I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve founded my own live production company Launch Live Now. Book a free consultation at LaunchLiveNow.com.
Author: Taylor Craig
Goodbye ‘Last Call’
That’s a wrap on Last Call! I’m incredibly grateful and proud of what our team accomplished. We brought fresh stories and commentary to a tough time slot. It was an honor to stack and call a crazy hour of programming every weeknight for the past year and a half. I leave the show with many new friends and zero regrets.
Massive thank you to Brian Sullivan, my fellow producers and technical staff. Last Call was some of the smartest programming TV has seen in years because of you.
I’m going to take some time to look at new options – and examine the value I can bring to emerging, high-growth areas in media. While cable may face some difficulties – content remains king. My updated resume is visible on this page, as is my contact information.
I’ve been blown away by the kindness and encouraging comments from fans. This just adds to the pride I had in what we did.
Florida real estate struggles as ‘motivated’ sellers flood market
Once a red-hot destination for out-of-state homebuyers, Florida is seeing its inventory of homes for sale skyrocket and price growth stagnate.
“Florida is very unique,” Redfin’s chief economist Daryl Fairweather told CNBC’s “Last Call” on Wednesday. “It was one of the only markets that actually sustained price growth after interest rates went up, so I think this correction is a bit overdue.”
According to Redfin, the median time a Florida home spent on the market was 57 days in March. Two years earlier, that time span was just 24 days.
“It’s also coming at a time when HOA (homeowner association) fees are going up and insurance costs are going up, and people don’t want to pay these higher property taxes,” Fairweather said. “More new listings are coming on the market right now, too.”
There are more than 5,600 active listings in Florida that include the keyword “motivated” in the description on Zillow.
WATCH FULL INTERVIEW ON CNBC.COM
UPDATE: Since this article was posted there are now more than 6,600 listings with “motivated” in the description in Florida. That is an 18% jump in less than three months.
Investors should ‘zoom out’ and look past Tesla’s short-term struggles, says ARK Invest
With Tesla reporting earnings on Tuesday, even the biggest Tesla bulls are expecting some letdown.
“I wouldn’t be surprised about some short-term upsets,” Tasha Keeney, ARK Invest’s Director of Investment Analysis, told CNBC’s Last Call on Monday. “But I think the long-term story is EVs are here to stay.”
ARK Invest’s current price target for Tesla stock is $2,000 by 2027. This aggressive projection implies an upside of 1,300% from Tesla’s closing price of $142 on Monday.
The electric vehicle maker’s shares fell for the seventh consecutive session on Monday after cutting prices on several models, sending the stock to a 15-month low.
“Tesla’s prices are so competitive,” Keeney said. “It’s going to be very hard for any other company to catch up to them at this point.”
Keeney emphasized that ARK Invest is focused on the long-term innovations Tesla is poised to capitalize on — like robotaxis.
“It’s single-handedly pushed forward the electric vehicle industry. I think it’s going to do the same for autonomous driving,” Keeney said. “So that’s what we’re focused on — that long-term story.”
‘Feels like the enemy is within’ Boeing airplanes, says pilot
Boeing’s recent troubles have put some pilots on high alert when they enter the cockpit.
“It gives me even more pause when I get on the airplane,” Dennis Tajer, spokesperson for the Allied Pilots Association and a pilot for American Airlines, told CNBC’s Last Call on Tuesday. “And not a pause of concern of flying it – but making sure I’m watching it like a hawk.”
Multiple incidents involving Boeing planes have made headlines over the past several days, including one in which at least 50 people were injured on a 787 Dreamliner after passengers say it descended rapidly on a flight from Australia to New Zealand. The cause of that incident is under investigation, but carrier LATAM Airlines referred to it as a “technical event.”
On Tuesday, Southwest and Alaska Air said their flying plans were at risk amid Boeing’s ongoing quality-control concerns.
“Every airline is basically fighting to ensure that their network plan is not undermined by this failure of Boeing,” said Tajer, a Boeing 737 captain. “And it changes every day.”
Despite the time he spent flying Boeing 707s in Desert Storm for the U.S. Air Force, Tajer said he thinks about the dangers of flying more than he ever has before.
“I was in the military and Boeing planes saved my tail many times in combat,” Tajer said. “The enemy was outside the airplane. Now it feels like the enemy is within.”
Meta whistleblower: Zuckerberg’s apology to families a ‘turning point’
Meta whistleblower Frances Haugen felt co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony before Congress was “powerful” on Wednesday — especially when he turned to apologize directly to families who blamed the toxicity of social media for the loss of a loved one.
“That apology, I think, is a turning point because it’s the first time he’s actually had to visibly face the consequences of his choices,” Haugen said on CNBC’s Last Call.
The hearing regarding child safety on social media featured several prominent tech CEOs from Discord, Snap, TikTok, and X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. But perhaps none drew more ire from lawmakers than Zuckerberg.
At one point, Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley pressed Zuckerberg on research that showed minors were encountering inappropriate and unwanted content like nudity on Instagram at an alarming rate. Zuckerberg fumbled and then refused to answer Hawley’s question over who was fired in the wake of those revelations.
“Do you know who’s sitting behind you,” Hawley asked. “You’ve got families from across the nation whose children are either severely harmed or gone. You don’t think it’s appropriate to talk about steps that you took?”
Hawley implored Zuckerberg to apologize to those in attendance, and the CEO rose from his seat and turned to speak directly to the crowd.
“I’m sorry for everything that you have all been through. It’s terrible,” Zuckerberg said. “This is why we invest so much and are going to continue doing industry-leading efforts to make sure that no one has to go through the types of things that your families have had to suffer.”
Haugen, the former Facebook product manager turned whistleblower who leaked a trove of internal documents to the Wall Street Journal in 2021, said the apology was amplified by the many families in attendance.
“It was a full room,” Haugen said. “The energy was electric.”
Many of the internal documents Haugen leaked detailed the company’s knowledge of the potentially harmful impact social media platforms Facebook and Instagram may have on underage users.
Capitalizing on a Stanley Cup Run with ‘Skyrocketing’ Revenue
A conversation with Florida Panthers CEO Matt Caldwell
When I heard my show Last Call was planning a special in Miami Beach, I knew I had something big to offer on the booking front. My college days as a host of the Pucking Panthers Podcast put me in touch with the communications department of my favorite hockey team. They even gave our vlog press passes and allowed us to pepper the coach with questions back in 2015-16.
But a full circle moment happened for me in 2024. I was able to book, produce and line produce a live interview with Florida Panthers CEO Matt Caldwell.
The long-struggling franchise was purchased back in 2013, and Caldwell was brought on shortly thereafter to guide the team’s financial decision-making. Now, 10 years later, Caldwell says a recent Cinderella run to the Stanley Cup Finals has led to ‘skyrocketing’ sponsorship revenue.
Here’s the full interview with Caldwell and our host Brian Sullivan.
While it may be obvious what a segment producer does (prep all video, graphics, banners, research, and scripts for a segment) — not many are familiar with the role of the line producer. A role I’ve held for the past 3 years.
I’m basically the only person in Brian’s ear the whole time. I talk to him between breaks, let him know how much time he has left, and occasionally suggest topics during the interview while the guest is answering another question.
OFF-CAMERA
During the three-minute commercial break, I was chatting with Brian — who admittedly doesn’t know much about hockey — that superstar Matthew Tkachuk would be a great discussion point with Caldwell. I was surprised when he asked if he was Keith Tkachuk’s younger brother — and Brian felt very old when I informed him that was actually Matthew’s father. Give him credit for knowing a throwback NHL name though.
DECISIONS DURING
Ahead of the interview, it was agreed upon between our team and the Panthers comms team that we’d ask a question about the new stunning practice facility in Fort Lauderdale. It was understandably a big deal for them. As I realized we were only two minutes to the end of the show (7:58p, Shark Tank starts at 8p) — I hopped in Brian’s ear and reminded him to ask about it. Once he did, we had the video ready to run.
WRAP
Brian did it in his own hilarious way and after a little back and forth about Messi — that would be just about it for the interview. A great discussion about the team’s on-ice transformation, growing the fanbase, and key financial milestones.
And a really cool moment for me. Growing up, I was always disappointed in media coverage of the Panthers. Now I got to lay out the team’s narrative in a way that felt fair. A franchise that’s been transformed into a winner — something South Florida always wanted.
And I was able to craft the segment in a way that mattered to my new audience of CNBC viewers, not just Florida Panthers faithful. If the Pucking Panthers Podcast were still around, I’m sure Alex and Ryan would be yelling at me for not asking about the rising price of the Turkey Sandwich near the Coors Light Cold Zone. Maybe next time.
For more on the history of the Pucking Panthers Podcast, check out the page all about it on my site.
VCs Poised to Repeat Mistakes Chasing AI
More than a quarter of venture dollars in 2023 went to artificial intelligence startups, according to data from Crunchbase.
“VCs created the problem,” Matt Higgins, Co-founder and CEO of RSE Ventures. “Now with AI — you have all these VCs that are chasing all these deals.”
Just last month, French startup Mistral AI raised $415 million dollars in a funding round valuing the company at $2 billion. Even more eye-popping is the disparity between this funding round and the $112 million seed round it raised only six months prior.
This is not to say that Mistral AI won’t be successful — it allows users to build their own AI chatbots — it just represents how the chase is on in a massive way.
“How is it possible to figure out in 2023 what’s gonna be commoditized or what’s gonna be absorbed by Microsoft as a feature or Meta,” Higgins said. “So I do think a lot of money is chasing and creating the same problem. Lots of people are gonna lose a ton of money. Will they ever learn? The answer is ‘no.'”
Clicks Over Clarity: Misleading Headlines About Tesla’s “Recall”
Wednesday, December 15
Context: After a years-long investigation into Tesla’s autopilot feature, NHTSA has ordered the company to recall 2 million of its vehicles. But all this means for Tesla is that they’ll have to issue an over-the-air software update to adjust the feature at no cost to owners.
While we originally planned to have this discussion around Tesla’s stock price, our host Brian Sullivan quickly honed in on the detail that many publishers were burying or outright ignoring.
Brian: “I think for most consumers, when they see the word ‘recall’ they assume something more serious than a software update.”
We had passionate Tesla investor Ross Gerber join Last Call to share his take on the issue that seems to repeat itself every few months.
Ross: “I do think it’s very misleading when the media runs headlines like 2 million cars being recalled. It certainly infers that there’s a negative financial impact to this — and there isn’t,” Gerber said. “The media must call Tesla for comment — as you guys do every time — and what do they say: nothing.”
“Why would the headlines be correct? How would the headlines be correct if they don’t correct them? So now you have me on tv and we try to get the right information out to consumers, to viewers, and to investors. Tesla doesn’t do this. So why?”
While Gerber’s point about Tesla lacking a PR department to thwart false narratives about the company is justified, I would place the onus for this miscommunication on business journalists. Media has a responsibility to fact-check the initial headlines it receives from government agencies, not rely on dated language. Just look at some of these headlines:
Credit to the Financial Times and our own network CNBC for framing the story accurately. While other publications’ headlines were factually correct, there is a responsibility to not omit vital details that would better inform the casual reader.
Rightfully so, Tesla enthusiasts were pissed — and don’t just suspect a lack of due diligence from media — but believe the error occurs repeatedly because of a concerted effort to smear Tesla.
These were replies to the Last Call interview posted to twitter. There is a complete lack of trust in business journalism. Tesla supporters feel jaded and even resort to criticizing the network that is pointing out the misinformation in the media ecosystem.
This is the cost of a media that prioritizes clicks over clarity.
In the control room during this live interview, even I noticed that our first headline didn’t have enough room to mention the software update. You’ll notice at 0:54 we change the banner (that has limited character space) to “TESLA ROLLS OUT AUTOPILOT UPDATE”.
You’d like to think this online backlash from Tesla believers would cause journalists to think twice about their headlines. All I can say from my team is that it won’t be a mistake you see on Last Call.
Misinformation Spreads About Israel-Hamas War
On Last Call, Brian speaks with Ian Bremmer, President of global risk management firm Eurasia Group, about a hotly debated event in Gaza. Major publications like the New York Times and Associated Press ran a headline about 500 people killed after an Israeli airstrike on a hospital. Though they cited the Gaza spokesperson, the ensuing chaos on social media and on Capitol Hill demonstrated the need for verification in journalism. This is one of my favorite conversations we’ve had as it incorporates graphics that show the enraging headlines — and the protests breaking out over the Middle East.
I played an instrumental role in booking Bremmer, pitching the targeted angle of the segment, and calling the show live to ensure editorial accuracy in visual elements and timing.
TAYLOR CRAIG MEDIA 