Conversation 884-009

Transcript (AI-Generated)

This transcript was generated automatically by AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite this transcript as authoritative. Consult the Finding Aid above for verified information.

It's a beautiful day, too, isn't it?

The rose garden out there with the tulips about to leave in a couple of weeks.

That's for the wedding.

Sounds like a very good hosting.

It's over here.

We'll get a picture of .

I don't know what you're talking about.

Uh, very interesting about, uh, how this, you know, as far as I'm aware, uh, what that is, uh, how, uh, how these look parallel and vertical.

Yes.

And, uh, boy, I wish to thank you for the relationships you've shown.

Well, let me ask you that.

Is that the main part?

Is that your main line?

No.

What we have done is this.

In 1972, John Pitchell, we had been through a number of years of managing different towns.

So we had two or three different presidents and certain people.

reflection upon their ability.

But they were not aggressive, and then we went into diversification sports.

And we started off with Olympics, and that's what we've always been doing for the last six or seven years.

Notre Dame, the non-billionaire, our singing show, we did NFL Monday Night, we're going down shows, we did the pregame show, we did four wildcard games, we did the Chicago game, and then from there we started moving.

We did make money in June, July, August, October, and November, and broke even December the first time we've ever made money.

That's where you did all these with, uh, with, uh, with the television and radio.

This was all radio, all radio access.

And doing the Monday night show on radio, did you get that much in the audience, despite the television coverage?

Uh, unbelievable.

Why is that?

Uh, well, it's the same thing that you're doing, right?

Uh, you're into the same thing.

We had 15, 50,000 block stations that were on, that were non-fitted.

Fitted's not as good as they were on the network.

Now, they were doing a lot of things.

If you know the television, you feel safe.

Well, you must have said to the television.

That's right.

And so much is happening today in the world, and people are .

And I told this story to the audience.

What's that?

Sheila was .

Oh, yeah.

Sheila was .

And he's, well, the, what about the, what about the news, you know, on the radio news, coming back something?

Yes, sir.

How many stations do you have now?

Interestingly, 5189, and hopefully, if you mark your network on our network, 5189, and understand this, Mr. President, we don't own one.

We only own a regular network.

It's not called an operator or regular station.

Do you feel that you have to get into television?

No, sir, you shouldn't.

We would like to.

But you can't.

Well, I don't think it's my character.

So those who have business services, you've got the few networks now, independent television stations, well, GNN in Chicago, yes, but I don't think nationwide they haven't done that well.

Can you talk about that?

Yes, yes.

But you see, in the major markets, Mr. President, they will do well.

Because you have that many people.

You have 18 million people.

So therefore, there are just three networks, and that's all there is.

I would like to see more television.

down in Miami, I had WITB, a UHF station, as a matter of fact, and one of your friends that, very interestingly enough, I sold the first commercial law television stations to BB.

He had a service station on the 10th of the trail.

And one of these, a gold station, a shell station, I gave that a call.

That was many years ago when I came out of baseball.

And we made it work with UHF and Miami.

But then we only had two VHF stations, I guess, through the ABC affiliate there.

And then when the ABC, the VHF, the UHF station couldn't make it.

What's going to happen to UHF?

Well, that's a couple of years ago.

I think the UHF, and this will be likely after a few years from now, I think it's going to blossom now, as soon as the commission, I think, takes the broad view.

Should it?

Yes, sir.

I think so.

Why?

Because of not so much the de-sensory use, because you will find that maybe 60% of the sensory use is because the networks themselves want to get with these low frequency channels, if you can recall many years ago, the only way that you could get UHF station was with the confirmers.

And it still stays when you put the, the, the excise tax.

And it came out with a statement that all television sets had to have all of them.

And the, the television networks were already locked in with the VHS stations.

And they're not going to move from a channel one to a channel six.

They're not going to do it.

So, therefore, the VHS doesn't get good enough program.

It doesn't get it independently.

Uh, and it's, what's cable going to do to it all?

I was talking to a friend of an acquaintance of yours last evening about that, Mr. Ben Gilbert, who is one of my major stockholders, and he asked me about cable vision.

I think cable vision is when I have mixed emotions.

One is I don't want it to be as successful because I think it will affect our business.

Secondly, I think that the commercial television networks

uh and to some degree the commission might concede toward its growth because you're paying for services you really get from nothing not only new york when i when i go to office in new york i'll be over some friends

And I don't see a heck of a lot more different there than I will see, except commercially free, like the range is great.

Now, the range is a little different this year.

Eventually, we're going to see it even last year than it is this year.

Of course, couldn't a supplier supply it?

Yes, yes.

Could you do that?

Why can't you?

They're thinking about it.

Some of my people are thinking about it.

Yeah, but if I put it to cost, it's too costly.

Too costly?

It's too costly.

And plus the fact that now the franchises have to be approved by the cities.

Oh, by the cities.

Interesting.

I'd like to ask you a question.

Sure.

When did you finish school?

37, law school.

I was undergraduate in California.

I was in law school at 37.

Well, you were a year away from the flag.

You graduated a year before the Rose Bowl.

They went to the Rose Bowl last year, a year after that.

That was the year they had the MVP on the tag team.

I saw that game.

But, of course, Duke has a typical Wall Street team of great defense.

Unfortunately, that game.

Probably much different, except for an accident.

Very few people remember that that was George McAfee's sophomore year.

George McAfee, unfortunately, had a injury to his ankle.

He only got it, and it was not played.

It magically could have played, including clocking, because, of course, he was one of the great runners of all time.

I remember after Cal scored, he had about 60 seconds left, and Wallace Wade put in that game.

He got the kick off and he ran it back to the 45 yard line as it was, even with a bad angle.

So that was the interception.

Duke was prime coach.

I remember that year for his team, that's very tempting.

He was a great kicker and full bracket, a good solid player.

But the superstar man he was to be a, everybody, and he went off years after that.

Well, I was, I was a bear, yes.

And also, it was his shine, I think, in the professional football world.

Well, you see, with Pat and Bears, I think people generally thought, I never saw him play at his best.

I mean, I only saw him play, I didn't see him play at his best, but at his best, I think most of the great, uh, great, uh, former newscasters, et cetera, rated him the best runner, or who is the best runner, but he actually had it all, you know, he could move, he was fast.

It wasn't that long, five or six years.

He's got to burn himself.

Something like, you know, Sayers.

Yeah.

This guy's bigger than Sayers.

You know, he has a way about it.

Even at that time, the speed that he had was fantastic.

I was the captain of the big baseball team for a couple of years.

You played under a good name.

Jack was a great coach, a great man.

Fantastic, a fantastic teacher.

Where did you go, Senator?

Kensington.

Of course, you're a big man.

You swallowed that time.

What are you saying?

I killed you, Justin.

It's a matter of fact.

I've talked to people about it.

I've killed people like this.

I've got a million people who I don't even know.

I've talked to people like this.

That's all you do is to go to Japan.

Or you go to Japan.

I go to Japan.

It kills me because I sit on the floor.

And you're supposed to sit on your feet.

And I just can't stand it because my knees go up.

But you see that you, who's followed up with the text, you just swap out there on the jet.

And you go to the floor.

And you drink.

You talk about the world.

You're supposed to go to the places that you go to in Japan.

They don't allow it.

Yes, I understand.

It's very clear.

I understand.

I'm sorry about that.

He was telling another friend of mine at a conference, his wife, I didn't have to, but I was there on a business trip.

So we were meeting, so he had taken a break that evening at some sort of...

And he was my friend.

He brought his wife.

He said, oh, that's great.

He said, bringing your wife to Tokyo is like bringing hamburger to the feast.

Thank you.

Let me just say that the property that will keep this game down, it'd be great if we could get out of it.

Many years ago, when I was with the Magnet Hall Club, because I don't know if I was any other man who was on the party.

who stole about $9 million.

I've only made $10 million in two suitcases and three in England.

But we could have bought.

We could have bought.

We could have bought the key, but not the key at that particular time.

Because he spent the money in bulk and, you know, we're out of the entire place.

Now, I'm a part of it.

But, you know, when you think of it, that stuff is what he paid for it, but they hate that they're not selling it on foot.

It's unbelievable.

But it's great.

Yeah, thank you so much.

Well, good luck to you.

Thank you for your success.

Thank you so much.

We hope your network survives.

Great show.

But you know your own network, too.

We have a virtual network.

We have seven stations on that.

Seven.

Seven to seven.

That's good.

And you're doing a great job on the Spanish network.

And good luck in doing that.

And then you go to Texas.

Well, my effort would be, but that goes.

They like mountains.

It's interesting.

I suppose the subject of our book, should we draw a book on this, is the black sand, as I told Reverend Jesse Jackson.

You stand up and you yell and you shoot for something and you make yourself be hurt and you want to be hurt and then you get out of it when it happens to it.

I see this happening, so I'm with Black Network, and this is what all the big commercial advertisers, all the major clients and agencies said, but we don't have a vehicle in which we can support the blacks in their voice and share locations.

So when I started with Black Network, I was called a redneck, and everything in the world.

I go back to these major clients and agencies, and I say to them, now we have a vehicle that's driven, produced, and broadcast by blacks completely, exclusively 100% out of the soul, no support to them.

Now I have to accept their reactions.

Wow.

Ah, look, I've been saying they won't say for a year how you operate.

I said, what do you mean they won't say for a year?

We've got, uh, I've been just asking everybody about it.

It's fine.

I've got a lot of listeners.

We have $660,000 worth of war help.

Jackass.

Well, let me see.

This is the thing you talked about.

Didn't you?

That's right.

Well, that's right.

We want a few dollars.

We just want to be professional liberals.

Yes, and that's all right.

And I'll convey the best to you, Mr. John Hardin.

And I'm Gilbert.

I'm the last member of the board.

Thank you so much for your time.

You were due to?

Yes, sir.

Well, you had been to a women's college, of course.

That's right.

You got what?

That's right.

Yeah, 46.

I'll tell you, you've had to be pretty good at some things.

Because you know, they're never scarce.

Oh, they don't have a lot of money to water.

Say they're 5,000, 3,000 altogether.

800,000.

800,000, all those men.

And I wore the Duke sweater and the white black skid shoes to the room.

They did that.

How exciting.

That was a pretty good picture.

46.

He'd been married 25 years.

I think it was the same.

OK.