10-02-26 Part One - Play Misty For Me

Red Eye Radio

The hosts begin with a nostalgic deep dive into classic rock, Top 40 radio evolution, and how specific songs trigger vivid personal memories from different life stages. The conversation then

Key takeaways

• Polling consistently shows Republicans with higher favorability ratings than Democrats across multiple surveys, though the GOP faces headwinds on pricing and foreign policy.
• The Republican Party has moved left on certain economic proposals, such as Trump and Josh Hawley promoting a 10-30% cap on credit card interest rates, which polls show majority support for.

Main topics

• Classic rock nostalgia and radio history
• Political polling and voter favorability

Notable quotes

"If you've got to pay for the technology of a driverless car and still have a driver that you have to pay $30 an hour, you've defeated the entire purpose of the driverless car."

Conclusion

The episode underscores that while polling favors Republicans on favor

Transcript preview

Speaker 6 (0:07) Now, it's Red Eye Radio. Gary McNamara and Eric Hurley talk about everything from politics to social issues and news of the day. Whether you're up late or you're just starting your day, welcome to the show. From the Relief Factor Studios, this is Red Eye Radio. Speaker 8 (0:25) All across America, we are Red Eye Radio. He is Eric Hurley and I'm Gary McNamara. Hi. Speaker 3 (0:30) Good morning. Happy Friday. By the way, we never welcomed our audience to Talktober. Speaker 8 (0:37) Oh, that's right. Speaker 3 (0:38) Yeah. Speaker 8 (0:39) Remember all the classic rock stations in the 70s? It's Rocktober. Well, they weren't classic rock back then. No, Speaker 3 (0:46) they Speaker 8 (0:46) were just rock. They were just rock. Talktober. Speaker 3 (0:48) It's Rocktober. It's Speaker 8 (0:50) Rocktober. Coming Speaker 3 (0:51) up, we've got Bob Zigger, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin. Boston. Boston. Speaker 3 (0:56) And some Eric Clapton for you. Speaker 8 (0:59) And we were going to play REO Speedwagon, but it's 1982 now, and they've gone soft adult contemporary. They're no longer a progressive rock band. Speaker 3 (1:09) We will not be playing Keep On Loving You by REO Speedwagon. I remember. Look, Roll With The Changes, to me, is one of those songs that will get me out of bed, get me motivated. It's a great song, great song to play drums to, by the way. And I love that song, but the Keep On Loving You and the ballads. Look, they made a trillion dollars off of it. Speaker 8 (1:35) Yeah, Speaker 3 (1:35) that's true. You know, they made a ton of money off of it. And, you know, the band broke up. Kevin Cronin can't perform as REO Speedwagon anymore, which is weird. You know, I Speaker 8 (1:48) said that in the 90s. I've been saying how old I am, trying to prove how old I am for the last. 35 years. We believe you. But I think I said at the 90s, I said, I'm so damn old, I remember when REO Speedwagon and Ambrosia were progressive rock bands. Yeah, Speaker 3 (2:09) right. Speaker 8 (2:10) It's funny because you play something like... Yeah, Journey, way back then. Yeah, they were. I Speaker 3 (2:17) don't know if I put them fully in Prague, but it was instrumental, doing long songs. But Speaker 8 (2:21) Ambrosia's known as... A lot of people view Ambrosia like air supply. Yeah. And really, you know, you go back and, you know, time waits for no one. And, you know, that is the most prog rock song you could possibly ever hear in your life. Speaker 3 (2:37) Well, air supply recently changed their name. They had to upgrade it to modern sensibilities. And it's oxygen supply. So it's, they've aged a little bit. Speaker 3 (2:55) God bless. Look, look, we don't, by the way, when we do that with music, hey, if you love that music, that's good for you. That's, you know, that's awesome. Don't play it around me. But if just, you know, if that's your thing, that's fine. My wife loves the 70s channel, you know, and it's funny because you came in one night and you were listening to the 70s channel on satellite and you said you heard this, the DJ. whoever it was, on the 70s channel say, Speaker 3 (3:25) It turns out the most popular name for a dog is Bella. Yeah. And then he says, I wonder if Eric ever had a dog named Bella. Well, of course, you work with an Eric, being me. He was introducing an Eric Clapton song. Yes. And this Eric did have a Bella, my beloved Bella, who passed away last year. Speaker 3 (3:50) And so it sounded weird to you. I told you, I said, if Barb and I had heard that on the radio, we listened to it a lot, that would have freaked us out. Speaker 8 (3:59) Well, what I found out about music, and this really started happening about 10 years ago, probably when I got into my 60s. Speaker 3 (4:04) Yeah. Speaker 8 (4:05) And like all the, you know, growing up, we grew up with Top 40 Radio. Yeah. And Top 40 Radio was unlike anything that you really hear. All genres. Today, all genres of music were being played. Yeah. And so you were exposed to everything. Right. I mean, you'd hear bread and then the who. Speaker 3 (4:23) Yeah. Right. Speaker 8 (4:24) And Speaker 7 (4:25) so. Speaker 8 (4:26) And then eventually, Speaker 7 (4:26) like, crossover country, Alabama, Kenny Rogers. Speaker 8 (4:30) Yeah, Speaker 7 (4:30) I Speaker 8 (4:30) remember working for a Top 40 Radio station in the early 80s. Yeah. And we were playing Alabama. Yeah. Eddie Rabbit. Right. Yes. You Speaker 3 (4:38) know, Speaker 8 (4:38) Dolly Parton. Right. And it was a top 40 station. And that station was also playing, those stations, like Van Halen. Yeah. Especially when they day parted stuff, which means it got heavier at night. Speaker 3 (4:55) Right. Speaker 8 (4:55) Quiet Riot, things like that. Right. That was all being played as you got into it. Right. And then the mixture of it was, you know. Speaker 8 (5:04) Ha ha. here's Kenny Rogers followed by Boy George. I mean, seriously. But that was in the 80s. But in the 70s, you know, the early 70s and even the late 60s, Top 40 Radio was playing all of it. And one thing that I found out, there's the music that I love listening to, like the music I have on my phone right now. Speaker 5 (5:23) And, Speaker 8 (5:23) you know, I probably have like 6,000 songs on it. Speaker 5 (5:26) Right. You Speaker 8 (5:26) know, most of those songs probably nobody has ever heard of before because it's the bands that I've been into for the longest. that really most of the bands I like never got major airplay across the United States. Speaker 3 (5:38) I'm Speaker 8 (5:39) into a lot of Prague rock and just different stuff. I grew up on the Canadian border, so a lot of Canadian rock outside of Rush. Speaker 3 (5:48) For Speaker 8 (5:48) example, I told you the other day that the co-writer for Tom Sawyer died. Speaker 3 (5:54) Now, Speaker 8 (5:54) Piedubara. And he also, I think, wrote a bunch of other songs. And that song was given... It was actually originally named, I think, Louie the Warrior, and they changed it to Tom Sawyer. And that's when the band Max Webster, that I'm a huge fan of, huge fan. I think they're one of the best bands ever in the history of bands. You know, Pied DuBois wrote almost all of their lyrics, and he wrote this song. And when they did the song Battle Scar, Max Webster and Rush together, that's when they handed Louie the Warrior to Neil. Speaker 5 (6:30) and Speaker 8 (6:30) change it to Tom Sawyer. So he's got co-writer on that. So there's a lot of more. The Canadian bands somehow made it also to Speaker 7 (6:39) Texas. Texas Rock Stations. Speaker 3 (6:41) Moxie was on. Moxie was big in San Antonio. And a couple of other major Canadian bands. And I don't know why that appeal was there. I'm not sure why San Antonio was just, I mean. It really, back in the day, was kind of set in the trend for rock stations. Speaker 8 (7:01) Well, one of the best, to me, the best. And Dallas, Speaker 3 (7:03) too. Speaker 8 (7:04) The best new wave album that ever came out, ever. Arius and Symphonies from a band called The Spoons in Toronto. Speaker 3 (7:09) Yeah. Speaker 8 (7:10) Absolutely stellar. Every, I still play it today. It could hold its own today. And you don't listen to it one song, you play the entire album. Speaker 3 (7:21) Yeah. That's how, you know, and so, Speaker 8 (7:23) you know, how I was. How I got into music was just more eclectic music. And I blame my father because my father was so afraid of rock and roll. All we had in the house, I'm not kidding you, the only records we had in the house was Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Speaker 3 (7:44) Bach, Speaker 8 (7:45) Strauss' Waltz, Sing Along with Mitch Miller. Speaker 8 (7:54) John Philip Sousa, patriotic and sports marching band songs. Right. That was it. My father would not allow anything else in, any classical music, yes. Well, and yes. No, I didn't mean and yes. But, I mean, that's what really led me in the direction to liking the music that I, you know, started listening to in the 70s. And I told my father a long time ago, I said, you know, you're the one that got me into the drug music. Speaker 8 (8:21) Like early Genesis and stuff like that. The Speaker 7 (8:24) preacher's son kind Speaker 3 (8:25) of effect, right? Speaker 8 (8:25) Yeah. But what I found out is, though, and so, I mean, I've got tons of that. And I've kept up. Like there's a bunch of modern bands. Like one of the best bands I've heard in ages is a band from Dallas that I absolutely love that has two albums. I think it did some good stuff in Chicago. But they all work other jobs. They're all like in five bands. One of the best bands I've ever seen live called Motorcade. Speaker 3 (8:46) Yeah. Yeah. And Speaker 8 (8:47) stellar first two out. Absolutely stellar. And so that's what I listened to the majority of the time. But. I will listen. I'll go to Pandora and put on the 70s thing, and I realize there's music that I like for music, and then there's music I like for the nostalgia of it, what it brings back, the memories that it brings back. And I'm talking, if a Carpenter song comes on, Speaker 3 (9:11) it sets Speaker 8 (9:12) me to a particular place in time, like in 1970. And that, to me, started happening in my 60s, and I think that's the coolest thing ever. And I really never bought any Carpenters albums. I think she probably is one of the, you know, Karen Carpenter, one of the greatest voices. And what her brother did, you know. And musicians, Speaker 3 (9:31) yeah. Speaker 8 (9:32) Exactly. And what a drummer she was. An incredible drummer and everything else. And her brother, you know, what he was able to do in the studio. But you never bought it because it was on the radio every two seconds. Right, Speaker 3 (9:45) yeah. I mean, Speaker 8 (9:45) you never sat there and went, I need more of that. Speaker 3 (9:48) Right. Speaker 8 (9:48) And and so but it was Speaker 3 (9:50) so much exposure to a lot of that through television and television really was the go to in the evening. You would just like you would graduate. Everybody would just, you know, move out, migrate out to the living room and the variety shows that were on. I mean, you could go back to the Ed Sullivan years and Ed Sullivan was fighting the network on ratings because. The network was saying, well, certain parts of the country don't want to see black artists. And he says, these artists are doing very well and they're very talented. And I'm going to put them on my show. And, I mean, there was this big documentary about it, about how he fought for that till the very end of his show. Then, you know, Elvis, the Beatles and everything else. But I mean, there was so much else going on behind the scenes of promoting artists that weren't getting massive exposure. The wide exposure, they were getting some radio airplay and everything else, but certainly weren't getting video exposure that only television at that time could provide, of course. Speaker 8 (11:03) You know, and Motown. Speaker 3 (11:05) Yeah. Speaker 8 (11:05) You know, I always was a fan. I mean, that probably, as I said, Motown probably was the first thing that made me go, whoa. Speaker 3 (11:11) Yeah. Speaker 8 (11:11) It wasn't the Beatles for me. Everybody, you know, and it was in the music. It wasn't the Beatles for me. Yeah. It never was. Yeah. You know, it's just because I really started listening to music probably in 65, 66 when I got my first transistor radio. Speaker 3 (11:25) Well, Papa Was a Rolling Stone was the first song that made me stop and realize. How a simple bass line has to be absolutely 100 % correct when it carries the whole song. You know what I mean? And it was like, okay, this is a different type of musicianship. You know, it may sound easy. It may sound laid back. But the musicianship that... that went into building all of that. And then you get into Stevie Wonder at the age of 12. But the Speaker 8 (11:57) lyrics of that song. Speaker 3 (11:58) Yeah. Papa Speaker 8 (11:59) was always. Oh, my Speaker 3 (11:59) gosh. Oh, my God. The lyrics of it. He laid his hat was his home. Whoa. Speaker 8 (12:03) Oh, yeah. Speaker 3 (12:04) Not Speaker 8 (12:04) only that, but about. All he Speaker 3 (12:05) left us was alone. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. It's heartbreaking. Speaker 8 (12:09) The father's adventures. Yeah. It was not complimentary towards the father. Speaker 3 (12:15) Yeah. Speaker 8 (12:16) But, you know, but I look at it. I just find it fascinating that. There's a whole genre of music looking back that isn't based actually on the excitement and the complicated arrangements of the music that make me enjoy it in my head. All the stuff that was pop stuff that brings back memories. Speaker 3 (12:42) And Speaker 8 (12:42) they're as sweet and as thick and as real as if I was right back there. They bring it back. And to me, that was the most amazing thing. And it started, I think I talked about it on the radio when it started happening in my 60s. I said, Eric, I'm listening to these songs. I go back to the 60s, 70s. I'm like, my God, it's like, it's nostalgia. I'm not really, was never really into the songs. Like this is the greatest stuff ever. And it gives you this nostalgic, peaceful feeling. But it's based on nostalgia. It's based on. where I was, and it's amazing that a song can come on and it will bring me back to a specific point, day, you know, a particular day and moment of where I was at that time. Well, Speaker 7 (13:22) Baker Street by Jerry Rafferty. And it was, that was Del Speaker 3 (13:27) Rio at the pool where I worked at as a lifeguard. They basically let me hand out towels. I was 130 pounds. I wasn't going to be saving anyone of any size, but. I trained as a lifeguard. It was my first job. And they had a jukebox. But that one and meatloaf. Because bad out of hell. Not Speaker 8 (13:49) two out of three. Yes. Now, see, that was when I worked at a soft rock radio station. And I went from college radio. to adult contemporary yeah and it nearly destroyed my mind i mean i cannot i cannot if baker street comes on can't listen to it well two out of three ain't bad can't listen to it Speaker 3 (14:10) jerry rafferty i liked you know going back to steelers steelers real i love steelers real though but yeah but with with Speaker 7 (14:17) yeah with meat love it kind of wore out but i i heard it recently again that song And I stopped and I listened to the vocal performance of that song. And it was incredible. I thought. Speaker 3 (14:32) Holy Speaker 7 (14:32) cow, Speaker 3 (14:33) man. He had. Speaker 7 (14:35) an incredible, great rock voice, but in a ballad form. I mean, the song just, it was like, the lyrics were like, but Speaker 5 (14:43) it Speaker 7 (14:43) was, but the performance of the song. But Speaker 8 (14:47) I remember working at that radio. I mean, that, it brings me back to a moment that I hated. Speaker 3 (14:51) Yeah. When I was working at that soft rock radio. Speaker 8 (14:53) It's not really the song. Speaker 3 (14:56) Yeah. You know, it's not really. Carrie Speaker 8 (14:57) Jack's Speaker 3 (14:57) Season in the Sun. That, that, that will drive me out of a building. Speaker 8 (15:01) I wasn't, but, but it brings me back. to working at Dunkin' Donuts cleaning toilets. Speaker 3 (15:07) Yeah. Yeah. That Speaker 8 (15:09) song, I hear that song, it brings me back to that. Jerry Rafferty brings me back to the bad memories of working at that song garage station. Edmund Speaker 3 (15:16) Fitzgerald. I was driving a long all-night drive on a highway, and that song came on, and I was Speaker 7 (15:25) just immersed in that song for the entire length of that song. I'll always remember that moment. That brings Speaker 8 (15:31) me back to working at the bank as a bill collector. Speaker 3 (15:33) Yeah. I Speaker 8 (15:33) mean, it's, and you can bring up any song and I can, the moment in time that it brings me to, but the other one was bluer than blue. Speaker 3 (15:42) Yeah. Speaker 8 (15:43) Bluer than blue. Yeah. God, I hated that song. Yeah. That reminds me of a Saturday Speaker 3 (15:47) afternoon when my mom made me, I was the only one there of all the kids. My dad had taken all the other kids somewhere else. And I was at home with mom and had to clean the house with her. Speaker 5 (15:58) My Angel Baby, Toby Bo, Magnet and Steel. I Speaker 8 (16:02) hear Speaker 5 (16:03) those Speaker 8 (16:03) songs and I'm like, I have Speaker 5 (16:04) to turn them Speaker 8 (16:04) off immediately because it brings me back to working at the soft rock radio station. If you ever watched WKRP, it was like if Johnny Fever had to play something, my mind was about to just blow. It wasn't where I was at 22 years old. Right. Speaker 3 (16:19) To go from college radio, eclectic radio, Speaker 8 (16:21) to that, it was like. Speaker 3 (16:24) Yeah, now I'm almost 61, and on the way in tonight, I'm listening to Five Figure Death Punch. Speaker 8 (16:29) Yeah, exactly. See, that's what happens. All right, it's Speaker 3 (16:32) a Speaker 8 (16:32) Friday show. It was crazy yesterday. Oh, Speaker 3 (16:34) man. Speaker 8 (16:34) I have one of the best audio cuts ever coming up. All right. All right? Okay. We are Red Eye Radio. Brought to you by Hot Shot Secret. Speaker 1 (16:41) Hi, I'm Jen Loomis, a transport