August 6, 2025 • 28 mins
Hillsdale College Radio General Manager and Radio Free Hillsdale Hour host Scot Bertram fills in for Jim on Thursday’s edition of the 3 Martini Lunch. Join Scot and Greg as they dissect the left’s increasingly outlandish arguments over Texas congressional redistricting, highlight new research showing students benefit from phone-free classrooms, and react to reports that Howard Stern may soon retire.
First, they sit in disbelief as a Texas Democrat, who is currently on the lam in Illinois, compares the congressional redistricting fight to the Holocaust. They also chide CNN's Jake Tapper for saying Republicans abuse redistricting far more than Democrats and explain why Republicans feel confident creating new districts heavily populated with Hispanic voters who voted for Democrats until fairly recently.
Next, they dig into a new study showing that students do better in school when they don't have their phones in class with them. The research also finds that students support the phone restrictions once they experience them and enjoy more real-life interaction with their peers.
Finally, they discuss reports that Howard Stern may soon end his lucrative partnership with Sirius/XM. They review Stern's evolution from supposedly fearless shock jock to a pathetic, pandering leftist. Scot also explains why he believes Stern is overrated in the area where most people give him the highest compliments.
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First, they sit in disbelief as a Texas Democrat, who is currently on the lam in Illinois, compares the congressional redistricting fight to the Holocaust. They also chide CNN's Jake Tapper for saying Republicans abuse redistricting far more than Democrats and explain why Republicans feel confident creating new districts heavily populated with Hispanic voters who voted for Democrats until fairly recently.
Next, they dig into a new study showing that students do better in school when they don't have their phones in class with them. The research also finds that students support the phone restrictions once they experience them and enjoy more real-life interaction with their peers.
Finally, they discuss reports that Howard Stern may soon end his lucrative partnership with Sirius/XM. They review Stern's evolution from supposedly fearless shock jock to a pathetic, pandering leftist. Scot also explains why he believes Stern is overrated in the area where most people give him the highest compliments.
Please visit our great sponsors:
Upgrade your skincare routine with Caldera Lab and see the difference. Visit https://CalderaLab.com/3ML and use code 3ML at checkout for 20% off your first order.
Support your health with Dose Daily. Save 25% on your first month when you subscribe at https://DoseDaily.co/3ML or enter code 3ML at checkout.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the Three Martini Lunch. Grab a stool next
to Greg Corumbus of Radio America and Jim Garritty of
National Review. Free Martini's coming up.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Very glad you're with us for the Wednesday edition of
the Three Martini Lunch. As you probably know, Jim Garerty
is away and here in his place today is Scott Bertram,
general manager WRFH Radio Free Hillsdale one on one point
seven FM on the campus of Hillsdale College. His trophy
case makes Nick Sabans John Woodens poultry compared to the
(00:34):
awards that those students have brought in under Scott's tutelage.
He also directs the Hillsdale College podcast network in the
Radio Free Hillsdale Hour. Scott, great to have you with
us again.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Greg, Thanks for the kind words about my trophy case.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Of course, of course they're all true. Let's dive right
in here. We have good we have I think, actually
a second, the last two I think are pretty good.
We're going to be talking about what seems to be
the end of the road for Howard Stern. We're also
going to be taking a look at the impact of
students not having cell phones in the classroom. But we're
going to start with a multifaceted look at the ongoing
(01:09):
fight over redistricting in the state of Texas. We talked
about this on Monday and how the Democrats fled to
the most ironic state possible in Illinois. In fact, JB.
Pritzker was on with Colbert last night, and of course,
as we know from Stephen Colbert, that was a very
even handed, fair interview with plenty of tough quest and
of course it was just a tongue bath all the
(01:30):
way through. But we're not even talking about JB. Pritzker.
We're talking about a couple of different elements here. First
of all, Don Lemon. We just talked about Jim Acosta
being a CNN cast off. Well so is Don Lemon,
of course, but just like a Costa, Don Lemon has
a podcast and he is, of course helping the Texas
Democrats get their message out in any way that they can.
And yesterday he had on State Representative Joelanda Jones and
(01:54):
of course she's hunkering down in Illinois with pretty much
all the other Democrats, but it's her comparison here what
she likens this fight to that really has our eyebrows raised.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
And we better have the courage to stand up, otherwise
we will fall for anything. And in this country we
will be defeated, deported. I mean, we will lose all
of our rights. And if you think it can't happen,
it can. And I will liken this to the Holocaust.
People are like, well, how did the Holocaust happen? How
is somebody in a position to kill all their people? Well,
good people remain silent, or good people didn't realize that
(02:30):
what happens to them can very soon happen to me
or somebody I love. And so so even if you
made it, man, you have an obligation to help people
who came, because God forbid, they end up targeting you
and your family.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Uh huh.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
People can't see people listening can't see this. Don Lemon
is not paying attention. Because if you are paying attention
and someone says the word Holocaust, you react in some way.
Don Lemon's like looking down, tapping an email, making a
grocery list. Uh huh, yeah, holocaust. So there's no follow
(03:09):
up there, there's nothing, just Don Lemon not paying attention.
As a guest goes off.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
That was absolutely absolutely hysterical. Because yes, of course, redrawing
congressional districts based on the fact you've got a half
million more people in the last time you drew the lines,
and you can you can like the timing of this
or the strategy for this, or you cannot like it.
Comparing the redrawing of congressional districts to the slaughter of
millions upon millions of people, I'm not sure that's the
(03:34):
parallel that you're looking for here. But in a slightly
less egretious way, the Democratic Party water carriers in the
media still doing their job. Here is Jake Tapper over
at CNN saying, oh, sure the Democrats do this sometimes,
but it's really the Republicans who are abusing this process.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
If you look at the map right, you have some exceptions,
like Illinois, there's blatant Democratic jerry mandering, but most of
the worst offenders when it comes to jerrymandering are Republican states.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
No an that he goes on to say, just like Texas, now,
I mean, Kathy Holkle's playing the victim here. She tried
to jerry mann her state. Kevin Newsom's done this before.
Plenty of other Democrat states do it. We talked about
Maryland and their map, you know, And the more states
do this, the more other states are going to follow
their lead. And so, you know, I wouldn't mind if
it was once a decade, but Republicans are just kind
(04:29):
of catching up to the aggressiveness that Democrats have done
here in redrawing the line. So what do you make
of these two examples. I mean, Jeelanda Jones makes Jake
Tapper look almost reasonable, even though he's gaslight in the country.
But what do you make of these two trying to
carry the water for the Democrats.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Yeah, every time we run into a crisis like this,
the rhetoric is amped up to a place to where
to where words don't matter anymore. Georgia's voting laws Jim
Crow two point zero, and we know that the results
of that are more people though, and MLB getting its
All Star Game back despite no changes being made. All
Star Game was pulled because of these racist voting laws.
(05:07):
No one changed anything, and MLB came back played the game.
You know, words cease to have meeting. This is not
like the Holocaust unless you meet it in the fact
that people are rushing to get on trains to go
to Texas because it's such a great environment for people
to live, and there's more people there stretching that analogy
to outrageous proportions, of course, and people start tuning you out.
(05:31):
I just saw someone complaining yesterday on X that boy.
You know, it used to be if you called someone
a Nazi, they'd say, no, I'm not, and they try
to make sure that you knew they weren't a Nazi.
And it's like, well, yeah, but if you call one
hundred and twenty five million people Nazis, it stops having
any meaning whatsoever, And you don't respond to allegations like
that because it doesn't mean anything. Tapper in that particular place,
(05:56):
I guess credit for at least seating that Illinois is
heavily jerrymandered. But it's statements like that, there's no ambiguity
to what he said. Well, of course Republicans are worse.
Of course, of course they are in various states that
again make people so unenthusiastic about watching viewing. You mentioned
when we weren't going to talk Jimmy Pritzker, and you
(06:17):
lied because he was on Colbert last night, and I
have to quote him. The great heroes of the Texas
House Democratic Caucus decided the only thing they could do
in order to stop it was leave Texas. And where
did they decide to come to? The safe haven of
the state of Illinois, where we are going to protect
them and take care of them. I'm very proud of them.
(06:38):
These aren't infants, for goodness sake, they're Democratic lawmakers. Were
to protect them and take care of them. By the way,
the opposite of it is true if you're looking for
an abortion, because Tibi Pritsker guarantees that we will not
protect the child or take care of the child. Illinois
the abortion haven of the Midwest. That's what the laws
(07:00):
allow in Illinois. But for these Democratic ballmakers will protect them,
will take care of them, little blanket pillow, if they
want a mint before they go to bed, hot milk,
We're going to take care of them. I'm very proud
of them. Jimmy Pritzker running for president, please remember me?
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
It also reminds me of their attitude towards illegals until
the numbers run into the billions. But in terms of
the hyperbolic rhetoric for so many issues, it's well, if
this passes, this Republican bill passes, everybody's going to die
from net neutrality, which was an FCC decision to the
original Trump tax cuts, the ones that were just renewed
(07:39):
in this latest bill but back in twenty seventeen. People
are going to die from that and so many other things.
Of course, even in this big, beautiful bill, making people
who are able bodied but on Medicaid look for work
or find work in order to keep getting those benefits,
while people are going to die from that too, they
don't really specify that. But in terms of since I
(08:00):
mentioned illegals, I just want to say here, one of
the big things that Texas Republicans are doing here is
they're taking somewhat of a gamble that these areas along
the border, in these new districts that had been blue
forever but have recently turned red because of Biden's dereliction
at the border and some other reasons cultural conservatism as well.
They have since turned to Trump. But that doesn't mean
(08:21):
that they'll always stay there. But I think the reason
that Republicans believe they'll stay there for at least the
immediate future is the huge improvement we've seen on the border.
We saw that instantly as soon as Trump took office,
and we just got the numbers for July, and they're
better than even the really good months we've seen so far.
The lowest border patrol apprehensions nationwide six seventy seven, shattering
(08:47):
June's all time low. Lowest Southwest border apprehensions four thousand,
five hundred ninety eight, nearly five hundred less than the
daily average under the last administration, which averaged five one
hundred apprehensions per day from February twenty twenty one to
December twenty twenty four, and the peaks, which was late
(09:07):
twenty twenty three, is even worse than that. And the
lowest single day apprehensions in history one day eighty eight
at the southwestern border July twentieth. So, Scott, if you
live along the border and you live through that onslaught,
you know what a complete mess this has been for
the last few years. And I would say intentionally so
(09:27):
from the Biden administration, and so for them to see
this massive improvement, I think the Republican gamble is probably
going to pay off, assuming they get this map done
at least for the next few cycles.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
When you can deliver good results, you reap good rewards,
and that's what Republicans in Texas are counting on. Nothing's
permanent in politics. To your point before that was, you know,
Democrats can go out when these votes again, right, if
they are so inclined to do so. The problem is
their policies aren't designed to win them back, and that's
certainly one of the things they're very concerned about. One
(09:59):
other clip I saw yesterday I didn't send to you.
There was an ABC reporter. It was on ABC News Live,
so it wasn't one of their top people and won't
be based on this conversation because he was interviewing one
of the state reps from Texas, the guy I forget
his name of. The guy was being talked about as
being perhaps a set of candidate, He's the one who's
going to beat ted Cruz whatever. But making the point
(10:20):
that Democrats by leaving are also preventing this, this flood
relief from passing in Texas, helping people affected by the
recent floods, and the rest state Reppert saying yeah, but
Republicans made a choice to prioritize redistricting over the flood relief,
and the anchor said, yeah, but didn't you guys also
(10:40):
make a choice that flood relief wasn't important enough that
you wanted to stay around to make that happen for
your constituents. And of course the response was yes, but
Republicans made it was like spinal tap, Yes, but this
one goes to this goes to eleven, it goes to eleven.
They made a choice they prioritized redistricting so that ABC
News guy I don't know his name, and apparently he
(11:01):
won't be rising through the ranks there because you don't
get away with that. No no on ABC.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
No, no, not on the most politically charged issue of
the week. There will be massive repercussions on something like that.
So well, if you're Democrats having to tough it out
flying on private jets and private buses, and I'm sure JB.
Pritsker is putting up in the Higatt or someplace nice,
you're probably not stressing out too much. But if you
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(12:35):
some good news for parents, and some good news for teachers,
and some good news for teens here as well, And
so hats off to the researchers who conducted this study
which stretched everywhere from Wharton over to Copenhagen and dealing
with this issue of students and cell phones and what
the impact is specifically when they don't have their phones
with them during class time. And so this was flagged
(12:57):
by John Holbein, who's a professor of public policy at
the University of Virginia, and here's kind of his summary
of this. The new study drops that shows compelling evidence
that cell phone bands caused student grades to modestly increase,
and grade increases our largest among the lowest performing students,
or at least previously lowest performing students. Some other interesting
(13:19):
findings from the cell phone Banned study show that students
exposed to the cell phone ban were substantially more supportive
of phone use restrictions. The ban increased students' perceptions of
greater benefits from these bands and reduced students' preferences for
unrestricted access. Now, despite a mild fear in reported fear
of missing out, there were no significant changes in overall
(13:41):
student well being, academic motivation, digital usage, or experiences of
online harassments. There were some potential drawbacks, but one of
them is the impact of having those phones with you
up until recently. Spot checks of the classroom and the
study revealed that students in the banned classes appear more distracted,
possibly due to withdraw from habitual phone checking. So basically
(14:02):
their attention span ish shot because of the time that
they've spent addicted to their phones. Ultimately, the authors of
the study conclude, quote our results suggests that in class
phone bands represent a low, cost effective policy to modestly
improve academic outcomes, especially for vulnerable student groups, while enhancing
student receptivity to digital policy interventions. All that's fancy language
(14:25):
to say, Scott that they're doing better in school because
they're not distracted by their phones, and they're also probably
talking to other people who they go to school with,
which would be an amazing improvement in social interaction among
young people.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
I can't fathom anyone's particularly surprised by the findings and
the study. You know, there are roadblocks to eddie bands,
and part of it is the students are so accustomed
to having phones everywhere and anywhere and asking them mandating
that they do not is a hurdle to overcome. I
(14:58):
think that that plays out some of the results in
terms of the students didn't say they were distracted, but
the observers that they were distracted. So there's observers commit
and say kind of fidgety either, right, And that's all
tied into the way they live their lives essentially every
other day and everywhere bringing the phones into the classroom.
(15:20):
Democrats even are siding with those who say let's get
phones out of the classrooms. Democratic governor who are saying,
let's do it. Interesting mixer in Michigan where Gretchen Whitber
called for legislation to ban phones statewide, and then Democrats
in the House all voted against a proposal to do
just that, and there was even a stray Republican or
(15:41):
to oppose. I talked to one of them actually, who said, look,
it's probably a great idea. I don't think that's the
purview of state government to say that, no, you shouldn't
have phones in the classrooms across the state. He thought
local school boards should be the ones making those determinations.
So there are different kind of hurdles to making this happen.
But I mean, can't it surprise anyone that grades increased,
(16:04):
especially among those who are struggling in class the people
who are having the most trouble in class, you take
away a key distraction, you make them focus and become,
as you mentioned, a more integrated part of the classroom,
and all of a sudden, the grades increase. No kidding,
no kidding. Claire Morale wrote a book a couple months
ago called The Tech Exit, which talks a lot about
(16:26):
strategies to make this sort of thing happen among our youth,
to take them away from being tethered to the cell
phone twenty four to seven. And I can't speak from
any kind of experience because I have a twelve year
old and a ten year old and they don't have phones,
and they barely use phones except unless they're literally talking
to someone you know, Grandma and grandpa or someone like that.
(16:49):
They don't have phones, they don't carry them with them
all the time. The school doesn't allow Our school doesn't
allow phones in the classroom. So I don't have first
had experience with the kind of distraction or kind of
detriment to learning and education that phones provide or allow
these students. But this is not the first study to
have these sort of conclusions, and it will only make
the case stronger to begin moving in that direction.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Yeah, now, my kids are pretty much the same age
as yours. They do have quote unquote a phone. It
has no internet access.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
It's a dumb phone.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
It's a very dumb phone. They have a few people
that we approve that they can call, which is basically
us and their grandparents and a couple of friends, and
it's very limited to the context which is basically us.
And so you know, if we drop them off at
the pool in the summer and they're ready to come home,
well they'll do that. But in terms of keeping them
off of social media, there's.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
No social media.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
There's no internet access like this, and of course they
hate it because all their friends have it. But in
the long run, I think that's going to be very
very good. Here in Virginia, they're just starting to implement this.
Glenn Youngkin, our wonderful governor, has a spearheaded this. We
have heard reports from teachers in our local area about
the policy prior to this, where the students could have
the phones. We have kids just open playing video games
(18:01):
on their phone during class, sometimes with the volume on.
Nothing the teachers can do about it, because the parents
would always, of course stick up for their kids, and
the kids just didn't put their phones down when they're
asked to. So you know, we'll see how this gets
implemented from district and district and how aggressive it gets
and what the consequences are if you don't abide by it.
But yeah, this is not a shock because this is
(18:22):
just simply common sense.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
I think we're probably moving, maybe faster by the day,
toward a place where that happens. I mean, you wouldn't
allow that. This is going way back the Sony Watchmen's,
the mini TVs. I mean, schools wouldn't allow students to
have little mini TVs in their backpacks and use them occasionally,
or use them between classes. I've seen some schools make
(18:45):
that okay in class, no, but between classes. Sure, you
would never consider doing something like that. And yet the phones,
it become such an integral part of life for adults,
for adults, and I always sort of make that, you know,
adults are adults and kids are kids. There's differences between
needs and desires and functionality for those phones. You're in
(19:07):
school to do a job that's to learn, and the
best way to do that is to not have that
distraction readily available exactly.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
And I'll say one more thing, I don't know that
it's a high percentage of students that were doing it,
but I've heard rumors about this too. No phones a
lot harder to cheat on tests and stuff, and so
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Speaker 2 (21:09):
All right, Scott, on to our final martini, and I
would say this is also a good one. Howard Stern,
of course, has been a fixture in radio and other
entertainment for a very long time. For those old enough
they remember him as kind of one of the lead
shock jocks, especially in the nineties, but he was definitely
a shock jock in in the eighties and bean back
into the seventies. After going off of regular radio, he
(21:32):
signed a monster deal with Serious XM then about twenty
years now, getting about one hundred million dollars a year,
which is quite the deal. But they're not making a
ton of money, and it looks like even though Sious
is going to offer him a deal, he's probably not
going to take it. The US Sun reports quote Stern's
contract is up in the fallen While Sirius is planning
to make him an offer, they don't intend for him
(21:54):
to take it. One insider said of the impending end
to Stern's latest five year contracts, Serious and Stern are
never going to meet on the money he is going
to want. It's no longer worth the investment. The insider
added that fans may expect Serious to strike a deal
for his library quote, but as far as him coming
back to doing the show, there's no way they can
keep paying his salary now. Stern is already north of
(22:16):
seventy years old, so he's probably in the zone where
he's looking to wind things down anyway. Scott, so many
things potentially to talk about here. First of all, just
how disgusting he could be as a shock jock. Also
how he went from edgy and subversive to one of
the most groveling, obsequious toadies for the left after kind
(22:39):
of having this libertarian streak for a long time now.
He did this because the Me Too movement was on
and he didn't want to be one of the casualties.
And it worked because he kept getting his huge contracts.
He kept you know, landing big interviews, which is actually
good at I think interviewing is probably one of his
strongest suits. But in terms of just how he changed
(23:00):
from this supposedly fearless guy who would say anything at
any time, regardless of who it might defend or or
make angry, to just lick in the boots of Joe
Biden and Kamala Harris and and just any any left
wing movement that happened to be a foot at the time.
It was quite a shift, to say of his own skin.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Howard Stern Man, if it's the end of the road,
it's it's been a ride, as you mentioned, Beck to
the to the eighties. What he was making his name
in DC in New York and then syndicated radio through
the nineties, transition post Janet Jackson the two thousands, over
to satellite radio, and then almost I can't believe it's
(23:40):
been almost twenty years. It's been a long time since
he's been a central part of a cultural conversation other
than landing of Biden interview. He's not making news for
his content anymore, like his non interview content very much anymore,
but getting handsomely paid for it. In addition to the salary,
there's a whole lot of serious XM stock that he
(24:02):
was given as part of that deal. So no one
should weep for Howard Stern losing out his meal ticket
if in fact this takes place. One thing, I'll say
private parts. The movie is raunchy, but it is really
great and an excellent look inside the radio industry of
that time. I have to carefully edit to show my
(24:25):
students' portions of that film when we're in class, because
it does describe sort of the grind and some of
the experience of working inside radio, especially during that time,
the late late eighty mid late eighties, early nineties. He
said he's a great interviewer. I know people think he's
a great interviewer. I hear that often. I don't know
if he's a great interviewer, but he is great at
(24:46):
making his guests feel comfortable talk yeah, which means they
do say things they don't say elsewhere. But I actually
find his questions to be a bit Larry King ask,
meaning Larry King was very famous for not doing a
lot of doing any prep before interviews. He said, I
want my questions to be the same ones my audience
would ask. My audience doesn't know anything, so I want
(25:07):
to be just like them. I want to ask obvious
questions and stern. A lot of times when I listened
to these long form interviews he does there's a little
bit of not misinformation and it's been misinformed, but he's
just uninformed on some basic things about the guests or
their work. And I don't know if that's sort of
the way I would suggest doing interviews like that, But
he does get people to say things they wouldn't normally
(25:28):
say because they're very comfortable in that environment. And he's
on serious exem he's not on terrestrial radio anymore, so
there's something there that does make guests sort of open
up to him. But I'm not sure it's necessarily the
questions he's asking. It's just more of a comfortable conversation
that's happening. Yeah. Man, he lived at a COVID bubble
for what at least three years or so, where he
(25:49):
was just just hectoring anyone who would listen that you
guys are crazy, You're all gonna die. I got to
stay in my basement. I can't touch anyone, I can't
see anyone here. What he wore a tuxt interview Joe Biden.
So it's it's a very different stunt today than it
was twenty years ago, thirty years ago. He's always been
a very talented radio host from a technical perspective. I
(26:12):
don't know how much that remains today because I don't
listen to him very much on Serious XM, like a
good portion of the country, which is why some of
his cultural cachet has fallen away. So if it is
the end, Serious XM says, we don't want you anymore,
but we like your back catalog, like to still be
in the Howard Stern business, just not making new shows.
He still could live for a while, you know, in reruns,
(26:33):
but new shows would be the ones that would that
would not happen anymore.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Well, assuming he wasn't completely reckless with his one hundred
million dollars a year, I'm guessing he's going to be okay, fine.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
And he made more hosting. America's got talent, right.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Yes, exactly. Yeah, he's been very, very lucrative. His impact
on the culture, I would say, is definitely in that negative,
less so over the last twenty years, because like you said,
he just wasn't as much of a factor. But interesting
change in the times can copared to where we were
a generation.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Do you know anyone who listens to Stern on a
daily basis? No, I don't either, and I'm not I'm
not doing a polling kale like I know when I
know listens to Howard Stern it. But I know people
who listen to things and are in the industry, and
I don't know. I don't know if it's really a
centralized New York sort of thing, because that was his
home obviously his home base for for a long long
time in New York radio. If his audience is really
(27:24):
centralized there or places where he formally had radio affiliates,
But I don't know. I don't know anyone who listens
to him at a daily basis. They're all everyone I know.
Everyone I know is a three mar Temi lunch daily listener.
Those are the people that I know in my circle
that might be fibbing a bit there.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Why wouldn't you, I mean, that's this is obviously the
place to be. And so yeah, I mean he basically
traded cultural influence and popularity for a ton of money, which.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
And freedom, he would say too, The freedom to say
what he wants and he can swear, and he can
have the lesbian strippers on and no one can say
he can't do that on serious exit.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Yeah, exactly. No more fights with the FCC, I guess.
So anyway, Scott, great to have you with us the
past three days. We will talk to you again a
couple of days next week and we look forward to that.
Thanks for your timeing.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
Yeah, lesbian strippers on Monday. You're right, que Marchini lunch.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
No no parents with young children listening, That is not happening.
Scott Bertram is the general manager of w RFH Radio
Free Hillsdale on the campus of Hillsdale College one O
one point seven FM. He's also the director of the
Hillsdale College Podcast Network and is the host, among many
other podcasts, of the Radio Free Hillsdale Hour. I'm Greg
Corumbus of Radio America. Thanks for being with us today.
(28:31):
Please subscribe to the Three Martini Lunch Podcast if you
don't already, and tell your friends about us as well.
Thanks also for your five star ratings and your kind reviews.
Please keep those coming. They really do help us. Get
us on your home devices. All you have to say
is play Three Martini Lunch podcast. Follow all of us
on x. Scott is at Scott Bertram with one ta
in Scott, Jim is at Jim Garrity. I'm at Greg Corumbus.
(28:53):
Have a great Wednesday, and join us again Thursday for
the next Three Martini Lunch
Welcome to the Three Martini Lunch. Grab a stool next
to Greg Corumbus of Radio America and Jim Garritty of
National Review. Free Martini's coming up.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Very glad you're with us for the Wednesday edition of
the Three Martini Lunch. As you probably know, Jim Garerty
is away and here in his place today is Scott Bertram,
general manager WRFH Radio Free Hillsdale one on one point
seven FM on the campus of Hillsdale College. His trophy
case makes Nick Sabans John Woodens poultry compared to the
(00:34):
awards that those students have brought in under Scott's tutelage.
He also directs the Hillsdale College podcast network in the
Radio Free Hillsdale Hour. Scott, great to have you with
us again.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Greg, Thanks for the kind words about my trophy case.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Of course, of course they're all true. Let's dive right
in here. We have good we have I think, actually
a second, the last two I think are pretty good.
We're going to be talking about what seems to be
the end of the road for Howard Stern. We're also
going to be taking a look at the impact of
students not having cell phones in the classroom. But we're
going to start with a multifaceted look at the ongoing
(01:09):
fight over redistricting in the state of Texas. We talked
about this on Monday and how the Democrats fled to
the most ironic state possible in Illinois. In fact, JB.
Pritzker was on with Colbert last night, and of course,
as we know from Stephen Colbert, that was a very
even handed, fair interview with plenty of tough quest and
of course it was just a tongue bath all the
(01:30):
way through. But we're not even talking about JB. Pritzker.
We're talking about a couple of different elements here. First
of all, Don Lemon. We just talked about Jim Acosta
being a CNN cast off. Well so is Don Lemon,
of course, but just like a Costa, Don Lemon has
a podcast and he is, of course helping the Texas
Democrats get their message out in any way that they can.
And yesterday he had on State Representative Joelanda Jones and
(01:54):
of course she's hunkering down in Illinois with pretty much
all the other Democrats, but it's her comparison here what
she likens this fight to that really has our eyebrows raised.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
And we better have the courage to stand up, otherwise
we will fall for anything. And in this country we
will be defeated, deported. I mean, we will lose all
of our rights. And if you think it can't happen,
it can. And I will liken this to the Holocaust.
People are like, well, how did the Holocaust happen? How
is somebody in a position to kill all their people? Well,
good people remain silent, or good people didn't realize that
(02:30):
what happens to them can very soon happen to me
or somebody I love. And so so even if you
made it, man, you have an obligation to help people
who came, because God forbid, they end up targeting you
and your family.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Uh huh.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
People can't see people listening can't see this. Don Lemon
is not paying attention. Because if you are paying attention
and someone says the word Holocaust, you react in some way.
Don Lemon's like looking down, tapping an email, making a
grocery list. Uh huh, yeah, holocaust. So there's no follow
(03:09):
up there, there's nothing, just Don Lemon not paying attention.
As a guest goes off.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
That was absolutely absolutely hysterical. Because yes, of course, redrawing
congressional districts based on the fact you've got a half
million more people in the last time you drew the lines,
and you can you can like the timing of this
or the strategy for this, or you cannot like it.
Comparing the redrawing of congressional districts to the slaughter of
millions upon millions of people, I'm not sure that's the
(03:34):
parallel that you're looking for here. But in a slightly
less egretious way, the Democratic Party water carriers in the
media still doing their job. Here is Jake Tapper over
at CNN saying, oh, sure the Democrats do this sometimes,
but it's really the Republicans who are abusing this process.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
If you look at the map right, you have some exceptions,
like Illinois, there's blatant Democratic jerry mandering, but most of
the worst offenders when it comes to jerrymandering are Republican states.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
No an that he goes on to say, just like Texas, now,
I mean, Kathy Holkle's playing the victim here. She tried
to jerry mann her state. Kevin Newsom's done this before.
Plenty of other Democrat states do it. We talked about
Maryland and their map, you know, And the more states
do this, the more other states are going to follow
their lead. And so, you know, I wouldn't mind if
it was once a decade, but Republicans are just kind
(04:29):
of catching up to the aggressiveness that Democrats have done
here in redrawing the line. So what do you make
of these two examples. I mean, Jeelanda Jones makes Jake
Tapper look almost reasonable, even though he's gaslight in the country.
But what do you make of these two trying to
carry the water for the Democrats.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Yeah, every time we run into a crisis like this,
the rhetoric is amped up to a place to where
to where words don't matter anymore. Georgia's voting laws Jim
Crow two point zero, and we know that the results
of that are more people though, and MLB getting its
All Star Game back despite no changes being made. All
Star Game was pulled because of these racist voting laws.
(05:07):
No one changed anything, and MLB came back played the game.
You know, words cease to have meeting. This is not
like the Holocaust unless you meet it in the fact
that people are rushing to get on trains to go
to Texas because it's such a great environment for people
to live, and there's more people there stretching that analogy
to outrageous proportions, of course, and people start tuning you out.
(05:31):
I just saw someone complaining yesterday on X that boy.
You know, it used to be if you called someone
a Nazi, they'd say, no, I'm not, and they try
to make sure that you knew they weren't a Nazi.
And it's like, well, yeah, but if you call one
hundred and twenty five million people Nazis, it stops having
any meaning whatsoever, And you don't respond to allegations like
that because it doesn't mean anything. Tapper in that particular place,
(05:56):
I guess credit for at least seating that Illinois is
heavily jerrymandered. But it's statements like that, there's no ambiguity
to what he said. Well, of course Republicans are worse.
Of course, of course they are in various states that
again make people so unenthusiastic about watching viewing. You mentioned
when we weren't going to talk Jimmy Pritzker, and you
(06:17):
lied because he was on Colbert last night, and I
have to quote him. The great heroes of the Texas
House Democratic Caucus decided the only thing they could do
in order to stop it was leave Texas. And where
did they decide to come to? The safe haven of
the state of Illinois, where we are going to protect
them and take care of them. I'm very proud of them.
(06:38):
These aren't infants, for goodness sake, they're Democratic lawmakers. Were
to protect them and take care of them. By the way,
the opposite of it is true if you're looking for
an abortion, because Tibi Pritsker guarantees that we will not
protect the child or take care of the child. Illinois
the abortion haven of the Midwest. That's what the laws
(07:00):
allow in Illinois. But for these Democratic ballmakers will protect them,
will take care of them, little blanket pillow, if they
want a mint before they go to bed, hot milk,
We're going to take care of them. I'm very proud
of them. Jimmy Pritzker running for president, please remember me?
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
It also reminds me of their attitude towards illegals until
the numbers run into the billions. But in terms of
the hyperbolic rhetoric for so many issues, it's well, if
this passes, this Republican bill passes, everybody's going to die
from net neutrality, which was an FCC decision to the
original Trump tax cuts, the ones that were just renewed
(07:39):
in this latest bill but back in twenty seventeen. People
are going to die from that and so many other things.
Of course, even in this big, beautiful bill, making people
who are able bodied but on Medicaid look for work
or find work in order to keep getting those benefits,
while people are going to die from that too, they
don't really specify that. But in terms of since I
(08:00):
mentioned illegals, I just want to say here, one of
the big things that Texas Republicans are doing here is
they're taking somewhat of a gamble that these areas along
the border, in these new districts that had been blue
forever but have recently turned red because of Biden's dereliction
at the border and some other reasons cultural conservatism as well.
They have since turned to Trump. But that doesn't mean
(08:21):
that they'll always stay there. But I think the reason
that Republicans believe they'll stay there for at least the
immediate future is the huge improvement we've seen on the border.
We saw that instantly as soon as Trump took office,
and we just got the numbers for July, and they're
better than even the really good months we've seen so far.
The lowest border patrol apprehensions nationwide six seventy seven, shattering
(08:47):
June's all time low. Lowest Southwest border apprehensions four thousand,
five hundred ninety eight, nearly five hundred less than the
daily average under the last administration, which averaged five one
hundred apprehensions per day from February twenty twenty one to
December twenty twenty four, and the peaks, which was late
(09:07):
twenty twenty three, is even worse than that. And the
lowest single day apprehensions in history one day eighty eight
at the southwestern border July twentieth. So, Scott, if you
live along the border and you live through that onslaught,
you know what a complete mess this has been for
the last few years. And I would say intentionally so
(09:27):
from the Biden administration, and so for them to see
this massive improvement, I think the Republican gamble is probably
going to pay off, assuming they get this map done
at least for the next few cycles.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
When you can deliver good results, you reap good rewards,
and that's what Republicans in Texas are counting on. Nothing's
permanent in politics. To your point before that was, you know,
Democrats can go out when these votes again, right, if
they are so inclined to do so. The problem is
their policies aren't designed to win them back, and that's
certainly one of the things they're very concerned about. One
(09:59):
other clip I saw yesterday I didn't send to you.
There was an ABC reporter. It was on ABC News Live,
so it wasn't one of their top people and won't
be based on this conversation because he was interviewing one
of the state reps from Texas, the guy I forget
his name of. The guy was being talked about as
being perhaps a set of candidate, He's the one who's
going to beat ted Cruz whatever. But making the point
(10:20):
that Democrats by leaving are also preventing this, this flood
relief from passing in Texas, helping people affected by the
recent floods, and the rest state Reppert saying yeah, but
Republicans made a choice to prioritize redistricting over the flood relief,
and the anchor said, yeah, but didn't you guys also
(10:40):
make a choice that flood relief wasn't important enough that
you wanted to stay around to make that happen for
your constituents. And of course the response was yes, but
Republicans made it was like spinal tap, Yes, but this
one goes to this goes to eleven, it goes to eleven.
They made a choice they prioritized redistricting so that ABC
News guy I don't know his name, and apparently he
(11:01):
won't be rising through the ranks there because you don't
get away with that. No no on ABC.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
No, no, not on the most politically charged issue of
the week. There will be massive repercussions on something like that.
So well, if you're Democrats having to tough it out
flying on private jets and private buses, and I'm sure JB.
Pritsker is putting up in the Higatt or someplace nice,
you're probably not stressing out too much. But if you
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(12:35):
some good news for parents, and some good news for teachers,
and some good news for teens here as well, And
so hats off to the researchers who conducted this study
which stretched everywhere from Wharton over to Copenhagen and dealing
with this issue of students and cell phones and what
the impact is specifically when they don't have their phones
with them during class time. And so this was flagged
(12:57):
by John Holbein, who's a professor of public policy at
the University of Virginia, and here's kind of his summary
of this. The new study drops that shows compelling evidence
that cell phone bands caused student grades to modestly increase,
and grade increases our largest among the lowest performing students,
or at least previously lowest performing students. Some other interesting
(13:19):
findings from the cell phone Banned study show that students
exposed to the cell phone ban were substantially more supportive
of phone use restrictions. The ban increased students' perceptions of
greater benefits from these bands and reduced students' preferences for
unrestricted access. Now, despite a mild fear in reported fear
of missing out, there were no significant changes in overall
(13:41):
student well being, academic motivation, digital usage, or experiences of
online harassments. There were some potential drawbacks, but one of
them is the impact of having those phones with you
up until recently. Spot checks of the classroom and the
study revealed that students in the banned classes appear more distracted,
possibly due to withdraw from habitual phone checking. So basically
(14:02):
their attention span ish shot because of the time that
they've spent addicted to their phones. Ultimately, the authors of
the study conclude, quote our results suggests that in class
phone bands represent a low, cost effective policy to modestly
improve academic outcomes, especially for vulnerable student groups, while enhancing
student receptivity to digital policy interventions. All that's fancy language
(14:25):
to say, Scott that they're doing better in school because
they're not distracted by their phones, and they're also probably
talking to other people who they go to school with,
which would be an amazing improvement in social interaction among
young people.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
I can't fathom anyone's particularly surprised by the findings and
the study. You know, there are roadblocks to eddie bands,
and part of it is the students are so accustomed
to having phones everywhere and anywhere and asking them mandating
that they do not is a hurdle to overcome. I
(14:58):
think that that plays out some of the results in
terms of the students didn't say they were distracted, but
the observers that they were distracted. So there's observers commit
and say kind of fidgety either, right, And that's all
tied into the way they live their lives essentially every
other day and everywhere bringing the phones into the classroom.
(15:20):
Democrats even are siding with those who say let's get
phones out of the classrooms. Democratic governor who are saying,
let's do it. Interesting mixer in Michigan where Gretchen Whitber
called for legislation to ban phones statewide, and then Democrats
in the House all voted against a proposal to do
just that, and there was even a stray Republican or
(15:41):
to oppose. I talked to one of them actually, who said, look,
it's probably a great idea. I don't think that's the
purview of state government to say that, no, you shouldn't
have phones in the classrooms across the state. He thought
local school boards should be the ones making those determinations.
So there are different kind of hurdles to making this happen.
But I mean, can't it surprise anyone that grades increased,
(16:04):
especially among those who are struggling in class the people
who are having the most trouble in class, you take
away a key distraction, you make them focus and become,
as you mentioned, a more integrated part of the classroom,
and all of a sudden, the grades increase. No kidding,
no kidding. Claire Morale wrote a book a couple months
ago called The Tech Exit, which talks a lot about
(16:26):
strategies to make this sort of thing happen among our youth,
to take them away from being tethered to the cell
phone twenty four to seven. And I can't speak from
any kind of experience because I have a twelve year
old and a ten year old and they don't have phones,
and they barely use phones except unless they're literally talking
to someone you know, Grandma and grandpa or someone like that.
(16:49):
They don't have phones, they don't carry them with them
all the time. The school doesn't allow Our school doesn't
allow phones in the classroom. So I don't have first
had experience with the kind of distraction or kind of
detriment to learning and education that phones provide or allow
these students. But this is not the first study to
have these sort of conclusions, and it will only make
the case stronger to begin moving in that direction.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Yeah, now, my kids are pretty much the same age
as yours. They do have quote unquote a phone. It
has no internet access.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
It's a dumb phone.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
It's a very dumb phone. They have a few people
that we approve that they can call, which is basically
us and their grandparents and a couple of friends, and
it's very limited to the context which is basically us.
And so you know, if we drop them off at
the pool in the summer and they're ready to come home,
well they'll do that. But in terms of keeping them
off of social media, there's.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
No social media.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
There's no internet access like this, and of course they
hate it because all their friends have it. But in
the long run, I think that's going to be very
very good. Here in Virginia, they're just starting to implement this.
Glenn Youngkin, our wonderful governor, has a spearheaded this. We
have heard reports from teachers in our local area about
the policy prior to this, where the students could have
the phones. We have kids just open playing video games
(18:01):
on their phone during class, sometimes with the volume on.
Nothing the teachers can do about it, because the parents
would always, of course stick up for their kids, and
the kids just didn't put their phones down when they're
asked to. So you know, we'll see how this gets
implemented from district and district and how aggressive it gets
and what the consequences are if you don't abide by it.
But yeah, this is not a shock because this is
(18:22):
just simply common sense.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
I think we're probably moving, maybe faster by the day,
toward a place where that happens. I mean, you wouldn't
allow that. This is going way back the Sony Watchmen's,
the mini TVs. I mean, schools wouldn't allow students to
have little mini TVs in their backpacks and use them occasionally,
or use them between classes. I've seen some schools make
(18:45):
that okay in class, no, but between classes. Sure, you
would never consider doing something like that. And yet the phones,
it become such an integral part of life for adults,
for adults, and I always sort of make that, you know,
adults are adults and kids are kids. There's differences between
needs and desires and functionality for those phones. You're in
(19:07):
school to do a job that's to learn, and the
best way to do that is to not have that
distraction readily available exactly.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
And I'll say one more thing, I don't know that
it's a high percentage of students that were doing it,
but I've heard rumors about this too. No phones a
lot harder to cheat on tests and stuff, and so
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Speaker 2 (21:09):
All right, Scott, on to our final martini, and I
would say this is also a good one. Howard Stern,
of course, has been a fixture in radio and other
entertainment for a very long time. For those old enough
they remember him as kind of one of the lead
shock jocks, especially in the nineties, but he was definitely
a shock jock in in the eighties and bean back
into the seventies. After going off of regular radio, he
(21:32):
signed a monster deal with Serious XM then about twenty
years now, getting about one hundred million dollars a year,
which is quite the deal. But they're not making a
ton of money, and it looks like even though Sious
is going to offer him a deal, he's probably not
going to take it. The US Sun reports quote Stern's
contract is up in the fallen While Sirius is planning
to make him an offer, they don't intend for him
(21:54):
to take it. One insider said of the impending end
to Stern's latest five year contracts, Serious and Stern are
never going to meet on the money he is going
to want. It's no longer worth the investment. The insider
added that fans may expect Serious to strike a deal
for his library quote, but as far as him coming
back to doing the show, there's no way they can
keep paying his salary now. Stern is already north of
(22:16):
seventy years old, so he's probably in the zone where
he's looking to wind things down anyway. Scott, so many
things potentially to talk about here. First of all, just
how disgusting he could be as a shock jock. Also
how he went from edgy and subversive to one of
the most groveling, obsequious toadies for the left after kind
(22:39):
of having this libertarian streak for a long time now.
He did this because the Me Too movement was on
and he didn't want to be one of the casualties.
And it worked because he kept getting his huge contracts.
He kept you know, landing big interviews, which is actually
good at I think interviewing is probably one of his
strongest suits. But in terms of just how he changed
(23:00):
from this supposedly fearless guy who would say anything at
any time, regardless of who it might defend or or
make angry, to just lick in the boots of Joe
Biden and Kamala Harris and and just any any left
wing movement that happened to be a foot at the time.
It was quite a shift, to say of his own skin.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Howard Stern Man, if it's the end of the road,
it's it's been a ride, as you mentioned, Beck to
the to the eighties. What he was making his name
in DC in New York and then syndicated radio through
the nineties, transition post Janet Jackson the two thousands, over
to satellite radio, and then almost I can't believe it's
(23:40):
been almost twenty years. It's been a long time since
he's been a central part of a cultural conversation other
than landing of Biden interview. He's not making news for
his content anymore, like his non interview content very much anymore,
but getting handsomely paid for it. In addition to the salary,
there's a whole lot of serious XM stock that he
(24:02):
was given as part of that deal. So no one
should weep for Howard Stern losing out his meal ticket
if in fact this takes place. One thing, I'll say
private parts. The movie is raunchy, but it is really
great and an excellent look inside the radio industry of
that time. I have to carefully edit to show my
(24:25):
students' portions of that film when we're in class, because
it does describe sort of the grind and some of
the experience of working inside radio, especially during that time,
the late late eighty mid late eighties, early nineties. He
said he's a great interviewer. I know people think he's
a great interviewer. I hear that often. I don't know
if he's a great interviewer, but he is great at
(24:46):
making his guests feel comfortable talk yeah, which means they
do say things they don't say elsewhere. But I actually
find his questions to be a bit Larry King ask,
meaning Larry King was very famous for not doing a
lot of doing any prep before interviews. He said, I
want my questions to be the same ones my audience
would ask. My audience doesn't know anything, so I want
(25:07):
to be just like them. I want to ask obvious
questions and stern. A lot of times when I listened
to these long form interviews he does there's a little
bit of not misinformation and it's been misinformed, but he's
just uninformed on some basic things about the guests or
their work. And I don't know if that's sort of
the way I would suggest doing interviews like that, But
he does get people to say things they wouldn't normally
(25:28):
say because they're very comfortable in that environment. And he's
on serious exem he's not on terrestrial radio anymore, so
there's something there that does make guests sort of open
up to him. But I'm not sure it's necessarily the
questions he's asking. It's just more of a comfortable conversation
that's happening. Yeah. Man, he lived at a COVID bubble
for what at least three years or so, where he
(25:49):
was just just hectoring anyone who would listen that you
guys are crazy, You're all gonna die. I got to
stay in my basement. I can't touch anyone, I can't
see anyone here. What he wore a tuxt interview Joe Biden.
So it's it's a very different stunt today than it
was twenty years ago, thirty years ago. He's always been
a very talented radio host from a technical perspective. I
(26:12):
don't know how much that remains today because I don't
listen to him very much on Serious XM, like a
good portion of the country, which is why some of
his cultural cachet has fallen away. So if it is
the end, Serious XM says, we don't want you anymore,
but we like your back catalog, like to still be
in the Howard Stern business, just not making new shows.
He still could live for a while, you know, in reruns,
(26:33):
but new shows would be the ones that would that
would not happen anymore.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Well, assuming he wasn't completely reckless with his one hundred
million dollars a year, I'm guessing he's going to be okay, fine.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
And he made more hosting. America's got talent, right.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Yes, exactly. Yeah, he's been very, very lucrative. His impact
on the culture, I would say, is definitely in that negative,
less so over the last twenty years, because like you said,
he just wasn't as much of a factor. But interesting
change in the times can copared to where we were
a generation.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Do you know anyone who listens to Stern on a
daily basis? No, I don't either, and I'm not I'm
not doing a polling kale like I know when I
know listens to Howard Stern it. But I know people
who listen to things and are in the industry, and
I don't know. I don't know if it's really a
centralized New York sort of thing, because that was his
home obviously his home base for for a long long
time in New York radio. If his audience is really
(27:24):
centralized there or places where he formally had radio affiliates,
But I don't know. I don't know anyone who listens
to him at a daily basis. They're all everyone I know.
Everyone I know is a three mar Temi lunch daily listener.
Those are the people that I know in my circle
that might be fibbing a bit there.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Why wouldn't you, I mean, that's this is obviously the
place to be. And so yeah, I mean he basically
traded cultural influence and popularity for a ton of money, which.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
And freedom, he would say too, The freedom to say
what he wants and he can swear, and he can
have the lesbian strippers on and no one can say
he can't do that on serious exit.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Yeah, exactly. No more fights with the FCC, I guess.
So anyway, Scott, great to have you with us the
past three days. We will talk to you again a
couple of days next week and we look forward to that.
Thanks for your timeing.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
Yeah, lesbian strippers on Monday. You're right, que Marchini lunch.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
No no parents with young children listening, That is not happening.
Scott Bertram is the general manager of w RFH Radio
Free Hillsdale on the campus of Hillsdale College one O
one point seven FM. He's also the director of the
Hillsdale College Podcast Network and is the host, among many
other podcasts, of the Radio Free Hillsdale Hour. I'm Greg
Corumbus of Radio America. Thanks for being with us today.
(28:31):
Please subscribe to the Three Martini Lunch Podcast if you
don't already, and tell your friends about us as well.
Thanks also for your five star ratings and your kind reviews.
Please keep those coming. They really do help us. Get
us on your home devices. All you have to say
is play Three Martini Lunch podcast. Follow all of us
on x. Scott is at Scott Bertram with one ta
in Scott, Jim is at Jim Garrity. I'm at Greg Corumbus.
(28:53):
Have a great Wednesday, and join us again Thursday for
the next Three Martini Lunch
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