Hour â1 (9.9.2025)Â
Port of Long Beach Incident: More than 50 shipping containers tumbled off a cargo ship into the water. A longshoreman named Rake shared inside perspective on what might be in those containers and the challenges of recovery.Â
Port Work Culture: Petros explained how someone gets their âcasual cardâ to work the ports and the unique hierarchy among longshoremen.Â
Convention Center Trouble: Michael Monks opened up about getting kicked out of Catholic school for misbehavior, then the focus shifted to the L.A. Convention Center expansion â costs have ballooned, and the digital advertising revenue plan has been scrapped.Â
Show & City Bits: The crew debated swapping the showâs trademark âDing Dongâ for a new catchphrase: âYeah, sure, ok, alright.â They also mocked the fuss about moving the LAX sign, calling it ânot Vegasâ and âwho cares?âÂ
Port of Long Beach Incident: More than 50 shipping containers tumbled off a cargo ship into the water. A longshoreman named Rake shared inside perspective on what might be in those containers and the challenges of recovery.Â
Port Work Culture: Petros explained how someone gets their âcasual cardâ to work the ports and the unique hierarchy among longshoremen.Â
Convention Center Trouble: Michael Monks opened up about getting kicked out of Catholic school for misbehavior, then the focus shifted to the L.A. Convention Center expansion â costs have ballooned, and the digital advertising revenue plan has been scrapped.Â
Show & City Bits: The crew debated swapping the showâs trademark âDing Dongâ for a new catchphrase: âYeah, sure, ok, alright.â They also mocked the fuss about moving the LAX sign, calling it ânot Vegasâ and âwho cares?âÂ
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's KFI AM sixty and you're listening to the Conway
Show on demand on the iHeartRadio apps. KFI AM sixty
is the Conway Show, Mark Thompson's roll in.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Thank you very much, everybody, Well please please be seeing it.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Oh my goodness. Yea, it's overwhelming. Well we've got breaking
news coming out of the ports. That's not good. Yeah,
stuff is dropping into the ocean. Tim.
Speaker 4 (00:26):
Yeah, I don't know much about how to load those ships.
I'm not in that business. But you have to imagine
somebody or some people fed up. You think, yes, yeah,
one hundred, somebody screwed up, and somebody's going to pay
for it.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Because this isn't government work.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
This is private industry where if you f up, you
pay a price.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Well, the way in which these things are generally loaded
is actually done largely by robots and automation. Have you
seen You've been down to the port, We've seen it.
It's amazing.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
I witnessed it firsthand.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
My my wife's grandfather was a river pilot and my
right wife's aunt was also a river pilot, and they
used to take these big ships from the mouth of
the Columbia all the way up to Portland, Oregon, which
is about sixty five miles in the river. Yeah, and
so I've seen these ships in action, and it's dangerous work.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
The loading and unloading is done in a very methodical way,
and as I say, there's almost a routine, fully mechanized
way in which it's done. So this is going to
be very interesting to know what's behind this problem. I mean,
how many containers fell into the water.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
They're still falling. I mean they're gonna be falling.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Oh no, quite some time, because now you can't pick
one up without deserving the otherwise.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Oh sure, And it's going to be a big Jenga
game there.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
And this is all the Timu stuff that we all order,
you know, from China, and they all get here for Christmas.
This is all Christmas stuff, Halloween stuff. Man, it's all
the water tim you know your ship.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Ah, thank you, thank you very much. Bellios.
Speaker 4 (02:04):
When she texted me that this morning, when that happened,
she goes, oh, I can't wait to use that on.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
The air show.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Thank you you got it, belly O.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
I thought it was great. I thought it went really well.
Thanks all.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
I mean, by the way, if you are in this
business and we don't often open up the phones this
early in the game, but we got time. If you're
in the shipping business, you work on those ships, you're
in the you know what do they call those longshoreman business?
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Sure? And you know anything.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
About who fed up here and how these ships are loaded,
how do they take care of it? Because for people
just tuning in, there was a ship that they were
offloading from China and it shifted, and a lot of
these crates that weigh eight thousand pounds empty empty, they
weigh eight thousand pounds are now falling like dominoes into
(02:58):
the ocean and onto the dock. So if you know
anything about this, I know you're busy right now trying
to figure out how.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
To solve this puzzle.
Speaker 4 (03:07):
But if you work on the ships, you're longshoreman, you're
you know, you're maybe you're a captain, you're a deckhand,
you work on one of the tug boats. I don't know,
you're a pilot, whatever you are. If you know this business,
you phone us up right now. It's your duty, your call.
You're on call right now to phone us up and
tell us what happened. One eight hundred five to two
(03:29):
oh one five three four, and Sam will open up
the phones there. He's pretty good at that one eight
hundred five two oh one five three four. If you're
in this business, you have got the answers we're looking for.
Because I don't know anything about this, and I know that,
uh you know your background, you probably know less than
I do.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Well, I.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Didn't think you needed to put it in such a
disparaging way. Couldn't just say it. I don't think Mark
Thompson does either like that. I think you know even
less than I did. You have to say that.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
I apologize all.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
But look, I'm later on I this is happening on
a bad day because I'm I'm I'm toying with the
idea of losing ding Dong as my catchphrase, terrible idea
and coming up with a new one. I'm gonna tell
you what later, what it is, and I think it's better.
Ding Dong is your signify, you know, but I think
it's people gotten too relaxed with it and there's no
importance to it anymore.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
So I'm going to change it from ding Dong.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
This reminds me of when HBO decided they were going
to dump HBO. It was like the Tiffany, Yeah, gleaming.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Brand of television, streaming television.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
They were going to go with Max right, and then
Max Max, and then what happens a year later when Babbo.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Wouldn't that be great if Ernie Anderson was around it
and they did Max.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Yes, then it would really on Max. He would be
able to sell it. Hit me with that, Max Man.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
A port of Los Angeles, bad vibes. Containers all over
the play.
Speaker 5 (04:55):
Really fortunate that nobody was hurt here this morning, but
what a fiasco here at the port. You can see
cargo containers all over the place. Here still dangling off
the side of that Mississippi Madeira a He's registered cargo ship.
Speaker 6 (05:09):
You can see.
Speaker 5 (05:09):
Containers all around the ship. This happens all the time
at sea, but very rarely does it happen in port.
I just spoke with a worker here at the port
just moments ago. He tells me he has worked at
this port for thirty five years, has never seen anything
like this. But he did say that investigators are eyeing
the possibility that there was a balancing issue with the
ballance inside of that ship. This ship was listing at
(05:32):
the time.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
That those cargos can know this ship could have turned over.
You know that's possible as well. How about that disaster,
You know that that could be months.
Speaker 5 (05:41):
That those cargo containers started to spell over and may
very well be what caused this accident. Obviously a major
investigation underway here at the port of Longbeating. You know
what they're saying, I'm Chris Christie ABC, is that's.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Not a container problem. It seems like it's a ship problem,
which I didn't realize. And what made the ship list
to begin with.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
It's a well the ballasts they put they load water
in and out of the hull of that ship to
level it out, or I think that's what's going on.
But I guarantee you that every one of those containers
is full coming from China, right and then when they
unpack and we send the empties at home back to China. Sure,
so if these if these containers are going back to China,
(06:27):
then they're probably empty or you know, they've got some
American goods in there, but not a lot.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
I'm looking into this ballast thing.
Speaker 7 (06:35):
I saw one report that showed a reporter showed that
she pulled out two airline slippers that they will give
you like on a plane that was apparently a bunch
of that was at least one of the containers.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Oh well, as an example.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
An opportunity for angel to you know, fill that void
with their sandals. If all these Chinese sandals, are there
good Chinese sandals coming into uh, into the United States?
Or do you make better ones?
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Yes, I don't know what that is. You make better
ones because.
Speaker 7 (07:05):
Yeah, we're handcrafted here in the United States, right in
southern California.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Right, and you'll take advantage of this, right, Oh yeah, yeah,
I mean the phone's already ringing.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Susan Friss container went in. They got on the horn
with you.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Huh, that's right, Kirk.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
Yeah, hey, look, we had four billion sandals coming in.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Can you help us out? No problem? All right, Let's
talk to a guy named Rake. Is that his name?
Oh boy?
Speaker 4 (07:37):
All right, he's got to be in this business. All right, Rake,
I'm line two. All right, you're on KFI. How you bob?
Speaker 8 (07:47):
I'm doing good? Them on my way home. Anyway. To
get back to the situation, the containers, they're usually last
to the deck of the ship from the first can
of four high and the lasting bar obviously have been
removed that's why they balanced the ship wrong and it
went one way and then went to the other. So
(08:08):
somebody pulled the wrong switch and push the wrong buttoner
didn't pay attention to the list of what was going on,
and they just all that way goodbye.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
Do you think do you think somebody will end up
paying with either a suspension or getting fired over this.
Speaker 8 (08:24):
It wouldn't. It wouldn't be anybody that was involved in
the long shore division. They had nothing to do with it.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Well, really, okay, that's cool.
Speaker 8 (08:30):
It would have to be someone on the crew on
the ship when they balanced the ship.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Now what is it? What does that mean?
Speaker 4 (08:37):
They're they're loading putting water in the bottom of that
ship to uh, to stabilize it.
Speaker 8 (08:43):
Yes, they compensated when they discharged cargo opt or load back.
They're constantly chauging the ballast, like someone said, to keep
the ship level.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
I did I think I said that? Yeah, I bet
if we go back it me. You go back and
listen to it. I was the captain of the ship.
I'm the no wonder it.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
How dare you Rake? How dare you Rake? Is that
your real name?
Speaker 8 (09:08):
No, it's a nickname. A lot of people on the
waterfront have nicknames.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Okay, all right, that's a cool nickname. Right. How long
you bet are you along? Shoreman?
Speaker 8 (09:17):
Yes, I've been down there almost thirty years.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
When do you retire?
Speaker 8 (09:23):
I'm gonna No, I've been I'm still working. I'm gonna
retire in February.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Okay, good for you, mister Ruver.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
Take that big fat pension check in head out of California.
Speaker 8 (09:31):
Huh, I already have are rags. I'm ready to go.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Wow.
Speaker 6 (09:40):
When is that pension kicken?
Speaker 4 (09:42):
Oh my god, she's like a pension hound. Anytime somebody
calls and has a pension she jumps in.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
How many acres again? Seventy two acres? Seventy four acres?
Doesn't sound it sounds funny, doesn't he does?
Speaker 8 (09:58):
Sounds hilarious in the middle of nowhere?
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Wait? Were you going, Kingman, Washington? No, Arizona, Arizona.
Speaker 8 (10:06):
Kingman, Arizona. Yeah, about thirty miles easter Kingen Nowhere.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
You ever check the weather out there?
Speaker 8 (10:13):
Oh yeah, todd yep. Every day.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Yeah, all right, buddy, I thank you for phoning. Thanks
for phoning man, nice to see it. Right, that's uh,
that's a cool dude knows what he's talking about yeah,
you know, but so he's saying, look, it's all about
the ship.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
I mean, somebody you know pressed the wrong button the
ships the wrong way, and then it's game over.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
Okay, real quickly. Don't you think we got into the
wrong business. The guy works thirty years on the dock
and he has seventy four acres in Kingman, let me
tell you you and I are still paying mortgages.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
I'm game.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
I'm thinking like you cruising up to the dock with
a cigarette in your hand and like going, hey, buddy.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Sorry, you guys running a little bit behind the day.
I'm filling perfectly with this guy. I think those guys
work a little bit harder that you'd be up for.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
Really well, you know, when it comes to break time.
I think i'd fit in with the break Yeah, I
don't know if you would be. I think you'd be like, hey,
do you guys have anything to meetless here today?
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Okay? I bet you there are a couple of a
couple of vegans down there on this.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Electric charger around this show.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
I don't think either one of us would last time
at the dock, I really don't, but it'd be fun
to see who would last longer.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
Yeah, that's a great idea for a show. It would
last longer, would last long you know at these really
tough jobs.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
All right, we're live the bad News in Long Beach.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
We'll stay tuned and give you updates all day long
on what's going on down there.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
But it's not good.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
All that Christmas and Halloween stuff coming in that we
all buy walmart Red in the ocean. We're live on KFI.
It's Comray and Thompson KFI AM six forties, Conaway and Thompson.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
You get it. Don't rock the boat? Oh yeah, I
get it.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Yeah, great call Sammy. Yeah, how about that?
Speaker 4 (12:00):
If if you had didn't hear the big story, Port
of Los Angeles is grieving. A ton of containers have
fallen off the ship for a ship into the water.
That's all our Christmas and Halloween stuff, Thanksgiving stuff, So
good luck. You know, that's a lot of stuff we'll
(12:22):
be using, not a good.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
Water homemade costume.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
Now you think, yeah, but who pays for all that?
Is that all that crap insured?
Speaker 3 (12:28):
I bet? But it is sure, So the insurance company
is going to be on the hook again.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
You'd think, I mean, I'm sure the insurance company is
going to go after the ship operator.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Yeah, exactly is that Petros Petro So we lost a
big container ship today. Did you see that Petros. It's
down in down where the star Kiss plant used to be.
Speaker 4 (12:50):
Yeah, Petros Papadagas from Petros and money.
Speaker 6 (12:53):
You mean one of those Tudor cantories on all the
terminal islanders, right, Yeah, I don't know what was in
there though.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
You probably know people in the long shortman business just
a few.
Speaker 6 (13:08):
Yeah, if you can get your casual card, that's what
it's called down in Sampedro.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Is it tough to get in that business? Yeah?
Speaker 6 (13:14):
Well, you you know, usually you're kind of grandfathered in
by somebody else, you know, who's a family member. But
you get your casual card, then you get all the
work that the people that are in the union don't want,
so and then you amass enough hours and the hours
are always changing.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Can you be on call twenty hours a day?
Speaker 6 (13:32):
Well, you work when you want if you want to work, right,
So you amass all those hours. And it's the same
way if you're in the union. You work when you want,
but you get first choice. But once you get you
know thousand two thousand or whatever it is now hours
you're in the union.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Oh good, and you get paid pretty well. Now.
Speaker 6 (13:48):
Of course, every once in a while, somebody's head gets
turned into a canoe by a falling hon day as
we've seen, you know in the past.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
It's dangerous. You fall off a crane or something like that.
Right then it's over. Yeah, the other way.
Speaker 6 (14:01):
So people worked the docks for a long time and
then they try to like get to a point where
they're they're a clerk, so they do clerking.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Yeah, so a little bit more.
Speaker 6 (14:08):
In the office, a little safer, I see, you know,
the head getting turned into a canoe.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
We we and my my wife's from Oregon and they
have dock work up there.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Yeah, a lot of doc Well, you know, you could
have your CA, you could have your card here.
Speaker 6 (14:21):
You know, your longshore work up there, work up there,
work in Oxnard, work down in San Diego, San Francisco.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
I mean, the world is your oyster. Sounds like you're
a union rep.
Speaker 6 (14:30):
I know all about it because I'm from San Pedro.
It's also a great way to not even graduate high
school and make you know, a six figure stalery.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
Make enough to go to Arizona with and by seventy
four acres. This guy we talked to ray.
Speaker 6 (14:42):
By escalate and getting a fight every night at the
San Pedro Brewing Company like you are.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
And so across the river from where my wife grew
up is Longview, Washington. And about six months ago they
were docking one of these big huge container ships or
you know what do they call them. I'm not oil
tankers but grain ships. And the boat the ship drifted
(15:06):
and one of the ropes broke and it and it
hit a long short and it instantly killed them.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Yeah, that's yeah, instantly killed them. There's a lot of
you know, a lot of heavy lifting down there at
the dock, and it's it's it's really a lot of
Steve doors down there. It's expensive.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
You know, to hire a pilot to take you your
ship from Astoria to Portland could cost you fifty thousand dollars.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Yeah, hundreds of thousands if you need to take it
further than.
Speaker 6 (15:30):
That, yeah, or tugboat cost you do these things that
the movement around to see the shipping industry is not cheap.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
What is interesting.
Speaker 6 (15:38):
I remember one of my first years in the media
was when George Bush was president and there was a
big dock work issue and he had to get involved
in the strike. And uh, there was another problem during COVID.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (15:52):
So you have all these ships coming from the east
and they're just waiting in the Catalina Channel sometimes for months,
for months, and they're now living out there. And after
a while, especially back in like two or one whenever
that was, it looked like a city when the sun
went down. I mean, the ocean looked like a town,
you know, And it was just a bunch of sailors
touching themselves.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Just are they eager? Are they allowed to come on shore?
And this really depends. But I'll never forget.
Speaker 6 (16:18):
A Swedish drunk sailor some kind of Norwegian guy stumbled
into the restaurant. He was huge years ago when I
was a kid, and I watched my father wrestle him
out of the front door, pull him around the corner
and was punching him hard and he wasn't going down.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
Wow.
Speaker 6 (16:33):
So my uncle Tom grabbed the frying pan and ran
down Center Street and like a street fighter, moved jumped
up and then bunked him right over the head wong
with the pan and we deposited his his Uh. He
knocked him out and we put him in a dumpsters
and they told me go check the dumpster to see
if that guy's still in.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
There, right, and then he was gone. That's ten years old.
That's not the typical way you treated customers.
Speaker 8 (16:57):
Though.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
He wasn't we We decided the second he walked in
that he was not a customer. Oh I see, okay, Now,
when they conserve the right to refuse him service.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
When they come on shore, it's a pretty short refusal.
You know, when they come on shore, they clear customs
and they're on shore. Do they ever go to Marine Land?
Speaker 3 (17:13):
They made they might if you they that.
Speaker 6 (17:16):
As you know, Marine Land has been closed for maybe
thirty years now.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
I didn't know that, buddy. I appreciate you coming on.
Oh you telling me to leave now?
Speaker 3 (17:23):
Yeah, we got the break, right, you gonna stay during
the bread. I want to hear the news. It was
definitely the wrap up. Thank you. Yeah, no, see, thank you. Wait,
hold on, sec let me see you know what. Wait,
I gotta go back on the air.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
All right, Wait, Krozier, what's the big story. What's your
top story that you're gonna do for the news. I
want to tell Petros.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Body found in the tesla. With the body found the tesla.
You want to hear that, let's do that, all right? No, No,
I'm out cross.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
I don't have any handholes crusher all right.
Speaker 9 (17:46):
See you're listening to Tim Conway Junior on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
He FI AM six forty is Commram Mark Thompson's here.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
We're joined by Michael Monks. You got muggs.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
How you I love being here? When d light groove
is in the heart is the Yeah, music that takes
you back, doesn't it.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
We also discovered and I hope I'm not talking at school.
I didn't ask if I could talk about this on
the air. But you and I both got kicked out
of Catholic school.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
We did.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Yeah, I mean not at the same time, but different
different school, but for the same reason.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
Behavior. Yeah, I wasn't a good kid. Yeah, but your
mom and dad get pissed.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Yeah, because it's expensive. And then I had to go
to public school. And our family always went to Catholic school.
And so suddenly I was the cousin who was at
the public school.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
That's fourth grade.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
Well here's how I got thrown. Now, my dad all
my friends went to public school. I went to private
school until second grade. And then my dad looked around
and goes, hey, I got six kids. I can't afford
private school for everybody. You're going to Catholic school, which
is a little less. And I hated Catholic school. I
hated the the It was cold in there, the nuns
(18:59):
were mean, the kids were goofy. And I said, Dad,
I got to get to public school. All my friends
are in public school. And he said, now, your mom
wants you to go to Catholic school. You got to
go to Catholic school until you're a senior in high school.
But I'm in third grade. That seems like a lifetime,
and it normally is. But he said to me, he goes,
but if you get kicked out of Catholic school, I'm
(19:19):
putting you in public school.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
And I said, oh, you staged yours. Yeah, you know,
you're right, you did earn it.
Speaker 4 (19:30):
You had no you were actually probably embarrassed to be
going to public school, the only kid in your family,
completely guilt ridden and probably had to get there on
your own, had to walk.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
I mean we lived close to both of the schools
and they're right near Churchill down. So, uh, this was
I was young in Louisville. Yeah, and the Catholic school
you could hear the races while you were in.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
That, right.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
My papa, who would kind of want me to school,
would drop us off and then go right to the track,
really and then come back and pick us up.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
That's wild, man, That is great.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
You know.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
I was talking to Moe Kelly because our dad's had
a couple of things in common. One is they love
the racetrack. And Mo Kelly told me a great story.
I think Mo was in I don't know, six or
seventh grade and his dad decided to quit his job
and make a full time living at the track. Oh many,
and he still remembers the conversation around the table.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
How about floating that idea by your family. That's a
tough pitch, that really is, yeah, very tough.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
All right. We're talking about the convention set speaking of gambling.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Yeah, the city of La is who has no money,
by the way, no money, but they're looking at making
a big purchase anyway, and this is undoubtedly a gamble.
We're talking about the la Convention Center, which by all
accounts is apparently a little run down I've been there.
I don't have that type of sophistication to know that
this is not a good convention center. But everyone says
they're losing conventions to much smaller cities.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
This thing needs to be cleaned up. So let's make
an investment.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Five years ago they kicked around this idea was priced
about one point one billion dollars to get what they wanted.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Oh, hold your wife, okay, because five years have fast.
Oh wow.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
And back in August, just a few weeks ago, in fact,
the price had gone up to about two point two billion.
Wait minute, you could build a convention center for that. Yeah,
but you could also expand this one for that.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Oh by you like hotels or no? Just more space? Wow?
And any more space for I've never seen a full
down there, tim.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
The price went up since August twenty second, another four
hundred million dollars. Wow, somebody's getting We're at two point
seven billion dollars.
Speaker 5 (21:33):
Now.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
There's a lot of factors here. One, the city's broke,
it has no money. They'd have to finance this over
thirty years to the tune of annual debt service payments
over two hundred million. And who's going to pay that
people live in the city of La the people who
are already dealing with the cuts, right, okay. Secondly, it's
supposed to host Olympic events and not just any Olympic events.
Gymnastics is there. That's like one of the marquee Summer
(21:55):
Olympic events. So originally they wanted to do this really
fast because they thought they get the whole project finished
before the Olympics come to town to be a state
of the art convention center in downtown in LA. They
don't think they can do that, but they think they
can do it in phases, with the first phase being
done before the Olympics come.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
But they have to start at the end of this month.
They need a decision.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
Now, oh wow, okay, now do they need the decision
on the entire two point seven million or billion.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
They went to the Budget committee to day. They being
the city administrator who's kind of been pushing for this,
even though he concedes all of these challenges, he says,
we need to know if you want to go forward
by the end of this month or we should just
pull the plug entirely. The Budget committee today said why
don't we meet again next week and talk more about
this so they did not decide one way or the
(22:38):
other yet. The other bad part about this thing is
the projections for revenue. They've said, look, we think we
can bring in about sixty plus million dollars a year
off digital advertising. Some of the signs will face the highway,
that's a pretty penny. We'll have some also facing outward
into the city. Apparently there's state legislation that would allow
for that, but it's not to be signed. So now
(23:02):
the revenue projections are down to just twenty seven million
dollars a year, so it's bringing in less money, it's
costing more money. And they don't know, by the way,
if they can even get it done in time for
the Olympics, so it could end up being a.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
Construction song before the gymnasts show up.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
You know those those digital billboards, They took those away
in LA and they passed legislation saying they're illegal. But
you see them in commerce, you see them in these
small little town Southgate because they.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Have their own local laws. West Hollywood and West Hollywood.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
Yeah, but those digital billboards are a gold mine, and
they're right. They could make it, you know, sixty million
dollars a year just on those digital billboards. But they've
got to get out of the of the convention business.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
I think, well, they lose out to they lose like Oklahoma,
Anaheim certainly, these smaller cities that should not compete with LA.
But one thing that I've noticed that I never hear,
and you and I talked about just about every time
I come on. They never talk about what I would
assume to be the big challenge basing conventions in downtown
Los Angeles. Guess it's either the homeless or parking. Well,
(24:06):
it's downtown Los Angeles that's the biggest challenge to downtown
LA convention.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
Because if you're flying out here from Kansas City and
you're going to one of two conventions, ones in downtown
LA where there's homeless and crime and filth and no parking,
and the other ones at Anaheim across from Disneyland and
everything's clean.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
You go to Anaheim or even Long Beach, you.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Know the convention center there in Long Beach, You've got
the you know, the pier there, you've got the all
the shopping, the aquariums.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
It looks like a place where conventions happen.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Whereas the conventions in er LA, well it's next to
La Live, which is a nice attraction if you have
an idea of what you're going to see in Los
Angeles when you come here from Topeka.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
Boy, are you in for a rout awaken? Yeah? Well
were you? You're in for a rout awakening?
Speaker 10 (24:50):
No?
Speaker 1 (24:51):
I I was eyes wide open because every time I
would come out to visit, I stayed in downtown.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Oh gritty, I'm the guy who got kicked out of
Catholic school in Louisville.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Some Yeah, that grit can be sexy, you know what
I mean? Mark, Yeah, I'm just saying it's a Yeah,
it's a textured field downtown.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
You fit in well with them downtown, but they do.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
You know, it's a weird thing. It is kind of
a checkerboard. There are high end restaurants, they're kind of
higher end experiences, their higher end residences. And then, as
you say, there, there's homelessness and crime and graffiti.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
What do I always say, Tim, Downtown is beautiful win
when the when when it burns to the ground, when
you're looking up, when you're looking up, Yeah, there you go, buddy,
Thanks for coming in Saturday seven and nine pm. I'll
be in that chair all right, you got monks Saturday.
Conway Thompson K I am sick for it's Conway jo
(25:40):
Mark Thompson is here.
Speaker 4 (25:43):
Yes, So I'm thinking about losing ding dong. I think
it's run its course. Uh, I hate that idea. I
like it, but I don't there's not a lot of
enthusiasm with you know, people walk up and go hey
ding dong.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
People screaming people out on it. That's not true.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
So I'm coming up with a good different, an alternative.
Here's my new catchphrase. All right, it's clunky to begin with,
but I think it's gonna catch on. All right, here
it is, yeah, sure good, okay, all right, what's what's
the phrase that's it?
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Yeah? Sure good? Okay. Wow, don't lose the ding dong
words we thought would never be said.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
Yeah, but yeah, sure good okay, because that's how you
wrap up conversations, and that's.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
What you want from this. I like doing.
Speaker 7 (26:38):
Yeah, I have something a little more unique.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
I'm sorry, you have something a little more unique. Yeah
I do, ok thanks, by that's not unique. Yeah, I
don't think anything is unique. But I think the thing
about ding dong is that it's completely Nobody says that otherwise, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
It's completely yours. No way, you're not gonna hear it
anywhere else.
Speaker 4 (26:57):
I did hear it on ESPN a couple of times
when somebody would during highlights when a guy would slam
dunk basketball and they go, oh, dig dog, you know,
the Porland Trailblazers playing against the Nuggets. Dig dog need
slam the ball. I'm like, I wonder where that guy
got that from.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Yeah, well, now that you're getting rid of it, you
don't have to worry about that anymore.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
So the new one.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
Yeah, sure, good, okay, right, I like it all right,
I've been living enough.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
Well, that's one who likes it, and that's really the
only vote that matters.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Yeah, that's right, universally repulses all the rest of us.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
But you like it. Ultimately, that doesn't matter.
Speaker 4 (27:37):
So I've been living in La my entire life, with
a brief stint in Bowling Green, a brief stint in Toronto, Canada,
but I've called home.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
I've called La home my entire life.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
And I don't know where the infatuation started with the
big thirty foot lax sign means nothing to me, It
means nothing to you.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
You you you or you.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
It means nothing to anybody in LA, and yet they're
making this huge deal out of it by moving it
and so it'll be easier to take pictures. This is
not welcome to Las Vegas. That's not the Las Vegas sign.
This is LAX. Three letters that infuriate people, you know, like,
can you imagine somebody saying, Hey, Friday at four, can
(28:26):
you pick me up a LAX?
Speaker 3 (28:28):
You think just of christ a Mighty. It's the last
thing in the world I want to do.
Speaker 4 (28:34):
And I will say this though, LAX has gotten better,
and with the people mover, it's going to get better.
And I'm keeping an open mind where one day I
can say I love LAX.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
Wow.
Speaker 7 (28:43):
Right, Well, why do you need the X? I mean,
if the whole point is basically it's welcoming you to LA,
why do you need the X?
Speaker 3 (28:51):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (28:52):
I understand that it's just the three letter code of
the airport, you know, Los Angeles.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
People won't know if it's just LA. You're right at you.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
But it should have been LA, and it should have
been in the Dodgers style style LA.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
There you go. But it's not.
Speaker 4 (29:06):
And these the big ass thirty foot letters that everyone's
making a big deal out of and nobody has any kind.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
Of attraction to it. I don't.
Speaker 4 (29:14):
I've never heard anybody talk about that sign up until
they're moving it.
Speaker 7 (29:17):
When everybody, when ever anybody thinks about the airport, they
think of the light columns, or or most the whatever,
the restaurant in the middle, that.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
Crazy space age restaurant that nobody goes. The restaurant. I've
heard a lot about it.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Yeah, all right, let's find out where these letters are going.
Speaker 10 (29:33):
I think the keyword is temporary, so don't worry. These
iconic letters will be back.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
But see they keep saying like, don't worry, it'll be back.
We never worried that it was there. We never go
we're concerned or happy or sad or anything.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
It just was there.
Speaker 10 (29:46):
They have already started removing the letters. They started with
the letter X, then they move on to a last
but not least the letter L. So crews were working overnight.
It seems they just stopped for the day.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
I like that it they that once they told us
the order, we couldn't figure it out there Like they're gonna.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
Take X and then they're gonna go with A the
letter next to it and last, but not.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Really just squeezing the most out of this presentation.
Speaker 4 (30:14):
I think there's a forty percent chance when they put
those letters back together they won't.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Be in that order. That's a story I have.
Speaker 4 (30:24):
There's a forty percent shot that somebody left that up
right thing gone.
Speaker 10 (30:30):
It's I think a long time because these letters are
quite massive. I'm told two days per letter, and they're
hoping to be done within the next week or so.
So let's show you some video when crews were out
and about earlier. Today, we know this sign is a
fixture that has greeted millions of travelers for decades.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Nobody even knows where it is.
Speaker 4 (30:49):
It's not But by the way, it's not a fixture
that is greeted thousands of travelers because you don't see
it unless you're coming into the airport.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
You don't see it when you're leaving. You you don't
even get close to it.
Speaker 10 (30:59):
As a fixture that has greeted millions of travelers for decades,
that's not true. The letters will be stored nearby until
they can be relocated and incorporated into new road designs.
Now you might be asking what's the reason behind all
of this?
Speaker 4 (31:12):
Well, yeah, what's the reason behind any of this is
the better question.
Speaker 10 (31:16):
Now you might be asking, what's the reason behind all
of as well? Major reconfigurations. When it comes to the roads,
officials are working to separate airport traffic from local traffic
on Sepulvia. It is a change that's expected to remove
more than five hundred vehicles from that stretch at any
given time, said to ease congestions significantly. The improvements will
(31:37):
also bring enhanced pedestrian walkways, better signage, and more drugged
access to economy parking on the go.
Speaker 11 (31:44):
All right, well, wait, you know that those letters were
causing more traffic for everybody.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
Should have got rid of them from the beginning.
Speaker 11 (31:53):
They were stopping LA one. Isn't the less traffic? Why
nobody cared about the letters to begin with? I'm with you, Sammy,
I'm with you. I hate traffic and I hate going
to L A X. And if I find out that
that was preventing an extra lane so everything get.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
Through, Yeah, No, that that that chaps my hide.
Speaker 4 (32:11):
Sam has when when Sammy shows Sunday Night, Sunday Night,
sam has a show called fresh Takes, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
I love it. I love it. When he gets crazy
just be.
Speaker 7 (32:21):
Called chaps my hide, I read it, chaps my high lay.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
X the traffic. All right, we're live on kf I
am six forty.
Speaker 9 (32:30):
You're listening to Tim Conway Junior on demand from kf
I am six forty
It's KFI AM sixty and you're listening to the Conway
Show on demand on the iHeartRadio apps. KFI AM sixty
is the Conway Show, Mark Thompson's roll in.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Thank you very much, everybody, Well please please be seeing it.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Oh my goodness. Yea, it's overwhelming. Well we've got breaking
news coming out of the ports. That's not good. Yeah,
stuff is dropping into the ocean. Tim.
Speaker 4 (00:26):
Yeah, I don't know much about how to load those ships.
I'm not in that business. But you have to imagine
somebody or some people fed up. You think, yes, yeah,
one hundred, somebody screwed up, and somebody's going to pay
for it.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Because this isn't government work.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
This is private industry where if you f up, you
pay a price.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Well, the way in which these things are generally loaded
is actually done largely by robots and automation. Have you
seen You've been down to the port, We've seen it.
It's amazing.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
I witnessed it firsthand.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
My my wife's grandfather was a river pilot and my
right wife's aunt was also a river pilot, and they
used to take these big ships from the mouth of
the Columbia all the way up to Portland, Oregon, which
is about sixty five miles in the river. Yeah, and
so I've seen these ships in action, and it's dangerous work.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
The loading and unloading is done in a very methodical way,
and as I say, there's almost a routine, fully mechanized
way in which it's done. So this is going to
be very interesting to know what's behind this problem. I mean,
how many containers fell into the water.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
They're still falling. I mean they're gonna be falling.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Oh no, quite some time, because now you can't pick
one up without deserving the otherwise.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Oh sure, And it's going to be a big Jenga
game there.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
And this is all the Timu stuff that we all order,
you know, from China, and they all get here for Christmas.
This is all Christmas stuff, Halloween stuff. Man, it's all
the water tim you know your ship.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Ah, thank you, thank you very much. Bellios.
Speaker 4 (02:04):
When she texted me that this morning, when that happened,
she goes, oh, I can't wait to use that on.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
The air show.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Thank you you got it, belly O.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
I thought it was great. I thought it went really well.
Thanks all.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
I mean, by the way, if you are in this
business and we don't often open up the phones this
early in the game, but we got time. If you're
in the shipping business, you work on those ships, you're
in the you know what do they call those longshoreman business?
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Sure? And you know anything.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
About who fed up here and how these ships are loaded,
how do they take care of it? Because for people
just tuning in, there was a ship that they were
offloading from China and it shifted, and a lot of
these crates that weigh eight thousand pounds empty empty, they
weigh eight thousand pounds are now falling like dominoes into
(02:58):
the ocean and onto the dock. So if you know
anything about this, I know you're busy right now trying
to figure out how.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
To solve this puzzle.
Speaker 4 (03:07):
But if you work on the ships, you're longshoreman, you're
you know, you're maybe you're a captain, you're a deckhand,
you work on one of the tug boats. I don't know,
you're a pilot, whatever you are. If you know this business,
you phone us up right now. It's your duty, your call.
You're on call right now to phone us up and
tell us what happened. One eight hundred five to two
(03:29):
oh one five three four, and Sam will open up
the phones there. He's pretty good at that one eight
hundred five two oh one five three four. If you're
in this business, you have got the answers we're looking for.
Because I don't know anything about this, and I know that,
uh you know your background, you probably know less than
I do.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Well, I.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Didn't think you needed to put it in such a
disparaging way. Couldn't just say it. I don't think Mark
Thompson does either like that. I think you know even
less than I did. You have to say that.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
I apologize all.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
But look, I'm later on I this is happening on
a bad day because I'm I'm I'm toying with the
idea of losing ding Dong as my catchphrase, terrible idea
and coming up with a new one. I'm gonna tell
you what later, what it is, and I think it's better.
Ding Dong is your signify, you know, but I think
it's people gotten too relaxed with it and there's no
importance to it anymore.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
So I'm going to change it from ding Dong.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
This reminds me of when HBO decided they were going
to dump HBO. It was like the Tiffany, Yeah, gleaming.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Brand of television, streaming television.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
They were going to go with Max right, and then
Max Max, and then what happens a year later when Babbo.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Wouldn't that be great if Ernie Anderson was around it
and they did Max.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Yes, then it would really on Max. He would be
able to sell it. Hit me with that, Max Man.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
A port of Los Angeles, bad vibes. Containers all over
the play.
Speaker 5 (04:55):
Really fortunate that nobody was hurt here this morning, but
what a fiasco here at the port. You can see
cargo containers all over the place. Here still dangling off
the side of that Mississippi Madeira a He's registered cargo ship.
Speaker 6 (05:09):
You can see.
Speaker 5 (05:09):
Containers all around the ship. This happens all the time
at sea, but very rarely does it happen in port.
I just spoke with a worker here at the port
just moments ago. He tells me he has worked at
this port for thirty five years, has never seen anything
like this. But he did say that investigators are eyeing
the possibility that there was a balancing issue with the
ballance inside of that ship. This ship was listing at
(05:32):
the time.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
That those cargos can know this ship could have turned over.
You know that's possible as well. How about that disaster,
You know that that could be months.
Speaker 5 (05:41):
That those cargo containers started to spell over and may
very well be what caused this accident. Obviously a major
investigation underway here at the port of Longbeating. You know
what they're saying, I'm Chris Christie ABC, is that's.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Not a container problem. It seems like it's a ship problem,
which I didn't realize. And what made the ship list
to begin with.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
It's a well the ballasts they put they load water
in and out of the hull of that ship to
level it out, or I think that's what's going on.
But I guarantee you that every one of those containers
is full coming from China, right and then when they
unpack and we send the empties at home back to China. Sure,
so if these if these containers are going back to China,
(06:27):
then they're probably empty or you know, they've got some
American goods in there, but not a lot.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
I'm looking into this ballast thing.
Speaker 7 (06:35):
I saw one report that showed a reporter showed that
she pulled out two airline slippers that they will give
you like on a plane that was apparently a bunch
of that was at least one of the containers.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Oh well, as an example.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
An opportunity for angel to you know, fill that void
with their sandals. If all these Chinese sandals, are there
good Chinese sandals coming into uh, into the United States?
Or do you make better ones?
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Yes, I don't know what that is. You make better
ones because.
Speaker 7 (07:05):
Yeah, we're handcrafted here in the United States, right in
southern California.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Right, and you'll take advantage of this, right, Oh yeah, yeah,
I mean the phone's already ringing.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Susan Friss container went in. They got on the horn
with you.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Huh, that's right, Kirk.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
Yeah, hey, look, we had four billion sandals coming in.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Can you help us out? No problem? All right, Let's
talk to a guy named Rake. Is that his name?
Oh boy?
Speaker 4 (07:37):
All right, he's got to be in this business. All right, Rake,
I'm line two. All right, you're on KFI. How you bob?
Speaker 8 (07:47):
I'm doing good? Them on my way home. Anyway. To
get back to the situation, the containers, they're usually last
to the deck of the ship from the first can
of four high and the lasting bar obviously have been
removed that's why they balanced the ship wrong and it
went one way and then went to the other. So
(08:08):
somebody pulled the wrong switch and push the wrong buttoner
didn't pay attention to the list of what was going on,
and they just all that way goodbye.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
Do you think do you think somebody will end up
paying with either a suspension or getting fired over this.
Speaker 8 (08:24):
It wouldn't. It wouldn't be anybody that was involved in
the long shore division. They had nothing to do with it.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Well, really, okay, that's cool.
Speaker 8 (08:30):
It would have to be someone on the crew on
the ship when they balanced the ship.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Now what is it? What does that mean?
Speaker 4 (08:37):
They're they're loading putting water in the bottom of that
ship to uh, to stabilize it.
Speaker 8 (08:43):
Yes, they compensated when they discharged cargo opt or load back.
They're constantly chauging the ballast, like someone said, to keep
the ship level.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
I did I think I said that? Yeah, I bet
if we go back it me. You go back and
listen to it. I was the captain of the ship.
I'm the no wonder it.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
How dare you Rake? How dare you Rake? Is that
your real name?
Speaker 8 (09:08):
No, it's a nickname. A lot of people on the
waterfront have nicknames.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Okay, all right, that's a cool nickname. Right. How long
you bet are you along? Shoreman?
Speaker 8 (09:17):
Yes, I've been down there almost thirty years.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
When do you retire?
Speaker 8 (09:23):
I'm gonna No, I've been I'm still working. I'm gonna
retire in February.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Okay, good for you, mister Ruver.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
Take that big fat pension check in head out of California.
Speaker 8 (09:31):
Huh, I already have are rags. I'm ready to go.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Wow.
Speaker 6 (09:40):
When is that pension kicken?
Speaker 4 (09:42):
Oh my god, she's like a pension hound. Anytime somebody
calls and has a pension she jumps in.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
How many acres again? Seventy two acres? Seventy four acres?
Doesn't sound it sounds funny, doesn't he does?
Speaker 8 (09:58):
Sounds hilarious in the middle of nowhere?
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Wait? Were you going, Kingman, Washington? No, Arizona, Arizona.
Speaker 8 (10:06):
Kingman, Arizona. Yeah, about thirty miles easter Kingen Nowhere.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
You ever check the weather out there?
Speaker 8 (10:13):
Oh yeah, todd yep. Every day.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Yeah, all right, buddy, I thank you for phoning. Thanks
for phoning man, nice to see it. Right, that's uh,
that's a cool dude knows what he's talking about yeah,
you know, but so he's saying, look, it's all about
the ship.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
I mean, somebody you know pressed the wrong button the
ships the wrong way, and then it's game over.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
Okay, real quickly. Don't you think we got into the
wrong business. The guy works thirty years on the dock
and he has seventy four acres in Kingman, let me
tell you you and I are still paying mortgages.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
I'm game.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
I'm thinking like you cruising up to the dock with
a cigarette in your hand and like going, hey, buddy.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Sorry, you guys running a little bit behind the day.
I'm filling perfectly with this guy. I think those guys
work a little bit harder that you'd be up for.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
Really well, you know, when it comes to break time.
I think i'd fit in with the break Yeah, I
don't know if you would be. I think you'd be like, hey,
do you guys have anything to meetless here today?
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Okay? I bet you there are a couple of a
couple of vegans down there on this.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Electric charger around this show.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
I don't think either one of us would last time
at the dock, I really don't, but it'd be fun
to see who would last longer.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
Yeah, that's a great idea for a show. It would
last longer, would last long you know at these really
tough jobs.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
All right, we're live the bad News in Long Beach.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
We'll stay tuned and give you updates all day long
on what's going on down there.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
But it's not good.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
All that Christmas and Halloween stuff coming in that we
all buy walmart Red in the ocean. We're live on KFI.
It's Comray and Thompson KFI AM six forties, Conaway and Thompson.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
You get it. Don't rock the boat? Oh yeah, I
get it.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Yeah, great call Sammy. Yeah, how about that?
Speaker 4 (12:00):
If if you had didn't hear the big story, Port
of Los Angeles is grieving. A ton of containers have
fallen off the ship for a ship into the water.
That's all our Christmas and Halloween stuff, Thanksgiving stuff, So
good luck. You know, that's a lot of stuff we'll
(12:22):
be using, not a good.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
Water homemade costume.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
Now you think, yeah, but who pays for all that?
Is that all that crap insured?
Speaker 3 (12:28):
I bet? But it is sure, So the insurance company
is going to be on the hook again.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
You'd think, I mean, I'm sure the insurance company is
going to go after the ship operator.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Yeah, exactly is that Petros Petro So we lost a
big container ship today. Did you see that Petros. It's
down in down where the star Kiss plant used to be.
Speaker 4 (12:50):
Yeah, Petros Papadagas from Petros and money.
Speaker 6 (12:53):
You mean one of those Tudor cantories on all the
terminal islanders, right, Yeah, I don't know what was in
there though.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
You probably know people in the long shortman business just
a few.
Speaker 6 (13:08):
Yeah, if you can get your casual card, that's what
it's called down in Sampedro.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Is it tough to get in that business? Yeah?
Speaker 6 (13:14):
Well, you you know, usually you're kind of grandfathered in
by somebody else, you know, who's a family member. But
you get your casual card, then you get all the
work that the people that are in the union don't want,
so and then you amass enough hours and the hours
are always changing.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Can you be on call twenty hours a day?
Speaker 6 (13:32):
Well, you work when you want if you want to work, right,
So you amass all those hours. And it's the same
way if you're in the union. You work when you want,
but you get first choice. But once you get you
know thousand two thousand or whatever it is now hours
you're in the union.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Oh good, and you get paid pretty well. Now.
Speaker 6 (13:48):
Of course, every once in a while, somebody's head gets
turned into a canoe by a falling hon day as
we've seen, you know in the past.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
It's dangerous. You fall off a crane or something like that.
Right then it's over. Yeah, the other way.
Speaker 6 (14:01):
So people worked the docks for a long time and
then they try to like get to a point where
they're they're a clerk, so they do clerking.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Yeah, so a little bit more.
Speaker 6 (14:08):
In the office, a little safer, I see, you know,
the head getting turned into a canoe.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
We we and my my wife's from Oregon and they
have dock work up there.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Yeah, a lot of doc Well, you know, you could
have your CA, you could have your card here.
Speaker 6 (14:21):
You know, your longshore work up there, work up there,
work in Oxnard, work down in San Diego, San Francisco.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
I mean, the world is your oyster. Sounds like you're
a union rep.
Speaker 6 (14:30):
I know all about it because I'm from San Pedro.
It's also a great way to not even graduate high
school and make you know, a six figure stalery.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
Make enough to go to Arizona with and by seventy
four acres. This guy we talked to ray.
Speaker 6 (14:42):
By escalate and getting a fight every night at the
San Pedro Brewing Company like you are.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
And so across the river from where my wife grew
up is Longview, Washington. And about six months ago they
were docking one of these big huge container ships or
you know what do they call them. I'm not oil
tankers but grain ships. And the boat the ship drifted
(15:06):
and one of the ropes broke and it and it
hit a long short and it instantly killed them.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Yeah, that's yeah, instantly killed them. There's a lot of
you know, a lot of heavy lifting down there at
the dock, and it's it's it's really a lot of
Steve doors down there. It's expensive.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
You know, to hire a pilot to take you your
ship from Astoria to Portland could cost you fifty thousand dollars.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Yeah, hundreds of thousands if you need to take it
further than.
Speaker 6 (15:30):
That, yeah, or tugboat cost you do these things that
the movement around to see the shipping industry is not cheap.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
What is interesting.
Speaker 6 (15:38):
I remember one of my first years in the media
was when George Bush was president and there was a
big dock work issue and he had to get involved
in the strike. And uh, there was another problem during COVID.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (15:52):
So you have all these ships coming from the east
and they're just waiting in the Catalina Channel sometimes for months,
for months, and they're now living out there. And after
a while, especially back in like two or one whenever
that was, it looked like a city when the sun
went down. I mean, the ocean looked like a town,
you know, And it was just a bunch of sailors
touching themselves.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Just are they eager? Are they allowed to come on shore?
And this really depends. But I'll never forget.
Speaker 6 (16:18):
A Swedish drunk sailor some kind of Norwegian guy stumbled
into the restaurant. He was huge years ago when I
was a kid, and I watched my father wrestle him
out of the front door, pull him around the corner
and was punching him hard and he wasn't going down.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
Wow.
Speaker 6 (16:33):
So my uncle Tom grabbed the frying pan and ran
down Center Street and like a street fighter, moved jumped
up and then bunked him right over the head wong
with the pan and we deposited his his Uh. He
knocked him out and we put him in a dumpsters
and they told me go check the dumpster to see
if that guy's still in.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
There, right, and then he was gone. That's ten years old.
That's not the typical way you treated customers.
Speaker 8 (16:57):
Though.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
He wasn't we We decided the second he walked in
that he was not a customer. Oh I see, okay, Now,
when they conserve the right to refuse him service.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
When they come on shore, it's a pretty short refusal.
You know, when they come on shore, they clear customs
and they're on shore. Do they ever go to Marine Land?
Speaker 3 (17:13):
They made they might if you they that.
Speaker 6 (17:16):
As you know, Marine Land has been closed for maybe
thirty years now.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
I didn't know that, buddy. I appreciate you coming on.
Oh you telling me to leave now?
Speaker 3 (17:23):
Yeah, we got the break, right, you gonna stay during
the bread. I want to hear the news. It was
definitely the wrap up. Thank you. Yeah, no, see, thank you. Wait,
hold on, sec let me see you know what. Wait,
I gotta go back on the air.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
All right, Wait, Krozier, what's the big story. What's your
top story that you're gonna do for the news. I
want to tell Petros.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Body found in the tesla. With the body found the tesla.
You want to hear that, let's do that, all right? No, No,
I'm out cross.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
I don't have any handholes crusher all right.
Speaker 9 (17:46):
See you're listening to Tim Conway Junior on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
He FI AM six forty is Commram Mark Thompson's here.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
We're joined by Michael Monks. You got muggs.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
How you I love being here? When d light groove
is in the heart is the Yeah, music that takes
you back, doesn't it.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
We also discovered and I hope I'm not talking at school.
I didn't ask if I could talk about this on
the air. But you and I both got kicked out
of Catholic school.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
We did.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Yeah, I mean not at the same time, but different
different school, but for the same reason.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
Behavior. Yeah, I wasn't a good kid. Yeah, but your
mom and dad get pissed.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Yeah, because it's expensive. And then I had to go
to public school. And our family always went to Catholic school.
And so suddenly I was the cousin who was at
the public school.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
That's fourth grade.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
Well here's how I got thrown. Now, my dad all
my friends went to public school. I went to private
school until second grade. And then my dad looked around
and goes, hey, I got six kids. I can't afford
private school for everybody. You're going to Catholic school, which
is a little less. And I hated Catholic school. I
hated the the It was cold in there, the nuns
(18:59):
were mean, the kids were goofy. And I said, Dad,
I got to get to public school. All my friends
are in public school. And he said, now, your mom
wants you to go to Catholic school. You got to
go to Catholic school until you're a senior in high school.
But I'm in third grade. That seems like a lifetime,
and it normally is. But he said to me, he goes,
but if you get kicked out of Catholic school, I'm
(19:19):
putting you in public school.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
And I said, oh, you staged yours. Yeah, you know,
you're right, you did earn it.
Speaker 4 (19:30):
You had no you were actually probably embarrassed to be
going to public school, the only kid in your family,
completely guilt ridden and probably had to get there on
your own, had to walk.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
I mean we lived close to both of the schools
and they're right near Churchill down. So, uh, this was
I was young in Louisville. Yeah, and the Catholic school
you could hear the races while you were in.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
That, right.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
My papa, who would kind of want me to school,
would drop us off and then go right to the track,
really and then come back and pick us up.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
That's wild, man, That is great.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
You know.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
I was talking to Moe Kelly because our dad's had
a couple of things in common. One is they love
the racetrack. And Mo Kelly told me a great story.
I think Mo was in I don't know, six or
seventh grade and his dad decided to quit his job
and make a full time living at the track. Oh many,
and he still remembers the conversation around the table.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
How about floating that idea by your family. That's a
tough pitch, that really is, yeah, very tough.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
All right. We're talking about the convention set speaking of gambling.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Yeah, the city of La is who has no money,
by the way, no money, but they're looking at making
a big purchase anyway, and this is undoubtedly a gamble.
We're talking about the la Convention Center, which by all
accounts is apparently a little run down I've been there.
I don't have that type of sophistication to know that
this is not a good convention center. But everyone says
they're losing conventions to much smaller cities.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
This thing needs to be cleaned up. So let's make
an investment.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Five years ago they kicked around this idea was priced
about one point one billion dollars to get what they wanted.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Oh, hold your wife, okay, because five years have fast.
Oh wow.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
And back in August, just a few weeks ago, in fact,
the price had gone up to about two point two billion.
Wait minute, you could build a convention center for that. Yeah,
but you could also expand this one for that.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Oh by you like hotels or no? Just more space? Wow?
And any more space for I've never seen a full
down there, tim.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
The price went up since August twenty second, another four
hundred million dollars. Wow, somebody's getting We're at two point
seven billion dollars.
Speaker 5 (21:33):
Now.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
There's a lot of factors here. One, the city's broke,
it has no money. They'd have to finance this over
thirty years to the tune of annual debt service payments
over two hundred million. And who's going to pay that
people live in the city of La the people who
are already dealing with the cuts, right, okay. Secondly, it's
supposed to host Olympic events and not just any Olympic events.
Gymnastics is there. That's like one of the marquee Summer
(21:55):
Olympic events. So originally they wanted to do this really
fast because they thought they get the whole project finished
before the Olympics come to town to be a state
of the art convention center in downtown in LA. They
don't think they can do that, but they think they
can do it in phases, with the first phase being
done before the Olympics come.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
But they have to start at the end of this month.
They need a decision.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
Now, oh wow, okay, now do they need the decision
on the entire two point seven million or billion.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
They went to the Budget committee to day. They being
the city administrator who's kind of been pushing for this,
even though he concedes all of these challenges, he says,
we need to know if you want to go forward
by the end of this month or we should just
pull the plug entirely. The Budget committee today said why
don't we meet again next week and talk more about
this so they did not decide one way or the
(22:38):
other yet. The other bad part about this thing is
the projections for revenue. They've said, look, we think we
can bring in about sixty plus million dollars a year
off digital advertising. Some of the signs will face the highway,
that's a pretty penny. We'll have some also facing outward
into the city. Apparently there's state legislation that would allow
for that, but it's not to be signed. So now
(23:02):
the revenue projections are down to just twenty seven million
dollars a year, so it's bringing in less money, it's
costing more money. And they don't know, by the way,
if they can even get it done in time for
the Olympics, so it could end up being a.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
Construction song before the gymnasts show up.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
You know those those digital billboards, They took those away
in LA and they passed legislation saying they're illegal. But
you see them in commerce, you see them in these
small little town Southgate because they.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Have their own local laws. West Hollywood and West Hollywood.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
Yeah, but those digital billboards are a gold mine, and
they're right. They could make it, you know, sixty million
dollars a year just on those digital billboards. But they've
got to get out of the of the convention business.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
I think, well, they lose out to they lose like Oklahoma,
Anaheim certainly, these smaller cities that should not compete with LA.
But one thing that I've noticed that I never hear,
and you and I talked about just about every time
I come on. They never talk about what I would
assume to be the big challenge basing conventions in downtown
Los Angeles. Guess it's either the homeless or parking. Well,
(24:06):
it's downtown Los Angeles that's the biggest challenge to downtown
LA convention.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
Because if you're flying out here from Kansas City and
you're going to one of two conventions, ones in downtown
LA where there's homeless and crime and filth and no parking,
and the other ones at Anaheim across from Disneyland and
everything's clean.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
You go to Anaheim or even Long Beach, you.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Know the convention center there in Long Beach, You've got
the you know, the pier there, you've got the all
the shopping, the aquariums.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
It looks like a place where conventions happen.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Whereas the conventions in er LA, well it's next to
La Live, which is a nice attraction if you have
an idea of what you're going to see in Los
Angeles when you come here from Topeka.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
Boy, are you in for a rout awaken? Yeah? Well
were you? You're in for a rout awakening?
Speaker 10 (24:50):
No?
Speaker 1 (24:51):
I I was eyes wide open because every time I
would come out to visit, I stayed in downtown.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Oh gritty, I'm the guy who got kicked out of
Catholic school in Louisville.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Some Yeah, that grit can be sexy, you know what
I mean? Mark, Yeah, I'm just saying it's a Yeah,
it's a textured field downtown.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
You fit in well with them downtown, but they do.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
You know, it's a weird thing. It is kind of
a checkerboard. There are high end restaurants, they're kind of
higher end experiences, their higher end residences. And then, as
you say, there, there's homelessness and crime and graffiti.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
What do I always say, Tim, Downtown is beautiful win
when the when when it burns to the ground, when
you're looking up, when you're looking up, Yeah, there you go, buddy,
Thanks for coming in Saturday seven and nine pm. I'll
be in that chair all right, you got monks Saturday.
Conway Thompson K I am sick for it's Conway jo
(25:40):
Mark Thompson is here.
Speaker 4 (25:43):
Yes, So I'm thinking about losing ding dong. I think
it's run its course. Uh, I hate that idea. I
like it, but I don't there's not a lot of
enthusiasm with you know, people walk up and go hey
ding dong.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
People screaming people out on it. That's not true.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
So I'm coming up with a good different, an alternative.
Here's my new catchphrase. All right, it's clunky to begin with,
but I think it's gonna catch on. All right, here
it is, yeah, sure good, okay, all right, what's what's
the phrase that's it?
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Yeah? Sure good? Okay. Wow, don't lose the ding dong
words we thought would never be said.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
Yeah, but yeah, sure good okay, because that's how you
wrap up conversations, and that's.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
What you want from this. I like doing.
Speaker 7 (26:38):
Yeah, I have something a little more unique.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
I'm sorry, you have something a little more unique. Yeah
I do, ok thanks, by that's not unique. Yeah, I
don't think anything is unique. But I think the thing
about ding dong is that it's completely Nobody says that otherwise, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
It's completely yours. No way, you're not gonna hear it
anywhere else.
Speaker 4 (26:57):
I did hear it on ESPN a couple of times
when somebody would during highlights when a guy would slam
dunk basketball and they go, oh, dig dog, you know,
the Porland Trailblazers playing against the Nuggets. Dig dog need
slam the ball. I'm like, I wonder where that guy
got that from.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Yeah, well, now that you're getting rid of it, you
don't have to worry about that anymore.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
So the new one.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
Yeah, sure, good, okay, right, I like it all right,
I've been living enough.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
Well, that's one who likes it, and that's really the
only vote that matters.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Yeah, that's right, universally repulses all the rest of us.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
But you like it. Ultimately, that doesn't matter.
Speaker 4 (27:37):
So I've been living in La my entire life, with
a brief stint in Bowling Green, a brief stint in Toronto, Canada,
but I've called home.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
I've called La home my entire life.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
And I don't know where the infatuation started with the
big thirty foot lax sign means nothing to me, It
means nothing to you.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
You you you or you.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
It means nothing to anybody in LA, and yet they're
making this huge deal out of it by moving it
and so it'll be easier to take pictures. This is
not welcome to Las Vegas. That's not the Las Vegas sign.
This is LAX. Three letters that infuriate people, you know, like,
can you imagine somebody saying, Hey, Friday at four, can
(28:26):
you pick me up a LAX?
Speaker 3 (28:28):
You think just of christ a Mighty. It's the last
thing in the world I want to do.
Speaker 4 (28:34):
And I will say this though, LAX has gotten better,
and with the people mover, it's going to get better.
And I'm keeping an open mind where one day I
can say I love LAX.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
Wow.
Speaker 7 (28:43):
Right, Well, why do you need the X? I mean,
if the whole point is basically it's welcoming you to LA,
why do you need the X?
Speaker 3 (28:51):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (28:52):
I understand that it's just the three letter code of
the airport, you know, Los Angeles.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
People won't know if it's just LA. You're right at you.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
But it should have been LA, and it should have
been in the Dodgers style style LA.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
There you go. But it's not.
Speaker 4 (29:06):
And these the big ass thirty foot letters that everyone's
making a big deal out of and nobody has any kind.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
Of attraction to it. I don't.
Speaker 4 (29:14):
I've never heard anybody talk about that sign up until
they're moving it.
Speaker 7 (29:17):
When everybody, when ever anybody thinks about the airport, they
think of the light columns, or or most the whatever,
the restaurant in the middle, that.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
Crazy space age restaurant that nobody goes. The restaurant. I've
heard a lot about it.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Yeah, all right, let's find out where these letters are going.
Speaker 10 (29:33):
I think the keyword is temporary, so don't worry. These
iconic letters will be back.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
But see they keep saying like, don't worry, it'll be back.
We never worried that it was there. We never go
we're concerned or happy or sad or anything.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
It just was there.
Speaker 10 (29:46):
They have already started removing the letters. They started with
the letter X, then they move on to a last
but not least the letter L. So crews were working overnight.
It seems they just stopped for the day.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
I like that it they that once they told us
the order, we couldn't figure it out there Like they're gonna.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
Take X and then they're gonna go with A the
letter next to it and last, but not.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Really just squeezing the most out of this presentation.
Speaker 4 (30:14):
I think there's a forty percent chance when they put
those letters back together they won't.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Be in that order. That's a story I have.
Speaker 4 (30:24):
There's a forty percent shot that somebody left that up
right thing gone.
Speaker 10 (30:30):
It's I think a long time because these letters are
quite massive. I'm told two days per letter, and they're
hoping to be done within the next week or so.
So let's show you some video when crews were out
and about earlier. Today, we know this sign is a
fixture that has greeted millions of travelers for decades.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Nobody even knows where it is.
Speaker 4 (30:49):
It's not But by the way, it's not a fixture
that is greeted thousands of travelers because you don't see
it unless you're coming into the airport.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
You don't see it when you're leaving. You you don't
even get close to it.
Speaker 10 (30:59):
As a fixture that has greeted millions of travelers for decades,
that's not true. The letters will be stored nearby until
they can be relocated and incorporated into new road designs.
Now you might be asking what's the reason behind all
of this?
Speaker 4 (31:12):
Well, yeah, what's the reason behind any of this is
the better question.
Speaker 10 (31:16):
Now you might be asking, what's the reason behind all
of as well? Major reconfigurations. When it comes to the roads,
officials are working to separate airport traffic from local traffic
on Sepulvia. It is a change that's expected to remove
more than five hundred vehicles from that stretch at any
given time, said to ease congestions significantly. The improvements will
(31:37):
also bring enhanced pedestrian walkways, better signage, and more drugged
access to economy parking on the go.
Speaker 11 (31:44):
All right, well, wait, you know that those letters were
causing more traffic for everybody.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
Should have got rid of them from the beginning.
Speaker 11 (31:53):
They were stopping LA one. Isn't the less traffic? Why
nobody cared about the letters to begin with? I'm with you, Sammy,
I'm with you. I hate traffic and I hate going
to L A X. And if I find out that
that was preventing an extra lane so everything get.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
Through, Yeah, No, that that that chaps my hide.
Speaker 4 (32:11):
Sam has when when Sammy shows Sunday Night, Sunday Night,
sam has a show called fresh Takes, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
I love it. I love it. When he gets crazy
just be.
Speaker 7 (32:21):
Called chaps my hide, I read it, chaps my high lay.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
X the traffic. All right, we're live on kf I
am six forty.
Speaker 9 (32:30):
You're listening to Tim Conway Junior on demand from kf
I am six forty
Tim Conway Jr. on Demand News
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