December 29, 2024 • 34 mins
In this hour, Michael Monks shares a personal glimpse into his journey of building a life in Los Angeles, reflecting on his struggles, triumphs, and how a tarot reading reignited his hopes in the "land of dreams." Shifting to California's housing market, Michael explores why 15 of the nation's 25 priciest places to live are in California, with San Francisco and Los Angeles topping the list, highlighting the challenges and inequalities in the real estate landscape.
Later, Michael covers a shocking scam involving a fake holiday toy drive that turned into an attack and kidnapping, reminding listeners of the importance of vigilance. Wrapping up, Michael dives into his New Year’s plans, discusses strategies for successful resolutions, and shares listener talkbacks, including a heartfelt message about pursuing dreams in LA.
Later, Michael covers a shocking scam involving a fake holiday toy drive that turned into an attack and kidnapping, reminding listeners of the importance of vigilance. Wrapping up, Michael dives into his New Year’s plans, discusses strategies for successful resolutions, and shares listener talkbacks, including a heartfelt message about pursuing dreams in LA.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
KFI AM six forty and live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
I'm Michael Munks from KFI News, here with you till
nine o'clock on this final Saturday of twenty twenty four.
Are you thinking about your New year resolution? Are you
feeling nostalgic as you look back on the year twenty
twenty four? What a decade the year has been. In
(00:28):
twenty twenty five, just ahead this time last year, heading
into New Year's Eve, I was on the phone with
my family basically trying to map out what an extraction
(00:48):
might look like if they had to come rescue me
from LA and take me back to Kentucky with my
tail between my legs having failed here. I mean, LA
is one of those places that people from all over
dream of coming to with their own ideas of what
success looks like, and I had that for a long time.
(01:14):
Came out here, visiting as much as I could, and
then going back to the safety of Greater Cincinnati Covington, Kentucky,
before finally taking the plunge in January of twenty three
with all the money in the world that I had saved.
Let's go for it. The pandemic ended. We're not going
(01:36):
through that again. Had some success back home, Let's try
something else. Still young enough to try something crazy. Little
money in my pocket. It's amazing how fast money in
your pocket disappears. In Los Angeles. I thought, here I
am with a nice backstop and great experience. I don't
(01:58):
expect to walk into anything. I don't expect LA to
hand me anything. But I felt like I could be
competitive and I could make it. And ooh, it was
so hard, and I wasn't prepared and the money was
(02:19):
going fast. It didn't help that it cost about ten
grand to move out here. After I was kind of
ripped off by one of those fake national moving companies,
so that cut us back and limited my runway right
off the bat, and I couldn't get a job. I
(02:39):
was working, you know, fifteen years professional journalism experience, including
hosting a daily show on the public radio station in
Cincinnati and at the same time owning and operating a
newspaper that I had founded. Serving Northern Kentucky master's degree.
I was working at Opoyo Loco at Third and Broadway
(02:59):
in downtown LA this time last year and so I
had to think long and hard, as the money was
running out, whether it made sense to stay, you know,
young enough to be crazy for a little while, but
(03:19):
not young enough to go broke. You know, let me
take my coins and go back to Kentucky and just
rebuild there. But I knew in my heart I didn't
want to do that. I didn't want to go home.
So as we were spiraling towards New Year's Eve last year,
(03:43):
I went for a walk alone in downtown La looking
at this city that I had loved from Afar for
so long, and then came to with my arms wide open,
only to be rejected, begging it to love me. I
knew I wanted to stay. There was no longer a
(04:04):
question about it. It was, as I think, when I
got here for the first time, I didn't have an
identity right. I'd always had a place, a job, a
public facing job, and here I wasn't looking for media work.
I was trying to get into something else, like public
relations for a corporation or a government, and maybe pursue
(04:28):
some creative endeavors. I wanted to leave media, and I
didn't know what was supposed to happen for me. I
guess because nothing was happening. So as I'm walking around
downtown La heartbroken, I see a tarot card reader with
(04:48):
their door open, and I think, you know what, I
really shouldn't be spending money that I don't have, since
we're basically budgeted to the dollar to survive. But I'm
going to go in here because I need at least,
I really just needed to talk to a stranger that
(05:08):
wasn't going to assault me, and so I did. I
went into this tarot card reader shop in downtown La,
sat down and got the reading. And look, I'm not
asking you to believe in the supernatural. What I like
about those sorts of experiences. At least you're having a
(05:30):
conversation about something maybe you should be thinking about, right
something that is happening in your life, how the universe
impacts it, or metaphysics or spirits and all of that. Yeah, whatever,
But can you be honest with yourself what a conversation
about you is taking place? I felt like I could,
and this tarot card reader she said something to me
(05:51):
that just floored me that when I left Kentucky, I
cut off too much. I cut off people, and I
also cut off part of myself and as I left
(06:12):
there having paid for that and also throwing in another
fifty dollars for one of her magic candles, I was
a very desperate man.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
I'm just so glad you didn't throw in the towel.
I know you're so great and we need you in journalism.
And honestly, your story and mine are so similar. She
isn't a similar thing until I came here. For the
last two years, I had a job for ten years
hosting an international show, doing another international show, was so steady.
I had my kid. Two weeks after I had my kid,
my company went under. Oh got laid off. Then tried
(06:43):
to get back in the game and was like what
do I do? And I've done TV and now I'm
in radio. It's you know, you think you're going to
give everything up, and at the last minute you go
to that tarot card reader and you get your your fortunes.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
It's exactly right. You know, you have to find I
think you have to be honest with yourself. That's what
I learned, like do you really want this? And I
knew that I did, and that changed my whole attitude.
And then getting that reinforcement from the tarot card reader.
What I took that to mean you cut off too much,
including party of yourself was I had no identity here,
(07:16):
and I did not run to California the way I'd
wanted to. I had run from Kentucky like I was
just done there. I was bored there, and I came
out here without a concrete plan, and like, I have
been a media guy, and I've got to get it
back together. And it was crazy because I decided to,
(07:38):
you know, start smudging the apartment. I wanted all the
negative energy out of my home. I was still getting
a lot of mail from previous tenants, and they were
all bad. It was like bill collectors looking for these
previous tenants.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
I was like, this's got to stop.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
So I started making sure that I took all of
that mail return to Cinder to get those stuff, get
that energy out. I smudged the apartment and I just
started down what I wanted in a gratitude, in the
spirit of gratitude, what I do have and what I
do want, and I wrote it down every day, and
(08:09):
suddenly job interview offers started to pour in from jobs
I had applied for, and including a good gig with
one of the local governments that paid really well to
do some pr work in a senior role, and out
of nowhere an email from a guy named Chris Little.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
Yes, same same love that guy.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
And all these government jobs I applied for and been
interviewed for, they just take forever.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
They take forever to answer you.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
They pull you through a series of interviews and tests,
and it just takes forever. I'm telling you. Chris Little
emailed me on a Friday night. It said, hey, record
this copy, let me hear how you sound. By Wednesday,
I had an offer from the government and from Chris Little.
(09:07):
And I'm so glad that I listened to Chris Little.
And I tell you this story about myself, and I'm
glad you're with us too, Brigitta. I share this story
because that's why I love New Year. I love resolutions.
I love looking back on the year that was. I
(09:28):
like looking ahead to the year that could be. I
like setting intentions and all that sort of thing. But
I also wanted to think KFI and the opportunity that
I have here. Because you know it's been out in
the press. We had some changes here that were difficult
to deal with. To lose people that we care about
and love, and for whatever reason, I get to still
(09:50):
be here and hang out in the news newsroom and
give you the news every day, sometimes fill in and
do the morning shows and the anchoring and hosting this
two hour block on Saturday nights. And I'm grateful for it.
I'm grateful to still be in LA and to talk
to all of you.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
And it's just so nice of you to share. You know,
the struggle is real for everybody. You know. It looks
like we're crushing it, but everybody's human and we're all
having our ups and downs and it's nuts. And it
just shows you can have this great career and then
you can fall back to nothing. It can, but then
you can crawl your way back out of it. You
just can't give up exactly. And I'm happy you didn't
take a PR job because as journalists.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
I mean, honestly, you find the stability there. No I know,
you know, that's why a lot of journalists move over
to it. I know, and I never thought I would,
but I oh, I get it. I just I don't
know what I was thinking. So I want to hear
from you. Pull up the iHeartRadio app, click on that
talkback button and we will place some of your messages
throughout the remainder of the hour as we march towards
(10:53):
nine o'clock. We're going to talk about some of the
struggles of existing in LA in California, particularly as it
relates to the call of living. Fifteen of the twenty
five priceest priceiest places to live in America are right
here in California. And we've also seen homelessness increase across
the country somehow not here in LA in this past year.
(11:14):
We'll talk about that as well.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Join as you're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
I'm Michael Monks from KFI News here with you till
nine o'clock. Hope you'll join our conversation if you like,
pull up that iHeartRadio app and click on the talkback button.
Let's hear from Steve Hey.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
Monks and Dagostino. That sounds like a good show. Happy
New Year, guys. I just wanted to wish you all
the best.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Hey, thank you, and the same to you. So yeah,
I got some general comments, some well wishes shout out.
That's all right if you want to talk about local governments,
if you want to talk about the conspiracy, about the
rigging of the mega millions for Californias, or if you
want to talk about this too.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
How much it costs to live here.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
According to some analysis, California has fifteen of the twenty
five priciest places to live in the entire country, mostly
the big cities along the coast. Jonathan Lansner of the
Orange County Register analyzed this data that came out from
the US Bureau of Economic Analysis. It's the annual Price
(12:28):
Parody Report, and according to him, it gives a snapshot
of relative differences in the cost of living between three
hundred and eighty four metro areas across the country in
twenty twenty three, and that includes twenty six such areas
in the state of California. No surprise that San Francisco
(12:48):
is the most expensive. The analysis indicates that it cost
eighteen point two percent more than the typical US metro
to hang out there. The second and of course, right
here La Orange Counties fifteen point five percent above what
the typical American pays, and housing is seventy three percent
(13:08):
costlier seventy three percent. Utilities are thirty five percent higher.
Others that you might not even think about are also
among the most expensive places to live in the entire country.
Ventura County thirteen and a half percent more than the
(13:29):
typical US expenses. Santa Barbara, not a surprise, tied with
Ventura County for number three. We've got places like Salinas,
San Jose, Santa Cruz, Napa. San Diego is farther down
number thirteen on this list, at just eleven and a
(13:49):
half percent above the regular metro for the cost of existing. However,
housing in San Diego costs eighty six percent more than
the everyday metro in America. San Luis, Obispo, Santa Rosa,
the Yeho, Sacramento. The Inland Empire is also seven point
(14:10):
nine percent more expensive than other places the average place
in America. Housing thirty two percent more expensive there, and
Stockton seven seven point four percent more than the average
metro area. The crazy thing about moving from somewhere else
(14:31):
to LA and looking at the cost of things is
how quickly you adjust your expectations. That's my experience, you know,
back home, I mean this is home now, but back
in my old Kentucky home, if I had a budget
(14:56):
of seven hundred thousand dollars the house I could get. Look,
there's million dollar houses, of course, multi million dollar houses,
of course, Cincinnati area, there's nice stuff, But seven hundred
thousand dollars would get you in some pretty pristine neighborhoods,
(15:17):
big house condo with a view of the city. And here,
you know, I'm a bit of a zillo stalker. It's
one of the things that I'll do when I'm just
hanging out. Rather than scrolling social media, I'll just pull
up local real estate and I have make believe budgets
(15:38):
in my head as I'm scrolling right like what I'm
looking for. And I particularly love areas like Hancock Park,
you know, those grand old mansions, And I had to
adjust my own fantasies. Even I can't even pretend, you know,
seven hundred thousand dollars isn't going to get you in there.
So now my fantasy budget is one point four, which
(16:02):
is still very limiting. It's just so crazy.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
Yeah, there's not a lot of inventory in La County
under a million dollars these days.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
And what are you supposed to do, Regina, If you're
a couple of twenty five year olds who got married,
they had a child, and what is the dream? I mean,
home ownership is a pathway to wealth. It is a
pathway to stability in many places, but it's so far
out of reach.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Here, especially because rent is so high. You know, if
you live in a place like Hollywood and like one
of those nice high rises, in five years, you're spending
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars on rent. And you
do that because you don't have enough money for the
mortgage or for the down payment excuse me, on a house.
Speaker 4 (16:45):
But that is a down payment.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
It's just like you pay it so slowly, and because
the inventory is so low under a million here, there's
cash offers, thirty people offering cash twenty percent over asking.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
It's wild because it is a struggle here, but there's
also immense wealth and so you're competing against those folks.
And you know, I was thinking, we're gonna get over
to you to do the news in just a moment.
Think about that billion dollar jackpot, right, it's really I mean,
it's hilarious. It's a fun fantasy, but I mean, I
think about this. Let's say your salary is one hundred
(17:15):
thousand dollars in most places. You know, that starts to
feel like success. Right, six figure salary, you're moving up.
Okay here, it's not not at all. It's tough. But
let's say you make a hundred thousand dollars, so you
are aware of one hundred thousand dollars gets you. You
know what your budget needs to be, You know how
much you can spend on certain stuff, what type of
freedoms you can have. Now double it just in your mind,
(17:36):
double it to two hundred thousand dollars and think about
what additional freedoms that lends you, or what other purchases
or buying power to ford you. Just with two hundred thousand.
Now double it again and think about four hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
I mean that.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Starts to feel like comfort. Eight hundred thousand though one
point six million dollars a year. Now, now where are you?
You're more than ten times fifteen times, and you still
haven't gotten to two million dollars a year. What the
heck could you possibly do with a billion dollars? Who
(18:17):
needs a billion dollars?
Speaker 3 (18:19):
You do?
Speaker 4 (18:20):
I wouldn't turn it down. I bought a ticket, I
wouldn't turn it down. But I mean get real a
billion dollars, you.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Know what, Give me the one point four million dollar
house in Hancock Park, maybe a vacation home somewhere too.
That kind of wealth, you know, that's really all. That's
all I'm working towards here.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
Simple. That's why I went into radio AM radio. I'm
gonna get there.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
KFI AM six forty in live everywhere on the iHeartRadio App.
I'm Michael Monks from KFI News here, finishing up until
nine o'clock with you. Thank you for listening, and if
you missed anything that we had to talk about today,
you can always catch up on our podcast on the
iHeartRadio app, or follow me on social media if that's
(19:12):
your thing at Mike monks La on all platforms. That's
m I C M O nks La, Twitter, X, Instagram, TikTok.
I'm not a lot of fun on there. It's one
of my New Year's resolutions to start posting more. I
right now mostly just doom, scroll and shiver in the
(19:33):
corner somewhere. That's why I look at Zillo instead, like
I have to take the I have to stop looking
at Twitter. I can't read any more of this nonsense.
Elon must make sure you see everything he tweets. And
he's not that funny, you know. I'm not gonna take
away from his genius. You can respect that all you want.
But he's a bit of a troll, you know, and
it's just too much of him. So it's hard to
h it's hard to read. It's just so much anger
(19:56):
and nonsense. But it's a good place for news. I'm
on there, and in twenty twenty five, I'm gonna start
posting more on the socials. I can't just lurk anymore.
I gotta get active again and let's try to spread
as much joy as we can in an increasingly dark world.
Dark in Paris, and I mean in Riverside County, not France,
(20:18):
this woman was arrested for allegedly luring another woman to
this location on the false promise of a charitable donation,
and then attacked her with a taser and forced her
to drive off in her vehicle until it was crashed.
This woman has been identified as Olga Mendez. Arrested Friday
(20:40):
in Paramount in La County and booked on suspicion of
assault with a deadly weapon, criminal threats, and two unrelated warrants.
According to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, she's being held
on one hundred thousand dollars bail. So this was several
days ago, but we just got this report. December eighteenth,
Deputies with the Sheriff's Parra Station responded shortly before ten
(21:01):
o'clock in the morning to a report of a domestic
dispute between Olive Avenue and Leon Road in the unincorporated
area of Winchester. They found this other woman suffering from
non life threatening injuries, but ruled this incident as a
kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon. The victim identified
herself as Aaron Quinn and made a claim on social
(21:23):
media that Mendez lured her to that location by offering
to donate presents for a toy drive Quinn was attending.
Quinn said on her Facebook page, as she drove to
a location given by Mendez, who used a false name
and left her vehicle unattended for an undetermined amount of
time search for her, she says, quote, little did I
(21:43):
know it was a setup, And when I went back
to my car, someone was in the backseat. Waiting for
me with a taser while the suspect was pulling my
hair and repeatedly tasing me for over thirty times over
a twenty five minute span. She made me drive while
this was going on, threatening my boys and my mom
(22:05):
would be next. Quinn says she told the police that
she recognized the suspect as her former house cleaner. After
she crashed her vehicle to escape the incident, she says,
my brain was jolting and my body was shutting down.
I thought, literally, either I was going to die or
I was going to pass out. She posted about the
(22:27):
case again this week and says, you have no idea
what a relief this is that she was found. Thank
you for helping me get this story out there. Our
community is safe again knowing that she's behind bars. I'm
telling you, you can't leave the house.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
So it's a good thing.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
We can't afford one to that effect. Homelessness is up
across the country eighteen point one percent this year, and
the US Department of Housing and Urban Development attributes that
to primarily the unaffordability of housing. That increase in homelessness
(23:06):
is on top of the twelve percent increase we had
the year before, which they also said was driven by
people experiencing homelessness for the first time. Twenty three of
every ten thousand people in the US homeless, with Black
people being overrepresented among the homeless population.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
They say.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
The head of HUD said in a statement, no American
should face homelessness, and the Biden Harris administration is committed
to ensuring every family has access to the affordable, safe,
and quality housing they deserve.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
They say.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
Among the most concerning trends was a nearly forty percent
rise in family homelessness, and one of the areas that
was most affected by the arrival of migrants in big cities.
Family homelessness more than doubled in thirteen communities impacted by migrants,
including Denver, Chicago, and New York City. And then there
(24:08):
were disasters that also triggered homelessness, like the Maui wildfire.
So homelessness goes up for a lot of different reasons, and.
Speaker 4 (24:24):
It's also.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Very expensive to build that affordable housing that people clamor for.
I went to a ribbon cutting a few months ago
on this new tower in skid Row for homeless people.
This is to get homeless people back on their feet.
I met some of these folks. These look like folks
who were prepared to take this opportunity and use it
(24:47):
to turn their lives around. It's a big tower, nice
looking apartment tower. Each unit six hundred thousand bucks to build.
Speaker 4 (24:57):
It's a lot.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
It's just very expensive, even to build housing that's not
supposed to be expensive for people to live in. What
a cycle in which we find ourselves almost as somehow
went down in La this past year, though modestly for
the first time in six years, we still have over
seventy five thousand homeless people in La County. And I
can tell you it's not all because of wildfires and
(25:20):
that sort of thing. I mean, there are a lot
of moving parts to this. I got a haircutting downtown La. Say,
walk from my apartment to the barbershop, and it's.
Speaker 4 (25:29):
About a six block walk.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
I easily saw four different groups huddled on the sidewalk
just doing drugs.
Speaker 4 (25:38):
And not smoking dope.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
That's fun, harder, scarier drugs right out there in the
street here in the city that is going to be
hosting the World's Olympics in just four years.
Speaker 4 (25:51):
A lot of work ahead for La.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
KFI AM six Live Everywhere on the iHeartRadio app by
Michael Monks from KFI News, wrapping up our final segment
here on our final show of twenty twenty four, the
last weekend of the year. Are you making big plans
for New Years? Apparently not a lot of people are.
(26:20):
Most people are thinking about a nice, quiet night at home.
A majority of US adults say they plan to celebrate
New Year's Eve at home. That's according to a new
poll by the Associated Press RC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Nearly two and ten or twenty percent will be celebrating
at a friend or family member's house, and just five
(26:41):
percent plan to go out to celebrate at a bar, restaurant,
or organized event. But many will celebrate the new year
in a different way by making a resolution. More than
half say they'll make at least one resolution for twenty
twenty five and apparently. The poll also found that there
(27:01):
was some optimism about the year ahead, although more than
half are not expecting a positive change. I will be
spending New Year's Eve setting some intentions and goals and
all of that, but mostly I'll be spending it in
bed because I get to come in and do a
wake up call on New Year's Day, so that requires
(27:22):
an early bedtime. On New Year's Eve, will not be
partying count me among majority of folks will be hanging
out of the house, but I will look forward to
coming in and doing the news with you. It's one
of the joys of getting to work in media. And
I shared a story earlier this hour about how last year,
at this time, I was, you know, in a desperate
(27:44):
situation where I thought, I'm just not going to make
it out here, I'm not cut out for it, and
a tarot card reader changed my mind and my fortunes
and suddenly k IF I called, and we'll hear from
David now in our talkback about his success here as well.
Speaker 5 (28:00):
Hey, this is David Venice Beach. Talk about believing in
your dreams and resilience. I grew up in Belgium always
idolizing America and especially Sylvester Stallone, so I was determined
to learn to speak English and go to America, which
I did at age nineteen. A long story short.
Speaker 6 (28:16):
Now I act and.
Speaker 5 (28:17):
I'll do some stunts, and I have body doubled Sylvester
Stallone on different projects so I can do it, and
I'm sure others can. Good luck and keep punching.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Love that, Dave, And that's really what it is. It's
knowing exactly what you want. That was the biggest lesson
I learned from a Tarot card reader in the fashion district.
Wisdom can come at you anytime from many different types
of folks. But if you are making a resolution, you
(28:49):
probably should implement some strategies. I mean, if it's something
that you want to quit doing or something you want
to start doing, having it clearly stated and focused is
a really important part of it. About forty percent of
(29:09):
folks will make a New Year's resolution, and about ninety
percent of those resolutions are banded. So, according to one expert,
the biggest perpetrator of that statistical gap is just the
blind optimism. So people make resolutions that are either unattainable.
Speaker 4 (29:36):
Or that you can't really keep track of.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
So apparently there is a strategy that you can implement it.
It's called smart. That's an acronym smart. This expert says
they should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound.
(30:04):
So I talked about a resolution being to get more
involved on social media, something that I haven't done in
a couple of years because it's just annoying. But I
do want to interact with people that listen to us,
So I'm going to do that. How would I apply
the smart to that? Well specific, I'm going to post
(30:28):
two tweets and one Instagram image a day, measurable simply
by the count. Right, how many does that mean a week?
I'll average ten to fifteen posts a week. It's achievable
because I have time to do it. It's relevant because
it's part of my profession, and it's time bound.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
I will have posted.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Fifty to sixty within one month's time, and therefore the
goal is achieved, and then you can alter it. I
guess as you go on. So that's one of my goals.
Another one is to make sure that I'm getting out
into La more, exploring more parts of this Southland area
(31:15):
and getting to know more of you and becoming more
of an Angelino.
Speaker 4 (31:21):
I'm downtown.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
I love downtown, but I've got to get out and
see more, and I've only been able to do it
in the news vehicle covering stuff. And it's you know,
something terrible, like the Malibu fire. You run out there
to cover it and get the news and report it.
But then you're also your breath is taken. You know,
you're on pch and there's the ocean and the palm
(31:43):
trees and the birds and the sun like, oh, that's California.
Speaker 4 (31:48):
That's another reason we're here.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
So I'd like to experience more of that outside of
the context of work.
Speaker 4 (31:57):
And I don't know if our team is listening there.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Raoul Matthew stated on the record, what's your guys, uh
you guys resolutions this year?
Speaker 4 (32:06):
What can we expect from you? Uh?
Speaker 6 (32:08):
Well, okay, I'll go first. I want to spend more
time with my family. The job unfortunately kind of doesn't
help that. But that's the plan going forward, all right,
more time with the family. That's noble. Is Matthew in there?
Can he hear us? Can he talk?
Speaker 4 (32:24):
Yes? Yes? I didn't think this through though. I don't
have a smart smart one.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
You can't think of anything, nothing, nothing you want to
Are you that perfect?
Speaker 4 (32:34):
Matthew? No, No, absolutely not. I just didn't think it through.
How about put some thought.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
Well, I don't want to put any pressure on it,
and that's part of it. Don't put don't give yourself
some grace, give yourself some time, and that's perfectly noble
as well. Brigida, I don't know if you can hear
us right now. I know you're always preparing what's your
resolution this year?
Speaker 4 (32:50):
My resolution is just so much positivity. Like you, I
had a struggle bus of.
Speaker 3 (32:55):
A couple years and now I'm coming out of it
and I just really want to ride that wave. Also,
thank you just growing my social media because that does
give me more control over my career. You know, I
did a YouTube show. It went absolutely nowhere than switch
to Instagram and I'm doing pretty well there.
Speaker 4 (33:10):
You do have a great following on Instagram.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
Yeah, I was doing my YouTube show and I was
getting like one thousand views, and now I'm getting like
one hundred and twenty nine thousand, or like sixty thousand.
So it it's much shorter content because you can only
do like ninety seconds. So it's fun to just put
out little stories, you know, short form.
Speaker 4 (33:29):
It's achievable. Absolutely. That's That's what I'm going to be doing,
is more social stuff. Do it.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
Stay tuned. You can follow me on the socials as
we gear up for this. You can hold me accountable.
If you're into social media, look me up Mike Monk's
LA across all the platforms. That's m I C M
O n KS LA. I'm going to start I'm going
to start posting and not lurking so much. Coming up next,
we've got Revisionist History with Malcolm Gladwell. It's for really
(33:54):
great show. I love listening to it. It's got a
good vibe. It's really really good. So give it a
listen and listen to our show on the iHeart Media
excuse me, the iHeartRadio app anytime that you like, if
you missed anything from our two hour conversation. I have
enjoyed the past six or seven weeks we've been doing
this and hope to have many more weeks ahead to
where we can gather on a Saturday night and talk
(34:15):
about what's going on in LA for producer Matthew Toffler,
board operator Rould Cortez, and our news anchor Brigitta de Gastino.
Thanks so much for listening to us. We'll catch you
again in twenty twenty five, and that is just next Saturday.
Speaker 4 (34:29):
See you then.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
KFI AM six forty on demand
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
KFI AM six forty and live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
I'm Michael Munks from KFI News, here with you till
nine o'clock on this final Saturday of twenty twenty four.
Are you thinking about your New year resolution? Are you
feeling nostalgic as you look back on the year twenty
twenty four? What a decade the year has been. In
(00:28):
twenty twenty five, just ahead this time last year, heading
into New Year's Eve, I was on the phone with
my family basically trying to map out what an extraction
(00:48):
might look like if they had to come rescue me
from LA and take me back to Kentucky with my
tail between my legs having failed here. I mean, LA
is one of those places that people from all over
dream of coming to with their own ideas of what
success looks like, and I had that for a long time.
(01:14):
Came out here, visiting as much as I could, and
then going back to the safety of Greater Cincinnati Covington, Kentucky,
before finally taking the plunge in January of twenty three
with all the money in the world that I had saved.
Let's go for it. The pandemic ended. We're not going
(01:36):
through that again. Had some success back home, Let's try
something else. Still young enough to try something crazy. Little
money in my pocket. It's amazing how fast money in
your pocket disappears. In Los Angeles. I thought, here I
am with a nice backstop and great experience. I don't
(01:58):
expect to walk into anything. I don't expect LA to
hand me anything. But I felt like I could be
competitive and I could make it. And ooh, it was
so hard, and I wasn't prepared and the money was
(02:19):
going fast. It didn't help that it cost about ten
grand to move out here. After I was kind of
ripped off by one of those fake national moving companies,
so that cut us back and limited my runway right
off the bat, and I couldn't get a job. I
(02:39):
was working, you know, fifteen years professional journalism experience, including
hosting a daily show on the public radio station in
Cincinnati and at the same time owning and operating a
newspaper that I had founded. Serving Northern Kentucky master's degree.
I was working at Opoyo Loco at Third and Broadway
(02:59):
in downtown LA this time last year and so I
had to think long and hard, as the money was
running out, whether it made sense to stay, you know,
young enough to be crazy for a little while, but
(03:19):
not young enough to go broke. You know, let me
take my coins and go back to Kentucky and just
rebuild there. But I knew in my heart I didn't
want to do that. I didn't want to go home.
So as we were spiraling towards New Year's Eve last year,
(03:43):
I went for a walk alone in downtown La looking
at this city that I had loved from Afar for
so long, and then came to with my arms wide open,
only to be rejected, begging it to love me. I
knew I wanted to stay. There was no longer a
(04:04):
question about it. It was, as I think, when I
got here for the first time, I didn't have an
identity right. I'd always had a place, a job, a
public facing job, and here I wasn't looking for media work.
I was trying to get into something else, like public
relations for a corporation or a government, and maybe pursue
(04:28):
some creative endeavors. I wanted to leave media, and I
didn't know what was supposed to happen for me. I
guess because nothing was happening. So as I'm walking around
downtown La heartbroken, I see a tarot card reader with
(04:48):
their door open, and I think, you know what, I
really shouldn't be spending money that I don't have, since
we're basically budgeted to the dollar to survive. But I'm
going to go in here because I need at least,
I really just needed to talk to a stranger that
(05:08):
wasn't going to assault me, and so I did. I
went into this tarot card reader shop in downtown La,
sat down and got the reading. And look, I'm not
asking you to believe in the supernatural. What I like
about those sorts of experiences. At least you're having a
(05:30):
conversation about something maybe you should be thinking about, right
something that is happening in your life, how the universe
impacts it, or metaphysics or spirits and all of that. Yeah, whatever,
But can you be honest with yourself what a conversation
about you is taking place? I felt like I could,
and this tarot card reader she said something to me
(05:51):
that just floored me that when I left Kentucky, I
cut off too much. I cut off people, and I
also cut off part of myself and as I left
(06:12):
there having paid for that and also throwing in another
fifty dollars for one of her magic candles, I was
a very desperate man.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
I'm just so glad you didn't throw in the towel.
I know you're so great and we need you in journalism.
And honestly, your story and mine are so similar. She
isn't a similar thing until I came here. For the
last two years, I had a job for ten years
hosting an international show, doing another international show, was so steady.
I had my kid. Two weeks after I had my kid,
my company went under. Oh got laid off. Then tried
(06:43):
to get back in the game and was like what
do I do? And I've done TV and now I'm
in radio. It's you know, you think you're going to
give everything up, and at the last minute you go
to that tarot card reader and you get your your fortunes.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
It's exactly right. You know, you have to find I
think you have to be honest with yourself. That's what
I learned, like do you really want this? And I
knew that I did, and that changed my whole attitude.
And then getting that reinforcement from the tarot card reader.
What I took that to mean you cut off too much,
including party of yourself was I had no identity here,
(07:16):
and I did not run to California the way I'd
wanted to. I had run from Kentucky like I was
just done there. I was bored there, and I came
out here without a concrete plan, and like, I have
been a media guy, and I've got to get it
back together. And it was crazy because I decided to,
(07:38):
you know, start smudging the apartment. I wanted all the
negative energy out of my home. I was still getting
a lot of mail from previous tenants, and they were
all bad. It was like bill collectors looking for these
previous tenants.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
I was like, this's got to stop.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
So I started making sure that I took all of
that mail return to Cinder to get those stuff, get
that energy out. I smudged the apartment and I just
started down what I wanted in a gratitude, in the
spirit of gratitude, what I do have and what I
do want, and I wrote it down every day, and
(08:09):
suddenly job interview offers started to pour in from jobs
I had applied for, and including a good gig with
one of the local governments that paid really well to
do some pr work in a senior role, and out
of nowhere an email from a guy named Chris Little.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
Yes, same same love that guy.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
And all these government jobs I applied for and been
interviewed for, they just take forever.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
They take forever to answer you.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
They pull you through a series of interviews and tests,
and it just takes forever. I'm telling you. Chris Little
emailed me on a Friday night. It said, hey, record
this copy, let me hear how you sound. By Wednesday,
I had an offer from the government and from Chris Little.
(09:07):
And I'm so glad that I listened to Chris Little.
And I tell you this story about myself, and I'm
glad you're with us too, Brigitta. I share this story
because that's why I love New Year. I love resolutions.
I love looking back on the year that was. I
(09:28):
like looking ahead to the year that could be. I
like setting intentions and all that sort of thing. But
I also wanted to think KFI and the opportunity that
I have here. Because you know it's been out in
the press. We had some changes here that were difficult
to deal with. To lose people that we care about
and love, and for whatever reason, I get to still
(09:50):
be here and hang out in the news newsroom and
give you the news every day, sometimes fill in and
do the morning shows and the anchoring and hosting this
two hour block on Saturday nights. And I'm grateful for it.
I'm grateful to still be in LA and to talk
to all of you.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
And it's just so nice of you to share. You know,
the struggle is real for everybody. You know. It looks
like we're crushing it, but everybody's human and we're all
having our ups and downs and it's nuts. And it
just shows you can have this great career and then
you can fall back to nothing. It can, but then
you can crawl your way back out of it. You
just can't give up exactly. And I'm happy you didn't
take a PR job because as journalists.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
I mean, honestly, you find the stability there. No I know,
you know, that's why a lot of journalists move over
to it. I know, and I never thought I would,
but I oh, I get it. I just I don't
know what I was thinking. So I want to hear
from you. Pull up the iHeartRadio app, click on that
talkback button and we will place some of your messages
throughout the remainder of the hour as we march towards
(10:53):
nine o'clock. We're going to talk about some of the
struggles of existing in LA in California, particularly as it
relates to the call of living. Fifteen of the twenty
five priceest priceiest places to live in America are right
here in California. And we've also seen homelessness increase across
the country somehow not here in LA in this past year.
(11:14):
We'll talk about that as well.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Join as you're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
I'm Michael Monks from KFI News here with you till
nine o'clock. Hope you'll join our conversation if you like,
pull up that iHeartRadio app and click on the talkback button.
Let's hear from Steve Hey.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
Monks and Dagostino. That sounds like a good show. Happy
New Year, guys. I just wanted to wish you all
the best.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Hey, thank you, and the same to you. So yeah,
I got some general comments, some well wishes shout out.
That's all right if you want to talk about local governments,
if you want to talk about the conspiracy, about the
rigging of the mega millions for Californias, or if you
want to talk about this too.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
How much it costs to live here.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
According to some analysis, California has fifteen of the twenty
five priciest places to live in the entire country, mostly
the big cities along the coast. Jonathan Lansner of the
Orange County Register analyzed this data that came out from
the US Bureau of Economic Analysis. It's the annual Price
(12:28):
Parody Report, and according to him, it gives a snapshot
of relative differences in the cost of living between three
hundred and eighty four metro areas across the country in
twenty twenty three, and that includes twenty six such areas
in the state of California. No surprise that San Francisco
(12:48):
is the most expensive. The analysis indicates that it cost
eighteen point two percent more than the typical US metro
to hang out there. The second and of course, right
here La Orange Counties fifteen point five percent above what
the typical American pays, and housing is seventy three percent
(13:08):
costlier seventy three percent. Utilities are thirty five percent higher.
Others that you might not even think about are also
among the most expensive places to live in the entire country.
Ventura County thirteen and a half percent more than the
(13:29):
typical US expenses. Santa Barbara, not a surprise, tied with
Ventura County for number three. We've got places like Salinas,
San Jose, Santa Cruz, Napa. San Diego is farther down
number thirteen on this list, at just eleven and a
(13:49):
half percent above the regular metro for the cost of existing. However,
housing in San Diego costs eighty six percent more than
the everyday metro in America. San Luis, Obispo, Santa Rosa,
the Yeho, Sacramento. The Inland Empire is also seven point
(14:10):
nine percent more expensive than other places the average place
in America. Housing thirty two percent more expensive there, and
Stockton seven seven point four percent more than the average
metro area. The crazy thing about moving from somewhere else
(14:31):
to LA and looking at the cost of things is
how quickly you adjust your expectations. That's my experience, you know,
back home, I mean this is home now, but back
in my old Kentucky home, if I had a budget
(14:56):
of seven hundred thousand dollars the house I could get. Look,
there's million dollar houses, of course, multi million dollar houses,
of course, Cincinnati area, there's nice stuff, But seven hundred
thousand dollars would get you in some pretty pristine neighborhoods,
(15:17):
big house condo with a view of the city. And here,
you know, I'm a bit of a zillo stalker. It's
one of the things that I'll do when I'm just
hanging out. Rather than scrolling social media, I'll just pull
up local real estate and I have make believe budgets
(15:38):
in my head as I'm scrolling right like what I'm
looking for. And I particularly love areas like Hancock Park,
you know, those grand old mansions, And I had to
adjust my own fantasies. Even I can't even pretend, you know,
seven hundred thousand dollars isn't going to get you in there.
So now my fantasy budget is one point four, which
(16:02):
is still very limiting. It's just so crazy.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
Yeah, there's not a lot of inventory in La County
under a million dollars these days.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
And what are you supposed to do, Regina, If you're
a couple of twenty five year olds who got married,
they had a child, and what is the dream? I mean,
home ownership is a pathway to wealth. It is a
pathway to stability in many places, but it's so far
out of reach.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Here, especially because rent is so high. You know, if
you live in a place like Hollywood and like one
of those nice high rises, in five years, you're spending
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars on rent. And you
do that because you don't have enough money for the
mortgage or for the down payment excuse me, on a house.
Speaker 4 (16:45):
But that is a down payment.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
It's just like you pay it so slowly, and because
the inventory is so low under a million here, there's
cash offers, thirty people offering cash twenty percent over asking.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
It's wild because it is a struggle here, but there's
also immense wealth and so you're competing against those folks.
And you know, I was thinking, we're gonna get over
to you to do the news in just a moment.
Think about that billion dollar jackpot, right, it's really I mean,
it's hilarious. It's a fun fantasy, but I mean, I
think about this. Let's say your salary is one hundred
(17:15):
thousand dollars in most places. You know, that starts to
feel like success. Right, six figure salary, you're moving up.
Okay here, it's not not at all. It's tough. But
let's say you make a hundred thousand dollars, so you
are aware of one hundred thousand dollars gets you. You
know what your budget needs to be, You know how
much you can spend on certain stuff, what type of
freedoms you can have. Now double it just in your mind,
(17:36):
double it to two hundred thousand dollars and think about
what additional freedoms that lends you, or what other purchases
or buying power to ford you. Just with two hundred thousand.
Now double it again and think about four hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
I mean that.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Starts to feel like comfort. Eight hundred thousand though one
point six million dollars a year. Now, now where are you?
You're more than ten times fifteen times, and you still
haven't gotten to two million dollars a year. What the
heck could you possibly do with a billion dollars? Who
(18:17):
needs a billion dollars?
Speaker 3 (18:19):
You do?
Speaker 4 (18:20):
I wouldn't turn it down. I bought a ticket, I
wouldn't turn it down. But I mean get real a
billion dollars, you.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Know what, Give me the one point four million dollar
house in Hancock Park, maybe a vacation home somewhere too.
That kind of wealth, you know, that's really all. That's
all I'm working towards here.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
Simple. That's why I went into radio AM radio. I'm
gonna get there.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
KFI AM six forty in live everywhere on the iHeartRadio App.
I'm Michael Monks from KFI News here, finishing up until
nine o'clock with you. Thank you for listening, and if
you missed anything that we had to talk about today,
you can always catch up on our podcast on the
iHeartRadio app, or follow me on social media if that's
(19:12):
your thing at Mike monks La on all platforms. That's
m I C M O nks La, Twitter, X, Instagram, TikTok.
I'm not a lot of fun on there. It's one
of my New Year's resolutions to start posting more. I
right now mostly just doom, scroll and shiver in the
(19:33):
corner somewhere. That's why I look at Zillo instead, like
I have to take the I have to stop looking
at Twitter. I can't read any more of this nonsense.
Elon must make sure you see everything he tweets. And
he's not that funny, you know. I'm not gonna take
away from his genius. You can respect that all you want.
But he's a bit of a troll, you know, and
it's just too much of him. So it's hard to
h it's hard to read. It's just so much anger
(19:56):
and nonsense. But it's a good place for news. I'm
on there, and in twenty twenty five, I'm gonna start
posting more on the socials. I can't just lurk anymore.
I gotta get active again and let's try to spread
as much joy as we can in an increasingly dark world.
Dark in Paris, and I mean in Riverside County, not France,
(20:18):
this woman was arrested for allegedly luring another woman to
this location on the false promise of a charitable donation,
and then attacked her with a taser and forced her
to drive off in her vehicle until it was crashed.
This woman has been identified as Olga Mendez. Arrested Friday
(20:40):
in Paramount in La County and booked on suspicion of
assault with a deadly weapon, criminal threats, and two unrelated warrants.
According to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, she's being held
on one hundred thousand dollars bail. So this was several
days ago, but we just got this report. December eighteenth,
Deputies with the Sheriff's Parra Station responded shortly before ten
(21:01):
o'clock in the morning to a report of a domestic
dispute between Olive Avenue and Leon Road in the unincorporated
area of Winchester. They found this other woman suffering from
non life threatening injuries, but ruled this incident as a
kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon. The victim identified
herself as Aaron Quinn and made a claim on social
(21:23):
media that Mendez lured her to that location by offering
to donate presents for a toy drive Quinn was attending.
Quinn said on her Facebook page, as she drove to
a location given by Mendez, who used a false name
and left her vehicle unattended for an undetermined amount of
time search for her, she says, quote, little did I
(21:43):
know it was a setup, And when I went back
to my car, someone was in the backseat. Waiting for
me with a taser while the suspect was pulling my
hair and repeatedly tasing me for over thirty times over
a twenty five minute span. She made me drive while
this was going on, threatening my boys and my mom
(22:05):
would be next. Quinn says she told the police that
she recognized the suspect as her former house cleaner. After
she crashed her vehicle to escape the incident, she says,
my brain was jolting and my body was shutting down.
I thought, literally, either I was going to die or
I was going to pass out. She posted about the
(22:27):
case again this week and says, you have no idea
what a relief this is that she was found. Thank
you for helping me get this story out there. Our
community is safe again knowing that she's behind bars. I'm
telling you, you can't leave the house.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
So it's a good thing.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
We can't afford one to that effect. Homelessness is up
across the country eighteen point one percent this year, and
the US Department of Housing and Urban Development attributes that
to primarily the unaffordability of housing. That increase in homelessness
(23:06):
is on top of the twelve percent increase we had
the year before, which they also said was driven by
people experiencing homelessness for the first time. Twenty three of
every ten thousand people in the US homeless, with Black
people being overrepresented among the homeless population.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
They say.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
The head of HUD said in a statement, no American
should face homelessness, and the Biden Harris administration is committed
to ensuring every family has access to the affordable, safe,
and quality housing they deserve.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
They say.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
Among the most concerning trends was a nearly forty percent
rise in family homelessness, and one of the areas that
was most affected by the arrival of migrants in big cities.
Family homelessness more than doubled in thirteen communities impacted by migrants,
including Denver, Chicago, and New York City. And then there
(24:08):
were disasters that also triggered homelessness, like the Maui wildfire.
So homelessness goes up for a lot of different reasons, and.
Speaker 4 (24:24):
It's also.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Very expensive to build that affordable housing that people clamor for.
I went to a ribbon cutting a few months ago
on this new tower in skid Row for homeless people.
This is to get homeless people back on their feet.
I met some of these folks. These look like folks
who were prepared to take this opportunity and use it
(24:47):
to turn their lives around. It's a big tower, nice
looking apartment tower. Each unit six hundred thousand bucks to build.
Speaker 4 (24:57):
It's a lot.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
It's just very expensive, even to build housing that's not
supposed to be expensive for people to live in. What
a cycle in which we find ourselves almost as somehow
went down in La this past year, though modestly for
the first time in six years, we still have over
seventy five thousand homeless people in La County. And I
can tell you it's not all because of wildfires and
(25:20):
that sort of thing. I mean, there are a lot
of moving parts to this. I got a haircutting downtown La. Say,
walk from my apartment to the barbershop, and it's.
Speaker 4 (25:29):
About a six block walk.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
I easily saw four different groups huddled on the sidewalk
just doing drugs.
Speaker 4 (25:38):
And not smoking dope.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
That's fun, harder, scarier drugs right out there in the
street here in the city that is going to be
hosting the World's Olympics in just four years.
Speaker 4 (25:51):
A lot of work ahead for La.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
KFI AM six Live Everywhere on the iHeartRadio app by
Michael Monks from KFI News, wrapping up our final segment
here on our final show of twenty twenty four, the
last weekend of the year. Are you making big plans
for New Years? Apparently not a lot of people are.
(26:20):
Most people are thinking about a nice, quiet night at home.
A majority of US adults say they plan to celebrate
New Year's Eve at home. That's according to a new
poll by the Associated Press RC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Nearly two and ten or twenty percent will be celebrating
at a friend or family member's house, and just five
(26:41):
percent plan to go out to celebrate at a bar, restaurant,
or organized event. But many will celebrate the new year
in a different way by making a resolution. More than
half say they'll make at least one resolution for twenty
twenty five and apparently. The poll also found that there
(27:01):
was some optimism about the year ahead, although more than
half are not expecting a positive change. I will be
spending New Year's Eve setting some intentions and goals and
all of that, but mostly I'll be spending it in
bed because I get to come in and do a
wake up call on New Year's Day, so that requires
(27:22):
an early bedtime. On New Year's Eve, will not be
partying count me among majority of folks will be hanging
out of the house, but I will look forward to
coming in and doing the news with you. It's one
of the joys of getting to work in media. And
I shared a story earlier this hour about how last year,
at this time, I was, you know, in a desperate
(27:44):
situation where I thought, I'm just not going to make
it out here, I'm not cut out for it, and
a tarot card reader changed my mind and my fortunes
and suddenly k IF I called, and we'll hear from
David now in our talkback about his success here as well.
Speaker 5 (28:00):
Hey, this is David Venice Beach. Talk about believing in
your dreams and resilience. I grew up in Belgium always
idolizing America and especially Sylvester Stallone, so I was determined
to learn to speak English and go to America, which
I did at age nineteen. A long story short.
Speaker 6 (28:16):
Now I act and.
Speaker 5 (28:17):
I'll do some stunts, and I have body doubled Sylvester
Stallone on different projects so I can do it, and
I'm sure others can. Good luck and keep punching.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Love that, Dave, And that's really what it is. It's
knowing exactly what you want. That was the biggest lesson
I learned from a Tarot card reader in the fashion district.
Wisdom can come at you anytime from many different types
of folks. But if you are making a resolution, you
(28:49):
probably should implement some strategies. I mean, if it's something
that you want to quit doing or something you want
to start doing, having it clearly stated and focused is
a really important part of it. About forty percent of
(29:09):
folks will make a New Year's resolution, and about ninety
percent of those resolutions are banded. So, according to one expert,
the biggest perpetrator of that statistical gap is just the
blind optimism. So people make resolutions that are either unattainable.
Speaker 4 (29:36):
Or that you can't really keep track of.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
So apparently there is a strategy that you can implement it.
It's called smart. That's an acronym smart. This expert says
they should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound.
(30:04):
So I talked about a resolution being to get more
involved on social media, something that I haven't done in
a couple of years because it's just annoying. But I
do want to interact with people that listen to us,
So I'm going to do that. How would I apply
the smart to that? Well specific, I'm going to post
(30:28):
two tweets and one Instagram image a day, measurable simply
by the count. Right, how many does that mean a week?
I'll average ten to fifteen posts a week. It's achievable
because I have time to do it. It's relevant because
it's part of my profession, and it's time bound.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
I will have posted.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Fifty to sixty within one month's time, and therefore the
goal is achieved, and then you can alter it. I
guess as you go on. So that's one of my goals.
Another one is to make sure that I'm getting out
into La more, exploring more parts of this Southland area
(31:15):
and getting to know more of you and becoming more
of an Angelino.
Speaker 4 (31:21):
I'm downtown.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
I love downtown, but I've got to get out and
see more, and I've only been able to do it
in the news vehicle covering stuff. And it's you know,
something terrible, like the Malibu fire. You run out there
to cover it and get the news and report it.
But then you're also your breath is taken. You know,
you're on pch and there's the ocean and the palm
(31:43):
trees and the birds and the sun like, oh, that's California.
Speaker 4 (31:48):
That's another reason we're here.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
So I'd like to experience more of that outside of
the context of work.
Speaker 4 (31:57):
And I don't know if our team is listening there.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Raoul Matthew stated on the record, what's your guys, uh
you guys resolutions this year?
Speaker 4 (32:06):
What can we expect from you? Uh?
Speaker 6 (32:08):
Well, okay, I'll go first. I want to spend more
time with my family. The job unfortunately kind of doesn't
help that. But that's the plan going forward, all right,
more time with the family. That's noble. Is Matthew in there?
Can he hear us? Can he talk?
Speaker 4 (32:24):
Yes? Yes? I didn't think this through though. I don't
have a smart smart one.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
You can't think of anything, nothing, nothing you want to
Are you that perfect?
Speaker 4 (32:34):
Matthew? No, No, absolutely not. I just didn't think it through.
How about put some thought.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
Well, I don't want to put any pressure on it,
and that's part of it. Don't put don't give yourself
some grace, give yourself some time, and that's perfectly noble
as well. Brigida, I don't know if you can hear
us right now. I know you're always preparing what's your
resolution this year?
Speaker 4 (32:50):
My resolution is just so much positivity. Like you, I
had a struggle bus of.
Speaker 3 (32:55):
A couple years and now I'm coming out of it
and I just really want to ride that wave. Also,
thank you just growing my social media because that does
give me more control over my career. You know, I
did a YouTube show. It went absolutely nowhere than switch
to Instagram and I'm doing pretty well there.
Speaker 4 (33:10):
You do have a great following on Instagram.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
Yeah, I was doing my YouTube show and I was
getting like one thousand views, and now I'm getting like
one hundred and twenty nine thousand, or like sixty thousand.
So it it's much shorter content because you can only
do like ninety seconds. So it's fun to just put
out little stories, you know, short form.
Speaker 4 (33:29):
It's achievable. Absolutely. That's That's what I'm going to be doing,
is more social stuff. Do it.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
Stay tuned. You can follow me on the socials as
we gear up for this. You can hold me accountable.
If you're into social media, look me up Mike Monk's
LA across all the platforms. That's m I C M
O n KS LA. I'm going to start I'm going
to start posting and not lurking so much. Coming up next,
we've got Revisionist History with Malcolm Gladwell. It's for really
(33:54):
great show. I love listening to it. It's got a
good vibe. It's really really good. So give it a
listen and listen to our show on the iHeart Media
excuse me, the iHeartRadio app anytime that you like, if
you missed anything from our two hour conversation. I have
enjoyed the past six or seven weeks we've been doing
this and hope to have many more weeks ahead to
where we can gather on a Saturday night and talk
(34:15):
about what's going on in LA for producer Matthew Toffler,
board operator Rould Cortez, and our news anchor Brigitta de Gastino.
Thanks so much for listening to us. We'll catch you
again in twenty twenty five, and that is just next Saturday.
Speaker 4 (34:29):
See you then.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
KFI AM six forty on demand
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