Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hi, I'm Stan.
[00:00:02] Speaker B: And I'm Shen.
[00:00:03] Speaker A: And each week we bring you the Stan and Shen Show. And each week we talk about fun things through our travels throughout the capital region. We touch on food, we touch on news, try to touch heavily on good news. And Shen's always available with hot takes.
[00:00:19] Speaker B: Yeah. So if you could follow along and listen to us every week on DailyGazette.com or on all major streaming platforms, we'd love to have you join us.
[00:00:29] Speaker A: This is mine.
[00:00:30] Speaker B: Oh, you didn't open yours?
[00:00:33] Speaker A: I wanted to have this for the podcast.
[00:00:35] Speaker B: The sound.
[00:00:35] Speaker A: The sound.
[00:00:36] Speaker B: Sound effects, yes.
[00:00:38] Speaker A: Okay, so it's the Stan and Chen show and we're drinking, but non alcoholic.
[00:00:45] Speaker B: Unfortunately, after last night's city council meeting that went and I didn't get home till 11, I feel like I could go for a margarita.
[00:00:57] Speaker A: We'll have to see if we get approval for that.
[00:01:01] Speaker B: I doubt it.
[00:01:04] Speaker A: So part of one of the things we talked about on the podcast doing was doing some tastings. And so we are pressed for time today as Shen asked the beat feet to go get some paperwork up in Saratoga County. Coca Cola has the brand new orange vanilla flavored and orange cream. And so we've had a lot of staff members taste it. So we crowdsourced.
[00:01:29] Speaker B: I think we should let people know, like, it was new, like three weeks ago, but we're just getting to it now. So it's new to us, but it's been on the shelves.
[00:01:37] Speaker A: It has, it has. And we were like. I mean, I was thinking the, the Dr. Pepper black raspberry and things like that. Next week we are planning.
[00:01:45] Speaker B: I feel like that would be better.
[00:01:46] Speaker A: Next week are. We are planning the girl Scout showdown.
[00:01:50] Speaker B: Oh, I gotta wait till next week.
[00:01:51] Speaker A: Well, we can start today and we'll just get your thoughts down.
[00:01:55] Speaker C: Yeah, okay.
[00:01:55] Speaker B: That way I can.
[00:01:56] Speaker A: So I've. I've had the zero. So I will admit I bought the zero just to taste it. So now I'm doing the high test, so I'm.
[00:02:03] Speaker B: So wait, hold on. You already bought one to taste?
[00:02:06] Speaker A: I bought a zero.
[00:02:08] Speaker B: This has sugar.
[00:02:09] Speaker A: This could be totally different.
[00:02:10] Speaker B: No, there's like a slight difference, but it's like it's not that good.
[00:02:13] Speaker A: How do you know? Did you taste the zero? No.
[00:02:15] Speaker B: Well, no, because I've had Coke Zero.
[00:02:17] Speaker A: Now I'm tasting because everyone knows.
[00:02:19] Speaker B: Wait, so they have a zero but not a diet?
[00:02:21] Speaker A: Correct.
[00:02:22] Speaker B: See, the diet's always better.
People don't realize there's a difference between the Coke diet, the Coke Zero.
[00:02:31] Speaker A: Okay, so first blush, I like this better than the Coke Zero version.
[00:02:36] Speaker B: For whatever reason, you better only get the mini cans.
[00:02:38] Speaker A: And we got mini cans. And so everybody kind of tested.
[00:02:43] Speaker B: And that's a lot of sugar in here. I'm going to stop drinking this out.
[00:02:46] Speaker A: And it's a mini. How much is in there?
[00:02:49] Speaker B: It's like 24 grams of sugar in there.
[00:02:51] Speaker A: Well, okay. So I could be beeping here any minute.
The.
So who had the best reaction in the newsroom, do you think, about the Coca Cola?
[00:03:02] Speaker B: It was eaten, but I think we're on the same. I think my take on it was spot on.
Essentially, if you've ever eaten an orange and accidentally bit into the peel part, like you left a little piece on there, you caught a piece of it or whatever. Or if you're stupid and we're like, what does the peel of an orange taste like? And you just wanted to try.
Kind of tastes like that. Like there's sweetness to it, but you get this like, weird aftertaste. I mean, that's like the first few sips and then it settles a little bit and it's not so bad, but it's not one I would immediately reach for. Just give me a regular. Well, I shouldn't say regular. Give me a Diet Coke. Because everyone knows there's a difference between the diet and the zero. I'm gonna keep saying that.
[00:03:43] Speaker A: I tell you, Eden was really. Eden was like a sip and a frown.
[00:03:49] Speaker B: I think it was kind of disappointing. And also I think John Thorpe, who really gets a shout out in this office. So Thorpe getting the shout out.
[00:03:58] Speaker A: Thank you very much for all you do. The pagination, the things you see. On our Sunday Life at Arts section, special sections. It's all courtesy of John Thorpe.
[00:04:05] Speaker B: Yes.
Award winning paginator.
There's not enough vanilla in there. It literally says orange, vanilla flavored.
Maybe they should have started with the vanilla and then dropped a couple orange whatever in there that they do.
[00:04:22] Speaker A: John was very big on it. Needs more vanilla.
[00:04:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:04:26] Speaker A: I think the orange they've got in that like orange zest, orange peel type of thing.
[00:04:32] Speaker B: Yeah. We can do more zest and less peel. But I will say it's better than some unnamed soda brands that we have here in the office.
[00:04:39] Speaker A: That's right. Chad Arnold said, eh, if it was at a picnic and I had one, I'd have one, but then I'd have something else.
[00:04:47] Speaker B: Yeah. It's definitely not the soda I'm gonna pick to have with me on an island one day. If there's ever a plane crash.
[00:04:54] Speaker A: Oh, this is the last. Well, this is almost the next to last. The other one's, the one we've got in our vending machines, would be the last soda, which we're not gonna name, apparently. We don't want to name because we don't want to get in trouble and then just have water in the machine. Cause that would stink.
So happy belated St. Patrick's Day. And did you realize we got the date wrong? All last podcast, I had it as St. Patrick's Day TV Tuesday, and it was Monday.
[00:05:19] Speaker B: And see, this is why I was thrown off, because I was like, oh, I'm gonna hit legs on Tuesday. First of all, I changed my schedule, so it ended up being Monday anyways for legs. But then that really threw me off.
[00:05:31] Speaker A: This Shen Fitness update is brought to you by Crunch.
[00:05:35] Speaker B: But then. Which is opening a second location, by the way, which, please, everyone go there. So no one goes to my location anymore. But anyway, so I walked into the gym on Monday, and I'm wearing like, my all, like, my normal go to all black. Cause it's easy. It was like five in the morning, and I'm looking around. I was like, green, green, green. The lady on the TV is wearing green. And I was like, are you kidding me? It's St. Patrick's Day. Yes. I almost four on the podcast. Not tell the publisher who have to reign me in.
[00:06:09] Speaker A: We haven't done it yet. We haven't done it yet.
[00:06:11] Speaker B: People know that feeling of being like you knew it was coming and then you just forgot, like, what day it was.
[00:06:17] Speaker A: And it is a moving target. It's not like Christmas 25th. We know.
[00:06:21] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:06:22] Speaker A: And the holiday parade. But. Well, no, it's always Christmas is only the 25th.
[00:06:26] Speaker B: It's always, whoa. It's always on the 17th.
[00:06:28] Speaker A: Is it always the 17th?
[00:06:29] Speaker B: Yeah. St. Patrick's Day is the moving target of holidays as things.
[00:06:33] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:06:34] Speaker B: St. Patrick's Day is always on the 17th. The day changes. And I just got thrown off because, like, I don't know, we just had a lot of stuff going on. And then on the weekends, I was dealing with things, and I just didn't think about it. And I'm not even. I'm not even upset that I necessarily forgot. So I still got my green in for the day.
[00:06:50] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:06:51] Speaker B: I'm just upset that when you came to work. Yes. But I had a whole outfit planned to wear for St. Patrick's Day to the gym that was like, spot on. It was like a dark green on bottom, light green on top, squats and Shenanigans shirt with a clover on it. I feel like you can't. I gotta time it out. I gotta wait at least a month before I can wear that shirt again for it to be reasonable. You can't wear it the same week as St. Patrick's Day, because people are gonna be like, why didn't you just wear that on Monday?
[00:07:16] Speaker A: This Shen wardrobe update brought to you by J.C. penney and Amazon wearables. Return as much as you want, whenever you want.
[00:07:26] Speaker B: Anyway, I'm just really upset because, like, green leggings, I specifically bought them just to wear for St. Patrick's Day.
[00:07:34] Speaker A: Speaking of St. Patrick's Day, I spent Saturday with our friends out in Montgomery County.
[00:07:39] Speaker B: I didn't do anything. I didn't drink. I went to the gym.
[00:07:42] Speaker A: You were missed.
[00:07:43] Speaker B: Or no, no, no. Yes, I went to the gym.
[00:07:45] Speaker A: You were missed.
[00:07:46] Speaker B: That's fine with me.
[00:07:47] Speaker A: You were missed.
[00:07:48] Speaker B: I can remain missed.
[00:07:49] Speaker A: 61 degrees. St Patty's Day Pub Fest, City of Amsterdam. Sponsored by our friends at City of Amsterdam, Tourism and Marketing.
[00:08:01] Speaker B: I appreciate the tourism things that they do, but there's only so much of people drinking that I can take.
[00:08:07] Speaker A: I'm telling you, I've been there before. It is a great time. The huge Smile gallery. I think 100 plus photos. Everybody was friendly. Everyone was glad to see us. I did a selfie. I sent it to you. I don't think I. I think I. I know you didn't respond. I. I think we really need to. I think if we bring the Stan and shen show to St Patrick's Day, to the crawl to the fest, I think you would have fun. I would even drive to.
[00:08:36] Speaker B: The Irish in me needs to think about this.
[00:08:40] Speaker A: You would be a star wearing some green. I had the hat on. The hat lit up. It was great. You would be. You could be the Queen. You could be, like, the St. Patrick's Day queen.
Like, if you. When you say Erin go brah, people would believe it.
I was at Hibernians Monday taking photos. And the young lady goes, what's your name? I go, stan. She goes, that sounds Polish. And I said, yeah, but I'm wearing green to, you know, support others. She goes, okay, you're Irish.
You'd be a star. And I didn't drink. I was on duty. You'd be on duty.
[00:09:19] Speaker B: That's like, the one thing I do get, though, is, like, people can immediately tell I'm Irish, and then I tell them my name, and then it's very confusing. Confusing, yes.
[00:09:26] Speaker A: But that's all part of The Shin experience.
[00:09:28] Speaker B: Yeah, that's what we're always confused. This large European background in our family.
[00:09:32] Speaker A: So let's talk about.
Let's talk about the patrons.
[00:09:38] Speaker B: What a game. What a game. We. I still got to send you videos from that game. We're gonna compile them eventually. At some point, everybody, we'll get to it.
[00:09:46] Speaker A: Right.
Then we take the Stand and Chen show. And then we started doing some YouTube videos and stuff like that. We. I have to drop in. Just our Facebook lives. We did two of them, and you were off the hook.
[00:09:58] Speaker B: I just want to apologize, though, to anybody who may have taken us a little too seriously. No, taking you taking me a little too seriously about the rival. We played it. The rivalry. Cause we played it up.
I played it up. It was fun, though.
[00:10:13] Speaker A: Like, you were throwing down.
[00:10:14] Speaker B: You gotta egg it on a little bit so the team plays better, so you get, you know, better feedback in your videos, and people were relatively n about it. But apparently some people aren't too happy. I did like the newspaper rivalry and stuff like that, but everyone in this area knows that the two newspapers are rivals.
[00:10:33] Speaker A: Hey, it's the Stan and Shen show. It starts with fun.
[00:10:37] Speaker B: Yeah. And it ends with an apology.
[00:10:40] Speaker A: Yeah. It's kind of like a lot of, you know. Yeah. It just ends up like a lot of things.
[00:10:46] Speaker B: Sometimes you just gotta do it and ask for.
[00:10:48] Speaker A: And it was in the moment, and it was a lot of fun. You were so excited. And then. And then the. The Phoenix won.
[00:10:54] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:54] Speaker C: I mean.
[00:10:55] Speaker A: I mean, what shot?
[00:10:56] Speaker B: The two. The two guys sitting there rooting for the patrons. You know, I had a. I had a fun little joke with them, and it was great. And it could have went one of two ways. And thankfully, they, you know, they took it just as, you know, they picked up on it. They knew we were joking around. So you'll.
[00:11:10] Speaker A: Albany Mayor Kathy Sheen will not be on the Stand and Shen show podcast.
[00:11:13] Speaker B: Probably not. I have a feeling we might get an email from her. But it was joking, guys. Okay?
[00:11:19] Speaker A: It was. And this is no different than the, you know, again, the. The Troy Schenectady, you know, Union rpm.
[00:11:26] Speaker B: We never do anything that's blatantly.
[00:11:30] Speaker A: We were not mean.
[00:11:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:11:31] Speaker A: We poked fun at all.
[00:11:33] Speaker B: Yeah. But we were there to support one team and one team only.
[00:11:37] Speaker A: Everyone was there, and they delivered, and they did.
[00:11:39] Speaker B: They did. I think what really changed the game wasn't. It came in, what, the third. Third quarter. Third or fourth quarter when the dunk happened? Well, first it was the three. The three really lightened us Up.
[00:11:51] Speaker A: That was the first three of the game was huge.
[00:11:54] Speaker B: That was big league. I think when they got that, like, second half. Yeah.
[00:11:59] Speaker A: That game got really tight.
[00:12:01] Speaker B: Yep. And he just comes up and just slam dunk.
[00:12:04] Speaker A: Hits that three to give him some breathing room. Then on the other end, that dunk.
[00:12:08] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:12:08] Speaker A: The place with electric.
[00:12:09] Speaker B: I think it was like either another three or another dunk. It was crazy.
[00:12:12] Speaker A: Sold out.
[00:12:13] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:12:14] Speaker A: Standing room only.
[00:12:15] Speaker B: Yes. I can't wait for the video because we have one of.
[00:12:18] Speaker A: Of Sam.
[00:12:18] Speaker B: Yes. Of Sam Clifford just going insane. You can see in the video he dunks and Sam Clifford's just going insane. It was crazy. It was exciting.
Super happy to see both of them.
[00:12:31] Speaker A: And we got a commitment from the CEO.
[00:12:34] Speaker B: We say commitment loosely, though.
I feel like she still might back out. But we'll see.
She's got to listen to the ball.
[00:12:42] Speaker A: Becky's interview adverse, but we think we've negotiated.
[00:12:47] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:12:47] Speaker A: Her appearance on the stand and Shen show.
[00:12:49] Speaker B: Yeah. I just have to do all the talking, apparently. So.
[00:12:55] Speaker A: So we'll prep her for that. So. So we did. We did the Coca Cola orange cream. And then we're gonna go to four different girl Scout cookies next week.
[00:13:04] Speaker B: There was literally no transitional sentence to that. You just went from Patroon's game.
[00:13:08] Speaker A: I know.
[00:13:08] Speaker B: We'll get Becky on to. Back to the Coca Cola.
[00:13:10] Speaker A: Back to the Coca Cola.
[00:13:11] Speaker B: Listen, this is not sponsored here. Okay? I don't have to get in Coca Cola.
[00:13:14] Speaker A: I understand it. We're just moving along because, you know, you've got to go. And then we're gonna bring in our political reporter, Tyler A. McNeil.
[00:13:21] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm gonna let Stan take that one. And then I gotta go deal with my own politics.
[00:13:26] Speaker A: Own politics. And you kind of got off the hook on what we're talking about today. On Wednesday, Tuesday night, These elections in these small towns, you got to. I don't know. I want to say dodged a bullet, but you got. You weren't pulled in.
[00:13:44] Speaker B: Thank goodness my village has done the smart thing and moved their elections to November.
As all elections.
[00:13:52] Speaker A: As we just finished a special election.
[00:13:53] Speaker B: As we just finished a special election. Yeah, but that's special.
[00:13:56] Speaker A: And then we're.
Aren't they all special?
Everybody. Everybody campaigns so hard.
We like everybody to win, but unfortunately, the judge says these hundred votes get thrown out. So this will be the winner.
[00:14:10] Speaker B: This year's gonna be really stressful as far as politics go. Only because. And this. And I mean, that's just for everybody in general, because we get special election, village elections, school Board elections, primaries, about a two month, two to like four month window where we're still talking politics, but there's no voting till like November.
So like, you know, July, August, September, September, October, like might be quiet, but probably not.
[00:14:44] Speaker A: Do you have, what's your good news for this week?
[00:14:46] Speaker B: I didn't think about it.
[00:14:49] Speaker A: You didn't have an election?
[00:14:50] Speaker B: I didn't have an election. That was my good news.
What was my good news this week? I don't know if you have.
[00:14:57] Speaker A: True, I can go first. So I was fortunate enough to catch up with Paula Phildago, who is an author and she will be on the Tell Me youe Story podcast. She'll be my fifth guest. And Paula was. And this is the one thing for you is Paula was one of the first five. So in 2002, where was she? In 2002 she was part of Time Warner Cable's launch in Albany. She was one of the first five on air talent who was immediately moved into a director role because of her experience out in Massachusetts. And then she was here and she kind of transitioned into an entrepreneurial position and created her own cleaning company which is still going strong in the capital region. And she has just completed her first book and it took her five years to do. But it's a nonfiction book. But it deals with a very real, really a very real subject that impacts so many people. And Paul was very adamant that affects both males and females and talking about domestic violence. So it's a woman's journey through a domestic violence situation, dealing with the courts, biases within the court system, et cetera. And that all came from her reporting, through her career and then her own life experience as a fictional piece. So she was absolutely fantastic. And she'll be on and she'll be in part of our Getting to Know piece.
So my good news is that wasn't it. Well, just the podcast plugging that. The good news is Paula shared with me she has seen Taylor Swift in concert.
[00:16:50] Speaker B: How is this good news for me?
[00:16:53] Speaker A: Because her ticket was only $600.
[00:16:57] Speaker B: Well, that's nice.
[00:16:58] Speaker A: So it's within that shen range of how much you would pay to go see Taylor Swift.
[00:17:02] Speaker B: I like Paula. I'm a little jealous of her.
[00:17:05] Speaker A: So she and her daughter saw Taylor Swift.
They flew to Portugal to go see Taylor Swift was the sole purpose of this trip.
[00:17:16] Speaker B: I would have done that.
[00:17:17] Speaker A: But her smart daughter said, but mom, we can go see grandma. Because her mother still lives in Portugal, where they moved to when she was seven years old. So her daughter played it right of like.
And so she did see Taylor Swift and she did see. The best part of it was as soon as Taylor came on stage and she saw them about. She's about 2 inches tall from their seats. But her daughter's reaction and the tears going down her face of being there to see Taylor Swift live, she goes, it was worth every penny.
[00:17:49] Speaker B: So Taylor Swift might be the one person I'd get on a plane for if. For the first time.
[00:17:54] Speaker A: If you buy the plane ticket, I'll get you the Taylor Swift ticket because you refuse to fly. So this is the level of commitment I want to see if you've got that. So, yeah, $1300 each for a plane ticket to go see Taylor Swift. But it can be done.
[00:18:11] Speaker B: Yeah, I knew a lot. I actually knew of like, I didn't personally know a lot of people, but I knew like a lot of people from like the United States would, who couldn't get tickets, just bought tickets and like European countries. But unfortunately now we're gonna have like additional visas and things you have to get in the future to go to Europe.
[00:18:31] Speaker A: Yes. And the other piece of good news is friend of the podcast, Lauren Halligan had her baby. Had her baby.
[00:18:39] Speaker B: So congratulations.
[00:18:40] Speaker A: Congratulations to her. So congratulations to Lauren, her, the family.
[00:18:43] Speaker B: And the whole Sarah.
[00:18:44] Speaker A: Everybody looked great. Very excited. Chamber of Commerce family. And again, April 10, April 10, we'll.
[00:18:50] Speaker B: Have the Belmont announcement. So I don't have good news. In fact, my news is not of the good sort.
[00:18:58] Speaker A: But where's that button that goes wah, wah, wah?
[00:19:01] Speaker B: But I do have an important message and one that I don't think we talk enough about in this industry, and that is that if anybody saw my Facebook post in the past few days, I've been very upset that the Cortlandt Standard, the paper I worked at prior to coming here, and I worked there for close to three years, starting off as their cops and courts reporter and then moving to cover county government. It is the first daily paper I worked at and the first paper where I actually became an award winning journalist.
[00:19:34] Speaker A: Twice, could be three times on Friday.
[00:19:37] Speaker B: Or Thursday from the Associated Press and the New York Press Association. And I still have those plaques to this day. And during that time they actually gave one to the company. And so it was hanging on their wall. Unfortunately, it will no longer be hanging on their wall as they have closed their doors after more than 150 years. It was the oldest, second, or is the second oldest newspaper in New York State, eighth oldest in the country.
Seventeen employees had worked there at the time.
And they closed for a number of reasons. In part because of the increased costs that come with printing in this industry that they couldn't keep up with. I'm sure in part of, you know, whatever they did on their business side, trying to navigate things, and in part because they just couldn't get subscribers. So I put this out there to the community.
When you look back and you ask yourself why you didn't know something, why no one covered this, why no one knew that your taxes were being increased, or that a sports team won a national title, or no one's there to take photos of your kid at their race, or, you know, you're so upset that you think the county's misusing money, or you know, whether it's good or sad, happy or bad news. When you ask yourself, where was a person to cover this, turn around and ask yourself whether or not you subscribe to your local newspaper. Because I really wish that more people would talk about and have conversations about why we don't support local newspapers, particularly family owned newspapers, the same way we support other small businesses in our community.
So regardless of whether or not you fully believe that they do a good job or have done a good job over the years, I can tell you without a doubt that no journalist wants a mistake, no paper wants to deal with a mistake, and they do their best to make sure that we put out as much accurate information. They are pillars in the community, and it sucks to see. And sucks is not even the greatest word I could use. There's a lot of other language I would use. There's probably an F word I would put before sucks. But it is just heartbreaking to know that people that I work so closely with, an editor who, you know, in part helped me become the writer I am today and always told me to seek truth, will no longer have a job, in part because a community just doesn't support them enough. And you cannot argue with me and say that a subscription costs too much when their paper was like $1.75.
So when you wonder why a paper is getting thinner and thinner and thinner and things are not getting covered, ask yourself, do you work for free?
And if the answer is no, then realize that we don't either. It costs to do this business. In fact, our costs have increased 100%. We hear that all the time from miles. Every single year. We sit down, our costs have increased 100%. And yet we are out here trying to make sure that we bring the community as much information as we possibly can, oftentimes working exceptionally long days Coming in on our days off, answering emails on our days off, answering emails on vacations.
So just remember that the next time a newspaper in this state closes.
And it sucks to end on such a kind of crappy note, but I had to put that out there because I just, I don't think we talk about it frankly enough. I don't think we talk about it enough in our own industry and I don't think we talk about it enough with our chambers of commerce. And I definitely don't think we talk about it enough in the community.
[00:23:42] Speaker A: And that's when you look at. And again, I'm in my 27th year, so I've seen it, I've been part of it, I've been through it, things like that. And that's where a company like the Daily Gazette family of newspapers, the acquisitions we've made, part of the reason, a large part of the reason was to prevent a news desert.
[00:24:07] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:24:07] Speaker A: You know, when you look at all three entities, we purchased the Amsterdam Recorder, the Gloversville Leader Herald, and you look at the Register Star and Daily Mail, okay. All three were still family owned. Those three entities were up for sale. We didn't swoop in, we didn't. Hostile takeover. They were leaving. And that's the message I have for those people that are out there. They were leaving, they were closing the doors. They were. Peace out, girl scout. The Daily Gazette family of newspapers saw an opportunity again. It's a business, the business to make money. It's not a charity.
[00:24:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:47] Speaker A: And I mean, it also prevents a news desert. And I think we've done a good job. So people, when I'm out there, I'm telling people we're doing the best we can. I think we are the hardest working staff I've had the privilege to work with. And I loved everyone I've worked with. Spent 22 years with the Saratogian Company, which was the Troy Record, the Kingston Freeman, the Oneida paper, which I always forget. I apologize.
[00:25:11] Speaker B: Wait, you worked at the Dispatcher, The Oneida Dispatcher.
[00:25:14] Speaker A: I think it's that, Is that the. Yeah. And then, you know, my baby, as I say, was the free weekly, the Community News from Clifton park, which is, as you know, so many people know me from. Stan, you wrote this. That's the joy we do this day in and day out because of the joy. And that's why I'm still doing this. People say, when are you leaving? I'm not.
[00:25:33] Speaker B: Yeah. And like I said, you know, I, you know, we try to be very cheery on this Podcast for the most part. And that's who we are. We strive to be as people too when we're out doing the standing shit show. But I think I would have been, I would have missed a note if I did not bring it up today because we have such an outlet and just, you know, and I haven't explicitly posted about it on Facebook. There are a number of things that have also happened in relation to it and some of those things may still be ongoing. So I don't really want to butt my head into them because I still have hope that either someone locally may take up a paper there. But I urge communities to do the same thing that you would do with any other small business, support them. Are there going to be people who don't like your business or a business? Yes, there's always going to be people who want to complaint, who have complaints. Some of them valid, some of them definitely not. But at the end of the day, the people who. You can't just have us two people supporting a newspaper and everybody else who reads it but doesn't really support it going, why is there's two, two stories in there?
[00:26:39] Speaker A: Well, paper getting thin, things like that and what this is. And I understand, I understand where you're coming from right now because I am at the old paper. Again, not family owned. Every six months you lost a friend. So when you're losing people you've worked with that have meant so much to you, it hurts, it's painful. Someone moves on to something else for the better. I had a lot of. And again, being in the sports department, I had a lot of people I work with moved away for their spouse because of their jobs. That's okay. I'm okay with that. You get a better opportunity. You get that nine to five. You get that state job. I get it. That's totally understandable. That's awesome. But when someone's exited because of a cut, that's painful. And then was like, what? You know, we're getting less of, why weren't you there? Things like that. We do get less of that because people understand that it's not there. But in a sense it's almost like if I'm going to say anything, I almost would like people to think like American Express with the Saturday after Black Friday being small business Saturday.
Every day should be local paper. It should be hug your journalist day every day.
[00:27:55] Speaker B: I don't know about hug. I might not hug you.
[00:27:57] Speaker A: You're not a hugger. You're not a hugger.
And the whole premise of this is.
[00:28:01] Speaker B: But support us read our paper, even if you don't even have to.
I would love you to buy subscriptions. Yes, buy subscriptions. But if you can only afford to get two papers a week. Two papers a week is better than no papers a week. If you can pay for three months online, which is way cheaper, by the way, everybody, little plug there for our subscription department is way cheaper online. But maybe that's not. You know, I'm still someone who to this day loves to hold a newspaper in their hands. I love that. I love actually getting the black on my fingers. Like, I love that there's something to be said about that. But we are in a digital age, and it's not stopping, and it's okay. And like I said, I don't wholly blame the community on the Cortland Standard closing its doors.
[00:28:45] Speaker A: We don't know It's. It's a business.
[00:28:47] Speaker B: But when part of the comments made by their publisher are that they couldn't. They. They had started online and increasing their online subscriptions, and it just wasn't enough. And they couldn't pay their people enough to keep doing the work that that community deserves.
[00:29:02] Speaker A: And it's the perfect storm.
[00:29:03] Speaker B: Something that has to be cost.
[00:29:04] Speaker A: Cost meant, you know, you reach a point.
[00:29:06] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:29:07] Speaker A: You know, there's.
[00:29:07] Speaker B: There's a number there. And. Yes. And let me just point out very.
[00:29:11] Speaker A: Clearly here, in case you weren't clear.
[00:29:14] Speaker B: Before, no journalists, especially no journalist at the Gazette, is getting money and getting rich doing this job. I just want to put that out there, okay? We are not getting rich doing this job. So don't think of saying that you need to support a community newspaper more.
[00:29:29] Speaker A: We're not Major League Baseball money. We're not. We're not head money. We're not cable news money by any means. So, as you know, the Stan and Chen show, along with my podcast, Tell Me youe Stories, available on all podcast platforms free of charge. But if you think the Stan and Shen show and every person we work with is worth a buck a week, please subscribe. Yeah, because that's our. One of our promotions right now is a dollar a week for a subscription. Not to the Gazette, but to the Gazette, the MCN Recorder, the Leader Herald, Nippertown, all four. You get that at your fingertips when you want. You get our E. Editions, things like that. If you see something in the E. Edition. And this is what happens a lot. Our friend downstairs, Lisa, God bless her for what she has to deal with people coming in, and she's like the number one complaint department if you see something in the E Edition that you like or your friends in there and you want to come in and buy more copies, please come in and see Lisa and say hello and buy more copies. But the E Edition was there. And if you want to buy something, great. If you don't, that's okay. But I think the whole gang is worth more than a buck a week. So please subscribe. We have promotions all the time.
[00:30:41] Speaker B: Reach out to us. Like people realize we don't. We're not all knowing here, okay? We know what we know, when we know it, and that's how we get to cover it. If we don't know about it, we can't be there.
[00:30:51] Speaker A: That's it. Get us at Stand and Shine at Gmail.
And then you can always reach out to Newsaily Gazette. That's the easiest one. Newsailygazette.net.com we're.com your email address.
[00:31:04] Speaker B: This always happens. We're.nets and.com in this office.
[00:31:07] Speaker A: Yes. Our emails are.nets. the big bucket is dot com. And there's probably, I don't want to say 100 eyes around there, but there's a lot of eyes that look at that news email constantly, day in and day out, and that's how we get things. So maybe we'll have some fantastic news. We've got a New York Press association.
[00:31:28] Speaker B: Conference conference and contest.
[00:31:29] Speaker A: It's a conference contest for us to get better.
[00:31:32] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:31:32] Speaker A: And hopefully bring home some hardware.
[00:31:34] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:31:35] Speaker A: And we will talk about that. Shen has to go north to get some paperwork, and I'm going to take a break and we're going to bring in Tyler A. McNeil. So for now, say goodbye.
[00:31:46] Speaker B: Goodbye.
[00:31:49] Speaker A: All right. Tyler has fully refreshed all his screens. So I'm here with Tyler A. McNeil, our political writer with the Daily Gazette Family newspapers really covering politics in the 518, but obviously focusing on a lot of our local counties. And I wanted to bring Tyler in because my experience, and again, 22 years as a sports writer, it's all new to me. It continues to be new to me. I was just befuddled that we're doing this all again in November for a lot of these elections. And then as I'm driving around doing some photos and things like that, I'm seeing other election signs up. And we had a couple key elections in some of our smaller communities, but it was a whirlwind for Tyler. So why did we have elections in March and is that scheduled? And these are village elections and what's this about?
[00:32:41] Speaker C: Okay, so really interesting thing about village elections.
A lot of the times they are in March. There are some times where they're in November. And those, especially in Schoharie county, for example, are in line with the county board of elections. However, most villages in this area self administer their own elections. So what that sounds like is exactly what it is. It's somebody that you have some workers that are in a village hall, a community center, a firehouse, and they are the ones that are counting their own ballots. And they do it all, they do it differently. So some.
[00:33:25] Speaker A: Is this the old school, like we say, pulling the lever? Are these the old machines? Are they still using? Are they now advanced to Stan.
[00:33:32] Speaker C: Stan. They're all different machines.
[00:33:33] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:33:34] Speaker A: Oh, all different.
[00:33:34] Speaker C: Yeah. That's the other thing is that the methodology of doing this is completely different depending on the municipality. So I remember going back two years ago.
[00:33:52] Speaker B: Was it two years?
[00:33:53] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, it was two years ago. Okay. Two years ago. I remember being in Kamjoharie Village hall and I remember seeing just election workers say, lyden, flip the page.
And then it would just go. They would just name the candidates right then and there, you know, on the spot, each ballot, and they were looking at it by each ballot. And other places the system is completely different.
So that's the other interesting thing about this self administration of elections. You only get it really with villages and school boards, I guess, library races.
[00:34:38] Speaker A: This is truly heavy lifting because you've got to reach out to. And again, when we do the county elections, we do the nationals, we have the county board of elections. We're just refreshing, refreshing, refreshing and getting frustrated with Saratoga county twice.
So who are you watching?
[00:34:56] Speaker C: What I was watching specifically, a few different races. I didn't get the Tannersville results, so those didn't come up. But that's fascinating. You had a former. Well, you have a current deputy mayor and a former mayor, you know, in Tannersville elections, as the last one was, they get close. They get very close. So that was something that was on my radar. Another thing was the Broad Albin election.
And that was of interest specifically because they haven't had a village election that has been contested in a very long time.
How long specifically the records are kind of incomplete on when that is. And you know, that's probably partially our fault, the leader herald's fault and the recorder's fault, if I have to be frank. Just on archives, right.
[00:35:52] Speaker A: We didn't have. We don't have the.
[00:35:54] Speaker C: Yeah. So I, you know, different years and different times, it's incomplete. So we don't know exactly how long it's been since there's been a contested race.
[00:36:03] Speaker A: A lot of people can't remember.
[00:36:05] Speaker C: A lot of people can't remember. That's a specific quote that I'm gonna paraphrase because I don't remember off the top of my head. But I believe that the mayor told me that he doesn't. He's spoken to a lot of other officials that don't remember the last time that there was a contested election. So I was waiting outside the Broad Album Municipal building on West Main Street. It was a little chilly.
[00:36:31] Speaker A: Last night or this morning?
[00:36:34] Speaker C: Last night.
[00:36:34] Speaker A: Last night.
[00:36:35] Speaker C: Okay. And honestly, with some of these, they kind of mushed together a little. What time is it?
So I was waiting out there, and at one point I was expected to see smoke billowing out. Out of it like the Pope has been elected. And the door opened.
I remember the mayor said, how'd you get in here? And I was just like, oh, you know, door's open. Yeah, door's open.
So I got in there and I saw the results and he did win, and he won by a good chunk. So it actually brought out the voter turnout with there being a contested election. Village of Broad Albin, I think it was fourfold.
[00:37:20] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:37:21] Speaker C: Went fourfold.
[00:37:22] Speaker A: And then. And then friends in Montgomery County. Hageman had quite the interesting thing.
[00:37:28] Speaker C: Yeah. And we were looking at two trustees.
There was.
Robin Rickey was the victor of it. And there was also Richard Conti. And they were, you know, that was a race to watch.
I don't know why.
Essentially their current mayor, which I want to insert where this kind of begins.
So right now they're the mayor elect. I think that's important just for people to know they're the mayor elect. A lot of the time, early April is actually when they are officially the mayor. So they work on a different time frame as well.
So that was certainly important. So you're.
It wasn't really a close race. We're talking about Richard Conti, 86, Robin Rickey, 159.
That's not really close at all.
The trustee race was a lot closer.
And that actually ended up ousting an incumbent, Paul Friesel.
[00:38:40] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:38:41] Speaker C: So Heather Lopez was way up on top. We're talking 175 votes versus 125 for Brett Sherman and 122, as we said before, for Paul Friesel. This is a two seat election. So that means that if you're in the caboose, you're out.
[00:39:02] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:39:02] Speaker C: You know, so that's what we're looking at there.
Let's go to Saint Johnsville. That's an interesting one. I'll go to Canjo next.
[00:39:11] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:39:12] Speaker C: Canajohari. If you're not familiar with the in house slang, the in house slang of western Montgomery County.
So there is a trustee that's kind of close, a bit of an ally to the mayor. That's Julie Isley. She was, she was ousted in a two way race. Trustee Gary Warren won and also the newcomer, Melissa Missy Baker, she also won. So that was, you know, that was what we could expect from that election.
Now we're going to go to Kanaja Harry, where we actually had a really, really crowded field here. So there was four candidates for two positions in that village and the two candidates that won were on a ticket. So we have Eddie Watt, who's kind of a jack of all trades over there, does a lot in Nelliston, does a lot in Canajoharie.
Really has a lot of tentacles in all those villages.
He was the top vote getter.
And his partner, Daniel Pickle also was elected. And this was by a lot.
So, you know, this one wasn't close. But a lot of people were watching it out there.
You know, it's certainly a really interesting time when all these come together because it almost feels a little puritan and that you're going, you know, you're going to the village hall and you're checking out things kind of for yourself about what's going on in these races. And you know, usually the candidates are there watching like they don't have.
Usually village. Yeah, well, village elections don't typically.
There's people that are literally watching in fear at village hall while they're waiting. They're just kind of standing there and they're like.
And they're not throwing these like, you know, usually big candidate parties that we'll see at some of these county watch parties just because the data is all is there and there isn't central reporting.
But some, some villages do. However, I think we got to this before, but some villages do it in November and it is all central reporting. Scotia is one of them. Schoharie County. They're all aligned with the general election schedule.
[00:41:55] Speaker A: So just Shannon had to go off to Saratoga county for some stuff like, for that. And one thing she talked about, you know, very passionately about was the loss of the Cortlandt Standard.
[00:42:09] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:42:10] Speaker A: And talking about, you know, the Daily Gazette has made a point of the last three purchases preventing news deserts.
[00:42:17] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:42:17] Speaker A: Again, Those owners wanted out. They were selling. We didn't swoop in. They were sold. They wanted out. We were there. Prevented a News Desert. John D'Agostin, again, part of the Hume family, before that ownership, and then continue with John D'Agostine, is preventing the news desert. These communities need papers. How important is it to have someone like you, as talented as you are? Because I'm a sports guy. So if it says 4, 3 on the board, I know who won.
But to have the acumen and the desire to dive into these things because our world is surrounded by the headlines that come in from npr, from fox, from the world. But then again, people that talk about the true impact. Is that why we need to be there? Is that why you need to be there in these community elections? Is that why you need to vote in these community elections?
Is this where it starts, in your opinion? I mean, you're a young person.
[00:43:16] Speaker C: Yeah, but I'm kind of an old man when it comes.
[00:43:19] Speaker A: You're an old soul, I think we say.
[00:43:22] Speaker C: That's a nice way of putting it, but. Okay, so first of all, just always vote. That's really important. You're not gonna be edgy and cool if you don't vote. I'm gonna put that up. I'll respect your opinion, but not really.
If you're not voting. Not really. I'm probably not.
[00:43:43] Speaker A: I have a very simple policy to my friends, and it's. You know, again, it's a podcast, so I can say this. Don't vote. Don't bitch.
[00:43:50] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:43:50] Speaker A: If you don't pull a lever, you don't have a say.
[00:43:53] Speaker C: I do feel like I'm giving an ABC afternoon special every single time it is election season, and there's some menial position, by the way, I'm not friends with a lot of, you know, like, I'm friends with kind of normal people. I'm the weird one. So, you know, there aren't people that are necessarily wonky or just kind of as interested in some of these things. And I'm just like, did you, you know, did you vote? Did you do this? Please vote. Please vote. Yeah. So that's kind of the first thing that I wanted to address. 2. And I'm preaching to the choir here, but I grew up in Waterford, and the paper, the legacy paper of that area is the Record, the Troy Rucker.
[00:44:44] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm on my old paper.
[00:44:45] Speaker C: Yeah, I was probably three at the last time, that it was, you know, really full and doing extremely well. And so to know what a news desert is I, you know, everyone around me lived it.
We. That that area now is not, you know.
[00:45:10] Speaker A: Right. Again, correct. Yeah. And that is. That is a result of the industry.
[00:45:14] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:45:15] Speaker A: And that is a hedge fund comes in and their mission is money bleeds it out. And the Daily Gazette, family newspapers. And I'm so thrilled I got the opportunity and I did make the decision to apply and then accepted.
It's different. This is, in a sense, old school because. And again, it didn't change the Saratoga and the Troy record because the challenges all came above us.
[00:45:44] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:45:45] Speaker A: You know, in the trenches, we're all doing what we do here. We're doing the best we can with as much as we can, as fast as we can. And as I said to Shannon earlier, I said, I think the Gazette staff is, you know, and again, all of us, I think, hardest working. You know, we're trying to do the right thing. We're trying to get as many things. But for you, from your standpoint.
[00:46:04] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:46:04] Speaker A: You know, again, you were the only guy that brought all in last night at 9:30.
[00:46:09] Speaker C: You know, I guess the mayor is a man. Right. But the only reporter, certainly. Yes.
[00:46:16] Speaker A: And how, you know, again, without us.
I mean, you're young enough and you can see this.
[00:46:24] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:46:25] Speaker A: The tipping point of, you know, and we say this all the time, but I think you are knowledgeable enough to see this. That. And the comment I've gotten from Fulton county is when some. This is a quote, when someone's not at that seat, which means the press table at the Fulton County Board of Supervisors. I have been told time and time again the meeting is totally different. The things that are said are totally different.
[00:46:50] Speaker C: The things that I won't see unless when the minutes come out. Certainly.
[00:46:55] Speaker A: Maybe. And again, my argument with minutes is just we have this with school board meetings. And the one of four things that may have come out of COVID deposit was the live streaming of meetings to where there is, you know, visual documentation of statements. And a lot of times it's looks and chagrins and smirks and smiles that we. That we pick up. And my comment to people is, do you want to go or watch every single zoning meeting, board meeting, things like that? And the answer is no, you don't have the bandwidth.
[00:47:29] Speaker C: And we also have to do triage too.
[00:47:31] Speaker A: Right. And we do.
[00:47:32] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:47:32] Speaker A: We do have to pick and choose. But we're also part of our duty is to follow up. So certainly, you know, how important is your. Is your job and what would you say to someone who may be on the Fence on a subscription or a purchase of a paper or supporting. Or maybe the angster who's like, can't read it because they hit the paywall type of thing to tell them, this is what I do.
[00:47:56] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:47:57] Speaker A: Like I said, you gotta vote.
[00:47:59] Speaker C: Yeah. Starting with that.
Paywalls are important.
I like to eat. I like to, you know, not.
Not frivolously necessarily, but I like to consume something that gives me energy to report more. So that is. That is part of it.
One of the things about this is it's really important to note kind of what we're doing and.
And how many places, you know, we have to be to get this done. It's a lot of work.
I'm not saying that in any braggadocious manner, because I. I don't see it that way. That's literally the job description. So you don't go into this if you don't want to, or you, you know, you won't last very long. It just. That's kind of. That's kind of how it works. And we've. We've also seen that with just like, you know, what happened to that guy who was with Blank, you know, like, oh, that's. Yeah.
So what I would generally say is. I would just say that what we do is a really good way to get more engaged with your community in kind of, you know, one bundle. You know, I'm always interested in interesting stories and interesting people, and there certainly is no shortage of that around our coverage area. You know, Fulton, Montgomery, Schoharie, Schenectady, Saratoga and Greene county and Columbia County. So I, you know, I would encourage anyone to, if you're able to. To certainly subscribe to the Daily Gazette family of newspapers and really check it out for yourself, even if you're annoyed with the paywall, if you can.
It certainly betters you, I would say, and just the information that you get, because once again, we put a lot into this, and you can really see this in the end product and especially in a time where journalism is so corporatized and, you know, what's that saying? It's like, it's not worth the paper it's printed on. I think that's the.
[00:50:29] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:50:30] Speaker C: Isn't that the saying, it's gotta be.
[00:50:32] Speaker A: Now for the cost of newsprint?
[00:50:33] Speaker C: Yeah. But the.
I would say it certainly is, if not a little bit more so. Yeah, absolutely. Subscribe.
[00:50:42] Speaker A: Subscribe. All right. So thank you for everything you do. I do read your stuff because I'm usually on the other side of things, and usually my photos are proclamations and ribbon cuttings. And everybody loves to see Stan because Stan's gonna put their photo in one of the papers. So I usually get the positive and.
[00:50:59] Speaker C: The thumbs up and then Stan's gonna turn on everyone.
[00:51:04] Speaker A: But I rely on you to get down to these things and ask those tough questions. And we appreciate it. And again, I will reiterate again, the Stan and Chen show podcast is available for free on all your podcasting platforms as well as my own podcast. Tell me your story. And please subscribe because if any of us, myself, chen, Tyler A. McNeil, the entire staff, I think we're all worth at least a buck a week. And that's what a daily subscription is to the Daily Gazette family of newspapers. Not get one, not get two, but get three daily newspapers at your fingertips. And by all means, when you're at Stuart's, grab a coffee and grab a paper. So that's it for this week. Thank you, Tyler.
[00:51:46] Speaker C: Thank you.
