Learn to Code!

Published Nov 13, 2024, 8:56 PM

Inside the Wednesday November 13, 2024 edition of The Armstrong & Getty Show...

  • A father & husband goes missing...and turns up where?...
  • Jack prepares to speak at his son's school for Career Day!

Here's my advice young people learned to code. It's one more thing. I'm strong and geddy, one more thing. So I'm speaking at career day at my son's high school on Friday. I want to discuss that a little bit with the rest of the cast here is also in the radio industry.

But yeah, I'm trying to remember I've done a couple of those, but it's been ages.

Before we get to that. Wanted to hear this story. This is about the dude and the fake and his death, Katie. Should I already gave it away? Did I give it away? Should I not have given it away? Kind of gave it? Okay, let's listen to it.

Forty five year old Ryan borgart Vani is from Green Lake in Wisconsin. In August, police found his kayak his car, along with his wallet, keys, and license. But for fifty four days, search teams using sonar and divers scoured this lake in Vain. Police say it all unraveled when they learned Ryan's passport was used in Canada. The day after he disappeared. A search of his computer revealed the married father was talking online to a woman from Uzbekistan. He had recently taken out a three hundred and seventy five thousand dollars life insurance policy and moved money overseas. The FBI is also involved in this investigation. At this point, they think Ryan Borgart is somewhere in Eastern Europe.

So you're married with kids, you meet a chick online from Uzbekistan wherever that is.

Once you've had is Bekistani, you'll never go back to your wife or your granny. Like the old saying goes, geez, I don't, well, look what I had to work with.

Go to the car. What are you gonna rise with Uzbekistan? Even for you to say so? The insurance policy was that for him to have money or to leave money for his family as he headed out the door, I would think for his family, right, I think it to me, I'm guessing he took a bunch of money. But then you know I left him even more behind with the I died.

I mean, well, right, yeah, just because he decided I'm out of here, I'm gonna go houck up with a hot, hot Uzbeka stanny. Woman doesn't make dan, that's right. But he has kids, Oh my lord, nod, he's got three beautiful camps.

Well he's crazy.

But yeah, there's that.

And his wife looked like.

Stanny Tail.

His wife looks nice, nicely, really sweet looking family. What a dick. Yeah, crap, And so I'm sure the money's gone. She's not going to get the insurance payout because he's not dead. That sucks hard. Oh that's a bad one.

I'm kayaking around in Green Lake, Wisconsin wherever that is, with my cute wife and my three beautiful children. You won the lottery, of course I'm not happy. I'm not. He's clearly a freaking nut job.

Yeah, it's a sad story. All for some Beckis stan All for some sweet Usbecca stany tale you Becky Becky Becky Bekers stand Stan Well?

And how's he even know? I mean, we heard that whole that scam where guys were getting scammed out of a bunch of money overseas.

Decent point, we're assuming this is even slightly real. It's quite possibly got over there and it's a dude, and he's one of many dudes showing up to see this dude who they all think is a woman. And yeah, all he did was lose his money.

Getting baffed over the head and have his money taken. Well, he deserves a packets.

Yeah, and now he's actually missing, right because he's over there.

Yes, now you're actually missing. So my son's high school a lot of like a lot of high schools do, having a career day, and so they send out an email to all the parents, would you like to come speak a career day about what you do for a living? To give our high school students, who are now just a couple of years away from the real world, some ideas of things they could go out there and do to make a living. And well, Jo can speak to this because he's done it before. I've not done it before. But it's the it's the odd thing of on one hand, I got a cool job that sounds fun and cool because it is. But on the other hand, it's not actually a career that's available to really hardly anybody, especially now. It never really was. It's show business and you know it exists, and I don't mind telling you about it, but I kind of hate the idea of putting it in your head that this is an option for you, because it barely is anyway.

Well, yeah, true, but I assume you're thinking of yourself as a podcaster. Well, yeah, so a broadcast.

So that's one thing my son I didn't actually get into it. He's not going to be able to go because it filled up very quickly, and they he's a freshman, and they let the seniors pick first. It makes sense, is they're a year out from the real world and then juniors, you know, makes sense. And it filled up immediately. And I think it's because I put radio announcer slash podcaster and they probably don't even know what radio announcer is, but the word podcaster got their attention. And I will speak to a little of that, but I don't, I don't. I don't because that it's first of all, the radio industry is barely exists. To those of us still in it exists great, it absolutely exists. Fantastic, and it's good for the advertisers and it's good for everybody. But but technological changes and changes in the laws, the Telecommunications Act of nineteen ninety six when Clinton's president changed the radio landscape forever and then everything from them technological wise changed it and everything like that. So they're just don't as many jobs as there used to be, correct, But those of us still in it, it's fantastic, but it's it's kind of hard, hard to go into a classroom and say here's something you could do for a living.

Sure, yeah, yeah, you got to bring Hanson along to answer like all of their technical questions.

Well, well, I'm not going to answer any technical questions because I don't think that matters at all. But anybody who owns a computer or a phone can be a podcaster. I mean, the barrier entry is almost zero for being a podcaster, but then actually turning it into money is a whole different thing. And so I don't know, what what what have you told people in the past about your You're lucky to have it, you know, one in a million shot career.

My memories are are very vague.

I mean, back when you were going into high schools, it was you know, the Hindenberg has landed that sort of radio.

Yeah exactly. Yeah, that's why my memories are so vague. Now, it was a long time ago.

I have a.

Feeling that I probably accented the idea that it takes a very long time, and you have to work hard, and you have to be willing to do about anything. If you go in picky, you're doomed. Pursue any opportunity that comes along as aggressively as you can.

You're talking about the radio industruy of the podcasting industry.

Oh podcast not podcast thing didn't exist when I was.

Oh you're you're talking about what you used to say?

Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, oh right now and yeah and.

I so okay, this is my real question. In Katy, you can answer this two year. You can get to the real question. The real question is how far do I want to go down the road of of course you'd like to be rich, and most of you would like to be famous, but very very very few two people can be rich and famous and it's you know, a good idea to pursue other things and this on the side, or I have very realistic expectations going in how far down that road do want to go? Being like a downer where they all walk out and think, oh crap, I probably can't do it because he says nobody can really do it. And I wish I'd have gone over to the UH coding guy and UH had him speak about something that I could actually do for a living.

Ai'll be doing the coding. Don't waste time more than this. I don't know, you asked Katie, So I'll let her answer first. I have my own answer.

I mean, I don't know that I would discourage them, but I would definitely give them a warning.

Well, whe's why I don't on the competition. What if they're smart and funny, I don't need them out there competing against me for the rest of my my career.

But yeah, now then mind them, discourage the hell out of them. No, just you know, I would say, I like your idea of having a back kind of a backup plan.

You know, it's a little like an NBA player going in there and talking about this is a career option for you, Right, Yeah, I have a backup plan.

I would I would absolutely emphasize some of the positives, but make clear that it is unbelievably competitive, especially now, and that you've got to be really compelling all of the time. It's a tough thing to do. But you know, another message might be and I remember, this is one of the few moments of decent parenting I ever generated, was explaining to my kids, who all of whom had various passion for the arts and music, drama, whatever, And I told them, you're not studying math and business and English and everything else in case you fail. I'm not encouraging you to do these things because I think you're going to fail. I said learn this stuff in case you succeed, because in show business people will try to steal from you every single day of your career, at least until you surround yourself with good enough people that they're not. You've got to be smart. You gotta be savvy. You got to be knowledgeable. You've got to be confident. You've got to be a negotiator. You gotta understand finances and stuff like that. The last thing you want to do is be some sort of naive, uneducated artist who just you know, throws yourself to the wolves.

I know this is this is a dead end. Get a job with the state. You get a job with the state, you can't fire, you paycheck forever you work till you're like fifty, pension and healthcare the rest of your life.

Now, many of you want to understand this, which you're gonna keep a bottle of vodka in the bottom draw all right, just to get through the day, because there are gonna be days you're gonna think I'd rather be dead. But a little nip from old uncle Wodka. Set you right on the right track, and you'll you'll be fine, trust me, just a little nip.

What about dressing for the part?

Show up with headphones on?

Oh god, you know my my, Back when radio was in an industry, you actually could go into and get a job in whatever town he lived in. I don't care how small the town was. They had a radio station, maybe two. You could go work out and earn a living. I mean, that was a long time ago, but even then, my first radio teacher in college said almost none of you are going to be able to make a living in this, and then just wanted you to know. And my only thought was that's true for them, but it's not true for me. That's the way I thought about it. But I'm glad she said that.

Yeah, I received similar warnings. Yeah.

My mathcom teacher when I was in college did a really cool thing with our class that kind of opened my eyes to talk radio because we were in that whole realm of the class and he had to sit silent for one minute and he said that was one minute. Imagine talking for four hours, because it made you realize how long a minute is when you're just sitting there, you know, and it kind of go opened my I was like, Wow, that really is that's a skill you have.

And on I was going to talk a little bit about the spoken word is more popular than it's ever been in my life, I think with podcasting, and you know, you've all seen some of the amazing podcasting contracts people have signed, so spoken words still a great desire for it out there. You just have to have an angle, be an expert in something, or be funny or charming or something or all.

Of the above. Yeah, just you know, you might want to emphasize it takes a hell of a lot of work. You've got to be with It sounds easy. It only sounds easy because you've worked like crazy to make it sound easy. You will sound crappy if you think it is easy, unless you're just wildly talented. And although even then they're lots of wildly talented people. But what are they talking about? What is their topic? What's to handle? How do people find their way to you?

And that's why you should get a job with the state exactly.

And again, bottom drawer, keep it just a little vodka whatever, you know, what you ladies, maybe a little schnapps. It's minty, it's fresh.

Wow, ladies, ladies, some schnapps.

A little slow fizz. You could show him nicky sour maybe Candy tell me, tell me what I'm scratching where he is?

Yes, Jackie could show him how the proper way to cue a record. You should also give him a pop quiz on the laws of EA s testing.

Oh god, how do how do uh how to splice tape?

You know?

I actually might include that in that, And that's true for any industry that they go into that. I there are several skills I learned and got really good at that became immediately worthless when technology changed. And that's just the way life is, no matter what you're doing. Yeah, and you gotta, you know, keep adapting. You gotta just a little bottle.

Oh, I guess I've covered that here, you know thoroughly.

Kids, Let me give you a quiz on Paola. Well, I guess that's it.

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