The unsigned opinion piece supported a DC based Hispanic organization’s boycott of CNN for allowing Lou Dobbs to be on their schedule.
The paper went further, to encourage a boycott of a local Tucson host, a direct competitor of the paper.
Far be it from me to need to support CNN, but in this case they are an inappropriate target.
The paper’s claims are false. Dobbs, Beck, O’Reilly and others, including myself, are
not anti-immigrant. We are anti-illegal immigrant. Those who follow the script, follow the policies and the laws are welcome. Those who do not, regardless of their ethnicity, are not welcome.A good friend of mine is such an immigrant. His father came here from Ecuador legally in the 60’s. He saved for years until he had the money put aside to bring the rest of the family here legally. It wasn’t cheap and it wasn’t easy. He’s now a citizen and furious. If they had been able to just waltz over the border and save the expense, it wouldn’t be right or legal!
America is a land of opportunity, but it is governed by the rule of law.
Honor it and respect it. Do the right thing and go home until you can move here legally like others have.
Speaking of the rule of law...
I was getting off a bus on Tuesday morning about 1:30 when I saw at the corner that I crossed at what appeared to be an active crime scene. Rather than walk through an active crime scene with someone splayed out on the sidewalk I crossed the street three car lengths form the corner. The officer had a conniption and threatened to arrest me. I told the officer I was just trying to avoid his crime scene. He said next time walk two blocks out of my way.
Right. Get over yourself. Next time I’ll just pull out the camera and walk through the scene taking pictures. Could be interesting.
The tomato crisis, while serious, amuses me.
The salmonella-tainted tomatoes came from "either" Florida or Mexico?
A no-brainer to me. Given the safety record of Mexican Agriculture(remember the strawberries and the tainted cheese) I would say the culprit is obvious.
Meanwhile, the huge delay deals yet another punishing blow to American Agriculture. If this keeps up, the only way to get domestic produce will be to grow your own...
I had a true blast from the past this week!
The annual meeting of the Cauliflower Alley Clubtook place at the Riviera, and I loved seeing all those people from my past. "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, Terry Funk, Paul and Luna Vachon, JJ Dillon and many more along with newer performers including Chris Masters.
It was wonderful to see these old friends getting together to remember old times. Many of the performers I was seeing in person for the first time in nearly forty years. I felt like a kid again.
Too bad many of today’s top stars won’t make it to the age of these classic performers.
Sad.
WYATT COX
Wyatt Cox loves his wrassling. Lock up with him at rant.wyattcox.net
]]>I think that number, believe it or not, is low.
I believe that to be low because of the reaction to the 1996 power failure.
FLASHBACK: I was heading down Main Street on my way home (which now is the site of Steve Wynn’s employee parking garage) when I noticed radio stations dropping off the air...including mine! I hotfooted it to the station to find that I had left a disc in a drive and the on-air control computer wouldn’t boot. We also had satellite receiver failures, so I had to quickly assess the situation and throw on what programming I could find. Finally, I saw the first story trickle in over Bloomburg and (get this) the Xinhua news agency (that’s China, folks!) that there was a major power failure affecting the western US.
Not knowing the impact as to what was happening, and getting intermittent phone calls from people wanting to know as well, I went on the air and started taking phone calls, drawing on my years of experience in the Midwest on how to handle power failures due to tornadoes, floods, ice storms and the like. I stayed on the air talking with people and helping them through the failures.
It was hours later that the station owner, our esteemed publisher (who had been on a plane to Tulsa), called to find out what the new kid was doing to his station. Listeners were calling his toll free line and writing the station to thank us for what we did.
But really, it was no big deal. I was prepared.
Honestly, none of the other stations in Las Vegas knew what to tell people to do.
People were afraid for their food, their animals, their personal well being, and didn’t know to shut off their air conditioning and unplug their appliances until after the power came back on, lest all the neighborhood’s start up power at once blowing another transformer and keeping your neighborhood dark hours longer.
We had people listening for hours that night, and it sure gave me a good feeling knowing my information was appreciated.
I wasn’t surprised at all about the ignorance of the public, but had to really think as to where to send you to learn more about preparedness.
The fed’s ready.govis a good start, but I strongly suggest the Red Cross website for more detailed emergency information. They’ve been in the disaster recovery business a lot longer (and performed far better) than the gubmint.
One of the things you’ll need is a good source of self-powered lighting and communication. Battery operated equipment is OK, but batteries can become scarce in a severe situation and can deplete rapidly.
I first saw the Freeplayline of gear at the Consumer Electronics Show in 1997 and became a believer. Unlike other "crank" devices which use a Dynamo to charge a battery, the crank on a Freeplay device winds a spring which, as it unwinds, turns a small generator that creates immediate power.
I have two of the original units that I bought on eBay and would never part with them.
The Freeplay websiteoffers not only radios, but flashlights, lanterns, and alternative power sources for charging portable electronics.
In addition to the Freeplay sources, consider getting some of those flashlights you see on TV that you shake to charge.
Of course keeping some easy to prepare emergency foodon hand is a good idea, but how do you prepare it? Perhaps it might be a good excuse to buy a new propane gas grill– and don’t forget a manual can opener!
Do some research now, stock up now, and the next time the lights go
out, you’ll be prepared.
WYATT COX
Wyatt Cox wasn’t much of a Boy Scout, but he tries to be prepared. Check
out his writings at rant.wyattcox.net
]]>Our months-old pair of McDonalds rants which I recently posted on our blog site (rant.wyattcox.net) apparently got the attention of someone.
Dale Wolf grabbed significant parts of our piece and reprinted them over at his blog.
Although he did "sanitize" some of my less politically incorrect observations, probably because he didn't want to address them, he did get the story as I wrote it pretty much right.
Two points that I would like to correct.
1) He misread--dramatically--the discussion of the internal McDonald's Memorandum regarding Customer Service. He claimed in his text that the number of complaints to McDonald's customer contact number was "20.1 per 100,000 callers" at corporate stores, and "12 per 100,000 callers" at franchise locations. I bet McDonald's wishes they were that low. The actual figures were "20.1 per 100,000 guests" at corporate stores, and "12 per 100,000 guests" at franchise locations. That is no doubt a huge difference. Routinely, only the most upset guests will ever call the line seeking help from corporate. More often than not, they'll just walk away and tell a hundred friends about their bad experience.
2) McDonald's is pretending that this leaked report doesn't exist. While I quote the original story and a quote that the original reporter got from a McDonald's spokesperson, the folks at the Golden Arches never responded to repeated emails and phone calls seeking comment.
Further, if this was just an isolated incident, I would probably be willing to just "blow it off" and move on. This, however, was my wife's second bad experience with this manager, one of several at this location, and another of an ongoing number of substandard experiences with McDonald's. Our expectations have never been horribly high -- adequate food, prompt service, and a somewhat reasonable price -- and routinely we are disappointed at most every location!
To date I maintain that McDonald's is suffering from "We don't give a damn-itis".
1) People at the counter increasingly do NOT speak English, nor do they seem to be able to attempt to do the little things like read your order back to ensure that they have it right.
2) Seldom do the McDonald's near me have more than one register open and always have long lines. (Note that I look in to see, I still am not going there) Wait and service times are far longer than the "60 second service" that Ray Kroc used to set as the standard.
3) Corporate continues to move far beyond their core business and add things that don't enhance their business and lengthen wait times for the rest of the customers.
Mr. Wolf, I understand that the perfect customer experience is a ideal that is rarely achieved. I also know that I continue to visit Jack In The Box (which increasingly has more non-English speakers but they are trying to help me), Burger King (which has had it's moments but seem to, be getting better), and Wendys (which I would visit more if they had locations more in my neighborhood), and they all have problems, but they do not consistently annoy like McDonalds.
Mr. Wolf, I encourage you to rerun the metrics, see if you can actually get someone from McDonalds to talk to you, and then, let's talk again.
Maybe you can give them some solutions.
Maybe they'll listen.
I doubt it.
The National Association of Broadcasters annual Las Vegas get together concludes today, and once again, my fellow broadcasters haven't a clue.
Their new slogan, "Radio Heard Here" means nothing.
I worked here in Las Vegas for some time, and could tell you about a period where our little AM station was Destination Listening for a few hundred people daily. We gave people a reason to call, to listen, to participate, to get, involved.
And to tell their friends.
The failure of local radio to become Destination Listening is why the industry is perceived as failing.
The truth is, the failure is occurring in major cities, where there are far too many people to make that intimate connection, and where owners either don't understand how, or are unwilling to make the commitment to making their station the most important thing in their listeners lives.
Smaller markets understand how to do that. Relating to listeners on a totally local level. Reporting on and talking about the local events that won't change the world, but affect their world.
I know, school lunch menus and local birthdays aren't the fodder of big city radio. It won't work.
Just ask Ron Chapman, who took a daytime only radio station and a low powered FM in Dallas and made it number one for years. When the big boys bought it and homogenized it, Chapman retired and the station now languishes.
Keep it interesting and relevant to your listeners, and you will succeed. Compromise, like most of today's big broadcasters have, and you will not succeed.
A question for you: If there was a disaster in Las Vegas today, where would you turn first to find out what was going on? Go to rant.wyattcox.net to add your comments. Be honest and let me know what you think. I'll pass along your comments and tell you the story of a couple of events in the 12 years I've lived here that may interest you in a future issue
]]>He's here!!!
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