And now the.

490 with Gretchen de Bakker might kill them.

And Kevin Mullin.

Welcome into another episode of the 419, powered by WTT and presented by Retro Wealth Management.

I'm Kevin Mullin alongsid my highly capable co-host, wow.

Gretchen Debacker and Matt Killam.

Thanks, Kevin.

This is mostly aspirational.

We've got an exciting show, for you today.

We are talking about some of the most exciting things happening in the region this weekend.

So this is our first addition of our sort of, joint 419 toledo.com community calendar, where we'll be looking at some of the top events in the region, and ways for you to you to get out and enjoy northwest Ohio.

And so we'll have, John Ricketts from toledo.com will be joining us.

And then we're also joined by Doctor Katie Peters, who works full time, works at Washington local, but also a local motivational speaker, and is giving a talk on kindness.

And so we'll learn a little bit about that.

You guys pay.

Attention.

I, I bought a pen.

We've got my pen from yesterday.

I brought Gretchen's pen from yesterday.

Speaking of kindness, I don't know about you guys, but like this, you know, obviously, we're coming up on almost a week in.

Yes, to show.

And I've had a lot o people have been very kind to me about the the early episodes.

What kind of reviews have you gotten so far?

So I've gotten, you know, texts from friends and, and obviously, you know, the comments on social media and all that, but actual friends saying like, hey, I really love this, or, you know, love the casts and love the banter.

Love the set.

And so a lot of that's been really good.

My parents have eventually watched the show, but like, I'm a little perturbed because like, it was a big deal, right?

Like, I mean, I, I think I told the story on the podcast before, like when I worked in television, when I was in college, I would come home to my parents house and they would be watching the competing TV station and didn't watch the station.

I'm on, of course.

And so I just.

To motivate you, they'll probably.

Well, sure.

But I feel like, you know, 20 years of therapy, I should be work through this only for it to all come right back.

Literally 6 p.m.

our show is on 30.4 connects.

And at 6 p.m., my mother is at a different taping of a different show.

Sure.

Not even her own son.

So come on.

Like, how many tapings are there?

The fact that there's even these tapings available to go see at the exact same time, right?

She would have to search that out.

Yeah, yeah.

No, this is not a thing tha she goes to all the time, right?

She's like, you know what?

I need a distraction from my embarrassment.

My mom thinks I work at the zoo.

And so she's there pretty regularly.

Yeah.

Yeah.

She's like, h works.

Behind looking for you.

That's right.

Right.

He does the lights.

Well, my mom called me, this week.

I can't remember what.

Night at 705.

So she had clearly watched the film, and she said, I thought.

It was good.

But I do really think she thought it was good.

Do you believe that when.

She went high, so was at first questionable, but then she had actual notes?

What were the what was the.

First note she had?

Was that, Wait, I mean, I would, Matt should stop wearing this hat.

Okay.

She said Because on the show or in life.

Just on the show.

Okay.

Because she's like you can't see his handsome face.

Oh, did say that.

Yeah.

That's because she's never actually seen her face.

This hat.

We originally I was going to wear a, welding helmet.

Oh, but too much, too much.

Yeah.

Nice.

Yeah.

So.

And then she also said that, she said that I looked nice, but that the lights were too dark, and I should tell them to warm them up.

And I was like, I don't know.

Who does that mean?

Just turn them on sooner because it.

Would go wrong.

I don't know, I have never heard her comment on lighting in my 55 years of existence.

Yeah, bu maybe it's an expertise she has.

I just didn't know about.

But she did tune in.

She found it on camera.

I think she's going to.

She said she was going to send it to her brothers and sisters.

Perfect.

Yeah, I love it.

Who passed away and many other states?

Yeah.

That's right.

Yeah, that's not the point.

Well, the lights are warming up.

Yes.

That's right.

So that's a good thing.

We're getting warmed up as well.

It's going to be a great show coming back on the other side of the break.

We're going to be joine by John Guest from toledo.com, and we'll start talking about some of the top events i the region.

We'll be right back.

It's the 419.

To me, communit means connecting to others and.

What will it really take to bring peace to Toledo's neighborhoods?

I love.

City action.

We're a community committed to education.

Discover new ideas, dive into exciting subject, and engage with the world around you.

It's all chapters in a book.

I would send them personally a t shirt.

Crim doesn't pay in the old West End.

Pass it on.

That's how we cleaned up the neighborhood.

Brings back memorie that you don't think are there.

You know.

Auggie, public media invites you to get out and play day.

The people of Toledo have really become family.

You know, they walk in, and it was just like, it's so good to see you.

Hello there, and welcome to public media town hall meeting.

The where you come to watch, listen and learn.

I love PBS kids.

Welcome back to the 419.

We're joined no by John Elias from toledo.com.

We'll talk a little bit about some of the top events in the region.

But John, why don't you start off, like just I mean, what is toledo.com?

What is who.

Is.

The who.

And what is the social securit number and your mother's name?

Why, John, I guess what.

So toledo.com, I like to tell people it's, a website, Arts culture, entertainment focused mostly, and mainly focusing on positive people, places and things.

I think that, as you know, I think the reason I'm here today is our event calendar is the foundation of the website.

It's why we have the traffic that we do, people we work hard to try to pull together.

You know, really everything that's going on from it can be a community garage sale to Jeep Fest, everything in between.

So our website I think of it as a resource and.

John Wayne is the Jeep Fest garage sale.

Well, that's what I talk to you.

That's right.

I'm glad you asked.

We want to sell this this hat.

Yes, I know, but, so, yeah, we.

I think that, like I said, we want to be good steward of the domain toledo.com, and, when I first started with toledo.com a over 21 years ago, that was the focus of the website.

And it's just we've tried to grow it and polish it, you know, all these years.

I don't want to I don't want to nerd out to much on like the URL, but like, if it's not possible.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But it fascinates me that that you own toledo.com.

Yeah.

And Atlantic City, the city doesn't own it.

And that's true.

And the foresight did you did Ian and yourself start out with a a hal a dozen like dayton.com as well.

Did that.

No I will tell you a quick funny story when he Ian is the brainchild behind buying that domain.

At the suggestion of his mother.

Actually, back in the mid 90s when the, you know, internet was in its infancy and it was a Wild West.

And so, people were buying domains like that for vanity email addresses.

And so when Kevin.

You know a lot about vanity I mean, it's unrelated to that.

I've got a couple of NATO guys.

There you go.

Yeah.

So, he bought toledo.com, but at the same time, cleveland.com and miami.com were also available.

But he was fresh out of college and it was pricey.

You know, a little bit pricey.

Do you mind me asking?

I just had a curiosity.

Do you know what.

What was the cost?

What is pricey.

I think it was $150, you know.

Yeah but if you had miami.com today, even, like undeveloped website, it's it's $1 million domain.

Easily.

So he might have picked the wrong one.

He picked.

You know, a positive show.

Gretchen.

Yeah.

Thanks.

Just for.

Money.

You see.

Myself.

Out?

Yeah.

So I and and so, you know, he was involve with web design early on, and, I came on in 2004 and just kept saying, I think you could do more with this domain name.

And he was busy buildin websites and said, have at it, go for it.

And, and so, again, just focusing on events is one of those things that keeps people coming back to the site.

We're not a one and done kind of site because people submit their events daily, weekly, and and we work hard.

There's a content editor who, along with myself, Deb Wiser, who, she and I are sharing a Google doc of you know, trying to keep an eye radar on everything that's going on from, you know, organization like the Metroparks and the zoo and the museum and Live Arts Toledo, you know, as well as there are a lot of nonprofits that have, you know, kind of a one big fundraiser in the year kind of thing.

And so if you don't know that organization, you don't necessarily know, hey this is going on this weekend.

So we're trying to be that one, kind of curated aggregated site, you know, where people can find this information.

We had just a guest on the podcast, you know, prio to this, kind of venture with, you know, so we got to know you a little bit there.

But for folks that may not have gotten to kno you, let's back up a little bit.

And like, you're you're born and raised here in Toledo.

That's right.

South Toledo, not far from here, as a matter of fact.

And, we.

Don't disclos the location of this recording, so if you could.

It's kind of like the Batcave.

But.

So, Yeah, South Toledo, Beverly Burnell Saint Johns, Miami University, and, Burned the most attractive building in TPS.

Well, the center been torn down, since I was there.

Sure.

It was called Hardy High back in the day.

Come on.

Concrete and orange.

Yeah, I remember the.

You're like a Hardee's.

Yeah.

All right, get it now.

That's for another segment.

Yeah, right.

That's right.

Move that magic to the back.

Right.

What did you study at Miami?

Speech communications, public relations.

And so, I always tell people it was the majo with the least math requirement.

So that's what I picked.

That's what I. Think you'll find.

They are a warm audience regardless.

I think, like, change our major four times a day.

There was no math.

I feel.

I feel more.

Comfortable, and I was homeschooled.

So I used to try to convince my parents.

So I also went to Miami, studied mass communications and I tried to tell my parents that I was in the, the academic version of communications because all of the football players took speech communications.

And so clearly I'm in the right program.

And that wasn't entirely accurate, but it made them feel good about helping contribut toward tuition for four years.

Right.

The point you were doing something.

To save speed.

I'm like, I think that's where I use to see all the football players.

Yeah.

So, John.

You played football?

Clearly.

Yeah, yeah, that's from safety.

Yeah.

I mean, no the traditional sense of strong.

So.

So Miami come back to Toledo right away.

Did you go to like.

Yeah.

No.

Came back to Toledo only one summer.

Did I test the idea of maybe moving to Chicago.

But, you know, kind of in the spirit of what this show is, is about and has been about vanity.

Yes, I know I realize that the network that I have here and the opportunities that I had here, you know, I think I'm, you know not the only one that would say, if you want to get something done in Toledo it feels achievable here versus, you know, if you lived in New York City or Chicago or Atlanta or whatever, you know, I'v heard a lot of people say that if you find the right people who are supportive, they'll immediately tell you who you need to talk to, who you need to connect with to get your idea.

You know, across the finish line or to be successful.

And I really like that about Toledo.

I we're close enough to big cities that, you know, I can go to whatever Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, Columbus, whatever.

You know, I want to venture to other types of events.

But, you know there's a lot on the rise here.

And Toledo is really nice.

So you're a very strong advocate for Local voices for live performances, live music theater.

Did that, come as a result of working at sitcom all these years, or did you already have that interest and you put it that and that's how you kne that this calendar was needed.

I think, you know, one of my early jobs out of college was at City Fest.

And so those events were a big deal.

It was party in the Park, rally by the river and seeing peopl kind of come together for those big events got me started in event coordination.

The Crosby Festival.

I worked at the Toledo Botanical Garden for three years and helped put that together.

So I've kind of seen both sides of it.

And, and yeah, I just think arts and entertainment, you know, that's what kind of brings the heartbeat to the city.

So I, I like the idea of highlighting that.

And, but I also was involved with programs like Leadership Toledo Early and Leadership Toledo.

I did that in the mid 90s.

And it really kind of opens your eyes if you really, you know, these things that you take for granted, year after year.

And you just if you just go to these events, it's one thing, but then you start to mee the people who are putting in.

And all the work it takes.

Oh, yeah.

And all the effort that goes into that.

I know that this has started, looked at in a more sophisticated fashio as opposed to the binary state.

But, John, would you describe yoursel as an introvert or an extrovert?

Wow.

I'm a little of both.

I like to.

Answer the question.

I like to be sociable, but I also enjoy.

I can spend time by myself.

Okay.

And, you know, I think maybe we got into this in the, in the last time that we kind of got together to have this type of conversation.

But there's people.

Different, he and I meeting, by the train stop.

That's our expenses.

Downtime, photographing, still trains.

All right.

There you go.

Yeah.

No, I think people are curious or not curious.

And if you're curious, you explore and you, you know, kind of check what's going on.

And you, you don't worry for people to say ten of your friends to say, this is cool.

This is you know, the hip thing to do.

You just explore based on your interests.

And I would say in that way, I'm an extrovert and I don't mind, kind of getting out there and doing that.

But at the same time, limited social battery, you know what I mean?

So you just need to.

That's why we have the metro parks.

You just go for a walk and.

I think it's a I've always enjoyed that.

That definition of introvert versus extrovert is, is what charges your battery.

Yeah.

Right.

Is it is it people or is it privacy.

Is it is it being, you know, alone at home.

And that's what recharges your battery or being out with, you know, at a concert and with a bunch of people.

Is that what charge charges?

I also think that, you know, again, this is being looked at in a more sophisticated fashion, but if it isn't just because of our age, right.

Which is really a factor.

But if you were talking about your battery at all, you are not an extrovert, right?

Because you are starting to inventory the fact that's right, it comes at I don't mean to cost detrimentally, but you know, like I don't, you know, so those are all things that you want to, qualifying quantify.

But I will tell you, John, that, at the risk of making you feel uncomfortable, I think that's what makes you uniquely good at what you do.

First of all, if somebody is having a, an ephemeral even or they're one big event a year, you and your team can assist them saying, this is what your messaging should be.

Don't forget to put the where, which everyone has made the mistake over the time on this, this information.

But being able to pull people through and make them feel comfortable about, potentially a really anxiety inducing, annual extravaganza or a big thing to them.

It isn't easy.

They do a great job of that.

Also, everyone talks about needing a community calendar, right?

But, you know, more than most, the problem with orchestrating a community calendar is people giving you the actual information.

So you had almost beat it out of them.

Yeah.

That's interesting.

I mean, I think, you know, I appreciate the kind words about the calendar.

Like I said, we work hard at it.

Then it does take quite a bit of work to have it be accurat and consistent with the numbers.

There are a number of kind of efforts over the years.

Like I said, I've been doing this 21 plus years.

So, there have been a number of efforts that have kind of come and gone, depending on whether or not they have an intern that's actually going to keep up the a website or, you know, the information.

We've been trying to replace Gretchen with an intern for for days.

It turns ou they need like five.

Wow.

Yeah.

That's right.

Yeah.

That's right I don't know.

That's where he was going with that going I'm sorry.

No.

So so I think that, you know, if you get it wrong a few times, you know, peopl will maybe give you some grace.

But if it's repeatedly right inaccurate then people just they know.

Yeah.

Not a trusted source.

So, we take it very seriously and we try to do the best we can.

It's an incredible resource.

All right, John, are you ready for, Gretchen's wacky quiz?

Yeah.

It's crazy.

Chris.

Yeah.

Okay.

Now she cares.

Yeah.

And the crab.

Just came alive.

Yeah.

That's right.

19 quiz.

Yeah.

You know.

That's right.

Yeah.

You got what you want.

Okay.

All right, I'm going to ask you for rapid fire questions.

Gretchen is going to ask you for your favorite thing in the region.

And Matt is going to ask you to describe the region in nine words.

Wow.

Not not or less.

Exactly.

Sour.

Yeah.

Yep.

Ready?

You ready?

Sure.

All right.

Describe yourself in one sentence.

How long is this segment?

That's it.

Just filibuster it.

That's the sentence.

I'm a curious person who enjoys, learning about other people's passions.

I love it.

What's the best pair of shoes you've owned?

Wow, wow.

Meryl's.

We are so.

Meryl chameleons.

Right?

You don't have to tie them.

What's a word?

You have a hard time pronouncing?

Oh.

I'm so excited.

You have to say it.

Yeah, yeah, a word that I, I consider myself.

I love words, so, anesthesiologist.

Do I get that right?

I think I did.

Anesthesiologist.

Yes.

Anesthesiologist.

Yeah.

I see you concentrating very.

Important concepts for the safety chamber.

Yeah.

Your audience is just.

I so badly want to ask you these last two questions, but I'm only gonna ask you one of them because I committed to for.

All right.

What would be the title of your autobiography?

That's.

Yeah.

That's it.

Yeah.

Right.

That's just that's that's it.

That was it.

That's it.

What's the number one?

Best thing, most favorite thing about the city or the region?

The people I love.

I think that the people w really do, you know, people joke or maybe stereotype the Midwest and all these things.

But, I do think that there is an underlying friendliness and kindness to to the people in Toledo.

So I guess I would say that.

All right nine words describe the region.

Nine.

I can't think of nine.

That's okay.

There's a lot of grace here.

Just roll through it.

You said creative.

Creative, right.

Friendly.

All right.

Welcoming.

All right.

Done.

So good.

I can tell you writing so.

30s.

That's right.

How many do I have?

Seven.

I say warm.

That's all right.

Friendly.

This is torture for him.

Is it really kind of.

Does it torture?

Torture?

Torturous.

Yep.

It tortures.

Yeah.

Diverse?

Yeah.

Two more.

Oh.

Wow.

Support that.

Supportive?

Yeah.

Supportive.

They say that.

One more.

No more.

Buddy.

And let's say, flat.

I mean.

I like it.

I dislike it.

Here's the thing.

I spent the summer in Colorado, and I was in the mountains, and I realized that by being in the mountains, I actually feel at home when I can see the horizon and see where I'm going.

And in Colorado, I felt like I was inside a bowl, and I. I didn't care for it.

I lik I like the bed more comfortable.

I love it as a flat earther.

That's great.

That's our next.

Yeah, that's right here.

All right.

Let's take a break.

When we come back, we'll tal with John Hicks from toledo.com, and we will, unveil our top five events, in northwest Ohio for this weekend.

Stay with us.

We'll be right back here on the 419.

Support for the 419 come from Wheaton Wealth Management, where we understand that your financial path is personal advisory services are offered through Capital Investment Advisory Services, LLC, securities offered through Capital Investment Group member Finra and SIPC.

More information at Metro advisors.com and from work Spring.

Supportin healthy and vibrant businesses one workplace at a time.

More information at work spring.org.

Join us every Wednesday for Wellness Wednesday, sponsored by Work Spring.

The 419 is also sponsored by Toledo Refining Company, serving northwest Ohio and East Toledo for over 125 years.

More informatio at Toledo Refining company.com.

And today, celebrating its 55th year of connecting Northwest Ohioans to their community.

More information@tada.com.

Tune in every Thursday for the toledo.com community calendar presented by Tada!

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Visit wjhl.org.

Welcome back into the 419.

We are continue to be joined by John I is from toledo.com.

As we take a look at ou toledo.com community calendar.

This is kind of the core piece of this website.

Is, is the events calendar, right.

And also during the break, John, you mentioned that you wanted that you thought we should have as many data centers as possible.

Just to manage the calendar.

Just lining the riverfront.

That's how good it is.

Yeah.

So I wanted to make sure I give you a chance to.

That's a that's a provocative take.

Absolutely.

Now you can give me my email address.

That's right.

It's home address.

That's right.

Yeah.

John, is that data center.com.

One of the reasons tha we wanted John and twitter.com to be part of our sho and to sort of be our official, calendar is because of the things we've already talked about, the quality of the, of the presentation, the, how up to date it is, how thorough it is, but people can actually get, their event information to you for free.

That's by going to twitter.com backslash events and submit their event.

It will be posted maybe vette by your team but been be posted.

On the website.

Right?

Yeah, absolutely.

And all you really nee is a working email address and, you know, submit your information.

We it's it's very, very simple.

It's just a matter of kind of filling in the fields the date, time, location and then even event descriptio and place for a link, you know, to find additional information and that type of thing.

As you mentioned it is moderated.

So we just kind of generall take might not even be 24 hours just to make sure that everything is on the up and up with the right that it's been submitted.

And and maybe sometimes occasionally more than one person will submit an event for, you know, maybe a whole committee is right with a several people.

Right?

So it's just a matter of kind of doin those little housekeeping tasks.

And then, you.

Know, there's a there' a human being that's physically looking at every single one of those entries to say, is this a legitimate event?

Is it already on our calendar, or is this the kind of thing that we want to promote?

That's right.

And you also have a separate listing.

Aside from events or fundraisers or community events, it's a gig guide, the get go for live bands playing at bars.

That kind of thank you.

And that's that's, in some ways a more difficult undertaking just because, you know, start times are.

Ambiguous.

With.

And at that time.

That, that type of thing.

But, there are a lot of, venues that I'm sure that we'll get into, as you know, this partnership kind of flourishes.

But the typical places that someone would go to see live music, around town and that have, you know maybe music seven days a week.

On a personal note or to friends.

I don't think I've done this to you, but your friends call you or text you and say, what should I do this weekend?

Or what are you doing?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Every, every so often.

Yeah.

Someone will say, hey, I hope you know, my family's coming to town.

What's the big thing that we should be doing?

You're like a curator of o experiences, I think maybe so.

Yeah, I, I'm sure I if I haven't done that before, I was really going to start.

Now I will say like it.

You know, working with nonprofi organizations in the area and, you know trying to plan different events.

You know, I've used, you know, not only have I've submitted events to be listed on the website, but I've also used the site sor of to research available dates to say, hey, we're we're debating between these two weekends or we're thinking about, you know, one of these three Thursdays in October.

See what's going on.

Let's go look and see what else is happening in the area.

Or let's go, you know, try and figure out like, what typically happens that that week.

So we can decide is, you know, there's always going to be multiple events.

And that's one of thing I love about Toledo is there's there's always a lot of things to do.

Sure.

That's right.

But, you know, we go there and say, you know, which of these dates are we going to pick?

And it works for that, too.

And it's a great problem to have.

Obviously, if there's multiple choices, you know, for things going on, you kind of touch everybody in the community.

But to your point, especially if it's a fundraiser and it's kind of a one shot, this is how we make, you know, significant dollars for this nonprofit.

You don't want 2 or 3 organizations doing competing event the same Saturday.

You know, that type of thing.

So planning your your, you know, a little fundraising dinner the same night as barefoot at the beach is just a bad idea, right?

Right, right.

But so I was just going to say, so we have we have along with the event calendar, there is a page, that captures all the months.

And what we try to do with that is include the best of, and we don't use that term to slight any event aren't on the list.

But, you know, things like I said, Jeep Fest or the zoo to do or the TMA block party, those are things that are big that people want to get on, on their mind and in their calendar months in advance, just so they, you know, they're in town and they're ready for it.

So, Well, let's go down.

Enough times that lik those events like come and go.

Yeah.

And so.

I'm like, wait.

A minute, did I'm like, or it's I find out it's like, oh, it's in two weeks.

And I'm like already planning on doing something else.

Man, I wish so.

I did not kno that piece of the site existed.

So thank you for that.

Well, even in the people ca brave the January temperatures.

There are stuff to do outside of your house in January.

Let's talk about what's comin up in the next couple of days.

The first thing we have, is the authors event at the Toledo Library, o January 8th with Connie Berry.

Yeah.

Main library, main library.

People can get more information on that.

At Toledo Library, dot org.

I'm very excited for our next event, and I think I might try to take my nieces to this, but this is at the Valentine Theater and it's titled are You Ready for it, a Taylor Swift experience?

That's right.

John, you'll be at that as well.

That's right.

I'm a big swifty.

Yeah.

No, I have I have respect.

Yeah.

So that's like a singalong as far as you know.

Yeah I think, you know, any time it's a Taylor Swift event it's a sing along.

Thank you know.

So I'm that.

But you know, it should be a tribute act that's at the Valentine Theater, which is a beautiful space.

Oh, it's a live act.

It's alive.

Oh, interesting.

Yeah, absolutely You can find that information.

Yeah.

Had you done any level of research?

So more information on that event can be found at Valentine theater.com.

And then for Matt and Kevin and any other, fans of University of Toledo, we have men's and women's basketball, games this weekend, both on Friday and Saturday.

I will be at both of them.

Okay.

Are you doing the.

Color.

Commentary?

No, I don't do color commentary.

Gretchen.

How long we know each other?

Not though.

No, I wil I will be announcing the zero.

Yeah, yeah.

Those games.

Okay.

Yeah.

It's I will say it.

It's been a exciting season for both teams.

On the men's side, they've got a couple, and this is, I'm going to be able to say this sentence now for the rest of eternity thanks to the transfer portal.

And and I already know all that.

But they've got a bunch of new guys that are exciting.

I mean, almost the entire team is new, with the exception of a couple of players.

And just because of the portal.

Right?

So a bunch of players leave, a bunch of players come in.

There is a freshman, on the team, Leroy Black junior that is just exciting to watch because, at any given moment, he can hit a deep three.

He can drive by somebody, he can dunk, he can block a shot.

I mean, it's it's it's all of it.

And so.

It's those things.

Gretchen, what is your favorite?

I think the shot.

Yeah.

That's rough.

And the women's team, obviously that goes, I don't care how the team is playing.

They're excited about the.

Sphere of the women's.

Game.

That's what I was going to say.

So you know, I think that, athletics in general in the last five, ten years, it just the fan support and enthusiasm and excitement there is that's just a fun experience.

And that's also, again, something that the whole family can do.

Absolutely.

It's easily ticket prices are great, you know.

Yep, yep.

I think that's great.

Yeah.

So my you know, maybe because of my connection to the university and athletics, I maybe I pay a little more attention or take it a little more personally when people complain about, you know, coaching decisions and on field performanc and all these different things.

But I look at it and say in my lifetime, the number of losing seasons that basketball and football have had can be counted on one hand, right.

Like we are as a community, we are blessed to have high performing Division one athletics.

Yeah, and those athletes want to play here too.

You know, from what I understand, I feel like they're eager to be involved with a strong program.

So.

Well it's and you hear the same thing, you know, it's, you know, talking to, to little walleye hockey players.

They say like I love to be in Toledo, right?

That's like onc that's translated from Russian.

Speaking of hockey, the next event for the week is the Toledo Walleye homestand, which I don't know what that word means, but I think it means that they have more than one game this weekend, usually.

On a farm.

Okay, but they're going to sell tomatoes.

That's right.

That's exactly right I knew it.

Yeah.

That more information can be found at Toledo walleye.com.

But, there's a lot of walleye fans in our community.

It's, it's been interesting.

The, the players union, you know, the players had a strike kind of negotiating, salary.

What I was really impressed with is the Toledo Walleye players released a letter to the community saying, we want to be clear.

This is a fight between the players and the union or the players in the league.

This is not at all about Toledo.

Walleye, right?

The Toledo.

Walleye management or mor importantly, the total walleye f Well, I think if you think about experiences and we're all old enough to have gone to probably gold diggers games, right.

And certainly storm.

And the vast difference between, oh yeah, the experience that you would have not that that wasn't loved by many.

Right.

Any walleye experience, I mean, that is a family friendly, raucous, exciting.

I mean, the hockey is certainly of excellent caliber.

Don't get me wrong, but that's really a backdrop to all the other stuf that they're participating in.

Yeah, they I mean both the Mud Hens and the wall.

I have done such a good job to bring extra promotional kind of aspects to the game.

Not that the game isn't enough itself, but when you have, I think that one of the games this week is, the Red wing affiliate night.

So the Red wing have been around for 100 years.

The walleye have been with the, and, you know, as the affiliate echo affiliate for 16 years.

So they have, you know, a specialty jersey and access to some of the player after the game, you know, those those types of things and they've done, you know, skate with the players, you know, just those kinds of things I think are just an added experience especially for young people to.

Get into town or size to.

But I will tell you of all the events that there is a laundry list on, toledo.com that is all connected by a great mass transit system tarred up, because that is how people get to these events.

That's right.

So a nod to, that leadership there.

And that way everyone can go, but almost everything we mentioned is in pretty close proximity.

So I know I'm preachin to the choir here and certainly the essence of the show.

But people bemoan living here for a number of reasons, right?

Almost all of them without merit Or it's just one thin or the other you have to pick.

But you could.

These are all within probably a five mile radius.

Yeah.

And God forbid you hi multiple things up in the night.

But, yeah, we we.

D have one more thing to go over.

And I think this is in the event that, John, you mentioned you were probably going to be going to.

Yeah.

I'm excited.

Live Arts Toled is starting a new series of sort of niche, performances.

They're bringing in some really unique and different, live performing artists to their new facility in the barbell, studio, to their new facility out there on Heather downs.

And I don't know if I'm going to pronounce this right, but it's Leah, Mara and the River boys.

That's right.

And they're getting into those.

Did you think was going to the ampersand?

Yes.

I didn't understand what that is.

Okay.

Do you know what 20 I was going.

Do you tell us a little bit about that.

Yeah.

No, you said a lot of it already in this new space that Live Arts Toledo has.

And I was fortunate enough to tour it, you know, several months ago.

And I'm sure you've all been in it and it's they have performance spaces in there.

I think people need to recognize that it's right next door to the Stranahan.

Right.

And it's not the Stranahan, but it used to be for people who have been in Toledo for a long time, the Masonic, you know, it's where the the Mason have their meetings and things.

So it was always a closed off space that was never, really open to the public.

And now all of a sudden, there are these really beautiful performance spaces, and one in particular, I want to say it seats maybe 300.

Yeah, something like that.

And, and, so this, this particular band, you know, you think of the symphony and the ballet and the jazz orchestra.

Well, this is folk and blues, bluegrass, Americana, kind of in that genre, which appeals to me.

And really want to see that space.

And, you know, it's just an intimate, event with watching live music with 300 people.

That's just kind of like, it's.

Very cool when I talk to people about, you know, events in Toledo sporting events, concerts, etc.

you know, access is really what I, you know, I sort of highlight, you know, I went to a University of Michigan basketball game last week and we sat, you know, in the rafters, nowhere near anything or, and fell the distance between the court and, and where I was at at a Toledo game, you know when my family goes to a game, obviously I'm sitting courtside.

So I've got a unique perspective there.

Even when my family goes, you know, they are a couple of rows up and the players are coming into the stands after the game.

And yeah.

It's you know, walleyes the same way.

Right.

Skate with the players after a game and have those interactions.

When you go to an event at Live Arts Toledo you know literally I mean those venues are those those new spaces.

Spaces everything interactive.

So that's incredible.

Well John, thank you so much.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Thank you I'm excited about the partnership really.

You know complimented that you guys asked us to be involved.

So looking forward to you kno sharing more event information.

Please utilize the website.

You know, to maximize this kind of connection.

So we're going to every Thursday we're going to feature our toledo.com, community calendar presented by Tada.

Obviously a great way to connect you to different places around the region.

And of course you can check out, tartar.com/route has all of the available routes in the region, to help connect yo to each of these events as well.

John, thank you so much.

Thank you for the time.

We'll see you back, in a week.

Sounds.

That sounds perfect.

All right.

We'll be right back with Doctor Katie Peters here on the 419.

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Welcome back into the 419.

We are pleased to be joined now by Doctor Katie Peters.

Thank you for having me.

Welcome.

So good to see you.

So great to be here.

So I saw a post on Facebook and we'll get into this in a little bit that you've got an event coming up on Sunday, talking about kindness.

But I want to kind of start with kind of the journey to get you to this space of being a, a public speaker.

I mean, you and I did theater together years ago, a while.

I know that love it.

Yeah.

What what theater?

We did Toledo rep.

Yeah.

Christmas carol, Christmas carol.

I mean, everyone starts.

Everyone did.

I did Christmas Carol, right?

Yes.

And experience.

Oh, did you do more shows with a guy?

That was the only rep show I did.

Oh, yes.

Lots of rep shows.

Crazy.

The went, oh, you were a wench.

Yeah.

How did you play that role?

I did it pretty well.

I bet.

It was.

Yes.

I've see many things that I want to say.

That I just, On the podcast, we could say all of them.

There's news here, thankfully.

That's right.

There's standards that didn't exist.

I've written something down.

The doctor.

If you could read it.

So you went from obviously took it, you know, went post theater.

You've had a successful career in the classroom.

Yes.

I was an English teacher for 23 years.

12 of that into little public schools.

And had a great experience there.

I was at Rogers.

Yeah, sure.

And absolutely love my time as a ram, but I grew up and liv currently in Washington local.

So when the opportunity presented itself to move to my home school, my home district, I took that and I taught at Whitmer for an additional 11 years.

And then the previous superintendent invited me, asked me if I would be interested in being a director of communications, to which I immediatel said, no, I love the classroom, I love kids.

And she said, but you could tell a lot more stories and celebrate a lot more kids if you tried it.

So I agreed to give her a year.

And this is your four.

That's amazing.

Yeah.

You do not like in any way old enough to have been teaching for 20.

I was.

Yeah, 23 in totality or it's 23.

It's 2 this year.

For this.

Year.

Yes.

That's crazy.

Yes it would be 24 in education this year.

So thank you for that.

Sure.

What you know it in was there a moment in the classroom that kind of you realize that you're exactly where you're supposed to be?

That maybe becam part of that challenge to say, I don't know that I want t leave the classroom every day.

Honestly, every day in the classroom felt like that to me.

I always knew tha that was where my footing was.

I love the relationships.

I think teenagers are the most untapped demographic on the planet.

I think they get a bad rap.

They are bright, they're inquisitive, they care about the future and unfortunately, I think a lot of times there's a communication breakdown between the older generation and teenagers.

But, I loved being able to celebrate that and live that every day, which is why it was so hard to leave.

But, the former superintendent was correct.

I get to celebrate so many kids K-12 now and the wonderful things that they do.

And and not to imply at the ris of you jumping across the desk and attacking me here when I say, like, you know, teachers get summers off because I know that's not fully accurate.

But that' not the case with the new job.

Now, that is not the case now.

Maybe more of a 9 to and 12 months out of the year.

Absolutely.

Saturdays and Sundays, when things happen in our in our city, like it's happening right in our district.

I mean, unfortunately, when there's bad news in the city somewhere, the first thing I'm doing is callin our local law enforcement to say where did this individual go to school?

Is that student one of ours?

Because we want to put supports in place as quickly as possibl for the rest of our community.

If there is a tragedy or something that happened.

So it is definitely more time consuming.

However, it is also really gratifying to feel like I can hel facilitate that growth and that, support for kids.

When I think it's I appreciate I'm going to just totally monopolize this entire thing.

Because.

I mean, I appreciate that even when you guy have had some challenges, right?

There's some communication, PR kind of things where it's like, I we would rather this event have not had happene and not have to talk about it.

But you're a, you know committed champion for students.

And I think that comes through with with your wor with Washington local as well.

And people don't trust you if you're not transparent when bad things happen.

And they will i any organization, in any city, in any place, the best thing you can do is tell the truth.

And sometimes the only answer I have is we don't know.

We don't know that yet.

When we find that out, we will let you know.

But we just don't have that information yet.

And I am completely comfortable and honest saying we don't know.

We don't know why this breakdown happened, and we're going to investigate and we're going to get better from it and we're going to find out.

So I think it's frustrating to be on the other side of misinformation or lacking information.

So, yeah, that was one of the things I had said in taking the position was, I'm not going to lie for anybody.

And I want to be sur that we're always transparent.

And luckily, I work for an organizatio who completely agrees with that.

That's great.

If you've had any time, there is no separation now between work and state.

You're on your phone.

I am constantly checking.

I mean, our jobs are relatively similar, although I have a great support team who carries a lot of freight.

But like you said, you're refreshing.

Constantly.

Constantly.

Yes.

And I also run the district social media.

So I'm also a proponent for not letting misinformation lie.

So if someone does post something that's inaccurate I want to be sure very quickly and promptl we correct that publicly.

Sure.

So I will respond to someone I like.

The way people get information now.

So if you let it lie, it becomes the story.

In fact, it becomes a thing that that people believe.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Was actually never in The Christmas Carol.

So I think we should make that correction now before it gets out there.

But she was a witness.

Yeah, well, that much so.

Talk to me a little bit about at the risk of, asking you a personal question, how are you now separating or giving yourself time?

It sounds like you've never been able to separate, work.

Not so much.

Else.

Okay, well, talk to me a little bit about that.

Of waking up at 4 a.m.. Or what?

What does the 24 hours with you look like now?

It is a challenge.

It's in my in my yearly evaluation, our current superintendent always says, how are you being balanced?

What are you doing outside of this?

Because you do spend so many hours investing into your community when you when you have to and you have to and I live here, it matters to me.

It's important to me.

Yes.

And so I do get up at 430 every day to run.

So that's something that I do desperately.

So that's so annoying.

Yeah.

To see me do it.

Just for myself.

And, that's just time for me to reflect.

There's not a lot going on then.

Sure.

And everyone else gets excited about a snow day.

I don't love a snow day because it is so much work on the back end to alert everybody and make sure that the busses are where they're supposed to be and parents are aware.

But, Preparing for the snarky comments and things of that.

You can't win for losing.

To that into you.

Obviously, we were meeting for the first time.

It sounds like I'm the only one.

So congratulations on your life decisions to this moment.

Thank you.

But, you are extremely positive.

There is it's an ugl world out there to some degree, although we don't prescribe that to be holistically true.

But how do you manage that as well, the negativity that you are up against, to your point, correcting things that people are saying sometimes purposefully.

You know I work for a great organization.

Every time we do something there'll be someone that posts fix our roads.

Like, okay we don't fix roads.

Absolutely.

What is the equivalent to that?

How do you how do you balance your own, positivity?

Well, first of all, fundamentally, I believe people are good.

I truly believe that 98 out of 100 people would help you in the street if you needed some degree.

And so that helps drive me, because I do believe that the loud ones can sometimes make you question it, but it doesn't make it factual, it doesn't make it true.

And I also am always cognizant of the fact that I and we are modeling behaviors for children.

So even online, if someone is disrespectful and rude online, I'm never going to return that energy because children are reading that, teenagers are reading that, and I want them to see that didn't seem to ruffle her.

That didn't seem to bother her.

She didn't let that get to her, because that is what we need to deal with people who don't deserve our energy and don't deserve that response.

You've had a couple of moments in your career that, the social media posts have and I mean, this in the, in the best sense have gone viral.

Yes.

Were you expecting that kind of explain to people that may not be familiar with the, the different moments kind of what they were.

Yeah.

And whether you.

Were expecting this.

So I have had a few viral videos that have gone, you know, I guess beyond Toledo.

And I'm always surprised because honestly, my message is consistently be nice to each other, be kind and it will pay off in the end.

And so when those go viral and people are like, wow, this is earth shattering.

This is amazing, I love this.

I always think it's surprising to me.

It's actually a little sad that that's newsworthy because it is.

It is such an innate thing in the human specie to be communal, to be unified.

And so, you know, just the other day, a video went viral where I talked about, a person on my street who is no longer able to keep up her snow care.

So the other neighbors on the street have just jumped in and we just, you know, he'll do it or I'll do it, or one of us will do it.

And everyone's like, this is how it should be in America.

And I really, truly believe this is how it is most places because it's not newsworthy to help your neighbor.

It's just what we should do.

I would hope someone would do that for my mother and for my father.

So, it is surprising, but it's also gratifying because it does offer validation that we're on the right path.

This is what people want.

This is what we want.

They're seeking it out, right?

And they're seeking it right.

We're some of that happening.

And kind of what made you realize that you've got a platform and to to use it to spread positivity and kindness.

Absolutely.

So I was invited to speak at, the at U mish hospital.

I have spoken, to organizations, to school districts, and really to the adults about the importance of how you approach your life and how you approach your caree impacts the people around you.

You have the ability to change the way someone else feels about themselves.

And that is a tremendous power.

Absolutely.

And we should use that for good.

And I would think that was common.

But the message seems to be landing, well.

If I could back up just a second.

Have you always been comfortable public speaking or being this open or vulnerable or how your parents inform this?

Or tell me a little bit about who who how you became capable of carrying this message?

Well, teaching for sure.

Right.

You get very comfortable.

Teenagers will let you know all about yourself.

And if your outfit is wrinkled, they're going to ask you why.

That'd be terrifying for most people to even be able to do that.

It would be.

But I also fel that while I grew up in theater, so that's helpful to be on stage and to be in front of people, even not in lead roles, just having everyone looking at you as a as a unique feeling.

And you.

Folks of theater people will out.

Of this know, okay, my mother is in the medical career and my father's an attorney, so neither one grew up very out, you know, out in the public.

Okay, so to speak.

But, I just really have alway felt that if you have a message to share, that the uncomfortability that you feel is not worth the trade off of them, not hearing that.

That was.

Sad And so I'm willing to do that.

So you've got an event coming up Sunday.

Yes.

I at the risk of me sounding as old as I am at the event, there's no cap on kind.

Do you know what no cap means I have no idea.

What that means.

It's true.

Yeah.

You're not lying.

Yeah, captain means you're lying.

Come on, Kevin, get with it.

Okay.

I still don't know what we're saying in.

The event.

So the event, Sunday, January 11th, at Christ Presbyterian Church.

Yes.

And it's a free event.

The free graphic that I saw on social media als says the event is from 6 to 7.

I mean, you have to you have to throw it in if you want to grab their attention, right?

Yeah.

What what are you going to be talking about?

So began because Christ Presbyterian Church reached out to me after seeing that their youth grou had experienced some bullying.

And so they said, would you want to come talk to our youth group?

And I said, I absolutely will, but I also think this is a message for your congregation.

I don't think the adults in the world are doing a great job of modeling.

And so, they agreed to open it to the public, and they have been so kind and gracious to offer us their space.

And so, so far, we have about 60 people who are registered to claim.

Yeah.

And it's open.

It's free.

You don't have to register.

But we were just collecting them because Christ Presbyterian is very hospitable.

And they're going to provide cookies.

Yes.

They wanted them enough.

Yeah.

Now we're going.

Yeah.

That's right.

So it's just it's going to be a really great hour of rejuvenating people to believin what they already know is true, which is that we want community, we want connection, and we are capable of it.

I love it.

What his.

If you had to give somebody, they can't make it.

Somebody had to give somebody one tip to approach a day with kindness and positivity.

What's the great, great question?

The only way evil ever wins is when we allow ourselves to believe it's in charge.

So when you face evil, whether that's someone cutting you off in traffic, whether that's someone being rude to you, whether it's someone at work or schoo that makes your life difficult when you allow yourself to believe they are right, you lose the contro and the power of the situation of what you actually want that that transaction to be.

So when someone approaches me unkindly, I simply think to myself, wow, they must be having a really tough time.

That doesn't have anything to do with me.

I hope you have a great day.

Yeah.

All right, rapid fire.

It's time for Gretchen's.

I love.

This.

I love.

This.

All right, four rapid fire questions.

Is honesty always the best policy?

Transparency is always the best policy.

I think you can do that with kindness.

If you could choose any two famous people to have dinner with, who would they be?

I would probably choose Brené Brown because I really love and admire her.

And, I mean, my students will kill me if I don't say this.

I have always had a massive crush on Will Smith.

Yes.

Yeah, I knew this from your social media.

Yeah, yeah.

What's your favorite hobby?

I was going to say running.

But that's not true.

I actually hate running.

I love to write.

Would you describe yourself as a good cook?

Absolutely not.

No question.

I'm a great.

Orderer.

Yeah, yeah.

What is your number one favorite thing about the city or the region?

We do not just live here.

We actually belong here.

We find places where everyone belongs.

We can be refined and go to Mandy's in the Valentine for a great night.

Or we can throw on our jeans and sneakers and yell, hit somebody at the wall, and everyone finds a place where they belong here.

I love that.

All right, nine word that describe our region to you.

Oh, this was I thought about this and I love an acronym.

So this is going to spell Toledo wins.

Are you.

Ready?

Oh my God.

You are.

Good.

This is going to go viral.

That's right.

True organic love even despite obstacles and needed support.

The best one yet.

So I feel that we are we are truly a loving group and even when things fall short and we need more, we still go out there and we do it.

Yeah, this is both proven and also probably ruined our 490.

That would be all right.

Yeah that's right.

Yeah.

Last time we off of that.

Katie Peters thank you.

Thank you so.

Much.

We appreciate your time.

We'll be right back to close out this episode of the 419.

To me, community means connecting to others.

And what will it really take to bring peace to Toledo's neighborhoods?

I love.

It here.

Yeah, we're a community committed to education.

Discover new ideas, dive into exciting subjects, and engage with the world around you.

It's all chapters in a book.

I would send them personally a t shirt crime doesn't pay in the old West End.

Pass it on.

That's how we cleaned up the neighborhood.

Bring you back memorie that you don't think are there.

You know there the public media invites you to get out and play day.

The people of Toledo have really become family.

You know, they walk in and we're just like, hey, it's so good to see you.

Hello there, and welcome to public media town hall meeting.

The where you come to watch, listen and learn.

I love PBS kids.

Welcome back into the 419.

Wow.

Another great episode.

Yes, but we'll find out from Gretchen's mom this.

This is hard to stay on.

Pins and needles.

Yeah.

Job is fantastic.

I'm excited about that partnership.

And certainly appreciativ of Tara for, you know, bringing that toledo.com community calendar, to this program.

It's gonna be a great resource.

And you're going to the Taylor Swift.

I'm performing in it.

Oh, yes.

You are.

That was not on the calendar.

Yes.

Perfect.

That is amazing.

And then obviously, Doctor Katie Peters, I mean, we talked about it in the break, like, just makes you watch.

What did you.

Say?

It makes me want to be a nicer person.

It might last for today, I think.

Will I think I'll get through today.

Yeah.

So great message.

I think that it is also, it's okay to say that just the next best thing you can do, just do the best you can.

That's right.

And, the first time I'm meeting her, it's clearly a great lady, doing great thing and inspiring a lot of people, including myself, this morning or whenever.

Tomorrow on the show.

Yes.

We come back to our kind of the signature of the 419 as a podcast was the surprise guest.

Where?

And a cooking demonstration and a cooking demonstration.

So you're going to bring on a guest?

Yes.

And Matt and I have no idea who.

This person is, so I've, I'v communicated with this person.

They're going to come on and surprise you too.

And we'll have a very Zen conversation with them.

Oh, is that all right?

Interesting.

I see the name is Ben.

Yeah, a very Ben conversation.

To Kathy Commencer, who is the program director here.

And she'll talk a little bit about all the new, things that are happening at Wwdc in 2026.

Perfect.

Huge thanks to John Eich is from toledo.com, for joining us for our twitter.com community calendar presented by Tada!

And thanks to doctor Kati Peters for joining us as well.

Talking about her great event.

There's no cap on time coming up Sunday at Christ Presbyterian Church.

We got to make sure that that event is on the community calendar.

Yes, we'll do it.

Do that.

And of course, thanks to you for listening.

Join us tomorrow when we've got our surprise guest.

Huge thanks to our supporters and thanks to you.

We'll be back tomorrow with another episode of the 419 powered by GT, presented presented by Retro Wealth Management.

The 419 powered by GT is made possible in part by supporters like you.

Thank you.