Dr. Carol Ash, Patsy Fancher, Willie Robinson

Southwest Tennessee Commnity College is offering new programs for students. Dr. Carol Ash, VP for Academic Affairs and Workforce, Patsy Facher, Chair of the Department of Communications, Graphic and Fine Arts, and Willie Robinson Associate Professor of Aviation talk about the programs on The Bev Johnson Show on WDIA Radio.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Memphis probably presents the Bem Johnson Show.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Let me you say, Beth, I've done.

Speaker 3 (00:11):
I've gone.

Speaker 4 (00:13):
Me first, let me you say she's gone Memphis gain.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
No matter of the problem she can.

Speaker 4 (00:31):
Have so all the phone and a normal thing of
my shed to bed.

Speaker 5 (00:41):
In the hair bych having you to.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
Just keep the thing.

Speaker 5 (00:48):
When a wrangle ap pecking out. This Johnson Show, because
they've got out there, you can hear every day you need.

Speaker 6 (01:00):
I ain't.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
Well, bell got me a missing Good morning, Good morning,

(01:49):
good morning, and welcome into w d i A The
BEB Johnson Show. I'm bev. It is indeed a pleasure
to have you with us once again on this Thursday,
July third, twenty twenty five. Enjoyed this fabulous day to day.

(02:09):
Get ready to put your ears on as we share
the good news. Yeah, and the good news this morning
is about Southwest Tennessee Community College, your best choice, my
favorite place. We will be talking with guests and to
hear what's going on at south West Tennessee Community College.

Speaker 5 (02:33):
Yeah, yeah, what it's your turn to talk. You know
you can.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
All you'll need to do is dial these numbers nine
zero one five three five nine three four two nine
zero one five three five nine three four two eight
hundred five zero three nine three four two eight hundred

(03:00):
five zero three nine three four two eight three three
five three five nine three four two will get you
in to me. And if this day, this, this this day, Thursday,

(03:25):
July third, twenty twenty five, is your birthday.

Speaker 5 (03:31):
Happy birthday to each and neighbor one.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
Of y'all out there who may be celebrating a birthday
on this day. You know what we say, y'all, go out,
go out and celebrate your life.

Speaker 5 (03:43):
You better, you better.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
When we come back, we'll talk to the folks from
south West Tennessee Community College, your Best Choice with me
Bev Johnson on The Rev. Johnson Show only on Double D.
I A good morning and welcome back to w the

(05:02):
heart and soul of Memphis. You know it. Good morning
and welcome into the Rev. Johnson Show. I'm Bev. Good
to have you here on this Thursday, July third, twenty
twenty five. Enjoy this fabulous day to day, y'all stay cool.
It is hot out there well this morning. I am
so happy to have this guest because y'all know I

(05:22):
talk about this all the time. My favorite place, what
is it, boys and girls. Southwest Tennessee Community College. My
folks are back in the house today. We're gonna learn
the good news about south West Tennessee Community College. And
let me first introduce to you our guests. We have

(05:45):
doctor Carol Ash, vice President for Academic Affairs and Workforce Development,
and Miss Patsyventcher, Chair of Department of Communications.

Speaker 5 (05:55):
Graphic and Fine Arts. And I want to say.

Speaker 2 (05:58):
Good morning to you ladies.

Speaker 5 (06:00):
Oh are you good morning? Hey, y'all doing doing good.

Speaker 7 (06:04):
I'm doing fantastic good here with you.

Speaker 2 (06:06):
I'm so glad you all here. I'm looking at pat Pats.
I haven't seen you, and I don't know when. I
know it's been a while, you're still there.

Speaker 8 (06:13):
I am still there.

Speaker 2 (06:15):
Yes, how long has it been now, Patsy?

Speaker 8 (06:19):
Twenty six years?

Speaker 9 (06:20):
Actually, Southwest just celebrated yesterday our twenty fifth anniversary.

Speaker 5 (06:26):
Wow.

Speaker 9 (06:27):
Yes, we were established in two thousand and I started
full time in two thousand. But I've been there along
much longer than that.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
Well, I like to I like to tell people, and
I tell the last year year I had been at Southwest,
doctor Ash as an adjunct thirty two years.

Speaker 5 (06:49):
I started when it was Shelby State.

Speaker 7 (06:52):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
Yeah, yeah, my favorite place I started. You were there
that long, Yes.

Speaker 5 (06:59):
I was there that long longevity.

Speaker 2 (07:02):
Yeah yeah, it's just like I've been here this long
and yeah, but I'm not old.

Speaker 5 (07:07):
I'm not old, pats I'm not old neither in mine.

Speaker 2 (07:11):
I know, doctor as people, and just for your reference,
I've been here at w d I. This is my
forty third year at w d I. Wow, forty third
year and my forty ninth year not in radio. So

(07:34):
I'm hanging.

Speaker 7 (07:35):
So you're almost gonna get that the fiftieth.

Speaker 2 (07:39):
I'm trying to get there.

Speaker 7 (07:40):
You gotta get there, gonna make sure that's what I'm
gonna make say.

Speaker 2 (07:43):
I worked fifty years in radio, so hopefully I'll make
it there.

Speaker 7 (07:46):
That's fantastic.

Speaker 2 (07:47):
Okay, Well we gonna get see talk about the good
news Southwest Tennessee Community College. And first let me start
with you, doctor Carol ash Boy. Y'all, y'all rolling at southward?
What is going on? This great news?

Speaker 7 (08:03):
Fantastic things are going on. We are, as Patsy said,
we're celebrating our twenty twenty fifth anniversary, and we have
just been very fortunate to get lots of blessings in
this year of our twenty fifth So first up, we
just received an amazing gift of five hundred thousand dollars.

Speaker 2 (08:21):
In the form of a grant wow and.

Speaker 7 (08:24):
From the SEC Foundation, and they were so generous in
giving us that money to support our new entertainment production initiative.
It is going to enable us to upgrade facilities at
the theater, our recording studios. It is just going to
really position us to have top of the line equipment

(08:46):
and training opportunities for students, to build a pathway and
a pipeline of skilled workers here in the Mid South.
So we are super excited and grateful for that. Patsy
worked so hard, are a team of other faculty, mister
Pinder and and the Dean doctor Shari King, and the

(09:08):
Associate Dean doctor Mohammad And I just have to say,
you know, sometimes, uh, you want something for a very
long time. When I first started, I've been with the
college two years now, and the first thing Miss Fancher
said to me is I need a better theater. And
I said, I hear you. Let's figure out how we
can get some funding to make that happen. And she said,

(09:28):
I'm going out and find it myself. And she did.

Speaker 5 (09:31):
Wow.

Speaker 7 (09:32):
And she did.

Speaker 2 (09:32):
Hard worker, she's a hard worker.

Speaker 7 (09:34):
With the help of our grands team, Suzanne and and
and they put together a fantastic proposal. And the as
sci Foundation said, we don't fund fly by Night initiatives.
We don't fund initiatives that are going to be uh,
you know, short term and not strategic. And so this
is why we are investing this half million dollars in

(09:55):
Southwestern in this initiative. And so we're super excited about it.

Speaker 2 (09:58):
Wow and and and So with this new grant for
the Southwest Entertainment Production Initiative, what is it going to do? Now, Patsy,
will there be degrees and talk to me about that?

Speaker 8 (10:14):
Okay?

Speaker 9 (10:14):
Well, actually it is a two phase okay. The first
phase is to renovate our music area on the Union
campus to create an industry standard recording studio, and that
is being funded by a give three point oh grant
that we were awarded from the state one point five

(10:37):
million dollars to do that. That renovation will begin in
spring of twenty twenty six. The second phase is renovating
our theater and that's what the five hundred thousand from
ASSISI will contribute to and all of this is going
into our entertainment production initiative, and we have three certificates

(11:00):
now in place to support the entertainment production initiative, and
it will all come together to support the Entertainment Production
aas degree, which will be the first of its kind
in the area. And what this is going to fuel,
let's say, is when I was doing my research, I

(11:20):
found that Memphis has a deficent of production workers. We
have entertainers, we have musicians, we have actors and actresses,
but what we don't have is the production workers, the
behind the scene workers. And as you know, in radio,
the audio doesn't work, and in productions, if the light

(11:42):
doesn't work, if the scenery doesn't work, then you don't
have a show. You don't And we have we are
increasing the filming industry here and the performing industry here,
but we have to bring production workers from Nashville, from

(12:04):
Saint Louis, from other areas.

Speaker 8 (12:07):
And that's what this will do.

Speaker 9 (12:09):
It will support our workforce in the entertainment production, in audio,
video recording, and it will incorporate our three certificates that
we have now, one in commercial music, which focuses on
recording and the media side of the recording industry and

(12:34):
music film and Video certificate which is both in front
of the camera and behind the camera. And then an
Entertainment Production Certificate which is audio lighting and the Entertainment
Production aa S will bring this all together, and it

(12:55):
will also incorporate other areas of the college, not just department.
Will bring some electrical classes in from technology, business classes
in from the business area, even medical safety from our
EMT and nursing areas to have one package to create

(13:18):
the production workers that Memphis needs.

Speaker 2 (13:20):
Wow, So this Patsy will has it already started or
when the fall semester starts, I don't know.

Speaker 5 (13:31):
Somewhere how is this working?

Speaker 9 (13:33):
Yes, our certificates are already live and active. The commercial
Music certificate is live. It is also embedded in our
university parallel music as program. And then our Film and
Video which is absolutely taking off because this is the

(13:55):
first semester. Well, we're revitalizing our TV production classes.

Speaker 8 (14:01):
Remember Ben Watson, Yes, I do. He taught our.

Speaker 9 (14:05):
TV production classes and actually they have been kind of
dormant since then, and now we're that's part of the
film and Video and the class has already made and
it's the first time it's been offered in probably ten years.

Speaker 2 (14:21):
I'm glad you said that and brought up by Ben
because one of the questions I was going to ask
that someone listening and who what about hiring instructors or are.

Speaker 5 (14:31):
You doing that?

Speaker 2 (14:31):
Or you have enough?

Speaker 8 (14:33):
Or never have enough? Okay, never have enough.

Speaker 9 (14:36):
Now we're not in a position for any full time,
but we are always looking for qualified adjuncts, and as
these programs grow, we.

Speaker 8 (14:45):
Will need even more. Yeah, but we have it to
cover for the fall.

Speaker 2 (14:50):
Okay.

Speaker 8 (14:50):
But I invite.

Speaker 9 (14:53):
Any interested, both students as well as industry professionals, and
not only just to tea each but we're also going
to have what we call master classes, half day classes,
and that kind of thing where we bring industry industry
professionals in to talk to our students so they can

(15:13):
see real life what these programs will lead to.

Speaker 2 (15:17):
Oh wow, I love this.

Speaker 8 (15:20):
This is very.

Speaker 2 (15:20):
Excited, exciting because, as you all know, Patsy and Doctor
asked you that young people, even older people, they're into
now into the film and recording and production and especially
now these podcasts. Yes, and this is exciting news to

(15:42):
know that Southwest Tennessee community College will be offering these
kind of classes and you can get certified in it. Yes, Yes, Wow.

Speaker 9 (15:54):
And the third certificate that is active and Live Entertainment
Production Certificate, and all of that will grow into the
Entertainment Production aas. We'll have core classes that pertain to
all of them, and then.

Speaker 8 (16:09):
We'll have what's called guided electives.

Speaker 9 (16:11):
And if you're interested in the music industry, then you
take these classes. If you're interested in the theater, you
take these classes, or film and video.

Speaker 8 (16:21):
Or you can mix and match if you want a
little of all.

Speaker 10 (16:24):
Wow.

Speaker 9 (16:25):
And we're in the process of creating that degree and
it should go live fall twenty twenty six.

Speaker 2 (16:30):
Wow, I love it. I love it. If you've all
just tuned in this morning, we are talking with our
guests from Southwest Tennessee Community College. Doctor Carrol ash is here,
vice President for Academic Affairs and Workforce Development, and missus
Passy Fincher, who's the cheered Department of Communications, Graphic and

(16:51):
Fine Arts. We are talking about the new programs at
Southwest Tennessee Community College.

Speaker 5 (16:58):
If you do have a question.

Speaker 2 (17:00):
Or two for our guests, we invite you to call
now nine zero one five three five nine three four
two eight hundred five zero three nine three four two
eight three three five three five nine three four two
will get you in to us. You're listening to w

(17:21):
d i A.

Speaker 1 (17:23):
Don't go away. The BEV Johnson Show returns after these messages, the.

Speaker 11 (17:28):
BEV JNS Show.

Speaker 4 (18:02):
Telling you to just younding so because.

Speaker 5 (18:19):
Good morning and welcome back to w d i A.

Speaker 2 (18:22):
We are talking with my guests from Southwest Tennessee Community College,
doctor Carroll Ash, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Workforce Development,
and PASSI franch Or, Chair Department of Community Communications, Graphic
and Fine Arts. We are talking about the new programs
coming to Southwest and music and theater and all.

Speaker 5 (18:44):
That good stuff.

Speaker 2 (18:46):
We are ladies going to our phone lines to talk
to Isaiah.

Speaker 12 (18:51):
Hi, Isaiah, Hey, how y'all doing this morning?

Speaker 5 (18:54):
We're doing well?

Speaker 2 (18:55):
How are you?

Speaker 12 (18:57):
I am doing a okay?

Speaker 5 (19:00):
What do you have a question?

Speaker 13 (19:02):
Yes?

Speaker 14 (19:03):
All right to ask you?

Speaker 12 (19:04):
Well, First, I want to say I appreciate the show,
the service y I've been doing for all these years
playing this good music on the radio station. And I
also thank you for having such a great guests on.

Speaker 14 (19:12):
Thank you today.

Speaker 12 (19:13):
You keep my interest. Okay, Yes, because Southwest is a
very interesting place for me. I want to know about
different opportunities, and you're actually helping me out with that.
There's also another opportunity that I want to look into
outside of the music and everything. It was also aviation

(19:33):
that you all have going on here at Southwest, and
I believe you may have somebody on here shortly to
talk about that as well. Yes, yes, yes, And I
want to say that continue doing everything good. It's a
lot of people out here, especially around my age group
of twenty eight, and we need some kind of guidance

(19:54):
out here. You all are showing so many different varieties
of opportunities that it makes it makes people like me
at least have a little bit of hope because I
can always change up and try something different. If one
plan doesn't work at first, I can always try something different.
So I just want to say thank you. Continue doing
what you're doing, and I'll actually look forward to hearing
about that aviation you all have coming up next. All right,

(20:17):
that will be my specialty.

Speaker 5 (20:18):
Well, let me ask this.

Speaker 2 (20:20):
Are you currently a student Isaiah at Southwest?

Speaker 13 (20:25):
No?

Speaker 12 (20:25):
I am not, but I will, Well, what do you want?

Speaker 5 (20:28):
What are you waiting?

Speaker 2 (20:29):
Wait a minute now, doctor asked, you got to come
on in here, get Isaiah.

Speaker 5 (20:32):
What is he waiting for it? To register and start right, doctor.

Speaker 7 (20:37):
Er, that's right, that's right. I'm glad to hear that
you're interest in the aviation program. We are going to
be talking about that momentarily. But I'm also happy to
hear you say that this kind of exposure exactly what
you and your peers need to make sure you all
are moving forward in the right direction, in a positive
direction in life. And you got to take that first step, right,
and so having the exposure is important, But you got

(20:58):
to take that first step. You got to help us
help you get there, right, So you got to register.
You come in, you got to take the exams that
you need to have so we know what classes to
place you in and so we can get you registered,
so we can get you on the right So now
fall registration is already open. You don't have to wait,
and you prefer for you not to wait. Actually, the
earlier you get registered, the better your position to make

(21:21):
sure that you're financial aid and any state funding and
grants that you're eligible for are in place and ready
to roll for you. So we're ready to rock and
roll on day one. You don't have to worry about
any of those things. You have your class schedule, your set,
you talk to advisors, You've talked to success coaches. We've
got all kinds of support systems to make sure that
the students not only get on the right track, but
we want you to stay on the right track. It's

(21:41):
not enough for you to come in. We need you
to come in be successful. Right, So what should I
expect you today?

Speaker 2 (21:49):
He has one question? What's your question, Isaiah?

Speaker 12 (21:53):
What's the exact process of enrollment? I mean for somebody
that hasn't been in school since since high school? You know,
sometimes you might think it's not easy to get back
into it, you know what I mean. Sometimes people might
think that the process would be too much, too overwhelming,
you might cost too much money, and all these different
types of things. Here, is there anything you can tell
me about the process to kind of make it easier

(22:14):
people like me?

Speaker 7 (22:15):
Absolutely. So. There is some application process, but we have
all kinds of people on staff that can walk you
through that process. So step one for you is to
come to campus and step foot inside the door and
come into the welcome center and say I need help
with registration. There are are programs like the Tendency Reconnect
program that will help you with funds to cover tuition

(22:37):
and fees. And our programs are low cost but high quality.
And so if you're worried about there being a lot
of red tape and a lot of we have staff
that can help you with all of those things right.
Will help you get registered, We'll help you find and
identify the right courses, will help you with identifying the
right funding streams to make sure that your tuition in

(22:58):
your fees are paid in it, you can get books
and supplies. So so don't let that stop you, and
don't let be discouraged. Don't be discouraged by that. Absolutely
not because because we're in the business of education, but
we're also in the business of student support, and all
of those things are supports that we offer to make
sure that you're going to be successful. But you got

(23:19):
to come down first. So I'm gonna go back to
my question for you. So what time should I expect
you today?

Speaker 13 (23:25):
You should expect me real soon.

Speaker 7 (23:27):
All right, Now, I'm gonna I'm gonna send an email
to say be on the lookout.

Speaker 2 (23:30):
For Isaiah or Isaiah.

Speaker 12 (23:33):
Okay, all right, thank you.

Speaker 15 (23:34):
For going.

Speaker 12 (23:36):
Thank you Isaiah, yes mane.

Speaker 5 (23:39):
YouTube bye bye. I like that.

Speaker 2 (23:41):
Let me piggybag doctor Ash because Isaiah and I love
that because a lot of times people think they're too
old to come back to college and say, he hasn't
been in school since high school. So what do you
tell them? Southwest is for every every age?

Speaker 7 (23:59):
Absolutely, and actually, you know, the average community college student
is not straight out of high school. Okay, they're older
adults anyway, right, So we have supports to help students
of all ages. If you're coming straight out of high school,
we've got supports for that. We've got a daycare center,
we have people who are positioning. If you're having trouble
with just life in general, difficulty with housing, difficulty with

(24:22):
food and security, we've got an amazing food bank on
campus at making. I just think it's it's it's for
people to understand that there is getting there's value in
getting these credentials, and that we are focused on making
sure you get credentials that are going to position you
and your family for success, not just professionally but economically.

(24:42):
People come back to school, they start school, their main
impetus is to get a good career. So they can
do what make better money to take better care of
their families. And that's how we're gonna lift the socioeconomic
statues of the Memphis area.

Speaker 2 (24:58):
And for Isaiah, and I'm sure he's still listening. One
thing we know about Southwest there are several campuses. Does
he have to go to any specific campus or main
campus to come in to register?

Speaker 7 (25:15):
Absolutely not. He can go to our Maxine Smith campus,
he can go to our white Haven campus. He can
go to our campus on Union or our campus at
Macon Cove. We have registration, financial aid, advising success coaches
at all of those campuses. Now, he did mention he
was interested in aviation, so yes, ultimately he'll be taking
the bulk of his courses in aviation at the Maxine

(25:35):
Smith campus, which is our beautiful campus. Program is situated
there and so but we have those supports available at
any of those campuses.

Speaker 2 (25:46):
Is the Gill campus still open.

Speaker 7 (25:48):
It is not. We have oh wow, yeah, the Guil
campus is no longer open. But what we have done
is we've shifted our focus to workforce development for that
Fraser area and we've partnered with the library and we
will be offering our our first courses there this fall.

Speaker 2 (26:02):
Oh wow, I had some good times as the Guild campus. Yeah,
what about And I know Softwest said other locations was
Millington some other campuses, Yes, talk to me about that.

Speaker 7 (26:13):
So we were offering courses in the Millington area and
also at our Summerville area, but the enrollment at those
campus had dropped significantly, and so we really wanted to
make sure with Again, all organizations are working with a
limited number of resources. What has happened is we've noticed
a boom in dual enrollment interest in the Summerville Millington area,

(26:33):
and so we have shifted our focus from offering credit
courses in those physical spaces to partnering with high schools
in the area to serve their dual enrollment needs. And
that's great because those students get exposure very young, but
they also start to earn college credits very young and
so we're working on pathways to make sure that they're

(26:54):
not just earning random credits. They're earning credits that are
going to lead them to a credential early so that
they can be positioned.

Speaker 16 (27:00):
Well.

Speaker 2 (27:00):
I like that. We'll go back to our phone lines
to talk with you.

Speaker 14 (27:04):
Hi caller hey bb, how are you.

Speaker 2 (27:08):
Hey Norman, I'm doing well today. As you would say,
I'm black tasting brother.

Speaker 14 (27:12):
I'm black tastic too, bab tild like we got some
back tastic sisters in our living room today.

Speaker 2 (27:20):
Yeah, we do, we do?

Speaker 14 (27:22):
We do all right, Well, beb. I have a couple
of questions. I'm and of course you know I have
my bachelor's degree in psychology, but I was wondering do
they have any kind of leadership training and or something
that will help me to enhance my counseling skills and
where drug and alcoholics concerned, it's just regular counseling. Do

(27:46):
you offer that for anybody with a bachelor's degree or
do you offer the other accreditations or how does that work? Well,
many years at the time we.

Speaker 7 (27:57):
Don't have so we don't have any credit classes that
that circle back and build upon your bachelor's degree. However,
in our workforce Solutions area, there are are opportunities there
for you to get up skilling. I don't I don't
know specifically whether we have something that builds on counseling,

(28:19):
but we could definitely find out for you.

Speaker 2 (28:21):
Okay, I know in the past because in the past,
doctor Ash, I don't know that because I got certification
in Substance abuse counseling.

Speaker 7 (28:31):
Does that have that program anymore?

Speaker 16 (28:33):
Wow?

Speaker 7 (28:34):
Yeah, a couple of years ago, it just didn't have
any enrollment anymore, so we had no we did, but
we did have conversations about moving that training and those
skills training to workforce solutions, which is why I said
there is a possibility that there's some synergy there. But
on the catalog the credit programs, we that is one

(28:57):
that we did have to sunset due to enrollment.

Speaker 14 (29:00):
Okay, okay, well that helps me. Well, thank you so much, Ben,
Thank you ladies.

Speaker 2 (29:05):
But but Norman, keep listening because they have some exciting
news and I don't let Patsy go back over. They
have set a certification and I know you you were
doing podcast, but music and theater and they're gonna have
a recording studio, so you may be interested in that.

Speaker 14 (29:23):
Absolutely my song. Well on our way to Seal, Alabama
there for the award show. Okay, and my son is
listening in and he's he's getting very graduated from high school,
so he's very interesting as well. So okay, we're listening
in and thank you so much.

Speaker 2 (29:39):
Thank you Norman, you all be safe on the road,
thank you.

Speaker 5 (29:44):
And Patsy again for Norman.

Speaker 2 (29:46):
Those the music industry and recording and all the theater.

Speaker 9 (29:53):
Yes, we're very excited to bring that out to the public.

Speaker 8 (29:57):
Now.

Speaker 9 (29:58):
We do have some recording in theater classes in our
university parallel as emphasis and music. We do have a
recording class in our theater AFA program for performance as
well as a design. Of course, we have acting stage crafting.

(30:25):
But what this degree in this program will do will
enhance that and bring out more of the let's say
technical classes, okay, for the production side of it. Now,
there will be electives that individuals can So.

Speaker 2 (30:43):
I was going to ask you, Patsy, people who are
interested that maybe us interested in this, will they have
to take other core courses or things like they may
have to take math or English.

Speaker 8 (30:55):
Or reading, writing, arithmetics, yes, ma'am, Yes, ma'am.

Speaker 9 (30:59):
In the certificate programs know, Okay, the certificate programs are
built on core classes, those industry standard classes, the AAS degree,
the AS or AA degree. Yes, they do have your
traditional humanities, social and behavioral science, natural science, math and history.

Speaker 2 (31:22):
Okay, good And now as doctor Ashta fall registration is
going on, so people Patsy can register for these classes. Now.

Speaker 9 (31:32):
Absolutely all of our certificate programs, which are the core classes,
are active and we have them on our fall schedules.
So yes they are, we are ready for them and
they are ready to go.

Speaker 8 (31:46):
So I invite.

Speaker 9 (31:47):
Anyone interested to definitely contact us if they need more information.

Speaker 8 (31:54):
I will be glad to talk to them about it.

Speaker 2 (31:57):
And these classes. Will it be on a specific campus
or they will be able to go to any campus
to take these classes, because you know, some people live
in certain areas and one campus is better for them
than another.

Speaker 8 (32:11):
Right we have.

Speaker 9 (32:14):
Some classes are specifically for the Union campus because that
is the main campus for both our music program and
our theater program. But we also have classes on the
Making campus because we have a music studio at the
Making campus.

Speaker 8 (32:31):
So all of them.

Speaker 9 (32:32):
I can't say that one campus, Okay, the Union campus,
all of the classes are offered.

Speaker 2 (32:38):
So when they register they will see whether classes are located.

Speaker 9 (32:43):
Yes, absolutely okay, and I would love to advise them.
We also have a professional advising center that takes care
hand in hand with our students. But I also invite
any student to also come to the department talk to
myself or the professionals, all of our faculty or industry

(33:07):
professionals and still work in the industry, so they are
very up to date with the trends and what is
necessary to be successful in the industry. So I invite
any of our students, and we have very small classes.
The caps are very small, so we're hands on. All

(33:28):
instruction is hands on, not just lecture. Okay, and get
very personal with our students because we have such small classes,
so very very hands on.

Speaker 5 (33:39):
Oh good, good w d I a high caller.

Speaker 14 (33:45):
Hey, ma'am, I'm sorry, this is Norman again.

Speaker 2 (33:47):
Okay, okay, Norman.

Speaker 14 (33:49):
I have another question. I have a couple of young
men who are part of the African village and they
are one is twenty and the others nineteen dating. I
have not completed there high school diploma. Is there a
program that that will help them to do that and
get college credit as well? We can get them and
get them engaged and get them started on the STANS.

Speaker 7 (34:11):
Yes, So they need to complete the GED equivalency, which
we can help them do through our Workforce Solutions Center.
Absolutely so. And I if you just log into our
website Southwest the Workforce Solutions Center will have information on
who to contact, and you can contact Terrika Hughes or

(34:32):
Amy Shed and they can give you the information. Some
of the earlier I talked about our workforce focus for
the Frasier area, some of the classes that we're teaming
up to offer at those libraries are those g ED equivalencies.
So absolutely there are programs that those young men can
enroll in to help them first of all, get that

(34:54):
diploma equivalency, and then we can help them identify the
career areas that they're interested and and advise them into
the correct college classes so that they can earn those certificates.
So absolutely, please have them contact us and into.

Speaker 2 (35:10):
Yeah, do that normal and and and Norman, you can
email me and I will give you the information as well.

Speaker 14 (35:16):
Wonderful. Thank you so much, that's the big help.

Speaker 2 (35:18):
Thank you you welcome, Norman. Thank you, bye bye w
D I a high caller, Beverly.

Speaker 3 (35:27):
How are you doing that?

Speaker 2 (35:28):
I'm doing fine, Prince Charles and you.

Speaker 3 (35:33):
Thank you very much and get out there. Good morning
to your guest. Moning to your call, I got a
very quick question, may I ask you? Yes, I was
reading and I just want to make sure that I
read this right at Southwest. Do you guys offer flying lessons?

Speaker 2 (35:53):
Yeah, it's coming up.

Speaker 7 (35:54):
We're gonna talk about your program.

Speaker 2 (35:57):
Yeah, we're going to talk about that in just a
few minutes, Prince so.

Speaker 5 (36:02):
So you can hear the information and so and so.

Speaker 2 (36:06):
If you have another question, you can call back.

Speaker 3 (36:09):
Okay, I just want to make sure because I was
online and I was reading, because you know, I love line.

Speaker 2 (36:13):
Yeah, but wait a.

Speaker 3 (36:15):
Minute, so I'm not going to have to cut out
the bag. Okay, let you guys discuss it and I
call back if that's okay.

Speaker 2 (36:21):
It sounds good, sounds good, Thank you, thank you, bye bye. Yeah.
Before we talk about that, I want to ask Patsy
any other things we need to know about the new
degrees and certificates and entertainment production.

Speaker 9 (36:35):
Yes, I'd like to add that once we get this
program going, we're planning on having summer camps where we
will bring in industry professionals to teach the courses. We'd
like to call them master courses because it's it's it's
kind of like a half day courses where you get

(36:56):
a crash course just to see.

Speaker 8 (36:58):
What is available on what is out in the industry.

Speaker 9 (37:02):
That might be of interest in what directions the students
want to go. So I invite the public to keep.

Speaker 8 (37:11):
Abreast of what we're doing with the program.

Speaker 9 (37:13):
That will not start until next year, okay, because our
construction is starting, hope. Our first hammer strike is hoping
to be in the spring of twenty twenty six. And
once that starts, then the program will accelerate into the renovation.
And once that is completed, we will have the summer

(37:36):
camps which will also support our dual enrollment. We plan
to have a large dual enrollment presence partner with some
of the high schools.

Speaker 8 (37:48):
In the area.

Speaker 9 (37:49):
We've talked to Millington, We've talked to Overton, and in
the process of talking to others to create a dual
enrollment program because I do know that a lot of
our high schools have fantastic music and theater programs, Yes,
and those students need a place to go to excel
in their interest and this is where they can come.

Speaker 2 (38:12):
So, Patsy, the last thing, you all are doing a
whole new renovation on the theater. Absolutely wow.

Speaker 9 (38:19):
It will Now we can't enlarge it, okay, we are
structure bound.

Speaker 8 (38:25):
Okay, but we will have a new.

Speaker 9 (38:26):
Seating area and new staging area and new backstage with
a male and female dressing rooms, a green room, and.

Speaker 8 (38:38):
A staging room and a shop.

Speaker 9 (38:39):
So yes, it will get completely renovated, just as the
music area will.

Speaker 2 (38:46):
Sounds good. Well well, thank you for sharing that good
information with us. Patsy Fancy you can call her over
at Southwest. She's the chair of the Department of Communications
and Graphic and Fine Arts. Oh, Patsy, just good.

Speaker 9 (39:00):
Seeing you, Thank you, thanks for having us, Beth, you
are so welcome.

Speaker 2 (39:03):
When we come back, Prince Charles, we're gonna talk to you.

Speaker 5 (39:06):
Y'all want to know about this aviation. We're gonna let
you know.

Speaker 2 (39:09):
We're gonna tell you about aviation at Southwest Tennessee Community College.
As we go to the other side of the Bev
Johnson Show.

Speaker 5 (39:19):
Right here on w d i A, the.

Speaker 11 (39:24):
BEV Show show meis talking.

Speaker 7 (39:50):
Away.

Speaker 11 (39:52):
He you go, you go, so get ready show.

Speaker 2 (40:02):
Show.

Speaker 11 (40:02):
Let's go, Ben will make your day by.

Speaker 16 (40:08):
Here Ron w DA.

Speaker 17 (40:13):
Listen to what today you know.

Speaker 11 (40:16):
It's time of the Belt of Show, time of the
Mount of Show.

Speaker 16 (40:21):
Lucky. Let's go.

Speaker 2 (40:45):
Good afternoon, and welcome back to dou w d I A.
The Bev Johnson Show. It is a Thursday, July third,
twenty twenty five. Enjoy this fabulous day to day as
we head over to fourth of July.

Speaker 5 (41:01):
It's Tomorri y'all on a Friday.

Speaker 2 (41:03):
Yeah, yeah, we will continue our conversation with Southwest Tennessee
Community College. And you guys been waiting, so I know
you may have questions. We're gonna talk about this new program.
I'm excited about that. But in the meanwhile, let me
tell you about my favorite place. You know the place.
It's the Rocking Chair of Memphis fifteen forty two Elvis Presley,

(41:25):
where we rock with the best soul food in town,
best entertainment around.

Speaker 4 (41:31):
What.

Speaker 2 (41:32):
Yeah, you can get good soul food like catfish and
buffalo fish, fried chicken, pot roast, smoke turkey necks, baked chicken,
smothered pork chops, fried pork chops, hamburger states, Miss Ann's
famous I'm telling y'all famous chetlains, and an assortment of
vegetables and desserts. Now you can dine in or you

(41:55):
can take out. Yeah, nine zero one five two six
four nine zero one four two five five two six
four and don't forget it.

Speaker 5 (42:08):
Is Thursday.

Speaker 2 (42:09):
That means it's Stumping Thursday with the best entertainment in time.
John Disco hound Moore will be there tonight with his
Stumping Thursday. He has a very special guest in the house.
I'm excited, mister Terry Wright will be his special guest.
Come on in and take a picture with Terry, meet
and greet. I don't know, y'all may get Terry to

(42:31):
sing something. He will, so come on out. Doors will
open up at six o'clock. From six to seven it
is free. Seven o'clock there is an admission.

Speaker 5 (42:41):
So y'all, y'all got.

Speaker 2 (42:42):
Some folks in town for the Fourth of July, head
on down to the Rocking Chail of Lymphis where grown
folks have good fun. Mister Terry Wright will be in
the house tonight with John Disco hound Lors. Come on
out and have a good time with the grown folks.
Bring your company me inside. Yeah, yeah, you got got

(43:03):
your folks here out of town. Have a good time tonight.
So again, from six to seven it's absolutely free, and
seven o'clock they will be charging an admission.

Speaker 5 (43:13):
But in the meanwhile stop them by there get your lunch.

Speaker 2 (43:16):
Oh tomorrow y'all, they will be closed for the fourth
of July. The Rocking Chair of Memphis will be closed tomorrow,
but they will open back up on Saturday. Well, they
will have entertainment for you. Y'all know it's karaoke, So
it's karaoke with a band. You think you can sing
with a band? Well, coming out on Saturday night if
the Rocking Chair. But remember they're closed on Tomorrow Friday

(43:39):
for the fourth of July. Back open Saturday and Sunday
where you can get the best soul food around dine
in or takeout. Fifteen forty two Elvis Presley. And when
y'all go there, don't forget to say Bev Johnson sent
me to the Rocking Tear of Memphis. Fifteen forty two
Elvis Presley. Yeah, yeah, Well, I am excited about our

(44:04):
next guest and he is here. Let me tell you
a little bit about him. He is the aviation program Coordinator,
chief flight instructor, and associate professor at south West Tennessee
Community College. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome inn mister Willie Robinson.

(44:24):
Good afternoon to you, mister Robinson.

Speaker 7 (44:27):
How are you.

Speaker 18 (44:28):
Oh, I'm doing very well. Beth thank you for having
us here today.

Speaker 2 (44:31):
Good. I'm excited. You see people excited. They've been hearing
about aviation. Southwest hasn't done that before.

Speaker 18 (44:38):
We'll I'll tell you what. They're doing it now and
doing it big time. So we have a lot to
talk about. And like Fred Sanfran says, I demand equal time.

Speaker 2 (44:48):
You get, hey, doctor ask you don't mind? Do you?

Speaker 7 (44:51):
I do not mind? I love that. That's awesome.

Speaker 2 (44:53):
All right, So mister Robinson, tell us about this aviation program.

Speaker 18 (44:59):
Well, I'll tell you what we have made a historical
event that took place recently. I'm new at Southwest, so
I'm in the embryotic stage. I was hired January twenty
twenty five by my mentor, doctor Aaron Jaggers surprise telephone
call for god. I had even applied for the position,
and so I've been there since January sixteenth of twenty

(45:21):
twenty five, so I'm brand new. Still learning who's over
what departments and who runs what. So I'm still asking
a young lady named Nalo at the front desk. He's
been very helpful to tell me who does what, and
then going online also to see who does what.

Speaker 10 (45:37):
But this.

Speaker 18 (45:39):
New far part one forty one, and I like to
give I don't like to use definitions, our abbreviations or
acronyms without telling what they mean. Far Part one twenty
one means Federal Aviation regulations and being a flight instructor myself,
this is what we do with our students. We break
things down to its most common denominator so that understanding
can take place. So far stand for Federal Aviation Regulations.

(46:02):
We have Part one forty one.

Speaker 10 (46:04):
Now.

Speaker 18 (46:05):
We have been just recently given that credential due to
the fact, as I said, they've been trying to get
this I heard four or five years at Southwest or
Southwest Tennessee Community College, and we have it now. So
the FAA has looked at us, and we had to
sit down and take a very strenuous oral exam.

Speaker 10 (46:24):
I did. I was in the hot seat.

Speaker 18 (46:26):
I was trying to get out of it, but when
I first came, I saw that would be a part
of my job description to take care of that.

Speaker 10 (46:32):
So I did.

Speaker 18 (46:33):
And I must tell people on all truth that in
March when I took the oral I failed, didn't answer
enough questions. I went back, rescheduled took it in April
of twenty twenty five.

Speaker 10 (46:42):
I passed it with fine colors.

Speaker 18 (46:44):
I missed one or two, but the FAA examiner was
very liberal and he was able to I say, hey, man,
you did very congratulation. I almost cried like a baby,
because this is like giving birth to a whole new
facet of aviation. And with the Part one forty one.
Now what it really does that the FAA has confidence
in the structuring quality of Southwest training programs we have.

(47:06):
Now we're able to teach commercial pilot certification and the
instrument rating certification. Before that, we just had the private pilot,
but now it's private along with commercial pilot and instrument rating.
Instrument rating means it's an add on to the commercial
and a private pilot can I'm also added on to
their private pilot certificate, whereby they can fly and reduce

(47:27):
visibility conditions so they don't have to wait for perfectly
clear days. Somebody said to me, how do these you
guys fly when you can't even you only have a
half mile visibility. You're coming in in the fog and
then now all of a sudden you break out of
the clouds or there's the runway. I said, well, let's
call it instrument rating. You're solely relying on instruments, not
visual references to go from point A to beer to

(47:47):
C or to D. So we have both of those
now and it's a tremendous benefit because in Parts sixty
one schools it's more relaxed, more laid back and far.
Part sixty one he deals with the certification of pilot's
flight and ground instructors. Flight instructors have a wide range
of liberality in what they can do with their students.

(48:09):
It's not nearly as strict. The curriculum is not as
nearly as strict as Part one forty one with Part
one forty one oversight. That means now the FAA can
come in at any time check whether we're teaching the
students properly. They have a very strict record keeping order
for us. Every student, every class is laid out from

(48:31):
the very first class they take as a student pilot
all the way up to wherever they're going.

Speaker 10 (48:35):
So this is very strict, very structured.

Speaker 18 (48:39):
There's no sliding under the table of anything because you
never know when the FAA is Federal Aviation ad Administration
is going to come in and check you out. So
it's a tremendous benefit. Also, the certificate provides affordable training
and benefits for regional workforce needs. So we're able with
this certificate now. And if you do a contrast, if

(49:00):
you want to get your commercial license on the far
part sixty one flight school, then you have to have
a total of two hundred and fifty hours just total
flight time under part sixty one. Under Part one forty one,
you only need one hundred and ninety hours, so that's
a sixty hour savings of money and being in an
airplane with an instructor. That's thousands of dollars that you

(49:21):
saved coming into a Part one forty one school. Some
flight schools are both sixty one and forty one, which
is great, but that Part one forty one is what
gets you to the airlines a whole lot quicker. And
now we have approximately one hundred and thirty thousand positions
open for airline pilots. And by the way, we're going
to talk about some other career opportunities, so other than

(49:41):
just flying airplanes. But this is my forte flying and
flight instruction. I've been doing this since nineteen eighty year.

Speaker 2 (49:46):
Because I was just going to ask you I said
before we got into that, I should have ask you,
you know how long you've been a pilot and flying?

Speaker 18 (49:52):
Well, I started flying March seventy one. I was eighteen
in the Air Force at a Shepherd Air Force with
you tall false text. I'm seventy two now, So if
you're abstract eighteen from seventy two, that's fifty four years
of flying. Thankful to Almighty God, no accidents. They had
one almost emergency situation, but we resolve that in the air.
But nevertheless, so I've been flying fifty four years. I've

(50:13):
been in instructor since nineteen eighty eight, and I enjoy
it both a ground instructor where you're teaching classrooms or
one on one with students, or also being a flight
instructor where you're actually in the aircraft with students taking
them through straighting levels, turns, climbs, the sense emergency procedures
both on the ground in the air fire, what happened
if the engine quit on take off, climb out, So

(50:35):
they go through all of these things and will go
over and over. Redundancy is so important in aviation because
it's not like being on the street where if you
have a like for instance, coming here, I had my
front left tire went from thirty five pounds down to nineteen.
I'm downtown looking for WDIA. This just happened today because
the GPS led me downtown. I'm thinking what so I

(50:57):
called a lady answered, and she said, oh, you're in
the wrong location. You need to be at wherever this
location is, Yeah, thousand thousand oaks. So I said, oh, man,
my tire says nineteen pounds. So when I left downtown
near the Redbird State, there's a U haul facility. So
the thought came, go in there. They have an air pump.
So I went in there and they filled my tire
up thirty five pounds. So I crawled over here, so

(51:18):
to speak. Now I'm down to seventeen pounds on my
front left tire again. So it was a mess. Now
I'm my wife, Anita. She will tell you I'm very timed, oriented,
comes from my dad in the military.

Speaker 10 (51:28):
Training.

Speaker 18 (51:28):
Yeah, very structured person, very orderly. If you make me late,
you make me mad. I think I'm gonna make that
out of a bumper sticker. Make me late and you
make me mad, that's a good but neverthless, So that's
a part of so I've flown for a living for
three different companies. I didn't make it with the airlines
because I.

Speaker 2 (51:43):
Was going to ask you, did you fly for any
airlines or you just flew with for private companies and
while you was in the service.

Speaker 10 (51:51):
Yes.

Speaker 18 (51:51):
No, I didn't have a degree at that time. And
I always like to say this to young people who
think about going in the military. Yeah, especially the Air
Force because they're known for flight training. If you're thinking
about going in the air Force, especially the Air Force,
you want to have a degree. It don't have to
be a degree in aviation, a degree in anything, because
you cannot fly military jets or military aircraft without a

(52:13):
bachelor's degree in something. They don't care what it's in. Personally,
I would advise aviation because that's what you're going into,
so you'll have a wealthy aviation background. But make sure
you have a degree. Some people know I'll just get
my degree in service, or you may not stay in
that long. You may get out before you get a degree.
So I didn't have a degree at the time. I
do now have a Bachelor of Science and Aeronautics from
Emery Riddle in Daytona by Florida, and I thought about

(52:36):
getting a master's in something, but you know, at seventy two,
I don't need a master's for anything. So I just
want to make sure I master my craft and what
I'm teaching and instructing. But I did fly for a
couple of smaller companies out of Saint Louis. We flew cargo,
and we also flew automotive parts all across the United States,
all over Quebec, Canada, Montreal, Canada, and all throughout the

(52:59):
United States. So I build a lot of multi engine
time flying twin engine planes.

Speaker 10 (53:04):
Just off of that.

Speaker 2 (53:05):
Wow, you have a story.

Speaker 18 (53:08):
Oh yeah, you know something else? Ye an audience, But
I have done, especially when I lived in Tulsa, I
lived there from eighty one to ninety five. I would
put on come learn to Fly seminars. I'd sit down
or put a brochure together some of the semiar to this,
take it to a print shop and they would do
the printing. And I would go through mostly impoverished neighborhoods

(53:29):
and other types of neighborhoods to get those children to know,
you don't have to go to prison, jail or be incarcerated.
You don't have to smoke, drink lye. You don't have
to cheat, you don't have to have children out of wedlock.
These is me talking about me. I said, there's a
better lifestyle out there. You don't have to be involved
with law enforcement, except if you're on the right side
of the law. You usul to be a police officer.

(53:50):
So I've got that background also. But my forte is flying.
It's aviation. I can wake up talking about flying, go
to sleep talking about flying, and then talk about it
in my.

Speaker 10 (54:01):
Sleep as you can see.

Speaker 6 (54:02):
Wow.

Speaker 18 (54:02):
So I love to talk to the and I hear
you have a passion. Oh boy, yes you have to.
If you don't you One of the things I teach
is vision focus. You have to be vision focused. You
can't just say I want to do something and not
do it. It's like a person wants to lose twenty pounds,
but they keep eating. They getting the buffet line, they'll

(54:23):
get a garbage can full of food. Then they'll have
a nerve order a diet coke. Right, that doesn't work.

Speaker 10 (54:28):
Don't need to work. You're behind out.

Speaker 18 (54:30):
Get out there, do your your calisthetics, your exercises, your
push ups. And this is the same thing that we
do in our classes. We teach our students the important
of being focused on their class, do your homework, do
your assignments that your professors give you. This aviation thing
is wide open. We're going to need one hundred and
thirty thousand airline pilots within the next twenty years. Really
airline pilots must retire at sixty five or really yes,

(54:53):
it's effect because they had three airline captains, gray headed
guys who probably been flying for a thousand years. They
all fell dead at the control at the controls, and
they were all sixty five. So the FAA took that
as a baseline and says, Okay, these guys are dying.
Of course, you got a competent co pilot sitting to
the right, our first officer. But they took those examples

(55:16):
and says, well, we're going to cut off their retirement
and make it sixty five.

Speaker 10 (55:20):
Personally, I don't agree with that. A lot of things
I don't agree.

Speaker 18 (55:23):
Here's why, because each person should be able to fly
based on their own health, not on some record or
statistic you have of previous airline captains dying at the
controls at the age of sixty five. That's my reason
for that. We all have to take flight physicals. There's
three types of physical. Since we're talking about aviation, and

(55:45):
if you're going to come into the Southwest program for
a professional Pilot credentials or professional Pilot concentration, you must
already have your private pilot certificate. So those of you
who are thinking about coming to Southwest Tennessee Community College
to get in the aviation program, you must already have
your Private Pilot Certificate number two. You must also have

(56:06):
your FAA third class medical. This is segues into what
I was going to say you have to have. There's
three types of medicals. There's a Class one, Class two,
and Class three. Now we as fight structures, we only
need a Class three. It's the lowest cost, I think
one hundred and forty hundred and fifty bucks for it,
and it's good depending on your age. If you're over forty,

(56:27):
it's good for five years. If you're forty or younger,
it's only good for two years before you have to renew. Now,
airline pilots goes going for their ATP, which is Airline
Transport Certificate, they have to have a Class one. That's
why do you do the EKG put you on the treadmill,
put all these knobs and buttons and tabs all over
your head. See what kind of condition your heart is in.

(56:48):
So those are two requirements to get into the aviation concentration.
Number one you must already have your pilot private Pilot certificate.
And number two you must have already you must have
the third class medical. Now, you cannot get a third
class medical or any of those classes of medical certificates
until you go to an Aviation Medical examiner an AME.

(57:08):
So my primary doctor couldn't give me a flight physical
unless she is certified by the FAA. Have gone to
Oklahoma City for a week where they trained them how
to give first, second, and third class physicals. So you
can't get it from a regular doctor. It must be
an aviation medical examiner. And of course we have a
list of those examiners you know at school, or I

(57:30):
could pull up a list and give it, give that
to them.

Speaker 5 (57:33):
Wow, Wow, WHOA, I didn't know that aviation it was
all that.

Speaker 10 (57:39):
It's that in a whole lot, in a whole lot
lot more than that.

Speaker 2 (57:43):
Yeah, if you've just tuned in this afternoon, we are
talking with mister Willie Robinson, Aviation Program coordinator, chief flight
instructor at Southwest Tennessee Community College and associate professor. He
is here. We're talking about aviation how you all can
get involved. Also, doctor Carol ash is still with us,
who is the Vice president for Academic AFFAIRIRS and Workforce Development.

(58:08):
If you have a question or two for our guests,
we do invite you to call five three five nine
three four two eight hundred five zero three nine three
four two eight three three five three five nine three
four two. If you can't call in, email me your question.

(58:28):
Bev Johnson at iHeartMedia dot com. Bev Johnson at iHeartMedia
dot com. You're listening to double d i A.

Speaker 1 (58:43):
Whether you're in Arkansas, Tennessee, or Mississippi on Facebook, Twitter
or Instagram. Thank you for listening to the Bev Johnson
Show on doub d IA Memphis.

Speaker 17 (58:53):
The bevj Just Show.

Speaker 1 (59:38):
You're listening to the Bev Johnson Show. Here's Bev Johnson and.

Speaker 2 (59:42):
Good afternoon, Welcome back to WDIA. We are talking about
the aviation certification at Southwest Tennessee Community College. My guest
mister Willie Robinson, who's Associate professor Aviation program coordinator, and
chief flight instructor, also with US doctor Carol Ash, Vice
President for Academic Affairs and Workforce Development. Mister Robinson, doctor asked,

(01:00:08):
we're going to our phone line once again. He's back.

Speaker 5 (01:00:12):
I'm glad to talk to Isaiah.

Speaker 6 (01:00:14):
Hi.

Speaker 5 (01:00:14):
Isaiah, Hey, how y'all doing.

Speaker 2 (01:00:17):
We're doing well? What do you say?

Speaker 6 (01:00:20):
All right?

Speaker 12 (01:00:21):
Well, I want to ask mister Robinson here. I want
him to talk a little bit more about his background
in the field, and after that, I want him to
tell the viewers a little bit more about the enthusiasm
he has, the moment that he realized flying was for him,
and I just want to.

Speaker 15 (01:00:38):
You know, I just want to get that feeling that
he has for the field. I want to see if
he can give me that same feeling because I'm very interested,
and a lot of people that's listening are too.

Speaker 5 (01:00:49):
All right, Isaiah, thank you for your question.

Speaker 10 (01:00:53):
Bye bye?

Speaker 5 (01:00:54):
Okay, all right.

Speaker 18 (01:00:55):
Yeah, Isaiah, let's like telling the pastor you only have
five minutes left inconcluding and closing. Man, we can go
on and on and on with this subject. But I
was eight years old the first time. It's like an
airplane dropped into my bloodstream. Looked like all blood left
and jet airplanes was coursing through my veins.

Speaker 10 (01:01:13):
I was born in California.

Speaker 18 (01:01:15):
I lived in Saint Louis twenty two years, and I
was not far from Lambert Saint Louis International Airport.

Speaker 10 (01:01:20):
So where the first new home we ever had.

Speaker 18 (01:01:22):
My mother had it built ten thousand dollars for a
bedroom and a fully furnished basement. And I'll never forget
a ten grand. Now you try to get a house like,
it'll cost you ten times that much of mobile exactly.
So where we were poor a home was, I was
on what they call final approach. All the big jets
and fighter jets that were going into Lambert International flew

(01:01:44):
past my house. So after school, I did my homework
in class. So after school I would look up and
see these big jets coming in American Delta, United twa
brand of Eastern which a lot of those airplanes or
airlines are no longer in existence. And watch those airplanes
come in. And here I am eight years old. People
standing on the front porch, other children are out playing

(01:02:05):
ball or doing whatever goofy stuff children do, and I'm
watching these planes. And every time they got just a
beam my home, I would notice the power would reduce.
You could hear the power reduction. I won't make the
jet now, he's on this on the radio, but you
could hear the pilots reducing the power. And then all
of a sudden you see the landing gear come down,
And I thought, why is it that every time these

(01:02:26):
planes get right here, the gear come down and the
power is reduced, and you seem kind of tilted nose
down for the approach and landing. But I didn't know
that was final approach. I didn't know what an outer
marker or middle mark on inn marker was on an
ILS approach.

Speaker 10 (01:02:39):
ILS means Instrument Landing System approach.

Speaker 18 (01:02:42):
It guys the pilots right down latterally and horizonalley, right
down to the runway, almost in zero zero visibility conditions.
So I got so excited, and I said to myself,
one day I'm going to fight those airplanes. I am
going to be a pilot. I'm going And then I
found out how much money pilots made. I mean, they
make astronomical side of salaries. Airline pilots start off now

(01:03:04):
because these figures, or well i'll just give you the
current figures. They start off first day as a co pilot,
which is the first offer for sitting in the right seat.
You start off about ninety five thousand dollars almost one
hundred thousand dollars a year, and you only work two
weeks out of a month. What that's it? Two weeks
out of a month. The captain makes twice as much
as the co pilot. So the co pilot starts off

(01:03:26):
as one hundred thousand a year, then your captain is
already making two hundred thousand. So whatever the co pilot makes, generally,
the captain makes just about twice as much as that.
So I found out about the salaries, I said, oh yeah,
so I'm going to make a senior captain. I'm going
to fly to big jets, and I'm going to have
a home in California and one somewhere else where else
I didn't know. I said, I'm going to manage my money. Well,
listen to my father own business, because he was a

(01:03:48):
business owner in California. He owned the dry cleaners and
a radio and television repair facility. By the way, we
don't repair TVs anymore, do we. We just throw them out. Yeah,
I'll tell you something about that later. But so That's
how I got interested in it. And then as I
got older, I started hanging around the airport in Saint Louis.
My mother and I didn't have a good relationship.

Speaker 10 (01:04:07):
It was horrible.

Speaker 18 (01:04:08):
Until later I realized how wrong I was, and I
wrote her a five page handwritten letter asking her to
forgive me for my behavior, causing her gray hairs and
all that. So twice I ran away from home to
get away from her. But I ran away from home
at twelve or so. You know where I went both
times to Saint Louis, Lambert Airport, twelve fifteen miles from
the house. I walked all the way, didn't get hurt,

(01:04:29):
nobody bothered me, and I was just sit there at
Lambert Saint Louis Airport and watched jets come in hour
after hour, take off land, take off in land. Man,
I would just get so just at that young asi. Man,
I gotta do this. This is my calling, this is
my assignment. I don't know what all else I'm going
to do in life, but man, I am going to
be an airline captain, making big money, living where I

(01:04:50):
wanted to live, travel all over the world. And so
the older I got, the greater that fared my heart
to become that the more I focused on it. I
would sit around a convenience store. A friend of mine
named Mike owned the convenience store. I would read his
airplane magazines that come in once every month, Airplane and Pilot,

(01:05:10):
Pilot and Wings and Air Progress.

Speaker 10 (01:05:12):
I would sit there.

Speaker 18 (01:05:13):
He said, now, don't you get those No grease, no sandwich,
no juice on those books.

Speaker 10 (01:05:17):
Those are brand new books.

Speaker 18 (01:05:18):
So I would sit there for hours, reading all three
of the next month, I go right back to his
convenience store again, and I'd read those books. Didn't realize
that I was feeding myself my personal vision. Didn't know
about a vision and dreams and goals and plans at
that time, But I do now, and that's what really
has gotten me to where I am and have taken
me from being a one hour flight student.

Speaker 10 (01:05:39):
At the ship of Air Force Base that I talked about.

Speaker 18 (01:05:41):
In March of nineteen seventy to being an assistant professor
now at Southwest Tennessee Community College.

Speaker 10 (01:05:47):
Who would have ever thought?

Speaker 18 (01:05:49):
I wouldn't have because I never even thought about an
institution of higher learning. I never thought about being a
flight instructor. So I've been instructing since nineteen eighty eight,
and I'm telling you it's to me. I want everyone
to be a pilot, but see that's not for everyone.
You got to get over your fear of flying or
your fear of highest and there are a lot of
people whoever that that's right, and we have I know,

(01:06:10):
strategies to help psychology to help people get over that.
So that's basically where I got my start.

Speaker 2 (01:06:15):
Good and Grey, Chris, I was when you were talking
about Southwest and the program. So to come there, Robinson,
you you already have to have a.

Speaker 10 (01:06:27):
Certification in flying, Well, yes, because you.

Speaker 18 (01:06:32):
If you're going to teach students how to fly, you
need to be certified by the FA to do that
in order to actually sign their logbook. Because a pilot's
logbook is a legal document. If I trained someone how
to fly, they got to get in an accident. One
of the first things that aviation a lawyer is going
to want to see is this pilot's log book. That's
a legal document. So every time a flight instructor signs

(01:06:53):
a student's log book, then he has just signed his name,
expiration date, and his flight instructorsificate number and expiration. I
think I set expiration, so it becomes a legal document.
So that attorney is going to open that book and say, well,
this is what the National Transportation Board has found, the NTSB,
and they'll call me in since I was the last instructor,

(01:07:14):
said did you properly teach this student how to do
approaches and landing? Did you teach them how to do
cross when landings were and so whatever they find to
be the general overall probable cause of that accident, they're
going to question me on that. So you have to
be a certified flight instructor what we call a CFI.
If you're going to teach students how to fly and
reduce visibility conditions to get their instrument rating, which we

(01:07:37):
are now certified by the FAA to teach along with
the commercial pilot certificate, then you have to have an
extra eye, so it's called the double eye. So now
you are a certificated flight instructor eye or instrument instructor,
so you're a double eye now. So a lot of
people are doing this and they're getting their flight instructor certificates.

(01:07:58):
Then they're building flight time because they're teaching people how
to fly. And then after they get their appropriate total
flight hours, you're applying for airline jobs. A lot of
these young flight instructors are doing that and speaking about that.
One of the things that this part one forty one
does is if you are going to get let's see,
you got a huge reduction in flight time. If you're

(01:08:20):
going to get a ATP. ATP means Airline Transport Pilot
or ATP. If you're going to get an ATP, which
all airline pilots are required to have, even the first
officer are a copilot same term, then they have to
have an ATP or Airline Transport certificate generally fifteen hundred
hours of total flight time. Through Part one forty one,

(01:08:42):
you only need about twelve hundred and fifty hours of
total flight time. This course, Part one forty one reduces
the amount of flight time all the way around, saving
you a lot of time, energy, money, and all of that.

Speaker 2 (01:08:54):
Okay, well go back, Oh okay, come on, doc, or
come on here, come.

Speaker 7 (01:08:58):
On in, sister been and say, and then I want
to piggyback off or something. Professor Robison says, while we
want everybody to be pilots, we realize that there's need
in the industry for other workers, right, And so if
you're coming to Southwest and you want to pursue the
professional pilot degree and you do need those those things
that he talked about before, you'll you'll have to have that. However,

(01:09:19):
we've got two other different concentrations, right, We've got dispatch
and we've also got aviation administration, and so those are
also two different career pathways that students can pursue. However,
whichever of those three pathways you want to pursue, mister
Robison and the team at Southwest can help you get
on the path to get those things. So I just

(01:09:40):
wanted to I'm.

Speaker 5 (01:09:41):
Glad you mentioned so.

Speaker 2 (01:09:42):
So students may not want to fly, but they may
want to learn how the administration working in that. So
Southwest offers that absolutely, oh fabulous.

Speaker 7 (01:09:52):
Absolutely, And and we know that there is there is
a need in the job market for all of those
type of positions. They're all very well paid, their great careers,
and so I just wanted to give a little plug
for those. And then the other thing I wanted to say,
in terms of the pilot and the FAA one forty one,
because I don't think we mentioned this earlier. I just

(01:10:13):
and I think it's important for us to know that
we are the first two year college in the state.

Speaker 2 (01:10:18):
Wow provision the first in the state.

Speaker 7 (01:10:21):
The first and the two year college in the state.
And we are the only higher education institution in West Tennessee.

Speaker 2 (01:10:28):
Oh wow to have that.

Speaker 7 (01:10:30):
So, as mister Robinson said, it is a huge accomplishment.
In two years, the FAA will come back and like
he said, they can drop in at any time to
check how we're instructing students, how our equipment is, what
the supplies look like, what kind of simulations they're doing.
Are we keeping valid records to make sure that we
can continue keeping that fa part for one forty one.

(01:10:50):
So I just wanted to jump in there.

Speaker 2 (01:10:51):
Oh sure, sure, good. Let me go to our phone lines.

Speaker 5 (01:10:55):
W D I A HI caller.

Speaker 3 (01:11:00):
Good, all right, mister Robinson. How are you doing?

Speaker 6 (01:11:05):
Great?

Speaker 16 (01:11:06):
Great?

Speaker 3 (01:11:06):
I'm glad you made it on time. Just that power
checked out though, Okay.

Speaker 10 (01:11:10):
Oh yeah, for sure.

Speaker 18 (01:11:11):
I don't want to creep broke down car.

Speaker 3 (01:11:15):
Power south up and down at boulevard where you're at. Hey,
mister Robinson, I'm former Airport Robertson. I'm sorry, mister Robinson.
I'm for my Air Force eighteen years. Then that's a
Shield Desert story. I was a lone master on the
one for the one And when you said Shepherd Airport, States,
that's what I took my training up at Shepherd Airport. Yeah,

(01:11:36):
so well you said that, I said, oh my goodness,
that's exactly.

Speaker 14 (01:11:39):
Where I was.

Speaker 3 (01:11:39):
And when I was there, you see on this small
jet that they were training and fly over the barracks
and everything. I said, okay, we share something in coming.
But I was going to ask you that what was
one of the reasons why you did not fly for
the major corporations Life American in Delta And I got
a second question for your answer.

Speaker 10 (01:12:01):
Oh okay, Yeah.

Speaker 18 (01:12:02):
I applied after I had gotten all my credentials commercial licensed,
multi engine instrument, flight Instructor Certificate and Instrument Instructor certificate.
I have a ground instructor certificate, which those never expire.
I applied for all the airlines back in the eighties,
and the only one that invited me for an interview
was United. So United was doing their best to hire

(01:12:23):
more what they call minority pilots, so we could apply
every six months or as the rest of the ethnicities
like Caucasian they could only apply for a position with
United once a year. They were trying to get more
of us into the industry, so I applied. There were
two phases for the applicants. First phase is simply a
lot of questions. They asked you to talk to seasoned

(01:12:46):
airline pilots on an interview, you talk to human resources,
and I always passed that one. And it also had
a five hundred Minneapolis multi phasic inventory exam question or
questioned five hundred of them. And what they did in
that type of exam is that they built with a
live factor in it, and they were trying to find

(01:13:07):
out you were truthful or an untruthful a person. So
I always passed that because, for instance, they may start
off asking you in this multi phasic personality inventory exam,
do you like the outdoors? And you say yes. It's
only yeses and those yes and no boxes. You say yes.
Then maybe to one hundred and thirty questions down below,
they may ask you do you like fishing? And you

(01:13:30):
say no. Then they say, well you lied because you
said you liked the outdoors in question one, but when
you got down to a question one hundred and fifty,
you said you didn't like the outdoors, so which I
think is wrong and unfair because just because you don't
like fishing does not mean you don't like the outdoors.
So these tests are I don't know what they're designed
to do for the most part, so I always passed
that for the each of the three times I was invited. However,

(01:13:51):
in phase two they put me in a flights or
a simulator, either a seven to twenty seven or a
DC ten which has auto throttle simulator. Every time on
the phase two of each of the times that I
was invited back, I failed the simulators, what we call samurai,
So that's why I never made it. I got so
discouraged I just decided I was not going to try

(01:14:11):
for the airlines anymore. So that's why I never made
it to the airlines, but I did fly for smaller
companies out of Saint Louis.

Speaker 3 (01:14:18):
Okay. My second found question depth to your guests, is
that I know when I've watched the news and I
do a lot of reading online, and it's still one
of the s a jobs that can concerns yourself with
flying as air traffic controllers, do you teach that the
FAI they teach at the campus as well, because if

(01:14:39):
you look at it right now, this is a peach season,
they said for a vacation, and they say they don't
have enough pilots, and they also say that's not enough
air traffic controllers. What is your take on those two
because of recent I was saying, I think it was
Miami or Orlando Airport and my flight was supposed to
left out at three o'clock that evening, but it leads

(01:15:00):
out to midnight because they didn't have any poets to
fly to for I just want to get your take
on the bell listen. I want you I never want
to have a good for blood safe and a healthy
day and on safe ot for July. Take care guy YouTube.

Speaker 18 (01:15:14):
Prince Charles okay, mister Robinson, okay, thank you very much
for that question.

Speaker 10 (01:15:18):
Yeah, we are.

Speaker 18 (01:15:19):
The whole aviation industry is short and uh, doctor Ash
mentioned earlier about some positions. We have other positions available,
or the least the aviation industry does, such as an
aviation manager, airport manager, air cargo operations, flight operations crew,
schedulers which the flight dispatch and of course the airline

(01:15:40):
pilot and co pilot and flight instructor positions and a
whole host of other positions that are available out there,
and there are or there is a huge shortage of
air traffic controllers where the president administration some had been
laid off. We know back in the eighties Ronald Reagan
fire tons of air traffic controllers, which I think that
was one of the worst things you could do for

(01:16:01):
And here's the thing. The FAA's motto is safety. That
their they say that's their first priority. But then you
fire all of these striking air traffic controllers, which they
have a right by union labor laws to strike. So
Reagan got rid of tons of them then, and of
course we have a huge shortage of air traffic controllers.
Now I forgot the retirement age. I think it's fifty

(01:16:22):
three or so. You can google that. Don't hold me
to that that controllers have to retire because of the
tremendous amount of stress in those jobs. I mean, you
have to be super sharp, highly intelligent, and know you
got five airplanes, six seven airplanes, bev that you are
controlling delta four to seventeen, turn left, heading two seven zero,
eastern fourth, seventy five decent in maintain slight level two

(01:16:43):
zero United, you're cleared to the land runway three six
left win two seven zero degrees at five altimate two
nineer point nine two. Wow, these guys are and women.
They got a lot of women controls they're shouting on
and you've got to keep up with what each of
those aircraft's instructions that you have given them help keep
these airplane from running ploths together. So we do need
more pilots, We do need more air traffic controls like

(01:17:05):
never before.

Speaker 2 (01:17:06):
Yeah, I want to get doctor asht in here a
question When you said schedulers, My niece does that for
for America in Dallas, So she does that. But doctor
ash someone's listening, like Isaiah again, who who's interested in aviation?
Can they now register for these courses or they have

(01:17:29):
to wait? Is it is, will it be in the
fall or when is it happening?

Speaker 7 (01:17:35):
Yes, registration for fall is open. And as I said,
you know, the the only concentration we have that has
a couple of prerecords is the professional pilot. Okay, so
you do have to have as as mister Robison said,
you have to have that that doctor's check that.

Speaker 18 (01:17:51):
Yeah, yeah, you have to have a third class physical
and already have your private pilot certificate.

Speaker 7 (01:17:55):
Your private pilot certificate. But the other two concentrations that
we offer, flights and aviation administration, those two requirements are
not They're not okay. You don't have to have those requirements,
and so registration for those disciplines are open. But the
other thing I would say is, even if you don't
have those two requirements and you're interested in the professional pilot,

(01:18:17):
you should still come see mister Robinson, come see our team, because,
as he said, he has been in the industry for
a very long time. He has a rolodex and a network,
a professional network of individuals that can help students get
those two requirements fulfilled, so that if their desire is
to continue on with professional pilot, then they can do that.

(01:18:40):
On the other hand, you may come in and see
us and say, you know what, I thought, I wanted
to fly, but maybe I don't want to fly right,
and you decide to pursue some of the other careers
that are available. The pay ranges for those are also amazing.
You know, we're looking at flight dispatchers who are making
thirty six to one hundred and twenty seven thousand dollars
a year. That's nothing to sneeze. That don't have to

(01:19:01):
fly afraid of heights. And so I think I think
the message is not to don't make an assumption that
you can't do it based upon something you haven't seen. Right,
come and talk to us, right, Come and come and
come and draw from his experience, and come and draw
from his wealth of history and knowledge. There is a
position for you, be it in aviation, be it in

(01:19:24):
commercial music, be it in theater. There is a position
for you to move forward positively in your life. We
can help you fund.

Speaker 2 (01:19:32):
And saying that, doctor Ash so at Southwest Now workforce Development,
you all are really trying to get people to get
in the workforce community, and you have you offer an
assortment of classes to do that.

Speaker 7 (01:19:48):
That's correct. So when you think about certificates and degrees
and higher education, right, the catalog the credit courses, we
have over one hundred programs that are available.

Speaker 2 (01:19:59):
Right.

Speaker 7 (01:19:59):
But then we have Workforce Solutions that has lots of
non credit options. And so I'm glad you brought that
up because I want to circle. But out there was
a gentleman then called Earlier. He was talking about counseling.

Speaker 5 (01:20:07):
Yes, so I sent a.

Speaker 7 (01:20:09):
Quick text message and I got a text message back.
We have an online career counseling life Code certification program. Oh,
that is through our Workforce Solutions Center.

Speaker 2 (01:20:17):
Oh great.

Speaker 7 (01:20:18):
If there are people out there who are interested in that,
you just need to call three three three five thousand.

Speaker 2 (01:20:23):
Uh, just give that again.

Speaker 7 (01:20:24):
Three three three five thousand, okay, fine? Zero one three
three three five thousand okay. And so our Workforce Solutions
Center is really focused on short term certificates and credentials
that help individuals learners get licenses and certifications in industries
and in fields, so that those credentials are credentials of

(01:20:46):
economic value, not just credentials.

Speaker 2 (01:20:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (01:20:50):
At Southwest we know to make sure you get a
credential of economic value to help propel you and your
family forward.

Speaker 2 (01:20:56):
I love it. Going back to our phone lines to
talk with you. Thank you for waiting. Hi caller, Hi caller.

Speaker 6 (01:21:06):
Yeah, good afternoon, my most beautiful asking viout how you
doing today, sister.

Speaker 2 (01:21:09):
Good afternoon, David. I'm doing well. Brother. How are you?

Speaker 6 (01:21:14):
I'm doing fine. I'm finished with y'all cutting for the
fourth I'm great, okay, good, good, good.

Speaker 13 (01:21:21):
Hello, to your guests.

Speaker 10 (01:21:23):
Hey man, how are you doing good afternoon?

Speaker 6 (01:21:25):
I'm doing well. It's mister Robinson.

Speaker 10 (01:21:29):
Is that correct? Yes, that's that's correct, mister Robinson.

Speaker 6 (01:21:33):
I don't know what kind of tricks you got in
the bag that's gonna make me forget. I'm on a
plane better than a seven and seven and seven, But
I guarantee you I'm not getting in anybody's playing, So that's.

Speaker 13 (01:21:45):
Just what that is.

Speaker 2 (01:21:46):
Look.

Speaker 6 (01:21:46):
I carried out a boot cap from San Francisco, I think, yeah,
to Atlanta. It was one of the worst flights I've
ever had, and I was telling God, look, if you
just get me on the ground, if you just get
me on the ground, I'm on.

Speaker 13 (01:22:03):
Straighten up and fly right. I just ain't getting it
any other plane.

Speaker 10 (01:22:07):
But I made it.

Speaker 6 (01:22:09):
But no, sir, I gotta have a seven to seven.

Speaker 2 (01:22:12):
So let me tell you, David, I don't know if
you heard mister Roberts he said he can he teach
people how to get over your fear.

Speaker 3 (01:22:18):
I heard it, didn't you hear me? Sound?

Speaker 13 (01:22:19):
Or what kind of tricks he got in his bag
for it ain't gonna work for me.

Speaker 6 (01:22:25):
But I tell you this, mister Robinson, I'm really and
beb I really enjoyed you your transparency. It was Frederick Douglas,
I believe, who said there's no progress without struggle. And
what you're doing is you're inspiring others who may be
struggling to come by and give it a shot. I'm

(01:22:48):
also I'm also, I guess bell, I am so proud,
so proud to hear this is a big deal.

Speaker 2 (01:22:57):
Oh, it's a big deal. It's a big big deal. Yes.

Speaker 6 (01:23:02):
Look, I'm not gonna say what what Vice President Biden
said behind President Obama.

Speaker 13 (01:23:08):
When he when he passed the full cast, right, but
it's that big a deal and this is something. And
then they talked about music too, which which has been
my passion. This is why we are as big as
Nashville in that regard.

Speaker 2 (01:23:23):
Because I'm going to ask you, did you hear uh,
doctor ash and Patches they were because I'm excited about that,
and you know how long I was with Southwest and
they're getting all this new music production and all Greg
TV in the in the theater. Oh my goodness, I'm excited.

Speaker 6 (01:23:43):
Yes, ma'am. I am, and and the sister I think
I think it was a doctor who said only in
West Pittisy. I said, you go ahead, all young.

Speaker 7 (01:23:53):
Ladies, because I'm we're super proud about that. You know
what you gotta.

Speaker 6 (01:24:03):
Do it, do it. And let me tell you something.
With all that, I'm fortunate negative stories and news we
get daily day. I know, I know the news people
are just.

Speaker 13 (01:24:15):
Doing their job.

Speaker 6 (01:24:16):
If it leads, it leads. Boy, you have made my
holiday a lot better. So thank you. Thank you for
coming in and spending the time with miss Johnson, Hall
of Famer.

Speaker 10 (01:24:27):
We're glad to be here.

Speaker 18 (01:24:28):
All of us are doctor Asht and we have another
lady sitting off to my last Her name is Diana.
I don't know how to pronounce her last name.

Speaker 2 (01:24:38):
She's a PR person.

Speaker 18 (01:24:39):
Yes, she's a PR person for Southwest Tennessee Community College.
She sets up us. We were with Joe Birch on
Channel five a few days ago. Now here we're at
WD I that's my boyfriend.

Speaker 10 (01:24:49):
Oh it is it?

Speaker 13 (01:24:50):
Yeah?

Speaker 18 (01:24:51):
So I one of because she's just sitting silently by
and make sure we're saying the right thing. But no,
Diana does a great job. She is super I sent
her an email a couple of weeks ago. Are you
talking about super efficient and forward? Thinking and forward progressive.
This she just really helps to make our this department
run smoothly, so wonderfully. And now thank you for so

(01:25:12):
much for what you do. Sometimes people don't get recognized
and they need to.

Speaker 2 (01:25:16):
And they do. And David, one of the things, and
you know how passionate I am about Southwest Tennessee Community College.
They give opportunity for young and old. So don't tell,
don't tell me, I tell people. Don't say you don't
have an opportunity because as doctor ashe has said in
their work, they offer.

Speaker 19 (01:25:39):
An assortment of classes and opportunities for people, and so
so you can learn and so you can have a
better life, you know, so you can make the money.

Speaker 6 (01:25:50):
Yeah, yeah, we well tell the PR person. I'm gonna
tell her what we say in off lissids you working
at Girl.

Speaker 2 (01:25:57):
And please, David say you working at Girl.

Speaker 7 (01:26:02):
She gave.

Speaker 6 (01:26:07):
And that's important because you're absolutely correct. Because the Southwest
I'm very very proud of having Southwest as part of
this city and county. And the PR people, the people
of information have to constantly you know, I forget how
many times they say, you say you have to see
an advertisement before you actually act and that's the same

(01:26:29):
way in getting information out about what we have to
offer here for these young people. Because I was just
talking to a coach this morning, I said, Coach, if
I was talking in front of a lot of young men,
I would ask them, who are who are not going
the right way? Do you know how much money the
criminal justice system makes offer you? And do you understand

(01:26:51):
that they want to do that? So we got to
give you something else to do so that you can
make that money and keep it in your own pocket
and have a family and build something of your own.
So once again and lastly, I want to say, y'all
have made me so proud this morning to hear what
is going on at Southwest Oh bev.

Speaker 13 (01:27:12):
I'm old enough to remember when it was Selby State.

Speaker 2 (01:27:16):
And me too.

Speaker 7 (01:27:17):
Brother, Well sad, We're glad. I'm so glad to hear
you say that. And I just want to say, you know,
we can we can run all the TV commercials and
all the radio commercials in the world, but there's nothing
like that brand ambassador in the community. Right So we
need you to help us continue to spread the news
and spread the word about our one hundred plus programs,
about our training, about our aviation program, about our history,

(01:27:41):
about the skills, the knowledge that you can gain when
you come, because nothing is going to penetraye the community
like the word of the community. So thank you for
helping us spread that word. We appreciate it.

Speaker 14 (01:27:52):
Is that doctor.

Speaker 6 (01:27:55):
Dr asht Yes, doctor ash is long long as I
actually do it on the ground and not in the plane.

Speaker 7 (01:28:04):
I'll take it.

Speaker 5 (01:28:04):
I'll take it, David.

Speaker 2 (01:28:10):
You all have shit shed a wealth of information and
matter of facturss Robinson, doctor ash. I had got an
email from one of our listeners down in the Delta.
Down in the Delta, Lewis my girl, Lewis Tolliver, and
she says that the gentleman is so interesting and inspiring.
My niece, in her early twenties is an agricultural pilot.

Speaker 10 (01:28:32):
Oh my, that's wonderful.

Speaker 5 (01:28:34):
Yeah, yes, yeah, So.

Speaker 2 (01:28:36):
Let me take this last call. So I got to
get these folks out of here. W D I a
high caller. Hi, yes, Pastor stelling.

Speaker 20 (01:28:49):
Yes, this is what I'm interested. I'm proactive and I'm
just so glad I got a chance to get in
because we have a mentoring program at our church.

Speaker 21 (01:28:58):
And I'm thinking about the young men at our.

Speaker 20 (01:29:00):
Church, who I would love to have their to take
the lid off of their dreams, to expand them and
let them know what's available for them. Right here, I
want to find out who do I contact to arrange.

Speaker 21 (01:29:16):
A tour of a group of maybe because.

Speaker 20 (01:29:19):
I'm pros it's about next year's school year, or maybe.

Speaker 21 (01:29:23):
About twenty graduates. Okay, to let them know what's available
in aviation or have someone contact me to come over
and I can accommodate them in any way they need accommodating,
because this is.

Speaker 20 (01:29:38):
Great for our young men, especially African American young men,
to know what's available to them.

Speaker 2 (01:29:47):
Oh yes, and that's great, Pastor Stella. So I know
you got to hang up so you'll be able to
listen and they will give you the information what you
need to do and how you need to do it
and if you missed it earlier, Pastor Stella. They also
talked about a fabulous program they're going to have in
new degrees and certificates in the entertainment production with recording music.

(01:30:09):
So yeah, so if you so you can listen, they're
going to get the information how you can contact them.

Speaker 13 (01:30:16):
Okay, Okay, thank you, Dom.

Speaker 2 (01:30:19):
You welcome past Steller, be safe out there. I know
she's driving, so you all tell her how.

Speaker 18 (01:30:23):
Yeah. One thing we do, we do give tours fight department.
But here's something else, and I'm glad she brought that up,
is that I'm also a public speaker, so I go
to churches, conventions and meetings.

Speaker 10 (01:30:34):
If the pastors or the facilitator.

Speaker 18 (01:30:36):
Want to invite me to come out and speak, I'll
be glad to come out and promote Southwest. Yes, and
especially the part of flight training and getting your pine
of certificates, because a lot of people aren't exposed to
this stuff except to hear it on radio or see
a commercial toil on television. So I'd be glad to
do that. And also to give her a tour of
our aviation department.

Speaker 2 (01:30:55):
Yeah, and doctor asks you, is there again a number
she can call? Pastor Stella that because she wants to
come over.

Speaker 7 (01:31:01):
Yeah, I would say she should call that same number
nine zero one three three, three five thousand. Our recruitment
department we can give tours of. And again we've got
multiple campuses, right, yes, yes, We've got lots of programs,
so we can give tours of any programs. And we
also as mister Robinson said, we have faculty who love
to go out and talk to groups of students. They'll

(01:31:23):
come and talk to congregations right like it's our we
want to connect, connect with community where you are. So
absolutely I love it.

Speaker 2 (01:31:31):
I love it. And before you all get out of here,
out before again, our last words. Do you all, doctor
ash still have the mortuary program.

Speaker 7 (01:31:42):
Funeral Service Sciences? Yes?

Speaker 2 (01:31:44):
Okay, oh yes, I was wondering about that. Yeah, because
people may.

Speaker 7 (01:31:48):
Hey, not only do we have it, but that program
just got its individual PROGRAMMAT accreditation.

Speaker 2 (01:31:53):
Wow.

Speaker 7 (01:31:53):
So that was a big win for us this this
this academic year. The Funeral Services program is primarily at
the White Haye in campus with y with doctor boom.

Speaker 2 (01:32:02):
Oh good good. So as we get ready to wrap up,
I'll start with mister Robinson, last words you'd like to
say to our listeners this day?

Speaker 18 (01:32:10):
Oh man, I'm telling you I was gonna say this
to you best.

Speaker 2 (01:32:14):
Sure.

Speaker 18 (01:32:14):
I'll graduated from Columbia School of Broadcasting in Clayton, Missouri,
which is a suburb of Saint Louis. So I have
a wealthy like you, a radio and television background.

Speaker 10 (01:32:23):
Man, you've been doing this, man, I've done a lot.

Speaker 18 (01:32:25):
I'm also an h VAC technician from Delta Tech. And
speaking of Delta Tech, I cannot leave this radio station
without saying hello to my twenty nine We've been married
twenty nine years, my wife, Anita.

Speaker 10 (01:32:35):
Congratulate my daughter, she was born.

Speaker 18 (01:32:37):
Two years after we were married, Christiana, who's going to
medical school next year, Corey, my son, and Courtney. I
want to say hello to all of them. And I mean,
it's just wonderful. I don't know, but anyway, I love it.
But anyway, audience, I want to say that a fabulous life.
And I'll tell you what I have been blessed, you know,
and I'm thankful for that, and I'll give all the

(01:32:57):
glory to Almighty God. But I just want to thank
the audience for listening to the station. Like I said,
I'm new here in Memphis. Well I'm not new. I've
been here twenty nine years and I don't know still
a lot of things. I'll ask my wife, Honey, how
do I get over to the Veterans hospital because I'm
also a military veteran, she said. When I first came,
she said, oh honey, it's over on So so I said,
I'll just put in my GPS.

Speaker 10 (01:33:16):
Yes.

Speaker 18 (01:33:17):
So I just want to thank my wife, Anita for
twenty nine years of marriage December ninth to me thirty years.
I moved here married to Southern Bell and she's just
been awesome in my wonderful children that I mentioned. So
keep listening to WDA ten seventy on AMFM.

Speaker 2 (01:33:32):
Oh I love that, Am Am, and on our fabulous
iHeart Media. You can pull us up on their phone.
But let me say this, since I know you say
you're new here and you're learning things. So do you
know about this legendary station? No, okay, let me tell you.
I love to tell. WDIA is the first black formatted

(01:33:57):
radio station in the United States of America. It was
born October twenty fifth, nineteen forty eight. It started out
in nineteen forty seven as a country station by two owners,
white guys, mister John Pepper and Bert Ferguson. They were
not mister Robinson making any money.

Speaker 6 (01:34:18):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:34:19):
They went to a convention and somebody said, well, maybe
you need to broadcast to the back. Then it was
the colored folk. In nineteen forty eight, they thought about it,
and so yeah, they heard about this man right here,
Nat Dee Williams, who was a high school history teacher
at Booker T Washington High School. He was an EMC
on Bill Street, did all the programs, all the folks

(01:34:40):
that came in. He was very, very very well known
in the community. Mister Pepper, mister Ferguson got him first
day October twenty fifth, nineteen forty eight. As he came
on the air. He didn't know radio, he knew history,
he laughed, because back and then you couldn't run the
board like I'm doing. You had a white engineer, right,
but he was the first. But w d I A

(01:35:03):
is the first black formatted station in the United States
of America. And guess who worked here, bb King, Rufus Thomas.

Speaker 10 (01:35:11):
You know those names, Yes, I do.

Speaker 2 (01:35:13):
They worked right here. Yeah. So that's a little history.

Speaker 18 (01:35:17):
So I didn't know that. I had no idea. But
thank you for updating me.

Speaker 2 (01:35:22):
You are so welcome. So as I used to tell
my students, google us. That's right, google it, google it.
You gotta find all kinds of good things. But again,
thank you for being here and you have shared so wonderful.

Speaker 18 (01:35:36):
Anything else you want to say, Oh man, no, okay,
the next show, the next show that show. Thank you
so much for having all of us here today. It's
just wonderful.

Speaker 2 (01:35:45):
You're so welcome. Doctor Carrol Ash, Vice President for Academic
Affairs and workforce Development. Last words you like to say
to our listeners.

Speaker 7 (01:35:53):
Well, I also did not know that history and so
oh you did. I did not realize that piece that
it was the first and so as also a former
media person, I spent twenty years working in the media myself. Wow,
I and I oversaw the radio, TV and visual programs
at a community college in Chicago once I transition out

(01:36:15):
of full time TV news. I'm just honored to be here.
Oh my gosh, I am with my people for sure. Yes, yes,
I'm honored to be here. And and and I just
I when you told your story about all of the
campuses that you've taught at, thank you for your service
to our community as well.

Speaker 5 (01:36:34):
You're welcome.

Speaker 7 (01:36:35):
And in terms of what we're here to promote, I
just want to say, especially as we were talking about
that those different credentials that students can come when you
think about the gig economy right now that we're working in,
when you think about the proliferation of social media and
how people are monetizing their content. It's important to keep
your skills sharp and your knowledge clear, right, and so

(01:36:55):
if you need to get brushed up, we're the place.

Speaker 2 (01:36:58):
To come, right.

Speaker 7 (01:36:58):
If you need to get if you need to start over,
we're the place to come.

Speaker 5 (01:37:02):
And I always like to say doctor your best choice.

Speaker 2 (01:37:05):
I know y'all don't use that slogan anymore, but I
love it that your best choice.

Speaker 7 (01:37:10):
Our success starts here, right, it starts, It starts here,
and it can start again and again and again. So
thank you for having us, thank you for all the
listeners and for the phone calls. We appreciate it, and
we look forward to just continuing to grow in the community.
I've been here two years.

Speaker 2 (01:37:25):
So wow, we'll welcome, welcome in. Thank you well and
well you all are welcoming back anytime. And I know
Diana will let me know when you all have new
programs coming in because she's a bad sister and you right,
so she always let me know what Southwest is doing.
Thank you all so much. Have a happy save fourth

(01:37:48):
of July you as well. We'll do we'll do all right.

Speaker 5 (01:37:55):
I want to thank you callers.

Speaker 2 (01:37:58):
I want to thank you listeners for joining us this
day on The BEB Johnson Show.

Speaker 5 (01:38:02):
We do, we really do appreciate you.

Speaker 2 (01:38:06):
So until tomorrow, please be safe, keep a cool head, y'all,
and don't let anyone steal your joy. Until tomorrow, I'm
Bab Johnson and y'all keep the faith.

Speaker 5 (01:38:19):
Let me say Happy Father of July.

Speaker 2 (01:38:22):
Now I will not be here tomorrow, so let y'all know,
so enjoy the music on the Hardened Soul of Memphis
w d IA.

Speaker 6 (01:38:36):
The views and opinions discussed on The Bed Johnson Show
are that of the hosts and

Speaker 5 (01:38:41):
Callers and not those of the staff and sponsors of
w DA