The WOR Saturday Morning Show with Larry Mendte - - 8 - 9 - 2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is a podcast from WR Now the WR Saturday
Morning Show. Here's Larry Minty.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Good morning, and welcome to Saturday Morning. Coming up on
today's show, a New York Times story that Donald Trump
is working behind the scenes with Andrew Cuomo to stop
socialist Zorin Mom Donnie from becoming mayor hits the New
York mayoral race like a bombshell. We'll talk about that
with political analyst J. C. Polonco. Polls show New Jersey

(00:31):
Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Chiderelli behind Democrat Mikey Cheryl and
the polls. Jack will be with us to explain what's
going on. A shooting at an army base in Georgia
this week, and for Lieutenant General Richard Newton it was personal.
The General is just ahead and forget Hollywood, the place

(00:54):
to go to get in the movies is New Jersey.
We'll talk with John Crowley, executive director of the New
Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission. But let's start with J. C.
Polanco on the New York mayors race that changed once
we learned of the President's involvement. JC, thanks so much

(01:14):
for being here with us today.

Speaker 3 (01:15):
Always love coming on thank you for the invitation.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
Well listen, it's a great day to have you too,
because this New York Times story I think changed, at
least for the time being, the trajectory of this race.
I think it was all about law and order for
a second after the Park Avenue shooting, and that wasn't
good for Zoram Mom Donnie. In a way, this story
about Donald Trump allegedly calling Andrew Cuomo and Derek Adams

(01:42):
and talking about how they can stop Zora and Mom Donnie,
I think it's the best thing that could happen to
the Mom Donnie campaign right now, don't you.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
Well that's interesting. It's interesting because remember that there are
pockets in the city Larry where Donald Trump is very popular.
We know that from the twenty twenty four results and
his you know, coming in in any way whatsoever on
this mayoral race would have great benefits in some pockets,
but for the majority of the city. If I were
to take a poll, I think COVID nineteen is more

(02:12):
popular than President Trump.

Speaker 4 (02:13):
You know this. You know this.

Speaker 3 (02:15):
You know it's interesting because President Trump he knows what
I just said, and if he were to get involved
in this race, it'll be the kiss of death in
November for whoever he endorses. So how does President Trump
look at the city that he identifies with that he
grew up in, not get involved in any way whatsoever,
and then see the reality of how difficult it would
be to beat Mamdani with four people running against him,

(02:36):
just mathematically. And lastly, I remember what we talked about
a couple of weeks ago. The Republicans need a Mayor
Mamdani in the midterm elections. If Mayor Mumdanni wins, this
would be a treasure trove of the commercials for Republicans
in purple districts to associate the Democrats with a socialist
who has some Marxists and communist positions. So you know,

(02:59):
you're in a You're in a rough spot of your
President Trump because you need may your mom Donni as
the pinata in order to keep your Republican majority. But
you don't want to see New York City become a
socialist city. So it's very tough. So you're right him
getting involved here is could be good use for for
maum Donnie.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
At the end of the day, Let's take everything you
said and figure out what Donald Trump was thinking, because
what we've found out. I found out from the New
York Times documentary that Maggie Haberman, who did the story,
is very close with Donald Trump, and sometimes he'd leaks
stuff to her on his own and this so this
story comes out that now he's trying to stop zorin

(03:38):
Mom Donnie, and he knows what you just said. He
knows how that would be taken in this city. He
knows that what helps or in Mom Donnie. So the
question is because that would help the Republicans in the midterms,
and a lot of people say that Zora Mam Donnie
winning would win Mike Lawler's seat for Mike Lawler in
Rockland and Westchester County. So so did he do it

(04:01):
on purpose?

Speaker 3 (04:02):
Oh, that's that's interesting. I've been I've been grappling with
that for the last couple of days. I have been
because you know, I don't I don't know if he
if he if if the President really wanted to do
this on purpose, he would just say it right, he
would say we need Governor Cuomo. He would just say
we need to make sure that we defeat and that
alone would would almost guarantee him Donny victory.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
I just wanted to jump in. He has some deniability this.

Speaker 3 (04:24):
Way, he does have some deniability. But when was the
last time that we saw President Trump one deniability and
was a good.

Speaker 4 (04:30):
Strategy for him.

Speaker 2 (04:32):
He will do that every once in a while, You're right,
Usually he doesn't. Usually he's out in front and everything.
I think he's learning. I'm just wondering if he's playing
chess with this while everybody else is playing checkers.

Speaker 3 (04:43):
I'll tell you this, Larry, it's you know I have
I have Curtis Leewa on my podcast this morning centered
with J. C. Palanko for your viewers, and I'm gonna
ask him. I'm gonna ask him straight up. You know,
can you see yourself winning in this situation where you
have four people running when the President hasn't made an
endorsement yet, And what are your thoughts about beating Mamdani

(05:04):
considering the numbers?

Speaker 2 (05:05):
That would be really interesting because from what I remember,
and you'll probably know this better than I, he doesn't
have the best relationship with Donald Trump, does he, Curtis.

Speaker 3 (05:16):
Leewa, No, Well, you know he respects him. I've seen
his interviews in the past. He was never a maga guy,
you know, you know he doesn't have the conservative line.
He's more of a Republican along what we normally consider
to be a New York Republican right, someone who is
down the middle on a lot of issues. And he
doesn't have that maga relationship with the President, but I

(05:37):
know it's a respectful one from what I've seen. Now,
I don't know whether or not quite frankly, you know,
President Trump getting involved in any way even supporting the
Republican candidate would make any sense at all to try
to defeat Mamdani. See, this is a very tough situation
with so many candidates running. And another thing, there are
other ways that the president could be supportive in bringing

(05:58):
people together to defeat a socialist, and that may be
asking donors to support one of the candidates that has
the best shot, because as you can see, money's gonna
be tight going into November. So there's a lot of
other ways other than an endorsement, where the President can
be helpful.

Speaker 2 (06:12):
I know there's a lot of people that listen to
this show that are rooting for Curtis Leewood. Does he
have a shot?

Speaker 3 (06:19):
You know, he's raised the most money, he's going up
in the polls. Know I'm going to ask him about
all of that this morning, Larry, so I could be honestly,
I want to get that to want to get his
answers from him. Mathematically, I think when you take a
look at four people running hard, beating up on each other,
I mean you got to hear the campaigning against each other.
When when you know Curtis Lee, what goes in on

(06:41):
former Governor Cuomo? He pulls no punches. I just wonder
how helpful is that in November. I'm sitting here off
and thinking about it. I'm going to ask him this.
I mean, when you're beating up on all the other independence,
does that make it more difficult for there to be
a unified voice in November. I think it's difficult right
now for me to tell you that going to November,
as of today, that he's going to win. The way

(07:02):
that he can win is if in the next couple
of months, and I know your viewers a curious about this,
in the next couple of months, do the other independent
candidates fall off right so they no longer campaign actively.
If that happens and Curtis continues campaigning and raising money
like he has, then the hope would be for Curtis
is that the people that drop off are telling are
coming over to his camp.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
Hey, JC, let me quickly because we're running out of time.
I want to ask you the most important question. How
do people hear your podcasts?

Speaker 3 (07:29):
Oh, they could go to Centered with JC dot com.
And I'm on all the platforms, YouTube, everywhere, Instagram, everywhere
that you can imagine, but Centered with JC is where
we post them and it'll be up tonight. So we're
recording in about an hour and it's gonna be a
great interview.

Speaker 2 (07:43):
Wonderful. Jac Polanco, political analyst and University of Mount Saint
Vincent assistant professor. Thanks a lot, JC, Have a good weekend,
have a great day, think still to come. A horrible
event at Ford Stewart in Georgia. Want to sergeant with
a gun opens fire. We'll talk about that with Lieutenant
General Richard Newton and about what happens next.

Speaker 1 (08:04):
Now more of the WOOR Saturday Morning Show and Larry
Minty welcome back.

Speaker 2 (08:10):
It happened again this week, and it's still shocking every
time it does. A soldier opens fire on his fellow soldiers.
This time it happened at Fort Stewart in Georgia, and
Lieutenant General Richard Newton tells us the news is especially
hard on those who served.

Speaker 5 (08:29):
Good morning, Larry, delighted to be with you, regardless of
the circumstances.

Speaker 2 (08:34):
But this is a tough story. It is a tough story,
and it hit all of us. As soon as you
hear a story like this, you run to the TV set,
you run to the radios to hear more, and you're hoping,
you're hoping for the best. And I guess we did
get the best that could have happened in a situation
like this, and that nobody died. But I know how
we all felt. I don't know how people that served

(08:56):
felt when they heard this, because my guest is you
must see this as a real violation considering the fact
you've been on these camps and you've been with these men.
Could you please explain your first feelings when you heard
about this story.

Speaker 5 (09:11):
Well, my first thought harkened back immediately when I was
a senior general officer in the Pentagon. I was part
of the initial senior officer investigative review team that we
put together. As I mentioned, the Pentagon in November of
two thousand and nine. If you recall our listeners may
recall when Major Nadal Hassan, an Army major at the

(09:32):
time psychiatrists, killed thirteen fellow soldiers and wounded thirty at
Fort Hood in that early morning hours. And so my
first thought was concern for the soldiers at Fort Stewart.
There are fifteen thousand soldiers there, by the way, in
sixteen thousand family members. And then once I heard and

(09:55):
started to hear just the initial reports come out, my
first thought in terms of what it was was likely
an insider attack, much like we saw with Hassan, in
terms of a weapon firing on fellow soldiers and then
being subdued and apprehended almost immediately exactly.

Speaker 2 (10:15):
The only good thing that came out of this, and
the only thing that should make people proud, is that
you had young men I'm assuming they're young men that
were there that were being shot at. There was somebody
with a gun, an active shooter, and instead of running
out of there or hiding or going for cover, several
of them went at the man and tackled him. And

(10:37):
if not for that, this could have been a lot worse.
Being someone that served, being someone that's led these men,
you must be so proud.

Speaker 5 (10:45):
I am, and you know, we have two million men
and women in uniform and all volunteers, and in this case,
and also as we've demonstrated in a Rock and Afghanistan,
and by the way, our men and women serving overse
Caesar over one hundred and thirty five locations around the
world as we speak right now this morning, they run
to the sound of gunfire and this was a demonstration, however,

(11:08):
of not a combat situation, but still their training kicked
in and the fact that they were able to nearly
immediately subdue this Army sergeant in what I'm going to term,
and this is preliminary obviously, but an extreme case of
work centered violence in this case. But the other aspect

(11:31):
of this I want to underscore is at Fort Stewart,
and you would expect this at other installations. I've been
a major installation commander where I had a lockdown situation.
We immediately went into force protection condition delta, which is
what happened at Fort Stewart. But for the army leadership
as well as the chaining comand all the way down to.

Speaker 4 (11:48):
Those soldiers who subdued.

Speaker 5 (11:51):
This Army sergeant in terms of the timing of this,
in terms of putting medical attention immediately on the scene
for those five wounded soul holders, for Fort Stewart to
lock down the installation, to protect other soldiers in the
sixteen thousand family members there, and to get those soldiers
who are in critical condition. Knowing that there when Army

(12:12):
Hospital wasn't as a Level four trauma center wasn't going
to be you know, provided to care they needed, they
were able to get those remaining critical soldiers. I understand
there's two of them to Savannah Memorial Hospital, which is
forty miles away, into a Level one trauma center. I
believe is going to also be something that will be textbooked.

(12:36):
But nonetheless, now the hard work begins. What happened, How
did it happen? Why did it happen?

Speaker 4 (12:42):
Now?

Speaker 2 (12:42):
Apparently some a little bit of motive is coming out
in news reports that he had some disagreements with people
that he served with and he was a little bit
disgruntled that he wasn't moving up ranks quick enough. Is
are there processes on the in these in these campuses
and you shouldn't go to campus uh inside these facilities

(13:05):
that that pinpoints that that can deal with that before
it gets to this point, it.

Speaker 5 (13:10):
Absolutely all the services United States Army, the Marine Corps,
the Air Force and Navy, and the Space Force and
so forth, that this is the responsibility of the chain
of command as well as your fellow soldiers. In this case,
it's almost like having lived in New York City. You know,
you know the terminology. If you see something, say something.
But if there's an indication of say your fellow soldier,
your your you know, men and women are serving with it,

(13:33):
there's our issues. If there are hints of mental health issues,
for instance, if there's things that in terms of off duty, uh,
there are issues with their behavior. In this case, it's
reported that Sergeant Rafford had been charged with a DUI
back in May uh and had not reported that to
his chain of command as he is required to do

(13:54):
so UH, and there could have been some some lingering
aspects of what was going on within the army unit
and so forth. He's a logistics sergeant and this is
a logistics unit supposedly with a third Infantry Division. Those
things will be looked at, but nonetheless you are in however,
you know, in the United States Army and the Air

(14:14):
Force and other services, you don't necessarily lean away from
those you serve with, you lean into and the fact
is is that it's one team, one fight, and so forth.
And I have to think that his fellow soldiers really
had not, perhaps even contemplator even anticipated this type of violence.
And I want our listeners also, I'll close on this

(14:36):
point for this commentary. But this is very very unique situation,
and this is not something that we would anticipate that
is prevalent throughout the ranks at all. You know, we
recruit from the best and brightest that America has to offer,
but there's only about a twenty three percent of the
population between ages for men and women at eighteen.

Speaker 2 (14:56):
To twenty five.

Speaker 5 (14:57):
And we really try to make sure that those that
we recruit and we bring into the armed forces that
indeed you meet all the ethical standards and health and
mental and so forth. But something happened along the way.
This sergeant has served in the Army for about eight
years or so, but something has had to happen along

(15:18):
the way that the Army will find out, much like
we did in the Deep Investigation Thorough Investigation.

Speaker 2 (15:24):
Lieutenant General Richard Newton, a News Nation senior National security contributor,
there are accusations the Democratic candidate for governor, Mikey Cheryl,
profited a little too much after three terms in Congress.
Make that a lot too much. We'll talk with our
Republican opponent, Jack Chittarelli. Hey, have you heard New Jersey

(15:47):
has become a red hot location for movies and TV shows.
We'll talk with John Crowley, executive director in charge of
the productions that come to New Jersey.

Speaker 1 (15:58):
Coming up back now, it's a wor Saturday Morning show
with Larry Minty.

Speaker 2 (16:04):
Welcome back four years ago. Jack Chittarelli was the Republican
candidate for governor and he came so close to knocking
off the Democratic governor Phil Murphy. He's the Republican candidate
again in twenty twenty five, and this time he's taking
on Congresswoman Mikey Cheryl. Nice job on Hannity, and I
really give him credit for saying to you, I'm sorry

(16:27):
about four years ago. I didn't see you coming.

Speaker 4 (16:29):
Larry.

Speaker 6 (16:30):
You paid this trace the attention it deserved back in
twenty one. A few others didn't, but listen. It was
great to hear that too from Sean Handy. I'm just
really glad the nation is paying attention to this race
because I'm telling you we're gonna win it this year.

Speaker 2 (16:43):
Well, you're closer than you were you were four years ago,
So if the polls are as bad as they were,
then you're gonna win it by a landslide. Because I
remember people just writing you off because of the polls
they and they shouldn't have. They made a fatal mistake.
Had they given you that a little bit of an
extra push, we'd be calling you governor right now.

Speaker 6 (17:04):
Well, there's a couple of these universities that should really
get out of the polling business, Larry. One of them
had me down by twenty one points after the primary.
They had me down by forty one points last time.
They had Kamala Harris winning the state last year by
twenty pole two weeks after Rutgers did that poll after
you said I was down by only eight points, So somehow, someway,
in a matter of two weeks, I picked up thirteen points.

(17:24):
You really can't trust these university polls.

Speaker 2 (17:27):
Yeah, there has to be a study on those polls
in New Jersey. You're right, they've been just awful on this.
So you did say something during the Sean Hannery interview
that really got my attention, and that and thanks so
much for coming on. That's the reason I wanted to
talk to you today. You said that the Democrat that's
running against you, Congresswoman Mikey Cheryl, has quadrupled her wealth

(17:50):
since she's been in office. What are you alleging.

Speaker 6 (17:53):
Tripled her net worth since she treatened to office only
six years.

Speaker 4 (17:56):
Ago, Larry.

Speaker 6 (17:57):
And not only that, but she was found built the
filing in federal law on stock trades and stock reporting
for congress people. And when she was asked during that
interview how that happened, she couldn't answer the question. It's
a disqualifier. People hate it, hate it when people use
public service as a way to enrich themselves. That's exactly

(18:18):
what she's done.

Speaker 2 (18:19):
Yeah, and now there's a bill to stop this. So
what you're saying is, and I guess there's some evidence
of this, is that she's the Nancy Pelosi of New Jersey.

Speaker 4 (18:28):
Well, Larry, here's the thing.

Speaker 6 (18:29):
Even if she's not guilty of a single thing, even
though we know she is, she paid the fines for
violating federal law on this matter. But if you're a
congress person, if you're sitting on the House Intelligence Committee?
Do you not consider concerning yourself one bit with perception?
If you're trading defense stocks and we're not talking about
five hundred shares, we're talking about hundreds of thousand shares,
How could you be trading defense stocks when you're a

(18:51):
congress person sitting on the House Intelligence Committee?

Speaker 4 (18:53):
Do you not concern yourself one bit with perception? No?

Speaker 2 (18:56):
And I think there's so many of them in Congress.
She's just one of many, and they're trying to change
the law right now to put an end to all
of this. But I guess if you play this out,
what you're saying to the people of New Jersey, if
she did this in her federal office, what's she going
to do when she has the power? By the way,
the governor of New Jersey is the most powerful gubernatorial

(19:19):
ship in the country. What will she do when she
gets that kind of power as the head of New Jersey.

Speaker 6 (19:25):
It does beg the question and is also a question
of character. But listen, Larry, we saw this with Corsign
he was from Illinois, came here became governor. We saw
this with Murphy, he came from Massachusetts to become governor.
We saw how those two worked out. Mikey Sure's not
from New Jersey. So as I go around the state
New Jersey, I say to people, I've got a really
interesting idea for you to consider.

Speaker 4 (19:44):
How about we elect a Jersey guy.

Speaker 2 (19:46):
A you have a bit of a quandary, I would
think maybe you don't. Now, maybe I'm assuming something that's
not really true. You have Donald Trump's endorsement, and that's great.
That's great that he's come out and endorsed you. He
has he gets a mixed reaction in New Jersey. Do
you want him to come and hold a rally and
have you up there with him.

Speaker 6 (20:08):
We're in constant communication with the White House to decide
how best to use the White House and President Trump
to work together to win the election.

Speaker 4 (20:15):
Here's what people need to know, Larry in New Jersey
right now.

Speaker 6 (20:18):
According to the latest polls, Murphy and Trump pull out
about the same in New Jersey. On's at forty four percent,
ones at forty five percent. Number two. More than one
out of very two people feel that New Jersey's heading
in the wrong direction. But here's the other very interesting
thing about that poll. Twenty three percent of the people
in New Jersey felt that Trump is the issue in
this governor's race. Seventy two percent want to talk about

(20:40):
New Jersey issues like affordability, public safety, public education, over development,
the cost of electricity. And that's what we're going to
do over the course of these last ninety days to
win it.

Speaker 2 (20:50):
One of the things that's happened in New Jersey that
I've never understood because I look at Pennsylvania and I
look at natural gas and how rich that state has
become because of fracking in natural gas and pipeline after
pipeline and project after a project in New Jersey has
been stopped over the years. Are you going to allow
those pipelines? Are you going to allow the exploration for

(21:12):
natural gas in New Jersey.

Speaker 6 (21:14):
What we're gonna do is reopen the plants the film
or be closed down that burn natural gas to produce electricity.
We're gonna expand our nuclear footprint in South Jersey. We're
not gonna go with those wind farms off our Jersey shore,
and we'll put the pedal to the metal on Stolar.
I need energy in the state to bring down people's
monthly electric bills. The Democratic Governor of Pennsylvania to your

(21:34):
point is burning seven cool burning plants natural gas like.

Speaker 4 (21:38):
There's no tomorrow. Just cut the ribbon on a fourth
nuclear reactor. Pennsylvania's got the juice. We don't.

Speaker 6 (21:44):
Their bills are low, hours are high, and they're getting
all the new business, including data centers that are needed
to support AI.

Speaker 4 (21:50):
Are we going to compete or not? Under Governor Cheddarelly Larry,
We're gonna compete. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (21:54):
In Pennsylvania. I know for a fact the money that
goes into that budget from all of the natural gas
facilities and all the power facilities in that state. That's
the reason they haven't ad raised taxes in a long
time because they are rich from the natural gas. Which
is why a Democrat got in the office and said,
oh no, no, no, no, we're not stopping this. And

(22:15):
so I think people should really pay attention to this
because I would have I don't know how Mikey Cheryl,
which she stands on this, but I would imagine she's
with most Democrats in saying she's not going to allow
this to happen.

Speaker 4 (22:27):
And she's with the Phil Murphy Energy Plan.

Speaker 6 (22:29):
He just doubled down on when the EV mandates not
burning natural gas, and so this is what got us
in the mess we're in today. You know, Larry, when
he took office in twenty eighteen, New Jersey was an electricity.

Speaker 4 (22:40):
Out We exported electricity.

Speaker 6 (22:43):
Today we import it through these exchanges, and we're paying
through the nose, which is why everybody's monthly bill is
going through the roof.

Speaker 4 (22:49):
They totally ruined the energy market.

Speaker 6 (22:51):
My opponent's trying to blame it on the president and
the exchanges that are out there. It all has to
do with phil Murphy's energy policies, which she endorsed.

Speaker 4 (22:59):
So we'll reverse on day one of my administration.

Speaker 2 (23:01):
Well, for that many reasons, I can't imagine anybody else
is gonna have a chance except for Jack Chitarelli, Republican
candidate for New Jersey governor. We're all pulling for you. Jack,
Come on as much as you want.

Speaker 4 (23:12):
Larry, we're gonna get it done. Thank you, and looking
forward to next time.

Speaker 2 (23:15):
And New Jersey, by the way, has become the hottest
place in the country to make films and TV shows.
We'll talk to the man in charge of bringing productions
to the state, John Crowley.

Speaker 1 (23:27):
Next here again is Larry Minty with the Wor Saturday
morning show Welcome Back.

Speaker 2 (23:35):
John Crowley is the executive director of New Jersey Motion
Picture and Television Commission, and he's been in charge as
New Jersey has become one of the hottest places in
the country for TV shows and movies.

Speaker 4 (23:49):
Good morning, John, Larry, how are you, my friend?

Speaker 2 (23:54):
I'm doing well. It's been a long time. The last
time I talked to you, it was about simply doing
a commercial, so I can't say yes that you never
called me. As a matter of fact, you called me
right You called me yesterday. I was taking a nap,
but I thought to myself, why is John Crowley calling me?
And you know, I want to call you right back
because it might be some huge movie role. But but no,

(24:16):
it was just that you were coming on with us today.
How have you been. How's everything going.

Speaker 7 (24:20):
I'm out well great. I mean we're going like gangbusters
in New Jersey. But look, I got to drop the
dime on you to your listeners because we did the
show together and I had said to Larry, you know,
I've never won an Emmy and that's sort of a
bucket list thing. We finished taping that night. I don't
know if you remember this, and you walked up the
aisle to me and you said, you just won your

(24:41):
first Emmy and I have you to thank Larry. You
were a fantastic hoast for that event, and you know
you went out of your way to make make the
Emmy folks aware of our program. And I owe that
that piece of hardware to you, my friend.

Speaker 4 (24:55):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (24:55):
Yeah, and you were wonderful even at the time. You
got some Hollywood guests to come all way to New
Jersey to appear in that. So yeah, No, it was
a wonderful It was. It just let the people, let
people know that it was a town hall about the
opioid crisis and so and and we had some people
on the stage that had some heartbreaking stories. We had
the Attorney General.

Speaker 4 (25:16):
It was.

Speaker 2 (25:17):
It was a wonderful TV moment that I'm really proud of.
And John, I'm sure you are too.

Speaker 7 (25:22):
I am. And and and you just said, we've got
some Hollywood people to come to that. Well, we're getting
even more of them, uh these days with the with
film and TV production. Let me, I'll just you want
do you want me to give you just some some
good numbers?

Speaker 2 (25:36):
Absolutely? Go ahead, go ahead, all right.

Speaker 7 (25:39):
So twenty so historically New Jersey has been like number seven,
number eight in terms of you know, uh, production hubs
to come to in the United States.

Speaker 4 (25:49):
LA.

Speaker 7 (25:50):
Even though the numbers have been down, LA is still
number one. New York's number two. George has been number three,
and then we're down around seven or eight. Well, goal
on the film commission is to get us into that
number three spot. And it's happening because in twenty twenty three,
we had five hundred and ninety two million dollars in

(26:11):
what is called qualified spend. That's the money that productions
are spending when they're here in New Jersey. They don't
come here with groceries and hardware and fuel and cars
things like that. They're getting them here, they're renting them
when they're here. So that was five hundred and ninety
two million dollars in New Jersey on qualified spent twenty
twenty four. Do you want to take a guest, Larry,

(26:32):
what the qualified spend was.

Speaker 2 (26:33):
I have it in front of me, So it's not
a guess I'm not going to achieve.

Speaker 7 (26:36):
Go ahead and tell me Genie eight and ten million
dollars qualified spend. Wow, it's thirty seven percent that were
up and LA down. New York and stagnant recovering, Georgia down, Louisiana, Texas,
New Mexico down, down, down. Those are all of our
major competitors. Chicago down, even Toronto is down.

Speaker 2 (26:58):
Hey, we're just talking about the money. What about the jobs.

Speaker 7 (27:02):
H So the jobs even more millery they we twenty
twenty two sixteen thousand crew hires. Twenty twenty three was
like seventeen thousand crew hires. In twenty twenty four we
hit a new high, which was thirty thousand crew hires.

Speaker 2 (27:22):
But absolutely some of the biggest some of the biggest
movies and some of the biggest shows of the last
couple of years. I don't think people were realize we're
done in New Jersey. Go through a few of them.

Speaker 7 (27:33):
Well, you know, And that's the thing, right is like,
why is that happening? Well, New Jersey, you know, geographically
compact state, but this huge variety of locations. And that's
one of the biggest draws for production is they say, well,
we've got all these different things we need in our script.
You know, we need to Washington, DC look alike, or
we need to play like Times Square in New York.

(27:55):
But we don't want to deal with the traffic going
to New York. And we've got all that huge amount
of variety locations, little towns, big cities, mountains with snow, oceans.
So Severance is shooting, you know, has been shooting in
Holmdale at the Bell Labs building.

Speaker 2 (28:11):
No Bigger show, no Digger show on TV right now.

Speaker 7 (28:14):
That's right, yeah, right, Larry, are you in any air
and outy We we'll figure that out later.

Speaker 4 (28:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (28:19):
So that's for your Severance fans, that's for your seventh frans.
That's nothing to do with your belly button. But so
Severance a complete unknown. That was the Bob Dylan biopic
that was here, The new Bruce Springsteen biopic that's coming out,
Delivered Me.

Speaker 2 (28:36):
From Nowhere filmed here.

Speaker 7 (28:39):
Steven Spielberg, he's got a new film that's coming out.
That was down in Cape may I got to tell
you about that too. That was that was crazy in
terms of that money that we talk about. They had
three hundred and fifty crew members that were down there
in Kate may Well. They were all coming from else
you know, from Northern Jersey, Central Jersey, wherever. So they
put them up in Hotel health. They the three hundred

(29:01):
and fifty crew were in eight different hotels and an
average at two hundred and eighty five dollars per night.
So you do the math, and that's in the off season.
That was like February March, so the hotel owners were ecstatic.
And then when everybody wrapped filming for the end of
the day, they went and they took their per diem
and they were buying dinner at restaurants all around the
Cape May area. So again, between the jobs and the

(29:24):
qualified spend the money that they're spending, that's that's why
we do that. But we've all happy Gilmore. Happy Gilmore
just released what about a week week and a half
ago on Netflix. Shot here for like sixty some odd days,
and they spent one hundred and fifty two million dollars
while they were here in state. Eighteen million. That was
just in location fees at golf courses and stores and

(29:47):
you know, restaurants everywhere that you've seen in the movie.
They were paying location fees.

Speaker 2 (29:51):
Hey, you had so much being built in New Jersey
and John, we're running out of time, but you know what,
we got to have you back, So let's talk again
soon and come back on you know you have. It's
an open door policy. Apparently I've been shut out to
any production in New Jersey, but for you, sir, it's
an open door policy to come on the show to
talk about what's happening.

Speaker 7 (30:11):
With Don Larry.

Speaker 2 (30:11):
I'm sure. I'm sure we'll.

Speaker 7 (30:13):
Get jumped up. I beg I got to talk to you.

Speaker 2 (30:15):
My friend would be great, all right, So we'll definitely
do that. John, congratulations on the gig and congratulations on
your success. Thanks a lot, Thank you, sir. Thank you
John Crowley, Executive director of the New Jersey Motion Picture
and Television Commission. That wraps up Saturday morning for this week,
Thanks so much for listening, and thanks to producer Peter

(30:36):
Airolano for putting the show together. I'll be back Monday
morning from six to ten for Mente in the morning.
Hope you join us. Then.

Speaker 1 (30:44):
This has been a podcast from wor