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Young Americans are moving out of the cities, getting good-paying jobs, and starting families earlier than the previous generation, Walker Wildmon told the Todd Starnes Show Thursday.
Wildmon, vice president of operations for the American Family Association and American Family Radio host, said he is seeing biblical and godly values making a comeback, especially among Gen Z.
“I really think a lot of people in this country, especially a lot of young people, they’re starting to realize that just this way of the secularist and the godless, this their way is obviously not working,” Wildmon explained. “I’m seeing a lot of young people in their late teens or early 20s that are getting married early. They’re having kids earlier and they’re starting a family. They’re moving out to the country, they’re getting a good-paying job and they’re working hard and they’re raising their kids. I’m starting to see that make a comeback.”
He added: “It’s kind of countercultural right now, but I think really people are starting to latch onto that again, as a good way to live and a good way to raise a family. And that is the right and the noble thing to do.”
LISTEN TO FULL INTERVIEW WITH WALKER WILDMON BELOW:
The following is a rush transcript of Todd’s interview with American Family Radio host Walker Wildmon:
STARNES: [00:39:08] I want to go right now to the Patriot mobile newsmaker line. We are honored to have with us one of a team member from American family radio, Great American Patriot. He has his own radio program. Walker, Wildmon Walker. It’s been a while. Hope your new and good card man. [00:39:25][16.8]
WILDMON: [00:39:25] It is good to be on your show and I’m not too far from me about an hour and a half south in Tupelo, Mississippi. [00:39:31][5.4]
STARNES: [00:39:31] You know, whenever I head over to Atlanta, we drive right through your fair city on Interstate 22, more often than not about 10 miles over the speed limit. But you know, it’s a good town. [00:39:42][10.9]
WILDMON: [00:39:43] Yeah, I forgot your broadcast that you’re so you’re broadcasting from Atlanta now. [00:39:46][3.0]
STARNES: [00:39:47] No, we’re in Memphis, but we head over to Atlanta every now and again. Any time we have to head over to that part of the country, it always takes us right through Tupelo. So there you go. [00:39:55][8.5]
WILDMON: [00:39:56] Good. Good part of the south. [00:39:57][0.9]
STARNES: [00:39:57] You know, Walker, one of the things we really appreciate about American family radio is the is the position you guys take on the culture. You know, a lot of stations, Christian radio stations, they don’t like to engage in cultural issues or controversial topics, but you guys have really have a long history of taking a stand when many other people would not. [00:40:18][20.6]
WILDMON: [00:40:19] Yeah, my grandfather started this ministry back in 1977, and ever since then, I mean, he’s he started American Family Association based on taking a stand. He started by unplugging the television back in the late 70s, early 80s, and he got a lot of attention, mostly negative attention. But anyway, a lot of people got behind him. And so we’ve been at this cultural war about 40 plus years. And you know, the key thing that keeps us encouraged and keeps us focused is the gospel of Jesus Christ and his word. So that’s one thing that the Christians can unite with is, you know, there’s a lot of a lot of people with different ideologies and worldviews out there, but the body of Christ believers can unite around God’s word and standing up for godly values in this country and around the world. So that’s what we’re doing here at American Family Association and and many of the positions we take and the many of the positions that you take are not popular. They’re not going to get us, you know, brownie points. But here we are. God calls us to stand. He calls us to fight and be courageous. So that’s what we’re going to do. [00:41:21][61.7]
STARNES: [00:41:22] You know, Walker, if they’re not sending you guys death threats, they’re setting me death threats. So, you know, it’s for me, it’s like, Well, that’s one less death threat AFA is going to get so killed. [00:41:32][10.0]
WILDMON: [00:41:32] Really noted, Yeah, we’re just locked up. We just we just had a guy locked up last year for four death threats. The FBI got involved. The U.S. Attorney’s Office got involved. So yeah, this is this is serious stuff. I mean, the hate really is a one way thing. You know, we get called haters and bigots, but most of the hate actually comes from the other side towards us. And it’s very vitriolic, very hateful and bigoted. And all we’re doing is standing up for traditional values. Todd, I mean, the stuff we’re standing for is not really controversial stuff. I mean, we’re talking about how men and women are unique. God created them male and female, and there’s no changing that. That should not be a controversial topic. One thing we stand for is biblical marriage, natural marriage between one man and one woman for life. That used to be the status quo that was the accepted norm. But now somehow that’s outdated and antiquated. So we’re standing up for biblical values, and we’re going to keep doing it, and we appreciate people like you who stand with us. [00:42:29][57.4]
STARNES: [00:42:30] Oh, absolutely. And look as as early as what, 10 years ago you had an overwhelming majority of California voters affirm marriage between one man and one woman. And there were so many people in New York who affirmed traditional marriage, the state legislature would not even allow people to vote on it. They decided to take legislative action. So to your point, these are commonly held values that we have had throughout world history, not just here in America, but all over the world. Folks Walker Wildman from American Family Radio on the Patriot mobile newsmaker line here in our Liberty University Studios. Walker, you’re a you’re a young guy. How old? How old are you? [00:43:10][40.8]
WILDMON: [00:43:12] Twenty. I’ll be 28 next week. [00:43:13][1.4]
STARNES: [00:43:13] Wow, and you’ve got youngster. You got a family young family. This is something. Do you think it’s something of an anomaly that someone your age is out there speaking truth to the culture like this? [00:43:24][11.2]
WILDMON: [00:43:26] I would say within, if you look at the last 10 to 15 years, it is an anomaly. But Todd, what I’m seeing more and more is actually biblical values. Godly values are actually making a comeback, believe it or not. And you’re not going to see this, you know, all the media, you’re not going to see this on college campuses as much. But I really think a lot of people in this country, especially a lot of young people, they’re starting to realize that just this way of the secularist and the godless, this their way is obviously not working. I’m seeing a lot of young people in their in their late teens or early 20s that are getting married early. They’re having kids earlier and they’re starting a family. They’re moving out to the country, they’re getting a good-paying job and they’re working hard and they’re raising their kids. I’m starting to see that make a comeback. It’s kind of countercultural right now, but I think really people are starting to latch onto that again, as is a good way to live and a good way to raise a family. And that is the right and the noble thing to do. So I may be an anomaly, but I’ll tell you, we got a lot of people out there that agree with you and I, Todd. [00:44:28][61.6]
STARNES: [00:44:29] You know, it’s interesting you say that. We have a company that handles our podcast and we got about 800-900,000 monthly downloads on that thing. And they told us that 44 percent of our audience is between 18 and 35 years old, which is somewhat unheard of. But to your point, I think younger people are looking for answers. They’re looking for people that aren’t going to shy away from just, you know, speaking their mind. You may not agree with with everything we say, but at least you respect the point that, you know, we are sharing our opinions. [00:45:00][31.5]
WILDMON: [00:45:02] Yeah, that’s exactly right, and and we’ve got to continue to to to be the alternative to the mainstream media. And that’s what your show’s doing each day across the airwaves across the country. That’s what American family radio is doing as we are the alternative media outlet broadcasting across the country. And so we’ve got to have that Todd and we’ve got to continue to building more alternative networks. We’re going to we’ve got to create a parallel economy. That’s why I tell people now. We’ve got to create a parallel economy to where we can. We can get away from these major media conglomerates and start building our own platforms so we don’t have to be afraid of being canceled. [00:45:37][35.2]
STARNES: [00:45:37] See, I love that. And that’s, you know, when we have Patriot Mobile, for example, they are sponsors of this program. And again, you know, when you subscribe to their service, your money is not going to support Planned Parenthood. It’s going to support organizations that we care about. And I think I think that’s a brilliant concept, Walker, that you raise is this parallel community. I was in California just to show the impact of AFR. I was in California last week and people were coming up to me saying they they listen to AFR. They hear my daily commentaries on the network, and they’re always so appreciative of the great work that you and the entire team there at AFR are doing. [00:46:16][38.5]
WILDMON: [00:46:18] Yeah, one thing I want to I want to tout real quick, Todd, before you let me go is our new streaming platform. We’re going to launch this on November 1st here in just about two weeks, but we’re creating an online video streaming platform that is going to be set up just like Netflix, you log in and you watch whatever show you want to watch. We’re going to have all of if I produced content on there, we’re going to start uploading our radio shows to and then next year we’re going to have a live streaming option. So to your point and to what I mentioned, we’re starting to create these alternative platforms to where people don’t have to go to YouTube after going to Facebook or to Twitter to find out about what EFA is doing about what Todd Starnes is doing. They’re going to be able to go over these other platforms and keep up with what’s going on in our country. And this is a good, a good movement. I mean, I think it’s going to take a while, but I think a lot of people are moving away from these, these massive platforms that keep censoring and canceling us. [00:47:10][52.6]
STARNES: [00:47:10] Well, I think it’s a that’s a tremendous project that you guys are working on. And of course, all this month or all this week, rather, you guys are raising money for your network, having the AFR share-a-thon. It’s become a regular, a tradition, and it’s a way for people to reach out and support the great ministry. And how can people where do they want to need to go to to become a part of that? [00:47:33][22.7]
WILDMON: [00:47:35] Yeah, they want to read more about our work here at American Family Radio. They can just go to the website this week, AFR.net. It’s real simple. AFR dot net in your browser, and once you get there, you’ll see our latest marathon. We do this twice a year for about three days in the fall and three days in the spring, and we just asked folks to come alongside us and support our work financially so that we can keep broadcasting and we actually keep so we can keep broadcasting your spot on your daily daily commentary. [00:48:00][25.5]
STARNES: [00:48:01] I love it. Is it really expensive? I mean, I [00:48:05][3.8]
WILDMON: [00:48:05] got your spot. Yeah. Oh yeah, it cost an arm and a leg. [00:48:08][3.1]
STARNES: [00:48:08] It’s like Bill O’Reilly Money, Bill O’Reilly money. [00:48:11][2.3]
WILDMON: [00:48:11] You’re on a serious note, Todd operating a radio network. And you know this all across the country is expensive. Well, yes, it hurt. We have 180 physical towers in 30 plus states across the country, so we have to manage that equipment, manage that property. All that goes along with that. So it is a big operation. But thanks to God, we haven’t been in debt since we started 40 plus years ago. [00:48:34][22.8]
STARNES: [00:48:35] You know, Walker, you guys should really rebrand yourself as radio free America because that’s exactly what you guys are. Hmm. Hey, man, you can have that one if you want for free out. All right, [00:48:46][10.5]
WILDMON: [00:48:46] I’ll trademark it. I’ll put your name underneath it. [00:48:48][2.4]
STARNES: [00:48:50] Well, Walker, look, we’re going to get you back on. We are huge fans of what you guys are doing, and you just keep it up. We’ve got your back and it’s nice to be fighting this great war alongside you guys. [00:49:00][9.8]
WILDMON: [00:49:01] Amen, Todd. Hey, let’s keep it up, brother. Let’s take this country back and have more and more God for Americans across this country. I love [00:49:07][6.2]
STARNES: [00:49:08] it. All right. Walker Wildman from American Family Radio American Family Association adds, We’ve got links to their to their great radio network and some incredible resources, especially if you are a mom or a dad. So I love what he had to say, though, and it’s interesting. We’ve got one of our staff members at K.W. a.m. Our flagship station is a mechanical engineering major and 20 years old and just proposed to his longtime girlfriend. And they’re getting married next year when he he’s graduating in May, and they’re getting married and they’re starting a family. So I’m I don’t know if this is an anomaly. Maybe it’s just in the South, but maybe this is happening elsewhere where you’re starting to see kids understand. You know what? This is about going out there, starting your family, having a good job and and getting out of the hullabaloo of the cities. And like Walker said, moving to the moving to the country. There was a survey about that a couple of days ago that seemed to indicate that as a national trend. But I’m really excited about what he said about this parallel community where you are supporting organizations that share, share our values. Now you’re not going to be able to do that all the time, but when you can, you should. I mean, that’s how I that’s how I run my company. This is how we run this radio show and this is what I do on my personal time. My personal life is I try to support local businesses that share values. [00:50:38][90.5]