00:00Hey, John, thanks so much for taking time to be with us.
00:03I know we tried to do this a couple of weeks ago, but we were interrupted by a guy named Ian, Hurricane Ian.
00:09That's it.
00:10Yeah, man, I was praying for you guys.
00:13I lived in Central Florida for what's really how I got my start in television.
00:19And yeah, and we actually we went to Katrina when that happened.
00:25I mean, after that happened.
00:26So, gosh, the pictures are terrible.
00:28And you guys you guys have been incredibly resilient to stay on the air.
00:32Yeah.
00:32You know, it took that whole saying it took a village really did.
00:37And it was all hands on deck.
00:38And, you know, being in the media and the news business before you understand how that goes.
00:42So where were you?
00:43Were you in Orlando?
00:45Yeah, I was.
00:45I was.
00:46I was in Channel 9.
00:48I think it was called Extra Effort News.
00:49I was 20 years old.
00:52And Disney, this is how long ago it was.
00:54You know, Disney had just started.
00:56If it's I'm in Los Angeles.
00:58Right now.
00:59And we're trying our best to move to Florida.
01:03We have grandkids here.
01:04You know, it's probably full there now.
01:07Everybody leaving Los Angeles and New York to come to be with you guys.
01:10Well, you know, following COVID, we did have an influx.
01:12And sadly, though, after the storm, I think we're going to have a little bit of an exodus temporarily.
01:17Yeah, because the jobs and the housing.
01:19But I'm confident that we'll bounce back.
01:22And we're really excited that you're going to be able to come down December 8th at the Seminole Casino Hotel in Immokalee and bring some holiday cheer and just some general cheer and good vibes.
01:33You know, our whole thing.
01:36Listen, we've been doing this.
01:38I just turned 70.
01:39Get out of here.
01:40And I'm still above ground.
01:42You know, so we've been doing this for a long time.
01:44And I'm a big fan of, you know, for seven years, I've been on and off, you know, in and out of a cancer battle.
01:53And I'm much better now.
01:56But I understand the power of encouragement, you know, and studied suffering and courage and all the rest of that stuff.
02:05And it's what we talk about a lot on the radio show, of course.
02:08But that's really what our show is.
02:09I mean, yes, it's holiday music, but I wanted to take it back to the times when I was listening to holiday music with my parents, which is in the 1950s and early 60s.
02:18So it's they're all big band arrangements.
02:21You know, there's a lot of old school Christmas stuff on stage.
02:25And so people will be able to just take, you know, take an hour, 50 minutes, you know, somewhere in there and just say, OK, I feel like I feel like I've gone old school right now.
02:36I love it.
02:37So you were here. Gosh, it's been a while since you've been in southwest Florida, hasn't it?
02:41Yeah, it has.
02:43We we have we've spent so much time touring in Florida that, you know, the joke is in our team that we could we could just tour in Florida and never go anyplace else.
02:53The crowds are so great.
02:55Well, we're glad you're coming back and back here.
02:57So, you know, you mentioned something about your canceled cancer battle.
03:00And part of your mission is to uplift people and be inspirational.
03:03Were you like that prior to to getting this disease or did you really just jump on this to kind of help yourself and push through or maybe a little of both?
03:15Well, I mean, we were doing we were always doing personal development and encouraging stuff on the John Tesh radio show, the intelligence for your life stuff.
03:22But when, you know, in 2015, when my wife and I walked out of the doctor's office with 18 months to live for me, we were supposed to get our affairs in order.
03:31We had two choices.
03:32We could just, you know, roll over.
03:35My wife is, you know, is an Italian from the Bronx.
03:37And so, you know, she rose up and just said, no, this is not us.
03:41And I, you know, I was 63 at the time and I was like, I've done some fun stuff.
03:46You know, I'll just get my stuff in order.
03:48And just know you're not, you know, we fought back.
03:51And so I've learned a lot in those.
03:53And I also I've also learned to respect other people's suffering at any level.
03:58You know, I mean, it's like a lot of people just think that, oh, you had cancer.
04:01You were really suffering.
04:02That's got to be the worst.
04:03Not necessarily.
04:04I mean, I've met people and I always do after every show and we will, you know, there when we're there at the end of the show, who are just going through grief, going through loss.
04:13And it's a lot of what Floridians have gone through now at many different levels.
04:17So I do understand the paradigm of suffering and it creates a whole different level of empathy.
04:25And I think that I think we need that now, you know, in this, especially in this country is just empathy and understanding other people's paradigm, what they're going through.
04:34Indeed, indeed.
04:35And, you know, Christmas is always it's it's such an emotional time for so many people anyway.
04:41I mean, you've got this great joy, but you also do have some profound sadness if you're alone or if you've lost somebody.
04:47So sometimes it's kind of hard to navigate the extremes of those emotions during the holidays.
04:53Yeah, I agree.
04:54And, you know, I'm not just saying this because we're both on the radio, but hey, you know, podcasts are great.
05:00Television is is cool, you know, and Netflix and all the rest of that stuff.
05:04But certainly in times like this, even before the hurricane, the radio is is is is a place where you can have a friend.
05:13And it sounds goofy, but that's the way it was when we were growing up in the you know, in the 60s, is that you can really speak into people's hearts.
05:21And especially, you know, at this time, you understand I bet you you guys were on far before the television stations were and the Internet and all of that.
05:30You understand that that responsibility.
05:32And so when whether you step up to the microphone or I step up, you know, on on stage with the piano, there's a you know, there's there's a mission.
05:41And it's we make that clear in the concert as you as you do on your show.
05:46So I've got just a couple more questions.
05:48I know we're going to talk again as we get closer to your show.
05:52But do you have a favorite all time Christmas song or carol?
05:56I know that's like asking what your favorite child is.
05:58But is there something that every time you hear it, it's just like, oh, that's it.
06:02That does it for me.
06:04I have I have several, you know, I mean, one is it's a song that we'll open up with, which is let it you know, let it snow.
06:11Classic.
06:12I just woke up not long ago, so I'm not going to sing it.
06:15But I'd also have an out of tune piano here.
06:17But let me see.
06:18Also, you know, Christmas time is here.
06:28And so we and we play these songs, you know, with a full on jazz band.
06:33Right.
06:34Right.
06:34So you close your eyes and you're like, oh, my gosh, except for the voice.
06:38It's Sinatra on stage.
06:42Oh, well, just thank you for giving us that little snippet.
06:44That just that made me excited for your show.
06:46I think some piano players out there, some piano players out there going, tune your piano.
06:49Well, we know you, you, you set the stage.
06:53It's out of tune and you're three hours behind us.
06:56So I know you got up early and I thank you for doing that.
06:59Sure.
07:00So we look forward to seeing you again.
07:02The show is December 8th at the Seminole Casino Hotel in Immokalee.
07:06And I know you and I are going to be talking again before the show.
07:09So, John, thanks.
07:10We cannot wait to see you here in southwest Florida.
07:12And God bless you for you and your God bless you and your team for what you guys have done
07:17during this terrible time there.
07:18You know, we we we believe in the power of prayer here.
07:22And you've got to we have a, you know, a Bible study every Thursday here with me and Connie
07:26and a whole bunch of people.
07:26And we we're praying for you guys.
07:28I know people are praying for you, but we are actually praying for you.
07:31So I believe you.
07:33Yeah.
07:34You're part of the sunny team, you know, like it or not.
07:36So, John, again, thank you very much.
07:38And we will talk to you soon.
07:40All right.
07:44See ya.
07:44See ya.
07:44See ya.
Comments