August 28, 2024 • 17 mins
WAVE 3 New Anchor/Reporter John Boel discusses the news he dropped this morning on X, the announcement that he will be retiring in February of 2025...
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I have a friend who has lots of awards from broadcasting,
mostly from broadcasting, some for fishing, and he kind of
dropped some interesting nuggets on the Twitter machine this morning.
I was like, wait, wit, what wit what? John Bowle,
news anchor with Wave three News, joins us. Now, mister Bowl, welcome,
(00:21):
I'm old man.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
It's not that surprising of a breaking news story.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
I was a little taken aback because you're younger than
I am when you said you are retiring, and I'm like, wait,
what hey?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I just went to my high school reunion four years ago. Yeah,
and like everybody there was retired.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
I was like, how do you guys do it? I'm
sixty two.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
I'll be just shy of sixty three when I retire
at the end of February.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
I sort of went through the same thing and we
had a little reunion with our grade scorer elementary school
friends not long ago, and most of all of them, yeah,
I'm retired. When are you going to keel over? What
are you gonna stop doing that? I was like, I
don't know. I still like it, but let's focus on
what's happening with you. Mister Bowl. You have you are
the winningest investigative reporter, news anchor, reporter. In terms of
(01:15):
Emmys that I've ever known, I mean you told me before.
I think that there was somebody somewhere who had a
few more than you. But still your work.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yeah, No, Boyd Hoopert at Karen Minneapolis has more, and
so does Brendan Keith in Atlanta. I guess I'm number three.
I'm on the podium, but.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
You have one hundred and what one six one hundred
and six Emmy Awards. It's crazy good. But your work
has permeated so many ways throughout this marketplace that it's
it's going to be tough to not have you their
front and center.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
I was just thinking about it today, thank you. First
of all, I was thinking about all all the decades
in the like the nineties was heavy on all the
all the animal shelter investigations where I'm rummaging through the
woods around these animal shelters showing the conditions, and then
a lot.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Of CPS stories, and.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
After two thousand, that decade UH wrongfully taking kids, and
then since then it's been a lot of crime and
neighborhoods and trying to go to bat for people being
terrorized in their neighborhoods by by drug dealers and criminals
and and you know, going undercover and.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Doing dangerous stuff. So it's been interesting.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
I've always admired the fact that you can. You I've
seen you take a camera and go into a place
and it's like, dude, I don't think i'd do that.
But you you go in there and you face some
some people that were pushing back, and you survived it.
I don't know how, and you still have six more
months of work. So but I mean, that's incredible because
(02:55):
not only are you preparing to anchor a show. It's
not like you just walk in and somebody hands you
a script. You're working that newscast, but you're also doing
surveillance because you've heard that there's somebody who's who's got
a drugs deal set up near a school or whatever,
and you want to find out. You sure, you have
to find out firsthand. So it's a busy life.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
I often talk about how there aren't too many ron
Burgages out there in a vehicle, sweating profusely in a
T shirt and dress pants an hour before airtime. But
that's what I'm doing, Like, I don't I don't think
people realize when you do undercover surveillance. You first of all,
you can't be sitting there with your air conditioning on
(03:34):
or your heater on in the winter. You're you're noticeable.
You've got to be down low, no AC on, no radio.
You got to hear when people come up on you.
There's so much more to it. There's you got to
pick a spot where you're not in front of justifiably
nosy neighbors, you know, who see you and like what
are you doing out there?
Speaker 3 (03:54):
So it's very, very difficult.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Well, here's one nice thing. You won't have to put
on makeup anymore.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
I don't wear makeup.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
What no, no, I I had something happen to me.
Didn't ever tell you the story about the boy Scott
Troop that came into the newsroom.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Okay, so like.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
These these eight year old boys come in like a
tour and they come up to my desk.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
And this is when I was at LKY and they they.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
The teacher says, there, the leader says, you know, any
questions for mister Bull And the first question was cliche
and the second question was this little boy look horrified.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
He raised his hand. He said, why is their makeup?
In the boy's bathroom and I said, I said them.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Now, I got the whole newsroom listening in on me,
and I said, well, because some guys, some some guys
wear a little bit of you know, powder or a
little bit of makeup blah blah blah and made up
some total bull And he followed it up with pointed
right at me, said do you wear makeup? And I
(05:05):
go at the time, I was wearing like like some
powder is all yeah, And I said, oh, I said,
I wear a little bit of powder sometimes, but it's
not really makeup. And the whole newsroom blurted out laughing,
you liar, you know, and that kind of changed my life.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
I'm like, you know what, I'm not wearing any more makeup.
That is sissy. That little boy is right.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
But you have a full head of hair, you know
what they say to me. And when I'm in studio,
the lights are shiny and they're like, Terry fix it,
and so like Gray say and Mary and I were
walking through one of the malls or when I have
too long ago, and there was the Mac counter and
my daughter said, there's your there's your spot Terry. I said,
I don't have to buy that stuff anymore.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Hey, I got a spot going, man. I in some
of these drug house confrontations when they're following me from
the back, I look in horror at my bolts by growing,
but I don't care.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
All right. You have improved a lot of people's lives though,
by telling stories that needed to get out there, and
I'm just wondering how this is going to feel for
you when you detach from this service component of your life.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
I have a lot of people saying, John, you know,
I know how you're wired iron Man's and you're always
type A on the go and the way you work,
and you're not going to be able to retire. You're like,
you're not going to be able to do it, and
they're absolutely wrong. Like I am ready I have Well, immediately,
(06:30):
I have health situations with my eighty six year old
father and like going on sixty year old's sister serious
health situations and it's hard to manage from four hundred
and forty miles away.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
I know you're going up there a lot to help.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Yeah, So I have that. That's an initial.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
And then I have my oldest daughter and her husband,
their whole family, my three grandkids, just twenty minutes away.
So I'm going to get a place up there and
indulge in my family and help my dad and sister
and fish, and I don't think I'm going to have
any reluctance any gee. I wish I could be back
out there now. I love my job. I've been struck
by over the years how easy it is, particularly to anchor.
(07:09):
I feel like I could anchor in my sleep, like
that has become a really easy thing. The special reports
are never easy. They're always risky, and I'm always worrying
about getting sued, you know, knock on what. I've never
been even sued in my life, let alone lost the lawsuit.
But there's a lot of you know, worry and anxiety
that goes into that to have everything, you know, your
(07:33):
eyes down and your tease crossed and everything accurate.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
So I'm not going to miss that at all.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Man, Well, you have to ask some hard questions. I
remember there was a woman on Metro Council who said
something to you, something ugly back at you because you
were talking about I forgot what it was property she owned.
She wasn't taking care of something like that, And it
was in contrast to some legislation that they were pushing
through yep. And then she she mocked your sobriety or something,
(07:57):
and I was like, yeah, the.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
World is happening, called me an alcoholic.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Well, fortunately my skin got thicker on something called Twitter,
Facebook and Instagram, so I can handle that now. I've
had Christy. When I was with Christy Dudden and Lauren
Jones on Sunrise, we used to keep a virtual book
of all of our hate. Is unbelievable. So you get
(08:23):
so used to itness business. What are you talking about?
You probably get more hate than anybody.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
I remember when you sent me that funny clip. I
think you were at LKY at the time, whereas a woman,
and she said, I'm just gonna impersonate her this way.
Why do these girls going out out on the TV?
And I got their movies? Why they think they're going
out dates and the right I'm not supposed to be
doing the news.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Yeah, yeah, that was my co anchor. I could tell
who she was talking about, who no longer works in Louisville.
But yeah, yeah, they're mean, man, but they're funny, and
I still save a lot. I think at some point,
I've got six months from today before I retire, I
might unleash all the mean tweets as it were.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
That would be glorious just to see that. I mean people,
you know, people will say horrible things to us online,
but then then they see you, Kroger, They're like, hey, buddy,
love you. Let's do all the time. It's like that.
But you're the guy who said I hope you die soon.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
You know, Well, let me tell you something about today.
I have been.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Emotionally touched by all the texts and messages I've got,
Like Pat Day reached out and you.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
Know what an inspiration he has been, especially to someone
like me dealing with my disease.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
But I've been really struck by the private messages I've
got Facebook and Twitter from people who have shared with
me how much my journey impacted their journey and addiction
and recovery. And I think a lesson is, even if
you're not on TV, it's people are watching you. Like
(10:02):
people are watching you, and they may never ever express
to you how you touch it their life, positively or negatively.
We can do things to really screw up and do
the wrong thing in life and have a bad, you know,
effect on somebody's life when they see that. But I've
just been struck at how how many people reached out
(10:24):
and what me going public and being transparent and vulnerable.
Being vulnerable is the most important thing in life.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
You never know how many lives you saved that way,
either because you step out there and other people go,
you know what, I need to confront this myself and
a bowl can do it. I can do it. And
you know, when your book came out where you just
talked about all this in graphic terms, I saw a
lot of people, a lot of MAVs, fly toward the
light and just say help me or thanks for getting
(10:53):
me the nudge I needed.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Yeah, I still think of of you know, the people
you meet in your life at the important crossroads. Something
from that from the book that I wrote about was
when I was in the unemployment office and I was
trying to hide from people, pull my hat down, and
even then some people were like.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Hey, that's John Ball, I's that news guy.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
I got that another duy and and I was tears
rolling down my face and trying to hide, and a
woman in front of me turned around and she said,
she said, you're feeling bad, aren't you.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
I said, yeah, she said, I know what you're thinking.
And she was right. I was.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
I was suicidal in the sent and she said, don't
you even think about that. She said, your life was
bought at a price, and you have a life to live,
and you have the full opportunity to do great things
and influence other people. And she turned out to be
so right. But I needed that so bad at that moment.
(11:52):
Just some simple thing like that, right, And that's that's
what makes the world go around.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
There their guardian angels. There are people that crossed has
with you by mere happenstance, and they say something and
then you never see them again, but they redirect right
your life.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Right, total angel in my life that saved me and
and help point me in the right direction.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
You also wrote on social media today when you made
this announcement, mister Bowl, that you were leaving in six months,
in February of twenty five. By the way, you'll be
a It's like you're going to be working as long
as those astronauts are up in the whatever the space states,
because they're not coming bout that either. You wrote about
leaving the clinic, the the Hazelton clinic in Minnesota where
(12:41):
you got help, and that the driver said something to
you repeat that place for people that aren't on.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
So yeah, yeah, So I'm leaving. They booked a ticket
for me, and I'm leaving the place and it was
the only one early in the morning, had an early flight.
We drove in the snowstorm. I'll tell you about when
I was at Hazeldin in twenty ten, remember when the
metrodome collapsed out of the way of the snow. They
(13:07):
had like forty inches of snow the month I was there.
It snowed every day. And I'm leaving in a snowstorm.
Guy drives me all the way to the airport and
he is encouraging me and sweet and I'm, you know,
devastated and anxious about where I'm heading now in life
and humiliated and career over. I was thinking and he
(13:27):
I'll never forget the visual of him getting my bag out,
and he was back lit by the airport lights and
the snow is melting his jacket and he looked me
right in yye and he said have a great life,
and he really meant it. And I was struck at
the time with I was thinking, like, how could you
say something like that, like my life is a complete ruin?
And I shook his hand and I just thought, god it,
(13:51):
you know, oh woe is me? And and it turns
out he was He was exactly right. I had a
great life. I have had a great life so far,
hopefully will continue to. But there's just a powerful moment
in life, like out of a movie.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Yeah, like Jimmy Stewart, George Bailey on the bridge.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
It's a wonderful life exactly just like that.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
You recover it and then you move on, and you
know what, look what you've done to get knocked down
like that and then get up and then just just
put your head and put your your shoulder to the
sled and push. And I'm just happy for You've been
a heck of an inspiration for so many people, including
me just as a friend. You've just been wonderful and
supportive and uh, we're always going to be buds.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Well, let me tell your listeners a little something that
they might not know about you, is that you were
the one that came through for me, communicating with me
when I was in rehab and being there for me
multiple times. I can tell you the listeners like you
would come over to Tay to even know this. You
would come over to my house and because I had
(14:54):
no license for a year, and drive me somewhere because
you knew what I needed at the time. I needed
to get away, need to get my mind off things.
Take me somewhere to watch a packer game, eat some food,
and not talk.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
That's another thing. People always feel compelled to have to
be doctor philled with other people when they're going through that.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
You didn't do that because you knew I just needed
a friend and needed somewhere to go and get my
mind off my troubles. And so I mean, you've been
one of the angels in my life too, Jared.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Well, we're teaching each other. We're all teaching each other.
That's the that's the strategy, the master plan from above.
So I'm proud of you, I love you, and I'm
I'm I'm glad you were giving us six months to
enjoy your work at a deeper level as you finish
out your career at Wave News.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
All right, love you too, bro, and there'll be many more.
I got a lot of good ideas for posts. I'm
going to try to find shots of all of my
co anchor teams, all of the women who put up
with my.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Crap over the years. I'm gonna post that.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
I'm going to post all my favorite stories and I'm
gonna have some fun of the six months.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
I've had a few TV wives too, and we all
stay in touch and make fun of each other. Still,
that's the beauty of it.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
I know, I know they for them to put up
with the stuff they did with me. And it's funny
because Myra and I were talking to the other day
about how when you get a co anchor, like they
have a completely different personality than two people. And then
but you slowly, I have slowly become like her, I e. Sweet, gentle.
She's maybe more sweet and gentle. She's become more like me,
(16:30):
like a little rough edge, not afraid to speak up.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Like. It's interesting how that happens.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
That Myra, sorry, is not rough edged.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
You're just sensing that she's gonna be a rough ron
Bergeney here soon.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
All right, brother man, I'll talk to you down the
road soon enough, and keep up the great work. And
we're all proud of you. Thanks for being a part of.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
The media, right brother, Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
See you, John boll He announced earlier today he's leaving
TV in six months and it's to take care of
family up in Wisconsin, where he can be closer to
lambou Field
I have a friend who has lots of awards from broadcasting,
mostly from broadcasting, some for fishing, and he kind of
dropped some interesting nuggets on the Twitter machine this morning.
I was like, wait, wit, what wit what? John Bowle,
news anchor with Wave three News, joins us. Now, mister Bowl, welcome,
(00:21):
I'm old man.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
It's not that surprising of a breaking news story.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
I was a little taken aback because you're younger than
I am when you said you are retiring, and I'm like, wait,
what hey?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I just went to my high school reunion four years ago. Yeah,
and like everybody there was retired.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
I was like, how do you guys do it? I'm
sixty two.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
I'll be just shy of sixty three when I retire
at the end of February.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
I sort of went through the same thing and we
had a little reunion with our grade scorer elementary school
friends not long ago, and most of all of them, yeah,
I'm retired. When are you going to keel over? What
are you gonna stop doing that? I was like, I
don't know. I still like it, but let's focus on
what's happening with you. Mister Bowl. You have you are
the winningest investigative reporter, news anchor, reporter. In terms of
(01:15):
Emmys that I've ever known, I mean you told me before.
I think that there was somebody somewhere who had a
few more than you. But still your work.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yeah, No, Boyd Hoopert at Karen Minneapolis has more, and
so does Brendan Keith in Atlanta. I guess I'm number three.
I'm on the podium, but.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
You have one hundred and what one six one hundred
and six Emmy Awards. It's crazy good. But your work
has permeated so many ways throughout this marketplace that it's
it's going to be tough to not have you their
front and center.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
I was just thinking about it today, thank you. First
of all, I was thinking about all all the decades
in the like the nineties was heavy on all the
all the animal shelter investigations where I'm rummaging through the
woods around these animal shelters showing the conditions, and then
a lot.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Of CPS stories, and.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
After two thousand, that decade UH wrongfully taking kids, and
then since then it's been a lot of crime and
neighborhoods and trying to go to bat for people being
terrorized in their neighborhoods by by drug dealers and criminals
and and you know, going undercover and.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Doing dangerous stuff. So it's been interesting.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
I've always admired the fact that you can. You I've
seen you take a camera and go into a place
and it's like, dude, I don't think i'd do that.
But you you go in there and you face some
some people that were pushing back, and you survived it.
I don't know how, and you still have six more
months of work. So but I mean, that's incredible because
(02:55):
not only are you preparing to anchor a show. It's
not like you just walk in and somebody hands you
a script. You're working that newscast, but you're also doing
surveillance because you've heard that there's somebody who's who's got
a drugs deal set up near a school or whatever,
and you want to find out. You sure, you have
to find out firsthand. So it's a busy life.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
I often talk about how there aren't too many ron
Burgages out there in a vehicle, sweating profusely in a
T shirt and dress pants an hour before airtime. But
that's what I'm doing, Like, I don't I don't think
people realize when you do undercover surveillance. You first of all,
you can't be sitting there with your air conditioning on
(03:34):
or your heater on in the winter. You're you're noticeable.
You've got to be down low, no AC on, no radio.
You got to hear when people come up on you.
There's so much more to it. There's you got to
pick a spot where you're not in front of justifiably
nosy neighbors, you know, who see you and like what
are you doing out there?
Speaker 3 (03:54):
So it's very, very difficult.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Well, here's one nice thing. You won't have to put
on makeup anymore.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
I don't wear makeup.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
What no, no, I I had something happen to me.
Didn't ever tell you the story about the boy Scott
Troop that came into the newsroom.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Okay, so like.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
These these eight year old boys come in like a
tour and they come up to my desk.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
And this is when I was at LKY and they they.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
The teacher says, there, the leader says, you know, any
questions for mister Bull And the first question was cliche
and the second question was this little boy look horrified.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
He raised his hand. He said, why is their makeup?
In the boy's bathroom and I said, I said them.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Now, I got the whole newsroom listening in on me,
and I said, well, because some guys, some some guys
wear a little bit of you know, powder or a
little bit of makeup blah blah blah and made up
some total bull And he followed it up with pointed
right at me, said do you wear makeup? And I
(05:05):
go at the time, I was wearing like like some
powder is all yeah, And I said, oh, I said,
I wear a little bit of powder sometimes, but it's
not really makeup. And the whole newsroom blurted out laughing,
you liar, you know, and that kind of changed my life.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
I'm like, you know what, I'm not wearing any more makeup.
That is sissy. That little boy is right.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
But you have a full head of hair, you know
what they say to me. And when I'm in studio,
the lights are shiny and they're like, Terry fix it,
and so like Gray say and Mary and I were
walking through one of the malls or when I have
too long ago, and there was the Mac counter and
my daughter said, there's your there's your spot Terry. I said,
I don't have to buy that stuff anymore.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Hey, I got a spot going, man. I in some
of these drug house confrontations when they're following me from
the back, I look in horror at my bolts by growing,
but I don't care.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
All right. You have improved a lot of people's lives though,
by telling stories that needed to get out there, and
I'm just wondering how this is going to feel for
you when you detach from this service component of your life.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
I have a lot of people saying, John, you know,
I know how you're wired iron Man's and you're always
type A on the go and the way you work,
and you're not going to be able to retire. You're like,
you're not going to be able to do it, and
they're absolutely wrong. Like I am ready I have Well, immediately,
(06:30):
I have health situations with my eighty six year old
father and like going on sixty year old's sister serious
health situations and it's hard to manage from four hundred
and forty miles away.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
I know you're going up there a lot to help.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Yeah, So I have that. That's an initial.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
And then I have my oldest daughter and her husband,
their whole family, my three grandkids, just twenty minutes away.
So I'm going to get a place up there and
indulge in my family and help my dad and sister
and fish, and I don't think I'm going to have
any reluctance any gee. I wish I could be back
out there now. I love my job. I've been struck
by over the years how easy it is, particularly to anchor.
(07:09):
I feel like I could anchor in my sleep, like
that has become a really easy thing. The special reports
are never easy. They're always risky, and I'm always worrying
about getting sued, you know, knock on what. I've never
been even sued in my life, let alone lost the lawsuit.
But there's a lot of you know, worry and anxiety
that goes into that to have everything, you know, your
(07:33):
eyes down and your tease crossed and everything accurate.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
So I'm not going to miss that at all.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Man, Well, you have to ask some hard questions. I
remember there was a woman on Metro Council who said
something to you, something ugly back at you because you
were talking about I forgot what it was property she owned.
She wasn't taking care of something like that, And it
was in contrast to some legislation that they were pushing
through yep. And then she she mocked your sobriety or something,
(07:57):
and I was like, yeah, the.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
World is happening, called me an alcoholic.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Well, fortunately my skin got thicker on something called Twitter,
Facebook and Instagram, so I can handle that now. I've
had Christy. When I was with Christy Dudden and Lauren
Jones on Sunrise, we used to keep a virtual book
of all of our hate. Is unbelievable. So you get
(08:23):
so used to itness business. What are you talking about?
You probably get more hate than anybody.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
I remember when you sent me that funny clip. I
think you were at LKY at the time, whereas a woman,
and she said, I'm just gonna impersonate her this way.
Why do these girls going out out on the TV?
And I got their movies? Why they think they're going
out dates and the right I'm not supposed to be
doing the news.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Yeah, yeah, that was my co anchor. I could tell
who she was talking about, who no longer works in Louisville.
But yeah, yeah, they're mean, man, but they're funny, and
I still save a lot. I think at some point,
I've got six months from today before I retire, I
might unleash all the mean tweets as it were.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
That would be glorious just to see that. I mean people,
you know, people will say horrible things to us online,
but then then they see you, Kroger, They're like, hey, buddy,
love you. Let's do all the time. It's like that.
But you're the guy who said I hope you die soon.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
You know, Well, let me tell you something about today.
I have been.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Emotionally touched by all the texts and messages I've got,
Like Pat Day reached out and you.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
Know what an inspiration he has been, especially to someone
like me dealing with my disease.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
But I've been really struck by the private messages I've
got Facebook and Twitter from people who have shared with
me how much my journey impacted their journey and addiction
and recovery. And I think a lesson is, even if
you're not on TV, it's people are watching you. Like
(10:02):
people are watching you, and they may never ever express
to you how you touch it their life, positively or negatively.
We can do things to really screw up and do
the wrong thing in life and have a bad, you know,
effect on somebody's life when they see that. But I've
just been struck at how how many people reached out
(10:24):
and what me going public and being transparent and vulnerable.
Being vulnerable is the most important thing in life.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
You never know how many lives you saved that way,
either because you step out there and other people go,
you know what, I need to confront this myself and
a bowl can do it. I can do it. And
you know, when your book came out where you just
talked about all this in graphic terms, I saw a
lot of people, a lot of MAVs, fly toward the
light and just say help me or thanks for getting
(10:53):
me the nudge I needed.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Yeah, I still think of of you know, the people
you meet in your life at the important crossroads. Something
from that from the book that I wrote about was
when I was in the unemployment office and I was
trying to hide from people, pull my hat down, and
even then some people were like.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Hey, that's John Ball, I's that news guy.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
I got that another duy and and I was tears
rolling down my face and trying to hide, and a
woman in front of me turned around and she said,
she said, you're feeling bad, aren't you.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
I said, yeah, she said, I know what you're thinking.
And she was right. I was.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
I was suicidal in the sent and she said, don't
you even think about that. She said, your life was
bought at a price, and you have a life to live,
and you have the full opportunity to do great things
and influence other people. And she turned out to be
so right. But I needed that so bad at that moment.
(11:52):
Just some simple thing like that, right, And that's that's
what makes the world go around.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
There their guardian angels. There are people that crossed has
with you by mere happenstance, and they say something and
then you never see them again, but they redirect right
your life.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Right, total angel in my life that saved me and
and help point me in the right direction.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
You also wrote on social media today when you made
this announcement, mister Bowl, that you were leaving in six months,
in February of twenty five. By the way, you'll be
a It's like you're going to be working as long
as those astronauts are up in the whatever the space states,
because they're not coming bout that either. You wrote about
leaving the clinic, the the Hazelton clinic in Minnesota where
(12:41):
you got help, and that the driver said something to
you repeat that place for people that aren't on.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
So yeah, yeah, So I'm leaving. They booked a ticket
for me, and I'm leaving the place and it was
the only one early in the morning, had an early flight.
We drove in the snowstorm. I'll tell you about when
I was at Hazeldin in twenty ten, remember when the
metrodome collapsed out of the way of the snow. They
(13:07):
had like forty inches of snow the month I was there.
It snowed every day. And I'm leaving in a snowstorm.
Guy drives me all the way to the airport and
he is encouraging me and sweet and I'm, you know,
devastated and anxious about where I'm heading now in life
and humiliated and career over. I was thinking and he
(13:27):
I'll never forget the visual of him getting my bag out,
and he was back lit by the airport lights and
the snow is melting his jacket and he looked me
right in yye and he said have a great life,
and he really meant it. And I was struck at
the time with I was thinking, like, how could you
say something like that, like my life is a complete ruin?
And I shook his hand and I just thought, god it,
(13:51):
you know, oh woe is me? And and it turns
out he was He was exactly right. I had a
great life. I have had a great life so far,
hopefully will continue to. But there's just a powerful moment
in life, like out of a movie.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Yeah, like Jimmy Stewart, George Bailey on the bridge.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
It's a wonderful life exactly just like that.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
You recover it and then you move on, and you
know what, look what you've done to get knocked down
like that and then get up and then just just
put your head and put your your shoulder to the
sled and push. And I'm just happy for You've been
a heck of an inspiration for so many people, including
me just as a friend. You've just been wonderful and
supportive and uh, we're always going to be buds.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Well, let me tell your listeners a little something that
they might not know about you, is that you were
the one that came through for me, communicating with me
when I was in rehab and being there for me
multiple times. I can tell you the listeners like you
would come over to Tay to even know this. You
would come over to my house and because I had
(14:54):
no license for a year, and drive me somewhere because
you knew what I needed at the time. I needed
to get away, need to get my mind off things.
Take me somewhere to watch a packer game, eat some food,
and not talk.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
That's another thing. People always feel compelled to have to
be doctor philled with other people when they're going through that.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
You didn't do that because you knew I just needed
a friend and needed somewhere to go and get my
mind off my troubles. And so I mean, you've been
one of the angels in my life too, Jared.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Well, we're teaching each other. We're all teaching each other.
That's the that's the strategy, the master plan from above.
So I'm proud of you, I love you, and I'm
I'm I'm glad you were giving us six months to
enjoy your work at a deeper level as you finish
out your career at Wave News.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
All right, love you too, bro, and there'll be many more.
I got a lot of good ideas for posts. I'm
going to try to find shots of all of my
co anchor teams, all of the women who put up
with my.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Crap over the years. I'm gonna post that.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
I'm going to post all my favorite stories and I'm
gonna have some fun of the six months.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
I've had a few TV wives too, and we all
stay in touch and make fun of each other. Still,
that's the beauty of it.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
I know, I know they for them to put up
with the stuff they did with me. And it's funny
because Myra and I were talking to the other day
about how when you get a co anchor, like they
have a completely different personality than two people. And then
but you slowly, I have slowly become like her, I e. Sweet, gentle.
She's maybe more sweet and gentle. She's become more like me,
(16:30):
like a little rough edge, not afraid to speak up.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Like. It's interesting how that happens.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
That Myra, sorry, is not rough edged.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
You're just sensing that she's gonna be a rough ron
Bergeney here soon.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
All right, brother man, I'll talk to you down the
road soon enough, and keep up the great work. And
we're all proud of you. Thanks for being a part of.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
The media, right brother, Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
See you, John boll He announced earlier today he's leaving
TV in six months and it's to take care of
family up in Wisconsin, where he can be closer to
lambou Field
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