July 11, 2025 • 30 mins
Fred Roggin wraps up his Friday fill-in with a fast-paced and fun Hour 3! He talks with California State Senator Tony Strickland about what’s really going on with the state’s crime numbers, underfunded reform efforts like Prop 36, and the broader mismanagement in Sacramento. Then, Fred welcomes in-stadium entertainment legend Jay Flats — the voice behind the LA Kings’ live events — who’s now taking the Wheel of Fortune on the road. They discuss Jay’s fascinating path from hockey hype man to game show host. Finally, Fred closes the night with the Conway crew in a classic whip-around, sharing what everyone learned from the show.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's camp I am six forty and you're listening to
The Conway Show on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Later
in the hour, we're going to have somebody on that
I bet you have seen at one point or another
in your life if you're from Los Angeles, but you
probably don't know who it is that is coming up.
(00:21):
But as we begin this six o'clock hour, it is
a pleasure to welcome on State Senator Tony Strickland and
Senator Strickland, thanks for jumping on the show today.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Well, Fred, it's an honor and thank you so much
for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
I want to start with this because you see things
from the state level, and Mayor Bass made a comment
that crime in Los Angeles is basically down. I think
it was sixty percent. Now when you read that, you think, wow,
that's incredible. When you heard that, Senator, what did you think.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
I think she's out of touch and she is the
modern day Marie Antoinette, just out of touch with every
day citizens in Los Angeles. And if you actually look
at the numbers, probably crimes up seven percent, burger Ley's
up seven percent in LA. Violent crime in LA is
higher than it was ten years ago. By sixteen percent,
and so I was shocked when she actually made that statement.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Okay, but why would she make that statement then, and
why would it be reported? If these is what you're
saying is true, then why didn't anybody check it before
it was reported?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
You got me like they always try to like spin
and and again, I look at the record, don't look
at the rhetoric, and look at the actual numbers, and
talk to people who are in Los Angeles and ask
them if they feel they're more safe today than they were,
you know, four to ten years ago.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Yeah, well, I was surprised when I saw it, but
I took it at face value. To be quite honest
with you, I'm saying, well, why would they make that up?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Well, a lot of times people just don't follow up
the numbers, and there's ways to spin certain numbers. But
the fact of the numbers is I just told you
probably crimes up seven percent, He's up seven percent. And
violent crime in LA after the last ten years is
up sixteen percent. So and at the same time, the
California legislature didn't fully fund Proposition thirty six that would
(02:13):
actually make crime illegal again in California and actually fund
you know, public safety. I think the most essential role
of government is public safety, to keep people safe, from
the local level to the state level, to the federal level.
It's national security.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Yeah, Senator, can you talk about the lack of funding
for Prop thirty six?
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Explain that to me.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
So. Prop thirty six is passed by the voters in November,
and what it pretty much said is they want to
make crime illegal again. We used to have these smashing
grabs where people could go on the broad daylight and
take up to one thousand dollars and without being prosecuted.
And obviously it didn't work for Californians, and so we
put Prop thirty six on the ballot. It passed seventy
percent of the vote, seven zero and all fifty eight counties.
(02:55):
I've been doing this a long time. I can't recall
the last initiative that passed. Every county, even the most
liberal counties of San Francisco and Moran said they wanted
support Prop thirty six, and so it passed overwhelmingly. And
so the voters think, Okay, it's going to be implemented.
But Governor Knewso refused to put money in the state
budget to implement Prop thirty six the will of the voters.
(03:15):
It takes about four hundred million dollars a year in
order to fund it. I will give credit to State
Center Tom Amberg from the Democratic side. He pushed hard,
but they got one hundred million dollars for three years
and they put zero money in probation with the central
part of the initiative, and so really they're not funding it.
And I think this should be the first thing that
(03:37):
we fund and to keep people safe across the state
of California. And instead of funding that, they put seven
hundred and fifty million dollars in a Bay Area transit.
They put fifty million dollars in order to sue the
federal government every time Donald Trump does an executive order.
And I just think their priorities are out of whack
and it's not good for the people of California.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
The thing I was confused by is when they allowed
that in the first place, to smash and grab. Well,
if it's nine hundred and ninety nine dollars, no worries,
go ahead, take it and run and you're fine.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
I couldn't believe they even started that.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
When they did, I couldn't either. And again, and they
were able to do that per retail store, so they
could do it one store here, the next story here.
I never thought we'd have a society where people in
the broad daylight could go into a retail store and
just take everything and walk out the door without any
any accountability to it. And so this was the response brought.
(04:33):
Thirty six was the response to those initiatives. And I'm
going to keep continuing to talk about it and keep
pushing because I think the most essential role of government
is keeping people safe.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
So if the governor decides in the budget not defund it,
is he thumbing his nose at the people.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Oh, it's a slap in the face. We finalized the
budget and what it ended up being is one hundred
million dollars for three years. And so it's a slap
in the face everybody that worked hard on that initiative,
all seventy percent of Californians who said I want to
make this a top priority. It's a stop in the
face to all the voters. And I firmly believe the
governor and the supermajority legislature, most of them are out
(05:14):
of touch with everyday citizens.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Can you talk for a second, Senator about voter ID.
What that means here in this state.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Well, I think when you look at voter ID, you S.
Berkeley did a study and it says seventy one percent
of the people supported having a proof of citizenship and
voter identification laws. In fact, most of the states across
the country have voter ID laws, and when you look
at other nations, they almost all have voter identification laws.
And so I'm co chairing an initiative in twenty twenty
(05:45):
six to bring voter ID to California. In fact, this
is not a Republican Democrat issue. In fact, seventy one
percent of Californian support this. So overwhelming Democrats, Independents, and
Republicans support voter ID. The only people a donor, Governor
Newsom and some of the folks up in the Sacramento
So we're going to take it right to the people
of California. And again, when you look at since two
(06:08):
thousand three, presidential candidates have called in question the election outcome.
Our democracy doesn't work if people don't have faith in
the election outcome. And this is a way for people
to have more faith in election outcome. And Fred almost
everywhere you go from a plane to get in prescription medicine,
you have to show your identification. I believe you guys
should have to show your identification in order to vote.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
So if that's the case, why would the governor or
anyone else say this is a bad idea.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Well, the governor says, you know a lot of folks
just don't have identification and it's a way to suppress
election turnout. But when you look at states like North
Carolina and other states who brought in voter ID laws,
that's just hogwash. The numbers say differently, because when you
have voter ID laws in other states, is actually increase
voter participation in those states. So when you look at
(06:59):
the actual numbers, his argument doesn't doesn't pan out.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
All right, Well, listen, Senator, thanks for taking the time.
This was an awfully quick interview, but I really appreciate
you making time on a Friday night.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Well, Fred is someone who grew up in southern California.
It's it's an honor to talk to you. I'm a
sports tunkey and I think the world of view and
you're you're a great, a great person who's made the
Los Angeles a great place to live.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Now, you're the best, all right, State Senator Tony Strickland,
Thanks so.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Much, Thanks Fred for having me.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Okay, isn't that interesting when you hear about it? The
will of the people, This is what the people want. Okay,
well that's good. What the people want, this is what
I want. This is my decision. So whatever you want
isn't quite as important as what I want.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
I don't know, somehow that just doesn't work for me.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
When we come back, we're going to talk to somebody
that you've seen but may not know.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
You're listening to Tim Conway Junior on De Maya from.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
K I'm just thinking listening to handle and his look ahead.
You know, obviously you can't see because it's radio. I've
seen him in the morning. I see what he looks like.
You don't want to see what I see. You don't
need to see that. You don't want to carry that
(08:20):
image with you. I mean, this guy is wearing these shorts.
It looks like he should be down on the beach
with a metal detector, right, and he's got those sandals.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Am I wrong? You guys see him walking around.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
Here socks with the sandals maybe occasionally, Yeah, yeah, nice,
that's a nice look.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
Angel. You've seen that right.
Speaker 5 (08:37):
Oh oh yeah, unfortunately.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Yeah, by the way, Angel Martinez doing traffic today, and
well thank you for finally jumping in and being part.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Of the show.
Speaker 6 (08:49):
Well, I didn't want to like talk over you or anything.
I've been waiting for the right time to jump.
Speaker 5 (08:54):
In and so here I am.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Wheeze Angel, Yeah, I mean, good lord, what does it
I have to say?
Speaker 3 (09:00):
It's so important I want you to be a part
of this. Angel. How long you been doing the traffic Oh?
Speaker 6 (09:05):
Wow on kf I I've been doing it for about
twenty years.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
When you got into the business, did you think, you know,
here's what I want to do. There's a lot of
possibilities for me. I could end up doing anything. My
deal is I wanted you traffic. Was that your dream
when you got into the business.
Speaker 6 (09:24):
It really wasn't. It just kind of happened that way.
And the funny thing though, is, you know I was
thinking back and you know, considering what you're saying right now,
and I remember when I was a little kid. You know,
my mom would listen to some other stations in the
morning and those traffic reporters would come on, and you know,
(09:46):
deep down I.
Speaker 5 (09:47):
Thought it was kind of cool.
Speaker 6 (09:48):
So I'm like, Wow, they know their way around every
place in Los Angeles.
Speaker 5 (09:53):
That's kind of cool. But that's about as deep as
it goes. I just.
Speaker 6 (10:00):
Fell into it and have some opportunities to work with
some really cool people and have a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
What's the weirdest thing that's happened to you doing traffic?
Speaker 5 (10:09):
The weirdest thing that's happened doing traffic?
Speaker 3 (10:13):
I mean you get a signalert wrong or anything like that.
Speaker 5 (10:15):
Oh all the time? Okay, all the time.
Speaker 6 (10:18):
But I just go with it because I don't want
it to sound like I made a mistake.
Speaker 5 (10:22):
No, people figure it out.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Well. Thank you for jumping on here, and it's great
working with you today.
Speaker 5 (10:28):
Oh thanks, happy you're in.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Oh thank you all. I want to bring somebody on
now now. I'm telling you, I'll bet at one point
or another you've seen him, but you probably don't know
who he is, all right.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
His name is Jay Flats. Jay. How are you doing, man?
Speaker 7 (10:46):
I'm great, Fred, How are you good?
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Okay? So how do you know Jay Flats? Why do
you know him? Where have you seen him? We've known
him for years, But where have you seen him? If
you were ever at an La Kings game. J Flats
was the guy. And this is how I think Jay,
You're known in LA. J Flats was the guy that
was sort of the in stadium host, the guy that
(11:08):
ran around with a microphone and.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Talked to people. Is that where your career began?
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (11:14):
I think that's where most people would go, Oh, you
mean the Kings guy. Yeah, I know that guy.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Yeah, how long did you do that?
Speaker 7 (11:22):
I had ten amazing seasons two thousand and eight to
twenty eighteen, and the team they won the Cup twice.
I got to ride in championship parades. I got to
ride down Figueroa on a longboard skateboard with a giant
King flag. It was It was unbelievable. It was a
job that came out of nowhere.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Really.
Speaker 7 (11:43):
I just I got a job on the promo team
and I spoke up and said I want to do
the hosting and there was no host and my boss said,
don't mess up. And it turned into ten seasons.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
What kind of weird stuff happened to you when you
were doing that?
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Well?
Speaker 7 (11:57):
At first, nobody knew my name and they would just
yell at me, Oh, Seacrest, get out of the way. Seacrest,
but then they quickly realized, Oh, that's the guy who's
gonna decide who gets free stuff. We better like this guy.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Yeah, I bet, And you did.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
You work the crowd, you walked around, and that turned
into a career.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
You do warm up work and stuff like.
Speaker 7 (12:20):
That, Ryan, Yeah, I've actually I used to do audience
warm up for shows like American Idol and Dancing with
the Stars, and sometimes I would do back to back
where we'd be live on the American Idol set from
five to seven, and I would get in my car
and drive the Staples Center as fast as I could
for a seven thirty eight buck drop.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Jay Flatz is our guest. How difficult is it doing
warm up?
Speaker 1 (12:45):
I mean you your job, your responsibility is to get
the crowd and work them into a frenzy right each
and every break.
Speaker 7 (12:53):
Yeah, every break or right before you go live. There's
really nothing better than live TV because you know exactly
what time you're done. And for me, it was it
was something I saw when I when I got to
LA in two thousand, I went to some TV shows
and I noticed, Ooh, this is a job I could do.
I can do this, And I was in the right place,
(13:14):
at the right time, and I've been doing it for
over twenty years.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Okay, so the reason you're on today, aside from the
fact that you know we're buddies, but you called me
this week and you told me something. I said, Oh
my god, this will be a cool thing to do
on KFI. I don't know how many people realize that
game shows like Price Is Right and Wheel of Fortune
actually have live stage shows they do and they travel
around the country and they go to casinos on the
(13:39):
East Coast or the south or theaters and you're actually
playing the Prices Right or you're actually playing Wheel of Fortune,
but it's sort of the road version of the game.
And you just found out that you're going to do
the road version of Wheel of Fortune, right.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
I am.
Speaker 7 (13:57):
I'm very excited to join alongside Mark L. Wahlberg and
split up a sixty city tour of the US and
Canada that we're getting to places like Texas and New Orleans.
I get to perform at Foxwood's Casino in Connecticut. That's
the area that I grew up in, and I've got
friends and family that'll get a chance to come see
(14:19):
me live. I'm super excited.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Okay, so I know you're just getting the details, but
you've watched Wheel of Fortune.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
What was the audition like for this?
Speaker 7 (14:29):
I got very lucky. Jeff Palmer is an executive producer
with Right Angle Entertainment, and he reached out to me
and said, you know, your name came up a few times,
which you know I try to stress in entertainment it's
about relationships. People love to say it's who you know.
It's the other way, it's who knows you. So they
(14:49):
reached out to me and I said yes, because I'm
a yes guy. Give me an opportunity, don't threaten me
with a good time. I'm a yes guy. So I
said yes, and Jeff kept pitching me, and I go, Jeff,
I've already said yes, what's next? And they got me
on tape and I guess there were a few people
that had to approve, and I think one of the
higher ups said, oh, the guy from the Kings.
Speaker 5 (15:11):
Love that guy.
Speaker 7 (15:11):
Yeah, let's have him on the tour. So that King's
job still affects my daily entertainment career.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
All right, do you have a minute. Can you stay
a little longer?
Speaker 4 (15:20):
Absolutely, you're listening to Tim Conway Junior on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Our guest is Jay Flats J. Thanks for hanging around.
Speaker 7 (15:33):
Of course, I love being here on drivetime. I have
actual signal eared updates for Angel. Traffic is heavy on
the two, the five to fifteen, the one oh five,
the four oh five, six oh five to ten, the
two ten, the one thirty four, the one oh one,
the one ten to fifty to one eighteen, Downtown west Side,
and the valley. Traffic is bad everywhere.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
All right, good job, Thank.
Speaker 5 (15:51):
You so much. I was wondering about those. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
What you don't know is J flies around in his
own private helicopter and just keep to an eye on things,
and that's how he knows it's this way.
Speaker 7 (16:03):
It's a lot of pressure, but somebody's got to do it.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
So if you're just joining us jumping on. Jay was
the guy who saw at the Kings games for years.
He was the in stadium host and he's actually turned
this into a pretty good career. He does warm up
for television shows. What was the show that moved to
New York? You did that too, was it?
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Kelly Clarkson?
Speaker 7 (16:26):
Absolutely, Yeah. I got a chance to work with an
incredible team. The Kelly Clarkson Show at Rockefeller Center in
the same hallway across from the Tonight Show with Jimmy.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Fallon is a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Oh nice, okay, And now he is going to be
the host of Wheel of Fortune, which travels around the country.
We were talking about it before the break. It travels everywhere,
and you mentioned Foxwoods in Connecticut, where I have worked
as well in the past.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Is it just like the TV show? How does it work?
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (16:56):
I mean you show up to the show, you go
early and get the VIP passes where you take a
picture with the wheel and meet the hosts, and everybody
who attends the show has a chance to win. And
they also have this new thing they're setting up on
the tour where you can actually send in your audition
to try to be on the TV show with Seacrest
(17:19):
and Vana White.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
So you played the game live in a concert hall
or a casino or whatever.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Is that what happens?
Speaker 7 (17:28):
Yeah, it's basically the live theater version of the show
with real prizes. There's trips to Paris and to Hawaii,
and then there's like a match if someone wins the
bonus round, someone in the audience will also win that
same amount, So don't leave. Stick around to the end
because at any point someone could win in the audience.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
And when you travel around, is it one show per spot?
Speaker 7 (17:54):
I think some cities you do multiple visits, like I
know when I'm in Foxwoods, I'll be there for two nights.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
In a row.
Speaker 7 (18:00):
But it's a busy, busy tour. That's why I'm blessed
to split it up with with Mark al Wahlberg. He's
actually get in Vegas this weekend to kick off the tour.
I'm gonna go to Vegas next weekend at the Paris
Hotel and watch it, observe Mark in action, and then
in September I'll take over the beginning part of the tour,
and then we split it up all the way up
(18:20):
to Christmas Eve. It's like the last day and there's
actually a week here in Socow week the week of
November sixth. Mark's doing that part of the tour, but
it's all over Socow. So if you just go to
Wheel of Fortune Live dot com the schedules up the dates,
the cities, it's I'm overwhelmed.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
I'm so excited, But Jay, is it one show per night?
So it's one thirty minute show? Is that a half hour?
Speaker 3 (18:43):
Just like TV?
Speaker 7 (18:45):
I know at the Paris Hotel this weekend and next weekend,
Mark is doing two shows a night, back to back,
but most of the time on the road. Yes, one show,
one shot at winning.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
Money, thirty minutes, just like TV.
Speaker 7 (18:57):
Yeah, we run it pretty close to there. That's it's exciting.
You get in, you see some pre show and there's
going to be a warm up guy that There's a
guy named Cody who's been doing it a long time.
He's incredible and he'll get everybody hyped up. And then
at some point I'll come out and do what I
always love to do, which is give away other people's things.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
Nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Now, how do you how do you travel around? I'm
really fascinated by this. They do this live on the road.
So it's a show. Is it a tour? How do
you move around? Do you fly from city to city?
How does it work?
Speaker 7 (19:30):
Well, you're gonna have to hit the highways even if
there's traffic, and look for the Wheel of Fortune tour bus.
We're going to be on the tour bus, on and
off the tour bus for months. I know I'll probably
be on the East Coast, mostly in Florida for the
whole month of December on the tour bus.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
But you travel on the tour bus.
Speaker 7 (19:51):
Yeah, you do a show, you get on the bus,
go to the next city, do another show. Everybody wants
the wheel.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Yeah, well, I know there's not a lot of heavy
lifting involved, to be quite honest, but that's pretty grueling,
isn't it. That you do a show, you're on the
bus that night and off and running you go. You're
sleeping on the bus. It's like you're in a rock band.
Speaker 7 (20:12):
Yeah, it's It's actually an interesting way to live. I
did it seventeen years ago. I traveled as a public
address announcer for the Harlem Globetrotter's basketball team, and I
was on and off the road for two years.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
What was that like traveling with the Globetrotters.
Speaker 7 (20:28):
I mean, it's amazing to show up to a sports
venue where everyone's rooting for you, like no one's ever
rooting against the Trotters.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Did they tell you what to say? Was there a
script or did you just add little bit every night?
Speaker 7 (20:42):
I mean it was it was definitely a scripted basketball
show where oh no, the Globetrotters are down by three
at the end of the third quarter. Is tonight the
night they lose? No, they have an amazing comeback in
the fourth quarter and they win by a landslide.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
What I'm trying to remember wasn't there were a few times,
and well one they were all Washington Nationals. I think
I can't remember because they were their New Jersey Generals
and then the Washington Nationals.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
Both of those were the teams that played against them.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
There are a couple of times I don't know if
you were doing it then, that the Globe Trotter's actually lost.
Speaker 7 (21:15):
Yeah. I did one hundred and eighty seven games with
the Trotters in thirty five states in twelve countries, and
we won every single night. I've heard rumors of real
games where it was really close and all of a sudden,
it feels very rigged at the last minute because the
Trotters don't lose, but they won every single night when
I was traveling with them.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Yeah, because I can imagine that there were some times
if we look it up, I don't know, but there
were some times the Trotters and if you don't know,
and if you're not of a certain generation, the Harlem
Globe Trotters would travel around the world, and for today's world,
they were kind of the Savannah Bananas of basketball. They started,
oh yeah, and they'd travel around. They'd always win. They
would do tricks, they'd put people up in the crowd,
(21:56):
they'd bring people down on the court, put some a
referee shirt on some and they always won.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
But there were a few times that they got beat.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
How that happened, I don't know, because they were never
supposed to lose.
Speaker 7 (22:10):
Ever, they were not supposed to lose.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
And I'm wondering now after they would lose a game
or two because they all travel together, I mean, the
opponent played every game. I'm wondering after they lost, if
they just fired everybody on the other team and so
get the hell out of here. You're not supposed to win.
This is not about you just go out there and
basically take a dive every night.
Speaker 7 (22:32):
Well, I will admit to you that when I went
in for training, I saw the Globetrotters who are trained
to win, and then I watched the Washington Generals who
train how to lose. You know, I don't know if
you get more demoralizing than no matter what you do,
you will lose every single night.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
You know what, I called them either the Washington Nationals
or the New Jersey Generals, and they were the Washington Generals. Okay, good, yeah,
but how do you train somebody to lose? What did
you observe?
Speaker 7 (23:02):
There were like certain dribbling drills where all of a sudden,
the general players forgot how to play defense and the
Trotter guys are running circles around them. Or you know,
all of a sudden, this guy who was four for
four at three pointers is now zero for five in
the fourth quarter. He can't hit a shot. Like to kids,
it's amazing, but to adults, they're going all right, So
(23:24):
they're tanking, they're throwing the game.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
I can't believe they actually practiced losing. They actually worked
on it. Uh, you guys know what you're getting paid for,
and at this point in the game, this is what's
going to happen.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
But the kids did love it, Jay, you know that
they went crazy.
Speaker 7 (23:41):
Oh man, I saw the Trotters when I was a kid,
and I saw him on Scooby Doo. So if you
had told me as an adult, I'd get to travel
and go the Harlem globe trotters. I would have been like,
what that is so cool?
Speaker 1 (23:55):
All right, congratulations on the Wheel of Fortune gig. That's
really big, really impressive, and it shows somebody who was
just working in the stadium crew, working in the promotions department,
wanted the job, had an idea, and you've turned it
into an entire career.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
So congratulations and much success with this.
Speaker 7 (24:15):
Thank you, Thank you, Fred, and just go to Wheel
of Fortune live dot com so you can keep an
eye on where I'm at.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
All right, there he goes Jay Flats. He'll be traveling
the country very very soon.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
You're listening to Tim Conway Junior on demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Fred Rogan in today for Tim Conway Junior. I want
to thank Tim everybody here at KFI forgiving me the
shot today. It's always fun to sit in. So if
you don't know, and why wouldn't you, I actually work
about twenty five feet from here on Am five to
seventy the Dodger station.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
I'm the midday guy with Rodney Pete and they asked.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Me if I wanted to do this today, and I
always like the opportunity to sit in at KFI. It's different.
It's fun. And they said and to you know, entice
you more. We'll find a fill in for your show
so you can do this. When I said, I'm in,
just like that, I am in.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Nice.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Yeah, Steph Mark, thanks so much, guys. I really appreciate
your help today. Matthew did a great job producing. Steph,
anything you want to talk about. What did we learn today?
Speaker 8 (25:22):
I really just you know, when it came to the
one that really spoke to me was about the buy
of the cyclists, you know, just having to deal with
them on the street. And you know, I get there
has to be a mutual respect for each other, but
you also both need to be observant of each other.
Like we can't just be you know, they can't just
think they're a car when you're going against the tank,
(25:44):
like you said, And we also just can't treat them
like you know, just running over. We got it, you know,
we gotta have a little bit of respect on both sides.
Like they can't just think that they own the road, right,
and we can't just sit there and think that we
own the road and just taking them over.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
It's the funniest thing about that topic. And I guarantee.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
You more people get fired up about that riding your
bike on the streets and who has the right of way? Again,
cyclists believe we have paid our tax dollars, the roads
belong to us, and they do. No one is arguing that.
No one is questioning that on the other side of
the coin, just because the road belongs to you doesn't
(26:22):
mean somebody in a car can't hit you, exactly, And
then what good is the road do you because you're
not going to be in it for a while, because
you're going to be out mark, What did you learn today?
Speaker 4 (26:35):
I learned that you are a revered figure in Los
Angeles media, please and rightfully, so we got to do
this again.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Please? This was fun. You know what I learned?
Speaker 1 (26:44):
I learned for the first time I know somebody that
got hit with a rubber bullet by the police.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Hah. That was like, are you kidding me? Really?
Speaker 4 (26:52):
I'd offered to show you the spots, but then I'd
probably have to take a tripp to hr.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
No, And we've all been trained. We've all been trained. Here,
sure have gotta tell you a quick story to wrap
it up. So the video changes every couple of years,
and here all of us at iHeart have to go
through training, harassment training, things like that. So a couple
of years ago, I'm watching the video and if you guys, remember,
there was somebody by the copy machine, all right, and anyway,
(27:19):
she was bending over at the copy machine. This is
how this works, by the way. So they put the
video up and they give you these situations. You look
at them and then you determine what you should or
shouldn't do. She bends over at the copy machine. There's
a couple of guys standing there watching, and you know,
one of them says the other one, hey, look at
that that kind of thing, and then the thing goes
up on the screen. Was that appropriate? Was that inappropriate?
(27:41):
Should you report it to a manager?
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Right?
Speaker 1 (27:43):
We take these they're like an hour long and you
gotta do them, and you think, well, that's just common sense. Anyway,
So there was a girl at the copy machine. So
I'd finished the training. I go home and I go
across the street to Foreman's. Foremans is the bar on River.
I drive into Local Lake, right, A lot of people
hang out at forms. So I go in and I
(28:04):
walk up to the bar and I'm going to order
a glass of wine. So I look at the bartender
and I'm staring at her and she comes up and
says hello, and I go, oh my god. She goes, what,
you're the girl at the copy machine. It was you?
Speaker 3 (28:21):
You were the girl?
Speaker 1 (28:22):
She goes, yes, I was. I was at the copy machine.
She she's an actress, right, and she booked it as
a way. Yeah, she was the girl at the copy machine.
That's awesome. And I thought, oh my god. I said,
do people recognize you? And she goes, well, sometimes you know,
if you work an iHeart you know me.
Speaker 7 (28:41):
No.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Yeah, And then and then she goes, well, do you
want me to bend over like I did at the
copy mallow.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
I said no, that's okay. You're like, no, I just
spent an hour finishing the training. You passed on that.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Yeah no, because I thought, oh god, that's all I
need is her and everybody laughing. And then somebody see it,
and then they because you know, once you take the
harassment training, just as you listen, you should know this
that applies everywhere, not just in this building.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Yeah. Yeah, they're great life lessons.
Speaker 4 (29:09):
I've become a huge fan of corporate training videos, and
I wish I had saved or stolen the ones that
I had to endure when I was in my first
newspaper job with Gannette. There is some found comedy gold.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Yeah, and the deal is we have to take these.
And the reason is because after you take them, then
if you do something, the company can fire you. If
we don't take these and then you do something, you
can go I didn't know.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
How did I know? Nobody told me.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
I wasn't supposed to do that, right, That's why we
take these these training.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
Sessions to keep them moved.
Speaker 7 (29:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (29:45):
I don't know if you knew this, but they actually
discourage violence in the workplace.
Speaker 3 (29:49):
Who knew? Hey I heard about that. Yeah, I heard
that one too.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
Hey, what should you do? Mike seems a little off today.
Should you report it to your manager? Talk to Mike
or yelp? Yeah? All right, guys, thank you. What a
terrific afternoon. I really appreciate all your help. Thanks to
the folks at KFI. Folks have a terrific weekend. Tim
is back on Monday and Moe Kelly is next on
KFI AM six forty
It's camp I am six forty and you're listening to
The Conway Show on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Later
in the hour, we're going to have somebody on that
I bet you have seen at one point or another
in your life if you're from Los Angeles, but you
probably don't know who it is that is coming up.
(00:21):
But as we begin this six o'clock hour, it is
a pleasure to welcome on State Senator Tony Strickland and
Senator Strickland, thanks for jumping on the show today.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Well, Fred, it's an honor and thank you so much
for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
I want to start with this because you see things
from the state level, and Mayor Bass made a comment
that crime in Los Angeles is basically down. I think
it was sixty percent. Now when you read that, you think, wow,
that's incredible. When you heard that, Senator, what did you think.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
I think she's out of touch and she is the
modern day Marie Antoinette, just out of touch with every
day citizens in Los Angeles. And if you actually look
at the numbers, probably crimes up seven percent, burger Ley's
up seven percent in LA. Violent crime in LA is
higher than it was ten years ago. By sixteen percent,
and so I was shocked when she actually made that statement.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Okay, but why would she make that statement then, and
why would it be reported? If these is what you're
saying is true, then why didn't anybody check it before
it was reported?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
You got me like they always try to like spin
and and again, I look at the record, don't look
at the rhetoric, and look at the actual numbers, and
talk to people who are in Los Angeles and ask
them if they feel they're more safe today than they were,
you know, four to ten years ago.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Yeah, well, I was surprised when I saw it, but
I took it at face value. To be quite honest
with you, I'm saying, well, why would they make that up?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Well, a lot of times people just don't follow up
the numbers, and there's ways to spin certain numbers. But
the fact of the numbers is I just told you
probably crimes up seven percent, He's up seven percent. And
violent crime in LA after the last ten years is
up sixteen percent. So and at the same time, the
California legislature didn't fully fund Proposition thirty six that would
(02:13):
actually make crime illegal again in California and actually fund
you know, public safety. I think the most essential role
of government is public safety, to keep people safe, from
the local level to the state level, to the federal level.
It's national security.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Yeah, Senator, can you talk about the lack of funding
for Prop thirty six?
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Explain that to me.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
So. Prop thirty six is passed by the voters in November,
and what it pretty much said is they want to
make crime illegal again. We used to have these smashing
grabs where people could go on the broad daylight and
take up to one thousand dollars and without being prosecuted.
And obviously it didn't work for Californians, and so we
put Prop thirty six on the ballot. It passed seventy
percent of the vote, seven zero and all fifty eight counties.
(02:55):
I've been doing this a long time. I can't recall
the last initiative that passed. Every county, even the most
liberal counties of San Francisco and Moran said they wanted
support Prop thirty six, and so it passed overwhelmingly. And
so the voters think, Okay, it's going to be implemented.
But Governor Knewso refused to put money in the state
budget to implement Prop thirty six the will of the voters.
(03:15):
It takes about four hundred million dollars a year in
order to fund it. I will give credit to State
Center Tom Amberg from the Democratic side. He pushed hard,
but they got one hundred million dollars for three years
and they put zero money in probation with the central
part of the initiative, and so really they're not funding it.
And I think this should be the first thing that
(03:37):
we fund and to keep people safe across the state
of California. And instead of funding that, they put seven
hundred and fifty million dollars in a Bay Area transit.
They put fifty million dollars in order to sue the
federal government every time Donald Trump does an executive order.
And I just think their priorities are out of whack
and it's not good for the people of California.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
The thing I was confused by is when they allowed
that in the first place, to smash and grab. Well,
if it's nine hundred and ninety nine dollars, no worries,
go ahead, take it and run and you're fine.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
I couldn't believe they even started that.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
When they did, I couldn't either. And again, and they
were able to do that per retail store, so they
could do it one store here, the next story here.
I never thought we'd have a society where people in
the broad daylight could go into a retail store and
just take everything and walk out the door without any
any accountability to it. And so this was the response brought.
(04:33):
Thirty six was the response to those initiatives. And I'm
going to keep continuing to talk about it and keep
pushing because I think the most essential role of government
is keeping people safe.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
So if the governor decides in the budget not defund it,
is he thumbing his nose at the people.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Oh, it's a slap in the face. We finalized the
budget and what it ended up being is one hundred
million dollars for three years. And so it's a slap
in the face everybody that worked hard on that initiative,
all seventy percent of Californians who said I want to
make this a top priority. It's a stop in the
face to all the voters. And I firmly believe the
governor and the supermajority legislature, most of them are out
(05:14):
of touch with everyday citizens.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Can you talk for a second, Senator about voter ID.
What that means here in this state.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Well, I think when you look at voter ID, you S.
Berkeley did a study and it says seventy one percent
of the people supported having a proof of citizenship and
voter identification laws. In fact, most of the states across
the country have voter ID laws, and when you look
at other nations, they almost all have voter identification laws.
And so I'm co chairing an initiative in twenty twenty
(05:45):
six to bring voter ID to California. In fact, this
is not a Republican Democrat issue. In fact, seventy one
percent of Californian support this. So overwhelming Democrats, Independents, and
Republicans support voter ID. The only people a donor, Governor
Newsom and some of the folks up in the Sacramento
So we're going to take it right to the people
of California. And again, when you look at since two
(06:08):
thousand three, presidential candidates have called in question the election outcome.
Our democracy doesn't work if people don't have faith in
the election outcome. And this is a way for people
to have more faith in election outcome. And Fred almost
everywhere you go from a plane to get in prescription medicine,
you have to show your identification. I believe you guys
should have to show your identification in order to vote.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
So if that's the case, why would the governor or
anyone else say this is a bad idea.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Well, the governor says, you know a lot of folks
just don't have identification and it's a way to suppress
election turnout. But when you look at states like North
Carolina and other states who brought in voter ID laws,
that's just hogwash. The numbers say differently, because when you
have voter ID laws in other states, is actually increase
voter participation in those states. So when you look at
(06:59):
the actual numbers, his argument doesn't doesn't pan out.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
All right, Well, listen, Senator, thanks for taking the time.
This was an awfully quick interview, but I really appreciate
you making time on a Friday night.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Well, Fred is someone who grew up in southern California.
It's it's an honor to talk to you. I'm a
sports tunkey and I think the world of view and
you're you're a great, a great person who's made the
Los Angeles a great place to live.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Now, you're the best, all right, State Senator Tony Strickland,
Thanks so.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Much, Thanks Fred for having me.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Okay, isn't that interesting when you hear about it? The
will of the people, This is what the people want. Okay,
well that's good. What the people want, this is what
I want. This is my decision. So whatever you want
isn't quite as important as what I want.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
I don't know, somehow that just doesn't work for me.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
When we come back, we're going to talk to somebody
that you've seen but may not know.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
You're listening to Tim Conway Junior on De Maya from.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
K I'm just thinking listening to handle and his look ahead.
You know, obviously you can't see because it's radio. I've
seen him in the morning. I see what he looks like.
You don't want to see what I see. You don't
need to see that. You don't want to carry that
(08:20):
image with you. I mean, this guy is wearing these shorts.
It looks like he should be down on the beach
with a metal detector, right, and he's got those sandals.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Am I wrong? You guys see him walking around.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
Here socks with the sandals maybe occasionally, Yeah, yeah, nice,
that's a nice look.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
Angel. You've seen that right.
Speaker 5 (08:37):
Oh oh yeah, unfortunately.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Yeah, by the way, Angel Martinez doing traffic today, and
well thank you for finally jumping in and being part.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Of the show.
Speaker 6 (08:49):
Well, I didn't want to like talk over you or anything.
I've been waiting for the right time to jump.
Speaker 5 (08:54):
In and so here I am.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Wheeze Angel, Yeah, I mean, good lord, what does it
I have to say?
Speaker 3 (09:00):
It's so important I want you to be a part
of this. Angel. How long you been doing the traffic Oh?
Speaker 6 (09:05):
Wow on kf I I've been doing it for about
twenty years.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
When you got into the business, did you think, you know,
here's what I want to do. There's a lot of
possibilities for me. I could end up doing anything. My
deal is I wanted you traffic. Was that your dream
when you got into the business.
Speaker 6 (09:24):
It really wasn't. It just kind of happened that way.
And the funny thing though, is, you know I was
thinking back and you know, considering what you're saying right now,
and I remember when I was a little kid. You know,
my mom would listen to some other stations in the
morning and those traffic reporters would come on, and you know,
(09:46):
deep down I.
Speaker 5 (09:47):
Thought it was kind of cool.
Speaker 6 (09:48):
So I'm like, Wow, they know their way around every
place in Los Angeles.
Speaker 5 (09:53):
That's kind of cool. But that's about as deep as
it goes. I just.
Speaker 6 (10:00):
Fell into it and have some opportunities to work with
some really cool people and have a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
What's the weirdest thing that's happened to you doing traffic?
Speaker 5 (10:09):
The weirdest thing that's happened doing traffic?
Speaker 3 (10:13):
I mean you get a signalert wrong or anything like that.
Speaker 5 (10:15):
Oh all the time? Okay, all the time.
Speaker 6 (10:18):
But I just go with it because I don't want
it to sound like I made a mistake.
Speaker 5 (10:22):
No, people figure it out.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Well. Thank you for jumping on here, and it's great
working with you today.
Speaker 5 (10:28):
Oh thanks, happy you're in.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Oh thank you all. I want to bring somebody on
now now. I'm telling you, I'll bet at one point
or another you've seen him, but you probably don't know
who he is, all right.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
His name is Jay Flats. Jay. How are you doing, man?
Speaker 7 (10:46):
I'm great, Fred, How are you good?
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Okay? So how do you know Jay Flats? Why do
you know him? Where have you seen him? We've known
him for years, But where have you seen him? If
you were ever at an La Kings game. J Flats
was the guy. And this is how I think Jay,
You're known in LA. J Flats was the guy that
was sort of the in stadium host, the guy that
(11:08):
ran around with a microphone and.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Talked to people. Is that where your career began?
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (11:14):
I think that's where most people would go, Oh, you
mean the Kings guy. Yeah, I know that guy.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Yeah, how long did you do that?
Speaker 7 (11:22):
I had ten amazing seasons two thousand and eight to
twenty eighteen, and the team they won the Cup twice.
I got to ride in championship parades. I got to
ride down Figueroa on a longboard skateboard with a giant
King flag. It was It was unbelievable. It was a
job that came out of nowhere.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Really.
Speaker 7 (11:43):
I just I got a job on the promo team
and I spoke up and said I want to do
the hosting and there was no host and my boss said,
don't mess up. And it turned into ten seasons.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
What kind of weird stuff happened to you when you
were doing that?
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Well?
Speaker 7 (11:57):
At first, nobody knew my name and they would just
yell at me, Oh, Seacrest, get out of the way. Seacrest,
but then they quickly realized, Oh, that's the guy who's
gonna decide who gets free stuff. We better like this guy.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Yeah, I bet, And you did.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
You work the crowd, you walked around, and that turned
into a career.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
You do warm up work and stuff like.
Speaker 7 (12:20):
That, Ryan, Yeah, I've actually I used to do audience
warm up for shows like American Idol and Dancing with
the Stars, and sometimes I would do back to back
where we'd be live on the American Idol set from
five to seven, and I would get in my car
and drive the Staples Center as fast as I could
for a seven thirty eight buck drop.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Jay Flatz is our guest. How difficult is it doing
warm up?
Speaker 1 (12:45):
I mean you your job, your responsibility is to get
the crowd and work them into a frenzy right each
and every break.
Speaker 7 (12:53):
Yeah, every break or right before you go live. There's
really nothing better than live TV because you know exactly
what time you're done. And for me, it was it
was something I saw when I when I got to
LA in two thousand, I went to some TV shows
and I noticed, Ooh, this is a job I could do.
I can do this, And I was in the right place,
(13:14):
at the right time, and I've been doing it for
over twenty years.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Okay, so the reason you're on today, aside from the
fact that you know we're buddies, but you called me
this week and you told me something. I said, Oh
my god, this will be a cool thing to do
on KFI. I don't know how many people realize that
game shows like Price Is Right and Wheel of Fortune
actually have live stage shows they do and they travel
around the country and they go to casinos on the
(13:39):
East Coast or the south or theaters and you're actually
playing the Prices Right or you're actually playing Wheel of Fortune,
but it's sort of the road version of the game.
And you just found out that you're going to do
the road version of Wheel of Fortune, right.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
I am.
Speaker 7 (13:57):
I'm very excited to join alongside Mark L. Wahlberg and
split up a sixty city tour of the US and
Canada that we're getting to places like Texas and New Orleans.
I get to perform at Foxwood's Casino in Connecticut. That's
the area that I grew up in, and I've got
friends and family that'll get a chance to come see
(14:19):
me live. I'm super excited.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Okay, so I know you're just getting the details, but
you've watched Wheel of Fortune.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
What was the audition like for this?
Speaker 7 (14:29):
I got very lucky. Jeff Palmer is an executive producer
with Right Angle Entertainment, and he reached out to me
and said, you know, your name came up a few times,
which you know I try to stress in entertainment it's
about relationships. People love to say it's who you know.
It's the other way, it's who knows you. So they
(14:49):
reached out to me and I said yes, because I'm
a yes guy. Give me an opportunity, don't threaten me
with a good time. I'm a yes guy. So I
said yes, and Jeff kept pitching me, and I go, Jeff,
I've already said yes, what's next? And they got me
on tape and I guess there were a few people
that had to approve, and I think one of the
higher ups said, oh, the guy from the Kings.
Speaker 5 (15:11):
Love that guy.
Speaker 7 (15:11):
Yeah, let's have him on the tour. So that King's
job still affects my daily entertainment career.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
All right, do you have a minute. Can you stay
a little longer?
Speaker 4 (15:20):
Absolutely, you're listening to Tim Conway Junior on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Our guest is Jay Flats J. Thanks for hanging around.
Speaker 7 (15:33):
Of course, I love being here on drivetime. I have
actual signal eared updates for Angel. Traffic is heavy on
the two, the five to fifteen, the one oh five,
the four oh five, six oh five to ten, the
two ten, the one thirty four, the one oh one,
the one ten to fifty to one eighteen, Downtown west Side,
and the valley. Traffic is bad everywhere.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
All right, good job, Thank.
Speaker 5 (15:51):
You so much. I was wondering about those. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
What you don't know is J flies around in his
own private helicopter and just keep to an eye on things,
and that's how he knows it's this way.
Speaker 7 (16:03):
It's a lot of pressure, but somebody's got to do it.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
So if you're just joining us jumping on. Jay was
the guy who saw at the Kings games for years.
He was the in stadium host and he's actually turned
this into a pretty good career. He does warm up
for television shows. What was the show that moved to
New York? You did that too, was it?
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Kelly Clarkson?
Speaker 7 (16:26):
Absolutely, Yeah. I got a chance to work with an
incredible team. The Kelly Clarkson Show at Rockefeller Center in
the same hallway across from the Tonight Show with Jimmy.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Fallon is a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Oh nice, okay, And now he is going to be
the host of Wheel of Fortune, which travels around the country.
We were talking about it before the break. It travels everywhere,
and you mentioned Foxwoods in Connecticut, where I have worked
as well in the past.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Is it just like the TV show? How does it work?
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (16:56):
I mean you show up to the show, you go
early and get the VIP passes where you take a
picture with the wheel and meet the hosts, and everybody
who attends the show has a chance to win. And
they also have this new thing they're setting up on
the tour where you can actually send in your audition
to try to be on the TV show with Seacrest
(17:19):
and Vana White.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
So you played the game live in a concert hall
or a casino or whatever.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Is that what happens?
Speaker 7 (17:28):
Yeah, it's basically the live theater version of the show
with real prizes. There's trips to Paris and to Hawaii,
and then there's like a match if someone wins the
bonus round, someone in the audience will also win that
same amount, So don't leave. Stick around to the end
because at any point someone could win in the audience.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
And when you travel around, is it one show per spot?
Speaker 7 (17:54):
I think some cities you do multiple visits, like I
know when I'm in Foxwoods, I'll be there for two nights.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
In a row.
Speaker 7 (18:00):
But it's a busy, busy tour. That's why I'm blessed
to split it up with with Mark al Wahlberg. He's
actually get in Vegas this weekend to kick off the tour.
I'm gonna go to Vegas next weekend at the Paris
Hotel and watch it, observe Mark in action, and then
in September I'll take over the beginning part of the tour,
and then we split it up all the way up
(18:20):
to Christmas Eve. It's like the last day and there's
actually a week here in Socow week the week of
November sixth. Mark's doing that part of the tour, but
it's all over Socow. So if you just go to
Wheel of Fortune Live dot com the schedules up the dates,
the cities, it's I'm overwhelmed.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
I'm so excited, But Jay, is it one show per night?
So it's one thirty minute show? Is that a half hour?
Speaker 3 (18:43):
Just like TV?
Speaker 7 (18:45):
I know at the Paris Hotel this weekend and next weekend,
Mark is doing two shows a night, back to back,
but most of the time on the road. Yes, one show,
one shot at winning.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
Money, thirty minutes, just like TV.
Speaker 7 (18:57):
Yeah, we run it pretty close to there. That's it's exciting.
You get in, you see some pre show and there's
going to be a warm up guy that There's a
guy named Cody who's been doing it a long time.
He's incredible and he'll get everybody hyped up. And then
at some point I'll come out and do what I
always love to do, which is give away other people's things.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
Nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Now, how do you how do you travel around? I'm
really fascinated by this. They do this live on the road.
So it's a show. Is it a tour? How do
you move around? Do you fly from city to city?
How does it work?
Speaker 7 (19:30):
Well, you're gonna have to hit the highways even if
there's traffic, and look for the Wheel of Fortune tour bus.
We're going to be on the tour bus, on and
off the tour bus for months. I know I'll probably
be on the East Coast, mostly in Florida for the
whole month of December on the tour bus.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
But you travel on the tour bus.
Speaker 7 (19:51):
Yeah, you do a show, you get on the bus,
go to the next city, do another show. Everybody wants
the wheel.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Yeah, well, I know there's not a lot of heavy
lifting involved, to be quite honest, but that's pretty grueling,
isn't it. That you do a show, you're on the
bus that night and off and running you go. You're
sleeping on the bus. It's like you're in a rock band.
Speaker 7 (20:12):
Yeah, it's It's actually an interesting way to live. I
did it seventeen years ago. I traveled as a public
address announcer for the Harlem Globetrotter's basketball team, and I
was on and off the road for two years.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
What was that like traveling with the Globetrotters.
Speaker 7 (20:28):
I mean, it's amazing to show up to a sports
venue where everyone's rooting for you, like no one's ever
rooting against the Trotters.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Did they tell you what to say? Was there a
script or did you just add little bit every night?
Speaker 7 (20:42):
I mean it was it was definitely a scripted basketball
show where oh no, the Globetrotters are down by three
at the end of the third quarter. Is tonight the
night they lose? No, they have an amazing comeback in
the fourth quarter and they win by a landslide.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
What I'm trying to remember wasn't there were a few times,
and well one they were all Washington Nationals. I think
I can't remember because they were their New Jersey Generals
and then the Washington Nationals.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
Both of those were the teams that played against them.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
There are a couple of times I don't know if
you were doing it then, that the Globe Trotter's actually lost.
Speaker 7 (21:15):
Yeah. I did one hundred and eighty seven games with
the Trotters in thirty five states in twelve countries, and
we won every single night. I've heard rumors of real
games where it was really close and all of a sudden,
it feels very rigged at the last minute because the
Trotters don't lose, but they won every single night when
I was traveling with them.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Yeah, because I can imagine that there were some times
if we look it up, I don't know, but there
were some times the Trotters and if you don't know,
and if you're not of a certain generation, the Harlem
Globe Trotters would travel around the world, and for today's world,
they were kind of the Savannah Bananas of basketball. They started,
oh yeah, and they'd travel around. They'd always win. They
would do tricks, they'd put people up in the crowd,
(21:56):
they'd bring people down on the court, put some a
referee shirt on some and they always won.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
But there were a few times that they got beat.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
How that happened, I don't know, because they were never
supposed to lose.
Speaker 7 (22:10):
Ever, they were not supposed to lose.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
And I'm wondering now after they would lose a game
or two because they all travel together, I mean, the
opponent played every game. I'm wondering after they lost, if
they just fired everybody on the other team and so
get the hell out of here. You're not supposed to win.
This is not about you just go out there and
basically take a dive every night.
Speaker 7 (22:32):
Well, I will admit to you that when I went
in for training, I saw the Globetrotters who are trained
to win, and then I watched the Washington Generals who
train how to lose. You know, I don't know if
you get more demoralizing than no matter what you do,
you will lose every single night.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
You know what, I called them either the Washington Nationals
or the New Jersey Generals, and they were the Washington Generals. Okay, good, yeah,
but how do you train somebody to lose? What did
you observe?
Speaker 7 (23:02):
There were like certain dribbling drills where all of a sudden,
the general players forgot how to play defense and the
Trotter guys are running circles around them. Or you know,
all of a sudden, this guy who was four for
four at three pointers is now zero for five in
the fourth quarter. He can't hit a shot. Like to kids,
it's amazing, but to adults, they're going all right, So
(23:24):
they're tanking, they're throwing the game.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
I can't believe they actually practiced losing. They actually worked
on it. Uh, you guys know what you're getting paid for,
and at this point in the game, this is what's
going to happen.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
But the kids did love it, Jay, you know that
they went crazy.
Speaker 7 (23:41):
Oh man, I saw the Trotters when I was a kid,
and I saw him on Scooby Doo. So if you
had told me as an adult, I'd get to travel
and go the Harlem globe trotters. I would have been like,
what that is so cool?
Speaker 1 (23:55):
All right, congratulations on the Wheel of Fortune gig. That's
really big, really impressive, and it shows somebody who was
just working in the stadium crew, working in the promotions department,
wanted the job, had an idea, and you've turned it
into an entire career.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
So congratulations and much success with this.
Speaker 7 (24:15):
Thank you, Thank you, Fred, and just go to Wheel
of Fortune live dot com so you can keep an
eye on where I'm at.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
All right, there he goes Jay Flats. He'll be traveling
the country very very soon.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
You're listening to Tim Conway Junior on demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Fred Rogan in today for Tim Conway Junior. I want
to thank Tim everybody here at KFI forgiving me the
shot today. It's always fun to sit in. So if
you don't know, and why wouldn't you, I actually work
about twenty five feet from here on Am five to
seventy the Dodger station.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
I'm the midday guy with Rodney Pete and they asked.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Me if I wanted to do this today, and I
always like the opportunity to sit in at KFI. It's different.
It's fun. And they said and to you know, entice
you more. We'll find a fill in for your show
so you can do this. When I said, I'm in,
just like that, I am in.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Nice.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Yeah, Steph Mark, thanks so much, guys. I really appreciate
your help today. Matthew did a great job producing. Steph,
anything you want to talk about. What did we learn today?
Speaker 8 (25:22):
I really just you know, when it came to the
one that really spoke to me was about the buy
of the cyclists, you know, just having to deal with
them on the street. And you know, I get there
has to be a mutual respect for each other, but
you also both need to be observant of each other.
Like we can't just be you know, they can't just
think they're a car when you're going against the tank,
(25:44):
like you said, And we also just can't treat them
like you know, just running over. We got it, you know,
we gotta have a little bit of respect on both sides.
Like they can't just think that they own the road, right,
and we can't just sit there and think that we
own the road and just taking them over.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
It's the funniest thing about that topic. And I guarantee.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
You more people get fired up about that riding your
bike on the streets and who has the right of way? Again,
cyclists believe we have paid our tax dollars, the roads
belong to us, and they do. No one is arguing that.
No one is questioning that on the other side of
the coin, just because the road belongs to you doesn't
(26:22):
mean somebody in a car can't hit you, exactly, And
then what good is the road do you because you're
not going to be in it for a while, because
you're going to be out mark, What did you learn today?
Speaker 4 (26:35):
I learned that you are a revered figure in Los
Angeles media, please and rightfully, so we got to do
this again.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Please? This was fun. You know what I learned?
Speaker 1 (26:44):
I learned for the first time I know somebody that
got hit with a rubber bullet by the police.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Hah. That was like, are you kidding me? Really?
Speaker 4 (26:52):
I'd offered to show you the spots, but then I'd
probably have to take a tripp to hr.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
No, And we've all been trained. We've all been trained. Here,
sure have gotta tell you a quick story to wrap
it up. So the video changes every couple of years,
and here all of us at iHeart have to go
through training, harassment training, things like that. So a couple
of years ago, I'm watching the video and if you guys, remember,
there was somebody by the copy machine, all right, and anyway,
(27:19):
she was bending over at the copy machine. This is
how this works, by the way. So they put the
video up and they give you these situations. You look
at them and then you determine what you should or
shouldn't do. She bends over at the copy machine. There's
a couple of guys standing there watching, and you know,
one of them says the other one, hey, look at
that that kind of thing, and then the thing goes
up on the screen. Was that appropriate? Was that inappropriate?
(27:41):
Should you report it to a manager?
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Right?
Speaker 1 (27:43):
We take these they're like an hour long and you
gotta do them, and you think, well, that's just common sense. Anyway,
So there was a girl at the copy machine. So
I'd finished the training. I go home and I go
across the street to Foreman's. Foremans is the bar on River.
I drive into Local Lake, right, A lot of people
hang out at forms. So I go in and I
(28:04):
walk up to the bar and I'm going to order
a glass of wine. So I look at the bartender
and I'm staring at her and she comes up and
says hello, and I go, oh my god. She goes, what,
you're the girl at the copy machine. It was you?
Speaker 3 (28:21):
You were the girl?
Speaker 1 (28:22):
She goes, yes, I was. I was at the copy machine.
She she's an actress, right, and she booked it as
a way. Yeah, she was the girl at the copy machine.
That's awesome. And I thought, oh my god. I said,
do people recognize you? And she goes, well, sometimes you know,
if you work an iHeart you know me.
Speaker 7 (28:41):
No.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Yeah, And then and then she goes, well, do you
want me to bend over like I did at the
copy mallow.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
I said no, that's okay. You're like, no, I just
spent an hour finishing the training. You passed on that.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Yeah no, because I thought, oh god, that's all I
need is her and everybody laughing. And then somebody see it,
and then they because you know, once you take the
harassment training, just as you listen, you should know this
that applies everywhere, not just in this building.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Yeah. Yeah, they're great life lessons.
Speaker 4 (29:09):
I've become a huge fan of corporate training videos, and
I wish I had saved or stolen the ones that
I had to endure when I was in my first
newspaper job with Gannette. There is some found comedy gold.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Yeah, and the deal is we have to take these.
And the reason is because after you take them, then
if you do something, the company can fire you. If
we don't take these and then you do something, you
can go I didn't know.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
How did I know? Nobody told me.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
I wasn't supposed to do that, right, That's why we
take these these training.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
Sessions to keep them moved.
Speaker 7 (29:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (29:45):
I don't know if you knew this, but they actually
discourage violence in the workplace.
Speaker 3 (29:49):
Who knew? Hey I heard about that. Yeah, I heard
that one too.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
Hey, what should you do? Mike seems a little off today.
Should you report it to your manager? Talk to Mike
or yelp? Yeah? All right, guys, thank you. What a
terrific afternoon. I really appreciate all your help. Thanks to
the folks at KFI. Folks have a terrific weekend. Tim
is back on Monday and Moe Kelly is next on
KFI AM six forty
Tim Conway Jr. on Demand News
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