I admit, using the words misleading and deceptive is pretty strong language to use to describe a radio show. In this case it is the “Get Real With Dave” Dave Burke radio show.
Burke has been on the air buying time for at least a couple of years. Until May, 2010 he was pitching his radio shows as “Real Talk Network.” But I am told that because of the rapidly exploding number of BBB complaints, investigative reports on television and now possible State of Colorado fraud investigation, he is changing his branding to try and change his image.
The first of his new radio shows I heard aired May 22, 2010 at 4PM on 760 AM KFMB in San Diego. Remember, this is airtime that was purchased to broadcast this show. It is not a public service of the station.
After listening to the first hour of the show, I heard a number of things in the show that concerned me and made me afraid consumers were being mislead. In my opinion his words create an unfair impression for listeners about what he is pitching. So I thought I’d break the show apart into segments to show you my concerns. At the end of this article you will be able to hear the whole first part of his two part show in its entirety.
And this is only a review of the first hour. There was an entire second hour that I didn’t bother to review for you.
As you listen to the parts I’ve cut out for you below, and then hopefully the entire show, I want you to put his show into context. Dave Burke makes it sound like he has flown in to help residents of certain counties to take advantage of a government program to cancel up to 23 years of their mortgage, get $48,000 to pay off other bills and not have to worry about repaying that money. Now, Dave Burke might say “I never said that.” But listen to the show yourself and see if you don’t think that’s the impression he’s trying to create. That’s sure what it sounded like to me.
He uses traditional impulse marketing tricks of making people believe they must act now or they will miss out. You need to listen to the broadcast not as a public service messages, which it is not, but as the sales pitch to get people to the seminar where they will be sold coaching programs that cost up to $3,000 or more.
These coaching programs have come under a lot of scrutiny and are the focus of investigations by the BBB and the State of Colorado. You can learn more about the history of Dave Burke, the complaints, and his Real Talk Network by visiting Investigative Report: Dave Burke and Real Talk Network (Real Talk Network, Inc.). Is It a Scam? Be sure to read the comments on that article to see what others have said about the coaching program.
In my opinion most of the stuff Dave Burke says has enough truth to it to be believable but much of it makes not much sense.
- He makes claims of coast-to-coast broadcast coverage which are not true. My opinion is he does this to fool listeners into giving him credibility.
- He makes claims that the seminars he is pitching are the last ones, but I’ve shown they are not. My opinion is he is trying to get people to act impulsively and make a quick decision to attend and once pitched, signup for paid coaching services.
- His presentation for the evening orientation says is for specific county residents only and makes it sound as if there is a government program these residents are eligible for since it is a county orientation. He makes it sound official. Yet his own posting on his site makes no mention of limitation or residency requirements. If you think someone from outside the listening area would be turned away, you are mistaken.
- He injects urgency by telling listeners that thousands are calling to get in, but constantly has a open phone lines out of the few lines he does have.
- He makes wild claims about canceling mortgages and getting free money, but that sounds much like the same old pitches he has made in the past that consumers have complained about. I’ve written about these claims and even some of his past coaches have spoken out they are not true and many people can’t achieve his magic financial tricks.
- He makes claims about canceling mortgages that are not true for almost all people that might attend and some of his math he uses as examples just does not numerically add up.
- He says his show is about integrity but his quickly growing list of BBB complaints, his threats to sue me unless I stop writing about him, his ex-employees who have disturbing things to say about his operation, his stonewalling consumers that want refunds, his sending consumers to collections when they can’t afford his installment sales contract for debt help, and his misleading sales pitch all seem to not be the actions of a man of integrity that cares about anyone other than filling his own pockets. My opinion, he banters about the fact his show is about integrity to try to convince people he would never mislead or harm them.
- His four minute political tirade in this broadcast I listened to seemed nothing more than an artificial tirade to try to connect with a specific demographic of listeners. Why do I say that, because while angry, it just doesn’t make much sense but does use a ot of emotional buzzwords.
Out of all the segments I cut out for you to listen to from the first hour 23, 24, and 25 were the most disturbing and insulting.
Statements of Concern from Broadcast
- Claim or Statement: In the opening to show Burke states the AM station that broadcasts his show is the number one radio station in San Diego. Not true according to most April 2010 ratings. – Source
Listen:
- Claim or Statement: Show is heard live coast-to-coast from New York City to San Francisco. According to Burke’s own site the show is only broadcast in San Diego, Denver, and Los Angeles.
The show is a paid infomercial and not a station sponsored broadcast. If you want to hear this statement directly from a KHOW broadcaster listen to the clip below.You can here that entire discussion on KHOW by going here and scroll down to the bottom of the post.
On Burke’s own web site he lists the stations he is on but the stations don’t seem to acknowledge his presence on their schedules.
KCEO 1000 AM (San Diego) does not show Dave Burke’s show in their program lineup. – Source
KRKS 94.7 FM (Denver) Christian Radio only shows paid programming in Burke’s time slot and does not mention his show. – Source
KRKS 990 AM (Denver) lists paid programming in the time slot claimed. – Source
KIMN 100 FM (Denver) has no online schedule I could find.
KXKL 105 FM (Denver) has Classic hits scheduled in the slot Burke claims.
KWOF 92.5 FM (Denver) has no online schedule I could find.
KEPN 1600 AM (Denver) runs The Auto Answerman in the time slot Burke claims. – Source
KNUS 710 AM (Denver) shows special paid programming from 6-10 AM on Saturday.
KTLK 1150 AM (Los Angeles) has a different show scheduled in the slot Burke claims. – Source
KFMB 760 AM (San Diego) does show “Get Real With Dave” at the time Burke claims. – Source
KHOW 630 AM (Denver) does not show Burke’s show on Saturday at all as Burke claims. – Source
Listen:
- Claim or Statement: Dave Burke repeatedly makes a presentation that this is a time and space limited offer for only people in specific counties to attend a special presentation to learn how to cancel their mortgage and have it reported as paid as agreed. He states attendees must be a county resident and in my opinion he makes it sound as if this is a government sponsored program. It is not.
This presentation sounds exactly like Burke’s sales pitch for people to attend a seminar, enroll in his paid coaching service, and then have a counselor assigned to the paying client to go over how to pay your mortgage off early by accelerating payments using extra money on hand over time.
You can see the description of this seminar as shown on the Get Real With Dave Burke site. It’s interesting his own description of the event does not make mention it is only open to specific county residents and his description sounds much different that the time and space limited radio show presentation.
Burke claims there is nothing the banks can do about you canceling your mortgage early. That is simply because the trick is to pay your mortgage off using your money. There is no shortcut or special trick here to forgive mortgage debt. The reason the banks will report the debt paid as agreed is because by paying the mortgage off early using extra money each month the loan will be paid as agreed.
Listen:
Click on graphic to enlarge it.
Click on graphic to enlarge it. - Claim or Statement: Burke says all residents that attend the evening sales pitch seminar will have their mortgages eliminated. Burke broadcasts, “they are going to have about 84 months and all those county residents will own their home free and clear regardless of their circumstances.” The reality is that if the consumer can not afford to make accelerated and additional payments on their mortgage they will not be able to eliminate their mortgage early. He fails to mention that.
He reinforces his government sounding pitch since “as a county resident you are eligible to attend a household banking orientation for your county.”
Listen:
- Claim or Statement: Attendees at the seminar will get up to $48,000 to payoff other debt. There will be no payments and less than 1% interest. Neither Dave Burke and any government entity is handing out free money without obligation.
Listen:
- Claim or Statement: Burke makes the statement there are only two orientations left in San Diego. Burke makes it sound like there will be no more. But the schedule on his site lists the exact same seminar in San Diego again in June. Listen to the segment of the show below and see if you get the impression if you don’t act now you will miss out. The message about canceling plans if you have any is interesting.
Click on graphic to enlarge it.
Click on graphic to enlarge it.Listen:
- Claim or Statement: Thousands of people are calling in for the few limited spaces to attend sales presentation. That is a gross exaggeration at best. Throughout the show the lines are open and Burke mentions he has four to eight people in the studio answering phones. So if hundreds or thousands of people are calling in how can their be any open lines? In my opinion it seems like an artificial message to create urgency.
Listen:
- Claim or Statement: The State of Colorado has the program as well and messages about this program are going out on the airwaves across Colorado. It’s not a state sponsored program. This is an advertisement to attend a presentation to purchase coaching services.
Listen:
- Claim or Statement: You’ll be guaranteed a space at the presentation. But if space is really limited how can a caller be guaranteed a space? Hum.
Listen:
- Claim or Statement: Burke says that if you attend his presentation and have 25 years left on your mortgage you can eliminate 23 years of your mortgage and in 60 to 84 months you’ll be mortgage free. It must be some kind of new math. How can it take 84 months to eliminate the stated 24 months of payments? It makes no sense.
Listen:
- Claim or Statement: Dave Burke claims his radio show is new, it’s not. He has had a paid radio show for years and it has been a similar approach, to encourage people to attend one of his seminars where they will be sold coaching services. So beside a show name change from Real Talk Network to Get Real With Dave, it’s hard to understand how this can be pitched as a new show.
Listen:
- Claim or Statement: Here Burke makes the pitch again about the California counties with residents that can attend but this time he says “as a county resident you are eligible to attend your county’s household banking orientation.” It makes it sound, in my opinion, even more like a government sponsored event.
Listen:
- Claim or Statement: Burke claims program serves all county residents and then says it does not serve all county residents. Only those who can attend on a first come basis. Bizarre.
Listen:
- Claim or Statement: This one is just funny. “If you are a Southern California resident and you live in Southern California. Huh? How could you be a Southern California resident and live someplace else? Last I checked you can only reside in one place at a time.
Listen:
- Claim or Statement: Burke claims the orientations are all over the airwaves in Los Angeles but his own schedule shows his show broadcast only in Los Angeles on Saturday at 12 pm. If you look above you can see the KTLK, L.A. station does not even list his show on their schedule. So how can it be all over the airwaves?
Listen:
- Claim or Statement: Burke claims the radio show is about integrity and how we live our lives in relationship to politics. I have no idea what that has to do with a county household banking seminar.
Listen:
- Claim or Statement: Listeners are told if they attend they can spend more time with the people they care about and enjoy the beautiful world created for you by your God.
Listen:
- Claim or Statement: Act now message is hammered home again when Dave Burke says if you don’t act now the resources will be gone but yet I’ve already shown you he is holding the same orientation in June.
Listen:
- Claim or Statement: If you know someone that is a county resident and you want to register them to attend, listeners are told they can’t “because if you screw it up you will void their eligibility for life.” Eligibility for what, to attend one of the many upcoming sales presentations in LA and San Diego?
Listen:
- Claim or Statement: Burke goes into a tirade about politics that seems artificially angry and for the most part makes little sense. But I’m at a loss why his household banking orientation program needs to launch into this political tirade unless he is trying to target a specific demographic to attract them to his sales seminar. Burke says, “I was outside my mind when I heard Obama say the constitution is fundamentally flawed.” By the way, if you want to hear the original Obama comment and what he really said, click here. He slams Bush as well. Equal opportunity political bashing. He says he didn’t vote for McCain because McCain was an idiot.
Listen:
- Claim or Statement: A lack of integrity abounds and Burke says he has not lived his life with integrity. LOL.
Listen:
- Claim or Statement: If you are listening to this message and you can’t make it to the presentation tonight you need to cancel your other plans so you can attend. But yet there are already future scheduled seminars for the same area. So this seems to be an artificial call to urgent action.
Listen:
- Claim or Statement: Burke says if you did not call to schedule for the seminar you are insane and mentally irregular. You need to take a pill.
Listen:
- Claim or Statement: Dave claims to inspire people to live their lives with integrity by listening to his show which is heard coast-to-coast but how does that demonstrate integrity since I already proved his show is not heard cost-to-coast on radio? He makes the statement “if you only have 84 months and this program facilitates canceling 23 years you get to start thinking about doing the things that matter to you.” Huh?
Listen:
- Claim or Statement: People with ADD and chaos in their brain need to relax and listen to Burke’s important message, aka sales pitch.
Listen:
Listen to Entire First Hour of the Broadcast
Here is the entire first hour of the broadcast that I took the cuts above out of.
Sincerely,
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