Podcast 434

Coffee by The Fire. It’s finally starting to feel like October in the upper midwest with temperatures dropping, leaves falling and scudding grey clouds. The days are shorter, the nights longer, and that means its time for a podcast, with coffee, by the fire in the Broadcast Bunker. In podcast time, this is being posted on a Friday. The last week or so has been a rush of technical issues, crazy political stories, parties, lunches, client calls, late night discussions about everything under the sun, and reading a lot of news. Sometimes it’s good to just sit down in front of the microphone and do a podcast. All the ‘podcast manuals’ say you’re supposed to ‘know what you’re going to talk about’. Years of experience in talk radio taught me that sometimes the best thing to do is walk into the studio with no notes, no paper, and nothing in mind. In this podcast I talk a little about my current love-hate relationship with politics and media, media coverage of politics, review the technology issues I have been having lately, present a on-the-spot theory about social disruptions caused by operating system updates pushed out to your computer (Editor’s note: Say no, unless you know all the implications of updating your computer’s operating system.) Anyone ever say to you, “People are acting weird today”? Maybe its because there’s a rolling effect from all the updates blowing out people’s phone apps, peripherals and generally messing with us. What will happen when someday driverless cars, autonomous machines, androids, robot manufacturing and remote controlled bulldozers update and just stop? Hiring people to monitor all that stuff and keep systems operating might – gasp – actually create jobs! Finally, a discussion of the joys of being in business for yourself and how weird it is for a ‘creative’ type to be enthralled with the business side of his business. Welcoming Hydrus as a sponsor to the Bob Davis Podcasts and sponsored by X Government Trucks. 

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Podcast 425 – New Thinking Part 1

New Thinking Part 1. These days, politics is one emotional appeal after another. The media refers to politicians like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders as ‘populists’ but in fact they are demagogues; Using emotional appeals and often stimulating people’s long held prejudices and biases to gain support for their campaigns. In 2016 we’re going to see the ‘new rules’ of politics come into play with a vengeance. Most of the action will take place on the so called ‘small screen’ which means your television and especially your smart phones, social media, news websites where viewers watch a video, or part of a video and move on. A strange and symbiotic relationship between media, polling and politics have turned American politics into a freak show. Outrageous characters and weekly ripples in story lines mean more eyeballs. Media moguls and the candidates are laughing all the way to the bank, to the Capitol and the White House. Meanwhile increasingly angry voters become frustrated, losing faith in the outcome of elections, voting and the government itself. Moreover, the worst invective is often heard at meetings where the same politicians and charlatans troop through and tell people what they want to hear. It’s time for a reboot of American Political Thinking. It doesn’t start with politicians or personalities. It starts with individuals, communities, and values. It means researching and thinking about the concerns of your community, developing ideas about issues, talking about those issues, and creating effective political organization around those ideas, not the rhetoric of some pol who will forget about you and your concerns the minute he is elected. A new America is being created.  A new way of thinking is being created, whether you want it or not. If we don’t change the way we think about politics, taking it back to the blocks and rebuilding it, we’re doomed to being controlled by personalities — demagogues — more interested in power than the people. I’m starting a new series of podcasts, which will bear the ‘New Thinking’ title. I’ll do them when the spirit moves me, or I encounter a person or situation I think will help build a new way to think, talk and DO politics in this country, because what we have right now, isn’t cutting it. Sponsored by Baklund R&D, Pride of Homes and Luke Team Real Estate. 

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Podcast 399 – Sturgis Part 2

Sturgis Part 2. If you listen to this podcast with headphones, you’ll be right in the middle of the biggest motorcycle rally in the world. Heading into Sturgis, South Dakota, on a warm August morning we are surrounded by every kind of motorcycle you can imagine. The highways are literally chock full of bikes, coming and going to the 75th Anniversary of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Despite its reputation as a rough event, Sturgis can sometimes feel like any other state fair, or big city event in late summer. What makes it unique are motorcycle enthusiasts who come from all over the United States and the world to convene. Sturgis is a town of 6600 people, and once a year the population swells to hundreds of thousands. This year, there were a million bikers. Some rode their motorcycles out, others trucked their bikes out and rented, or drove RV’s, still others camped in tents or trailers. Who comes and why? What are some of the drawbacks to the size of the event this year? For some, the the roots of what this rally means to them goes very deep. For others, motorcycling is part of family life. Others have just come for a good time and to hang with their best friends. From the big motorcycle manufacturers like Harley, Indian, Victory, and the after market companies like Ciro as well as people selling t-shirts, art, tattoos, leather goods, as well as the fun stuff like Body Painting, beer, and women who dance, this is a singular event. If you spent the week in Sturgis, you had no idea there was a big debate between Republican candidates for their party’s presidential nomination, and you didn’t care. From Main Street to the concerts and after hours partying, to the bikes, to the companies who come here to serve and sell to this singular cultural tribe of motorcycle enthusiasts, it is the people who make this very American, very real event what it is. Despite the inherent danger in motorcycling and its outlaw image, they are great people. And…Sturgis is really fun. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating Of Saint Paul. 

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