The Economy, Rick Santelli, Jim Cramer, The Daily Show, and Greed’s Companion, Dishonesty

I don’t often watch CNBC.

A little while back, there were rumblings in the media about “The Crazy Guy Who Went Nuts on the Floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange,” or words to that effect.

You know how it is when you first become aware of a news story, you catch a little piece here and a little piece there... my instinct when I heard about this incident – and I had very little information at the time – was to think, “sweet! I’ve gotta see it.”

Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough information to find a clip of it. From what tiny bits I had gleaned, I thought it was a trader who had gone nuts and unloaded on a TV reporter... not a TV reporter going nuts.

Then, yesterday, Sandi sent me an e-mail with a link to Jon Steward’s interview with Jim Cramer – which I had caught a little bit of on television the other day… and watching that, something triggered me to look up the incident at the “merc.”

The guy was Rick Santelli. CNBC TV guy. And for what it’s worth, I think it’s interesting: The reports I had heard were greatly exaggerated. I don’t think he went nuts at all – I think he was quite lucid. In fact, if you watch the clip, it’s striking to me just how well he really does maintain his composure. Yes, he’s worked up. The word is passion. Ardency. Good for him. And in his excitement, his head was clearly still very level.

In case you haven’t seen it:

Googling a bit more, I found this clip – where Santelli had agreed to appear on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, only to later… “bail out” (nyuk, nyuk, nyuk) of his agreed-upon appearance.

Stewart – whose politics I often am at odds with – gave it to CNBC. I mean he really gave it to them.

Stewart takes issue with opposing mortgage bailouts while apparently not minding quite so much about the financial sector bailouts... but Steward misses the point on this part.

Once again, though, here’s passion on display on people at CNBC and on Wall Street, playing games with our money.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
CNBC Financial Advice
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Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

And finally, here’s the interview with Jim Cramer. This is the unedited version, which I think makes it very authentic – but NSF children’s ears. At points, it’s intense – just below the surface.

Oh... really quick, watch the intro, and be amused.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Intro - Brawl Street: Get Ready to Buy Low! And Sell Die
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Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

Don’t you hate the media’s tiresome use of the word, “alleged?” Finally, they don’t have to use it for Bernie Madoff any more. Sorry, here’s more teaser before you get to see the interview... and a little gem of typical news clap-trap: Madoff faces up to 150 years in prison. He’s an old man. So essentially, he’s looking at a life sentence. Note to anchorette: 150 years is a life sentence no matter how old you are.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Bern After Pleading
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Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

Interview... Part 1:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 1
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Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

At 2:56 into the second clip, Jim Cramer’s pants had a hard time staying dry.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 2
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Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

And... three. Stewart nails ’em.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 3
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Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

See? When someone on the other side of the fence makes a good point, I can go along.

Christmas in March?

Or An Early Birthday Gift... Whatever!

This is too sweet.

You likely already know how much I enjoy listening to News-Talk 740/KRMG, Tulsa… Joe Kelley & Rick Couri in the mornings, not to mention Boortz, Hannity, Limbaugh, and Savage… but, at night, they drop power, change their pattern, and other stations on the same and adjacent frequencies ingress pretty badly into Stillwater… so when the sun is down (which, of course, includes “before the sun comes up), the station isn’t very listenable.

Yeah, they’re on the Internet, but the audio quality of the stream is actually not as good as their daytime AM signal on a high-quality radio.

Well… now they’ve done it.

Yesterday, I got two alerts from their “breaking news” and “severe weather” text message systems… a minute or so apart.

What’s this?

Of course, when I read the phrase “more places,” I thought “locations,” as in, “you can hear us in more places.”

My interest was piqued (not “peaked,” as some people are wont to spell it) but I had my hands full with work.

And “locations” isn’t what they meant — at least, not in the same sense — as I was to soon discover...






Hmmm… Okay, Interesting.

“Improving signal strength” again implies listening in “more places,” but it still wasn’t what they meant.

So what were they up to, anyway?




I wasn’t able to make it out to the car to listen (too many electronics in the Central Office for good AM reception) at 2:59. I figured it would be something cool… but knowing a little bit about the FCC and the AM broadcast spectrum, my brain couldn’t cough up any alternatives unless they were changing their pattern, which seemed unlikely, or changing their power, which seemed extremely unlikely... and I already knew they were on Cox Cable (Channel 960, I believe it is... but I’m not in the Cox Cable service area).

So what was the big surprise?

I had to resort to the Internet to find it...

It’s a simulcast.

The new “place” to listen isn’t a physical place — it’s a virtual place: the FM radio dial.

Woot!

“News-Talk 740/KRMG” is now “AM 740 and FM 102.3, News-Talk/KRMG.”

Woot! Woot!

No… it doesn’t come in very well in Stillwater at all. In the house, I get nothing, and in the car, it sounds like I’m driving on the wrong side of a picket fence… but the signal is there… all I have to do is find a directional FM antenna to pull it in.

And believe me, baby, I will do it.

— 2009-03-18 07:30 ETA: Cleverness is the rule — not the exception — at KRMG, and one of the new slogans they’re using is...

“Reset your presets!”

— 2009-05-19 07:30 ETA: I have not had luck pulling in KRMG-FM Sand Springs at the house... yet. I have two problems: azimuth and elevation. LOL, geek joke. Seriously, elevation and trees. I know it’s not a pure distance issue, because less than a mile away at the top of the hill at Duck Street and 3rd, my car radio pulls it in, no trouble at all. A bigger antenna will be on the way once the budget permits... but meanwhile, and ironically (I suppose) I have found an excellent way of pulling them in: A relatively cheap clock radio from Wal-Mart, strategically placed near the coffee pot in the kitchen. Apparently, this radio is far enough away from the major interference sources in the house, and has an exceptional bandwidth/clarity tradeoff... plus, it’s the time of year when the days are getting longer, which means KRMG-AM is running at much higher power when I wake up.