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You know we know it takes a special track to do this.
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Itโ€™s just a fluid chef. Iโ€™m here to remind yโ€™all Iโ€™m sick with it. My name is hot. Itโ€™s ubiquitous meaning itโ€™s one
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and the same. Simple and plain. Iโ€™m all about my paper. The bacon chitter and pain. I got these lanes running for the border. The talent. Keep it flowing like itโ€™s water. But here we go. There we go.
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24 seconds
Creeping to a low speed. Is it him and his friend sitting in the nose? Play it cool.
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Everybodyโ€™s hands up.
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Welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome to another episode of the Taste Music here Food Podcast Show. I am your host Ed
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Porter. This is the destination for food, music, and culture and how they all connect. Today we have an amazing
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50 seconds
guest. Um, somebody Iโ€™ve been trying to sit down with for a while. I remember vividly uh his introduction to the Twin
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59 seconds
Cities because I I me being a big sports guy, it was good to see a face like his doing what heโ€™s doing.
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1 minute, 8 seconds
So, Iโ€™m going to attempt to give you the flowers that you deserve with this intro. Here we go. In
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1 minute, 16 seconds
the world where highlights meet humanity, todayโ€™s guest just doesnโ€™t cover the score. He captures the soul behind the story. From southern Illinois
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1 minute, 24 seconds
to the Twin Cities, heโ€™s brought heart to the headlines, authenticity to the anchor desk, and culture to the conversation.
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1 minute, 32 seconds
Whether in a press box or on your screen, heโ€™s repping Kappa Alpha SAI, repping Missou, and reshaping what
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1 minute, 39 seconds
sports journalism can look and feel like. Letโ€™s welcome to the show, Mr. Reggie Wilson.
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1 minute, 45 seconds
Whatโ€™s up? Whatโ€™s up? Thanks for having me. Thanks for having Thank you for being here. So, so I do tons of research about guests that that come on and you you have such an
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1 minute, 55 seconds
intriguing story about how you came to be and I was Iโ€™m Iโ€™m looking Iโ€™m like this this this
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2 minutes, 2 seconds
needs to be told like that like so my story is a is an interesting one. Um and the more I tell my story the more people
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2 minutes, 10 seconds
are like all right weโ€™re waiting on the book waiting on you to write the book.
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2 minutes, 14 seconds
And itโ€™s interesting because I donโ€™t really think about it like that. I just really kind of think of it as my life, you know. Um, so I I grew up in in St.
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2 minutes, 24 seconds
Louis, Southern Illinois area. Um, my momโ€™s from East St. Louis. Uh, if youโ€™re familiar with that, very familiar.
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2 minutes, 31 seconds
And and so, um, grew up a little bit in St. Louis, lived in St. Louis, um, until
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2 minutes, 38 seconds
my dad passed away, uh, in 2004. And then we moved back to the Illinois side, southern Illinois. A lot of times when you say southern Illinois or you say anything Illinois, people think Chicago.
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2 minutes, 48 seconds
I was like, โ€œNo, just just right across the bridge from St. Louis.โ€ Right there. Yep. Right there. Close to the to St. Louis. Right across the Mississippi. Yeah.
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2 minutes, 55 seconds
To to just the other side of St. Louis. And so, uh, growing up, my dad was
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3 minutes, 3 seconds
someone who kind of instilled in me that love of sport. You know, some of my vivid
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3 minutes, 9 seconds
memories are growing up. Um, so it itโ€™s an interesting deal with my mom and my
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3 minutes, 16 seconds
dad because um, you know, they found their way back to each other later in his life. Um, but earlier on, you know,
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3 minutes, 24 seconds
they were doing the co-parenting thing and so, you know, vivid memories of my dad coming to pick me up and, you know, on weekends weโ€™re going
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3 minutes, 33 seconds
to the Y, you know, and my dad was one of the best basketball players Iโ€™ve ever seen. Like, bar none. Like it was crazy.
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3 minutes, 42 seconds
Like young guys, older guys, they would they would all come and and pickup got intense at the Y, you know. Yeah, absolutely.
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3 minutes, 48 seconds
You know, it was Michael Jordan and my dad. That was those were the two. Okay.
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3 minutes, 52 seconds
And so, like, Iโ€™m telling you, like my dad was like a a dead eyee shooter.
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3 minutes, 57 seconds
Like, you could have your hand in his face. And I think, you know, if if his life played out a little bit differently, I do think that he probably
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4 minutes, 5 seconds
could have made it to college and NBA uh playing ball or at least pro playing ball. Thatโ€™s how good he was.
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4 minutes, 12 seconds
Now, you got you definitely got you got the hype. I got the hype. My mom and my dad 6โ€™2.
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4 minutes, 17 seconds
Okay. Yeah. You got you definitely got the height.
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4 minutes, 20 seconds
Yeah. And so, you know, thatโ€™s how it kind of started for me. and growing up in the house. Um, so I was raised by my
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4 minutes, 29 seconds
mom and you know it was it was more like a single mom deal but you know it they say it takes a village absolutely
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4 minutes, 37 seconds
to raise a child and I had my village you know my grandparents big part of who raised me. My aunts, uncles, you know all of them are a part of my village and
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4 minutes, 46 seconds
you know still are. My grandparents no longer with us, but you know, my aunts and uncles, they theyโ€™re theyโ€™re my village. And
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4 minutes, 54 seconds
growing up, either at my momโ€™s house or my grandparents house, the news was always on. Always. My mom had this
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5 minutes, 3 seconds
thing, too, where she would pick me up from my grandparents house after school. We would go home.
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Donโ€™t talk to her in that first 10 minutes of the newscast cuz sheโ€™s trying to get the headlines. Sheโ€™s trying to figure out whatโ€™s going on. So if Iโ€™m
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5 minutes, 17 seconds
talking to her too much, sheโ€™s like, โ€œHey, Iโ€™m watching the news.โ€ Like, โ€œGive me some time.โ€ And so I would watch that. And then, you
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5 minutes, 25 seconds
know, hanging out with my dad, you know, we would watch sports. My mom also was big into into watching sports. So
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5 minutes, 33 seconds
weโ€™re watching Michael Jordan growing up, those Chicago Bulls teams.
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5 minutes, 38 seconds
And then the Rams got big, greatest show on turf. Yeah. [ __ ] the crew.
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Yeah. So that became a passion to watch the Rams with my dad. Yeah.
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And I remember like very early just being like, โ€œOh, wait,
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5 minutes, 57 seconds
ESPN.โ€ Like, โ€œOh, so like thereโ€™s a place that does what I see them doing on
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the news that my mom and grandparents are watching, but itโ€™s just with sports 24/7 and itโ€™s all the time.โ€ Yeah.
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6 minutes, 12 seconds
And I was like, โ€œOh.โ€ So now Iโ€™m coming home, Iโ€™m watching ESPN, Iโ€™m watching, you know, all the shows that theyโ€™re
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6 minutes, 19 seconds
doing. And that kind of grew my love for for sports.
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6 minutes, 24 seconds
And so, you know, my dad passed away, uh, lung cancer in 2004.
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Um, itโ€™s crazy because Iโ€™ve now been without my dad more than Iโ€™ve been with him, right?
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6 minutes, 36 seconds
Um, and thatโ€™s kind of bizarre, you know. Um my mom and dad got married um 99.
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6 minutes, 46 seconds
Okay. 99. Uh and he passed in 2004. And so before before he passed, my brother was
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born in 2000. And so he was four, I was 13. And we moved back across the bridge
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7 minutes, 2 seconds
to Illinois. As I told you about, town called Belleville, okay? like a suburb, if you will, uh
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7 minutes, 9 seconds
outside of East St. Louis. And that was kind of where things just started to to go. Like I got into sports
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a little bit. Um you know, cup of coffee, playing football, it didnโ€™t work out. Uh I always wanted to
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7 minutes, 25 seconds
play basketball. I I had some skills, but like it was never really watered. So like I wasnโ€™t near like the product to
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play high school ball. Um, but I did do uh track and field. I was a discus shot put thrower. But my story was always,
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7 minutes, 42 seconds
you know, everybodyโ€™s always like, โ€œYeah, you tall.โ€ You know, whatever.
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What they donโ€™t tell you is how brittle some of us tall people are, right? And so I kept getting hurt.
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7 minutes, 54 seconds
Vivid memory of being in PE class. You know, it gets fierce in PE class. Weโ€™re playing basketball, especially when youโ€™re the biggest guy.
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Yeah. Dude goes up for a layup. I jumped up, blocked it, came down my ankle, broke my ankle.
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One of the first few days of track, Iโ€™m throwing discus. Iโ€™m doing the spin.
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Crack crack knee. Thatโ€™s my whole summer is gone. Rehabbing my knee. That was the That was the end of my high school playing career.
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Understood. Understood.
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8 minutes, 26 seconds
I love sports though. And after growing up watching the news and watching ESPN
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and you know all these different sports media entities, that was something that I felt like I wanted to do. I wanted to
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be around the game even if I couldnโ€™t play it.
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And I figured the best way to do that would be to go into broadcasting.
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8 minutes, 49 seconds
So now you got the you literally have the best seat in the house, honestly. Y and you get to uh you you get to I think
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the the magic of what it is you do also is youโ€™re youโ€™re talking from two different perspectives. So youโ€™re speaking from obviously from the the the
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fan of the sport but also from the perspective of the athlete and how their their vantage point is too which is it gives a unique um view of of sports.
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9 minutes, 17 seconds
All right. Right about now we going to we play a little game. Okay.
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Okay. Called one got to go. Okay, this one got to go. Weโ€™re going to give you a list of things and then we just got to eliminate one of them.
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9 minutes, 28 seconds
Oh man, itโ€™s pretty simple.
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9 minutes, 30 seconds
Okay, this one This one got to go is going to be the Reggieโ€™s Hot Dish Road Map Edition.
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9 minutes, 36 seconds
Okay, Iโ€™m going list them all off. Oh man, Iโ€™m Iโ€™m a little nervous. St. Louis toasted ravioli.
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Uhhuh. Cincinnati style chili over spaghetti. Uhhuh.
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9 minutes, 50 seconds
The Juicy Lucy. Uh-huh. Or Dayton style pizza. Okay. You said one gotta go. One gotta go.
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9 minutes, 58 seconds
Oh man. U Iโ€™m Okay. I got to go. Cincinnati chili.
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10 minutes, 6 seconds
Yeah. The the Okay. Why?
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I just I never truly got into it. So if itโ€™s homemade, itโ€™s delicious. Our marriage parents uh
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10 minutes, 18 seconds
used to invite us over and our marriage mom, Mama Judy, she would make chili for
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us. Fire. Fire. But the commercial places.
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10 minutes, 29 seconds
Okay. So, for people that donโ€™t know what weโ€™re talking about, so there is thereโ€™s everybody knows chili. Yeah.
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10 minutes, 36 seconds
And then everybody knows spaghetti. Yeah.
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10 minutes, 39 seconds
So, yes, itโ€™s chili on top of the spaghetti with some diced onions. Usually, cheese. Mound of cheese.
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10 minutes, 46 seconds
Mound of cheese. And then for some reason they put little crackers on it.
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10 minutes, 53 seconds
Right. Right.
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10 minutes, 56 seconds
I still havenโ€™t eat chili without crackers over spaghetti though.
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11 minutes
Yeah. I So what I was told when I moved to Cincinnati and I love Cincinnati. Um one of the best places that Iโ€™ve lived. Very
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underrated place for people who donโ€™t know. Um I felt like I was just a part of the community there. Uh, Cincinnati is 47% black, which youโ€™re like, whoa.
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11 minutes, 20 seconds
You know, the chili is something that is an acquired taste.
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11 minutes, 25 seconds
How I was explained, itโ€™s not necessarily a dish. Chili is a sauce. Mhm.
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11 minutes, 33 seconds
And so itโ€™s meant not necessarily in like the Cincinnati style, not necessarily to just cuz my mom, you
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11 minutes, 40 seconds
know, my mom grew up making chili and we I would get a bowl of chili, put some cheese, some some oyster crackers, you know, go to town.
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11 minutes, 48 seconds
Thatโ€™s not how you eat Cincinnati chili.
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11 minutes, 50 seconds
It goes over spaghetti, over fries, over something. Yeah. It needs It needs another sauce. Yeah. But the thing, if
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11 minutes, 58 seconds
you donโ€™t know, so thereโ€™s two competing brands in Cincinnati. Thereโ€™s Skyline Chile and thereโ€™s Gold Star Chili. And
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12 minutes, 6 seconds
Iโ€™m not giving away trade secrets when I say this, but if you notice like the Cincinnati chili secret is thereโ€™s thereโ€™s a hint of cinnamon in there.
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12 minutes, 16 seconds
Yep. Thereโ€™s some Gold Star apparently they put a little chocolate in theirs. Okay.
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12 minutes, 22 seconds
And so thatโ€™s the thatโ€™s the thing. Itโ€™s like a lot of times youโ€™re a skyline person or youโ€™re a gold star person. You are seldomly both.
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12 minutes, 32 seconds
Youโ€™re not usually both. Yeah.
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12 minutes, 34 seconds
And so the Cincinnati thing when I was like, you know, I I heard too like people sometimes eat chili with a
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12 minutes, 43 seconds
cinnamon roll. And I thought that was I thought that was a thing. I was like, what is that? Like Iโ€™ve never heard of that.
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12 minutes, 49 seconds
Thatโ€™s Iโ€™ve Iโ€™ve Iโ€™ve seen it though. And so, but for some reason, the hint of cinnamon in the chili does something.
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12 minutes, 58 seconds
Plays. Yeah, it plays. But itโ€™s not my thing. Yeah. Itโ€™s the same flavor profile.
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13 minutes, 3 seconds
Thereโ€™s a little bit of that in um in the Detroit Coney. Okay.
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13 minutes, 7 seconds
Just the the Coney sauce, which is another chili. Itโ€™s a very loose sauce that has this warming spices in that as well. And thatโ€™s Yeah, itโ€™s an
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13 minutes, 15 seconds
acquired taste though, but uh itโ€™s not I remember my first uh you know, runin with that. I seen Iโ€™m in Detroit.
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13 minutes, 22 seconds
Okay. I see Coney Island. Oh, Iโ€™m thinking Brooklyn. Yeah. You know, no no different. A lot of different. A lot of different.
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13 minutes, 31 seconds
Okay. All right. Good. I I respect that. I respect that. Okay.
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13 minutes, 34 seconds
And that was just a little history through places that youโ€™ve been, which is I thought that was cool. So, we going to have to kill it. The the no shade to Cincinnati at all. Love.
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13 minutes, 44 seconds
Yeah. No shade. Uh it is a great place. My brother just moved to Dayton, too. So, love Dayton, too. Yeah. Itโ€™s great. Itโ€™s great. All right.
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13 minutes, 51 seconds
um when when prepping for a big broadcast, which you do so often, and uh and weโ€™ve had a great couple of years of
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14 minutes
sports for for the city. So, this itโ€™s been awesome. Yeah. Yes.
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14 minutes, 5 seconds
Tell me what are what is the soundtrack that that gets you ready for these these
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14 minutes, 12 seconds
big events that you are partaking. And then you travel like you youโ€™re like you part of the team pretty much like youโ€™re in different.
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14 minutes, 19 seconds
Yeah. Yeah. Youโ€™re on the road too. So, what what do you listen to?
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14 minutes, 23 seconds
Whatโ€™s your soundtrack? What is the Reggie Wilson soundtrack or playlist, if you will, to get you up for the big moments?
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14 minutes, 30 seconds
So, I think it just kind of depends on the mood that Iโ€™m in. So, uh for those who donโ€™t know my background, so um I
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14 minutes, 38 seconds
grew up a church boy. Okay. So, you know, KJIC.
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14 minutes, 42 seconds
So, we in church all the time. Okay. And um Iโ€™m a pastorโ€™s kid, too.
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14 minutes, 48 seconds
Yeah. So we we grew up, you know, Iโ€™m always in the church. So I used to sing Sunshine Band and then I got older. Um
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14 minutes, 56 seconds
and uh at the church that I kind of I wouldnโ€™t say grew up in the church that I grew up in and then the church
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15 minutes, 3 seconds
that I ended up going to were two different churches. Um, but the church that I kind of went into adulthood in,
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15 minutes, 12 seconds
um, I became a praise and worship, uh, singer for the church and I would lead several songs. Um, and so Iโ€™m big on
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15 minutes, 21 seconds
music. So that was that was a subtle flex, too. I just want to let you know I saw Yeah. I I lead several several songs.
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15 minutes, 29 seconds
Yeah. So I sing so I Iโ€™m a singer, too. Um, I I sang to my wife at our wedding. Like I Iโ€™ve sang at so many weddings.
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15 minutes, 38 seconds
Iโ€™ve sang at funerals. Iโ€™ve Iโ€™ve sang at events. Like I I in college I uh I
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15 minutes, 44 seconds
cosplayed Luther Vandross and I I sang A House Is Not a Home. There you go.
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15 minutes, 49 seconds
Uh thatโ€™s on YouTube if you want to look it up. Uh yeah. Yeah. So like I I sing. Um so I think it just kind of depends.
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15 minutes, 57 seconds
It it it depends like where my mind is.
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16 minutes
So like itโ€™s so funny. My mom uh you know she
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16 minutes, 7 seconds
had the foundation of faith from my grandparents. You know my grandmother um mother in the church you know big time
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16 minutes, 15 seconds
she pray leader for 30 plus years you know just missionary in the you know big
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16 minutes, 22 seconds
woman of God and um she is who I get my faith rooted from really. um her brother was a
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16 minutes, 30 seconds
bishop, you know, all kinds of pastors and preachers in my family. And um so I
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16 minutes, 37 seconds
think for me it always comes back to gospel, you know, and you know, as I got older, you know, I got into other
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16 minutes, 45 seconds
things, hip-hop and, you know, R&B, you know, growing up my mom uh always had that
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16 minutes, 52 seconds
God foundation, right? Foundation of faith. But, you know, growing up with my mom, Iโ€™m listening to old school R&B in
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17 minutes
the in the car. Growing up with my dad, my dad was a big, uh, Drew Hill, Boys to Men. If he was feeling ratchet, it was
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17 minutes, 7 seconds
Masterpiece, Silk the Shocker, like, you know, that type of stuff.
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17 minutes, 10 seconds
And so, um, but as Iโ€™ve gotten older, I found what my pallet is. And I know Iโ€™m being really long-winded with this
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17 minutes, 18 seconds
answer, but so depending on what the situation is, um, my wife will tell you that sometimes I like to listen to the O
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17 minutes, 27 seconds
Eley brothers or um, you know, Luther or, uh, Boys to Men or, you know, Drew Hill or, you know, some of those things.
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17 minutes, 36 seconds
You know, some of that is like nostalgic for me. Like I think itโ€™s really cool that RL um, Iโ€™ve met him several times and next theyโ€™re theyโ€™re from Minnesota.
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17 minutes, 45 seconds
Um, so they just sang the national anthem last week at one of the Wolves games. Like, you know, those are people that I kind of grew up listening to. Um,
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17 minutes, 53 seconds
but also grew up listening to, you know, uh, Clark sisters, uh, Bishop Morton, Kirk Franklin, you know, Fred Hammond,
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18 minutes, 2 seconds
John P. Key, you know, all the So, it depends. Uh if Iโ€™m if Iโ€™m trying to get like locked in locked in, Iโ€™m putting
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18 minutes, 10 seconds
on, you know, uh Pandora station, you know, uh Karen Hawthorne station will play a mix of everything, right?
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18 minutes, 18 seconds
Or if Iโ€™m really like, okay, I got to get my mind right, uh Fred Hammond. Or if Iโ€™m like, Iโ€™m trying to get amped up,
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uh you know, itโ€™ll be like, uh LRae, 1K F or you know, some KB, something like
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18 minutes, 31 seconds
that. I I love uh so my wife will also tell you Iโ€™m a big like gospel rap, Christian rap type. You know, sometimes
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18 minutes, 40 seconds
you need something with a little little beat to get you, you know, substance. I get it. But, you know, shout out to D1. D1 is uh D1. Thatโ€™s my guy right there.
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18 minutes, 48 seconds
Yeah. So, I sometimes I listen to those things to to get my mind right to, you know, kind of get the juices flowing. Yeah. Andy Min too. Thatโ€™s my guy.
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18 minutes, 57 seconds
Andy. Andy as well. Andyyโ€™s love Andy too.
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18 minutes, 59 seconds
Okay. Because because food and and music go hand in hand in my world, and I believe in everybodyโ€™s world, people just donโ€™t think about it that way. What
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19 minutes, 7 seconds
are you eating? What is what is one of those after a long day?
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19 minutes, 13 seconds
What is the What do you lean on for comfort as far as in in the food realm? Comfort food.
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19 minutes, 18 seconds
Now, now I know I know youโ€™re big on your health kit. I know thatโ€™s Yeah. But but I ainโ€™t big eating.
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19 minutes, 24 seconds
Okay. You know, I grew up, like I said, my grandmother and my mom are two of the best cooks that Iโ€™ve ever experienced.
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19 minutes, 30 seconds
And, you know, my mom learned a lot of how she cooks through my grandmother.
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19 minutes, 35 seconds
So, I grew up Thatโ€™s so funny, man. How I grew up, you know, my grandparents would pick me up from school. And of
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19 minutes, 44 seconds
course, my grandmother, you know, sheโ€™s just she was old school. So anytime I get home, it might be greens, cornbread,
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19 minutes, 52 seconds
butter beans, you eat caramel cake. You was eating night night food. Yeah.
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19 minutes, 58 seconds
Then I I I was greedy, so I would eat that and then my mom would uh come and pick me up after she got off work and she gets home and of course, you know,
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20 minutes, 6 seconds
she wants to make some dinner. Sheโ€™s like, โ€œDid you eat over mamaโ€™s house?โ€ I was like, โ€œYeah, I ate a little something.โ€ So I ate a lot.
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20 minutes, 13 seconds
Yeah. But then she cook. Iโ€™m like, โ€œWell, Iโ€™m not about to turn this food down either.โ€ you know. So, you know, I
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20 minutes, 19 seconds
think comfort comfort food for me um maybe like some good like fried cabbage
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20 minutes, 27 seconds
and some cornbread, some or some greens, mac and cheese, uh yams, um you know,
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20 minutes, 36 seconds
catfish, any type of chicken I will eat. Thatโ€™s my thing. Chicken is your thing.
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20 minutes, 41 seconds
Chicken and fish. Any of those. Iโ€™m not a big red meat person. I might dabble a little bit, you know, on a special occasion, maybe a little bit of steak,
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20 minutes, 49 seconds
but thatโ€™s not really my thing. Um, I donโ€™t really pork ribs. Thatโ€™s not really my thing either. Um, but you
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20 minutes, 56 seconds
know, that or or you know, a good pizza from somewhere will also Whatโ€™s your right now? Whatโ€™s your favorite pizza in in the cities?
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My favorite pizza in the city? No, precious.
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H I like uh I like I like Luch. Uh I like um you
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know Iโ€™m a Iโ€™m I still grew up how I grew up. Iโ€™m a big chain guy too. So Pizza Hut pizza is is all right with me.
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21 minutes, 25 seconds
Um but wifey and I we like Young Joan as well. Young thatโ€™s right around the corner. Yeah, thatโ€™s thatโ€™s a good spot. Young Hits. Yeah. Yeah, we like that.
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21 minutes, 33 seconds
Young Hits. Have you Okay. Thereโ€™s a thereโ€™s a pizza place called Elars. some New York style pizzas. Itโ€™s out in Itโ€™s in Plymouth, actually.
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21 minutes, 41 seconds
Okay. I havenโ€™t Itโ€™s um Yeah, itโ€™s legit. Itโ€™s legit, too. As a as a for as a New Yorker and I donโ€™t
21:48
21 minutes, 48 seconds
stamp much. I donโ€™t Thatโ€™s why Iโ€™m saying Young Jonies is legit, too. But as just like no frills, just
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21 minutes, 55 seconds
pies. Yeah. Yeah. Itโ€™s Itโ€™s They also do bagels, too. Like Okay.
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22 minutes
You had to get to get them. They sell out immediately fast. Okay.
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22 minutes, 4 seconds
Iโ€™m pretty sure they shipping the water back from New York. Itโ€™s crazy. like dude. Yeah, itโ€™s thatโ€™s the So, just in case people donโ€™t know, it is a real
22:11
22 minutes, 11 seconds
thing. Anything that touches the municipal water from New York City Mhm. is innately better.
22:19
22 minutes, 19 seconds
Innately better. And of course, get super producer Gabe.
22:23
22 minutes, 23 seconds
Heโ€™s an Element pizza fan. So, we got we got to plug Element, which I have yet to have, which I need to make a stop to have. I heard itโ€™s really good. So, if
22:31
22 minutes, 31 seconds
you like Young Jones, you would like Element. Okay. All right. Cool.
22:34
22 minutes, 34 seconds
So, Youโ€™re a Kappa man and and your wife is is an AKA.
22:40
22 minutes, 40 seconds
Okay. So, how do you find a way to have your your background being a a
22:48
22 minutes, 48 seconds
Missou grad and your Greek heritage, how do you make a way to find that into what
22:54
22 minutes, 54 seconds
you do on a daily basis? um you youโ€™re one of those people that that seem to seamlessly
23:03
23 minutes, 3 seconds
inweave all of who you are into every facet like you know you have you know hot dish you know you have your Reggieโ€™s hot dish in and everything you do and
23:11
23 minutes, 11 seconds
your your you love food and you know I believe your your uh your intro video was in a supermarket in the grocery
23:19
23 minutes, 19 seconds
store you was at London so like Iโ€™m looking Iโ€™m like okay I like this dude cuz I love the supermarket. Me too. And so itโ€™s itโ€™s my happy place.
23:30
23 minutes, 30 seconds
So, and thereโ€™s so many here in Minnesota.
23:32
23 minutes, 32 seconds
Thereโ€™s tons there. There there are a lot here.
23:34
23 minutes, 34 seconds
They really are. And I I love them for it.
23:38
23 minutes, 38 seconds
How do you seamlessly How are you able to do that? like how you know cuz it I believe the greatest storytellers come
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23 minutes, 46 seconds
from an authentic place and itโ€™s less about trying to code switch if you will and more about
23:55
23 minutes, 55 seconds
just being your authentic self 100% of the time in everything you do and thatโ€™s what I think shines the most about you. So how how are you doing that?
24:04
24 minutes, 4 seconds
So thatโ€™s a great question. Um, I think for a while I kind of ran from that. Um,
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24 minutes, 11 seconds
just kind of putting myself into different compartments of life and there was a cold switch. And you know, itโ€™s so
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24 minutes, 21 seconds
interesting. I grew up as a person who was kind of shy. Um, Iโ€™m still pretty reserved. Um, mildmannered.
24:31
24 minutes, 31 seconds
I I guess you would call me like a extroverted introvert if you will until that mic is on. Yeah. Mic comes on. You gotta bring it.
24:38
24 minutes, 38 seconds
You know, you got to come with it. And so I I just think my mom always encouraged me to be who
24:47
24 minutes, 47 seconds
God made me to be. And I think
24:54
24 minutes, 54 seconds
meeting my wife and just how out loud she lives encouraged me to just stop
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25 minutes, 1 second
doing the code switch and just being my authentic self. Yeah.
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25 minutes, 5 seconds
And I think Iโ€™ve Iโ€™ve really leaned into that. Um I started my career in Kansas
25:12
25 minutes, 12 seconds
and I think it it kind of gave me a little bit of a foundation, but I had people
25:19
25 minutes, 19 seconds
in my life at that time who I was kind of like working with and working for who would tell me like I I vividly remember
25:28
25 minutes, 28 seconds
having a manager say, you know, cuz I would try to infuse some of my personality into my stuff. And I remember having a manager say, โ€œHey, like youโ€™re here to deliver the sports.
25:39
25 minutes, 39 seconds
Youโ€™re not a comedian, so focus more on that.โ€ And so, you know, I I would internalize that. And
25:47
25 minutes, 47 seconds
then I got to my next spot in Dayton and I kept that in mind and you know Iโ€™m trying heavy heavy on you know give the
25:54
25 minutes, 54 seconds
analytical perspect you know give the stats give you know and I had a a news director uh his nameโ€™s Kevin Roach and um you know shout
26:03
26 minutes, 3 seconds
out to him he pulled me into the office one time he was like Reggie like whereโ€™s the
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26 minutes, 10 seconds
personality heโ€™s like what heโ€™s like youโ€™re youโ€™re a young Africanamean man like whereโ€™s that like where am I where is that happening in what youโ€™re doing?
26:21
26 minutes, 21 seconds
And that totally opened up my whole thought process and approach to how I did things where if you saw me at
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26 minutes, 29 seconds
the grocery store or if you saw me at church, if you saw me in the community, if you saw me at work, I was going to be the same person.
26:39
26 minutes, 39 seconds
And I kept watering that and kept watering that to the point where I am now. Whereas like you know black people are not a monolith.
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26 minutes, 49 seconds
Never.
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26 minutes, 50 seconds
We are not monolithic. And thereโ€™s no reason for us to act like we have to be
26:57
26 minutes, 57 seconds
or we are. And so at any given time, you know, when Iโ€™m doing sports, when Iโ€™m in life, it is
27:05
27 minutes, 5 seconds
itโ€™s itโ€™s the same way. You may get some, you know, colloquialisms. You may get some euphemisms. You may get some
27:12
27 minutes, 12 seconds
jokes. You may get, you know, silly. You may get, you know, serious. You may get, you know, it just depends on
27:20
27 minutes, 20 seconds
what Iโ€™m doing and and what the topic is. But like what youโ€™re getting is authentically me. Absolutely.
27:26
27 minutes, 26 seconds
And it took me a long time to lean into being unapologetically me and not being ashamed of this or that
27:35
27 minutes, 35 seconds
part of me and just making that a part of my story.
27:40
27 minutes, 40 seconds
You you talk about being a storyteller that itโ€™s the most important story to tell.
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27 minutes, 45 seconds
Your your perspective is what makes your story so important, right?
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27 minutes, 52 seconds
Your perspective is what makes your story worthwhile to listen to, right? And I think one thing that Iโ€™ve
28:00
28 minutes
learned, especially being here in Minnesota, where this is probably the most different place that Iโ€™ve ever
28:06
28 minutes, 6 seconds
lived, um, I had to be me because if I wasnโ€™t, I would lose myself, right?
28:14
28 minutes, 14 seconds
And thatโ€™s important. You I have to lean into who I am. I I have to be authentically me because I am Reggie the
28:22
28 minutes, 22 seconds
son, Reggie the husband, Reggie the soontobe father, Reggie the kappa, Reggie the man of God, you know, Reggie
28:29
28 minutes, 29 seconds
the brother, Reggie the friend, you know, Reggie the goofy dude. I am all those things at once. The And the
28:38
28 minutes, 38 seconds
reason why that that that came up so Iโ€™ve Iโ€™ve bumped into you on on a bunch of occasions. Youโ€™re the same dude. No.
28:45
28 minutes, 45 seconds
and and and youโ€™re the same dude on TV, though. So, itโ€™s like thatโ€™s thatโ€™s I know, you know, being in in the business
28:53
28 minutes, 53 seconds
that Iโ€™ve been in for for for decades, thatโ€™s not an easy thing to do unless youโ€™re either a phenomenal actor or youโ€™re just thatโ€™s just you.
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29 minutes, 4 seconds
And so, that that that shows it takes an amazing amount of courage
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29 minutes, 10 seconds
and self awareness to be able to be that vulnerable. Yeah. And so I I see it. I recognize it. I commend you for it.
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29 minutes, 18 seconds
Yeah. And and when youโ€™re on when youโ€™re on TV, that was one thing I had to learn as well. I would grow up like really
29:25
29 minutes, 25 seconds
just loving people like Steuart Scott on ESPN. Like loving people, you know, uh
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29 minutes, 34 seconds
televisionโ€™s John Butchig call himself Buchcci Mane, you know, like people have personalities. Absolutely. And people
29:43
29 minutes, 43 seconds
lean and Stuart Scott was a big person who just leaned into 100%.
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29 minutes, 48 seconds
If you listen to uh any of Gus Johnsonโ€™s calls, you know, he got big during March Madness. He ah, you know, just going
29:56
29 minutes, 56 seconds
Chris B, you know, all kinds of personality.
30:00
30 minutes
And that was something that Iโ€™m like, okay, those dudes are not afraid to be themselves. Let me lean into that with
30:08
30 minutes, 8 seconds
who I am. And it got to the point where, you know, at first, you know, you know, they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Well, you
30:16
30 minutes, 16 seconds
you emulate some of those people, but I canโ€™t say stuff like, oh, you know, Carl Anthony Townโ€™s cooler than the
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30 minutes, 25 seconds
other side of the pillow. Like, thatโ€™s not thatโ€™s not me, you know, that thatโ€™s Stew, right? Thatโ€™s booya. Like, thatโ€™s Stew, right?
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30 minutes, 32 seconds
You know, but I have my own isms, my own, you know, you might get some pop culture references. you might get, you
30:38
30 minutes, 38 seconds
know, uh some some references to to TV shows or or you know, church isms or,
30:45
30 minutes, 45 seconds
you know, instead of me, you know, people people watch my sports cast and, you know, say, โ€œHey, itโ€™s his itโ€™s his
30:53
30 minutes, 53 seconds
third home run of the season.โ€ I might say, โ€œMan, he hit that thing to Eden Prairie, you know, on a home run call or something like that.โ€ Just something thatโ€™s just me.
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31 minutes, 2 seconds
Right. Right. Yeah. And thatโ€™s thatโ€™s needed.
31:05
31 minutes, 5 seconds
Talk to me about, you know, youโ€™re youโ€™re a visible black voice in, letโ€™s be honest, a space that hasnโ€™t made a
31:14
31 minutes, 14 seconds
lot of room for or always made a lot of room for diverse storytellers.
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31 minutes, 20 seconds
How do you carry that responsibility and reflect it into your work now? And the reason why I use the word
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31 minutes, 28 seconds
responsibility because no matter how much you would shy away from that as as people of color, we have this
31:37
31 minutes, 37 seconds
unspoken sense of responsibility. I know I I feel it on a daily basis. Yeah.
31:42
31 minutes, 42 seconds
Um specifically someone that is visible in the public eye or I donโ€™t care if you werenโ€™t. Itโ€™s itโ€™s if youโ€™re in a
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31 minutes, 49 seconds
position that that is abnormal for the you know whatever that is you feel this
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31 minutes, 58 seconds
unspoken responsibility to to represent in a way that is beneficial
32:06
32 minutes, 6 seconds
to others specifically youth. So how how do you deal with that?
32:14
32 minutes, 14 seconds
Thatโ€™s such a heavy question.
32:15
32 minutes, 15 seconds
Especially being a person of yourself that is deep into the community. So youโ€™re you do a lot in the community because of those things.
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32 minutes, 22 seconds
Thatโ€™s such a heavy question, man.
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32 minutes, 27 seconds
So coming to Minnesota, this was probably
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32 minutes, 35 seconds
the most highprofile job that Iโ€™ve ever had. And you look around
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32 minutes, 42 seconds
and thereโ€™s not a whole lot of people who look like me in roles that I occupy, right?
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32 minutes, 53 seconds
Thatโ€™s a heavy responsibility, but also at times a heavy burden.
32:57
32 minutes, 57 seconds
Sports director. So in case in case that hasnโ€™t, heโ€™s the sports director. Itโ€™s up on the screen, but I I itโ€™s important to to audibly hear it. You know, it was
33:06
33 minutes, 6 seconds
funny because you know, and Iโ€™m not even trying to go there, but
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33 minutes, 14 seconds
with black people, we are often made to be humble
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33 minutes, 21 seconds
and there are often opportunities that people take to try to humble us.
33:29
33 minutes, 29 seconds
And you know, I I would say, โ€œOh, yeah.โ€ You know, people would get introduced to me. I say, โ€œOh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I do sports at K 11. And I remember when
33:37
33 minutes, 37 seconds
my wife heard that on too many occasions, I guess. Sheโ€™s like, Reggie, you are the sports director at Carol 11.
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33 minutes, 44 seconds
Sheโ€™s like, you need to start saying that with pride. And Iโ€™m like, yeah, but you know, I you know, sheโ€™s like, no, that is your title.
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33 minutes, 52 seconds
It means something.
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33 minutes, 54 seconds
And you know, when I first got here, there was donโ€™t read the comment section. There
34:01
34 minutes, 1 second
was there was announcements about me coming here and if you read the comments section on the strip
34:08
34 minutes, 8 seconds
on Facebook, nasty. Nasty. And my mom,
34:15
34 minutes, 15 seconds
bless her, she read all of them. And I had to stop because Iโ€™m like, this is crazy. Like, I
34:23
34 minutes, 23 seconds
havenโ€™t even gotten there yet. Like, they havenโ€™t even given me a chance. And you know, Iโ€™m already getting told Iโ€™m the diversity hire. You know, we know why he got the job. Itโ€™s like, dang.
34:33
34 minutes, 33 seconds
Like, has being black ever been an advantageous thing in society? Cuz I that would be I missed that email. I missed that email. Yeah.
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34 minutes, 40 seconds
And and so getting here, I had that and I I
34:47
34 minutes, 47 seconds
that was in my mind and that that stifled me a bit out of the gates,
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34 minutes, 55 seconds
just being real. And I think internalizing that too much and the
35:02
35 minutes, 2 seconds
imposttor syndrome of it all really really held me back for my first
35:10
35 minutes, 10 seconds
about 6 months to the point where I had internalized it so much. I I called my wife. I was like, โ€œHey, you know, I
35:20
35 minutes, 20 seconds
appreciate this opportunity, but I think Iโ€™m good. I I think I think Iโ€™m going to tell him like Iโ€™m good. I I donโ€™t want this anymore. Mhm.
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35 minutes, 28 seconds
And she was just like, uh, let me talk to God about it. Sheโ€™s like, donโ€™t donโ€™t do that. And she was just like, you
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35 minutes, 35 seconds
know, God told me that thatโ€™s not the move for you. And I was like, girl, he
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35 minutes, 41 seconds
didnโ€™t tell me that. you know, and true enough, God spoke through her in that moment to
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35 minutes, 50 seconds
tell me not to give up. And yes, itโ€™s been hard. Yes, it was a lot to sift through.
35:59
35 minutes, 59 seconds
But itโ€™s been beneficial. And I do believe that God put me in this position for a reason. And itโ€™s so funny you
36:08
36 minutes, 8 seconds
asked that question because I will go into these press conferences. I would go into these rooms,
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36 minutes, 16 seconds
look around, Iโ€™m the only black person there other than the athlete at the podium right now.
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36 minutes, 23 seconds
And I would see myself and feel myself in that room.
36:27
36 minutes, 27 seconds
And it took a while for me to just get comfortable enough to just say, โ€œYeah, Iโ€™m occupying this room.โ€ Right?
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36 minutes, 33 seconds
And thatโ€™s what it is. So be confident in that because everybody else in this room is confident in who they are.
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36 minutes, 40 seconds
So you be confident in that. Yeah, you you might be the only, but thatโ€™s all right. Lean into it, right?
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36 minutes, 46 seconds
And, you know, itโ€™s itโ€™s taken a while for me to really get my feet set and
36:52
36 minutes, 52 seconds
really just own the position I have and the person who I
36:59
36 minutes, 59 seconds
am as Iโ€™m occupying these rooms, right? And we talk about visibility.
37:05
37 minutes, 5 seconds
I donโ€™t know that thereโ€™s a more visible sports media person than me in the Twin Cities right now. No.
37:15
37 minutes, 15 seconds
And thatโ€™s a bit jarring. Like I canโ€™t go to the grocery store without people being like, โ€œHey, we love watching you.โ€ And Iโ€™m just like, โ€œWow.โ€ Like
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37 minutes, 24 seconds
the reason why the reason really reason why I asked that question is because we was just talking about you as a kid watching Steuart Scott.
37:34
37 minutes, 34 seconds
Youโ€™re Steuart Scott that. Okay.
37:36
37 minutes, 36 seconds
No. No. As far as No, you got to think about really lean into the fact of you are now thereโ€™s a kid that comes home from school and turns on the TV though.
37:46
37 minutes, 46 seconds
Kids watch the news. Okay. Yeah.
37:48
37 minutes, 48 seconds
Whenever they can. And then and then and itโ€™s itโ€™s you know itโ€™s on social now.
37:51
37 minutes, 51 seconds
You know itโ€™s not like we used to watch the news but you you are the example. So it is
37:58
37 minutes, 58 seconds
important to to see you carry yourself the way you do. Youโ€™re knowledgeable.
38:05
38 minutes, 5 seconds
Youโ€™re youโ€™re youโ€™re well spoken. Youโ€™re and all these things sound like oh well itโ€™s not about the fact of what they
38:13
38 minutes, 13 seconds
are. The fact is you are the example of possibility. M and thatโ€™s so when you
38:19
38 minutes, 19 seconds
talk about the the balance of it being a burden with the balance of it being a responsibility
38:26
38 minutes, 26 seconds
I think thatโ€™s where I lean more towards the responsibility because I am one of very few in this industry
38:35
38 minutes, 35 seconds
oh yeah look like me doing this role and I got to represent you know I I got to
38:43
38 minutes, 43 seconds
you know representation is everything and if Thereโ€™s a young kid on TV who looks like me, who likes what I do, who is inspired by what I do.
38:55
38 minutes, 55 seconds
I have made the difference because I have showed that person that this is what is attainable if you work hard, if
39:03
39 minutes, 3 seconds
you get get a few favorable bounces from the from the good Lord above and and you take advantage of the
39:10
39 minutes, 10 seconds
opportunities that youโ€™re given and just be a good dude. Thatโ€™s so the other side of that the other side of that coin is too, you know, for specifically in inner
39:19
39 minutes, 19 seconds
cities, you know, thereโ€™s usually one or two ways out. People think youโ€™re like, โ€œOh, itโ€™s going to itโ€™s going to be this.โ€ You donโ€™t you could be on the
39:26
39 minutes, 26 seconds
other side of that ball. You donโ€™t even have to ever touch foot on the court
39:32
39 minutes, 32 seconds
unless it is to cover the game. And you can still be around things that you love and thereโ€™s another way to skin that cat.
39:40
39 minutes, 40 seconds
Yeah. when it really hit for me, I didnโ€™t really realize I donโ€™t think that most creatives and people that just
39:47
39 minutes, 47 seconds
doers really take a minute to understand their impact. So, I did done my fair share of stuff, but this last thing I
39:56
39 minutes, 56 seconds
did on Netflix with the pressure cooker, I was getting so many messages from I had to hit the the translate button on
40:03
40 minutes, 3 seconds
an IG and an overwhelming amount of those messages were from young black kids
40:10
40 minutes, 10 seconds
that or their parents saying that they appreciated how I conducted myself.
40:16
40 minutes, 16 seconds
Wow. And I never and my whole thing I I you know Iโ€™ve been on record saying this. I went on to be 100% authentic
40:23
40 minutes, 23 seconds
authentically myself 100% of the time because no matter how it shook out I could live with the results of whatever happened after that.
40:33
40 minutes, 33 seconds
And that to me was was powerful that people saw themselves
40:39
40 minutes, 39 seconds
or the possibility of themselves in what I was doing. Yeah.
40:44
40 minutes, 44 seconds
And I never thought, you know, I never I donโ€™t think of I donโ€™t take myself too seriously. Itโ€™s like me neither. So itโ€™s like Iโ€™m just, you know, anybody could do this.
40:55
40 minutes, 55 seconds
So Iโ€™m just a vessel.
40:56
40 minutes, 56 seconds
Exactly. And Iโ€™m just Iโ€™m just walking in my purpose. Yeah.
40:59
40 minutes, 59 seconds
100%. Iโ€™m also and I h if if you havenโ€™t heard that or I wanted you to really soak that in
41:08
41 minutes, 8 seconds
because thatโ€™s a real itโ€™s a real thing, Reggie. Like you youโ€™re that youโ€™re that guy right now. So you have to understand
41:14
41 minutes, 14 seconds
that people are looking at you and not all of it gets written in the comments.
41:21
41 minutes, 21 seconds
You know some thereโ€™s somebody that that is really you are changing their view of what could be.
41:29
41 minutes, 29 seconds
Yeah. Thatโ€™s powerful.
41:31
41 minutes, 31 seconds
Wow. Wow. Yeah. I I I appreciate the love man. Itโ€™s itโ€™s um itโ€™s humbling.
41:38
41 minutes, 38 seconds
Um but it itโ€™s also gratifying you know.
41:41
41 minutes, 41 seconds
I I do understand the responsibility that I have and I I donโ€™t play with it and I try to be a good steward of that.
41:48
41 minutes, 48 seconds
Um from the time I open my eyes until the time I close them at night, you know, I try to make sure that Iโ€™m impacting in the right way.
41:56
41 minutes, 56 seconds
Right. Letโ€™s letโ€™s talk about some accolades cuz you you with that so to to get to where you are now, you would have to have a series of really really
42:06
42 minutes, 6 seconds
prominent accolades. Nobodyโ€™s just handing out Sports Director titles to to to to people. It just doesnโ€™t work that
42:13
42 minutes, 13 seconds
way. You had to earn. So, you stacked up a series of milestones and awards, Emmes, and things
42:22
42 minutes, 22 seconds
of that nature to date. How do you feel about those accolades? Is it a checkpoint to where, okay, Iโ€™m Iโ€™m on the right path. Weโ€™re doing what we need
42:30
42 minutes, 30 seconds
to do. Or is it more of a thing of okay, I I expected to
42:38
42 minutes, 38 seconds
be in the in the place Iโ€™m at now. Now itโ€™s like whatโ€™s next? How are you looking at these?
42:45
42 minutes, 45 seconds
I just I look at it as a blessing, man. Um a little bit about my story, man.
42:51
42 minutes, 51 seconds
When I graduated, I graduated from the University of M Missouri School of Journalism and it is known as the top
42:58
42 minutes, 58 seconds
journalism school in the world. And so itโ€™s a itโ€™s a great experience. I got
43:05
43 minutes, 5 seconds
great hands-on experience. The station uh that I worked at in college was a NBC station owned by the university, but
43:13
43 minutes, 13 seconds
they broadcast over Mid Missouri and thatโ€™s where I got my chops. When I graduated, I could not find a job in
43:23
43 minutes, 23 seconds
television. It took me a year and a half to get my first TV job. And it was a
43:30
43 minutes, 30 seconds
news photographer. So I was the guy that photojournalist.
43:35
43 minutes, 35 seconds
Yeah. I was a photojournalist. I was the guy that you saw running the camera for the reporter. Gotcha.
43:42
43 minutes, 42 seconds
And what I ended up doing, I always said that was the best and the the worst thing, I guess. Uh because I would take the camera, turn it on myself at the end
43:50
43 minutes, 50 seconds
of my shifts or on my off days and put reports together based on things that I had been sent to do during the week. and
43:59
43 minutes, 59 seconds
I put a a a resume, reel, tape, whatever you want to call it, together and I would bug the heck out of my news director finally to the point where he
44:07
44 minutes, 7 seconds
was just like, โ€œAll right, man. Uh, we got a job just opened up in Dodge City, Kansas. Uh, guy from Minnesota, his nameโ€™s Andrew Lovelet. Um, I think heโ€™s
44:15
44 minutes, 15 seconds
back here in Minnesota. He was filling the role. He he left the role and it left the vacancy for me to fill in Dodge
44:24
44 minutes, 24 seconds
City, Kansas, covering sports within a two and a half uh hour radius of Dodge
44:32
44 minutes, 32 seconds
City. So I covered uh high school sports, JO sports, uh rodeo, whatever
44:39
44 minutes, 39 seconds
you whatever you want to think of for Dodge City, Kansas. And I remember coming to Minnesota for NABJ, National
44:48
44 minutes, 48 seconds
Association of Black Journalists. Every year they have a huge convention.
44:53
44 minutes, 53 seconds
2015 it was here in Minnesota at the convention center in Minneapolis.
44:58
44 minutes, 58 seconds
And uh Boyd Hoopert, my personal goat, one of my journalism heroes.
45:04
45 minutes, 4 seconds
Um he did three or four workshops during that week. If you know Boyd Hoopert,
45:12
45 minutes, 12 seconds
one of the best storytellers of our generation, landed 10,000 stories on care every week.
45:18
45 minutes, 18 seconds
And I took those uh workshops with him and it changed my whole perspective. And I went back to
45:26
45 minutes, 26 seconds
Dodge and I was like, โ€œOkay, how would I tell this story if I was Boyd Hooper?โ€ And I was like, โ€œOkay, how would I tell this story if I was black and I was Boyd
45:35
45 minutes, 35 seconds
Hooper?โ€ And I and I started to find my own style, right?
45:41
45 minutes, 41 seconds
And from there, I started to win some awards and some of the work that I was doing started to get recognition and
45:49
45 minutes, 49 seconds
that carried over from Kansas to Dayton to Cincinnati. I was in Cincinnati. I was nominated for my first Emmy. Uh
45:58
45 minutes, 58 seconds
couple Emmys, got nominated. Fast forward to here in Minnesota. Every year Iโ€™ve been here, Iโ€™ve been nominated for every single
46:06
46 minutes, 6 seconds
year. And you know, finally won one last year. Thatโ€™s okay.
46:09
46 minutes, 9 seconds
And oh man, what a tremendous triumph that felt like because you just been chopping wood, chopping wood, chopping
46:17
46 minutes, 17 seconds
wood, and you finally you finally win an Emmy. Um, and that was that was dope.
46:24
46 minutes, 24 seconds
That was a dope moment for me. Um, and itโ€™s itโ€™s something that Iโ€™m just like, you know, once you do it, itโ€™s so funny
46:31
46 minutes, 31 seconds
if you uh if you think back to uh AJ Brown when the Eagles won the Super Bowl, the next day he was just like, โ€œOkay, I
46:39
46 minutes, 39 seconds
did it.โ€ Yeah. Now what? Now what? Like I Okay, it happened now.
46:44
46 minutes, 44 seconds
And I think thatโ€™s the thing where, you know, you ask kind of like where Iโ€™m at.
46:48
46 minutes, 48 seconds
I think I think what he was kind of pointing at was the thrill wasnโ€™t the destination. the thrill was the journey.
46:57
46 minutes, 57 seconds
And now heโ€™s accomplished this major feat, but like the journey is not over.
47:03
47 minutes, 3 seconds
And so thatโ€™s kind of where Iโ€™m at. Iโ€™m like, the journey is not over. Thereโ€™s still so much more to accomplish in this thing, right?
47:09
47 minutes, 9 seconds
Iโ€™m thankful for the accolades. Iโ€™m thankful for where God has brought me to to this point, but man, I I turned 35 in in August.
47:19
47 minutes, 19 seconds
Yeah, you got some things. I got I I still got plenty of living.
47:23
47 minutes, 23 seconds
God willing, I still got plenty of living and plenty of things that I want to achieve ahead of me.
47:27
47 minutes, 27 seconds
Yeah. Is there any has there been any viral moment or or story that resonated
47:35
47 minutes, 35 seconds
with people in a way that totally surprised you? Like that thatโ€™s what they thatโ€™s they really attach themselves to that. Like is there one
47:42
47 minutes, 42 seconds
like cuz I have I have for me Iโ€™m like I I couldnโ€™t believe certain things that people took and and made it their own
47:49
47 minutes, 49 seconds
and thatโ€™s what I got the most praise off of. Is there something like that for you?
47:55
47 minutes, 55 seconds
H Okay. So, when I was in Cincinnati, there was a series of stories I did on
48:02
48 minutes, 2 seconds
uh there was this black head coach of this pretty prominent high school uh called Princeton uh in Cincinnati. And
48:11
48 minutes, 11 seconds
he took the football team to the playoffs for like the first time in very long
48:19
48 minutes, 19 seconds
time. Started getting this like sustained success.
48:23
48 minutes, 23 seconds
um started turnurning out like NFL talent like uh left tackle for the Arizona Cardinals, Paris Johnson. Wow.
48:33
48 minutes, 33 seconds
He went to Princeton. Okay.
48:34
48 minutes, 34 seconds
Um and so he was getting mentored by this uh NFL coach Hugh Jackson.
48:44
48 minutes, 44 seconds
Uh, and that story kind of took off and I was just like, man, like I felt like it was a big deal at the time, but it
48:52
48 minutes, 52 seconds
really kind of took off. Um, and that was something that I thought was really dope. Also, there was a story I did in
49:00
49 minutes
Cincinnati where um I kind of talked about the history of the Negro Leagues
49:06
49 minutes, 6 seconds
in Cincinnati and there were people who kind of knew but there were so many
49:13
49 minutes, 13 seconds
people who really didnโ€™t like know had no idea. Yeah. And that was that was a story that really resonated with
49:21
49 minutes, 21 seconds
people that that and thatโ€™s the thatโ€™s the powerful part of telling stories and why I love telling stories.
49:28
49 minutes, 28 seconds
I work at Carol 11. Carol 11 is known as one of the best storytelling stations in the country. And to now be able to, you
49:38
49 minutes, 38 seconds
know, one of my storytelling heroes, as I said, was Boyd Hoopert. To now be a teammate of his and now to call him friend. Like Iโ€™ve had dinner at this
49:46
49 minutes, 46 seconds
manโ€™s house and Iโ€™m just like what are we serious? He came to my baby shower.
49:51
49 minutes, 51 seconds
Like these are really cool deals. But the power of storytelling can really change lives.
50:00
50 minutes
Absolutely.
50:01
50 minutes, 1 second
Can really change lives. I think thatโ€™s something to me that that really just kind of resonates like
50:09
50 minutes, 9 seconds
you you tell a story, you make a difference. And you know, uh, one of the coolest stories that I I kind of knew it
50:16
50 minutes, 16 seconds
was going to be that, but one of the recent ones that Iโ€™ve done, my coworker Gary Knox made a tweet about Paige Beckers when she was in the sixth grade.
50:24
50 minutes, 24 seconds
Yep.
50:25
50 minutes, 25 seconds
Well, he had never talked to anybody about this, but his tweet has gone viral so many times as Paige just continues to
50:34
50 minutes, 34 seconds
climb the ladder of achievement. So, I finally, right before Paige got drafted, sat down with sat. Yeah. It was a great conversation.
50:42
50 minutes, 42 seconds
That was Thatโ€™s a great interview.
50:44
50 minutes, 44 seconds
It was a great conversation and that kind of took off. Yeah.
50:48
50 minutes, 48 seconds
Um I know itโ€™s a long-winded answer, but the last thing Iโ€™ll say, last year my
50:55
50 minutes, 55 seconds
team and I had just a conversation of how we could take our sports coverage to the next level.
51:03
51 minutes, 3 seconds
Um, and you know, being a journalist, we were always taught, and I would like to consider myself a journalism purist, if you will.
51:12
51 minutes, 12 seconds
We were always taught that the story is never about us. So, the best storytellers, I feel like, get out of
51:19
51 minutes, 19 seconds
the way and let what the subject of the story is tell the story. Well,
51:28
51 minutes, 28 seconds
I think as journalism has evolved, there is a way to put our own
51:35
51 minutes, 35 seconds
perspectives onto what weโ€™re doing. And you talked about hot dish. Hot dish was born last year.
51:44
51 minutes, 44 seconds
Mhm. And it was a way of me being able to really kind of get a little bit underneath
51:52
51 minutes, 52 seconds
the headlines and really kind of just not really go there, but just go there, right?
52:00
52 minutes
And itโ€™s been itโ€™s been a success. You know, my my teammate Julia Daniels Guju,
52:08
52 minutes, 8 seconds
she came up with Bad Ju Guu as a way of of really kind of bringing her personality to it. She won an Emmy for
52:15
52 minutes, 15 seconds
her work last year and we were like, โ€œOkay, we all need to come up with something.โ€ So my my coworker Will Hall,
52:22
52 minutes, 22 seconds
he came up with Willโ€™s word and mine was Reggieโ€™s hot dish. And so if you watch Vikings Extra, if you watch uh Timberwolves Extra, weโ€™ll have our
52:31
52 minutes, 31 seconds
last Timberwolves Extra since the the Wolf season is now over.
52:35
52 minutes, 35 seconds
Thereโ€™s a hot dish at the end of every show. And itโ€™s just itโ€™s a way to call attention and really
52:43
52 minutes, 43 seconds
just kind of give my perspective how I see it through my lens of a hot topic in the world of sport
52:52
52 minutes, 52 seconds
beings, Timberwolves, you know, on our sports extra shows on Friday. Itโ€™s just about anything
53:00
53 minutes
happening in sports. Just my spin. And itโ€™s not like a first take type thing where youโ€™re just like youโ€™re just like yelling into the void about something.
53:10
53 minutes, 10 seconds
Itโ€™s something thatโ€™s a little bit more thought out, you know, cuz I I grew up enjoying shows like Real Sports where, you know, at the end of Real Sports, Brian Gumble gave his like last opinion.
53:20
53 minutes, 20 seconds
Uh I always thought that was powerful.
53:22
53 minutes, 22 seconds
Scott Vampelt at night, he has this one big thing. Itโ€™s like a essay if you will, a verbal verbal essay. Bob Costas.
53:30
53 minutes, 30 seconds
Yes. I think we all kind of learned from from Bob in that.
53:34
53 minutes, 34 seconds
Um, but it it was a way for me to put my own spin on a current headline and I think people have really taken to Hot Dish.
53:43
53 minutes, 43 seconds
Like people like, โ€œOh man, we look forward to Hot Dish. We look forward to Bad Guju and Hot Dish every week.โ€ And itโ€™s just like, โ€œWow.โ€ Like something
53:50
53 minutes, 50 seconds
that we created to really just kind of take our our skills over the top was was something that has really been received well.
54:00
54 minutes
Uh the the one the the few things about the what I love about sports is is the
54:07
54 minutes, 7 seconds
parallels between life and specifically team sports and being a part you know
54:14
54 minutes, 14 seconds
the the the team being more important than the sum of its parts. Yeah.
54:20
54 minutes, 20 seconds
And you just touched on that without even you know you talked about your team which is a which is a good mark of a great leader and a good teammate. Love my team, man. Love my team.
54:31
54 minutes, 31 seconds
Letโ€™s talk about the home team. So, your wife and your you and your wife are
54:38
54 minutes, 38 seconds
the preeminent journalism team, you know, to be honest. I mean, so you guys and and you do a lot for the community,
54:46
54 minutes, 46 seconds
a lot of a lot of things that are, you know, helping to uh
54:53
54 minutes, 53 seconds
pour into the youth, which I think is an important obviously itโ€™s important for you and your wife, but itโ€™s important for the next generation to to get these things and these jewels from you guys.
55:04
55 minutes, 4 seconds
How do you see and define your legacy with journalism and the optics of being
55:12
55 minutes, 12 seconds
a great teammate specifically for a husband and wife? Because whether you know it or not, the the the optics of that is very powerful.
55:19
55 minutes, 19 seconds
Yeah. I think if you ask both of us, we both didnโ€™t think we would marry
55:26
55 minutes, 26 seconds
journalists. Thatโ€™s just not you know, you know, it makes sense now that weโ€™re together, but Yeah. It wasnโ€™t in the cards. No.
55:34
55 minutes, 34 seconds
But she is a phenomenal person. I always say Iโ€™m married to like the next Oprah.
55:40
55 minutes, 40 seconds
Sheโ€™s the Alexis Rogers, you know, that that is she is somebody, okay? Sheโ€™s a sheโ€™s a force.
55:46
55 minutes, 46 seconds
Um I learned the importance and the love of community from her.
55:55
55 minutes, 55 seconds
She has always just been I remember there was one year we were in Cincinnati and she did a thousand events
56:03
56 minutes, 3 seconds
in a calendar year and it was just like how do you find the time? Like how do you find the time? But
56:10
56 minutes, 10 seconds
itโ€™s something that sheโ€™s passionate about. Itโ€™s not performative.
56:14
56 minutes, 14 seconds
She truly cares about that. And that inspired me. Iโ€™m like man what more can I be doing to be impacting people and boots on the ground.
56:22
56 minutes, 22 seconds
Yeah. And I think journalism is about the people and so many times there are journalists who
56:30
56 minutes, 30 seconds
telling their telling peopleโ€™s stories thatโ€™s their contribution to community
56:37
56 minutes, 37 seconds
and that sometimes they feel like it it starts and ends there. Itโ€™s like, well, I I went into this neighborhood and told this story, and I tell stories every day
56:46
56 minutes, 46 seconds
representing communities every thatโ€™s my contribution. When Iโ€™m off work now, thatโ€™s my time. But Iโ€™m serving the community on my uh hours of work, right?
56:56
56 minutes, 56 seconds
And then they go home and, you know, they do whatever they do. Respect to them. No, more power to them.
57:03
57 minutes, 3 seconds
You know, not saying that thereโ€™s something wrong with that per se, but I think, you know,
57:09
57 minutes, 9 seconds
community to me, we go to church with people that we, you know, are on their TVs every day
57:18
57 minutes, 18 seconds
and they tell us that, you know, it means something to see me praise and worshiping with somebody who watches me
57:26
57 minutes, 26 seconds
on TV every they, oh, they just like me, you know, and I think that thatโ€™s important. Itโ€™s important when there are
57:34
57 minutes, 34 seconds
events at schools and events at community centers and you know serving food to less fortunate or you know whatever the event may be.
57:43
57 minutes, 43 seconds
Itโ€™s important for people like us to show up because we have to let the people know that weโ€™re not just reporting on their
57:52
57 minutes, 52 seconds
communities. We are a part of their communities because you let us into your homes to to have conversations with you.
57:59
57 minutes, 59 seconds
you let us into your homes being on your TV.
58:04
58 minutes, 4 seconds
you we we we almost like owe it to the people who we serve to really serve like and I think
58:13
58 minutes, 13 seconds
thatโ€™s something that you know I learned from from my wife and something that is now a very important part of what I do
58:20
58 minutes, 20 seconds
and itโ€™s a very important part of what we do because thereโ€™s a certain kind of joy that comes
58:27
58 minutes, 27 seconds
from serving people where you can take the attention and the thought you know someday days when I am so heavy laden
58:37
58 minutes, 37 seconds
with my own stuff is the best opportunity to get in the community and serve others because for
58:45
58 minutes, 45 seconds
that amount of time it gives you a perspective one of what other people are going through maybe your problem you know your problems may be big but you
58:53
58 minutes, 53 seconds
know dang like this person you have no idea so it shifts the focus right but it also gives you a sense of gratitude
59:01
59 minutes, 1 second
and some purpose and purpose And I think thatโ€™s something that you just canโ€™t put a price on.
59:09
59 minutes, 9 seconds
Thatโ€™s something that is invaluable.
59:12
59 minutes, 12 seconds
Just being people, being productive, you know, Christians, being productive members of of society and community.
59:21
59 minutes, 21 seconds
Yeah. the act of servitude. Itโ€™s everything I do is is um all of my many tools in the toolbox that
59:30
59 minutes, 30 seconds
God has bestowed upon me are to serve others including this platform. So itโ€™s itโ€™s everything about what I do is
59:38
59 minutes, 38 seconds
shining light elsewhere and I get so much from it though you know itโ€™s itโ€™s an um but not the way
59:45
59 minutes, 45 seconds
that people think. So I I the the community, the
59:53
59 minutes, 53 seconds
conversations, and then the the just seeing myself in the work of just
1:00:02
1 hour, 2 seconds
just being a good steward is is everything to me. Everything. Yeah.
1:00:06
1 hour, 6 seconds
So before I let you go, weโ€™re going to play something I call the lightning round. All right.
1:00:12
1 hour, 12 seconds
Okay. So this is going to be a quick fire round. Iโ€™m going to give you a list of of things or phrases and then youโ€™re
1:00:20
1 hour, 20 seconds
going to give me the first thing that popped into your mind.
1:00:22
1 hour, 22 seconds
Okay, cool. Yo. All right. All right.
1:00:26
1 hour, 26 seconds
Favorite athlete youโ€™ve ever interviewed. Dang, this supposed to be quick, huh?
1:00:33
1 hour, 33 seconds
Uh, favorite athlete Iโ€™ve ever interviewed.
1:00:41
1 hour, 41 seconds
Wow, this is tough. Uh, you know what?
1:00:43
1 hour, 43 seconds
Just just for the sake of he just being a great dude, I go Justin Jefferson. Okay. Yeah. Great. Great one.
1:00:51
1 hour, 51 seconds
Okay. Most overrated sports cliche. They came to play.
1:01:00
1 hour, 1 minute
They came to play. Thatโ€™s that is by far. Thatโ€™s number like Yeah, they came to play. Like they came to play today. Like you know a team
1:01:08
1 hour, 1 minute, 8 seconds
goes up 21 nothing and theyโ€™re like, โ€œOh, they came to play.โ€ Like the other team came to play, too. They just came to play and it didnโ€™t work out as well.
1:01:15
1 hour, 1 minute, 15 seconds
Absolutely. They they got hoes.
1:01:20
1 hour, 1 minute, 20 seconds
First meal you ever cooked for your wife?
1:01:24
1 hour, 1 minute, 24 seconds
It was uh salmon and asparagus and I think a little rice. It was It was
1:01:31
1 hour, 1 minute, 31 seconds
uh my first time or it might have been like potatoes of some sort, but it was my first time ever. I know she says she
1:01:38
1 hour, 1 minute, 38 seconds
likes salmon, so I cooked some salmon in a cast iron. I think I I looked at a recipe um online somewhere and I was
1:01:46
1 hour, 1 minute, 46 seconds
like, โ€œOh, yeah, I could do that.โ€ And so I cooked the salmon uh and then cooked some asparagus. I think I got a picture of her with the plate, but that
1:01:54
1 hour, 1 minute, 54 seconds
was like the first ever plate that I ever cooked. I think it was a Valentineโ€™s Day meal.
1:01:58
1 hour, 1 minute, 58 seconds
Okay. Oh, you went you went big on Valentineโ€™s Day. Yeah. Yeah. I like to cook, so Okay. All right. Good. Good.
1:02:04
1 hour, 2 minutes, 4 seconds
Pregame playlist banger. Whatโ€™s that one hype joint to pregame with?
1:02:12
1 hour, 2 minutes, 12 seconds
Pregame playlist banger. Uh probably like a um thereโ€™s a song by KB 10K.
1:02:21
1 hour, 2 minutes, 21 seconds
Mhm.
1:02:21
1 hour, 2 minutes, 21 seconds
Uh thatโ€™s good. Um uh I like uh 1K Few uh Church House Trap House. Okay. That that that bangs.
1:02:30
1 hour, 2 minutes, 30 seconds
That that sound like it bang.
1:02:31
1 hour, 2 minutes, 31 seconds
It bang as well. Yeah. Yeah. Those are my jams.
1:02:34
1 hour, 2 minutes, 34 seconds
Okay. And if you could give a few words of advice to your 13-year-old self, what would you say?
1:02:42
1 hour, 2 minutes, 42 seconds
Hang in there. Hang in there. I know it looks crazy right now. Your dad just passed. Um you you seem like you donโ€™t
1:02:52
1 hour, 2 minutes, 52 seconds
really have a direction. Uh but hang in there because it gets better. It gets better.
1:02:59
1 hour, 2 minutes, 59 seconds
Absolutely. Absolutely. So, you got to tell everyone out here listening and watching where they can follow you and
1:03:07
1 hour, 3 minutes, 7 seconds
catch up with all the things you got going on. So, please tell everybody where they can find you at.
1:03:12
1 hour, 3 minutes, 12 seconds
Yeah, Iโ€™m at Reggie Wilson TV on all platforms. Uh, you know, I havenโ€™t gotten into the uh Tik Tok deal yet. I
1:03:21
1 hour, 3 minutes, 21 seconds
know itโ€™s big, but you know, I thatโ€™s just that hasnโ€™t happened yet. probably will at some point as the media
1:03:29
1 hour, 3 minutes, 29 seconds
landscape changes. Uh probably going to have to get on TikTok, but um Blue Sky X
1:03:35
1 hour, 3 minutes, 35 seconds
formerly Twitter, Facebook, IG, Iโ€™m Reggie Wilson TV. Okay. And obviously on K11.
1:03:44
1 hour, 3 minutes, 44 seconds
Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. K1 as well. Yeah. Reggie Wilson TV.
1:03:49
1 hour, 3 minutes, 49 seconds
Absolutely. So again, thank you so much for for for coming to the platform. Um, I had an amazing time. Great talking to you. Absolutely. Absolutely.
1:04:00
1 hour, 4 minutes
Check out Reggie every night on Care 11 as well as on the socials again. Reggie
1:04:06
1 hour, 4 minutes, 6 seconds
Wilson TV on everything including to Tik Tok soon to come. Heโ€™s about to get all the all the dances and everything good.
1:04:14
1 hour, 4 minutes, 14 seconds
Again, I I also want to give a shout out to your lovely wife and and your soon to come baby girl.
1:04:21
1 hour, 4 minutes, 21 seconds
Yeah, weโ€™re weeks away from me having a daughter in this world. That is crazy.
1:04:25
1 hour, 4 minutes, 25 seconds
Welcome to team girl dad. So Iโ€™m Thatโ€™s probably going to be the reason why Iโ€™m on TikTok soon. There you go. For sure. Absolutely.
1:04:32
1 hour, 4 minutes, 32 seconds
Absolutely. All right. This has been the Taste Music Here Food Podcast Show. Until next time. Peace.

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