Wayne Dawson FULL SHOW

[00:00:00] It’s so funny. , I did a thing last night, with, weight, weight oval. Mm-hmm.

weighed over Wednesdays and, you know, I’m reading the script, you know. Mm-hmm. If you’re not with an individual group, you need to sit, six feet. And I get a letter today or an email today, man ain’t trying to scare people, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah from somebody was there last night. I’m like, look, I’m just reading the script

You know what I mean? I’m just reading the script and the script says, if you ain’t with the group , if you’re with your group, fine. If you’re not, we advise you to sit six people apart. Right, right. It ain’t my, I’m just reading the script, but I think people have gotten to the point now where they’re used to it, you know?

What’s up everybody? You tune into another episode of Strategic Moves. I’m your host, Ken Dowell. This is a place where I bring art, culture, politics, and business all together. Been doing it for 20 years, right here in the city of Cleveland. Met some very interesting people along the way and this show gives us an opportunity for me and them to share some of our experience with you.

And today I’m very excited before we get started, I want say this, I watched Channel eight [00:01:00] news every morning. Every morning I sit there laying in my bed cause I don’t sleep. Anybody who knows me know I don’t sleep. I work 24 hours a day and I don’t sleep.

And the only people that’s up at four o’clock in the morning is Wayne do. That’s right. . I don’t sleep much easier. They don’t sleep much neither. So I watch Wayne from four o’clock in the morning till I walk out the door, which is usually around 10:00 AM on my way to the office. And so today I wanted to do a special shout out to my production.

Because I started doing this podcast and I said, there’s people I want to meet and bring on interesting people. I know a lot of people and I want them to help me. I was sitting there watching the news and they said that Wayne Dawson been working at Channel A for 40 years. I said, damn, 40 years.

Yeah. And I watched that whole show and I said, God, it was just amazing to me that you were there that long and over our lifetime of watching you, it was like, damn, 40 years crazy. [00:02:00] And then when I thought about it, I said, I want Wayne Dawson to come on my show. And I came in and I talked to my daughter, and I talked to Latif, and guess what?

People, they made it happen. So I wanna introduce y’all to no, other than Mr. Wayne Dawson. Thank you, man. What a man. , man. Trying. That was off the top of the head, man. I think you, man, just think about it, man. Hey, it’s an honor man. It really is an honor. It really is. And, I should have been here a lot sooner.

Oh, no, man. Now you right on time. Trust me. You right on time, man. Check this. Believe it or not, I’ve been at channel like 42 years. Can you believe that? Wow. 42 years. Here’s what happened. When I first graduated from Ken, 79 mm-hmm. , I started at channel eight. It was like I graduated in.

Winter quarterback. They were quarters back then. Right. Okay. But I started in Channel LA in October. Mm-hmm. of 79 that first year. Mm-hmm. , I was a trainee. That was back in the days when they had, minority training programs. Okay. Right, right. Which, uh, what was that? Those in the past. Right. But our union after had [00:03:00] a minority training program.

Mm-hmm. . So I got involved in that. Me and a lady named April Sutton, who’s out in California now, she’s been doing great things out there. So that lasted a year. And then after that, they liked my work, so they hired me as a freelance reporter. Wow. Which meant I worked full-time. Mm-hmm. , but I didn’t get paid full-time money.

Mm-hmm. , they paid me like $5 an hour or something like that. Wow. Wow. Which I’m good. I’m like, Hey, I’m just glad to have a job. Right. So that lasted a year. Mm-hmm. and then. In 82. This woman named Maddie Majors. She was a reporter and she went to Detroit at a Detroit station that opened up a position for me.

Wow. So they hired me in 82. But like I said, I celebrated 40 years as a fulltime time reporter, but I’ve been there 42 years. but who’s counting right now? You said when you started out, you didn’t really wanna do, what you’re doing now. You wanna do sports or what? Well, uh, yeah, that’s a crazy thing.

When I was in college, I wanted to be a sportscaster. Mm-hmm. , I went to Ken State University and I was news director and all of that. Mm-hmm. and worked hard. And it was a good thing cause I had to do everything. I had to [00:04:00] write all the newscasts and all that. Mm-hmm. . But in my heart, I wanted to do sports because I love sports.

Mm-hmm. and I figured it, but I can’t play it. I might as well talk about it. Hmm. But, things happened and I got pushed in the news. Mm-hmm. and so the rest is history. But it’s so funny about five or six years into my career, channel eight. An opening came up for a weekend sportscaster. Mm-hmm.

So, I was interested in a position, so I talked to the news director at the time, a guy by the name of Virgil, Dominic. Who’s the guy who hired me. Mm-hmm. . I’m thanking for that. And I said, Virg like, do sports. Yeah. And he says, well, I’ll let you, well Wayne hit this real , I’ll just wanna let you know that, uh, you know, sports it’s losing its significance locally.

Cause ESPN has started and CNN has a sports, and you’d only do two or three minutes a day. You’d probably have a better future in news. And so it turned out that was the key and Wow. And it worked out that way. And if you think about sports on a local level mm-hmm. , it is very small. They do like three minutes a night.

When was the last time a local sports station broke anything? Even [00:05:00] locally, it’s all broke on the national scene. You know, you right about that. The sports, do they only have their little sex? Yeah. Little, little section. And like I said, what was the last time? Even when the Browns break, when Deshawn Watson mm-hmm.

whatever happens with him, right. It’s gonna break nationally first. Mm-hmm. , everything that happens with a local team . breaks on the national level. And it trickles down to the local level. Mm-hmm. . So local sports doesn’t have the significance as it used to have. Mm-hmm.

And that’s, just the way it is now, everybody would rather talk to the national media when it comes to sports. Let’s stay on this Deshaun Watson and Channel eight stuff. Mm-hmm. I watched the first day when, you guys got the news that Dessan Watson may be coming to Cleveland.

They were cutting the deals and I watched Stacy and who’s the other young lady with the black hair? Long black hair. Oh, you’re talking about, uh, Stacy Fry. Stacy Fry, uh, yeah.

Stacy Fry. I think there’s a lot of people in Cleveland who are just not happy about Dishon and I think they are happy cuz we are Brown fans and we really wanna [00:06:00] win. Yeah. But that Deshaun Watson thing, Wayne, I think it’s really playing on the heartstrings of a lot of people.

So in your opinion, what’s this Watson thing, man? How do you think that’s going to play here? Yeah, man. Well, I think, if he is as advertised mm-hmm.

and he brings the championship to Cleveland all this forgiven, there’ll still be a core of people who are upset. But I think that, time heals all wounds, especially when it comes to sports. Mm-hmm. , you think. And this was a different time because he didn’t have social media. But think about Kobe Bryant when he was with that lady.

Right. You know, and then the charges against him or the accusations against him. Mm-hmm. , you know, Ben Rothenberg, same thing, you know? Right. I think although Des Sean has a lot of women coming forward motto. Right. I’m coming the man like massages, . But, I just think that,

if he takes us to the promised Land mm-hmm. or he wins a Super Bowl, or if he’s just a successful quarterback, I think we’ll forgive him. Cause of that. I mean, he’s a human being and do I, give him a password? He did. Absolutely not.

Mm-hmm. , but. He who was allowed sin, cast the first stone, you know, and that’s the way I look at it. Right. Everybody [00:07:00] deserves a second chance, you know? Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. , his record was clean before that. Correct? He just got caught up into that whole massage thing. Mm-hmm. and let’s be honest, the attorney for the first two ladies mm-hmm.

what? On the fishing expedition. And he was searching out women, searching out women to out and it became a money thing at that point. Mm-hmm. Do I excuse him? No. That was dumb on his part. Right. But you know, it is what it is. He’s a young man. Young men make mistakes.

Mm-hmm. , what is he, 24, 5 years. Yeah. Don’t dig in my past, I was 24, 25. Right? Right. You do stuff, right. You do stupid stuff, but hopefully you outgrow that. Yeah. And you can move on. Mm-hmm. , if God forgives mm-hmm. , then we should forgive.

Yeahs correct’s the key. You can’t hold onto to that stuff. Mm-hmm. . So that’s why I’m hoping that if he becomes a good quarterback and leads the brown and stays out trouble, but we get. And what about this? We got the president who had a lot of acquisitions against Oh.

That God, we, oh. You know what I’m saying? But we swep No, they, definitely let that pass. They gave him a serious pass. Yeah. Serious pass. And you know, I say this about the Watson and the place he’s at, he’s in a good place as it relates to a city I think [00:08:00] whatever the outcome is, that he’s in a good place to forgive.

And like I said before, he was a model citizen. Mm-hmm. until this stuff came out. Mm-hmm. So I think he’ll be fine. I mean, he knows what to say, he says what he needs to say.

Mm-hmm. , he does it. He says it. Mm-hmm. , that’s a good thing. So let’s stick there cuz you got your crew over there. I watched them every morning, man. You guys do a good job. And I tell you what’s really amazing that I see we know there’s a sense of family amongst all of you guys that’s been working there and, I’ve find it, amazing how religious a lot of the folks are there that works there.

Yeah. You know, and that’s a blessing too. Yeah. To know that, they’re believers there mm-hmm. Because most of the time when you talk about television, you got a lot of individuals who are skeptics non-believers.

Mm-hmm. . But we do have believers there. And that’s a good thing. You know, that’s a good thing. because I’m never gonna hide my faith. And I remember when I first started on the show, that was many years ago, 20 years ago. Mm-hmm. . And so maybe I was just getting May, I’m thinking about how long I’ve been in the ministry when I first started on that show.

Me and Stephanie Schaffer and Andre, Bernie, we [00:09:00] used to pray before every newscast. Mm. And that was a beautiful thing. And we’ve been number one for every 20, 25 years. Wow. On that morning show, and I’m thinking one of the reasons we are is because, we give glory to God.

Mm-hmm. , and I just honestly believe that because there’s no other reason for us to be number one all these years so I think the fact that there are a lot of people on the show who are believers helps.

Yeah. I noticed that and, just to give you a taser, how I noticed that I was at, lunch one day over off of Prospect and I walked in and I saw Andre sitting there having lunch with about three or four guys. And they sent me next to them at a. . And while I’m sitting there, I did a little ear hustling just cause that’s Andre, Bernie.

I said, what the heck you talking weather talking about? Yeah. . Right. So they were talking about church and he was there with a bunch of deacons and they were, or from his church? Yeah. He’s a, interim pastor. All right. He, he does a lot of interim stuff. Uhhuh . And this is his third, fourth time he’s been an interim pastor.

Wow. And I’m thinking this time that he’ll probably Okay. Being the number [00:10:00] one, because he’s only working part time at Fox eight right now. Really? Okay. So I think he’s moving clo more and more into the ministry. Mm-hmm. . Got it. Yeah. But yeah, I was impressed. And this was many years ago. I was, okay. Well said this many years ago that he was just an interim pastor.

Yeah. He was just interim pastor then, cuz it was many years ago. But I was so impressed by the fact I sit there, I said, wow, he’s a religious man. Yeah. He’s, and and, and they were having a serious meeting there and I was thinking, I said, wow, that’s pretty cool. He’s a deacons, huh? With the deacons. I said, he’s a real serious, that was a serious meeting.

Yeah. I said he’s a, he’s a religious guy, so That’s cool. So I’m gonna tell you by the time how we met. Okay. And we met a long time ago and. , I met through one of your friends, herb, your buddy Herb. Every buddy Herb, every time I hear herb’s, name, man. , I get soft inside. Oh yeah. That was my guy.

Yeah. He was my photographer. Mm-hmm. , you know, we worked together on many, I have 11 Emmys. I think 10 of them came from working with Herb. Uh Wow. And, he’s just a wonderful guy. He’s a wonderful photographer, man. A good friend, a confidant. Mm-hmm. May he rest in peace? Yes. Yeah. And gone [00:11:00] far too soon.

But yeah. Yeah. Herb. That was really good. So let me tell you how we met Dan. This will flashy bag and see if you can remember this. Herb put together, I was working for a councilwoman Saber Scott. Oh, I remember Saber. Yeah. And we put together, we call it holiday in the hood. You remember holiday in the hood?

You gotta think about it. Way we was on 105 and Saint Clair and the middle winter, it was freezing outside. I remember that. Nah, it was a program. It was a program. Her was a producer. He bought the choirs and all that stuff up there. Was I like I did something for that. Yeah. You came out, you out u c was you part of it?

It was the other guy before he retired and went to Florida. Oh. Uh, bill Mark. Bill Martin was there. It was you, bill and it was this, it wasn’t it Stacy Bell. Stacy Bell. It probably was Stacy Bell. Stacy Bell was there. Yeah. You guys came out. Yeah, I do remember that now. Yeah. And it heard Thomas Herb Thomas put that together.

Saber wanted to do a program. They were close, they were really close. Nice relationship and, and she wanted to do this program she called her holiday and the hood, she wanted to give away [00:12:00] hot chocolate. She wanted to give half Santa Claus come. I remember big Christmas party out there.

Yeah, that’s exactly what it was. And it was a big, but it was the coldest day. It was cold though, man. It was started snoring. Remember Beyonce with the coldest and Cleveland run together? Oh, they run together, man. And we did it though. We did that whole program out. Yeah. Yeah. That’s where we first met you at.

And that’s where we, kind of got everything going and, um, heard put that together for us and all of that. So yeah, that’s how we But you behind the scenes guy. I’m a behind the scenes. I’m always been behind. That’s why I know everybody, but nobody kind of knows me doing this kind of thing into the podcast until the podcast like, man, you know everybody.

I know everybody. We did a lot. So that’s good stuff. Yeah, that’s how we first met, man. Like I said, herb Thomas. Soul man. Uh, right, right. Yeah. I remember Soul Man.

Excellent photographer, excellent producer. He was just a man of many talents. So he started out with you when you got going as your Well, here’s the thing. Herb worked at C Lake before I got there. Okay. He came outta high school, started working there. I think he was in Herb, used to do, uh, what the heck did he do?

He worked [00:13:00] in, I forget where he worked. But it wasn’t on camera. Then he moved up and did the studio camera. Okay. Well, he started doing news. He had been there for years. But he started doing news the same year I got there as a trainee. Wow. So he was a trainee photographer.

Mm-hmm. , I’m a trainee reporter. Wow. So we come up together like that. Okay. And so we we’re both from the east side of Cleveland, we’re both from the inner city. Mm-hmm. , which is rare for a reporter. Okay. For a black reporter. Most of the time they come from, suburbs, middle America, you know?

Mm-hmm. , but I came from right here, Glenville , east Cleveland. The Hood. Mm-hmm. and Herb, same thing. Right. So we bonded immediately. And our reporting reflected that. Mm-hmm. We were urban man. We were that guy. We just did stories. Urban stories, you know, feel good stories in the inner city kind of thing.

Right. I loved working with him and since he’s been gone, I haven’t found anybody else really to fill those shoes. But it is what it is. You know, I’ve moved on and I anchor more now, but for many years I was just reporting mm-hmm.

What would you think was the [00:14:00] wildest thing you done reported on well, we’ve done stories, uh, in crack houses. Wow. That was wild. Wow.

We, we’ve done stories with prostitutes back in the day. We’ve done stories at, nightclubs, you know, where the girls shaking, shake, shake, shake, . We’ve done those kind of stories. Mm-hmm. We’ve covered political conventions. Mm-hmm. we’ve interviewed, president Bush.

Okay. But I’ll tell you, Herb and I, we were one of only five stations in the country to do that one-on-one interview with

president Bush. At the convention. So just being in the mix like that and being able to sit one-on-one and talk to a president, that was cool. And then I’ve done, sad stories. I went to high school at Shaw and I remember doing a story, about a murder.

This is early in my career. Mm-hmm. and this guy murdered his three sons as they slept. Mm. As he was maned the wife. Well, this happened two streets from where I lived on Orinoco. Mm. In East Cleveland. And so my assignment was to go do the story, you know, do whatever you need to do. So I go over there.

I couldn’t bring myself to knock on the door to talk to the [00:15:00] wife. I just couldn’t do it. So I didn’t do it. I still did the story, talked to, neighbors and I get back to the station, you know, I’m watching the stories on the three stations. There she is on Channel five. There she is on Channel three.

And that taught me even though you feel like you’re overstepping your boundary. It’s how you approach the situation. Mm-hmm. , that’s the key right there. So I learned that lesson. Even though someone may be grieving you don’t just stick a camera in the face.

I don’t exactly. Some people do some people, but I don’t. Right. But, my thing is, hey, do you want to talk? And if you don’t find, but at least I have to ask, that’s as a Do you miss that any? I do. And the thing that, I mean, cuz that’s who I am. I’m a reporter first. Mm-hmm. , and I love it because that’s the, creative part of tv.

Mm-hmm. , I mean, sitting and doing the news and anchoring, that’s performing. Mm-hmm. . I love interviewing as well, and that’s a good part of it as well. But when you go out to do stories, you’re actually putting the story together. Okay. You’re doing the interviews. Mm-hmm. you with the photographers, use the video.

Mm-hmm. You write the story. You select the interviews. , you put the story together in what we used to, call packages. Mm-hmm. . And you [00:16:00] present it. That’s the creator part of the business. And I still do it. We have a thing now, we call Voices of Unity. Okay. I go out and do good news stories about people working together.

Mm-hmm. , blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Mm-hmm. like the last one I’ve done, was on the, black football Hall of Fame weekend. It’s coming up, down in Canton. Okay. I think it’s, central. In Winston-Salem. Okay. They’re gonna play a game at the Hall of Fame. Mm-hmm. . And they do it every year now.

Okay. Because the Black football Hall of Fame is now in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Correct? Correct. So I did a story about the merger between HBCUs and the professional football fame and that’s a huge story. And a lot of people don’t even know that. They don’t even know it. They don’t even know that it’s been under the radar.

Mm-hmm. , but that’s going to air very soon. And then that’s like a four minute piece. But I like doing that stuff, on the Channel eight thing, how’s working with Amanda Berry? I’ve only met her a couple of times when she first started. Really? Yeah. Because see, it’s so funny. She works nights and I’m in the morning.

Okay. But when I met her, just a very, very sweet young lady. Mm-hmm. , and, , she had her daughter with her, and it’s amazing [00:17:00] how composed she is. Mm-hmm. when you consider what she’s been through. Right. So, , my thing about Amanda Bear is that I’m just impressed with her and I’ve only met her a few times.

Very nice. Down to earth. And, I have nothing but respect for her. Yeah. But like I said, she works in the evening. I get in at three 30 in the morning. I was gonna give you my Kenny dial questions and that was one. Wait, what time do you go to work at dinner?

I get it at three 30. Wow. So I get up at two. Woo. Yeah. In the middle of the night. So why don’t you put that whole suit on and everything. Uh, at two o’clock in the morning you dress to the nine dress to the nine . Probably the house. I got my makeup on. Roll. You ready to roll camera? Ready when I better.

But anyway, uh, now something out. Some of the girls, they roll up in there with no mega bone. Really? So they getting dressed and everything while they show started at, at four. They roll on the set at, at 3 55 . See, I’m not that guy. I gotta get myself ready. Gotta be prepared. You sitting there waiting on them?

I’m waiting on them. I’m y’all. Do you? I’m, I’m, I’m ready. but y’all I get up at two. We start, I get [00:18:00] to work at three 30, sometimes quarters of four. Mm-hmm. on the air at four o’clock. Mm-hmm. And then we do, on a normal day, I work, five straight hours on the air.

Right. And then if Todd’s not there, I do six cuz he does the last hour. Mm-hmm. . Even when he is there, I have to do a little segment in the nine o’clock show. Okay. So I had a lot of time on the air. It really, really is. But hey, you know, so you’re doing eight hours? Not really, no. I’m let just get out.

No, they know. I, I get there. Say I get there three 30, I’m usually gone by 10 30. Okay, so that’s what, three 30? 4 35? About six hours. That’s six hours. But that’s, that’s five and a half hours on the air. Oh, no, I understand. No, I was, I was wondering, you know, it was your typical day like that. Yeah. Yeah. It’s about typical day.

Sometimes I may do seven or eight, but my typical day is about six hours tops. And was So what time you go to bed? Oh, okay. On a good night. Mm-hmm. , seven o’clock. Whoa. On a okay night. Seven 30 mm. On a night like last night where I hosted the wade over. Wednesday you did that? Yeah. Okay. I did it twice [00:19:00] this year.

Mm-hmm. , oh man, I don’t get to bed till 8, 8 39. Mm-hmm. If the Cavali, one time I had season tickets for the cab when LeBron was there. Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. man, I’d stay there for the, the end of the game. I’d be getting to bed at like at 10 30. Wow. And didn’t get going to work. Wow. That was crazy. That was crazy.

Yeah. Yeah. But it was worth it cuz LeBron was there. Right. . Wow. But yeah, so here goes my other question for, Hey, that everybody probably want, how many damn suits you got with got a bunch man suit to that closet.

You got a big old closet way. Yeah, well I got, yeah, a big closet and I probably take about two thirds of the closet. My wife has a third. Mm-hmm. . But see she got her stuff upstairs, but I got a lot of suits because. , I’ve kind of stayed consistent in my weight, so, the problem is, I got way too many suits.

Mm-hmm. , but I try to recycle them as as much as I can. Mm-hmm. , because the suits now, at one time they were baggy pads. I was about to say, everything’s fitted now. Everything’s fitted now. So it is what it is. But I got lie. But you hold on to cuz you know you gonna be like, gonna be now, Hey, I got a couple, I got a couple of Steve Harvey’s.

[00:20:00] I’m like, who? That’s a nice suit. That’s, it’s gotta be back and inside at some point. Oh yeah. With the four buttons down the front. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. On, oh, they coming back. They coming back now. I’ll tell you what I like all the damn socks.

That, that Kenny. Kenny. Man, that, that’s an awesome gift, man. That was an awesome gift. Can I say something? Man, that was awesome. Kenny K Crumpton is a hell of a guy. Excellent. He really is, man. I love him. He’s like a brother to me, man. Nothing but love for Kenny man. Mm-hmm. he’s a good hearted guy.

Right. You know what I mean? Mm-hmm. and that’s hard to find. He’s a good hearted guy, man. And not just because he gave me a couple of boxes of socks. Uhhuh . But he’s just a good dude. He really, really Oh, that was awesome gift. I, yeah. Was I looked at him outta all the gifts to give people, I said, you know what, that was a great gift.

I’m gonna tell you, I’ve only worn a couple of ’em cuz they some wild socks. Oh yeah. There’s some wild socks. Yeah. Sock. That’s how they’re wearing them though. Yeah, they’re right. But yeah, I got a bunch of them pair give, I looked at, I said last I three boxes. Yeah. They gave three boxes and I said, Wayne, don’t need no socks.

But that is a hell of a gift. . That was a great gift. [00:21:00] So let’s switch up a little bit, Wayne. Let’s talk about journalism in Cleveland, how things have changed. You know, we were talking off air, about just how things have changed, more national and people looking at more national news, you know?

and news as a whole. I watch you in the morning, my wife is at work, so I get to listen to some of the good news and you guys have the nightmares in there mixed there, and it’s really a wash of what happened last night, right? But you guys get to put the new news in there and a lot of good stuff that’s going on.

But then is that 10 o’clock news that come on and the wife every night, man, you make me go to bed on this every night, y’all can’t sleep because of the news. And, I had an opportunity to work.

At the prosecutor’s office, some years ago. And I was working in their scanning department, scanning documents and I was scanning in all the cases. And, part of scanning in all the documents you go through and you look at all the cases, you see all the murder cases, see all the autopsies and all the stuff that was going through.

And we scanning this stuff [00:22:00] cuz they’re moving stuff from paper to digital. And I’m looking at all of that and I got a sense of how much real crime and everything that goes on in the city and, and I told, my wife you watching this, but this ain’t even a drop of what’s really going on out here in the community.

So just that balance, Wayne and news, and not trying to scare people half the death with what’s going on and keeping people to the reality. How you balance that? Yeah, , that’s a good question. Because we do, I mean, every day I get in, I know there’s gonna be a murder.

Mm-hmm. , there’s gonna be a fire, it’s gonna be some kind of gunfire or something. Mm-hmm. , I know we’re gonna lead with some negative stuff usually every morning. Mm-hmm. And, because like you said, it’s out there. And it’s what we choose to cover. That’s the way it is.

And we have reporters who are tied in with the police department in that. , they get video from the police, they get tips from the police. So at Fox eight right now, we’re heavy on crime. Mm-hmm. , we do a lot of crime stuff.[00:23:00] I submit to you that yeah, there’s a lot going on out there, but stations choose what they cover.

There’s some things you have to cover. , it’s a major story. Mm-hmm. , the other things you choose to cover. And some stations choose to focus on the crime. Mm-hmm. , while other stations choose to focus on more, Good news stories, but I guess there is a balance. You try to do a balance and then we try to do a balance we have over the years.

It’s heavy though, man. Heavy. You guys come on that first 10 minutes, man, is, is rough. Oh man, man. Scared to step outside. Hey, well that’s my wife cuz shit like, man, I don’t wanna go. I mean, it’s an argument every now I’m like, I wanna know what’s going on. I ain’t gotta know what’s going on. What is it a police chase?

Yeah. Or is it a wrong way driver? Right. Or dirt bikes. And, and to your point, I think that’s what makes people switch more to national news. Yeah. Because it tired of seeing, because you, because it, it seems like it’s a little bit further away from you. You’re not talking about the shooting that just happened at the corner of your street that you don’t want to hear [00:24:00] about.

Yeah. You like, you say you listen to Donald Trump, he’s in Washington, or that don’t affect me. And I think that’s part of that issue you get too, you know. Yeah. But like I said, We’re gonna cover that stuff, but we try to balance it with some good news, you know? Mm-hmm. , some positive news, some uplifting news, some tech news, some health news and all of that.

Mm-hmm. , but you’re going to get your feel of, Cleveland. Mm-hmm. , , you know what’s happening here. You know, the crime that’s happening here. You’re going to get your feel of, okay, what’s the mayor doing now? Mm-hmm. So, that’s what we do.

And we will do that until the community or viewers say, we don’t wanna see that. Mm-hmm. , because we are reactive, it’s what the public wants. Mm-hmm. , if the public has an appetite for crime then we are gonna feed you crime. Mm-hmm. If the public says, you know what, I’m tired of crime.

And they start moving away from us and you see your numbers, Jason, to numbers drive. Mm-hmm. everything in television. Mm-hmm. . Everything in television. Mm-hmm I mean, careers are made and ruined. Because of numbers. Mm-hmm. That’s just the way [00:25:00] it is. We’re very reactive when it comes to our viewers and the numbers that we depend on, you know, so that’s the key right there.

So how do you feel the state of journalism is going then it’s becoming more and more advertiser driven. Mm-hmm. , when I first got into journalism, the sales department and the journalism and the news department were separate. Mm-hmm. , they didn’t interact. Now there’s a marriage between the two, if you notice, on a television station.

Most things are sponsored. You know, the sports are sponsored. Right. Everything is sponsored. Mm-hmm. . that didn’t happen before. Okay. but now there’s that merger because we try to sell everything we can. Mm-hmm. , and that’s every station you wanna make money, it’s about making money.

Mm-hmm. journalism is neck and neck with trying to make money. Okay. Because if you can’t make money as a TV station, then your future’s, not bright. And that’s unfortunate. Just look at the nationals. The national cable channels.

Mm-hmm. You got cnn. Mm-hmm. , they’re left. MSNBC’s left. So what does Fox do right. [00:26:00] They try to fill that void to go, right? Correct. Now, does that mean Rupert Murdoch is right wing? Not really. Mm-hmm. , Rupert Murdoch is a businessman. Mm. So what he’s seeing is that, okay, there’s an opportunity here to grab these viewers if we go far, right?

Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. because CNN and msnbc, our left mm-hmm. . So it’s a business thing. Mm-hmm. . And doesn’t necessarily mean that the powers that be at Fox believe what they’re saying. They’re saying. Right. But it’s, it’s business. Mm-hmm. . So there you go. Mm-hmm. , uh, . So now we got a new network and it’s our network.

Next star. We’re next star. Okay. So we have a nationwide broadcast that comes on, it’s on, I think at nine o’clock. Mm-hmm. our thing. We’re right down the middle, , you know, we’re gonna let you decide. Mm-hmm. , we’re gonna present the facts and you decide as opposed to cnn, ms. Msnbc, and Fox.

So there you go. Next star. That’s our thing. Next star. Yeah. And so I think it’s, it’s on the Old Tribune station. TBS Old Station. Yeah. Okay. Okay. And it comes on, I think it started like eight o’clock. [00:27:00] And they’re gonna do news. They’ve, they’re already doing it. We’ve been on for a while. Okay.

Mm-hmm. , I got you. And our thing is, like I said before mm-hmm. , we’re gonna bring it to you right down the middle with this hard cuo. Megan Kelly. Oh, so that’s the, I did see the advertising for that. Okay. Yeah. But we’ve been on the air with that. we’re owned by next start.

Okay. A lot of people think we’re owned by Fox right now. Mm-hmm. , we were owned by Fox initially. When we were cbs, we became Fox. Mm-hmm. but Fox sold us many years ago. Okay. And so now we’re owned by this company called Next Star. Which has like 160 stations.

Okay. Plus they just bought the CW network. Okay. So they’re expanding mm-hmm. and they have this, news thing that they’re doing and like I said before, it’s supposedly down the middle. Hmm. So, do you see yourself one that ever do any national type news or No. E early on when I never wanted to do national mm-hmm.

early on I wanted to do DC mm-hmm. . I have a relatives that live in DC and I wanted to work in dc This is my third or fourth year in the business. And then I started thinking about how much it cost to live in dc. , but I still wanted to work there, but I kept getting promoted at Channel eight.

Mm-hmm. . So I just [00:28:00] got comfortable here in Cleveland, but I never wanted to do network news because in a sense, oftentimes you’re living out of a suitcase. Really? Yeah, because I’m talking about network correspondent. Okay. Because you’re going here, you’re going there, you know?

Mm-hmm. , ah, I know what you’re talking about. Now, a network anchor, yeah, that’s what, okay. , would they get paid? Right. , they see there, call me. Right. ? It’s probably that ship is sell, but I’ll tell you what, if it had rolled my way Oh yeah. For that kind of money. Oh yeah. I’ll be like, see ya. No, you was just speaking of that, you said when you first started out with Fox eight, that was some he was talking about, you said you was making what, $5 an hour?

When I first started, I was making minimum wage on that trainee period. Mm-hmm. , I was making minimum wage. And where was that back then? It was like two 50. That’s what it was. Because I remember when you sitting on what That’s crazy. It was what, two 50 something like that back in That was 1979. Wow. So, you know, folks, but that two 50 was like $15 today.

Come on. So lemme ask you a question now. You went from $2 and 57 and you ain’t gotta tell us what you make now, but when did you get that bump up that you felt like, oh, you know [00:29:00] what? Now I’m making some money. When I became a regular reporter in 82. Okay. I got bumped up because when I was freelance, they was just paying me whatever.

Right. When I became a regular reporter, I got a bump because I was a AFTRA Union reporter. , Uhhuh. . When I started working weekends, anchoring weekends, Uhhuh , I got another bump. Okay. Okay. When I went to the morning show, I got another bump. Okay. When I had an offer to go to Channel five, , I got another bump.

Okay. Okay. So there you go. Alright, there we go. Alright, that answered that question. Excellent, excellent. So let’s talk about you, Wayne. Now you the dead, 40 years over at the place, man, you are a pastor. You know, a lot of people don’t know you’re a pastor, right? Yeah, man. I got two full-time jobs.

Two full-time jobs. Had a wife and family. That’s three. So that’s, and you got, got grandkids too, right? Oh man. Got grown grandkid, grandkids. Yeah. So you My oldest is 20. She’s 21. Yeah. No, she’ll be 22 soon. Wow. Wow. I’m saying y’all see this dude, man, he do not like, he aged a day in his life, man.

Not a day in his [00:30:00] life, man. Praise God for that. Oh God. He’s a but, yes, yes. I got, I got. , grandkids. Mm-hmm. and four kids. Wow. Three daughters and a son. Mm-hmm. . So let’s talk about your ministry and when did you switch over to say, I want to get into pastoring. Pastoring. It’s so funny how that happened because, been spiritual all my life.

Mm-hmm. and you grew up in a church and all of that. But like a lot of people, I had stepped away from the church. I got married, I came back. Mm-hmm. And, just went from church to church. But I’ve always been connected to Bethany Baptist Church. Mm-hmm. cuz I grew up in Glenville, Drexel Avenue and Eastern 28th and Shaw.

So bethany’s my home church. Mm-hmm. . But for a while, I was just visiting other churches. Make a long story short, I came back to Bethany and because I thought that this is what the deal was being on tv, I was getting these invitations to speak at various men. Mm-hmm. , and I’m like, okay, maybe I should take a class.

Okay. Maybe I should take a seminary class or something. Learned a little bit what I’m talking about. Right? Right. So I started going to seminary. Mm-hmm. So one thing led to another, I went to my pastor now, [00:31:00] Reverend Rowan, and I said, look, I think I’ve, been called, you know, he says, really?

So to make a long story short, he licensed me many, many years ago. And so I started, working under him at Bethany. Mm-hmm. . Because I was doing these men’s days at all these churches. Wow. So he licensed me at Bethany and I started going to Bethany, working under him

for many years. And then I was like seven years as a minister. And then finally he said, I think you’re ready to be ordained. So I went into the training to be ordained, and finally I got ordained. Mm-hmm. . And what happened was, I’m working at Bethany, I’m fine. I had no. desire to be a pastor.

Mm-hmm. , I’m like, I’m good. You know, I’m working with, pastor Rowan and he was allowing me to speak at all these churches all over town. Which is cool because, hey, I’m spreading my brand, you know, talk about the Lord, by the way. Watch Fox eight News in the morning kind of thing.

And we’re all over time with that, so I’m like, I’m good. What happened was my pastor was a friend of this guy named Reverend Dr. Jeremiah. Price. Mm-hmm. . Okay. And, he was sick. Mm-hmm. . And he asked my pastor, what about that Dawson? Do you think he wants to come over here and give me a hand?

Hmm. And [00:32:00] so Pastor Rowan asked me, I said, well, I don’t mind. And we set up a meeting, well, the day I was supposed to meet him is the day that Jeremiah Price died. Wow. So I never got a chance to talk to ’em about that. Make a long story short, at that point, looking for an interim pastor and pastor one said, Hey, you wanna put your hat in the ring?

I said, okay, I’ll put my hat in the ring. Well, they didn’t pick me. They picked somebody up. Okay. Well, Last minute this guy withdrew. Mm. I was the second choice. So they picked me and I was there for a year, you know, and after a year they said, Hey, would you like to be pastor me not knowing No better. Okay.

So since then I’ve been at the church and it’s been a blessing. It really has. People always say, how do you do it? I’m like, I don’t know. Mm-hmm. , it’s just the Lord, man. You know, I always give him the credit. Mm-hmm. , because, when you think you’re doing stuff in your own strength, but you are doing stuff in the strength of the Lord, he will lead you and guide you.

And that’s what he’s done for me at Grace Tabacco Baptist Church in Lindhurst. He’s led me and guided. because, there’s no way I could do it, if it was not for his hand, his guy hand. Mm-hmm. . [00:33:00] And that’s where I look at it. Mm-hmm. . So, hey, I’m just doing it man.

I’m just following the lord. You know, let him do what he does. We’ve been blessed too. Yeah. You know, the congregation during the pandemic, the congregation is blowing, I’m blowing. Mm-hmm. growing. So funny how God works. Mm-hmm.

when I first got there I said, we wanna do a media ministry. This is before the pandemic. Got a lot of pushback on, I don’t wanna be on tv. Some of the other ministers mm-hmm. , I said, we’re gonna do it anyway. So we did it. Mm-hmm. , bam pandemic hits. Wow. Wow. It’s all it coming and hey, I’m just like, mm-hmm.

So now we are, we’re still doing our thing. And, we’ve been able to, expand that, you know, little bumps and bruises along the way. Mm-hmm. . We’ve actually. Gained a membership during the pandemic, which is a blessing. Our finances have been strong. Mm-hmm.

So the Lord has blessed the church man, and I’m just, I’m thankful for that. Mm-hmm. , I really, really am. God. Glory goes to God on that note of the pandemic, you think they kind of downplaying that a little bit more, Wayne, you in the media, is it becoming a norm now or you think they got a good handle on that and [00:34:00] people don’t have to worry as much as it did before?

Well, I think it’s gonna be around. Mm-hmm. People are still catching Covid, man. Mm-hmm. , but thankfully it’s not as bad. It’s not as bad. It. The flu. Right. We’re not hearing people dying like the numbers and all of that anymore. Cause I think people have gotten vaccinated or we come immune. Mm-hmm. . So I think that’s the case cuz I, I was just at a wedding this past week and the former first lady of our church came down with Covid. Right. But she’s been boosted and got all four shots. Right, right. But she says it’s more like a runny nose kind of thing.

Mm-hmm. . But you still have to stay away with, stay away with people. Right. It’s so funny. , I did a thing last night, with, weight, weight oval. Mm-hmm.

You know what I mean? I’m just reading the script and the script says, if you ain’t with the group , if you’re with your group, fine. If you’re not, we [00:35:00] advise you to sit six people apart. Right, right. It ain’t my, I’m just reading the script, but I think people have gotten to the point now where they’re used to it, you know?

It was amazing to me how people just did not want to just go with that. I mean, and I get it there’s so many conspiracy out there. You really don’t know what to believe sometimes, but the amount of people who just said, you know, I didn’t believe it. Didn’t believe it was just, well, you know why that was.

Yeah. You know, you know why that was. Just leave it at that. Let just leave it at that. Yeah. It’s, it’s a shame though. Yeah. It’s a shame. But finally they said, okay, well, I think it’s, I think it’s church . Exactly. Exactly. So Wayne, let’s talk about now your church. Are you going on, you’re doing well with your church.

Any God ob what was the biggest hurdle you think you had to get going into that church? Church? Yeah. Well, the biggest hurdle I had was, bringing it together. Okay. Because the death of the founding pastor the only other pastor they’ve had. Mm-hmm. brought about a lot of bickering and fighting in the church.

Mm-hmm. , longtime members, deacons. So I had to come in the midst of [00:36:00] that. And so my philosophy, the Lord led me to really preach on. And togetherness. Mm-hmm. , you know, and that’s what I preached on like the first year. And slowly that message, you know, kind of touched the hearts of the individuals there.

But when I first got there, there was a lot of turmoil. Mm-hmm. , matter of fact, my pastor said, you sure you wanna go over there? Cuz they fighting like crazy. Mm-hmm. . But, praise me to God, you you always gotta have issues in church. But these were pretty bad issues really.

But, praise God. And I didn’t know what I was getting into. Mm-hmm. , like I said, God’s just leading me when it comes to that. Mm-hmm. whole ministry. I’m like this when it comes to ministry, hands off God just lead me. Mm-hmm. . So I went in there preaching love and slowly but surely, we were able to come together and, you know, operate and function.

I will say that the church is on solid ground. Reverend Price laid a firm foundation. Okay. So are you able to get more young people involved at church? That’s what we’re trying to do, man.

Mm-hmm. . And that’s a blessing. We’ve had a few young families come in, man. What a blessing, because that’s the future of the church. That’s the future. Right. Right. And you have to bring in young families. And we’ve been blessed [00:37:00] this year to bring in three or four young families, man, active families.

Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. . So that’s good. And that’s, that’s a beautiful thing. And, and that’s when, like I said before, I give all glory to God. , I try to be relevant. I’m not a preaching the robe kind of guy. Okay. You know, because I mean, you gotta, you gotta, you know, young ain’t a hooper. All a hooper, man.

you know? I mean, I think personally Uhhuh, I think those days are gone. Yeah. I think people want to be, you know, you want to talk to people, you want to give them the word. Mm-hmm. , I’m there to still people like hooping. Right. But I think the younger generation mm-hmm. , it’s a different generation.

Oh, it’s a different generation. Yeah. And, and that stuff worked in the past. Yeah. And people still like to dance. Yeah. And I’m Hop Pentecostal, but, you know, but when I’m looking, I’m like, , is that a show or is that praise? Right. It’s a fine line. It’s a fine line. So my thing is just trying to empower, you know, I’ve tried to tell people that, hey, you are somebody.

God loves you. You know the fact that, the Holy Spirit is within in you. That means you’re part of the Godhead. Mm-hmm. . I try to empower people because of their connection to Christ. Mm-hmm. , that’s, that’s my message, you know? Mm-hmm. [00:38:00] Jesus is, is the son of God. He’s part of the trinity, the Holy Spirit, part of the Trinity, and that resides in you.

So that means that you have greatness within you. Mm-hmm. Give your life to Christ, and see what happens.

You grew up in, east Cleveland and, yeah. Well, Cleveland, first Cleveland, yeah.

We see one stop you there? Mm-hmm. only because people always, they connect me to East cause I went to Haw. Sure. Okay. But man, I’m from Glenville, you know? That’s great. What, what part of Glenville? I move on Drexel Avenue. There it is. There it is. Right on Ville. There it is. First 10 years of my life. Right.

Then move to East on 28th off Shaw. Mm-hmm. , and then when I, when I, went to seventh grade, we moved to East Cleveland. Excellent. And then went to Kirk. Mm-hmm. in Shaw. But I went to, I was part of that second phase of desegregation. Okay. Okay. I got bused from Hazeldale Really to Murray.

Really. But along the way, I went to Joseph f Landis. Mm-hmm. went to Parkwood. Okay. Remember Parkwood right over there on F Hills, right? Yeah. Miles Standish. I went Right. I went to all those schools Wow. And then ended up at [00:39:00] Hazeldale.

Wow. And then they sent me to Murray Hill. Come on. Wow. Wow. . Well, and you went out. Cause I grew up on Kempton over there off 105. Yeah. So I went to Miles Stand Empire and all of that stuff. Yeah. So we Right in the same neighborhood. That’s Yeah. Man, man. Everybody on this show who comes in somehow or another end of Whedon, they way through Glenville.

And that’s Glenville amazing. It’s such a photo ground. You know, and see my family goes way back to Glenville. Remember it used to be the Jewish part of town, correct? Correct. Correct. and when my family moved over there way before I was born mm-hmm. , they were one of the few black families over there.

I can believe that. And the churches. Corey. Mm-hmm. , yeah. Ania and Bethany. Those were synagog, they were synagogue. And you look at ’em today, they still had the writing on the top of the That’s right. Buildings. That’s right. It’s true. I remember walking to Bethany Baptist Church. With my grandfather.

He was a deacon there. Wow. And, he had the deacon corner. Yeah, exactly. Y’all remember all that growing up, man. Like, I grew up at Bethany. Mm-hmm. I learned how to swim. At Corey. Wow. They had a swimming pool at Corey. Mm-hmm. They still do, they still, they still got a swim pool.

Yeah. Swim pool. Yeah. Why not? How to swim? [00:40:00] Grew up right down the street, pool’s still there. And that folks man, you East Cleveland? I grew up in, I was in East Cleveland, but I’m from Glenville. You Glenville man. You in East Cleveland. Look, I went to Shaw . Now my brother’s East Cleveland. Your brother’s East C That’s all he knew.

Okay. But I was getting ready to go to Patrick Henry. Mm-hmm. And my mother moved to East Cleveland. Well you know what, I’m glad cuz you proud about that and that’s great. Everybody from G Glenville is definitely proud about that. Glenville Glenfield, yeah. Has a place in my heart. There’s no doubt about that.

Excellent. No doubt about that. So my point I was going to get into with this discussion about c. . Right. and just the way things have changed, Wayne, you done been around, you’ve been reporting the news for a long time. Yeah, man. And you’ve been watching how all our communities just like you, Hey, you were part of Glenville of the Good Times and East, east Cleveland and East Cleveland a good times.

And we done watched them all change now and what’s going on. And so Wayne, what do you think man, is the city gonna make a comeback? You know, I think we are less than 300,000 in the city of Cleveland.

We losing population, we’re spreading out. People are looking for better places to live, but the core [00:41:00] of our city. And then I call East Cleveland part of our core cuz it’s right there, right there.

What you think, Wayne, it’s gonna take leadership? Mm-hmm. I’m very hopeful, about Mayor Bibb and what he’s going to accomplish. Mm-hmm. , We need leaders like him. Mm-hmm. , young leaders who really want to stay here and give back. East Cleveland right now is suffering from a lack of good leadership.

Correct. And that’s why the city’s in the shape. It’s in. They’ve had bad mayor after bad mayor, after bad mayor who just took from the city and now there’s nothing to take. Mm-hmm. Cleveland, Frank Jackson made a lot of inroads. You know, there are a lot of things that happened in his years as mayor.

There are a lot of things happening. I think the key is, with him as mayor. Hopefully it will draw young people back to the city. Mm-hmm. , and that’s what I’m hoping. Downtown is becoming a neighborhood. Mm-hmm. . Now that’s the key.

Once downtown becomes a neighborhood, I think that the city will begin to, come back again. Mm-hmm but, I think Cleveland has hit, its lowest [00:42:00] point really. I think now there’s no place else. We’re worse than everything, man. They said We are most stressful place to live.

There’s only one way to go that’s up. Wow. And I really have confidence. what I’ve seen so far, it’s early. Mm-hmm. , but I have confidence in Justin Bibb. Mm-hmm. And other young leaders who are now stepping up.

Mm-hmm. . And that’s the key man. We need young leaders to step up. Young politicians, young leaders, young business individuals. You know, it’s that next generation now, I gotta be realistic. I’m over 60. Mm-hmm. , so it’s the next generation that really has to step up.

Mm-hmm. And stay here. Instead of moving out. Moving out. Right. Stay here and, and try to make a life here and build the city back up. Often wonder, I was just in Chicago, I’m like, how did Chicago become Chicago. Mm-hmm. and Cleveland kind of stayed because we got the same, we both got a lake.

Yep. Yep. Go. Both got a river. Yep. Both got ethnic communities. Mm-hmm. , how did Chicago thrive? As a city. Mm-hmm. and Cleveland just remained where it is. I just, I’m still trying to figure out it is the leadership. Is the leadership over [00:43:00] the years, I think it is. And we in Cleveland have this crab in the barrel mentality, especially amongst African-Americans.

And that’s a problem. And that’s a big problem, man. That’s a problem. Huge problem, man. We don’t come together for nothing. And that’s a sad situation, mm-hmm. We are our own worst enemy, when we could be a powerful force, not only in this city, in this country mm-hmm. But we refuse to recognize, our power and our potential as a group of people.

Mm-hmm. . We refuse to recognize that. And as long as that happens, we’re gonna be taken advantage of. And that’s sad. That’s sad. Everybody thought that Barack Obama, presidency was, the pinnacle. Mm-hmm. . But we found out that was not the pinnacle. Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. it always said it was No, it wasn’t a Barack Obama.

It wouldn’t be a Donald Trump. Right. Exactly. So it’s like, since Barack Obama, we’ve kind of taken a few steps backwards. Oh, huge step backwards. We’ve been fell off the cliff. I wonder why that is, because there’s enough everybody. Mm-hmm. the pie is big enough for everybody. Well, society, I think as a whole have done that to the African American male. The African American male, just took a serious hit. It goes back when we talked about the crack [00:44:00] houses and the drugs and everything else.

Left women raising kids Yeah, absolutely. Without fathers in the house. Totally. and can we just take it a step further? Mm-hmm. , that black exploitation period, man. Exactly. When our heroes were the pimps and the drugs Exactly. Dealers and all that. They were, idolized, they were idolizing.

And I would say, your GR generation. Yep. Then my generation took it to hip hop, where hip hop is cool now, but the hip hop that started it all that got it going, that was negative, was negative. And even gangster, gangster rap. And even when we get back older, we look at it, be like, oh my God, was we, you know, but back then, those days I remember playing and they was like, man, turn that off and be like, oh man, y’all crazy.

We listening, you know? And it was that thing and. Over time, man, it weared on it. It took a toll on our community. Even to the point now, man, that the lyrics of the hip hop, and I know some of my younger folks have killed me about this, but hell, the girls lyrics now are worse than the Gods [00:45:00] lyric. I mean, some of the girls who are good MCs, now, I look at ’em, and be like, oh, she’s rapping.

But when you turn it on, be like, did she just say what just heard her say, can I tell you, when I grew up in the sixties and even early seventies, you had positivity, man. Right. You had black power. Exactly. You were proud to be black. Mm-hmm. Always been proud to Exactly. Always. Because that’s why I was grounded.

Mm-hmm. , you know, I’m black and I’m proud. Right. , the songs had a positive ringing to them, man. Right.

I’m a proud black man today. Because of my youth. I think we’ve lost that today. Mm-hmm. So Wayne, what’s next man? What’s next for Wayne Dawson? know one thing my wife’s like, you need to rest, right? She said, you need to. Spend some time chilling, and, full-time pastor. Yeah. I just decided to do contract at Fox Eight, so I’ll be there for a while.

So you ain’t going nowhere. . Y’all gonna see me on there for a few, we gonna see. Alright, so we know where you at, God willing, , I got a book that’s coming out in, November, excellent. 29th of November. It’s [00:46:00] called The Seeds of Greatness Are Within You. Hmm. And it documents my life from Glenville area to East Cleveland. To Kent to, early years at Fox eight. Mm-hmm. to the ministry that I’m doing now.

Mm-hmm. and my family life and all that stuff. And I can say this, I’ve never been a model citizen. I’ve had some ups and downs in life. Made a lot of mistakes. Mm-hmm. . But the message is no matter what kind of mistakes you make, you could still rebound.

Mm-hmm. and you can still achieve. And that’s what I hope people get from the book. You gonna do an auto book on it as well? Yeah. He wants to do an auto book and I’m like, I gotta read that stuff. . I gonna take a long time man. I do. I read for a living man. I gotta read this whole books. I’m gonna do an auto books as well.

Mm-hmm. . So we’ll see what happens. You know, we’ve already started putting stuff on the internet and stuff like that, so. Okay. I like to come back and talk. Oh no, you definitely coming back, Wayne. You welcome here. Anytime man. I want you to come back I appreciate you coming out, man.

.But I’m gonna give you, an opportunity to say something, you know, if you want to plug your church and Oh, okay. Tell people where the church is. Okay. Where y’all do [00:47:00] service at or anything that’s on your mind.

Okay. That camera it’s on you. All right. First of all, Ken, thank you man, for this opportunity to actually be on your podcast and talk to your viewers. I would really appreciate it. First of all, watch Fox eight News in the morning. , that’s important. Real on from four o’clock all the way to 10.

So check us out in the morning if you already do. I thank you for that second. I have a church. I’m the pastor of Grace Tabco Baptist Church, was in Lindhurst, Ohio, 50 20 Mayfield Road in Lindhurst. Our services 11 o’clock on Sunday morning. We’re done at about 1215. I won’t hold you long. Hmm. But we have a good action packed, hour and 15 hour 20 minutes of worship.

It is a Bible based Christ believing church. We also have a Bible study, via a prayer line that’s, that’s on Wednesday night as well. And then we also have prayer on Thursday morning at nine 30. The Bible study is at six 30 on Wednesday. And if you watch us on Sunday, we’ll give you the number of the prayer line. Once again, we also [00:48:00] stream, we’re on Facebook. On Instagram, Wayne Dawson, Instagram page, and we’re on the Grace Tab, Aqua Baptist Church Facebook page, as well as YouTube. So check us out there.

Coming out in November 29th I’m putting out a book, Dante Young is writing my memoirs. So it’s basically a positive, kind of book. I wanna speak life into people, and I’m using my life as a way to,, let everyone know that they do have the seeds of greatness within them.

That goes for everyone. We all do because we’re all children of God. So the name of the book is, the Seeds of Greatness Are Within You there will be an audio version that book available on Amazon, all of.

so you’ll be hearing more about it. It’s an honor to be able to preach the word of God over a Grace Chco Baptist Church. I feel blessed. I really do. And once again, thank you so much. If you’ve been watching me over the years, even if you have not, check us out. See if you like it. We always looking for viewers once again.

Thank you very much, Ken. Thank you man. You are the man. Oh, thank you. You sir man. Thank you. Thank you. Hey y’all. Wayne’s world all time. Excellent . [00:49:00] We’ll see y’all next episode.