The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Cherry Ave Grocery Store Could Open In Fall 2027; Updated Deal Flow Of Cherry Ave Grocery Store

Episode Date: December 9, 2025

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Cherry Ave Grocery Store Could Open In Fall 2027 Updated Deal Flow Of Cherry Ave Grocery Store Tom Perriello Making A Comeback In VA Politics Private Equity Pursuing Car Washes In CVille Area What’s The Best Food To Eat On A Snow Day? Hemp Biz Takes Hit After Ban In Gov Spending Bill UVA 1 Of 7 Schools In Top 25 In Football & Hoops If You Need CVille Office Space, Contact Jerry Miller Read Viewer & Listener Comments Live On-Air The I Love CVille Show airs live Monday – Friday from 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The I Love CVille Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible, Rumble and iLoveCVille.com.

Good Tuesday afternoon, guys. My name is Jerry Miller and thank you kindly for joining us on the I Love Seville Show. A pleasure to connect with you guys through the I Love Seville Network, the water cooler of content and conversation in Charlottesville, Almar County, and Central Virginia. So much to cover on the broadcast, including a Cherry Avenue grocery store back in the news, a fall 2027 target date for this grand opening. a co-op selected to run the grocery store, and now Amir, is it $4 million that needs to be raised? That's what they're trying to raise. To make this grocery store and

Fifeville a reality. I am not a doom and gloom guy and I want the Fifeville neighborhood who most certainly is smack dab at the middle of a food desert to get its own grocery store. I absolutely do. Okay?

But this grocery store, I hate to say this. It reminds me of, of Katie Perry's song, the one that got away. Summer after high school, when we first met, we used to make out of your Mustang to Radiohead. And on my 18th birthday, we got matching tattoos. It used to steal your parents' liquor, climb to the roof, talk about our future like we had a clue.

Never planned that one day, I'd be losing you. Fifeville, I'm worried that you're going to be losing you, the grocery store. We'll unpack the deal flow today on the I Love Seville Show, We may even encourage Judah Wickower to croon, Katie Perry's, the one that got away on today's edition and today's episode of the show. A lot I want to cover on the broadcast, including Tom Perry Yellow returning to the big show, the 5th District, Tommy P. Back in the big show. Private equity, a little more insight into the deal flow, as a big-time private equity firm tries to scoop up, or is scooping up, has scooped up, car washes locally in Charlottes, and Zion's Crossroads. This private equity firm has got a number of car washes under their belt.

We'll offer a little more perspective on that deal flow now that the news is out in the news cycle. And we could speak a little bit more freely. The hemp business is getting hammered. Ladies and gentlemen, after a ban in government spending, we'll put that into perspective for the viewers and listeners. We'll ask you this question, what's the best food to eat on a snow day? Jude, I think may say soup. You know? Maybe.

A lot we're going to cover on the broadcast. and I want to highlight this football and basketball program at the University of Virginia, one of seven schools, ladies and gentlemen and the nation. UVA is one of seven schools in the country to be ranked in the top 25 in both football and basketball. The economic impact from success in football and basketball is as significant as any drivers of the economy

except, ladies and gentlemen, for tourism, the real estate sector, biotechnology and AstraZeneca, few other things locally can compare to a football team that's pursuing 11 wins and then heading directly into a basketball season that is looking like they could make a run

for an NCAA tournament appearance and a deep run after getting the invitation. You combine a football season with a basketball season and you got nine months of the year. nine months of the year. September, October, November, December, September, November, December, January, February, March,

seven plus your recruiting momentum that's book ending in the beginning and end of these two seasons. You're talking nine months of economic impact from success on the gridiron and on the hardwood. We'll unpack that today. A couple of items out of the notebook that I didn't have a chance to put in the rundown.

Judith and I did not have a chance to put in the run-down. rundown. There is a fantastic article in the Cavalier Daily. There's actually a lot of great coverage in the Cavalier Daily. The independent student newspaper, the Cavalier Daily, has really stepped up their game. I mean, frankly speaking, I don't

want to sell them short. I went to UVA. I've lived in this community for 25 years. The Cavalier Daily has already always been strong. The editorial staff they have in play right now is all-stars. They're all-stars. And there's two

items of news on the homepage of the Cavalier Daily today that I encourage you to read. The first one is some insight into how three local Charlottesvillians saved the Violent Crown movie theater from destruction. And it's a lot of color and a lot of background that was not previously reported. It's very good journalism. And a second article that I encourage you to read is the coverage of interim President Paul Mahoney speaking before the Board of Visitors on his agreement with the Justice Department and why he pursued that agreement.

Both are fantastic pieces of journalism from the independent student newspaper, The Cabalier Daily. I'd like to highlight John Vermillion and Andrew Vermillion of Charlottesville Sanitary Supply. 61 years in business for the Vermilions, soon to be 62. The Vermillion family has lived in Almore County for five generations.

and their family business, Charlottesville Sanitary Supply, has been run by the Vermilion family for three generations. They have a fantastic e-commerce website, Charlestfulanitary Supply.com, and their physical location on East High Street is the epicenter of education when it comes to anything cleaning, swimming pools, sanitary, commercial cleaning, vacuums, meal of vacuums, repair, mechanic on site. and we're on the cusp our firm and their firm of a major announcement with a new division at Charlottesville Sanitary Supply about to come to market that is going to gain rapid market share

ladies and gentlemen Spencer Pushard, thank you for liking the show if you appreciate what we do like and share the show Ginny Who, thank you for the retweet John Blair, thank you for the like on LinkedIn. Kevin Yancey, welcome to the broadcast. We appreciate you watching

the program, a snowy Tuesday in downtown Charlottesville. Studio camera Judah Wickhauer. We welcome you to the show. Thank you. We thank you for your participation

and your commentary. And I am reminded again of the Katie Perry song, the one that got away when it comes to this Cherry Avenue grocery store. This grocery store is like the boyfriend or girlfriend that we have all met in middle school, elementary school, or high school,

whether it's first love or second love, it's strong, it's a deep connection, then you guys go your separate ways, maybe it's to college, or maybe it's working post-high school graduation, and perhaps you rekindle after some time apart, maybe it's on awkward Eve, the night before Thanksgiving, Wednesday night, which is the biggest, bar night of the year, the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. Next thing you know, you're in Williamsburg on awkward eve at the Paul's Deli or the Greenleaf Cafe, drinking natural light pitchers, and your high school girlfriend walks in, and you haven't seen her in a year or two since you went to UVA and she pursued college outside of the state of Virginia. You have a

conversation or two. You rekindle. You decide to catch up on Black Friday. You have a fantastic weekend post- Thanksgiving. You text for the remainder of the semester. You see each other over Christmas break. Next thing you don't, you don't see each other again for years. Randomly you see each other again while walking Duke of Gloucester and Williamsburg. You rekindle again, and then you wonder like the grocery store in Fifeville about the one that got away. Okay?

Now, that's some hyperbole. Is that a movie with... No, that actually... One of the Hollywood Chris's. That movie features yours truly with some tremendous hyperbole at it, because I can speak with confidence, conviction. The one that did not get away is my wife, the mother of our two children, who is absolutely the right partner for our family

and is holding down the fort right now on yet another snow day with the Miller Maniacs. They were out of school. Was it Friday for snow? Out of school? Monday for snow? now out of school today for snow parents all over almore county in charlesville city are pulling their hair and saying get these children back in the classroom but i want to talk katie perry i want to talk cherry avenue i want to talk fifeville and this grocery store is is the fifeville neighborhood saying i used to steal your parents liquor

and climb to the roof talk about our future like we had a clue never planned that one day i'd be losing you in another life. I would be your girl. We keep all your promises. Be us against the world. You're the one that got away. Fall of 2027 for a grand opening for this grocery store. They have to raise $4 million, but we have new details due to Wickhauer. Set the stage for the viewers and listeners. The choice has been made and someone has been chosen that someone is the Charlottesville Charlottesville Food Co-op it's been a year-long process and a year-long

courtship yeah hearing from residents what they want in a grocery store not only are they looking to raise $4 million but part of that if approved will be to sell

shares or memberships to locals so that they can become part-time owners of the store. I don't know what that entail. Part-owners, not part-time owners. I'm not sure what that would entail. I don't know if that means you get

discount on your groceries for as long as the grocery stores around, or if you get dividend. But what do you get? Dividend on an iceberg lettuce head? Dividend on a box

of cheese it grooves? Dividend on a six-pack Minuteman IPAs, of clouds you'd take that deal I'd hell yeah and take that deal dividend on some neapolitan Ben and Jerry's or some fish food some some Smithfield bacon

dude give me the dividend on the kites country ham you don't like the kites country ham on a biscuit with some butter I love the salty just give it to me I'd rub my body with the salt not just douse it on the driveway and I'd swim in some eggnog afterwards

goodness gracious where do we begin on this grocery store? First, some obvious, okay? The projected opening is fall 2027. Yeah. We're talking two years from now. That's the obvious

thing. Okay. So the news that's broken here, the breaking news here is this. There is a co-op that's been selected to now run the grocery store. We all thought this was a dead story, but there's legitimately a co-op locally that has

said, A, pick me, put their hand in the air, and B, sign on the dotted line to be the operator of a grocery store in a food desert and a historically marginalized and forgotten community. Yeah. Okay. So that's the first piece of news. The second piece of news is this operator has identified the fall of 2027 as a grand opening date. Two years from now, that seems pretty far.

A lot can happen in 24 months. we certainly saw that during COVID and the pandemic. Especially considering the building isn't even built yet. Especially considering the grocery business is a dying business. The in-store grocery business. We disagree on this. You and I on that. But we all know that this is, we can agree on this.

The grocery business is a penny-pinching, very little margin business. You give me that. Yeah. Okay. Another piece of news that's now out there. This co-op, which is which firm, which organization? Charlottesville Food Co-op? The Charlottesville Food Co-op.

They need to raise how much money? $4 million. $4 million smackaroos. Four million smackaroos. Estimated. I'm going to tell you right now. The Seaville Food Co-op, which you can find online, Sevillefoodcoop.com.

A community-owned grocery store with fresh produce sold at a fair price in the heart of Charlottesville. I'm going to the About page and I will read some details. The steering committee is a multirational, multi-generational, multi-talented group of about 15 community members. About 15.

That means less than 15. Why a co-op? A grocery store owned by the community can prioritize and pursue our goals of fresh food at fair price, community engagement, and community wealth building. Then they have a little video on what's a co-op. Then they have a little video on what's a co-op.

then they have some details on what's wealth building I want the message that I'm relaying to the community in front of thousands of people literally right now to be this I want the Fifeville neighborhood to have its own grocery store I'm hopeful for you

okay I also as a parent who's now in the business of setting expectations for children, or two boys, I encourage the Fifeville neighborhood to not fall victim of Katie Perry's, the one that got away.

Or the young lady or the young man that you fall in love with in elementary school, middle school, high school that is in and out of your life throughout your life. Because that's what this grocery store is. That's what this grocery store is for Fife. Phil. Years we've been talking about this.

Have we not? Yeah. And Woodard's made it very clear. Anthony Woodard's team has made it very clear. Keith Woodard seems very clear. We'll give you a shell. The shell of a building. And you're responsible for outfitting that shell.

It's not even going to resemble a grocery store. We'll give you a box on Cherry Avenue. And then you have to outfit. it. And in 24 months, this world, this is not hyperbole, is going to look very, very different. Goodness gracious, think about what this world was like 24 months ago. 24 months ago, weren't we just getting out of COVID? Pretty much.

Comments are coming in. John Blair, number one in the family, his photo on screen. he says you're going to talk snow day in a second the best snow day food in my humble opinion is spaghetti and then he's offering some perspective on on media locally and wants us to rank the civil legacy media institutions we will get to that topic in a matter of moments i'm actually have been doing some business with lee um of late lee enterprises um and their pursuit of of potentially a new location. Deep Throat, number one in the family, his photo on screen.

He offers some color on this co-op on Fifeville, on Cherry Avenue in Fifeville. Typically, you get a rebate from being a co-op member. In my experience, it has come out to like 1 to 3% of my annual spend. So not really much at all. You join the co-op because you support the mission. But frankly, the fact that they need $4 million, it's like saying, I'm going to space because you found a pilot and all you need now is a launch vehicle. On the other hand, all it takes, as we learn from saving of the violent crown, is one rich heir or heiress who shares the vision. And there's a lot of rich people around here, that's for damn sure.

I've been told by someone in the know that per capita, there's more billionaires living in the Charlottesville area than in any other area, billion with a B. Per capita is the key word. Per capita. Let's talk one to three percent rebate of your annual spend. Our weekly, our grocery budget per week, my wife and I, one of our friction points on this, and she says to me, what do you want me to do? This seven-year-old and three-year-old are eating us out of house and home, and they only continue to eat more. I'm like, what do you mean they're eating more? Jerry, they're growing.

They're getting bigger. Their appetites are larger. Their stomachs are bigger. They're eating more. Okay, sweetheart. Let's call it $225 a week. Let's times that by $52. $52 weeks.

That's $11,700. $225 times 52, $11,700 times 0.03. You're talking a yearly rebate at the top end of 3% of $351. So that gets you a week and a half of grocery coverage in this co-op model. I mean, isn't 1 to 3% typically what you get from a cashback card? Cashback card is in that. If you find, you get a cashback card that's given you 3% on all your spending, that's a phenomenal cashback card. The 3% is normally on select categories of spending.

They also have other cashback cards that offer 1.5% to 2% on all spending. But 3% is generally on a select category like restaurants or gasoline or online shopping. Okay? So if you spend $2.25 and you get 3% rebate at $2.25 a week, Times 52 weeks is 11,700, and you get a 3% rebate, that's $351. What you're not realizing in this grocery co-op model is the price points are higher. This is going to be far from affordable. This is not going to be the price points that are synonymous with shopping in the center of Wegmans.

Or at Food Lion, which we've dubbed the shitty kitty. or at Trader Joe's. That's where I buy most of my food, you know. I'm not aiding on you. It's a friendly moniker. I kid because I care. Would you say there's elements of food lion that leave a little bit to be desired?

Yeah, definitely. Is that fair to say? Oh, yeah. There's no fresh meat department where you can go and get a specific cut of something. Anything else you want to highlight? No, I'm just saying as an example. You're right.

You're right. There's elements that, but the value proposition of Food Lion is what? Good prices. Price point. This model will not compete with that price point. So you may get the 3% rebate, but you're paying higher every week. So you're not coming out ahead, but you are supporting a mission, and that has value. So how do they get to the price point of something like a Kroger or,

You're talking about how do they win the price point battle? Yeah. They never can win the price point battle. What if they combine forces with other food co-ops? Where? You're asking me where? Tell me where there's another food co-op locally. I'm sure there are other food co-ops in the country.

You're going to combine forces with a food co-op in Allentown, Pennsylvania? How do the economies to scale and the delivery and transportation infrastructures align to pass on price point savings to the customers? I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong. But could they not with enough, with enough? Deep Throat offers perspective to your point, to Judah's point, there are national food co-ops that you can join forces with. Okay? There's some commentary from number one in the family. But if anyone, I, We should be clear. If anyone that's watching the program believes that this is going to be a...

Yeah, they're not going to beat anyone else's prices. Yeah. Right. Dude, the Market Street market right next to our office on the corner of Market Street and 4th and downtown Charlottesville, downtown Charlottesville loves the fact that there's a grocery store here. Because when this grocery store, which is literally next to where I'm sitting, when it was not here,

downtown downtownites, downtown goers, downtownites, what do we call ourselves? Ourselves. Downtownites? How to go to Reeds?

Or how to go to, what? Probably the closest one was the kitty on the base of pantops, right? From here? Isn't the kitty the closest? Probably. But you go to Market Street Market for select items.

I went there to buy some coffee for the studio because we had an abundance of inflow, of clients coming in, there was a little tiny pack, like the tiniest pack of coffee ever. And it was $19, where I could buy the biggest tub of coffee ever for like 11. I don't even know what the price is. My wife does the shopping. I think it's $11. I know it's like 19 over here. I was like, what is this? that is generally the case when you get a smaller there was a time there still is a time there still is a time i will never forget you know what my one of my biggest regret my biggest concerns in life are

this is genuinely some of the things that i think about at night at 2 a.m because i sleep four hours a night okay my wife and i are on opposite sleep schedule she needs eight to 10 hours i sleep four hours one of the things that I think about at 2 o'clock in the morning legitimately okay Mike Cotches texts me he says I never get offered free coffee when I'm in your studio Jerry

just saying Chief Cotius I love you I saw him today I wait we said hello to each other he's the George Clooney of policing I need to offer you coffee next time you're here I have offered you McCallon 12 from the bar and Chief Cotches says Jerry I'm in uniform I'm on the clock I'm not taking that right now What are you talking about? Thank you for the offer, my friend. I love that bad.

He knows I love that guy. I appreciate you listening to the show, Chief Kachis. I sincerely mean this, okay? I think about at 2 o'clock in the morning, our two sons, a 7-year-old and a 3-year-old, do they think this life they live is a life that was not earned through tremendous sacrifice? I should put it differently.

to get to this point with this seven-year-old and a three-year-old, the amount of sacrifice made is, I can struggle to put in perspective. I'll try. I remember launching this business nearly 18 years ago and taking my life savings. I was working for the Daily Progress, NBC29, and ESPN radio, writing a story every day for the newspaper that appeared in print, doing two TV shows where I was the front man and the executive producer. producer on NBC29 on Saturday mornings and Sunday mornings while hosting a talk radio show on eight or nine ESPN affiliates six or seven days a week. I was busting my ass and working like 85 hours a week. I was well compensated. And I'm like, I don't want to do this anymore. I'm going to go into business for myself. I had 18 years ago scrabbled together, cobbled together somewhere between $25,000 and $30,000 savings. I'm going to take this money and I'm going to use this as the baseline to launch this business. I didn't get a single client for six months. Not six months. The condo that's a rental to villas at Southern Ridge,

I was on the cusp of losing to the point I had to take this three-bedroom, two-bathroom condo, and beg my friends who are in between leases to move in and rent a room from me for $400 a month, two friends at $800 each a month, to help cover the mortgage. The sacrifice was so significant. Not only did we had to welcome or beg our friends, my friends, to live in the adjoining rooms at 400 a month. Okay?

But I was going to the Panda Garden buffet that was across from where U-Haul was. What is that? Emmett Street. It's now torn down. It was next to Carmelo's across from Lambeth Commons. The UVA on-grounds housing was a Chinese food restaurant

and they had a $4.95 buffet. I went to this buffet with Ziploc bags in my pocket. And when the kind Asian ladies were not watching me, I went to the buffet, got heaps of food on plate, and scrape the general soes and the fried rice and the egg rolls into plastic Ziploc bags and shoved half a dozen of those bags into a Jansport backpack. And that was what I ate for three days and what I fed to my dog, because we could not buy purina dog food. And now these kids

are growing up, and they're on their iPhones, they go to a prime in school, they're the expectation can be nauseating sometimes. The, oh, I'm going to get this, or the candy.

I said, no, you're not. There's zero chance you're going to have this. And it's this fine line as a parent of like trying to manage children's mindsets and keeping them from being spoiled while also I was having this conversation with Dr. Wayne Frye yesterday, the pastor at Faith Christian International in this studio after Jeff Gaffini's show, he said my wife and I, Dr. Frye and his wife, they came to an agreement

that they want, they have three children, two boys and a girl, and they want their two boys and the girl to start their life on their parents' shoulders while starting their lives, instead of starting their lives on the ground or on the level that their parents started their lives on. And it's like this fine line. It's like with the homeless population. I am all for giving the houseless population a hand up,

like picking them up and helping them figure things out, but not a hand out where here's some free money. Or I will never do that. Never will I do that. Here's, I walk by the downtown mall. It used to be, do you have any change? Now it's, do you have $5? Yeah.

They ask me, do you have $5? I said, no, I don't carry any money with me. It's 2025. He goes, well, you can Venmo me if you'd like. And he pulls out an iPhone 16. Wow. He literally said, I just got a new iPhone. Before that, I had an iPhone 10.

I'm looking at this dude sitting at Draft Tap Room. He goes, well, you can Venmo me the $5. I look at his phone, and it's six models newer than mine. My point is this. Managing expectations is paramount to managing quality of life and having enjoyment in life. Comparison is the thief of joy. that. Comparison is the thief of joy. So if FIFIL, we need to help them manage expectations,

24 months from now is a huge runway. Four million dollars is an astronomical number of amount of money that you have to raise. And this co-op that's coming to market, it's not going to have price points for groceries, for provisions that are more affordable than the kitty that's two miles away. But the value proposition is you can walk to it. And that does have value. Yeah. That does have value.

And I'm going to close on this. For the viewers and listeners that are watching this program, I want them to get this grocery store. Comments are coming in quickly. We have print, radio, and television all watching the show. Conan Owens got some comments of Sir Speedy of Central Virginia. He says,

Cherry Avenue grocery store will face serious headwinds. We'll need $4 million in startup costs. Then they need to sell memberships and then get the members to provide free labor. Not sure if the government or some private benefactor will cough up the $4 million. Then he highlights

why do we not have remote learning during these snow days? They spent all that money on the infrastructure for remote learning. Why doesn't the remote learning still happen during snow days? That's a great question. instead my maniacs are you should see one of my friends i was texting back and forth with one of my

buddies an inner circle friend i said how's it going over there he said jerry our family's hanging on by a thread right now judah look at judah right over there that's the smile right there juda wickhauer of a man that's got a good life look at that smile right there i was thinking back to all the times that you think we have snow days here dude I went through junior high and high school in Maine. Yeah, 100%. I totally get it. My wife and I had this conversation here.

This is the conversation we had. When we were growing up, this is another. I'd walk 10 miles one way barefoot uphill to get to school. But viewers and listeners, remember snow days when we were growing up? We legitimately would leave once the phone call was made. Once we called the hotline, remember it was a hotline? in Maine it was they called you turn on the radio okay okay Maine you turn on the radio

us it was on TV let's just hope it's not that Josh guy from NBC 29 goodness gracious that guy gives me the willies okay he's he gave the willies to a lot of people himself and I'm going to leave it at that that meteorologist Judah's like that's a joke right on the rated R line right there I'm going to leave it alone I'm going to leave it alone okay we called the hotline and once the message was on the hotline we literally put our snow gear on and we walked outside and we played in the snow sledding up and down the slow

and we didn't come back inside till dinner time till like as the nightfall was coming in yeah now the kids they go out they sled a couple of runs they come back in they say they're too cold my nose is cold my fingers cold my toes are cold my ears are cold it's the wussification of this generation our kids included our kids included Holly Foster is watching the program. Please have Chief Kachis come by the show. And when he is out of uniform for a visit, pour him a McAllen 12. Hold on.

Let's, let's, let's, let's, he will hold the show here. Yeah. Oh, man. Snow days were great. I loved snow days. I mean, there was just something special about waking up early, seeing that snow streaming down past your window, and then running to turn on the, uh, turn on the, uh, turn on the,

to see if you get the day off. Holly Foster's watching the show and Henrico, Chief Kachis, she gifted us this fantastic bottle of McAllen 12 Scotch. This is some of the best juice possible. When you are out of uniform, sir, we will enjoy some Chief Kachis, some McAllen

12 with you, Chief Kachis. Cursea, Holly Foster. It is some of the smoothest poor you will ever have. He probably knows it and already has had it himself. Keith Mawpen watching the program. If you had asked the owner at the Pantagarden buffet, your situation,

they may have let you have the leftovers at the end of the night. There's no doubt in my mind, Keith Mawfin, that they would have. They were such kind women. And why this story continues to resonate with me about taking the, and I did it on multiple occasions,

the food from the lunch buffet is because of the guilt, the absolute guilt that I felt. But it was guilt managed with survival. Like, that's what it was at that point. Yeah. I say this multiple times on the program. There's been like two or three, I'd say there's three that I know of, three decisions that I know.

Any business owner, entrepreneur, or risk taker understands this. Heck, you probably have done this in love in some capacity, viewers and listeners. There's been three, like, turning point decisions made in my life to this point that were either make a break. and those three decisions were made with some risk that was hedged by some insight that I knew or some like some analysis that I did on the fly or some instinct, whatever you want to call it, gut feeling, okay, and they went my way. Those three critical decisions went my way, but there were three points in my life that it could have gone either way.

Vanessa Parkhill watching the broadcasts. All right, a lot we're going to get to. John Blair's photo on screen. He wants us to discuss this. He says, second, this is no criticism of whoever has left at the Daily Progress, but Lee destroyed the paper to the point that the Cavalier Daily has surpassed it, not only for UVA News, but for local news. Here's a good question for you and the listeners.

Rank the CIVO legacy media institutions. The Daily Progress, the Cavalier Daily, NBC29, CBS19, WINA, CIVO Weekly, and the Crozé Gazette. I want to caveat this comment by saying this. I am in the midst of having conversation and negotiation with representatives from Lee Enterprises to reposition their newsroom in a different location. That's the extent of what I can say now.

But they're looking to move to a different location. The extent of what I can say now with Lee. I will say this, the Charlottesville radio group that's now transitioned into the Charlottesville Media Group, this platform, Seville right now, which is led by Mike Barber, the former sports writer from the Richmond Times Dispatch, and the former sports writer from the Harrisonburg Daily News record, Seville right now is doing a really good job. No doubt. They churn six to seven quality stories. And I'm not saying it's investigative in-depth journalism, but it's certainly better than press release regurgitation, which is what we're seeing on NBC29 and CBS 19.

CIVO right now is probably, along with Sean Tubbs, your local news leaders. We, I want to emphasize this again, are not in the news business. We're in the entertainment, education, and enlightening business, and we do it by offering commentary on the new cycle. We're not news reporters. We're commentators, content creators. We don't want to be news reporters. We're content creators and commentators. And frankly, we're doing this as a way to position the firm, our divisions in the firm,

in the forefront of the conversation, which then creates a deal flow for us on the back end. It just happened to take off because it's a, content desert locally and judah's really good at doing this how would you rank them man i mean i i'd need more time to think about it but uh certainly seville right now is up there i mean sean tubs is a is a force unto himself oh my gosh unbelievable i would say that uh i would say that Seville tomorrow is doing a really good job. The articles are a little more sparse, but when they decide to report on something, they don't cut back. They go all in on whatever it is. And especially like Aaron O'Hare, she does a great job. They're extremely thorough

in their reporting. And, yeah, Cavalier Daily, they are certainly strong. Of course, the focus is generally more on the school, unsurprisingly. But they, they two are giving it their all, getting the information, and, you know, not just paraphrasing something they read for, like, three or four short paragraph, you know, reiterate. My issue with Charlottesville Tomorrow, the news nonprofit, is this, is, it's woke journalism. And I'll go ahead and say it.

And I'm going to catch heat for saying that. It's journalism backed by grant money associated with a agenda. And the grant money that's funding Seville Tomorrow and its agenda is one that is not journalistically neutral. It's motivated by DEI and other woke elements. And my second issue with Charlottesville tomorrow is the volume of content that's created. It's not

voluminous enough. Yeah. Okay. CBS 19 and NBC29. They legitimately are employing reporters that this is their first job out of college. And if they watch the show, NBC29 and CBS 19, reporters watch this show and source news for their 30 second, 90 second, 120 second segments on the news class. I will give you a word of advice to the reporters that are NBC29 and CBS 19, and you

already know this, but you should hear this. If you are at this job at NBC 29 and CBS 19, where you're making somewhere between $12 and $15 an hour and working nights, weekends, and holidays, if you're employed by CBS 19 or NBC29 for any more than 24 months, you should immediately get out of the news business and find another job and find another career. You need to be at this job for 12 to 24 months so you can build a resume and climb to a bigger market. If you have eclipsed the 24-month window, you are failure at your career. Okay? There may be Maybe exceptions to that. There are exceptions to that. I'll put this in perspective. Did you know Anita Dumbar? Readers of the Daily Progress, do you remember the name Anita Dumbar? Anita Dumbar was the op-ed columnist and the Daily Progress. She wrote the, I think it's called the op-ed. When you went in the A section and the inside and the Daily Progress offered its take on something in the news. It wasn't Brian McKenzie. It was Anita Dunbar. She was offering the commentating

position of the Daily Progress as a whole based on the news cycle that day. Opinion of the editor. She was the writer. One of the, one of the, op-ed, one of the marquee positions at the Daily Progress when I was there, and I was there for like six years, I believe. I'd have to look at the resident. I'd have to look at my LinkedIn. Anita Dunbar had one of the marquee positions, and when she was not doing the work as the op-ed writer, she was working the makeup counter

at Dillard's in Fashion Square Mall, or Belk in Fashion Square Mall, where she was working 30 to 40 hours a week at the makeup counter, slinging makeup. All of us, a lot of people don't realize this. When the Daily Progress was owned by

Media General, this is before Media General sold to Buffett and Buffett's Media Division and before Buffett's Media Division sold to Lee. This is when Media General owned it was after the Worrell family owned it. When Media General was running the Daily Progress to Richmond Times Dispatch

and a bunch of other newspapers on the East Coast, the highest overall compensated employees at the Daily Progress were not the managing editor. The highest overall compensated employer was Lawrence McConnell, the publisher, who showed up to work every day in a Porsche 9-11, much to the disgust and bitterness of his employees that were scraping by, and the publisher shows up in a Porsche 9-11.

After the publisher was the managing editor, and the managing editor that was there when I was there was Lou Hatter, who's now a V-DOT spokesman. He's retired as a V-DOT spokesman. Oh, you're right. Jim Hingley is watching the program. Almore Commonwealth's attorney. Anita Shelburne is her name. Sorry, Jim Hingley.

Anita Dunbar is a realtor. I got them confused. I actually did some business with, or Anita Dunbar's name, came across my desk the other day. He's right. Anita Shelburne was working the makeup counter while being the op-ed columnist for the Daily Progress. But when I was working there,

Lawrence McConnell was the publisher. 9-11 Porsche would show up to the newsroom parking lot. Every news reporter that was making $10 an hour looked at him getting out of his 9-11 Porsche and wanted to spit on him. There was utter disdain with him and the rest of the staff. After that was the managing editor, and the also managing editor we had was Lou Hatter, who was a roll up your sleeves kind of guy, tie it half mask,

pencil in his ear, worked his ass off, literally was there until the paper was coming out of the printing press, worked hard, retired recently as a VDOT spokesman. He was replaced by McGregor McCants, who was the business editor at the Rone Oak Times. McGregor McCants quit the daily progress because it was a very difficult spot to work and it's now working at UVA as a spokesman. But my point is this. A lot of people don't realize when the paper was printing every day in like the 2006 to 2010-2011 range,

the highest paid employees overall compensation, not just by the newspaper, were the people that were working in the sports department. Jerry Rathcliffe, me, Jay Jenkins, Andrew Joyner, Whitey Reed, Chris Wright, the reason we were able, we were the highest overall compensated journalists, not just by the Daily Progress Bay, was because the freelance. When I was working for the Daily Progress, I was earning a salary from hosting a six-day-a-week talk show on eight ESPN radio affiliates, while also owning a salary at NBC29. Jerry Ratcliffe was freelancing for magazines and newspapers all over the country. So was Jay Jenkins. So was Whitey Reed. Because of sport, we were able to cobble together a bunch of different freelancing gigs

and revenue streams to offer sustainability, livelihood sustainability. The other reporters could not. That's my point. If you're in this market and you're here more than 24 months, you should find a different career. A lot of them do.

I would say John Blair, to answer your question, it would be Seville Right Now 1. Seville right now in Sean Tubbs in the first slot. Daily progress in the second slot. Third slot,

there's huge drop after that. What's the third slot? Do you put Seville tomorrow in there? There's just not enough volume to come out of the newsroom. Do you put CBS 19 or NBC29 when all they're doing is regurgitating press releases in 30-second segments?

I mean, it's probably Cavalier Daily and Daily Progress in the two-slot. One slot is Seville right now in Sean Tubbs. Two-slot is daily progress in Cavalier-Daily. Three-slot might even be UVA today. Four-slot might be Neil Williamson and the Free Enterprise Forum. After that, maybe Seville tomorrow, just because the reporting they do actually has meat. and then followed by NBC 29 and CBS 19? Yeah.

I mean, is that how you see it? Just being, I mean, you listen to the show because I shoot it straight. Shoot it straight gets me in trouble on this program all the time. I don't know if I rate daily progress as highly as you do. It's got, I mean, it's, you know, it's got some great writing from Haas Spencer and a few other people. But oftentimes, oftentimes I feel it's lacking. I think Hall's is Halls elevates it high enough

Halls, bar none is the best overall journalist in the market I think Sean Tubbs is one of the best journalists overall in the market too but I think Sean's a one-man show there's limitations to that

and you also ask you also, Sean's reporting is phenomenal I read Sean's stuff every day. But you have to ask how long is this, how sustainable is this? Pumping 2,000 words every single day. Yeah. While watching live streams at his house or where he's traveling.

On policy and supervisor and council meetings and planning commission meetings without really interviewing anyone. and not having any overall advertising and relying solely on pay-for-play membership. All right, next headline at the 125 marker of the program with an extremely busy afternoon. And Keith Mopin, you're exactly right. If I had told the Pantagarden ladies about that, they absolutely would have helped. What do you got, Judah? Tom Perriello is back

Give him the 45 second rundown of Tommy P, Tom Periope. The Periello name is iconic locally, by the way. I mean, absolutely iconic locally. Give them the who, what, when, where, why. He's back in the news. He's decided that it's time to, he's decided that this is an all-hands-on-deck moment. And so the former Virginia congressman

has announced his comeback candidacy for the 5th District. Democrat? Mike Pruitt competition? Could be. Pruitt's running for the 5th, right? Has he fully announced? Of course he is. I'm getting text messages constantly from Mike Pruitt's campaign asking for money.

somewhere this morning read a couple of paragraphs from the story okay well this is right on point because of what we're talking about what we've been talking about one of his quotes is families can't afford groceries and he goes on to say because

Republicans in Congress like John McGuire won't stand up to Trump's tariffs and he says they're prioritizing tax cuts for huge corporations overcutting the cost of health care and housing he also says that things are out of control people are angry and confused and he thinks they have a right to be I'm going to tell you this

somewhere Mike Pruitt woke up he woke up at his house in the Scottsville district because he's the Scottsville district supervisor Scott Mike Pruitt who I have tremendous respect for I don't see eye to eye politically with him but I appreciate his ambition he's extremely likable he's extremely intelligent I appreciate Mike Pruitt's military service

He's a UVA law degree. He's passionate. He's got the gift of human connection. I respect Mike Pruitt tremendous. Great dresser of Mike Pruitt. This morning, Mike Pruitt woke up and saw the news about Tom Perrier L running for Congress. He realizes, Jesus, not only am I running in the 5th District and what is historically a very red district, and I'm very blue.

But now I have to run against a borderline. institution and the Periola family and Tom Periola. It should be noted, I think, that Periello only held the spot for one term. One term, and that was a surprising upset. And you know how Tom Periolo won that term? In large part, you know how Tom Periello won that term? Barack Obama came to Charlottesville and campaign on behalf of Tom Periolo, on the downtown mall, Barack Obama. I guess that'll do it. Okay. And when you talk about some of the most iconic politicians of the last generation, iconic, affable, approachable, likable, Barack Obama's atop the list. My politics are very different than Barack Obama's.

And whether you're a libertarian, Republican, Democrat, or politically agnostic, you can give me this. Barack Obama has the gift of political likability. He's one of the most charismatic politics. we've seen in a while. Ever. Ever. Ever, period. I don't know about ever. Give me politicians off the top of your head, as charismatic of him and the past generation. Past generation. That's very different. Okay. Past generation. Who do you put on that shortlist? Maybe William Clinton? Yeah. Maybe? Yeah.

Who else? there aren't many would you say Trump is charismatic there's a difference between charismatic and and and and and being

omnipresent we understand the difference right charisma and being the loudest person there there's our seven year old there's a saying

that we've been doing now that's been helping our seven-year-old, the loudest person in the room is the dumbest person in the room. The loudest person in the room is the dumbest person in the room. Very often the case. It's starting to resonate with him.

The loudest person in the room is the dumbest person in the room. It's resonating with him. Big difference between Obama and Trump. And I'm not a Democrat or Republican. I generally do not associate it with either. Next headline. What do you got? Let's see.

Bill McChesney, thank you for watching the program. He says Tom Perry-Ello is a nice young man. And he highlights slick Willie Clinton as being as charismatic as Barack. Yeah, 100%. What's the next one you got? Next, we have the private equity. More deal flow on this. We can talk about it now. Garnett Station partners are the money behind Flag Stop, which was founded in 1981.

Flagstop Car Wash. Flagstop Car Wash is Richmond's biggest car wash chain. Flagstop Car Wash purchased the clean machine on pantops next to the Kitty by Freebridge and Aqua Wash and Zion's Crossroads. Flagstop Car Wash is a great. aggressively purchasing car washes and rolling it into the Flackstop car wash portfolio? Flagstop car wash, ladies and gentlemen, is no joke. You're talking an aggressive pursuit to have 40 to 50 car washes in their purview, in their portfolio, in the very near future.

They already have 30 locations open or in the process of opening by the end of this year, and they're looking to expand beyond the 12-location goal the company stated publicly last year. You're talking a company that has 30 locations around the Commonwealth, and it's backed by Garnett Station Partners, the private equity firm. Private equity aggressively pursuing car washes locally. I ask the question, without revealing too much information

because I have to tread the line on this show of non-disclosures, confidentiality, deal flow, and being a part of things. But I ask the question, why did another local car wash player, Tiger, not block them? Not keep Garnet Station partners and Flagstop

from purchasing these two locations. and I'll leave it at that. Next headline, what do you got? Trouble for the hemp industry. With the recent problem with the government deciding to stay home for, what was it, how many weeks? Weeks. A long time. The bill that got them back to work, sadly,

depending on your perspective, I suppose, has included a ban on hemp products, which is causing a lot of people, especially in a state like Virginia, that had recently started to open its, open its, what, doors to hemp? You know what's wild to me? It was wild to me.

When Ralph Northrum, was the governor, Ralph Norfolk. We were on this, like, jet rocket for hemp and cannabis. Yeah. We were literally, and this was more than about four years ago, because Yonkin's terms about up. Yeah. Cannabis and hemp were on a locomotive jet, jet train.

And people were popping up shops, and build an infrastructure and brands and this was going to be the gold rush. Four years later, look at it. It's a fight between different ideologies, different, I mean, I'm not sure why we keep pushing back on this. It seems like the genie is out of the bottle at this point. This was, and for those thinking that this is just about THC and and marijuana.

This was seen as as somewhat of a, what's the word I'm looking for? A savior for the alcohol industry. Non-alcoholic beverages with

the percentage of Americans drinking alcohol falling to like 54% of its previous levels. T.H. Celsius celtzers are starting to become kind of like a lifeline for the producers of alcohol. Not to mention a bunch of the other stuff going on from like people trying to work out a, what is it, hemp crete.

I believe that's a hemp-derived concrete among, you know, all the other things, including, of course, the THC and marijuana. head shops. But, you know, this is, this is a, this is big business. And a lot of people are having to pivot with the, uh, with the introduction of this portion of the bill. What we pivot was one of the words for COVID. Uncertainty was the word for this year. Yeah. What's the word for next year? I mean, the small business owner is constantly having to reinvent themselves. Next headline, what do you got? Is this the sports one?

Snow day food? John says his snow day food is spaghetti. Your snow day food, Judah is? Man. Yeah, soup is a good one. I mean, that's kind of generic. I mean, definitely some hot cocoa. Some soup, if you got it.

My snow day food is scotch. that's not food uh how about uh i would say you know really good snow day food is uh is a grilled cheese sandwich and turn into an old man my snow day food is scotch and nice warm rich tomato soup yeah hard part of my our son had that yesterday nice grilled cheese with tomato soup i would love we got soup on the stove right now it's been feeding the family for a day and a half you got what soup on the stove right now it's been feeding the family for a day and a half it's one of those kinds of soups had uh shrimp alfredo yesterday courtesy of the better half it's phenomenal nice spaghetti i'll give you that the grilled cheese i'll give you that french

onion soup i think we're having that tonight we'll give you that um warm something that sticks to your ribs dude i woke up this morning it was 14 degrees yeah insane December 9th you know there's snow in the forecast Friday sometimes insane

sometimes it comes I remember I didn't live here that long but it seemed to me that there was a cycle of the really big storms in Virginia because every like 12 years or so last headline

we didn't have the Jerry and Jerry show this morning hooty rackliff under the under the weather. We hope Hootie Rackleaf feels better. Huge fans of Jerry Rackleff here at the I Love Seville Network. That is why we didn't have the Jerry and Jerry show. Jerry Rackleff under the weather today. The basketball headline, the

football headline, the UVA sports headline. UVA is one of seven schools in the nation that are ranked in the top 25 in both football and men's basketball. Alabama won. Arizona, BYU, Michigan, Texas Tech,

Vanderbilt, and Virginia. One of seven. Is there a look back on whether or not that's ever happened before? Yeah, that's happened before. Absolutely, that's happened before. And the poll that really matters is the end of the year polls, because that's where your true standing is. I'll close with this.

The economic impact of a top 25 football team and a top 25 basketball team should not be underestimated. It's not just an economic impact on small business, on tourism, but it's an economic impact on real estate, real estate values. It's an economic impact on turning the downtown mall in the right direction. It's an economic impact on driving who moves to this market and choose to call this market home after visiting. It's huge, ladies and gentlemen. Oak Valley Custom Hardscape's also huge. The upside for a custom hardscape at your house or your place of business is much more than return on investment. It's return on

experience, return on life. Oak Valley Custom Hartscapes. They are who you choose for a heartscape at your home or your place of business. Oak Valley Custom Hardscapes. Judah Wickcarrow on point today, my name is Jerry Miller. That's 70 minutes straight without stopping. Thank you kindly for joining us. So long, everybody. Thank you. Thank you.