May 26, 2025 • 24 mins
The End of American Pop Culture. High Schoolers are Graduating with 70K Jobs and TALKBACK.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Gary and Shannon and you're listening to KFI
AM six forty, the Gary and Shannon Show on demand
on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Have a great Memorial Day. We'll of course be back
at work tomorrow. But it's one of the segments we
did recently that we thought, you know, came in near
the top of the list when it came to good segments.
So have fun landlines are coming back because we need
to teach kids how to use the telephone. Telephone, telephone.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Why is it that they need a physical phone to
learn etiquette with.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
I don't know, because we're big dumb animals and there
are weird triggers like that, or it's the people who
are teaching telephone etiquette feel like that was the last
time we had good telephone etiquette. So maybe that's why.
Maybe that's why. Maybe it's like teaching somebody to drive,
but doing it on a stick shift as opposed to
an automatic transmission.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
It's funny.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Older people are delightful on the telephone, aren't they. Yeah,
they really are, more so I think than even in person.
People that are of an older generation are delightful on
the phone.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
How old would you say?
Speaker 1 (01:12):
I would say, seventies, sixties, seventies, there's like a there's
different bar for behavior.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
You're awful on the telephone.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
I know, because there's two Okay, what do you that's
not fair.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
First of all, I have no idea because I don't
spend much time on the phone since there was something
going on over there. So I decided to throw this
little bait in the water.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
If you text me on a Sunday morning, and then
if you were to have called me, there's two reasons
why you would call me. Yeah, something awful. That's why
I just text you. I know that's something awful has happened, or.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
I'm not going to be to work.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yes, And because something is awful, that's happened, So that's
going to be an odd and that's going to be
an awful phone call. Most of I shouldn't even say
most of the time, yes, a lot of the times.
That's my case from me.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yeah, So when you pick up the phone for me,
it's most likely what I hear is this Yes, what
is it?
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Yeah, that's because something has happened. When you called me
last week, the last time you called me is because
you started a fire right and I didn't even answer
the phone, which would have been bad, I assumed had
you started an actual fire.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
That was the only reason I called you when I
started the fire in the home was because you had
talked earlier in the day about how I was kind
of in a mood where I was going to set
something on fire, or are you going to set the
building on fire? Or you had made some mention about fire,
and I was like, you're crazy, what are you talking about?
Speaker 3 (02:49):
I'm fine?
Speaker 1 (02:49):
And then I went home and promptly started a fire, right,
So I wanted you to have the payoff of your premonition.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
There is a there's an article in The Atlantic magazine
about the end of American pop culture, and there's an
interesting way to look at this argument that we are
right now in one of the worst eras when it
comes to pop American specific American pop culture.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Well, you think about pop.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Culture, what do you think about You think about music, trends, fashion, right,
my movies, movies, things like that. A lot of it
is meme culture, a lot of it's TikTok culture.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Right, It's just changed, it's changed from what we remember.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
But is it good? Can we can? Can you put
a value like that That's what I mean. Yeah, we
like to think about when we have celebrated eighties and
nineties entertainment movies, TV shows and things like that, there
were there was a very different attitude towards those things
(03:59):
because they was a built in waiting period, whether it
was a TV show like you said, last week, we
talked about did you see what happened on Seinfeld last night?
That was the discussion every Friday at school or at
college or at work, what did you watch Seinfeld last night?
Of course I watched Seinfeld last night. Of course it
was hilarious. But now it's have you seen this entire
season of did you.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Sit on your couch for nine hours? Like I did
on Sunday?
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Man plays into so many different ills of society, doesn't
it well?
Speaker 2 (04:30):
And I think that there was a we had a
different attitude back then. If you had, it was the
delayed gratification of whatever. The album didn't come out until June.
You knew when it was coming out. They didn't preview
it with singles at least that were available to you.
You could hear it on the radio, but you couldn't
go out and buy that single necessarily before the big
album came out whatever, whatever.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
The anticipation is a fantastic feeling, look no further than
Carly Simon. But anticipation is something nobody feels anymore because
we're instantly gratified with everything right, there is no anticipation.
The only anticipation that remains really is maybe waiting to
(05:11):
go on a trip if that's your thing.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
If you're into.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Travel, sure, the countdown to your vacation.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Everything else is just it's right here, you want it now,
you got it, your tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
They also describe the explosion of creativity and creative expression
in the United States right now. More than five hundred
scripted TV shows get made every single year, and get this,
streaming services add about one hundred thousand songs every single Well.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
What does that mean for the quality? Right, Let's talk
about it when we come back.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
And with that, we'll wrap up that segment.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
You're listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Special Memorial Day edition of the show. Today. I'm not here,
Shannon's not here. We'll both be back tomorrow. I give
you all the updated news about what's going on. So
this is one of our best of segments. Enjoy. We
were talking about this article from Spencer Cornhabra the worst
ever era of American pop culture and just in terms
(06:20):
of are we you know, movies all sound the same,
TV shows all sound the same. Art is the same
as it used to be, and a lot of times
the people that produce that kind of entertainment for us
are relying on the old things to bring us back.
I mean, they just re released was it Phantom Menace,
one of the Star Wars movies, and it made millions
of dollars at the box office. Everybody's seen that. We've
(06:42):
all seen it. We've all seen it, and we still
will pay money for the things that we've seen before.
They also I had mentioned that there's about one hundred
thousand songs reportedly every day added to streaming services, and
I found this interesting. In twenty twenty four, new releases
accounted for a little more than a quarter of all
(07:03):
of the albums consumed in the United States, just a quarter.
That every year, a greater and greater percentage of the
albums that are streamed online would be considered catalog music
means at least eighteen months old.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Well.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
In three twelve CE, the Roman Senate ordered the construction
of a monument called the Arch of Constantine. It incorporated
pieces from older monuments built in more glorious times for
the empire, which had begun its centuary a century's long decline.
(07:38):
This is a metaphor for modern culture. The arch is
the TV and film industry, enamored of reboots, spin offs,
the formulaic genre.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Fair like you were talking about.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
I love this one line where he talks about Broadway
theaters subsist on stunt cast revivals of old war horses.
One of those that's going on right now is Glengarry
Glenn Ross, with a cast that includes stand up comedians
at Academy Award winning actors. It's not just a bunch
(08:16):
of up and coming actors that you used to see
on Broadway. These are people that are kind of crossing
genres their word stunt cast in these shows. Does this
mean that we're declining? Does it mean we hit a
slow spot when it comes to innovation?
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Sure, we are at the end of creativity. Have we
done all of the things?
Speaker 2 (08:42):
If it's possible, and if artificial intelligence continues to progress
at the level that it does, we're really screwed because
no one's going to want to even put brain energy.
They're not going to want to put the calories into
thinking about creative endeavors. If all we have to do
(09:06):
is simply ask Ai to make something for us.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
I think that we're going to see the pendulum swing here.
You and I were talking off the air. I was
lamenting about the decline of production in radio. It could
be podcasts, it could be radio news, what have you.
When I started, there were a lot of reporters and
anchors that were obsessed and it was so much fun
(09:32):
to listen to when it came to production elements, whether
it was just an ear of sound, of taking ambient
sound that runs under a sound bite and carrying it
through your entire piece as a reporter or an anchor
or what have you.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
There was so much more of that.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
It felt like we were constantly trying to one up
each other when it came to making a pleasing sound
for the ear, something coming out of the radio, something
that made you go huh, you know, or or just wow,
that's a really clear sound, or really good sound, or
really well put together things like that. And now we're
kind of in this era of just kind of bare bones.
(10:10):
When you listen to even at the onset of podcasts,
and a couple of them come to mind, the podcast
of the man who made all those clocks in the
South or whatever. You know, there's just certain things where
the when the production is good, it just sings, It
just stands out. And now we're kind of in this
like bare bones production land. It seems like a lot
(10:34):
that I do as town.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
When I listened to radio, I'm just kind of like,
where where's all the fun production or not even fun,
just any production whatsoever. And I think that that's just
the pendulum swinging, and I think it'll swing back when
it comes to It's like fashion, you know, we go
from minimalists to super creative and super colorful and then
back to grays and mobs and you know, and I
(10:59):
think that right now with culture, we're just in this
weird phase where you feel like everything's been done and so,
you know, here's a meme.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
For you, here's a meme. Here's a TikTok from my
eighty three right, I mean the Kate Bush song that
came back and charted again thirty seven years after it
charted the first time. Yeah, because it was on a
TV show which also was a, I guess an honorific
to the old eighties, you know, movies that we saw
(11:30):
and stranger things. So up next, the best questions for
your first date.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
I'm still feeling what the kids call anxiety over Heather
Brooker's question on the first date? Who do you respect
the most? And why that was a loaded question?
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Would you have just gotten up from the table and left?
Speaker 3 (11:51):
I don't know. I mean, my goodness, it's a lot.
That's a lot.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
I hope you're enjoying this special Memorial Day weekend recap
some of our best stuff that we've done over the
last couple of weeks.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
You're listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
We went through and found some of our recent segments
that we thought you might want to redo you revisit
in your own head, so enjoy this one.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
This is some good news. I think it's good news.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Finally we're getting our things done correctly when it turned
when it comes to valuing skilled positions. Elijah Rios is
the kid they profile in the Wall Street Journal. Now,
Elijah won't graduate from high school until next year, but
he already has a job offer that pays nearly seventy
grand a year. Elijah is not a five star baseball
(12:40):
player or basketball or football. No, he's taking welding classes
at his high school in Philadelphia. And this high school
works closely with companies looking for workers in the skilled trades.
Employers are dealing with such a shortage of these workers
that they're courting high school students. As the boomers are
(13:02):
retiring in these skilled positions, these companies are saying, crap.
All we have to look at are these millennials who
made not involving a penis.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
It's funny with that's the first place you went, I said,
left handed medieval puppetry.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Right, There was this whole push when you and I
were in school, go to college, Go to college, go
to college, major in something that you're interested in. And
there was all these people that decided to major in
puppetry of the.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
What left handed medieval puppetry.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Yes, that graduated, and they have these beautiful degrees that
are framed and rich mahogany, but no freaking talent or
skill that's usable in everyday life. And now those skilled
jobs are empty and they're emptying out with people retiring.
Before the push to become a puppet master. And so
(13:58):
now you've got the these companies going to high schools
that still have shop classes, and so many of them
don't because of the emphasis on the puppetry.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Letty, you know what.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
I mean, the liberal arts things, and all the push
to to go to higher education when who's gonna make
the s.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
There was, like you said, there was that emphasis on
go to college. You'll figure it out, go to college,
it will come to you, or however you wanted to
put it. But you really couldn't do anything without a
four year degree, which as we know, we've learned complete
bs right or BA. But the whole point of of it,
I mean, I'm not saying college is bad, because in fact,
(14:42):
it does continue those lessons that you're supposed to learn
in high school, which is how to study, how to
manage time, how to do what is required of you,
how to answer to to specifications.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
But some people aren't built that way.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
And if you're built the way that you work with
your hands and that is your jam, you need shop
class and you need somebody to tell you, hey, there's
jobs for you. These people, I mean, it's employers that
range from the local transit system to submarine manufacturers that
are making regular visits to this high school in Philly,
(15:18):
specifically the welding classrooms, bringing branded swag and pitching students
on their specific workplaces.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Yeah, Father Judge is a Catholic high school there in Philly,
and it has brought back and put an emphasis on
those trade classes, trades, and in other places we're seeing
it as well, plumbing, electrical work, welding, even wood shop
that they have come back in a big way because
(15:48):
there has been such a loss of those Now on
this show, we've talked with Mike row Dirty Jobs Micro
We've talked to him a couple of times, and this
is one of his big emphasis is getting people out
of the rut of a place they don't want to
be in college, a career field, they don't want to
(16:12):
be left handed medieval puppetry, and get them onto a
path that is fulfilling in terms of work and financially
secure in terms of the rest of their lives. A
lot of these people listen. When you start radio may
not be the greatest example, but it is an example.
When you start in radio, you work all the time,
(16:32):
you have to, you have to volunteer, do everything. You
volunteer to work on the weekends. You volunteer to work overnights,
You volunteer to empty the trash cans on tuesdays, you
volunteer to work on holidays. That's the only way you're
going to get any sort of money to pay the rent.
Not get ahead, not be famous. It's the way you
get money to pay the rent. In some of these
(16:55):
right out of high school careers, they're talking about eighty
thousand dollars a year base pay, plus great overtime, plus
great benefits, plus great vacation packages. I mean, and I
don't ever remember that, even being I didn't know that
(17:16):
I had benefits until I was probably thirty four years old.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Yeah, my brother was always into mechanics, and my dad.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
Was always like, you got to go to college. You
got to go to college.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
And my brother, he's a plumber, has his own business,
employees a whole bit doing great. But he he landed
there after a series of different things he did with
his hands. But I remember at one point my parents
said something like electricians get into this field. You can
become an apprentice, you can become an electrician. It's real
(17:47):
money and benefits, and it's like those same things that
are important to people down the line, are still not
important to a twenty six year old or whatever he
was at the time. He's not thinking about what he's
thinking about, what does what do I want to do
with my hands? You know, what kind of labor do
I want to do? Still wasn't thinking like labor or
(18:11):
benefits and you know, salaried positions and things like that.
So it's kind of hard when you when you're talking
to kids that that are into the shop thing to
kind of woo them with like a concrete plan or
like a stability, to woo them with stability.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
That's not what they're into.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
So it's kind of a I would imagine it's kind
of a delicate dance going into those shop classes. You
have to kind of recruit them because to a kid
like that, the idea of stability, that's not what they're
looking for. They want to they want to be creative.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Venture all of that.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
The other thing is if you found a place, speaking
of benefits, if you found a place that was gonna
put money in your four oh one K when you're
eighteen years old, I still that's a ten year hit
start on most people, right, I Mean, that's that idea
alone is again not necessarily sellable to an eighteen year old. Hey,
we're going to take part of your paycheck and stalk
it away so you can't touch it for a long time.
(19:12):
But you tell them then there'll be a millionaire by
the time they want to retire. I mean some of
that that I just.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Learned about our pension from handle like three weeks ago.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Well, you have to pay your union dues before I did.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
I did that last year first time. I'm all good.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
As an example, one of the seniors at that at
that Catholic high school in rules, I just don't want
you to be an old maid.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
You just don't want to be living in the other room.
I know what you're saying. Aiden is a senior at
Father Judge High School. He was recruited as a high
school welder. He was a senior and was offered a
seventy five thousand dollars a year job before he.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Graduated high school. Yeah, he's going to be working at
a submarine well as a submarine welder at a defense
contractor in New Jersey. That's a good job.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
But you know that there are some of these kids
that are like, eh.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
You know, well they also want the party aspect of college.
There's there's that, there's the slice of the pie that
is only wants to go to college for that they
don't care about.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
No, I don't.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
I'm talking about the shop kids even like shop kids. Yeah,
I'm saying, somebody coming in and be like, we'll pay
you seventy thousand dollars a year, just like so I
gotta be there nine to five, five days.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
How do I play my games? How do I.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Play my games? People's minds work differently.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Yeah they do. Yeah, you're right. That was some of
the best stuff we've done recently.
Speaker 4 (20:44):
You're listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
I have a great Memorial Day. We'll of course be
back at work tomorrow. But it's one of the segments
we did recently that we thought, you know, came in
near the top of the list when it came to segments.
So have fun.
Speaker 5 (21:01):
Hey, Garrian Shannon.
Speaker 6 (21:02):
Hey, I am a millennial.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Thirty one years old, graduated high school in twenty twelve.
Speaker 5 (21:11):
I had no interest in going to college.
Speaker 7 (21:14):
I stood on a piece of heavy equipment on the
side of.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
I five in Santa Clarita again, about one hundred and
twenty thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
A year without overtime. Nice, I make more than a
teachers who told me I wasn't going to make any
money in my life.
Speaker 7 (21:29):
Ever.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
That's I'll hog as I go by today. By the way,
see you on the side of the freeway.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
I took one of those tests in high school at
the office with all the pamphlets of colleges and things,
your counselor's office, I guess. I don't remember there being
a counselor there. Maybe there was, but I do remember
taking some sort of test that.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Was gonna remember anybody else in the room, I don't.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
It was just like a multiple choice test or something,
and it was supposed to give you three different jobs
that you would be good at.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
And I only remember one of the three, and one.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Of them, that one, the one that I remember, and
it was number two on the list, was bus driver.
I don't remember the questions of the test. I certainly
don't remember a driving test that wasn't included.
Speaker 6 (22:18):
But bus drivers driver, Okay, So maybe because I like
to talk or talk to people or so, maybe that
was a question do you like I don't know.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Your service oriented.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
I did not write yes to.
Speaker 5 (22:30):
That, Gary Shannon. This is Larry from Beverly Hills. I
teach a ten week course several times a year at
Santa Ana College in Santa Ana, California that helped people
get into the construction workers' unions through what is called
the MC three pre Apprenticeship Program. It is completely free
course and I've placed three students in the last eight
(22:54):
weeks wow, from my classes already, so it's a wonderful
thing to do. They can make up to.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Up to Oh, oh, you're leaving me hanging, buddy, that's
too bad. Diane also called in Diane apparently has a
friend that did this path.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
Hello.
Speaker 7 (23:10):
I had a dear friend back in Massachusetts who owned
his own metalworking company for many years and then he
taught metalworking. He retired down to Florida and he was
hired by NASA to work on the space shuttles because
of his metalworking. Absolutely fantastic man, in a great job.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
He just loved it.
Speaker 7 (23:30):
Have a great day.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Thank you very much for that.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
Yeah, this is what I'm here for.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
I've also said that there there is a there's a
definite value to having created or fixed something by yourself.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Oh my gosh. But the pride that you would I can't.
I can't talk about it because I don't know what
that feels like. But I would feel like that would
be immense pride. I mean I feel that way if
I successfully put together a piece of furn which is
a real crapshoot, if I successfully complete that project, but
one I have successfully put together a piece of furniture.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
When you use all of the screws and fasteners and
there's none left over.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Well, they do give you extras, don't they. Sometimes Sometimes
the way I build it, you don't need.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
It at all. So you're you're improving on the design.
Is that what you're doing? It's lighter this way, there's
not as many nuts and bolts. Look at that. Another
hour in the books. We'll come back with more of
the best of The Gary and Shannon Show right after this.
You've been listening to The Gary and Shannon Show. You
(24:40):
can always hear us live on KFI AM six forty
nine am to one pm every Monday through Friday, and
anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
This is Gary and Shannon and you're listening to KFI
AM six forty, the Gary and Shannon Show on demand
on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Have a great Memorial Day. We'll of course be back
at work tomorrow. But it's one of the segments we
did recently that we thought, you know, came in near
the top of the list when it came to good segments.
So have fun landlines are coming back because we need
to teach kids how to use the telephone. Telephone, telephone.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Why is it that they need a physical phone to
learn etiquette with.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
I don't know, because we're big dumb animals and there
are weird triggers like that, or it's the people who
are teaching telephone etiquette feel like that was the last
time we had good telephone etiquette. So maybe that's why.
Maybe that's why. Maybe it's like teaching somebody to drive,
but doing it on a stick shift as opposed to
an automatic transmission.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
It's funny.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Older people are delightful on the telephone, aren't they. Yeah,
they really are, more so I think than even in person.
People that are of an older generation are delightful on
the phone.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
How old would you say?
Speaker 1 (01:12):
I would say, seventies, sixties, seventies, there's like a there's
different bar for behavior.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
You're awful on the telephone.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
I know, because there's two Okay, what do you that's
not fair.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
First of all, I have no idea because I don't
spend much time on the phone since there was something
going on over there. So I decided to throw this
little bait in the water.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
If you text me on a Sunday morning, and then
if you were to have called me, there's two reasons
why you would call me. Yeah, something awful. That's why
I just text you. I know that's something awful has happened, or.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
I'm not going to be to work.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yes, And because something is awful, that's happened, So that's
going to be an odd and that's going to be
an awful phone call. Most of I shouldn't even say
most of the time, yes, a lot of the times.
That's my case from me.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yeah, So when you pick up the phone for me,
it's most likely what I hear is this Yes, what
is it?
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Yeah, that's because something has happened. When you called me
last week, the last time you called me is because
you started a fire right and I didn't even answer
the phone, which would have been bad, I assumed had
you started an actual fire.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
That was the only reason I called you when I
started the fire in the home was because you had
talked earlier in the day about how I was kind
of in a mood where I was going to set
something on fire, or are you going to set the
building on fire? Or you had made some mention about fire,
and I was like, you're crazy, what are you talking about?
Speaker 3 (02:49):
I'm fine?
Speaker 1 (02:49):
And then I went home and promptly started a fire, right,
So I wanted you to have the payoff of your premonition.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
There is a there's an article in The Atlantic magazine
about the end of American pop culture, and there's an
interesting way to look at this argument that we are
right now in one of the worst eras when it
comes to pop American specific American pop culture.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Well, you think about pop.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Culture, what do you think about You think about music, trends, fashion, right,
my movies, movies, things like that. A lot of it
is meme culture, a lot of it's TikTok culture.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Right, It's just changed, it's changed from what we remember.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
But is it good? Can we can? Can you put
a value like that That's what I mean. Yeah, we
like to think about when we have celebrated eighties and
nineties entertainment movies, TV shows and things like that, there
were there was a very different attitude towards those things
(03:59):
because they was a built in waiting period, whether it
was a TV show like you said, last week, we
talked about did you see what happened on Seinfeld last night?
That was the discussion every Friday at school or at
college or at work, what did you watch Seinfeld last night?
Of course I watched Seinfeld last night. Of course it
was hilarious. But now it's have you seen this entire
season of did you.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Sit on your couch for nine hours? Like I did
on Sunday?
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Man plays into so many different ills of society, doesn't
it well?
Speaker 2 (04:30):
And I think that there was a we had a
different attitude back then. If you had, it was the
delayed gratification of whatever. The album didn't come out until June.
You knew when it was coming out. They didn't preview
it with singles at least that were available to you.
You could hear it on the radio, but you couldn't
go out and buy that single necessarily before the big
album came out whatever, whatever.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
The anticipation is a fantastic feeling, look no further than
Carly Simon. But anticipation is something nobody feels anymore because
we're instantly gratified with everything right, there is no anticipation.
The only anticipation that remains really is maybe waiting to
(05:11):
go on a trip if that's your thing.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
If you're into.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Travel, sure, the countdown to your vacation.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Everything else is just it's right here, you want it now,
you got it, your tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
They also describe the explosion of creativity and creative expression
in the United States right now. More than five hundred
scripted TV shows get made every single year, and get this,
streaming services add about one hundred thousand songs every single Well.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
What does that mean for the quality? Right, Let's talk
about it when we come back.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
And with that, we'll wrap up that segment.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
You're listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Special Memorial Day edition of the show. Today. I'm not here,
Shannon's not here. We'll both be back tomorrow. I give
you all the updated news about what's going on. So
this is one of our best of segments. Enjoy. We
were talking about this article from Spencer Cornhabra the worst
ever era of American pop culture and just in terms
(06:20):
of are we you know, movies all sound the same,
TV shows all sound the same. Art is the same
as it used to be, and a lot of times
the people that produce that kind of entertainment for us
are relying on the old things to bring us back.
I mean, they just re released was it Phantom Menace,
one of the Star Wars movies, and it made millions
of dollars at the box office. Everybody's seen that. We've
(06:42):
all seen it. We've all seen it, and we still
will pay money for the things that we've seen before.
They also I had mentioned that there's about one hundred
thousand songs reportedly every day added to streaming services, and
I found this interesting. In twenty twenty four, new releases
accounted for a little more than a quarter of all
(07:03):
of the albums consumed in the United States, just a quarter.
That every year, a greater and greater percentage of the
albums that are streamed online would be considered catalog music
means at least eighteen months old.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Well.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
In three twelve CE, the Roman Senate ordered the construction
of a monument called the Arch of Constantine. It incorporated
pieces from older monuments built in more glorious times for
the empire, which had begun its centuary a century's long decline.
(07:38):
This is a metaphor for modern culture. The arch is
the TV and film industry, enamored of reboots, spin offs,
the formulaic genre.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Fair like you were talking about.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
I love this one line where he talks about Broadway
theaters subsist on stunt cast revivals of old war horses.
One of those that's going on right now is Glengarry
Glenn Ross, with a cast that includes stand up comedians
at Academy Award winning actors. It's not just a bunch
(08:16):
of up and coming actors that you used to see
on Broadway. These are people that are kind of crossing
genres their word stunt cast in these shows. Does this
mean that we're declining? Does it mean we hit a
slow spot when it comes to innovation?
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Sure, we are at the end of creativity. Have we
done all of the things?
Speaker 2 (08:42):
If it's possible, and if artificial intelligence continues to progress
at the level that it does, we're really screwed because
no one's going to want to even put brain energy.
They're not going to want to put the calories into
thinking about creative endeavors. If all we have to do
(09:06):
is simply ask Ai to make something for us.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
I think that we're going to see the pendulum swing here.
You and I were talking off the air. I was
lamenting about the decline of production in radio. It could
be podcasts, it could be radio news, what have you.
When I started, there were a lot of reporters and
anchors that were obsessed and it was so much fun
(09:32):
to listen to when it came to production elements, whether
it was just an ear of sound, of taking ambient
sound that runs under a sound bite and carrying it
through your entire piece as a reporter or an anchor
or what have you.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
There was so much more of that.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
It felt like we were constantly trying to one up
each other when it came to making a pleasing sound
for the ear, something coming out of the radio, something
that made you go huh, you know, or or just wow,
that's a really clear sound, or really good sound, or
really well put together things like that. And now we're
kind of in this era of just kind of bare bones.
(10:10):
When you listen to even at the onset of podcasts,
and a couple of them come to mind, the podcast
of the man who made all those clocks in the
South or whatever. You know, there's just certain things where
the when the production is good, it just sings, It
just stands out. And now we're kind of in this
like bare bones production land. It seems like a lot
(10:34):
that I do as town.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
When I listened to radio, I'm just kind of like,
where where's all the fun production or not even fun,
just any production whatsoever. And I think that that's just
the pendulum swinging, and I think it'll swing back when
it comes to It's like fashion, you know, we go
from minimalists to super creative and super colorful and then
back to grays and mobs and you know, and I
(10:59):
think that right now with culture, we're just in this
weird phase where you feel like everything's been done and so,
you know, here's a meme.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
For you, here's a meme. Here's a TikTok from my
eighty three right, I mean the Kate Bush song that
came back and charted again thirty seven years after it
charted the first time. Yeah, because it was on a
TV show which also was a, I guess an honorific
to the old eighties, you know, movies that we saw
(11:30):
and stranger things. So up next, the best questions for
your first date.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
I'm still feeling what the kids call anxiety over Heather
Brooker's question on the first date? Who do you respect
the most? And why that was a loaded question?
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Would you have just gotten up from the table and left?
Speaker 3 (11:51):
I don't know. I mean, my goodness, it's a lot.
That's a lot.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
I hope you're enjoying this special Memorial Day weekend recap
some of our best stuff that we've done over the
last couple of weeks.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
You're listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
We went through and found some of our recent segments
that we thought you might want to redo you revisit
in your own head, so enjoy this one.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
This is some good news. I think it's good news.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Finally we're getting our things done correctly when it turned
when it comes to valuing skilled positions. Elijah Rios is
the kid they profile in the Wall Street Journal. Now,
Elijah won't graduate from high school until next year, but
he already has a job offer that pays nearly seventy
grand a year. Elijah is not a five star baseball
(12:40):
player or basketball or football. No, he's taking welding classes
at his high school in Philadelphia. And this high school
works closely with companies looking for workers in the skilled trades.
Employers are dealing with such a shortage of these workers
that they're courting high school students. As the boomers are
(13:02):
retiring in these skilled positions, these companies are saying, crap.
All we have to look at are these millennials who
made not involving a penis.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
It's funny with that's the first place you went, I said,
left handed medieval puppetry.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Right, There was this whole push when you and I
were in school, go to college, Go to college, go
to college, major in something that you're interested in. And
there was all these people that decided to major in
puppetry of the.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
What left handed medieval puppetry.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Yes, that graduated, and they have these beautiful degrees that
are framed and rich mahogany, but no freaking talent or
skill that's usable in everyday life. And now those skilled
jobs are empty and they're emptying out with people retiring.
Before the push to become a puppet master. And so
(13:58):
now you've got the these companies going to high schools
that still have shop classes, and so many of them
don't because of the emphasis on the puppetry.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Letty, you know what.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
I mean, the liberal arts things, and all the push
to to go to higher education when who's gonna make
the s.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
There was, like you said, there was that emphasis on
go to college. You'll figure it out, go to college,
it will come to you, or however you wanted to
put it. But you really couldn't do anything without a
four year degree, which as we know, we've learned complete
bs right or BA. But the whole point of of it,
I mean, I'm not saying college is bad, because in fact,
(14:42):
it does continue those lessons that you're supposed to learn
in high school, which is how to study, how to
manage time, how to do what is required of you,
how to answer to to specifications.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
But some people aren't built that way.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
And if you're built the way that you work with
your hands and that is your jam, you need shop
class and you need somebody to tell you, hey, there's
jobs for you. These people, I mean, it's employers that
range from the local transit system to submarine manufacturers that
are making regular visits to this high school in Philly,
(15:18):
specifically the welding classrooms, bringing branded swag and pitching students
on their specific workplaces.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Yeah, Father Judge is a Catholic high school there in Philly,
and it has brought back and put an emphasis on
those trade classes, trades, and in other places we're seeing
it as well, plumbing, electrical work, welding, even wood shop
that they have come back in a big way because
(15:48):
there has been such a loss of those Now on
this show, we've talked with Mike row Dirty Jobs Micro
We've talked to him a couple of times, and this
is one of his big emphasis is getting people out
of the rut of a place they don't want to
be in college, a career field, they don't want to
(16:12):
be left handed medieval puppetry, and get them onto a
path that is fulfilling in terms of work and financially
secure in terms of the rest of their lives. A
lot of these people listen. When you start radio may
not be the greatest example, but it is an example.
When you start in radio, you work all the time,
(16:32):
you have to, you have to volunteer, do everything. You
volunteer to work on the weekends. You volunteer to work overnights,
You volunteer to empty the trash cans on tuesdays, you
volunteer to work on holidays. That's the only way you're
going to get any sort of money to pay the rent.
Not get ahead, not be famous. It's the way you
get money to pay the rent. In some of these
(16:55):
right out of high school careers, they're talking about eighty
thousand dollars a year base pay, plus great overtime, plus
great benefits, plus great vacation packages. I mean, and I
don't ever remember that, even being I didn't know that
(17:16):
I had benefits until I was probably thirty four years old.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Yeah, my brother was always into mechanics, and my dad.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
Was always like, you got to go to college. You
got to go to college.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
And my brother, he's a plumber, has his own business,
employees a whole bit doing great. But he he landed
there after a series of different things he did with
his hands. But I remember at one point my parents
said something like electricians get into this field. You can
become an apprentice, you can become an electrician. It's real
(17:47):
money and benefits, and it's like those same things that
are important to people down the line, are still not
important to a twenty six year old or whatever he
was at the time. He's not thinking about what he's
thinking about, what does what do I want to do
with my hands? You know, what kind of labor do
I want to do? Still wasn't thinking like labor or
(18:11):
benefits and you know, salaried positions and things like that.
So it's kind of hard when you when you're talking
to kids that that are into the shop thing to
kind of woo them with like a concrete plan or
like a stability, to woo them with stability.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
That's not what they're into.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
So it's kind of a I would imagine it's kind
of a delicate dance going into those shop classes. You
have to kind of recruit them because to a kid
like that, the idea of stability, that's not what they're
looking for. They want to they want to be creative.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Venture all of that.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
The other thing is if you found a place, speaking
of benefits, if you found a place that was gonna
put money in your four oh one K when you're
eighteen years old, I still that's a ten year hit
start on most people, right, I Mean, that's that idea
alone is again not necessarily sellable to an eighteen year old. Hey,
we're going to take part of your paycheck and stalk
it away so you can't touch it for a long time.
(19:12):
But you tell them then there'll be a millionaire by
the time they want to retire. I mean some of
that that I just.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Learned about our pension from handle like three weeks ago.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Well, you have to pay your union dues before I did.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
I did that last year first time. I'm all good.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
As an example, one of the seniors at that at
that Catholic high school in rules, I just don't want
you to be an old maid.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
You just don't want to be living in the other room.
I know what you're saying. Aiden is a senior at
Father Judge High School. He was recruited as a high
school welder. He was a senior and was offered a
seventy five thousand dollars a year job before he.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Graduated high school. Yeah, he's going to be working at
a submarine well as a submarine welder at a defense
contractor in New Jersey. That's a good job.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
But you know that there are some of these kids
that are like, eh.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
You know, well they also want the party aspect of college.
There's there's that, there's the slice of the pie that
is only wants to go to college for that they
don't care about.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
No, I don't.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
I'm talking about the shop kids even like shop kids. Yeah,
I'm saying, somebody coming in and be like, we'll pay
you seventy thousand dollars a year, just like so I
gotta be there nine to five, five days.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
How do I play my games? How do I.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Play my games? People's minds work differently.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Yeah they do. Yeah, you're right. That was some of
the best stuff we've done recently.
Speaker 4 (20:44):
You're listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
I have a great Memorial Day. We'll of course be
back at work tomorrow. But it's one of the segments
we did recently that we thought, you know, came in
near the top of the list when it came to segments.
So have fun.
Speaker 5 (21:01):
Hey, Garrian Shannon.
Speaker 6 (21:02):
Hey, I am a millennial.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Thirty one years old, graduated high school in twenty twelve.
Speaker 5 (21:11):
I had no interest in going to college.
Speaker 7 (21:14):
I stood on a piece of heavy equipment on the
side of.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
I five in Santa Clarita again, about one hundred and
twenty thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
A year without overtime. Nice, I make more than a
teachers who told me I wasn't going to make any
money in my life.
Speaker 7 (21:29):
Ever.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
That's I'll hog as I go by today. By the way,
see you on the side of the freeway.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
I took one of those tests in high school at
the office with all the pamphlets of colleges and things,
your counselor's office, I guess. I don't remember there being
a counselor there. Maybe there was, but I do remember
taking some sort of test that.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Was gonna remember anybody else in the room, I don't.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
It was just like a multiple choice test or something,
and it was supposed to give you three different jobs
that you would be good at.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
And I only remember one of the three, and one.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Of them, that one, the one that I remember, and
it was number two on the list, was bus driver.
I don't remember the questions of the test. I certainly
don't remember a driving test that wasn't included.
Speaker 6 (22:18):
But bus drivers driver, Okay, So maybe because I like
to talk or talk to people or so, maybe that
was a question do you like I don't know.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Your service oriented.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
I did not write yes to.
Speaker 5 (22:30):
That, Gary Shannon. This is Larry from Beverly Hills. I
teach a ten week course several times a year at
Santa Ana College in Santa Ana, California that helped people
get into the construction workers' unions through what is called
the MC three pre Apprenticeship Program. It is completely free
course and I've placed three students in the last eight
(22:54):
weeks wow, from my classes already, so it's a wonderful
thing to do. They can make up to.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Up to Oh, oh, you're leaving me hanging, buddy, that's
too bad. Diane also called in Diane apparently has a
friend that did this path.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
Hello.
Speaker 7 (23:10):
I had a dear friend back in Massachusetts who owned
his own metalworking company for many years and then he
taught metalworking. He retired down to Florida and he was
hired by NASA to work on the space shuttles because
of his metalworking. Absolutely fantastic man, in a great job.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
He just loved it.
Speaker 7 (23:30):
Have a great day.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Thank you very much for that.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
Yeah, this is what I'm here for.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
I've also said that there there is a there's a
definite value to having created or fixed something by yourself.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Oh my gosh. But the pride that you would I can't.
I can't talk about it because I don't know what
that feels like. But I would feel like that would
be immense pride. I mean I feel that way if
I successfully put together a piece of furn which is
a real crapshoot, if I successfully complete that project, but
one I have successfully put together a piece of furniture.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
When you use all of the screws and fasteners and
there's none left over.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Well, they do give you extras, don't they. Sometimes Sometimes
the way I build it, you don't need.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
It at all. So you're you're improving on the design.
Is that what you're doing? It's lighter this way, there's
not as many nuts and bolts. Look at that. Another
hour in the books. We'll come back with more of
the best of The Gary and Shannon Show right after this.
You've been listening to The Gary and Shannon Show. You
(24:40):
can always hear us live on KFI AM six forty
nine am to one pm every Monday through Friday, and
anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
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