You're listening to KFI AM six forty wake Up Call with me Amy King on
demand on the iHeartRadio app KFI at kost HD two, Los Angeles, Orange
County. How that improved a good band? Your host, Amy Kay,
Good morning, it's five o'clock. Straight up. It's Monday, January eighth.
I'm Amy King. This is your wake up call. Got a big
day planned after a big weekend. I got to go to a Chargers game.
We're going to tell you about that a little bit later. That was
my first real just go to the Chargers game, enjoy the show kind of
thing. Of course, he lost, but you know that's okay, just
fan appreciation day. We were all happy to be there. And I will
tell you though that there was more a lot more red in the stands than
there was Chargers Golden Blue, a lot of Kansas City fans. And then
somebody was telling me that at SOFI, that's a very common thing, is
that we see more fans from the other teams than we do for the home
team. Hopefully we'll switch that up in the next couple of years. Golden
Globes were last night. Did you watch them? Kno, did not and
watched a little bit of it. I watched some of it. You know.
I just think that the awards ceremonies, I love them, and I
love watching them, and I'm glad that they kind of got away from a
lot of the political stuff and they more just talked about being actors and how
fun that is and what an honor it is to work with the people that
they work with, and that kind of stuff. I digged all that part,
but I hadn't heard of half the movies that were nominated, and a
couple that won. I was like, I've never even heard the name of
that movie, not even once in my life before that. So that's kind
of a downer. And it'll be interesting to see how many people watched and
all of that stuff. But I still do dig them, and we'll take
a little bit deeper dive into some of the winners and stuff. Some of
my favorites one and some of my favorites were nominated and did not win.
Ted Lasso, Ted Lasso, Ted Lasho, Here's what's ahead on wake Up
Call. The door plug that was blown off in Alaska Airline's flight on a
flight from Portland to Ontario has been found. It was discovered in the backyard
of a house in Portland by a teacher. The FAA has grounded all seven
thirty seven Max nine planes until it is, in its words, satisfied that
they are safe. The Max planes are just added to Alaska's fleet. In
October, a Lebanese security official says and Israeli airstrike has killed a senior Hesbula
commander in southern Lebanon. The Israel Hamas war hit the three month mark yesterday.
The first commercials to the Moon is underway. The uncrewed Peregrin Lunar Lander
lifted off overnight atop United Launch Alliance's new Vulcan Centaur rocket from Cape Canaveral.
The payload included the cremated ashens of ashes of dozens of people set to receive
so called space funerals, including those of Star Trek's Lieutenant O'Hara. Michelle Nichols.
We're gonna be talking more about this with ABC's Jim Ryan at five twenty.
He's got some more details for us. Should be really interesting. Love
the whole heading to the Moon thing. At six oh five, it's handle
on the news. Congressional leaders have come up with a spending deal that should
stop a government shut down for the rest of this year. Let's get started
with some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom.
Winter break is over for kids in the LA School District. They go back
to class today. Superintendent Alberto Carvallo, board of Education members, and others
will kick off the start of the second semester with the news conference, classroom
visits, and a chance to watch the superintendent teach. A new state law
that bans people from carrying weapons in most public places has again been blocked from
taking effect. The decision on Saturday keeps in place a ruling from December that
blocked the law. A federal judge ruled the law violates the Second Amendment and
that gun rights groups would likely prevail in proving it is unconstitutional. Governor Newsom's
office called it a dangerous decision that puts the lives of Californians in danger.
That door plug blown off in Alaska Airline flight from Oregon to southern California has
been found in the backyard of a home in Portland. The plug covers an
emergency exit that wasn't in use. Investigators have said finding the part could help
them figure out what caused the mid air emergency last week on the new Boeing
seven thirty seven to nine MACS and TSB chair Jennifer Hammondy says twelve rows of
seats were damaged. The headrests on twenty five A and twenty six A were
gone. The seat back on twenty six A is also missing. The trade
table on the back of twenty six A is also missing. She says it's
fortunate the plane was not yet at cruising altitude when a hole was blown in
the side of the fuselage. The plane was at sixteen thousand feet while passengers
were still required to wear seatbelts. The FAA, as I mentioned, has
temporarily grounded Boeing seven thirty seven Max nine jets until they've been inspected and are
deemed safe. The cockpit voice recorder from that Alaska Airline's flight did not capture
the emergency. The NTSB says recorders only capture two hours of communications and then
overwrite the audio. Officials are urging the FAA to make airlines upgrade their cockpit
voice recorders to twenty five hours. Hey, the average wedding in twenty twenty
four is going to cost an average of thirty thousand dollars. The Zolar report
says the cost of pretty much everything is up, from florists to caterers because
of inflation, and of course that thirty thousand dollars does not include the engagement
ring. Let's now say good morning to ABC's Stephen Port and Boy Stephen.
We were all pretty surprised to hear that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is in the
hospital. Apparently it caught the White House a little off guard to what in
the heck is going on. Not a little off guard, entirely off guard.
And we still don't know why Lloyd Austin remains in the hospital this morning.
We don't know why he's in. No, we don't know why he's
in. All we're told is that on December twenty second, he had a
minor elective procedure that had him at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center overnight,
and then on January first, he suffered severe pain and had to be
taken back to Walter Reed where he was brought into the ICU and remains in
the ICU. But not for his medical condition per se, it's also for
what we're told, our space and privacy considerations, and that is really striking.
And this is a man who's the senior most civilian official at the Department
of Defense, directly in the line of the chain of command. The way
things normally go is the President issues in order to the military. It's communicated
through the Defense Secretary and the He's also in the line of succession of course
when it comes to presidential succession. So the idea that his whereabouts would be
unknown to the White House for several days last week is just really jaw dropping.
The hospitalization began on January first, and the President wasn't informed until Thursday,
four days later January fourth, So lots of questions have yet to be
answered, and increasingly the questions are coming from Capitol Hill by partisan leadership of
the House Armed Services Committee issued a statement yesterday calling on Austin to explain why
he went into the hospital in the first place. As I say, we
still don't know. Well in the kind of the catch twenty two and all,
this is theoretically hippa rules would like say, no, he doesn't have
to say, it's a privacy thing. But like you said, he's in
the line of succession. He's the Secretary of defense and like, if something
really big happens and we can't get a hold of him, that's really scary.
Well, I don't know if the actual hipp A law would necessarily apply.
I don't know how it's written and whether it applies in this particular circumstans.
What I do know is that he's citing his own right to privacy,
and that's the bottom line. That said, the long understood norm here is
that you can't serve in a senior most government position and have that privacy right.
You just can't, especially when it comes to your health. There might
be a national security argument that, well, we don't want America's enemies to
think that the United States is vulnerable because the Defense Secretary is laid up.
Well, I think the opposite. It's true. I think that if the
Defense Secretary is hospitalized, you convey publicly to the world that the deputy Defense
Secretary is firmly in command and that there's been no break in the chain of
command. That it's all that the continuity of government is there. That really
helps the world understand that the American government is strong and much stronger than any
one person. The opposite conveys weakness, So I think at the moment there
are lots of questions, and the idea that this was really kept from the
President and his senior aides at the White House is a scandal, and the
President was said to be exasperated. But also, you know, I guess
in some way understanding they go back. Lloyd Austin was a commander in a
rock when Bo Biden served under him in Iraq, and so there's some sympathy
and affinity there. And this president just doesn't fire people. I have rarely
seen anyone tossed out of this administration. It's just not something Joe Biden does
well. First of all, I hope he's okay, but I'd really like
to get some answers. And you know, this is such a bizarre,
bizarre story. Yep, you bet, all right. Thank you so much,
Steven Portenon. I appreciate all the information. Let's get back to some
of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. And LAPD
officers are covering from an attack where a homeless man broke the officer's leg at
a metro station. Sources with the LAPD say the North Hollywood officer was conducting
a search of the train at the end of its route. When the homeless
man was told to leave the train. The homeless man refused, and during
a the officer was injured. The attack happened just before midnight last Thursday at
a Metro station on Lancasham Boulevard. Sources also say the same man had an
argument with officers earlier that evening. Steve Gregory kf iOS arrangment is expected this
morning for the man accused of killing three homeless men in la and a man
in San Dimas who was killed during a follow home robbery. The murder charges
include the special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and murder during the commission of a
robbery. Jared Powell was ordered held without bail in December. The killings happened
in late November. Those who missed out on the viral pink Stanley cups at
Starbucks actually they were for sale at Target, maybe out of luck. The
coffee chain says it's not going to be restocking the mugs. The limited edition
cup went on sale last week at Starbucks. Inside Target stores, people were
lining up as early as one am to get their hands on the forty ounce
stainless steel vacuum scene old Tumblr. It cost fifty bucks. It's been seen
up on eBay for two hundred bucks or more. Hey, the Eagles have
landed. The Eagles opened the first of four nights at Kia Forum on Friday,
and I have to tell you personally, I'm very excited about this because
it was one of my kind of bucket listing. I don't know if you
call it a bucket listy, but it's one of the shows that I hadn't
seen. I'd never seen the Eagles, and so we got tickets to see
the Eagles this weekend and I have some friends flying down from Portland and we're
all going to go and it's going to be super fun. But was super
excited to hear about the show that happened on Friday that co founder the Eagles,
Don Henley came on stage and he said, good evening and welcome to
whatever this is. Well, it's the Eagles. They're long goodbye tour.
They apparently did twenty one songs in just over two hours, pretty much all
of the Eagles hits that you would ever want. They had Joe Walsh's hits
from outside the band. Don Henley did a solo hit, and then,
of course the Glenn Fry is no longer with us, but in his place
there is son Deacon Fry, who plays in the band and also country singer.
I didn't know this. Vince gill is playing with the Eagles, so
that's going to be a super duper treat. And Don Henley apparently said,
you know, we could have done one night at the Spaceship next door and
been done with it, And of course he was referring to Sofi Stadium,
and he said, but the sound is so much better here at the Key
of Forum. So we decided to work a little harder and give you a
better experience. And so the result of that was four shows. So super
excited that the Eagles have landed at the Forum, and personally, I'm super
excited to go to the show this weekend and I'll tell you all about it.
Congressional leaders say they've come to an agreement on a budget that will keep
the government funded through twenty twenty four, sent a majority Leader Chuck Schumer and
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson made the joint announcement of the nearly one point
seven trillion dollar deal yesterday. The number of reported hate crimes is up in
America's ten largest cities. The Center for the Study of Hate and Extreme Menisimic
Cow State University says hate crimes are up almost thirteen percent, mainly because of
anti Jewish and anti Muslim attacks tied to the Israel Hamas War. Hate crimes
in LA jumped forty eight percent. College football's national champion will be crowned tonight,
vying for the title Number one Michigan and number two Washington. Michigan made
it to the championship game with their twenty seven to twenty oh t win over
Alabama at the Rose Bowl one week ago. Ooh, Fantasia is going to
perform the national anthem, and Walker Hayes is headlining the All State Championship tailgate.
Sounds like a party. At six oh five, it's handle on the
news. Governor Newsom's getting ready to know let us know what he wants to
spend for the next year as the state faces a sixty eight billion dollars shortfall.
Now, let's say good morning to ABC's Jim Ryan Jim weikin see to
the Moon, Alice, To the Moon, to the Moon, Alice and
beyond. Really so Yeah, this launched. This is a peagrine peregrine won.
The lander launched early this morning. Amy, it was riding aboard of
Vulcan Centaur rocket from Cape Canaveral blasted all stuff from Star Trek. Well it
is, and you know why because the remains of some stars from the original
Star Trek are on board that rocket. James Dehan who played Oh Scottie the
Forest, Kelly who was doctor doctor McCoy both and Nichelle Nichols of course Lieutenant
O'Hara hailing frequency. Please, So the remarks and remains of those three,
some of the remains, at least they they're not really clear about that.
Some say ashes, others say just DNA. That could be, you know,
a hair from Michelle Nichols brush or something. I'm not sure. But
Geene Roddenberry also has some remains on board this this trip, this rocket,
it's going to the Moon, but they remain will be launched off beyond that,
towards the Sun. They're going to go off into deep space, into
this eternal voyage out into space. Meanwhile, this lander is supposed to touch
down on the Moon on February twenty third. I believe it is This was
interesting. Amy. You know, you've seen the moon chart, the beautiful
chart of the moon. It shows where Armstrong and Aldrin landed. Apollo eleven
they landed in the Sea of Tranquility. Apollo seventeen landed kind of on the
edge of the Sea of Tranquility and the Sea of Serenities. You've got the
Sea of Rains, the Plato crater there, the Copernicus crater. But the
one that's going to land on February twenty Thirsdy is landing in something called the
Bay of Stickiness. It's honest to what it's called the Bay of stickiness?
Why is it? Do we know why it's called the bay stick up?
I assume that it looks like it's sticky. It's just dust like the rest
of the the moon out there. But they call it the sea of the
Bay of Stickiness. Okay, isn't there? Doesn't China or Korea or somebody
didn't they launch something and they have it on the moon. Or maybe it
was Russia, I can't remember, but not too long ago, somebody launched
something and it went to like the South Pole. Yeah, right, the
China's Changjai. It landed. It was the twenty thirteen to twenty twenty mission.
India also has had a successful moonlander landed an object on the Moon.
This will be the first US soft landing on the Moon if it all goes
to plan in fifty years. So yeah, it's going to be it'll be
momentous. But at the same time, you see the space race that pits
the US against China and against Indian against Russia to some degree. But really
the space race these days is pitting US corporations against each other, the companies
that make the rocket and make the landers, and they're all kind of being
whipsawed by NASA, which is looking for the best price on contracts to take
its stuff out into space. The goal of this mission, besides sending members
of the Star Trek cast out in space, is to learn more about the
Moon itself. Devices are going to measure the magnetism of the Moon, measure
the radiation levels, look for any sources or signs of water, all of
of course laying the groundwork for the return of people to the Moon at some
point, maybe the next decade. Oh that's what I was just going to
ask you. When are people heading back? There should be before the end
of I mean before twenty thirty arrives. It's really the best. Yes,
so that's only sixty years to go before NASA's plan at least, or the
intention of NASA and it's private partners to put somebody back on the Moon.
This is all smacking of for all mankind. Have you watched that show on
Apple TV? Yes, very cool. I have too. So the premise
of the show, We've talked about it before here on wake Up Call,
is that, you know, there's the race to get into space back in
the sixties, but that Russia got there first, and so the race to
space never stopped, like you know, when we got there, it was
kind of like, okay, we went, but this time in this scenario,
it kind of never stops and it keeps going. And there's a lot
of commercial companies who are involved in going, and NASA is there. So
it's interesting that now that's kind of you know, art imitating life or life
imitating art. Actually well sure, yeah, I mean, yeah, you
saw a signed to that even in two thousand and one of Space Odyssey,
you know, the I think Boeing had its name showing up in parts of
the movie. Yeah. But also I mean, and again, reality imitating
art. Here Boeing built the rocket. This United Launch Alliance, which is
backed by Boeing and Lockheed built the rocket that is sending this thing off into
space to it at the Vulcan Centaur. So yeah, it's definitely life imitating
art. When was the last time that we were on the moon fifty years
ago? It's been fifty years since we had a soft landing on the moon,
so this is a momentous ocation. Yeah, we've kind of track and
trail behind the USSR. It had this back in its missions, the lunar
missions in sixty six and seventy six, then China and India. So yeah,
the US will be headed back there at some point of the future.
People, this will be the latest object US object landing on the moon.
Okay, in China and Russia have all had people on the moon. No,
no, we're the only ones. Yeah, we're the ones curious er
and curiously as far as we know. Well, there's that too, Okay,
Jim Ryan will be watching. What's the next you said, February twenty
third is when it's supposed to land. Why is it going to take so
long to get there? Well, they're doing different things. Yeah, it
took a couple of days for Aldron, and you know, for Armstrong and
Aldron to get their butt. They're doing other things on the They're doing different
testing and different maneuvers and different orbits, and so it'll take longer to get
there just by. It's not just the it's not just getting there, it's
the trip as well. Oh okay, and there's no people on board,
so there's not a big rush to get there. Well, there's DNA of
people, but not actual people, right, okay, Jim Ryan, thank
you so much, Dean. I love all this space stuff. It's so
cool. Let's get back to some of the stories coming out of the KFI
twenty four hour newsroom. LA City councilman Kieran Price is due in court to
face corruption charges. Members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Southern California,
Experienced Christian Ministries, South Central United and other groups are expected to be at
the Criminal Courts building this afternoon to support him. Price is charged with theft
by embezzlement, perjury, and conflict of interest. A Lebanese security official says
a senior Hesbelah commander has been killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon.
The strike was carried out nearly a week after another Israeli strike killed a top
official with the militant group Hamas in Beirut, and two days after Hesbolah launched
a wide ranging missile attack on an Israeli military base in northern Israel. In
retaliation, Hesbolah has been attacking Israeli military posts along the border since Hamas attacked
is On October seventh, Top Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate have
announced an agreement on spending for the whole year. ABC's Mike Debuski says the
agreement sets spending at one point five to nine trillion dollars, which is the
same amount originally agreed to by President Biden and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last
year during debt limit talks. The deal keeps in place the eight hundred and
eighty six billion dollars in defense funding stipulated by Republicans and also maintains the level
of non defense spending that Democrats pushed for during negotiations over the debt limit.
Many House Republicans have called for deeper cuts. The White House says it rejects
deep cuts to programs, hard working families count on. So it was perusing
Instagram because we were talking earlier. The Golden Globes were last night, and
Greg and Tom from Succession had a Greg and Tom moment backstage after Succession won
one of its awards. It won for Best Drama Series, and you know
it, just like goes Oh, I can't believe that series isn't coming back.
And trust me, I hated all the characters on Succession. There was
no one to root for because they were all so nasty, just which means
the actors were amazing and they were paid for that. Last night, they
almost all won the series one. Sarah snook one. Kieran Kolkin won Big
Night for Succession. The door plug that was blown off and Alaska Airline's flight
on its way from Portland to Ontario has been found discovered in the backyard of
a house in Portland by a teacher. The FAA has grounded all seven thirty
seven Max nine planes until it is, in its words, satisfied that they
are safe. The plug the blew out Friday, opening up a large hole
in the side of the plane, was covering an unused exit door. A
Lebanese security official says an Israeli airstrike has killed a senior Husbola commander in southern
Lebanon. The Israel Hamas War hit the three year mark yesterday. Christopher Nolan
is this year's Golden Globes I never Best Director for Motion Picture. Nolan accepted
the award on behalf of the cast and crew of Oppenheimer. It's a sixth
nomination, first win. Oppenheimer also won Best Movie Drama, Poor Things one
Best Musical or Comedy Motion Picture, and Emma Stone also won Best Actress for
Poor Things And I had never heard the name of that movie until the Golden
Gloves. Last night at six oh five, it's handle on the news,
COVID, cold flu, RSV. They're all out there, and everybody seems
to get in be getting them, and some are getting more than one at
once. Right now, we know that there are a lot of very serious
and scary and consequential things going on in the world, and a wake up
call. We want to make sure that you get all that information you know
to get your day started, so you know what's going on in the world.
But guess what, there are good, positive things happening in the world,
and there are people who are making a change for good, for themselves
and for others, and we want to share those stories too. Like last
week we talked to CNN's Hero of the Year, remember the street vet,
doctor Kwan Stewart out of San Diego. And by the way, you can
go listen to that interview. It was really really interesting. It's on the
wake Up Call podcast on the iHeartRadio app. But here's another story I really
wanted to share. So let's say good morning now to Oliver James. Good
morning, Oliver. Good So Oliver, before we talk about what you have
now done and what you are doing now, I want to take a look
back at your life and kind of to get people up to speed on kind
of how you got kind of a rough start in life and that affected you
into adulthood. So let's back up a little bit and talk about, you
know, what was life like as a kid for you. I know,
life was like everyone else growing up in the nineties and no parental you know,
guidance. You kind of just raised yourself TV a bunch of junk food.
It was. It was just like everyone else, but you had some
pretty big stumbling blocks starting out at a young age. You made a mention
of when you were in first grade you got suspended. Yeah, you got
suspended and around first second grade. I don't know why, but apparently I
was the bad kid. But how they chose to handle the situation, they
decided to take me out of school more. I don't know why, but
that's how they handle things, okay, And that affects your learning and your
ability to learn, and that it sort of snowballed as you grew up.
So did you end up? Did you get your high school diploma? Yeah?
I got my high school diploma. School was definitely a rough journey,
like after getting suspended around like first second grade. It was literally just fighting
with teachers, arguing all the time, suspension. Yeah, and then one
day I woke up and I was graduating. That's literally how it was.
Okay, So now that's going to bring us a little closer to today,
So you're not to you know, you had a lot of kids had had
tough goes, but for you it was pretty profound because you got your high
school diploma and you couldn't read yep, yep, yep. You know.
I've done a lot of interviews and I'm trying to make sense of it,
and I'm trying to give people an answer so they can make sense of it
themselves. But let's just sit and think about it. I was a child,
Now i'm an adult, and I'm looking at at their children. I'm
like, why would they leave the responsibility to a child to learn anything like
reading? You know, all these things? Why the child wouldn't learn that.
Now I'm sitting here realizing that no one took responsibility for leaving me illiterate.
Yeah, well, and I think that we see that in schools now
they keep just dumbing it down, and they're like, oh, well,
we want to have We don't want to hold kids back because that might hurt
their self esteem. So let's just let them move on without teaching them the
skills that they're going to need to survive and thrive in life. And so
you got your diploma, and then holding a job was kind of tough because
you said you're functionally illiterate. Yeah not then now you know I'm on welfare.
Now it will always be over your head. The world was designed for
you to know how to read. They made this world up like that.
If you don't know how to read, you are in a world that you
cannot operate and this is a made up world work school. All these things
you can't read. You missed all the opportunities in life, and it continues
into adulthood. Okay, So, and you gave some examples of like you
would get a job but then as like a bartender or a server, but
then you couldn't hold the job. And I hadn't even thought about this,
but like, what were some of the challenges did you face once you got
the job, because it sounds like you're a pretty a charismatic, friendly guy.
I mean, you get the job, but keeping it was the hard
part. See, that's the strength of a person who does not to read.
I learned how to do interviews and talk and do things that you know,
mask that other people probably can't do. But once I get the job
and they can see the true colors, they can see like, Okay,
I was a bartender and I'm dating the person who hired me as a bartender
at the restaurant that I was at, and she had to bar or demote
me to a bus or a server, and she couldn't understand why you think
of that? She could not understand why does this guy I had the look
I had the charm. I had everything you would ask for, but I
couldn't do the job. And she could not understand why I was not able
to do the job. And I wouldn't tell anybody either. Okay, So
when it came to like if you were sitting there helping somebody and they said,
well, what's good on the menu, You're like, uh, you
tell me. I was a charmer. I would just literally be like you
tell me. I'm like, you know what, that looks good? You
know. I would definitely try that, and it'd be like, well,
what's in it? I'm like, well, listen, it's a surprise.
And I would just lie or make up anything. I had no idea what
I was doing. Okay. Well, then in twenty twenty, Oliver,
something changed for you. Some switch got flipped on you. What happened,
uh, you know COVID. Let's just say that, you know, everybody
got a little taste of what it feels like when the world and ended.
You know, you're like, what should I do with my life? Like?
Should I change? And when I realized, I'm like, okay,
the world ain't ending. Your life just kind of ended for a little bit.
What would you do with it? Right, And I thought, I'm
like, I want to be a father one day, I want to do
things. I want to grow. And I was like, you don't know
how to do none of that. You can't even read. So I just
decided to pick up a book. And you literally picked up a book,
and how did you start reading? Then? If you don't know, how
do you know what? It's just this is the best way to put it.
There's a lot of people who go on health journeys, right, it's
a new at the end of the year. How do you do it?
Social media starts throwing up a bunch of people doing push ups on a stair
mast or you know, running up and down some or jumping off a building.
Who knows what they'll show, you know, just so you can see
the hype of how athletic they are. And then you might go follow it.
You might go out there and be like, I'm gonna go climb this
tree and run around and lift this weight. Why, because you're just trying
to learn. You're trying to figure out how does that person do it?
So what I did was I just followed everybody else who used to sit under
a tree a movie or at a restaurant. I'm like, they always sat
down and just opened the book and it looks so calming and you know,
entertaining. But to me, that was the first step. Open it and
just stare at it. Does it? And then you go further because you'll
ask like, what's this word? Or a movie might say something you just
looked at on the book and you're like, oh, that's the same word
from the movie. You know, that's how you start to connect it because
you're emerging yourself into a book. You can't if you Once you're emerged into
it, you're gonna start learning what's in there, which is amazing. It's
a whole discovery. Yeah. And then did you have somebody kind of helping
you along the way, because I would imagine and as you're learning these words
and learning how they go together, and you know, all the things that
you've got going on in your head translated to paper, you would have to
have somebody to kind of give you a helping hand to teach help issue.
Yeah. My lady, she was the one that helped me the most in
this journey with the reading. She's the one that read to me in the
beginning. So she brought me a book in the beginning on Christmas Day one
day, a three hundred and sixty five quote books. Because I was really
big into inspirational stuff and I didn't know inspiration could be in a book,
so that was a shock to me. I was like, oh my god,
this is like you already just said. And she's like, yeah,
that's a quote. I'm like a quote. I'm like what you know I'm
going in And I'm like, well, I need more of this. Give
me more of these quotes, and she would read them to me. And
then I got addicted to the quotes and I just started reading quotes every single
day while I exercise. I love it. And I think that that probably
was really smart, whether you realized it at the time or not, because
then you you kind of have bite sized chunks too. Yes, you don't
have this huge story that's super involved like you can. You can take a
bite and go, oh, I like that one, and learn different ones
as you go. Maybe yes, I didn't know that, but the comprehension,
you know, you got to realize. And I can tell you this
now, so even some people can know. Comprehension is scary. You know,
internal monologue is scary. I went to the emergency room. I thought
I was going crazy. When you see images in your head and you start
seeing movies in your own mind because you're reading, I thought I was losing
my mind. I had no idea what was going on, because my brain
has never been activated in that way in thirty five years. It just turned
on out of nowhere. Yeah, like Frankenstein gaining a brain. Oliver,
do you have a favorite quote? You know what I do. And if
you want to hide something from people, put it in a book. Okay,
if you want to, that's one of my put in bo Yeah.
If you want to hide something, and the quote is deeper than that,
if you want to hide something from African American people, put it in a
book, you know. But you know, sometimes I like to give it
to everybody because it is for everybody. If you want to hide something from
somebody, the knowledge is in a book. So if you're looking for something
that's hidden, go look in a book. You'll find it. Wow,
that's like you said, there's a lot more meaning to that just than just
what's on the surface. So now, Oliver, you've taught yourself how to
read, and now you are kind of paying it forward. What are you
doing now well, I'm actually just showing it all on social media. You
know, I've learned now that I suffer from mental illnesses. You start learning
how to read, you start learning about yourself. I got O CEPTSD,
I got the whole alphabet, you know, I got all types of letters.
I don't even know about them, and I'm sitting here learning about them,
Like, what is all this? I didn't even know I had this.
But as you learn, you start to learn yourself, you start to
figure things out. You start to learn that there's more to you than you
even knew. So reading, there's a never ending door. With reading,
you can literally just go through it for the rest of eternity. That's amazing.
So where do people follow you? You'll follow me at Oliver speaks with
the number one on Instagram. I think it's x now and TikTok is my
main place. That's where I do all my stuff. I read live pretty
much every morning. When I get off of here, I'm gonna read live
on TikTok. I love that. And the best way to learn and is
just by doing it. So good for you, and I hope that you
will continue to inspire people. I love you that you just basically said I'm
going to do this, and you did it. You know, I mean,
you can overcome a lot. So so much luck and success to you,
Oliver. Thank you so much. I loved hearing your story and it's
such an inspiration and something I think we need today. Thank you. Thank
you for having me. All right, take care, take care. Oh
my gosh, I just love Oliver James. How exciting. I'm going to
go watch him read on TikTok. Winds, snow and ice could force the
closure the five Freeway through the Gravevine is cool. Breezy weather continues to loom
over southern California. A thirty five car pile up, including eighteen big rigs,
caused by fog, killed two people and injured nine others in the Bakersfield
area over the weekend. The number of reported hate crimes is up in America's
ten largest cities. The Center for Study of Hate and Extremism at California State
University says hate crimes in LA jumped forty eight percent. Anti Muslim crimes in
Chicago are up three hundred percent. College football's national champion will be crowned later
today, vying for the title Number one Michigan against number two Washington. Michigan
made it to the championship game with the twenty seven twenty OT win over Alabama
at the Rose Bowl a week ago. Fantasia is going to be performing the
national anthem at the game. We're just minutes away from Handle. On the
news this morning, the law blocking people from carrying guns in California, even
those who have concealed carry permits, has been blocked again. So Nick and
I got to go to a Chargers game yesterday. It was my first real
time to just go to Sofi Stadium and hang out and enjoy the game,
kind of wander around. So we we had true nosebleed seats section five to
twelve, which were still great. By the way, they look really good.
Yeah, like you had really were like, yeah, you can kind
of see all the action, and then of course they have the jumbo tron,
so you can see everything going on around you, and aside for the
blustery winds that we're freezing, it was fabulous. Okay, but then we
went down. We decided we can't just stay up here, so we went
down to ground zero to the playing field and caught up with our favorite sideline
reporter for the LA Chargers, our own Shannon Farren, who gets the best
view in the house every single week. I know, it's ridiculous. It
is a wonderful stadium. It's a lot of fun. I can't believe that
I get paid to do this. But here I am so tell us because
people don't know. We hear the hits with you. But like on a
typical day, what do you do when you get here? Okay? So
I get here about an hour before pregame starts today with about ten thirty.
I go up to the booth, I pick up all of my equipment and
make sure it worked all throughout the stadium, come down and do a mic
check, and then I start the pre game show. I've got about four
different hits on the pre game show, and then we get ready for kid
goff okay, and then we hear you periodically through the game. So are
you just kind of roaming around looking for people and go yeah, I want
to talk to him or that all planned out During the game, it's essentially
focusing on the Chargers sideline and what's going on there, and you know with
injuries or who's talking to who is justin Herbert talking to Keenan Allen about a
misconnection or a touchdown path are they celebrating? It's essentially just being a reporter.
You know, what do you see? I tell everybody this in the
news department when they start reporting for KFI News is just tell me what you
see, Like if you called, if my husband called me, what would
I tell him what I saw on the sideline? Kind of a thing.
So I try to do that for the radio broadcast. Okay, And what
is your favorite thing about doing this aside for being Shannon Farren on the sideline
at a Charger game. I just love you know me. I love doing
MOLL. It's my whole life has been in the stands, and so the
idea that I get to be a close and personal to a game is amazing.
I am giddy every single Sunday or Thursday or Monday that we play.
I never take it for granted. I love it and every second of it.
And I got to tell you I see it almost every day. She's
not smiling like this. I love that you love what you're doing and you're
so good at it. So my question is when are you making the jump
tubrit nod TV? Because I mean, come on You're beautiful, No no,
and you're smart and you knows lacaul I was just talking to one of
the TV reporters who's here today. She goes, how were you last week?
And I was like, I was so thankful that I was on radio
last week because we were at radio. Yeah, it was raining. I
look like the marshmallow man, like a drown in a crat, and I'm
like, I don't know how you do it because they have so much maintenance
to do and radio is just going to go, all right, perfect,
Shanna, param We're gonna let you get back to see you back in the
studio. There you have it, a little inside book. It's no fit
tedium. Apologies for yelling. It was very loud inside Sofi Stadium, but
really fun to see Shannon down on the on the sidelines. And like I
said when I was talking to her, I mean, she's just giddy and
it's so fun to see. I mean she's giddy around the office at times
too, but just seeing her smile and seeing that she loves what she's doing.
And of course he's done for the year or for the season anyway,
since the Charges didn't make the playoffs, but there's always next season. And
for those who didn't win the Golden Globes too, I guess there's not always
next season because it's a whole new list of nominees. But I caught some
of the Golden Globes last night. Don't know if you got to chance to
watch it. Here's a couple of my takeaways real quick. One Oppenheimer,
which I have not seen, won five awards, including Best Motion Picture in
a Drama, and Christopher Nolan got his first Golden Globe as the director.
And then also Killy and gosh, what's his name? Killy and Murphy won
Best Actor for Oppenheimer and as an actor, I love him, remember from
the Batman movies. I just think he's a really a really interesting actor.
And then this was my big surprise, so Best Motion Picture in a Musical
or Comedy went to a movie called Poor Things, and Emma Stone also won
Best Actress for that. I had never heard of the movie. Love Emma
Stone as an actress, but never I've even heard of that movie before,
and I don't get how it gets to win. And like Maestro, which
just was released like two weeks ago, was nominated for a bunch of stuff.
I kind of feel like they should give give the movies a chance to
breathe and give people a chance to see them before they get nominated. That
might just be me. In the TV category, ted Lasso was robbed.
I don't care what. I loved the Bear. I thought the Bear was
great, and the Bear got a couple of awards well deserved. But ted
Lasso, to me is just still the best show on TV. And Kono
shaking his head, And I don't care what you think, Kono, because
I think we need ted Lasso more than anything right now. But anyway,
it was interesting and I love seeing everybody all dressed up and all of that
stuff. And again, like I said at the start of the hour,
it wasn't a bunch of political stuff last night, which I love. Just
enjoy the the art and enjoy the shows and enjoy the excitement that you see
the actors and the producers and the directors when they win and stuff. That's
to me what the fun stuff is. This is KFI and KOST HD two
Los Angeles, Orange County live from the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. I'm
Amy King. This has been your wake up calling. If you missed any
wake Up Calling. There was a lot today. We talked about the Mission
to the Moon, Oliver James, a man who at thirty five years old
taught himself how to read and is now paying it forward, So lots of
good stuff. You can listen to Wake Up Call anytime if you missed it
on the iHeartRadio app. You've been listening to wake Up Call with me Amy
King. You can always hear wake Up Call five to six am Monday through
Friday on KFI Am six forty and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.