Jeff Goldberg has his own voice on the radio.
He doesn’t need mine when it comes to defending his “Good Morning, Fayetteville” and so-called “Ask the Mayor” broadcasts on WFNC radio.
Goldberg, aka Goldy, is the popular radio-talk fellow with the bubbly and engaging personality that keeps us informed about goings-on in Fayetteville. He is something akin to radio personalities such as Jeff Thompson, Jim Cooke and the late Johnny Joyce and Bill Bowser. Thompson does not mind calling out mayors and City Council members and county commissioners. Joyce told us all about crime. Bowser was just popular with his WIDU audience.
So, here’s the story.
Goldberg, 64, finds himself at the center of an issue with Efrain “Freddie” de la Cruz over what the Fayetteville mayoral candidate claims is favoring three-term Mayor Mitch Colvin on his once-a-week radio conversation with the mayor.
“I am requesting ‘equal time’ on WFNC radio’s morning show or cancellation of the ‘Ask the Mayor’ show broadcast on Thursday mornings until after the election,” de la Cruz wrote in an Aug. 7 letter to the Cumulus radio company that owns WFNC. “A review of the podcast (Podcast Pepper), which WFNC’s Jeff Goldberg hosts, will clearly show that the incumbent mayor (Mitch Colvin), who is running for re-election, isn’t just talking about city business (news) but instead talking about his re-election campaign. Favoritism — and the host puts his thumb on the scale and tilts it in favor of Colvin.
“Candidates for the same office must be treated in an equal manner. Colvin is ‘using’ the station (WFNC), and other candidates should be entitled to the same opportunity to use the station equally.
“Four legally qualified candidates have filed for the office,” de la Cruz wrote, referencing mayoral challengers Charles Evans and Quancidine Hinson-Gribble.
Well, that seems reasonable. It’s fine for the mayor to talk about issues pertaining to the city, but Colvin should shy away from any discussion of his re-election campaign. I would just suspend the Thursday broadcast with the mayor or defer to City Manager Douglas Hewett to keep us informed on city issues until after the Oct. 10 primary and Nov. 7 general election.
Now, Hinson-Gribble is on board with de la Cruz.
“Hello, Freddie,” Gribble said in an Aug. 18 email to de la Cruz that she shared with CityView Media. “Please forward me a copy of the complaint that you filed against Goldy. I want to be included.”
And more: Jose “Alex” Rodriquez, who is a City Council District 1 candidate against incumbent Councilwoman Kathy Keefe Jensen, is calling out Goldberg and the radio station.
“I am requesting ‘equal time’ on WFNC Radio’s morning show ‘Good Morning Fayetteville’ broadcast to balance any time the host or station grant my opponent, Councilwoman Kathy Jensen,” Rodriquez writes. “Councilwoman Jensen is not mayor, nor is she the current mayor pro tempore. Therefore, she should no longer receive any airtime on the show to discuss the city’s issues or city business as a result. A review of the show’s podcast (Podcast Pepper), which WFNC’s Jeff Goldberg hosts, will clearly show that Councilwoman Jensen receives additional airtime by herself and/or with her brother, Cumberland County Commissioner James ‘Jimmy’ Keefe, which tends to lead to discussions of her campaign. The bias shown by the show’s host favors Councilwoman Jensen over any of her opponents not only in this election cycle, but also in previous cycles.”
My first thought when Freddie de la Cruz, along with his campaign manager, Nero Coleman, called out Jeff Goldberg and the radio station for equal time for all mayoral candidates seemed a reasonable concern, and one that should be brought to Goldberg’s attention, as well as Cumulus management.
Goldy’s side of the story
But there are two sides to every story.
Here is Jeff Goldberg’s side.
“Since receiving Mr. de la Cruz’s email on Aug. 8, I have reached out three times to Mr. de la Cruz and his campaign manager, (Nero) Coleman, to get him on the show,” Goldberg says. “As of this morning, I have not heard back from either one. As I explained in my emails, all they had to do was reach out to me and I would have scheduled de la Cruz on the show. They did not need to send me and the local media a certified letter. Nobody is easier to get ahold of than I am.”
Goldberg says he has reached out to Hinson-Gribble with two emails and another correspondence, and no response from her, either.
“I was hoping to have all the mayoral candidates on ‘GMF’ this week; however, the only candidate that responded was Charles Evans,” Goldberg says. “The implication that Mayor Colvin ‘isn’t just talking about city business but instead talking about his re-election campaign’ is absolutely untrue. My hundreds of interviews from the last five years are all on our Podcast Pepper page on the WFNC website for perusal.”
Goldberg says, too, that he is not favoring one mayoral candidate over another.
“The other assertion made by Mr. de la Cruz that I am ‘putting my thumb on the scale and tilting it in favor of Colvin’ is also untrue,” the radio talk-show host says. “In the 12 years of hosting ‘Good Morning Fayetteville,’ I have never been accused of being unfair or supporting one candidate over another.”
Goldberg says with incumbency comes some leeway.
“Had Mr. de la Cruz won the election last summer, it would be him that was on ‘GMF’ every Thursday,” Goldberg says. “The equal time rule does not apply in this situation, as I have explained to Mr. de la Cruz and Mr. Coleman.”
And then there is that latest complaint from Alex Rodriquez, the District I candidate challenging Kathy Keefe Jensen.
“As far as the City Council races go,” Goldberg says, “I will not have any of the council candidates, incumbent or otherwise, on the show until we begin our candidate forums in the fall.”
If you complain …
There’s nothing wrong with asking for equal time on the airwaves.
Or in print, for that matter.
I’ve always found Jeff Goldberg to be fair and honest on his broadcasts. He’s not mean-spirited and not a “gotcha” radio host. If, as Freddie de la Cruz claims, the current mayor and Councilwoman Keefe-Jensen are talking about their re-election campaigns, Goldberg should offer a reminder to both that that is off limits when discussing city matters. Talking about sidewalks, stormwater and crime issues is one thing. Talking about your re-election is another.
Finally, if Goldberg has reached out to de la Cruz, as well as Hinson-Gribble, both should be responding. That, too, is only reasonable. That goes for the campaign manager for de la Cruz, too. In other words, if you are looking for an amicable solution, be a part of the solution — or say nothing at all.
One more last detail about this issue.
“There is no such thing as ‘Ask the Mayor,’” Goldberg says. “The segment does not have a name. Between (former mayors) Tony Chavonne, Nat Robertson and Mitch, we have been regularly hosting the Fayetteville mayor since the day we started 12 years ago.”
And the more important thing:
“After speaking with the Cumulus corporate lawyers this afternoon,” Jeff Goldberg said Tuesday afternoon, “we are reevaluating having Mayor Colvin on every Thursday morning during the election season. A decision will be made in the next couple of days.”
That’s a reasonable and sound decision on the part of the corporate attorneys.
Epilogue
It’s politics.
It’s Fayetteville.
And it’s become quite something to sometimes deal with from the campaign trail to City Hall, with a lot of egos in between. Keep talking in the mornings, Goldy, because folks are listening. You are a part of their morning coffee, their drives to the workplace and their daily lives.
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.
