The mainstream media is collapsing as Vice Media and CBS News announce major changes. But now, progressives have talk radio in their sights. Glenn reviews the latest changes to the world of radio that could dismantle the entire system and crush free speech: George Soros is on the verge of taking control of Audacy, the second largest broadcaster in America; An investor based in Singapore is trying to take over Cumulus Media, the third largest broadcaster; And the FCC is forcing all broadcasters to start posting a race and gender scorecard on the demographics of their workforce. This is all an attempt to crush one of the last bastions of free speech, Glenn says.
TranscriptBelow is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: I want to give a mile-marker. I feel that part of my job is to inform you.
What direction are we going in? And how fast are we going?
Let me give you a couple of stories that are gravely, gravely concerning.
I told you, last week, the Soros fund management, you know, run by billionaire George Soros and his son. Have now taken control or are on the verge of taking control of Audacy.
Audacy is the second largest broadcaster in America. Only iHeartRadio owns more.
And thank God, at this point, i Heart media. IHeartRadio has the Premiere Radio networks.
I've worked for this company in one way or another, since 1989.
They are my partner with this broadcast. And they have been always very, very supportive. If it wasn't for my partners, Julie Talbot and Dan Meador, and all of the people at i Heart media, who have just -- this show wouldn't be heard anywhere.
So i Heart is the only one, right now, not under attack.
And I will tell you about this. First, Audacy. Audacy amassed $1.9 billion in debt. They filed for bankruptcy.
And now Soros is taking on the -- the fund, and they will be the largest shareholder, once the bankruptcy proceedings conclude. Where are we?
They're dismantling radio.
And buying radio up. Now, Soros has already bought, what?
Last year. I think 50 radio stations that were all Spanish-speaking.
Gee. Isn't that interesting?
Now he's buying up, the second largest broadcaster in America.
Audacy owns 220 stations. News Talk, in New York. Chicago. Los Angeles. All some of the biggest news talk stations in the country.
They own the -- the radio stations, including KDWM, in Las Vegas.
Ph.D. Philadelphia.
KDK in Pittsburgh. They have Dana Loesch on many other stations. They have Sean Hannity. Mark Levin. And George Soros has spent more than $21 billion over the last few decades.
He spent 1.3 billion in 2022 alone.
Most of that cash went to left-wing causes, including Media Matters, Planned Parenthood, the Sunrise Movement.
He is the guy who has put in the radical DAs. And the radical attorneys general.
And now, what?
He's buying up talk radio. Why would you do that?
Why would you buy all of these broadcasts?
It seems like it's a failing industry, right? It's not.
It's not. About 80 percent of the people, till listen to radio.
80 percent. That's incredible. You think -- nobody listens to the radio. 80 percent still listen to the radio.
Okay. So that is the second largest broadcaster, now going to George Soros.
Then we have this.
Cumulus. Cumulus used to be the ABC radio network. It used to be the largest. Now, I think it is the third largest.
Cumulus is facing a takeover from an investor based in Singapore.
Part of the process of their bankruptcy. It has asked for, and received from the FCC permission to become as much as 100 percent foreign-owned.
So the third largest broadcaster, is about to go to a Singapore Holdings Company.
How does this bid, for America?
You have George Soros, and a Singapore can. And then i Heart, all alone.
But don't worry, news for radio gets even better. Yesterday, Brenden Carr, he's an FCC commissioner. He came out and said, the FCC has just ordered every broadcaster to start posting a race and gender scorecard, that breaks down the demographics of their workforce.
Activist lobbied for this, because they want to see businesses pressured into hiring people based on their race and gender. Courts have already overturned the FCC twice for pressuring broadcasters to making hiring decisions in violation of the Constitution.
I dissent.
This is a shot across our bow now, if the Supreme Court doesn't stop them again. We will now, if I want to be on radio, have to disclose, by the way.
I don't have a problem doing this.
I'm almost 2 percent Native American.
So I'm a minority, inside of a minority.
Anyway, we have to start hiring, based on gender and everything else.
I don't care what, you know, male, female. I don't care who you sleep with. I don't care what color you are.
I really don't.
I want to know what's inside of your head.
I want to know, how you think.
Can you bring something different, that I don't bring to the table?
That's how I hire.
Can you fit what your different thinking is, into what I'm trying to accomplish?
If you can, great!
We're going to work together forever.
Most of the people, that I work with, and I apologize for this. Spend their life with me.
STU: Sort of feels that way.
GLENN: Because we have a good working relationship. We all respect each other. Again, except for Stu.
This is really, and let me give you another one. This is not about radio.
Vice media, stops publishing on Vice.com. Slashes hundreds of jobs, amid mainstream media death spiral.
So all of these mainstream media companies, they're all -- did you hear about CBS?
And Catherine Herridge -- how do you say her name?
Herridge. Right? I can't remember.
Anyway, worked with her at Fox. We were obviously very close.
But she's very, very credible.
She's worked -- I don't agree with her all the time. But she's an actual journalist.
And CBS News they just threw her out.
She's gone. Now, they're saying, that's we've laid lots of people off, recently.
Because we're collapsing.
STU: That's their argument. For themselves.
GLENN: Yeah. We're collapsing.
Okay. Well, maybe. Or maybe a real journalist just isn't welcomed there anymore.
I don't know.
But everything, all of the media, what I said to Stu. And when we were at the height of Fox. I said, we have to get out of here.
And everybody is like, what?
Everybody works their whole life to get here. And I'm like, we have to get out of here.
I said, this whole thing is going to burn itself down. It's all going to collapse.
And here we are. It's all collapsing.
But as I said at the time as well, if you're here, while it collapses, and you'll survive, you'll then be working for the government.
Because all of these people, will get bail. They'll get bailed out by the federal government.
We can't. These institutions are far too important. This has it goes back to your Cloward and Piven stuff from yesterday.
It's worth watching. If you go to your Blaze TV account. You can watch it on demand.
It's one of those situations.
Vice is a great example of this.
How many articles did vice write about how your career and life were collapsing.
GLENN: Oh, my gosh.
Over and over again.
STU: Over and over again.
And all these companies, writing for years. About how conservative media personalities were going to flame out, and their businesses were going to collapse, are now all gone.
They're just -- they've all either dissolved. Or fired all their people. And AI is writing their articles.
It is, sure, satisfying. For me. But it is -- it is embarrassing for them, I would assume.
It's -- I don't know. Maybe they've all just -- they all moved on. They're all taking money from the government. And living at home now.
Or working from home now.
I don't know. It doesn't seem like they're able to keep any of these things afloat.
How much -- how much money did Vice get?
Billions and billions of dollars.
Of just free investment cash. Dumped into that place.
GLENN: Can you imagine if we would have had hundred --
STU: Oh, my gosh.
GLENN: Hundred million. Just 100 million. Compared to the billions that they had.
Just 100 million -- 50 million in investment.
Can you imagine what we could have done with it? Because we wouldn't have wasted it. They just wasted it.
STU: Gone.
GLENN: Gone.
STU: And this is also while they're producing shows for HBO. I mean, they were handed a media empire, with let's be honest, no valid reason to be handed a media empire.
I mean, like, vice did some interesting stuff early on.
They were kind of the different. They just turn into the typical left-wing news source.
And we were supposed to sit here and be like, oh, wow. This is amazing. It's innovative.
Let's just throw money at these people. What do they do?
The place is gone, basically.
GLENN: We sat there, for I don't know how many meetings. I sat there with big, big companies, that were trying to figure out, how we were doing it.
And at the time, we were doing it, more right than anybody else. We were still wrong.
And we had no margin of error. Because it was all on me.
And they were trying to figure out, you know, what do we do? What do we do?
And I remember sitting in meetings going, your numbers don't make sense. I'm sorry, guys. I'm not an accountant. I'm not a good businessman.
But I can look at this. You're selling what for what? And how do you even know that's true?
And it was all hype. It was all hype.
Now all that hype is over. And it's all falling apart. The mainstream media is falling apart.
And look what's happening.
You know, I mean, said recently, it's been quiet, on the western front.
It's been all quiet for quite some time in talk radio.
Haven't really had any attacks on talk radio. Been squished with digital. But on talk radio, haven't had a single problem.
That's new.
What was that all about?
They forget about us?
No. No. They're just going to take it.
They're just going to take it in public/private partnerships. And the left, because our billionaires do nothing.
Honest to God, our billionaires who believe in America, the only one that I know, that is actually putting his money where his mouth is. Is Donald Trump.
I mean, there is a handful.
STU: Yeah. I don't agree with that. There are some of these guys, very active. Not always publicly.
GLENN: Yes. But George Soros.
I mean, if you're going to stand up, stand up. Stand up.
You want to stay in the shadows? That's fine.
And I thank you for it. But get your friends to stand up. Why isn't -- we know the power of talk radio.
We know the power of radio. Where are our billionaires? Why aren't they stepping to the plate?
Why?
Anyway, I want you to do me a favor.
I want you to support your local radio station. The station that is -- is running this program.
Please, support them. Please, buy the advertising.
If you -- I'm not asking to you buy something you don't need.
If you hear somebody advertising.
Something like, okay. I need that.
Or I'm looking at that. Please, go to that store, or whatever.
Local radio is critical. Critical.
You've got to have a local radio station. That is not controlled by the Borge (phonetic).
We thank our sponsors, and we thank our local radio stations. Our affiliates. You're the heart of us. Thank you.