8.22: Oblong & Brownies - Hour 4

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Strategy.

Speaker 2 (00:00):
McDonald's is going to start next month where eight of
their combo meals will be priced fifteen percent lower than
they've previously been priced. So McDonald's is even going to
provide financial support to franchise e's who joined the efforts.
So they're saying, hey, we'll help you out in some
way financially if you follow suit with what we want
to do. I guess if you are a franchise z

(00:21):
you have maybe I guess you've got some freedom to
do a little bit of what you want, specifically as
far as prices. But they expect the return of the
extra value meals branding with fresh offerings like the five
dollar breakfast deal and the eight dollars big Mac in
McNugget combo. Was not familiar with that combo, but I
guess it's I guess it was popular. I mean, if

(00:42):
I'm going McDonald's, I'm not getting McNuggets and a burger.
But I guess people do. Mean it's a lot of food.
It sounds like that sounds like an upset stomach.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
Remember when the meals used to be like under five bucks?

Speaker 2 (00:54):
Yes, oh my gosha, Yeah, I mean I could go,
I could get I could go to McDonald's with a
five dollar bill when I'll was in high school and
know that I'm gonna take some money home with me.

Speaker 3 (01:03):
Yeah, I mean yeah, and then they every now and
then they come out with the twenty nine cent hamburgers
and thirty nine cent cheeseburgers. That's when I was rolling
through there, and like people come and just grab sacks sack.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
And now, I mean, I feel like my typical meal
at McDonald's is a double cheeseburger meal, which they don't
have the meal like up there, but it's still something.
If I just say, let me get the double cheeburger
meal plane, I'll get it. Double cheeseburger plane, meetium fro
medium coke. That used to be I feel like it
used to be under four dollars at one point. Now
it's it's every bit of six and a half to seven.

Speaker 3 (01:36):
There's a guy following TikTok and he does the because
all these apparently all these fast food places have the
secret item on the menu.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
Yes, I've heard I've seen it, guys. Yes, I've heard
people mentioning that it's not on the menu. But if
you say this, you can get it.

Speaker 3 (01:51):
Yeah, I mean he goes in and gets some of
the wildest stuff and he looks at it, and I'm
been tempted to do that one time. But because I
have a Dave plutney, I mean, I don't always eat
as healthy as I can every day of the week.
There are times where you just have to splurge. But
you know, he go in and grab this stuff. And
you know he was talking. He did a segment about
when Taco Bell you still like some well, I've seen him,

(02:12):
You've seen him on TikTok too. TikTok would have the
recipe some way pulpit a recipe from say, nineteen ninety five,
Taco Bell. Dude, you can walk into Taco Bell and
drop two bucks and neat a whole feast, you know,
And now it's.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
Come so much different than dude.

Speaker 3 (02:28):
Now, it's just it's just crazy how expensive it's gotten.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
Yeah, and I mean fast food.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
I guess it all depends on the kind of financial
situation that each person is in. But I feel like
fast food for a lot of people used to simply
just be the quick, easy and very affordable way to
get a bite to eat, and now that's not as
much the case. So the CEO McDonald's said on an
earnings call, the customers are turned off when they see

(02:54):
the combo prices that are over ten dollars, admitting the
menu board is the number one driver of negative value
per se, which makes total sense. I mean, you see
the promotions and you see that price and you just
know that it is substantially higher than what you've come,
what you've had over the years. It's just gonna make
you question, okay, is it worth this? So last year

(03:14):
it went viral when an eighteen dollars big mac meal
sparked outrage, leading McDonald's to issue an unusual open letter
assuring customers that it was an exception. And I don't
know how they ever got to an eighteen dollars big macmeal.
And by the way, not clearly you go to McDonald
I remember as a kid we went to McDonald's in
New York, and I remember looking at the prices and

(03:36):
I wasn't paying. I was a child, but it was
crazy to me that it was so much more expensive
there than it was where I lived. And at that time,
you know, I didn't realize that, you know, just because
you know certain value menus like yeah, the price is
going to be the same, but depending on where you go,
prices are going to are going to rise.

Speaker 1 (03:52):
Like it's just that's just how it is.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
But I remember the realization of, you know, certain places
like things are going to be more expensive than they
are where I'm from, and I'm thinking, well, I'm never.

Speaker 1 (03:59):
Leave in here. It's cheaper here where I where I
live in Little ol Kentucky.

Speaker 2 (04:03):
So the sit down chains like Applebee's Chili's, they've benefited
from places like McDonald's because now you can get value
menu stuff at places like that and be mindful of
what you get as far as a drink. If you
don't get alcohol, maybe just get water, and you take
advantage of the you know, the I guess the promo

(04:25):
meals essentially the offerings they have at places that are
sit down casual. You can eat cheaper there than you
can in the past food place. And that's to me,
that's unheard of. But that's just that's that's where we are.
And clearly McDonald's realize that, and they're making some changes
to try to to try to you know, and again,
maybe I'm wrong here, but I feel like McDonald's coming
out and straight up admitting that they realize that they

(04:47):
have now priced things to where it is it is
it is not benefiting them. They're losing and it's probably
not a substantial thing to where they're gonna have to,
you know, close up shop. But I'm glad to see
that they realize that people will no longer go to
your restaurant quite as much if the prices are going
to be that expensive, because they just can't justify it.
All right, quick break, We've got traffic on weather updates
on the way right here on Who's radio waight forty whas?

(05:11):
So the age old debate who should pay for the date?
That's a debate that I think will never will never end.
People will always have an opinion on it, usually a
strong one, and there is a study that now.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
Shows us which way.

Speaker 2 (05:27):
I guess each generation sort of leans when it comes
to who should be responsible for the date? Is it
if you're just going on a date for the first time,
first time meeting each other, should it be split down
the middle? Should the guy always pay no matter what?
Should you know? Should the person who invited and initiated
the date, regardless if it's the man or the woman,

(05:48):
should they pay? And everybody has their own opinions, but
we now have some research that shows that it's shifting
depending upon the aide group, So tradition still matters. According
to gen X, forty five percent of Gen X and
forty two percent of Baby boomers say the man should pay. Now,
I think this study should have identified it. We talk

(06:09):
in first date, we talk in just you know, because
if it's forty five percent that say, no matter what,
every date should always be every guy should always pay
for the date, no matter what I mean, I think
you get different results. But maybe I'm wrong, but the
younger singles are rethinking it. Thirty six percent of Gen
Z agree, but they're more likely than any other generation

(06:29):
to say the person who plans the date should pay.
That's twenty eight percent, or that it should be split
evenly at twenty three percent. So if a Gen Z,
thirty six percent say yeah, the guy should pay, but
they have more than any other generation acknowledging that it
Sometimes it should be the person who initiates and it
invites and sets it up, or it should just be
split evenly. Now here's a gender split. So forty seven

(06:50):
percent of men believe the man should always pay, will
only thirty four percent of women agree. So, Scott, when
you were going on on the many dates she went
on in your younger years before you became a married man,
was it just a known thing that there's really because
I could be wrong here, but I feel like back
in the day, and not to make you sound like
some old dinass, no, no, but it was just a

(07:10):
known thing that a guy was going to pay for
a date, and that was just it.

Speaker 3 (07:13):
Yeah, But there were there were girls I dated, though,
who said, hey, I'll pick up the tab.

Speaker 1 (07:18):
I think I was that rare at that time.

Speaker 3 (07:21):
It was.

Speaker 1 (07:21):
It was rare, but yet it was becoming the norm.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
Okay, that makes that makes total sense. Then it just
became the norm to where okay, you know, and I'm
sure at times women want to pay, yeah, because they
want you to realize that they have the ability to
pay if needed. And they also realized, like, hey, you've
paid the last few times, let me get this one.

Speaker 3 (07:38):
Yeah, it wasn't as big of a formality because at
least the girls I dated, we were all kind of
in the same boat. You know, maybe I was in
an off pay day or yeah, you know, she had
just gotten paid and she said, hey, i'll pick up
the tab. And then, of course it all depends on
where you're at in the relationship too. Obviously, if we're
going on the first couple of dates, I'm not going
to imply because my daughter went on a date one time.

(07:59):
She's twenty six now, but she went on a date
with the guy and they went out for ice cream
and it was hilarious because they walked up, they ordered
the ice cream, and the guy got his cone and
just walked away.

Speaker 1 (08:09):
Oh man, and my daughters like, and my daughter picked
up the taps. She was there.

Speaker 3 (08:13):
She was probably twenty two.

Speaker 1 (08:15):
Oh, so she was an adult. Yeah, oh my goodness.

Speaker 3 (08:18):
So my man just decided he was gonna walk away.
My dog was okay, I got it, And.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
Yeah, I would love to know how that played out
as far as just how do you assume, yeah, you
can't pay for an ice cream cone?

Speaker 1 (08:32):
Right, that's you know, it's so.

Speaker 3 (08:34):
And I asked her about it, and I said, well,
maybe the guy was pretty hard up. Maybe he just
didn't have the money, and she goes, no, he had it.
I just think he was. It turns out the guy
had an ego problem and so he was kind of
self serving.

Speaker 2 (08:46):
He probably just wanted to see if she would if
she would pay for it, like he probably just wanted
to to His ego probably made it to where he
was just going to see how far he could go,
how much he would how far he could stretch it
to where she's getting. He's getting everything paid for without
having to go in his own pocket.

Speaker 1 (08:59):
Right Neither to say she never called them back.

Speaker 2 (09:01):
I'm not surprised to hear that. When I was in
high school, I got my license and a girl asked
me if I wanted to go if I wanted to
go out to dinner, and it was more of a
social thing.

Speaker 1 (09:11):
We weren't interested in each other.

Speaker 2 (09:13):
She used to date my friend, but she more so
just needed a ride and I just got my license.
So we go, and it's, I mean, one thousand percent
a friendly situation because we weren't I mean, I wasn't
into her and she wasn't into me as far as
I know. And again she previously dated my close friend.
But we ended up going to a restaurant and I
didn't have enough money to pay for anybody but myself,
and she realized that, and you don't have any money,

(09:35):
and I was like, not for you, and it became
very awkward. And that was when I, at sixteen years old, realized, Okay,
I guess women just assume, regardless of the situation, if
we're together as an item, maybe not a couple, but
we're there together on a having dinner, they just expect
us to pay. We Luckily we had friends there that
helped her out. But yeah, that was an awkward situation,
her sixteen year old me, and I think she was

(09:57):
more embarrassed than I was. But it was also an
eye open her from that. If I'm ever going to
take any anybody to dinner, regardless of if we're friends
or whatever, I need to be aware that they might
think I'm gonna pay.

Speaker 3 (10:07):
I was almost not even awkward. That could have been traumatic,
especially at that age.

Speaker 2 (10:11):
Dude, Yeah it was, uh, but again I learned pretty
quickly that you know, that's that's just how it is.
I mean, anyways, let's get too quick update of Trafick
and whether we've got another sports update coming your way
as well right here on Who's Radio Wait forty w
h as.

Speaker 1 (10:25):
Thank you, John.

Speaker 2 (10:26):
If you have yet to make it out to the
Kentucky State Fair, keep in mind you only have a
couple more days and I was only able to make
one appearance thus far, and I'll be going back on Saturday,
looking forward to it. We're going without kids, which will
be a different fair experience than what I've what I've
had in recent years and what I had earlier this week,
but looking forward to it. Love the State Fair and

(10:46):
everything that comes with it. And again reminder, only a
couple more, I guess today, Tomorrow and Sunday.

Speaker 1 (10:51):
And I've heard a lot.

Speaker 2 (10:52):
I don't know, I've heard of a lot of people
that go on that last day and I'm I'm not
I've never been on the last day of the fair,
but I just I would imagine it's it would be
very dwhelming because a lot of the things are kind
of just already being closed up.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
But maybe I'm wrong.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
Maybe maybe no, it's you're right, we'd used to do that.
That's exactly how it's like, not the same experience. But again,
I guess maybe if there's certain things you know that
it'll still be going on, like the rids, the food
and whatnot, and you just don't like big crowds, and
the crowd will be lighter because it's the last day,
then maybe that's why you like it. But again, today,
tomorrow and Sunday are those are your last days?

Speaker 1 (11:23):
Right?

Speaker 2 (11:23):
So a story that came out when I was on
vacation that I've yet to discuss, and I'm not even
really sure how much it would have come up had
I not been on vacation.

Speaker 1 (11:29):
But given that.

Speaker 2 (11:31):
This is a story that is related to sort of
what we do talk radio, it's it's crazy Howard Stern
being essentially given, you know, showing the door by Serious XM. Now,
when I heard that, I thought, how like, in what
world is Howard Stern no longer of value to Serious XIM?

(11:52):
Because again, he's Howard Stern. When you think of talk
radio pioneers, there are few names that come to mind
instantly for a lot of people, and Howard Stern has
to be one of them.

Speaker 1 (12:01):
Right.

Speaker 2 (12:02):
So there's now been I guess, some allegations that it
was all a hoax, a publicity stunt, which I'm not
saying I believe that, however, it would make more sense.
So he's been really silent for weeks since report surface
that Sirius XM was ready to let him kind of
fade out, and he's barely even addressed the controversy at all.

(12:24):
He did record one emergency show after the news broke,
but he's avoided the topic entirely, and instead he cryptically
promised a return on September second, which leaves fans puzzled.
So insiders are now reporting that this supposed cancelation may
have been an orchestrated hoax. I guess, a desperation attempt

(12:47):
to reignite Stern and make him relevant again, because he
has had some declining ratings, and I guess the motivation
here would be that, you know, the numbers are so
bad for Stern's I guess level that they've manufactured a
viral controversy to bring some attention his way, and maybe
that'll lead to kind of people I guess giving him

(13:08):
another chance and kind of starting over and seeing, Okay,
let's hear what Stern has to say. He was gonna
We thought he was canceled.

Speaker 1 (13:13):
Now he's back.

Speaker 2 (13:13):
Let's see what he says, and maybe that's maybe it's
just it's an orchestrated thing to get people there to
where he can make an impression on them again and
maybe grow his listener base or maybe bringing new listeners,
because let's be real, Howard Stern is probably not somebody
that the younger generation is really that familiar with. I mean,
I know of Howard Stern because of my age, like
I'm old enough to know what he was whenever he was.

Speaker 1 (13:37):
In his heyday.

Speaker 2 (13:37):
Also, I am somebody that is obsessed with talk radio
and always have been that way.

Speaker 1 (13:43):
So I don't know.

Speaker 2 (13:45):
I part of me thinks this is more believable than
Sirius Xim just saying Okay, yeah, we're gonna just let
this fade away, because if it was real, there would
be more I mean, it would be more official, because
you would mean.

Speaker 1 (13:55):
Howard Stern doesn't just fade away. He's Howard Stern.

Speaker 2 (13:58):
And again, I haven't listened to his in a long time,
and I have heard and I'm not surprised if it's
true that he is not now what he once was.
And I don't mean talent, I mean just sort of
what he does his on air brand. And if you
grew to love and know Howard Stern for what made
Howard Stern Howard Stern and it's nothing like that anymore,

(14:18):
then then I could see why you would maybe just
kind of fade away and and and not not have
it be a part of your your daily listening. But
I know, Scott, you you you know, well you're well
aware of how like the era that Stern had that
made him sort of the legend in in this space.

Speaker 1 (14:36):
Yeah, and uh to kind of.

Speaker 2 (14:38):
I mean again, one thing that really stands out to
me is that, as someone who hasn't listened to him
really at all in recent years, I knew that he
was still on air. But it does and again, this
is this just sounds insane for somebody like myself to
say this, but the relevance of Stern really kind of
out of nowhere.

Speaker 1 (14:54):
Just it fadd It really did. And I was a
big Stern fan.

Speaker 3 (14:59):
You know, this goes back to days listening to him
when I lived in San Diego in the mid nineties.
That is the height really his popularity. In fact, I
remember going to see private parts of the movie for
the first time and just being, you know, a fanboy.
And you know, to your point, as I started listening
more and more of the show kind of became I
don't know, it slowed way down. The characters suddenly appeared

(15:21):
older to me. And I don't mean that in a
demeaning way.

Speaker 1 (15:25):
Uh well, everything runs its course, right right, And he
started getting more political.

Speaker 2 (15:29):
Yes, and that's that's believed to be a huge, huge issue,
which uh you know again, I didn't consume the content
to know one way or the other. But I mean,
I mean, I think any regardless of which of which
you know, where you where you side on politics, I
just think with with just how divided we are as
a country, I just don't think you really stand to

(15:51):
benefit unless you just know, Okay, I'm going all in
wanting this side or that side.

Speaker 3 (15:55):
I mean, you know, well, a part of me got
is as I matured and got older too. So the
humor that Stern did that impressed me when I was
eighteen nineteen twenty years old, started to kind.

Speaker 1 (16:05):
Of sour on me.

Speaker 3 (16:06):
Sure, yeah, you grow out of it, yeah exactly, And
it wasn't my cup of tea. But he did for
a while start to do some interesting celebrity interviews in
some of the whack pack that he had. They were interesting,
they were fun. But then I found myself more times
than not going, Okay, I really don't need to be
listening to this.

Speaker 2 (16:21):
I think he is as good as anybody that's ever
been in front of a microphone to interview a person.
I mean, I just think he's that gift, that he's
that talented. He just had it like there was something
about it. I mean, he's it's not like he's just
some crazy, wild personality.

Speaker 1 (16:34):
He just had the it factor.

Speaker 2 (16:35):
And I'm with two guys now who of course have
made radio a big part of their life, Scott and
John Shannon. I mean, when you think of Howard Stern,
like in recent years, I'm sure you've probably thought of
his recent stuff, but like I just thought of he'd
still be active in the platform that is radio and
just be so irrelevant compared to what he used to be.

Speaker 1 (16:53):
Something I would have never seen. I mean I would
not have seen it either.

Speaker 4 (16:59):
When you think about Imus was relevant for years and
he was about the same age that Stern is now
when he finally decided to hang it up, but he
was still drawing ratings when he was on radio that
he was one of Stern's big competitors.

Speaker 1 (17:11):
In New York City.

Speaker 4 (17:12):
And I go back to Howard Stern back when he
was at WJFK in DC right after the Air Florida
Flight ninety crashed and he called their ticket office asking
if the fourteenth Street bridge was going to be a
regular stop. I mean, that was the kind of shock
jock that got him his reputation, and it helped.

Speaker 1 (17:30):
Him, it climbed him.

Speaker 2 (17:31):
Do you know the highest of high when it comes
to this industry, which we got to get to an
update of traffick in weather. But something I never expected
to ever do, meb on the radio talking about Howard
Stern's relevance in radio. I'm not sure if we'd ever
end up here, but here we are. But again, what
I mean is relevant compared to where he once was.
That's more so what I should emphasize. The quick update
on traffic and weather for you. We'll come back on

(17:51):
the other side right here on Who's radiway forty whas