Hot Seat: Media Monday with Congressman John Katko’s “Balancing Act,” Nabil Kahn, and DJ J Easy 10/14/24
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In this episode of Hot Seat: Media Monday, former Congressman John Katko discussed his new show, Balancing Act with John Katko. The program, which airs Friday nights at 8:30 pm on our local PBS affiliate WCNY, is described by Congressman Katko as “balanced, fast-paced, and fun, with a tongue-in-cheek circus theme and a comedian at the end of each episode.” His show reflects his observation that the “current state of politics is like a three-ring circus, chaotic and crazy and fraught with peril.” He says he wants to “break through that and so some things and have some discussions that [viewers] might not see in other shows.”
Congressman Katko also shared his insights into his transition from being interviewed by the press to becoming a media member, interviewing his former colleagues and other newsmakers and analysts. We also discussed his former role as Assistant United States Attorney leading the organized crime division in Syracuse’s United States Attorney’s Office and what it is like to assume a public profile after having worked to prosecute organized crime and gang members under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
Fighting organized crime “ was absolutely positively 100% dangerous…it has a profound effect on myself and my family.” Surprisingly, he received more death threats in his role as a Member of the U. S. House of Representatives, particularly after he voted to impeach former President Donald Trump after inciting the January 6th insurrection.
One of the impetuses for doing the show was to try to “cool the rhetoric.” He wants to “bridge the gay by [saying] I want you to look at the other side of something you may not believe in or agree with, but understand that person is not the enemy, that person just has a different point of view.”
The premiere episode of Balancing Act with John Katko is online at Balancing Act with John Katko | WCNY. New episodes will air this fall on Friday nights at 8:30 p.m. on WCNY.
In the second segment, Nabil Kahn from Ravenswood Comics reviewed the film Joker: Folie a Deux and previewed this fall’s hottest comic books and movies from Marvel and DC. We also discussed what makes a villain compelling, not just in the context of the superhero they antagonize, but enough to independently sustain a film franchise, as with The Joker character from the Batman series.
Nabil Kahn will return on Monday, November 4th, to update Hot Seat: Media Monday listeners on the latest titles and trends in comic books, superhero film franchises, anime, and manga. Nabil hosts a podcast, 3 Guys In An Empty Comic Shop, online at Spreaker.com/show/3-guys-in-an-empty-comic-shop, and is online at Facebook.com/profile.php?id=100040556044701 and Instagram.com/Instanab.k.
In the third segment, I was joined by 95.5 FM “The Heat” DJ J Easy to discuss the latest on the Diddy scandal and other issues in the music industry. He also explained how DJs find new music using “record pools” and the emergence of “visualizers,” which sometimes replace music videos in the industry. DJ J Easy is online at Facebook.com/easyatm315 and Instagram.com/j_easy315/
Ron Klopfanstein is an award-winning multimedia investigative journalist, news and features editor, and creative content producer for the Utica Phoenix digital platform and 95.5 FM “The Heat” broadcast and streaming. He also hosts Hot Seat: Media Monday every Monday at 5 pm, broadcast on 95.5 FM and streaming at 955TheHeat.com. Like him at Facebook.com/ReadRonKlopfanstein, Follow him at Threads.net/@RonKlopfanstein, Instagram.com/RonKlopfanstein, Twitter.com/RonKlopfanstein, Tiktok.com/@ronklopfanstein, and subscribe to his channel at YouTube.com/@RonKlopfanstein. Read all his work at Muckrack.com/ron-klopfanstein.
