Post-Forum Recap - Time for a Call-Out!

Blair Castro and Thomas Jenkins recap the inaugural WFUZ-TV Candidate Showcase and get back to their roots of calling folks out. 

(Shoutouts too!)

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you may be. I'm Thomas Jenkins. This is WFUZ TV People's Voice Podcast, and I'm here with Blair Castro. Blair, what are we talking about tonight?

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Today we wanted to perhaps call a few people out. It's been a while since we've done that, and as you might remember, we're not really that nice of people. But I first want to be nice and thank everyone who came to our candidate showcase last night in Gulf Shores. I am so happy that those candidates that showed up and the audience that showed up cared enough to be involved in this political process. We do everything we do for free. We don't take money to come on this podcast. We open it up to everyone. We spend a lot of hours and gear and equipment and skills to edit these episodes and to put it on platforms and stream it online. And it's a lot of work. And we don't have any sponsorships. We do it all out of our own pockets. So this event was the first thing we actually generated some sort of income from to like offset the cost of the event itself and to get a little bit for our equipment and making the thing look even better. So to see that those candidates support what we're doing and trying to get more fair and conversational news out there really means a lot.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

Yes. Thank you so much for helping us grow.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

So now we want to address another article that came out about our showcase because I feel like it may misrepresent what actually occurred there. Um another news. A news article from a news source was written, and the article, first of all, has a photo at the very top, and it shows us on stage interviewing a candidate and like two or three people in the audience looking on.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Two or three people? That seems like not a lot of people. That's Yes. As a matter of fact, this article said, quote, a handful of constituents were in attendance.

SPEAKER_00 1:47

Yes, that's how the article described our event as a handful of constituents uh watching everybody there, and they took a photo that specifically made it look really empty, and apparently the person who wrote the article also walked around and like kind of laughed and said, Oh, there's not a lot of people here, which I thought was kind of mean, and especially coming from a news source that I read and like, and then to feel you know a little demeaned by them kind of hurt my feelings a little bit, but it's not the reality of what happened. There were not there were empty chairs up front because nobody wanted to sit up front. In the back of the room, all the roundtables were filled with people eating food. People were at the booths in the back talking to candidates. How many people? Actually, I took a video and Chat GPT counted all the individual people at kind of the height when people were there walking around. There was 91 people in the video, and that didn't even include people backstage or little kids or you know, us doing it. So there was probably roughly, you know, a hundred people coming through in the night. It was not a handful of people there. And yes, that included the candidates and their families and teams, but those people are voters as well.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

Hardly a handful. And so the article also goes on to say in quotes that we made this claim that there wouldn't be shotty microphones and boring questions and a few things like that. And guess what? There weren't any questions about infrastructure that drawn on forever. And yes, we've been to multiple political events, maybe, maybe not, sponsored by this so-called news source. And yes, the microphones sound like absolute garbage. They're feeding back the mid-range and the two and a half K is a little bit muddy for my taste. I would dial that back so that you don't have 70-year-olds and octogenarians going, I can't hear you, even though the microphone's right here and it's constantly going. Nobody wants to hear that. And so we put on an event where that didn't happen, and people could actually hear what the candidates were saying. Sorry about that. Not sorry.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

So, yes, we did not have shoddy microphones and we did not have long, boring questions or, you know, lengthy speeches because that was the format that we wanted. We wanted to hit the highlights of these candidates, which was why are you running for office, you know, and why should I pick you over the other people in your race? I think that's the most important things people want to know generally. And then a couple little, you know, unique questions thrown in, but we hit those things on the head and they got succinct. Being able to get on stage and articulate those, you know, core talking points of your why is super important for a candidate.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

So, in short, we don't need your validation. So let's turn the tables here. What else happened? Speaking of tables last night.

SPEAKER_00 4:13

So something interesting occurred at the event. I want to thank again the 18 candidates who participated and paid the tables.

SPEAKER_01 4:22

18 candidates. 18. Yes, 18.

SPEAKER_00 4:25

They paid a fee to either have a table or get on stage and speak. The way I set this event up, you had to pay a fee to get on stage and speak, but it's not just to speak, you're not speaking to the crowd necessarily, you're speaking to a video, you're speaking to WFUZ TV. You will get your own video from it, and that was an asset for them to all have a professionally produced video that was something they could share on social media, website, whatever, that would typically cost, you know, a thousand bucks if they hired an outside video firm to do that. But you participate in this where you get to be there live, and then also, you know, you get this asset. So one candidate showed up and he did not RSVP, even though I sent numerous invites. I invited every single candidate, by the way. There was nobody, it was not welcome. There's no one I ever turned away, and I never did not invite people.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

Do you have the receipt for it?

SPEAKER_00 5:10

Oh, I absolutely do.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

We should throw that up. And also, so just to clarify, it was 18 candidates and not 19, right? 18, not 19.

SPEAKER_00 5:23

It was 18 candidates who came.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

18, not 19.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

So this one particular candidate, um his team came, and I think the team just really didn't get the email. I do believe that part, but I sent emails to the Facebook, to their info at email, to this person's campaign assistant or manager herself. I had emailed numerous times, and people told me, make sure to include this person. Well, I totally did. Like I did, and I will, you know, you can see the screenshots. So I thought it was weird that they didn't want to participate, and then they showed up the day of um and said, We want a table, and I had to get the very last one out of the back, and then a candidate who did pay ended up not getting.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

So, who was the candidate that didn't pay and bullied us for a table? Are we gonna say rhyme with Barry Smart Snarl?

SPEAKER_00 6:10

Yes, it might it might rhyme with Barry.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

Barry Snarl uh bullied us for a free table and then left as the event started, and he was just non-plussed about the fact that you didn't pay to get on stage. We'll just say it outright.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

I I was accommodating. I was like, let me try what I can to get you out of table, and we made it work. Um, but I was adamant about he couldn't be on stage, so that wouldn't be fair because everybody else, even the two candidates who didn't speak on stage, um, which was Angelo Fermo and Joe Freeman, they paid for a table to be a part of the event, even though that wasn't my initial proposal, because they were like, you know, Bive would become and not do what everyone else did. So for this one candidate to show up and then be the only person who didn't contribute anything and then kind of leave really quickly and almost But can we emphasize bullied their way into having a table?

SPEAKER_01 6:55

We have to emphasize that.

SPEAKER_00 6:57

I don't know, I don't know if I would have said bullying them.

SPEAKER_01 6:58

I could have said they were pretty bitchy about it, to quote Mike Mann. And uh so yeah, don't vote for Barry Snarl.

SPEAKER_00 7:06

I was accommodating. I could have said no, but I I really didn't want people to be welcome. But afterwards, the fact that he left so quickly and the fact that I I never heard an RSVP and still hadn't heard any feedback, everybody was thankful, like thanks for the event. You know, everybody was super cool, and this person just seemed like annoyed that they even had to be there, but they didn't have to, and they did an RSVP, so I was just really confused by the whole interaction, and I tried to be nice, and what did that get me, you know?

SPEAKER_01 7:33

And that's why you're the people person.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

Yes. Uh of the two of us, I tend to be the good cop. Even though he's actually the good cop. But um, yeah, so those are two things I kind of wanted to call out a little bit, and then let's talk real quick about the city of Gulf Shores not showing up giving a crap.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

May I retroactively change my vote to Ray Moore for mayor? It was the only person in leadership or that was involved in the city election that showed up. The only one.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

So I I will tell you Shout out the Dean, too. Yes. I will tell you that, you know, we didn't like Ray Moore at first. I said that Ray Moore was a plant, and I've gotten to know him, and he has consistently shown up at every event throughout the county and done more than things just in the city, though he's very involved in the city, and I he has like earned my respect, and that has changed my perception because I've seen how he cares and consistently shows up, and I don't think that's a facade. Like he is that's a lot of time and energy because I do it too, and I'm one of the only people besides him that I recognize from our city at all of these things. I literally cursed at the dude online and he still came and supported our event. Yeah. With his wife, who's very nice, and he, you know, did the pledge at our event, and he is what I would call a community leader. So I'm gonna give him props for that. I went to city council. Oh, also, there was a very nice lady that I met at the city council leading meeting who showed up and was thankful that we put this on, and we need more people like her. I wish I knew her name. I will find it out. She was awesome. Um, but that city council were like, this is a great opportunity, but none of them took the time to show up, probably because it's us and they think we're just very critical. And, you know, maybe they need to be criticized. Let's talk real briefly because I don't want to go on too long, but they they don't show up for things, with the exception of Jennifer Guthrie, who was very nice and who had an emergency and could not come, but she did articulate that to me. Um they're not really responsive. Kraft has straight up told me things that have never come to fruition. He won't put me on his calendar again. I don't know why, even though I've hit him up like five times about that since our last meeting. At first he was about it, and now he just doesn't want to meet at all. I don't understand that. But um, there's I like people that respond. You don't have to always agree with us. Um, Jason Dyken does respond to me via email, he's the only one. But I just wish people would come to events that are brought here in the city and care enough to show up. And I wish our city, you know, online would quit just complaining online and come to things. Come do things and make a difference. You know, we might not have had 300 people there, but we had roughly a hundred people there, and we're gonna put it online and reach more and more people, and we're gonna keep trying to make a difference because that's all we can do.

SPEAKER_01 10:10

And we're gonna do it again. Yeah, absolutely. So uh, that was an absolute blast, and we would love to do that a lot more.

SPEAKER_00 10:19

For sure. And uh, if you're in Gulf Shores, go visit DeSotos and go visit Pelican Scoops. These businesses are getting crushed by that construction that's going on right now.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

Yeah, more on that later.

SPEAKER_00 10:30

Yes. But uh thank you for coming out. If you did, if you missed it, we will put it online. Please watch it, please share it. Please help every single candidate that came to this get their vote and message out because these 18 candidates cared. They cared enough to show up. Not 19, it's 18, not 19. Whether you like them or not, these people gave a crap about what we're doing with this news source. And all that to say, thank you so much for supporting what we do. We have no sponsors, we do this out of pocket. So for us to have an event and for candidates to care enough to show up and support us means the world. For the public to come out and support us means the world. And every time we have something, we plan to grow it and improve time after time. I hope we fondly look back on our first event and say, wow, that was small in comparison to what we're doing a year from now. Because we just started this a year ago and we've grown to almost 1200 followers right now, and almost 50 episodes.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

So that being said, we will see you next time. Good evening, good night. We are WFUZ TV and we are the news.