Tim Bryant, whose radio program on Cox Media Group’s WGAU was ended on June 18, said on Monday night that he expects to be back on the air “in the next few weeks.”
Bryant said he also expects to resurrect his podcast, but his primary focus is getting back on radio, and he said he expects to be able to make an announcement soon.
He said he will not be rejoining Cox Media Group, owner of WGAU, which, he said, terminated his employment and show as a part of corporate downsizing.
Bryant said he did not hold any hard feelings about the termination, though he said the four weeks since he ended his morning program have been hard on him.
“I know what a blessing it was to get up every day wanting to go to work,” Bryant said. “To have that part of my life taken away has been very, very difficult.”
Bryant made his comments in an hour-long presentation at the Oconee County Republican Party meeting at the Piedmont Oconee Health Campus, 1305 Jennings Mill Road, that included responses to questions from the audience.
Bryant told those gathered that the 2020 election was not stolen in the way that many, including former President Donald Trump, have claimed, that he thinks Kalki Yalamanchili is going to have a difficult race for District Attorney, and that he thinks Trump could lose in November because of his lack of appeal to female voters.
Meeting Format
Bryant was the featured speaker at the Monday meeting, but Party Chair Kathy Hurley began the session with a 10-minute video by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution from last week’s Republican Party Convention in Milwaukee.
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| Bryant Before Oconee Republicans 7/22/2024 |
Hurley attended the convention, and she said the convention “was really, really tremendous.”
“We are very excited with the opportunity to flip Georgia back to President Trump,” she said of her feelings coming out of the convention.
“We have a lot of work to do to reach out,” she said. “There is no option, but we must get him (Trump) elected.”
About 70 people were in attendance at the meeting.
Bryant’s Explanation Of Termination
“I had hoped to walk in here tonight and make an announcement about a return to the air,” Bryant said shortly after he began his comments.
“I am very, very limited in what I can say,” he continued. “We are very close. We are very close. It is matter of getting an agreement across the finish line.”
It is an “agreement that will put me back on the air very soon, within the next few weeks,” he said.
Bryant said he has heard all kinds of explanations for why he was let go by Cox Media Group without notice on June 18, but the real explanation is simple: downsizing. Bryant said he had been at WGAU for 26 years.
Cox Enterprises sold its television and radio stations and other properties to Apollo Global Management Inc. in 2019, according to a company announcement at the time. The company has continued to operate with the Cox name. Apollo is a New York based asset management fund.
Bryant said several other people were let go that same day, and others around the country at Cox were terminated at approximately the same time.
“It is corporate downsizing,” he said. “It is happening in media. It is happening across the country.”
“I’m not angry. I’m not mad at anybody. Nobody’s mad at me. It is business. It is not personal,” Bryant said.
Adjustments To Change
Bryant said he still gets up at 2 a.m., as he did to prepare for his four-hour show on WGAU, but now he wonders what he is supposed to do when he comes awake.
He said he has tried to be positive and has “spent the last month focused on what comes next and putting together plans for what comes next.”
Bryant said he felt lucky “having a job that I loved to do” and the termination was one of the “biggest blows” of his life.
“Just maybe we’re in a place where there is light at the end of the tunnel and I get that part of my life back,” he said.
In response to a question, Bryant said “The podcast is in the works. There are a couple of three different things that are in the works. Everything right now is focused on getting the radio show up and running.”
“Stay tuned,” he said. “I feel really good about where we are.”
Other Comments
In response to a question from the audience, Bryant said “it is going to be tough” for Yalamanchili to defeat incumbent Democrat Deborah Gonzalez in the two-county race for District Attorney.
Yalamanchili attended the meeting and, speaking before Bryant, and he said he felt “confident” he had submitted enough signed petitions to get his name on the ballot as an Independent in November. His report produced loud applause from the audience.
“If Oconee County turns out huge,” Bryant said, “it is doable, but it’s going to be tough.” He said Gonzalez will be working hard to get high turnout in Clarke County, which, in contrast to Oconee County, is heavily Democratic.
In response to another question, Bryant said, “I do believe, in large measure, 2020 was stolen, but not the way some of you believe. I don’t believe in rigged machines, or corrupt poll workers, governors or secretaries of state who were on the hook. I don’t believe any of that.”
Bryant said the election was stolen because “a weaponized Justice Department” had put pressure on social media to dismiss the story about Hunter Biden’s laptop, calling it “Russian disinformation” and saying “you need to shut this down.”
Bryant was asked, “since we haven’t heard you, what do you think” about the political events of the last four weeks.
“Anybody who tells you they know how this is going to turn out is somebody you don’t need to pay attention to,” he responded. “I have no earthly idea.”
“I believe there is a very difficult map for Donald Trump,” he said. “And I base that on one very specific demographic: women. He is so upside down in the polls with women, and that was with Joe Biden. Imagine what it is going to be if it is in fact Kamala Harris” at the top of the ticket.
3 comments:
Bryant said the election was stolen because “a weaponized Justice Department” had put pressure on social media to dismiss the story about Hunter Biden’s laptop, calling it “Russian disinformation” and saying “you need to shut this down.”
Interesting perspective from someone who used to collect a paycheck as a News Director
Bryant is the same person who was duped into announcing that a Bucces was going up in Jackson county. Not happening and never was in the plans.
Bryant is the person who announced that a Bucces was coming to Jackson county. He is very easily duped.
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