Charting A New Course In Broadcasting – Expanding Impact – with Rob Patz – [Ep. 223]

Linda J Hansen: Welcome. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Prosperity 101® Breakroom Economics Podcast. My name is Linda J. Hansen, your host and the author of Prosperity 101® Job Security Through Business Prosperity: The Essential Guide to Understanding How Policy Affects Your Paycheck, and the creator of the Breakroom Economics online course.

The book, the course, and the entire podcast library can be found on Prosperity101.com. I seek to connect boardroom to break room and policy to paycheck by empowering and encouraging employers to educate employees about the public policy issues that affect their jobs. 

My goal is to help people understand the foundations of prosperity, the policies of prosperity, and how to protect their prosperity by becoming informed, involved, and impactful. I believe this will lead to greater employee loyalty, engagement, and retention, and to an increased awareness of the blessings and responsibilities of living in a free society. Listen each week to hear from exciting guests, and be sure to visit Prosperity101.com.

Thank you so much for joining with me today for this episode of Prosperity 101® podcast. And before I begin with our guest, I do want to remind everybody to become a Prosperity Partner. Please go to Prosperity101. com, find the link to become a Prosperity Partner and please support us with any amount that you care to give to help keep these podcasts on the air. 

I also invite you to go and look at our Strategic Partners. You can find this Strategic Partner link. And when you support our Strategic Partners, you help to support the freedom economy. So please check out our Strategic Partners on the website. You'll see more about them in the show notes. But for now, for the sake of time, I will go ahead and introduce my guest.

My guest is someone who has become a new friend, but I really appreciate some of his insight, his humor, and also I appreciate, what he has done in the world of communications and media, and I've already learned a lot from him. But Rob Patz is with me today. 

He is the founder of Coastal Media. It is a faith-based PR and media company. And he is also a co-founder of Abundant TV, which is a faith-based TV network. And Rob, thank you so much for joining with me today. We have had so many different conversations and there's so much about what you do that I don't know, and I thought it would just be a great time to share some of your wisdom, experience and humor with the audience. So thank you for joining with me today. 

Rob Patz: Hey, Linda, it is so good to be here. Thank you so much. Truly an honor. And like you said that we're new friends. It's been a great experience over the last couple of months getting to know Linda.

Linda has such a heart for everything she does. She has such a passion. I have been so blessed to, she makes me excited about things. Like when we talk about something, like, yeah, let's do this now. Well, you know, and, there are people in this world that want to suck energy out of you. And then there are people like Linda who want to like pump you up and make you excited about life. 

So it is good to be or honored to be on your show, love your show, and love what you're doing with the world that you're inside. Your frame is so neat and so necessary right now. I think that more and more people are starting to realize how much the things you talk about are important to them, not only as business people, but employees. And so I'm super excited to be here with you. 

Linda J Hansen: Well, thank you so much. And this is one of the things that we have talked about is this lens that I tend to see through where it's part of the calling God gave me is that, one, we need to encourage and inspire Christians, faith-based people, to get out and vote. 

If we think of the 2020 election, and there were, I've seen estimates from 41% to 50% of Christians did not get out to vote in that presidential election. I mean, to me, that is a travesty. God gives us this freedom. We have this amazing opportunity to be, we, the people here in America. We are one of the few governments who gave the power back to the people and limited the size and scope of government.

But because of our complacency, we have allowed government to become this large monster that is controlling our life, and we need to take that back. And so as believers, yes. But then also as business owners, if business owners would educate their employees about these issues, it would really help to turn the tide.

And I don't mean that business owners should tell someone how to vote or what kind of faith they need to have, or exactly what they need to believe. But business owners need to expose them to information so that they can make their decisions themselves. 

And I think what you're doing with your broadcasting experience and with what you're doing now is really helping to expose people to a wide variety of information. And tell us a little bit more about what you're doing with Abundant TV.

Rob Patz: Yeah, I want to do this, but I want to ask you a question. See, as somebody that does a lot of the interviewing side, it's harder for me to be the person that's being interviewed. So I want to ask you a question before we move on and we'll talk about Abundant TV, but why do you think that so many Christians stayed home?

And this has been something that's bothered me because I've heard these same numbers from several of my friends. I'm very political in my circle, and I wonder why so many of them stayed home in the last election. 

Linda J Hansen: You know, it's very frustrating to me to even hear that because, you know, as Christians, sometimes we just, I hear from people that they just get so fed up with the corruption in politics. I mean, they just throw up their hands and say, Oh, it doesn't matter who I vote for, or my vote won't count. What's the difference? 

And that's, I'd say exactly what the Left wants us to believe. It's exactly what the people who are wanting to turn America into their, you know, their, their ideal version of 15-minute cities and globalist control. You know, that's exactly what they want us to think. They want us to think that there's no use that one person can't make a difference, that we can't turn the tide. And absolutely we can. 

And I want to tell Christians to one plus God is a majority. So hello? And Jesus only had 12 and they made quite a big difference. Right?

Rob Patz: Right.

Linda J Hansen: So, it's all across the spectrum. It's not even just Christians, but Conservatives who didn't vote, too. You know, I think of a lot of people that are say Middle to Right, you know, Independents and Conservatives who didn't get out to vote. I mean, maybe they don't like the candidate.

You know, the media has done a great job of propping up one candidate and making the other one look like a horrible person. Right? And that's very common. It's common every election cycle. It's common now, but I tell people don't go by party or personality. Go by policy. 

And once we can start to educate people about the policies and just basic policies. I think that they become more excited to go vote. They realize that they really can make a difference. One person does matter. And, you know, if all the individuals out there decide, well, I'm not going to vote because my vote doesn't matter. Well, then you have millions of people who didn't go vote because they didn't think their vote mattered. Well, you know, collectively that matters. 

And so each one reach one, but I believe strongly that we need to get out to vote because it is absolutely, one, a gift that God has given us here with freedom and we are to protect that. But also to really stand for the principles that we believe in. I mean, if we don't stand up, then we just get walked on. 

Rob Patz: So that answers your question and your question leads into mine. And what about Abundant TV? Abundant TV, we really started it to be a place where the voice for those people that don't always feel that they're connected with Christian television.

And so, we really started with that and our slogan is changing the way you think about Christian television, and we want to be very proactive in all areas, including ministries. And we support a lot of great ministries through our network, but we also want to encourage the public to be proactive in their government, no matter what country they're in.

We reach all around the world with our app, but specifically a lot of our stuff is concentrated on things happening here in the United States. And Linda has fired me up into wanting to do more political stuff. And so, we are going to see some things coming up through the rest of this year. And I really do.

I think that what you said is very true. I think there are a lot of people out there that feel disenfranchised by the political scene, even by the Christian media scene. And so we hope to change that. We hope that we're a place where people can come and see a balanced, somebody else uses that, so I can't use the whole slogan, but a balanced perspective on what is going on.

Linda J Hansen: I think that's so important and I like it that you mentioned about the whole world because, you know, actually the whole world watches what happens in America. You know, I became even more aware of that when I was Deputy Chief of Staff for Herman Cain's presidential campaign and we were hearing from people all over.

And especially after he dropped out, because that was a movement as well, that many people don't know, but we were really organized down to the precinct level in 50 States. Not every precinct, but we had such a groundswell movement that was kind of under the radar in so many ways before he dropped out.

And this was something that was felt across the world. And after he dropped out and to this day, I'll hear from people from other countries who cried the day he dropped out because they saw a leader. They saw someone who was a strong leader for America and the world wants a strong America.

And I say it a hundred times over, a strong America makes for a strong world, a free America makes for a more free world. And so, when we fight for freedom here, we are truly, truly helping preserve and protect freedom for people, you know, globally. 

Rob Patz: Don't you think that, especially here in our country, you're seeing more and more people just really desiring ship that we don't seem to have. It seems like a void in leadership anywhere.

And I think we as a society are so desperately wanting people to lead. You know, everybody says, well, we want what everybody wants. You know, and I think we've become a society, you watch social media. It's like, we don't want to offend anybody anymore. We don't want to do anything anymore. Hardly anybody wants to have an opinion anymore because they're worried.

So you have a bunch of people sitting around going, I don't know what to do, or they'll stick their finger in the air and figure out which way the wind is currently blowing. And when the wind is blowing that way, they go, that's my thing, I'm going to take. And really that doesn't make them any different than anyone else. It just means their voice may be louder, their platform may be bigger, but they really don't have that, that passionate desire to lead. 

And I believe, and you and I both know this because we've been in positions of leadership in our lives that to be a true leader, you have to have a passion for whatever it is, whether that was your time with Herman Cain or whether it's what I've done to help build a Christian ministries around the country. You have to have a passion for it. And if you don't have that passion, you're not going to be able to really get people behind you. 

So I think we've become a society with all the social media that has lent itself now to, I'm a leader by default. I wait until there's a point made that, wow, that, and I hate using the word trending, but I think a lot of political people are waiting to see, and they're going to X, formerly known as Twitter, because I totally believe Elon did that on purpose, so it takes us way longer to say it than, than just saying Twitter. But people are going to X. 

I think political people are, and I don't know them personally. So I'm not saying that I know this for a fact, but as an outsider observing, looking in on this, they wait to see almost like there's, if they see it trending on Twitter, they jump on it and they go, yeah, I think so, too. And you're like, I don't need any more yeah people. I need people that go, no, this is what I believe, and this is why I believe it, and this is why we need to do what we need to do. 

Linda J Hansen: You know, that's a really good point. And that's not leadership. That is not leadership. And people can love you or hate you, but they will at least respect you if you lead and you're true to who you are. You're authentic and true.

And so that's where, you know, we shouldn't allow ourselves to be silenced. You know, this whole thing about, you know, not wanting to offend people. I get it. I don't want to offend anybody either. You know, I'm from the Midwest for Pete's sakes, you know. I don't want to offend anybody, you know, but there's things that are right. And there's things that are wrong. There's things that are helpful and there are things that are hurtful. And if we are not honest about that, we're not really loving and caring for our fellow man. 

Rob Patz: That's right. But here's what you do. If you're going to tell somebody from the Midwest, if you’re going to tell somebody something they don't want to hear. You bring them a casserole, you bring them a casserole first. And then you say, well, you know, this is what I see. 

Linda J Hansen: You know, it's, it's so true. I don't know if you've ever seen that movie, New in Town. I think it is Renee Zellweger. It just reminds me so much of like when we lived in Grand Forks, North Dakota for a few years in the 80s. And then when we moved to a small town in Wisconsin, I mean, it was just like, I remember thinking, where are we moving to exactly, you know.  

But then the people are so rich and so caring and so loving. And we have lifelong friendships from so many of those communities where we lived in. And it's such a blessing. And I recently spoke at another location in the Midwest. I'm not going to say where, but one of the attendees reached out to me later, about a week later and said, you know, how impactful it was, how engaging, how informative, convicting in some ways. 

And so I asked him, how was this? Like, tell me what it was that actually impacted you when I came to speak to your group. And he was great. He said, well, we live in the periscope down Midwest nice environment. We don't like to make waves. And you actually taught me that I can speak about these issues in a way that won't be offensive. I can actually share truth in a way that won't be offensive. 

And you know, of course, there's always going to be some people offended because you can't please all the people all the time, but it really blessed me to hear him say that because I think so many people in the Left has done such a great job of trying to silence anybody who doesn't have their narrative. And they're not only silencing them. They're throwing a lot of them in jail. 

I mean, it's actually really happening. And so, we have political prisoners here in the U.S. and, if people don't believe me, you know, all we have to do is check it out a little bit further and you'll see it's actual truth. And so, you know, we must speak up. If we don't, who will? And if not now, when?

You know, people before the Holocaust and other really tragic times in world history, when they saw it coming and it was months, months or years in the making, and you could see all the warning signs, the people who knew and didn't speak up had such guilt afterwards because you could see what's happening and you know, we can't.

I tell people, if I saw someone standing on a train track and there was a train coming, I would run to get them off the tracks. And that's how I feel with America now is like, we are running to get our nation on the right track or off that speeding train that's coming to hit it. Right? 

Rob Patz: Don't you think Linda, too, though that we have become a society where you can't disagree? You can't, when we were younger, you could disagree with somebody and still be friends with them.

Linda J Hansen: Yes.

Rob Patz: I had a great talk with, and I'm not going to because he is my friend now and he votes differently than I do. I was flying from Seattle to Atlanta, Georgia and had a great talk with a gentleman who is polar opposite politically than I am, which is fine. I mean, that's what he believes.

And we found some middle ground to talk about. He was super articulate and we had a great time. He does a lot of neat outreach in his community where he lives and he does this neat stuff. And we talked about how as two polar opposite political people, we still need to have some kind of discourse.

Otherwise, our society becomes, and I think there are people in society, I think there are agents inside of both parties. I'm not going to just say one, that want us not to talk to everybody. ‘Cause when we find out that we talk to each other, that we have a lot more in common than we disagree on. And at the end of the day, that's what makes America so great.

There are so many more things that bind us together than separate us. But I think that the media has done this. One reason why we do the stuff we do now on Abundant TV, the media has done this. I think a lot of social media has done this. I think there's been indoctrination inside our schools that has done this to where if you don't believe like I do, well, then you're wrong.

Linda J Hansen: There is profit in chaos. There is not only financial profit in chaos or in endless wars that don't need to be fought, whether it's between people or between countries, but there's profit in chaos. And there is also the profit in having people divided. And that is a really great way to come in, you know, a house divided, cannot stand.

So, you know, united, we stand, divided, we fall. And, you know, you brought up a thing about someone polar opposite. I still remember, you know, the 2000 Bush election, right? And that they had the hanging, right? And everybody was, you know, on TV counting all these ballots and things, and I had this dear, dear Democrat friend, call me and say, you know, this is Bob and I just called the RNC and said, those 12 ballots from Linda Hansen, you know, should not be counted or so. 

I can't remember, but he was just making this joke and I laughed so much. I said, well, how's my favorite Democrat today? You know, I'd find him, we'd see each other in town or something like that at an event. And I'd open my trunk and say, now, which sign would you like today?vHave you decided to switch sides? Because I've got every sign you could possibly need. How about some bumper stickers? You know, some lit here, what would you like, you know? And he would always laugh. 

And we just had a great relationship and, you know, even when I was a county chair one time for many years, I had this headquarters, and one year I had like all these teenage Republicans there and they were all, you know, on the phones and coming back from being on doors and everything was just a bustling place.

And the guy who was running as a Democrat for assembly that year came in on election day with bags of candy for us. And he said, you know, I got to hand it to you. Like, you know, you've been amazing. I've had to run to catch up to you. Like this is nothing, like this has ever happened in this town. You know, you've been great and stuff. And, you know, and I'm kind of looking at him smiling and saying, kids check for pins in the candy, you know?

Rob Patz: That’s what I was going to say. We maybe want to x-ray the candy first. 

Linda J Hansen: Yeah, I told him, you know, and we just laughed about it. He was great. But, you know, there's, we can do that. And like you said, now in this society now, it's like, oh, you can't do that. You know, you have to be hateful towards one another. 

No. And Jesus didn't do that. So if we are going to want to be the hands and feet of Jesus, yes, we're going to be involved in the marketplace. Yes, we're going to be involved in politics. Good grief, we'd look in scripture and he overthrew kingdoms, right?

He cared about, you know, God cared about who was in power and leaders rise and leaders fall. And God cares about righteousness in government and he blesses righteousness in government and it's up to the people. Like we have that opportunity. So, you know, this is important for families. It's important for, like you mentioned, schools, it's important for, you know, our entire nation.

But, before we close, I do want to ask you, you run a business. You've been involved in business for many, many years, and these policies matter to business. And how a business is able to run their organization, how they're able to lead their employees, what would you say to employers who need to figure out how to speak to their employees about the importance of being an educated and informed citizen before they go to vote?

Rob Patz: Yeah, I would have them get your course. I would have them go to your web, and actually I've talked to people about what Linda does. because it is very important. You have to walk a very fine line now. And so, but I think it's important as I was saying, when we started this, there are business owners that are watching this and there are employees and it's a key.

If you're an employee, that's great. It's awesome. Not every one of us is called to be a business owner. And trust me, there are days that I question why God called me to be a business owner and what bad things I did in my life prior to that to be forced to do this. But even if you're an employee, you have to get educated.

There are so many things and Linda's got a great, and give the website, Linda, as long as I'm plugging this, let's get the website. 

Linda J Hansen: And just so everybody knows, I did not pay him to do this. I did not pay for this, this pitch, Prosperity101.com. And I do have the break room economics course on there.

There's 12 short lessons. Each one is like a 5- to 7-minute video with a transcript that can be printed out. And for those who would like to use it, say as a lunch and learn or a workbook, workshop or, you know, a classroom-type setting, I do have a facilitator guide that the leader can use with discussion questions, everything, but everything is non-partisan and it's meant to just create awareness of basically the freedoms and responsibilities we have as citizens in America.

So, I thank you for recommending that. I mean, and listeners, I didn't pay him to do that. So, I just really appreciate that. 

Rob Patz: Well, I mean, Linda, you are fantastic and you need to get this. I think it's an amazing thing. I think we live in a time right now, whereas business owners, we need to educate. That doesn't mean we need to indoctrinate. That doesn't mean that we need to do anything else, but we need to let our employees know. 

I think we were out on our vacation and that's, for those of you watching this video, I haven't shaved because I just got back. And we were on vacation and we had a chance to sit and talk. And, I'm going to bring this story in, as we had a chance. We were out in California and we had a chance to sit and talk to some people that were working at the restaurant that we were at, and they are really frustrated by a lot of the policies that are currently being enforced upon them by the state of California.

And we had a chance to sit and talk to them and they said, man, we didn't really have a say in this. And I said, well, did you vote? And they said, well, yeah, who did you vote for? And they said, well, we vote. I said, see, there's your problem. I said, and they said, well, we didn't know this was coming. I said, well, how long have they been, you know, proposing this and they said, oh, about five years. We found out it was about five years, I said, well, then you knew before you voted for the person and they were, it was really a neat conversation because it tied into you and to what you and I have talked about, and that is that you have to be educated.

Before you go vote, I'm not telling you who to vote for. That would be the scariest thing. If Linda and I told you who to vote for, that's not what we want. That’s not what America was made out of, but I want you to be educated. I want you to go, you know what? I'm willing to take this risk for this purpose, because this is the outcome I want to see.

And business owners, especially you see that every day in your life. You go, I'm going to make this decision. I know this risk. But I know the outcome that I want, and I need to do this. And so I think that's it. So, get her book, get her website, go check it out. I appreciate Linda so much. She's amazing. And what she's doing to help educate is incredible.

Linda J Hansen: Well, I really appreciate that. And I actually, you know, I kind of asked you spur of the moment to do this because I thought, you know what? We need to let listeners know about Abundant TV and about the fact that there are people out there really trying to get a positive message out. 

We see so many different streaming options that are there and networks rise and they fall, and sometimes it's great programming. Sometimes it's not. You know, they may start new and, you know, have their training wheels on and need to, to build out that program base. But honestly, so listeners, I really hope you'll go to Abundant TV and check it out because, and watch it grow. How long has Abundant TV been a streaming platform?

Rob Patz: We started, we launched May 5th of 2022, so we're just a little over two years old. We launched on Cinco de Mayo, because Mexican food is my favorite food. So that was a great day to start. And we  started two years ago and we are still in the training wheels phase. You know, to build out a 24-hour.

And the interesting thing, Linda, that I love to tell people is we are a linear broadcast. Meaning if you're used to just watching TV, you can come to our website and 24 hours a day, there is programming on a linear basis. We also have on-demand stuff. You can see Linda. She's on there. We recorded her interview, and we've got all kinds of neat stuff that's happening there.

And I appreciate Linda and I appreciate people that have watched. We have just a little over 350,000 people every day. It makes us the fastest growing Christian television app in the world. And that's humbling because to be honest with you, even though I have 25 years of working in this world, I would have never expected it to grow like this and God has been so good. And then he brings great people like Linda into my circle and our circle grows and our  community grows inside of what we're doing at Abundant TV. 

Linda J Hansen: Well, say it again, that you are the fastest growing Christian—

Rob Patz: We are currently the fastest growing Christian, faith-based app-driven television in the world. And that was from an outside company. It's an outside source that we actually pay to be a part of. 

And the interesting thing about this too, Linda, and this was something that Nielsen, of course, Nielsen's the rating people for all ratings for television. Nielsen just did a study just about a month ago and streaming services like Abundant TV now outpace a combined cable and satellite. So over, I think it's 38 percent of people get their news, their weather, their television shows via an app compared to combined television and satellite. It's crazy. 

And it's really cool ‘cause our story is I had a little bit of a background with app driven television, because I'd worked with television, but didn't really know a lot until a friend of mine actually called me and said, Rob, you need to do this. This is something that you need to do and you need to get in on it now.

And that was three years ago. And we took us about a year to get started. We really wanted, we wanted it to be a place where people could go and not have it buffer or have it look bad. We think our app looks probably one of the best in my humble opinion. I had nothing to do with it, because the artistic side of things is not my jam, but, it is. It's a really proud and we're excited.

And if you're watching this, don't be shocked if you see Linda show up here in the next little while. I'm trying to talk her into a TV show. I might even co-host it with her because I get to talk. 

Linda J Hansen: It'd be fun. It'd be fun. Well, and I just want to, for people who may not be familiar too, I want to just clarify app-driven. It means, you know, because it doesn't mean like, oh, you can just only use it on your phone. It's app-driven. You can use like your Roku or your Apple TV or something like that. And you can go and download the app to your television and watch it just like any other streaming service, like Netflix or something, right?

Rob Patz: Exactly.

Linda J Hansen: And, exactly like that. And so, you know, listeners, if you are thirsty for better programming, help Abundant TV to grow. Help people who are really stepping out there to bring positive programming in a variety of genres really. Help them to grow. Support them with viewing. Support them with, you know, sponsoring, help them.

Because if we are really going to take back the mountains of culture, you know, which I've talked about a lot on this podcast, but the mountains of culture, and if we want to take back arts and entertainment, we want to take back media, we want to take back business, family and government, you know, military, all these things, it comes with truth.

And if we can get out truth and, people, you know, Herman Cain always said, if people have the right information, they will make the right decision. And that doesn't mean they're going to make every decision like we would make or something like that. But if we provide them with information so that they can have a well-rounded view and then they can decide for themselves, but we're against any kind of censorship or anything like that.

And so having an option like Abundant TV is a great way to impact the culture. It's a great way to impact the culture in a really positive way. And so, I thank you for your leadership in that. What's one last thing you'd like to say before we close? 

Rob Patz: Just get plugged in. This is a time in our country where you need to be plugged in. You need to be proactive. So many people are passive. The numbers we talked about earlier made me, it hurts my heart every time I hear it. And so over the next few months, be passionate, be plugged in and go out, and do what you believe is right when you vote. 

Linda J Hansen: Exactly. Exactly. And if people want to reach you, how should they do so?

Rob Patz: Best way to get us is go to AbundantTV.com. Or you can go to thecoastalmedia.com. You can find me there. Either one of those places. 

Linda J Hansen: All right. Well, thank you, Rob Patz for spending time today with this interview. Thank you.

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