January 16, 2026 • 60 mins
On Friday, Rich updates us on breaking news that the DOJ is criminally investigating and will subpoena Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz for obstructing ICE enforcement operations. Then, a flashback to Jeff Smulyan's advice on business and life as the radio station he started (HOT 97 FM) gets a new morning show host. Plus, a look at some wild and felonious stories.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is America with Rich Valdez, powered by poliitweek dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Rich Valdees is with us former Christian Administration official.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
You worked at Chris Christieve and follow us each on
a lot of public service stuff.
Speaker 4 (00:15):
Rich Valdez calumnist now with the Washington Times. This is America, Richiev.
You're on the air with the Nation.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
With your host, Rich Valdez.
Speaker 4 (00:27):
What's up America, I am Rich Valdez. Valdesk with then
ask that Rich Valdez on all of the social media Welcome, Welcome, welcome,
blessed to be here with you. And it's Friday, by
the way, Friday, and check this out. I was at
Newsmax a little while ago. Put that on social media
a little later. But the importance of that was we
were talking about what's going on in Minnesota, and from
the trip over from the Newsmax studio to the radio studio,
(00:50):
guess what happened? Well, the Trump administration is investigating Tim
Walls and Mayor Freifrii for obstruct justice. And I've just
learned that a subpoena has been issued. So now I
don't know all the details with respect to what's going
on there, but this is a big deal. And you
(01:12):
know why because these guys are actively, actively out there
trying to get in the way. Right, They are getting
in the way of absolutely everything that's going on with
federal law enforcement that's on the ground now. Tim Walls
is trying to make it seem and sound as if
this is some sort of retaliation from retaliation for what
What did Tim Walls ever do to Trump? That's the
(01:34):
point I'm trying to figure out here. There are I've
seen political reality excuse me, take two retaliation in the past,
but this doesn't look like it. Right. It's typically Democrats
going after Republicans. But I'm very, very interested in knowing
what happens now, right, what is the next step here?
Because this is some pretty interesting stuff in my opinion.
(01:57):
But we've got Minnesota Governor Tim Walls and and Minneapolis
Mayor Jacob I believe it's Fry, but it's fra Y.
So I like to go to Frey Freyfry and Mayor Freyfry.
Both of them were subpoena by the Department of Justice
for allegedly impeding federal law enforcement operations. How about that?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Now?
Speaker 4 (02:18):
What does that mean? Right? I don't know because if
I were to do that, I think they just locked
me up. So why are we treating them differently and
special because they're a governor and a mayor. Does that
mean they're allowed to take to the airwaves and say
crazy stuff, Because that's what's going on. I want you
to hear what Governor Tim Wallas was saying before and listen.
(02:38):
I'm all about Maybe they don't get it, but these
people get it. They know exactly what's going on. They
know exactly what they're doing, and they're doing it with intentionality.
They're doing it to hurt this work that's going on,
this operation, this enforcement removal operation, that's what they're doing.
Listen to this.
Speaker 5 (02:58):
Minnesotans believe in the rule of law, and Minnesotans believe
in the dignity of all people. We're a place where
there's room for everybody, no matter who you are, or
who you love, or where you came from. A place
where we feed our kids, we take care of our neighbors,
and we look out for those in the shadows of life.
(03:19):
We're an island of decency in a country being driven
towards cruelty. We will remain an island of decency, of justice,
of community of peace. And tonight I come before you
simply to ask, don't let anyone take that away from us.
Thank you, protect each other, and may God bless the
people of Minnesota. Minnesotans believe in the rule of law.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
Minnesotans believe in the rule of law. I gotta tell you,
this guy doesn't sell me, but I could see.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Look.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
Imagine if you're an apolitical person, you're just doing what
you do, and you show up one day, you know,
from work, you get home, you turn on the six
o'clock news, and there's your guy Don Rickles as Governor
Tim Walls, and he's telling you, Minnesultans believe this, and
Minnesultans believe that, and we're about taking care of our neighbors,
(04:12):
and by golly, we're gonna do that right and all
his craziness and I call it craziness because it's you know,
I find him laughable, but again I get it. He's
just funny to me. But here we have him, Governor
Tim Walls. I think most people, if they hear their
governor speaking, most right. I could be wrong, but I
think most people go, oh wow, the governor said that
(04:34):
we should pull out our phones and record Ice. Then
we should do that, right, because he did say that.
Watch this, now he wants to go after these ICE agents.
Now that's all well and good, right, do what you
got to do. But the problem is they've now been
subpoena and this subpoena business I think is very interesting
(04:55):
because why, well, what happens?
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Now?
Speaker 4 (05:00):
What is this subpoena business all about? Right? I mean,
since when do we just suboena people are going to do?
Tell them to come to Congress. I mean, I don't
know what that means. Are they going to say, hey,
I need to see your cell phones? It's a little better, right,
It's that kind of subpoena. But I'm very, very interested
in knowing more. This is part of a criminal investigation.
Let's see. Let me go to one of these articles here,
(05:22):
one of the newer ones. Let's see here. All right,
here we go thirty minutes ago. Let's see what we
get here. This looks like a lefty publication, but we'll
give it a shot, shall we. So the Justice Department
has issued subpoenas form Minnesota Governor Tim Walls and Minneapolis
Mayor Jacob Freifry as part of an investigation alleging that
(05:42):
the two Democrat leaders are impeding federal law enforcement officers'
abilities to do their jobs in the state. Two people
familiar with the matter confirmed on Friday these subpoenas, which
are without recent precedent. See that's how you know, right,
without recent presence. This is the lefty isn't pouring out
of the paper. The subpoenas escalate an already bitter political
(06:03):
battle between the Trump administration and state officials. Well, I
think what's really happening here, is it. There's not a
battle between state officials and the Trump administration. There's a
battle between the immigration and customs enforcement officers and the
criminal illegal aliens that are on the ground. I don't
(06:23):
see them going after Frey Fry until today. They've been
there for a hot minute in Minnesota. Anyway, we continue
blah blah blah. Shooting happened the minisurge of federal office.
I really can't. I can't with their leftyism. I haven't
seen a fact yet, one fact. One fact that I'm
only six sentence. That's why you can't mess with these things.
I'm gonna see you are we gonna go? And Spanish
(06:44):
is saying I don't want to go from Guate mata
to Guayoda, right, which translated in English isn't funny, but
it means I don't want to go from Guatta bad
to Guata worse. But anyway, I'm going to see an
let's see what they've got. Yeah, Rich, why are you
going to see in it? Because nobody else has it?
(07:04):
Nobody else has what I'm looking for? All right? Doj
investigating Minnesota? Blah blah blah. This one doesn't even talk
about spoenus. See what I'm saying. This can't be that
breaking that nobody's got the scoop on it. I know
about it. How could that be? Yep, this one in
the fourth paragraph, back to the fatal shooting by an
ice officer. Nobody's got what I'm looking for. Let's see
(07:25):
what Newsmax says. Unbelievable. Nothing from the New York Post,
nothing from Fox News, nothing from Newsmax just yet. Newsmax
reported it on TV that I saw, but Washington Post
has it. What does it be? Just because they're lefties,
they're faster at getting to the news. I mean, really,
come on, what is the story here? Let's see here?
(07:48):
Walls a subpoena from the United States Department of Justice
means they're officially requesting documents, testimony, or information from Governor
Wallas as part of a criminal probe. This particular probe
alleges that abstruction, auction a federal immigration enforcement and impeding
ice is what's going on. It's an investigation because no
charges have been filed just yet. New York Times, CNN, WAPPO,
(08:10):
so the only people reporting it. Well, anyway, that is
the story. The US Department of Justice has subpoena Minnesota
Governor Tim Walls and Mayor Jacob Freyfry from the city
of Minneapolis, and we'll see if anything comes of this. Anyway,
let me get back to my story, because I believe
what's happening in Minnesota is outrageous. Right, this is what
(08:31):
happens sometimes. Just FYI editorial note, I came to this
story first because it was the breaking news. It had
happened moments ago. That's why there's not a lot of
stories on it. But in the same way, this isn't
nearly as juicy as what happened overnight. Right, let's talk
about overnight. Overnight, A bunch of savages tore apart a
police car tied like a chain or a rope around
(08:54):
the gunlocker in the back of the police car like
an ice police car, pulled the safe out of the car,
the big black box, big metal black box, ripped it
right out, and then somebody, an upstanding citizen of course,
broke into it stole the guns. Now, apparently there might
have been some sensitive information in there as well. I guess,
(09:15):
like warrant information on other people. I can't imagine having
like the nuclear codes inside of the police car. But
I'm just being facetious. This to me is something we
can't take lying down right. You've gotta escalate this. You've
(09:37):
gotta hold this guy accountable big time. In my opinion,
Why because then every last protester, as they're called down
I'm gonna call them riotous criminals because not because I
want to be dramatic or I'm biased. No, because the
guy that they got, they got them on video, facial recognition,
whatever they got. This guy is a gang member. It's
(09:57):
clear as day. He's a professional criminal. He has no job.
He's a criminal. So when you see this video of
what they did to this car, I mean it goes
without saying this is absolute mayhem in Minnesota. And it
wasn't just that car. It was a bunch of cars.
I mean it was car after car after car that
(10:18):
they'd looted and broken the windows and just destroyed. Man,
it's amazing to me that the governor hasn't called in
the National Guard, because he had the National Guard out
in the streets to tell you to put a mask
on and to stay home during COVID. But for this, ah,
let them do what they gotta do. Let them blow
up a couple of cars. Anyway, This guy, Raoul Gutierres,
(10:42):
he's from the gang the Latin Kings, according to the FBI,
broke into one of the FBI vehicles and busted open
a weapons locker or someone else busted it open, and
he took the rifles out and walked right off as
every body else started stealing ammunition and the other weapon
(11:02):
and police patches and everything else they could find in
that little locker. And I gotta tell you, wild just
to think that you could just do that in public
that way, and that's okay anyway. Nick Sorder is one
of those journalists that's always on the ground when things
are tough. This guy's a pro at that if it's
(11:24):
going down, he's there. And he was on with lur
Ingram discussing this and I got a quick clip check
this out.
Speaker 6 (11:31):
Did I know you just talked to a high play
source at DOJ?
Speaker 7 (11:36):
Tell us more.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Yeah, so we Actually he wasn't arrested last night. He
could have been, but the Minneapolis police didn't bother chasing
the vehicle that had just stolen a high powered rifle
out of an FBI car, So that stolen out of
one of these weapons walkers that was in the back.
But what I can confirm now is that Raul Gouti
Era is aged thirty three, that you see in the
video that I hosted last night stealing a firearm from
(12:03):
an FBI vehicle has been arrested by the ATF and
the DOJ. They executed an arrest warrant today. And he's
a known member of the Latin King's Gang. I just
got all this information just before I came on air.
He's got a lengthy, violent rap sheet. Of course he
should have been in prison already, but in tim Waltz, Minnesota, like,
(12:25):
they don't arrest anybody here, so it's not surprising that
he was able to go out and beat this gun
safe to a pulp and pull this automatic firearm out
of it and run away with it. And you know, hell,
if it wasn't for honestly, as independent journalists on the
ground that were able to get a video of this,
(12:46):
nobody would have seen it happen. I were able to
find this guy based on a video from independent journalists
that the one that we posted last night. I mean,
it's crazy that it has to be us doing this.
Speaker 4 (12:56):
You know, it's interesting, and he makes a very good point,
but it is. What's very interesting about this is that
this guy had like a red mask on, but it
slipped down in one of the you know, one of
his struggles with this big box. And I don't think
it mattered that much because he's got a tattoo, a
very distinctive tattoo. It's going up the side of his
cheek all the way up above his eyebrow. So good
(13:18):
luck saying no, it wasn't me when how many people
besides you Mike Tyson. Right, it's not even the same
kind of tattoo that Tyson has. But my point is
these are very clearly defining things, and you know, you'd
have to pull up to court with your lawyer going, hey,
I brought ten guys with me had the same exact tattoo.
You know what I mean. But anyway, this is to me,
(13:39):
the biggest defense, the biggest crime being committed right now
is Jacob Freyfry and Tim Walls having the local police
officers ignore their their federal brethren, just not being there,
not being there for crowd control or principally right. The
(13:59):
main reason it's not like they decided to go to Minnesota.
The reason they're Minnesota is because when they if they
do get locked up. To his point, if they get
locked up and there is an ICE detainer, they're released
without ever calling I saying hey, I got one of
your people, come pick them up. This could all be
handled in the jail. And in New York they're planning
(14:20):
on doing the same thing. This is the playbook for
Democrats in sanctuary cities and sanctuary states. This isn't helpful.
I'd say this is actually hurting not only our country,
it's hurting people. This woman was shot in the face
because she was led to believe that she was allowed
to pull over the Ice agents. She was led to
(14:41):
believe that she could run them over with impunity. And
I know that's the debate. Nobody got run over. The
guy just got hit in his hip. The fact that
we're even getting into that conversation that you are somehow
allowed even if she hit the guy by accident, it
doesn't work that way. You're not allowed to be like,
(15:03):
oh my god, I had the gun, but I was
just I was just trying to scare people. I shot
him by accident. You don't go to jail. You know,
you don't have to not go to jail for that right.
Nobody gets a pass. I'll give you a little bit
of analogy that you know I used to share with
my kids. Were like, oh, but I did it by accident,
And I'd say, listen, why you did it really doesn't
(15:25):
matter so much, and I'm going to tell you why.
And they were young. Maybe I was harsh, maybe I
was too heavy in my analogy, but I would tell them,
if you're driving a car and a little kid jumps
right out in front of the car, and you hit
this little kid, and God forbid, something bad happens, do
(15:47):
you think that kid's parents care what you have to
say when their kid is hurt or worse? And they
were like, yeah, Wow, you're right, dad. When something goes
down to pretend to be empathetic, some might actually be empathetic.
But the real bottom line here is nobody cares. Nobody
cares about how your day was, what's happening at home.
(16:10):
If there was traffic that you forgot this, and you
forgot that, you were late, and nobody cares about any
of it. They care about their bottom line. They care
about that kid that ran out in the street. Doesn't
matter why you didn't stop. You didn't stop. And that's
how real life works, at least for me. I'm maybe
(16:30):
I'm a psycho that just takes life seriously. And I
don't think I take life too seriously personally, but certain
things not negotiable. Certain things you got to show up.
And when it comes to the police and they're saying stop,
get out of the car, it's not a good time
to start turning the wheel and hitting the gas or
(16:51):
for your spouse to start yelling go go, go, go go,
because she went, went, went went, and that didn't work out.
All right, I mean, goes keep it locked right here.
More on this and everything else. When I come back,
I'm going to try and lighten it up. Put her
hair down a little bit. It is Friday. I'm Rich Valdesk.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
This is America. This is America, all right.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
And he goes, welcome back, It's Rich Valvedesk about with
then asked that Rich valdest on all of the social
media BA B B BET social media keeping your company
this Friday night. If you like the mic is a
little bit too loud, can we fix that anyway? I
want to get into something about the media. Very apropos.
There's a new morning radio host on the hip hop
(17:51):
station in New York. Now you're thinking, what does this
matter to me? Well, it may not. It barely matters
to me. But this used to be a great hip
hop station if people you know liked morning radio music radio,
and I stopped listening to it, honestly because I knew
where to tune in. If I wanted political news for
either side, right, If I wanted good political news early
(18:15):
in the morning, I would check out my buddy Bernard McGirk,
who was from the Imus Show with Sid Rosenberg. If not,
I would flip over to MPR and hear their craziness
right and then mid mornings I would listen to Mark Simone.
If I was in the car right he's on war
(18:37):
and until I started doing that same shift ten to
noon for a little bit out of WABC. But I
say all that to say is if I wanted to
listen to hip hop music, I would, But this station
went off the rails a while back. It became inherently political,
and because the view of the program director and the
morning show host, and they had a good show, but
(18:59):
his views became became more and more leftist and more
and more political, and people like me that I could
ignore as politics. I enjoyed the music and the interviews
and the personalities and the contests and the clever segments,
and it was just good radio. It became more and
more difficult because it was like, listen to this school song.
(19:21):
Here's what's happening with fifty cent and his beef with
so whoever, And by the way, blah blah blah blah blah,
you know Trump is bad or this is you know,
the Republicans are horrible, or you know the Israelis are
occupying Gaza or whatever it was, and it was like,
oh wow, that is so out of left field. Now,
I understand hip hop was born of people making statements
(19:44):
in general political statements at times about drugs and other things. However,
there was an evolution in hip hop where it was
just like every other form of entertainment. Not everybody look.
Robert de Niro is quite an activist. Mark Ruffalo quite
an activist, but they don't typically make films about their activism.
(20:06):
When they're at work, they're entertaining right now, I haven't
watched a Mark Ruffalo film film in a long time,
but I still love de Nero because you know, he
knows how to turn it on, makes a good movie.
He's a funny guy. He's a good action actor. He's good,
he's a very versatile actor. He's fantastic. Now if he's
speaking at an awards show, maybe not so much, right,
I may not want to tune in for that, but
(20:28):
that's how life works. Chew the meat, he spit out
the bones. Some people want to throw him out all together,
but I feel like that's throw or not. The baby
with the bath water, right, I'm not going to stop
watching The Godfather because I don't like the Nero. But
this show became pretty much all politics all the time,
Whereas I felt like, hey, there's really not much music
left in here. So much of it had become political
(20:52):
that it was too much. It was just too much leftism.
And it wasn't just you know, like liberal, it was
progressive left. It was you know, Donnie loving and AOC
loving and Bernie Sanders loving, like you know, that brand
of anti Israel, anti American rhetoric. Anyway, long story short,
(21:18):
that show was recently paused or it ended, and they
have a new host now. And a couple of years ago,
a couple of morning like four four years ago, I
interviewed the founder of the company that owned that radio station,
Hot ninety seven and we had a really good conversation. So, oh,
(21:39):
you have it. You have the clips, all right, So
we have a couple of clips from that interview. That guy,
Jeff Simullian. He is a very interesting guy, and if
you're interested, i'll play a little bit of that, a
couple of clips from that interview. But I still want
to talk about this the new morning show, because there
was some reception to that. I believe it just started.
So we're to get to that straight ahead. But first
(22:02):
check out this quick interview I did with Jeff Smullian.
I think you're gonna enjoy it. Jeff Smullian is an entrepreneur,
he's an author. He's been involved in professional sports and
an executive and broadcast. But there's lessons that he's written
in this book. And let me tell you, if I
were to give anybody advice, this might be the advice
(22:23):
I'd give you. Never ride a roller coaster upside Down.
And that's the title of his brand new book. Jeff
Smullien wrote this book, Never write a roller Coaster upside Down,
the ups and downs of and Excuse Me and reinvention
of an Entrepreneur. Jeff Smullian. Welcome to the program.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
Sir rich. I'm really happy to be here. This will
be fun.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
Thank you you me too. And you know what, I
very selfishly I saw the pitch. I said, man, this
is a radio guy. I am a radio guy. I
and you know, it's like I'm a young I'm forty
four years old. I love radio as if I was
an old guy, and I wish I had more institutional
memory in radio. And I said, this guy's got it.
So Plus, I'm a New Yorker and grew up listening
(23:07):
to Hot ninety seven and that's one of the things
that you launched. So I mean, I said, man, I
can't wait to get into this, and there's a lot
you've done, so I want to learn from you as
much as the audience does. And well, thank you for it.
All right, So let's start at the beginning. You know, Ala,
Larry King, if you don't mind, how does a nice
kid like you get involved in owning and running MS
(23:27):
communications and starting hip hop stations? And what comes first?
The love for radio?
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Well, I love the radio. I was of the generation.
I have to laugh because rich I have actually done.
I did this show when Larry did it and when
Jim did it. I wish you all the best of it,
Thank you, sir. And when you said, when you said
you're forty four, my socks are older than you. So
I've done this job. But I always loved it. I
was one of those kids from my generation. You grew
(23:53):
up a transistor radios and I listened to top forty
music in baseball games, you know, under my pillow at
night when my parents thought I was sleeping. And I
just always loved it. Always wanted to be in radio,
and went to college and law school specialized in broadcast law.
And I always want to start my own company. And
here we are forty some years later.
Speaker 4 (24:14):
Wow. I mean, it's an amazing story, it really is.
So you was it always broadcast for you? And I
know you've done some stuff with professional sports, so that
was in addition too.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
Yeah, we started the first all sports station, WFAA and
New York along about the time we started Hot ninety seven,
and we had brought all the radio stations in the
top markets that we could, so we said, you know,
we were sort of known as the turnaround guys, and
the Seattle Mariners needed turning around. I had one chapter
in the book called Genius to Idiot and another chapter
(24:49):
called Idiot to Genius. I have a favorite saying that
the line between being a genius and an idiot is
very fine, and I've been on both sides. So one
chapter talks about the start of all sports radio, and
that's idiot's a genius because when we put it on
the air, everybody thought it was a disaster, and lo
and behold, it took off and now there's seven hundred
dollars sports stations around the country. We were the first,
(25:12):
and then a genius. The idiot was one about the
Seattle Mariners, and I was sort of the boy wonder
out there, and everybody loved me and they stood in
line for my autographs. And when the team didn't work,
I became a pariah. So I went from genius the idiot.
So I've seen all sides of.
Speaker 4 (25:27):
The autograph out. Yeah, it's funny.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
I had a friend who from Indianapolis. I'm always from Indianapolis,
even though I went to USC and he stood there
at the ballpark one night watching We signed autographs after
the game for like twenty minutes, and he said, any
society that wants your autograph is a society that is
a grave danger of collapse. I always remembered it.
Speaker 4 (25:51):
That's terrific, folks. We are on with Jeff Smullyan. He's
the CEO of MS Communications, and he's written this great book,
Never Write a Roller Upside Down, The ups Downs and
Reinvention of an Entrepreneur. Now, Jeff Simullian. I started listening
to hip hop music as a kid, and my brothers
(26:12):
listened to you know, the old school Sugar Hill Gang
stuff like that, and I remember listening to Hot one
oh three and then it became a country station. I
guess you switched with Country ninety seven or something like that,
and then a little bit later it became Hot ninety seven,
and it was great. And I've never really stopped listening.
I mean I switched back and forth to the talk stuff,
but uh, true story, I listened this morning. I love
(26:35):
to fight with my radio, and I always fight with EBRO.
And I used to call Believe it or Not, one
of the few places I've called. They let me on
a little bit, but my views were a little too conservative,
and then they stopped taking my calls. Well, you know it.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
It's funny because and you mentioned we originally bought when
we bought the Double A stations, we bought WHN which
is ten fifty, which became wfan, right, and we bought
what was thebapp and and it became Hot one o
three five, And when we bought the NBC stations, we
moved everything. So Hot one oh three five became Hot
ninety seven and w Fan went to six sixty. So
(27:10):
amazing those days you couldn't own more than one station
in the market.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
Oh wow, I didn't know that. Yeah, but I think
it's an amazing success story because I whenever I traveled
as a young man, and you know, people say, oh,
you're from New York and I again they oh, you
listened Hot ninety seven. I said, yeah, of course, how
do you know about it? And they were like, oh,
we listened to that too. We get tapes and everybody
was trying to get Hot ninety seven and nobody had
a station like it until like after I was in
(27:35):
high school, there was a station in Miami that did it.
And then you guys are like were syndicating your stuff
and it was it was just so cool to be
from the market where it was happening, and I thought
to myself, nobody's done it really even since.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Yeah, we we really started hip hop with both Para
one O six in Los Angeles and Hot ninety seven.
And when it started it was revolution Area, but I said,
you can't play this stuff on the air, and then
it just it took off. So you know, like I said,
we've had some fun, fun experiences.
Speaker 4 (28:05):
Rich, Yeah, outstanding. I want to get into a little
bit more on your love for radio, because I think
that's an amazing story, and I want to get into
a little bit of your favorite passages from the book.
But folks, Aron with Jeff Smullian. Now, earlier I told
you a little bit about Jeff's background. He started a
broadcast company, has a love for radio, owns a sports team,
(28:26):
has represented huge stars like David Letterman, Ken Griffy Junior,
don Imus Goodness. That must have been tough, and here
he is sharing what most people want. You go to
a cocktail party and you're like, hey, Jeff Smullian's going
to be there, and you want to find out what's
the secret to your success? What's the secret sauce? He's
put it in this book. If you're an aspiring entrepreneur,
(28:46):
radio insider, media insider, you gotta get a copy. And
you know what I always say, get two copies. Why
because it's Christmas and you want to give one away,
you want to keep one for yourself. And when you're
done with reading it, pass it on because this is
the type of stuff that changes things. Quick story and
I don't want to steal too much time from Jeff,
but I went to a what's that called when they
induct you the Hall of Fame, the Radio Hall of Fame,
and Jim Kerr was telling a story about how he
(29:09):
slept overnight on the studio floor to get nine and
a half minutes of on air time before they shut
down a low powered station very early in his career,
and it was for that nine and a half minutes
he did everything. He swept the floor as he did this,
he did that, and obviously he's a huge success. It's
that love and that drive. I think that passion that
people have that gets them through. And it seems like
(29:31):
that's the same type of grit that you had in
order to get through, because you're still at it today. Jeff'smullion.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
Yeah, it really is. I've always said I have. This
book was written because my now eighteen year old daughter
that were driver to school every day and we would
just talk about life and it was my favorite thirty
minutes a day from kindergarten, well until she fired me,
she got a driver's license, death. We would just talk
about life and she said, Dad, you got to write
this down. I used to say, you got to have grit,
(30:00):
you get at persistence. That's the most important lesson. One
day she had a paper and she said, so, Grit's
the most important lesson. I said, no, not really. The
most important quality is integrity. If if your word is good,
almost nothing else matters, And if your word isn't good,
almost nothing else matters. So you know those are and
hopefully the book just tells funny stories but also sprinkles
(30:23):
and lessons about the things that I've learned, you know,
riding the roller coaster.
Speaker 4 (30:27):
Now, when you talk about grit, and again, I love
the roller coaster analogy because you know, some people are afraid,
some people love it, some people throw their hands up
in the air, some people hold on tight, and it's
such appropriate analogy. But grit is great, and I think
you throw it out there and it's it's wonderful. But
give me a little more, give me a little more,
give the listeners a little more of you know, what
(30:48):
was your go to, what helped you to continue to
have grit and to hold on to your grit to
keep pushing through.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
Well. I always love the business. I love the people.
I was with Rick Cummings who set it up programming,
and it was really one of the great architects of
the hip hop that you talked about it about ninety seven.
We've been together since day one, and when things got tough,
we just all sat down and said, how are we
going to solve this? And as you know, the radio
industry went through some monumental collapses. We were like everybody else,
(31:19):
and we just we just basically said we're going to
do whatever it takes and we're going to save it.
And we saved the company. And that's all in the book,
you know, some of the great successes, some of the
fun stuff. But we've had everything rich. We got nationalized
and hungry. We had the largest radio network in Hungary
and we got nationalized. And I'll never forget. There was
a former chairman of the FCC named Bill Cannard who
(31:41):
had just been the US named the US Ambassador to
the European Union. And I called Bill and I said,
Bill would be nationalized in Hungary. He said, Jeff, they
can't do that. And I said, Bill, we're being nationalized.
He said, Jeff, they remember the European Union. They can't
do that. And he said, Jeff, can't be and he
was very dismissive. Week later he called me, he said, Jeff,
(32:02):
I'll be darned if you're really being nationalized in Hungary.
And yet no kid can go. So we've seen everything.
I always say, until you've been nationalized, you really haven't
done much. So we've seen everything.
Speaker 4 (32:14):
Fascinating now and putting this together because it seems like
it's part like manifesto, rule book, advice, and memoir all
in one. What's the passage that you wrote that stood
out most to you.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
Well, I think there's so many different things. I mean
talking about how we built the company, talking about the
monumental downs that we had when the economy collapsed, when
you go from one day they say you're a really
rich guy to the next day or a poor guy
coming back out of that. But I think it was
just a level what I did, And there are so
many things. There was a time when Sam Zell wanted
(32:52):
to merge companies and he said, Jeff, let's put this together.
It will be one of the biggest companies industry. And
I said, if I wanted to make the most money,
I would do that because I know that in two
years you're going to say radio's topped out and you'll
sell and you'll be right. But I love this business.
I love the people I do with it, and so
I stayed in. Now a lot of people would say
(33:14):
that makes me an idiot, but I loved it and
my life has been very, very fortunate.
Speaker 4 (33:19):
Yeah, well, I share that love with you. There's nothing
like radio, and I believe the old saying goes. People
have been saying radio is dying since TV.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
That's exactly right. It's exactly right. So it has reinvented itself,
no question.
Speaker 4 (33:34):
All right, now I want to get I guess in
the perspective of looking at this, you're a guy that's
done nearly everything. What's next for you?
Speaker 3 (33:46):
Well, you know, we decided that we were going to
transition into other things. We have three new businesses and
you know, and so we're just looking at different things
and we're having fun. And we have kept our team together.
And we have a sound masking business of Control Sound,
and we have a dynamic pricing business that figures out
the operable price of you know, of any event that
(34:09):
you know ticket and all sorts of things. So we're
just having fun. We have a business that produces podcasts
for major for major corporations, and we're looking for other things.
But I'm one of those people. I've always said I'm
an entrepreneur because I was not hirable in a free society,
so I had to be an entrepreneur. And I'm also
you know, I'll never retire because those those people who
(34:33):
see me play golf realize that you know, I should
not I should stay at work.
Speaker 4 (34:37):
No business on the greens.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Yep. Then whatsoever?
Speaker 4 (34:41):
Now if you if you had to do it over,
and I'm pretty sure you'd repeat it. It seems like
youarely passionate. But if you weren't doing this, what would
you be doing?
Speaker 3 (34:51):
You know, that's a great question. I have a favorite
saying that if any one of ten things that happened,
the company'd be one hundred times bigger, and if any
one at ten other things happened, I'd be sweeping streets,
probably somewhere around media. I've always loved to write. I
started as a sports writer. Never really knew that I
could do a book, and I did this for fun.
At the best of my daughter, I mentioned and the
(35:13):
next thing they know that, people said, you know what,
you really got something here? So you know I love
I do love management. I love working with people. I
love putting plans together and advancing businesses.
Speaker 4 (35:25):
Outstanding, all right, Jeff Smullyan. I want to remind everybody
that they should get a couple of copies of this.
Never write a roller coaster upside down, the ups and
downs and reinvention of an entrepreneur. Get a couple of
copies now, Jeff Smullian in the minute We've got to go.
What is the impetus or the inspiration behind the title.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
The title is that you know life is a roller coaster.
When I was in school a thousand years ago, I thought,
you know, your career was a straight lineup, and what
you learn is it's ups and downs. And yet mine
has been not only a roller coaster ride, but because
of some of the crazy stuff we did, that roller
coaster rider's upside Yeah, and maybe the lessons of the
(36:11):
book will say, well, maybe he did too many crazy things.
I don't want to do it that way, but at
least the lessons will come through and hopefully they'll be
helpful to people.
Speaker 4 (36:19):
Outstanding folks. Again, that's Jeff Simullion, CEO of MS Communications,
has owned a bunch of radio stations, has been involved
in professional sports. He's done it all, and he's written
it down and it's kind of like a go to guide.
I know I'm getting a copy. Make sure you guys
get one. To Never Ride a roller Coaster Upside Down,
The ups and Downs and Reinvention of an Entrepreneur. Jeff,
(36:40):
it was my pleasure to meet you and speak with you.
I wish you godspeed with everything.
Speaker 3 (36:44):
Thanks Rich, I really enjoyed it. This is a lot
of fun and good luck with the show.
Speaker 4 (36:48):
Yes, sir, and I will be emailing you right after
this to get that interview with Ebro.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
Listen. I don't know if they'll talk to me either,
but we'll see.
Speaker 4 (36:58):
Take care.
Speaker 3 (36:59):
Thank Rich.
Speaker 4 (37:00):
All right, folks, more to come straight ahead, fun interview.
I enjoyed that Smolian smart guy, nice guy, and radio guy,
which is very very cool. Anyway, I want to talk
about the kid Miro. I don't know. I'm not familiar
with his work. I saw a couple of interviews that
he did because he's the new guy at Hot ninety
seven now, and I think it's great so far. He's
(37:22):
bringing high energy, seems like a positive guy. Doesn't seem
to be political, and nothing wrong with being political, right,
I contend to be political, but that's what I do.
If somebody hired me tomorrow to host I don't know,
a show like Regis and Kathy Lee, which is now
(37:42):
Kelly and her husband Mark No more politics. Why, because
I realize people aren't tuning in for that. Somebody hires
me to do a political show and I do a
political show. Somebody hires me to do something else, doing
something else. I just have never been hired to do
something else. I wish I was, because politics it gets
(38:05):
to me after a while. You know, how much? How
much can you talk about how terrible the Democrats are?
I mean, honestly, anyway, bottom line is you can touch
on politics from time to time. But the guy seems funny.
He seems good energy, and he grew up in the
city and it seems like he can, you know, relate.
He finds the funny things in life. He's got an
(38:28):
eye for life, and it's a funny eye. And I
think that's great. So congrats to the kid, Miro. If
there's anything to report in days to come, like oh boy,
he's a crazy left, he's trashing Israel, he's hating America,
he loves Karl Marx, then I'll bring that to you.
But otherwise I think I think he's trying to bring
(38:50):
it back to the roots, kind of like ninety seven
always was, whether it was ed Lisa Andre in the
morning or Missus Jones, right Jones, So anyway, that was that.
Now I'm gonna leave that there. I'm gonna come back
and wrap it up. We got a few thoughts. I'm
running out of steam. It is Friday, looking forward to
(39:12):
the weekend. I'm sure you are too, and man, I
feel like I'm forgetting to say something. Anyway, I'll be
right back. I'm Rich veld Does.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
This is America, This is America.
Speaker 4 (39:31):
He's making podcasting great again.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
This is America with Rich Valdas.
Speaker 4 (39:37):
All right, I mean it's welcome back. It's Rich Valdas
Friday Night. And I should have probably done this a
little bit earlier before getting into some of the other
stuff because it's a little heavier than the latest hosted
on ninety seven. Coach is a little softer of a topic.
But this is heavy, but interesting and wild. So I
kind of left it for a little bit later to
make sure that any little ears that may be listening
(39:58):
on your Amazon Alexa, just in case you decided to
say I likes that play Rich Valdez. Now your Alexis
are all going nuts like mine?
Speaker 3 (40:09):
You hear that?
Speaker 4 (40:11):
Anyway, I want to get into this story. It's a
wild story. This story's nuts. It's from a few months ago,
but there's an update as of this morning. And well,
let me bring you down memory Loan memory Lane.
Speaker 3 (40:26):
Right.
Speaker 4 (40:26):
This woman, she made headlines over the summer for having
sex with her step son. She's a nurse from Florida
and she got in trouble and she went to jail.
(40:48):
Listen to this court today for a pre trial hearing
what attorneys told the judge they had reached a pleading.
Speaker 6 (40:54):
The Florida nurse is accused of raping her fifteen year
old step son back in July twenty four. Was originally
charged with sexual battery of a minor by a person
and familial custody. The judge would not accept the plea
agreement until he was assured that the victim's family approved.
Speaker 8 (41:11):
Their desire for Mistates to do additional time. Indoc is
outlaid by their overall concern for the victims mental and
emotional health. He has made substancial progress from some issues.
Speaker 9 (41:26):
That he has dealt with in the past, and whether.
Speaker 8 (41:29):
There is more concerned and feels though it's justice for
him to not have to relent this situation and they
are ready and to.
Speaker 9 (41:38):
Get its behind them, for him to not have to
talk about.
Speaker 8 (41:41):
If they've had aligned inside me about the thought of
him having to testify and talk about this at a
trial and be cross examine due to some of the
past issues that he has had and because of that,
Dave Felis though he is justice for them for.
Speaker 9 (41:56):
Her to be for this encounter offer to be accept.
Speaker 5 (42:02):
How do you plead to the lesser included defensive leader
of the Sibius battery.
Speaker 9 (42:06):
I'm pleaded no contest?
Speaker 5 (42:07):
Are you pleading no contests?
Speaker 7 (42:08):
Say?
Speaker 6 (42:09):
Because you believed to be in your best interest?
Speaker 9 (42:10):
Yes?
Speaker 6 (42:11):
San, Would you like you to accept your plea in
the first sentence until September sixteenth at eight o'clock.
Speaker 9 (42:15):
I would much appreciate it, all right, I.
Speaker 4 (42:18):
Will accept your plea. I do find that you are alert, intelligent,
and competent to interrupta that you were doing so freely involuntarily,
that you had the assistance of an attorney with whom
your sas thought and who was spin effective.
Speaker 3 (42:27):
Again, that there's a actual basis for it.
Speaker 4 (42:34):
So this woman, again, I don't know how old this
kid was, right, Maybe I'll find out as I'm looking
at this. I think he was a teenager, about fourteen fifteen,
So all I know is when I was fourteen or fifteen,
this would have probably been a home run. You know,
if I was in a situation. Really yes, but that
(42:55):
wasn't the case, right, thirty four years old. She's not ugly.
I mean, I would say she's pretty pretty, but she's
not ugly. Anyway, She's in jail and she got some
bad news today. Listen to this from The New York Post.
That perverted Florida nurse who's currently behind Barnes for sexually
assaulting her then fifteen year old step son, had her
(43:17):
state medical license revoked just three weeks after her husband
filed for divorce. She's a native of O Calla, Florida.
Alexis von Yates, thirty five years old, now currently serving
a two year prison stint after being caught red handed
by her husband Frank, having sex with her teenage step
son on the couch in their family home in July
(43:40):
twenty twenty four. Miss von Yates pleaded no contest to
loot and lascivious battery and was locked up in September
of twenty twenty five on a reduced sentence. You just
heard that plea, And following the meeting of the Board
of Nursing and her attorney last month, the Florida Department
of Health has taken away her nursing license, and I honestly,
(44:04):
irrespective of what she did, it's always tough when you
hear about people losing a license for whatever. You know,
it is how they make their living. But I understand
it's not like it was a patient. Right, I'm not.
Don't wait to lay here. But it wasn't like she
was having sex with a patient. No, it's worse. She
was having sex with a kid. I get that, And
if it was the other way around, it'd be a
(44:24):
big deal. And I guess we have to stop looking
at it like, you know, me wishing I was fifteen
and some thirty four year old woman found me attractive.
But I understand, right if it was my fifteen year
old daughter, I'd i'd be losing my head, my hair
I already lost anyway. Florida health officials temporarily suspended the
nurse's license last April, but final review showed that they
(44:48):
were going to postpone it until October, and now they
decided the final outcome. Now, let's see here, if there's
anything else I can add to this, Yep, that's it. Okay,
So that's uh. I mean, there's some more there, but
it's not of no consequence here. Ultimately she loses her license. Anyway,
(45:10):
that's the double whammy there. She's not only in jail,
but she gets divorced and she loses her law license,
I mean her medical license, I mean her nursing license.
You know it's too late, but I can't talk straight.
All right, here's the last one we're gonna talk about.
This guy, crazy dude from a Jersey goes to the
city to eat something and ends up wilding out. I'm
(45:34):
guessing that he was drunk to begin with, because from
the surveillance video that they put on the uh on
the oh there goes that. Don't have that one? Oh,
what a great story, this one is. Hold on here,
let's see if I can find that. Yeah, this is
pretty good. So this guy dresses up like his mom
(45:54):
in order to get her pension. Yep, wild check this out. Australia.
Speaker 7 (46:01):
An Italian man who's dressed up as his dead mother
to keep collecting her pension payments. In what's been called
the Missus Doubtfire scam. The fifty six year old unnamed
man got away with the fort for three years by
hiding the deceased body of his mother inside his family home.
The unemployed nurse went very method with his disguise, donning
a skirt, a cane, makeup, and even his mother's jewelry
(46:24):
to keep himself hidden. Mister doubtfire pocketed around ninety thousand
dollars a year thanks to his mother's pension and property assets.
It wasn't until an employee realized that his elderly customer
had a bizarrely large neck, a deep voice, and didn't
look at all like an eighty two year old woman
that any suspicion was raised. Police were notified and confronted
(46:46):
the man, and when they asked to search his home,
the man allegedly just sighed and said go ahead, leading
police to find his mother's mummified corpse. He's been charged
with the illegal concealment of a body and benetvertraud.
Speaker 6 (46:59):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (47:00):
Wow, that's wild, right. This guy never buried his mom
just to keep cashing in on her check. This guy's nuts.
He's also a nurse, an unemployed one, thankfully unemployed.
Speaker 3 (47:14):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (47:15):
I wish I could say, let me know if you've
ever mummified a corpse to cash in pension shacks, give
you a call. Eight seven seven Felvedst one, but I
don't think I'm going to get much action on that.
I really don't. Now if you know somebody, if you
had a neighbor that did that, or even something even
remotely close, I'm happy to do it. Working on tracking
down I was great to hear. Let me back up
(47:36):
a little bit. It was great to hear from some
of our regulars that are called in, you know, in
the last couple of days and last week. But I
still have yet to hear from Gil from Manila, Philippines,
or as we know him, the Gilla from Manila. So
for those of you that have a beat on him,
let him know I'm waiting to have that talk. Anyway,
(47:58):
this is the kind of crazy that's going on right now.
You didn't get to see the video that I just saw.
That guy did look a lot like his mother. She
you know, didn't look like a man, but neither did he.
He had this wig on that looked a lot like
her hairstyle. And I'm surprised he got caught, honestly. I mean,
(48:19):
women do not get prettier typically as they get older,
they you know, they age, and he looked like an
old lady. He really did, So I don't know, I
guess they said he didn't look eighty something, and that's
probably true. And the pictures that they're showing of the mother,
though she didn't look eating something there either. You know,
she still had mostly black hair, even if she was
(48:40):
dying it, she didn't have that many wrinkles. So and
I'm not saying him saying the real mother from the
image that they showed. So from the image they showed,
looked a lot like the sun. All Right, that's all
I've got as La Brosima. Take care, good night, and
God bless you America. If you're a teacher, do not
cross the line. If you are an American, make sure
(49:01):
you are ready to be vigilant and informed and ready
to rock and roll because things are getting wild. We're
gonna bring you up to speed on what's going on
in Minnesota that's coming up on Monday, as well as
everything else. I mean, it's Friday evening. You're gonna hear
a ton of things on Saturday on Sunday, plus all
(49:24):
the regular news of the day, not to mention the weekend.
So we're gonna unpack everything on Monday. I might do
a breaking news show if there is something to discuss
over the weekend. Like last weekend, there was a lot.
That's why I had to do a little addendum on
last Friday's show to add in some Saturday stuff. So
if that happens, I will do that as well, because
(49:46):
you know, the news is only good when it's new, right,
when it gets a little too old, it's like, oh boy,
and especially when it comes in at those breakneck speats.
That's all I've got. Oh and by the way, if
you haven't already subscribed to the Rumble channel, the YouTube channel,
the podcast page, make sure you do that. Just you know,
if anybody's enjoying this. If you're not enjoying it, then hey,
(50:08):
no problem. If I disappear, it doesn't matter. But you
always want to be able to be locked in, you know.
So that's why I always tell you people at richeld
does on all the social media because along the way,
I've learned that changes happen, right, even if it's a
simple change, like the local radio station that you're in
the area you're in doesn't want to play this show anymore,
changes the timing on the show. You know, you can
(50:28):
always hear what you want to hear. Whatever you can
hear it just go to it directly to the source.
And I learned that and do in radio for many years,
and much the same with this right. You know, these
digital feeds are wonderful. You can reach more people. You know,
my reports now don't show me which states I do well,
(50:49):
and they do, but they also show me which countries
like our coverage of Venezuela in the last couple of weeks.
Apparently it's caught the attention of Venezuelans as Venezuela is
a second kind of tree on my list.
Speaker 7 (51:02):
You know.
Speaker 4 (51:02):
It's a ninety eight percent listenership from the United States,
two percent coming in from Venezuela. So I thought that
was really cool. And I say that to say, make
sure you're locked in right. Make sure you are subscribed
to the podcast. It's a free subscription. It doesn't cost
you anything other than clicking like a little bell in
your Apple Apple Podcast app that's on your phone already,
(51:27):
if it's not just downloaded. It's absolutely free. It doesn't
cost you anything to have the app or to subscribe
to the show. If you do it on iHeartRadio, go
right ahead, that's free too. Everywhere you go the show
is free. I want to make sure the show stays free.
That's why we look for advertisers, and that's why we
talk about products that make a difference, things that we
actually believe in, things that might benefit you so that
(51:48):
you don't have to pay for the show. And sometimes
they don't. I get it. There are some of the
ads that get inserted, you know, through our third party
partners and whatnot. Sometimes they're not good. I was listening
to one the other day and I had two back
to back ads for cannabis. I don't use cannabis, not
even like on the weekends, so you know, as far
as I go is a little Malbick red wine from
(52:10):
Argentina and the occasional whiskey. But that's it. But my
point is, it's not that I'm a goodie two shoes.
The point I'm making here is don't try and sell
me a drill. If you know I'm drinking Malbick, right,
I hire a guy with a drill. That's my point.
You know, we want to get you the most relevant
things that you can actually benefit from, and putting marijuana
(52:31):
in my feed isn't really going to help me buy
your marijuana because it's not something I'm on the market
for So I get it. The advertising model is not perfect,
but it beats one more subscription, right, That's what I say. Anyway,
Thank you for that again. Subscribe on Rumble dot com.
Subscribe to Rich valdesk This is America on Rumble dot com,
(52:53):
on YouTube dot com, as well as truth Social and
Instagram and Facebook. If you're on those things. If you're not,
that's okay. I understand. It's a part of my job
and I get tired of it. So just imagine you
if it's not a part of your job. I totally
get that and respect that. A stasima, Take care, good night,
and God bless you America. I'm Rich Faldez and this
(53:15):
is America.
Speaker 1 (53:17):
This is America.
Speaker 4 (53:29):
We live in a remarkable time in human history right now,
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That's because the people that design and build the modern
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(53:49):
those who oversee our political and educational institutions aren't limited
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(54:32):
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Speaker 7 (01:00:00):
S
This is America with Rich Valdez, powered by poliitweek dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Rich Valdees is with us former Christian Administration official.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
You worked at Chris Christieve and follow us each on
a lot of public service stuff.
Speaker 4 (00:15):
Rich Valdez calumnist now with the Washington Times. This is America, Richiev.
You're on the air with the Nation.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
With your host, Rich Valdez.
Speaker 4 (00:27):
What's up America, I am Rich Valdez. Valdesk with then
ask that Rich Valdez on all of the social media Welcome, Welcome, welcome,
blessed to be here with you. And it's Friday, by
the way, Friday, and check this out. I was at
Newsmax a little while ago. Put that on social media
a little later. But the importance of that was we
were talking about what's going on in Minnesota, and from
the trip over from the Newsmax studio to the radio studio,
(00:50):
guess what happened? Well, the Trump administration is investigating Tim
Walls and Mayor Freifrii for obstruct justice. And I've just
learned that a subpoena has been issued. So now I
don't know all the details with respect to what's going
on there, but this is a big deal. And you
(01:12):
know why because these guys are actively, actively out there
trying to get in the way. Right, They are getting
in the way of absolutely everything that's going on with
federal law enforcement that's on the ground now. Tim Walls
is trying to make it seem and sound as if
this is some sort of retaliation from retaliation for what
What did Tim Walls ever do to Trump? That's the
(01:34):
point I'm trying to figure out here. There are I've
seen political reality excuse me, take two retaliation in the past,
but this doesn't look like it. Right. It's typically Democrats
going after Republicans. But I'm very, very interested in knowing
what happens now, right, what is the next step here?
Because this is some pretty interesting stuff in my opinion.
(01:57):
But we've got Minnesota Governor Tim Walls and and Minneapolis
Mayor Jacob I believe it's Fry, but it's fra Y.
So I like to go to Frey Freyfry and Mayor Freyfry.
Both of them were subpoena by the Department of Justice
for allegedly impeding federal law enforcement operations. How about that?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Now?
Speaker 4 (02:18):
What does that mean? Right? I don't know because if
I were to do that, I think they just locked
me up. So why are we treating them differently and
special because they're a governor and a mayor. Does that
mean they're allowed to take to the airwaves and say
crazy stuff, Because that's what's going on. I want you
to hear what Governor Tim Wallas was saying before and listen.
(02:38):
I'm all about Maybe they don't get it, but these
people get it. They know exactly what's going on. They
know exactly what they're doing, and they're doing it with intentionality.
They're doing it to hurt this work that's going on,
this operation, this enforcement removal operation, that's what they're doing.
Listen to this.
Speaker 5 (02:58):
Minnesotans believe in the rule of law, and Minnesotans believe
in the dignity of all people. We're a place where
there's room for everybody, no matter who you are, or
who you love, or where you came from. A place
where we feed our kids, we take care of our neighbors,
and we look out for those in the shadows of life.
(03:19):
We're an island of decency in a country being driven
towards cruelty. We will remain an island of decency, of justice,
of community of peace. And tonight I come before you
simply to ask, don't let anyone take that away from us.
Thank you, protect each other, and may God bless the
people of Minnesota. Minnesotans believe in the rule of law.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
Minnesotans believe in the rule of law. I gotta tell you,
this guy doesn't sell me, but I could see.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Look.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
Imagine if you're an apolitical person, you're just doing what
you do, and you show up one day, you know,
from work, you get home, you turn on the six
o'clock news, and there's your guy Don Rickles as Governor
Tim Walls, and he's telling you, Minnesultans believe this, and
Minnesultans believe that, and we're about taking care of our neighbors,
(04:12):
and by golly, we're gonna do that right and all
his craziness and I call it craziness because it's you know,
I find him laughable, but again I get it. He's
just funny to me. But here we have him, Governor
Tim Walls. I think most people, if they hear their
governor speaking, most right. I could be wrong, but I
think most people go, oh wow, the governor said that
(04:34):
we should pull out our phones and record Ice. Then
we should do that, right, because he did say that.
Watch this, now he wants to go after these ICE agents.
Now that's all well and good, right, do what you
got to do. But the problem is they've now been
subpoena and this subpoena business I think is very interesting
(04:55):
because why, well, what happens?
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Now?
Speaker 4 (05:00):
What is this subpoena business all about? Right? I mean,
since when do we just suboena people are going to do?
Tell them to come to Congress. I mean, I don't
know what that means. Are they going to say, hey,
I need to see your cell phones? It's a little better, right,
It's that kind of subpoena. But I'm very, very interested
in knowing more. This is part of a criminal investigation.
Let's see. Let me go to one of these articles here,
(05:22):
one of the newer ones. Let's see here. All right,
here we go thirty minutes ago. Let's see what we
get here. This looks like a lefty publication, but we'll
give it a shot, shall we. So the Justice Department
has issued subpoenas form Minnesota Governor Tim Walls and Minneapolis
Mayor Jacob Freifry as part of an investigation alleging that
(05:42):
the two Democrat leaders are impeding federal law enforcement officers'
abilities to do their jobs in the state. Two people
familiar with the matter confirmed on Friday these subpoenas, which
are without recent precedent. See that's how you know, right,
without recent presence. This is the lefty isn't pouring out
of the paper. The subpoenas escalate an already bitter political
(06:03):
battle between the Trump administration and state officials. Well, I
think what's really happening here, is it. There's not a
battle between state officials and the Trump administration. There's a
battle between the immigration and customs enforcement officers and the
criminal illegal aliens that are on the ground. I don't
(06:23):
see them going after Frey Fry until today. They've been
there for a hot minute in Minnesota. Anyway, we continue
blah blah blah. Shooting happened the minisurge of federal office.
I really can't. I can't with their leftyism. I haven't
seen a fact yet, one fact. One fact that I'm
only six sentence. That's why you can't mess with these things.
I'm gonna see you are we gonna go? And Spanish
(06:44):
is saying I don't want to go from Guate mata
to Guayoda, right, which translated in English isn't funny, but
it means I don't want to go from Guatta bad
to Guata worse. But anyway, I'm going to see an
let's see what they've got. Yeah, Rich, why are you
going to see in it? Because nobody else has it?
(07:04):
Nobody else has what I'm looking for? All right? Doj
investigating Minnesota? Blah blah blah. This one doesn't even talk
about spoenus. See what I'm saying. This can't be that
breaking that nobody's got the scoop on it. I know
about it. How could that be? Yep, this one in
the fourth paragraph, back to the fatal shooting by an
ice officer. Nobody's got what I'm looking for. Let's see
(07:25):
what Newsmax says. Unbelievable. Nothing from the New York Post,
nothing from Fox News, nothing from Newsmax just yet. Newsmax
reported it on TV that I saw, but Washington Post
has it. What does it be? Just because they're lefties,
they're faster at getting to the news. I mean, really,
come on, what is the story here? Let's see here?
(07:48):
Walls a subpoena from the United States Department of Justice
means they're officially requesting documents, testimony, or information from Governor
Wallas as part of a criminal probe. This particular probe
alleges that abstruction, auction a federal immigration enforcement and impeding
ice is what's going on. It's an investigation because no
charges have been filed just yet. New York Times, CNN, WAPPO,
(08:10):
so the only people reporting it. Well, anyway, that is
the story. The US Department of Justice has subpoena Minnesota
Governor Tim Walls and Mayor Jacob Freyfry from the city
of Minneapolis, and we'll see if anything comes of this. Anyway,
let me get back to my story, because I believe
what's happening in Minnesota is outrageous. Right, this is what
(08:31):
happens sometimes. Just FYI editorial note, I came to this
story first because it was the breaking news. It had
happened moments ago. That's why there's not a lot of
stories on it. But in the same way, this isn't
nearly as juicy as what happened overnight. Right, let's talk
about overnight. Overnight, A bunch of savages tore apart a
police car tied like a chain or a rope around
(08:54):
the gunlocker in the back of the police car like
an ice police car, pulled the safe out of the car,
the big black box, big metal black box, ripped it
right out, and then somebody, an upstanding citizen of course,
broke into it stole the guns. Now, apparently there might
have been some sensitive information in there as well. I guess,
(09:15):
like warrant information on other people. I can't imagine having
like the nuclear codes inside of the police car. But
I'm just being facetious. This to me is something we
can't take lying down right. You've gotta escalate this. You've
(09:37):
gotta hold this guy accountable big time. In my opinion,
Why because then every last protester, as they're called down
I'm gonna call them riotous criminals because not because I
want to be dramatic or I'm biased. No, because the
guy that they got, they got them on video, facial recognition,
whatever they got. This guy is a gang member. It's
(09:57):
clear as day. He's a professional criminal. He has no job.
He's a criminal. So when you see this video of
what they did to this car, I mean it goes
without saying this is absolute mayhem in Minnesota. And it
wasn't just that car. It was a bunch of cars.
I mean it was car after car after car that
(10:18):
they'd looted and broken the windows and just destroyed. Man,
it's amazing to me that the governor hasn't called in
the National Guard, because he had the National Guard out
in the streets to tell you to put a mask
on and to stay home during COVID. But for this, ah,
let them do what they gotta do. Let them blow
up a couple of cars. Anyway, This guy, Raoul Gutierres,
(10:42):
he's from the gang the Latin Kings, according to the FBI,
broke into one of the FBI vehicles and busted open
a weapons locker or someone else busted it open, and
he took the rifles out and walked right off as
every body else started stealing ammunition and the other weapon
(11:02):
and police patches and everything else they could find in
that little locker. And I gotta tell you, wild just
to think that you could just do that in public
that way, and that's okay anyway. Nick Sorder is one
of those journalists that's always on the ground when things
are tough. This guy's a pro at that if it's
(11:24):
going down, he's there. And he was on with lur
Ingram discussing this and I got a quick clip check
this out.
Speaker 6 (11:31):
Did I know you just talked to a high play
source at DOJ?
Speaker 7 (11:36):
Tell us more.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Yeah, so we Actually he wasn't arrested last night. He
could have been, but the Minneapolis police didn't bother chasing
the vehicle that had just stolen a high powered rifle
out of an FBI car, So that stolen out of
one of these weapons walkers that was in the back.
But what I can confirm now is that Raul Gouti
Era is aged thirty three, that you see in the
video that I hosted last night stealing a firearm from
(12:03):
an FBI vehicle has been arrested by the ATF and
the DOJ. They executed an arrest warrant today. And he's
a known member of the Latin King's Gang. I just
got all this information just before I came on air.
He's got a lengthy, violent rap sheet. Of course he
should have been in prison already, but in tim Waltz, Minnesota, like,
(12:25):
they don't arrest anybody here, so it's not surprising that
he was able to go out and beat this gun
safe to a pulp and pull this automatic firearm out
of it and run away with it. And you know, hell,
if it wasn't for honestly, as independent journalists on the
ground that were able to get a video of this,
(12:46):
nobody would have seen it happen. I were able to
find this guy based on a video from independent journalists
that the one that we posted last night. I mean,
it's crazy that it has to be us doing this.
Speaker 4 (12:56):
You know, it's interesting, and he makes a very good point,
but it is. What's very interesting about this is that
this guy had like a red mask on, but it
slipped down in one of the you know, one of
his struggles with this big box. And I don't think
it mattered that much because he's got a tattoo, a
very distinctive tattoo. It's going up the side of his
cheek all the way up above his eyebrow. So good
(13:18):
luck saying no, it wasn't me when how many people
besides you Mike Tyson. Right, it's not even the same
kind of tattoo that Tyson has. But my point is
these are very clearly defining things, and you know, you'd
have to pull up to court with your lawyer going, hey,
I brought ten guys with me had the same exact tattoo.
You know what I mean. But anyway, this is to me,
(13:39):
the biggest defense, the biggest crime being committed right now
is Jacob Freyfry and Tim Walls having the local police
officers ignore their their federal brethren, just not being there,
not being there for crowd control or principally right. The
(13:59):
main reason it's not like they decided to go to Minnesota.
The reason they're Minnesota is because when they if they
do get locked up. To his point, if they get
locked up and there is an ICE detainer, they're released
without ever calling I saying hey, I got one of
your people, come pick them up. This could all be
handled in the jail. And in New York they're planning
(14:20):
on doing the same thing. This is the playbook for
Democrats in sanctuary cities and sanctuary states. This isn't helpful.
I'd say this is actually hurting not only our country,
it's hurting people. This woman was shot in the face
because she was led to believe that she was allowed
to pull over the Ice agents. She was led to
(14:41):
believe that she could run them over with impunity. And
I know that's the debate. Nobody got run over. The
guy just got hit in his hip. The fact that
we're even getting into that conversation that you are somehow
allowed even if she hit the guy by accident, it
doesn't work that way. You're not allowed to be like,
(15:03):
oh my god, I had the gun, but I was
just I was just trying to scare people. I shot
him by accident. You don't go to jail. You know,
you don't have to not go to jail for that right.
Nobody gets a pass. I'll give you a little bit
of analogy that you know I used to share with
my kids. Were like, oh, but I did it by accident,
And I'd say, listen, why you did it really doesn't
(15:25):
matter so much, and I'm going to tell you why.
And they were young. Maybe I was harsh, maybe I
was too heavy in my analogy, but I would tell them,
if you're driving a car and a little kid jumps
right out in front of the car, and you hit
this little kid, and God forbid, something bad happens, do
(15:47):
you think that kid's parents care what you have to
say when their kid is hurt or worse? And they
were like, yeah, Wow, you're right, dad. When something goes
down to pretend to be empathetic, some might actually be empathetic.
But the real bottom line here is nobody cares. Nobody
cares about how your day was, what's happening at home.
(16:10):
If there was traffic that you forgot this, and you
forgot that, you were late, and nobody cares about any
of it. They care about their bottom line. They care
about that kid that ran out in the street. Doesn't
matter why you didn't stop. You didn't stop. And that's
how real life works, at least for me. I'm maybe
(16:30):
I'm a psycho that just takes life seriously. And I
don't think I take life too seriously personally, but certain
things not negotiable. Certain things you got to show up.
And when it comes to the police and they're saying stop,
get out of the car, it's not a good time
to start turning the wheel and hitting the gas or
(16:51):
for your spouse to start yelling go go, go, go go,
because she went, went, went went, and that didn't work out.
All right, I mean, goes keep it locked right here.
More on this and everything else. When I come back,
I'm going to try and lighten it up. Put her
hair down a little bit. It is Friday. I'm Rich Valdesk.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
This is America. This is America, all right.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
And he goes, welcome back, It's Rich Valvedesk about with
then asked that Rich valdest on all of the social
media BA B B BET social media keeping your company
this Friday night. If you like the mic is a
little bit too loud, can we fix that anyway? I
want to get into something about the media. Very apropos.
There's a new morning radio host on the hip hop
(17:51):
station in New York. Now you're thinking, what does this
matter to me? Well, it may not. It barely matters
to me. But this used to be a great hip
hop station if people you know liked morning radio music radio,
and I stopped listening to it, honestly because I knew
where to tune in. If I wanted political news for
either side, right, If I wanted good political news early
(18:15):
in the morning, I would check out my buddy Bernard McGirk,
who was from the Imus Show with Sid Rosenberg. If not,
I would flip over to MPR and hear their craziness
right and then mid mornings I would listen to Mark Simone.
If I was in the car right he's on war
(18:37):
and until I started doing that same shift ten to
noon for a little bit out of WABC. But I
say all that to say is if I wanted to
listen to hip hop music, I would, But this station
went off the rails a while back. It became inherently political,
and because the view of the program director and the
morning show host, and they had a good show, but
(18:59):
his views became became more and more leftist and more
and more political, and people like me that I could
ignore as politics. I enjoyed the music and the interviews
and the personalities and the contests and the clever segments,
and it was just good radio. It became more and
more difficult because it was like, listen to this school song.
(19:21):
Here's what's happening with fifty cent and his beef with
so whoever, And by the way, blah blah blah blah blah,
you know Trump is bad or this is you know,
the Republicans are horrible, or you know the Israelis are
occupying Gaza or whatever it was, and it was like,
oh wow, that is so out of left field. Now,
I understand hip hop was born of people making statements
(19:44):
in general political statements at times about drugs and other things. However,
there was an evolution in hip hop where it was
just like every other form of entertainment. Not everybody look.
Robert de Niro is quite an activist. Mark Ruffalo quite
an activist, but they don't typically make films about their activism.
(20:06):
When they're at work, they're entertaining right now, I haven't
watched a Mark Ruffalo film film in a long time,
but I still love de Nero because you know, he
knows how to turn it on, makes a good movie.
He's a funny guy. He's a good action actor. He's good,
he's a very versatile actor. He's fantastic. Now if he's
speaking at an awards show, maybe not so much, right,
I may not want to tune in for that, but
(20:28):
that's how life works. Chew the meat, he spit out
the bones. Some people want to throw him out all together,
but I feel like that's throw or not. The baby
with the bath water, right, I'm not going to stop
watching The Godfather because I don't like the Nero. But
this show became pretty much all politics all the time,
Whereas I felt like, hey, there's really not much music
left in here. So much of it had become political
(20:52):
that it was too much. It was just too much leftism.
And it wasn't just you know, like liberal, it was
progressive left. It was you know, Donnie loving and AOC
loving and Bernie Sanders loving, like you know, that brand
of anti Israel, anti American rhetoric. Anyway, long story short,
(21:18):
that show was recently paused or it ended, and they
have a new host now. And a couple of years ago,
a couple of morning like four four years ago, I
interviewed the founder of the company that owned that radio station,
Hot ninety seven and we had a really good conversation. So, oh,
(21:39):
you have it. You have the clips, all right, So
we have a couple of clips from that interview. That guy,
Jeff Simullian. He is a very interesting guy, and if
you're interested, i'll play a little bit of that, a
couple of clips from that interview. But I still want
to talk about this the new morning show, because there
was some reception to that. I believe it just started.
So we're to get to that straight ahead. But first
(22:02):
check out this quick interview I did with Jeff Smullian.
I think you're gonna enjoy it. Jeff Smullian is an entrepreneur,
he's an author. He's been involved in professional sports and
an executive and broadcast. But there's lessons that he's written
in this book. And let me tell you, if I
were to give anybody advice, this might be the advice
(22:23):
I'd give you. Never ride a roller coaster upside Down.
And that's the title of his brand new book. Jeff
Smullien wrote this book, Never write a roller Coaster upside Down,
the ups and downs of and Excuse Me and reinvention
of an Entrepreneur. Jeff Smullian. Welcome to the program.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
Sir rich. I'm really happy to be here. This will
be fun.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
Thank you you me too. And you know what, I
very selfishly I saw the pitch. I said, man, this
is a radio guy. I am a radio guy. I
and you know, it's like I'm a young I'm forty
four years old. I love radio as if I was
an old guy, and I wish I had more institutional
memory in radio. And I said, this guy's got it.
So Plus, I'm a New Yorker and grew up listening
(23:07):
to Hot ninety seven and that's one of the things
that you launched. So I mean, I said, man, I
can't wait to get into this, and there's a lot
you've done, so I want to learn from you as
much as the audience does. And well, thank you for it.
All right, So let's start at the beginning. You know, Ala,
Larry King, if you don't mind, how does a nice
kid like you get involved in owning and running MS
(23:27):
communications and starting hip hop stations? And what comes first?
The love for radio?
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Well, I love the radio. I was of the generation.
I have to laugh because rich I have actually done.
I did this show when Larry did it and when
Jim did it. I wish you all the best of it,
Thank you, sir. And when you said, when you said
you're forty four, my socks are older than you. So
I've done this job. But I always loved it. I
was one of those kids from my generation. You grew
(23:53):
up a transistor radios and I listened to top forty
music in baseball games, you know, under my pillow at
night when my parents thought I was sleeping. And I
just always loved it. Always wanted to be in radio,
and went to college and law school specialized in broadcast law.
And I always want to start my own company. And
here we are forty some years later.
Speaker 4 (24:14):
Wow. I mean, it's an amazing story, it really is.
So you was it always broadcast for you? And I
know you've done some stuff with professional sports, so that
was in addition too.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
Yeah, we started the first all sports station, WFAA and
New York along about the time we started Hot ninety seven,
and we had brought all the radio stations in the
top markets that we could, so we said, you know,
we were sort of known as the turnaround guys, and
the Seattle Mariners needed turning around. I had one chapter
in the book called Genius to Idiot and another chapter
(24:49):
called Idiot to Genius. I have a favorite saying that
the line between being a genius and an idiot is
very fine, and I've been on both sides. So one
chapter talks about the start of all sports radio, and
that's idiot's a genius because when we put it on
the air, everybody thought it was a disaster, and lo
and behold, it took off and now there's seven hundred
dollars sports stations around the country. We were the first,
(25:12):
and then a genius. The idiot was one about the
Seattle Mariners, and I was sort of the boy wonder
out there, and everybody loved me and they stood in
line for my autographs. And when the team didn't work,
I became a pariah. So I went from genius the idiot.
So I've seen all sides of.
Speaker 4 (25:27):
The autograph out. Yeah, it's funny.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
I had a friend who from Indianapolis. I'm always from Indianapolis,
even though I went to USC and he stood there
at the ballpark one night watching We signed autographs after
the game for like twenty minutes, and he said, any
society that wants your autograph is a society that is
a grave danger of collapse. I always remembered it.
Speaker 4 (25:51):
That's terrific, folks. We are on with Jeff Smullyan. He's
the CEO of MS Communications, and he's written this great book,
Never Write a Roller Upside Down, The ups Downs and
Reinvention of an Entrepreneur. Now, Jeff Simullian. I started listening
to hip hop music as a kid, and my brothers
(26:12):
listened to you know, the old school Sugar Hill Gang
stuff like that, and I remember listening to Hot one
oh three and then it became a country station. I
guess you switched with Country ninety seven or something like that,
and then a little bit later it became Hot ninety seven,
and it was great. And I've never really stopped listening.
I mean I switched back and forth to the talk stuff,
but uh, true story, I listened this morning. I love
(26:35):
to fight with my radio, and I always fight with EBRO.
And I used to call Believe it or Not, one
of the few places I've called. They let me on
a little bit, but my views were a little too conservative,
and then they stopped taking my calls. Well, you know it.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
It's funny because and you mentioned we originally bought when
we bought the Double A stations, we bought WHN which
is ten fifty, which became wfan, right, and we bought
what was thebapp and and it became Hot one o
three five, And when we bought the NBC stations, we
moved everything. So Hot one oh three five became Hot
ninety seven and w Fan went to six sixty. So
(27:10):
amazing those days you couldn't own more than one station
in the market.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
Oh wow, I didn't know that. Yeah, but I think
it's an amazing success story because I whenever I traveled
as a young man, and you know, people say, oh,
you're from New York and I again they oh, you
listened Hot ninety seven. I said, yeah, of course, how
do you know about it? And they were like, oh,
we listened to that too. We get tapes and everybody
was trying to get Hot ninety seven and nobody had
a station like it until like after I was in
(27:35):
high school, there was a station in Miami that did it.
And then you guys are like were syndicating your stuff
and it was it was just so cool to be
from the market where it was happening, and I thought
to myself, nobody's done it really even since.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Yeah, we we really started hip hop with both Para
one O six in Los Angeles and Hot ninety seven.
And when it started it was revolution Area, but I said,
you can't play this stuff on the air, and then
it just it took off. So you know, like I said,
we've had some fun, fun experiences.
Speaker 4 (28:05):
Rich, Yeah, outstanding. I want to get into a little
bit more on your love for radio, because I think
that's an amazing story, and I want to get into
a little bit of your favorite passages from the book.
But folks, Aron with Jeff Smullian. Now, earlier I told
you a little bit about Jeff's background. He started a
broadcast company, has a love for radio, owns a sports team,
(28:26):
has represented huge stars like David Letterman, Ken Griffy Junior,
don Imus Goodness. That must have been tough, and here
he is sharing what most people want. You go to
a cocktail party and you're like, hey, Jeff Smullian's going
to be there, and you want to find out what's
the secret to your success? What's the secret sauce? He's
put it in this book. If you're an aspiring entrepreneur,
(28:46):
radio insider, media insider, you gotta get a copy. And
you know what I always say, get two copies. Why
because it's Christmas and you want to give one away,
you want to keep one for yourself. And when you're
done with reading it, pass it on because this is
the type of stuff that changes things. Quick story and
I don't want to steal too much time from Jeff,
but I went to a what's that called when they
induct you the Hall of Fame, the Radio Hall of Fame,
and Jim Kerr was telling a story about how he
(29:09):
slept overnight on the studio floor to get nine and
a half minutes of on air time before they shut
down a low powered station very early in his career,
and it was for that nine and a half minutes
he did everything. He swept the floor as he did this,
he did that, and obviously he's a huge success. It's
that love and that drive. I think that passion that
people have that gets them through. And it seems like
(29:31):
that's the same type of grit that you had in
order to get through, because you're still at it today. Jeff'smullion.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
Yeah, it really is. I've always said I have. This
book was written because my now eighteen year old daughter
that were driver to school every day and we would
just talk about life and it was my favorite thirty
minutes a day from kindergarten, well until she fired me,
she got a driver's license, death. We would just talk
about life and she said, Dad, you got to write
this down. I used to say, you got to have grit,
(30:00):
you get at persistence. That's the most important lesson. One
day she had a paper and she said, so, Grit's
the most important lesson. I said, no, not really. The
most important quality is integrity. If if your word is good,
almost nothing else matters, And if your word isn't good,
almost nothing else matters. So you know those are and
hopefully the book just tells funny stories but also sprinkles
(30:23):
and lessons about the things that I've learned, you know,
riding the roller coaster.
Speaker 4 (30:27):
Now, when you talk about grit, and again, I love
the roller coaster analogy because you know, some people are afraid,
some people love it, some people throw their hands up
in the air, some people hold on tight, and it's
such appropriate analogy. But grit is great, and I think
you throw it out there and it's it's wonderful. But
give me a little more, give me a little more,
give the listeners a little more of you know, what
(30:48):
was your go to, what helped you to continue to
have grit and to hold on to your grit to
keep pushing through.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
Well. I always love the business. I love the people.
I was with Rick Cummings who set it up programming,
and it was really one of the great architects of
the hip hop that you talked about it about ninety seven.
We've been together since day one, and when things got tough,
we just all sat down and said, how are we
going to solve this? And as you know, the radio
industry went through some monumental collapses. We were like everybody else,
(31:19):
and we just we just basically said we're going to
do whatever it takes and we're going to save it.
And we saved the company. And that's all in the book,
you know, some of the great successes, some of the
fun stuff. But we've had everything rich. We got nationalized
and hungry. We had the largest radio network in Hungary
and we got nationalized. And I'll never forget. There was
a former chairman of the FCC named Bill Cannard who
(31:41):
had just been the US named the US Ambassador to
the European Union. And I called Bill and I said,
Bill would be nationalized in Hungary. He said, Jeff, they
can't do that. And I said, Bill, we're being nationalized.
He said, Jeff, they remember the European Union. They can't
do that. And he said, Jeff, can't be and he
was very dismissive. Week later he called me, he said, Jeff,
(32:02):
I'll be darned if you're really being nationalized in Hungary.
And yet no kid can go. So we've seen everything.
I always say, until you've been nationalized, you really haven't
done much. So we've seen everything.
Speaker 4 (32:14):
Fascinating now and putting this together because it seems like
it's part like manifesto, rule book, advice, and memoir all
in one. What's the passage that you wrote that stood
out most to you.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
Well, I think there's so many different things. I mean
talking about how we built the company, talking about the
monumental downs that we had when the economy collapsed, when
you go from one day they say you're a really
rich guy to the next day or a poor guy
coming back out of that. But I think it was
just a level what I did, And there are so
many things. There was a time when Sam Zell wanted
(32:52):
to merge companies and he said, Jeff, let's put this together.
It will be one of the biggest companies industry. And
I said, if I wanted to make the most money,
I would do that because I know that in two
years you're going to say radio's topped out and you'll
sell and you'll be right. But I love this business.
I love the people I do with it, and so
I stayed in. Now a lot of people would say
(33:14):
that makes me an idiot, but I loved it and
my life has been very, very fortunate.
Speaker 4 (33:19):
Yeah, well, I share that love with you. There's nothing
like radio, and I believe the old saying goes. People
have been saying radio is dying since TV.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
That's exactly right. It's exactly right. So it has reinvented itself,
no question.
Speaker 4 (33:34):
All right, now I want to get I guess in
the perspective of looking at this, you're a guy that's
done nearly everything. What's next for you?
Speaker 3 (33:46):
Well, you know, we decided that we were going to
transition into other things. We have three new businesses and
you know, and so we're just looking at different things
and we're having fun. And we have kept our team together.
And we have a sound masking business of Control Sound,
and we have a dynamic pricing business that figures out
the operable price of you know, of any event that
(34:09):
you know ticket and all sorts of things. So we're
just having fun. We have a business that produces podcasts
for major for major corporations, and we're looking for other things.
But I'm one of those people. I've always said I'm
an entrepreneur because I was not hirable in a free society,
so I had to be an entrepreneur. And I'm also
you know, I'll never retire because those those people who
(34:33):
see me play golf realize that you know, I should
not I should stay at work.
Speaker 4 (34:37):
No business on the greens.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Yep. Then whatsoever?
Speaker 4 (34:41):
Now if you if you had to do it over,
and I'm pretty sure you'd repeat it. It seems like
youarely passionate. But if you weren't doing this, what would
you be doing?
Speaker 3 (34:51):
You know, that's a great question. I have a favorite
saying that if any one of ten things that happened,
the company'd be one hundred times bigger, and if any
one at ten other things happened, I'd be sweeping streets,
probably somewhere around media. I've always loved to write. I
started as a sports writer. Never really knew that I
could do a book, and I did this for fun.
At the best of my daughter, I mentioned and the
(35:13):
next thing they know that, people said, you know what,
you really got something here? So you know I love
I do love management. I love working with people. I
love putting plans together and advancing businesses.
Speaker 4 (35:25):
Outstanding, all right, Jeff Smullyan. I want to remind everybody
that they should get a couple of copies of this.
Never write a roller coaster upside down, the ups and
downs and reinvention of an entrepreneur. Get a couple of
copies now, Jeff Smullian in the minute We've got to go.
What is the impetus or the inspiration behind the title.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
The title is that you know life is a roller coaster.
When I was in school a thousand years ago, I thought,
you know, your career was a straight lineup, and what
you learn is it's ups and downs. And yet mine
has been not only a roller coaster ride, but because
of some of the crazy stuff we did, that roller
coaster rider's upside Yeah, and maybe the lessons of the
(36:11):
book will say, well, maybe he did too many crazy things.
I don't want to do it that way, but at
least the lessons will come through and hopefully they'll be
helpful to people.
Speaker 4 (36:19):
Outstanding folks. Again, that's Jeff Simullion, CEO of MS Communications,
has owned a bunch of radio stations, has been involved
in professional sports. He's done it all, and he's written
it down and it's kind of like a go to guide.
I know I'm getting a copy. Make sure you guys
get one. To Never Ride a roller Coaster Upside Down,
The ups and Downs and Reinvention of an Entrepreneur. Jeff,
(36:40):
it was my pleasure to meet you and speak with you.
I wish you godspeed with everything.
Speaker 3 (36:44):
Thanks Rich, I really enjoyed it. This is a lot
of fun and good luck with the show.
Speaker 4 (36:48):
Yes, sir, and I will be emailing you right after
this to get that interview with Ebro.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
Listen. I don't know if they'll talk to me either,
but we'll see.
Speaker 4 (36:58):
Take care.
Speaker 3 (36:59):
Thank Rich.
Speaker 4 (37:00):
All right, folks, more to come straight ahead, fun interview.
I enjoyed that Smolian smart guy, nice guy, and radio guy,
which is very very cool. Anyway, I want to talk
about the kid Miro. I don't know. I'm not familiar
with his work. I saw a couple of interviews that
he did because he's the new guy at Hot ninety
seven now, and I think it's great so far. He's
(37:22):
bringing high energy, seems like a positive guy. Doesn't seem
to be political, and nothing wrong with being political, right,
I contend to be political, but that's what I do.
If somebody hired me tomorrow to host I don't know,
a show like Regis and Kathy Lee, which is now
(37:42):
Kelly and her husband Mark No more politics. Why, because
I realize people aren't tuning in for that. Somebody hires
me to do a political show and I do a
political show. Somebody hires me to do something else, doing
something else. I just have never been hired to do
something else. I wish I was, because politics it gets
(38:05):
to me after a while. You know, how much? How
much can you talk about how terrible the Democrats are?
I mean, honestly, anyway, bottom line is you can touch
on politics from time to time. But the guy seems funny.
He seems good energy, and he grew up in the
city and it seems like he can, you know, relate.
He finds the funny things in life. He's got an
(38:28):
eye for life, and it's a funny eye. And I
think that's great. So congrats to the kid, Miro. If
there's anything to report in days to come, like oh boy,
he's a crazy left, he's trashing Israel, he's hating America,
he loves Karl Marx, then I'll bring that to you.
But otherwise I think I think he's trying to bring
(38:50):
it back to the roots, kind of like ninety seven
always was, whether it was ed Lisa Andre in the
morning or Missus Jones, right Jones, So anyway, that was that.
Now I'm gonna leave that there. I'm gonna come back
and wrap it up. We got a few thoughts. I'm
running out of steam. It is Friday, looking forward to
(39:12):
the weekend. I'm sure you are too, and man, I
feel like I'm forgetting to say something. Anyway, I'll be
right back. I'm Rich veld Does.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
This is America, This is America.
Speaker 4 (39:31):
He's making podcasting great again.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
This is America with Rich Valdas.
Speaker 4 (39:37):
All right, I mean it's welcome back. It's Rich Valdas
Friday Night. And I should have probably done this a
little bit earlier before getting into some of the other
stuff because it's a little heavier than the latest hosted
on ninety seven. Coach is a little softer of a topic.
But this is heavy, but interesting and wild. So I
kind of left it for a little bit later to
make sure that any little ears that may be listening
(39:58):
on your Amazon Alexa, just in case you decided to
say I likes that play Rich Valdez. Now your Alexis
are all going nuts like mine?
Speaker 3 (40:09):
You hear that?
Speaker 4 (40:11):
Anyway, I want to get into this story. It's a
wild story. This story's nuts. It's from a few months ago,
but there's an update as of this morning. And well,
let me bring you down memory Loan memory Lane.
Speaker 3 (40:26):
Right.
Speaker 4 (40:26):
This woman, she made headlines over the summer for having
sex with her step son. She's a nurse from Florida
and she got in trouble and she went to jail.
(40:48):
Listen to this court today for a pre trial hearing
what attorneys told the judge they had reached a pleading.
Speaker 6 (40:54):
The Florida nurse is accused of raping her fifteen year
old step son back in July twenty four. Was originally
charged with sexual battery of a minor by a person
and familial custody. The judge would not accept the plea
agreement until he was assured that the victim's family approved.
Speaker 8 (41:11):
Their desire for Mistates to do additional time. Indoc is
outlaid by their overall concern for the victims mental and
emotional health. He has made substancial progress from some issues.
Speaker 9 (41:26):
That he has dealt with in the past, and whether.
Speaker 8 (41:29):
There is more concerned and feels though it's justice for
him to not have to relent this situation and they
are ready and to.
Speaker 9 (41:38):
Get its behind them, for him to not have to
talk about.
Speaker 8 (41:41):
If they've had aligned inside me about the thought of
him having to testify and talk about this at a
trial and be cross examine due to some of the
past issues that he has had and because of that,
Dave Felis though he is justice for them for.
Speaker 9 (41:56):
Her to be for this encounter offer to be accept.
Speaker 5 (42:02):
How do you plead to the lesser included defensive leader
of the Sibius battery.
Speaker 9 (42:06):
I'm pleaded no contest?
Speaker 5 (42:07):
Are you pleading no contests?
Speaker 7 (42:08):
Say?
Speaker 6 (42:09):
Because you believed to be in your best interest?
Speaker 9 (42:10):
Yes?
Speaker 6 (42:11):
San, Would you like you to accept your plea in
the first sentence until September sixteenth at eight o'clock.
Speaker 9 (42:15):
I would much appreciate it, all right, I.
Speaker 4 (42:18):
Will accept your plea. I do find that you are alert, intelligent,
and competent to interrupta that you were doing so freely involuntarily,
that you had the assistance of an attorney with whom
your sas thought and who was spin effective.
Speaker 3 (42:27):
Again, that there's a actual basis for it.
Speaker 4 (42:34):
So this woman, again, I don't know how old this
kid was, right, Maybe I'll find out as I'm looking
at this. I think he was a teenager, about fourteen fifteen,
So all I know is when I was fourteen or fifteen,
this would have probably been a home run. You know,
if I was in a situation. Really yes, but that
(42:55):
wasn't the case, right, thirty four years old. She's not ugly.
I mean, I would say she's pretty pretty, but she's
not ugly. Anyway, She's in jail and she got some
bad news today. Listen to this from The New York Post.
That perverted Florida nurse who's currently behind Barnes for sexually
assaulting her then fifteen year old step son, had her
(43:17):
state medical license revoked just three weeks after her husband
filed for divorce. She's a native of O Calla, Florida.
Alexis von Yates, thirty five years old, now currently serving
a two year prison stint after being caught red handed
by her husband Frank, having sex with her teenage step
son on the couch in their family home in July
(43:40):
twenty twenty four. Miss von Yates pleaded no contest to
loot and lascivious battery and was locked up in September
of twenty twenty five on a reduced sentence. You just
heard that plea, And following the meeting of the Board
of Nursing and her attorney last month, the Florida Department
of Health has taken away her nursing license, and I honestly,
(44:04):
irrespective of what she did, it's always tough when you
hear about people losing a license for whatever. You know,
it is how they make their living. But I understand
it's not like it was a patient. Right, I'm not.
Don't wait to lay here. But it wasn't like she
was having sex with a patient. No, it's worse. She
was having sex with a kid. I get that, And
if it was the other way around, it'd be a
(44:24):
big deal. And I guess we have to stop looking
at it like, you know, me wishing I was fifteen
and some thirty four year old woman found me attractive.
But I understand, right if it was my fifteen year
old daughter, I'd i'd be losing my head, my hair
I already lost anyway. Florida health officials temporarily suspended the
nurse's license last April, but final review showed that they
(44:48):
were going to postpone it until October, and now they
decided the final outcome. Now, let's see here, if there's
anything else I can add to this, Yep, that's it. Okay,
So that's uh. I mean, there's some more there, but
it's not of no consequence here. Ultimately she loses her license. Anyway,
(45:10):
that's the double whammy there. She's not only in jail,
but she gets divorced and she loses her law license,
I mean her medical license, I mean her nursing license.
You know it's too late, but I can't talk straight.
All right, here's the last one we're gonna talk about.
This guy, crazy dude from a Jersey goes to the
city to eat something and ends up wilding out. I'm
(45:34):
guessing that he was drunk to begin with, because from
the surveillance video that they put on the uh on
the oh there goes that. Don't have that one? Oh,
what a great story, this one is. Hold on here,
let's see if I can find that. Yeah, this is
pretty good. So this guy dresses up like his mom
(45:54):
in order to get her pension. Yep, wild check this out. Australia.
Speaker 7 (46:01):
An Italian man who's dressed up as his dead mother
to keep collecting her pension payments. In what's been called
the Missus Doubtfire scam. The fifty six year old unnamed
man got away with the fort for three years by
hiding the deceased body of his mother inside his family home.
The unemployed nurse went very method with his disguise, donning
a skirt, a cane, makeup, and even his mother's jewelry
(46:24):
to keep himself hidden. Mister doubtfire pocketed around ninety thousand
dollars a year thanks to his mother's pension and property assets.
It wasn't until an employee realized that his elderly customer
had a bizarrely large neck, a deep voice, and didn't
look at all like an eighty two year old woman
that any suspicion was raised. Police were notified and confronted
(46:46):
the man, and when they asked to search his home,
the man allegedly just sighed and said go ahead, leading
police to find his mother's mummified corpse. He's been charged
with the illegal concealment of a body and benetvertraud.
Speaker 6 (46:59):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (47:00):
Wow, that's wild, right. This guy never buried his mom
just to keep cashing in on her check. This guy's nuts.
He's also a nurse, an unemployed one, thankfully unemployed.
Speaker 3 (47:14):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (47:15):
I wish I could say, let me know if you've
ever mummified a corpse to cash in pension shacks, give
you a call. Eight seven seven Felvedst one, but I
don't think I'm going to get much action on that.
I really don't. Now if you know somebody, if you
had a neighbor that did that, or even something even
remotely close, I'm happy to do it. Working on tracking
down I was great to hear. Let me back up
(47:36):
a little bit. It was great to hear from some
of our regulars that are called in, you know, in
the last couple of days and last week. But I
still have yet to hear from Gil from Manila, Philippines,
or as we know him, the Gilla from Manila. So
for those of you that have a beat on him,
let him know I'm waiting to have that talk. Anyway,
(47:58):
this is the kind of crazy that's going on right now.
You didn't get to see the video that I just saw.
That guy did look a lot like his mother. She
you know, didn't look like a man, but neither did he.
He had this wig on that looked a lot like
her hairstyle. And I'm surprised he got caught, honestly. I mean,
(48:19):
women do not get prettier typically as they get older,
they you know, they age, and he looked like an
old lady. He really did, So I don't know, I
guess they said he didn't look eighty something, and that's
probably true. And the pictures that they're showing of the mother,
though she didn't look eating something there either. You know,
she still had mostly black hair, even if she was
(48:40):
dying it, she didn't have that many wrinkles. So and
I'm not saying him saying the real mother from the
image that they showed. So from the image they showed,
looked a lot like the sun. All Right, that's all
I've got as La Brosima. Take care, good night, and
God bless you America. If you're a teacher, do not
cross the line. If you are an American, make sure
(49:01):
you are ready to be vigilant and informed and ready
to rock and roll because things are getting wild. We're
gonna bring you up to speed on what's going on
in Minnesota that's coming up on Monday, as well as
everything else. I mean, it's Friday evening. You're gonna hear
a ton of things on Saturday on Sunday, plus all
(49:24):
the regular news of the day, not to mention the weekend.
So we're gonna unpack everything on Monday. I might do
a breaking news show if there is something to discuss
over the weekend. Like last weekend, there was a lot.
That's why I had to do a little addendum on
last Friday's show to add in some Saturday stuff. So
if that happens, I will do that as well, because
(49:46):
you know, the news is only good when it's new, right,
when it gets a little too old, it's like, oh boy,
and especially when it comes in at those breakneck speats.
That's all I've got. Oh and by the way, if
you haven't already subscribed to the Rumble channel, the YouTube channel,
the podcast page, make sure you do that. Just you know,
if anybody's enjoying this. If you're not enjoying it, then hey,
(50:08):
no problem. If I disappear, it doesn't matter. But you
always want to be able to be locked in, you know.
So that's why I always tell you people at richeld
does on all the social media because along the way,
I've learned that changes happen, right, even if it's a
simple change, like the local radio station that you're in
the area you're in doesn't want to play this show anymore,
changes the timing on the show. You know, you can
(50:28):
always hear what you want to hear. Whatever you can
hear it just go to it directly to the source.
And I learned that and do in radio for many years,
and much the same with this right. You know, these
digital feeds are wonderful. You can reach more people. You know,
my reports now don't show me which states I do well,
(50:49):
and they do, but they also show me which countries
like our coverage of Venezuela in the last couple of weeks.
Apparently it's caught the attention of Venezuelans as Venezuela is
a second kind of tree on my list.
Speaker 7 (51:02):
You know.
Speaker 4 (51:02):
It's a ninety eight percent listenership from the United States,
two percent coming in from Venezuela. So I thought that
was really cool. And I say that to say, make
sure you're locked in right. Make sure you are subscribed
to the podcast. It's a free subscription. It doesn't cost
you anything other than clicking like a little bell in
your Apple Apple Podcast app that's on your phone already,
(51:27):
if it's not just downloaded. It's absolutely free. It doesn't
cost you anything to have the app or to subscribe
to the show. If you do it on iHeartRadio, go
right ahead, that's free too. Everywhere you go the show
is free. I want to make sure the show stays free.
That's why we look for advertisers, and that's why we
talk about products that make a difference, things that we
actually believe in, things that might benefit you so that
(51:48):
you don't have to pay for the show. And sometimes
they don't. I get it. There are some of the
ads that get inserted, you know, through our third party
partners and whatnot. Sometimes they're not good. I was listening
to one the other day and I had two back
to back ads for cannabis. I don't use cannabis, not
even like on the weekends, so you know, as far
as I go is a little Malbick red wine from
(52:10):
Argentina and the occasional whiskey. But that's it. But my
point is, it's not that I'm a goodie two shoes.
The point I'm making here is don't try and sell
me a drill. If you know I'm drinking Malbick, right,
I hire a guy with a drill. That's my point.
You know, we want to get you the most relevant
things that you can actually benefit from, and putting marijuana
(52:31):
in my feed isn't really going to help me buy
your marijuana because it's not something I'm on the market
for So I get it. The advertising model is not perfect,
but it beats one more subscription, right, That's what I say. Anyway,
Thank you for that again. Subscribe on Rumble dot com.
Subscribe to Rich valdesk This is America on Rumble dot com,
(52:53):
on YouTube dot com, as well as truth Social and
Instagram and Facebook. If you're on those things. If you're not,
that's okay. I understand. It's a part of my job
and I get tired of it. So just imagine you
if it's not a part of your job. I totally
get that and respect that. A stasima, Take care, good night,
and God bless you America. I'm Rich Faldez and this
(53:15):
is America.
Speaker 1 (53:17):
This is America.
Speaker 4 (53:29):
We live in a remarkable time in human history right now,
one in which our technology has dramatically improved our living standards.
That's because the people that design and build the modern
wonders that make our lives better are bound by physical reality,
a world in which things either work or they don't work. Unfortunately,
(53:49):
those who oversee our political and educational institutions aren't limited
by these same constraints. Instead, they often implement their agendas
by exploiting people's ignorance on issue US like taxes and immigration.
So where do we go to get the facts? Well,
you listen to this as America, but if you're online,
you go to just facts dot com right now and
enter your email. This way you can get free weekly
(54:11):
emails with rigorously documented facts about the most pressing issues
facing our nation, and then share those facts as much
as you can with everyone you know. This is a
time of dire need for truth in America. Our national
dialogue is riddled with fake news and fake facts, and
our country desperately needs a reliable starting point for informed
(54:32):
debate over our nation's future. Our friends at Just Facts
started that organization for such a time as this. So
join the battle for truth by signing up right now
at just facts dot com. That's jus t fac ts
dot com. Just facts dot com
Speaker 7 (01:00:00):
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Two Guys (Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers). Five Rings (you know, from the Olympics logo). One essential podcast for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Bowen Yang (SNL, Wicked) and Matt Rogers (Palm Royale, No Good Deed) of Las Culturistas are back for a second season of Two Guys, Five Rings, a collaboration with NBC Sports and iHeartRadio. In this 15-episode event, Bowen and Matt discuss the top storylines, obsess over Italian culture, and find out what really goes on in the Olympic Village.
iHeartOlympics: The Latest
Listen to the latest news from the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Milan Cortina Winter Olympics
The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina are here and have everyone talking. iHeartPodcasts is buzzing with content in honor of the XXV Winter Olympics We’re bringing you episodes from a variety of iHeartPodcast shows to help you keep up with the action. Follow Milan Cortina Winter Olympics so you don’t miss any coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics, and if you like what you hear, be sure to follow each Podcast in the feed for more great content from iHeartPodcasts.