Wal check, check and check. Walt. This is to two seventeen Recovery
Podcast with Corey Winfield. You knows as soon as he gives it to her,
he's gonna give her his heart to her too, and we'll have kids
and getting married. That's too far. It is the twenty eighth of September
twenty twenty three from Corey Winfield in the North Studio today with a very special
guest, a little Blasts from the past, a friend of mine, dear
friend of mine, mister Ron Robinson. Ron, Welcome to the two seventeen
studio and to the podcast. Thank you, thank you. I've a very
cool place you got here, very honored to have for you to have me
today, very cool. Yeah, two seventeen Recovery center now five years ago,
six years ago, and somebody would have said, Ron, here's here's
here's what you're gonna be doing on the twenty eighth of September and twenty twenty
three. You're gonna be sitting with Corey Winfield in his recovery center doing a
recovery podcast, and you're gonna be like recovery, like he hurt his back
or like what would you think about that if someone said that I wouldn't have
believed it. I couldn't. I can't tell you how proud I am of
how far you've come, because I saw you when you're at your worst.
I mean, you know, I saw you when you had a problem.
So it's very cool to see what you're doing now, very very impressive,
my friend. Yeah, thank you man. And we met in radio ye
back when I was a youngster. Should I tell you the cliff notes story
of that of how we met? Yeah, yeah, go ahead, all
right. Well, was I had just started at the station called WSJM and
Button Harvard, Michigan, and didn't know Corey from Adam. The people that
hired me weren't there because they were on some promotion, so I didn't know
anybody in the building. And I was literally a minute from going on the
air, and this young kid opens the door to my studio says, hey,
if it's not too much trouble, try not to suck, and then
he closed the door, and then I had to go on the air,
And that was the first time I met Corey Winfield. That's a true story.
That's a true story. I know you love telling it, and like
you gotta think about it too. That was maybe what twenty one, twenty
two, twenty I don't remember what I was. I was young, but
you know I had always were the backwards cap, you know, and you
look like a limp biscuit video. It really did. I was like,
who's this guy telling me not to suck? You don't know me. I'm
like, it's all about the newkie. I'm going back in my studio.
Yeah no, but that is how we met. And I figured, you
know this news guys over here, and he doesn't look like the normal news
guy, and the news news people in just your regular it looks like stuff
shirts. If we're being honest, Radio personalities are completely different. It's like
oil and water. And for people who go to school for a radio,
if they want to be a news anchor or something on TV or something,
hey man, go for it. Now. If you just want to be
on the radio and have some fun and you're going to school, that's stupid.
You're wasting your money. You can learn everything on the job actually now
yeah, and I will just start your own podcast. You can get just
as simple like that. But but so well, that's how we met,
and then we've actually worked it. I think three different radio stations. Yes,
let's talk about our second time. Our second time. Well, oh
oh, so this one's gonna make this the sick one was in Kalamazoo.
Corey got me the gig. We had been a friend for a couple of
years, and I think I was I was doing mornings with wild Bill on
the country station at WYTZ and Betton Harbor, and I wanted to do more
top forty type of stuff. And you were at at our KR and Kalamazoo.
If I'm not mistaken, right, yep rock Yeah, and their sister
station was more of a top forty station, and there was a weekend gig
open and you put your name in and lo and behold, I got pulled
in to do I think saturdays, and uh, and I get do you
want to tell the story from there? Why I was? Because I think
I did that for like three weeks or maybe a month before I was fired.
Yeah, and and and look, I deserved to be fired. You
really did. But here's the thing in my offense, I wanted to preemptive
by saying I deserve to be fired. However, comma to just give you
some background. At the station, we were playing discs. Yeah, and
and this time most most radio stations had moved on to digital. Yes,
and that's what drove me nuts about working at r KR and countless you at
that time because I come from Ben Harbor, not even rated market, just
small little whatever, but ran ran well at that time. And now I
go to Countla Zoo, you know, Market one seventy five or whatever it
is, you know, and I'm wearing Rated Market. Cool. I get
there. It's nasty, everything's dirty. A mouse dies in the studio once
a month, and it made you realize. It made you realize how good
we had it, and say, Joe Ben Harbor, oh yeah, yeah,
and so yeah, so they're playing CD still. And so there was
a song by an artist called Amen and it was called I Don't Want You
Back, and it pretty much it was a poem to a girl who broke
as yeah, go ahead so much, I don't know. Yeah, anyway,
it was like a poem that was put to music, and it was
called I Don't Want You Back. Aman E A m o N. I
think his artist. I think he was one of those hit one hit wonders.
You can look it up on iTunes. I'm sure it's available. I
would play it, but then they would like censor this whole podcast because we
don't have the rights to that's own. There was a version that they played
on the radio which was track one of the disc beep you Hoe and they
don't want you back. And there was a version two that had all the
f us and expletatives in there. Yeah, so the one version that you
that was not cut one was like you ho, I don't want you back,
and then when you played said fuck you you ho r don't want you
back? Right, And but what I did was when I put the disc
in, I pushed the button like apparently twice. So my point is,
as although it's my fault and that song did go over the air, was
Now here's the funny part about that before I tell you the backstory is immediately
after I started playing the song, I potted down and I wasn't listening or
you turned the music, you turned the studio the studio amount of it down,
so I was not listening to the song. Wasn't your jam. So
you're in car like all of a sudden, for no reason, it's a
Saturday. No one calls the radio station on a Saturday. The phone lines
lit up like a Christmas tree, damn lit up like. I was like,
I must be a good DJ, I must have posted up. I'm
just right up to the artist came to tell me I'm awesome. I am
now I hit the post right on that. But my favorite calls. I
took a call and he goes, I don't care about the FCC, play
that fucking song again. I was like, I don't know. And then
the next thing I know, the PD was you were playing cards with my
boss at the time. Yeah, he's having a poker party in his house
and so I'm over there and what he comes in. He because I called
him and told him because I wasn't I wasn't looking. I called him and
I said, this is what happened, and I full disclosure. I told
him it was up right, go on. What he's like comes he's on
the phone and he's just looking pissed. His face turns red and he looks
immediately right at me, and I'm like, what the fuck what's going on?
And he comes up to me and he's like, f you, Corey,
I'm never hiring anybody who suggest again. Fuck you know, and he
just runs out and he's like, I'm leaving. I gotta go up and
finish this shift. I'm firing this guy, you know. And I'm like,
oh no, what happened? And so he leaves the poker party in
his own home, so everybody's still playing. He gets to leave. Yeah,
go fire you and then finish the rest of your shift. And I
know there's gonna be some people out there, So what's the big deal.
But you have to understand, if you remember the Janet Jackson Super Bowl instant
justin timber Lake, when that the fall out of that was kind of a
radio problem. Ironically enough, even though that happened on television, the fall
out of that really put the sticks in the structure into radio where it really
hurt radio. Yeah, which it makes no sense whoever. Yeah, but
that's what happened, you know. And now again you can't play songs with
the effort and when you're on the radio, that goes out to especially in
Kalamazoo. I mean, you know, yeah, we all say it,
we've all heard it, but uh yeah, I'm the radio and I was
supposed to do that. But yeah, it was funny though, and that
so that was the sacond time. So then the third time, I'm in
Dallas, and the girlfriend and I at the time, and this is something
that I tried to hide for a long time, you know, the fact
that she was writing me these notes and look, dude, you're drinking's too
much. Yeah, And I thought, well, I work all the time
and I deserve it, you know, and I'm just drinking beer. Well,
And that's the thing is, you know, because at the time I
was I was smoking some pot and I just Corey was a drinker. But
I didn't never looked at you like an alcoholic. He would just you liked
you, You liked your beer, you know. I mean, I was
very ignorant, but you know, I was a pod guy. You were
a beer guy. I just I didn't look at you as like an alcoholic.
And I'm sure, as we know, it got worse later. But
go on, So in Dallas, you know, she's like to drink.
And here's the thing. Whether you're drinking just beer, whether you're drinking alcohol,
you can just put beer like do an equation, Beer over alcohol equals
drunk, like they both equal drunk, you know. And that's what people
didn't like. And that's what the woman at the time didn't like. And
so she wrote me, Now, and it was like, look, man,
you got to get out. And when she wrote me the first no,
I think I started looking. I started putting our demos and stuff like
that. And for Smith Arkansas, I hadn't written me back, and they
were like, hey, you know, we got something for you. And
I wanted to get in management anyway, but this was more of like me
just saying, well, we grew apart. You know. I would tell
people, do you want to get your phone? Is that your phone's I
think I just gotta put it on mute. I just for some reason when
I get texts, I'm sorry, they get on the podcast and do the
same thing to get rid of that. That's fine or nothing at all,
live live podcast. Other jesus, hey you're gonna get a call from your
PD here pretty quicking. I know I don't want it back. So I
explained to people that we just grew apart whatever, you know, she became
vegan or I don't. I would just say the almost things, but though
in reality she was like, I'm tired of your drinking. And I looked
at it like, you know what, she was holding me back in my
career anyway, I need to go be in management and took the job enforcementth
Arkansas. On long story short after, I drove all the way back to
Michigan, then drive all the way back to Forment, Arkansas like two years
later, and I get there and I am I'm lost. I remember I
stayed in some really crappy hotel and I went to work the next day and
I was late because Ralph was like, oh, we got a meeting at
nine, and I'm like yeah. But I went and bought a bunch of
beer the night before, drank as much as I could, woke up the
next day and just feeling like I could just feel it coming out of my
pores. And then I'm supposed to go meet all these people and so I
did, and I'm just like what did I do? Like where am I
at? And I couldn't find a place, but I finally did. Not
a good not a good reaction. As soon as you get to a radio
station, right, yeah, And I meet Ralph Cherry at the time,
and meeting him, I mean, I like Ralph, you know, but
when you first meet him, it's a lot. It's a lot, and
you're just coming from Dallas and you're like, what did I just do?
You know? And he's like trying to simplify simple, very make everything like
simple as he's kind of dumbing things down. But he's dumbing a dumb situation
down, which is making me like not have much faith in any of this.
And so day or two after I started, maybe the same day I
started, and they're like, oh, there's a country job open, you
know, blah blah blah. And I think we had talked and I told
you I'm here in Arkansas. It's great. You should get a job here
too. This is I love it here. It's so wonderful, Ron,
And so you send in your demo, and then Ralph was, you know,
talking to me about this is an eight. I should give a little
backstory because it's in OH eight, I was. I was working at w
Jared Detroit as a news anchor covering a high profile murder case. I was
teaching it at broadcasting school called specs Howard. And I was running the ribbon
boards of co America Park Tires games, which was one of the best jobs
every very cool. And in OH eight, when everybody knows in the economy,
you know, kind of took a dive. I went from working all
three jobs and it was welcome because I was working a lot of hours.
I was going through a divorce. It was just I need to work a
lot of hours. And I went from working three pretty much full time jobs
to just part time in JR. Because the trial ended, the season ended,
I got laid off as specs, and so I was in need of
a job. And if I wanted to stay in radio, my compass had
to point to Fort Smith, Arkansas. Yep. And that's how it started.
Yeah, and especially in guys, you know when child supports do child
supports do? Sorry again, behind, that's not good. So it was
it was a great situation for you because it was it was a job,
it was in radio, and you didn't know anything about Fort Smith, Arkansas
at the time. So nope, why not, My boy Coy's there is
some how great it is. And here's the thing you told Ralph, you
said, hey, you need to cover Ron. You need to bring him
into the country stage. Because in addition to news, I had also had
a lot of jobs working in country radio. As I mentioned, I was
doing the morning show on WYTZ and Betton Harber with wild Bill while Bill Lewis
everybody knows him, Betton Harder wild Bill anyway, So you Ralph reach out,
reaches out to me, said, hey, you know, we're gonna
hire you and sit tight and I'll give you a call back. When then
I got ghosted and then you ghosted me, and I was like, what's
going on? So I was like, like, am I going to have
a job here? So I actually went to visit my father in Nashville because
I didn't know what was going on. So, but come to find out,
he ended up hiring someone else. Talk about that because I didn't know.
I mean, you guys ghosted me. I thought I was gonna get
hired the next thing, I know nothing, because they hired somebody else for
the gig. Yeah, he'd always coming to my studio and just kind of
sitting there and like show and I'm like, dude, you gotta hire him
a boy man. And I don't think he actually told me he was going
to hire somebody else, but I was starting to get that failing, and
I was pretty pissed at him, and I'm like, dude, that's stupid.
I think. Then he came in he's like, well, I'm gonna
hire you of a way. I was like, all right, cool,
you know, and then then you came to Fort Smith, Arkansas, and
that it was very cool. It was nice to have somebody that because being
somewhere you don't know anybody. And then later I would look at my abandonment
issues and then okay, well you're moving around the country where you're in relationships
that just aren't working because of the drinking, and the drinking became my best
friend. That's my only friend, you know, And you were there and
that helped would watch football on the weekends. And I should say when I
first got there, even then, I really didn't realize how bad your problem
was, because it's not like you would talk about it. But I remember
I came over your house and you're like, and you would have these empty
containers of I think it was bush light. Maybe it was Milwaukee's best,
Milwaukee's yeah, brock Bottom, Well, if you want to hire alcohol content,
you know. But I was like, wow, Corey drinks a lot
of beer, like that was my I was like, wow, I you
know, I was. I was in the core. I used to drink
some beer. I couldn't you were a first ballot Hall of Famer. I
wasn't beer drinkers A tall pack of night Yeah, so of this. And
I say at night, I mean like from six o'clock to ten o'clock or
eleven o'clock whenever, I would you know, pass out. I mean that's
slamming some beers. Really, you know when you think about it. And
then I would come to work and I remember you would be like, man,
it seems like a brewery in here. Because if you drink that much
so quick, the alcohol can't it doesn't leave you and your pea, you
know, but it wants to get out of your body. So it leaves
out of your pores. And that's the thing, because I know you weren't
coming to work drunk. It's just from the night before that you just when
you get off of work, you would just go and drink beer and beer.
So when you'd come in and we'd have these meetings, department had meetings,
and just it was like it was so strong, it was coming out
of the pores of your skin. It was it was I've never experienced anything
like that. I was like, wow, this is it's a lot of
beer Coreyes, drinking. Yeah, And the feeling like on your skin is
like hot. You just feel like hot, and of course Arkansas's hot.
Anyway, but you just feel like and the only time I wasn't drinking is
when I woke up to the time I got out of work. That time
I was not drinking, but every other time I was drinking, you know,
and it just became the problem. Then you left, I know,
you left me there, that's okay, and then you know it left very
kind of go on alone again. And I remember because you went to Memphis
for Saint Judeau have a radio. Yeah, And after you left, then
Kendra left or whatever, and I became the promotions director too, So I
ended up going to Saint Jude and they have their little poker night where everybody's
drinking and gambling, and boy, I was drinking and I ended up winning
a bunch of little coop. I was cleaning everybody out at poker. But
we did the station didn't win anything, so I kind of sucked. But
I drank so much that next day I couldn't even function. Dude, I
couldn't even go down to the little meetings they were having. You know.
It was so bad. I'm like, oh great, it's and you know
my boss was there too, and he had actually went out drinking with me
a little bit but they weren't like me. You know, like at the
time, we were social drinkers. They weren't drinking for sport. Yeah.
I was like, let's keep going, like we drink until we pass out.
And I think he kind of red flag that a little, but he
didn't say much to me. And I always had excuses of, oh,
well, because of this or that, but but honest truth was I just
got way too drunk. And I didn't drink hard liquor much at that time.
Yeah, so this was like mixing all in and you know, my
body wasn't used to that, and so get back buy a house. Woman
ended up, you know, meeting somebody and think, oh this is great,
and I was just settling and it has nothing to do with her.
She's she's a good person or whatever. This is all all me and this
is all my fault. But she saw that I liked to drink, so
she was like, okay, well he likes to drink, Well, then
I'll drink too. And she didn't drink beer. She only drink like liquor.
And so then I started drinking hard liquor and I had sworn off our
liquor. And I was like twenty three like as far as like buying it
and bring it home, like if I'm at the bar or whatever, I'm
like, yeah, okay, sure. But I started buying it and then
it became pints and then fifths and then half gallons. And I'm not talking
just regular, so I'm talking like a hundred proof, you know. Ninety
proof is like the weakest I would go. And yeah, eventually she got
tired of my ship and said, I can't do it any more. I'm
out. And I think like a year after that is when my liver and
kidney shut down. Well, I want to add here because while that was
going on, because I even when I left Fort Smith to come back to
Michigan, I don't think I really realized how bad your problem was until I
did move back, because we would talk on the phone and I don't remember.
I mean, you would go off on these long tangents and you could
just tell that you were just hammered. Yeah, and I never expect I
mean, I don't think I ever saw you drunk when we when we worked
together in Fort Smith, because you never came to work drunk, right,
and if you worked drunk, you hit it pretty well. But when you
when when I came home and and you would talk on the phone. I
mean you would go on runs where you just weren't making a lot of sense,
and I was like, wow, this is not good. This is
not good. And then you were telling these stories about about your kidney and
about that you know that you just you were you were seeing it. You
were trying to get help, and it just nothing seemed to work, and
you just kept it was like a hamster and hampster wheel. You just couldn't
kick it. Yeah, I felt helpless as a friend. It felt helpless
because I could see you were spinning out of control and there was really nothing,
especially being you know, you being in Arkansas still, I mean,
be in Michigan. What am I gonna do? How am I gonna help
you? Yeah, and being there alone. And so then when an opportunity
came for me to move back to Michigan, I first told them no,
and they're like, no, we pay better now, and I'm like,
well, They're like, oh, this Dave douche guy, he's running the
place now, and I'm like, yeah, I didn't like him before when
he worked there. I thought he was kind of an ass. Why would
I do that? Well, but he's changed and you'll probably like it.
And so then like I remember I was supposed to you interview with him,
and I kind of blew them off, and then they call me. They're
like, are you missed an interview. I'm like yeah. He's like,
no, fear of real you know, what do you what are you want?
And I was like, well, this is why I made last year,
like we'll match that angel get bonuses. And I was like, hmm,
I thought that was great because coming back to sign, you know,
like and this is what what I'll need, you know, and this is
the things that will happen. And then you know, I moved back and
as soon as I like signed that, yeah I'm coming and told my boss
in Arkansas and he understood. He was like, yeah, I get it,
man, You're gonna go home. When I left, he was probably
you were probably just waiting for you to drop the other shoe because we knew
we were both from Michigan. And he's like, you could have worked here
for the first of your life. Man. He's like, we're gonna put
you bought a house. We're gonna put you in different I left, you
bought a house. I was like, Corey staying at Arkansas. I was
in Fayetville and Fort Smith. He was talking a little rock, you know,
and maybe who knows what else, and so I was just like,
all right, then I'm leaving because I'm gonna go home and this is probably
what I need for my sobriety and for me to have a chance, and
I move home. But as soon as I, you know, sealed the
deal, that's when I started hearing all the bad news about oh, you're
not gonna like it, and the dudes even worse than he was before.
Your buddy kind of reached out to you. Ye a foul friend from the
SGM days. Yeah, and a few other people did. And then I
get back there and I'm like, well, where's wild Bill And They're like,
oh, he doesn't work here anymore. I'm like what. Wild Bill
was a staple? Like, yeah, I loved talked about him earlier in
a nice conversation with him last night, and hopefully we'll be starting something soon.
I'm looking forward to that. But I was like, what is going
on? Like what do you mean? They're like, well, yeah,
build and they always had some shit to say about somebody, and that's that's
a huge red flag just for everyone out there. If you're listening and you
hear your boss talking bad shit about people, you know, at least when
I talk shit about people, I talk about it all. I talk about
all of them, you know, in front of the little sidebar. I
had to tell you, Like me and my wife were talking about this the
other day, like I I don't hate anybody, but I really dislike when
people feel they're so insecure they need to talk crap about, talk shit about
somebody else to make them feel better. I just it's so ugly. It's
so ugly, and it's transparent to me too, like, you know,
you got your own issues, man, why are you worried about what this
guy's doing. There's so much of that going on. It's really sad there
is. At least I do it to people's faces if you can, yea
well, and if they're standing here, I will say it, just just
like if somebody's like, you said this, and I'm like, yeah I
did, Yeah, here's why. You know, I'll explain why I said
that. But these guys, man, they were just And then I looked
back to see when the last bonus was and that station didn't work, Like
iHeart media where a commercial cost this much, It cost that much on your
station, it costs that much on my station. All the stations where they
could move things around, and even though I'm not in sales, my bonuses
were reflected by what they sold, but they could move it like somebody says,
hey, here's ten grand. Okay, let's put ten cents on corries
and put eight grand over here, and they would do that, and like
people didn't have. Nobody got a bonus in the last like six and a
half years. And I was like, are you effing kidding me? Like
this isn't what I signed up for it, you know. And the work
I was working. I was doing the morning show, so I was working
from like five to seven at night, you know. And it was just
like it was too much, and I thought I would throw myself into the
work. And that's why my mom was like, hey, you're depressed,
and I was like, are you talking about I don't I'm a man.
I don't get depressed. And I went and took this a little online test
and it was like depressed and I was like, oh shit. And so
I was like I'm gonna go get help for that. And now at this
time, where you're still drinking. No, okay, you had stopped,
you were yeah, yeah, yeah, it was like no, but I
was right. I was teetering, sure, you know, And I was
like thinking about it. And Christmas whul just came, or was just about
to come, and I sat down with him on my review. It was
like Christmas Eve, and I was like, look like, I'm depressed.
You know, here's the stuff that's happening in my life and blah blah blah
blah blah, and I don't know what to do. And they're like,
oh, goh, Street the stirrupish guy. And that's when I had like
a panic attack and I couldn't even get out of the car. I was
really crazy. And that's when I started to like, well, let me
go back to the old friend. He makes me feel better, and I
just want to crawl in a hole. And you know, it's really really
weird, and thinking, oh, I missed my life up and I screwed
everything up. I took eighteen steps back in my career and I went out
of here. And I reached out to Mike Thomas, whose guy who hired
me in radio, and think he was working at CBS Broadcasting then he runs
the whole sports department. Now it's pretty crazy, but I was like,
man, do you know anybody? And he sent me some guy in Atlanta.
At that time, I was drinking, so who knows how that went,
you know, like, oh Jesus, but yeah, from there though,
then it went from you know, hitting the rock bottom and then you
know, being a forty year old man trying to move back in with your
parents. And my mom hates when I say that because she's like, oh,
you make it sound like a bad thing. I'm like, well,
for a forty year old man, it is, you know, like from
someone who owned his own home, was a program director, promotions director,
had all this and I'm using air quotes right now because you can't see me,
like all these things in his life, you know, and then it's
all taken away. The nice car was taken away, the house was taken
away, you know, like all that is gone quicker than you realize.
And was it it directly because of the drinking? Maybe? No, I
don't know, you know, there was depression in there. I went to
a place in Grand Rapids to get helpful that I got out, and then
they tell me that I'm suspended for two weeks of no pay because I scheduled
music when they told me, don't worry about it, and I scheduled it
out as far as I could, and it just it just didn't make sense.
And then people later were like, they just didn't They don't know how
to deal with that, and they don't want to deal with it, so
they're trying to, you know, push you out, and they fire me,
and then they say, didn't fire me, And I have to tell
you this is when and I've talked to a lot of people. We mentioned
wild Bill, there's a couple others that worked with us back in the day,
back in the day when it was good, and it was about the
time that Charlie Sheen was having his days on TV and we had our own
Charlie Sheen because Corey went on went online and was just making up these characters
for Dave Deutsch and Douche and Paul Landecker and uh and so the cops came
to your but but Corey was having these social medium meltdowns where he was just
being unfiltered and raw about his perspective because you had felt you've been wronged because
you were getting different conflictions you were being fired for something that you thought was
cool because you were getting help. Yeah, and you felt betrayed. No,
absolutely, and so Corey, if you know anything about Corey, Corey
doesn't take that shit. Corey is like, this is what this is who
I am. There is nothing fake about Corey Winfield, good, bad and
different. Corey is going to give it to you straight and even if that
makes himself look bad. But you that's why I appreciate you as a friend,
because you're You're gonna give it to you, tell it like it is.
Yeah, and so, but my point is is we were watching living
vicariously through you go through all this stuff, and so much so that you
the police came to Did you have you ever told a story about the police
come in your house about this? I don't know. Maybe I just built
you up as a straight shooter. Are you going to share that or Yeah?
The cost came. I was quite intoxicated. But but see, the
thing was is the social media attacks because I had been in managers meetings and
I had seen them and heard them talk bad about so many different employees.
And when they were talking about about this guy name Randy, and they were
like, yeah, he's just a drunk and he needs this and that.
And I'm like thinking to myself, Oh, they don't know my half,
do they, you know, like wait till I tell them my story.
But I kept that from they didn't need to know that. And they but
they would talk about this woman who worked there, who was a little bit
heavier than other people, and they were like laughing, like well we just
need to, you know, have a backdoor and just blurd and someone who
had been nothing but good for that radio station, absolutely and she but sales
in the community. Oh yeah, yeah yeah. And they were like pushing
her out and they're like, yeah, well we can't fire. We gotta
get her to quit, you know. And I'm hearing all the stuff in
these meetings. Then their sports guy, they were saying the same shit about
him, and I'm like, well, like that's not cool. He's been
here forever too, you know. Like it's like they wanted their own regime,
Like they wanted their own people that they could tell what to do,
because these other people that have been there for twenty thirty years, you know,
like they couldn't do anything. Like they already knew what they were doing,
they already had their place in the community and these guys, these jokesters
that we're just playing radio. We're trying to pull some straight. I don't
know what they were trying to do. Man and shareholders. Yeah, and
that's what they were. And that's how the dude even took over. Like
they bought a house somewhere and they hit oil and they were like, hey,
we can start buying stock, and you buy so much stock, you
become a shareholder and then you can be a GM. It wasn't like he
worked his ass off in radio and it was freaking awesome. And to be
fair, it wasn't exclusive to Betton, Harbor, Saint Joe. That was
happening all over the country because when you had these conglomerates buying stations and the
marriage between that and the internet, that was the fallout as you got that
kind of behavior and it just was what it was. And I think our
first exposure to that was in Fort Smith, Arkansas, when we had our
supervisors telling us stuff that made no sense at all, and we were like,
okay, this isn't you know, we're not being supervised by people who
grew up in this industry. They have no idea what radio is or what
good radio is. Yeah, well I've been down here and here and here
here, and they tell you the list of like like okay, why did
you leave, like because you had a better opportunity, Like you're just moving
because that's the who would hire you, you know, like and we were
kind of selective with where we went for the most part. And yeah,
so I don't know, I just didn't mean to get you offside, but
I just wanted to give that because that was that was entertaining. You were
the Charlie Sheen of the South Southwest, but for hearing like all the stuff
and just knowing what they're other people, and yeah, yeah I did that
has a little tiger butt in me. And so I just, yeah,
I did it for everybody, man, because I was saying what people wanted
to say, you know, and I was I didn't care at that point.
And so yeah, the police show up at my house and they're from
Stevensville and the radio stations to Ben Harbor. So I had a real problem
with that. But then like they were saying that I'm not allowed on that
property, and I'm like, well, it's gonna be a Ben Harbor cop
that comes to tell me that man, like, you can't tell me that
here. Well why did they say? Why did they say? Well,
you know there's Facebook post and you know there was some names being a call
and you know this is slander and uh and then and you said what names
were they? They said, uh, Paul Dick Sucker and Dave Douche.
That's not their names. Yeah, that's a real person. I think my
mom was saying that too, like that's if that's the real name. Then
I'm like, yeah, like if I if I slandered them, But first
of all, I said they were assholes and pieces of shit. So you
think that's Stevensville cops right now. He knocked a lot harder than that.
So I was just like, please don't ever come back in my house again
with this bye, you know, like it was just it was stupid,
you know, like they don't have the jurisdiction to be like police in all
the fucking Michigan, you know, and it's still weird to me. Something
to bet Harbor. A different municipal thinking behind that was was somebody knew.
Somebody were like, I'll show him and I'll scare him with the cops.
Oh oh oh damn, right, you know, it's like I kind of
know my rights a little bit. Man. I listened to jay Z songs
he breaks it down, Gonna have a more for that, Like I got
nine and nine problems and the only one to see you. Thanks for the
attempt of scaring me or something. But yeah, and I think I got
right online. It was like, yeah, a few pigs. I think
it wasn't talking about the cops. And I mean I was like, if
you like whatever I called them, I'm sure it was nice. It's probably
Charlie Sheen meltdown as you. Was that rock bottom for you? Oh?
No, that was just getting in the cock seat? The cock seat,
I'm sorry, is that a new word. I'm gonna I'm not gonna google
cock seat because I'm afraid it was gonna pop up. That's just me getting
by the way, A little side note, Corey Winfield's huge fan of dictionary
dot com. Yes, I am huge fan. It's a fun game to
play. See when they say the words for you, yes, yes,
go on continue? But no, what so what was rock bottom for you?
Oh? Because it was shortly after that that you kind of started getting
your ship together. That that was the starting point. That was just me
getting in the driver's seats. Seat the driver's seat. That's gonna make a
sure, says, getting the cock seat. I would give us something to
you for a Christmas rod. I'll be the first one to buy that stale.
So so yeah. So after that, that's when I started going to
treatment though again because I went previously in Arkansas, I went to California,
and so this is when I started going. And this was when I had
to get on Medicaid. And the funny thing is about them saying they didn't
fire me, like I went to go to the mental place again that I
went for the depression. And when I went back there, like you can't
say in this unit, you got to go to the other unit because you
don't have insurance. And they said they had fired me like that day before
or something when the insurance was cut off the month before. So they clearly
fired me, you know. And so I'm like, whatever, man,
so her I'm on medicaid, you know, I'm like, what do I
what does this even mean? And they're like, well, you can't get
treated over here yet, gotta go over there. And that was interesting.
It did help though. I was able to go back and when you first
get on Medicaid in Michigan, you can go back and and list like all
the medical stuff that you had, and Medicaid will take care of that for
you for like the previous ninety days. And that was a huge help because
my mental institution thing I was supposed to pay for or I don't want to
call mental institution, but my mental health therapy counseling place that I went to,
I would I had to pay for. And then so then since I
was on Medicaid, they went back and they took care of that. And
then you know, not having a job and just just being defeated mentally,
emotionally, physically from the alcoholics and deliver just still wasn't even healed. So
I would get like sick as a dog, you know, and it was
it was rough. But the only way I could get out of my head
to make this, make this stop for a minute, was to drink,
which was harming me and just sending me in reverse. So it was really
hard go to a place and after a weekend leave and it was just a
struggle. I didn't want to be there. I was ashamed that I was
an alcoholic, right you know. That's why today I say I'm a person
in recovery. You know, if I go to an AA meeting, I'm
like, I'm a person in recovery and so and that hurts somebody's feelings.
That's what they need to talk to their therapists about, Like why is what
this guy is saying hurting your feelings? You know, you should probably worry
about what's going on. So you got to look at it different and many
many times going through it over and stop start horrible relationships, like just stupid
stuff, stupid decisions that everybody told me that's not good, don't do it,
And I would do it anyway because I'm different. That's what we all
think. Do Oh no, I'm different. I'm gonna figure this out.
And then still thinking like i'd have like three months, I'm like, yeah,
you know, I should reward myself. You know what, the football
games on this weekend. I haven't drink it three months. This time,
I'm just gonna just I swear I'm just gonna do it Friday and Saturday.
And then Saturday I'm like, hmm, I should probably just go get a
little more because I don't have enough for today and already said I could drink
Friday and Saturday, so I buy extras. So then Sunday I woke up,
well, I gotta finish this off. Next I know, it's Thursday
and I lost my job again. I'm like Jesus, And it was jobs
that I didn't really want, and I was try go back to school,
be a drug therapist, drug counselor. I didn't know, but I didn't
really want to do that either. And I didn't really want to get back
in radio. So I was like, what do I do? And Lord
he did it for me. He think. Thankfully I didn't kill anybody,
but I don't remember even driving. That's the scary part of it. And
the whole time I was in jail because I just remember being in my car
and some dude beating out my window saying, hey man, you almost killed
somebody. And I'm like, dude, I'm just sitting in my car in
my apartment complex, in my parking spot. I'm like, you didn't even
know you were driving? No, And I'm in my pajama pants and T
shirt and he's like, yeah, he almost killed somebody. I was like,
dude, you're crazy. And I get out and he's like, you're
drunk, and I'm like, yeah, who cares. He's like, you
almost killed him. I'm like stop saying that, Like what are you talking
about? Bro? And he's like, I'm gonna call the cops. I
was like, call them, I'll wait right here, and so I did.
And the cop gets there and he's like, well, he said you're
driving, and I was like, well I wasn't. He's like, well,
who was driving? I was like, I have no idea. Man.
It was like maybe it's maybe it's the girl that was in the passenger
seat, and maybe I was so drunk that you didn't even realize you were
driving. Don't remember one bit of a wow. And so the cops looking
at me, and he had this like a real weird looking at his face,
and he just like he didn't know what to do it. He had
been to my house many times or my apartment for wellness checks because my mom
was like, you're not supposed to be drinking and your liver could seize up,
and so she'd call him. The one time I was so drunk and
I told the cop I'd been drinking. He came in and he told my
mom he wasn't even drinking. Like that's how well I could hide it,
which is scary really, And so the cops looking at me and he's got
this look in his face, and I'm like, well, you can't arrest
me, you can't take me to jail. That's when he whipped up the
cuss and took me to jail. And I was in there for five days,
and I'm the whole time i'm in there, I'm just like this is
bullshit. Like they didn't breathalyze me, they didn't fingerprint me to like day
three, Like what are they even holding everybody was obvious to everybody except you
that you were drunk, though obviously yeah they do. Well. I think
the cop knew I was drunk at that point, but like legally I don't
know, like they would have had to breath lights me. So I'm just
in there like man, they're setting me up and blah blah blah. And
then I was talking to my mom when she finally was like, all right,
I'll finally come get you out. You know, I was like,
I didn't have my wallet on me, didn't have my phone, didn't have
my vape, I didn't have anything. There was no reason for me to
be in that car. And that's what it just didn't none. None of
it made sense. So I'm just like trying to figure it out. And
then I was talking to my mom from jail. I'm like, you come
on her. What I said it just like that too. I was like,
you come on to wood, but get your way and see your ma.
I didn't say it like that, but so anyway, she's like,
what did you do to your car? Because she had to go get my
wallet and stuff. And I was like, what are you talking about.
She's like, the headlights bashed out, and I was like, let's just
stop talking because we're on a gel phone, so let's just we'll talk about
this later, because I was thinking that they went over and bashed my headlight
out because they're they're setting me up brow And I was arrained while I was
in there, and the judge was like her, we'll have a court date
whatever. Don't drink, don't do drugs, blah blah blah. And so
when I got out went home, there's a half gallon sit on the counter,
unopened. Like that's why. I'm like, none of us made sense.
So of course I started drinking. And I remember seeing the Brady bunch
of my house and they had always asked me. When I would go to
the hospital, they'd say, hey, man, do you hallucinate? You
know? Or they wouldn't really say it like that, but there's like any
hallucinations. And I'm like, how would I know, you know, like
like you would know trust me? And so the Brady bunch in my house,
you know, and I'm like, what this is? This is what
they're talking about. Next, I know, I wake up text from my
mom when you pay your rent? Told her I'm paying it Monday. She
said it's Wednesday. That's why I kind of looked around some bottles on the
ground hole in the wall from where I had stumbled into the door apparently and
sent the handle of the door through the dry wall. And I go to
the kitchen. There's like this huge mess that I was trying to make some
cream, cheese something I don't even know. Glad it didn't turn the oven
on. And that's when it hit me, like I just lost four days,
dude. I don't remember anything for four days, and I don't know
how I got these bottles. That's when it hit me that I probably was
driving. And I doubt the Buchanan police are really trying this hard to set
me up, and that's when it all came like, holy shit, I'm
glad I didn't kill anybody. Yeah, this could have been so much work.
You know, this could have been just horrible, and I'm thankful for
God for putting me in that situation and not killing anybody. And so I'm
just like, wow, So I drove a car. Don't remember, you
know, like these four days that are just gone, I don't remember anything
from them. And like I said, that's that was the wake up call
I would imagine. Yeah, you know, I went to the meet my
lawyer in court again. They're like, oh, you're gonna have to go
back to jail because when I did wake up my mom, she called the
ambulance or something the police heard and they're like, oh, mister Windfield,
not supposed to be drinking. Let's go over. And I think I pu
like a point four or five something at that that time. But the John
I knew they're doing and thrown me back into jail again. So they it
put me in for another week. You blew a four or five? Yeah,
holy tol, It's it's been way higher. And one time my mom
was telling my stepdad what it was. It was like point five something eight
or something, and my stepdad I was like, no, I think you're
getting that wrong. I think he meant point zero five and moms like no,
point five. My step dad I was like, no, you'd be
dead. I was like no, this, I've I heard them, you
know. And so then there was another time in the hospital where they had
said something it was like higher than that, and my step dad I was
like, my mom, I just remember kind of coming to and my mom
was like, see, I told you, Mike, I told you,
And he just had this like this like this look in his face, like
holy cow, like how do you get that drunk? Like that's not even
a real number. I can't even believe that's that was that high. Like
the judge was like everybody in this courtroom, if they drank as much as
you did you that day, they would be dead. And I'm like I
know like this, I want help, you know, like I've tried many
times, and at that time I didn't know how many times have been a
treatment. So I was just like yeah, man, like so go to
jail. And then I met with my lawyer as I was going to get
sentenced or whatever later for it, which is you know, probation or whatever,
and I was gonna try to find it. At first, I was
like, nah, man, I need I need broath lad and breath Lisban.
He's like, well, you kind of screwed up when the judge told
you not to drink and you did after that. So I'm like, yeah,
but how can they impress me on that when they can't even get me
on the first charge? And it's like it doesn't matter, it doesn't work
that way. It's like you're getting charged with all of it, and how
about you just do this probation for a year. And when's the last time
you've been sober for a year? I was I was probably twelve. He
just had this disbelief like look on his face, like I can't believe that,
which I'm like, dude, you must hear this all the time.
He's like, you know, this might save your life because for a year
you won't be able to drink and can get your year coin. You said,
you've been at this for a while, you know this, this might
be what you need. This, this might just save your life. And
that dude was absolutely right. It did and it has. And so from
moving forward from that, I was just like all right, well what am
I going to do different this time? And just accepting the fact that I
can never drink again. I can never smoke pot again because I tried that
and it leads me right back to drinking, you know. So like I
think you'll be okay, Yeah, I'm just fine. When you're younger,
you smoke it. You can get by without it, trust me. When
nothing against people that do. I just can't, you know. And my
my thinking on that goes, if you just smoke pot your whole life and
you just won't pot, Okay, you're probably okay, you should probably not
smoke pot and figure out why you're smoking pot. Anything like you you use
a lot of it is not good. Yeah, you know, whatever the
case may be. But that's fine. But I think once you move on
to bigger and better things and once that substance takes control of your brain's like,
that's my shit, right, I gotta have it. I gotta have
it. And you're trying to go back to pot and guess what your brains
like. M It's like, hey, okay, I'll do analogies. So
you get this great turtle Sunday, right, and you're like, that's the
best sun I've ever had. Like, well, come over next weekend.
Next weekend, I just give you a twinkie, Like, fuck that twinkie.
I want that turtle Sunday with the fudge and caramel and the nuts and
the whipped cream. I want that. It's gonna be a twinkie. It's
stupid, you know. And come back the next weekend. I give you,
you know, something a little better than the twinkie. But you're like,
ask, don't want that, But your brain remembers that because it's so
good to you, you know. And so that's my thinking on that.
Of course, I'm not a doctor or anything. I want to ask you
a question because earlier you said that that you could you know, you would
drink, and you could, you couldn't. People couldn't tell that you were
drunk, did you, like I, I never thought you were drunk in
when we were in anarcas. Did you ever come to work dron No?
Okay, unless I was drunk from the day before. But I mean if
they'd pull me over sometimes I who knows, you know, But no,
I never never drank on the air. There that's good. But anyway,
I mean after Betton Harbor, when I made that pact with myself that I
wouldn't drink on the air an ever again, right, I never did,
like I gotta be out of Remote's people like, hey, here's a shot.
I'm like, nope. What's interesting because we both have a mutual friend
that's kind of facing some demons right now, and he was recently arrested for
stealing beer, ironically enough, and I had reached out to you because he
reached out to me wanting me to bail him on a jail, and we
had a conversation about it. I mean, there's really no reason to mention
his name, but the fact remains is I didn't know what to do.
I wanted to help him out, but you said, hey, look,
this ends one of three ways. Either they end up dad, or they're
in jail, or they seek help and they get help. And I wasn't
able to do too. But I was able to, as hard as it
was for me, just to not bail him out because he had already been
letting it affect his work. He was so he was so far. It
seems like because he was he was, he was letting it affect his job
because he would just not show up for gigs that he was being paid for,
and so he was already a letting it affect his job. He was
just getting drunk all the time. And there's a lot of things going on
in his life. But man, he's I just I asked your listener to
say a prayer for this guy, because I hope he comes out on the
the other side. He's a good dude. He just Yeah, it's it's
a disease. It will just rip you apart. It's it takes over the
front part of the brain. And for most people, you know, you
can make decisions and you can like walk yourself through it. And if you're
like, hey, if I eat this big old turtle Sunday, I'm gonna
have. It's gonna make me gain weight, you know, and you can
go is it worth it? And well, I did run twenty miles a
day, or I'm biked from Traverse City to Sutton's Bay. You know,
I can well believe me. As much as I ride my bike, I
couldn't be on a substance that I just there's too much exercise involved. And
if I had those substances, I'd be like, oh fuck it, I'm
not doing that day. But I just can't I like riding my bike too
much. So maybe riding your bike is your your thing, but that's me,
that's how I do. But with everybody else that you know has the
substance use disorder, and then that's that's where it goes to, where telling
telling him or even telling me back in the day, you know, you
can never drink again. It's like saying round, you can never ride your
bike again. Yeah, I don't. I would suck. How I'm gonna
sneak out. You're already thinking like, well, I'll just go on the
weekend when you're not around them, you know, like that, But that's
that's the same thing, because you can't fathom going without that, you know,
like, no, you can't do that. So it's it's a it's
a tricky, it's a tough, it's a sneaky, it's a son of
a bitch disease. Really a lot of justification in your own mind, right,
Oh god, yeah, is that what you face? Oh? Yeah,
that and just the I can do what I want. I can,
you know, and you know, being in sober living and I didn't want
to go to Silver Living. That's why I went because I think I heard
somebody saying something about you know, want versus need, and I was like,
well, what do I want? I want to go live somewhere again,
I want to go do this. I want to be on my own.
What do I need? I probably need to learn how to live sober,
you know. And if I would have just went back to an apartment
or back to my mom's house and just been in the same situation, kicking
the same tires, the same results are gonna happen. And so that's why
I'm like, I'm gonna stay up here. I'm gonna go to sober living.
I don't want to live with eighteen different dudes, but that's what I
gotta do. That's what I gotta do. And then I met some really
good guys in there, and so I never really was alone. You know.
I would go to work, I would come home, and I started,
you know, doing the podcast, and started going back to school,
and I don't know, started you know, putting the nonprofit together. And
I was moving my life forward. And I've tried AA. That was the
kind of main way that I went. But I started kind of reaching out
to different, different kind of groups and started realizing what worked for me.
In AA, I love going to meetings. Those are my people. But
working those steps, I found myself rewinding everything, going back to the past,
and there's nothing back in the past for me. Man. You know,
like we can tell some funny stories about going Charlie Sheen on people,
but but then that's fun. But like like for me to see here and
go, oh, I wish I was in radio, I really ruined my
career. I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be. And when I was able
to accept that and be good with that and then understand that I can never
drink, never smoke pot, I can never do drugs again and be cool
with it, and then once you start building a life, it becomes easier
to become cool with it because you realize you've never lived before. You know,
I went twenty years is just a stupid drunk, you know, like
I don't have to go back and relive that. You know through some of
the steps, you know that they do. And I was telling this guy
Tom, I love Tom Charlotte voy A, and he was like, no,
you are working the steps. I was like what He's like, You're
doing this, this, this, this, this, You're working one even
know it. That's what he said, and I was like, all right,
Tom, if that makes you feel better, buddy, I was like,
but I'm just saying, I don't sponsored down to do that, you
know, recovery coach, and you know, they kind of point me in
the right direction. And so it just became my life. And I think
that's the difference between well, I don't drink anymore, I'm sober, versus
I'm living in recovery, you know, because it's everything. It's it's it's
everything, you know. It's I tell the story about the jelly jar,
which people in the treatment center's love, and I would tell the jelly jar
story. I was making myself peanut and jelly sandwich. I was at home.
I think I've told the story on the podcast before, and I was
out on my sugar free jelly. So I reached from my wife's I grab
it and fight it off of the off of the door on the refrigerator.
I'm like, damn, there's jelly on the bottom of it, all on
the side of the door. And I set it on a paper towel and
I make my sandwich and I put the camp back on it, and I
go to put it back in that moment, I realized, like, I
don't like a messy fridge. Why the why would I just put that back?
I clearly see the problem. Did I make it? No? My
wife did? Who I love, who bust her ass for our family?
What Am I just gonna put it back and tell her clear jelly jar off?
No. In that moment, I decided if that and these are like
the small things in life round that people can catch themselves in and make that
right decision. And so I was like, hold on now, took it
over the sink, washed it off, wiped it off, wiped the fridge
off, took me thirty seconds to put it back, close the door.
And then the old me too would have been like, yeah, I cleaned
the jelly jar off, but didn't it. And I told that story later
at a meeting that I was talking at a treatment center and I told that,
and my wife worked for the same treatment center, and she came in
then a couple days later and they're like, oh, the jelly jar.
She's like, what it's like, Oh, Corey told the jelly jar story.
She had no idea, no clue what they were talking about. They're
like, well, ask Corey, and she gets She's like so I'm supposed
to ask you about some jelly jar, and I'm like, oh, yeah,
see, I was telling them, you know, about being in that
those moments when you can catch yourself doing the right thing, you know,
being part of the solution or being part of the problem. And then those
little moments it could be just as little as cleaning up a little jelly jar,
I could be picking up a napkin. You know, you can be
part of the problem, part of the solution, you know, and if
you start living your life that way, Now do I do it ten out
of ten times? No? But I'm trying to be more aware, trying
to you know, be more in the moment to realize those things and just
that kind of thinking and that kind of stuff I would not do before,
you know. So you got a fantastic when you much like me. You
definitely married up. Oh yeah, right, yeah, you gotta know,
you bet they pull you up, And so I would just making made me
think, it's like, for all, for that thing, there's probably ten
things that she cleans up after you who doesn't even mention. So it's like,
Okay, I'll clean up the jelly, no problem. But speaking a
lot of ones, I want to ask you this because I actually want to
ask you a couple of questions because hopefully people are listening to this, not
just people who are, you know, having an issue, but loved ones.
How does a loved one who is feeling helpless help someone who isn't ready
to be helped yet? How does that work? What do they what can
they do? Because they can't give up on them because it's not them.
Funny that you bring that up, bron. It's a little close to home,
but it's perfect. Yeah, And just like myself, people think,
oh cool, you help people all the time. Sure, sometimes when they
want to be helped. But if the person does not want to be helped,
it's tough. He's gotta sit on the sidelines. And they say,
what comes around goes around, And I see it, see it happening in
my life today. Man, there's there's somebody love care about very very much.
But persons like nas I and you just gotta sit back. You know,
if the person comes to me and wants some help, I would do
it, but they're you know, in denial from what I can see and
can tell, and no problem, nothing to see here, but yet and
this is what must have been like for my mom and everybody else. It
was close to me. You just you see this happen and you're like,
this is a ticking time bomb, like this is going to explode. This
is not going to end well, and it gets just as bad as you
wanted to get. You know, So when the person does reach out for
help and wants to say, I have a problem, I don't want to
do this, I don't want to live this way anymore. I'll be there,
but from me to start judging them or you know, being on top
of it, because you know, when I was around that age, you
couldn't tell me shit anyway, And so you just pretty much have to wait
till that person's ready to get help. Yeah, and then just pitch in
then, because it seems to me you're just you're throwing rocks in a river.
It's really not doing any good. Yeah, if you if you reach
out, because unless a person's ready to and these are things you've said to
me, so I mean it's coming from a very ignorant because I've never experienced
what you've experienced. So I just you just gotta be there waiting for them
to ask you for help. No, I mean, is that which I
mean because it's it's kind to be tough, especially when you're really close to
somebody you just see just going over the deep end and there's nothing you can
do about it. That's gonna be I mean, it's helpless. You feel
helpless. You know the money will dry up soon. They'll start asking you
for that, like what happens to you? Hey, Ron, I really
need, you know, build me out of jail. And I was like,
dude, don't do that like I do exactly where he needs to be.
I think I even said that he's right where he's supposed to be right
now. The money will will dry up. Alcohol is expensive, you know,
drugs are expensive, So you know that'll that'll come. Just don't you
know, throw money at them. I had a guy and don't ever ask
me for money on Facebook. That just goes for everybody out there, Like
he's dude I was in treatment with before, and I like to dude,
nothing against him, but you know it hit me up. Hey man,
I'm like, I don't give money like that. Man, Sorry, I
don't you know, it's just there's a lot of scams going on, a
lot of people. Will we'll just ask everybody. I got five thousand friends,
I'll ask everybody for twenty dollars and do some stab. But people do
that and people give it. I've seen it, and I'm like, what
are you doing? You know? But I don't give money that way.
That's that's not how you help people. Well, but my electra is getting
shut off, Okay, you'll live. Yeah, Like you gotta figure out
how to get it turned back on then, you know, like, I
don't know to tell you, but I'm not gonna give you money because you
know what they're gonna do with that money. They're electroc is getting turned off
anyway. They're gonna drink with it. They're gonna use drugs with it.
You know. That's they're not gonna like let me. This one guy was
like, oh, I need some Sugarrett and I was like, all right,
where are you at? Well, I'm into Saint Marie. I was
like, all right, what gas stations near you? H I was like,
I'm a calm and I'll pay them over the phone for a pack of
cigarettes. Oh man, if you need more than you know what, I'm
like, let's see. Yeah, you know, but I really wasn't gonna
call that gas station. But I was just calling his bluff, you know,
and it's it's just different things. But yeah, money, you know,
that's that's something. And how how bad do they want it to get?
Everybody says that would you hit your bottom? And they always said the
bottom there's a basement, and then in the basement you can dig another hole
and get to the cellar, and then the cellar it goes as deep as
you wanted to. And for me, it took that wake up call of
like cold cow, like I am. I don't remember those days, and
this could have been bad. I don't even know what I did last night.
I don't know what to night before. It was my neighbor over,
I don't even know, Like do I gotta get There was a lot of
things that I was like, I gotta get out my my bank statements.
It started seeing what happened, try to piece it together or do I just
pretend it didn't even happen, you know, Like it was just that moment
of like, oh my god. But one thing that I I used to
think blackouts just happened to people that they'd used as an excuse. So I
cheated my wife, Oh I blacked out, So I thought it was just
like a right something that somebody said. But when I would stop drinking for
months sometimes and sometimes weeks at a time, and now I would go hardcore
right back in it, like I lived in Arkansas, and that's when the
blackouts that started. You know, it was just I don't know, alcohol
too much, too fast. I have no idea, but something with that
having that clean time in there and my brain healing and then you know,
going right back to it. Like that's when I started having like blackouts.
And like I said, I didn't even believe in blackouts. I thought there
was just some shit people made up, cheated on their wife or something and
do something bad. Well I blacked out, Yeah, okay, buddy,
you know I was like, I shut my liver and kidney's down. I'd
never blacked out before. You're stupid, you know, And no, it
makes sense. But yeah, so for loved ones hanging there, it's it's
tough. Every situation is different, every person's different. But if they're if
you see it, you see the train coming and you're like, oh,
this ain't gonna be good, you can sit back and watch, you know,
but unless you got duct tape and a basement an old rickety chair you
needed detox, yeah, or just tie them up somewhere right, which I
don't think it's legal almost states. Well, you asked me at the top
of the show, if I'd imagine we'd be sitting here talking about this,
I would not have imagined it, but I could. As I said before,
I've just what you've done for other people. You've took your situation and
you've made other You've You've most people don't understand what this like. You've affected
other people's lives, countless people, and so what you're doing here, hats
off to you. I'm so proud of what you are, what you've become,
and I'm proud to call your friend. Thank you for having me on
today. Man, this is blast. Yeah, thanks for and I hope
we help some people. I hope some people listened. And because it's this
never ends, it's it's it's alcohol, drugs, they're a huge part of
our society. I mean, look at some of the big cities, they're
just they're like walking around zombies and it's it's tragic. So all you're doing
is one person at a time, helping who you can. So heads off
to you and my friend and behind the scenes of doing a little bit of
things, and like gambling is something that I'm just like, I gotta tackle
it, bro, because the state of Michigan gets so much money, Ron,
so much money, and they give peanuts. Yeah, I want to
say, like half a mill, maybe a quarter mill. Whatever. It
is back to the gamble, to the program to help people, and they
just they do that with billboards. You think, oh, there's help,
they'll call the eight hundred numbers. You call it, Ron, I'm gonna
have you call it. You're gonna have some lady to go. All right,
can I schedule you an outpatient therapy session? You're like, but I
need help now, Okay, but I'm gonna schedule this, schedule this with.
I gotta look up and see in your area if there's anybody available up
here, Ron, all of the northern Michigan. There's three, maybe four
at least on the cording of the Michigan website. Their website's a joke,
like nothing, nothing's there to help anybody, and the state dude raking it
in. I'm the lottery. Oh jeesus, see how much from MC nine
and then a little small print called this a little eight number. Ron.
I will tell you this. This isn't something that we talked about. We
were not going to talk about, but this is a subject I can speak
to. Did you know about this about me? I don't think so.
I don't think I've ever shared this. It's not something a part of my
life that I'm I'm nice, proud of. I thought we were going to
wrap it up, but could you're a completely honest guy. In my early
twenties, I had a real bad gambling problem. This is in my my
My thing was football, the one o'clock games. I would bet twenty dollars
on a game, twenty dollars on another, fifty on another. It was
fifty fifty twenty twenty. And if I lost, I'd do the same thing
the four o'clock games. And there'd be weekends, you know, or I'm
down three or four hundred bucks, you know, And it's just it was.
It was a never ending pit and you always think that you have the
lock of the century, and God provided I eventually got out of We don't
need to go on the details, but I hit it was it was tough.
I hit some bad parts of my life. I needed help from people
who loved me, and I got it. My cousin Sean Graham, who
I recently saw after thirty years recently out on the boat. He put me
up and I got my shit together. But uh, you know, I
was doing shit that I wasn't proud of to feed my gambling addiction. And
it was addiction. And I'm telling you, as bad as I thought things
were then, I can't imagine having that problem now because it's everywhere TV radio.
It's always, well, we'll give you the first four bets for free,
are you fucking kidding me? And then at the end of these commercials,
if you have a gambling problem, it's like, are you fucking kidding
me? It's like, what, yeah, I just it's but yeah,
that's something I can speak to. I had, and it was football,
it wasn't anything else. But to this day, when me and my wife
go to Vegas, we gonna gamble. I just do not do any gambling
because I'm afraid that this twenty dollar bet will turn into this chase. Because
you're chasing, You're always chasing. And so when we go to Vegas,
we just go to see the shows. I mean, my wife plays the
slots once in a while, but I don't go down to the casino.
I mean, I just but it is. It's far worse now than it
was in the late eighties early nineties, to be sure. So I can
speak to that that that addiction was a problem for me. It was.
It was a real bad gambling addict for three or four years, and it
was, you know, besides quitting chewing tobacco, probably the toughest thing I
ever had to kick was that gambling problem. It's tough. And I want
to start tracking where that money goes because none of it makes sense. And
what they say with there the online sports betting, now, yeah, there's
like some ridiculous fee for them to do that in the state of mission,
which they collect and then like I want to say it's two hundred fifty thousand,
maybe five hundred just given the credit and say it's half a mill it's
billions of dollars. Sof is like, hey, it's big business. That's
there's a reason it's all over TV and radio and social media. Yeah,
it's everywhere, it's saying, and for them to give back crumbs and then
they say the rest goes to emergency workers workman's comp which would show me the
receipt, which doesn't go like the ems worker love love what they do.
They don't pay their workman's cop at two seventeen recovery. We pay our workman's
comp. It comes out of the employer's check. So wait, who's huh?
Oh the state? Okay, so the state runs that. So where's
this going? Like where's the scam? Like and the syntaxes they call it
for cigarettes, alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, four hundred million a year,
Where's where's that going? Like there's a treatment center at all. We could
house this place every single day, full to the brim, all the resources,
and that's only for a full year, full every single day, and
that would only be like fifteen million, okay or no, it wouldn't even
be that. But then I was like, let's pretend there's ten of them
in the state, which there's not, and that would only be like sixty
millions. So where's the where's the three four every year? Where's that going?
It's not the schools, there's definitely not the roads getting rich. Where
in the f is it going? Ron? And you're a city commissioner now,
so like we're building our political career right here. Yeah, the same
thing. It's yeah, I'm not a human rights commission. We're on commissions.
Well, now we're talking bad about Gamblance and we've got to watch our
backs. No, Well, it's funny that you bring out bout because recently
on the city council we were because there's already two dispensaries. We were speaking
about marijuana earlier. We were talking there's two dispensaries in the city of Utica,
and there was a motion to I mean, Utica is like fifty two
hundred people, we don't need more dispensaries. It's well, well, here's
the thing. I have big feelings about that because it's not truly like a
liquor store. There's a lot of they sell chips and stuff. There's a
lot of variables to it. But but recently it got shut down. So
I think we're just gonna stick with the two, which is fine. We
don't. I mean, there's two and at the probably, you know,
there's some people who think that that's not enough. Some people how many dispensaries.
I came up to Traverse City. There's like five of them here.
There's like all kinds. I couldn't believe how many dispensaries are here. But
my point is getting back to the gambling where you're talking about drinking, gambling,
drugs, alcohol. It's not good. It doesn't produce positive things from
our society. It's their schools, right yeah, Governor Whitmery, it helps
our schools. I hate you, Cory, wouldn't for you. I need
to pick up each other because the powers that be with the advertising, they're
not they're not. They don't care about you. They don't care about me,
No, they don't. And this is where sometimes two and people don't
like to be held responsible for their own actions. I know I didn't.
Sometimes I still don't like to be But this is where you really have to
draw the line in the sand. Like if people really hated the police or
hated the system, stop doing crime. And there's that that line from a
liar, liar, and that criminal calls Jim care and he picks up the
phone. He says, stop breaking the law and he hangs up there.
If everybody just for a mo just don't speed, don't do anything, just
follow the law for a month, everybody in Michigan. And I'm trying to
worry about Indiana or any other state. I don't care, just the Michigan
stop breaking the law just for a month. That's a that's a tall order
of my friend. Yeah, that goes it piss them off. Probably it
was because they're like, what the fuck are we doing? Like nobody squent
crimes is crazy. They must really hate us. I don't want to brag
about right if if you want to, you know, get out and get
out and enjoy nature. That's my best suggestion. If you're thinking about doing
drugs, go out and enjoy nature. Go fishing, go bike riding,
do something outdoors. That's the next election for governor. I don't know what
turn turn turn turn turn turn Windfield Robinson. Nope, don't want it,
no interest, No sir, No, sir, doesn't want it. City
councils the end of the road from must do it for him. You gotta
do the things you don't want to do. Ron. Look, if you
want a put life in public st what you need, don't turn turn turn
turn Windfield, Robin. I think it's not natural to run a rule over
people. I'm on the city council to give back to my community. How
can you get back to him? Well, just be like, here's why,
being governor of Michigan, you're killing me. Winfield Robinson, I say,
that's why I go to my PUKA radio voice. Governor of Michigated twenty
twenty whatever. If you want a mayor who's afraid of the governor, then
you want a governor that doesn't care about your mayor. That's Ron Robinson and
Corey Winfield. They're gonna tag team the role. The views of Corey Winfield
do not necessarily express the written views of Ron Robinson governor bad that's some whittmer
crap. They're both going to be governor. I'm Ron Robinson and I did
not approve of this message. He doesn't want to. That means he needs
to do it the Winfield ways, sir. No, sir, I will
vote for you, but I want no part of that. You ever want
the man station and buy a joint at the counter, Nope. I think
people need to police themselves, That's what I think, and that's my point.
They really have to, you know, just be accountable, you know,
be responsible for what's going on because, like you said, nobody cares.
Yeah, you know, they're all out there to make money. Money
rules everything, and what can you do about your situation? And that's what
I started doing too with my own recoveries. And we live in a society
where everybody wants to feel good now, never worrying about the repercussions of what
they're gonna their actions might be later. You know what I mean, You
really just to have to look at the big picture. You can't you can't
do it for instant gratification because if you chase that tail, you're never going
to stop chasing it, right. So, yeah, the gambling thing is
a huge issue, and that's why I want to kind of get more involved
in for you. I'm glad to hear it because there's one place in Michigan.
If you're like I need I need away from this. I need to
go somewhere and just hit the reset button. Like impatient treatment. There's one
place in Detroit, just one for men only. So if you're a woman
with a gambling change things. We're gonna creep jobs. There needs to be
more estrogen in there. We're gonna open up treatment centers and places for people
to go with gambling. They got the money, that's the same man,
they just do it. Open it. If you're gonna let people gamble and
do all this stuff, open it because the gambler man like, it's you're
the dirty person. You're the dirty guy. You lost your lost the family,
and the shame is, Oh, it's the alcohol made him do it.
He's a different person when he drinks with someone who gambles, even though
the same receptors are firing in the brain. It's you're the bad guy.
The blame is on you. And if you're well, I did make the
bets. If you noticed, Okay, I did take the drink alcohol,
But the alcohol keeps going in my brain where it takes over so like it
changes the chemistry in your brain. But if you notice, there's some very
similarities with alcohol and gambling and how they word it that it's your problem.
Yeah, and drink responsibly, gamble responsibly, responsible hambling, responsible drinking.
Oh okay, we're falling for this one again. Yeah it is. And
it's like, oh, they're putting a blame on you, them sneaky bastards.
And the opiate like the pharmaceutical companies, which I think we should sue
the state just as much because of how many people they don't allow to go
to treatment because oh they didn't have a ride. Oh well no, you
just you were just there. We're not going to send you to treatment again.
Wait, what, but yet you collected all this money from all these
pharmaceutical companies, but you're telling people they can't go because they've already been.
You were just there two weeks ago. Yeah, somebody needs to explain to
me the difference between the drug dealers selling cocaine or crack on the corner with
the pharmaceutical company pitching opiates. Tell me, because I really don't see the
difference. Yeah, and other than the money, yeah, and the states
getting money, and that's why the state was like, hey, we want
some money for that, and all of them were like, hey, we'll
get some money. Oh shit, yeah, let's get on that that bandwagon.
When they're allowing things like that to even even continue, you know,
and they're just sitting back collected at all. And then the money for that
was supposed to go to help like organizations like ours or a recovery community organization.
Families that have lost people should should start stuff, and they have,
but they're like, where's where's our help? And it goes to the jails.
It goes back to the jails, and it's like, wait, the
jail is getting so much money and it well, but we need a new
swap team. What okay, Well I thought we were helping people now oh
no, no, So now you're gonna go out and arrest all the people
and throw them back in jail a Ron Robinson, Corey Winfield, some kind
of elected officials. I think we might get canceled if we talked too much
about big Pharma. Yeah yeah, yeah, but anyway, we gotta go.
We got five jails or something. Fun. Yeah, thank you for
having me man, I appreciate it. Yeah, thanks for stopping Vibe and
want to have you on for quite a while. And I'm glad you got
to check out. You got more out of me than you. I mean,
you learned. So I think we learned some things about each other.
Yeah, we did. It's fun and it wasn't scripted because that's not what
I do. But you got to see the East Studio, the homest I
think it's very nice. You and Marty have a great place. Cool.
And the North Studio, the North Studio rocks. Yes, but I will
tell you this, and I said this because last night when you gave us
a tour of your house, you made me look bad because my studio is
very messy and your house in your home studio is very clean and everything.
But here, this this area here, it's not that messy, but it's
more resembles what my studio looks like. It's just papers around. You know,
you're energy drink here and your cards and just energy drink around. This
episode brought to you by Power Aid until they pay me not to say their
name anymore. Samor reversed advertise, Okay, I want you to quit vaping.
I think it's bad for you. I'm in the process. Okay,
big steps because it's just it's not good for you, man, it's not
Thanks for having me. I appreciate this was funny. Yeah, thanks for
coming by man, thanks for listening to the two seventeen Recovery podcast. When
a bunch of free step from two seventeen Recovery go to the app on the
website two seventeen recovery dot com