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Clay Travis
This is an iheart podcast guaranteed human.
Buck Sexton
Welcome back in final hour of the week fourteen hours up we roll into hour fifteen as a winter storm prepares to take over much of the country from basically texas all the way up to new york and beyond in the next couple of days we are joined now by fcc chairman brendan carr who sent a letter to many different media companies relating to the shows that they put on particularly shows like the view or the late night comedy shows that gave a explanation of how the fairness doctrine would be applied how news would be classified he joins us now i appreciate the time chairman carr can you just kind of give us an idea what that letter said and what the intent behind it was and then we'll dive into it a bit well going.
Brendan Carr
To be back with you i mean look as you know you know broadcast television and broadcast radio are sort of fundamentally different than any other forms of distributing program whether it's your podcast or soapbox or a cable channel and congress long ago said that if you're a broadcast tv station for instance and you're going to host one political candidate for office there's a specific statute that talks about equal time equal opportunity and that has to be given to an opposing candidate it's not about you know censorship or shutting down debate it's fundamentally about making sure that that unique access that broadcasters have to this valuable public resource spectrum isn't being put to the partisan advantage of a republican or a democrat and so all we did was simply remind people that maybe you forgot or maybe people have been misreading fcc precedent and they just broadly think that every late night show and daytime talk show is considered bonafide news because if you are a quote bonafide news program then you're exempt from that you don't have to give people equal time but it looks to me that over the years people have misread that and they've just assumed that every single late night and daytime talk show is in fact a bonafide news program even when in many cases it's not going to be found.
Buck Sexton
To be so what would happen commissioner carr thank you for being for being with us what would happen in the case of say one of these programs if the designation is that if your fcc finds that they are not a bona fide news program then i assume they'll fight it what does that look like and what ultimately is the enforcement mechanism for the fcc views as the way the law actually should be applied.
Brendan Carr
Here there's a number of pretty clear remedies that will be available to the fcc so you may remember in the run for the last presidential election comcast nbc put on vice president harris and candidate harris on snl the sunday before i believe the tuesday election and the law had actually been clear at the time that snl was not a bona fide news program so what they had to do was file a notice with the fcc that they gave time to a candidate and that allowed other people then seek equal opportunities and i think at least to some extent they did give time to other candidates and so here they would have to file that type of notice and if they didn't you know the fcc could you know effectively provide relief to make sure that the broadcaster does in fact give what they call comparable time comparable placement if they don't if there's a pattern of disregarding that fcc rule then that becomes a problem for them in terms of the underlying license itself so it could be anything from some sort of injunctive relief that makes sure everyone gets equal treatment it could be fines by the fcc or ultimately it could go to the underlying license itself and one thing that's so interesting to me is if you look at the reaction to the fcc taking this decision it seems to be voices on the left and politicians on the left that seem to be outraged by and i think that's kind of telling like again we're not saying put all republicans on or put all democrat on we're saying how about equal time and there's at least you know one side of the political aisle that seems to be very upset with it which i guess means maybe they think that they've been getting more than equal.
Buck Sexton
Time i don't know yeah let me ask you this the view i would contend is not a bona fide news program and and i'm curious how you would analyze this but you may or may not know this and we're talking to fcc commissioner chair brendan carr so the view came out recently one of their hosts did and said well the reason we don't have conservative guests on the show is no conservatives will come on the show so when that story happened both buck and myself said we are happy to go on the show we've never been invited we actually affirmatively reached out to the producers of the view through our producer sent them emails and notifications saying we're happy to come on we got a pretty successful radio show decent little platform here they never responded so i actually think that's kind of very interesting here as you analyze and i think your letter or the write ups of the of the letter have pointed out that almost all of their guests are left wing they have almost no conservative viewpoints in your mind is the view a bonafide news program and should they be able to have on hundreds of left wings prognosticators and politicians and never anybody providing the other side given that they air primarily on abc which is a broadcast channel well.
Brendan Carr
We certainly haven't seen any evidence put before us to establish the case that they are in fact bonafide news and so i'd be happy to have them file a petition to try to seek that status if they want and be interested to see what type of evidence they put forward but if you look at the history of the fcc's approach to this when they look at these individual programs and the fcc acts under our case law are they motivated by partisan political agendas or are they truly out there engaging in sort of newsworthy discussions and if you're putting ninety eight democrat candidates on and one or no republican candidates on you know it's going to be a pretty uphill fight to say that we're just out here you know bringing people on for newsworthy value as opposed to pushing one particular partisan ideology.
Buck Sexton
And so now what what are the next steps that you're going to be taking in the fcc like how does this proceed how does you know there's clearly a new sheriff in town at the end of the biden administration a new approach to things so what can we expect in the months ahead from the fcc pardon me doing its.
Brendan Carr
Duty one is we want to make sure that know candidates that are out there if you see an opposing candidate that's on any one of these you know daytime or nighttime talk shows you should raise it to the fcc so we can make sure you know yeah if you're republican or democrat or independent or whatever that you're getting your statutory right to equal time so one we want to make sure people are keeping an eye on this as candidates and we are going to be prepared to step in if we're seeing you know candidates again from any political persuasion on a show that's not in fact bonafide news or fake news or whatever the whatever the opposite of bonafide news is and then we're prepared to step in at that point and make sure that the statutory requirements are followed brendan last.
Buck Sexton
Night your good friend jimmy kimmel in his monologue i've got a quote for you here i want to let you let you hear it because he addressed this this letter in this controversy until this week when trump's little ferret in the fcc brendan carr who as you know yes you are the little ferret in the fcc who as you know is doing everything he can to shut us up quote the easy way or the hard way is trying to say we no longer qualify for the bona fide news exemption when it comes to interviewing candidates which is a sneaky little way of keeping viewpoints that aren't his off the air okay so that i'll let you respond to that in a moment so those were the quotes but let's just say that jimmy kimmel or stephen colbert or or jimmy fallon i think those are the three pr primary late night news host that they have on regularly democrat candidates whether it's kamala harris gavin newsom whomever it might be doesn't it seem if they are going to get a bona fide news exemption that they should also then have sometimes republicans on if they're if if that's going to be considered an exemption what am i missing here and what do you think about being called a quote.
Brendan Carr
Trump'S little ferret i think that's pretty funny it makes me think i should change my ex my twitter profile to be a ferret with some sort of you know fcc hat on it that's probably one of the funniest things i've seen coming out of late night in a while i didn't see that actually i fall asleep well on my own so i don't need to watch that program to fall asleep at night but look you know stepping back if you know if you're fake news you're not going to get to be qualified as a bonafide news program at the fcc and again this is just like core stuff it goes back to the nineteen fifties it's many many decades old that if you want to be a bona fide news program to your point you got to give you know republicans democrats independent equal time and my view is not you know that we need to keep the ball you know due to sports analogy at the fifty yard line at all times on all issues like you know over some period of time maybe keep it between the forties the thirties but if you got the ball at the five yard line for years and years on end i think it's hard to make the case that you're fulfilling your licensed obligation which is to respond to and serve the needs of your licensed community again remember these are programs that are being generated in new york and hollywood and then disseminated in local communities all across the country i think it's important for these you know licensed local broadcasters to have a feedback loop to say to new york and hollywood like this isn't quite the right fit for our community like it's okay to be like you know partisan in some cases it's okay to be like really edgy and to be you know mean to republicans and democrats like no problem but over some period of time reflect your community i think you can make the argument that again you know the ball between the forty at some.
Buck Sexton
Point here i'm not sure how much this is going to be impinged in the fcc universe but obviously the biggest media story writ large is netflix and paramount both trying to buy warner brothers now paramount obviously has cbs the netflix purchase would not necessarily include cnn and as you've talked about broadcast networks abc cbs nbc different rules apply there how much role if any does the fcc have in looking at that potential acquisition and also there's another one out there the potential acquisition by espn of the nfl network espn has abc how much concern from you is there in sort of the media consolidation that you're seeing and is there a role in either of those for the fcc or is the broadcast connection less significant so that's not really as much in your purview.
Brendan Carr
Yeah netflix in warner combining in the main that's going to be before the department of justice there could be a small piece of related to the competing bid from paramount that there could be some additional investment in paramount which does have broadcast licenses that we would take a quick look at but i've already seen some of the information on that and that doesn't look like there's any sec hurdles at all they'd just be taking out some additional what we call bonafide debt but i do think underlying i've heard a lot of concerns you look at netflix they have three hundred million or some odd number of subscribers i think they've grown in a lot of ways organically which is great for them but you combine that with some of the streaming services that they would get through the warner deal there's been a lot of concerns raised from sort of a concentration and a competition perspective there similarly the disney espn nfl deal that would be doj i haven't tracked that one as closely there may be some concerns there and in terms of concentration it's a challenge you know again taking back to the broadcast space you've got comcast which is nbc you've got disney which is abc and over the last decade or so they've amassed tremendous tremendous amount of power and so one of my north stars in media policies how do we make sure that these licensed broadcasters that are actually out there in the country how do we make sure they have a better position to stand up with and compete against those we call them national programmers comcast and disney and that's kind of underlying a lot of the work we're trying to do with the fcc is it also.
Buck Sexton
The big challenge here because i'm fascinated buck always kind of like jokes about it i love media more than anything is it one of the big challenges here that as the cbs and the nbc's and the abcs and even the foxes lose overall audience and the streamers take over to your point if suddenly netflix owns hbo and the streaming audiences are becoming so massive right where most people are spending their time on streaming it creates a world where the broadcast networks which are heavily regulated have almost no impact in our larger discourse frankly in the years ahead and cable and streaming takes over and there's limited if any impact for the larger you know sort of governmental affairs community which cared so desperately like on this program where we are we're regulated by fcc traditionally the fcc has regulated where americans have gone to consume media in the future the fcc impact and just the larger governmental impact is minimal and the overall power of these streamers is continuing to grow that seems fairly significant long range.
Brendan Carr
Yeah i think you're right i mean look the extent that everything is moving we call over the top we're streaming we had you know some basic regulatory guardrails in these other areas whether it was traditional cable or traditional broadcast and those guardrails aren't present with respect to streaming but to your point too i think one of the biggest bogeys coming down the pipe is the the contracts for carrying these sports leagues particularly the nfl right the nfl contract with broadcasters are going to come up i think in the next two years that's a really really significant fork in the road i mean let's say a substantial portion of those nfl broadcast rights which go on traditional free over the broadcast tv go even further behind the paywall of the streamers right of amazon or hulu or paramount or wherever it goes that's interesting in terms of both what does it do the economics of broadcasting you're not bringing those eyeballs anymore that want to see the nfl but also what does it mean for the nfl from almost an antitrust perspective just taking it behind a paywall does that change the analysis in terms of congress giving that antitrust exemption to them but if you want to think about what's a big interesting fork in the road in broadcast the expiration of the nfl tv broadcast rights coming up in the next two years is a very significant event super.
Buck Sexton
Interesting we know you're busy we appreciate the time happy to have you on anytime and good luck with your new ferret profile pick i appreciate it thanks guys that's fcc commission chair of brendan carr i want to tell you do you need a little bit more energy is there going to be a lot of snow out in your yard on your on your front porch on your driveway are you going to have to be out in the cold shoveling away all this snow and are you already dreading it because you're like oh my goodness i'm going to be so tired from all this maybe you could use a little bit of extra testosterone level in your life and that's what chalk does their male vitality stack includes an ingredient been proven to boost t levels up as much as twenty percent in three months time spelled c h o q dot com you are gonna love chalk they will hook you up right now when you use my name clay as your promo code you will get a free ninety nine bag of chalk one lit powder with your first delivery that's chalk dot com my name clay start your year off strong focused and energized today chalk dot com chalk lit powder free ninety nine bag get hooked up today put some testosterone back in.
Clay Travis
Your life with chalk sometimes all you can do is laugh and they do a lot of it with the sunday hang join clay and buck as they laugh it up in the clay and buck podcast feed on the iheartradio app or wherever you get your podcasts welcome.
Buck Sexton
Back into clay and buck have you put the wager out there i just completed it i just why don't you share with everybody clay is now in the weatherman business too big time bigly.
Tell everybody bigly i love snow and so it rarely snows in nashville so long time ago when i started doing local sports talk radio in nashville i named myself the snows are and i would give snow reports i have been following this storm like crazy so this is going to potentially lead to an interesting situation on monday if nashville does not get at least six inches of snow i will measure in my yard i'll look at the official tallies then i i'm saying we will get more than six inches of snow then i will shave my beard off and i will go with only a mustache until it hits sixty degrees in the city so i am putting my beard on the line it's gotten quite intense here this white beard the santa like beard that i now have on the line versus a mustache six inches of snow.
Or bust i just clay in the snow with a red suit and that beard it's gonna bring back christmas memories everybody all right look homicide figures are down that's a tough turn homicide figures are down year to year and that's a very good thing right hold it sorry yeah but you still have to be able to protect yourself in your home because home invasions burglaries are happening all across america and this is why i want you to check out sabre okay the sabre home defense launchers they have incredible stopping power and there's so many other products for sabre to keep you safe in your home and it's all kinds of great stuff when you're on the move for example sabre has the best pepper sprays pepper gels and stun guns to give you compact reliable protection wherever life takes you when safety matters america chooses sabre sabre the number one brand trusted by police and millions worldwide go to sabrerradio dot com that's s a b r e radio dot com or call eight four four eight.
Two four safe welcome back in joined now by mary margaret olan she spent the day with vice president jd vance probably is not expecting this opening question but you never know what you're gonna get on the show mary margaret we've had you on quite a few times you're doing great work at the daily wire i am curious i am curious but you might want to say thank you you have no idea what's coming have you ever seen a man who looks better with a mustache than without a mustache in other words have you ever seen a man you're a you're a young woman have you ever seen a man and thought man that is a striking mustache that is an attractive look or do mustaches always make guys in your opinion look worse oh that.
Clay Travis
Is a great question i have to say in the era of top gun maverick i've seen a lot of men sporting mustaches that might do better without them but a mustache on a masculine man i i can get behind that.
Buck Sexton
I'M just gonna say man if if if if your airline pilot has a mustache you know you're in good hands you know you're good to go so.
I i i i want my pilot.
With the with the stash i'm just.
Saying it for sure all right let's go in let's go into some serious stuff here you spent yesterday with jd vance in minneapolis we saw and carried a couple of the cuts that from his press conference that he had yesterday he also spoke and is ready for the the goal of being dad for the fourth time he and usha what was that experience like as you went around minneapolis with him what have you found the situation in minneapolis to be like and is it still somewhat stunning to you that the democrat opposition to trump two point zero is a bunch of white women screaming at ice agents for arresting predators on your last point.
Clay Travis
Yes it is astonishing and i think i was really looking forward to this trip to minneapolis because we've seen for weeks now obviously this protesting rioting violence you know the breaking into of an fbi car and handling their weapons all these horrific slogans and chants and threats to ice we've had reporters on the ground there my colleague jenny my colleague breca and so when the vice president's office asked me if i wanted to come with him on the trip i said absolutely and the vice president i believe he timed the trip with some announcements from the doj we went to ohio first toledo yesterday morning and while we were there he announced that pam bondi had just called him and told him that they were filing charges against several of the protesters involved in storming that church over the weekend and so right as we got to minneapolis we were finding out that a judge had blocked the doj from actually filing these charges against don lemon and so that was all kind of going down as we arrived and then just have to note it is freezing there like i am not a midwest girl i live on the east coast i think of dc as pretty cold this time of year it was so cold there that i was miserable after being outside waiting for the vice president to get off air force two so i got to give it to these protesters they are protesting in some really wretched conditions and i don't know what the motivating factor behind their their activities is necessarily but they are very passionate about what they're doing if they're staying out there for this so we saw some of them as we pulled up in the motorcade to the to the facility that the vice president had his conversation with ice officers then so he pulled away from us he had a conversation with ice agents with border patrol with some other federal authorities and they had this private leave for the safety of these ice agents obviously a lot of these guys have been under attack and you know we don't want to put them in a in a place where their public comments could put them in even more precarious position but then after he had that session with them he came over to where we were and we had a press conference with him and that's where we were able to ask him i'm sure some of the clips that you played yesterday we were able to ask him about details about what's going on i actually specifically asked him about the insurrection act which i you know i'm sure you guys have heard a lot about this i have heard so many conservatives saying why haven't they just invoked the insurrection act yet like what what what are they waiting for and what the vp told me was he was saying he didn't really think that it was necessary yet at this point he was saying that it could be eventually they could change their minds and but right now he was saying we don't think we need it and he you know he specifically said trump could change his mind on that but right now they think the federal law enforcement officers can do their job now that's up for debate considering the fact that we are hearing about all these attacks on the ice officers and vance himself told us that the cops on the ground are being told not to help the ice agents when they're under attack so they've literally been told don't aid your fellow law enforcement when they're being attacked by these these illegal immigrants or these protesters and vance really he talked about how unbelievable that was and it was just it was really disturbing honestly to stand there to see all these ice agents lined up behind vance you know some of their leadership lined up behind him not saying anything and then i'm on the side of the media right so we're all in this media pen looking at the vice president looking at these agents and as the media would ask questions that were obviously very leading obviously some of them were based on misinformation to see these guys faces as they look at us and are just so frustrated and appalled at what the media itself is doing to perpetrate a lot of these lies so i found that to be disturbing and you know the vice president is pretty good at debunking some of these lies like for example the story of the five year old who supposedly was detained by ice i mean my own friends i see them on their instagram stories saying like how horrific this is when in fact we know that story is bogus so that in itself was disturbing too but it was very interesting to travel with the vice president to see what he saw to get to talk to him about these different events and then you know it was a long day and i think he learned a lot about what's going on on the ground there and i specifically said to him does what you saw make you want to tell the president to invoke the insurrection act i also asked him about the guy that shot renee good when she rammed him with her car i said did you talk to him did you see him today and he said he didn't talk to him but he did talk to some of the ice agents who knew him which i thought was interesting because i don't know about you guys i've been wondering whether the president or the vice president would speak to that agent and i'm guessing that they're holding off while that investigation is going on.
Buck Sexton
So what do you think happens next mary margaret with these protesters you gave them something of a of a of a frosty high five for being outside and dealing with the very frigid minneapolis wintertime temperatures so in fairness you recognize that that is that requires some stick to itiveness but do you feel like from what you've seen is this fading out or is there plan to continue and go with this for the foreseeable future because the trump administration we just had on before assistant secretary dhs and we can all see from a whole range of different interviews kristi noem and donald trump have given they're not backing down at all so what do you think the protest movement here or the direct action lunatics whatever we should call them what are they going.
Clay Travis
To do next well i mean it's a great question because a lot of these people are being paid and actually you guys will find this interesting as we were pulling up in the motorcade we're getting out we're about to go in i heard and i'm ninety nine percent sure that this is who i think it was i heard an activist yelling into a megaphone and i've covered a lot of protests i cover abortion protests transgender protests i covered protesting outside of the homes of supreme court justices i know a lot of the protestors the activists in the dc area and i am ninety nine percent sure that this one guy that i've encountered many times on the street in dc was in minneapolis with his megaphone and he has told me in dc that he's paid to protest over you know abortion supreme court cases and things like that so that is literally the first protester i heard when i got to minneapolis and you know it makes you realize like a lot of these people are coming from out of town they're being paid to promote this kind of chaos and as long as there are actors that are doing that then i think the protesting will continue and you know when we see incidents like what we saw at the church in minneapolis and by the way minneapolis is the same place where a trans identifying shooter went into a church and killed school children shot them as they were praying like let's not forget that's the same city so on top of that tragedy to just storm into a church and disrupt people as they're worshiping god over your ideology and then the things that these people were ranting were just so absurd and then to defend their actions and lie about their actions on television it's just it's so in your face that it's almost a gift to the right to show people how crazy this this these protesters are and what their messaging is to really shine a light on it and show that it's not coming from a sane and rational place and a lot of this protesting is promoting the misinformation that we're seeing whether it's you know that ice agents are shooting people without provocation whether that it's ice agents are storming people's houses without warrants or that they're detaining five year olds all of these stories are easily debunkable and they have been but these are the things that are motivating these people to protest and they're really getting away with it on the left i mean these kinds of things are not shown on network tv on the left because they don't fit the narrative so i think without accountability when it comes to legacy media it's going to be hard for hard for the right to really show what's going on so i know the president has talked a lot about how he started talking about this last week how important it is for dhs to show the crimes of the illegals i actually thought that they've done a decent job of that they do put out a lot of messaging on it but he came to the briefing last week and just showed over and over and over these pictures of the illegal immigrants and the crimes that they've committed and just showed picture after picture after picture but i don't know i've been in that briefing room when caroline levitt brought in an angel mother who cried and looked all those reporters in the eye and begged them to tell the truth about what's going on and none of them had the decency to do so so i think you know the media has put us in a tight spot on this and i'm grateful for my colleagues and for daily wire that we can do the work that we're doing and actually share the truth about it as you guys do and as a lot of our friends and media do but it's a dire situation and i think it's incredibly it's incredibly wrong to not share the full picture here.
Buck Sexton
Mary margaret last question for you hope you're going to have a good weekend and survive the weather that is coming to washington dc you are in the white house press briefing room on a daily basis president trump is in there a lot caroline levitt is in there but there's so many press availabilities for president trump privately do even the media that clearly dislike president trump do they ever say privately boy it's kind of amazing to get to ask so many questions of him after they hid joe biden for four years trump has to be among the most accessible presidents of all time when it comes to media being able to ask him questions about frankly anything under the sun oh absolutely.
Clay Travis
I mean if you look at kaitlan collins for example she wasn't in the white house for most of biden's tenure she came back to you know use the trump administration to make a name for herself and now she's in the white house all the time so these reporters know that the access is so good for them that they will continue to have this access because the trump administration gives it to them and then you know in passing in conversation people joke to me all the time legacy reporters about biden and his tenure and how when he was there the white house was so quiet nothing really went on you might get like two questions into biden in the course of a year or in the course of the administration my friend reagan who works for the daily caller she jokes to me all the time about the massive difference in the way that conservative media was treated she was an outcast she was really not treated well and she rarely got questions from biden even though she's a hustler and she tried really hard so i think everyone is aware that things have dramatically changed and we speak to the president every single day like it is so rare that reporters don't get to speak to the president and it's so fun too you know being in there and you know nothing can be happening and the next thing you know you're in the oval office and you can ask the president about the biggest news of the day a little daunting i will say too but it's fun and it's an honor and i think everyone legacy media included finds it to be a very exciting time to.
Buck Sexton
Be in politics keep up the good work mary margaret we follow your stuff we a good job yesterday for instance with the don lemon news and keep up the good work of the daily wire we'll talk to you again soon thank you guys that's mary margaret olahan and i want to tell you with the storms bearing down on the nation with everything potentially many tens of millions of people likely to be cooped up this weekend you've got the nfc and the afc championship games going on sunday and i am on matthew stafford and sam darnold each to throw more than one half touchdown pass if i am correct that pays out at two point seven five to one at prizepix dot com which you can play along with in all fifty states california texas all points new york all points in between you can play in tennessee where i am sunny florida where buck is all fifty states when you play five dollars you get fifty dollars deposited in your account that's prizepix dot com code clay prizepix dot com code clay fifty dollars when you play five dollars matthew stafford and sam darnold over more than one and a half touchdown passes get hooked up today at prizepix dot com code.
Clay Travis
Clay keep up with the biggest political comeback in world history on the team forty seven podcast clay and buck highlight trump replays from the week sundays at noon eastern find it on the iheartradio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Buck Sexton
Welcome back in here to clay and buck we are closing it out on this friday and i hope you're all those of you which is really a big swath of the country who are going to be in the path of this storm you're prepared and you'll be able to stay safe and and warm with your family or wherever you may be and we will be thinking about you down here in south florida this.
Cockiness this cockiness when it's eighty degrees and sunny and we're all freezing to death in the rest of the country trust me we don't need your snide.
Cynicism i just you know i hear that you want to have like flint and and something else to hit together to make the fire you know what i mean that's that's a very good thing to have so you want to be able to build your own fire if necessary these are good good preparation techniques for some of you i will probably just go outside and let the sun do my work for me that's.
My plan so by the way listen to some of that we got some responses here mark sent a vip email big fan of mark here hey clay i'm going to let you react to this buck i don't know if you've seen this yet saw you on jesse waters show last night omg you looked and sounded like a crazed lefty like that guy they just arrested for raiding the church either that dude or the unabomber now look i i understand that my beard is a bit untrimmed at the moment i don't think i sounded like a crazed lefty is it fair to say that i look like the unabomber fair or foul buck do i look unabomber esque to you no you.
Got to get way way more scraggly than that i mean i i'm not you you know the you know the photo of of like khalid sheikh muhammad from gitmo when he'd been there for a long time like you got to you got to get that kind of a like a big gray beard crazy beard going and then we could talk about this but no i think i think you know laura wouldn't let you get too scraggly you know lara keeps you on the straight and narrow sir.
I know how it goes okay so the beard is on the line six inches of snow by midnight monday so when the weekend ends or on monday buck you are going to sit down and i'm only going to have a mustache so if that doesn't get you to sign up for our youtube channel i don't know what will but the beard is on the line i think nashville is going to get slammed everybody in all seriousness stay safe out there especially if there is ice coming in your area we don't know exactly where the ice storm is going to hit but that is the most deadly and dangerous of all we love you guys we want you to be with us on monday stay tuned i'm either gonna look even more like the unabomber or i'm gonna be the sexiest man with a mustache since tom seller this is.
Clay Travis
An i heart podcast guaranteed human.
This episode centers on FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s recent letter to television broadcasters and the debate about equal time for political candidates on broadcast TV, particularly surrounding shows such as “The View” and late-night talk shows. The conversation delves into the legalities of the Fairness Doctrine and broadcast regulations, the implications for media gatekeeping and partisanship, current media consolidation issues, and coverage of prominent political stories. The guest segment also features Mary Margaret Olohan (Daily Wire), who provides on-the-ground insight into Vice President J.D. Vance’s visit to Minneapolis and the ongoing protests and media dynamics in Washington, D.C.
(00:05 – 10:37)
"It's not about censorship or shutting down debate; it's about making sure that unique access... isn't being put to the partisan advantage of a Republican or a Democrat."
— Brendan Carr (01:18)
“If there's a pattern of disregarding that FCC rule, that becomes a problem for them in terms of the underlying license itself.”
— Brendan Carr (03:38)
“At least one side of the political aisle seems to be very upset with it, which I guess means maybe they think they've been getting more than equal [time].”
— Brendan Carr (04:12)
“We reached out to the producers… never responded. Almost all their guests are left-wing.”
— Clay Travis (05:14)
“If you’re putting ninety-eight Democrat candidates on and one or no Republican candidates, you know, it’s going to be a pretty uphill fight to say we're just out here bringing people on for newsworthy value.”
— Brendan Carr (06:09)
“If you're a Republican or Democrat or independent...and we’re seeing candidates on a show that's not bona fide news...we’re prepared to step in.”
— Brendan Carr (07:09)
(07:42 – 10:37)
Buck reads a Kimmel monologue mocking Carr:
“Trump’s little ferret in the FCC... is trying to say we no longer qualify for the bona fide news exemption... a sneaky little way of keeping viewpoints that aren’t his off the air.”
— Jimmy Kimmel (07:52)
Carr responds with humor:
“I think that’s pretty funny... Makes me think I should change my Twitter profile to a ferret with an FCC hat on it. That’s probably one of the funniest things I’ve seen coming out of late night in a while.”
— Brendan Carr (09:00)
“If you've got the ball at the five-yard line for years and years on end, it's hard to make the case that you're fulfilling your licensed obligation...”
— Brendan Carr (09:55)
(10:37 – 15:25)
“One of my north stars in media policies: How do we make sure that licensed broadcasters... have a better position to stand up with and compete against... national programmers...”
— Brendan Carr (12:07)
As the audience migrates to streaming, the FCC's regulatory impact lessens:
“In the future, the FCC impact and just the larger governmental impact is minimal and the overall power of these streamers is continuing to grow.”
— Clay Travis (13:46)
NFL Broadcast Rights: The future of sports broadcasting (NFL rights expiring soon) will further shift influence if top content moves to streaming paywalls.
"A really significant fork in the road... is the expiration of the NFL TV broadcast rights coming up in the next two years.”
— Brendan Carr (15:06)
(19:00 – 30:20)
“They are protesting in some really wretched conditions... they are very passionate about what they're doing if they're staying out there for this.”
— Mary Margaret Olohan (21:49)
“A lot of these people are coming from out of town, they're being paid to promote this kind of chaos and as long as there are actors that are doing that then I think the protesting will continue.”
— Mary Margaret Olohan (26:56)
(30:20 – 32:27)
“...people joke to me all the time, legacy reporters, about Biden and his tenure and how when he was there, the White House was so quiet... you might get like two questions into Biden in the course of a year or in the course of the administration...”
— Mary Margaret Olohan (31:08)
On Equal Time & FCC’s Role:
“If you are a ‘bona fide news program,’ then you're exempt from [equal time rules]... but over the years people have misread that.”
— Brendan Carr (01:32)
On Jimmy Kimmel’s Mockery:
“Trump’s little ferret in the FCC... is doing everything he can to shut us up.”
— Jimmy Kimmel [as quoted by Buck Sexton] (07:52)
“I think that’s pretty funny... a ferret with an FCC hat on it.”
— Brendan Carr (09:00)
On Declining Power of Broadcast Networks:
“In the future the FCC impact… is minimal and the overall power of these streamers is continuing to grow.”
— Clay Travis (13:46)
On Paid Protesters:
“A lot of these people are coming from out of town, they're being paid to promote this kind of chaos...”
— Mary Margaret Olohan (26:56)
On Trump’s Accessibility:
“Everyone is aware that things have dramatically changed and we speak to the president every single day... legacy media included finds it to be a very exciting time.”
— Mary Margaret Olohan (31:36)
Throughout the episode, the hosts mix serious legal and political discussions with their trademark playful banter and humor, especially when discussing their own media experiences and personal lives. They maintain a conversational, punchy, and sometimes irreverent style.
This episode delivers a deep-dive into FCC regulations on media fairness, the shifting landscape of TV/streaming media, and the ways in which both legal policy and political activism are playing out in current events. Brendan Carr challenges longstanding media practices, defending public access and fairness amid backlash from left-leaning commentators. Later, on-the-ground reporting from Minneapolis reveals the charged atmosphere surrounding immigration enforcement and protest culture, while White House access under Trump is contrasted favorably against the prior administration. Throughout, Clay and Buck keep the conversation lively, balancing legal minutiae with pop culture references and their audience-focused sense of humor.