February 14, 2025 • 7 mins
ICYMI: ‘Later, with Mo’Kelly’ Presents – A conversation with KFI Reporter/Personality Michaell Monks who joins the program with a preview of his weekend wildfire news special entitled “LA Fires: A Path Forward,” airing Saturday (2/15/25) 7p-9pm; with a replay Sunday (2/16/25) at 2pm - on KFI AM 640…Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
And coming up this weekend Saturday from seven to nine
pm and Sunday from two to four pm. Kfi's own
Michael Monks will be presenting his special on the weekend
excuse me, the Weekend Wildfire Special, and he'll give us
an update on that right now.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Michael Monks, good to talk to you.
Speaker 4 (00:25):
Good evening, MO.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I always wondered when you're reporting the news, you get
one perspective.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
You don't get a wide perspective.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
You've kind of narrow in just the facts and what
is happening in the moment. But now that some time
has passed, you gain a little bit of perspective. What
do you think that you have learned looking back on
the wildfires?
Speaker 4 (00:46):
I'll tell you what was most interesting in putting this
together so far, and I should know. Just for disclosure,
I talked to a couple of wildfire victims who work
with us at KFI and at iHeart, one of them being.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Your producer to wal Sharp, who had some.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
Trouble in the Altadena fire, and also David Howard from
our sales department who lost a house in the Palisades,
And as I talked to both of them separately by
the way, and then put together this piece about their experiences,
I learned the similarities. Despite the fact that these fires
happened thirty miles from one another in different types of neighborhoods,
(01:23):
there was a sense of optimism on both sides that hey,
we've seen these types of forecast before. Heck, we've had
fires before, but this may not play out. And so
there was that hope up intol the very last moment
that nothing was going to happen, and then after it happened,
the similar emotions not just of losing the homes, but
(01:46):
both of these guys experienced the sensation of being physically
lost in neighborhoods that they have known for decades because
everything was gone, All of the recognizable historic landmarks were gone.
And that really opened up a new perspective of the
devastation we've all seen. We've seen aerial footage, I've been
there on the ground, I've seen it up close and personal,
(02:08):
but to hear it from their mouths in that way,
with that intensity, it really did open my eyes even
bigger to the sense of loss that this entire region
has experienced collectively.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
I got to ask you, because you may interview someone
on a daily basis, and even though they may be
going through something painful, there is a degree of distance
because you don't know them, you don't see them every day,
you don't work with them. How was it going through
this type of interview process with two people that you
would see presumably daily and know them in a way
(02:42):
that you wouldn't a typical interview subject.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
The closer you are to somebody, the harder it is
to hear the story. We report tragedies every day in
the news, and it's terrible, and we have humanity and
we recognize that if it's some fatal crash takes place
on the freeway, you know that's sad, But that's also
somebody's family member, right, I mean, somebody who's closer to that.
(03:07):
That is a devastating experience that will live with them forever.
So the closer you are to something, obviously, the more
intense the feelings.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
But I was.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
Grateful to both gave It and Towala for sharing their
stories with us, because they both presented their story with
a sense of vulnerability. They really opened up about the
feelings that they experienced in the moment leading up to
the fires, the moments during the fires, immediately after, and
even right now, and it's just been terrible, and just
to build upon the similarities that both are experiencing, that
(03:38):
focus has shifted to the rebuild and the interactions with
the governments, the reflection on the preparedness or the lack thereof,
that the governments had in addressing these these fires as
they were on the way and as they were happening,
and it was just all very revealing that even though
we tell the stories, we talk to the politicians, we
(04:00):
talk to people on the ground, the people who are
experiencing it, not just on January seventh, not just on
January eighth, but right now it's still very very intense.
The smoke is not gone from their lives.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
If you're just tuning in.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Michael Monks of KFI News Department is joining me on
the line. He has a very important weekend wildfire special
which is coming up on Saturday from seven to nine pm,
and it will re air on Sunday from two to
four pm. Michael, we often talk about how we find
ourselves in a story. At what point we find ourselves
in the story Obviously, this is not the end of
(04:35):
the particular story, as they say, it's the end of
the beginning. And we know that this rebuild process that
you talked about is going to be very long. In
talking to Tawala and David Howard and anyone else in
covering the fires, have you figured out whether this rebuilt
effort is going to plan or is it actually going
to pot.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
This is the hard part. The hard part now beg again.
The fires are out, thank goodness. We have some challenges
obviously tonight, maybe a little bit into tomorrow, and let's
hope that it doesn't get too bad out there. These
folks have been through enough. We know that, and we
don't want anybody else thrown into the fray. But this
is a long road. There are a lot of people
who say they will rebuild, and there are other folks
(05:19):
who are looking to rebuild their lives somewhere else. But
this is a region that was already challenged. It was
cash strapped, it was suffering from a housing shortage and
an expensive cost of living. Anyway, part of this special
explores that as well. The economic impact a study that
came out from UCLA. I'll talk to one of the researchers.
This is not just a dollar figure on the damage
(05:42):
that has been done, which is well into the billions
of dollars, not just on the insurance claims folks are making,
but money that you and I are going to have
to spend because of this. If you have an insurance policy,
it's likely to go up, this researcher will tell us.
And we are also possibly going to the rents going up,
the cost of housing going up even further, and can
(06:04):
we spare that? So we are all going to feel
the impact. And one other element that all of us
will have felt, if we haven't felt it already, is
what we lost in the fires. We may not have
lost our home, we may not even know anybody who
lived in Altadena or lived in the Palisades, but more
than likely at some point we've been there, or goodness,
we wanted to go there and see some attraction or
(06:25):
some restaurant that we love that's now gone. So we
talked to the La Conservancy of Preservationist group here in
Los Angeles about the impact of the loss of some
of these historic structures and venues that have been there
so long and have meant so much to so many people,
and if you didn't get the chance to go, you
never will because they're gone and that's something you can't
(06:46):
really rebuild these.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Michael Monks has a very important weekend wildfire special. Do
not miss it here on KFI from seven to nine
pm on Saturday, and it will be re aired on
Sunday from two to four pm.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Michael, I have not heard it yet.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I am eagerly waiting to tune in to listen to
your treatment and also learn something because I know we
don't have perspective when we're reporting on these things. It's
not till weeks and maybe months afterward, and you're going
to help provide that.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
Yeah, you get swept up in the moment a lot,
but to have a moment to spend some time on
this and to make sure that we as a community
across LA remember what it was like in those early
days and what it's like right now. It's just really
important that we stay focused.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Thank you for what you do, Michael. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Moe.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
It's Later with Moke Kelly I AM six forty. We
are live everywhere in the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
And coming up this weekend Saturday from seven to nine
pm and Sunday from two to four pm. Kfi's own
Michael Monks will be presenting his special on the weekend
excuse me, the Weekend Wildfire Special, and he'll give us
an update on that right now.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Michael Monks, good to talk to you.
Speaker 4 (00:25):
Good evening, MO.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I always wondered when you're reporting the news, you get
one perspective.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
You don't get a wide perspective.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
You've kind of narrow in just the facts and what
is happening in the moment. But now that some time
has passed, you gain a little bit of perspective. What
do you think that you have learned looking back on
the wildfires?
Speaker 4 (00:46):
I'll tell you what was most interesting in putting this
together so far, and I should know. Just for disclosure,
I talked to a couple of wildfire victims who work
with us at KFI and at iHeart, one of them being.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Your producer to wal Sharp, who had some.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
Trouble in the Altadena fire, and also David Howard from
our sales department who lost a house in the Palisades,
And as I talked to both of them separately by
the way, and then put together this piece about their experiences,
I learned the similarities. Despite the fact that these fires
happened thirty miles from one another in different types of neighborhoods,
(01:23):
there was a sense of optimism on both sides that hey,
we've seen these types of forecast before. Heck, we've had
fires before, but this may not play out. And so
there was that hope up intol the very last moment
that nothing was going to happen, and then after it happened,
the similar emotions not just of losing the homes, but
(01:46):
both of these guys experienced the sensation of being physically
lost in neighborhoods that they have known for decades because
everything was gone, All of the recognizable historic landmarks were gone.
And that really opened up a new perspective of the
devastation we've all seen. We've seen aerial footage, I've been
there on the ground, I've seen it up close and personal,
(02:08):
but to hear it from their mouths in that way,
with that intensity, it really did open my eyes even
bigger to the sense of loss that this entire region
has experienced collectively.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
I got to ask you, because you may interview someone
on a daily basis, and even though they may be
going through something painful, there is a degree of distance
because you don't know them, you don't see them every day,
you don't work with them. How was it going through
this type of interview process with two people that you
would see presumably daily and know them in a way
(02:42):
that you wouldn't a typical interview subject.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
The closer you are to somebody, the harder it is
to hear the story. We report tragedies every day in
the news, and it's terrible, and we have humanity and
we recognize that if it's some fatal crash takes place
on the freeway, you know that's sad, But that's also
somebody's family member, right, I mean, somebody who's closer to that.
(03:07):
That is a devastating experience that will live with them forever.
So the closer you are to something, obviously, the more
intense the feelings.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
But I was.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
Grateful to both gave It and Towala for sharing their
stories with us, because they both presented their story with
a sense of vulnerability. They really opened up about the
feelings that they experienced in the moment leading up to
the fires, the moments during the fires, immediately after, and
even right now, and it's just been terrible, and just
to build upon the similarities that both are experiencing, that
(03:38):
focus has shifted to the rebuild and the interactions with
the governments, the reflection on the preparedness or the lack thereof,
that the governments had in addressing these these fires as
they were on the way and as they were happening,
and it was just all very revealing that even though
we tell the stories, we talk to the politicians, we
(04:00):
talk to people on the ground, the people who are
experiencing it, not just on January seventh, not just on
January eighth, but right now it's still very very intense.
The smoke is not gone from their lives.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
If you're just tuning in.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Michael Monks of KFI News Department is joining me on
the line. He has a very important weekend wildfire special
which is coming up on Saturday from seven to nine pm,
and it will re air on Sunday from two to
four pm. Michael, we often talk about how we find
ourselves in a story. At what point we find ourselves
in the story Obviously, this is not the end of
(04:35):
the particular story, as they say, it's the end of
the beginning. And we know that this rebuild process that
you talked about is going to be very long. In
talking to Tawala and David Howard and anyone else in
covering the fires, have you figured out whether this rebuilt
effort is going to plan or is it actually going
to pot.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
This is the hard part. The hard part now beg again.
The fires are out, thank goodness. We have some challenges
obviously tonight, maybe a little bit into tomorrow, and let's
hope that it doesn't get too bad out there. These
folks have been through enough. We know that, and we
don't want anybody else thrown into the fray. But this
is a long road. There are a lot of people
who say they will rebuild, and there are other folks
(05:19):
who are looking to rebuild their lives somewhere else. But
this is a region that was already challenged. It was
cash strapped, it was suffering from a housing shortage and
an expensive cost of living. Anyway, part of this special
explores that as well. The economic impact a study that
came out from UCLA. I'll talk to one of the researchers.
This is not just a dollar figure on the damage
(05:42):
that has been done, which is well into the billions
of dollars, not just on the insurance claims folks are making,
but money that you and I are going to have
to spend because of this. If you have an insurance policy,
it's likely to go up, this researcher will tell us.
And we are also possibly going to the rents going up,
the cost of housing going up even further, and can
(06:04):
we spare that? So we are all going to feel
the impact. And one other element that all of us
will have felt, if we haven't felt it already, is
what we lost in the fires. We may not have
lost our home, we may not even know anybody who
lived in Altadena or lived in the Palisades, but more
than likely at some point we've been there, or goodness,
we wanted to go there and see some attraction or
(06:25):
some restaurant that we love that's now gone. So we
talked to the La Conservancy of Preservationist group here in
Los Angeles about the impact of the loss of some
of these historic structures and venues that have been there
so long and have meant so much to so many people,
and if you didn't get the chance to go, you
never will because they're gone and that's something you can't
(06:46):
really rebuild these.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Michael Monks has a very important weekend wildfire special. Do
not miss it here on KFI from seven to nine
pm on Saturday, and it will be re aired on
Sunday from two to four pm.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Michael, I have not heard it yet.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I am eagerly waiting to tune in to listen to
your treatment and also learn something because I know we
don't have perspective when we're reporting on these things. It's
not till weeks and maybe months afterward, and you're going
to help provide that.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
Yeah, you get swept up in the moment a lot,
but to have a moment to spend some time on
this and to make sure that we as a community
across LA remember what it was like in those early
days and what it's like right now. It's just really
important that we stay focused.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Thank you for what you do, Michael. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Moe.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
It's Later with Moke Kelly I AM six forty. We
are live everywhere in the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty
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