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Happy Friday! BJ's fam is headed to The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo this weekend without BJ?? 7 Eleven made a Slurpee cup for its 60th anniversary that holds 93oz of Slurpee and still fits in your cup holder. You have to hear what this QVC Host said accidentally on air yesterday! CO has 2 new 4DX Movie Theaters, have you been to one yet??
What if the future of higher education depends less on old systems and more on curiosity? I speak with John Frost, vice president of marketing and enrollment management at Doane University, about his path from basketball dreams and local news to student recruitment and educational leadership. John shares how storytelling, liberal arts education, strong relationships, and applied learning can turn natural talent into career skills. We also explore AI in education, college costs, financial aid, trade schools, and why higher education is changing rather than fading away. You will find a hopeful look at student success, lifelong learning, and the human support that helps people become unstoppable. Highlights: 04:58 - Why student opportunity matters more than campus image. 12:22 - How one conversation can change a student's future. 16:51 - Why respectful disagreement keeps curiosity alive. 24:55 - How applying knowledge creates real impact. 36:28 - Why AI should support learning, not replace it. 55:12 - How higher education will keep shaping future leaders. About the Guest: How one storyteller–turned–strategist is transforming the way America thinks about college. Meet JOHN FROST, the enrollment innovator on a mission to rebuild faith in higher education. As Vice President of Enrollment Management and Marketing at Doane University, a four-year public university, John is rewriting the playbook on how colleges attract, inspire, and serve the next generation of learners. Before he led campuses, John led with a camera, as a reporter, editor, and photojournalist covering real human stories that shaped communities. That same instinct for truth and connection now drives his work in education, where he helps institutions move beyond numbers and focus on what really matters: student purpose and success. With nearly two decades of experience across Metropolitan Community College, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and Doane University, John has guided organizations through shifting markets, declining enrollments, and cultural change. His leadership has sparked bold conversations around student engagement, workforce readiness, and the evolving value of a college degree. John's voice bridges two worlds, media and academia, helping audiences understand not just why college is changing, but how it can thrive again. Ways to connect with John**:** - Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/DoaneUniversity/ - Instagram link: https://www.instagram.com/doaneuniversity/ - LinkedIn link: linkedin.com/school/doane-university/ - X link: https://x.com/DoaneUniversity - YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/user/DoaneCollegeNE - Website link: https://www.doane.edu/ About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson 00:04 What if the biggest thing holding you back isn't what's in front of you, but rather what you believe? Welcome to Unstoppable Mindset, where inclusion, diversity, and the unexpected meet. I'm your host, Michael Hingston, speaker, author, and advocate for inclusion and possibilities. This podcast explores how the beliefs we carry shape the way we live, lead, and connect with others. Each week, I talk with people who challenge assumptions, face adversity head-on, and show what's possible when we choose curiosity over fear. Together, we focus on mindset, resilience, and the small shifts that lead to meaningful change. Let's get started. Well, hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Unstoppable Mindset. Today we're going to have a lot of fun. Today we're going to talk to John Frost. John is an interesting kind of guy. He's a higher education strategist. He is the vice president of marketing and enrollment management at Doane University in Crete, Nebraska. And before we started, we were just talking about the weather. We're recording this on the 10th of March, and he said he's in the about 60. We're 60-eight, going up to 70-three here, so maybe spring is finally coming. We can hope. I remember once when we were still living in New Jersey. It was May of 2001. We thought the spring was here, and we got a bunch of snow one afternoon or one evening in New Jersey. Yeah. Well, the next morning, so where I I took the dogs out when we lived in New Jersey, we had to I had to actually walk down a hill, and the next morning, some of the snow started to melt, and that night the whole hillside was as slick as glass because the ice there the snow froze, so it was ice. John Frost 02:10 Oh my goodness! Michael Hingson 02:12 And so what I did was not walk down the hill. I went. I put my snow boots on, and I and I made it down once and came back up. I said I'm not doing that anymore. I had a long flex leash, and I put the long leash on each dog separately, and let them go down the hill. And I stayed at the top to make sure that they didn't slide. John Frost 02:30 It sounds, hey, I like that. It sounds like you're a great strategic person because you came up with a game plan to allow them to go down up and down the hill. Michael Hingson 02:39 Yeah, I certainly wasn't going to go down that hill with him anymore because that was too scary. John Frost 02:43 Yeah, that's dangerous. Michael Hingson 02:45 Well, John, welcome to Unstoppable Mindset. We're glad you're John Frost 02:49 here. Hey, I'm happy to be here, and thank you for allowing me to be on your platform and taking time out of your day. And I'm looking forward to the great discussion that we're going to have. Michael Hingson 02:57 Well, and taking the time out of your day, we appreciate that too. So it's it's 2o'clock there. So by the time we're done, it's going to be time for the afternoon coffee break. John Frost 03:06 Hey, hey, good call, great call. Michael Hingson 03:10 Well, tell us kind of about the early chon growing up. Yeah, that's fun to start there. John Frost 03:15 Yeah, that's a great question. So one of the things I always like to share with people is that when I was a young man, I wasn't planning to go to college to work at a college. That wasn't the game plan. If anything, just like a lot of young, especially young boys growing up in North Carolina, we want to grow up and play basketball. And I thought I was going to go to the NBA, and we all know the greatest basketball player of all time is Michael Jordan. He's from North Carolina, so we all dreamed of that dream. But you know, I played sports growing up. I was fortunate enough to to get an athletic scholarship to go to college, and went to college. Didn't really know exactly what I was going to do already. Well, I finished at Wayne State College, and got my bachelor's degree there. But you know, while I was there, I figured out like, okay, I'm not going to the NBA. What I'm going to do, and so somebody, somebody was like, hey, you know, John, you don't mind, you know, connecting with people, having conversations. You don't, you're not, you're not afraid to talk in public. Maybe you should think about going into broadcasting, and so that's what I started to study. And so I was fortunate enough to get a communications degree, and then I was from that point I went and worked in local news for about four years. So I was able to be a reporter and a photojournalist and an editor, and was able to connect with a lot of people and tell a lot of stories, but the unique thing about doing news is that the only opportunity you have with the story is just to share it. Right? You can't really impact it. And so, one of the things that I appreciate about higher education is that when I transitioned to higher education after four years in local news, I realized. I had the ability to impact the story, so it wasn't just about sharing the story of the individuals that I serve. It was about making their stories a little bit better through education, and so I started my career in higher education as a recruiter, worked my way up, worked at you know for profits and private schools and state schools, colleges and universities, and and now I'm fortunate enough to be the vice president at Doan University, and I've been here for about three years. So that's kind of like a little snapshot of my story. Michael Hingson 05:28 How long were you in broadcasting? John Frost 05:30 For about four years. About four years, Michael Hingson 05:33 sir. And then you went to the schools, huh? John Frost 05:35 Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Michael Hingson 05:36 Wow. So you went. So where did you where did you start, and what kind of colleges did you did you go to all over the country, or what? John Frost 05:46 Yeah. So what's funny is when I started my career in higher education, I started out as a recruiter, and I was working for a for-profit institution. And here's a unique thing: the school that I worked at was in a strip mall, so you could go to Sears and look at a lawnmower, and you can go to Verizon and get a phone, and you can go to the Slurpee shop and get you a slushie, and then you come talk to me about about college. And one of the things that taught me about working at a college in a strip mall was you really had to get to understand the students, and it wasn't about all the glitz and glamor that you may think about a traditional college. It was still about the opportunity. It was about the dream, and that's what I learned when I first started out as a recruiter: is being able to help somebody to make their dream into a reality and having those great conversations. Michael Hingson 06:38 How did you learn the art of storytelling? What what is it that that caused that to happen? Because it sounds like it's kind of natural for you, but did you learn it growing up or what? John Frost 06:49 Well, you know what? That's a great question. One of the things I like to share with people is the art of dialog, right? Just discussion, engagement, and growing up as a kid in North Carolina, we didn't have too much, but we always was able to run our mouths. Right, we was always able to talk. We was always able to talk about what we did or what we didn't do because, as you know, back in the day, we didn't have camera phones. We didn't. We didn't have all this technology that captured everything that we did. And so, when you would when you would you know get somebody's attention, you had to hold it. You couldn't just say, "Hey, I played basketball and it was fun. It would be like, "Hey, I played basketball and I did this move, and this guy tried to guard me, and I blocked the shot and I did this. Or even if you went down the street because your mom wanted you to go get a you know a gallon of milk or a carton of eggs, that was the story behind it because you got chased by a dog and and or whatever. So I think the the the art of storytelling is just something that's natural to the human spirit. But then also not just talking about your story, but being able to understand somebody else's and and being able to connect with them because if you talk to people long enough, you'll find a connection. Michael Hingson 08:02 Yeah, did did your parents encourage storytelling, or did they think about that at all? John Frost 08:07 You know, that's a great question. My dad was probably one of the greatest storytellers I ever met. He was, I mean, the stories that he would tell me about how he grew up, the things that he experienced. I mean, even though he may not had a photo, even though he may not have had like video, he can get you to where he was at, and you could and you could see it. I mean, my dad was a was a guy that could tell you a story, and he'll tell you about hey, because he grew up around a bakery, and he would tell you how the bread smelled. So no matter what the story meant, he would always start off well. You know, I grew up by a bakery, and this is what it smelled like. And and and you would get yourself to that point. And so I would say, if I if if my ability to tell the story, I would say I got that from my dad. Michael Hingson 08:54 Yeah. So it it was something that you learned. Now, are there other kids in your family, or just you? John Frost 09:00 No. So I'm fortunate enough to have. I'm the youngest out of four, so I have an older brother. I had an older sister, and I have another older sister. But unfortunately, she passed away probably like 16 years ago. So, yep. But so it's just three of us now. But but yeah, you know, I was the youngest, so I was the one that's always causing trouble. Michael Hingson 09:24 Well, gives you something to do in your free time. Yeah, exactly. Did did the other two also grow up to tell stories and and appreciate John Frost 09:35 it? Yeah, they was they grew up to tell stories. They couldn't tell them as good as I could, though. But no, my brother he he spent 25 years in the military in the Air Force, and was a Persian linguist, and so he has some really cool stories about his travels in the military. He still works for the military right now as a civilian, and my sister. She works in behavior science. She helps with social work and things like that. And my oldest sister, she helped run her own business before she passed away. Michael Hingson 10:10 Now you were in the military for 24 years. John Frost 10:12 No, my my brother. My brother was okay. I wasn't Michael Hingson 10:15 sure. Okay, great. Yeah, my brother. That makes more sense. Time. Yeah, yeah. No, John Frost 10:18 no. He he decided to take that route. I didn't. Michael Hingson 10:20 Cool. Well, but you're going to claim credit for being the best of the three in storytelling. John Frost 10:26 Absolutely. There you go. Michael Hingson 10:29 And and how would they react if they heard us talking about that? John Frost 10:32 It don't matter. They're not on the call, so it's all good. Michael Hingson 10:37 Good point. Can't can't argue with that. So you. you, so you were in broadcasting for four years, and then you went into to different things in higher education. Why did you end up going into higher education? You know, why didn't you continue in broadcasting, or what happened? John Frost 10:57 Well, you know, I love broadcasting. Don't get me wrong, and it was it was. But I always say broadcasting is a is a very unique career path. You always running and gunning, and I worked here in Lincoln, Nebraska. So you know you doing snow stories, you doing Husker football, you doing things about the budget, things about whatever the government the governor is saying, and at some point, I know for me personally, it was a guy that I ran into who who done what I did when I was in news for 30 years, and one of the things that he had shared with me was don't get jaded, don't go to a story and it's just another story. Don't forget the the human approach. Don't forget the people that you're talking about. And he said the mistake that he made was again he did this for 30 years. He said he he got he stayed in the business too long, that it was just another day. It was just a job. And when he shared it with me, that made me have a lot of time for reflection and thinking about okay, so what is it that I really want to do? Even though I love the broadcasting field, it was always on the go, which I loved to do. I said, "Is there something else for me to to do? And I didn't know anything about higher education, you know. To be honest with you, sir, I did not. Other than I went to college, that's about good as it was. I didn't understand the business. Yeah, yeah. I didn't know the business of higher education and things like that. But anyway, you know, I remember back in the day, I just was curious and looking at some different options, and I happened to apply for a recruiter job. And when I went in for the interview, they said, "Hey, you know, your job is to have conversations with people and try to get them enrolled in school. I was like, "Well, that's simple enough. I don't have to be out in the cold, you know, covering snow stories anymore. And I'm from North Carolina, so I don't have to worry about covering Husker football no more. And then, you know, I get to really make an impact. So that's all it was. It was just, you know, I was still a young man. I was still looking to find my way, and I was fortunate to find higher education. Michael Hingson 13:04 So, when you did recruiting, what what's a favorite story and success that you had at recruiting? John Frost 13:10 Oh, thank you! I love when people ask me this question. So, I always share in my colleague Andrew's in the room with me, helping me do this podcast, and he's probably heard this story like 13,000 times, but you know, Michael, the best story that I like to share is the story when I was a first, and I started out as a recruiter, not really knowing what I was doing. But I had a conversation with a young lady. She was a single mom, and she was a single mom, and we went through the whole process of talking about her goals and her dreams and how we can help, but then as we was kind of finishing up, you know, kind of getting towards the end of the process of the conversation, started getting teary-eyed, and so my first thing is like, oh my goodness, what's going on? Why is she getting teary-eyed? Like, what did I say? What did I do wrong? And then you know, I paused there, and she looked at me, and she said, "You know, you're the first person ever tell me that I can accomplish this goal. You're the first person ever tell me I can do this. And right then and there, sir, that's when I realized what the opportunity I had in front of me is that she went on to get her degree and went and get a master's degree, but with whatever was going on in her life, that was a that was a game changer, and I was happy and fortunate enough to be a part of that. And so that's when I realized what I get to do for recruitment, and I never forgot about that. And and when people ask about why we're successful in doing the things that we're doing, I think you never forget that that it's not just a job. It's an honor. It's a privilege to get to change people's lives through education. Michael Hingson 14:47 You know, going back to what your your friend in the the media for 30 years said, I I agree with that. I have been a speaker now for 24 years, and my belief is it's it's. Never about me. It's about what I can do to be involved and enhance what goes on at an event where I'm invited to come and speak. And I I spend time asking the event organizers what kind of messaging do you want? What can I do? How can I best be of of help to you in making this event as successful as possible because I know there are so many speakers who think it's all about them and and it's not it's it certainly isn't for me so I hear what you say about him saying don't ever let yourself get jaded because that I can see how it could happen, but but I've always just believed that's that's not the way to go. You know, we've got a lot of things going on in the media, and in in our country today, and I talk to so many people who say I don't even watch the news anymore because it just upsets me and so on, and and I say, look, one of my basic philosophies is: don't worry about what you can't control. Focus on what you can. That doesn't mean you're not aware of the other stuff going on, but you don't have to let it affect you because you're not going to be in a position to really control it. Actually, you can once every four years, and that's at the ballot box. But John Frost 16:16 yeah, Michael Hingson 16:17 but but the bottom line is, you can you can still watch the news, but you can choose not to let it affect you and drive you crazy, and and I think that's so important. And you know, all of the all of the presidents lately have all done things that were productive, and they've done things that weren't productive. And you know, we can't. I I I love to say I'm an equal opportunity abuser, which is why we don't talk about politics much on the podcast. But you know I remember so much when the when Barack Obama was about to be inaugurated as president, and I was watching the Letterman show one night, and and Letterman was bemoaning the fact that it's going to get boring around here. We're not going to have a president to pick on anymore. We got a good guy coming in, so you know you knew where he stood. But you know we can't we can't tell the jokes. Well, you know that didn't last very long, but that's okay. But we have control over what we let affect us. It doesn't mean that we don't need to be aware, but we can control whether we allow it to affect us and bother us or not. And I think that's part of the whole art of conversation because we're in a world where people don't want to talk to each other. If you don't believe what I believe, then you're wrong, and and that's just not the way to do John Frost 17:39 it. No, I agree 100% and that and that's one of the things I like to tell people about the how important a college campus is. It's one of the few places still on the planet and in our country where you can agree to disagree, and it's okay. It's called class, right? Yeah. And so, and and you can have different conversations. You can you can share different perspective. The one thing about I think sometimes when we leave college that we forget is that we forget the ability to still be curious, right, and still want to learn and still want to understand. It's not about being right; it's about getting it right. And so I think that's one of the most powerful things that happens on a college campus is that you still are somewhat not forced, but you encourage to engage with people from different walks of life for different perspectives and things like that. So, really good point, and I think it just feeds into what we do here on a college campus. Michael Hingson 18:36 Do you find that that's true across colleges that people are still able to to participate in the art of conversation? John Frost 18:44 Yes, one of the things that one of the things that I've been fortunate enough to do, especially in my role, and I've done it at every school that I worked at, is that I like to sit in the classroom. I like to go to the classes to see what's going on, and I'm telling you, and it never fails. I mean, there's a lot of opinions and thoughts about the future and about the current generation and the future generations, but man, their thought patterns, their ability to kind of have different discussions and conversations. I mean, it's 10 times better than it was when I was that age because they do have access to so much information, so they they can construct a really great argument. One of the things that you see in the classroom is them being able to know how to learn how to deal with disagreement, and so that's been taking place. But yeah, I think the art of conversation is still profound, and I think it's still being encouraged in our classrooms by our faculty members. Michael Hingson 19:44 Isn't it great when you're in a classroom or you're either involved or observing a conversation, and someone just comes up with something incredibly-and I don't mean this in a bad way-but unusual or profound that you never thought of, and maybe the other people hadn't thought of. That's the whole issue with thought patterns, and people just come up with unique things that make you go off in different directions. John Frost 20:07 Yes, yes, it's a beautiful thing. Michael Hingson 20:09 Fun, yeah, John Frost 20:10 fun. It's a beautiful thing. That's what I say. It's a beautiful mind, right? I mean, it's it's that's what we should be doing, right? I always say we're not here to to do this on our own. We're here to to do it together in different ways by conversation, by engagement, by agreeing to disagreeing. Sometimes when somebody disagrees with you, it challenges you to think a little different to make sure what you're saying is: Do you really believe that, or you just saying what you think you know, right? And so I think it's a beautiful thing, Michael Hingson 20:40 and I think it's great when professors contribute to that and make you think in different directions, and you don't even need to know what what they actually think about whatever. Although I'm sure that that usually comes out as as time goes by. But still, if they make people think, then that's a good thing. John Frost 20:59 Yes, yes, Michael Hingson 21:01 it's so important to do, and I think it's important that that all of us do that. I know I had an academic advisor who spent lots of time with me. He was the dean of physical sciences, actually. So I'm not quite sure why I got Dr. Rhinos. He was the discoverer of the neutrino, but I did, and and he he and I had a lot of interesting conversations, and I hope I challenged him too. But he certainly challenged me in terms of some of the ways that that I thought about things, and sometimes we agreed, and sometimes we didn't necessarily agree. But what a what a neat guy, and and it's so great to have people that that basically are in their own way philosophers in whatever they do. John Frost 21:47 Absolutely. Speaker 1 21:51 If you enjoy Unstoppable Mindset and would like to help us continue bringing these conversations to you each week, we've created a way for you to support the show, your contribution helps us cover production costs and continue sharing stories, insights, and ideas that inspire people to live with purpose and possibility. If supporting the podcast feels right for you, you'll find the link in the show notes. Thank you for being part of the Unstoppable Mindset Community. Michael Hingson 22:24 So, what did you do after recruiting? How long did you recruit, and what did you do after that? John Frost 22:30 Well, I mean, I was fortunate enough to to always get promoted and move up, but I'm always recruiting. I always tell people I'm always selling because we're always selling the opportunity of education. I don't, whatever role that I may have, if it's a director or if it's a assistant director or vice president, I feel like the most important role that I have is being an educational advocate. At the end of the day, I know a lot of people have their opinions about higher education or about education in general, but the one thing that I always challenge them with is that education is one of the still one of the real resources that still can change people's lives. It's it's still one of those things. People say, "Well, well, why should I do this and why should I do that? Because it works. You're looking at it. If I mean, if it wasn't for higher education, I probably wouldn't be here. I don't know what I would have done, but because of higher education, just like I mentioned at the beginning of our conversation, it provoked me to think differently about my own skill set beyond just athletics. It was about some of those soft skills, and and hey, John, you naturally don't mind conversating with people and and and talking. Like I didn't know you can get paid to talk. You know what I mean? Like I didn't know that was an option. That wasn't on the bingo card. So, but if it wasn't for education and having those conversations, as we as we talked about, I wouldn't have known that that was an option. And so, at the end of the day, I mean, I'm just a country kid from East Winston, North Carolina, who wanted to be a basketball player. Instead, I turned out to be a guy that's an educational advocate that probably did more in this role than I ever would have done by shooting a basketball. Michael Hingson 24:15 Couldn't get Michael Jordan to come and give you a few pointers, huh? John Frost 24:18 Nah, he he didn't have time for me. You know, maybe he can do that to my sons or somebody, but now he ain't have time for me. Michael Hingson 24:24 Well, you know, that's that's okay. You could have always you could have always gone off and tried to get Magic Johnson or Larry Bird. John Frost 24:31 Yeah, that's true. That's true. But I'm a Mike guy. I'm a Mike guy. Michael Hingson 24:34 Yeah, yeah, yeah, and whatever. That's that that works well. So you you've always been promoted. You said you've been at Doane for three years. Where were you before that? John Frost 24:47 Yeah, so I was fortunate enough to work at College of St. Mary, which is the the undergrad program was for all females, and the graduate program was inclusive of everybody. So I worked there for a few years, and then before. There, I was at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, in Illinois, and that was a great experience as well. And then several other places, like I said, I worked in community colleges, and and then also some private schools throughout the Midwest. And so, been a lot of different places, learned a lot. Every school is different, but they also the same. That's why I tell people because they're the same because they all are trying to do the same things and trying to help people get their educational credentials and opportunities. But they're different in how they go about it. They all have their own character. They all have their features and benefits, and they all have all have their own unique stories. And so, again, it it it ties into our discussion about stories because every person that walks one of those university halls are going to be able to have be part of that overall story of that university. Michael Hingson 26:01 I like one of the things that you said. You learned a lot. You you are always learning, and I think that's so important because the reality is you never know when a new nugget of knowledge will come and be profound and hit you right in the head, and you take it and run with it. But learning a lot is so important. John Frost 26:18 Yes, yes, and and I will piggyback on that is, you know, and something that I try to tell the people I serve and also my kids, you know, information is power. It's power, but information with application allows you to have impact, and so it's great to have the information, but if you're not applying it, then it's not going to be useful, right? Yeah. So even though we all are learners, once you learn something, the question would be, how will you use it moving forward? Michael Hingson 26:49 Yeah, and that's and that's an important part of it. It isn't enough to let it build up inside of you and have all this information if you're not doing something with it. What good John Frost 26:58 is it? Absolutely. Michael Hingson 27:00 And and information and knowledge changes over times. Things that maybe 30 and 40 years ago people studied are so commonplace today because there's so many new things that you know we we evolve. John Frost 27:14 Yes, yes. I always tell people, you know, 40 years ago they used to smoke in airplanes, right? Yeah. At some point, somebody figured out that wasn't a good idea because they got new information. Right. So I agree 100% to what you said. Michael Hingson 27:30 I think one of my best best examples of information is for years the movie Airplane wasn't shown on airplanes, and I flew on a flight once, and then they showed it. I was going, I can't believe it, but they're showing airplane on an airplane. That was great things people do, but but yeah, I hear what you're saying. Yeah, for for years people smoked on airplanes. They had a non-smoking section where I always sat, but still, it's great that there's not smoking. Although they still haven't totally done away with liquor on airplanes, and I've I've seen some people who've gotten pretty exposed to having a number of drinks on an airplane. I was on a flight with one guy. It was a morning flight, actually. We're flying from Ontario to Dallas, and I had gotten upgraded, so I was sitting next to this guy. He ordered a double vodka tonic, and he had nine of them. But by the time we got to Dallas, John Frost 28:26 oh wow! Michael Hingson 28:27 And I'm oh wow, my gosh! I don't know how he got off the plane, but he did. But I'm just, I guess the body adjusts. But I didn't even have one, you know. I'm whatever. Oh John Frost 28:39 my goodness! He must. He must be either either really excited or really nervous, one of the two. Michael Hingson 28:43 I don't know, one of those something, but it was pretty fascinating because he just kept ordering them, and and the other part about it was they kept bringing them. So, wow, yeah, ah, well, the world is a funny place. John Frost 28:58 It is. Michael Hingson 28:58 So tell me a little bit about Doane College, and and I know it's a liberal arts college. So tell me about that. But tell me about Doane. John Frost 29:05 Yeah, Doane University. Doane University. Michael Hingson 29:08 I said college. I'm sorry. John Frost 29:09 No, no worries, no worries. We've been around for 153 years. You don't. You don't Michael Hingson 29:14 sound that old. John Frost 29:15 That's a good one. And we have undergraduate programs. Have about 30-five undergraduate programs. Education was what was built on, was built on again educating the community, educating future leaders, and that's one of the things with our president of the university is that we build leaders. That's one of our mantras that we that we stand on. At the same time, we have opportunities for online, in person, hybrid. So we have a lot of different modalities. We also have graduate programs within business and education, leadership. In addition to that, we have Open Learning Academy. Which that that platform is built for students that may even go to other schools that are looking to take additional courses to get into medical school or some type of additional schooling, but they may not have the the right classes or skills yet, so they take those courses with Open Learning Academy, and we have a lot of non degree seeking opportunities, certifications. So Doane is just is one of those schools that's a leader in building the future. It's a leader in trying to think differently. It's it's a organization that's that's embracing the things that are changing in our society. We don't run from those things. We run we don't run from them. We run to them because we want to be the the leaders in making the world a better place, but also being able to solve problems, be able to have innovation and enhancement to the human experience, and that's what we do. So I can go on and on, but Darwin University is a wonderful place. We have the Crete campus here, which is our main campus, and then we also have class offerings in Lincoln, Nebraska, and also in the Omaha metro area. And then, as I mentioned, online. Michael Hingson 31:12 Where is Crete? John Frost 31:14 Crete is about 40-five minutes away from the state capital of Lincoln, Nebraska. Lincoln. Michael Hingson 31:19 Okay. John Frost 31:20 Yep, and it's about an hour away from the the largest city in Nebraska of Omaha. So that's where it's about at. So it's it's more on the eastern side of the state, but it's a great place to come and and get your education. Michael Hingson 31:35 So it's a liberal arts college. What does that mean exactly? John Frost 31:39 Oh, that's a great question. So the one of the things about the liberal arts is that it's a holistic view of the human experience, right? It's not just hey, I'm learning something just to learn it. It's not just focus on a physical or medical perspective. It's a overall leader, I would say, human experience, so you're not just going to come to school and focus on just your program. You're going to come to school here and get an education in the classroom and outside of the classroom. You're going to study some different things. You're going to do some worldly things. It's going to be hands-on. So the liberal arts is really big because we feel like that's what's missing. I mean, unfortunately, in higher education, sometimes people just want to get the degree and go on with their lives. We want to make sure you understand the degree that you have and how you can utilize it in a multiple of ways beyond just whatever the whatever the program was that you got your degree in. Michael Hingson 32:39 I had the pleasure last September 11th of speaking at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and I had never actually heard of MCLA, but until they they reached out to me, but it was it was kind of fun and and very enjoyable. And people asked really good, well-rounded questions when we had some Q and A sessions, which I always really appreciate. It's it's good to really get people who are are thinking, and so it was a lot of fun. John Frost 33:06 Awesome, yeah, that sounds great. Michael Hingson 33:08 Yeah, they wanted to do something around September 11th, and we did. So John Frost 33:13 yes, Michael Hingson 33:13 I I can't complain about that at all. It was um a it was a little bit of a challenge to get to, because it was the the nearest airport is Albany, and it was like, well, about an well an hour hour and 20 minutes away. But but we got there, so it worked out. So I I but I enjoy the the whole concept of what liberal arts colleges are about. I think it's important to deal with your degree, but I think it's important to also, as as you say, get a more rounded understanding and learn how to use the degree and learn to use the skills that you get. John Frost 33:48 Absolutely, absolutely. Michael Hingson 33:51 Which I think is so. What sets Doane apart? What makes Doane unique? Maybe from a lot of other places. John Frost 33:58 You know, I get that question a lot of what separates Don, and I think it's it's beholden to the individual that I'm talking to. The one thing about Don is I think that separates us from everybody else. It's not about telling somebody what they can't do. It's about figuring out how they can do it, and that's what Don does with us being a small liberal arts college. We're very hands-on, and I know a lot of colleges say that, but we're about relationships. We're not about being order takers. We're about being dream makers, and that's just as simple as I can make it. If you come to Doane University, you're not just coming just to go through the process and and go through the ups and downs of being a college student. We're trying to make sure that you understand what it is that. Because here's the thing: majority of the students that start sometimes don't know exactly what they want to do. I mean, we have a lot of students that start college and they're undecided, and so what. We like to make sure that we do is build that relationship, understand that particular student, and then come up with a game plan to get them to where they want to be. And I feel like that's what we do. We're not just going to say, "Hey, I'm interested in criminal justice, or "I'm interested in nursing, or "and we just say you go, yeah, go ahead. We have that good luck. God bless. We're going to say, hey, you know what? Tell me more about that. Why are you interested in in nursing? And again, one of the things I used to always use when people say they're interested in nursing, I'll ask these three questions. I ask these three questions. First question: Are you afraid of blood? Right. Michael Hingson 35:35 Good point. John Frost 35:36 Second question: What would you do if I vomited right now? Would you be the person that run, or would you be the person that help? And the last question: How do you feel being on your feet for 12 hours a day? Michael Hingson 35:46 Yeah, John Frost 35:47 right. So by the time I get through those questions, I kind of have a good understanding exactly if they are want to be a nurse or not. But then the follow-up question, which is the most important question, Michael, is tell me why do you want to be a nurse? Well, I want to help people, and so, granted, sometimes just like I mentioned about my story, sometimes you're limited on what your options are. So even though somebody wanted to be a nurse because they want to help people, but they may not be a good fit. However, we can show them, hey, there's a variety of ways that you can help people. It may not be nursing, but here's some other options that we can look into, and that's what separate us. That's what we do. We have a conversation, and we don't rush that conversation. It's just like what we're doing right now. We get to know each other, and we get to help. For by the time they walk across that stage, they're excited about that degree they have in their hand. Michael Hingson 36:37 That's great. I every every year I I just always make it a habit to get a physical, and there usually blood draws as part of it. And it's so fun to go in and when I sit down and they're getting the needle and everything ready to do the blood test, I say, now I just have to ask, what are you going to do if I can't stand the sight of blood? I've had a couple who fall into the trap, and then they finally figure out. Oh, this guy's blind. What's he talking about? Oh gosh. But you know, I guess I'd probably be a good nurse. I can I can answer those three questions. But you know, things things happen, and you know, you got to do what you got to do. Well, absolutely. So right now, higher education, like I think so many things are, is going through some some major changes. We're seeing so many technological advances. So higher education is being challenged to adapt faster because so many things are happening. We haven't even talked about AI, but how is Doane responding to all the the new and sometimes innovative ways of of dealing with education and and helping students progress. John Frost 37:51 Yeah, it's just like I mentioned. We embracing all the new changes. I mean, one of the things that Doan is doing is really embracing AI, looking out, looking at how do you teach the future about AI? How do you utilize it? How do you harness it in a way that it makes it something that it's a resource? It's not a shortcut, and and and use it as a prompt to again, as we talked about earlier, to to create curiosity, and it's just like I mentioned before, you know, yeah. There's conversations about higher education, but as I mentioned, I would put higher education up against any other industry about how it changed society. Like I said, it works; it changes people's lives. You have people that come from all over the world to get a college education, right? Because they know it's something that they need to have to be able to move forward in their life, and also to amplify and enhance their abilities that they have. The one thing that I say about college is that it takes those natural talents and make it into a marketable skill set, and so that's what we're doing with the rhetoric and the conversation about higher education, is it worth it? Should people still do it? The one thing that I've always said is like maybe you may not be the student that starts college right out of high school, but at some point in time, you're going to have to get some additional training. At some point in time you're going to have to go get some additional post-secondary education just to be able to progress in life, because as we all said, you know, with AI, different things with technology, different ways of thoughts, being able to work with different people-that that's what a college does, and and that's what you are investing in. That's probably going to be one of the best investments that you're going to have in your life. Michael Hingson 39:40 Do you find that there are some people who still do, or who just do treat AI as as a shortcut and try to use it to circumvent doing the real work that they need to do? John Frost 39:53 Absolutely, but I think that tells more about that person than AI. Yeah. Right. Michael Hingson 39:57 Oh, I agree. I agree. One of one of. My favorite comments about AI is back in I think it was 2022 around Christmas time. I was at a family gathering and there were a couple people there who were complaining about AI, and then teachers are so frustrated because students just write their papers using AI and you don't know that they're learning anything and. and I I popped up and I said, "You're approaching this all wrong. Let if a student wants to use AI to write their paper, let them write their paper. But what the teacher should do is collect all the papers and then take one period and call each student up to the front of the class, right in front of everybody, and give them a minute to defend their paper. John Frost 40:44 Yes, without the paper, Michael Hingson 40:46 you know either they know it or they don't, and you're going to find out very quickly who really did the work and and who didn't, and people who didn't are going to catch on pretty quickly that that doesn't work. John Frost 40:57 Yes, and isn't it funny that when you think about education, when you think about the philosophers from back in the day, you know you had some philosophers who thought writing was the wrong thing to do, right? Because they they they they would get up and just have these lone soliloquies about what they know and and challenge things. So I think it's funny that with AI allowing us to write, it's going to make us be more verbal and have to articulate our stance and perspectives on things a little bit more. So I think it's fascinating how there's a full circle approach because when you first start thinking about education and those things, it wasn't about writing long solitarys about things. It was about being able to get up and and articulate it, and so I think to your point, I think that's what is going to somewhat force us to do is people be able to get up and to defend what they're sharing with other people. Michael Hingson 41:54 Yeah, and if they're and if they're smart, they'll do it right. Yes, I've I've used AI in writing articles. I'll I'll even ask it several times to write an article about something, and then I read through them. And when I find an idea or something that I think is great, I'll incorporate it into what I write Speaker 2 42:11 to to Michael Hingson 42:12 create the article. Well, I think AI is a great tool as far as it goes, but it is a tool. Yes, and it's never going to be as smart as I am, John Frost 42:21 no, and I don't mean Michael Hingson 42:22 that in an egotistical way. It just isn't. John Frost 42:24 No, and AI can only do what we teach it, right? Michael Hingson 42:27 Right. John Frost 42:27 I mean that's the thing. And and what's fascinating is that if you look at electricity, electricity was criticized when it first came out. You know what is this going to do? When you looked at the news, well, there was that Michael Hingson 42:39 that dumb guy who sent his kite up in the air and finally shocked himself. Yeah, exactly, John Frost 42:43 Benjamin Franklin. Yeah, so I mean, throughout history, every new thing has been challenged, and it has been told that it was the beginning of the end of the world. And but you know, 1000s years later, we're still here. Michael Hingson 42:55 Yeah, but as we all know, the Earth is flat. There is still a flat Earth society out there, and they come up with pretty creative things to try to convince people the world is flat. So there you go. Yes. Ah, well, but you know, I think it's a great tool, and people will find ways to use it and use it effectively, and that's what should happen. What about higher education in general, why is, to some degree, it declining, and how do we deal with that? John Frost 43:26 And that's a great question. I'm not sure when people say that. I'm not sure if higher education is declining. I just think people are, aren't doing the normal trend of just coming to higher education straight out of high school. I think that's where the. I think most people are doing education. They're just doing it a different way. I mean, are people going to trade schools? Yes, but everybody's not going to be able to be a plumber or electrician or anything like that. I think it's not declining. I just think it's changing. To be honest with you, I just think people are looking at it from a different perspective and utilizing it, and and that's what it should do. I mean, it should not stay the same forever. And so that's why I'm fortunate enough to be in this industry because I get to be part of that conversation and process of what it's going to look like for my kids, what it's going to look like for my grandkids. To be honest, if we're doing the same things they did when I was in college, we're doing something wrong. Yeah. And so I think it's changing. I think humans are changing, and I think that's what's so exciting about what's happening in higher education right now. Michael Hingson 44:28 One of the big problems, of course, though, with higher education, and I'm I'm assuming I may be wrong, but more now than somewhat in the past is is the cost. It's getting more and more expensive to do, and I don't know whether that's a relative thing or an absolute percentage-wise. You can prove that it's more expensive, but still, how do you deal with with the people who say it's just so much more expensive to go? John Frost 44:51 Yeah, no, that's a great one. And and I think it depends on what are you looking for, right? I mean, everybody is. Looking to go to X Y Z University. I never Michael Hingson 45:03 go to X Y Z anyway. John Frost 45:05 I mean X Y Z because A B C is probably better. Yeah, exactly. But the the thing is, is understanding what is your. It's just like anything. It's an investment, and if it's an investment, it's what is your financial ability to to work towards that investment, and that again goes back to our conversations with the students that we serve, is them understanding what does it cost to come to Doane University, what does it mean to invest in Doane University, and how does that return looks like once you're done here at Doan University? The one thing that I always would tell people, I can't guarantee anything, but what I can guarantee is that you're going to do a lot better with a degree than without it, because you're going to provide yourself an abundance of options that wouldn't be available if you did not have that degree. In which, because if you have those options, that's going to allow you to be able to create revenue for yourself, that then allows you to have additional options that wouldn't have been that you wouldn't have been to have if you didn't make that initial investment up front by investing in college. But like I said, with ever since I've been in this industry, the one thing that I've always stressed to the people that I serve is, you know, understanding your financial responsibility, understanding scholarships, understanding your ability to get scholarships, understanding financial aid, understanding grants, understanding there's a variety of ways that you can get support to support you to finance college, and so that's the main thing is being able to understand those options and knowing how to move forward with those. Michael Hingson 46:38 Do you think there are some people who are better off not going to a four-year college, or rather, let's just say higher education in general. They're more technical, and they should just do a trade school. Or do you think everyone should get a a full bachelor's degree at least in college? John Frost 46:56 Yeah, and as I mentioned, I think everybody deserves the opportunity for some post-secondary education. Not does everybody need to go to a four-year school or two-year school? No. If you put me in a trade school right now, I probably flunk out. That's just not my skill set, right? Me too. Yeah. So, but I do. That's one of the Michael Hingson 47:14 reasons I never go to X, Y, Z. But yeah, John Frost 47:16 you may be more of an A, B, C. You know, yeah, and so, but that's the see, but that's the that's the uniqueness and the joy that I get in what I get to do, is that I get to help qualify what are some of the best options for the individual that I'm working with and serving, and and being able to tell them, hey, I think this is may maybe a better option, or have you thought about these particular things? Because no, I don't think everybody needs to go to Harvard or everybody needs to come to Doane. But I do think if you do decide to go to Doane, you're going to have a wonderful experience, and you're going to be able to do some really great things. But no, I think at the end of the day, is what's best fit for you, and being able to understand those post-secondary education options. Michael Hingson 48:06 How does college, or how should college, work to help people not only prepare for that first career, but for careers, especially those that perhaps we haven't even thought of yet? And how do you do that? John Frost 48:19 Yeah, I think it comes down to like we talked about the curiosity. What are you naturally good at? I think the one thing that I've seen that I guess I I wouldn't say I've been disappointed, but I've seen a decline, is that I don't I don't see a lot of people who are dreaming or curious about what they're good at. It's almost like they're waiting for somebody to tell them what it is. I don't know if that's an online thing or what have you. But even even when I was a recruiter and I would work with young people, they would say, "Well, I don't know what I want to do. And I always say, "I don't care what it is. Take the top 10 things that you dislike. I don't. It could be basketball. It can be writing. It can be candy. It can be whatever. It can be great shoes, whatever, and take the top 10 things. And we have this thing called Google. I don't know if you heard about it, but and just plug those things in there. Hey, I love candy. Is there a career in candy? I love you know looking at shoes and and understanding shoes. Is there a career? I mean the the the uniqueness of information that we have now than we had 30 years ago is amazing, and so I I think that's what I've I've seen a decline. And the way colleges can help prepare people is to to allow them to be courageous and being curious, and and Michael Hingson 49:44 oh, go ahead. No, John Frost 49:46 and I think that's the thing that we want to do. But go ahead, I'm sorry. Michael Hingson 49:48 Do you think that there's so much access to so many things online? You mentioned Google, but just the whole concept of smartphones and and everything else. Do you think that that's. Sort of helping people do less real dreaming and imagination because they just expect everything to be spelled out right in front of them. John Frost 50:09 And I think it's to the eye of the beholder. You know, smartphones are not good for dumb people, right? So, but I think smartphones for curious people are a powerful thing. I can honestly say, and this is kind of off topic, but I wouldn't consider myself a cook about 1012, years ago. But if it wasn't for the internet, if it wasn't for YouTube, I wouldn't have learned how to smoke meat and do barbecue, right? Yeah. Because that wasn't something I did when I was a kid. It wasn't something I was even thinking about, but because I had a curiosity and I and I love barbecuing and I love smoked meats and I love grilling and things like that, I I learned because of my smartphone how to do all those things, how to prep the meat and how to marinate things and how to be curious about recipes and how to develop flavor profiles and all those things that I did not know about. If it wasn't for the the advent of having a smartphone to just look it up, like, hey, how do you how do you make pulled pork? You know what I mean, and just taking it from there. So I think I think again, smartphones are not good for dumb people. I'm not saying people are dumb, but I think it's powerful for curious people. And as long as you're curious, I think it can be a really great asset for you if you utilize it right. Michael Hingson 51:31 And I think that's absolutely true. I think it all comes down again to curiosity. It's great to have a technology so that you can look things up and and satisfy your curiosity, but what we what we do need to do is to try to work as best we can at encouraging curiosity at all levels and encouraging more people to be curious. And that's where I think the real challenge is because people think you don't have to really be curious because you can look things up, they they don't get John Frost 52:03 it. Yes, no, I agree 100, and that's why I say it depends on the type of person you are, right? I mean, if I mean, I don't spend a lot of time on my phone if I don't have to, but when I am curious about certain things, I can go to it and learn more about it and say, "Oh, this is what I need to do. And but if you was a person that was going to cut a corner or do shortcuts, you was going to figure out a way to do that anyway. It's not the it's not the resources you Michael Hingson 52:29 right, and the the time is going to come when you're going to regret taking those shortcuts because you didn't really imagine very well. And I, I always regarded the internet, dark web notwithstanding, as as a as a treasure trove, yes. Of course, I'm I'm waiting for someone since the Department of Justice and the Attorney General back in I think 2022 said that the internet is a true place of business, and so it falls under the ADA, and all websites have to be accessible. I'm just waiting for somebody to go off and challenge one of the dark web sites. That's probably not accessible. I'm waiting for that to happen. Take that before a judge, you know. But but still, but I I think that the internet and and so many things and ChatGPT and all the other large language model technologies are great because they really give you the ability to exercise curiosity, and I think that's so fun. John Frost 53:32 Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Michael Hingson 53:34 So, what's an example that you can talk about? Let's say from Doane about how industry and the college have collaborated to help in terms of education and showing people what they can really do. John Frost 53:49 You know, that's a good question. It happens every day. It happens every day. It happens every day when the first day of school to the last day of graduation. You're looking at the the ultimate collaborative effort of maybe hundreds of people for that individual to walk across that stage. Even though it's one name on that degree, it might have taken 100 people to get them there, from the advisors, from the faculty members, from the friends that they meet, from the from the from the from the coaches, from all types of different people that that one individual encountered to keep them encouraged, to keep them going. Always tell people, especially being here in Nebraska, when you go to school in Nebraska, one day you're gonna have a class that's at 8o'clock in the morning, and you're gonna wake up, and you're gonna walk out there. You're gonna feel negative 10 degree weather, and you're gonna first thing you're gonna think about is I can go right back in and go lay back down. But it's that encouragement of your friends. It's the encouragement of the folks that that are behind you that's gonna tell you you can make it to class. You can make it to class, and that's all it takes. And so I think the the culmination of all those things is what it is that we do. I mean, when that individual walk across that stage and they see grandma or mama or daddy or whomever screaming their name and yelling and all that, they went to class. They didn't turn back around and go. They lay back down. They stood up, and that's why they walk across that stage. So that's the greatest example I can give you, because that's what Dome does. And like I said, we've been doing it for 153 years. So it's not going to be too many places. It's not going to be too many things where you're not going to see a Dome graduate that's doing great things, not necessarily just for themselves, but for the organizations that they serve and and the people that they serve, and then for the greater good of the world. Michael Hingson 55:42 I don't know. For me, I had classes almost every day at eight in the morning. But the other part about it was, if I had a schedule for whatever reason where I didn't have a class at eight in the morning, I felt funny. I was so used to having classes then. I didn't know what you know. I I I I I did figure out I could go study and I could do things and and did, but still I love those early morning classes. That was me. But yeah, I didn't like those John Frost 56:10 early morning classes. No, I didn't like them. Michael Hingson 56:12 You didn't like them, huh? No, that was when Michael Jordan was looking for you to do basketball stuff. Where were you? But yeah, I I hear you. Well, tell me what's next? What's next for the whole future of higher education? Where is it going, or what do you see happening in the future? John Frost 56:30 We're just going to get better. We're just going to get better. That's all. That's that's that's what's happening. I mean, the unique thing about any college campus is that you you have the future in your hands with the people, the people that's going to be running corporations, the people that's going to be finding cures for certain illnesses or things like that, the people that's going to be teaching the youth, future business people, politicians-they're on our campus and they're going to leave their mark because that's one thing that I've always said. I mean, it's not too many discoveries. It's not too many great things that's happening in our society that's not oriented with a college campus. And so the future is that a college campus is just. It may look different. It may feel different. We may do things a little different. But at the end of the day, it's still going to be part of our future. It's still going to be getting better. It's still going to be helping humanity. I always tell the folks that I serve that I don't care what title you have. The first title, the most important title is being a human, and so that's what the future of higher education is going to look like. It's just going to get better. Like I said, it's going to be different. I mean, you got to think when higher education first started. You know, women couldn't go to school, minorities couldn't go to school, and there were so many different things that you couldn't do. Now look at it. I mean, if you talk to the forefathers or the presidents of some of these universities, if you told them that that you and I would even be doing this, they'd be thinking they would throw you an insane asylum, right? That you'll be able to talk to somebody in California and you're in Nebraska, but this this is what this is what curiosity, this is what higher education provokes, Michael Hingson 58:10 as it should be. It's so cool, and I know it's only going to continue, and it will continue to get better. If people want to reach out to you and pick your brain, or just talk with you about Doan, or just talk with you about education, or whatever. How do they do that? John Frost 58:26 Yeah, of course. Feel free to email me at johnfrost@done.edu. So J J O H N dot frost frost at don d o a n e at.edu and then also follow us on social media. Just put us on any social media platform and put don.edu. You can find us, and then if you want to just connect with us, just look us up on our website doane.edu. That's our website. We'd love to learn more about you. If you're thinking about coming to college or looking more into lea
Free Slurpee day. Entertainment 1968. US Marine corp brought back, 1st woman ordered to pay alimony, NYC Police arrest man walking around stabbing women with darts. Todays birthdays - John Quincy Adams, Yul Brynner, Jeff Hanna, Bruce McGill, Suzanne Vega, Lil Kim. Laurence Olivier died.Intro - God did good - Dianna Corcoran https://www.diannacorcoran.com/Dance the slurp - robowen1This guys in love with you - Herb AlpertDIVORCE - Tammy WynetteBirthdays - In da club - 50 Cent https://www.50cent.com/Fishin in the dark - Nitty Gritty Dirt BandLuka - Suzanne VegaNo time - Lil KimExit - One last look around - Blacktop Rodeo https://www.blacktoprodeo.com/History & Factoids about today Playlist on SpotifyHistory & Factoids about today webpagecooolmedia.comcountryundergroundradio.comNational Days Puzzles - JulyGrace & Grit Christian Country Radio
It's another edition of Brands of the Week! Donny runs through the brands rising, falling, and holding steady in the cultural conversation — starting with Netflix's controversial use of Gene Wilder's AI voice for a new Willy Wonka competition series, and Tom Hardy's much-debated return for Mobland Season 3. Plus: Sam's Club dethrones Costco's beloved rotisserie chicken, 7-Eleven turns the Slurpee into a "date destination" for its 60th birthday, and a new study links daily probiotics to improved mood. Donny also breaks down why brisk walking is lowering heart attack risk in women, why Ford brought back 350 veteran engineers after an AI experiment went sideways, and why in-office job seekers are getting hired faster. From an Aurora, Colorado mayor secretly sleeping in homeless shelters to understand his city better, to child-free millennials splurging on luxury dog travel, "bloom scrolling" as the antidote to doom scrolling, seniors embracing their inner Golden Girls, physical books outselling digital media, and Cracker Barrel's full-circle redemption arc — it's a packed week in brand news. Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe, and tune in tomorrow for Donny's big interview with CNN's S.E. Cupp. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Send us Fan MailThis week on the NickMoses05 Gaming Podcast, we're breaking down Sony's major move away from physical games and why the future of PlayStation may be bad news for game ownership, preservation, and consumer choice.Sony confirmed that new PlayStation physical disc production will end in 2028, and while digital games are already dominating the market, Nick explains why convenience is not the same thing as ownership. We also get into the timing of Sony's DRM controversy, why transparency matters, and why gamers should be concerned about an all-digital future.Then we shift over to Microsoft, who seemed very happy to throw some shade at Sony by promoting physical discs for Halo: Campaign Evolved. But is Xbox really standing up for physical media, or are they just winning the PR battle while reportedly heading toward the same all-digital future?Gaming Gone Wild is packed this week with Pokémon card robberies, trading card shops being targeted, and serious online safety stories involving gaming platforms. We also hit Dude I Got The Munchies with viral food items, weird new snacks, a chocolate McGriddle, Mountain Dew's birthday cake Slurpee, Chili's new Big Crispy chicken sandwiches, and more.Plus, Game of the Week goes to Rhythm Heaven Groove, now available on Nintendo Switch and playable on Nintendo Switch 2, and we close things out with another round of Choose Your Fate.0:00 Show Intro6:27 Gaming Gone Wild8:42 $10,000 Pokémon Card Store Burglary14:53 Roblox Currency Online Safety Case21:07 Gaming App Exploitation Case27:12 $21,000 Pokémon Card Robbery Sentence33:26 Sony Ends Physical Games56:51 Xbox Fires Back at Sony1:20:03 Dude I Got The Munchies1:20:49 Viral Hair Croissant1:24:53 Kroger Weird Chip Flavors1:26:31 McDonald's Chocolate McGriddle1:28:27 Mountain Dew Birthday Cake Slurpee1:30:19 Chili's Big Crispy Chicken Sandwiches1:32:32 Dutch Bros Firecracker Rebel1:34:24 Game of the Week: Rhythm Heaven Groove1:38:06 Choose Your Fate1:39:16 Choose Your Fate Round 11:41:19 Choose Your Fate Round 21:42:54 Choose Your Fate Round 31:44:37 Choose Your Fate Round 41:46:09 Choose Your Fate Round 51:48:19 Choose Your Fate Round 61:54:08 ClosingSupport the show
A surgery that changes your eye color, NASA's giant robot launch, Slurpee's big anniversary and more! Dave & Darren are your two best friends who happen to play your favorite music on your favorite radio station. For over 21 years, this award winning (no really) duo has enjoyed waking up the Quad Cities with a mix of irreverence, information, improvisational talk and humor. They have been described as, "your favorite morning show's favorite morning show assuming that your favorite morning show is in fact, Dave and Darren." Dave and Darren are live weekday mornings 6a-10a on Planet 93.9. Like Dave & Darren on Facebook HERE: https://www.facebook.com/daveanddarren
What makes one word a billion-dollar brand and another word legally useless for ownership? In this episode, we unpack the difference between trademarked and generic terms using familiar examples like “Just Do It,” “Post-it,” “Slurpee,” “Barbie,” “Jeep,” “Smartphone,” and “Candy.”The big lesson for founders and small business owners is simple: trademarks do not protect words just because someone likes them, registers a domain, or gets emotionally attached during a branding brainstorm. A trademark protects a source identifier. That means the word, phrase, logo, or slogan must help customers recognize where the product or service comes from.That is why “Just Do It” works as a Nike slogan, but “candy” cannot be locked up by one company for candy. One points to a brand. The other points to the snack category that ruins workplace wellness challenges by Wednesday.We also dig into why famous phrases and pop-culture references can be risky. A phrase may seem funny, nostalgic, or harmless, but if it points consumers toward another company, character, movie, product, or franchise, your clever name may become a legal headache wearing novelty sunglasses. Misspellings are not magic shields either. If people still recognize the famous brand behind your altered version, confusion can still be an issue.This episode also covers the naming spectrum every founder should understand: generic, descriptive, suggestive, arbitrary, and fanciful. Generic names usually cannot be protected for the goods or services they name. Descriptive names may explain what you do but can be harder to own. Suggestive, arbitrary, and fanciful marks often create stronger long-term brand value because they help customers connect a name with one commercial source.We talk about the common mistake of confusing domain availability with trademark clearance. Buying a domain does not mean the name is legally safe. A domain registrar will sell you a name without checking whether another company has superior rights. That is not trademark clearance. That is just a shopping cart with confidence issues.For business owners, the practical takeaway is to search early and think strategically. Look for exact matches, similar spellings, similar sounds, related goods and services, and marks that create a similar commercial impression. Consider whether the name can grow with the company, whether it can be defended, and whether it avoids borrowing too heavily from famous brands.We also cover the business hazards of weak naming. A generic name may be hard to protect. A name too close to a competitor may invite objections. A name tied to one narrow feature may box the company in later. And a name that leans on someone else's fame may create licensing, platform, advertising, and investor problems right when the business needs momentum.The goal is not to scare founders away from creativity. The goal is to make creativity more useful. A good brand name should help customers remember you, give your marketing team something distinctive to build around, and give your legal strategy a stronger foundation. Your website copy can explain what you sell. Your trademark should help people remember who sells it.If you are naming a startup, product, course, app, podcast, community, or service package, do not wait until after the logo reveal to think about trademarks. Check early, before money, ego, and printed merchandise become emotionally attached. Rebranding before launch is annoying. Rebranding after customers know you is a business migraine with invoices.A good brand name should support marketing, search, customer memory, investor confidence, and legal protection. That is a lot of responsibility for a few words, but those words can become one of the most valuable assets your company owns.To chat about this one-on-one, grab a free consult at strategymeeting.com
This week on the DJ Top 30, Ava counts down the biggest dance tracks of the week with brand new entries from Disco Lines, Robin Schulz, and Paul Oakenfold, plus a new number one from Jax Jones and D Double E. There's also Stash It or Trash It with Michael Gray, big Top 10 moves from Calvin Harris, Martin Garrix and AVE, and a deeply dramatic Slurpee emergency that may require national attention. 30. Disco Lines, Mason, Princess Superstar & Maesic - Push It (NEW) 29. Robin Schulz & MARTEN HØRGER - Arizona (Extended Mix) (NEW) 28. Paul Oakenfold, Markus Schulz & Grace – Not over yet (NEW) 27. Alesso & OneRepublic - In Your Eyes 26. Ding Nina - Summer Boss (UP from #29) 25. Oliver Heldens, Sam Harper - Satisfy 24. Anyma & Joji - Beautiful 23. Merow & Julia Kleijn - Dopamine 22. Toby Romeo - Fly High 21. Tiësto & Olivia Sebastianelli - Don't Lose Your Head 20. Lane 8, Kasbo & BJOREN - World Is Mine 19. CASSIMM - Anything And Everything 18. Janice Robinson - Dreamer 17. Green Velvet, Meduza, Genesi, Essentia - La La Land 16. D.O.D. & Hayley May – Closure 15. FISHER & TONES AND I – FAVOUR 14. Snooko – Places 13. MK x Poppy Baskcomb – Zone 12. Sonny Fodera feat. Libianca - Let Me Be In Your Arms 11. TELYKAST & Saksham feat. sadHAPPY – Echoes 10. AVE - Meet Me In The Dark 9. R3DN1K - In My Body 8. Cloonee & Groove Theory - One Question 7. Martin Garrix & Ed Sheeran - Repeat It 6. Alexandra Rain - Crystal Ball 5. Calvin Harris & Jazzy – Satisfy 4. ARTY x Vikkstar feat. Annie Schindel - Where Have You Been 3. Selena Faider, Laura Davie & Lewis John - So True 2. Chris Lake & ATRIP - Make You Fight 1. Jax Jones & D Double E - Sidewinder Episode Credits:Host: AvaExecutive Producer: AvaMusic Curation & Countdown: AvaCreative Direction: AvaSound Design & Editing: AvaSpecial Thanks: To all the amazing artists featured and our listeners for tuning in each week!
On today's show, Rich and Nicole talk about living for the busy moments. Talking kid parties, do you stay or do you go? Rich just can't believe not everyone cares about or at least watched the fight over the weekend. What are your family's movies/cartoons? Would you want super A-list celebrities at your wedding? Parker went to her first dance! Which brings up some little Richie stories. And it just gets more cringe with his dad antics. Then he asks for help on how to motivate a bunch of little baseball players. And did Nicole and Matt get caught? Rich never wants to let the kids go. Please keep liking, subscribing, and sharing with your friends! We love our village b!tches!! Have Kids, They Said... is a SiriusXM Network Podcast made by Nicole Ryan and Rich Davis.If you'd like to send us a message or ask a question email us at HKTSpod@gmail.comFollow on social media:Instagram @havekidstheysaidpodNicole @mashupnicoleRich @richdavisand @siriusxm Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
“Is ‘No Worries' a Lie?! Plus the Bald Eagle That Thought a Rock Was a Baby “When someone says ‘no worries'… are they actually FULL of worries?” That's the question that kicks off a wildly entertaining ride with JB, Sandy, and Tricia—and it only gets more unpredictable from there. This episode is packed with laugh-out-loud moments, relatable debates, and a few stories that will have you asking, “Wait… is that real life?” From the subtle psychology behind everyday phrases to a bald eagle named Murphy who accidentally stumbled into fatherhood, the crew dives into topics that are equal parts hilarious and head-scratching. One standout moment comes when Sandy shares a brutally honest life tip about decision-making: “Never ever say ‘let me think about that.'” Cue a lively conversation about boundaries, people-pleasing, and why a quick “no” might actually be your secret superpower. Then things take a turn into pure JB and Sandy chaos with one of the most unforgettable stories of the show—a bald eagle who tried to hatch a rock. Yes, really. When his handlers swapped the rock for a real baby eaglet, Murphy instantly became a dad… but the crew is not convinced this is a feel-good story. “I hear nothing sweet. I hear a really dumb bald eagle with a lot of responsibility.” Their hot takes on Murphy's new life will have you laughing and questioning everything you thought you knew about “heartwarming” animal stories. Plus, the gang keeps things fast and fun with a round of Care or Don't Care, where Slurpee nostalgia sparks excitement, while manifestation advice gets hilariously shut down: “I'll burn that book… The Secret.”
Hello voices from the bench community, John Wilson here and I wanted to share some news about the evolution of the Programill lineup. Most importantly, Ivoclar's new PrograMill 7. What stands out right away is the reduced air consumption this mill requires, but what you'll notice first is that impressive new touchscreen. For us, the biggest advantage has been increased spindle power. My laboratory's known for these larger cases with complex geometries, and I can tell you that extra power really makes a difference. Next time you see your Ivoclar representative, be sure to ask about the PrograMill 7 and tell them John Wilson sent you. Thank you. At exocad Insights in beautiful Mallorca, we finally caught up with Felix from Imagine USA—and the timing couldn't have been better. As an exocad dealer on the front lines of digital dentistry, Felix shared his excitement about the strong turnout, the familiar faces, and most importantly, the innovation coming from exocad. What stood out most? The new exocad Hub and its cloud-based capabilities, along with powerful AI-driven tools inside DentalDB designed for efficient batch processing. For Felix and the Imagine team, it's not just about seeing what's new—it's about putting it to the test. By running new features through their own production facility first, they ensure real-world performance before bringing solutions to their customers. Beyond the technology, Felix emphasized the value of being there in person—connecting face-to-face with partners, having meaningful conversations, and stepping back to see where the industry is headed. And of course, doing it all in Mallorca doesn't hurt either. From wire-bending machines and digital ortho workflows to Vulcanite dentures and photogrammetry, this episode from the DLAT floor is packed with stories, laughs, and a whole lot of dental lab wisdom. First up, the crew sits down with Jason Dyas — better known these days as the man behind Ortho Outlaw and everyone's favorite outlaw mascot, Clyde. Jason shares his journey from construction work and garage-built orthodontic appliances to running successful ortho labs and diving headfirst into digital technology. What started with fax-machine marketing and Walmart bench grinders eventually evolved into automated wire-bending machines, digital scanning, social media content creation, and a growing mission to help older labs embrace modern workflows instead of shutting their doors. The conversation covers everything from AI-driven ortho tech and the future of wire bending to building a brand, traveling to industry events around the world, and how Ortho Outlaw became one of the most recognizable new names in orthodontic lab social media. Then the podcast catches up with longtime friend of the show Jim Collis for an incredible deep dive into 45 years of dental technology experience. Jim talks about teaching hands-on courses at DLAT, helping labs transition from analog workflows into digital dentures and 3D printing, and why education is still the key to success in modern dentistry. From discussing AI-assisted denture design and automated workflows to reminiscing about fixing Vulcanite dentures and the earliest days of implants, Jim delivers one amazing story after another. Along the way, he shares lessons from his CDT journey, the mentors who shaped his career, his passion for consulting and education, and why he still loves this industry after nearly five decades. It's equal parts history lesson, technology discussion, and classic Voices From the Bench chaos — complete with Star Trek references, Slurpee stories, and enough off-topic tangents to make Barb proud.Special Guests: Clyde, Jason Dyas, and Jim Collis CDT.
Send us Fan MailThis episode features David broadcasting from a Florida getaway with St Betsy. We celebrated the (spoiled) fruit of his unplugged status, as confirmed by the 7-11 clerk who mistakenly identified him as a local who, like her, was glad to see the tourists head back north. Apparently all it took for her to conclude he was a resident was being unshaven and wearing a cut-off t-shirt that would not suppress his beach-baked body odor. Sometimes a Slurpee is all you need to feel like you belong.
Spring has possibly actually finally sprung, and that means it’s time for another LIGHTNING ROUND! Before we get caught in a couple of wacky tangents, that is! Topics include: – Do you want to start reading Conan but don’t know where to start? Let resident Conan Expert Merk be your guide into the Hyborian Age and its many forms! – Not one but TWO Mike Mignola topics, in which we discuss “Uri Tupka and the Gods” as well as the overall “Lands Unknown” series, and are later challenged to an All-Mignola Quiz! – With Archie and Oni Press finally crossing (or X-ing) over, what new synergistic Archie crossovers could be next? Archie x Scott Pilgrim? The Sixth Gun? Mind MGMT? Howabout Jughead’s Time Police Meets Stephen Colbert’s Tek Jansen!? – Hey, remember those “READ” posters in libraries and schools? Let’s imagine what books comic characters would be reading in their own versions! (The Hal Jordan jokes write themselves!) – And lastly, we take on Marvel’s “Acts of Vengeance” with DC superheroes and villains! What if the Legion of Doom swapped foes in the Justice League? Dibs on not fighting Superman! Direct Download: MP3
Welcome back to Oh That's Random Podcast with Nerdy G, where we take a little time to Explore The Extraordinary In Ordinary. This episode? We're talking about the realest part of adulthood nobody warned us about — getting older and waking up with brand-new body aches like you got jumped in your sleep by Father Time himself. Knees cracking, back talking, neck stiff for no reason… yeah, we're there. And because recovery apparently now requires snacks and sugar, Nerdy G had to pull up with a sugar-driven Slurpee just to make it through the show. That's right — medically unnecessary but spiritually essential. From random aches and pains to the hilarious reality of realizing your body now sends invoices after basic movement, this episode is packed with laughs, relatable chaos, and that classic Oh That's Random energy. If you've ever stood up too fast and your whole skeleton filed a complaint, this one is for you.Don't forget to LIKE, COMMENT, and SUBSCRIBE for more random conversations, wild takes, laughs, and everyday life chaos. Drop a comment below: What's the most random body ache adulthood has gifted you lately? Sign Up to the Patreon Nerdys patreon.com/nerdysumbrellaFollow Us On Social Media Facebook ➡ https://www.facebook.com/nerdy.gee
Wonder Man just landed on Disney+ and we had thoughts—spoiler-free first, then full breakdown. Acting-forward Marvel? Actual heart? A surprise MCU win? We get into what works, what hits, and why this one feels different. ⏱ Episode Chapters 00:00:00 Release info & setup 00:00:30 Spoiler-free overview 00:01:10 Cast & MCU ties 00:02:06 Should you watch it? 00:03:10 ⚠️ Spoilers start 00:05:27 The reveal & finale 00:06:38 Final score & MCU future Who ever reads this and realizes this episode is S7 E11, email SLURPEE to Logan@mostlysuperheroes.com and we will buy you a Slurpee. Must be 18+ to enter, terms and conditions apply. Watch, Listen, Subscribe and Support our independent podcast at www.mostlysuperheroes.com/support
Get ready for a masterclass in hustle, heart, and hilarious setbacks as we dive into Milan Carter's unbelievable journey to landing "Barry" on Netflix's hit action-comedy FUBAR. Milan reveals how he delivered a self-tape so strong it could have been "dropped right into the episode"—complete with an improvised Slurpee cup and inventive tricks to handle the dense dialogue. He walks us through the intense, months-long battle to even audition for the role while under contract at Nickelodeon. The conversation also explores Carter's philosophical approach to acting, being your own biggest fan, and focusing on supporting fellow actors, even during chemistry reads with major stars like Schwarzenegger. These are the unforgettable stories that landed Milan Carter right here. Credits: FUBAR Dolemite Is My Name Warped! The Neighborhood It's Florida, Man Runaways Guest Links: IMDB: Milan Carter, Actor THAT ONE AUDITION'S LINKS: For exclusive content surrounding this and all podcast episodes, sign up for our amazing newsletter at AlyshiaOchse.com. And don't forget to snap and post a photo while listening to the show and tag me: @alyshiaochse & @thatoneaudition THE BRIDGE FOR ACTORS: Become a WORKING ACTOR THE PRACTICE TRACK: Membership to Practice Weekly PATREON: @thatoneaudition CONSULTING: Get 1-on-1 advice for your acting career from Alyshia Ochse COACHING: Get personalized coaching from Alyshia on your next audition or role INSTAGRAM: @alyshiaochse INSTAGRAM: @thatoneaudition WEBSITE: AlyshiaOchse.com ITUNES: Subscribe to That One Audition on iTunes SPOTIFY: Subscribe to That One Audition on Spotify STITCHER: Subscribe to That One Audition on Stitcher EPISODE CREDITS: WRITER: Erin McCluskey WEBSITE & GRAPHICS: Chase Jennings ASSISTANT: Elle Powell SOCIAL OUTREACH: Alara Ceri
In this impactful and inspiring episode of Unstoppable Mindset, host Michael Hingson sits down with Ronald Cocking—performer, educator, and co-founder of the Looking Glass Studio of Performing Arts—to reflect on a remarkable life shaped by rhythm, resilience, and love. Ron's journey into the performing arts began at just five years old, when his passion for tap dance ignited a lifelong commitment to dance and musical theater. From his first professional role at age 15 in My Fair Lady to founding one of Southern California's most impactful arts schools, Ron's story is one of dedication, creativity, and community. But perhaps the most moving part of Ron's story is his 49-year partnership—both personal and professional—with the late Gloria McMillan, best known as Harriet Conklin from Our Miss Brooks. Together, they created a legacy of mentorship through the Looking Glass Studio, where they taught thousands of students across generations—not just how to act, sing, or dance, but how to live with confidence and integrity. Ron also reflects on the legacy Gloria left behind, his continued involvement in the arts, and the words of wisdom that guide his life: “Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” “To find happiness, take the gifts God has given you and give them away.” This is more than a story of a career in the arts—it's a touching tribute to passion, partnership, and purpose that will leave you inspired. Highlights: 00:48 – Hear how early radio at home shaped a lifetime love for performance. 03:00 – Discover why drumming and tap both trained his ear for rhythm. 06:12 – Learn how a tough studio change led to ballet, jazz, and tumbling basics. 08:21 – See the “sing with your feet” method that makes tap click for students. 10:44 – Find out how a teen chorus role in My Fair Lady opened pro doors. 13:19 – Explore the drum-and-tap crossover he performed with Leslie Uggams. 15:39 – Learn how meeting Gloria led to a studio launched for $800. 18:58 – Get the long view on running a school for 44 years with family involved. 23:46 – Understand how Our Miss Brooks moved from radio to TV with its cast intact. 32:36 – See how 42nd Street proves the chorus can be the star. 41:51 – Hear why impact matters more than fame when students build careers. 43:16 – Learn what it takes to blend art and business without losing heart. 45:47 – Compare notes on marriage, teamwork, and communication that lasts. 48:20 – Enjoy a rare soft-shoe moment Ron and Gloria performed together. 56:38 – Take away the “teach to fish” approach that builds lifelong confidence. About the Guest: My father was a trumpet player, thus I heard music at home often in the early 50's and was always impressed and entertained by the rhythms and beats of Big Band music… especially the drummers. Each time I would see Tap dancers on TV, I was glued to the screen. It fascinated me the way Tap dancers could create such music with their feet! In 1954, at age 5, after begging my Mom and Dad to enroll me in a Tap class, my Dad walked in from work and said “Well, you're all signed up, and your first Tap class is next Tuesday. I was thrilled and continued studying tap and many other dance forms and performing and teaching dance for all of my life. In my mid teens, I became serious about dancing as a possible career. After seeing my first musical, “The Pajama Game” starring Ruth Lee, I new I wanted to do musical theatre. I got my first professional opportunity at age 15 in “My Fair Lady” for the San Bernardino Civic Light Opera Association and loved every minute of it… and would continue performing for this organization well into my 30's I met Gloria McMillan in the late 60's while choreographing a summer musical for children. Gloria's daughter was doing the role of Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz”. Then, about 3 or 4 years later I would meet Gloria again and the sparks flew. And, yes, she was Gloria McMillan of “Our Miss Brooks” fame on both radio and television. Wow, was I blessed to have crossed paths with her. We shared our lives together for 49 years. On November 4, 1974, Gloria and I opened a performing arts school together named “The Looking Glass Studio of Performing Arts”. We would teach and manage the school together for 44 years until we retired on June 30, 2018. We moved to Huntington Beach, California and spent 3 beautiful years together until she left to meet our Lord in heaven on January 19, 2022. Ways to connect with Ron: Lgsparon@aol.com About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us. Michael Hingson ** 01:20 Well, hi there, wherever you are and wherever you happen to be today. Welcome to unstoppable mindset. I'm your host, Mike hingson, and today we get to chat with Ron Cocking, who is Ron. Well, we're going to find out over the next hour. And Ron was married for many years to another person who is very famous, and we'll get to that, probably not as well known to what I would probably describe as the younger generation, but you're going to get to learn a lot about Ron and his late wife before we're done, and I am sure we're going to have a lot of fun doing it. So let's get to it. Ron, welcome to unstoppable mindset. We're glad you're here. Ron Cocking ** 01:59 Thank you. I'm so glad to be here. Michael, this. I've been looking forward to this. Michael Hingson ** 02:04 I have been as well, and we're going to have a lot of fun doing it. Ron Cocking ** 02:08 Do you one note on that last name? It is cocking. Cocking, he comes right? Comes from a little townlet in the coal mining country of England called Cockington. Michael Hingson ** 02:20 I don't know why I keep saying that, but yeah, cocky, no 02:23 problem. Michael Hingson ** 02:24 Well, do you go up to the reps recreations at all? Ron Cocking ** 02:28 Oh my gosh, Gloria. And I know you and Gloria, did do you still do it? I've it's on my schedule for September. Michael Hingson ** 02:35 I'm gonna miss it this year. I've got a speech to give. So I was going to be playing Richard diamond at recreation. Well, I'll have to be Dick Powell another time, but I thought that you you were still doing 02:50 it. I'm planning on it cool. Michael Hingson ** 02:53 Well, tell us about the early Ron cocking and kind of growing up in some of that stuff. Let's start with that. Ron Cocking ** 02:59 Well, the early part of my story was when I was born just a little before television came in, before everyone had a TV in their home. How old are you now? If I maybe, you know, I am now 76 Michael Hingson ** 03:12 Okay, that's what I thought. Yeah, you're one year ahead of me. I'm 75 Ron Cocking ** 03:16 I was born in 49 and so my earliest remembrances my mom and dad and my brother and I lived with our grandfather, and we had no television, but we had this big it must have been about three to four foot tall, this big box on the floor in a very prominent spot in the living room. And that was the Sunday afternoon entertainment. I remember my family sitting around, and I listened and I laughed when they did, but I had no idea what was going on, but that was the family gathering. And just, I know we'll talk about it later, but I I just have this notion that at that time I was laughing, not knowing what I was laughing at, but I bet I was laughing at my future Michael Hingson ** 04:02 wife, yes, yes, but other things as well. I mean, you probably laughed at Jack Benny and Amos and Andy and Ron Cocking ** 04:09 yeah, I remember listening to all those folks, and it was just amazing. Then when television came about and my father was a trumpet player, and I loved his trumpet playing, and he practiced often at home. He would sit in his easy chair and play some tunes and scales and that sort of thing. But what captured my ear and my eyes when I went to on rare occasions when I could go to his engagements, it was always the drummer that just stuck out to me. I was mesmerized by the rhythms that they could produce. And when TV came about, I remember the old variety shows, and they often would have tap dancers like. Had a stair gene, Kelly, Peg Leg Bates and the Nicholas brothers, and I just, I was just taken back by the rhythms. It sounded like music to me. The rhythms just made me want to do it. And so I started putting that bug in my parents ears. And I waited and waited. I wanted to take tap dance lessons. And one day, my dad walks in the back door, and I said, Dad, have you signed me up yet? And he said, Yep, you start next Tuesday at 330 in the afternoon. So I was overjoyed, and I went in for my first lesson. And mind you, this was a private tap class. Total Cost of $1.25 and we had a pianist for music, no record player, live piano, wow. And so I, I rapidly fell in love with tap dance. Michael Hingson ** 05:56 And so you did that when you weren't in school. Presumably, you did go to school. Ron Cocking ** 06:00 Oh, yeah, I did go to school. Yeah, I did well in school, and I enjoyed school. I did all the athletics. I played little league, and eventually would be a tennis player and water polo and all that stuff. But all through the years, after school was on the way to the dance classes. Michael Hingson ** 06:16 So you graduated, or I suppose I don't want to insult drumming, but you graduated from drumming to tap dancing, huh? Ron Cocking ** 06:24 Well, I kept doing them both together. I would dance, and then when my dad would practice, I would beg him to just play a tune like the St Louis Blues, yeah, and so that I could keep time, so I pulled a little stool up in front of an easy chair, and one of the arms of the chair was the ride cymbal, and the other one was the crash cymbal, and the seat of the chair was my snare drum. I would play along with him. And eventually he got tired of that and bought a Hi Fi for my brother and I, and in the bedroom I had a Hi Fi, and I started to put together a set of drums, and I spent hours next to that, Hi Fi, banging on the drums, and I remember it made me feel good. One day, my mom finally said to me, you know, you're starting to sound pretty good, and that that was a landmark for me. I thought, wow, somebody is enjoying my drumming, Michael Hingson ** 07:18 but you couldn't do drumming and tap dancing at the same time. That would have been a little bit of a challenge. A challenge. Ron Cocking ** 07:23 No, I would practice that the drums in the afternoon and then head for the dance studio later. And in this case, I was a local boy. I grew up in Riverside California, and my first tap teacher was literally maybe two miles from our house. But that didn't last long. She got married and became pregnant and closed her studio, and then I she recommended that I go see this teacher in San Bernardino by the name of Vera Lynn. And which I did, I remember walking into this gigantic classroom with a bunch of really tall kids, and I was maybe seven or eight years old, and I guess it was kind of an audition class, but after that evening, I she put me in the most appropriate classes, one of which was ballet, which I wasn't too excited about, but they all told me, If you're going to be a serious dancer, even a tap dancer, you need to get the basic body placement from ballet classes. And I said, Well, I am not going to put any tights and a T shirt on. But they finally got me to do that because they told me that the Rams football team took ballet class twice a week at that time. Ah. Said, no kidding. So they got me, they they got you. They got me into ballet class, and then it was jazz, and then it was tumbling, and so I did it all. Michael Hingson ** 08:43 I remember when we moved to California when I was five, and probably when I was about eight or nine, my brother and I were enrolled by my mother. I guess my parents enrolled us in a dance class. So I took dance class for a few years. I learned something about dancing. I did have a pair of tap shoes, although I didn't do a lot of it, but I, but I did dance and never, never really pursued it enough to become a Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire. Well, few of us do. I didn't dislike it. It just didn't happen. But that was okay, but it was fun to, you know, to do it and to learn something about that. And so I even today, I I remember it, and I appreciate it. So that's pretty cool. Ron Cocking ** 09:32 Well, you would understand what I always told my students, that tap dancing is like singing a song with your feet. Yeah. And I would sing, I would say, you all know, happy birthday, right? So I would sing it, and they would sing it along, and then I'd said, then I would sing it again, and I would sing it totally out of rhythm. And they would wrinkle their nose and look at me and say, okay, so what are you doing? And I'd say, Well, you don't recognize it because the rhythm is not correct. So then I would. Would tap dance Happy birthday, and I'd say, you sing along in your mind and I'm going to tap dance it. And that would always ring a bell in their mind, like, Oh, I get it. The rhythm has to be right on the button, or the people aren't going to recognize Michael Hingson ** 10:16 that was very clever to do. Ron Cocking ** 10:18 Yeah, thank you. And they got it, yeah, they got it, yeah, Michael Hingson ** 10:22 which is even, even more important. That's pretty clever. Well, so you did that, and did you do it all the way through high school, Ron Cocking ** 10:30 all the way through high school? And I think when I was 15, I was, I think I was in the eighth grade, maybe ninth, but I was 15 and got my first chance to I was cast in a professional show for San Bernardino civic light opera Association. And the show was My Fair Lady, and it was my English and journalism teacher at the junior high who had been cast. He was a performer also, but something came up and he couldn't follow through, so he had given the association my name, and I was out in the backyard. My mom came out. Said, Hey, San Bernardino clo just called and they want, they want to see it tonight at seven o'clock. So I put on my dance clothes and went over, and the director, by the name of Gosh, Gene Bayless, came out, and he showed me a couple of steps. And he said, Yeah, let's do it together. And he said, Boy, you unscramble your feet pretty well there kid. And he he looked over into the costumers and said, measure this guy. Let's put him in the show. So I was beside myself. And long story short, I Gosh, I'm over the over the years, I my first show was at age 15 with them, and I participated, did shows with them, until I think my last show, I was about 38 years old, and that last show was anything goes with Leslie uggums, wow. Michael Hingson ** 11:52 So what part did you play on my fair lady? Ron Cocking ** 11:55 I was just a chorus kid. I remember in the opening when Eliza sings, that wouldn't it be lovely? Wouldn't it be lovely? I was a street sweeper. I remember I had a broom, and there were three of us, and we were sweeping up that street and working in and around. Eliza Doolittle, of Michael Hingson ** 12:11 course, being really spiteful. You just said a little while ago, you were beside yourself. And the thing that I got to say to that, quoting the Muppets, is, how do the two of you stand each other? But anyway, that's okay, good in the original Muppet Movie, that line is in there. And I it just came out so fast, but I heard it. I was going, Oh my gosh. I couldn't believe they did that. But anyway, it was so cute, very funny. That's great. So and then you were, you eventually were opposite Leslie UB, Ron Cocking ** 12:39 yes, that was one of the high points talking about dancing and drumming at the same time. In fact, I used to give a drum a basic drum summer camp where I would teach tappers the basics of music notation, quarter notes, eighth notes, 16th notes. And then we would put a tap orchestra together. Everybody had their own music stand and their own drum pad. I would conduct, and we would play little pieces, and they would they would drum a rhythm, tap, a rhythm, drum, a rhythm, tap, a rhythm. And so anyway, it came full circle. One of the highlights of my dance slash drumming career was this show I did with Leslie uggums, the director had done this prior, and he knew it would work, and so so did the conductor in the entre Act. The top of the second act, the pit orchestra starts and plays like eight measures. And then there were six of us on stage, behind the main curtain, and we would play the next 16 bars, and then we would toss it back to the pit, and then toss it back to us, and the curtain would begin to rise, and we were right into the first song that Leslie uggums sang to get into the second act. Then she wanted to add a couple of songs that she liked, and she was very popular in with the audiences in San Bernardino, so she added a couple of songs, and I got to play those songs with her and and that was just so thrilling. And I with the scene finished, I had to have my tap shoes on, on the drum set. I had to hop down from the riser, and came out, brought one of my Toms with me, and played along with another featured tap dancer that kind of took over the scene at that point. So it was, it was really cool. Michael Hingson ** 14:31 So with all this drumming, did you ever meet anyone like buddy rip? Ron Cocking ** 14:35 No, I never met any famous drummers except a man by the name of Jack Sperling, which was one of my drumming idols, Michael Hingson ** 14:44 Donnie Carson was quite the drummer, as I recall, Ron Cocking ** 14:48 yeah, he did play yeah and boy, his his drummer, Ed Shaughnessy on his on The Tonight Show was phenomenal. Yeah, he's another of my favorites, yeah, Michael Hingson ** 14:57 well, and I remember. I guess Johnny Carson and Buddy Rich played together, which was kind of fun. They Ron Cocking ** 15:07 played together, and so did Ed Shaughnessy and Buddy Rich did a little competition on the show one time I realized, yeah, Michael Hingson ** 15:15 right, yeah. Well, and it's interesting to see some of the performers do that. I remember once trying to remember whether what show it was on, maybe it was also a Tonight Show where Steve Martin substituted for Johnny, but he and the steel Canyon, the Steve Canyon band, came out. Of course, he was great on the band, and then flat and Scruggs or flat came out. Or which one? Yeah, which one did the banjo flat, I think, but they, but they banjo together, which was fun? Ron Cocking ** 15:51 Oh, wow, yeah, yeah. Steve Martin is a tremendous band. He is, Whoa, yeah. I, Michael Hingson ** 15:56 I have a hard time imagining fingers moving that fast, but that's okay, me too. I saved my fingers for Braille, so it's okay. So where did you go to college? Ron Cocking ** 16:07 I went to for two years to Riverside City College, Riverside Community College, and then I went for two years to San Bernardino Cal State, San Bernardino, and I was majoring in English because I thought I may want to do some writing. But in the meantime, I became married, I became a father, and so I was trying to work and study and maintain a family life, and I just couldn't do it all. So I didn't quite finish a major at Cal State San Bernardino. I continued actually a nightclub drumming career. And now, now we're getting up to where this our performing arts studio began between Gloria and I. Michael Hingson ** 16:50 So was it? GLORIA? You married first? Ron Cocking ** 16:53 No, okay, no, Gloria was married. Gloria was a prior, prior marriage for 20 some years, or 20 years, I guess. And I had been married only two years, I think. And when we first, well, we actually met while we were both. I'll tell you the story in a minute, if you want to hear it. Sure, the first time I ever met Gloria Macmillan, I had no idea who she was, because she her name was Gloria Allen at the time that was, that was her married name that she took after the arm is Brooks TV show. Well, she took that the new name before the TV show even ended. But I was choreographing a children's summer musical, and the director came up said, hey, I want you to meet this young lady's mom. So the young lady was Gloria's daughter, her oldest daughter, Janet. And I said, Sure. So he said, This is Gloria. Allen, Gloria, this is Ron. And we shook hands, and I said, Nice to meet you. And that was it. And so the show happened. It ran for a couple of weeks, and Gloria was a wonderful stage mom. She she never bothered anyone. She watched the show. She was very supportive of her daughter. Didn't, didn't stage manage Michael Hingson ** 18:09 whatsoever, which wasn't a helicopter mom, which is good, Ron Cocking ** 18:12 definitely that, which was just really cool. So and so I was maybe three, four years later, so Gloria obviously knew that I could dance, because she had seen me choreographed. So I got a phone call from Gloria Allen, and I said, Okay, I remember her. She wanted to meet because she was thinking about starting an acting school and wanted someone to teach actors some dance movement. So I went over for a interview and took my little at that time, about two and a half year old, daughter, three year old, and we chatted, and oh my gosh, I just this, this beautiful woman swept me off my feet. And of course, I by the end of the conversation, I said, Gosh, you know, we talked about how we would integrate the acting and the dance, and I said, Can I have your phone number? Nope, I got the old well, we'll call you. Don't call us. And so I had to wait for a few days before I got a call back, but I got a call back, and I don't remember a lot of details, but the sparks flew really, really quickly, and we started planning our school. And if you can believe that this was 1973 when we started planning, maybe it was early 74 and we invested a whole total of $800 to get ourselves into business. We bought a record player, some mirrors, some paint, and a business license and a little shingle to hang out front. We had a little one room studio, and we. Opened on November 4, 1974 and we would close the studio on June 30, 2018 Wow. Michael Hingson ** 20:08 Yeah. So you, you had it going for quite a while, almost, well, actually, more than 40 years. 44 years. 44 years, yes. And you got married along the way. Ron Cocking ** 20:20 Well along the way, my my wife always said she fell in love with my daughter, and then she had to take me along with her. Yeah. Well, there you go. So we were together constantly, just running the school together. And then eventually I moved over to San Bernardino, and it was, gosh, some 1213, years later, we got married in on June 28 1987 and but nothing really changed, because we had already been living together and raising five children. GLORIA had four from a private prior marriage, and I had my little girl. So we we got all these five kids through elementary and junior high in high school, and they all went to college. And they're all beautiful kids and productive citizens, two of them still in show biz. Her son, my stepson, Christopher Allen, is a successful producer now and of Broadway shows. And our daughter, Barbara Bermudez, the baby that Gloria fell in love with. She's now a producer slash stage manager director. She does really well at big events with keynote speakers. And she'll, if they want her to, she will hire in everything from lighting and sound to extra performers and that sort of thing. And she's, she's just busy constantly all over the world, wow. Michael Hingson ** 21:43 Well, that's pretty cool. And what are the other three doing? Ron Cocking ** 21:47 One is a VP of Sales for it's a tub and shower company, jacuzzi, and the other one is a married housewife, but now she is a grandmother and has two little grandkids, and they that's Janet, the one that I originally had worked with in that children's show. And she and her husband live in Chino Hills, California, which is about 40 minutes from here. I live in Huntington Beach, California now, Michael Hingson ** 22:14 well, and I'm not all that far away from you. We're in Victorville. Oh, Victorville, okay, yeah, the high desert. So the next time you go to Vegas, stop by on your way, I'll do that, since that's mainly what Victorville is probably most known for. I remember when I was growing I grew up in Palmdale, and Palmdale wasn't very large. It only had like about 20 703,000 people. But as I described it to people, Victorville wasn't even a speck on a radar scope compared to Palmdale at that time. Yeah, my gosh, are over 120,000 people in this town? Ron Cocking ** 22:51 Oh, I remember the drive in the early days from here to Vegas in that you really felt like you could get out on the road all alone and relax and take it all in, and now it can be trafficking all all the Speaker 1 ** 23:04 way. Yeah, it's crazy. I don't know. I still think they need to do something to put some sort of additional infrastructure, and there's got to be another way to get people to Vegas and back without going on i 15, because it is so crowded, especially around holidays, that one of these days, somebody will get creative. Maybe they'll get one of Tesla's tunnel boring tools, and they'll make a tunnel, and you can go underground the whole way, I don't know, Ron Cocking ** 23:32 but that would be, that would be great. Something like that would happen. Michael Hingson ** 23:38 Well, so you you started the school and and that did, pretty cool. Did, did Gloria do any more acting after our Miss Brooks? And then we should explain our Miss Brooks is a show that started on radio. Yes, it went on to television, and it was an arm is Brooks. Miss Brooks played by e vardin. Was a teacher at Madison High, and the principal was Osgood Conklin, played by Gail Gordon, who was absolutely perfect for the part. He was a crotchety old curmudgeon by any standards. And Gloria played his daughter, Harriet correct. And so when it went from radio to television, one of the things that strikes me about armas Brooks and a couple of those shows, burns and Allen, I think, is sort of the same. Jack Benny was a little different. But especially armas Brooks, it just seems to me like they they took the radio shows and all they did was, did the same shows. They weren't always the same plots, but it was, it was radio on television. So you, you had the same dialog. It was really easy for me to follow, and it was, was fascinating, because it was just like the radio shows, except they were on television. Ron Cocking ** 24:56 Yeah, pretty much. In fact, there were a lot, there's lots of episodes. Episodes that are even named the same name as they had on the radio, and they're just have to be reworked for for the television screen, Michael Hingson ** 25:08 yeah, but the the dialog was the same, which was so great, Ron Cocking ** 25:13 yeah, yeah. And to see what was I going to add, it was our Miss Brooks was one of the very few radio shows that made the transition to television with the cast with the same intact. Yeah, everybody looked like they sounded. So it worked when they were in front of the camera. Yeah, Michael Hingson ** 25:33 it sort of worked with Jack Benny, because most of the well, all the characters were in it, Don Wilson, Mary, Livingston, Dennis day, Rochester, world, yeah. And of course, Mel Blanc, yeah, oh. Ron Cocking ** 25:49 GLORIA tells a story. She she and her mom, Hazel, were walking down the street on the way to do a radio show in the old days in Hollywood, and here comes Mel blank, he says, he pulls over. Says, Hey, where are you girls headed because I know that he probably recognized them from being at at CBS all the time, and they said, We're headed to CBS. He said, hop in. Oh, that's where I'm going. So Mel Brooks gave her a ride to the Mel Blanc, yeah, would have been Michael Hingson ** 26:15 fun if Mel Brooks had but that's okay, Young Frankenstein, but that's another story. It is. But that's that's cool. So did they ever? Did she ever see him any other times? Or was that it? Ron Cocking ** 26:30 No, I think that was it. That's the one story that she has where Mel Blanc is involved. Michael Hingson ** 26:36 What a character, though. And of course, he was the man of a million voices, and it was just incredible doing I actually saw a couple Jack Benny shows this morning and yesterday. One yesterday, he was Professor LeBlanc teaching Jack Benny how to play the violin, which was a lost cause. Ron Cocking ** 26:59 Actually, Jack Benny was not a bad view. No, Michael Hingson ** 27:01 he wasn't violent. No, he wasn't. He had a lot of fun with it, and that stick went straight in from radio to television, and worked really well, and people loved it, and you knew what was going to happen, but it didn't matter. But it was still Ron Cocking ** 27:16 funny, and I'm sure during the transition they there was a little bit of panic in the writers department, like, okay, what are we going to do? We got to come up with a few shows. We got to get ahead a little bit. So the writing being just a little different, I'm sure that's part of the reason why they went back and kind of leaned on the old, old script somewhat, until they kind of cut their teeth on the new this new thing called television Michael Hingson ** 27:39 well, but they still kept a lot of the same routines in one way or another. Ron Cocking ** 27:45 Yeah, when they work, they work, whether you're just listening or whether you're watching, Michael Hingson ** 27:48 right, exactly what other shows made it from radio to television with the cast Ron Cocking ** 27:53 intact? You know, I am not up on that number. I Michael Hingson ** 27:57 know there were a couple that did. RMS, Brooks was, well, oh no, I was gonna say Abbott and Costello, but that was different, but our Miss Brooks certainly did. If Ron Cocking ** 28:09 the Bickersons did, I forget the two actors that did that show, but that was a really, Francis Michael Hingson ** 28:13 Langford and Donna Michi could be, but I think burns and Allen, I think, kept the same people as much as there were. Harry bonzell was still with them, and so on. But it was interesting to see those. And I'm awake early enough in the morning, just because it's a good time to get up, and I get and be real lazy and go slowly to breakfast and all that. But I watched the Benny show, and occasionally before it, I'll watch the burns and Allen show. And I think that the plots weren't as similar from radio to television on the burns and Allen show as they weren't necessarily in the Benny show, but, but it all worked. Ron Cocking ** 28:58 Yeah, yeah. That's why they were on the air for so long? Michael Hingson ** 29:02 Yeah, so what other kind of acting did Gloria do once? So you guys started the school Ron Cocking ** 29:10 well after she well, when we started the school, we found ourselves, you know, raising five children. And so I continued playing nightclub gigs. I had one, one nightclub job for like, five years in a row with two wonderful, wonderful musicians that were like fathers to me. And Gloria actually went to work for her brother in law, and she became a salesperson, and eventually the VP of Sales for a fiberglass tub and shower business down here in Santa Ana. So she drove that 91 freeway from San Bernardino, Santa Ana, all the time. But in, Michael Hingson ** 29:47 yeah, you could do it back then, much more than now. It was a little better Ron Cocking ** 29:51 and but in, but twist in between, she managed. Her mom still did a little bit of agency. And she would call Gloria and say. Want you to go see so and so. She did an episode of perfect strangers. She did an episode with Elliot of the guy that played Elliot Ness, stack the show Robert Stack the show was called Help Wanted no see. I guess that was an in but wanted, anyway, she did that. She did a movie with Bruce Dern and Melanie Griffith called Smile. And so she kept, she kept her foot in the door, but, but not, not all that much she she really enjoyed when John Wilder, one of her childhood acting buddies, who she called her brother, and he still calls her sis, or he would call her sis, still. His name was Johnny McGovern when he was a child actor, and when he decided to try some movie work, he there was another Johnny McGovern in Screen Actors Guild, so he had to change his name to John Wyler, but he did that mini series called centennial, and he wanted Gloria for a specific role, to play a German lady opposite the football player Alex Karras. And they had a couple of really nice scenes together. I think she was in three, maybe four of the segments. And there were many segments, it was like a who's who in Hollywood, the cast of that show Michael Hingson ** 31:28 does that was pretty cool. Ron Cocking ** 31:32 But anyway, yeah, after Gloria finished armas Brooks, she became married to Gilbert Allen, who, who then became a Presbyterian minister. So Gloria, when you said, Did she continue acting? There's a lot of acting that goes on being a minister and being a minister's wife, and she would put together weddings for people, and that sort of thing. And she did that for 20 years. Wow. So she Gloria was a phenomenon. She did so many things. And she did them all so very well, in my Speaker 1 ** 32:04 opinion. And so did you? Yeah, which is, which is really cool. So you, but you, you both started the school, and that really became your life's passion for 44 years. Yes, Ron Cocking ** 32:16 we would get up in the mornings, go do a little business, come home, have a little lunch, go back about 132 o'clock, and we would normally crank up about four after the kids get out of school, and we would teach from four to nine, sometimes to 10. Go out, have some dinner. So yeah, we pretty much 24/7 and we had had such similar backgrounds. Hers on a national radio and television scale, and mine on a much more local, civic light opera scale. But we both had similar relations with our our moms after after the radio tapings and the TV things. GLORIA And her mom. They lived in Beverly Hills, right at Wilshire and Doheny, and they had their favorite chocolate and ice cream stops. And same thing for me, my mom would take me there, two doors down from the little studio where I was taking my tap classes. There was an ice cream parlor, haywoods ice cream. And that was, that was the the lure, if you go in and if you do your practicing, Ronnie, you can, I'll take it for an ice cream so that I did my practicing, had plenty of little treats on the way, so we had that in common, and we both just had very supportive moms that stayed out of the way, not, not what I would call a pushy parent, or, I think you mentioned the helicopter, helicopter, but it Michael Hingson ** 33:37 but it sounds like you didn't necessarily need the bribes to convince you to tap dance, as you know, anyway, but they didn't hurt. Ron Cocking ** 33:46 No, it didn't hurt at all, and it was something to look forward to, but I I just enjoyed it all along. Anyway, I finally got to to really showcase what I could do when I was cast as the dance director in the show 42nd street. Oh, wow. And I was lucky. We were lucky. San Bernardino clo was able to hire John Engstrom, who had done the show on Broadway. The earlier version that came, I think it was on Broadway in the mid or to late 70s. He had worked side by side with Gower Champion putting the show together. He told us all sorts of stories about how long it took Gower to put together that opening dance. Because everything in the opening number you you see those steps later in the show done by the chorus, because the opening number is an audition for dancers who want to be in this new Julian Marsh show. So the music starts, the audience hears, I know there must have been 20 of us tapping our feet off. And then a few seconds later, the curtain rises about two and a half feet. And then they see all these tapping feet. And then the main curtain goes out, and there we all are. And. I my part. I was facing upstage with my back to the audience, and then at some point, turned around and we did it was the most athletic, difficult, two and a half minute tap number I had ever done, I'll bet. But it was cool. There were five or six kids that had done it on Broadway and the national tour. And then during that audition, one more high point, if we have the time, we I was auditioning just like everybody else. The director had called and asked if I would audition, but he wasn't going to be choreographing. John Engstrom was so with there was probably 50 or 60 kids of all ages, some adults auditioning, and at one point, John pulled out one of the auditioners, and he happened to be one of my male tap dance students. And he said, Now I want everybody to watch Paul do this step. Paul did the step. He said, Now he said, Paul, someone is really teaching you well. He said, everybody that's the way to do a traveling timestamp so and that, you know, I'll remember that forever. And it ended up he hired. There were seven myself and seven other of my students were cast in that show. And some of them, some of them later, did the show in Las Vegas, different directors. But yeah, that, that was a high point for me. Speaker 1 ** 36:19 I'm trying to remember the first time I saw 42nd street. I think I've seen it twice on Broadway. I know once, but we also saw it once at the Lawrence Welk Resorts condo there, and they did 42nd street. And that was a lot of that show was just a lot of fun. Anyway, Ron Cocking ** 36:39 it's a fun show. And as John said in that show, The chorus is the star of the show. Speaker 1 ** 36:45 Yeah, it's all about dancing by any by any definition, any standard. It's a wonderful show. And anybody who is listening or watching, if you ever get a chance to go see 42nd street do it, it is, it is. Well, absolutely, well worth it. Ron Cocking ** 37:00 Yeah, good. Good show. Fantastic music, too. Well. Michael Hingson ** 37:03 How did you and Gloria get along so well for so long, basically, 24 hours a day, doing everything together that that I would think you would even be a little bit amazed, not that you guys couldn't do it, but that you did it so well, and so many people don't do it well, Ron Cocking ** 37:21 yeah, I don't know I from, from the the first time we met, we just seemed to be on the same wavelength. And by the way, I found out as time went by, Gloria was like Mrs. Humble. She wasn't a bragger, very humble. And it took me a while to find out what an excellent tap dancer she was. But when we went to the studio in the early days, we had, we just had one room. So she would teach actors for an hour, take a break. I would go in teach a tap class or a movement class or a ballet class. I in the early days, I taught, I taught it all. I taught ballet and jazz and and and and Michael Hingson ** 38:01 tap. Well, let's let's be honest, she had to be able to tap dance around to keep ahead of Osgoode Conklin, but that's another story. Ron Cocking ** 38:09 Yeah. So yeah, that. And as our studio grew, we would walk every day from our first studio down to the corner to a little wind chills donut shop wind chills donuts to get some coffee and come back. And about a year and a half later, after walking by this, this retail vacant spot that was two doors from our studio, we said, I wonder if that might be, you know, something for us, it had a four lease sign. So, long story short, we released it. The owner of the property loved knowing that Gloria Macmillan was that space. And so luckily, you know when things are supposed to happen. They happen as people would move out next to us, we would move in. So we ended up at that particular studio with five different studio rooms. Wow. And so then we can accommodate all of the above, acting, singing classes, all the dance disciplines, all at the same time, and we can, like, quadruple our student body. So then we made another move, because the neighborhood was kind of collapsing around us, we made another room and purchased a building that had been built as a racquetball club. It had six racquetball courts, all 20 by 40, beautiful hardwood. We made four of them, five of them into studios, and then there was a double racquetball racquetball court in the front of the building which they had tournaments in it was 40 by 40 we moved. We made that into a black box theater for Gloria. And the back wall of the theater was one inch glass outside of which the audiences for the racquetball tournaments used to sit. But outside the glass for us, we had to put curtains there, and out front for us was our. Gigantic lobby. The building was 32,000 square feet. Wow, we could it just made our heart, hearts sing when we could walk down that hallway and see a ballet class over here, a tap class over there, singers, singing actors in the acting room. It was beautiful. And again, it was just meant for us because it was our beautiful daughter, Kelly, who passed away just nine months after Gloria did. She's the one that said, you guys ought to look into that. And I said, Well, it's a racquetball court. But again, the first moment we walked in the front door, you start. We started thinking like, whoa. I think we could make this work. And it worked for another 20 years for us and broke our hearts to basically rip it apart, tear the theater down, and everything when we were moving out, because we we couldn't find another studio that was interested in in coming in, because they would have had to purchase the building. We wanted to sell the building. Yeah. So anyway, of all things, they now sell car mufflers out of there. Michael Hingson ** 41:02 That's a little different way, way. Yeah, social shock, did any of your students become pretty well known in the in the entertainment world? Ron Cocking ** 41:11 I wouldn't say well known, but a lot of them have worked a lot and made careers. Some of our former students are now in their 50s, middle 50s, pushing 60, and have done everything from cruise ship to Las Vegas to regional some national tours, even our son, Christopher, he did the national tour of meet me in St Louis with Debbie Boone, okay, and he's the one that is Now a successful producer. He's his latest hit. Well, his first, what can be considered legitimately a Broadway hit show was the show called shucked, and it opened about two years ago, I think, and I finally got to go back to New York and see it just a month before it closed. Very hilarious. Takes place in Iowa. The whole show is built around a county in which everybody that lives there makes their living off of corn, making whiskey. And it is a laugh, way more than a laugh a minute. But anyway, we had one of Gloria's acting students who was hired on with a Jonathan Winters TV sitcom called Davis rules. It ran for two seasons, and here he was like 16 or 17 years old, making, I think it was. He was making $8,000 a week, and he was in heaven. He looked like the Son he played, the grandson of Jonathan Winters and the son of Randy Quaid and so he, yeah, he was in heaven. And then after that, he did a very popular commercial, the 711 brain freeze commercial for Slurpee. The Slurpee, yeah, and he made the so much money from that, but then he kind of disappeared from showbiz. I don't know what he's doing nowadays, Speaker 1 ** 43:00 but it's, it's, it's interesting to, you know, to hear the stories. And, yeah, I can understand that, that not everybody gets to be so famous. Everybody knows them, but it's neat that you had so many people who decided to make entertainment a career. So clearly, you had a pretty good influence on a lot of, a lot of kids. Ron Cocking ** 43:20 Yes, I over the years, Gloria and I felt like we had 1000s of children of our own, that they that we had raised together. It's really a good feeling. And I still get phone calls. We got a phone call once a few years back from from one of our students who had been trying to crack the nut in New York, and she called us like 530 in the morning, because, of course, it was Yeah, but she had just signed her first national tour contract and was going to go out with the show cabaret. So fortunately, we were able to drive up to Santa not let's see, it's just below San San Jose. The show came through San Jose, and we got to see her up there. But those kinds of things are what made us keep teaching, year after year, all these success stories. Of course, we have former students that are now lawyers. Those are actors. Well, we Michael Hingson ** 44:17 won't hold it and we understand, yeah and they are actors, by all means. How many teachers did you have in the studio when you had the big building? Ron Cocking ** 44:26 Gosh, at one time, we had 10 or 12 teachers, teaching vocal teachers, two or three ballet teachers, jazz teachers, and you both taught as well. And we both continued teaching all through that time. We never just became managers, although that's that was part of it, and mixing business with art is a challenge, and it takes kind of a different mindset, and then what an unstoppable mindset you have to have in order to mix business with performing, because it's too. Different sides of your brain and a lot of patience and a lot of patience. And guess who taught me patience? Uh huh, Gloria Macmillan. Michael Hingson ** 45:09 I would Conklin's daughter, yes, and I'll bet that's where she learned patience. No, I'm just teasing, but yeah, I hear you, yeah. Well, I know Karen and I were married for 40 years, until she passed in November of 2022 and there's so many similarities in what you're talking about, because we we could do everything together. We had challenges. Probably the biggest challenge that we ever had was we were living in Vista California, and I was working in Carlsbad, and the president of our company decided that we should open an office, because I was being very successful at selling to the government, we should open an office in the DC area. And so we both got excited about that. But then one day he came in and he had this epiphany. He said, No, not Virginia. I want you to open an office in New York. And Karen absolutely hated that she was ready to go to Virginia and all that. Speaker 1 ** 46:15 But the problem for me was it was either move to New York or take a sales territory that didn't sell very much anymore. The owner wasn't really willing to discuss it, so we had some challenges over that, but the marriage was strong enough that it that it worked out, and we moved to New Jersey, and Karen made a lot of friends back there, but, you know, we always did most everything together. And then when the pandemic occurred, being locked down, it just proved all the more we just did everything together. We were together. We talked a lot, which is, I think one of the keys to any good marriages, and you talk and communicate. Ron Cocking ** 46:56 Yes, in fact, when after we closed the studio in 2018 it took us a few more months to sell our home, and then when we moved down here, it was only about, I don't know, I don't know if it was a full year or not, but the pandemic hit and but it really didn't bother us, because we had, we had been working the teaching scene for so many years that we basically Were done. We basically walked out of the studio. We did. Neither of us have the desire to, well, let's continue in at some level, no, we cherished our time together. We have a little porch out in front of our home here, and it gets the ocean breeze, and we would sit for hours and chat. And oddly enough, not oddly, one of our favorite things to do, we have a website that we went to that had, I think, every radio show of armas Brooks ever made. And we would sit listen to those and just laugh. And, in fact, Gloria, there are some. She said, You know what? I don't even remember that episode at all. So yeah, that that was an interesting part. But yeah, Gloria and I, like your wife and you really enjoyed time together. We never talked about needing separate vacations or anything if we wanted to do something. We did it Speaker 1 ** 48:16 together, yeah, and we did too. And you know, for us it was, it was out of desire, but also was easier for us, because she was in a wheelchair her whole life. I was I'm blind. I've been blind my whole life. And as I tell people, the marriage worked out well. She read, I pushed, and in reality, that really is the way it worked, yeah, yeah. Until she started using a power chair. Then I didn't push. I kept my toes out of the way. But still, it was, it was really did meld and mesh together very well and did everything Ron Cocking ** 48:49 together. That's fantastic. I'm proud of you, Michael, and it really Michael Hingson ** 48:53 it's the only way to go. So I miss her, but like, I keep telling people she's somewhere monitoring me, and if I misbehave, I'm going to hear about it. So I got to be a good kid, Ron Cocking ** 49:04 and I'll hear I'll get some notes tonight from the spirit of Gloria McMillan too. I prayed to her before I went on. I said, please let the words flow and please not let me say anything that's inappropriate. And I think she's guided me through okay so far. Michael Hingson ** 49:20 Well, if, if you do something you're not supposed to, she's gonna probably hit you upside the head. You know, did you two ever actually get to perform together? Ron Cocking ** 49:30 Oh, I'm glad you asked that, because, well, it had been years since I knew that she was a darn good tap dancer. In fact, I had a tap dancing ensemble of of my more advanced kids, and if they wanted to dedicate the extra time that it took, we rehearsed them and let them perform at free of charge once they made it to that group, they they did not pay to come in and rehearse with me, because I would spend a lot of time standing there creating so. So we were doing a performance, and we wanted to spotlight, I forget the exact reason why we wanted to spotlight some of Gloria's career. Talk about radio a little bit. And I said, Gloria, would you do a little soft shoe routine? And because we had invited a mutual friend of ours, Walden Hughes, from the reps organization, and he was going to be the guest of honor, so I talked her into it. At first she wasn't going to go for it, but we had so much fun rehearsing it together. And it wasn't a long routine, it was relatively short, beautiful music, little soft shoe, and it was so much fun to say that we actually tap danced together. But the other times that we actually got to work together was at the old time radio conventions, mostly with reps, and that's really when I got to sit on stage. I was kind of typecast as an announcer, and I got to do some commercials. I got to sing once with Lucy arnazza. Oh, life, a life boy soap commercial. But when Gloria, Well, Gloria did the lead parts, and oh my gosh, that's when I realized what a superb actress she was. And if I don't know if you've heard of Greg Oppenheimer, his father, Jess Oppenheimer created the I Love Lucy shows, and so Gloria loved Jess Oppenheimer. And so Greg Oppenheimer, Jess Son, did a lot of directing, and oh my gosh, I would see he came in very well prepared and knew how the lines should be delivered. And if Gloria was not right on it, he would say, No, wait a minute, Gloria, I want you to emphasize the word decided, and that's going to get the laugh. And when he gave her a reading like that man, the next time she went through that dialog, just what he had asked for. And I thought, Oh my gosh. And her timing, after watching so many armist Brooks TV and listening to radio shows. GLORIA learned her comedic timing from one of the princesses of comedy timing is Eve Arden, right? They were so well for obvious reasons. They were so very similar. And if you have time to story for another story, do you know have you heard of Bob Hastings? He was the lieutenant on McHale's navy. McHale's Navy, right? Yeah. Well, he also did a lot of old time radio. So we went up to Seattle, Michael Hingson ** 52:32 our two grandkids, Troy Amber, he played, not Archie. Was it Henry Aldridge? He was on, Ron Cocking ** 52:40 I think you're right. I'm not too up on the cast of the old time radio show. Yeah, I think you're right. But anyway, he was there, and there was an actress that had to bow out. I don't know who that was, but our grandsons and Gloria and I, we walked in, and as usual, we say hi to everybody. We're given a big packet of six or eight scripts each, and we go to our room and say, Oh my gosh. Get out the pencils, and we start marking our scripts. So we get a phone call from Walden, and he said, hey, Ron Bob. Bob Hastings wants to see Gloria in his room. He wants to read through he's not sure if he wants to do the Bickersons script, because he you know, the gal bowed out and right, you know, so Gloria went down Michael Hingson ** 53:23 couple of doors, coming Ron Cocking ** 53:26 Yes, and she so she came back out of half an hour, 40 minutes later, and she said, well, that little stinker, he was auditioning me. He went in and she went in and he said, Well, you know, I don't know if I want to do this. It doesn't seem that funny to me. Let's read a few lines. Well, long story short, they read the whole thing through, and they were both, they were both rolling around the floor. I'll bet they laughing and so and then jump to the following afternoon, they did it live, and I was able to watch. I had some pre time, and I watched, and they were just fantastic together. I left after the show, I went to the green room, had a little snack, and I was coming back to our room, walking down the hall, and here comes Bob Hastings, and he says, oh, Ron. He said, Your wife was just fantastic. So much better than the other girl would have been. So when I told GLORIA That story that made her her day, her week. She felt so good about that. So that's my Bob Hastings story. Bob Hastings and Gloria Macmillan were great as the Bickersons. Speaker 1 ** 54:29 Yeah, that was a very clever show. It started on the Danny Thomas show, and then they they ended up going off and having their own show, Francis Langford and Donna Michi, but they were very clever. Ron Cocking ** 54:42 Now, did you realize when now that you mentioned Danny Thomas? Did you realize that Gloria's mom, Hazel McMillan, was the first female agent, talent agent in Hollywood? No, and that's how you know when the. They moved from from Portland, Oregon, a little city outside of Portland. They moved because Gloria's mom thought she had talent enough to do radio, and it wasn't a year after they got here to LA that she did her first national show for Lux radio at the age of five. That was in 1937 with with Edward G Robinson. I've got a recording of that show. What's what show was it? It was a Christmas show. And I don't remember the name of the of it, but it was a Christmas show. It was Walden that sent us. Sent Michael Hingson ** 55:33 it to us. I'll find it. I've got it, I'm sure. Ron Cocking ** 55:35 And so, yeah, so, so Gloria was a member of what they called the 500 club. There was a group of, I don't know, nine or 10 kids that by the time the photograph that I have of this club, it looks like Gloria is around 12 to 14 years old, and they had all done 500 or more radio shows. Wow, that's a lot of radio show. There's a lot of radio So Gloria did, I mean, I got a short my point was, her mom was an agent, and when Gloria was working so consistently at armas Brooks, she said, Well, I'm kind of out of a job. I don't need to take you. GLORIA could drive then. And so she came back from the grocery store, Ralph's market near Wilshire and Doheny, and she came back said, Well, I know what I'm going to do. I ran into this cute little boy at the grocery store. I'm going to represent him for television. And she that's, she started the Hazel McMillan agency, and she ran that agency until she just couldn't anymore. I think she ran it until early 1980s but she, my god, she represented people like Angela Cartwright on the Danny Thomas show and Kathy Garver on, all in the family a family affair. Family Affair. Yeah. Jane north. Jane North went in for Dennis the Menace. He didn't get the role. He came back said, Hazel, I don't think they liked me, and they didn't. They didn't call me back or anything. Hazel got on that phone, said, Look, I know this kid can do what you're asking for. I want you to see him again. He went back and they read him again. He got the part, yeah, Michael Hingson ** 57:21 and he was perfect for it. Ron Cocking ** 57:22 He was perfect for that part was, I'm sorry. Michael Hingson ** 57:27 It's sad that he passed earlier this year. Ron Cocking ** 57:29 Yeah, he passed and he had, he had a tough life, yeah, Michael Hingson ** 57:36 well, you know, tell me you, you have what you you have some favorite words of wisdom. Tell me about those. Ron Cocking ** 57:45 Oh, this goes back to the reason why I came across this when I was looking for something significant to say on the opening of one of our big concert programs. We used to do all of our shows at the California theater of Performing Arts in San Bernardino, it's a really, a real gem of a theater. It's where Will Rogers gave his last performance. And so I came across this, and it's, I don't know if this is biblical, you might, you might know, but it's, if you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime. And that's what I felt like Gloria and I were trying to do. We wanted to teach these kids as as professionally. We treated our students as they were, as if they were little professionals. We we expected quality, we expected them to work hard, but again, Gloria taught me patience, unending patience. But we knew that we wanted them to feel confident when the time came, that they would go out and audition. We didn't want them to be embarrassed. We want we wanted them to be able to come back to us and say, Boy, I felt so good at that audition. I knew all the steps I was and I and I read so well it was. And thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And so that aspect of it, we felt that we were feeding them for a lifetime, but we also were creating all of these arts patrons, all these lovers of the arts, 1000s of kids now love to go to musicals and movies and plays because they've kind of been there and done that at our studio. And so anyway, that's and whether, whether or not it was their confidence in show business or whether it was their confidence we've had so many calls from and visits from parents and former students saying, Boy, I just was awarded a job. And they said my my communication skills were excellent, and I owe that to Gloria. I was on the beach the other day, and I looked over and there was this young man and his wife. I assumed it was his wife. It was they were setting. Up their beach chairs, and I looked and I say, Excuse me, is your name Brandon? And he said, No, but he said, Is your name Ron? And I said, Yes. He said, No, my name is Eric. And I said, Eric puentes. And so we reminisced for a while. He took tap from me. He took acting from Gloria, and he said, you know, he was sad to hear of Gloria's passing. And he said, You know, I owe so much to Gloria. I learned so much about speaking in front of groups. And he is now a minister. He has his own church in Redlands, California, and he's a minister. And of all the billion people on the beach, he sits next to me. So that's one of those things when it's supposed to Michael Hingson ** 1:00:41 happen. It happens. It does. Yeah, well, and as we talked about earlier, you and Gloria did lots of stuff with reps, and I'm going to miss it this time, but I've done a few, and I'm going to do some more. What I really enjoy about people who come from the radio era, and who have paid attention to the radio era is that the acting and the way they project is so much different and so much better than people who have no experience with radio. And I know Walden and I have talked about the fact that we are looking to get a grant at some point so that we can train actors or people who want to be involved in these shows, to be real actors, and who will actually go back and listen to the shows, listen to what people did, and really try to bring that forward into the recreations, because so many people who haven't really had the experience, or who haven't really listened to radio programs sound so forced, as opposed to natural. Ron Cocking ** 1:01:46 I agree, and I know exactly what you're saying. In fact, Walden on a couple of at least two or three occasions, he allowed us to take some of Gloria's acting students all the way to Seattle, and we did some in for the spurred vac organization Los Angeles, we did a beautiful rendition of a script that we adapted of the Velveteen Rabbit. And of all people, Janet Waldo agreed to do the fairy at the end, and she was exquisite. And it's only like, I don't know, four or five lines, and, oh my gosh, it just wrapped it up with a satin bow. And, but, but in some of our kids, yeah, they, they, they were very impressed by the radio, uh, recreations that they were exposed to at that convention. Speaker 1 ** 1:02:37 Yeah, yeah. Well, and it's, it is so wonderful to hear some of these actors who do it so well, and to really see how they they are able to pull some of these things together and make the shows a lot better. And I hope that we'll see more of that. I hope that we can actually work to teach more people how to really deal with acting from a standpoint of radio, Ron Cocking ** 1:03:04 that's a great idea. And I know Walden is really sensitive to that. He Yeah, he would really be a proponent of that. Michael Hingson ** 1:03:10 Oh, he and I have talked about it. We're working on it. We're hoping we can get some things. Well, I want to thank you for being here. We've been doing this an hour already.
I used to do drugs, I still do but I used to, too! Is your throat hoarse from laughing too much? Why not go get a slurpee!? As you probably got from that hilarious bit I just did, this week's episode is about the revolutionary show stand up presents by comedy central and convenient stores/snacks!Email us and tell us your favorite stand up joke, and what your favorite flavor of slurpee is!!!Thank you for being a friend, join your two best friends, grab a slice of cheesecake and enjoy this week's episode of Notable Nostalgia!Make sure to leave us a 5 star review, and tell a friend about the show. If you want to suggest a topic for an upcoming show email us at NotableNostalgia90@Gmail.com or find us at Facebook.com/NotableNostalgiaThanks for listening Nostalgia Nerds!
Cap is back... and so is the Red Skull! Ending Steve Englehart's run on Cap, this first part of a 3 part story reunites Steve & Sam, and Steve & Peggy?!? Plus... Rick & Bob discuss 7-11 cups and Slurpee flavors, when to use and not use professional titles and what's missing from Rick's comic!Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/sRKavuxCne8Love the show? Help support with a one-time donation or become a member and get cool perks! https://buymeacoffee.com/capcomicfansConnect with Rick & Bob and fellow Cap fans at https://www.facebook.com/groups/captainamericacomicbookfans Please subscribe, rate and review! Here are FREE and FAST ways you can support the show: https://tinyurl.com/y6kyu9nhEmail questions to CapComicFans@gmail.comOur home page is https://captainamericacomicbookfans.com
A man was busted for asking women for sex with handwritten notes...a man with a Bloody Mary in a Slurpee cup got busted again...and a small-town Sheriff stole over 5 million bucks from the town's "bingo" fund!
End Song: "Squandered" by Salvage 00:00:00 – Cold Open, Social Media “Raw Sewage,” and the Kimmel Setup The guys kick off with snack banter and a barking “producer dog,” then vent about the internet's sewage firehose and culture-war escalation—teasing the night's first big story: ABC suspending Jimmy Kimmel after his Charlie Kirk bit. 00:10:00 – Kimmel vs. Disney: The Contract Chess Match They read coverage framing Bob Iger and Disney caught between D.C. pressure and Hollywood outrage, play Kimmel's clip about Kirk, and argue Disney may just be hunting a morals-clause exit more than defending speech. 00:20:00 – “Free Speech” or Just Business? A sharper take on free-speech claims: the FCC can't outlaw Kimmel; platforms and affiliates can still walk. They contrast today's outrage with past deplatformings (e.g., Alex Jones) and point out the inconsistency of everyone's “principles.” 00:30:00 – The Australia Mix-Up & Ratings Reality They laugh over hundreds of Kimmel complaints misdirected to Australia's ABC, then note ratings and affiliate ad pressure may matter more than politics. Protest optics aside, reruns could probably match his numbers. 00:40:00 – Burchett, SKIFs, and “Deep-Water Entities” Pivot to UFOs/USOs: Rep. Tim Burchett's chatter about craft emerging from deep water; SKIF whispers around David Grusch; frustration that hearings recycle stories without subpoenaing the real gatekeepers. 00:50:00 – Invisible Residents: Classic USO Cases A tour through Ivan T. Sanderson's 1970 book: cigar-shaped blue-white craft pacing a ship, diving beneath the hull, and WWII-era objects surfacing then shooting skyward—suggesting surveillance patrols and ocean “bases.” 01:00:00 – Viral “Meteor Slime” Debunk That TikTok “living meteorite” from Panama? Great practical effects, not aliens. They cite polymer/hexane demo videos showing the exact wriggle behavior; fun Halloween content, just not real. 01:10:00 – The Hat Man: Sleep Paralysis or Shadow Entity? Deep dive into the Hat Man meme: neuroscientists say it's culture-shaped sleep paralysis; the show entertains that plus the paranormal angle (shadow people, MIB parallels). Listeners share eerily similar accounts. 01:20:00 – Call-Ins: Ouija, Weird Sleep, Witching Hour Callers recount Ouija board weirdness and a rash of 1–3 a.m. wake-ups. The crew swaps remedies and wonders—half-joking—if celestial strangeness is messing with everyone's sleep. 01:30:00 – Jezebel's “We Hired Witches” Piece Gets Pulled They review the Jezebel article boasting an Etsy curse on Charlie Kirk (later edited/removed post-assassination), debate ethics of “satire” about hexes, and note a new doc where a guy seeks to be cursed to test effects. 01:40:00 – Are Whales Trying to Talk to Us? From crop circles to “bubble circles”: humpbacks blowing rings around swimmers/boats as possible communication; shoutouts to bioacoustic playback experiments and Star Trek IV's “talk to the whales” lesson. 01:50:00 – Akron Lawn-Mower Caper & Dumb-Crime Detour Ohio man allegedly flips school-district mowers on Facebook Marketplace—embezzlement or just brazen stupidity? They roast the scheme (and marketing tactics). 02:00:00 – Flying Cars Crash, Duct-Taped Commuter & Sign-Off Chinese VTOL “flying cars” collide during an airshow rehearsal; the crew imagines an Amazon drone commuter basket and jokes about a duct-taped rider sipping a Slurpee. Closing plugs and “watch the skies…and drones.” Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research ▀▄▀▄▀ CONTACT LINKS ▀▄▀▄▀ ► Phone: 614-388-9109 ► Skype: ourbigdumbmouth ► Website: http://obdmpod.com ► Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/obdmpod ► Full Videos at Odysee: https://odysee.com/@obdm:0 ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/obdmpod ► Instagram: obdmpod ► Email: ourbigdumbmouth at gmail ► RSS: http://ourbigdumbmouth.libsyn.com/rss ► iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/our-big-dumb-mouth/id261189509?mt=2
In Prince George, British Columbia, what started as a lazy Slurpee run turned into something you'd expect in a comedy sketch. Kasper Lincoln borrowed a child‑sized pink Barbie Jeep from his roommate and decided to drive it down 15th Avenue instead of walking. In this episode, we walk through how a toy car—capable of speeds up to about 4 mph, with power steering and brakes—became evidence of prohibited driving. We unpack the legal fallout: a 90‑day driving prohibition, a court date set for December, and what counts as a motor vehicle under BC law.This Week's Featured Hashtag#UsesForMyTimeMachineOther Interesting ThingsLaw That Defines a Motor Vehicle in British ColumbiaSend a text to The Ebone Zone! Support the showIf you have questions or comments email ebonezonepodcast@yahoo.com Follow the Ebone Zone on Twitter: https://twitter.com/OfficialEBZLike the Ebone Zone on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ebonezoneofficial/Visit www.ebonezone.com for more content!
Welcome to Caching in the NorthWest! This is THE podcast from the birthplace of geocaching, right here in the great Pacific NorthWest. It's Thursday at 7PM Pacific, they call me Chris Of The NorthWest and we are going to talk about geocaches and geocachers from here and around the globe. So while you're driving a pink Barbie Jeep at 3 KPH to get a Slurpee, we'll be Caching in the NorthWest. We want you to call in your Geocache Log of the Week! Send an email to feedback@CachingNW.com, call into 253-693-TFTC. Call us with your feedback at (253) 693-TFTC Or visit the website at https://CachingNW.com
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24-Hour HPR, Lemons Penalties & a Barbie Power Wheels DUIWhat happens when grassroots endurance racing meets road-trip mishaps, late-night wrenching, and a news story about a guy getting busted in a pink Power Wheels? This episode of Everyone Racers brings pure chaos and comedy—from a 24-hour grind at High Plains Raceway (HPR) to last-minute prep for NCM Motorsports Park, plus Lemons judging tales you won't believe.
Send us a textWelcome to Episode 234! What a week, amiright?? The gun violence seems to be exploding across the United States with at least 4 known school shooting in the last week or so. And those are just the schools. There have been countless targeted gun shootings all over the country in the last week. One of which seems to be dominating the airways.Last week, far right conservative political activist and influencer, Charlie Kirk, was tragically gunned down and killed on a college campus at a stop on his "The American Comeback" tour in Utah. Specifics have been slowly shared out about the details surrounding suspect, motive, condition, etc. but the fallout has been more than dominating the airwaves. This is not the first act of political violence to take place in the last 6 months, but it seems to have struck a chord with so many. In this week's Mid-Section, Casey & Mark are discussing what we know so far of the murder, the major punditry points, and the legacy left by the proud white nationalist.Kicking things off this week, The Boys are discussing the latest aches, pains, trials and tribulations with the experience of aging as a gay man. It certainly is ridiculous to be discussing at their age! This on the heels of someone's birthday! Mark & Casey are giving you the rundown of a day on the town to celebrate, Casey!Trash Talk topics this week include a deep read on The House floor by Rep. Sarah Jacobs to the most bigoted members of Congress, a man takes matters into his own hands when someone forgets some party favors for the kickoff of NFL season, Bad Bunny flips the bird to ICE, and a man has been ticketed for needing a Slurpee....badly.And The Boys have got recommendations for you to! This one's got heft (and we ain't talking about their weight) with some levity of humor to balance. So pour yourself a balance bottle of port vintage and pull up a seat to the table in the library to join your GBFFs as they kiki about this last week. Get ready, Kids, it's time to paint=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-Let The Boys of Painted Trash know your thoughts on this week's topics and episode! What street festivals do you attend? Do you like street fests? What is your favorite festival??Have a topic idea or story you recommend for Trash Talk, be sure to send it in to our email or through the "contact us" on our website.Follow us on:Instagram: instragram.com/paintedtrashpodTwitter: twitter.com/paintedtrashpodFacebook: facebookcom/paintedtrashpodcastDon't forget to click Subscribe and/or Follow and leave us a review!email: paintedtrashpodcast@gmail.comweb: www.paintedtrashpodcast.com
Producer Josh updates us on Theo Von's dating life, John Daly's golf record, and the story of a man who went out for a Slurpee.
With all of the technology and instant entertainment, Anna's not sure her kids would survive the 90s! Anna and Raven reminisce about the things they did when they were bored! A man drove a toy jeep to the store to go get a Slurpee while intoxicated! He didn't realize it was illegal! Anna and Raven play, “is this illegal or did Anna just make this up?” Most new homes and remodeled homes are missing one thing…formal dining rooms. Anna and Raven talk about those “weirdo” rooms that they have seen! Nate Bargatze had a way to get people to wrap up their speeches faster at The Emmy's! Raven shares his best idea to speed up the speeches and ChatGPT has some even better ones! If you didn't stay up to watch The Emmy's, we get it! Anna and Raven get you caught up on what happened including the Golden Girls Tribute, Nate Bargatze's $300,000 donation, and other highlight moments! Flag on the Play! What did your significant other do that was questionable at best and we'll decide if you're in the wrong… or if they are! Anna was able to get $1200 Euros from American Airlines after her parents flight was canceled. Did you ever go against the big guy and win? Chef Plum is back with a bunch of easy meals to make during the school week! Best part, they only require one appliance! Laura and Ralph's nephew is getting married, and Ralph's sister is flying in from Croatia for the wedding. She is bringing her baby that the family has not met yet. (She and her husband moved to Croatia for work and have no family there.) The bride is insistent that it's a no child wedding and does not want them to bring the eleven-month-old. Ralph thinks they should offer to skip the wedding and babysit their baby niece so his sister can go and have fun at the wedding with all the family she never gets to see anymore. Laura thinks this isn't their problem. The bride should allow the baby and is being ridiculous, but it's not their position to offer to skip the wedding to watch the baby. Laura has a chance to win $6000! All she has to do is answer more pop culture questions than Raven in Can't Beat Raven!
New York just made history as the first U.S. state to officially ban fossil fuels in most new building construction, setting the stage for an all-electric future. Meanwhile, wildfire smoke is proving more dangerous than ever—scientists say breathing it can be like smoking half a pack of cigarettes a day, with staggering health and economic costs across North America. And in New York City, the NYPD now has the power to confiscate uncertified e-bike batteries in the name of safety. We also cover abandoned coal boreholes in Australia leaking methane equivalent to thousands of cars, listener mail about ultra-cold climate 'cascading' heat pumps, and the latest in global clean energy progress. In the Lightning Round: – Bluetti's sodium-ion power station – CATL's ultra-fast charging EV battery – India's electric vehicle targets – China's solar exports to Africa And much more! Support The Clean Energy Show on Patreon for exciting perks! Links – New York gas ban (Canary Media) – Abandoned methane-leaking coal boreholes (The Guardian): https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/sep/03/abandoned-queensland-coal-borehole-found-to-be-emitting-10000-cars-worth-of-greenhouse-gas – Flooid Power Systems cold-climate heat pumps: https://flooidpower.com – Video: https://youtu.be/KQNc4VnTOis?si=cqSk9OnZ6cHeZsDM Contact Us cleanenergyshow@gmail.com or leave us an online voicemail: http://speakpipe.com/clean Support The Clean Energy Show PayPal Donate offers one-time or regular donations. Store Visit The Clean Energy Show Store for T-shirts, hats, and more!. Copyright 2025 Sneeze Media.
Kasper Lincoln is just a big kid at heart. After he'd had a few "adult" beverages, he borrowed a child's battery-powered toy jeep and went for a ride to get a Slurpee. He found out the hard way you can STILL get a DUI, even behind the wheel of a pink Barbie Jeep.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this week's Mom Stomp, Annie and Jo talk marrying for money, the DC Universe being BACK (thank you, casting!), being nice, and wondering where the moms are—because MOMS MATTER! They also dive into Slurpee stakeouts, Beyoncé shade, and the billion-dollar question: what charity gets the check?*This podcast is not appropriate for kids.Instagram and TikTok - momstomppodcastEmail - thismomstomps@gmail.comVM hotline - 213-640-7494Weekly memo and episode recap (which includes links to all things referenced in the ep) here: https://momstomppodcast.substack.com/
*5:00am: Millennium Memory Smackdown *6:00am: Why Do Squatters Have So Many Rights, Floodlighting *7:00am: Top 3 Boy Bands *8:00am: Career Transitions, What Are You Into You Wished Other People Were *9:00am: Friday Rewind
Today is free slurpee day at 7-Eleven!
This is a must when you go in.
This is the place to catch up on the best moments of Friday's show in one fell swoop! - Mariners crushing loss - The tipping controversy - ABCs of the Mariners - Happy Trade Deadline Month Day! - Bucky's X's and O's: pitch-tipping, sign-stealing and flat out cheating.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This is the place to catch up on the best moments of Friday's show in one fell swoop! - Mariners crushing loss - The tipping controversy - ABCs of the Mariners - Happy Trade Deadline Month Day! - Bucky's X's and O's: pitch-tipping, sign-stealing and flat out cheating.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In hour three, Mason Taylor was drafted by the Jets and Oronde Gadsden Jr by the Chargers in the NFL Draft. They discussed player props for tonight's Heat vs. Cavaliers Game 4 matchup and another NBA game between the Houston Rockets vs the Golden State Warriors. Solana crushes Darius Garland, sitting out Game 3 following his Game 2 comments on stopping Tyler Herro. Jimmy Butler Game 4 against the Houston Rockets. Bill Belichick's unusual CBS Sunday Morning interview that featured his girlfriend behind the scenes, sparking a theory from Crowder, while Mike Cugno eats a fry in a Florida Panthers mini Zamboni. Florida Panthers Radio play-by-play broadcaster Doug Plagens analyzes the Game 3 loss to the Lightning, the impact of home ice, Game 4 adjustments, and reacts to the suspension of Brandon Hagel's hit on Aleksander Barkov in Game 2. They also debated the best delivery system for chicken tenders and Plagens' go-to Slurpee.
John tries to stop his head from shining, and tells us the illustrious history of the Slurpee. Meanwhile, Jonnie goes to a 20 year old movie, and shares the story of the time Winnie the Pooh got sued for assault. Plus, a conversation about side-hustles, impostor syndrome, and why some of our favorite people doubt their abilities. Today's episode is NOT sponsored by Skim Milk: "It's better for you, mostly because there's no way you will finish drinking it." Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.
Get a completely free hat @birddogs withcode LEMON at https://www.birddogs.com Get 15% off your Autoblow order with the code LEMON15 at https://www.autoblow.com Diarrhea Slurpee | lemonparty 126 MERCH: https://lemonparty.myshopify.com/ more episodes: https://www.patreon.com/lemonparty live dates: https://www.lemonparty.life/livedates https://benavery.live/ ben avery: https://www.instagram.com/benaveryisgood/ https://twitter.com/benaveryisgood https://benavery.live/ devan costa: https://www.instagram.com/devanjamescosta/ https://twitter.com/DevanCosta jace avery: https://www.instagram.com/saddrawingsbyjace/ https://twitter.com/JaceAvery website: https://www.lemonparty.life/ YouTube (suspended): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwlbiNZoV2RpNygeOQZnQ0Q Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3RRoTJ1TV0hLtkKOtT2Mc5?si=60641c5188294084&nd=1 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lemonparty/id1651896150 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
6a-7a Green Day pitches in to save a local music venue, Christina talks about her bout with the "double dragon," Shaq gets a new Slurpee flavor, worlds most expensive dog, and do you think this new TikTok filter is offensive?
Topics discussed on today's show: March Madness, Who's Going To Hell?, Model Dating, Birthdays, History Quiz, Funding Cuts, AI, Tattooing Under, Music News, Shaq's Slurpee, Movie Reviews, Movie Password, Awkward Silence, State of the Nation, John Clay Wolfe, Alice Cooper, and Apologies.
Donna fills out a bracket, Shaq gets a Slurpee, Alec and Hilaria Baldwin address their awkward red carpet exchange Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Donna fills out a bracket, Shaq gets a Slurpee, Alec and Hilaria Baldwin address their awkward red carpet exchange Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Buckle up, job nerds—Chad Sowash and Joel Cheesman are back with J.T. O'Donnell, serving up the week's employment chaos with a side of snark. Joann's 800 fabric havens are kaput after 80 years—no buyer, 19,000 pink slips. DOGE is slashing like it's Black Friday: 75,000 “voluntary” goodbyes, 1,000 at Veterans Affairs, 1,300 at Energy, 700 at the CDC—pundits say the total could top 100K, while Blue Origin (1,000) and Starbucks (1,100) join the layoff party, and Polywork's a December corpse. Buy or Sell: Mercor's 21-year-old Thiel babies nabbed $100M, hit a $2B valuation ... Joel's screaming "SELL" ‘cause remote work's deader than disco. Perfect's $23M AI dream promises hires while you nap; J.T.'s all "BUY" for their 44-person squad surfing the consolidation wave. Loxo's $115M talent tech flex? Joel's like, "SELL—big hype, but the founder's greener than a lime Slurpee." Indeed yanked search fields from its homepage, forcing logins—Alex Chukovski's jazzed, but Chad's cackling, “Monster 2.0, meet your doom!” And Musk's AI grading federal job essays? J.T.'s rolling her eyes—unions are raging, and it's sketchier than a back-alley job board. Laugh, cry, and listen up! Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Uncertainty in the Job Market 01:00 The Rise of Deep Fakes and Their Implications 04:08 Job Seekers' Struggles in a Changing Economy 10:17 Corporate Accountability and Leadership Failures 18:41 The Impact of Layoffs on the Workforce 23:19 The Future of Employment in an Automated World 24:09 Economic Pressures and Education Choices 27:42 The Rise of AI in Recruitment 30:12 Challenges in AI Recruitment Tools 34:20 The Future of Job Platforms 38:16 Indeed's Strategic Shift 47:21 AI's Role in Employment Decisions
In this episode of Canada is Boring, we dive into a frosty phenomenon in the heart of Manitoba: Winnipeg's unwavering love for Slurpees. Believe it or not, Winnipeg has been crowned the Slurpee Capital of the World—and not just once, but for over 20 consecutive years! Why is this icy drink so beloved in a city that spends much of the year buried in snow? We'll explore how Winnipeggers manage to guzzle down these frozen treats in record quantities, the quirky culture that surrounds them, and even some fun Slurpee stories and stats that might leave you brain-frozen in amazement.All our links:https://bio.to/canboringThis podcast is hosted two idiots and created purely for entertainment purposes. By accessing this Podcast, I acknowledge that the CIB Podcast makes no warranty, guarantee, or representation as to the accuracy or sufficiency of the information featured in this Podcast. The information, opinions presented in this Podcast are for general entertainment and humor only and any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk. However, if we get it badly wrong and you wish to suggest a correction, please email canadianpoliticsisboring@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
David Wright Faladé didn't learn the truth about his lineage until he was 16. That's when his mother told him that his biological father was a West African student she initially met in post-war Paris, as she grappled with the trauma of her Jewish family surviving the Holocaust. It was a shock to a mixed-race boy growing up in the panhandle of Texas, playing football and drinking Slurpee's in 1970s America. But the surprises didn't stop there. When Wright Faladé eventually moved to France and met his father, he discovered a connection to Dahomey royalty and a past complicated by the slave trade and colonialism. From 2022 David Wright Faladé on the all-Black brigade that inspired his new historical novel This made-for-TV personal history inspired his new novel, “The New Internationals,” which details the love triangle formed by a Holocaust survivor, a Sorbonne student from colonial West Africa and a Black GI from America. This week, he joined Kerri Miller on Big Books and Bold Ideas to share even more of his family's history and discuss how the potent mix of grief, guilt and hope found in post-war Europe created the world as we know it today. Guest: David Wright Faladé is a professor in the MFA program at the University of Illinois and the author of several books, including “Black Cloud Rising.” His just-released novel is “The New Internationals.”Subscribe to Big Books and Bold Ideas with Kerri Miller podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS or anywhere you get your podcasts.Subscribe to the Thread newsletter for the latest book and author news and must-read recommendations.
He's a little bit Hank Green and a little bit Sean Cody and he's here today on the couch… it's Your Friend Kevin! “The library is open” in today's show as Kevin reads the house DOWN! Watch him suck down a Slurpee as he joins Delta for a hilarious conversation about book clubs, cereal and d*ck pic etiquette. Plus, Delta revisits her rant about passengers on the plane and introduces us to two new characters that you will effortlessly hate!Listen to Very Delta Ad-Free AND One Day Early on MOM Plus Send us an e-mail at readmedelta@gmail.com FOLLOW DELTA@deltawork VERY DELTA IS A FOREVER DOG AND MOGULS OF MEDIA (M.O.M.) PODCAST Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
He's a little bit Hank Green and a little bit Sean Cody and he's here today on the couch… it's Your Friend Kevin! “The library is open” in today's show as Kevin reads the house DOWN! Watch him suck down a Slurpee as he joins Delta for a hilarious conversation about book clubs, cereal and d*ck pic etiquette. Plus, Delta revisits her rant about passengers on the plane and introduces us to two new characters that you will effortlessly hate! Listen to Very Delta Ad-Free AND One Day Early on MOM Plus Send us an e-mail at readmedelta@gmail.com FOLLOW DELTA @deltawork VERY DELTA IS A FOREVER DOG AND MOGULS OF MEDIA (M.O.M.) PODCAST Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week, Juliet and Jacoby debate whether it is rude to order fajitas at someone else's birthday, discuss new tourism news coming out of Japan, and cover a brand-new KFC item that hasn't made its way to the States yet. For this week's Taste Test, they finally try Hidden Valley Ranch Cheez-Its. Finally, they share their Personal Food News and react to some Listener Food News. Do you have Personal Food News? We want to hear from you! Leave us a voicemail at 646-783-9138, or email ListenerFoodNews@Gmail.com for a chance to have your news shared on the show. Hosts: Juliet Litman and David Jacoby Producer: Mike Wargon Musical Elements: Devon Renaldo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices