of fact, they
had one right on the corner. And it's become a
part of American life so much so that the joke
is that there's one on every corner.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Right everywhere you look, there's a Starbucks.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
You go to Disneyland and on main Street Disneyland, there
is a Starbucks. So they're everywhere. But that strategy is changing.
Having stores everywhere is going to be a thing of
the past. Company closing about four hundred stores nationwide part
(02:45):
of a one billion dollar restructuring, and there's a lot
of reasons behind this that we'll get into, but these
are in large meta as New York City lost forty
two Starbucks location that's about twelve percent of its total.
(03:07):
More than twenty locations closed here in Los Angeles. You
got additional closures in Chicago, San Francisco, other big cities,
and in Manhattan, you know, where Starbucks was the largest
coffee chain at one point. They've lost their spot to Duncan,
(03:28):
you know, but Duncan is you know, predominant in a
lot of these areas. You know, in some of these areas,
you can be driving down the highway and you don't
even have to exit. You just kind of partially move over,
slow down to get gas and they have Duncans and
then you just zip right back. There's nothing on that
(03:48):
It's not even an off remp. There's nothing on that
little barrier area except gas station and a dunkin Donuts.
So these, you know, disappearing Starbucks are becoming.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
More and more.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
The company says that many closed stores were and this
is the same old thing we hear all the time,
underperforming or in this case, unable to meet brand standards.
Not sure what that last part means, but you have
a lot of local coffee shops. Where I live on
the eastern side of Los Angeles, there are.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
There are back to.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Back to back to back to back to back independent
coffee shops. I couldn't walk to a Starbucks. Let me
think in my head, Nah, I couldn't easily walk. No,
not because I'm a fat code.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
There's one, there's one ten feet from my house.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
I can't walk to star but no smart Assas. But
I could walk to at least a dozen independent places.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
It's on. The best coffee actually in Los Angeles is
in my area.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
But and so these mom and pop shops or these
smaller shops are taking a bite out of the whole thing.
So they've got more competition than ever from these local shops,
but also smoothies and bubble tea and all these other
places that pop up from time to come time. Then
you have remote work. And I said this then and
(05:32):
I will say it again. Both sides politically reacted stupid
to COVID, but in California, shutting down California the way
they did, and then it moving throughout the US is
something we will not recover for from for decades. That
(05:56):
means children that were taking out of school, That means
pop shops that were closed, that means chains that have
been affected just radically and unnecessarily, in my point of view,
took down a massive amount of the structure of.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
What we do.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
So you've got that reduced foot traffic, people working from
home now downtown business districts. If you look at LA,
it's a weird city. You go anywhere else and it's
they're working cities. People live in the city, people worked
in the city. Downtown La. They tried, they started moving
(06:36):
that way before COVID, and you know, with lofts and
all kinds of living opportunities there, people were starting to
get out and actually go out and downtown and that
closed up during COVID, and it's still crime went up
and all kinds of issues there, rising rent, labor costs.
(06:57):
Of course, safety concerns is on what is safety concerns.
Homelessness in rampant crime also went up during COVID, so
a lot of pressure there. They ended their open access
policy for restrooms and loitering earlier this year, and the
(07:18):
reason why they did that is because they would be
sued or there were issues, some legitimate and then some
that were just bogus. So they are shifting their growth
towards suburban drive through locations, which is big. The drive
through locations they have to deal with you coming in
with your to write your I don't know, book or
(07:39):
manuscript or whatever there. Starbucks plans to remodel about a
thousand stores with seating and power outlets, and they'll have
that in some areas, but really pushing towards these drive
through chairs of Starbucks are down about six percent this year,
and analysis say, you know, balancing that grab and go
(08:00):
kind of customers with the sit down patrons has just
been a challenge. I've sat down in a Starbucks a
couple time. I'm not a huge Starbucks fan. I like
some of their food, I'm not crazy about their coffee.
Never been crazy about their coffee. And when you live
in an area like me where you know you can
(08:20):
get such great coffee, it's never been my thing to
go through a Starbucks for any reason. But that shows
a very major shift in not only the the play
and the business plan, but the personality is Starbucks and
how that's got to change, and how I think it's
(08:43):
not going to stop there.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
I think you're going to see more and more of.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
This type of response because companies just aren't cutting it
with their original kind of let's be loosey goosey and
welcoming to everything. It just it's not working all right.
Bill Handle is off this week. Happy to be with
you through Friday. And we've got Heather Brooker in for
Amy k King. We have Matthew in for Anne, and
(09:08):
then ConA Will and I. ConA Will, No, ConA Will
and me. I can hear my mom yelling at the radio.
You take away the other person and then you say
it and.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Got it, got it? Love you mom? Got it? Got it?
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Will?
Speaker 2 (09:29):
You like the New Year's do you go out?
Speaker 3 (09:33):
I'm gonna be working for New Year, so I don't
really go out.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
No.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
I used to, but it's an amateur hour, right, Yeah,
it's like, how do you get home if you've been drinking.
You've got to hire like an uber for five hundred dollars.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Oh yeah, and they're hard to find because everybody else
is doing that. ConA, you got kids now, you're not
going anywhere.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Pre thirty man, yeah, ragers, Yeah, post thirty New York.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Yeah, that's the best thing. You can wrap it up
at nine. I usually stay.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
I can't stay up till midnight, celebrate with the family
and then come in here at four. That's not gonna work,
you know what I'm saying. That's not I don't think
it will. We'll see I have not. I usually celebrate.
We usually go up to Big Bear and celebrate up there,
but I'll be here happy to do it.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
But uh, I like New Year's. It never made me
depressed or anything.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
But apparently there are people that get really bummed about
New Year's for for reasons.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
You know, basically, what they're saying is people report feeling
sad or you know, generally low or unmotivated as the
New year approaches, and the therapists are saying that it
triggers harsh self evaluation in comparison. And you know what
I want to conor you do not have to compare
(11:03):
yourself to me. Buddy, I'm gonna let you off the
hook this year.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Thank you. You know, it's unrealistic for you to tain't
that much weight in one day city on one day
a year. I like when you fight back.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
You make me laugh, Son, make me laugh, Sully, I'll
kill you last, all right.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
So there.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Yeah, I get why people would do that, especially with
social media. Every listen, it is amateur night. There's no
joke that people are trying to squeeze money out of you.
For you to pretend that you're having a great time
on New Year's Now, there was a time in my
stupid youth where I went, wow, that was uh that
(11:54):
could have been filmed for a movie with my buddies,
and you know where you end up waking up and
just general craziness, all of those things. I'm sure we
all have those stories. But January is is. It's just
a day. It's a new day, a new year. I
(12:17):
get it. If you want to use that as a
starting point, not as pressure, but as a starting point,
say hey, you know what I'm.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Going to do, X, Y and Z.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
I have a really really simple My standards are the
same every year.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
I want to be a good husband and good dad.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
If I can be on this radio station and hang
out with you folks, I'm honored every time I get
in front of this mic.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
I'm honored.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Been listening to KFI since I was in my teens,
probably earlier, and absolutely honored. That doesn't change, it doesn't
get old to me. It doesn't go like I don't
take it for granted. I lose this job any day.
I love my life. Doesn't mean it's always roses very human,
but I love my life. However, this year, I'd like
(13:09):
to start building an R two unit from scratch.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
That's that's the big R two D two. You mean,
what's that are used? Are you a trekky or something.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
That's but that's like I would like to start that.
That would like to be a big multi year project.
I'm guessing, and that would be something. But as far
as trying to be a good person or those things,
I think we should do that stuff all the time, right,
there's no pressure. If you want a fresh start, yeah,
that's a great excuse. But don't get overwhelmed, don't get discouraged.
(13:48):
High achievers fixate all these goals. Maybe they didn't get them.
I think goals are walls, not hurdles. I think goals
and I really believe that you should know what you
want to do and do it. But sometimes I think
goals are an excuse not to do something.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
It's weird.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
I think it has the opposite effect on people. So
you feel like you laid something behind or you didn't
achieve some certain thing. Time is passing. You're very aware
of your age every single year. Listen thermodynamics. Man, it's happening.
We're all getting older. There's things I can't do anymore.
(14:30):
Don't say it cono. There's you know, things change in life,
and this if you want to use it as a
as a jumping off point for something new.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Great.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
But the thought of going into the new year like wow,
I haven't done this or I haven't done that. Man,
that is that is depressing.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
You know.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Sometimes coming off the mountain is what they call it.
That's a Moses reference. You know, after you see the
face of God, you're the you deal with God. There's
no comparison. So you wait all year for the holidays,
and then you come down off the holidays and you're like, oh.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
The trees down, the lights are down. The way we
life is great.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
There's all kind of lights going on in life, neat
things all the time. Not because life is always perfect.
It's because life is a great start on its own, right,
Like just waking up each day going I'm alive is
pretty great and every day you have that potential. So
winter weather sometimes affects people. They have that seasonal effective
(15:40):
disorder that can give people low moods if they like,
you know, the sun and the winter comes in. But
mental health experts they say January isn't a scorecard, no
moral judgment. Don't let that weigh on you. The lower
your expectations, not because you're less than, but don't compare
(16:01):
yourself to someone else. You have your own timeline, your
own set of things to do. If there's something you
want to do, something you want to start, go ahead
and start it. But don't go to the gym because
it's January first. Go to the gym because you go.
I want to go to the gym, and I want
to make I've been wanting to do this. I'm just
going to go ahead and do it. I'm giving you permission,
your old piled Neils Vaders. Giving you permission could just
(16:22):
be you be a regular old person come January first,
kno has already started.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Did you want to go to the gym? No? Okay,
I even believe it. Do they have snacks? Did they
bring your own snow to have cakes? That sounds sucky.
What do you do with a gym? Just hang out?
Look at dude's look at it? Oh, also something Neil
would like?
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Wow, okay, it's a pick on the handsome, funny, smart
guy day.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Okay, I'll take it. What are you looking for? Will
are you lost? By lost?
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Well?
Speaker 4 (16:55):
Just wanders the hall.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Sometimes there's a little congestion in the mid hall. I
don't want to take a different route.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
He came in here today. It was in the middle
of a newscast, just coughing away, and I was like,
what are you doing?
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Get out?
Speaker 1 (17:09):
You know Conway he loves a good cough. Yeah, he
loves germs. Oh yeah, yeah, he loves them. He does
not if you come if you sniff around him. He
has a bucket, you know how like at the end
of a big game, they take gatorade and they pour
it over the coach. He has like sanitary uh lotion
(17:34):
like wipes, yeah, but he dumps that over his head.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
He has a I know that. They keep the booth clean. Yeah,
oh yeah, No.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
They have a whole team that come in here and
strip everything down like Nascar.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
They pull the mics out, they put new ones in
and does that too.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
She does that before Gary and Shannon go in there too.
She keeps everything clean. It's just courtesy. I mean we
keep it clean. It spits when we keep it cleaning.
The news booth too. And I was in here one
day wiping down and Amy goes, what is this COVID?
And I was like, I don't know. I don't want
to get anything. So just in case, I'm like cleaning
the whole place.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Eh, get me sick?
Speaker 1 (18:13):
No AnyWho, Neil Savader in the Morning crew here, happy
to be with you. I'm going to bring Heather Brooker
in on this one because I one enjoy her insight
and combo. But this deals with the theater. But not
that theater, not old ladies and gay men theater. This
(18:34):
is what like Broadway, right, Broadway is for everyone, not
just yeah. But if you go, you'll see old ladies
and gayment and me, how old are you?
Speaker 2 (18:46):
None of your business?
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Gay are you also none of your business? Hey?
Speaker 1 (18:53):
I love theater, I really do. I love a good musical,
don't get me started to bring it doon?
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Am I right?
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (19:00):
But Brigadoon is a musical? It is Oh no, I
know you're telling me. I was like, I know that,
I know, but he's from the Ie. It's like that
is that that weird TV? But without the box and
the glass? Yeah, it's called stage. I saw Producers with
Martin Short back in the day. Also a good musical. Yeah,
(19:22):
great musical.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
But we're talking about the movie theater.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Yeah, so a lot of disappointing. It's a disappointing year.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
I I'm not that excited about film in the same
way I'm not Yeah, and I love film, I love
going to movies.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Well, you're not alone.
Speaker 4 (19:40):
There's a lot of people who are clearly not excited
about it either. Because Hollywood missed their their goals, their
mark by a couple of billion dollars analysts had thought
that they would reach. Normally, they reach about ten to
eleven billion dollars in the industry. This year, they are
gonna not even reach nine billion in domestic ticket sales.
(20:00):
A lot of people aren't going to the movies. And
there's quite a quite a few reasons why.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
A second year in a row, second year.
Speaker 4 (20:07):
In a row. Yeah, So it's it's it's not good.
And I think, you know, there's a couple of factors
at play here. You know, one of them is superhero fatigue.
A lot of the big Marvel ten pole movies that
they thought were going to do well this year did
not do well. Captain America Brave New World came out
in February, did not do as as well as they thought.
Thunderbolts also fell short. Fantastic Four fell short.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
I haven't seen a Fantastic Four started it and then
just didn't have It was.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
Kind of a little slow and a little boring, to
be honest, it wasn't. Also, it's a franchise we've seen
already three or four times before, so it's kind of like,
why do we keep rebooting these?
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Yeah, but at least they rebooted it with that kind
of the spin on the period, yes, and made it
a period piece and things like that. But and I
like all the actors in it, but I and I
like superhero movies, and I've always loved Fantastic four about
the film adaptations, But and I didn't really get that
(21:13):
much excitement. I love Marvel and all that, but a
lot of these things Stunnerbulks was okay, it was a
little depressing.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
It may just.
Speaker 4 (21:19):
Be one of the situations where, you know, throughout the
history of movies, different genres rise to, you know, popularity
at different times. Like there was a time when the
westerns were all the rage. There was a time when
sure gangster movies were all the rage, you know, And honestly,
from about what two thousand, maybe twelve to twenty twenty two,
(21:43):
Marvel movies and superhero movies were it like, you know,
they were hard.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
What do you think the next thing is then?
Speaker 4 (21:48):
I mean, I think the next thing we're going to
start seeing is stuff coming from maybe overseas. The biggest
movie of the year, the highest grossing movie of the year,
wasn't even English language production. It was from China and
it was an animated sequel.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Anime is huge, huge. It was Naizatu.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
I don't know if I'm saying that right, but it
made two point one billion dollars just this one movie alone.
And so I think also to some of the biggest
movies that came out this year were family friendly movies.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
I think they they hit with those if they if
it doesn't have some weird political spin to it or
something like that, I think those tend to do well.
So even Meg did better than PG thirteen, that's right, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
A minecraft movie, huge juggernaut of a movie that caught
everybody off guard. It was fun, it was silly. Leelo
and Stitch did big numbers. Zootopia two at the end
of the year here also did huge numbers. And I
think it's because what's happening is the audience is telling
you what they want to see more of, and they're
doing it with their dollars. On entertain Me, I interviewed,
(22:55):
which is my little podcast that I do. I interviewed
Kevin Getz, an industry analyst, and he says what needs
to happen is we need to start reviewing the movies
more in advance and having having more conversations about the
types of movies that people want to see. And what's
(23:16):
happening is your marketing and your long term plans and
budgeting is not aligning with what people are telling you
that they want to see in the trends that are happening. Also,
you've got a problem too because the theatrical window for
new releases used to be much longer. Like there used
to be when new movies went into the theater, they
were there for ninety days before they were at home
(23:39):
and streaming. But COVID changed all that. Now that window
where movies are in theaters is down in some cases
to thirty or forty five days. So people are not
going to go drop one hundred bucks at the movie
theater when they know they can just wait a few
weeks and watch it at home. So there's a lot
of factors at play here. You've got international market coming
in with blockbuster movies that has an international, you know,
(24:02):
worldwide fandom, you've got movies that have a short release
period at the box office, and then quite frankly, you've
just got movies that people are not interested in at
this time.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Yeah, or they'll be willing to wait and then watched
on their couch right exactly.
Speaker 4 (24:18):
So it's a there's multiple problems that the industry and
studios are facing and it's going to be they're hopeful
that twenty twenty six will rebound. There's some big titles
coming out this year that you know, a lot of
Spider Man brand, New Day is coming out, Avengers Doom
Day has a lot of.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Buzz around it.
Speaker 4 (24:34):
So we'll see how all the next year will fare.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
But they got to do something, they got to change something. Well,
we shall see.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
KFI and KOSTHD two, Los Angeles, Orange County.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
You've been listening to the Bill Handles Show.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
Catch My Show Monday through Friday, six am to nine am,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
The Bill Handel Show News
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