Episode Transcript
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Good afternoon, good morning.
And I hope that everybody isdoing well today and happy
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Today's guest is going to becoming into the studio. So
without any further ado, let'smove on with today's show.
Welcome to the drunken wormpodcast. Each week, I will be
bringing you dynamic contentthat will educate and inspire.
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This podcast was created to talkto mental health professionals
about addiction recovery andtheir own personal stories that
can help inspire us to becomebetter people and live healthier
lives. And again, I want towelcome everybody to the drunken
warrior podcast. My name isCarl, the host and the creator
of this show. And you'relistening to episode number 31.
And like I said before, I hopeeverybody is having a great day
(04:04):
today. If you are out at thegym, maybe you're driving to or
from work, or maybe you're onthe treadmill listening to the
show, I hope that you're goingto enjoy the content that we're
going to bring to you today. Ontoday's show. We have John
Young, who is a disc jockey with95.3k UIC radio, John also holds
a Master's of Social Work and isa licensed clinical social
(04:26):
worker. So we want to welcomeJohn into the studio today.
John, welcome to the show. Myfriend,
John Young (04:32):
brother Carl, thank
you so much for having me.
Carl Fessenden (04:35):
Absolutely, man.
And you know, I we were talkingbefore we launched the show just
now and I am so excited to haveyou in the studio man. I've
always admired the work thatyou've done on KUIC radio. And
recently when I reached out toyou to share information about
addiction and mental health, youhad disclosed that you are a
(04:55):
licensed clinical social workerand I really found that
fascinating, man. So can youtell us a little bit about what
that journey was like for youand why you chose to get into
social work? And then we cantalk a little bit about also why
you chose to get into the radiobroadcasting?
John Young (05:11):
Absolutely. I know
it's a very odd combination of
vocations, isn't it? As it is, Ialso teach. I'm fortunate enough
to do online teaching at UMassglobal in their social work
department. And that's one ofthe first things students will
ask me, you're How did you getto be a like a radio disc jockey
and an entertainer, but you'realso a social worker. And my
(05:32):
quick answer to that is, I was asocial worker first. Because I
had to make money to support mymy artistic, you know,
endeavors, being a musician andbeing on the radio and doing
different things like that. SoI'd always wanted to do radio
full time. But as you well know,Carl, and you've been you've
dabbled in and out of it, andyou've been a board up for KUIC,
you've, you know, as much aboutstudios, probably more than I
(05:54):
do. It can be a tough business,you've got to have some type of
a, have a steady income stream,if you've got a family or you've
got, you know, some type offinancial goal, which I did,
which was, you know, to move outof my parents house. Ultimately,
I was able to cobble together asocial work career starting
working with people withdevelopmental disabilities,
that's kind of gotten me intothe door of the social work
(06:15):
world and then expose me to themaster's degree programs. I've
got my Master's from Long BeachState, where they specialized in
working with with communities ofcolor, and women in particular,
people who are underservedcommunities, I think it was what
they called it back in the thelate 80s. It exposed me to all
kinds of different things,including working with folks who
(06:35):
had substance abuse issues. Andthat's really where I got that
connection. Ultimately, radiocame along, and I was shifting
gears. And so I took a full timejob at a KUIC lo those many
years ago. But I've kept mylicense current, because not
only did was it hard to get, andI thought I'm not just going to
let it lapse after all thateducation and all that effort.
(06:58):
But I still feel like givingback to the community is part of
who I am. And by continuing tokeep my license current and
continuing to practice here, andthey're continuing to teach. I
feel like I haven't haven't lostmy social work edge.
Carl Fessenden (07:11):
Yes. And, you
know, you mentioned all the
hours that you have to put in toobtain your I mean, let alone
all the schoolwork that you hadto go through to obtain a
master's degree, but also allthe clinical hours and the
different types of populationsthat you had to put yourself
into in order to achieve thelong term goal of being a
(07:33):
licensed clinical social worker.
And so how do you find thatbalance with doing the social
work, and then also working as aradio personality. And then you
also mentioned that you have ajoy of music, and also bicycle
riding? So tell me a little bitabout that balance for you?
John Young (07:52):
Absolutely. Well, I
think the bicycle riding and
working as a session musiciangetting a chance to play gigs,
still to this day, I'm reallyfortunate to have that
opportunity is really mytherapy. To some degree. I know
a lot of people in your audiencehave, like you mentioned people
listening to this podcast ontheir treadmills or coming back
from the gym, going to the gym,doing healthy things to take
(08:12):
care of you. Those are some ofthose things that I do. But the
balance between being on theradio and being a licensed
clinical social worker, what Ithink I've been able to do in
the 22 years, I've beendistilling, that's a terrible
phrase. But I've been, I've beentrying to find a way to blend
entertainment and social worktogether without being just like
(08:33):
a radio therapist. And one wayI've been able to do that, and
combine the two is by being acommunity based guy on the radio
or person on the radio, if youwill. In other words, I spent a
lot of my show interviewingpeople like you, Carl, clinical
supervisors who are workingdirectly with populations who
need our help populations who dohave substance abuse disorders,
(08:54):
and diagnoses, and bringing thatattention to my audience. So I'm
still having fun, I'm stillgoofing around and doing
impressions and you know,interviewing musicians and
whatnot. But I'm alsointerviewing those changemakers.
And those people like you in thecommunity who are actually doing
direct service. So I feel likeI'm kind of a macro social
worker. Right now. I'm doingsome social work via the radio.
(09:15):
So I'm trying to combine thetwo. That may be a clunky
answer, but I think that's kindof how I'm how I'm trying to
achieve what you just described.
Carl Fessenden (09:22):
Yes. And, you
know, John, I really have to
say, Man, I'm really kind ofenvious of you because it has
always been a dream of mine toget into broadcasting and part
of the story that you don't knowabout after I left KUIC radio is
that, you know, and and I, Iwork a program now of honesty
(09:42):
and you know, the past that I'vehad, I think that it's good to
be honest about my path becauseI can try to minimize and say,
you know, well, you know, theydidn't need me or you know,
something like that, but Ireally kind of messed that job
up because I was in a deepaddiction. When I was working at
KUIC radio, and I really enjoyedworking there, and it wanted, I
(10:06):
wanted to get on the air, but itwasn't the right time for me,
man, you know, and it wasn'tthat I it just it didn't work
out and so I got let go at KUICradio and it wasn't until I got
clean that I started listeningto Brian, two podcasts and
thinking to myself, Man, youknow, you could get back into
doing this. And without anybroadcast experience besides
(10:29):
working a board off, and I alsoDJ it for years, you know, just
kind of taking that leap offaith. And it sounds like that
is something that you did whenyou decided to get into
broadcasting as well as workingas a social worker. So what did
that feel like for you, man?
Well,
John Young (10:47):
it was a leap of
faith. I think like you, I've
had to believe in my ability todo the job. And I'm hearing what
you say is once you got clean,that belief was much clearer for
you, you you had some doorsopen, your mind was uncluttered,
you were able to say, Wow, I doknow a little bit about boards.
And I did do some DJing there'sno reason I can't do this now
(11:07):
that my now that I'm no, theaddiction isn't holding me back,
right? I had to just believe inmyself. And honestly, it was not
the KUIC was not the first doorI walked in and got a job right
off the bat, there was plenty ofin fact, I'm, I'm in my home
studio looking at one of therejection letters I have framed
from the zone, which is a nowdefunct radio station in
(11:29):
Sacramento that sent me a sorry,you're not our type, you're not
what we're looking for. Andthat's not the only one that's
just the one I saved and framedas a way to motivate myself to
keep on trying to get out thereand take that leap of faith that
you described. And ultimately, Iwas able to impress a program
director who said, I think we'regonna hire you even though you
don't have a ton of experienceas a radio person. But you've
got this weird, interestingbackground as a social worker,
(11:51):
and you know, you're a musician,and, you know, you seem funny
enough, and you'll catch onquickly. And I was lucky, I had
good mentors, I know, youprobably would bring that up.
That's important to have thosefolks in your life in your
circle, that can advocate foryou and help you understand
things you don't understand.
Recovery isn't that muchdifferent, I think than some of
those other things we go throughright where we need those. We
need those power people, we needfolks in our circle and in our
(12:12):
community that helps support us.
Ultimately, I got lucky enough.
And then once I had that job,like you, Carl, I said head
down, get this done, stayfocused, and 22 years later, I'm
still doing it.
Carl Fessenden (12:27):
Wow, that's,
that's incredible. And you know,
the work that you guys do itKUIC radio for the Solano
County, and also, you know,reaching out to Contra Costa
County. And when I worked there,we were under the umbrella of
coast radio. And now Now I thinkyou guys are under Alpha media
fire. If I'm
John Young (12:47):
reading a fairly
recent acquisition, the the time
you're talking about is verymuch in the in the public
conscious. We were coast radioforever. Yeah. And their whole
point was making it a hometownradio station. That was the
owners of the coast radioconglomerate really wanted us.
We're in a unique positiongeographically, you know,
between Sacramento and SanFrancisco, there's this giant
(13:08):
market that doesn't always getserved appropriately by
Sacramento or San Francisco. AndI applaud that previous
ownership for recognizing thatwe have an opportunity to really
speak to our audience becausewe're right there in their towns
with them.
Carl Fessenden (13:21):
Yeah. And it's,
it's so important to bring
awareness to these issues. Andto have a platform with a
morning show where you guys canhighlight the struggles that are
prominent within ourcommunities, because I think a
lot of people like to justeither minimize, or they're they
(13:41):
put themselves in a state ofdenial, where they don't want to
have to look at things and dealwith them. But you know, John,
they're really right there onour doorstep. And if we don't
start talking about things likethis on your show, and on my
show, the problem isn't going togo away. But what we can try to
do is we can try to come up withsome better solutions on how to
deal with our feelings and howto deal with our emotions.
(14:04):
Rather than picking up drugs or,you know, addiction is in so
many different other facetsalso, you know, it's not just a
chemical addiction, it can be asex addiction, it can be a food
addiction, it can be a shoppingaddiction, it can be a gambling
addiction, you know, so manydifferent things.
John Young (14:22):
And I agree with you
100%. And you bring up a really
important point, which is a lotof morning shows unless they are
absolutely focused on recoveryor they're focused on mental
health. Only regular morningshows, we're just playing the
latest carried Katy Perry tuneor in doing contests. I see I
see an opportunity and I try Ireally do Carl try to make this
(14:45):
part of of what I do on KUIC isto address that other part you
just talked about. I have peoplefrom executive director from
opportunity house who is awonderful person who I've worked
very closely with. I'll have heron the show often. And sure
we'll talk about At some of thefun fundraisers, they're doing
like their cookies for a causeor a really cool Golf Tournament
that's going to feature somecelebrities that live here in
(15:07):
Northern California. But alwaysthe message is, there are
homeless people in our communitythat need us to empathize, not
to ignore them, just like youtalked about not to pretend
those things aren't happening.
And I really, you're reallytapping into something that I
feel strongly about. And I feellike is the one thing that makes
the morning show and KUICdifferent than other morning
shows is we care about thatstuff. That's part of my show
prep. It's not just aboutcomedy, it's not just about
(15:30):
concert tickets. It's not, youknow, just about fun giveaways.
It's about we've got a voicelet's use it for good, let's use
it to to lift up the people thatgenerally are sometimes are
pushed to the side, or wepretend to ignore them, because
it's more convenient.
Carl Fessenden (15:48):
Yeah,
absolutely. And you know, and a
lot of people don't even realizethat they're ignoring things
because you know, denial is sucha dangerous thing that happens
to us. It's our brain'sautomatic defense, to protect
ourselves against something. Butwhat we can try to do is we can
try to start to realize some ofthe early warning signs of
(16:09):
denial. And I'm not tellingeverybody that they need to go
out and be Superman and start,you know, helping homeless
people try to get into hotelsor, you know, try to get into
funding opportunities. But youknow, when I started my career
as a clinician, I was goingthrough school, and my
instructor at Woodland CommunityCollege told me, she said, What
(16:29):
is one thing that you are goingto be uncomfortable with, and
the number one thing that I wasgoing to be uncomfortable with,
and that time was homelessness.
I had a different view ofhomelessness until I started
working with that population,and having a better
understanding of their strugglesand a better understanding of
their mindset, and what they gothrough. I just thought, you
know, these are people that wantto annoy me, asked me for money,
(16:52):
they don't try hard, you know,and they're just not doing
anything with their lives. Andso why should I make the effort
to try to help them. But itwasn't until I got into the
industry, that I learned that,you know, they are trying, and
it's not just a homelessproblem, it's a system problem
as well, because we don't haveadequate resources to assist
(17:14):
these people. For the long term.
John Young (17:19):
You make such a good
point. This is what happened to
me when I began working withpeople in the in the addiction
community, if you will, thatinpatient was really where my
work was done at a place calledcharter hospital. What I know is
now changed, the name isdifferent, but it was up here in
the Roseville area where I live.
And I come from a family withwhat's with an alcoholism gene
in there. My my mother's dad wasan alcoholic who died from a
(17:43):
liver failure and other organfailure when he was 67. He also
smoked three packs of cigarettesa day, that didn't help. But
ultimately, I thought I had avery early on, I thought
alcoholics are just people whocouldn't, you know, they just
couldn't resist, they weren'tvery strong willed. I know a lot
of people come from that school.
Ultimately, my social worktraining led me to understand
(18:04):
that's not the case, it's anaddiction. It's a you know, it's
a disease that needs to be dealtwith. But I still never really
appreciated what people whosuffer from addiction go through
until I worked with thepopulation, just like you
described, it opened my eyes tosome of the struggles, the the
lack of individuality that comesfrom having an addiction,
whatever it is, whether it'salcohol, drugs, sex, gambling,
(18:26):
food, some of the things youmentioned, a lot of the patients
that I worked with, wereresentful of being just given
here's a, here's a list of ameetings, you're cured, or I'm
done working with you now,right? What if I don't see
myself this way, and I want toget treatment, and I want to get
better? Do you have some otherchoices, and that's what opened
my eyes a little bit to, um, toworking with that population,
(18:46):
and realizing you need to be alittle more creative than the
average bear, if you want to getthrough to some folks who may
need something different than asheet of resources.
Carl Fessenden (18:55):
Right and I,
John, I totally agree with you
with that. Because, you know,working with this population,
now, I would say probably 80% ofthe people that I work with, or
maybe even higher, are in thehomeless community. They are,
they are either coming out ofincarceration, and they don't
have a place to go, or they'recoming off of the street looking
for treatment. And they in theredon't have a place to go after
(19:17):
treatment is over. And so that'swhy it's so important to have
the sober living environmentsthat are connected to the
treatment centers, theoutpatient centers, and these
community resources that we canuse, but it's also up to the
clinician, the clinician needsto have the awareness to place a
client centered treatment planin front of that person that
(19:38):
that person has helped develop.
It's not just a treatment planthat we're going to slap down in
front of them and say, Hey, thisis the plan that we've made for
you. Because that is not goingto be effective enough where
it's going to get the client orthat person involved with the
way that they approach their owntreatment. We have to have
clients in our treatment plans.
And the first step of that is bytaking that assess spent that we
(20:00):
do. And now we're utilizing theassessment to build a plan that
is built together with theclient and the clinician,
John Young (20:08):
you really hit that
out of the park, because
building with the client is I'mgoing to guess I don't know what
the numbers are, but yoursuccess rate is going to be
quadruple what it would be ifyou have somewhat of a cookie
cutter, almost, you know, triageapproach to treatment. And Carl,
you're working with a populationthat I don't have that much
experience with, which ishomeless population with the
(20:31):
addiction, disease diagnosis,maybe at the incarceration piece
as well. That's a challenge. AndI had impatient folks, but a lot
of impatient folks who hadinsurance, whose family said,
Will you please go gettreatment, and we'll love you
again. So off, you go to, youknow, please spend 90 days at
the magic, fix it place and comeback to us with everything fine.
(20:53):
And so that that was my watchingthat happened and fail in real
time in front of me was whatmotivated me to try to, to
understand to be a more helpfulclinician working in that
population.
Carl Fessenden (21:06):
Absolutely,
John, and you know, those areas
that we get to work with, wherewe are now teaching people life
skills, pro social skills, andall the things that come along
with that, to place them backout into the community for the
best chance for success. This isthe goal. And it's a goal that
(21:26):
we come up against where theodds are highly against us. And
it's unfortunate, because thatis just the rate of which people
are going to go back out. Notall of them are successful, you
know, the success rate isrelatively low. For people going
through treatment for the firsttime. It takes multiple times
(21:46):
for them to come through thatdoor. And each time, they're now
gaining a little bit more ofthemselves. And we're building
upon that. And we're using thatto say, You know what, you came
back. And it's okay. Becauseit's okay, that you relapsed.
And, you know, in a lot of therooms and the groups that I'm
involved with, they say relapseis part of the story. And I
(22:07):
agree with that to a certainextent. But I also think that
relapse is can be the final partof the story. And once you come
into treatment, you know, youhave the ability now to make
those changes. But it all startsagain with that client
relationship that that clinicianbuilds with them, to get them on
board to, you know, get them tobuy into the idea of treatment.
John Young (22:31):
Absolutely. That the
client clinician relationship
is, is something that, I guesswith my artistic background, and
a little in that the humor thatI bring to those relationships,
whether it's individual orgroup, I think that was helpful
for me, you talked earlier aboutor asked me earlier about how I
kind of synthesized radio andsocial work together. And
(22:53):
believe it or not, there'sthere's some overlap there when
you're especially when you'rewhen you're presenting and
you're trying to connect in away that doesn't put you in that
power position where you are theweak patient, I am the strong
savior. And you're always goingto be looking up at me, there's
when you can use humor andrelational kinds of things to to
bring someone closer to you,when it comes to accepting and
(23:16):
reframing some of the thingsthat are going through, I think
your success rate can go up. SoI've been I've been lucky to
have that in my toolbox, if youwill.
Carl Fessenden (23:24):
Absolutely. And
that success rate can happen.
You know, it doesn't have tohappen only at these high end
places. Because I've worked atboth John, I've worked in the
trenches, like I'm doing nowwith the population that I get
to work with that comes directlyout of incarceration, and
directly off of the street. Andyou know, we have a probation
officers that are bringing thesefolks into treatment. And a lot
(23:47):
of it is court ordered. And butI've also had the other side of
the coin working in the privateindustry, where, you know, it
was the they call it the 30 daysspin dry. And these folks will
come into treatment. And thesefolks have a lot of money and
they're paying a lot of money tocome into this treatment center.
And it doesn't have to be thehigh end places that have the
(24:09):
great success. A lot of times,it's these Mom and Pop community
built organizations, thesenonprofits that are there that
have a really high success rate.
But it's also what thenonprofits like the opportunity
house are doing for thecommunity to raise awareness,
and like what you're doing forthe community on KUIC radio, to
bring awareness about theseissues that plague our community
(24:31):
currently.
John Young (24:34):
And you know what
else I think is important about
what you just touched on there.
When you say the word community,we hear that word a lot. And it
connotes say a wonderfulcloseness. It's usually a warm,
fuzzy feeling when we say it,but I think the way you're
saying it is is even morecritical community means we're
all in this together. I'm notbetter than you are client or
(24:55):
person who is coming out ofincarnate Looking for a place to
go or opportunity house, they'vedone so much to normalize
themselves within the community.
They're not just the homelessshelter where homeless people
go, they have a commercialkitchen, where they're making
amazing cookie patter that youcan buy as a fundraiser. I
bought tons of I've eaten waytoo much of it, frankly. But
(25:18):
it's it's those things wherethere's nothing wrong with
seeing the mayor hanging out atopportunity house to go pick up
a thing of cookies, there'snothing wrong with seeing me
talking to anybody at aStarbucks, I'm not the idea of,
you know, sounding like acommunist, but that this idea
that we're, there's, there's alevel of equality and community
that I think helps people whoneed that lift who need that
(25:40):
boost need not to see themselvesas lesser than, and when you
talk that way, it's veryencouraging to me, because I
hope that's what I'm doing. WhenI'm on the radio, I'm not above
you, because I'm on the radio,I'm speaking to you and I work
for you, I just happen to usethe radio, because that's kind
of how it's how it's fallen in,in line for me,
Unknown (25:58):
Right, and you know,
and like you said, the radio,
you're working for the people,you are working to bring
awareness about the about all ofthese issues that plague our
community and, and bringingawareness and bringing the
community closer toorganizations like the
opportunity house, like thehouse of Acts where I work. And
by placing them on to shows likethis, it's so important, because
(26:21):
now we get to highlight thoseprograms. And you know, the
opportunity house has beenaround for so long in the
community. And a lot of peoplemight have heard about the
opportunity house, but maybethey don't understand what the
real mission for the opportunityhouses are for the house of x,
right. So these programs that wehave out there. I mean, it's so
important for your show tocontinue in the way that it
(26:44):
does. And to be able to bringthese these segments to the
community, along with all theother stuff that you guys do on
the air. You guys are funny, youplay music, you have the morning
show, you do news reports, youalso do your traffic reports,
you talk about the weather, andall the different aspects of all
(27:05):
the people that work on that oneshow. I mean, it really does
kind of encompass a hometownshow, that is just truly
probably, I would say one of thebest in the Bay Area.
John Young (27:19):
I really appreciate
you saying that. And I really
hope that that's true. I hopethat most of the people who
listen get that and if all youget from it is hey, we do play
music we like and that's all youneed. That's fine. But if you're
somebody who was maybe justmoved to this area, or one of
the clients that you're workingwith Carl who just come out of
incarceration or trying to puttheir life back together, I hope
you'll listen to our radiostation feel like well, hey, I
(27:39):
got something I heard aboutsomething that might be good.
Or, heck, I'm finally reunitedwith my family, I've got a, I've
got a supervised visit with mykids, I want to take them
someplace place fun, you can goto our community tab, a KUIC,
calm and find tons of that kindof thing. Safe, sober, family
friendly things that are goingon all the time. In fact, I
tried to feature those things,not just on the show you were
(27:59):
kind enough to come on in andtalk about House of x and the
great work you do. But in ourPSAs under the Community tab
digitally on our social mediachannels. I feel like yeah, I
want to I hope it's what youdescribed. And you said it more
eloquently than I'm trying tosay, which is this idea that
we're we're your community radiostation. There's, it's it's not
just NPR. And it's not justnews. And it's not just one
(28:21):
thing. It's something foreverybody. And hopefully not a
lot that alienates a lot offolks, you don't I mean, yeah,
it's a good thing.
Carl Fessenden (28:28):
Yes. And you
know, one of the things that I
really appreciate about yourshow, and John, I'm gonna have
to be honest with you. I dolisten to another morning show
that is on the, on the air, notjust your show, but I was
evaluating Why do I like thisshow so much. And it's because
of the shock factor that theybring to the air. And I was
(28:48):
looking at that the other day,and I was like, Why do I like
this so much. Why do I like itwhen they call the the boyfriend
that they think it's cheatingand and trick him to, you know,
admit that he's been cheating byoffering him flowers and we have
a lot of Perrier listeners. Soif you listen to the radio in
the morning, you might knowwhich show I'm talking about,
(29:08):
but I'm not going to call themout on on my show. But, you
know, you guys have kept yourshow. So appointed and centered
and the focus has never shifted.
And I don't think you guys haveany segments like that where you
do, you know, kind of a shockepisode. You know, maybe with
the news a little bit but therehasn't been a segment on there
(29:30):
just to get ratings by shockingpeople with other people's
responses. Would that be acorrect statement?
John Young (29:38):
That would be and I
and I don't want to knock that
type of radio it's verysuccessful. Howard Stern built a
career a gazillion dollar careerout of that out of out of doing
shotgun that type ofentertainment. I don't have a
knock against any contrary towhat folks might think I'm not
like a T totally minister who'swho doesn't you know, doesn't
believe in it, you know, in acertain amount of crazy artistic
(30:02):
stuff, right. However, I thinkfor long haul ratings, which do
matter, I mean, it gets kept meemployed for 22 years in the
same market in the same slot.
But we've done kind of we'velooked, we're more of the the
tortoise, I think, than thehare. If that's right, yeah, the
tortoise is the slower one,right? We're Yeah, our ratings
have stayed consistent, becausepeople get what they expect to
(30:23):
get. And our, our advertisersunderstand what they're buying
when they buy airtime with us.
Right? That's not to say thereare not other entertainment,
entertaining radio shows outthere. And frankly, there are
times I wish I could think ofsomething a little more clever
to do. I do a lot of theater themind stuff, I do impressions, I
(30:44):
you know, I do my best. Butwe've been given the the edict
that you are still a familyfriendly show. And our program
director is quick to remind us,when I've gone a little, maybe
I've gotten a little political,I feel very strongly about
certain things, and I willoftentimes let that slip out and
he said, Hey, remember, youknow, we're not here to, to
trigger folks or make themangry. We're here to serve them.
(31:04):
And so, and I understand that,but you know, I'm human like you
are Carly, like you said, everynow and then it's funny to hear
about why is the boyfriendcheating? What's what's
happening here, you know, theprank phone call to the bakery?
You know, I get it. I've beenYeah.
Carl Fessenden (31:16):
And you know,
and other radio stations in the
Bay Area have actually been shutdown because of some of these
type of approaches that they'vetaken for on air content. And,
you know, KUIC radio has beentried and true. And you know,
you guys are just pushingthrough with the slot that
you're in. So tell us a littlebit about the morning show what
(31:38):
is kind of the basis behind it.
We've talked a lot about kind ofthe overall thing, but it's a
really a focus for the morningshow. When you go in on a daily
basis.
John Young (31:48):
There is and before
I forget, I just want to let you
know that I that I haven't beena saint completely at KUIC. I
will share a very quick story ofthe one and only time I was ever
reported to the FCC by alistener, a KUIC listener, who
was a grumpy older woman whocalled the show on St. Patrick's
Day. It's kind of you know,timely since we just passed St.
(32:09):
Patrick's Day. Yes, she calledrequesting a 1930s St. Patrick's
Day song called who put the clamchowder in somebody's long johns
there's some somebody will haveto look that up. There's a
Google that there is some likeMrs. Mrs. Lowery's long johns
who put the clamshell it'ssomething ridiculous and
hilariously stupid. And she shegot mad at me when I said I
(32:31):
couldn't find that song that wedon't have that song in our
library. And she went on thistirade. Well anyway, I thought
the tirade was so funny. I tapedit, I recorded it and made a
promo out of it, and played itall St. Patrick's Day, this
woman yelling at me because Icouldn't find this ridiculous
Irish song anyway, she didn'tthink that was funny, and
reported me to the FCC. Andthere was an investigation and
they decided that, that I didn'tbreak any, any rules that would
(32:55):
get the station in trouble. Butmy bosses said, you can never
play that audio again, you gotto destroy it, which of course I
didn't I send it home and playit for my kids to make them
laugh every now and again. Butthat's an aside. So even even in
our efforts to try to be funny,sometimes we can step on our
toes a little bit.
Carl Fessenden (33:11):
That's
fantastic.
I wish I had it for you, right?
John Young (33:15):
Oh, my God, I was
angry. I'm looking at
me not with us anymore. So Ishould be I should be more
respectful. But any who wouldyou would ask me about the theme
of how the show was constructed.
Initially, my boss has told mewhen they hired me back in 1999.
We are a music focus station. Wedo music and traffic in the
morning. That's why peoplelisten, don't get in the way of
that as long as you don't,you'll have a nice long five to
(33:37):
10 year career here. And I tookthat to heart. And so I in three
to four minute breaks of which Ihave one or two to three an
hour, I tried my best to be asfunny and relevant and just
shine quickly. I did learn very,very quickly how to be funny,
you're in more compact moments.
Because I wasn't given a lot oftime this wasn't talk radio. And
(34:00):
that probably helped me a littlebit helped me narrow down what I
thought was funny for 10 minuteswas now had to be funny for two
minutes. But ultimately, theshow is designed to be
informative, to provide trafficto provide today's best mix. And
because the audience has becomeone, we become one together the
audience myself, we've grown uptogether for 22 years, two
(34:23):
decades plus, that I get toinsert my take on things or
again have a great guest likeyourself on the show to talk
about something important. Andthat really is become the theme.
It's a combination ofinformation and entertainment, I
guess is the best way todescribe it.
Carl Fessenden (34:38):
Absolutely. And
John, while you were talking
about that I actually found thesong on YouTube.
It's a real song, right? Dreamthis it is.
So it's called Mrs. Murphy'schowder, written by George L.
Great griefer performed by Benchurch and it's called who
through the overalls and MissMurphy's chowder and You know I
(35:01):
would we get in trouble if weplayed this on we play
John Young (35:03):
just a snip? I've
never even heard it. Yeah, of
course we didn't have it. Sothis is you know, this is 2004
or five I couldn't have evenfound it on on YouTube at that
time.
Carl Fessenden (35:12):
Absolutely,
absolutely. Okay, so we're gonna
play this and again, this is whothrew the chowder in the
overalls and Miss Murphy or hitthrough the overalls and Miss
Murphy's chowder.
Remember it either? Oh, man.
Oh, maybe I got it muted becauseit was coming on. And I didn't
want it to over
John Young (35:29):
I'll probably
probably edit that in that's
that's Yeah, yeah. What Carl,
Carl Fessenden (35:33):
man, you know,
maybe I should get into radio
surfer dancing shows? Well,we'll have a link to that in the
show notes. So if anybody wouldlike to, it's on YouTube. And it
has one like with no dislikes.
So real popular song there forany
song that got John sort of introuble with the FCC?
John Young (35:55):
Yeah. years ago.
Thanks, Mrs. Murphy. Yeah, youroveralls or whatever it is.
Carl Fessenden (36:01):
Exactly.
Exactly. And happy Sam paintthat can't even talk right now.
St. Patty's Day. So that's goingto be our we should make that
our theme song on paint. St.
Patty's Day, that would begreat.
John Young (36:13):
Well, and I also
appreciate that you were on the
program the day before St.
Patrick's Day, if you'llremember I one of the themes we
had, again, not to bring it backaround to to addiction and
people who can use our supportand our help. But I thought it
was important to have thatdiscussion we had the day before
a day, which is, is often atrigger for a lot of people who
struggle. And you were kindenough to we sort of touched on
(36:35):
that a little bit. And I said,Let's have everybody it's a
great get put your green on havea lot of fun. But we understand
that this can be triggering, andit can be hard on folks. And you
were kind enough to haveresources available to you know,
not only just to say during theinterview, but also to post on
our social media. And I'm surethat helped folks. So thank you
again, for that.
Carl Fessenden (36:55):
Well, you're
welcome. And you know, those
resources are so important tobring people because the more
awareness that we can bring, andthe more things that we can
place in front of people, thebetter opportunity, they might
have to seek help, or even togain resources or knowledge
about topics. I mean, you don'thave to have a substance use
disorder, or being having anaddiction to learn about these
(37:16):
things. Because one of thethings I was always taught was
Knowledge is power. And sothat's why I always like to seek
out information about things andto better my education, when I'm
talking about things andbringing topics up with other
people.
John Young (37:32):
Yeah, absolutely. I
think the minute we think we
know everything about a subject,I think that's when we're in
trouble keeping thatintellectual curiosity high, has
kept me I think that's one ofthe reasons why I continue to
teach, I don't do it for themoney I where I continue to keep
my license current, it's notbecause of the money at all,
it's because of I don't want tobecome stagnant and something
(37:54):
that's so important communityservice, it's something my kids
have had drilled into their poorlittle heads for their entire
lives. And they've all becomewonderful adults who care about
other people, I think, theminute we start thinking, we've
got it all figured out, I thinkwe're in we're in trouble, we
need to continue to, to seekknowledge. And If knowledge is
power, that's great. But it'salso an internal power, it's a
(38:16):
sense of you having havinghaving a reason to continue to,
to care and to serve.
Carl Fessenden (38:23):
Absolutely. And
that is just so important.
Because in addiction, a lot ofpeople are stagnant. We talk
about the process and the brain,the way it is developing, when
somebody comes into an addictivestate, we are now taking that
process in the brain. And we'renow starting to cut the ties
where we are developing further.
So a lot of times when peoplecome into treatment, what we see
(38:46):
is that we see them, or theyhave stopped developing in their
brain from the time that theystarted using substances
heavily. And so you know, youmight have somebody that is 43
in front of you, but still hasthe mindset of maybe a 25 year
old. And so there's a lot ofcatching up that we have to do.
And so that's why I like to usea lot of different clinical
(39:07):
approaches with clients in orderto re engage those brain cells
for their firing so that we canstart to get the brain active
again, and start to thedevelopment process a little bit
quicker.
John Young (39:21):
Right talk about a
wonderful clinical tool that
that people who are notclinicians can understand this
very well, I think, which iseducation, learning new things.
Talk about a reason to continueto work on your sobriety because
you're there's all these newdoors that get opened you ever
wanted to learn how to rebuildan engine, you love cars, you
grew up with them, but by thetime you were 23 and really
(39:43):
involved in your addiction youdidn't all you did was drive
them you didn't work on it.
We'll look at now that you'renow that you're sober and you're
and you're staying sober andyou're working on it. Now you're
rebuilding motors or you'reyou're you're taking electronics
to another level you're youknow, you're creating podcasts
you're doing I would thinkthere's a, there's clinical
value in the idea of not justeducation, like book learning,
(40:03):
so you can get your degree inastrophysics, but learning
things that actually create joyand give you give you purpose.
And I mean, what, that's just apowerful clinical tool in my
mind.
Carl Fessenden (40:16):
Yes, and
absolutely. And that's why it's
so powerful do get them engagedwith doing hobbies, and art,
and, you know, music and all ofthese other avenues that are
often overlooked, because maybethe clinician, or the program
doesn't have the expertise orthe staff on hand to facilitate
bringing these type of programsto their clients. But it's so
(40:39):
important that we do that,because we are now re engaging
the brain, and we're makingthose synapses fire, and we're
making our brain become activeagain, you know, if you play
somebody down and tell them, youknow, hey, I want you to work on
maybe a creative writingproject, I want you to work on
some poetry, maybe you like towrite music, maybe you're an
artist, you know, all of thesethings are now taking the brain
(41:02):
and we're forcing it to start towork again. And it might be hard
at first for that person. Butover time, it becomes easier,
and the process becomes moreenjoyable for them.
John Young (41:13):
And you bring up
another great point, this is
great point number 25 that Carlhas brought up. But it's
important to recognize why thoseCommunity Links are so
important. Because if you don'thave somebody on staff who can
help somebody to explore theirart, explore their music,
explore their mechanical dreamsthat maybe want to build their
own house, maybe they want tobuild their own boat, whatever
(41:34):
it is, if you have connectionsto community members who can get
those services to a client, youwin, which is why getting the
word out letting people in thecommunity know what you do. I
can't tell you Carl, how manyamazing people I've met through
our helping your hometownprogram that we do, like you
mentioned earlier, there's athere's a group in town that's
designed to work with veterans,it's called veterans, in the
(41:57):
name of it, veterans buildboats. And it's it's all about
sailing and boat work andworking on wooden boats, with
veterans teaching them thatskill. And it's a bunch of
former sailors and boat builderswho work directly with veterans,
I never would have known that ifpeople hadn't heard us talking
on the radio about, hey, let usknow what your community
organization does, we want toknow, then you create those
(42:17):
links. And pretty soon you canoffer clients things that even
if your staff doesn't know howto do it, somebody in the
community does.
Carl Fessenden (42:24):
Absolutely, and
you know, those those community
outreach programs, and all ofthat is so vital to build a
productive community and ahealthy community. And again,
your show is there to supportthose people to bring awareness
to bring the community closer tothese organizations, so that
they can get more involved. Andinvolvement is so crucial within
(42:47):
the community.
John Young (42:48):
And when you see
what it does when we have
everybody invested, when peopleare healthy, when people can
contribute and give back. Lookwhat you're doing Carl, look at
met many people like you whohave been in one space, they do
what they need to do, theycontinue to work on themselves.
Now they turn around and theygive back and it's a talk about
healthy communities. When weleave people behind, you are
(43:10):
cutting out a source ofultimate, ultimately a source of
health and growth for yourcommunity. You're not doing
yourself any favors by sweepingpeople under the rug or
pretending they don't exist, or,you know, moving to a gated
community where you don't haveto look or see any, any
anything. That's I think that'sthe wrong approach. I think the
right approach is let's geteverybody healthy. Let's get
everybody feeling like they cancontribute to and watch what can
(43:33):
happen.
Carl Fessenden (43:34):
Absolutely. And
it's it's so great to see how
the community has come togetherand how the we have grown and
Solano County FairfieldVacaville, Vallejo, Dixon,
Woodland, you know, all of thesedifferent areas out here
winters, you know, all of thesedifferent areas have come
together to try to bring thecommunity closer and KUIC. For
(43:59):
me, I view K UIC as kind of theleading beacon that allows all
of these resources to bedistributed within the
community. So again, John, thankyou very much for doing that. I
want to move on to a segmentthat we do with all of our
guests on the drunk and warmpodcast. And I didn't tell you
about this on purpose, but ifyou've listened to a few of the
(44:21):
episodes, you might have heardit at the end. But we're gonna
be doing a little rapid firequestions for you, John. How are
you feeling?
John Young (44:27):
I feel like I'm
ready to set the rapid fire.
Carl Fessenden (44:30):
Alright, sir.
I am looking right now. Okay,we're gonna do this right here.
Okay, what has been yourfavorite age so far?
John Young (44:39):
My favorite age? I'm
gonna say 50 Because I got it. I
gotta answer quickly, right.
That's the that's the conceit.
Carl Fessenden (44:45):
Yes. Yes. rapid,
rapid fires. Could be my
favorite age. All right. What isyour favorite lazy go to dinner?
John Young (44:54):
That is my wife's
man. Ducati with root beer. Hmm,
Carl Fessenden (44:57):
that sounds
good. To be honest, what is your
favorite thing to do in thesummertime?
John Young (45:04):
ride my bike. Okay,
excellent. How long would be
second but you didn't ask butthat's bad. Yeah, that's that's
one
Carl Fessenden (45:11):
a so bicycle is
going to be your first one. You
get a bell for that one. Thankyou very much. And how often do
you floss? And we're not talkingabout dancing here. We're
talking about an in between yourteeth, man.
John Young (45:21):
Oh, you know, my
mother was a dental hygienist
before she became I am not lyingto you. I floss once a day. I
know that seems like you'relying. No, it's true. I've got
I've got my mother is alwaysover my shoulder screaming at me
in my mind. My teeth are notperfect. So it's once a day.
Carl Fessenden (45:36):
That's
excellent. And you will receive
a bell for that one, sir. Thankyou very much.
John Young (45:39):
deserve one for
that. That's that's a lot of
floss. It is. It is a lot of it.
Yes, man.
All right. Sowhen you take a picture, I got
to look I can't have bad teeth.
So it's got to work.
Carl Fessenden (45:49):
All right. What
What story do you tell the most
often and it can't be the oneabout Mrs. Shirley's long John's
John Young (45:57):
Murphy's Long
John's. You know, I probably
tell the story the most of whenI met my wife. We've been
together almost 27 years and wemet a social workers funny
enough. And it's one of thesethings where my wife and I were
with other people at the time,we both were planning to get
married to other people. And weinvited each other to our
weddings, respectively. And wecouldn't because we were busy at
(46:19):
it just in other words, sheinvited me to her weddings, we
were friends not knowing I wasgetting married on the same day.
That is kind of funny that wehad the same wedding anniversary
with different people. But sevenyears later, we worked it out.
Carl Fessenden (46:30):
That's great. I
know. What never fails to make
you laugh.
John Young (46:37):
Robin Williams.
Yeah, that's fair.
Carl Fessenden (46:40):
That is
absolutely fair. As a genius.
You you you get a bell for thatone, too. Thank you. All right.
Where do you prefer to go on adate?
John Young (46:50):
Wow. Jumping in my
own pool with with Meg is
probably wrong. You know, we arewe are actually we prefer to go
on Kayak dates. Believe it ornot, we're Yeah, we'd like to be
on some kind of a water a bodyof water in the kayaks.
Carl Fessenden (47:02):
I love that. I
love I love the water. Man. I
worked on a cruise ship as achef. And however in Hawaii. Oh,
it was. It was just awful.
Absolutely
John Young (47:13):
terrible. Our
daughter lived in Hawaii for two
years. And we've kept saying wegot to go. We should go check on
her. Think she's alright. Yourvisit again.
Carl Fessenden (47:20):
Hey, hey, don't
worry. We're just coming over to
check on you, sweetie.
John Young (47:22):
Yeah, just daddy to
look at the car. That you
couldn't figure it out yourself.
We J We're here. Exactly.
Carl Fessenden (47:28):
We brought your
cell phone charger. You weren't
answering your phone. So we gotworried.
John Young (47:31):
You're your favorite
sweater. Yeah, we got it. Right
in Hawaii. But we brought itanyway. Exactly.
Carl Fessenden (47:36):
Now which way to
the beach? Okay, and the last
question that I always ask allmy guests on the drunken warm
podcast, who is your favoriteDisney character.
John Young (47:46):
grew up going to
Disneyland. I grew up in
Southern California. Disneylandwas a big part of our lives. And
as much as Mickey Mouse is adefault character for a lot of
folks. I actually was a DonaldDuck fanatic. And it was because
at a young age, I could do afairly decent Donald Duck
impression. do is do I dare saylike, Thank you, Carl. Is Donald
Duck with
Carl Fessenden (48:05):
that? Yes, that
would that would give you
another bell.
John Young (48:14):
And I don't know if
that was Thank you. Wasn't
really Thank you Carl. Carl's atough word for a duck to say it.
I was a big fan of Donald Duck.
I always thought he was kind ofthe everybody picked Mickey. So
Donald needed somebody to, youknow, be his favorite. He was
mine.
Carl Fessenden (48:30):
That's That's
great. And like I said, you get
a bell for that, sir. Somebodypicked Scrooge once Scrooge
McDuck. Really? Yeah. And I waslike, wow, that's
John Young (48:40):
a good character,
man. Yeah, yeah. No,
Carl Fessenden (48:42):
I want to unwrap
that one with you.
John Young (48:46):
Yeah, easy, does it?
No.
Carl Fessenden (48:47):
Yeah. Right. So
Well, John, it's been an
absolute pleasure having you onthe drunken Warren podcast. And
like I said, I hope that this isgoing to be the start of a, a
nice relationship where, youknow, we can reciprocate, coming
on each other's shows andhelping to bring awareness to
the community of Solano County,about mental health issues. So
(49:10):
I'm looking forward to workingwith you again. And if anybody
would like to get a hold of youor listen to your show, what's
the best way that they can goabout doing them?
John Young (49:21):
Well, I appreciate
that we are we you can stream
KUIC if it's easier if you'relistening at work on a computer
or you happen to be out of thearea and still want to stay
connected to your hometownthat's what we recommend. Maybe
people are traveling and like Iwant to find out what's still
going on in Solano and ContraCosta counties in Yolo County
and Napa you can go to kuic.comand click on our Listen Live
tabs you can take us with youwherever you want. If you've got
(49:42):
Alexa or your Google smartspeaker on the kitchen counter
there next to run the you knowthe bedroom. I guess you'd have
it on the bureau maybe in anightstand. You can say Alexa or
Google Open your hometownstation KUIC. And if you do
that, there we are. We also wereon the Odyssey app if you
download the free apps you cantake us with you on your
smartphone or your tablet. Andof course, we're on terrestrial
(50:04):
radio. They're at 95.3k UIC.
Carl Fessenden (50:07):
Excellent John.
And you know, man I love I don'tknow why I love the call
scientific UIC radio so much.
Maybe it's because I workedthere. But I used to practice
that in the car on the way home,and I've noticed something on
air, you guys have changed alittle bit, you no longer put
the 95.3 You just call it 953,
John Young (50:29):
the point was
removed. I want to say it's been
about 10 years now we had aconsultant come in and say, you
know, nobody's saying pointanymore about stuff. And I
thought, well, we've been seeingthe point since 1973. Why are we
stopping this now? It took memany months, Carl. And I
actually had some drops mydaughter when she was 17 left me
a drop saying, I'm Nicole,John's daughter and I listened
(50:50):
every morning to 95.3. And I hadto go in and edit the point out
so I could still play the drum.
Yeah, so um, for those of youwho grew up with KUIC, no one is
going to chide you forcontinuing to say 95.3. But
that's been erased out of all ofour it's off of our gear. It's
off of how we say it on the air.
Yeah, we're 953. But it did takeme a while because like you
(51:11):
pointed out, you know thestation's been around a long
time you were operating theboard and practicing those same
calls. But yeah, we got rid ofthe point but we kept the
hometown.
Carl Fessenden (51:19):
Wow, that's
that's incredible. Did you guys
remove the point on the outboardside of the building?
John Young (51:25):
I believe that the
point is gone. Yeah. I mean, I
think there's a squiggly there.
I've got to take it. You know,Carl, you're gonna force me to
take a deeper dive into mymerchandise and our, our
labeling and our branding,because I don't know if the
point is physically on any ofour stuff anymore. I don't think
it is. Yeah, but I will. Youknow, we'll we'll figure that
out. And then we'll, we'llfollow that up the way we did
with Mrs. Murphy's chowder. Andplease,
Carl Fessenden (51:47):
please do that
would that would be greatly
appreciated. And if you everwant to send me that audio
sample, that would that would begood stuff. So, again, everybody
if you would like to get a holdof John or listen to the 95.3
KUIC. Radio morning show, John,what time does the show start?
And what time does an end? Goodquestion.
John Young (52:06):
We start at 530 in
the morning, and we run until
nine than I stay on from nine to10 playing music and giving you
an update on weather and otherlittle bits. But the main show
the main body of the show isfrom 530 to nine I hope folks
will tune in, you can alwaysreach out to me to you know
we're on Instagram, Twitter andFacebook at your hometown
(52:27):
station 953 KUIC, if you go toour website, there's a social
tab there. You can click onthere and communicate with us
that way. That's always cooltoo. All right.
Carl Fessenden (52:35):
Well, again,
John, it was wonderful having
you on the show. And if you guyswould like any of the
information we've talked abouton today's show, including the
YouTube link to Mrs. Johnson'soveralls in the chowder II that
will be posted on the show notesbelow. And I want to thank
everybody for listening thisevening.