Conservative talker Lars Larson of Alpha’s FM News 101 KXL in Portland was the first Skype caller to ask a question during a White House briefing. When President Trump took over, The White House said four reporters would be chosen for “Skype Seats,” aimed at allowing reporters or hosts outside Washington to participate in the daily press briefings. Last night, we spoke to Larson about how the call went.
Radio Ink: How did it go and what was it like to be part of the press briefing via Skype today?
Larson: It went great. Our tech staff was all over it…both engineering and IT. We use skype frequently but nearly always for audio and not for video. In fact I have guests on my talk show by skype every week.
Radio Ink: What question did you ask and did you feel Sean answered it?
Larson: The federal government is the biggest landlord in America. It owns 28 percent of the country. The founders couldn’t have imagined that the government needs to be the landlord to the people? Does President Trump want to return the people’s land to the people…and until that’s accomplished, will President Trump tell the forest service to start harvesting our forests…rather than spending 3 billion dollars a year to put out fires?
He answered it well enough…but I honestly want to know if President Trump favors unloading a lot of the federal government’s owned land to either individuals, companies, cities, counties and states…that didn’t get answered and I’d like to know he’s going to get the forest service out of “tree hugger” mode and into “Earth First.”
Radio Ink: What was it like being “in” the White House briefing room?
Larson: It was a little surreal….to be staring into a camera (basically a black hole) in our studio, and see out of my peripheral vision, a picture of me, on a screen next to Spicer, on the screen in my studio…but it was certainly sweet to be able to throw a question into that room from the “left coast” without having to spend 12 hours round trip in coach
Radio Ink: Did you get a feeling the mainstreamers that the Skype questioners were elbowing in on their turf?
Larson: I certainly hope so. The DC media crowd is pretty well insulated and, judging from the “deer in the headlights” looks on election night, more than a little tone deaf to what Americans outside the beltway are thinking. Remember, this is the crowd who touted polls showing for certain that Hillary was winning while a lot of us noticed that she had a tough time drawing a high school football game size crowd, while Donald Trump easily drew rock star crowds. If they get a bit of competition, it will sharpen up their games
Radio Ink: Are you going to try to do it again?
Larson: Absolutely I will.
You can watch the video of the call between Larson and Spicer HERE at The Washington Post. Reach out to Larz larson at [email protected]
