12-30-25 Jimmy Sengenberger fills in for Ross

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Koway and Hi hard radio stations.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
Guaranteed.

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Human Good morning.

Speaker 3 (00:09):
This is the penultimate day of the year, that's second
to last, of course, and I'm Jimmy Sangenberger in for
Roskiminski on the News with Gina Gandek. Great to be
back with you today and through the west rest of
the week, excluding Thursday, which of course is that New

(00:32):
Year's Day holiday, which for me, that's a pretty good
thing because the Jimmy Junior Blues Band is set to
perform at T Bird's Roadhouse in wheat Ridge from eight
to eleven pm on New Year's Eve. So it doesn't
mean that I will get home at like one or

(00:52):
whenever it is and then get to sleep for a
couple hours and then wake up and be ready dark
and early for the show the next day. This a
little bit, a little bit of a reprieve there, which
is nice. Good to be here with you today, where
I have a new column out in the Denver Gazette,

(01:14):
my Tuesday column entitled hard Truths for a Divided Colorado GOP.
And there may be some people upset by this column
in the world of politics, particularly on the side that
I tend to align with. I lean libertarian, not quite

(01:38):
as much as Ross. I am a registered Republican. I
consider myself a conservative, but I'm a very small government
conservative leaning libertarian, especially when it comes to government.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
Policies that.

Speaker 3 (01:55):
Are all about and this is my focus, limiting the
size and scope of government, it's involvement in our day
to day lives, it's stranglehold on our economy, the services
that it provides, so on and so forth, And that's
the lens that I look at this. I very much
view Ronald Reagan as certainly an iconic conservative, true conservative president.

(02:20):
You don't see that in Trump. I voted for Trump
all three times, but I recognize that there are times,
such as on trade and other policies, where criticism is
very much deserved. So that's why you hear me oftentimes
talking about trade, which we may get to some tariffs

(02:42):
discussion later on, and other subjects when I'm here filling
in on KOA.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
Well, I've been.

Speaker 3 (02:49):
Really struck of late by some of the national divides
that are happening among the right, which stands at an apex.
You got Donald Trump as president of the United States,
You've got Republican control of both Houses of Congress, You've
got a Supreme Court majority that is six to three
leaning conservative. But here in Colorado, Republicans are down for

(03:12):
the count. Democrats dominate state government. They recently expanded their
command in key cities including Aurora and Centennial. And Centennial
the mayoral position was lost. I don't know that they've
ever had a Democrat in their quarter of a century
history as mayor. Now in both of the cases, divisions

(03:35):
are sharpening, but the circumstances are different. The Heritage Foundation,
for example, was large regarded as the most influential conservative
policy think tank in America, and that think tank was
very influential, particularly during the Reagan administration. But the Heritage

(03:56):
Foundation is at the center of the divide this year.
In the fall, we saw Tucker Carlson give neo Nazi,
genuine neo Nazi Nick Fuentes a softball interview, and rather
than condemn the way that he handled the interview and
so forth, or just leave it alone, Heritage President Kevin
Roberts attacked the critics and then after the backlash, issued

(04:21):
a non apology that failed to denounce anti Semitism.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
Now, the backlash was in fact swift.

Speaker 3 (04:27):
It's continuing to this Day and board members, scholars and
leaders fled the Heritage Foundation, many landing last week and
in the last couple of weeks at Advancing American Freedom,
led by former Vice president Mike Penns, and I say
good for them. I'm very saddened by the bitter fall

(04:50):
for an institution that actually has deep Colorado roots. At
the Heritage Foundation, it was established in nineteen seventy three
with seed money from none other than Joseph Cors. Then
Heritage was founded by Edwin Fulner and Paul Wyrick. Wyrick

(05:10):
is a former k QXI Denver News director who met
Cores while serving as press secretary to US Senator Gordon.

Speaker 2 (05:19):
Allen of Colorado.

Speaker 3 (05:22):
Foulner was a nineteen sixty three graduate of my alma mater,
Regis University then Regis College, and he led Heritage from
nineteen seventy seven to twenty thirteen and was a life
trustee at Regis until his passing this summer. And then
there's controversy about Turning Point USA as well, where Charlie

(05:44):
Kirk tragically assassinated in September. Conspiracy theories have spread. Former
associate Candice Owens's floated claims even of Israeli involvement, among
other conspiracy theories. In just a couple of weeks ago
America's at Amfest, Turning Point USA's annual conference, Ben Shapiro
called Tucker Carlson's interview with Fuentes quote an act of

(06:08):
moral imbecility, and he accused Megan Kelly of cowardice for
refusing to condemn Owens. Steve Bannon, the former Trump advisor,
called Shapiro a cancer, and Kelly declared their friendship over.
Now there was an episode of firing Line, the show
hosted by the late great William F. Buckley and I

(06:30):
think nineteen eighty four or thereabouts, with a conservative author
named Emmett Tyrrell Junior, who once told Buckley on that program,
nothing destroys a political movement more than success. Now he
was talking about liberals who had achieved their key objectives

(06:50):
his contention in the nineteen sixties and seventies, but were
then overtaken by a lust for power that blinded them
from recognizing changing problems.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
And President Reagan happened to be the result.

Speaker 3 (07:07):
Well, nationally, it seems the right may be learning that
same lesson of the Democrats back then, which then brought about,
I would say ultimately Bill Clinton. But here in Colorado,
by the way, from whence Heritage Foundation came nothing destroys
a political movement quite like failure.

Speaker 2 (07:29):
Now Arapaho County.

Speaker 3 (07:30):
I first got involved in politics as a teenager a
couple decades ago in Arapaho County, and back then Republicans
held virtually total control of the county and state level offices,
all of them. But in two decades a rapa Ho
became a political bell weather ultimately solidified deep blue. As

(07:54):
arapa Ho has gone, so has Colorado. Now, of course
there are some bright spots. Half of Colorado's US House
seats are balanced, held by Republicans, although Gabe Evans eighth
Congressional District is vulnerable, and I think in a state
like Colorado, balance is very important. So you have that
at least when it comes to the US House for now. Now,

(08:18):
among the crowded, extremely crowded field of gouvenatorial candidates for
next year's election, you do have a few that stand out.
State Senator Barb Kirkmeyer is a grounded legislator who's got
a clear eyed grasp of the state's budget crisis. Senator
Mark Baisley, I've known him a long time, is as

(08:40):
principled a legislator as you'll find, and I've learned that
when Greg Lopez digs deep into issues. I had a
conversation with him not long ago about the wolves issue
and their impact on rural areas, for example, he thoroughly
understands the issue's intricacies.

Speaker 2 (09:00):
But here's the thing.

Speaker 3 (09:01):
Even after replacing the acrimonious failed former party chairman Dave Williams,
the state gopie still isn't learning the critical lesson. What
we have seen is candidates pledging to immediately pardon Tina Peters,
the former Mason County clerk who's serving nine years for

(09:24):
an election integrity security breach and identity theft scheme, who
was prosecuted by a Republican district attorney, Dan Rubinstein and
convicted by a jury of her peers in a two
to one Trump County. And when candidates do that, frankly,
they forfeit their seriousness. Most gubernatorial candidates, though, endorsed pardoning Peters,

(09:48):
so is state Party chair Britta Horn. So frankly, it's
no wonder that a guy like Joe Oatman, who just
announced he's running for governor and will even be at
an upcoming gubernatorial forum. Thinks that there's a market forum
in the primary. He's a leading twenty twenty conspiracy theorist
nationally who has called for the execution of Democrats, including

(10:11):
Governor Jared Poles. But make no mistake, I'm gonna be
straight up with you, there is a market for Oltman
among an activist wing that has lost the plot, diverted
from real world issues by profitable myths of stolen elections.
And the question really is how big is that market

(10:32):
and real quick? This fall, the Rappo Republican Party refused
to certify election results. I've represented that party a handful
of years back on the canvas board that certifies elections,
and I can safely say that the refusal was groundless,
just a performatives display. That's emblematic of a party so

(10:52):
untethered from reality that it keeps shooting itself in the foot,
especially when unaffiliated now constitute half of all Colorado voters,
and when they hear Republicans talk about twenty twenty freeing
Tina Peters and rigged elections, not improving their day to
day lives or addressing the problems of Colorado, they stop listening,

(11:18):
and as Republicans abandoned principle and replace it with foolishness,
they only cement Democrats' stranglehold on the state. We'll see
what happens, and later on in the program, we'll talk
with former Colorado GOP chairman Dick Wadhams and get his
take on what's happening now, especially as unaffiliated voters are
half half of the voting block in Colorado, which is

(11:40):
pretty astonishing. I'm Jimmy Stangenberger in for Roskaminsky on the
News with Gina Gondek. Easy money, although it is a
little easier when the government danes to pass a law
or an ordinance increasing the minimum wage.

Speaker 2 (11:59):
For example, sample, starting in just a couple.

Speaker 3 (12:02):
Of days January first, tens of thousands of Denver workers
are going to see an increase in the wage to
nineteen dollars in twenty nine cents an hour, eligible tipped
workers earning at least sixteen dollars and twenty seven cents.

(12:22):
I would say for Republicans who are always uneasy about
higher costs for businesses, and there's actually a really there's
an ongoing Denver Gazette series on what's happening in the
economy and the impacts of regulation in some of these

(12:45):
cost increases called fiscal rockies. Fascinating series worth checking out
that talks about a lot of these concerns and going
to what I was just talking about, it Republicans keep
falling behind and being unwilling to address the real issues.

Speaker 2 (12:59):
Well, and you're going to see more and more minimum.

Speaker 3 (13:02):
Wage hikes that won't just be municipal, but you will
see it at the state level. Now, this is just
shy of twenty dollars an hour, which, setting aside all
the politics of the matter, that's a sizable sum that
is concerning for a lot of businesses. I think, Gina,
you've been covering this a bit this morning. That's when

(13:24):
you see an uptick like that happening on a sudden day,
certainly businesses take notice.

Speaker 4 (13:30):
Oh absolutely.

Speaker 5 (13:31):
I mean, Denver's new minimum wage will be the highest
in the state. It's more than twice the national minimum
wage of what we're seeing, and a lot of small
businesses are concerned over the labor costs. Can we even
keep hiring at that minimum wage? Other business leaders are hoping, well,
if they're being paid that much, maybe I'll find the
best of the workers.

Speaker 4 (13:50):
That I'm looking for.

Speaker 5 (13:51):
But Colorado Restaurant Association has always been really concerned about
this and has pushed back about it in the past
because they've said that this could cost Denver restaurants and
average of seventy four and sixty eight dollars in additional
labor expenses into the new year. That's like a thirty
seven percent increase from what we've seen from.

Speaker 4 (14:12):
Last year's minimum wage.

Speaker 5 (14:13):
So it's a balancing act because you want people to
be able to work where they live and be able
to afford where they live. However, getting higher and higher
each time, people just saying, well, it's going to become
less affordable to go out to eat. You're going to
see the costs be brought to the consumers. A lot
of restaurants say that won't be the case. But we're
asking some of our listeners on our social media poll

(14:34):
question for this morning, do you support Denver's new minimum
wage of next year of nineteen twenty nine an hour?
A lot of people sixty four percent on x right
now say no, and a couple comments on Facebook say
this just means our prices are going to go up,
like I mentioned earlier, and then just making things more unaffordable.

(14:54):
When you see this increase, workers are going to feel like, great,
I get a pay increase come twenty twenty six. But
I think a lot of these businesses, and we're starting
to see more and more of these restaurant closures throughout Denver,
are they going to be able to foot the bill
and have that cost continue when you're paying your workers
more on top of the tipped minimum wage, which is

(15:15):
also going up. That's at fifteen seventy nine an hour
right now, it's going up to sixteen twenty seven an hour.
I remember when I was a server years ago, I
think it was maybe like three bucks or something like that,
Like it was just an abysmal number in Michigan because
you really relied on those tips. And now it seems
like they're starting to raise that tipped minimum wage more

(15:37):
and more, and then they have to juggle the cost
of the back of the house and the front of
the house, and how are they going to be able
to pay them that much on top of all the
other costs that go into a restaurant nowadays.

Speaker 2 (15:47):
And growing regulations.

Speaker 3 (15:49):
Part of that Fiscal Rocky series from the Gazette talks
about both in Denver and statewide. They're added regulations on
restaurants and other industries that have compliance costs and their
cost to them. You slap on the minimum wage increase
as well, and then also the potential impact when you
have one city, and especially Denver, raise the minimum wage

(16:11):
to being as high as it is. What does that
have in terms of an impact on the surrounding communities
and where people are looking for jobs, and what is
done with prices at restaurants that are competing with down
the street in Aurora for a dam.

Speaker 5 (16:24):
Yeah, good point, because it is the highest statewide. I
believe Boulders pretty close though they might be in the
eighteen ninete low nineteen range if I remember correctly. But
also Denver calculates this number based on inflation, so they
use the consumer price index to then determine how they're
going to determine what their minimum wage will be. They
say that it is lower than what they expected it

(16:47):
was going to be with lower inflation, but it's still
just nineteen twenty nine an hour. That's a lot to
start at minimum wage. So then you also have to
consider if people are at minimum wage, those higher earners
are going to and go, well, wait, I'm making X amounts,
and then the minimum wage is at this amount or
whatever balancing act.

Speaker 3 (17:06):
And the obvious question as we go to the break, Gina,
that a lot of restaurants have said for many years,
is when those starting wages for say a high schooler
who's looking for their first job at sixteen seventeen years
old to be able to go hang out with their
friends or maybe save up for college a little bit,
but they have low skills and so forth, are they

(17:28):
really worth that or are you looking for automation potentially as
an alternative. There are different consequences that can come from this.
The question is who's thinking through those consequences.

Speaker 5 (17:39):
And it does look like we're in good company because
the city of Boulder, while they're at fifteen fifty seven
an hour now, they're looking to be eighteen seventeen by
twenty twenty seven. So a lot of these other cities
are also seeing an increase, but maybe.

Speaker 4 (17:52):
Not as much as what we're seeing here in Denver.

Speaker 3 (17:54):
Well, we'll be interesting to see what the economic fallout
is here.

Speaker 2 (17:57):
Thank you, Gina. We're going to be back on the
other side.

Speaker 3 (18:00):
Me sang in Berger in for Roskaminsky on the News
with Gina gandek on KOA good to be with you
on this the penultimate day of the year. And of course,
yesterday President Donald Trump met with BBNN Yahoo, the Prime
Minister of Israel at Amara Lago and yet another significant meeting,

(18:22):
where of course they discussed a few things, including what's
next in Gaza and their alignment on a ceasefire and
getting back the single deceased hostage who remains in hamas
custody and what will come next in terms of governing
the area and how to handle.

Speaker 2 (18:45):
It moving forward.

Speaker 3 (18:46):
But they also discussed Iran and the potential for additional war.
Take a listen to this exchange with reporter how close.

Speaker 2 (18:55):
A week to another war with want?

Speaker 6 (18:57):
Well, I don't want to say that, but maybe behaving badly.
It hasn't been confirmed. But if it's confirmed, look, they
know the consequences. You know, consequences will be very powerful,
maybe more powerful than the last time. Yeah, and I
ran should have made a deal the last time. I

(19:18):
gave it them the option. I said, you can make
a deal, do it. I told him do it, and
they didn't believe me. They believe me I think that
messaging is fantastic. And the reason why I think that
is because Trump is reminding Iran, reminding the world. Last
time I said I was.

Speaker 3 (19:39):
Going to act, you didn't believe me, and I did decisively,
and you had no idea that we were coming in
the dark and night. I remember this summer, how amazing
that strike was, and trying to understand the intricacies of
what's involved in making it, and having a diversion so

(20:02):
that they would think perhaps something was coming from one direction,
but it came from the other direction and taking them
by complete surprise, and in a remarkable.

Speaker 2 (20:16):
Air force maneuver.

Speaker 3 (20:17):
I mean, gosh, was that like a twenty six hour
flight if I recall correctly, and they had to fuel,
refuel mid air and so forth. I think the British
helped out with that, if memory serves me. So you
had this remarkable, unexpected strike and Trump is reminding them here, Hey, guys,

(20:38):
guess what you didn't believe me the last time, I
mean business, I struck. Believe me now and I would
suspect that they're not going to take that lightly.

Speaker 6 (20:52):
Now.

Speaker 3 (20:53):
Does that mean they will comply? Does that mean that
there will not be a strike. Well, no, there could
well will be a strike. It just depends on where
things go from here. But it's very clear that President
Trump has threatened new military action with Israel against Iran.

(21:17):
He also said during the joint news conference, I'm not
concerned about anything that Israel is doing, but he did
hint at some of their disagreements while calling Nenyahu a
strong man who can be very difficult on occasion, and
I think he respects that. Trump respects a leader who

(21:40):
he can work with, who he gets along with, but
who will sometimes be like I disagree with you, And
here's why I disagree with you. Now, this prospect of
a strike on it Ron. Though, I found it interesting
the framing of the question.

Speaker 2 (21:59):
Here, how close a week to another war with what
war with Iran?

Speaker 3 (22:06):
The strikes that happened this summer, for example from the
United States, But it is not a war.

Speaker 2 (22:15):
It was one off strikes. How can you say that
that's a war?

Speaker 3 (22:21):
Now, Trump should have said, look, I prevented a war,
and they said we were going to have World War
three or some resounding outcome of conflict, and that didn't happen.
We took out our targets, we were successful. And here
we are today now looking at what might need to

(22:41):
be done in next steps.

Speaker 2 (22:45):
So that's the Iran situation.

Speaker 3 (22:48):
Well, the biggest thing I think that really showed, and
this is critical in the face of right wing concerns
from all these people who are ostensibly on the right
wing concerns and those who are well beyond the realm
of concerns, deeply into anti Semitism, the Tucker Carlson's and

(23:12):
candae Owenses of the world, who don't have concerns but
are peddling anti Semitic snake oil. In spite of that,
we are seeing what the Wall Street Journal editorialized yesterday
is the Trump Net and Yahoo United Front. They note

(23:32):
that much of the media seems to want just a
split between President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Nan Yahoo.
This was all talk until they joined to strike Iran's
nuclear program in June, and lately we hear it again.
But as the two met Monday at mar Lago, their
sixth meeting of twenty twenty five, no such split was

(23:56):
in evidence. Asked about the relationship, mister Trump answered with
common sense, I don't think it can be better.

Speaker 2 (24:03):
We just won a big war together.

Speaker 3 (24:05):
And that would be I think referring to the strikes
on Gaza and the war with Hamas Israel's mister Nanyah,
who was effusive in turn, but more important was we
were just talking about this. They're convergence on key policy questions,
beginning with Iran. They go on to detail in this

(24:27):
editorial about that and noting about Hamas and the alignment there.
The upshot isn't to junk the peace plan, but to
pressure Hamas to adhere to it. That means Israeli freedom
of action short of war, of the kind of practices
from time to time in the West Bank to prevent

(24:48):
Hamas from comfortably reconstituting its forces. Now, the President was
very clear that he aligns with Nen Yahoo largely on this.
So the biggest takeaway from yesterday to me is, as
the headline says for the editorial here the Wall Street Journal,
the Trump Net and Yahoo United Front from Iran to guys,

(25:10):
that we see it, and it's very encouraging, especially in
the face of attacks and criticism from the so called
right that are anti Semitic in nature trying to split
Trump and Nan Yahoo. It is not working. That is
very good welcome news. I'm Jimmy Sangenberger in for Roskiminsky
on the News with Gina Gondeck.

Speaker 2 (25:30):
Keep it here on p an ultimate day of the year.

Speaker 3 (25:33):
Jimmy Sangenberger in for ros Kiminski the News with Gina Gondek.
And I've seen a lot of coverage of this, and
I started watching on social media as videos were going
viral of this on the scene reportage from independent journalists

(25:56):
Nick Shirley, who apparently is known for going to protests
and identifying fake protesters or something like that.

Speaker 2 (26:09):
But what I.

Speaker 3 (26:11):
Saw was very curious about Minnesota and all of this
fraud going on in the state of Minnesota. And now
yesterday Pam Bondi, the US Attorney General, said, I think
ninety eight arrests have been made and it was eighty
five Somali born or they were convictions, with more on

(26:35):
the way. She said, there's been dozens of convictions already
on this fraud of taking childcare programs, for example, setting
up these childcare and healthcare businesses that are not legit,
and getting all kinds of government money. And so Nick

(26:58):
Shirley went on the scene and looked into it and
did a forty two minute video on this with a
guy who's just sort of looked into this and quite frankly,
he's onto something in a way others have not been.

Speaker 2 (27:12):
Here's just the sample of it. It's on x and
other platforms.

Speaker 3 (27:16):
Look it up because it is actually really well done
and eye opening.

Speaker 2 (27:21):
Just the sample from this daycare center.

Speaker 7 (27:23):
We headed over to the infamous Quality Learning Center, which
actually spells Quality Leering Center on the outside of their sign.
That's how blatant this fraud is here at this daycare.

Speaker 8 (27:35):
Don't open up, so this is Quality Clearing Center. Are
meant to say quality learning center? Don't open They said
they spelled learning wrong.

Speaker 4 (27:45):
Don't open up?

Speaker 2 (27:46):
How do you have ice here?

Speaker 9 (27:47):
Man?

Speaker 2 (27:48):
I'm literally a YouTuber. Don't open up? Man?

Speaker 8 (27:50):
What do you think about the fraud that's taking place
here in Minnesota?

Speaker 10 (27:52):
Don't open up?

Speaker 4 (27:54):
We have ice?

Speaker 3 (27:56):
Man?

Speaker 10 (27:56):
What do you think about this place being licensed for
nine to nine children? Don't and getting four million dollars
over them four million dollars in the last two years.
What do you think about that? Are you in favor?
Are you in favor of that?

Speaker 5 (28:12):
Go away?

Speaker 3 (28:13):
Now? Eventually with the stats, they talk down this random
woman who's acting like Ice is showing up at this
uh supposed daycare center. This is a huge scandal. It
is an explosive scandal, and it should lead to a
resignation of Tim Walls as governor of Minnesota, or at
least him saying I'm not going to run for reelection

(28:37):
makes them very vulnerable, even if crazy Mike Lindell becomes
the Republican nominee for governor, because the my Billow guy
is running for governor of Minnesota because we just can't
be serious in this world these days. But up against
Tim Walls, maybe he can win if this kind of
thing keeps going unobated. Nick Shirley check out his documentary

(28:59):
forty two minutes on this really well done, fascinating and informative.
Something's got to be done here, and I wonder if
it's the similar situation in other states, even Colorado. Who knows.
Jimmy Sangenberger here with you. Two more hours up ahead
as we continue in Faros Kaminsky on the news with
Gina Gondek here on Koa.

Speaker 1 (29:19):
Kaoway and Hi Hard Radio Station Guaranteed human time.

Speaker 3 (29:27):
Now for the second hour, Jimmy Sangenberger in Faros Kominsky
on the news with Gina Gandek and no shortage of
things to talk about in the news. I was very
struck by this story Gina has been talking about this
morning about student loan borrowers and the potential for wage

(29:48):
garnishment to happen for those in default. The US Department
of Education talking about how beginning next week there will
be the first batch of a thousand the defaulted student
loan borrowers. You will get notices of administrative wage garnishment,

(30:11):
and then they expect the number to increase because there
are somewhat five million borrowers who are in default, and
they're saying, well, we're not gonna require this of you
and garnish your wages if you sign on to one
of our valid payment plans.

Speaker 2 (30:32):
Here's the thing for years.

Speaker 3 (30:35):
And I say, this is somebody who still owes a
significant amount of student loan debt from twenty eleven when
I graduated from Regis University. And mind you, yes, Regis
is a school that as a private school, but I

(30:56):
graduated in three years, came with AP credits, did all
different things to minimize that borrowing requirement, and yet still
saddled with a good chunk of student loan debt all
of these years later. It is not easy because of

(31:17):
how much debt you have to take out to go
to college. So one of the things I understand that
that's been an important context because here's the problem. And
this was really nice, and it's kind of part of
the reason why there's a there's a disincentive throughout COVID
to pay your student loans because they didn't require you

(31:39):
to do it. You were able to have an exemption
that said, hey, don't worry, we're not going to require you.
And this started under Trump during COVID in twenty twenty.
You're not required to pay your student loan debt and
you're not going to have any penalties as a result.
And that continued in that continue and the problem was

(32:01):
that Biden kept continuing it as long as he could
get away with it, and then he tried other schemes
for student loan forgiveness that kept getting struck down.

Speaker 2 (32:13):
In court by the Supreme Court.

Speaker 3 (32:16):
In fact, that we're encouraging borrowers who are in debt
to not worry about having to pay back their student loans.
And the problem with the student loan system entirely is
one of bad incentives. That is to say that higher education,

(32:45):
there's this expectation you need to go to college if
you want to have success, take out the debt in
order to accomplish that. Then you graduate with that debt,
you hope you get a job. Heck of a lot
of people don't have jobs, or they don't have the
kind of job that they were expecting, and maybe that
puts them in a.

Speaker 2 (33:01):
More difficult financial situation.

Speaker 3 (33:03):
Maybe that makes them very upset because they had certain
expectations that were given to them. But the biggest problem
is the expansion of availability of student loans and grants.

Speaker 2 (33:17):
I've written on this extensively.

Speaker 3 (33:19):
I used to have a think tank project that I
ran before COVID did a lot on student loans. I've
written a newsweek in the Federalists and other publication Washington Examiner,
Denver Gazette on student loan issues and higher education costs.
And there was a study that came out a number
of years ago by the New York Federal Reserve that

(33:41):
documented what's called a pass.

Speaker 2 (33:43):
Through effect on tuition.

Speaker 3 (33:46):
For every x amount of money that was provided in
student loans or grants, you had why amount of an
increase I don't know the data in front of me,
but you had an increase in the cost of tuition
because colleges and universities had the incentive to jack up

(34:08):
the price because of the availability of student loans and grants.

Speaker 2 (34:17):
Becoming much more widespread. You go back.

Speaker 3 (34:22):
To the nineteen eighties, then Education Secretary Bill Bennett predicted
this and he said, gosh, I forget the term that
he used.

Speaker 2 (34:39):
But Bill Bennett.

Speaker 3 (34:40):
Talked about higher education costs and how if they continue,
if student loans keep being given out, then you're going
to see a significant increase intuition over the years.

Speaker 2 (34:59):
It was the hypothesis.

Speaker 3 (35:02):
That the more increased federal student aid given colleges can
raise tuition, which then means the cost go up for students.

Speaker 2 (35:12):
And he was proven right. The data shows it.

Speaker 3 (35:16):
And when you have an additional incentive, so the colleges
and universities have the incentive to keep raising prices, the
students have the incentive to keep taking out student loans,
which encourages those increased prices. And then after college, you've
had the disincentive to pay down student loan debt because

(35:43):
the all knowing, all kind and compassionate federal government has
said we're not going to make you pay, don't worry
about it. So it is disincentivized paying, and so then
people get used to it, and if they fell into
default or whatnot, they didn't make plans to turn it around.

Speaker 2 (36:05):
Now.

Speaker 3 (36:06):
There are a lot of things that need to be
done with the student loan system, and one of them
I do believe is to make it easier for you
to declare your student loan debt in bankruptcy. Right now,
it is almost impossible to do that. You should be
able to take that step if you are in default,

(36:27):
for example, to discharge your student loan debt and bankruptcy,
but you can't. Part of the problem with the student
loan system is that there is no risk to the borrower,
which is usually or rather to the lender, which nowadays
is usually the federal government. You need to have some
risk to the lender that gives them reason to say, well,

(36:51):
should we really be giving out this much in student loans,
because that's a check that's.

Speaker 2 (36:57):
The only check on a student taking out too much loan.

Speaker 3 (37:04):
That may come back to bite them, because if the
lender is going to seriously consider that or at least
to some extent, and I also think that we need
to tie a percentage of the losses when there is
a bankruptcy discharge ten percent whatever it is to the institution.

(37:25):
So if that college, for example, graduated a student who
was ill prepared or didn't get a decent job out
of college and then defaults on their student loan debt,
goes into bankruptcy with it discharges it in bankruptcy, that
institution should be on a hook, on the hook for
some of that. This one piece of the puzzle of

(37:48):
student loan debt and higher reed costs and what to do.
There's a lot to be done, but this whole thing
about garnishing wages for those defaulting on their student loan
debt should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone. Jimmy
Sangenberger here with you in for Roskiminsky on the News
with Gina Gondeck on KOA.

Speaker 2 (38:07):
Jimmy Sangenberger here.

Speaker 3 (38:09):
With you in for Roskominsky on the News with Gina
Gondeck here on KOA. Thanks for joining us and being
a part of the program. KOA Common Spirit Health text
line is five six six nine zero and yeah this

(38:29):
is true. A listener texting in just heard that there's
a new law maybe state yes, that starts the first
of the year preventing property owners from charging miscellaneous fees
such as common area maintenance and pest control. And there's
a place you can go to report owners not complying.

(38:50):
Talk about political double talk. Government is the ultimate issuer
of fees. A couple of thoughts on that one. I
was unaware of the reporting owners for naka applying, But
that makes sense. Look, these fees nickel and dime you
a lot of times, and you can be living in
an apartment see some of these tacked on. Maybe you

(39:12):
didn't have it before, and then you get new ownership,
and then suddenly these fees are tacked on, and you're going,
why am I getting another thirty or fifty dollars a month?

Speaker 2 (39:21):
I had no idea that this was going to happen.

Speaker 3 (39:23):
It's despicable in many respects, and it's very frustrating.

Speaker 2 (39:27):
But guess what it should be and really is.

Speaker 3 (39:32):
The right of an employer or rather a landlord to
put such fees in place to help offset costs, especially
since there are rising costs. We may not like it,
but that doesn't mean that the government and it's infinite wisdom,
or to interfere and say no, you can't do this.

(39:53):
The consequences of this will be real, significant and meaningful
in a negative way for landowners that will then have
to find other ways to recoup those costs.

Speaker 2 (40:09):
And they're a variety of things.

Speaker 3 (40:11):
You can always cut wages, you can cut the number
of employees you have, you can raise the base rent.

Speaker 2 (40:19):
Some of these are harder to do, but you're.

Speaker 3 (40:21):
Gonna have to find some way to make up for
some of those costs. And there are a lot of
other issues that come along with it. But what I
liked is your note here that government is the ultimate issue,
or a fees Like at the same time as the
state government is saying no, no, no, you cannot put

(40:43):
these fees on apartment complexes, they're saying, we are going
to put new fees on you, the people of Colorado,
and we're not going to come to you for a
vote like we're actually supposed to, because we're gonna call
them fees instead of taxes, whether those are fees on
door dash deliveries or Amazon deliveries, or a new gas

(41:07):
fee that's the same as the gas tax, and how
it operates but we're calling it a fee so we
can get it done without asking you to increase the
gas tax, because we know you're not going to increase
the gas tax. It is astonishing, astonishing.

Speaker 2 (41:29):
To see things operate like this.

Speaker 3 (41:33):
Where government says, oh, we're not going to allow this
one thing, but on the other hand, we're gonna do
the exact same thing in our own way.

Speaker 2 (41:43):
But the evil landlords they can't. We can.

Speaker 3 (41:47):
Nonsense, just nonsense five six six nine zero koa Common
Spirit health text line. Jimmy and for Ross's we continue
divic Waddam's up next on KOA good mood. You add
some harmonica on top of it, all the better. Jimmy
Sangenberger here with you for Roskominski on the News with
Gina Gandak and I felt that this bumper amidst the

(42:10):
best bumper music known to man, was very apropos for
the topic we're diving into now, which is the fact
that the Republican Party in Colorado seems to be continually
sticking its head in the sand and denying the truth
and instead platforming falsehoods and myths and quite frankly foolishness.

(42:35):
My column today in the Denver Gazette Hard Truths for
a divided Colorado GOP really dives into this, noting as
Republicans abandoned principle and replace it with foolishness, they only
cement democrats stranglehold on the state that they've apparently forgotten
that political parties exist solely to elect members to office

(43:00):
reform elections unless you win first. Dick Wadhams yesterday, in
his column for the Gazette, Colorado's unaffiliated vote is up
for Grabs in twenty twenty six, touches on this theme, writing,
Republican candidates who parrot Trump's stolen election conspiracies and who

(43:21):
say they would pardon convicted and imprisoned Tina Peters if
they are elected are sure losers in a general election.
I sort of inadvertently expand on that point, but it's
something we really need to dive into, which is why
I'm glad to have the author of that particular column,
my colleague at the Gazette, Dick Wadhams, joining us in

(43:42):
the program.

Speaker 2 (43:42):
Former chairman of.

Speaker 3 (43:44):
The Colorado GOP and of course the campaign manager for
many successful campaigns in the past and now political analysts
and so much more and he joins me.

Speaker 2 (43:56):
Now, good morning, Dick, Happy.

Speaker 11 (43:57):
New Year, Good morning, and good morning to Gina as well.

Speaker 3 (44:02):
Thanks for joining us. We appreciate you being a part
of the program. So let me ask you to kind
of give us a sense from your vantage point.

Speaker 2 (44:11):
You read my column which I started the show talking
about this.

Speaker 3 (44:14):
You wrote yours, especially given that just shy literally just
shy of fifty full percent, that's full full fifty percent
of all Colorado voters are independents, unaffiliated voters. How is
this playing for Republicans and candidates dabbling into conspiracy theories

(44:34):
and so forth.

Speaker 11 (44:37):
Well, and that short, just short of fifty percent, Jimmy,
it's going to go buy fifty percent in the next
several months because the voters are rejecting both political parties
right now, and the poll I allude to and my
column shows that both parties and their leadership are very
unpopular in Colorado and them the Democratic Legislature is upside down,

(45:02):
the Democratic Party is upside down. But of course we
both know that Donald Trump has been unpopular in Colorado
since he first ran in twenty sixteen. And also, and
what's also interesting, Jimmy, is that the vast majority of
unaffiliated voters independent voters think the state is on the
wrong track. And that's a significant number and significant development

(45:26):
because that means that these voters might look at Republican candidates.
They don't consider it to be nuts like those who
want to talk about stolen election theories and want to
execute opponents and who want to parton Tina Peters, but
they will not look at a Republican candidate if they

(45:47):
embrace these crackpot ideas. And that's that's the challenge for
Republicans that you really did a great job talking about
in your columns that we have we might have a
shunt when in some elections next year than not if
we continue on that track.

Speaker 3 (46:06):
One thing that I found really fascinating is in the
pull that you break down from let Colorado Vote. Among
the unaffiliated voters, eighty six percent say they intentionally registered
as unaffiliated. They're not forced into staying that way. So
clearly that is them saying we don't like either political party.

Speaker 2 (46:23):
We want to be done with that.

Speaker 3 (46:24):
But what I found really interesting is how they favor
Democrats over Republicans on inflation, slash the cost of living
by thirty three to thirty one percent, yet as you
point out, Republicans are the ones who want to defend
the taxpayer's Bill of Rights, which is the key check
on inflation, government growth, taxation, so on and so forth.

(46:47):
And yet when you're bogged down in nonsense or what
people are hearing are these bits and pieces of nonsense
about twenty twenty looking into the past or Tina.

Speaker 2 (46:58):
Peters or what have you.

Speaker 3 (46:59):
It distracts from that message to counter Democrats.

Speaker 2 (47:02):
It doesn't make sense.

Speaker 11 (47:05):
Yeah, and Jimmy, I'm glad you brought up the Tabor
because it is very interesting that the taber. Of course
we both know democrats. Most Democrats want to repeal Tabor.
That's helped their goal. But sixty percent of unaffiliated voters
are support TABOR. Only twenty six percent want to get
rid of Tabor. Democrats are I very semi with Tabor,

(47:26):
and Republicans clearly are on the right side of the
majority of the n affiliated voters. I think the problem
on some of these issues with Jimmy and some of
these unaffiliated voters probably are more are closer to a
Republican position than Democratic position, but they still have this
notion of Republicans being totally captive by a president they

(47:47):
do not like, and then they see all these conspiracies
and Tina Peter's coming out, and it's just hard for
them to get beyond that, to actually take a hard
look at a Republican. But I think we're starting to
see some indications they will do so the selection again.

Speaker 3 (48:03):
Dick wadhams our guest here on KOA, Yeah, I think
you're absolutely right, And i'd want to just make clear
for those who may be listening and going, wait a second,
you're wrong about Tina Peters. Is was found guilty of
engaging in an election security breach and an identity theft scheme.
The felonies that have her in prison right now, none

(48:23):
of them have anything to do with election integrity or
election security. Now, with that aside stated, let's stick with
the unaffiliated voters for a moment as we wrap up
with you and talk for a moment. If you were
advising Republicans not just about the craziness, so obviously you
would say drop twenty twenty, don't talk about pardonering, Tina
Peters all of that kind of stuff.

Speaker 2 (48:44):
Well, when you.

Speaker 3 (48:45):
Talk about the issues of the day, how would you
advise Republicans to present themselves to Colorado voters given fifty
percent or on affiliated.

Speaker 11 (48:56):
Well, what I do know, Jimmy, is this, I have
the honor of been campaign manager for Bill Owens in
nineteen ninety eight when he became the first Republican governor
in twenty eight years, and what I know from that
experience is that voters look to a governor candidate for
real solutions and real issues. And Bill had a very
clear agenda to cut taxes, reform education, and improve transportation.

(49:19):
I don't know if those are the issues this election,
but I do know is a candidate has to develop
an issue that people can understand, they can get their
mind around, and that they say to themselves, that's the
governor who's going to do something for me if he
wins this election. And if that's the trouble with this
discussion about bile in elections and Tina Peters and all

(49:41):
that is that it just takes away from talking about
issues people care about and if we're going to win,
every Republican candidate should take a look at how Bill
Owens won. Yes, it was twenty six years ago, they're
twenty but you know what the state has changed just
at hand. But fundamentally, he showed Republicans how to win

(50:03):
in the state, and that's what that's the only way
we can do.

Speaker 3 (50:06):
So again, Yeah, it is sad to think how far
back you have to go for a Republican governor. But
I would just note real quickly that you did have
Democrat governors in the past, but Republican secretaries of state
and attorney general and treasurer. Unfortunately, I don't even know
of anybody serious who's running for any of those three

(50:28):
positions this go around, except for Kevin Grantham for state treasurer,
who's a great candidate for that position. But this state
makes it even more difficult, doesn't it, for that kind
of split ticket environment.

Speaker 11 (50:40):
Absolutely, Jimmy, And that's because you're right, all those years
of democratic governors we elected the republican ag treasurer, secretary
of state, had Republican legislatures many times. But now there's
just this instinctive voting against Republicans, or has been instinctive
voting against the Republicans because of their antipathy for Trump

(51:03):
and Republicans looking like a bunch of nuts on stolen
election conspiracy.

Speaker 3 (51:07):
Yeah, Dick Wadhams, I wish we had more time, my friend,
thanks so much for joining us on the program.

Speaker 2 (51:12):
Really appreciate it.

Speaker 11 (51:15):
Thank you, Jimmy.

Speaker 2 (51:16):
Once again.

Speaker 3 (51:16):
Check out Dick's column for the Gazette yesterday. Colorado's unaffiliated
vote is up for grabs in twenty twenty six, I'm
Jimmy Sangenberger in for ros Kaminsky on the News with
Gina Gondck. On the News with Gina Gondeck, and right
there is a snippet from the first album debut album

(51:36):
of Government Mule, sort of self titled, well, actually it is.
It was Government Mule that song called Mule. The lead
guitarist of Government Mule is none other than Warren Haynes.
Warren Haynes was one of the lead guitarists of the
Allman Brothers band for many years and to this day
he is one of the barn on one of the

(51:58):
best guitarists a lie today and being in the Almand
Brothers band that makes him a member having been a
member of the.

Speaker 2 (52:07):
Best band in history.

Speaker 3 (52:08):
Again, most controversial thing I've probably ever said on the radio,
the Allmend Brothers are the best band in history. And
I will debate you and fight you tooth and nail
over that claim. But I bring up Warren Haynes because
we're gonna talk about Red Rocks for a second. But
I had the opportunity last year to interview Warren for

(52:32):
blues podcasts that I do on occasion, Blues Business with
Jimmy Sangenberger. You can find it on the iHeart Radio
app and it was amazing for me, as a lifelong
Almond Brothers fan, to.

Speaker 2 (52:46):
Have that conversation.

Speaker 3 (52:47):
But I asked him specifically about playing Red Rocks because
he's done it for so many years, so many times,
and here is his response.

Speaker 9 (52:57):
It's a fabulous venue, probably my favorite in the United States.
And I've played there dozens of times, probably over thirty times,
never had a bad show there. I've also sat in
the audience and watched other bands just to get that
experience because it's such a special place, and obviously I

(53:22):
look forward every time I'm going to play there.

Speaker 3 (53:26):
What is it about the venue that makes you think, Okay,
this may be the best in the United States. Is
it the acoustics, is it the atmosphere?

Speaker 2 (53:35):
What is it?

Speaker 11 (53:37):
Well?

Speaker 9 (53:37):
Everything visually, it's such a profoundly beautiful setting. It sounds
great there, the Colorado audiences are very geared toward live music,
and we've just always felt this connection. The type of

(53:58):
music that we all love seems to be something that
connects with Colorado audiences, and so when you combine all
those things together, it's just a magical place to play.

Speaker 3 (54:10):
That was Warren Haynes, one of the lead guitarists of
the Almond Brothers band. Somebody else who has told me
in the past in an interview that Red Rocks is
one of his favorite venues to play in the United
States and indeed maybe the best amphitheater in the world
is Joe Vanamasu does an annual show at Red Rocks, Gina.
I have been due I don't know how many shows
at Red Rocks since.

Speaker 2 (54:31):
I was a kid.

Speaker 3 (54:32):
I think the first one was that I saw was
the Almond Brothers band when I was like thirteen or fourteen.
As far as a Red Rocks concert and absolutely fantastic,
so much fun.

Speaker 2 (54:42):
I want to ask.

Speaker 3 (54:43):
You because we have some news that came out this
week about Red Rocks and it's rankings in terms of
popularity and how people love going to Red Rocks and
where it places for attendance.

Speaker 4 (54:55):
Yeah, I think This will be a.

Speaker 5 (54:56):
Great text question as you were talking to Alman Brothers
textas five six six nine zero your favorite Red Rocks
concert of all time because it's set attendance records of
one point seventy five million fans in twenty twenty five,
attending two hundred and thirty six events that took place
so far this year, and that makes it the second

(55:18):
most attended venue in the US, right behind Madison Square Garden.
So it's also called the Red Rocks best attended amphitheater
according to Billboard and Pollstar magazine, which I think is
so fascinating because Red Rocks is already at a disadvantage.
It's not open all year round and it only has
a capacity of ninety five hundred people. So the fact

(55:39):
that it's still the second most attended venue in the
US and it's not even able to do the entire
calendar year. By the end of the year, some people
are getting snow at Red.

Speaker 4 (55:48):
Rocks at some of those shows.

Speaker 5 (55:50):
I think that's pretty incredible, and I love the interview
of him saying, well, pretty much everything right is the
reason why Red Rocks is so great, because I don't
think you can pinpoint just the environment, the crowd.

Speaker 4 (56:02):
The energy, the acoustics.

Speaker 5 (56:04):
I've never been to a show that sounded bad at
Red Rocks. You know, everything about it is just always
so well done. And I love seeing people's first Red
Rocks experience because I remember mine. It was father John
Misty when I took a road trip out here once,
and I just remember being just so I don't even

(56:24):
think I had words to explain, and then I remember
telling myself.

Speaker 2 (56:28):
Wow, these are this is.

Speaker 5 (56:29):
Somebody's go to Amphitheater, right, this is where you see
shows on it every day, and then you come here
and it's in your backyard. As soon as I'm able
to say that, I'm like, yeah, this is this is
pretty christ We get spoiled when we're in Denver and
it's like, oh yeah, Red Rocks, It's amazing.

Speaker 3 (56:44):
It's right there, like we just you know, it's not
far at all for a drive. Part of the reason
why I wanted to play the Warren Haynes clip is
because that's a musician explaining and even saying he said
sometimes I've gone in to other shows to be in
the audience and have that experience, but hearing an artist's
perspective about playing at Red Rocks and then knowing for

(57:07):
you and for me and anybody else who's listening who's
been to Red Rocks probably many times for shows, we
can understand why it's one of the top five most
attended venues in the US.

Speaker 5 (57:18):
And I think one thing that some people forget about
is watching the openers of an artist, because yes, there
are people like the Allman Brothers who have played dozens
of times and they say it never gets hold. But
seeing it through the eyes of an opener who looks
out at Red Rocks and goes, this is unreal. That's
always a really, really cool experience to see as well.

Speaker 3 (57:37):
Listener texts five sixty sixty nine zero in terms of
the favorite concerts at Red Rocks or most memorable Godsmack
and Bush two thousand and three, Red Rocks best another Buffet.
I'm assuming that was the show at Red Rocks. Maybe
maybe you're saying, Jimmy Buffett's better than you Allman Brothers. Ben,
I think it's the former. I think it's about Red Rocks.

(58:00):
We gotta run to a break, but the fun will continue.
Why Expert Dave Bauer joining us live in studio on
the other side as we continue Jimmy Sangenberger and for
Roskiminsky on the News with Gina Gondeck.

Speaker 2 (58:15):
Keep it here Koa.

Speaker 1 (58:16):
Koway and Hi Hard Radio stations.

Speaker 3 (58:21):
Guaranteed Human Jimmy Sangenberger here with you eight oh five.

Speaker 2 (58:28):
As we continue on KOA.

Speaker 3 (58:33):
In, I'm filling in for Roskaminski on the News with
Gina Gondeck all week minus Thursday, when we're taking a
needed New Year's Day break. By the way, twenty four seven,
three sixty five. You want to get in touch with me,
check out my latest columns for the Denver Gaze podcast

(58:53):
from filling in and more. There's one place you can
go to Jimmy Sangenberger dot com. Remember there's no a,
I or you in Sangenberger. It's all ease, all the time.
Once you know that, Segenburger is easy and look, New
Year's Eve is tomorrow night, if you can believe it.

(59:16):
Twenty twenty five to me is an absolute blurb. But
this means there's a lot of celebrations going on. There's
a fantastic time ready to be had to ring in
the new year, and a lot of times those celebrations
might enjoy You might enjoy a nice beverage.

Speaker 2 (59:34):
We're very pleased to have in studio.

Speaker 3 (59:36):
Special guests that I'm gonna let Gina Gondek introduce because
you have had Dave Bauer on the show before and
I'm really excited. This is great and I'm just gonna
let you welcome our guests.

Speaker 2 (59:49):
Gina.

Speaker 5 (59:50):
Yeah, Dave Bauer, our wine expert here on KOA, joins
us all around the holidays. We've talked Thanksgiving, we've talked Christmas.
But I always love bringing you in, Dave to talk
a little bit about some Bubbly because I feel like
it's a drink that maybe people don't always have and
they always want to pop it around New Year's Eve.
It's fun, it's celebrating. I heard you pop it in

(01:00:10):
the newsroom. I want to shout because that's what everyone
loves to do, but maybe people are like, I don't
even know where to start.

Speaker 9 (01:00:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:00:16):
Come, So, first off, good morning, thank you so much
for joining us in a happy new year.

Speaker 2 (01:00:20):
Happy to be here.

Speaker 12 (01:00:20):
Gina and Jimmy, nice to meet you, Welcome, good to
meet you as well, and happy new Year.

Speaker 5 (01:00:24):
Tell us a little bit about what you should be
looking for when it comes to champagne. First off, are
all champagne champagne, because I know that's always a question.
And then if you're just looking for a bottle to
bring to the New Year celebration, what's a good go to?

Speaker 12 (01:00:37):
So no, not all champagne is champagne. And the answer
about sparkling wine is not, unlike the answer about whiskey.
All bourbon is whiskey, but not all whiskey is bourbon.
And champagne is a sparkling wine, but not all sparkling
wine is champagne. Champagne is a place in France, and

(01:00:58):
it's a legally protect name in Europe. So imagine if
you were touring, you're on vacation in France and you
go to the south of France and you find an
inexpensive bottle in a French supermarket of red wine, and
you pick it up and it says Napa Red from France.
You'd go, huh, that's what the French do, because Champagne

(01:01:21):
is a place, and if they see something labeled Champagne
that comes in an inexpensive bottle from California is a
head scratcher. So sparkling wine is the term we use.

Speaker 2 (01:01:31):
And then.

Speaker 12 (01:01:34):
Different places called their sparkling wine is different things. So
kava is sparkling wine made in the traditional way that
true French champagne has made with a secondary fermentation in
the bottle, and that comes from Spain. It's made from
different grapes, but the process of making it, fermenting it
in its individual bottle is the same. Prosecco that most

(01:01:56):
people know is made in a different process called the
charmat or bulk process. Imagine a giant bottle that is
fermented under pressure and then decanted into smaller bottles when
it is done. Also made from a different grape, usually
a gripe called glera that grows in Italy and not

(01:02:17):
a lot of other places. And then you can have
sparkling wine made in the traditional method from elsewhere in France,
which uses generally the word cremont, crem a and t
can be made.

Speaker 2 (01:02:32):
Often is made from the same grape.

Speaker 12 (01:02:34):
Sometimes it's not that are used in champagne, but that's
the other less expensive alternative to true champagne from champagne
from France. In the United States, it's a.

Speaker 2 (01:02:49):
Little bit of a wild card.

Speaker 12 (01:02:51):
You do see some older brands of American bottles that
still say California Champagne on them. That's a quirk of you.
And I today couldn't open a winery in California and
make California champagne. But older brands say like Corbell is
an example that comes immediately to mind. Have been made,

(01:03:13):
you know, for decades and decades and back when it
was legal. They are grandfathered in so they can still
say that on their label, but new products today can't.

Speaker 2 (01:03:24):
And it's generally a good.

Speaker 5 (01:03:26):
Idea, fascinating. Okay, So what we have here is a rose.

Speaker 12 (01:03:33):
So what I brought today is an American sparkling line.

Speaker 2 (01:03:37):
Okay, it is.

Speaker 12 (01:03:39):
It is a rose as we'll hold it up to
the microphone so the listeners can see.

Speaker 4 (01:03:43):
And it is glass this time too. We're really we're
really elegant.

Speaker 12 (01:03:49):
So this is everybody thinks of American wine and they
immediately go to California. This is from a winery called Gruet.
It is the winery that put New Mexico on the
map for wine making, and it is in particular this
is their bottling, their their premium bottling that's called sauvage.

Speaker 2 (01:04:07):
So vage.

Speaker 5 (01:04:08):
I was gonna say savage when I first looked.

Speaker 12 (01:04:10):
At it, and it's labeled on the backs it says
zero dosage. So that's the other question of is all
champagne the same? There are these adjectives that tell you
what kind what's in the bottle. In terms of sweetness,
zero dosage means no additional sugars were added when it

(01:04:32):
was bottled, so it's it's bone dry as you can taste.
The other words that There are several other words that
you'll see, but the two by far the most common
are brute and extra dry. And when I was working
in retail on New Year's Eve Day, I'd stand over
in the sparkling wine aisle and repeatedly say multiple times

(01:04:54):
an hour, extra dry is sweeter than brute.

Speaker 4 (01:04:58):
Extra dry is sweeter than brutes because.

Speaker 12 (01:05:01):
So that that's to some consumers is counterintuitive because they
associate the word dry with a wine that isn't sweet.
But brute is less sweet than extra dry. So sparkling
wines are weird. And that's that's pretty much true for
wines from any wines, wines, sparkling wines from anywhere in

(01:05:23):
the world, they all use that terminology and they kind
of adhere to roughly the same sweetness levels.

Speaker 2 (01:05:29):
At least for you know, CLO.

Speaker 3 (01:05:30):
Refers what what do you think is sort of especially
when people are looking for bubbly around the holidays. The
level of general knowledge that people actually have about this
is they make their choices for say a party that
they're hosting, or if they're bringing a bottle to brand.

Speaker 2 (01:05:47):
It's all over the map, Jimmy.

Speaker 12 (01:05:50):
The There are the people who want, you know, a
bottle of the stuff on the bottom shelf because they're
gonna they're gonna pour you know, an ounce or to
and toast and then and you know, proceed with whatever
they were doing. There are the people for whom it's
a super special occasion. They're with their loved one and
they want to open, uh, you know, one of the

(01:06:12):
finest bottles of sparkling line they can they can get
and so they know. The brand people think about for
that is maybe don't pairing you on which sells for
over two hundred dollars a bottle, but there are many
even more expensive bottles than that on the market, and
for for some people that's you know, that's the treat
maybe instead of going out to a club and spending

(01:06:32):
a lot of money on bottle service or something we're
gonna We're gonna have a nice, nice night in and
do that.

Speaker 4 (01:06:38):
We're speaking with.

Speaker 5 (01:06:38):
Dave Bauer, or wine expert here on Koah. Dave, we
chose a little bit of time left, but I do
want to get to this other glass real quick, if
you mind explaining, because after all the celebrations of New
Year's comes, what a lot of people participate in is
dry January, after all the indulgements of the holidays. I
was curious from you as a wine expert when I

(01:06:59):
asked for.

Speaker 2 (01:06:59):
An n A one.

Speaker 5 (01:07:00):
Did you scoff at that idea? Or is this something
that's become more and more common nowadays?

Speaker 2 (01:07:05):
It is certainly becoming more and more common.

Speaker 12 (01:07:07):
One of the only growing places in the wine business
right now is is in the non alcoholic category of wines.
So it's still just a tiny part of the of
of the of what sells, but growing. So what I
brought here is a wine that's from Italy, from me
and Etta as a prosecco producer. This is not technically

(01:07:29):
prosecco because it has to as alcohol to legally be prosecco,
but this is their non alcohol removed version of a
sparkling wine from meanetto.

Speaker 4 (01:07:39):
This could fool me.

Speaker 3 (01:07:41):
It's good, Yeah, it's it's it's good.

Speaker 2 (01:07:45):
It's bubble.

Speaker 12 (01:07:46):
And I brought a little mini bottle today because there
were just the three of us.

Speaker 2 (01:07:50):
But this comes in full size.

Speaker 12 (01:07:51):
Bottles as well, and it's you know, it's it for
people who can't or don't want to be be drinking
alcohol and on something celebratory. There are multiple brands on
the market now that do this, but some of them
are wine where the alcohol has been removed, and there

(01:08:12):
are technologies to do that often involve heating and evaporating
the alcohol off, or they involve spinning cone technology. How
what you google that we don't have time for, but
all of them, if you read them, are pretty intrusive
to the wine itself. So making non alcoholic wine is

(01:08:34):
somewhat difficult for wine makers because you don't just make
your best regular wine and somehow remove the alcohol because
it changes the flavor and the texture in your mouth.
Alcohol also provides a bit of a texture to your
tongue that if you just take the alcohol out and
don't do anything else, the wine tastes weird or worse.

Speaker 3 (01:08:55):
That's fascinating to me, you know, I taste this and
it seems, you know, pretty much like you'd be drinking
regular wine mine as alcohol just in terms of the taste,
and to have that close to proximity is pretty it's
pretty cool if you think about it.

Speaker 2 (01:09:14):
Yeah, it's uh there.

Speaker 12 (01:09:16):
It's come a long way from back ten years ago
when the only non alcoholic wine you could find on
the shelf was the brand free from Sutterholme, which I
never thought tasted much like the wines I was used to.
Let's just leave it at that. It's pretty good. Where
so it's it's come a long way since then. But again,
you want to you want a good independent retailer to

(01:09:38):
help you with that because there's still a lot of
head scratcher products out there, and that's a category. I
think you professional help helps you choose some things.

Speaker 5 (01:09:49):
Dave Bauer, appreciate you coming in as always, Cheers to
the new year.

Speaker 4 (01:09:52):
Thanks for bringing some of these in and maybe all
have to get a bottle this.

Speaker 5 (01:09:55):
Na as I kick off try January next.

Speaker 3 (01:09:57):
Month, indeed day, thanks for joining us on the program.
Really appreciated. Jimmy Sangenberger here with you in for Roskiminski
on the News with Gina Gandak and you know what,
conversing a few minutes during a Genus newscast with our
wine expert Dave Bauer.

Speaker 2 (01:10:15):
I asked them to stick around.

Speaker 3 (01:10:16):
A few more minutes because there are a lot of
changes in the wine industry of late. You have impacts
of tariffs and so forth, and I guess, Dave, a
lot that's not being made anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:10:29):
Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 12 (01:10:30):
I mean, the alcohol beverage business, be it wine, be
it spirits, be it beer, is definitely seeing a decline
in consumption. And you know, we can argue about whether
that's good or bad, but it is a fact. And
I pulled some statistics that I thought you might find interesting.

(01:10:51):
In twenty twenty four, in California, forty thousand acres of
vines were ripped out because there's a sea of wine
and there just was not a market for those grapes.
That in addition to that, over one hundred thousand tons

(01:11:12):
of wine grapes in twenty twenty four were left on
the vines to rot is they it was not cost
effective to harvest and make something out of them. So
California's wine output in twenty twenty four plunged seventeen point
one percent. California is the big the big bear in

(01:11:32):
the US, but overall US production in twenty twenty four
dropped fifteen percent. Now, to put that into numbers that
the average consumer would understand, one hundred thousand tons of
wines left on the vine equates to about seventy five
million bottles of wine, and forty thousand acres where you

(01:11:55):
get three to five tons per.

Speaker 2 (01:11:57):
Acre that you harvest equates to.

Speaker 12 (01:12:00):
Somewhere in the range of ninety ninety million two at
the high side, one hundred and fifty million bottles of
wine that just aren't.

Speaker 2 (01:12:08):
Going to be made anymore.

Speaker 5 (01:12:10):
Do you think that's just demand or do you think
cost of harvesting or anything else that they're just considering.

Speaker 4 (01:12:17):
You know, it's not just worth it for us to
be doing this anymore.

Speaker 12 (01:12:21):
Well, certainly demand is a big part of it, because
we are seeing lowered demand for the products. And you
often hear people will say they're not drinking more, but
they're drinking better, and.

Speaker 2 (01:12:35):
There is some truth to that.

Speaker 12 (01:12:37):
The bargain brandons, the inexpensive five liter box wines that
you see in every supermarket, our way down in sales,
the one and a half liter glass. Bottles that sell
for under ten dollars a bottle are down in sales.
If people are buying wine, they're buying generally a nicer

(01:12:57):
wine in the ten to twenty or fifteen to twenty
five dollar range to have with a nice meal. But
they're they're not buying that sort of everyday stuff that
they just keep out.

Speaker 3 (01:13:07):
Tariffs on foreign wine coming in, say from France or
Spain or elsewhere. How is that impacting the industry.

Speaker 12 (01:13:17):
I think the industry is still sorting it out, and
we as consumers have not seen the full impact of
that yet. There was a lot of front loading of
purchases of wine and spirits when the tariffs were initially
announced in the beginning of twenty twenty five, so a

(01:13:38):
lot of importers stocked up got the stuff stateside before
before the wine was tariff coming in. And different different
places have higher tariffs. But if you think that your
average tariff on a bottle is going to be the
minimum of ten percent and sometimes fifteen or even twenty
five percent, Now that those products that were stockpiled have

(01:14:02):
for the most part sold through and new orders are
coming in, I definitely am seeing wholesale prices increase in
the ten to fifteen percent range on many products, pardon me,
and I see a commensurate retail price increase as well, So.

Speaker 2 (01:14:23):
It's it's still difficult to.

Speaker 12 (01:14:25):
Tell, on top of the lowered consumption what that's really
going to mean in terms of consumption patterns. There are
certain things that you really can't find an equivalent of
from other places. I've yet to find a good equivalent
in the United States to my everyday Italian kianti that
I have with a pizza or spaghetti dinner that I

(01:14:46):
can buy for fifteen dollars that tastes like the ones
I buy from Italy at that price point, So it's
hard to tell.

Speaker 3 (01:14:52):
Dave Bauer, our wine expert here on KOA. Great to
talk with you, sir, Thanks for sticking around, and have
a very happy New Year.

Speaker 2 (01:15:00):
Happy New Year, do you, Thank you, Jimmy, Thanks Gina,
thank you so much. Once again.

Speaker 3 (01:15:04):
Jimmy Sangenberger in for ros Kaminski on the news with
Gina Gondek taking a break, We'll be back on the
other side on KOA. Good to be with you on
the program. And I didn't know how much blues there
was a CCR, but that's a sample Penhouse popper. As

(01:15:26):
we continue been getting texts about Red Rocks five six,
six nine zero, it is now top five most attended
venue for music in the United States, which is not
particularly surprising, but also not.

Speaker 2 (01:15:43):
Unremarkable. It is indeed remarkable.

Speaker 3 (01:15:47):
What is your favorite concert or most memorable that you've
had at Red Rocks, one says you two nineteen eighty three,
the Unforgettable Fire Tour.

Speaker 2 (01:15:57):
Check it out on YouTube.

Speaker 3 (01:15:59):
Best concert by anyone anywhere ever, and you were there.

Speaker 2 (01:16:04):
That is a memory to cherish, isn't it, Gina.

Speaker 5 (01:16:06):
That is a good point of a lot of artists
also do some type of recording or show or video
that generally goes side by side with the Red Rocks performances,
so sometimes you could say I was there and you're
watching it on YouTube.

Speaker 3 (01:16:20):
To the first time I ever saw Joe Bonamasa, who's
one of my absolute favorites, and he's done a great
job at sort of bringing blues back into more mainstream
and so forth, the way that he's done with marketing
and is an amazing musician. The first time I ever
saw him, I think was this first time ever playing
Red Rocks in twenty fourteen, and it was called his

(01:16:42):
Muddy Wolf Show, which was paying homage to Muddy Waters
and Howland Wolf, two of the great blues legends, And.

Speaker 2 (01:16:48):
That was for a DVD.

Speaker 3 (01:16:50):
And then he did another one, I forget what it
was called, a couple of years ago, and I was
also there for that one.

Speaker 2 (01:16:58):
Actually, I think it was three years ago in twenty
twenty two.

Speaker 3 (01:17:01):
One of my first dates with my fiance actually showing
her some blues and taking her to Red Rocks and
that was a lot of fun. And you know, to me,
it's unique, isn't it That it's one of those venues
that artists want to have this performance, not just the
live audio recording, but also that coral video.

Speaker 5 (01:17:21):
It's the energy of the artist being just as excited
to be at an iconic venue as you are, and
it's just the dynamic of.

Speaker 4 (01:17:28):
The two really is just so cool to see.

Speaker 5 (01:17:31):
A Texter said Stevie Wonder was one of their favorites rest.

Speaker 4 (01:17:35):
Which that's a bucket list. That's unreal.

Speaker 5 (01:17:38):
Robert Plant and the Black Crows Oasis and two thousand
and five Sarah Barrellas with the Colorado Symphony. That's on
my list to see a show with the Colorado Symphony.
I still have not been able to do that, and
there's so many artists I do that.

Speaker 3 (01:17:54):
So Warren Haynes, who we played earlier, who said he
was in lead guitarist of Amen Bars for a very
long time and was very glowing about a Red Rock
City and my podcast interview that I did with him
last year, his show that he was doing for Warren Haynes,
it was his own project, was with the Colorado Symphony.

Speaker 11 (01:18:17):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (01:18:18):
And it was absolutely amazing how.

Speaker 2 (01:18:22):
It meshed together so well.

Speaker 3 (01:18:25):
And so many artists of different genres have done that,
and it takes a creativity level, Gina, that you know.
I'm a musician. I play harmonica. I can't begin to
fathom doing something like that.

Speaker 5 (01:18:37):
Someone said, kiss I proposed to my wife at Red Rocks.
I had a bad concert experience there with Bonnie Rait
and Jackson Brown in ninety nine because it was windy.
A lot of people love to talk about the weather
because it is an outdoor venue. There's zero coverage and
sometimes you were just there on the pooring grain. But
it doesn't matter to me. I'm always like, absolutely love it.

(01:18:59):
In eighty six, one said Jimmy Buffett at Red Rocks.
And also we forget that there's not just concerts. Someone said, uh,
watching montifies Red Rocks was awesome, the Echo of the
Coconuts because they do so many different movies, comedy shows.

Speaker 4 (01:19:15):
Things like that.

Speaker 5 (01:19:16):
There was two hundred and thirty six events at Red
Rocks this year, even graduations, which I'm so jealous to
say a high school graduate gets to say they walked
across the stage at Red Rocks.

Speaker 4 (01:19:25):
That's a pretty cool.

Speaker 2 (01:19:25):
Yead, is you know.

Speaker 3 (01:19:27):
And then of course there there's the weather and there
are some other things that people might gripe about regarding
Red Rocks. One person texted in, I'm not a fan
of Red Rocks because there's no place to dance without
having to worry about falling down into the next row.
But frankly, a lot of these venues you don't really
have room to dance at a lot of the venues

(01:19:48):
that you go to.

Speaker 5 (01:19:49):
I almost feel like I have more room at Red
Rocks than some of the GA shows that I've been to,
because if you're lucky, hopefully nobody's doing that thing where
they try to put two lanes of people on one
step on Red Rocks, so you at least have forward
and backward and you have a little bit more wiggle room.

Speaker 4 (01:20:06):
Than the people in front of you.

Speaker 5 (01:20:07):
Instead of being at a GA show where people are
just packed together.

Speaker 3 (01:20:10):
Right or you know, you're in ball arena or something,
and you have much more contained seating.

Speaker 2 (01:20:18):
That's even more difficult.

Speaker 5 (01:20:20):
And for the most part, everyone's always standing at Red Rocks, yes,
and then when you're at a ball arena show, you
get into the debates of some people are sitting in
the upper levels and the lower levels people are mad
if you're standing in your seats all that stuff. Red Rocks,
it feels like the energy as the headliner comes on,
everybody's on there.

Speaker 3 (01:20:35):
It's the atmosphere that you go to, and I think
that's something Warren Haynes also talked about, was the atmosphere
of being at Red Rocks, at a beautiful venue with
acoustics that are like nothing else, and with musicians playing
on this majestic.

Speaker 2 (01:20:51):
Stage where you just feel enveloped in their show.

Speaker 5 (01:20:56):
A lot of people saying, Jimmy Buffett, yeah, I'm kind
of jealous because a lot of people are saying that one.
And then of course widespread panic this Guy says he's
been to around fifty shows. I already profiled saying guy
because I think that the demographic of a widespread panic.

Speaker 4 (01:21:10):
I love the show when I saw.

Speaker 5 (01:21:11):
Them as well, and Steve Martin in nineteen seventy seven.
So it's it's really fun that everybody kind of thinks
of their go to Red Rocks memory, whether it's an
artist or a comedian or a.

Speaker 4 (01:21:22):
Movie, you name it. It's just such a cool experience.

Speaker 3 (01:21:25):
Yes, I will never forget any of those shows that
I've been to, and countless what I mentioned, all my
brothers and Government Mule, Warren Haynes, Joe Bonamas, I've seen
Buddy Guy there. You know, the just did the James
Gang when I was in high school that had Joe
Walsh when they came back, you know, I saw him.

(01:21:49):
So it was it was always just fun as a
kid going to those venues, you know, and or that
venue in particular, and having that experience and then you know,
you take it into to adulthood. Oh, Steve Miller also
saw Steve Miller band at Red Rocks, and the list

(01:22:09):
goes on.

Speaker 2 (01:22:11):
Gotta love it.

Speaker 3 (01:22:11):
Are we blessed or not to be here in Colorado
with Red Rocks the Amphitheater. Be sure to see a
show next year, especially if you haven't. I am amazed
at the number of people who say, oh, I've never
been to Red Rocks.

Speaker 2 (01:22:24):
You live here, go to Red Rocks, see a concert.
Come on, man, what you doing with your life? Gotta
love it.

Speaker 3 (01:22:31):
I'm Jimmy Segenberger Inferoskiminsky on the News with Gina Gondeck.

Speaker 2 (01:22:36):
Don't go Anywhere.

Speaker 3 (01:22:36):
One more segment up ahead on KOA with Gina Gondeck.
Thanks for joining us, and tomorrow this is gonna be
an absolute blast. Special guest I'm gonna call him co
host throughout the show will be Biff Gore, who was
on season six of The Voice Got Very Far. If

(01:22:57):
I recall correctly, Usher picked him and his voice is incredible.
He can talk about any topic and for years, including
last year on KOA, I've had him minute New Year's where.

Speaker 2 (01:23:12):
We've jammed some tunes.

Speaker 3 (01:23:14):
I've got my briefcase full of blues that I'll be
of course bringing in. We'll jam some tunes throughout the show.
We'll have some conversations with him and more. It's just
going to be an absolutely great time. Continuing that discussion
with music that we've had about red Rocks and more
in a sense, but so many other topics, the news

(01:23:36):
of the day, looking back at the year, looking back
at some of the musicians that we lost in twenty
twenty five, which, believe it or not, is an extraordinarily
long list, and always just when you when you think back,
oh I forgot that so and so passed away, it
makes you go, wow, how how in the world did

(01:23:59):
that happen?

Speaker 2 (01:24:00):
Or how did I forget? And it is extraordinary.

Speaker 3 (01:24:03):
Although I do want to note that, for example, Dick
van Dyke turned one hundred years old this month, which
was certainly remarkable, and that's one of those things that
makes you go, Okay, I feel good knowing that he
got to one hundred. Mel Brooks is nearing one hundred
and coming out with Spaceballs two next year, which is

(01:24:24):
a movie I am very very excited to see.

Speaker 2 (01:24:29):
And by the way, so I'll.

Speaker 3 (01:24:31):
Be starting off tomorrow morning six to nine with Gina
as well as her special guest in studio a Biff Gore,
the Ambassador of Soul, and then in the evening Jimmy
Junior Blues Band will be celebrating the new year from
eight to eleven PM performing my band performing at t

(01:24:54):
Birds in wheat Ridge.

Speaker 2 (01:24:56):
That'll be a great time.

Speaker 3 (01:24:58):
So, Gina, I got a big day for music tomorrow.
It's gonna be an absolute blast sort of rounding out
the year here on KOA with you.

Speaker 4 (01:25:06):
I'm looking forward to it.

Speaker 5 (01:25:07):
I'm glad that you two will be supplying the musical
instruments because I don't think I can participate in any
type of music in any way, shape or form. So
I'll just sit back and enjoy what you guys will
bring because I don't think I have anything to contribute
except maybe like high school flutes. I could probably pull
out and maybe still do a scale.

Speaker 4 (01:25:24):
That's about it.

Speaker 3 (01:25:25):
Okay, maybe we'll have to incorporate the flute into our
jam session.

Speaker 2 (01:25:29):
All right, that's Gina Goddek. We'll be back tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (01:25:32):
Jimmy Sangenberger in for Ras Kaminski.

Speaker 2 (01:25:35):
I'm the News with Gina.

Speaker 3 (01:25:38):
As we continue this week, I'm KOA.

Speaker 2 (01:25:42):
Have a great rest of your day.

Speaker 3 (01:25:43):
John Caldera in next for Michael Brown and May God
bless America.