Tag: WWTN

Nashville Mayoral Candidate Carol Swain Launches Radio Ad Campaign As Early Voting Begins on the Transit Tax Plan

Tennessee Star Staff

Former Vanderbilt University law professor and nationally recognized conservative political commentator Carol Swain, a candidate for Mayor of Nashville in the special election that is now scheduled for May 24,  launched her first radio ads on stations in Nashville on Wednesday. “The sixty second radio ad focuses on her opposition to the Barry/Briley Transit Tax Scheme and urges voters to be reminded to vote “NO” every time they hit another one of the huge number of potholes in Nashville roads that will not be addressed by the $9 billion ‘boondoggle,’ ” her campaign said in a statement. “The $9 billion dollar transit scheme that not improve our traffic congestion problems nor repair our roads and bridges.” Swain said in the statement. “I am encouraging Nashville voters to join me in opposing the Barry/Briley Transit Tax Increase and to point out that every time they hit another pothole, and they will, it should remind them to vote against the plan that won’t fix that pothole or any others,” Swain added. The statement continued:   Early voting on the Barry/Briley transit tax increase began April 11 and runs through April 26th in Davidson County. Election Day is May 1. Swain also noted that…

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Brian Wilson Named Permanent Host of Nashville’s Morning News on WTN

Tennessee Star Staff

Veteran journalist and radio talk show host Brian Wilson was named the permanent host of Nashville’s Morning News, which airs weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m, on Tuesday. The announcement was made on-air at 8:45 a.m. by Supertalk 99.7 FM WTN program director and mid-day host Dan Mandis. “In 30 years of radio I’ve never seen a new host accepted in a new city the way Brian has been accepted,” Mandis said. “I am thrilled to be here. I love Nashville. WTN is like a family. Very much like Nashville. I love working with Michael DelGiorno and Dan Mandis, and the crew on the morning show,  producer Chris Webber, traffic reporter Michael Vance and news anchor Ken Weaver,” Wilson added. Wilson stayed after the end of his program to appear briefly on the Michael DelGiorno Show, which airs on WTN from 9:00 am to noon on weekdays. When he signed on at 9:06 am, Del Giorno said he was excited to have Brian Wilson as WTN’s new morning man. “I am thankful Brian has accepted the job,” DelGiorno added. Cumulus Media, which owns WTN, issued a press release announcing Wilson’s hiring simultaneous to the on-air announcement by Mandis. You can…

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Marsha Blackburn Tells WTN’s Brian Wilson She’s In It to Win It

Admin

GOP Senate candidate and current Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07) told Brian Wilson on WTN SuperTalk 99.7 Thursday that she is in it to win it when he asked about the possibility of Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) ‘un-retiring’ and running for re-election this year in the Republican primary. Brian Wilson set up the phone interview, saying: “Yesterday, there was a bit of news about Bob Corker, who said he might ‘un-retire,’ and I was on record saying that I didn’t think that was right. If you say you’re going to retire, then you’re going to retire, because other people are then going to jump in the race. “This effected, of course, the Senate campaign of one Marsha Blackburn,” Wilson continued, “who joins us on the line right now.” After he graciously welcomed Blackburn on the air, and the niceties were exchanged, Wilson got right down to business. “Here’s the thing – what was your reaction when you – after you’ve jumped into the race, started spending money on a campaign, and started doing everything that you should do to run for the office, that was going to be vacated. What was your reaction when you learned that Bob corker was now, all of a sudden,…

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On Morning of Gas Tax Increase Vote, Haslam Jokes About Using ‘Standard’ Wattage of Lamps to Hot Box Legislators: ‘It Involves the Chains’

Tennessee Star Staff

  Hours before the Tennessee House of Representatives was scheduled to begin floor debate on his controversial bill to increase gas taxes on Wednesday, Governor Haslam joked in an interview with Ralph Bristol, host of Nashville’s Morning News on 99.7 FM WWTN, that he used ‘standard’ wattage lamps in his recent private meetings to pressure or “hot box” 15 targeted on the fence legislators. “I read a report anyway that you recently set aside some time to meet with specific House members to discuss this issue and it was described in that report as ‘hot box, meetings,” Bristol told the governor. “Now what wattage of lamp do you use for these hot box meetings, because I might need to borrow that some day,” Bristol asked. “It’s the standard. It involves the chains,” Haslam responded, attempting to make light of his pressure tactics. “I think anybody who knows me knows I’m not the hard pressure type,” he added. But conservative legislators and activists have a different view of Haslam’s efforts to pass the gas tax increase. “Governor Haslam is holding private meetings with legislators he has barely spoken to over the last several years. So this is a new level of…

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WWTN’s Ralph Bristol Blasts Conservative State Representative Who Opposes Haslam’s Gas Tax Increase Bill

Tennessee Star Staff
Tennessee Star

  Ralph Bristol, host of Nashville’s Morning News on 99.7 FM WWTN, blasted a leading conservative Republican State Representative who opposes Gov. Haslam’s gas tax increase proposal, the IMPROVE ACT “Tax Cut Act of 2017,” on his program Thursday morning. Earlier this month, State Rep. Jerry Sexton (R-Bean Station) called on Speaker Beth Harwell (R-Nashville) “to hit the restart button in regards to the IMPROVE Act and to send the bill back to Transportation Subcommittee to be debated fairly and openly,” as The Tennessee Star reported. Bristol is no fan of Sexton or his opposition to the gas tax increase, and made that point very clear on his program Thursday. Recent developments “will hopefully bury Jerry Sexton in the graveyard of political one-hit blunders,” Bristol said near the end of a lengthy soliloquy in which he praised the current version of Gov. Haslam’s gas tax increase bill. The IMPROVE Act “Tax Cut Act of 2017,” he said, “is still, in my opinion, by far the most conservative plan on the table to increase funding for transportation in Tennessee.” Bristol also seemed eager to participate in the debate on the floor of the Tennessee House or Represenatives next week when the…

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High Noon: Steve Gill and Ralph Bristol Debate the Gas Tax on WWTN Tomorrow

Tennessee Star Staff
Tennessee Star

Steve Gill and Ralph Bristol will debate the merits of Gov. Haslam’s proposed gas tax increase on 99.7 FM WWTN’s Dan Mandis Show tomorrow (Wednesday) at noon. Gill, the former Nashville talk radio host who led the successful opposition to Gov. Sundquist’s proposed state income tax in 2000-2002, is opposed to Haslam’s proposal to increase the gas tax by 7 cents per gallon as well as any other kind of tax increase. Bristol, the host of Nashville’s Morning News on 99.7 FM WWTN, said in testimony before the State Senate Transportation Committee on Februrary 27, “It is my humble, but considered opinion that Governor Haslam has almost presented a thoughtful, responsible plan that preserves the integrity of an admirable and enviable tax system . . . and that his plan adequately addresses a real need that has always been considered so sacred that it deserved special protection, even from economic downturns that affect the rest of the people’s purse.” “I do not support the Governor’s plan, as is, because I don’t believe it is the revenue neutral plan it advertises itself to be,” Bristol  stated in his testimony But the bottom line for Bristol, he concluded in his testimony,  is that “Governor Haslam’s…

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Gas Tax Apologists Unable to Explain Why the 15 Percent of User Fees Diverted From Highway Fund is Not Spent on Road Construction

Tennessee Star Staff
Tennessee Star

At least 15 percent of the $1.2 billion in highway user fees collected by the state of Tennessee in FY 2015-2016–$189 million– was diverted away from road construction (see page A-65 of The Budget: State of Tennessee, Distribution of Actual Revenue by Fund, FY 2015-2016). Under Gov. Haslam’s proposed FY 2017-2018 budget, virtually the same amount of highway user fees–$187 million–will continue to be diverted away from road construction. (see page A-67 of The Budget: State of Tennessee, Distribution of Estimated Revenue by Fund, FY 2017-2018). FY 2015-2016 is the most recent year for which actual expenditures are available. Throughout the public debate over the past two months about Gov. Haslam’s proposed IMPROVE Act, which includes a gas tax increase of 7 cents per gallon, apologists for a gas tax increase–including House Transportation Committee Chairman Barry Doss (R-Leoma), House Senate Transportation Chairman Paul Bailey (R-Sparta), and 99.7 FM WWTN radio’s Ralph Bristol, host of Nashville’s Morning News–have yet to answer one key question about the state’s budget priorities: With a $1 billion surplus in the state budget, why do you support a gas tax increase when much of the purported road construction shortfall could be addressed by simply re-allocating the $187…

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Nashville Talk Radio Led Opposition to Sundquist Income Tax But Is Split on Haslam Gas Tax

Christina Botteri
Tennessee Star - Steve Gill v Ralph Bristol

When former Gov. Don Sundquist proposed imposing a state income tax on residents of Tennessee in 1999, Nashville talk radio hosts Steve Gill and Phil Valentine led the horn-honking opposition that ultimately killed the unpopular proposal three years later in 2002. It is a different media landscape in 2017, as political controversy surrounds Gov. Haslam’s proposal to increase the gas tax to fund road construction. Like Sundquist, Haslam is a Republican. WLAC, 1510 am, is no longer in the local political talk business. 99.7 FM WWTN owns the local conservative talk market, with all local hosts,  beginning at 5 a.m. with Ralph Bristol, 9 a.m. with Michael Del Giorno, noon with Dan Mandis, and 3 to 7 p.m. with Phil Valentine. The day’s talk agenda is set by Nashville’s Morning News host Ralph Bristol, and he testified before the State Senate Transportation Committee in favor of Gov. Haslam’s plan, provided it is truly revenue neutral, which he says it currently is not. Former Nashville talk radio host Steve Gill, in contrast, came out guns a-blazing in opposition to the gas tax increase in a commentary posted today at The Tennessee Star. “17 years ago, talk radio lead the fight to stop…

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Governor’s ‘Transparent Tennessee’ Does Not Apply to Fuel Tax

Chris Alto

Three years ago when the “Transparent Tennessee” website was launched, Governor Haslam said: “A state government that is accountable to Tennessee taxpayers is an important part of being customer-focused, efficient and effective. The advanced function of this website will allow citizens more access to information about how state dollars are spent.” Last year Haslam disclosed that the 2016 budget would repay the transportation fund $261 million dollars that was transferred to the general operating fund during the Sundquist and Bredesen administrations to close budget shortfalls. “We have a covenant with our citizens that the gas tax charged by the state at the pump is dedicated to transportation-related purposes and not something totally unrelated,” State Sen. Jim Tracy (R-Shelbyville) said several months before the 2016 legislative session began, urging that this repayment be made. This is called “dedicated funding” and according to TDOT, “[n]o money from the state’s general fund, which relies on the sales tax, is used in any of the programs of the Tennessee Department of Transportation. But it seems that not all state fuel tax monies reach TDOT before being diverted to the general fund. Issues raised after Wednesday’s Sumner County gas tax town hall call into question the transparency…

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