Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Alabama's morning News. I'm JT and joining us now the
infamous Montel Williams. I'm so glad to have you on
this morning, sir, welcome in. Thanks for being with me.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
So good to be with the JT. Well.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
I got to tell you I was a big fan
of your show back in the day. A great television
show you had. It ran for what fifteen sixteen years?
Maybe you'll leave it a little longer.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Teen year, seventeen years?
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Wow? Your thoughts on that Greade run before it all ended?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Oh man, it was one of the best times of
my life.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
I want an Emmy and we got nominated for Multi
Namis for the Best Show, but I want to Ammy
for Best Talk Show Host. It was a glorious time
to give an opportunity for people who had no voice
to have a voice.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Yeah, you know, being a television host on a show
like that where you did discuss a lot of you know,
issues around our country, whether it was entertainment or more
serious issues. I wanted to get your thoughts currently on
what's happening in Los Angeles now with all the craziness
going on and the you know, the lawlessness that's happening
in that city.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Well, I agree with you, there's lawlessness, but I think
we got to really to keep a close what we're
looking at and understand whether or not we're really watching
the truth. I'm not necessarily sure that some of the
people that are demonstrating are all on the same team.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
I think there is a deliberate attempt at making sure
that we can put up the worst picture possible so
that others with the farious intent can utilize those.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Worst pictures to do some worse things to this nation.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Yeah, I got to tell you, the liberal media certainly
has positioned themselves to be supportive of democratic policies traditionally,
and it appears, I said, like you said, rather that
some of these people, I would imagine, just like other
major protests, that they're being brought in to be actors,
to be a part of this, to blow this whole
(01:43):
thing up and out of proportion, to sell the mantra
or the narrative, if you will, to continue as we
see it's spreading around other cities around this country right now.
But yeah, we're in a weird time right now. But
with all this going on, the country, did vote for
this president to fix the border, get the crime out
of our cities and kind of write the ship on
(02:03):
what took place over four years of just madness with
open borders here. Do you think the President and his
team are moving in the right direction on this as
far as trying to fix and make America safe again.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
I think that there's been a lot of mistakes made
on both sides, and I'm not necessarily sure that the
intent is to fix more than is to control. That's
from my perspective, you know, but you know, we all
have a right to our opinions and the way we
look at things. I just would hope that the reason
why I wrote this book, you know, this book at
(02:35):
the time, the Sailing of the Intrumpet, is a look
back in history at the time where, you know, when
we look back at World War Two, you know, we
were just coming out of the Great Depression, and we
were coming out a time where America was as divided
as it is today. However, on a ship that was
close to three football fields long, three thousand people of
(02:55):
different backgrounds, different opinions came together to save a ship,
to make sure that it did not fall into the
hands of an enemy, and it went on to fight
heroically for the rest of the war. It shows that
we can put our differences aside when we need to
come together to preserve this democracy.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Yeah. The work is called the Sailing of the Intrepid,
the incredible wartime voyage of the Navy's iconic aircraft carrier.
I did not realize that you could do both. You're
an next marine and a former naval officer, having gone
to the Naval Academy. How do you become a marine
and a naval officer? Is it different? Eras well?
Speaker 3 (03:33):
I started out and listed. I've been listed in the
Marine Corps right after graduating in lag school. Then I
went into After having a fairly decent meritorist service in
the Marine Corps, I was selected to go to a
naval county prep school, went to the Naval Academy, and
then was commissioned as a Naval officer, not a Marine
Corps officer when I graduated. And part of that was because,
(03:54):
unbeknownst to me and unbernoast the military. I probably had
my first episode of MS right before I graduated, which
put me on a medical hold.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
I lost vision in my left eye.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
The Marine Corps wouldn't take me back because you have
to have as a Marine Corps officer. You have to
have correctible vision of twenty twenty and mine was not.
So I had to pick a job in the Navy.
I became commissioned as a Naval loss or of special
duty Intelligence ofware.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Well, talk to me about the Montel Williams MS Foundation
that you founded obviously on the heels of you being diagnosed,
and how that's going now.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Well, you know, I ended up folding that into a
foundation at Harvard and allowing them to actually administer and
move it forward. We raised millions of dollars for research,
and I continue to speak out trying to raise as
much money and awareness as I possibly can, because the
scourge of the mess is still here. I mean, it's
probably well over a million and a half to too
(04:44):
million people in America who were surviving with m assal
right now, and we need to give them tools to
help them survive even more.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
I'm blessed.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
I've worked on multiple different modalities that have helped me
kind of keep my illness at bay, though I still
have symptoms, still have this illness. It'll never go away,
but I want to be able to try to continue
to work to bring relief to so many people.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Around the world.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Well, you've done so many things in your life from
an early age all the way through where you are
right now. And I think one thing that stands out
to me about you is your perseverance and your willingness
to never give up and move forward. You've battled some
health issues with MS and also a stroke. I think
you had a hemorrhetic stroke at one point in your
(05:29):
life as well, that you just seem to keep bouncing back.
I mean it's this military style of never giving up
and fighting on always been a part of you.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
It has been.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
But you know what, that's so good, Well as you
said it that way, because that's really the story of
the Intrepident. That's a ship that literally never gave up
the understood that if you put the effort in, we
could save this thing. I mean, look, the ship came
out of having fought two incredible battles, one at Quadlin
and the Marshall Islands and another one old Truck.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
As was leading truck.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
It was standing out the harbor and going on to
its next ambision, where a single loan Japanese bomber saw
it by following its wake, and this guy dropped a
single torpedo then after he dropped the torpedo, he actually
flew over the deck of the Intrepid, low enough that
several sailors on the decks said they could see his face.
(06:20):
Then the ship was hit by the torpedo in the
rudder and then the fantail, which split a hole in
the back of the ship from the water line all
the way up to the flight deck, causing the ship
to first off pinning the rudder about forty five degrees
or forty five degree angle, making a kind of careen
out of control, to the point that the captain and
the crew came together and they ingeniously came up with
(06:43):
an idea, if we hang a sale, let's take the
most modern ship of all time and go back to
the most rudimentary, fundamental airtime technology called a sail. Put
that sail on the front of this thing. Don't use
it for propulsion, but use it so that it would
count about the waves and the wind. They sailed the
(07:04):
ship three thousand miles back to Pearl Harbor, where it
was then satiled up to San Francisco, putting dry dock, repaired,
put back in the battle, gets hit by two comakazis.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Back to San Francisco. Back to dry dock, repaired, put
back in the battle, gets hit by three comic cozies.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Yeah yeah, back to San Francisco, back in the battle,
finished out. World War two finished out Korea, finished out Vietnam,
but went on to become the recovery ship from NASA
for space capsules.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Boy, you're talking about talking about a war horse, right,
I mean this ship here, just a mean.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
And the idea of never giving up.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Yeah yeah, Just so many iconic stories about so many
great people and ships from that era.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Man.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
I really appreciate you spending time with us, and I
can't wait to read the book. It's about the sailing
of the Intrepid, the incredible wartime voyage of the Navy's
iconic aircraft carrier.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
There.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
He is the host of so many great shows, and
currently on his show that he has right now. I
understand this is doing quite well too. Military Makeover with
Montel and Military Makeover Operation Career. You've got to going
on lifetime. Congratulations Montel on all your success and what
you stand for and what you continue to do. It's
been an honor to speak with you.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Oh, thank you so much, sir.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
And make sure all your listeners and to know it's
father to day is coming up, and you know there
are a lot of fathers out there, grandfather's, grandmother's grand
and mothers out there who are historians and love history.
This is a story for them because this thing doesn't
read like a history book. It reads more like a
cinematic novel. So I think you know, once you've turned
the first page, you're not going to put it down
till you get it done.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Well, God bless Montel. Thank you again, Thank you sir,
Alabama's morning News. I'm JT and joining us now the
infamous Montel Williams. I'm so glad to have you on
this morning, sir, welcome in. Thanks for being with me.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
So good to be with the JT. Well.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
I got to tell you I was a big fan
of your show back in the day. A great television
show you had. It ran for what fifteen sixteen years?
Maybe you'll leave it a little longer.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Teen year, seventeen years?
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Wow? Your thoughts on that Greade run before it all ended?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Oh man, it was one of the best times of
my life.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
I want an Emmy and we got nominated for Multi
Namis for the Best Show, but I want to Ammy
for Best Talk Show Host. It was a glorious time
to give an opportunity for people who had no voice
to have a voice.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Yeah, you know, being a television host on a show
like that where you did discuss a lot of you know,
issues around our country, whether it was entertainment or more
serious issues. I wanted to get your thoughts currently on
what's happening in Los Angeles now with all the craziness
going on and the you know, the lawlessness that's happening
in that city.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Well, I agree with you, there's lawlessness, but I think
we got to really to keep a close what we're
looking at and understand whether or not we're really watching
the truth. I'm not necessarily sure that some of the
people that are demonstrating are all on the same team.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
I think there is a deliberate attempt at making sure
that we can put up the worst picture possible so
that others with the farious intent can utilize those.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Worst pictures to do some worse things to this nation.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Yeah, I got to tell you, the liberal media certainly
has positioned themselves to be supportive of democratic policies traditionally,
and it appears, I said, like you said, rather that
some of these people, I would imagine, just like other
major protests, that they're being brought in to be actors,
to be a part of this, to blow this whole
(01:43):
thing up and out of proportion, to sell the mantra
or the narrative, if you will, to continue as we
see it's spreading around other cities around this country right now.
But yeah, we're in a weird time right now. But
with all this going on, the country, did vote for
this president to fix the border, get the crime out
of our cities and kind of write the ship on
(02:03):
what took place over four years of just madness with
open borders here. Do you think the President and his
team are moving in the right direction on this as
far as trying to fix and make America safe again.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
I think that there's been a lot of mistakes made
on both sides, and I'm not necessarily sure that the
intent is to fix more than is to control. That's
from my perspective, you know, but you know, we all
have a right to our opinions and the way we
look at things. I just would hope that the reason
why I wrote this book, you know, this book at
(02:35):
the time, the Sailing of the Intrumpet, is a look
back in history at the time where, you know, when
we look back at World War Two, you know, we
were just coming out of the Great Depression, and we
were coming out a time where America was as divided
as it is today. However, on a ship that was
close to three football fields long, three thousand people of
(02:55):
different backgrounds, different opinions came together to save a ship,
to make sure that it did not fall into the
hands of an enemy, and it went on to fight
heroically for the rest of the war. It shows that
we can put our differences aside when we need to
come together to preserve this democracy.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Yeah. The work is called the Sailing of the Intrepid,
the incredible wartime voyage of the Navy's iconic aircraft carrier.
I did not realize that you could do both. You're
an next marine and a former naval officer, having gone
to the Naval Academy. How do you become a marine
and a naval officer? Is it different? Eras well?
Speaker 3 (03:33):
I started out and listed. I've been listed in the
Marine Corps right after graduating in lag school. Then I
went into After having a fairly decent meritorist service in
the Marine Corps, I was selected to go to a
naval county prep school, went to the Naval Academy, and
then was commissioned as a Naval officer, not a Marine
Corps officer when I graduated. And part of that was because,
(03:54):
unbeknownst to me and unbernoast the military. I probably had
my first episode of MS right before I graduated, which
put me on a medical hold.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
I lost vision in my left eye.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
The Marine Corps wouldn't take me back because you have
to have as a Marine Corps officer. You have to
have correctible vision of twenty twenty and mine was not.
So I had to pick a job in the Navy.
I became commissioned as a Naval loss or of special
duty Intelligence ofware.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Well, talk to me about the Montel Williams MS Foundation
that you founded obviously on the heels of you being diagnosed,
and how that's going now.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Well, you know, I ended up folding that into a
foundation at Harvard and allowing them to actually administer and
move it forward. We raised millions of dollars for research,
and I continue to speak out trying to raise as
much money and awareness as I possibly can, because the
scourge of the mess is still here. I mean, it's
probably well over a million and a half to too
(04:44):
million people in America who were surviving with m assal
right now, and we need to give them tools to
help them survive even more.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
I'm blessed.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
I've worked on multiple different modalities that have helped me
kind of keep my illness at bay, though I still
have symptoms, still have this illness. It'll never go away,
but I want to be able to try to continue
to work to bring relief to so many people.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Around the world.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Well, you've done so many things in your life from
an early age all the way through where you are
right now. And I think one thing that stands out
to me about you is your perseverance and your willingness
to never give up and move forward. You've battled some
health issues with MS and also a stroke. I think
you had a hemorrhetic stroke at one point in your
(05:29):
life as well, that you just seem to keep bouncing back.
I mean it's this military style of never giving up
and fighting on always been a part of you.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
It has been.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
But you know what, that's so good, Well as you
said it that way, because that's really the story of
the Intrepident. That's a ship that literally never gave up
the understood that if you put the effort in, we
could save this thing. I mean, look, the ship came
out of having fought two incredible battles, one at Quadlin
and the Marshall Islands and another one old Truck.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
As was leading truck.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
It was standing out the harbor and going on to
its next ambision, where a single loan Japanese bomber saw
it by following its wake, and this guy dropped a
single torpedo then after he dropped the torpedo, he actually
flew over the deck of the Intrepid, low enough that
several sailors on the decks said they could see his face.
(06:20):
Then the ship was hit by the torpedo in the
rudder and then the fantail, which split a hole in
the back of the ship from the water line all
the way up to the flight deck, causing the ship
to first off pinning the rudder about forty five degrees
or forty five degree angle, making a kind of careen
out of control, to the point that the captain and
the crew came together and they ingeniously came up with
(06:43):
an idea, if we hang a sale, let's take the
most modern ship of all time and go back to
the most rudimentary, fundamental airtime technology called a sail. Put
that sail on the front of this thing. Don't use
it for propulsion, but use it so that it would
count about the waves and the wind. They sailed the
(07:04):
ship three thousand miles back to Pearl Harbor, where it
was then satiled up to San Francisco, putting dry dock, repaired,
put back in the battle, gets hit by two comakazis.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Back to San Francisco. Back to dry dock, repaired, put
back in the battle, gets hit by three comic cozies.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Yeah yeah, back to San Francisco, back in the battle,
finished out. World War two finished out Korea, finished out Vietnam,
but went on to become the recovery ship from NASA
for space capsules.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Boy, you're talking about talking about a war horse, right,
I mean this ship here, just a mean.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
And the idea of never giving up.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Yeah yeah, Just so many iconic stories about so many
great people and ships from that era.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Man.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
I really appreciate you spending time with us, and I
can't wait to read the book. It's about the sailing
of the Intrepid, the incredible wartime voyage of the Navy's
iconic aircraft carrier.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
There.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
He is the host of so many great shows, and
currently on his show that he has right now. I
understand this is doing quite well too. Military Makeover with
Montel and Military Makeover Operation Career. You've got to going
on lifetime. Congratulations Montel on all your success and what
you stand for and what you continue to do. It's
been an honor to speak with you.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Oh, thank you so much, sir.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
And make sure all your listeners and to know it's
father to day is coming up, and you know there
are a lot of fathers out there, grandfather's, grandmother's grand
and mothers out there who are historians and love history.
This is a story for them because this thing doesn't
read like a history book. It reads more like a
cinematic novel. So I think you know, once you've turned
the first page, you're not going to put it down
till you get it done.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Well, God bless Montel. Thank you again, Thank you sir,
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