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In this episode of The 50 Cups Hot Takes, join Jim as he flips the script and asks for Bill's Hot Takes for an engaging conversation that flips the usual interview format. Bill opens up about his life journey, from growing up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, to becoming a radio personality, including his experiences in AM and FM radio, talk shows, and even his trips to Iraq and Guantanamo Bay. They delve into the highs and lows of his career, discuss the evolution of radio and media, and share insights about personal growth, humility, and family. Tune in for a fascinating exploration of the world of radio and the lessons Jim has learned along the way.
00:00 Introduction and Tea Time
02:20 Bill's Background and Early Life
03:10 Radio Career Beginnings
04:39 Transition to Talk Radio
06:08 Life in Green Bay and Band Stories
09:17 Challenges and Changes in Career
13:37 Experiences in Iraq and Gitmo
24:56 Experiences in Baghdad
25:31 Broadcasting Challenges
28:06 Career Reflections and Radio Industry
29:32 Memorable Interviews and Moments
34:16 Community Differences and Personal Insights
35:45 Life Lessons and Final Thoughts
Creators and Guests
Host
Jim Baker
Author of "The Adventure Begins When The Plan Falls Apart" Converting a Crisis into Company Success, Jim is a husband and father of 4, Baker has spent the last 30 years in the business world as an entrepreneur, investor, and advisor. He had a successful exit in 2014 after owning and managing a CRO and functional services company, Ockham, specializing in Oncology. During that time prior to exit, Baker grew ASG and then Ockham both organically and through M&A. Over time Baker has experience in acquiring and selling companies, working with investment bankers, private equity, and mezzanine debt funding. In addition, has vast experience in business branding and managing and leading people. After the sale to Chiltern International, Baker started Sumus Development Group, an advisory business focused on operational excellence, exit strategy and marketing. In addition, Baker is an active investor in the business community.
What is Hot Takes: 50Cups?
United We Sip – Dive into the fascinating world of American culture with "Hot Takes: 50Cups." Join founder Jim Baker as he shares his hot takes on everything from day to day life, business trends and societal shifts, uncovering how we are all more united than we think.
At 50Cups, we believe in the power of community and the shared goal of living a healthy, fulfilled life. Our mission is to inspire you through organic, great-tasting teas, education, and awareness, uniting us all in our quest for better living.
Each episode of "Hot Takes: 50Cups" features Jim's candid and insightful commentary on the challenges, triumphs, and everyday experiences that shape our collective journey. From entrepreneurial wisdom, cultural observations, to health topics and nutrition this podcast offers a fresh perspective that will leave you inspired and enlightened.
Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a business leader, or simply curious about the threads that bind us, this podcast is your gateway to understanding and connection.
Subscribe now and join the conversation!
18 Hot Takes - Bill
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[00:00:00]
Bill LuMaye: Hello everyone. I Bill o name and we are here with Mr. Jim Bakker. And yes, you're right, it is another episode of The 50 Cups Hot Takes. Jim,
Jim Baker: it is so good to see you. You as well my friend. Today I have a little de-stress tea for us. Good. Um, ru this morning. As you can see though, it's a nice warm day, but we have a little ice malfunction, so we're gonna have to go ice less.
Oh, that's fine. We'll just pretend like we're. Maybe in the UK back in the seventies.
Bill LuMaye: Oh, very good. The warm beer. Yeah, warm tea. And
Jim Baker: Hopefully you'll find the taste
Enjoyable. As
Bill LuMaye: [00:01:00] always, I've yet they hit a bad bad tee Jim, honestly. And this is wonderful. Since you had
Jim Baker: a flat tire or a nail on your tire on the way here today, I figured you might, the de-stress might be apropo for yourself.
It was
Bill LuMaye: quite high and the left lane was full and they were. No hurry, just put it that way. Yeah. So I was afraid I'd be a little late, but No, that's wonderful. That's a great tasting tea. How do people get your tea as always? Website, 50 cups
Jim Baker: tea.com. Good. And that's so easy. Yeah. Anytime you wanna, I. Log in, we're happy to help you out.
Please do that. Please
Bill LuMaye: do that. I don't know how you wanna start today.
Jim Baker: Yeah. So I wanna reverse the table today. Yeah. I want actually uncomfortable interview you. Um, you know, as I said, I think a couple of podcasts ago, um, I do have a core group of listeners of maybe three. Um, yeah, but they all love you.
Um, they're like, Hey, where'd you get this guy from? And he's like, professional. And I said, well, he actually is and he is got a phenomenal background. And I thought. In fairness to the audience, it would be [00:02:00] good for you to share your story with us today. So today you're actually gonna get interviewed.
I'm gonna do the interviewing, of course, not as good as you would ever do it. But nonetheless, we're gonna talk about your hot takes at the appropriate time, and, um, go on and have a lot of fun today.
Bill LuMaye: Alright, and I got tea. No Blue M and msm, but I'll deal with it. I'll deal with it. You're good to go.
Well, what do you wanna know? Yeah, so I'm not that interesting.
Jim Baker: Tell us a little bit about yourself. You're from North Carolina originally. You know, what'd you do when you were a kid? You know, just start from the, from the ground up, so to speak.
Bill LuMaye: Well, I was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and a minute out of the womb I said, who the hell wants to live here?
It is so cold. But Green Bay is a wonderful little town. You got a football team there. So I grew up Catholic. Green Bay Packer fan. And that has remained true my entire life. And, um, as a kid, um, you know, I wasn't much for school actually. I, I wasted my years. I. And we took the Iowa basic skills test at that time, and I came back as being qualified to be a bag [00:03:00] keeper.
I don't even know what that is, but it must have been horrible for my mom. And so when I graduated and the principal said, I, I really can't believe you're graduated, but congratulations. I, I was kind of at a loss of what to do and I did know the, um, manual labor thing wasn't my thing, but I fell in love with radio and at that time.
You may remember that radio was kind of a big deal. You know, you had local celebrities. It was it was really fun. Not like today where it's, it's more on music box than anything else. So I was lucky enough to, to get some radio gigs and I was just talking to our producer and I said, it's so hard to find people who are willing to work.
I remember cleaning bathrooms. I would sleep overnight in the studio just to be able to get on the microphone, you know, the next day for, you know, an hour. Yeah.
Jim Baker: So what kind of studio was it? Was it local in Green Bay, I assume. And was it news, was it weather, was it everything? Was it
Bill LuMaye: music? I get all of that just to get eventually to a point where I could get a show.
Now, this was a point where am became [00:04:00] more obsolete. FM came in, so it was a good time for me to get on an FM signal and it just went big. For me, that was wonderful. It was a station I ran, but I did mornings. And you became a local celebrity. Were you a comedian back then? I tried to be funny. Yeah. Yes I did.
What was your
Jim Baker: stick in the morning?
Bill LuMaye: Just being awake. Usually. It was just, I'm not a morning person, but it was a top 40 station. Okay. We, we brought in a lot of concerts and, um, and so we got to meet a lot of the bands and do that stick. And with radio like anything else, you tend to age out. So you go from top 40, then eventually maybe over to classic hits.
Maybe you can get rock in there for a while. And then eventually you're looking at a light to soft music, yacht music station, unless you make a change And, the other known fact from all radio disc jockey says, you never take vacation. And the reason for that is someone will take your job. And that happened to me in the reverse.
This time there was somebody on the talk show and he [00:05:00] went on vacation and they said, you wanna try? And I said, sure, why not? And I did. And I thought, my goodness, people would actually listen to my opinion. At that time, it wasn't a very wise opinion, but I loved it and I kind of stuck with it throughout the rest of my radio career.
But I've done And was the format just anything at that time or
Jim Baker: The
Bill LuMaye: talk radio station? Yeah.
Jim Baker: Was a, was it conservative, was it liberal? Was it politics?
Bill LuMaye: Was it not politics, yeah. All of us things. And I wasn't either, I didn't know anything about politics. So we went with I'm not sure what we went with, but eventually somebody came.
Some county supervisors came to meet with me and said, did you know? And that's the first time I had an opportunity to, to see behind the scenes and the, the fraud and the, the dirt and everything that is associated with politics, whether it be on a local scale all the way up to the national level. And that really opened my eyes.
So we got quite involved in that and from there we developed a pretty good listenership and eventually I was fired from [00:06:00] there.
Jim Baker: Alright. Lemme take you back for a second though. Sure. I'm a football fan. Yeah. What one of my. Bucket list things is to go to Lambo Field Lambo and see a game. I know it's a lot different now than it probably was when you were growing up, but could you walk to the stadium?
Bill LuMaye: Oh, pretty much. Pretty much. You could you go to games? Oh yeah. Well, we had to, let me, let me, because my dad made me go, no, my dad didn't. But we, as a part of the radio package, you had to go and do the tailgate. Right. And then you'd get field passes and you'd sit on the bench. Mm-hmm. And we would go. I'd take my son or whatever, and we'd do that tailgating.
We'd sit for the first half and sideline seats aren't that great on the field, but it's an awesome feeling. And by halftime we say, well, let's just go home. So we get in the car and we go and we'd sit down, open up a beer before the second half would even start. That's how small the city is. But it was a wonderful experience.
And of course, everybody's very much. Pro Packer fan, they just had a draft of course, in Green Bay. Yeah. I'll tell you a story.
Jim Baker: Yeah. How'd they do that, by the way? Where'd [00:07:00] they put all those people?
Bill LuMaye: I, I don't know. It went all the way. You had these Appleton Oshkosh, fond Lac. Okay. They went, you know, 60 miles out to find hotel rooms.
Got it. I'm sure my sister, who is just cute as a bud and, um. Bubbly, just a great person. You, you instantly meet her and she, you fall in love with her. She got a job with Mike McCarthy, the head coach of the Green Bay Packers, and he said to hers, are now, are there any questions you have? And she said, do, do I have to know anything about football?
Now you have to understand Jim. I'm a lifelong Packer fan. I, I would die for Green Bay Packer football. She worked there, she's got two Super Bowl rings and didn't know anything about football. So it's just amazing how, um, how life goes, you know? Yeah. So,
Jim Baker: so, um, and then during your band days. Yeah. Any band stories, any cool bands you met?
Who'd you like the best?
Bill LuMaye: Oh, well we did so many. And, and the thing about it was, it was the rock bands like Dan Halen and Hallis Cooper and all the [00:08:00] big names at that time. In fact, Ariel Speedway, you remember that band? Yeah, yeah, sure. It was from a friend. There was yeah, right. And riding the storm up man, and they'd come and they'd rock.
And I got to know Sean Cronin, who's the brother of Kevin Cronin. He was the local weekend weather guy. On a local station there. And he said, do you want to go? His parents were coming up from Chicago. He was the adopted child and he was starve for attention. And so we wrote in a limo to the, the concert.
And Sean is out in the crowd where their parents are going nuts over Kevin, of course. 'cause he's up on stage and rocking and rolling. It's almost as though they looked, who are you? Why are you with us? So I felt so bad for 'em. But for the most part, most of the, the, it was boring. Um, you had all the groupies trying to get backstage could get with the band.
They usually had blue m and ms, you know, that people took good care of 'em there, but no wild, crazy stories. I mean, they'd come out some I didn't. I don't know how they played because [00:09:00] they were so, you know, high. Mm-hmm. And they would party a lot of them. They also had Las Vegas showroom in green Bay, and they'd bring in a lot of national acts, but of all genres, you know, comedians and, and bands.
So you got to do a lot of that. So it was an interesting period. And then I got fired again, and I'm serious. This is my first time I got fired. So how do
Jim Baker: you get fired? Just so you say something bad against the ownership or.
Bill LuMaye: Well, they
Jim Baker: start going down, they toss you out. Like how did, how does one get part?
Part? Yeah, I
Bill LuMaye: did. I, I was very this is a life learning lesson. I was full of myself because I was on a station. It was the most listened to in the country, and, and I didn't want anybody to, to touch that and mess with it. And the boss wanted to sell more ads on it. So we kind of went back and forth and then they had promotions you had to do.
And one was getting up early and driving a Dr. Pepper truck and handing out little free samples. And, um, I [00:10:00] didn't want to do it and I was pretty obnoxious about it on the air. And that was a humbling experience. Jim and I, and I now understand why Boss wanted to sell more time at that point. I don't think I was a capitalist, I guess.
More of a liberal. So you more
Jim Baker: like an IIS or a Howard Stern at that point?
Bill LuMaye: I don't know what I was honestly. But we were rocking and rolling and I was bad if I were to go back and listen to the tapes. I was not very good at all. But that's what you, you can be a big fish in a small pond sometimes.
Mm-hmm. And that's when I moved on to talk radio and you know, with that company had come to think of it, I'd been fired three times and hired back. So that says something. Opened up a recording studio in Green Bay on one of those times, and we recorded bands and opened up another one in Colorado where we did movies.
And at
Jim Baker: this point in time, are you married kids, all
Bill LuMaye: that? Yeah. Well, yeah. I, I had the absolute track record, the plan for failure. You know, I got a my first wife pregnant and I was young and, you know, unskilled [00:11:00] didn't pay attention to school, so all the, the, um, points, excuse me, you would have for success.
I, I just ignored them. It was a bit of a struggle, and radio doesn't pay very well, certainly in small markets. Excuse me, I gotta get some tea. It's some tea. May I have some tea? And it's warm.
I get choked up talking about myself, Jim. So I did that and it was, it was a fun period. It really was, and it was a very hard period too. Always struggling for money. Then, as I said, moved on to Colorado. We did movies and national car spots and, um, where were you in Colorado? Colorado Springs. Okay. It was a nice area.
I hear. Oh, it's beautiful. Really is. Californians moved in and just ruined the state and I moved back to Wisconsin. But um, it was an opportunity to, to learn again, a skill that I didn't have and that was doing sound design and for movies. And they were B movies. They weren't very good movies, but you can check 'em out.
I think one was Robocop. Oh yeah. Oh yeah, of course [00:12:00] you've heard of that one. Yeah. Yeah. You may have heard it was, I think, voted the worst movie of the year by, are you in the credits
Jim Baker: if you watch the end? Sure. Wow.
Bill LuMaye: Sure. Yeah. That's pretty cool. Elves laser Moon, and. Oh God. Even, I forgot the titles. They were very bad movies, but it was a, it was a lot of fun to do the Foley work and sound his eye on 'em.
And it gave me, again, experience to go on to other things. So then I got a divorce.
Jim Baker: And Are you back in Wisconsin at this point in time or are you still in Colorado?
Bill LuMaye: I'm still in Colorado, but then I got a divorce. Okay. And, um, they took my Corvettes away and. Oh, and, and the kids, I, you know, they, they, anyway, I went back to Green Bay, all right.
And they put me on a light station. And Where'd
Jim Baker: your ex-wife go? Did she stay in Colorado? She in
Bill LuMaye: Colorado Springs.
Jim Baker: Okay.
Bill LuMaye: Things worked out pretty well, don't you think, Jim?
Jim Baker: Yeah. Yeah. For her?
Bill LuMaye: Yeah. Yeah. Pretty well. And at a light station and I remember how embarrassed I was. Now you're doing light dental music.
Yeah. Yeah. Music boring, keep your eyes open. Music and Dan Fogelberg, things like that. Yeah, [00:13:00] and again, it's, it's among the peers that I worked with, and so it was, it was humbling, but I did it because I wanted to be back there. And, um, and then I talked to Boston into putting me back on the talk station.
And, and then from there it took off and until I was eventually fired again. By
Jim Baker: how many years before you got fired
Bill LuMaye: again? Oh, I think there was usually, I, I worked for. After the initial firing and I getting back, and I'd usually hang on for about a year or so, and that's where I do amazing things. I got fired.
Becau, well that doesn't sound humble, but I mean, we did do amazing things. They wanted me to be the news director and I didn't want to do that. It was not my thing, but I said, you know the Iraq war had just broken up and the four 32nd from that area was deployed and we were hearing how all the troops were not fit.
They didn't have the supplies, they didn't have toothpaste and all those things. And I said, well, I'm gonna email the colonel. And, and I said, can I come? We'll [00:14:00] bring stuff. And he said, well, they're shooting RPGs at us every day, but yeah, if you want to. And we we figured out a way and we had fundraisers.
We bought all these supplies, we shipped them over. And I followed with letters from home and we're gonna do a show from there. In fact, we were the first radio show to do that. Wow. And as I was flying in, I was sitting next to a Middle Eastern guy and this is, you know, I'm Jim, I'm dumb, I'm a young, never been anywhere out of the country kind of guy.
And he is ragging on Bush. And, well, at this point I had been indoctrinated and I, I was defending Bush and. He left, he left me in the seat, which gave me that extra seat. 'cause I don't fly first class on this. I am in Coach and it's like a 15 hour flight. And and Saddam, they caught Saddam Hussein that weekend when I landed, which was kind of cool.
I didn't know about it till we got to the airport in Germany I think. But we got there and at that time the Americans were treated as liberators. [00:15:00] And it was it was a pretty good time, although, you know, for me it was, it was life changing because again, I'm, one of the things they told me, Jen, was the Vietnam vets particularly said, wherever the flag is, that's your home.
So if you're ever in trouble, go there and never, ever give up your passport. So I land late at night in Kuwait. The first thing they did was take my passport. I didn't know if they were coming back. Eventually they did, and I hooked up and now it's like three o'clock in the morning. And my my friends from Green Bay, they, they took me back to the base in Kuwait and they had the Green Bay Packer game on.
They were playing live. So, you know, at that time technology was starting to, yeah, to make it easier for 'em. But it was it was something, I mean, um, the people, the poverty, the the buildings that were blowing up, um, the death squads that the the, they openly recognized the four 32nd did, but [00:16:00] didn't stop for 'em would be pulling people over on the highway.
And the, the deal was you didn't, you never stop. You just, if someone would be in front of you in a car, you just ram them and go. So it was very, very interesting. And one of the see, you got me talking about one of the scariest moments for me. You remember, um. The swords.
Jim Baker: Yeah.
Bill LuMaye: In Baghdad. Well, you can climb up in them.
And at this point, capitalism was taking over and you had the locals charging you money to go up in 'em. And I was filming this and you go in and then it's completely black. I mean, it's not like stairs. It's not like the Statue of Liberty. You're climbing up this stuff and he's gone. He's absolutely gone.
And in my mind, I'm going, what's gonna happen? Am I gonna find my way out? Are they waiting for me? Is this it? I've seen the, the, the live footage. But it, it had a happy ending, but it was the first time I realized, you know what, this this really is kind of serious stuff, you know, it never really dawned on me that I could be hurt or killed or anything like that, but [00:17:00] it was a wonderful experience and to have the people back home be able to talk to their loved ones at that time, it wasn't an easy thing to do and they were able to do it.
It was, it was really, really awesome. And then I got back and they said, you want the job? I said, no, I don't want that. And they fired me. Wow. Yeah. So how long were you in Iraq?
Jim Baker: Just like a weekend or was it a week?
Bill LuMaye: No, the first time it was a week. Okay. And that job, I mean, that stint got me the job, the WPTF in Raleigh.
Yeah. So then how do you go from Wisconsin to Raleigh? Well, I knew I was gonna be fired. Okay. You get that sense. After a while, you know, it's stop talking to you. Yeah, you just get that sense. They, they seemed offended when I turned down their news director's job, so I started applying and, um, and it just worked out for the la first time since they fired me so often.
They, I got the job, they fired me the day before when they finally accepted the, the offer in Raleigh. And it was the tape from Iraq that got me that [00:18:00] gig. Then that was the second time they sent me to the PTF was wonderful because we were a very powerful station, very successful station. We were also also a mouthpiece for the Republican party.
Now I was still pounding the drum and that gave us all kinds of opportunities to. Go to Iraq, to go to Gimo, to go to the, you know, the White House and all these kinds of things. Something that somebody from Green Bay, somebody like me, would never have an opportunity to do. And were you
Jim Baker: a
Bill LuMaye: morning
Jim Baker: midday?
Evening? Where were you? I was positioned.
Bill LuMaye: I was afternoons. Okay. And it was in a very nice spot. It was I had Rush Limbaugh before me and Sean Hannity after me. And, so it was wonderful for about 10 years and then the company made some changes and things went south. So what was Gitmo like? Gitmo was interesting.
I got a call and made it a re developed a relationship with the woman from the Pentagon and she calls up, says, you want to go [00:19:00] to Gimo? And I said, well, who does it? Right? And so drove to Washington, got on a general's jet. It's pretty T down. It's, I think it's like a, it's almost I guess a 7 37 Wow.
Type. It was a pretty good size.
Jim Baker: I jet for a private
Bill LuMaye: Well, yeah, and I mean it had big screen TVs and the lazyboy. It wasn't, that was pretty nice. Huh? It was really nice. And there was four others and we flew and I remember coming into, and I didn't know what to expect. I thought Cuba tropical is gonna be palm trees and all of that.
And we landed and it was a very short runway. And so it was a pretty. Interesting landing, but it was, it was beautiful, but it's a desert. Mm-hmm. You know, and I didn't know that. And Hino was like, I was expecting to see, you know, the waterboarding, the interrogation rooms. And they showed me the interrogation room had La-Z-Boy again, and it had Xboxes and they would bring in pass food for the, the folks to get 'em to talk.
I'm sure that there [00:20:00] was some BS and all of that, but I'm sure they had other rooms. But they were basically in a, a dormitory type situation, unless they were very bad. So you'd have 20 guys in a dorm room and they'd openly they would plot to get the soldiers. And oftentimes they, they did, they had a soccer field.
I mean, they weren't treated like I heard the news reports suggest the soldiers all had their names blocked out. They would not let the detainees look at us the minute we came in. They turned 'em around, put 'em up against the wall. Um, but the island itself seemed like normal life except for that, you know, and it was like the county jail for the bad guys.
So, and you'd have call a prayer. They were very respectful. They showed us how they force fed those who were on a, hunger strike. Um, it was fascinating. It really was, but it was just a quick day jaunt. And then you were [00:21:00] back in Washington. How big is that place? How many can they hold? Boy, you know, I used to know that number.
I'm, I'm not certain what it was. I know they added the, I. The jail facility in addition to what they had. So I'm not gonna speculate, but quite, quite a few. You always one or two. Is that our territory or is that We lease that from Cuba. It's my understanding we got the deal to refuel their ships there.
That's why even though we don't need it, we continue to do so, which means they, the lease continues. Okay. And I don't think that's been challenged. You can hear on the other side of the gates, you know, a pretty good party going in the evening, evidently. And I dunno if there were Hollywood stars there or not at that time, but it was just a.
A fascinating contrast of what you see on television and what you actually see in real life. And you gotta take it with a grain of salt too, you know? Sure. What they're showing. And then when you went back to Iraq, what was the difference? Ooh. That was, that was difference [00:22:00]
Jim Baker: that time compared to the first time.
Bill LuMaye: This was not as nearly as much fun. It was, um, better accommodations. I went for two weeks, went with the Pentagon, which gave us access to anywhere and everywhere. It was, um, we, we had, we couldn't even get to the, where we wanted to go because of the sandstorms initially. And then we went in the middle of the night during the sandstorm, which is when the the Iraqis who, whoever they were at that time would attack.
And we made it. And from that point on, um, we went to Fallujah, we went to Rami, we went to, all over Iraq and Baghdad. We eventually made it to Baghdad in the palace of Saddam Hussein. And he had a manmade lake and it was sand. It was just beautiful. The palace itself was somewhat bombed out, but still usable.
And he had a, um, house of prostitution that was pretty sweet. And that's where we bunked [00:23:00] and, oh, I saw g Gordon lid. You know who he is? Yeah, I saw him naked. He bunked with me. 80-year-old man. He's since passed. He has since passed. So he was your roommate huh? At that time. Nice. I said, boy, boy, he's an old man.
And I'm going, what his person,
Jim Baker: like, did the media portray him different than what he, he really was.
Bill LuMaye: He was I thought he was a cool dude. I really did. He had a, he was a big star, so he had a handler with him that kind of took care of everything he did. What was he doing there? What I was doing, same thing.
Okay. Oh, so he was in the press at that point? Yeah. So he was sleeping with us and going through all the motions and broadcasting from there as well. And he he, he was just an interesting guy. Of course he is infamous for, you know, Watergate and all that stuff. Right. But, um, the, if you were in the brothel, it was decked out as you would expect, you know, middle Eastern decor to be gaudy.
Mm-hmm. And, um, there were these art pieces of art. I kind a picture of it. It's a [00:24:00] vase now. I don't know, I don't speak Arabic. But underneath it, supposedly, according to the folks there, that says, for a good time call. And, um, I, I didn't call so I can't verify that, but it was an amazing place. So that
Jim Baker: palace then, obviously you went the first time Saddam was caught.
Bill LuMaye: Yeah.
Jim Baker: So this time Saddam's not around anymore? No. So was it just a, a hotel now for people visiting or, well, it was a base
Bill LuMaye: of operation for, for the it would be the army out of that palace. Okay. And, um. They, um, they ran their operation through there and if you had an opportunity to walk around, you would see you know, a lot of bummed out things, but you'd also see like the swords, the things they tore down and that they still kept.
Um, we went to also were embedded with the Iraqi first Army. And that was on an old British base that was very much like you'd see in the thirties movie that kind of architecture. And, um, we. We spent time with them and [00:25:00] they'd, um, chop food for us. They'd take a lamb out and slaughter it right there on the concrete and cook it up the way they cook it up.
And it was actually very, very good, but a whole different lifestyle gym. And we saw people who were living in the Baghdad dump, you know, a family of like five, six kids and they were waving and smiling and at the same time we needed air cover to get to other areas where you were afraid you were going to be, shot at by snipers and they'd come in and just blow 'em up. So they, you go, now you're recording
Jim Baker: your segments there and then they broadcast later? Or are you recording live?
Bill LuMaye: Well, the first time I was live Okay. The second time I they didn't wanna do it live. So we recorded segments. Yes. So you're calling
Jim Baker: the shots again?
Bill LuMaye: I wasn't calling any shots. Were you said you didn't want to do it live? I did want to do it live. Did I, did they told you not to? Yeah. For whatever reason I got it. And, um. We, they transport us with in fact, when you flew in because it was so much more [00:26:00] dangerous and they didn't particularly like us any longer, you'd fly in and you'd do a curt wheel down about as fast as you could.
And oftentimes, and I know when I was flying in the helicopters, they'd let those flares go. I don't know if there was somebody shooting at us or they were just messing with us. But so you had those moments and it was kinda like, wow. You know, things have changed a lot from the first trip. They were better prepared and they had certainly hardcover, Humvees and, and things like that.
But, um, I had to get on to go to another base and by myself again. And, I forgot my ear plugs and they didn't have any. So I said, well, I'll put my fingers in them. And after a while, you know, you don't really need to put your fingers in anymore. I said to myself, who? So I didn't, but I couldn't hear where the stop was.
So I did a complete tour of a rock before they found me and popped me off. But I couldn't hear Jim. I couldn't hear the, the, and I still, that's what ruined my hearing. Wow. I got off the, the, [00:27:00] the, and I couldn't talk to anybody 'cause I couldn't hear him. It was pretty scary. At least you got a tour. I did.
It was very nice. We got to see the
Jim Baker: landscape. So when you're flying into Baghdad, at that point, are you flying commercial into Baghdad or are you No, you'd fly into Quake
Bill LuMaye: and then from there they, they
Jim Baker: like on Delta or something and then, yeah. Yeah. And then from there they [00:28:00] take, transport you into this country?
Yeah. They'd take air
Bill LuMaye: a military vehicle. Okay. Pitch in. Yeah. Okay, got it.
Jim Baker: Got it. So couple questions on your ratings are good. And I assume that you can't renegotiate your contract when your ratings are sky high. You have to wait till the term's over. And so is there like a trick in the, um, the radio world where you try to, you know, peak your ratings at the same time you're trying to get a new contract?
Bill LuMaye: Like, how's that work now? I'm sure when you get through the next level, and I thought I was gonna go, I really thought, but that's a whole different ball game. For the industry itself, even at when it was very popular, very low paying jobs, you did it more for the love and maybe the fame, I guess on a local level, it's very difficult to make real money until you get into a market like Raleigh.
And that's really the first time I started to make decent money. Mm-hmm. And um, and then you get the next big step, you know, to the national level doing Fox, or I was doing hits with M-S-N-B-C and things like that. I thought, [00:29:00] geez, we're almost there. And that would've, that would've made all the difference, you know, make some big money.
But we did have an opportunity to make news on a fairly regular basis. We had Mitt Romney in the studio, son, Mitt Romney's son in the studio. I. And like we do, we talk beforehand. And he got very comfortable and I just asked him because if you may recall that President Obama was making statements about MIT Romney, and I just said off the cuff, I said, well, does that ever get you mad?
I mean, he's lying about your dad. Oh yeah. He said, I just want to get up and punch him right in the head. Well. That went national. And I don't if you'll remember it, but it, it went crazy stupid. And so those kinds of things were the moments you live for as a radio personality. Yeah. This is before social media too.
Well, yeah. Yeah. Imagine if it was today. Oh, I know.
Jim Baker: You know,
Bill LuMaye: I know. So we had a lot of fun. I did. I look back and say, wow. So then the station gets sold. Well, no, it's still owned by Mr. Curtis. But it went, the toughest thing for me was I was doing the show [00:30:00] and the consultant. For the radio station, working with the personalities was a far left leftist person.
Yes. So what you normally do in the business is you'll go over an air check, which is, you'll scope an hour of your work and you'll sit down with somebody who's supposed to be brilliant and tell you where you should improve. Mm-hmm. My air check generally started with the first break, and from there it was politics.
He was telling me how wrong I am until it was time to leave. So it worked out pretty well. But eventually, eventually they made some decisions that, um, you know, ruined the station in regards to ratings is they're not what they used to be, but, um, you know, it's all business, man. It always is. And then
Jim Baker: after that mm-hmm.
You're go to
Bill LuMaye: tv? Yeah. Well, I've been doing TV for a while. Yeah. We do a, a, a television show on CW 22 and Myer, DC it's a public affairs program. It's not as spicy as the radio program. Mm-hmm. But it's, it's nice. And I do a lot of radio [00:31:00] imaging and, and that sort of thing, so I'm still working. We adopted a, a baby nine years ago.
Remarried. Remarried, yeah. Yep. Kids are all here. So, um, it keeps you going. Yeah. Which means I gotta keep working. So,
Jim Baker: but I'm saying after the last radio gig Yes. When they changed the format or whatever. Yes. Um, did you stay in radio after that? Or?
Bill LuMaye: I would do some remote broadcasting and host from my home for like Green Bay and some other things.
It got to the point where people really like you to be there. Be part of the community and I understand that.
Jim Baker: Mm-hmm.
Bill LuMaye: And um, and I didn't wanna move at this point. There was a station group out of, in Wisconsin, very liberal group who bought a bunch of stations and I was talking to them. They wanted, I.
They wanted a different perspective to improve their listenership and, um, I turned it down. But ultimately, you know, their [00:32:00] goal was to change the minds of individuals to vote for a Democrat, for instance. And it was, again, outside what I felt was good for anybody. Sure. So other than that, man, I've washed my hands of radio at this point 'cause I've
Jim Baker: chosen to stay here.
Do you think radio, it's got a little niche right now. Do you think it stays that way or do you think it comes back down the road? I don't see how
Bill LuMaye: it comes back. Um, obviously people are still tuning in, but not in great numbers. I work with a distributor of product for radio stations and ad revenue is way down.
Personalities now are really not there in radio unless very few exceptions in bigger markets. So you don't have the star, you don't have the draw. And quite honestly, the the plethora of places you can go to get entertainment, news and what have you, it's available at your fingertip. It's, it is very tough, but they're still, they're still trying TV's in the same boat.
Jim Baker: Yeah, I know. It's just [00:33:00] it's so much as a listener, you know, you just wanna listen to. Something like a show, podcast, and you could fast forward through the commercials, right? Um, and there's not that many of 'em anyhow, but radio, I mean. Oh yeah. You can't even change the dollar anymore because no matter where you change to, there's a commercial going on.
I get it. They have to survive. I think
Bill LuMaye: it's a cabal, they all get together and say, okay, at 12, after we're all gonna play all our eight minutes worth of spots. Yeah, yeah. But at the same time kids still tune in. My daughter cranks the tunes. And does she So you know, on Spotify yet? Yeah, yeah. I get her on that and she's banned from YouTube and things like that.
You know, we try to, you know, there's a lot of stuff out there. You gotta be very careful. Yeah. But I, I would like to think so. I mean, it was such a lot of fun and I think radio, and one of the reasons I did talk radio is I could see the difference. You, you could as an individual make a difference in the community, but I also took great care to make sure that I.[00:34:00]
I had the facts before I would sit down and rave about anything. It's not to say I couldn't be wrong and there have been times I've been wrong.
Jim Baker: Yeah.
Bill LuMaye: But that's not what you're getting today. So it's can be also very dangerous if you get people who buy into it. So
Jim Baker: if you look back, I mean, obviously you ingrain in the Green Bay community and now the Raleigh community.
What are the differences in the community? Not from necessarily from a geographical perspective, but just from the people. I know this is more of a transient area, but just,
Bill LuMaye: yeah, no, it's, it's green Bay's, much more blue collar, which makes them, I think, more conservative by nature just because of who they are and, and how they were brought up very religious Catholic.
Um, roll up your sleeves. Let's get together the other line areas like Madison and Milwaukee, which, um, is very liberal, which I would compare to. Raleigh area unless you get to the outskirts. Mm-hmm. You [00:35:00] know, we live out in Salin now and they're very conservative out there, so you get outside of the urban areas and you find the same kind of folks.
But yeah, green Bay is, um, I don't know. They, they were such a small town kind of feel. I remember going to the Y as a kid. With my dad and we were swimming with Bart Starr and his kids kind of a thing. It was that kind. You wouldn't be able to do that in most other Yeah. Cities. So you got that kind of mindset going.
They take care of their own. Not that we don't, but mm-hmm. Um, this one feels almost too big to participate sometimes.
Jim Baker: So you look back on your career, I mean, what are some of the, this is, this isn't the time by the way, you espouse your wisdom on everybody, but you can play this at some
Bill LuMaye: in the future. What are some of the lessons you learned along the way?
I learned, um, I learned this, and this is to everyone who listens. You are replaceable. You're not indispensable. You can be replaced like this, and the world will not skip [00:36:00] a beat. So learn humility. And I learned humility a couple of times and, and it made me, I think, I hope a better person. And I also learned that as hard as your work.
And for those things in life, maybe it's a bigger house or car or whatever it is, keeping up with the neighbors, it's, it's really not worth it. Not worth it. It's not what's important in life, I would say. Not to get religious on you. Open a Bible, start reading that. Don't tr don't find that part of your, your wisdom late in life.
If you, if you don't. If you, if you wait and you miss out, that's really a problem. But, you know, explore those things. Try to figure out what's important for you. And I think I've been to a number of funerals lately and I've yet to see a pile of cash or a car that's going with anybody. But I do see a lot of people who love you that are there and mourning you and.[00:37:00]
Will you come to mind? I just want to start patting the numbers now. I think that's important. Of course. Yeah. To make a difference in people's lives that they wanna show up for you.
Jim Baker: Yeah.
Bill LuMaye: Boy, that was really yeah. Kind of a downer, wasn't it? I mean, you could gimme some positives to learn too. Yeah. Well, um, I, I know that I, I never worried about what tomorrow was going to be like for me, even.
At times feeling down and getting fired and I don't know where, how am I'm gonna pay the electric bill. I just never really worried about it. And the older I got, the more I worried. And it always seems to work out. And I think if you're got that kind of mentality and you're not afraid to take a risk and you have to take risk because opportunities, those are the risks that come your way.
You can't say, well. You don't get to pick and choose when those opportunities arise. Just grab it. Just grab it. Go with your gut more than try to think through it.
Jim Baker: How
Bill LuMaye: many
Jim Baker: countries have you been to?
Bill LuMaye: Ooh. Not as [00:38:00] many as you, Jim, but I've been to all the, some of the most stunning countries that vacation spots on.
I Iraq, border of Iran. I wanted to get the, did you ever do a remote from Israel or no, man, I really wanted to. I went to Mexico though, the border there.
Jim Baker: Okay.
Bill LuMaye: Oh, that was that was stunning scenery. There a lot of plants that hurt you and rape trees. You'd be amazed. They do exist. And these are victims of a and this is back in the early two thousands, so I, I can only imagine it's much worse, but you'd see these trees and they were full of women's brass and underwear.
And the junk and the garbage was unimaginable. And I remember sitting down in the home of a rancher. He really was the Marlboro man, and he's got tears coming down his face and he's bleeding. Please somebody help us. You know, I'm losing everything. And it just fell on deaf ears. And this is, I think, during the Bush administration.
So [00:39:00] this is, yeah, it's been going up a while. This is not, oh yeah. This is nothing new. So. Yeah, it's you'd see the people coming across, I took a, a boat ride on the the river down there and they'd gather in the park or the wayside on the, by the river and then come across in bottles. And at that time, even then, they just, for the most part, were allowed to cross over.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Um, other than that flying into, you know, Germany or England and things like that, to get somewhere that isn't quite as pleasant, but I haven't traveled as much. Someday. I'd like to though Jerusalem would be great. How many presidents have you met? I haven't met any in person, well, as a president, but you know people who have certainly run for it and won or a loss.
Trying to think if I met with anybody who was, um, a winner at the time. No, Bush, I didn't, McCain was running Romney of course. And folks like that. And then of course I got to meet. State have these radial rows at [00:40:00] the White House. I think they're having one now with Trump. And this is where all the people who are on the bandwagon are invited.
So you get to talk to all of the, you know, secretary of Defense and what have you. So we would do that on a regular basis. Go to the White House. Neil Borch remember him?
Jim Baker: Yeah, yeah,
Bill LuMaye: yeah. He took me in a side door, not to the White House, but I think it's right next door. And we raided got some White House.
Folders and things like that. But you got to meet the, the other radio people, you know, the Becks, the Hannity and all those folks on that level. But you also got to meet the movers and shakers at that time. And I learned quite, and I was always in awe of them, Jim, 'cause I always believed that they had our best interests and they were always smarter than the average person.
And that's not true. It really isn't true. And, um. I don't know. I've come to a, a more basic spot where I, I try not to envy or be in awe of anybody, [00:41:00] because generally you'll be disappointed. So, who was the most impressive person you interviewed? Wow. Or talked to? You know, besides myself, of course. Well, I know, I know.
And it's, I'm trying to thank Dr. Brannan. Yes. Both of you are extremely, you know, I've had, most of them are superficial interviews. And I really enjoy people who are willing to talk and really be honest and open. RFK was one of those people that I really enjoyed talking to. We in this area have all these wonderful universities who've had a lot of very, very smart people who oftentimes didn't agree with me, but I learned a lot from 'em.
I like that. I love going to like the Raleigh Rescue Mission and the German rescue mission 'cause you'll meet people who are. Down on their luck, probably at the very bottom of the rung and how they, through hope and belief in themselves and a [00:42:00] higher being, take themselves from places you wouldn't think you could recover from those people, I'm also quite amazed by, yeah, so it's ordinary folks that do extraordinary things.
Pretty cool. How's that for a political answer, huh? Yeah, I know, man. I
Jim Baker: should run for something. You should, you should start, run for office. Um. So what are your hot takes? Um, when we do this hot take telecast, you're always asking me and then we talk. Um, so do you have any,
Bill LuMaye: oh, I just drove here. You want hot takes traffic.
Traffic. What's wrong with these people that are over in the left hand lane? Jim, I mean, I, God bless you all truly. But when someone blinks your lights and it's a polite way, that's just kind of always say, excuse me, that's what it is. It's not meant to enrage you. I don't need to see salutes with fingers and or a gesture, a gun gesture of any kind.
Just, just move out of the way. Yeah, that stuff drives me crazy. That's one hot tech.
Jim Baker: Um, yeah, I think people [00:43:00] in their own little world sometimes, how can you not see the car behind you that's next to you, you know, within, that's in your entire rear view mirror and you're not moving over. Um, I don't know.
Sometimes maybe on the phone. I'm not seeing people. Now they'll. They're gonna, they're watching movies while they're driving. Right. So who knows what's going on in the cars, right? And now
Bill LuMaye: you're sitting in a traffic light and nobody moves 'cause everybody's on their phone. Right? And, um, so that's one. Um, I.
I'm trying to be a gentler and kinder and open-minded person and more loving, but growth around here is crazy, especially in the small communities. It seems as though, go ahead and build, build, build, but let's not put any infrastructure in, so, right. More traffic. Mm-hmm. I am pretty happy about the fact that we're trying to do something, whether it'll be successful or not, to bring.
Jobs back here. I'm tired of having to do a drug search every 30 days for medication that's not available at the local pharmacy. It'd be nice to make medicine here. I'm really pumped about RFK as [00:44:00] well. I think you're very into the health aspect of things. Let me ask you, how do you feel about 'em? I think what I've heard is kind of exciting.
Jim Baker: I had two schools of thought. The first one was naive on my part. 'cause he's trying to change the entire system. Right. I'm like, why aren't we taking these vaccines off the, the list, especially the covid vaccine for six month old kids. Right. Um, and said he is focused on red dyes and some other stuff. And then as you.
I'm not trying to defend him, but as you read more and more into it, it's just simply not that easy, you know, to, to do some of the stuff 'cause of the bureaucracy. So, um, yeah, I think he's a fighter. I think. Yeah, I believe in him. I too. And, um, I think you know, hopefully in four years, um, hopefully the next administration keeps him on, but in four years, hopefully he can make a difference.
I don't know. Do you think we have the patience. For all of this, all of the change. No, I mean, look at the whole tariff [00:45:00] thing a couple weeks ago, right? Everybody lost their minds, you know? Right. Within three days. And, um, but everybody, the, what I've learned about this country, well, I've known it, but kind of sadly reinforced itself all the time, is everybody wants, knows it needs to be fixed.
Literally, nobody wants to sacrifice anything. Right. Exactly. You know? And if their stock portfolio drops 10%, they go wild. It's like this is the only small little price you have to pay. You already have probably millions of dollars in your portfolio, so you lost a couple million bucks for that. You'll probably make up in another year or two.
It's on paper anyhow. Right. And you wanna stop everything you knew and you voted for a person because you knew it was broken and you thought they would hope we fix it. But you're not willing to sacrifice that. You're okay if somebody goes to war someplace else on your behalf, right? It's like nobody wants to sacrifice anything.
Bill LuMaye: Well, I think it's because they don't know. I, I don't know that, I don't know that most people understand what financial [00:46:00] situation this country's really in and how dire it is. You know? I don't know if they comprehend that. Our education system is just awful every time about this time, every time budget comes around, you have teachers marching in the street mm-hmm.
And demanding more money and what have you. And I'm sure, you know, there's a certain amount of that is legit. But I'm going, have you looked at the test scores? Have you looked at the test scores? I read somewhere
Jim Baker: yesterday that the senator from Maryland, I think, went down to El Salvador to hang out with the Yeah.
Deported, um, gang member. Right. Meanwhile. The city of Baltimore had zero kids pass the mass proficiency test for their grade level, right? Zero. And he's gonna worry about this guy in El Salvador, not the kids in his state. Like, what are we doing?
Bill LuMaye: I don't know. I told you I was a big Superman fan and I loved, um, they had the Bizaro series where it was Superman who looked like he was made out of ice, but everything was opposite.
And that's kind of where I feel we're in. I mean, the priorities are really quite misplaced and. I don't know what's real Jim [00:47:00] though, and, and what is manufactured. I mean, I see protests and they can't possibly know what they're talking about because they wouldn't be protesting, I wouldn't think. Right.
What's real, what isn't? I, I don't know. And unless you're educated, you won't know unless you do your own homework. And I've had a talk radio show. I do, you know, probably two hours of prep for every hour I was on the air to try to, and the one thing, as you know, is a great interviewer as you are. You try to know as much or more about the person so that you already kind of know the answers and can kind of correct the flow of things.
And that's not happening. Anywhere that I see it, you know, energy is just a mouthpiece. And he's a good guy. He's really a good guy and a successful guy, but he is just a mouthpiece. So he says the same things over and over again too very long. But people watch him. Oh yeah. I mean, every night. Well, people like to have their beliefs reaffirmed, right?
Yeah, yeah. I had a guy, Dr. Michael Munger. I. [00:48:00] Brilliant guy. He an economist at Duke University and he was one of the guys that, um, can I tell the short story? I don't, yeah. Alright. 9, 9 11 happened and I was in Green Bay at that time and there was a guy who had a gas station off the highway and he was raising the prices and I laid into him on the air ing these people.
How dare you? The man I made him, he was actually crying on the air and this just stuck with me. I was, could not be more wrong. Alright? And it was years later that Munger came into the studio and he said they were passing a law for price gouging. And he said, that's insane. I said, what do you mean we don't want people gouging?
He said, no, let me tell you, we had the hurricane come through, you had no ice. So you had outta state people come in with ice and they were selling it for whatever, 20, $30 a bag, which was outrageous, right? 'cause normally it cost a buck. So the steak came in and took all the ice away. Now, if you had left it, that $20 bag would be $10.
'cause more people [00:49:00] would've brought ice in from other states. So no, gouging has the opposite effect. And I never put that basic. Yeah, one plus one equals two together. And to this day, if I knew this poor man, I, I'd call 'em and I would've apologize. But it's those kinds of moments. You go back and go, God, I wish I was that smart and I'm not.
To lesson learned, do your research. Always, always, even as an individual, it's your family. Where are you sending your kid? What's going on in your school? There's a Supreme Court case right now where parents want control. What if they choose the wrong way and parents no longer have that? So there's a lot, lot at stake, and it comes from people I.
Being educated, which was by design. And, um, I don't know. There's where our attention is. What on TikTok social media. I don't know. We, we don't have long attention spans, by the way. Next next show I'm gonna be talking about. That's what I, I'm sorry. I don't mean to dominate, but it's just some of these things, Jim, [00:50:00] drive me crazy.
Yeah. So in conclusion, yeah. Five takeaways You want to give the audience in life in general?
Jim Baker: Yeah. Yeah. Anything you've, yeah. Yeah.
Bill LuMaye: Um, well, I. I think we kind of touched on it, I think touched on humility. Humility and um, understand what really truly is important in life. Right. So that's two. So we got three more.
Yeah. If you have children in your life, it is your job to take care of them until you die. It's just, and you're responsible for not only their education, two plus two in reading, but also their spiritual education. You're gonna be held accountable for that and urge you to, to really. Get yourself on up to speed on that.
And, you know,
Jim Baker: just is your definition of taking care, is that equipping them to handle mm-hmm. Downturns in life, or is that protecting them during the downturns in life?
Bill LuMaye: Well, see, I, I have gone overboard and I, I, and I, I'm trying to, I'm reforming myself. You can become overprotective and [00:51:00] a helicopter parent.
No, I think it's more of being there knowing that they have this space, that you'll always be there for them. And of course you will help them out in tough times, but you want to teach them to be able. To handle it. Yes. And now one of that is life experience. So you wanna be there not to hold their hand, but to maybe pat 'em on the back when they, when they, um, just giving them that security.
Sure. Yeah. And and then finally, I. Understand that the left lane is for faster vehicles. Move over, be polite, and then you can go back over and watch your movie
Jim Baker: where you live. You're a little bit closer to Virginia and I think if you ever drove from here to DC Oh God, yes. The entire state of Virginia drives in the left lane and so you're better off just staying in the right lane all the way up.
Oh, good
Bill LuMaye: tip.
Jim Baker: Yeah.
Bill LuMaye: Wow. See,
Jim Baker: see you learn something everyth. You don't, there's
Bill LuMaye: anything worthwhile watching this show. I can't believe it. You get great tea and tips like that. Oh, DC's terrible. Yeah, it's just terrible.
Jim Baker: Well, this is a treat so well honored about you and your experiences. Well, and I'll tell you
Bill LuMaye: whatever they [00:52:00] are and I appreciate you wanting to even hear it.
Thank you, Jim. Thank you. 50 cubs tea.com. Thank you. Perfect.