FCC Targets 6abc, Philly Grades Our Politicians & Broad Street Goes Green

It's the Friday News Roundup. We're talking about our city's most popular and least popular politicians. Why, it seems like Trump is trying to kick 6ABC off the air. And South Broad Street got a glow up. Also, for our city cast, Philly neighbors, stick around at the end of the show for our exclusive look at free stuff and discount that you can get around town this summer. It's Friday, June 26th. I'm Trinianery, and here's what Philly's talking about. Joining me this week for the Friday News Roundup is CityCast Philly executive producer Matt Katz. Hey, Matt. Hey there, Tray. Okay, so this week we did a roundup on Tuesday. And one of the topics we talked about was... Is there or has there been a boost from all the World Cup fanfare? Fans coming in, are they supporting our small businesses? And we've gotten mixed reviews. Yeah. Yeah. There's a question of whether there's been an economic boost and that that does seem to be. It's unclear. Yeah. There's like some bars that have been filled. A lot of other restaurants have been telling us, you know, we expected a boost and haven't seen it. And the restaurants that are on, like, Fairmount Avenue probably are having that boost because of how close they are to fan fest and, like, you know, all the influx of fans and stuff. And that, I think, gets to the second boost. I think there's been a vibes boost. How about that? Like, you know, it just feels good in the city. And there's definitely been an influx of people. We apparently have the most popular fan fest of any of the host cities. We did 50,000 people in one day. We might have a million people go through that thing by the time this is all over. And maybe. Maybe a lot of those people are from out of town, out of the country, and maybe they're like, you know, the city's pretty cool. I had a good hoagie. I'll come back. So maybe there's an intangible boost that Philadelphia has seen from all this. All right. So I just also thought about, because I saw a video from a Delco Philly videographer. His name is Matthew Vito. He did some interviews with fans coming out of the Philadelphia Stadium, aka Lincoln Financial Field. And he asked them, how much does you pay for your ticket? People said as low as $760. Wow. And as high, think of it, if it's like a mom and dad and a kid, they're dropping $5,000. That's nuts. So then that made me think, well. what money, like what other things can they buy? Right. They're broke. Totally. Totally. They're just going. Maybe not broke, but like, you got to tighten up that budget. Like, I can't go on maybe like a tour, this and that. Sure. You're not going to park for dinner and dropping another 400. Oh, heck no. Totally. Totally. I'll get that, you know, cheap citywide at Bob and Barbers or like, whatever.

We also, apparently, according to Axios this week, we have expensive beer at the stadium of the World Cup stadiums. How much? I mean, I paid 20 bucks with tip because my beer lady said that the foreigners weren't tipping her, which is what we talked about. We did an episode about tipping culture in Philly. Yeah, so 20 bucks. By the way, I'm wearing my Haiti jersey. I love it, love it. Because I went to the game, had a great time. Haiti lost, but, you know. It's okay. The vibes. The vibes are good. You still feel the vibes. 100%. Let's talk about the vibes of 500 Philadelphians who were recently pulled in a collaboration with the Philadelphia Enquirer and Suffolk University. And they asked these Philadelphians, you know, how are you feeling about crime, quality of life, city services, education? And the results? Interesting. Yeah, very interesting. Very interesting. Let's start with how Philadelphians feel about the mayor, Mayor Cheryl Parker. How'd she do? Kind of mixed. Slightly favorable overall, but not overwhelmingly favorable, and really depended on your demographic. Like your age group, race. It really split on that. So overall, 44% of respondents said they had a favorable view of the mayor. 35 said they did not. So the mayor has a slightly positive rating here, but there does appear to be enough discontent that it could entice a potential challenger to run against her next year. I mean, she's up for reelection next year. And, you know, if you're somebody who's got ambitions in the city, you see those poll numbers and you're like, oh, she might be vulnerable. I don't know, though, right? But. The vibes of the city right now. Yeah, maybe that's- She's trying to capture that and hold on to that. Totally. She should. The vibes are good. She did worse with young people and white people, which is kind of reflective of how the election results shook out when she first ran, too. Like, that was not her base of support. Right. That doesn't seem surprising to me. No, me neither. What about other politicians? The most popular politician for Philadelphians is... Governor Josh Shapiro, 62% favorability rating. Wow. Is it the funding he dropped to SEPTA? Is it? I feel like it's just from that 95 collapse after he first got elected. 95 collapses. He gets out there. He's front and center of the rebuild. The rebuild takes, like, much, like, days compared to what we expected to be months. And I feel like he's just been, he appears to Philadelphians to be competent at his job. And maybe that's what he's riding off of. But we're doing very well, 60%. And he's up for re-election November against Stacey Garrity, the state treasurer. Which he has been doing well in terms of, like, campaign finances. He's raised way more than she has. And he's been all over to country, too. Yeah, because he might be running for president. And these are good numbers to show off as he's toying with that run. Very popular. You know who's not popular in the city. Well, there's one not surprising number, and that's Donald Trump. The president is quite unpopular here. He has a 12.

The time of day. Right. Or, like, if you do see someone arguing, it's like, oh, crap. Like, is something about to pop off? Like, people are still fighting and arguing and, you know, like, senseless, like, killings are still happening. 100%. And he just breaks my heart. You've got a show on this come in on Monday. Yeah, I do. I sat down with Menta Dean, staff writer at The Trace, which is a newsroom that covers gun violence in America. And we talk about kind of the difference of like what our numbers are saying. Yeah. In terms of like homicide numbers, which historic lows right now. Unbelievable. It is. It's wonderful, right? And but at the same time, there are families in Philadelphia who. still become victims. Totally. And it's also really gut-wrenching when law enforcement officials, like, still can't solve the crime. And it still hurts. And there's mothers grieving their children and all sorts of, like, really just emotionally sad stories. So it, the perception... It could vary from Philadelphia to Philadelphia. And from neighbor to neighborhood. You know, in this poll, I was surprised that most Philadelphians said they don't think the mayor's efforts to address the drug crisis in Kensington is working. So this is related to the same conversation. It's also public safety. So people feel safer, but they don't think Kensington and its drug crisis is any better. So despite like the rehabilitation center. Yeah, right. She opened a residential rehabilitation center, drug court in the neighborhood, right? I think also the deployment of more officers. Yes, yes, yeah. Cleaning up, remember those sweeps? Right. You know, but I guess, you know, if you're still seeing people with needles in their hands nodding off on your septicar or on your block, then you're not going to think much has changed. I mean, in my neighborhood, I see it a lot around the businesses. I do raise those questions like these Philadelphians about. Are things working? Then there's schools in the poll. 75% described our schools as public schools as either fair or poor. And that's an upsetting number. Most said that schools played an important role in whether they stay in the city or not, which is not a surprise. And, you know, I have a feeling that people like their neighborhood schools, especially if they have kids there, but they... see the district schools at large as failing. You know, this is all happening as the district moves ahead with this $3 billion modernization plan, which it doesn't.

have money for yet. And as part of that, they're closing 17 schools and that appear to be a pretty unpopular decision in a lot of neighborhoods. So I'm sure, you know, that story played into this perception because there's just so much uncertainty surrounding the school system right now in the city. I want to go back to a point you just mentioned about how. connected people are to their neighborhood school. You always tell me like these wonderful stories about how like your kids had an opportunity to like change the name of their school, right? And like all of the spelling bees and like the community activity that happens at a school. Like how do you feel as not only as a parent, right, but also as a you like have a real voice, a real hand at cultivating this. sort of like extension of your like family in this school building. Yeah, I absolutely have felt that way. I mean, it's it's hard to feel like you can have an impact on the district at large, but you can walk into your neighborhood school and you could know everybody in there. It really can feel like a community. The playgrounds of schools, whether they're like a simple blacktop with a basketball hoop or something more elaborate, they really become like this centerpiece. of that little neighborhood. They become the place where everybody hangs out. And people have warm feelings toward their local schools, generally speaking, I think. I feel the same way about our rec centers. Yes. I feel like rec centers, I'm thinking right now, like, go to the rec center to go swim. Go to the pool. My neighbor, he's always like galvanizing all the kids. And they all go to the rec center. That's cool. We go to the rec center and a sled. So I just want to shout out the rec centers in the city. Do you think the city is cleaner, Triné, over the last two years? Because this was another poll question. Mm-mm. Are we filthy death? Not during trash day. Wendy Trash Day? I forget where I was. I saw the recycling truck and they dumped the recycling and half the contents in the bin just fell on the street. No, it's always dirtier after they come through. It's like, what the heck, man? I wish that we had an extra person on every crew who was out there with like literally with a broom. I saw that in Mexico City once. There was a trash truck. And there was a guy behind the trash truck with like literally a broom and a bin. And he is cleaning up what falls off the truck. Because these guys have to cover all these blocks. I don't really blame them if stuff falls out. No, it's a lot of blocks. A lot of small, tiny blocks. Totally. Guess what happened this week? Uh-oh. My trash can cracked. Oh, yeah. That'll happen. You know, I can't get a new one. Those things are like 60 bucks. Those trash cans. It's...

It's crazy. There's no other way because the other ways are going to add to the litter. Yeah, putting them in the paper bags. If I just toss my glad bags on the quarter. Do you feel like it's cleaner? I do. I think it's, I think it is somewhat cleaner. I really do. I'm still having PTSD from last summer when the trash strike. I know, I know, but the twice a week trash pickup, which I haven't minded. Lucky, no, you don't have that in your neighborhood yet. But it really does seem to, you know, help. There's just less trash out on each of the trash days because of it. And maybe there's just less trash in the street. You know who should be cleaning it up? The damn robots. The freaking robots to clean up. Totally. We've got the Roomba. We've got the Roomba out there. We've got more news after the break.

Matt. Oh, my lord. I cannot imagine my nail salon or Casey's Bar and Delco not playing 6ABC. Yeah. Well, that might be the reality coming soon. Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun da da da dun dun There goes that news fan again. We might not hear that because... FCC is coming for 6 ABC. Let me set this up. Smaller local TV stations that might have like NBC, CBS, ABC, they're actually owned by like smaller companies. So WPVI TV are the call letters for what we know as Action News 6 ABC. They cover the Delaware Valley. They are owned and operated by the American broadcasting company, ABC. So our Region 6 ABC is one of eight owned ABC companies. ABC has a parent company, Disney. Y'all know who Disney's. Okay. So here's the issue. In April, the Federal Communications Commission started investigating. the broadcast licenses of those eight ABC stations. Now, this came after President Trump called for ABC's late night host Jimmy Kimmel to be fired because he made that joke about the first lady. Right. So the timing is really interesting. So things took a more political turn when the only Democrat on the FCC panel, which is like a three-member panel, her name is Anna Gomez. She wrote a letter to Disney saying that Trump's FCC is targeting these local stations and that, quote, it's an extraordinary and dangerous misapplication basically of what the FCC actually does. She basically said, yeah, Trump is going after your local TV station and your local news station. And in our case, the biggest news station by far the market leader forever in Philadelphia because a late night comedian. made a joke about the first lady, which is pretty extraordinary when you think about it in the United States of America. So, okay, so things go further. Now, the FCC said that their investigation actually is really about diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives at Disney. And so FCC is basically saying DEI is, quote,

unlawful discrimination. So they're looking into their DEI practices. They're also looking into the national broadcasting company, which is NBC. Channel 10. Which is also that has a parent company Comcast. Six ABC is urging viewers. to submit public comment to the FCC to keep the new station on air. This is what they said on their website. 6ABC has proudly served Philadelphia for nearly 80 years. Now the FCC is questioning our commitment to viewers by threatening to take us off air. Use your voice and tell the FCC that Philly deserves to keep its trusted local station WPVI you have until July 29th. And you can submit a comment at FCC.gov. I mean, this extraordinary investigation results in this extraordinary plea from. Channel 6 to ask their viewers, ask Philadelphians to write to the FCC to try to stop any sort of penalty, let alone getting kicked off the air permanently. Now, Matt, we talked about how special our city and regional television news is. What has 6 ABC meant to you? I mean, it's my go-to. You know, if there's local breaking news, this is the big dog and local TV news. This is how I have always felt most connected to... Classic Philadelphia, authentic classic Philadelphia. It almost feels like it has connected me to the past because it does. I mean, TV news in general feels retro, right? I mean, it's, and 6 ABC feels like authentically Philadelphia and retro. I mean, when Jim Gardner, the longtime anchor, retired, I think about three years ago now, I mean, there were fans who showed up outside the station. Like a lot of fans showed up outside the station for his last broadcast to bid him a farewell. It was a major moment in really in modern Philadelphia history that Jim Gardner was off the air. You've made a point so many times on the show about how. Jim Gardner and, like, TV reporters and anchors have been our local celebrities. Yeah, right. I remember I was a college student, and I had an opportunity. I was starting young in my journalism career, and I had an opportunity to do this, like, one-day program at 6ABC, and I saw Jim Gardner. I was like, oh, my God. And so...

We did this, like, one day thing. And Rick Williams. Top story on action news tonight. Rick Williams, the deepest voice in the Delaware Valley. So I'm on this, like, video. And I'm like, thanks, Rick. I'm doing, like, a fake live, like a live hit. And, um. And this is not, this is, this never went on air. Just, you know, just confirm. And anyway, they gave us some swag. And my mom, I gave my mom the 6 ABC hat. She wore that hat after I've worked at like WHYY. I've worked at Wall Street Journal. She wore that hat for years. I'm like, yo, I don't work. I don't work there. That's what made her most proud that you had a connection with Channel 6. Yeah. So shout out to them for the swag. But yeah, I have this, I have similar sentiments that you feel like they're, you know, talking to you about the top stories. And let's be clear, this is totally absurd. I mean, it's absolutely insane that the president's going after a comedian, first of all, for making a joke about his wife. That's A. And B, Rick Williams and the hardworking reporters of Channel 6 had nothing to do with that nonsense. So please. This is, let's call this what this is. It is a hot mess. A hot mess. And you can register your own opinions at FCC.gov. All right. We'll be back after this break. Well, you think that the city's getting cleaner. And maybe it is at least on South Broad Street. Yeah, we, I mean, we talk about a glow-up. South Broad Street's looking good right now. There's still some like construction like stuff around. Yeah, there's some colors out there, but we have a brand new plant-filled median on South Broad between pine and spruce. It looks lovely. It's like a raised landscape design with native trees. There's new lighting. They're actually... going to add sculptures in the fall, and then the whole median from City Hall to Washington Avenue is... By next year, I'm going to have all of this new landscaping, $150 million project. It's supposed to be safer for pedestrians who can maybe stop there while they're crossing the street. Cars don't park in the media. Remember people used to do that? They still do that. That's why it's not happening south of Washington because people are still parking down there. The parking is still happening on Broad Street, South of Washington. But north of Washington, it's... Men mostly used for people like playing Frogger with the cars or to take wedding pictures with the graduation pictures. Oh my God. Yeah. But it's going to look so, it looks so nice already and it's going to look so beautiful. And I'm just really, I think it's lovely. I'm really excited about it. But?

The timing. And it's so funny that we're like, what, 10 days from July 4th, the big 250th birthday, and they're still got... They're still cleaning up. They're still got the cones. It's literally like you hear the family coming up for Thanksgiving dinner. You hear their door shut outside and you're still vacuuming the living room. That's what this is like. Well, Matt, don't look at Aiken's Oval right now. Don't look at Kelly Drive. Don't look at Art Museum steps because there are trailers. The stage for this July 4th concert, Matt, it is still being. It is, they're like constructing it right now. It is huge. Really? I haven't seen it. And they're still working on it. They're still working on it. In the case of the... But they got time for that. Yeah, that's true. In the case of the media and the Avenue of the Arts Organization that spearheaded this initiative, they blamed, quote, an unusually challenging construction season, including extensive permitting coordination. That seems like a little jab at the city, right? Yeah. And winter weather delays. Okay, that's fair. I mean, it was... Do you remember the snowstorms? There was a lot of snow. It was a lot of snow. So... But it's happening and it looks great. So good job. This feels good. Yeah, it feels good. I might have to change my background. Oh, because you have the... Because the background when I'm at home is South Broad Street. Yeah, you can have to... It's looking at City Hall from the vantage point of being on South Broad Street. You have to color in a little green in the middle of Broad Street there. But it's a black and white photo and I love that. Man. Dang, I got to buy something new. All right, well, maybe I'll be looking for new prints of our skyline this weekend. I'm going to take a break from all this city life, and I'm going up the Poconos. Gonna be in nature a little bit. Oh, look at you. Yeah. Nice. Look at me. Going in nature. You can go for a hike? I don't know, maybe. Okay. Maybe. Cool. We'll see. What about you? What about you? There's this thing at Spruce Street Harbor Park, and I want to go because I cannot understand what it is. Okay. But it seems great, but I just, I can't make sense of it. It's called Prismophonic. And it is billed as a magical stroll through music and light. And it opens today. And it is here until August 17th, right at Street Harbor Park on Delaware River Waterfront. And it is supposedly this multi-sensory experience where, quote, music and light come to life in perfect harmony. Nice. The music is from Snack Times Joshua Stamper. Local guy. Love the local guys. Got started playing in Rittenhouse Square. And it's this like immersive installation. But I couldn't understand from the press release what it's going to actually look like. But it intrigued me enough to go check it out. Nice. Opening days tonight from 6 to 10 p.m.

We're at the part of the show where we have to shout out our city cast really neighbors. Beem, beam, beam, beam. So. What is a citycast-filly neighbor when you become a neighbor for $10 a month, $100 a year? You get exclusive content because we have another segment on the show, but that's just for our city-cast-filly neighbors. And you get tons of other benefits. I'm going to shout you out as many times as you want. And not just you, but shout out your favorite local business, your favorite nonprofit in the city. So I want to read. Parts of what Jamie A. wrote, I grew up in Pennsylvania, lived in Philadelphia for a year, but then made the unfortunate decision to move to South Florida in 2020. I'm a teacher, and I got a better offer, so I decided to give it a try. Jamie continues to say, last Christmas, I visited my family in Philly and made it my mission to get certified in PA and land a job so I can come back. Now Jamie's back, y'all. Welcome back, Jamie. Welcome back. And Jamie got a job. And as Jamie is transitioning from Florida to PA. Jamie's been listening to the podcast and says this. Once I got the job, I started listening to the podcast to excite myself in preparation for my moving back. So for the last three months, I've been listening to you. You guys do a stellar job and host Triné Norese, effervescent personality. And candor during the interviews hooked me from day one. She is perfect in this role. Bravo. Bravo. Evervescent. Trinay. Yeah, Jamie got me. crying to be it. Um, thank you, Jamie. I really appreciate it. I'm so glad that you're one of our citycastfully neighbors. And listen, you can join Jamie and the other neighbors by becoming a neighbor right now. Go to membership.citycast.fm. Right now. All right. We're moving on to our members-only segment. So if you ain't a member, that's about it. Peace. Matt, thanks so much for joining me on this Friday News Roundup. Thanks, Stray. Have a great weekend. That's all for today here on CityCast, Philly. Our executive producer is Matt Katz. Our senior producer is Abby Fritz. Our producer is Bridger Dunigan. Our newsletter editor is Siani Cologne. And shout out to Abby for writing this week's newsletter. Our host is me, Trinanee. Music is by Philly's Own and Terminable, with additional music from All the Camunos. If you enjoyed the show, really this week of episodes, share this with a friend. Rate the show, leave us a review, and subscribe to our morning newsletter. And also, guys, you can, like, send me a text, a voice memo. Participate in the conversation. Let me know what you're thinking, how you're feeling about all these stories.

That number is 215-25-259-8-170. All right. We'll be back Monday morning with more news from around the city. Have a great weekend and be safe, y'all. Bye.