Breaking Global Headlines With Ashley Webster
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Well, welcome to the Jason in the House podcast. I'm Jason Chaffetz, surprisingly enough. And this week, we're going to talk a little bit about the news. Highlight the stupid because, as we like to say, there's always somebody doing something stupid somewhere. And then we're going to phone a friend. And this time, we're going to give a call and shout out to Ashley Webster. Now, Ashley...

I think you may have seen him on, if you watch Varney, if you watch Fox Business, if you want to get some insight as to what's going on in the world of

of finance and whatnot there's a no finer person than ashley webster he knows his stuff he's a fun happy person i've got to know him and and interact with him shared a lot of laughs and but you know what i don't know a lot about his background and how he suddenly you know somehow some way i shouldn't say suddenly but how he ended up at fox business he's just a wonderful human being he's got that uh he's got that british accent we're going to learn a

But I'm always fascinated by people who do well, and I love people who are just happy warriors. And Ashley certainly falls into that category, one of the best in the business. So look forward to having that conversation with Ashley. But let's talk a little bit about the news, because I think one of the things we're going to get into, Ashley, and talk about,

is the passing of the queen, the queen of England. And I got to tell you, you know, we make a lot of jokes. We kind of mock sometimes the monarchy and whatnot, but I've always, always had the greatest respect for the queen of England. What she did and her impact on the world, what she's seen in her 70 years of

and the cohesiveness and the clarity and the respect and honor that she gave that office. Her view of the world, her impact on the world, her steady hand in the world has been a great asset to the United States of America, been a great asset for freedom and prosperity. And I was sad to see her pass. I know the people and our friends that have ties to America

to the UK are really feeling it. But I can tell you from on the other side of the pond here in the United States of America, I was really sad to see this happen. I mean, it was inevitable. She was up in her 90s. People, that happens. But I just thought she was a pillar for freedom, a pillar for respect and honor and dignity. And she dealt with some of the toughest times, particularly early in her reign, you know, dealing with

World War II and what England went through. And then throughout the course of history and time, and I'm sure with a new king and new predecessors after that, things are going to change up a little bit. But in a world of

That's tumultuous. That has so many ups and downs. I think the queen was a steady hand that I had the greatest respect for and sad to see her pass along. And I hope we can learn the lessons and hear the stories and, and understand her perspective because I thought she did. She was just a wonderful person in a really, really,

pivotal time throughout world history. Nobody's quite seen it for as long and as up close and as personal as she did. And I was sad to see her pass. All right. Now I got to go to another thing that I saw on foxnews.com. I almost put this in the category of stupid, but you know, the other end of the spectrum, talking about the queen to hear vice president Harris say,

Kamala Harris talking about the border. This is the quote that she had, as was said in FoxNews.com. Of course, she's talking about immigration.

She went on to say, "...the border is secure, but we also have a broken immigration system in particular over the last four years because we came in and it needs to be fixed." What a bunch of garbage that is. That is the most offensive statement I could possibly imagine. First of all, she's taken no time and effort to get to know the Border Patrol, understand what they're going through...

and to look at the metrics because there is not a single metric out there that suggests that the border is secure. It is offensive to suggest it is secure. I've heard Alejandro Mayorkas, the Secretary of Homeland Security say there's operational control and that the border is secure. I've heard the White House spokesperson say the border is secure. It is not secure. They're flowing over here by the thousands every day.

Encounters are up over 2 million, 2 million in a 12 month period, 2 million. And folks, those are just the ones that we're aware of. Imagine all the ones that we don't see and don't catch and aren't aware of that are getting here through so many means. It is absolutely controlled by the drug cartels. It's human trafficking. It's drug trafficking.

It's fundamentally wrong, and the Biden-Harris administration has tacitly approved of this by getting rid of dozens and dozens and dozens of rules, regulations, and putting into policies that have acted as a magnet for people to come here illegally. Now, there are some people in the world that are legitimately under the law claiming asylum, and they need to be dealt with.

And let's also remember that legally and lawfully, more people come to the United States of America legally and lawfully than all other countries do in immigration combined.

You can't go into Mexico the way people come into the United States. You can't do that. But more than one million times a year, people will legally and lawfully come into this country. And, you know, I think we're failing the people that are trying to do it legally and lawfully because those are the people that get in line. They don't cut. They don't...

do all the things that that they shouldn't do they're doing illegally and lawfully and it's sad to see what's happening here but for this vice president of the united states to literally say the border is secure and we have a broken immigration system and that donald trump broke it is absurd it is absolutely absurd of course the biden harris administration has no

no plan. They have no, they have no piece of legislation. One quick note, and maybe you've heard me say this before. I was on the immigration subcommittee when I first got to Congress 2000, 2009, 2010 during the Obama years. And you know what? I asked to be on the immigration subcommittee there in judiciary. Democrats never introduced an immigration bill.

And they didn't think there was any urgency. They're just trying to cater and pander to a group of people. But you know what? There's a reason why Hispanics, in large part, are flowing to the Republican side of the aisle in numbers like we've never seen before. Because the people that I know that fall into that category, they want law and order. They want...

there to be a secure system and a secure border. Those are the people that I know. And again, I think we're failing. Also, when you look at the border, it's not just about people from Mexico or Central or South America. That makes up the majority. But if you go and look at the detention numbers and the apprehension numbers,

It's over 150 countries. Everybody around the world knows you want to get into the United States without having to get in line. All you need to do is get your what you know, get down to the southern border, flow north. And the odds are you're not going to be caught. If you do get caught, you're going to get released. That's the way it is under Biden and Harrison. That's why the numbers are record high. And that's why the 20,000 plus people on the Border Patrol are just dying.

I mean, what they're doing, how they're doing it, it's just absolutely, it's just wrong. Just fundamentally wrong. All right. The last thing I want to mention in the news before we bring out of the stupid is we're starting to find out now the deal that Joe Manchin made. Joe Manchin, we thought was going to hold the line on the Inflation Reduction Act. You know, the one that doesn't really reduce inflation. The one that is...

is a $739 billion climate and tax package. That's what it is. It's the Green New Deal parsed off in a different way, $739 billion. Well, the price tag evidently for Joe Manchin's vote was $6.6 billion.

The Mountain Valley Pipeline, it's a 304-mile West Virginia to Virginia natural gas pipeline.

It was under construction, but there were all these permitting problems and Endangered Species Protection Act problems. So they weren't able to complete that. And what Joe Manchin wanted to do is complete that pipeline. Now, I applaud that. Sounds good. I don't know much about the pipeline other than, yeah, if it's needed to move things safely, securely with something that's cleaner than what we've been doing in the past, hey, let's do that.

But Joe Manchin sold his soul and sold his vote for the

the completion of this now some on the ultra liberal left to think the world is going to end you know year after next um they are not wanting to allow joe manchin to complete this deal so the white house and uh chuck schumer and a little bit of a pickle now they didn't reveal this deal um until you know after the fact after the other deal passed that's the way chuck schumer works around here

But I got to tell you, this pipeline, the Mountain Valley pipeline, it better be a good one because Joe Manchin sold us short here and put us all in further, further debt to numbers that are absolutely stunning. All right, time to bring on the stupid because you know what? There's always somebody doing something stupid somewhere. So let's bring on the stupid.

All right, for this stupid, we just need to go to New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell. She's a Democrat, and she's facing a little scrutiny, as she should.

So the New Orleans mayor decided that for her safety, she needed to travel first class as opposed to the back of the airplane or the coach part of the plane. And she has racked up thousands and thousands of dollars claiming it's for security.

Listen to what she said. Okay. Now, keep in mind, in January, Cantrell, Mayor Cantrell, flew first class from New Orleans to Washington, D.C. The ticket cost $2,300. In March, she flew from, this is crazy, New Orleans to Miami, which isn't that far, right? She flew first class to Miami, $2,800. But here's where it gets really interesting, because in June, she traveled to Switzerland.

First class, $9,800. And of course, in July, she had to go. The mayor of New Orleans had to go to France. $17,000 ticket. $17,000. The flight of France from New Orleans. Now, put it in perspective that evidently the starting salary for a New Orleans police department is $40,000. But anyway...

This was all based on an interview that Todd Pirro did on Fox and Friends First. And the numbers are stunning. So here, what does the mayor say? What does the mayor say in order to justify this? Quote, my travel accommodations are a matter of safety, not of luxury. As all women know.

Our health and safety are often disregarded and we are left to navigate alone. End quote. You know what? I got some breaking news. Navigating on an airplane is done by the pilot and the co-pilot. Sometimes the navigator's up there too. So the amazing thing about when you get on an airplane is you don't actually have to do the navigation and that everybody passes through security.

And that everybody who gets on that plane starts and ends at the same place. I know this is a revelation to the mayor of New Orleans.

But she doesn't have to do that navigation. There is a security check. And if she travels with the security detail, okay, maybe she needs to have somebody fly with her to help carry her bag. But guess what, Madam Mayor? You don't need to do this as a matter of safety. And to say, and we are left to navigate alone. No. No.

The airlines take care of that. They actually do the navigation of the plane. That's why this qualifies as stupid. New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell fleecing the people of New Orleans and using money inappropriate, $17,000 to fly to France. Give me a break. All right, that's bringing on the stupid. ♪

All right. Now it's time to phone a friend, Ashley Webster. Ashley, I'm looking really looking forward to this. He's just a great guy and full of energy. So let's dial up Ashley. Hello, Ashley. Hey, Jason Chaffetz. Hey, Jason. How are you?

Thanks so much for joining me on this podcast. You know what? My time at Fox, I've really enjoyed kind of getting to know you, but I've never had an in-depth conversation about your background and how you, you know, it's always interesting to me how you cross paths with people. And I'm glad I've crossed on your path, but just want to talk about you, your life, how you got to where you're at, because you've got a fascinating background. Yeah.

It's a strange one, that's for sure. Born and raised in England for 20-something years. Came to the United States in the 1980s with mom and dad. I was an only child. Dad was a banker, as was my mother, by the way. When they ended up in Los Angeles, my father was offered a job in Los Angeles. So we loaded up all our belongings and headed west.

And it's been a wild ride since then. I went to Cal State Northridge in Los Angeles. I fell into journalism. Literally, someone said, oh, you should work on the campus radio station. So I said, oh, that could be fun. So I did that and found I absolutely loved it doing the local news breaks.

And then someone said when I came around to graduation, oh, I got a friend up in Montana. He works for an NBC station up there. You should give him a call. I think he's got an opening. And lo and behold, I loaded up the car and drove to Helena, Montana for my very first job and absolutely loved it. Well, let's go. I mean, that's great because it finally led you to Fox Business. But let's go back to Brighton, right? That's where you were growing up in England.

Brighton, England. It's directly south from London on the south coast. It was always, you know, quick. If you want to get to the beach from London, Brighton is the quickest. Just go straight down on the train. The fast train will get you there in under 50 minutes. And it was a fun place to grow up. It had a couple of piers. It was always that kind of seaside resort type of a feel. And I loved growing up there. I

you know, I went to school there. I got my first jobs there. So I feel I had a great childhood. I was very lucky. So what was, what was your first job? And I, I mean, first job, like away from mom and dad, other than, Hey, Ashley, you know, like what would you do?

Yeah, I did a paper round when I was 10. My first job was as a teller, a bank teller for Lloyd's Bank. I was 16 years old. Now, remember, back in the UK, unless you wanted to stay to go on to university, you could leave school at 16, which is what I did. Mortified my parents, who, of course, wanted me to go on, become this big scholar. Wasn't me. I was into sports.

And that's all I concentrated on. I got out of school at 16, became a teller for Lloyd's Bank. I had another job as a bartender in the evenings on a boat in a marina, believe it or not. So I was working two jobs. As a 16-year-old.

as a 16 year old oh yes yes i mean you know 16 years old drinking age was 16 then so i remember working the bar on a saturday night it'd be three deep with you know three three rows of people shouting and waving money at you it was but it was good i thoroughly enjoyed it as a young man and um i moved to london when i was 18 and i worked for the bank of montreal of all places in their dividends department

But to be honest with you, mom worked for the Bank of England, dad worked for Lloyds Bank. And I suddenly realized that that early stage banking was never going to be for me. So when we moved to the States, it was an opportunity for me to kind of push the reset button. And I was I'm forever grateful for that.

Now, what kind of, what kind of, you said sports was occupying a lot of your young mind. What, what, what sport were you playing? Uh, soccer was my religion and I played for the school and I played for a, another team, um, um, a community team on weekends out of school. Um,

And I played a lot. I mean, it was my life. I went to the local soccer pro team and supported them on every other Saturday when they played at home and then followed them away. I had trials for professional teams and I had a trial for my home team. And I remember it was a pouring down rain Sunday afternoon and I was playing in front of some pretty important people. And I thought I had a good game. You know, I created a goal and that was the end of that. They said, thanks, but no thanks. I think my father was more...

upset than I was, but it was one of those things. I also played a lot of cricket. I also had tryouts for pro cricket for Sussex, which was the county I lived in. I got through the second round of trials for Sussex, but again, never worked out. It wasn't to be, but to this day, I'm sports nuts. I love baseball, American football, anything that's on television, on ESPN, if it's Tiddlywinks at 3 o'clock in the morning, I'll watch it.

I have this good friend, Todd, who's made a living as a broadcaster over at NBC, and he specializes in the oddest of sports. Like, he's the guy that you turn on in the middle of the night, and it's like, you know, weightlifting, but with a twist of bowling, you know, it was like, and he's like the expert on it. And I...

I haven't talked to him in a while, but every once in a while I'll see him and I'll shoot him a text and say, hey, I just saw you. Please thank him for me because I'm the one watching.

there are a lot of, a lot of people out there late at night watching that. So do you still follow the, the football F U T B O L? Um, Oh, absolutely. My home team, Brighton, my Brighton is the only one team that I followed, you know, back in the day, um, they were in the much lower leagues. They never in the glamor league of the Liverpools and the man United's and man cities. Uh, they always played in the low leagues, but that was okay. I love thoroughly enjoyed it. As I say, I used to travel the country following them. And, um,

But now, now I live in America, of course, what do they do? They get really good and are now in the English Premier League and are doing very well. But I still follow them. I can watch every game on TV here in the U.S., which I find amazing. And so, yeah, I'm up to speed on everything, thanks to social media and everything else these days. Well, truth be told, I much rather watch an English Premier League game than anything else. I really do enjoy it.

Yeah, it's fun. I mean, I kind of pick teams here and there, but I don't have the heartfelt loyalty that you and some others that grew up with them, and you'll never, you know, lifelong fans. My father took me when I was, I think I was six or seven to my first game, so we're talking late 60s.

And it's been a painful experience ever since because when you follow Brighton, you're just used to disappointment and heartache. And so to see the heights they've reached now is, you know, I'm desperate sometimes just to talk to someone here and realize that no one understands how crazy it is that Brighton are close to the top of the Premier League. It's hilarious. Yeah, well, you should try being a Canary fan up there like some people I know. I mean, they're...

There are ups and downs, and then there are teams that are usually down. Yes, that's true. But it is the way people follow football in Europe is so different than the way we follow maybe an NFL team or a college team. We have fanatics, people that really get into it year after year. They're very supportive. But I'm just saying as a whole,

I wish people could understand and see and kind of experience the loyalty and the, how the up and down of the entire community, the whole city, the, the whole spirit of the community can rise and fall based on a match.

That's exactly right. And, you know, in places like Liverpool, it's split between Liverpool and Everton, two Premier League games. Obviously, Liverpool are the more famous, but Liverpool play in red, Everton play in blue, and there are houses painted red and blue all over the city. You know, you're left in no doubt as to who you support. But yes, the only place in America that I must say

that I've found that kind of fanaticism is, I lived in Green Bay, Wisconsin for three years. I worked for the NBC affiliate there. And being a sports nut, it was a real opportunity to get into the Packer legend and lore. And that was crazy. That was remarkable. And they won the Super Bowl when I was there. So I was very lucky to experience that.

You're listening to Jason in the House. We'll be back with more of my conversation with Ashley Webster right after this.

So you're in Southern California. Next thing you know, you're going to Montana. I mean, what kind of culture shock was that? I mean, not just the weather, but that's a whole lot different than England and Los Angeles, California. Every day I thought I was in a movie. It's I mean, you know, you know, Utah, obviously, Montana.

Big Sky Country, that sky is absolutely enormous. And I remember coming into town, I skidded straight through a red light because I had a rear wheel drive car and it was all ice. It was in February. I went straight through the light and I thought, this is going to be different. But I got to tell you, Helena was a town of about 28,000. It was the state capital, a lot of white collar workers, but also surrounded by farms and ranches. And some of my best experiences were there. You know, I remember I

Very early on, they asked me to emcee a rodeo and they put me in a 10-gallon hat and gave me a microphone. You should have seen the look on the people's faces when I started calling this rodeo. And they all kind of stopped and turned around and looked into the announcer's booth and like, who the hell is this guy?

I didn't know what to say. I was like, here's another horse that doesn't want the guy on his back trying to bunk him off apparently. And, you know, they had me doing the sheet busting stuff. And I had the time of my life. And I still look back at that very fondly. It was a great time. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The winters were brutal.

But I will tell you, when I was there, I got to know the local authorities very well. And I remember one day in the newsroom, I get a call from his name was Chuck O'Reilly, the Lewis and Clark County Sheriff, of which Helena was in. He goes, hey, guess who's with me? And I said, I have no idea. You know, Jimmy Hoffa. And he goes, you an Obama? I said, I beg your pardon. And that happened.

The Unabomber. And I just, I laughed down the phone. He said, I'm dead serious. And then that created one of the most memorable days of my life. And I remember I got a tip off that Ted Kaczynski was going to be brought out of one office in Helena that everyone thought he was going to be brought somewhere else. It was just me and one photographer from Seattle who got the famous video and he was still looking wild as he was being walked down the street.

And if you look, I'm wearing the blue and white jacket, so I'm on the other guy's video. Really? Yeah. It's one of those moments I remember looking at him saying, Ted, are you the Unabomber? And he just looked straight through me. And...

I have a very interesting knack of being in the right place at the right time, which is why I think news is my gig. When I was living in LA, actually, I was living in Yuma, Arizona. I've been everywhere, Jason. I was working for the ABC in Yuma, Arizona. I was coming back to visit my parents on a Friday afternoon, and I got stuck in that whole OJ mess on the 405 freeway. Can you believe that?

I remember all of a sudden there were helicopters above and there was people running on the highway and we would, I was like, what the heck? Turn on the radio. And so I got stuck in the middle of that. So again, very lucky when it comes to news.

Yeah, I mean, if you spent time in Brighton, L.A., Yuma, Helena, that's not a traditional path that people take to have a successful broadcasting. And don't forget Green Bay. I went from Yuma, where the highest temperature when I was there was 122, and I moved from there to Green Bay. And I had a young daughter at the time who –

who was so used to touching the slides and swings in playgrounds because you didn't want to burn yourself. So she would touch it quickly to make sure it wasn't, you know, too hot that you should get burned. She goes to Green Bay where, you know, you're stuck indoors for six months a year with the temperature well below zero. Yeah.

Wow. Wow. And so what do you attribute this success to? I mean, like a lot of people, I mean, there might be tellers out there that, you know, have a little background. But then, you know, I find that there are a lot of people that want to do these things, but they don't necessarily get to do these things or don't have the opportunity. What was the difference, do you think? Yeah.

I love meeting people and I love finding out about what people do. I have a real passion for it and I think I just found the right job and I came across some really great people. I was told many times, I must say, straight out of college and then as I was trying to move onwards and upwards, you know, climb the big ladder of television news. Oh, well, you know, in America, they like you to sound like you come from Kansas, you know, middle of the country,

and if they know you're not local then they can't connect to you and i always thought well okay so i ignored it and i just kept going and so i was the english guy that was anchoring the late night news in green bay and then i from green bay i became the english guy

doing the news for the Fox affiliate. I was the main anchor for the Fox affiliate in Nashville for 10 years. Now, I'm clearly not from Nashville. And what was great about that was everywhere I went, they'd say, where are you all from? And I used to look at them deadpan. I'd answer, Kentucky.

And they would look at me and they'd say, really? And I'd say, well, Eastern Kentucky, but yes. I think it speaks, Jason, to the generosity of Americans. I mean, I've been all over this country, as you can tell. And everywhere I've been, I've been received remarkably well because clearly I'm not a local. But I made it a point to learn all the local issues, get to know people, take part in community events and really become a part of that community and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.

well and then you you were involved right in the financial markets i mean you you're you're yes i mean i had that background yeah and when i when i was after 10 years in nashville uh someone put me in touch and said hey you know what fox is starting a new business channel you should give them a call you'd be you know it'd be great for you and so i thought i don't know i'd never had an agent or anything and i thought well well maybe maybe

So I did it anyway on a whim. And next thing you know, being flown out to New York, I got to meet all the big muckety mucks at Fox there on 1211 6th Avenue. And...

Within a short period of time, they sent me back to England. So I did the big circle from Brighton, Cashier, Teller, all the way to LA, Helena, Yuma. By the way, I forgot, I also worked in Eureka, California, in Northern California, right up there on the Oregon border. So I've been all over the country. And then, of course, I ended up getting sent back

to England to cover Europe for Fox Business Network when it launched in 2007. So it's been a really interesting ride. I was there in London for three years, covered all of Europe and the Middle East. And then they said, hey, we would like you to come back to New York if you're interested. We would like you to do some anchoring and doing some work out of the New York office. And I said, sure, sounds great.

And so I came back. So it's been a remarkable, remarkable journey. And really, when I think about it, Jason, I can't even believe I've done it. So it's one of those things, if you think too much about it, it's all going to go wrong. So you just keep going. So how long have you been back in New York? I've been back in New York from London now. Oh, let me see. I came back 12 years. I was in London for three. Yeah, I've been with the network 15 years.

And what was it like going back to London having, you know, been spent so much time in the US? Did you have a I know, you have an English or US accent? Or did they? Oh, my friends just said, Oh, my God, listen to the egg. Listen to John Wayne. I, of course, didn't think I'd lost my accent at all. But they just tease me mercilessly, mercilessly. And, and

And it was weird to go back. It was familiar, but it wasn't familiar. But in the end, you get used to it. I got to go to my football games again, and I liked the pubs. I liked the social gatherings in the U.K. But I certainly missed the U.S., and when I had the chance to come back, I did. And I became an American citizen, I think, back in 1997, and I actually did that in Montana. I went back to Montana to go through that process.

ceremony and it was me and two other people someone from the czech republic and i think someone from switzerland now if i did that in los angeles it would be me and five other thousand people in the convention center so i was very glad i went through that process in montana it was very special yeah i love the people in montana it's one of my favorite places you know i fortunate out west here i go to

I like going to Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Arizona. I mean, I'm kind of an intermountain-less guy. I used to drive all the way. What's the interstate that goes all the way through Utah? I drove it many times. I-15.

I-15. I used to take I-15 from Helena. I used to drive to L.A. Can you believe that? 23 hours and through the entire state of Utah. But I felt like I knew Utah very, very well. I've been to all the national parks. I was just in Moab last fall and absolutely loved it. And a weird thing was back when Atlanta had the Summer Olympics,

I was working for an NBC station still in Montana. And they said, hey, would you like to go run the Olympic torch? And I said, yeah, that would be great. You know, just do a leg of it. And the nearest place to me was Salt Lake City. So I got on a Delta flight down to Salt Lake and I actually ran a leg in downtown Salt Lake when the Olympic torch came through. And while I was doing that,

I was getting a little winded. I like to run. I've done a couple of marathons, but I was getting a little winded. And a cop on a motorbike comes up to me and he's riding along. He goes, hey, failing. And I said, good. Why? What's wrong? He goes, well, the person you're going to pass it on to is not going to make it. So can you do another leg? So suddenly the pressure was on. I didn't want to be the guy. How far a distance is that?

It's not that far. I'm trying to remember how much it was. It was probably maybe a half mile now instead of a quarter mile. But I was paranoid I'm going to be the guy that was going to trip and put the Olympic flame out. There's a way to make the evening news. Yeah, you don't want to be one making the news by carrying the torch and dropping the torch. So, yeah. Yeah.

Oh, that's great. Yeah, but that's another connection to Salt Lake City. I love Utah. I've had so much fun there.

Well, that's good because we've got a beautiful state. And that Moab area was part of my congressional district the whole time that I was in Congress. And so, you know, I always had to go down there, which that's tough call right there. Yeah, the National Archery, so I was there and spent some time in Moab itself. And what a unique and, you know, the landscape is remarkable. Yeah.

Again, going back to early on, I mean, you tell your parents, hey, I'm going to go off to Yuma. What was the first one away from Los Angeles? Was it Yuma? Helena, Montana. Helena.

Hey, mom, dad, I got this great gig. It pays. My guess is it probably didn't pay maybe what. I can tell you exactly. It was paid $10,800 a year. A year? So, mom, dad, I'm going to earn less than $1,000 a month, and it's going to be great. Yep. This is going to be great. And by the way, I'm going to need to take a car. Did you take a car up there? I did. Oh, absolutely, I did.

What did your parents like? What were they really thinking?

Where is that? Canada? Well, pretty much is, but yes. Yeah, I said exactly. I said as close as you can get without being Canada. They were always being, you know, they're one of the, the fact that they moved to America in the late 40s shows that they're adventurous. And they just said, yeah, you know, hey, if you want to go for it, go for it. You know, why not get the experience, have some fun. And so that's what I did and never looked back. And they've loved my work.

because they've always come to every place I've lived. It's given them an opportunity to see America as well. My father, well, both of my parents fell in love with Montana, so much so that they wanted to buy a house there and move there. My father's always been very interested in Native American history. He loved all of that.

And so when he was up there, he had a chance to look into some of the museums and all that. He just thought it was the greatest place he'd ever been and was immediately ready to buy a house. And I said, well, this is great, but, you know, if I'm going to move up the ladder, I'm probably going to have to move on. And they're like, oh, yeah, that's true. And so was that the story? You know, I went from there to Eureka, California, and then from Eureka, I went to Yuma, California.

from Yuma to Green Bay, Wisconsin, from Green Bay to Nashville, and then from Nashville to New York. But along the way, I mean, Nashville itself, 10 years there, what a city that was. And the people were so, so lovely. Country music people are the friendliest people on earth. I mean, they are very genuine, generous,

genuine people who took me in. So, yeah, I mean, my parents have had a great ride as well. You know, it's true. The people, the country music fans, the people live in that part of the country, they love their country. They love people. They're happy people and they love their country and, and they love their country music. Yeah.

They do. I got to know the late Charlie Daniels very well. And he said to me one day, he said, hey, I'm going to go to Bosnia and Kosovo. And I said, would you like to come? I said, yeah. So we took a crew and flew with him. He went to Wiesbaden to visit some injured troops at Landstuhl.

hospital there in Germany. And then from there we flew to Kosovo and he did a free concert for a UN camp there with multinational troops. And we just got to tag along. So, you know, hang out with Charlie and his band, the nicest people you will ever meet.

ever meet. So yeah, it's a, it's been a real privilege to, to get a front row seat to this stuff. Yeah. You know, Charlie Daniels, I was sorry to see him pass. I, I had a chance a couple of years ago, I guess it's been a couple of years now where I was the guest host on Fox and friends. And I think it was one of his very last interviews. Um, the way it all lined up, I got to do this interview with Charlie Daniels and, uh,

I could have talked to him for hours, but you know, it's, uh, you can't keep moving on TV, but, um, and I thought, and then he passed away fairly shortly thereafter. And I thought, wow, that's them. You know, it was one of the last, if not the last interviews that he had done. And, um,

It was neat, but to go travel overseas with him, that would have been a special moment. He was a great individual and entertained an awful lot of people. One last memory of Charlie is we were in Germany. We were out one night, and he said, oh, let's go to the beer keller. Let's go and have some drinks with the – so we all kind of bundled down into this German –

drinking hall and there was a big bell at the front door with a clangor and he immediately grabs it and rings it as loud as he can and the whole place erupts and everyone's jumping up and down and cheering and he goes, "Gah, I guess I'm popular here."

And it turns out if you do that, you buy a drink for everyone in the beer hall. Yeah, you get popular real quick, don't you? Oh, yeah. Well, Charlie could probably afford it. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. That's funny. That is really funny. So through this career, and you look back on it, you've got young people that, hey, I wish I could do that. I want to give that a go.

what what's what advice would you give them what's the difference between making it not making it what does it take and look some people this is not going to work out for them but if they wanted to get in television or radio what would you say to them well both i started in radio believe it or not my first really important uh internship was at cbs radio in la and that really got me on the path but my best advice and i've seen this time and again working all these different places

If you really love it and you're prepared to put in the really hard slog. I mean, I was carrying my own camera. I was shooting my own standups. I was bringing that stuff back, editing it, and then anchoring it on air. You do everything. And that was great training. Those people who get into it because they think, oh, this could be kind of cool. I'm going to be on TV. They generally jump out. They generally drop out within a year, if not sooner, because that's not what it is. You have to have a real passion for

for the job. You have to have people skills. You have to really want to know what's going on. You have to be nosy. I'm a nosy kind of guy. I love to be the person that knows before everyone else what's going on. And

You never lose that. And I think for people out there, young people who want to get into it, if you have a passion, go out there. Just do it. Don't be afraid. Dare to be great and be prepared to work long hours and working really hard when you start for not great money, but hang in there because it gets better as you go along. Yeah, I mean, that's part of it is you're going to have to show –

that you really want it. And part of really wanting it is making zero money, barely covering expenses. If that, and then you're right, you got to carry your own sticks, your own camera, you got to cut the tape. You got to do all of that. And, but you know what? That's great. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's,

it's one of those professions where you can't just show up and say, yeah, let's start talking, you know? And how do you deal with, uh, you know, one of the things now that I've had a chance to be able to guest host and do that, there's so many moving parts, you know, and I see you on Varney for instance, a lot and, uh, and guest hosting for Stewart as well. Yeah. And the volatility and, you know, prompters coming up stuff you haven't seen before markets are moving. You don't know what's happening, you know, and,

But you add such clarity and such your ability to synthesize and grasp all of that and then succinctly be able to do it without stumbling over it. It's truly a talent. Well, thank you very much. You know, not always. We all have bad days. And it's funny, you know, you can feel it when you're not really, you know, in sync. But for the most part, Jason, I think it's just doing it and doing it.

and doing it. And after you've done it for many years, it starts to become familiar to the point where you can, no matter what happens. And you know yourself, things don't work. A live camera goes down or someone's audio doesn't work. It's okay. I actually like those moments because I think it proves to the viewer we are live and things don't go perfectly all the time. And you got a producer in your ears saying, yeah, yeah, whatever, get to the break quick, quick, you know.

Wrap it up, wrap it up. That's all part of it. I love it. It's like you're a traffic cop and you're trying to direct all these different lanes of traffic, making sure no one hits each other. And I think that's part of the appeal. I mean, it's like you're a conductor almost and you're just trying to make sure that everything goes the way it's supposed to go. And the people behind the scenes, to be honest with you, are amazing.

the amount of work they put in, no one knows what goes on hours worth of television with all the videotape and all the audio and the live interviews and, and all the graphics that go into a show. It's a real, real team effort. And I'm not just saying it really is. And so everyone has to be on their game. I mean, if the guy in audio has a bad day, I'm not going to look good, you know? Yeah, no, it's, it's so true. I, you know, I, I, um,

I remember a conversation about this with Sean Hannity. And I said, Sean, you know, so what do people not understand or not appreciate? You know, because he does four hours of radio, then he does television. And it's just tremendous. He said, people have no idea how

about how much preparation it takes because you just can't show up and do an hour of television after doing hours of radio and then just wait. I mean, there's you, next time you watch a show, watch how many graphics and you know, the little chyrons coming on and then there's an audio clip and then there's what's called an element that you can call for. And then there's a sought a sound over tape where you go for something and there's audio and you can't step on top of that. And then,

And then sometimes you're the guest and the person who's interviewing is asking a question, but the producer decides, hey, I'm going to get in your ear and tell you that, hey, you need to kind of speed up. Let's make sure that this is a quick answer. And you're like, you know, I can't hear the question, right? You understand that when you're talking to me, I can't hear what they're saying. Exactly. Some are better at it than others. Yeah.

But, you know, at Fox, they're such professionals and it's such, you know, the highest of levels that you get really good quality stuff. They are great. But things go wrong. They do go wrong and that's okay because that's life. But I would say nine times out of ten, they don't and they're very good at what they do. Yeah, no, no, no. And it is fun and you got to have banter and laugh at yourself and just keep rolling with it. Otherwise, yeah, nobody wants to see a...

Somebody with a sour face getting mad at somebody on screen. No, don't ever take it that way.

Don't ever take yourself too seriously. Self-deprecation is a very important part of television. Yeah. Because if you think you're more important than anyone else, you're very – we're all replaceable. That's a fact of life. I'll never forget that. And, you know, people think TV is all about big egos. Sure, there are egos out there. But bottom line, the people who do it day in and day out and do it well, they understand how it all works. And you have to be humble.

Because, my God, television can make you humble. Yeah. You're listening to Jason in the House. Stay with us. We'll be right back. Before I get to the rapid questions, which I know you're anxious to get to. Everybody was telling me that you're really excited about that part of this. But tell me about your, you know, we just had the passing of the Queen.

And she was an iconic figure. But, you know, I'm not from England. I watched her from afar with great admiration. I have nothing but positive things to say about her and her life and her impact on the world. But as somebody who's from there, what how does what's your perspective on, you know, growing up?

With royalty, and of course, the Queen was on the throne when I was born, and that's all I've ever known. And the reverence that goes with it is just part of British society. I listened to someone the other day who said that the best way to describe it to an American audience is the Queen is like what the United States flag is to Americans. It has the same reverence, the same sense of reverence.

And it's what holds this country together. It's what this is all about. And that's a pretty good description. You know, I have tremendous respect for Queen Elizabeth, the late Queen Elizabeth. I think she did an amazing job. It's an absolute gem.

Would you want to be in that position? 70 years of pure public service. You sacrifice your own life for that. She never wanted to be queen. She was thrown into it through a series of events, going back to Edward VIII and the abdication and then her father and so on. So she was stuck at the age of 25 becoming queen. And what a remarkable story.

job she did. She weathered some tough times from World War II at the end of that came to an end in 1945. And when she took over, the country was still the UK was very much in trying to rebuild, was in a bad shape. And she got the country through that and she became just a symbol of stability, consistency, and I think a lot of grace. And I'm a huge, huge fan. There are

Republicans, those who don't want the royal family. I'm not one of them, but I'm a little older. I think if you poll people in England, I think the last poll I saw was 77% of people over 65 are very...

very much in favor of the royal family. But if you get to the 18 to 24-year-olds, they don't have that same reference. They don't have that same reverence, if you like. And they feel that taxpayers in the UK should not be paying a family who's already very rich. And they'll make their arguments. For me personally, I think it's important. It's a part of tradition. And it rises above everything else. And it's what makes Britain, Britain, in my opinion. Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, it's really worked. And I think you're right. I think the word that, you know, you use that I associate with her is the grace. And the tumultuous times that the world has gone through and the steady hand that she's offered. I don't think anybody's properly prepared to take on such a mantle, but to do so with such steadiness for seven years. I mean, there's nobody else in history like that.

No, not at all. And, you know, the memories I have, I mean, Christmas Day was always three o'clock in the afternoon on BBC, everything, no matter what chaos was going on in the house and presents everywhere and food and everything, everyone settled down for the Queen's speech at three o'clock on Christmas Day. And it was one of those things where it just became...

You just knew you were going to sit down. And it was always a short speech, maybe eight minutes, something like that. But she was always so on point and always so delivered so perfectly. And it just made you feel good about yourself and the country. Well, I think the world's going to miss her in many, many ways. And thanks for sharing that. On the other end of the spectrum, I need to ask you some rapid questions.

Bring it on. You ready? You're sitting down? Yes. All right. Put that seatbelt on. All right. First concert you attended. A band called Slade at the Brighton Dome. Slade. They were a band that did so many great songs that everyone else copied. And you think that the band that copied it actually did the song, but it was Slade. So there you go. I can't say I've heard of Slade, but yeah, I'm glad you did that. What was your, the equivalent of high school, what was your mascot?

we know it's not like American schools. I went to somewhere called Brighton College and you're going to say, what is a college? Well, it was a college. But that's how they do. Yeah. That's why I said the equivalent because yeah, it's different.

Yeah, it is different. We didn't have... Did you have a mascot? We have school colors, and the school colors are important. They're blue and burgundy. Ours were colors, and that's the color of your school tie. And you had a crest. Did you have a crest? Yes, and there was a crest, too, and a Latin saying, and a guy, you're going to kill me for this, but I cannot remember the Latin. I think in...

Something about in truth, in God and in truth, I believe, something along those lines. But you'll have a crest, you'll have the colors, and you'll have a Latin phrase to go with the crest. And that's how it was done in those days. All right. Favorite vegetable? Broccoli. Bold answer. I'm proud of you for just actually naming a vegetable because not everybody does that on this podcast. My wife just walked by and laughed because she knows I'm lying.

I was doing it to impress her. All right. So if you had a chance to meet Bigfoot, what would you ask him? How do you stay invisible? Which is funny because I just met him. But how come – and I want to believe it – but how come no one has actually had proof of him?

Yeah, I think I would want to ask him, is that really you in this video? Yes. Come on, let me show you some video. Tell me if that's you or not. Oh, wouldn't that be great? I don't know. I'm enamored with Bigfoot. I think the whole genre around it just makes me smile. It just really does. Have you been to Skinwalker Ranch? No. Now, that's out in eastern Utah. It was not in my congressional district, but –

I did watch the Netflix special about it. Yeah, it's kind of creepy, kind of weird. I know the people. I know the owner of the facility. That would be kind of interesting. Maybe I should do a podcast with him. That might be kind of interesting. You should. That would be fantastic. Did you have a pet growing up? Yes. My first cat named George, who was just the most classic cat ever, and a rabbit named Silky.

A rabbit? Yes. Yes, it didn't work out. Silky turned out to be an aggressive male bunny who started eating through all the wires, and my father took him off to the local farm to join other rabbits there. Sure. That's what happened. Yeah. I bet so. I'm still hanging on to that. That's right. All right. So you say to your wife, hey, honey, guess what? We've got a treat tonight. We're going to bring somebody over to break bread and share a little meal and a little

If you could pick anybody in history to come just hang out and get to know and have a discussion, anybody, dead or alive, who would that be? Well, my wife is a musician at heart. She was a professional singer before she became a lawyer. So I'm music mad as well. So it would have to be from the music world. I'm trying to think of someone who...

I mean, you know, someone I've always wanted to meet because we both think she's amazing is Nina Simone. Wouldn't that be great to sit down and chat with her? My wife was a jazz singer, so I think that would be really a lot of fun. Yeah, that would be. That would be fascinating. Big question, pineapple on pizza, yes or no? Yes. I'm a big fan of the Hawaiian.

I know you hate me now, don't you? You're going to hang up. Yeah. It's just sort of disappointing. You don't put wet fruit. Don't put wet fruit on pizza. That's all there is to it. It tastes good. All right. Best advice you ever got. Never give up.

That was my father. And the other one he always used to say was, this too shall pass. No matter how bad you think it is, hang in there. It will get better. And I always remind myself of those things when things do get a little tough at times. Yeah. Everybody in life goes through hard challenges. Yeah, of course. You're not getting through life without having hardship. Oh, no. Yeah. And having those around you that go through hard, tough, difficult things, too. Yeah.

All right, last two questions. You've been very generous with your time. Favorite childhood toy? Oh, favorite childhood toy. Just to give you reference, mine was the Stretch Armstrong. Now, I don't know that they had that in England. No, we didn't. No, but I used to like – I guess they call them here battling tops. Do you remember those battling tops? They were like – you'd spin them and they'd go into this little kind of like –

and they would bounce off each other until there was one left standing. I love that thing. Couldn't get enough of that. Yeah, and the other one that reminded me, I was thinking of the Rock'em Sock'em where you'd play with the boxers. Yes, that was great. You'd try to knock his block off and his head would pop up. Yeah, I can still play that. Yeah, exactly. All right, last question. If you didn't get into television, if you hadn't done that radio gig, what would you be doing?

It'd have to be in sports. I mean, I'd love to be playing sports, but I'm too old for that now. But maybe...

Either that. There's a part of me that I'm a history buff as well. I love history. And so it would be kind of fun to be a tour guide at somewhere really famous in the world because that would be fun. Tour guide at Buckingham Palace. Tour guide at the Louvre in Paris. Tour guide anywhere that's of historical significance. I would absolutely love to do that. You know, I got a chance a couple of weeks ago to go to the Louvre.

And I got to give a shout out to my guide. His name was Hugo. And I don't know how you all match up with Hugo, but this was like the best. This guy was so into it. He loved it. He was passionate. He was...

flamboyant about it and i tell you it was it just made it so fun and so entertaining for two hours i could have stayed with him like eight hours you know and but that's what you got to find you got to find somebody who's passionate about it yes well i think that's why you're so successful at fox and the places you've been is that you bring a passion to it and

And, Ashley, we appreciate you joining us on the Jason in the House podcast. Do appreciate it. Thank you so much for calling me. Absolutely loved it. Thank you so much, Jason. Well, I can't thank Ashley enough. I really do appreciate it. I hope that you all have a chance to get to see him and know him a little bit better on air there in Fox Business, particularly online.

with his great work that he does on Varney. He really does do a great job there. I hope you're able to rate this, subscribe to it, look through the other ones. I think last week we had Jared Kushner on. We got some really good...

that if you look through the list, I think you'll also enjoy. You can also go over to foxnewspodcast.com to look at the array of things that Fox offers. But rate it, like it, subscribe to it, do all those things that we'd love for you to do. And we'll be back next week with another great interview. I'm Jason Chaffetz. This has been Jason in the House.

From the Fox News Podcast Network. I'm Janice Dean, Fox News Senior Meteorologist. Be sure to subscribe to the Janice Dean Podcast at foxnewspodcast.com or wherever you listen to your podcasts. And don't forget to spread the sunshine.