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Hi it's Donna Drake with Live It Up and we are at the Red Touch Media sutdios and with
us is John Tesh welcome to the show. It's great to be a part of the show, you've just
opened a show in the lobby this is very cool. It's like a pop up show. Well ya know how
much are those couch shows? The big made for the air shows are they like 40 million dollars,
something like that. This is fantastic you should syndicate this show right now. There
you go I think we will, Donna Drake does Red Touch Media it's kind of like Mickey Rooney
what's put on a show right? Yeah that was the, I've got a barn I've got a piano thing
Yeah. And you have a piano. I have a barn so we're ready to go. So tell us about your
music first. Gosh I mean I've been doing music since I was about 6 and we're still doing
30-35 shows a year, we're doing a big band now so it's.. I call it the let's go out and
loose some money tour where we have three buses, a semi and 12 people on stage and we
take people back to the 30's and 40's. Back stage we were talking about where you grew
up and you said you spent sometime in Long Island, which is where I live now, and we
were talking about your experiences there. So you like playing Long Island? You feel
at home when you're there? You make it sound like I was in prison or something spending
some time on Long Island. Yes I spent time on Long Island and Smee the weasel and I we
were there when we did our time. I went to Gardendale high school and it was you know
actually Gardendale high school was a performing arts high school really somebody just forgot
to name it you know, but now that we have Glee and all of that stuff everybody want
to be in one of those but the school system there was pretty amazing and so when I got
out of school there I could play three instruments and I knew how to do a lot of stuff thanks
to all the media that was there even back in the day I graduated in '97 so yeah, I love
Long Island and the funny thing is I used to talk like this. I can't even do it anymore,
but I was trying so hard to get into the television and radio business that I watched Anchorman
and I tried to emulate them so Chuck Scarborough was one of the guys that I emulated on news
for in New York I started with Cronkite which was really terrible because I wished I was
like and now I'm going to vrrvrrrvrr and so if you're trying to learn how to an anchorman
probably not Cronkite. I mean but his story telling was always so great and I know that
he wrote a lot of his own things. Yeah, the Cronk as we referred to him and also David
Brinkley I mean they had those real you know, this is David Brinkley zyzyzzy.
Now what was your break? How did you know that you had made it and you were going to
have a living at doing this? It was really literally a break I mean I went to school
to study textile chemistry and I can still actually this is a very nice gaberding.
Thank you Thank you. I don't even know what gaberding is but I did I studied physics and
chemistry and my parents were convinced that I would starve to death if I did music, probably
was right. So about half way through I needed a easy A so somebody recommended television
radio 101 and it wasn't an easy A but I got bit by that bug so part-time I was doing some
radio on the weekends, commercial radio on campus radio then I was the guy that developed
the film at WTVD channel 11 in Durham North Carolina and now back in the day when triceratops
was ruling the earth there was none of this stuff right? And you weren't shooting on a
flash card it was you had to develop the film in the newsroom and then you shot it on film
and that's how you put the news on the air was on projectors so my job was to develop
the film but one night the guy was anchoring the news shall remain nameless on channel
11 came in drunk I was the only guy under 75 years old in the building so I became the
anchorman and so at 19 years old and still going to North Carolina State I was anchoring
the news and I also had a job bussing tables at the local deli so it was really cool because
I would bus tables in the afternoon right before I went to anchor the news. People would
go aren't you the... No it's not possible. That the bus boy could be right? So that was
really my break I was just the only guy left. That's an adorable story you know, Deli by
day newsman by night. That's going to be the name of my new book deli by day I like that
Okay. That's cool. By Donna Drake you know Yeah That's very very funny and so take us
forward to today 2014 cause you're here for a important reason. Right that's a really
big jump. Okay well we can fill in, we could go back. No it's fine in fact the rest of
it's boring anyway so No no no it's not No it is I did a bunch of local news stuff and
that worked, I lived in Europe and I covered downhill ski racing and kite ski flying and
then Entertainment Tonight called me up and said hey listen we want to use your approach
to our new stuff with Mary Hart and I want you to come in and audition so I did and I
got the gig I didn't even know what it was at the time I quit that job in 1996 to do
music I wanted to get back at the radio business so I started a show called Intelligence for
your Life which is basically little tidbits you know how to shrink your waist line in
5 steps, 3 ways to be a better parent, how to find your purpose in life all of that and
we started syndicating at the radio stations and it was basically the Mickey Rooney thing,
I've got a microphone and an idea what do you think? And it's very similar to what we're
doing today at NATPE where one station at a time talking to our general managers and
saying here's how we could be different for your station and a lot of them are getting
it because for 12 years we've been doing the show and now we have like 8 or 9 million people
a week that listen to the radio show so we go okay lets take that concept of these tidbits,
illustrate it, figure it out and then there was two warm bodies in my house including
myself one was my wife Connie who's an actress and my son Gib who's in Groundlings and is
a theoretical mathematics major and I said lets do a show and so we started sending it
out to general managers saying what do you think? And they're like wow we thing we've
got something here and that's really where it happened it's a very different show but
I think it's a show for these times right here at NATPE where you're able to take each
piece and share it electronically as well I said electronically as well as it being
a half hour terrestrial broadcast show. Yeah and I agree when I started Live It Up
one of the purposes was to help people inspire them in living an empowered life. Right.
And I think there needs to be more good news and the one thing that I love about your radio
show is that when I'm listening to it I feel good after I listen to it and I think that
purposeful type of creation is much better then just regurgitating all the bad news that's
in the world. You know one of my favorite books it's by Rick Warren and it's only been
translated into 25 different languages and 80 million sales it's called Purpose Driven
Life and it's about that because you know when you figure out what your purpose is and
then you act on that and then you imprint it on your subconscious mind and you live
that it changes everything you know and so people are like they ask me all the time so
why did you leave a 7 figure job with Entertainment Tonight to pursue your music? I felt like
my purpose was to create music and I was vilified for that by many talk show hosts but you know
after we went out there and did it and you know sold our record company and then moved
onto the next thing it was like there are purposes that you can have in your life and
as long as it's got that people will want to come along and be part of it I believe
so I'm saying the same thing you did but more eloquent with it. I like it, good job. Eloquent
njdbck. I'm living it up basically here on the Live It Up broadcast. You're so cute.
I hope you live it up too, you're watching Live It Up my name is John Tesh and I want
you to live it up every day with Live It Up program because if you don't Live It Up I
mean what is life if you're not living it up? Do you have a T-shirt because I can wear
that too. Yeah I think so and we're with Red Touch Media today. Oh I'm sorry Red Touch
Media is providing these facilities. Did you have fun? I'm still having fun, are we done?
No I don't think so. Do you want to dance? No but I can rap. Would you like me to rap?
Which camera should I rap into? This one here? Should I rap, yes? This is not the intelligence
for your life show. Yo my name is John and I've got a teenager and she's at that age
when boys want to date her and though I realize this will eventually occur I picked up a few
things so I can protect her like mace and pepper spray and night vision goggles and
a lie detector and two guys from Chicago I've been driven to this by the thought of her
dating and the next step is enhanced interrogating. Yeah my kids 16 why don't you pray for me
what used to be X is now PG Victoria has a secret and it's just what we feared remember
when the worst thing was a catalog from Sears what am I gonna do when her dates at my door
driving a Mustang with four on the floor oh hey nice to meet you come on with your frazier
hang on a second while I get my Taser thank you. You don't want to hear more that's enough.
Thank you. Thank you, Live It Up. Live It Up woohoo!