Good News York by Growth Mode Content - GNY EP.49 | Matt & Mike Talk Good News!

Episode Date: June 4, 2025

Good News York: Celebrating 50 Episodes and Highlighting Local Growth In this lively episode of Good News York, hosts Matt Masur and Mike Brindisi celebrate the show's upcoming 50th episode while enga...ging in their signature banter. They discuss a variety of topics, including comparisons to Mark McGrath, local business successes, and recent achievements in sports. The episode covers the emergence of a significant sponsor, reaching over half a million views on social media, and the importance of consistency in content creation. Conversations also touch on local pride events and community activities, such as the New York State Fair's Pride Day lineup and the Syracuse Mets' Pride Night. The hosts share amusing anecdotes about personal experiences, guest interactions, and their love for traditional wings versus boneless wings. Finally, the episode highlights notable regional economic growth, drawing attention to counties like Broome, which has shown impressive pay increases. The hosts reflect on community support and encourage continued local engagement. 00:00 Introduction and Host Banter 01:26 Official Sponsor Announcement 02:49 Heart Attack and Work Ethic 04:18 Podcast Milestone: Episode 50 05:21 Growth Mode Content Success 06:27 Consistency is Key 10:44 Listener Engagement and Feedback 18:23 Local News Highlights 25:11 Weather Complaints and Bitching Culture 25:40 Syracuse's Crown Plaza Hotel Transformation 27:18 Pay Growth in Upstate New York 32:12 Celebrating Pride Month in New York 34:35 Syracuse Mets and Community Events 35:41 Competitive Eating and Wing Debates 42:37 Concluding Thoughts and Wing Preferences

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Starting point is 00:00:48 Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads just like this. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start your new podcast for free today at RSS.com. Welcome to Good News York. I'm your host, Matt Major, joined by my... I don't even have a good look-alike name today. I know. It was Vanilla Ice and then Mark McGraith.
Starting point is 00:01:32 Mark McGrath. It's really... We should stick with Mark. We should just call you Mark McGrath. What did someone tell me? I looked like... You know, what if we just went on and on and talked about how you were Mark McGrath and Mark McGrath is the co-host of my show and we went on and on about that?
Starting point is 00:01:47 And we put out, like, hundreds of videos where we call you Mark McGrath. Okay. You think the actual Mark McGrath... McGrath would respond? I think if it caught, you know, if it got enough legs, I think. Or would you just morph into him? Well, I think I would become him. And one day I'd show up and you're just singing fly.
Starting point is 00:02:01 I just want to fly. That was the first song I ever learned. And I played at the coffee bar in Harkmer, New York over and over. I was the fly guy. So it's kind of funny that you brought that back. I mean, look, I think we live in a society now where I think you could probably make people, I think they would believe I am Mark McGrath. It's true.
Starting point is 00:02:21 There's a sector of people that would do that. But I'm not. I'm Mike Brindisi. A considerable number of children don't even know who Mark McGrath is. I know. This is Good News York brought to you by Ads on the Go. Get Ads On The Go.com. Our friend, Zach, we have an official sponsor of the show.
Starting point is 00:02:35 It's true. So if you're driving around Syracuse and you see this big box truck that's made of LED lights, you may see some advertisements for our clients here at Growth Mode content and their podcasts, and you might see our ugly mugs for good news. New York. Are we putting our face on that? I don't know. I don't know if we're doing it.
Starting point is 00:02:54 We haven't discussed that. I feel like that would cause accidents. Yeah, we don't want to like. We don't want that. Yeah, no. I drove into a mailbox. Yeah. But it's exciting to say the least.
Starting point is 00:03:04 What the fuck is on the side of that truck? You know, I got to tell you. That's actually the lead singer of Sugar Ray, sir. Dude, last, last week I slept in your office after the Dave concert. I thought we weren't going to tell people about that. No, but what's funny is I was still late for work. Like I woke up and I was getting ready and I'm like, holy shit. Like we're going to start shooting in a half hour.
Starting point is 00:03:26 I'm not even ready yet. Also, Amanda and I are assistant, Amanda, who we love, realized today that whenever you're not here, and Danny does it too. Whenever you're not here first thing in the morning, we all immediately catastrophes. We're like, where's Matt? She's like, oh, I haven't heard from him yet. Immediately, I'm like, oh, my God, he's face down in his cereal. He had a heart attack. Who's going to call Kristen?
Starting point is 00:03:47 Like, it's just like, I don't know why I immediately go to you and dead. Last time I had a heart attack, I made it to work. work. Maybe that's part of it. I just want to put that out. Because you have had a heart attack. He has had a heart attack. It didn't really slow me down. No, certainly didn't. But, uh, I was updating, I was updating a client's website code from the hospital bed actually that day. Dude, you're such a badass. I think it makes it sexy. I mean, what the fuck else am I going to do? Makes it sexier that you, you had a heart attack and survived and we're still doing work during it. Like, you have a scar. I don't really wear that as a badge of honor. That sounds like I'm one of those like work-loving boomers,
Starting point is 00:04:19 you know? No, no, no. No, you're not. You're not. You're not. You're not. You're not. You're I was half dead and still put in a 17-hour shift. I pulled myself up by the bootstraps. $3 an hour. If you don't work... And I was happy about it. If you don't work 40 hours a week, you're a bum. 40?
Starting point is 00:04:32 What do you have a lazy slacker? I work 60. I have no time for my kids. And when I see them, I smack them around. Health insurance. You know what I want to talk about? Listen, we... We got a fucking band-aid.
Starting point is 00:04:44 It couldn't be possibly my fault for my shitty life situation. It's everyone else's. Anyway, we're not supposed to... Let's talk about that stuff. Because it's good news York, and yesterday was Tuesday, which is usually Tuesday Newsday. It is. But we've had a busy couple weeks. A lot of guests coming in.
Starting point is 00:05:01 We have a lot more coming in. So we're going to do, we actually had a guest not able to make it today. And we thought, why not? Since we missed Tuesday, Newsday, we'll do a Wednesday news day. Can I mention something? Can I build a little deep tease here for this is really going to excite the listener. This is episode 49. Wait, what? Are you being serious?
Starting point is 00:05:23 That means tomorrow, provided that I show up to work and don't end up based on in my cereal, like you mentioned. This will be episode 50 of Good News, York. Matt, that's amazing, actually. I didn't know that. It is. I genuinely am caught off. I knew we were getting close. Danny had mentioned it the other day. So do we need to do something?
Starting point is 00:05:42 I don't know. Probably. I mean, we have a guest tomorrow, right? I think we have a guest. Yeah. We'll have to think about that. Yeah. Tomorrow, I mean, remember that stat? What was that stat you laid out that most podcasts?
Starting point is 00:05:54 It was like 97 or some percent do not make it to episode 20. Out of the ones that do, still another 97% or so don't make it to episode 100. So what are you saying? We're halfway there. 60% of the time, it works every time. We're halfway there. Here's a little news. Hold on.
Starting point is 00:06:14 Oh, sorry. Sorry. I didn't know the thought you were done. It just dawned on me and we didn't talk about this. But fuck it, I'm going to break this. news right now. Okay. Because as we're talking about everything we're doing here in our 50th episode of Good
Starting point is 00:06:25 News York, you know, this is part of a strategy that is part of growth mode content. The point of growth mode content is to help great local businesses and brands get their name out there to capitalize on this social media world. There's great TV advertising, radio advertising, great billboard folks. We're not doing any of that. We're trying to do the thing that nobody else is doing, which is this social media. media spot and we're trying to focus on that. And 49 episodes in,
Starting point is 00:06:55 the month of May just ended. We started doing our numbers. And I'm very excited to say that we had over half a million views in the content that we put out in the month of May. Oh, shit. Are you serious? Yeah. This is not an act. I'm just finding this out too. I mean, I didn't tell you this. This shouldn't actually be news to you.
Starting point is 00:07:15 But to everybody watching, this should be, this should. should be news. This is an incredible thing, and what it shows is, A, that our model is working, but B, the kind of most basic concept that ain't our model. It's something that everybody in the content business will tell you is that consistency is the key. We are not necessarily the best and most interesting podcast in the world yet. And everything is getting better along those lines. But the reason we're putting up these massive numbers already,
Starting point is 00:07:49 only a couple months in is really because of that consistency. No, you're right. You have said that. You've preached that from the beginning. And it just keeps showing itself with our clients. And obviously now with Good News York, over half a million views. I mean, that's amazing, dude. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:08:05 In one month. In one month. And one of my favorite quotes was from Jerry Seinfeld. And ironically, I'm probably not quoting it correctly. But basically the gist was, Who are these people? Why are we getting half a million views on oil chain? He said he's like, I wasn't always the funniest comedian, which I could have told him that.
Starting point is 00:08:25 But he said, I lasted. I stuck around consistently while all the other comics I was coming up with were giving up or dropping like flies. I just stuck with it consistently. And I'm not saying Jerry Seinfeld's not funny. I mean, he's one of the most successful entertainers in the world. Jerry Seinfeld's like a virus. I get it. Sure.
Starting point is 00:08:42 And what is a virus? But he, yeah, I mean, and it's kind of the same deal. Consistency is key. And we have been consistent. And we can, listen, and every time you think, we think that we figured out the algorithms, we just can't. Because what's our most famous video to date? Still our oil change video. Our oil fucking change video.
Starting point is 00:09:01 It was a question I just came up with on the spot when we had, um, Dan Garcia. Yep. From the garage of 3100. I don't remember anything. The garage 3100. He was on here and I just on a whim thought of the question. You know, what, is it true? You hear about 3,000 miles.
Starting point is 00:09:19 for an oil changes. But then I've heard 5,000. Can you dispel that rumor? Next thing we know, you're emailing us, dude, this thing's got 10,000 views, 20,000, all the way up to 130,000 views. Everybody's arguing, well, if it's a Chevy, of course it needs an oil. You know, people are fighting, which is what you want. Not, you don't want people fighting, but you know what I'm saying, interacting. And it just goes to show you, like, how, we didn't plan, that wasn't even supposed to be a thing. And that's what blew up. It is really the whole purpose of what we're doing here. Well, yes, but I'm saying like... You really shouldn't act surprised when what we're doing works well. I know, but what I'm saying is
Starting point is 00:09:53 like for it to be the... We're going to cut that. The oil... No, I mean, like, for that to be the oil change, to be the thing that, you know, it just shows you. It's something that everybody has to deal with, you know, that drives a vehicle. It's something that everybody apparently has a fucking opinion on. Yeah. And it's, it's something that has a lot of, um, a lot of possibilities, I guess, of ways you can go. So, But we're doing our thing. Pretty exciting. That is exciting.
Starting point is 00:10:20 Short time in, we're putting up some great numbers. And listen, you might go, oh, yeah, well, my favorite YouTuber gets a million views of video. And you're right. And what you should do is probably scroll back and see how many videos they have. Because chances are it's in the thousands. And chances are, if you scrolled back to their first 49, none of them videos have millions. You know what? It's this steady, continual growth.
Starting point is 00:10:46 And this is the thing that, again, we've just tried to drill into people's minds. But in almost everything you do in business, you know, I'm a very hyper. I got great ideas, and I can see the goal, and I want to see that tomorrow, right? Nothing ever happens as quickly as you want it to. This is something that requires building and momentum. But the cool part about that is, once you get it, get that, it's way easier to keep the ball rolling. And like you talked about, we've had this one video go super viral. We've had a number of others that have done incredibly impressive
Starting point is 00:11:25 numbers as well, and those all drive each other. And that's the part that is really cool, is it's not, can I get a million views on one video, but can we start to consistently get our message out? And of course, we're seeing it in the real reaction. right? Yeah, yeah. We're getting people that come on the show, people that we see out and around town. That freaks me out. Commenting about good way. Stuff.
Starting point is 00:11:52 The wildest part is when they comment about something they heard on the show without any context. Yeah, yeah. They don't start with, hey, I was listening to your show. They go, oh, I heard you You're listening to a podcast right now. Driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're in a podcast, chances are you have something to say too.
Starting point is 00:12:07 With RSS.com, starting your own podcast is free and easy. Upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and more. Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads just like this. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start your new podcast for free today at RSS.com. You're listening to a podcast right now. Driving, working out, walking the dog.
Starting point is 00:12:34 If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own is free and easy. upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and hundreds more. Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads like this, even with just 10 listeners a month. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start free at RSS.com. You don't like doing your lawn or some shit? I'm like, how'd you know that about me?
Starting point is 00:13:07 Oh, right, I talked about it. Oh, I put this shit out in the public. Right. Well, it's because we live in a world right now, this bubble, that there's not immediate, it's not live, right? So we don't know. You know, when you're performing on stage, you get immediate feedback for me. People fall asleep, they throw shit at me.
Starting point is 00:13:24 You know, I know they don't like me. But now I have to wait until people come in to tell me they don't like it. And that's the beauty of podcasting. I guess if we did really bad, people might like egg the studio. That'd be cool. We've never had to just throw tomatoes at the outside. I probably shouldn't encourage that, but. No, please don't.
Starting point is 00:13:39 My landlord's, what the, uh, what? What's going on with these tomatoes? Wack on waka. I think the big thing, though, how you're talking about people are like, my favorite YouTube subscriber gets a million views. You know, I think what that stems from is kind of like our generation's version of,
Starting point is 00:13:54 like when I was up and coming, or coming up and doing music or comedy, it was always, we got to get that one hit, you know, if you just get that one hit, you know, and that happens overnight. And we have this thing, you know, and there's been cases where people have blown up over there. And songs have gotten popular overnight.
Starting point is 00:14:13 But my dad always said, like, the fastest, the faster you climb the ladder is as fast as you can fall. So it's almost better to have a slow rise. Because, I mean, I can think of probably a million times in my life where I wanted something the next day. And thank God that that dream didn't come to fruition because I would not have been ready and I would have fucked it all up. I can guarantee that.
Starting point is 00:14:33 So, I mean, I would rather have 500 views from people that, like for our clients. I would rather have them get 500 views on something of 500 people that could be potential business partners than a million views of people that are just going to watch it. That's the other side of it too. And it's also why I sometimes even hesitate to brag about when we have big numbers. Right. Because the reality is exactly like what you just said. It's not necessarily the point.
Starting point is 00:15:02 The point is not, you know, we provide a service primarily here in upstate New York. So when 5 million people see our shit in California, yeah, that's cool. Yeah. But when we're talking about growing our business, does that really have that value? And the answer is not necessarily, no. But when you're, you know, maybe there's, like you said, 500 potential clients in this area. Yeah, in the region. Those folks seeing it, and that's what you see more and more.
Starting point is 00:15:34 And that's what, unfortunately, some of the numbers don't lend themselves to because some the stuff that I feel like nobody watched is the stuff that people come in comment on. I know. It's weird. You know? And those are the things that don't have the record-breaking numbers. And don't get us wrong. We're not sitting here like crumudgeons like, yeah, that's why we don't
Starting point is 00:15:55 want a million views. Of course, a million views would be great. We're not saying we don't want our clients or ourselves to go viral. It's just more about quality than quantity. And it's the whole thing. You know, this organic thing. podcasting in general is about getting to know a person.
Starting point is 00:16:13 Yeah. It's not about selling the product. You sell you. It's not about doing anything else. Exactly. It's, and not even selling you, I wouldn't say. I don't even know if that's accurate because it's... You're introducing yourself.
Starting point is 00:16:23 It's letting people get that real view, that real perspective that you have that you can normally only get when you're around another human, right? Right. Whether they're a coworker, whether there's somebody you interact with, you know, you see politicians, you see the president on TV, you get clips, right? And you sort of get an idea, but until you work with somebody until you can spend hours with them, which is what sort of this medium allows you to do. And that's what's great about this medium too is, and again, we totally are pro radio, TV, billboard advertising, all of that stuff works. But what's great
Starting point is 00:16:58 about podcasting is you can introduce yourself and show who you are to people and not have to cram it in a 30 or 60 second spot. And it's just much easier to convey that. And, you know, talking about views, I think I've said this before, you know, the reason why less view, quantity over quality with views and likes is because imagine
Starting point is 00:17:18 opening a restaurant and then you decide to pay for advertising over in California. But you have a, but your restaurants right here in Syracuse, New York. Well, that's great that you have a million views on that commercial in Cal, but nobody's going to be able to come. So, you know, again, millions of views are great, but it's, it,
Starting point is 00:17:35 It's more about the quality of the views and likes that you're getting. And as much as we're down playing that. I'm pretty fucking happy, dude. I could not agree more. I'm glad the hard work is paying off. You gentlemen are kicking ass. Our editors behind the scenes are kicking ass. We've got a great team.
Starting point is 00:17:53 And the guests. You know, that's the other thing is people enjoy our banter a little bit. Yeah. They tune in to hear the guests. They tune in to learn about these things that they don't know anything about. and so we can't thank them enough. And we've got an incredible roster of more, and we will continue. Well, listen, man, you're the GM, you're the coach.
Starting point is 00:18:14 We're just the players. Yeah, but you're the master to deliver. And all that booking is really completely something that you've done. And just as a quick side note, if you want to join us on the show, if we haven't reached out, please don't be offended. It's not personal. We don't have like a priority list. We just literally haven't gotten to you.
Starting point is 00:18:32 So if you have something happening or you just have a business that you think people in New York State might want to hear about anything, reach out. And if you want to comment about anything we're talking about, you know. This isn't the editorial page. But yeah, anything outside of that. I'm glad that has some positive energy to it. I'm glad you mentioned that because I've been thinking that we should we should mention. Yeah, if you do want to write into the show, even regarding like what we're talking about and you want to just write the show, producer at growth mode tech.com is the email. Anything.
Starting point is 00:19:02 If you want to suggest someone to come on the show, if you want to be on the show, or again, if you want to comment about something we're talking about, a news tip. Positive story we should cover. Right? Or if you want to send us food. We have an address. And speaking of that, don't get that. I used to do that, dude. What?
Starting point is 00:19:16 Back in the day, we used to have a podcast, and it was midday. So it was around lunchtime. And some of our listeners would send us food. And I got so fucking fat. Dude, I, it was literally a problem because I would do that podcast every day. And I would just do nothing but eat. And, of course, eat the worst shit ever. And stopping McDonald's on the way there.
Starting point is 00:19:35 And, you know, it was a... Look at you now. You're getting spelt. You look great. I don't know about all that. But I'm kidding. If folks want to send out some free food, that's cool. But I got you.
Starting point is 00:19:44 Not massive pizzas. We used to have a listener back in the day. And I'll let us get to what we actually planned. We used to have a listener back in the day who, everybody who was on our regular show, they would send him a birthday cake. Jesus. And they were from, I think this gentleman was in Georgia. Really? He found a bakery in Syracuse that worked well for him.
Starting point is 00:20:05 Dude. And he would call up an order of legit locally made. For every birthday? For every one of our kind of show cast members' birthday. What a nice dude. That's like the complete opposite of a troll. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:20:17 He's the, I don't know what the opposite of the troll is. We had some great listeners. And we still did. We got some great fans joining on this show. We also got some news. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Stuff happening. So bear with us, again, because we've had so many.
Starting point is 00:20:31 Again, this is Good News York brought to you by ads on the go. It's not Tuesday-Nusday. We had to slide it to Wednesday, Newsp. We are going to zip through these relatively. We are going to zip through these, yes. But I know some of you are going to think this first thing is a little bit of old news, but it'd be ridiculous if we didn't mention it, especially because we are good news. We got some championships going on, buddy.
Starting point is 00:20:51 Cornell Lacrosse in my digs of Ithaca, New York, just won their first national title since 1977. and that was led by their absolute star, Mr. C.J. Cursed, who is just tied the NCAA record for most goals in a season, which is 85. Now, I will admit, I love sports, I'm a sports guy, but I, you know, lacrosse is not my strong suit. Why isn't the cross? That is a lot of fucking goals. You know, I don't know. I mean, lacrosse is bigger than you think. It's, well, that's the thing is like, you hear about this, and obviously you talk about national champions.
Starting point is 00:21:32 This is a major school, and this is a major win for them, and congratulations. I just wonder why, you know, there's not like a pro lacrosse league. There is. Oh, and that's my second story. Oh. See, well, that's a good point, though, because. I mean, the fact that I don't know that kind of, the fact that you didn't even know that. The Buffalo Bandits are celebrating their seventh national lacros, the NLL championship.
Starting point is 00:21:55 They did it at Alumni Plaza. That's their seventh title and their third title in a row, three Pete, which as a Bills fan, I mean, I'm not, I don't follow across, but. I don't, again, I don't be obnoxious or to shit on lacrosse, but like, is that because their league is only three teams? Okay, well, I don't know how many are in the league, but, I mean, you really did shit on. It's a fun sport. It's fun to watch.
Starting point is 00:22:19 Listen, it's action-packed. It's, uh, they sort of have a weapon, you know? The indigenous people are the ones that started lacrosse. And somewhere along the way, of course, we stole that idea. And we've made it into a professional league and it's in college. But I do think it is more of a regional thing. And we live in an area that is a huge indigenous descent. They talk about the National League.
Starting point is 00:22:45 But I really wonder, you know, are there lacrosse teams in all 50 states? I don't know. I don't know. Some other news is going to go a little bit local. here. Do you remember you know the show Diners, what is it, Diners Drive-ins and Dives, Guy Fierry?
Starting point is 00:23:02 That's the guy whose blonde hair is slightly more spiky than yours. Oh God, you're comparing me to fucking Guy Fierry? No offense to Guy. He's got the blonde got to the blonde goaties. It's very, it's very sharp. It's very spiky here, very spiky
Starting point is 00:23:17 there. It's very like 90s metal dude. Yeah, yeah, he's very like The memo that trend. Like if Smashmouth and Limp Biscuit had a baby. Exactly. Did I nail it? You did. I did.
Starting point is 00:23:29 Well, anyway, Smash Mouth and... Didn't you have a stylist? Like, doesn't... Isn't there somebody at the Food Network who's like... Sure. You can't get tips like that. You're getting a little old to rock the fucking Limp Biscuit. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:23:44 I don't know. I haven't... But, you know, to be fair, I haven't really seen him. One of those ball chain necklace. Oh, my God. You're talking about the choker with the silver balls? Yeah. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:23:53 I mean, you can't tell me that Guy Fierry doesn't rock around and Jenko's on the weekend. Oh, for sure. Yeah. And he's got an airwalk tattoo on his ass. Right. Top of the flavor. You're listening to a podcast right now, driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're in the podcasts, chances are you have something to say too.
Starting point is 00:24:11 With RSS.com, starting your own podcast is free and easy. Upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and more. Track your listeners, see where they're from. and start earning from ads just like this. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start your new podcast for free today at RSS.com. On to you, Syracuse Pub returns to diners, drive-ins, and dives. That's right, Kitty Hoin's Irish Pub in downtown Syracuse.
Starting point is 00:24:41 Everybody knows Kitty Hoan. Yeah, it was on the show in 2012, and it said that they wanted to come back. They told them that they wanted to feature a couple of their new days. dishes. And so they came back. This past Friday, they featured it, but you can check that out on the Food Network. Have you been? Have you been to?
Starting point is 00:25:00 Yeah. See, I'm not, I don't live in Syracuse. So I'm late to the party. That's the place you go if you want an Irish adult beverage. Okay. It's also the place you want to go if you want some legit Irish food. The Shepherd's Pie. It's awesome.
Starting point is 00:25:15 Right in the heart of downtown. Do you know, do you remember off the top of the, top of the mena to you? Do you remember off the top of your head? Is there something on the menu that it's like you got to get that? I mean, honestly, I think people really love the Shepherds pot. It's one of those deals where they got a lot of traditional dishes. And also, I don't think there's anything that's bad. It's that sort of place.
Starting point is 00:25:38 Yeah. Well, shout out to, I want to say it properly. What's the proper full name? Kitty. Kitty Hoins. Kitty Hoins. Yeah. Kitty Hoyin.
Starting point is 00:25:46 Shout out. We love you. Congratulations. That's amazing. So you can check out that episode, the recap or the Recap. or the reprise of them on diners, drive-ins and drive-thrus or whatever it's called. On the Food Network, our friends from a hidden level here in Syracuse are growing rapidly. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:26:02 So much so that they are getting noticed by venture capitalists with a recent infusion of $100 million in new investor funding. So they're on track to grow even more right here in central New York. They were founded in 2018 to develop a system for detecting and tracking hard-to-see drones that pose a danger in mid-air. collisions and things like that. The drone businessman is a business. Yeah, this is, it's a thing. For those people don't know, if you're not from the Syracuse area, which you might not know, even just folks that are, there's been a massive investment in drone technology specifically in our area. And the Air Force base right behind us actually is one of the main spots for government drone testing and things of that nature. So I think that's part of it. But lots of organizations,
Starting point is 00:26:48 public and private investments specifically in the drone industry have taken place here. So you're seeing a lot of that rise up. I think Hidden Level is probably the biggest and most successful story of all that deal. But they're doing awesome stuff. It's just... And rapidly growing, creating a lot of very high-paying, good jobs.
Starting point is 00:27:09 It's cool. Dude, you know, good news York, we've said from the beginning is not just about Central New York. It is about everywhere. Long Island, New York City, Adirondex, Western New York. And we do talk a lot about things going on here, but that's because this place,
Starting point is 00:27:24 we all know about Micron, and that is going to be humongous. But there is so much going on otherwise. Like, everywhere I go, there's cranes. That's a sign you're in a good spot. When you see this constant building going on, Micron, hidden level. It almost feels like it's too good to be true,
Starting point is 00:27:42 the amount of growth going on. It's exciting, dude. We had been on the other. under the cycle for a long time. And now we're, now it's our time. Well, people will still find stuff to bitch about, though. Weather sucks.
Starting point is 00:27:56 Bitching is our number one export. No one is better at it than we are. I'm waiting. We're in that window where people bitch about how cold it is. I'm stuck with cold. I want the weather. And now we should be, we're a few days away where someone's going to bitch about how hot it is.
Starting point is 00:28:09 Yeah. Yeah. It is hot today. I can't deal with this humidity. What do you got? Well, this is old news, the beginning, which is, if you remember, one of Syracuse biggest hotels closed October 24 that would be the Syracuse the Plaza
Starting point is 00:28:25 the Crown Plaza Hotel kind of looks like the leaning tower of Pisa would look like if it wasn't leaning see I always said it looks like the Capitol Records building all right I'm a music guy and I was always intrigued and I told my wife big round tower it's a big cylinder tower in downtown Syracuse it looks like the Capitol Records building and because I'm a child just because of that I've always wanted to stay there you know the windows all the way around And now I'm finding out, first of all, I can't because it's closed. And second of all, turns out the 279 room Crown Plaza has stopped all operations because they're going to be converting it into apartments.
Starting point is 00:29:01 And I've been driving by on my way in every day. And they switched from that really crappy hospital mint green on the outside. I know it looks like they're doing maybe new windows. Yeah, it's like a sleek black, dude. It looks real, like as far as just aesthetically for the skyline. The window frame and everything. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I don't know why I attribute like that, that, that minty, blueish green to, like, psychiatric ward.
Starting point is 00:29:22 First of all, I didn't like it. I don't think it's supposed to be that color. I think that's sort of the patina of age. So that's one of the challenges with that. Yeah. Because I think that was white at one time what you're talking about. Probably. You know. Yeah. It's going to look pretty sharp. It's going to look great. I didn't know they're doing anything like that. Oh, dude, it looks good. It's going to look a brand new place. So I can't stay there unless I sleep over someone's apartment. So if you're going to live in the new crowd, Plaza building and you want me to sleep over. There you go.
Starting point is 00:29:48 Producer at growthmodec.com. I snore, but I have a CPAP. One upstate New York County was in the top 50 nationwide for pay growth, and this is where I want to ask you. The pay growth. This means people in that county are getting bigger paychecks when they were getting last year.
Starting point is 00:30:03 I will tell you this. The U.S. rank by the percentage of change is six. They are now sixth. And it is a change of 9.5% Um, wait, let me make sure I got this right. Hold on, hold on. Here we go. Here we go. Uh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Okay. Can you guess which county in New York has made the top 50 nationwide for pay growth? I'm going to guess just because it's where we're our. Onondaga County. Onondaga is incorrect. However, uh, they are in the top four percent or the top. Or the top.
Starting point is 00:30:45 four on the list. The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind. It is Broome County, dude. Broome County. Binghamton area. What is happening down now? I don't know. But their average weekly pay in New York counties was $1,000.
Starting point is 00:31:02 Well, now it's $1,175. The average weekly pay for Broome County. Suffolk's up there, Duchess, Onondaga, Westchester, New York, Oneida, Monroe. But yeah, yeah, yeah. Pretty exciting. Pay growth is the greatest thing ever. A lot of employers like me is not something you'd normally hear them say. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:31:24 But I'm with it. Yeah. Looking at this list right here. Now on there it looks like Suffolk is the winner, but it was... Suffolk? Suffolk. Suffolk County. Suffolk. Suffolk. Did I just...
Starting point is 00:31:36 Suffolk? Is that what I said? Are you Canadian? I think so, eh? How long have you lived... Sorry about it. Sorry about it. I, uh,
Starting point is 00:31:46 Suffolk. Listen, I know the thing I've been seeing It is spelled. Skinny Atlas. I know it's Tacanic Park. I know it's. Taconic. No, no, no.
Starting point is 00:31:55 I'm talking about Teganic State Park in, in Ithaca. And the Taconic is the highway. Parkway. I know all the proper pronunciations in New York, but I don't know what just happened there. I either had a stroke or maybe I have been saying it wrong. I think we've got to do this bit where we named towns in New York. Not right now. Not now.
Starting point is 00:32:12 Suffolk. Suffolk. Wait, no, you don't put the stress on the folk. Suffolk. It's Suffolk. Suffolk. It's Suffolk. Suffolk.
Starting point is 00:32:20 Suffolk. Did I really? God damn it. And now I just want to call it that because that's actually way more interesting. That was number one. The average pay there was $1,500 a week. That's up 9.5%. See, but Suffolk is listed as the number one.
Starting point is 00:32:37 But when I read the article, it said that Broom County was the winner. So when I pulled this chart out, it threw me off because Suffolk, Suffolk is technically Broom. I mean, if you want to call it upstate counties, then Broom would definitely be Suffolk is downstate. I just like it because I feel like Broom gets a real bad rap, that county. No, it's great news for them. And I'm happy
Starting point is 00:32:58 for them. I really am. It's great news for them. I've performed a lot down that way in the way of comedy, and I've got friends down that way, and we've been to Binghamton Mets games in the past. Number three, I always root them. Dutchess County. Duchess County, that's where my grandparents, I think, were friends. Where is that?
Starting point is 00:33:13 Is that down? Like, Peakskill, Westchester, Peakskill, Fishkill, all that. And then Onondaga. Interestingly enough, Duchess and Onondaga are sort of tied for the third spot. They changed or they grew 5.2%. Oh. So both of them, I would say are sort of tied.
Starting point is 00:33:29 No, I just thought this was interesting. It is interesting. New York County, which is obviously the city of New York, they grew by 4.8%. So what that is telling me is upstate is growing, especially by, a massive higher number. We're growers and showers up here.
Starting point is 00:33:47 It is. See, this is what I'm talking about. Just a few minutes ago. Look at all the growth going on, man. Oneida County, right up the road. They're very high up on the list. They grew 4.6%. Where's Herkimer around there?
Starting point is 00:33:58 Oh, no. Okay. Jesus. It's where I grew up. Where's the opposite list? I don't know. Where's the pay decline? Sorry.
Starting point is 00:34:07 I don't mean to shit on. No, we're not. That's where we grew up. Yeah, we're from there. We can do that. Yeah, we're actually a lot. You're not allowed to shit on Herkimer County unless you grew up there like us. And we're lovingly shitting on them.
Starting point is 00:34:18 It's like an easy poo. This is interesting. Easy poo. The really interesting part about this is that this whole massive list of all these different counties in New York, all of which are showing sizable, measurable pay growth. That's huge, man. People want to knock our state. You can come to almost any part of it. All right.
Starting point is 00:34:43 And make more money. Now it's time to piss off closed-minded people. Yeah. It is Pride Month. Yes, it is. And two institutions that we love, the New York State Fair and the Syracuse Mets are celebrating Pride nights and Pride Days. New York State Fair announced their Pride Day lineup. You've got Lily Rose, 1 p.m. at the Chevy Court.
Starting point is 00:35:03 This is on August 22nd. Technically, that's not for this month for Pride Month, but that's their actual. True. It is Pride Month, but this is. They have a Pride Day during the fair. Thank you. Thank you. Yes. The Pride Day is during the fair August 22nd.
Starting point is 00:35:15 Lily Rose at 1 p.m. at the Chevy Court. The Neon Trees. They had a couple hit songs. 6 p.m. at the Chevy Court. Jesse Murph, 8 p.m. at Suburban Park. And I don't know how I feel about this. But there's a Lady Gaga tribute band at 9 p.m. And I just feel like, is that not kind of like
Starting point is 00:35:31 playing into the stereotype? Like, they may as well have like a Barbara Streisand like tap dancing class. Like, you know what I mean? Is it okay? Yeah, why not? All right. And then our...
Starting point is 00:35:41 Who doesn't love Lady Gaga? Who doesn't love a fake Lady Gaga? Listen, I love... Is it just like Lady Gaga? Listen, I fell in love with Lady Gaga when I heard her on an interview. Or would it be Lady Gaga-Gagga-Ga? And she said... Lady Gaga, go-go-go-go-go.
Starting point is 00:35:55 She said that she, her ideal night out is going to a dive bar shooting whiskey and playing the jukebox. And I'm like, that's... Wow. I love my wife, but that's... She's a real one. Yeah, she's awesome. But also our...
Starting point is 00:36:08 I did want to say just along those lines of the Pride events, If that is something you're into, almost every area here in upstate New York, every local area has some kind of event going. There's some kind of organization that's putting it on. Check that out. There's parades. There's festivals. It's awesome. There's cool stuff to celebrate things.
Starting point is 00:36:26 Absolutely. A little note for those that get very upset. Yep. You should probably understand that pride started as a protest. That's right. It is not something that is a matter of... We're just, we just want everybody to know about our style. It is literally a remembrance of people fighting and losing their lives for the right to exist.
Starting point is 00:36:51 That is not a joke. You know, when you knock some of these things there, you think it's just somebody celebrating what they do for fun. Why don't we get hetero month? It's like, dude, every fucking month is hetero month. You're missing the point. It's a whole other story. But it is a whole other story.
Starting point is 00:37:04 Again, there's some history to it beyond just we want to celebrate. Absolutely. And our boys at the Syracuse Mets, tomorrow night, Thursday, June 5th is Syracuse Mets Pride Night at the stadium. They have the Pride Jersey giveaway, deals on dogs and brews, and great music on the deck. So a lot going on in the way of celebrating Friday. The Mets are always doing so many cool events, man. I wanted to ask you before we go. Of every style, it doesn't matter what you're into, it seems like the Mets will have a night for you.
Starting point is 00:37:38 The Syracuse Mets are just, we've had Jason on the show, the GM. And look, they could fall in line with many other minor league clubs and, you know, have ball games and have food and every now and then give a giveaway. That place is a party year round. Every game, there's something going on. And it's not the normal stuff. You know, like coming up, obviously Pride Night we just talked about,
Starting point is 00:38:03 they have Little League night where anyone who has a kid who plays T-ball or Little League can come and they get to walk around the field. There's Jason always says, Daku-Tuesday. There's always, I mean, there's always something going on there. And I just, I love them, man. Was it, was it yesterday or something?
Starting point is 00:38:18 The Joey Chestnut. Joey Chestnut, that's right. Thank you. Tonight. Is that tonight? There you go. Joey Chestnut at the ballpark. Sucking on some glizzies at the ballpark.
Starting point is 00:38:27 Is he going to do his thing there? Oh, he's eating wings? Oh. Oh, he can't eat other hot dogs. That's fucking fascinating. There's a glizzy band. Remember that? Imagine that?
Starting point is 00:38:41 Finn Glizzy? He's so... I just thought of that. He's so good at that the industry says you're not allowed to touch anyone's hot dog unless it's our approval. You know what, though? It's the star.
Starting point is 00:38:51 It's kind of... It's almost like NASCAR going. You're not allowed to drive a car. Right. Unless it's on our track. If you think about it, though, from a business standpoint, I think that's very fair.
Starting point is 00:38:59 Well, yeah, of course. 100% fair. It's their brand, yeah. Yeah. Can't go be giving that away for nothing. But boneless wings, huh? I don't know. Is that as exciting?
Starting point is 00:39:08 Do you think every meal that gentleman eats is a competition for it? Does it work? Listen, we tried to get him on here. I had millions of questions. How does it train me around? How is he not fat? Do you think that he like, you know, it's just
Starting point is 00:39:22 like lunchtime when they put a sandwich in front of him and he just takes it to you? You know what would be crazy is watching him just eat one hot dog casually. Like he's at a ball game and he just eats. Or just he only eat at competitions? And like he just fasts the rest of you? These
Starting point is 00:39:38 are all valid questions. Normally I laugh at that. But it's, I mean, why is it already? 40,000 calories in 12 minutes. You're good for the month, right? They need to... Is that the way it works? Yeah. Well, they also need to study his body because we need to know the long-term effects of this competitive eating.
Starting point is 00:39:54 And what happened to Kobayashi, man? He got dethroned by... Listen, I realize he does speed eating, but I guarantee there's a few of us that have eaten more hot dogs than that fellow. If you did the hot dog eating, would you do the dunk the box? No. Me either. I think that makes me sick. We were talking about this yesterday.
Starting point is 00:40:10 That's fucking gross. It's disgusting. It's really gross. But is it necessary, though? Well, I mean, it speeds it up. I mean, you know how bread. The biggest part is, you know, you're eating bread and it gets... Can't eat dry bread?
Starting point is 00:40:20 I'm in your mouth. But the way they... So if you're trying to jam it down, you know, they wet it so it just slides down your gullet. That's how I eat on first dates. I just take my food. I dunk it in water. Because then if they stay with me, I know they really love me for who I am. Bones wings, though, man.
Starting point is 00:40:35 I don't know. Is that as exciting? Bownless wings. And imagine if they're spicy. Yikes. I don't want to say this. Just say it. I feel like I could out eat almost anybody
Starting point is 00:40:45 when it comes to boneless wing. Why did you just say that? Maybe not speed. Definitely in volume. Are we going to have to do this? No, because I'll die. Oh, I don't want you to die. I won't die as chicken, but...
Starting point is 00:40:55 No, you'll just show up... Here's the thing. In reality, I feel like I would be somehow doing a disservice to my fat kinsman if I were to eat the... Fake... Fat Kinsman is a great band name. The fake...
Starting point is 00:41:10 chunks of chicken known as boneless wings. We all know they aren't fucking wings. They're not anything to do with a wing. They're just a cheap chunk of chicken that somebody cut up and called wings because wings got expensive. And somehow they still cost as much as wings. I don't understand that part either.
Starting point is 00:41:24 But anyway, if you're going to do a real contest, it has to be a real wings. You've got to navigate the bones. I could do a pickle eating. I think I could do pickle eating contest. I don't even want to get into that. Okay. Before we go, though,
Starting point is 00:41:38 if there was a wing eating contest, And this is to let Danny's like, I got fucking, I got game systems to buy. Danny's excited because the switch is coming out. Yeah, we shouldn't tell. We're not going to break. Oh, don't do it. You're going to make his line longer. I'm sorry.
Starting point is 00:41:50 Don't go. As if nerds don't already know this. Go eat hot dogs. What was I talking about before I was making fun of Danny? Oh, boneless wings. Bones swings, yeah. Wing eating contest. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:42:01 Would you get the choice? Would it be random? Or would they provide an even amount of one bone and two boner wings? I just love that you said two-boner, but, um, I don't know what you're asking. What are you asking with different types of wings? You know how they got? Oh, you're talking about like flats and drums? Flats.
Starting point is 00:42:22 I call one bone and two-bones. My wife and I are, we like flats. If we both like flats, when we get wings, I'm nice. I will, for every paddle or flat I take, I take a leg. I feel like that is the more popular wing, but I personally am a one-bone guy all day long. Listen, this could spark another oil change debate. Let's throw it out there. But so hold on.
Starting point is 00:42:47 Aside from my personal preference, just to answer me this question, if there was a wing-eating contest that you were to set up, would you give people the choice of one or the other? Would you give them a random assortment? Or would you make sure it's an equal number of each? So Mike Brindisi says, who gives a fuck, just make sure they're all the same flavor and the same number. Just same as you'd get from the pizzeria,
Starting point is 00:43:10 a random assortment of 20, whatever. My producer mind says, you're right. It should be the same, the equal amount. You're right, because the flats are a little bit thinner, easier to pull the meat off. You don't want to have any, you don't want to give someone too many legs. So I think you do, I think you're right.
Starting point is 00:43:24 I think you have to have the exact amount of flats to, what is it, legs? To make it fair, yeah. Yeah, knuckles, legs, whatever. Yeah, I think you're on to something there. So I will leave you on this. The one thing that is very interesting, to me is, you know, here we get the regular, we get the bone and we get the two-boner
Starting point is 00:43:43 things, right? Please, back in the day. When I, my 10-year-old brain thing. Back in the day when I live down south, you'd go to a lot of the restaurants. You'd get wings and the, sorry, two-boner also had that little extra wing piece. Hey, boners. Do you know what I'm talking about? It wasn't, it's not a piece you can eat.
Starting point is 00:44:00 It's literally just a chunk that we're lucky enough most people just lop it off. I don't. But I will tell you that down south when they had those, it was. was ideal because you could take that and break it off like a key and the meat would slide right off the two bones. You could do it in one bite. Maybe this is just a fat kid trip that I'm handing out. There was a viral video going around where people, this girl in front of this young man
Starting point is 00:44:26 who his eyes lit up in the background where she would eat like that. It's a method of pulling the paddle. So that's what it allows you to do with this is you just break the one end. And there it is. literally just one bite the whole wing. That's some serious. Your fat kinsman would be proud of you. They would, yeah. Which, by the way, that's a great band name, and I was going to, we have to go,
Starting point is 00:44:45 but I was going to say, because of the pride lineup, what are some of the best band names of all times? Would they have to be, like, five guys who look like Drew Carey or something? He's not even fat anymore. Oh, you're talking about the fat kinsman? Yeah. I'm trying to think of what they've got to look like, the fat kinsmen's. I think they look like a bunch of Sam Kinnisansans. The fat kinnisans. I don't know. No, I won't do that. Blow Danny's ears.
Starting point is 00:45:05 Blow Danny. Oh, we should, probably go. Your phones. Two-boner. Yeah. Wing-eating contest. We might have to... 50th episode tomorrow. So are you... 50th episode tomorrow, write in producer at growth mode tech.com. Are you a wings or are you a paddle or flat? One bone or two-boner?
Starting point is 00:45:28 Let us know. I'm interested in that. I bet you people will... Again, I feel like I'm in the minority on the one-bone side, but maybe I'm wrong. No, because I've talked about this before. And I thought for sure that I was going to win with the flats, you know, that people were going to be like flats, hands down. There were a lot of the leg. Because there's something about holding it. And by the way, people judge wings on the sauce.
Starting point is 00:45:49 Obviously, that's the front door, right? You should. But it's more, it's also, it's got to have the cook. Is it fluffy and coated, crispy? You know, all that stuff. That's why Ithaca alehouse. Shout out my favorite wings in the world. Oh, how they pack them is a very big deal.
Starting point is 00:46:04 It's like people judge burgers. People don't forget the bun is. a very big part of the burger. That could make her break it. The drummer could make her break a baby. We should actually just do a whole podcast on wings. Dude, are you kidding me? I'm a Bill's fan. I'd fucking love that. The wing cast. Wing cast? I don't know. The fat wingsman. Yeah. Let's go home. All right. See you tomorrow. Bye. Peace out.

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