Dan Cummins is set to retire after 46 yrs in Toledo. He speaks with Fred first in this interview.

Tyler Reddick here from 2311 racing. Another checkered flag for the books. Time to celebrate with Chumba. Jump in at chumbacasino.com. Let's Chumba. No purchase necessary. VTW. Group. Boyd were prohibited by Ma. CTNCs, 21 Plus. Sponsored by Chumba Casino. All right in the studio with me right now. Tobono, of course, Earl Mack. And the just having celebrated his 72nd birthday and getting ready to retire. After 50 years, I am broadcasting 46 of it right here in Toledo, Dan Cummins. Hey, thanks for coming in this morning. I appreciate it. Good morning. You're fired up already. Ah, I need that to get me going. I kind of, I work nights, so I kind of ramp up as they go. Maybe this way after 6 o'clock, 6 p.m., but not at 6 a.m., 8 a.m. I get up. I get up after 3 in the morning. If I'm not ramped up by 6 o'clock. Wow. You must have worked. Didn't you ever work mornings? Never. Seriously? Never. Never. When you got here, they already had you like on the 6 o'clock news or whatever it was. I've always, I've worked days in my career maybe a year or two in bits and pieces. Where was that at? Peoria a little bit. I was a news photographer working day site. I would shoot reporters stories. Oh, you did like the Thanksgiving turkey story. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And the murder suicides. The murder suicides. And how much salt do we have for this winter and the snowplow stories? You saw it, you saw it, did you? It's never been done before. And then I became, you know, that I mostly worked nights my career. Okay. I'm a night owl. I don't like to go to bed early and I hate to get up early. And I've been doing this for so long. Oh, yeah. I started in 80. I was already getting up early. Yeah. So it's been 46 years of getting up early. So you started in Toledo when? I started in February. of 1980. You started in October. August. August. So, yeah, I got here just a little bit before you. Now, where were you before that? Peoria. I grew up in that area, a little town, Henry North of there. Okay. Went to Illinois State University near Peoria. Oh. And then my first TV job was in my home TV market of Peoria. That's got to be a tiny market, huh? Yeah, it's... Was there more than one TV station? Yeah. Oh, yeah. There's... Oh, wow. All the network affiliates are there. Okay. Yeah. All right. And so you were a camera guy. Now at that time, because now when we go out, when Earl and I go out and do stuff, the camera person is also the reporter. Yeah. Now, they don't bring camera people out, well, unless you're CJ. You know, he's the only one that still travels with a camera out. But a lot of the reporters are doing their own stuff. Is that how it was in Peoria then when you started? No, because the gear was so heavy to carry around and shoot. We were shooting 16mm film in that in those days. Get out of here. Really? Before ENG, electronic news gathering. Wow. And we would carry camera. And also the audio gear was separate. But in some of the newer cameras, it was all one unit. Yeah. And then eventually we went to electronic news. No, are you still going out on the street and doing stuff? Am I? Am I? Yeah. Well, as I got closer to...

saying goodbye in my career. I was doing, I think I've, I'd be guilty of doing less and less, kind of sliding the finish line. Oh, okay. You know, the second semester senior? Yeah. See, I should do that. I should just do two hours a day. You're like Johnny Carson. Yeah. When he started to get ready to retire, he'd do like three days a week and somebody else would come up. I've been doing, I still am doing honor flight. I was doing honor flight all summer, April and June. Then, For the September flight now, I'm on the Honor Flight Board, and I'll be going on the flight as a volunteer. I wanted to ask you about that, because I mentioned, I'm talking about this earlier in the week, that you've been doing that for a really long time. When did you start doing that? And did you start as... Well, what do they call it? An aid? Or did you just do it because you were covering it as a news story? Here is, this is, I love this story. In 2017, Deb Wickaram, the manager or the leader of Flag City Honor Flight, came to Channel 11 and asked the news director, we would like to increase our visibility in the area. Okay. Get more veterans. Get more coverage helps also the contributions. Yeah. So could we'd like to invite you to send a person on our flight. Okay. And cover it and do his news story. And then hopefully it gets more coverage. Well, the news director, Anthony Knobs, knew my interest in military history. All I read is military history. Oh, okay. I love veterans. This is something I've always done. Yeah. And so he'd been to Vietnam before, and we would talk what Vietnam's like now, and I would tell about books I've read. So he asked me, would you like to do the honor flight? And I just like, yes. Oh, yeah. So I went on my first honor flight in June of 2017, and they love the coverage so much. They said, you want to go again in September. I went in September. Wow. Yeah, they invited me back. Well, they said, tell you what. You're always going to have a spot in the plane. You're always welcome. You have a spot in the plane. Oh, man. So then the next year, during the winter, I said to them, if you'd let me take a camera guy, we can do live shots all day and do many more stories. And they said, yeah. So from that point on, from 2018 on, it was myself and a camera person. And we would. Oh, cool. And we would go on the flights and then starting, well, we would do a couple live hits in the morning before the flight takes off at 8 a.m. And then... All the way through the Hong Kong. What are you getting out of all that? Just the joy of meeting great people. Because you have the love of history. Oh, my God. What have you learned in all those? You know, I've been on. Gone from the World War II guys who we had a ton of. And most of those guys are gone now. They've transitioned into the Vietnam vets. And those guys are getting a little bit older, like our seasoned demand here who served. And now we're going into the Desert Storm people. What's the story's been like?

One of my first memories was we were at the World War II Memorial and a little guy, a feeble, the 99-year-old guy from over in the Bryan area. And he had been a badass Navy pilot. in the Pacific. And I asked him questions about it. And the reason he became a pilot was because he'd been flying aircraft for the crops, a crop duster. Oh, okay. And so he... He said, well, they wanted pilots and I could fly, so I immediately went to the front of the line. They trained me to be a Navy pilot and did the whole thing. So we finished the interview, right? And his daughter, granddaughter comes up and says, you know, he never ever talked about his experience in the war, never talks about it at all. And I've heard that a lot of times. The grandpa, dad has never talked about that, but he opened up with you. And Vietnam veterans who have tears in their eyes when they come home and they thank God. honor flight, and for what a great experience it was, and it's changed their lives and their perspective on their military history. Yeah, it really has. It does just a wonderful job. And they've gone through most of the World War II vets. A lot of those are gone now. They've done a lot of the Vietnam vets. They're working their way through Desert Storm and all the rest of those guys. But it's a great way to, normally you wouldn't go to Washington, D.C. It's a great way to see all of the stuff in Washington, D.C. Dan Cummins is getting ready to retire. He just celebrated his 72nd birthday. And somebody asked actually this morning, please ask Dan, is he going to continue to go on the honor flights? Yeah, I'm on the board now. And the September flight, the next one, I'll probably have a veteran for the day, but they want me doing social media. I'll be doing some press releases and things like that. I'll be handling media relations. But, yeah, I'm on the board now, so that'll be my role from now on. I'll still be going on flights, yes. Awesome. All right. Now, he asked the other day, well, how long am I going to be on? I said, well. If you suck one segment. That's what I told. If you suck one segment. Can you stick around for a second? How am I doing? So you didn't suck. Okay. All right. We're back. Steely Dan getting us back in the show. Thursdays we play Steely Dan as bumper music in case you're unaware for our buddy Bill Robinson who passed a few years ago. Great Lake Sound used to play Steely Dan always during the sound checks. He loved that band. Actually traveled the country with Earl. and the eye band for many, many years as a stinky foot, I believe, right? Or stanky foot. Stanky foot. Stanky foot. Yeah, Bill Robinson. Dan Cummins is in the studio. He just had a birthday. Now, is that part of the reason that you decided to retire? Did Social Security do like what they did with, hey, you know, your check's not going to get any bigger. You might as well grab it now. No, no, no, no. That has nothing. It was just like, I've been doing it in this spring.

In April, I hit 50 years in television, which is a great run. It was a mystery, all right? And I knew just to call to sign. And it was when I was thinking about, I've been thinking about when to retire the last couple of years. Really? Yeah. Has anyone asked you? Because they keep asking me. They're begging me to stay. See? Because you're good at what you do. Or would you like to work part-time? Really? And I said, no. I'm done. No, that's it. I'm finished? Yeah. So what do you like to do outside of that? Since you've been working evenings or nights most of the time, you've had your days to go out and do things with your wife, right? I have. She's been retired five years. Wow. You've met Barb? Yeah, yeah. So we've, we'll be playing a lot more golf. Oh, okay. My mission, my job every day will be my fitness. I'll work out in the morning and probably in the afternoon trying to get rid of that stomach. Is that normal for you? Well, I work out as much as I have time to, but I haven't had a lot of time or don't make a lot of time, but stuff happens in the world. So I just, I haven't had time to work out like I'd like to. So you want abs at 73? I do. My job will be to get myself in better shape, lose some weight, and, and, you're a skinny guy. You are compared to me and him? I want to get better. I just want to get better. See, that's a good goal, though. That's a good goal. And Barb is so used to being alone at night. And that's been really hard on her. Yeah. And so I'm just so happy in my life. I'm so happy. My marriage is great. So I can't wait to spend time with her. It's always a lot of fun. I love having the evenings because once I get out of here, I don't stay. I try not to stay 10. But you get up at 3.m. for your job, too. Yeah, but she's asleep. So she doesn't even know I'm gone. And the only one that knows I'm gone is the dog. Yeah. You know. So I'm lucky that way. How's your daughter doing? Jen? Yeah. Well, I have two daughters. Jen, her beautiful blooms by Jen is doing very well. Sweet. Yeah, she's very busy. Plus she's got two boys, two young boys. Oh, that's, yeah. So how do you like being a grandpa? I actually, I have seven grandkids. You have seven grandkids? Yeah. Are you a regular grandpa? See, because you don't look like you're 72, so. I, thanks. I try to get with them when I can, go to games, things like that. Yeah. But the oldest, Braden Tackett was on Northview's state championship baseball team. He just graduated from Miami. Wow. And he's going, he's down in Fort Lauderdale now to start dental school. Sweet. So, I mean, yeah, there's a variety of ages here. Benny's the youngest. He's three.

You were busy. I'm going to spend more time. You better spend more time. Having work nights, my career, I haven't been the best grandpa in some ways about going to games and spending time with them. It is. And so now I'm going to make up for that lost time. And it's fun. And you can join us now on some things too. I know you went out on our street mission at one point. Yeah. And help us on. I know you go on the honor flight things all the time. I'll be on the honor flight board. I'm joining a board with Bittersweet Farms. Oh, I love that place. Yeah. Yeah. So that organization has been very special to my family too. So I like to support them all I can. Yeah. So there's that. And Folds of Honor is another charity that I love to support and help them out. And, yeah, Buffalo soldiers for sure. People think that when you're retired, you're going to have a hard time finding things to do. No, no, no, no, no. Yeah, but your day will be full. So I know you've probably been asked this 100 times already. And all those years here in Toledo, was there a story or stories that kind of stand out? Ready to put a little spin on your day? Then check out Chumba Casino's new online social casino game, Ryan Seacrest 10K Ways. It's free and packed with 10,000 ways to play. Only at ChambaCasino. No purchase necessary. VGW Group, voidware prohibited by law. CTs and Cs, 21 Plus, sponsored by Chumpa Casino. Yeah. Earl knows this. I spent a week with the Navy last year. Did you really? Yeah, I spent five days embedded with the Navy in Norfolk, Virginia and out in the Atlantic Ocean. Oh, man. It was the most, they told me ahead of time. Dave Hector was in charge of the program. He's a captain in the Navy. And he used to work at Channel 24. I remember. So he knew my name. So when I just inquired about the program, because they sent a mass email nationally to all media, like, hey, if you want to be embedded with the Navy, you do this program several times a year. We got one coming up in May if you'd like to do it. So I just asked about the program. And the station was very supportive, actually. They were very, because it would be a good web story and the good coverage in the news. So Dave Hecht. emailed me and said, hey, I used to work at Channel 24. I know who you are. And I said, dude, I'm 71 and I... Can I do this? He's, oh, yeah, yeah, you're not too old for anything we'll be doing. And he said, and this is what stood out. He said, this will be the highlight of your career when you finish the week. Wow. And I've told him, you were right. I got to fly 100 miles out on a plane, a Osprey. Okay. That lands on the deck of the aircraft carrier, spent 24 hours on a carrier as...

planes are taking off they were certifying uh jet pilots for you were on deck while i was on the deck watching planes launch off watching planes come in hit the tail hook uh eight with the crew for 24 hours uh didn't sleep because it was so noisy and it was such a weird environment plus i got lost going to the restroom middle the night Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah. Because the restroom, the restrooms are left and a right and a right and a left and a, you know, and like, it's like. And don't call it the restroom. Oh, yeah, the head. Yeah, the head. Right. And then, and then so that I was on a nuclear submarine, I was out with, training with. Damn. Yeah, yeah. I got to shoot simulated 50 cows. Oh. No way. I almost swore. We flew with air rescue helicopters. I mean, oh, I did aviation swim survival training too. Crap, all I did was riding elephant in the parade one here. Wow, geez, oh, Pete. When I came home, I had to take my uniform off. I was tearing up. I had such a great time. The commitment to the Navy, it was just showing who these young Americans are who are so committed to their country and serving their country and just busting their ass every day. I mean, they'll go on deployments for eight, nine months at a time. Yeah. Yeah, you don't get to see your family or anything. You're out in the middle of the ocean. It's just, you know. The Navy's the only branch that does this. That's pretty cool. But, yeah, a crew of, we're five TV stations, we're in this trip. That's pretty neat. Yeah. I might have to, well, I might be a little too old already, but. So you didn't have to pass a physical or anything like that? No. And I'll tell you what, when they. When they, I'm wearing a full, I'm wearing combat boots, a flight outfit, a helmet, and I dive, they jump in the water and swim over there like 50 yards. Oh no. Holy smokes. I mean, and you did it? Yeah, I dog paddled the whole way. I was going to say, because I'm not that stronger swimming. But they had people in there making sure you didn't. You didn't drown. But still, and they had, they would have you sit in a seat with a seat belt and in the water. And then they would flip you upside down. And then you'd have to unbuckle your seat belt and then go through a window behind the seat to get out. I mean, this is real stuff that a pilot may have to go through. Yeah. Well, I could never do it. So I drowned. When my plane went down in the water, Dan drowned. They gave me two tries at it couldn't do it. That's funny. Dan Cummins, who's getting ready to retire, actually Friday, tomorrow is his last broadcast in the studio with us. We'll be right back. Michael Barry. I ain't up that line. Is that who it is? Michael Barry? Yeah. How do you know that? I listen to him. On the way home from work. What do you do for fun?

Work out, play golf. Okay, first of all, working out is not fun. Okay, working out is exercise. Exercise is under E in the dictionary. It's stress relief. That comes before F, which is fun. Stress relief. That's true. You need a motorcycle for that, a little wind therapy. I'm terrified a motorcycle. Are you really? Oh, terrified. A trike. Get a trike like I did. My dad during his midlife crisis got a small motorcycle and one day I diss for the hell of it just got on it and to go down the street to get the mail. God. I ran to a mailbox. That was my, that's the last time. Well, yeah, without lessons and everything. What do you think is going to happen? It was a tiny motorbike. It wasn't motorcycle. It was just strictly a motorbike. Okay. So I got on and fired it up and rode down and ran right into a mailbox. I love how your voice change with the motorcycle. Motorbike. So Fred, the three wheelers are those motorbikes? Or are they motorbikes? Those are motorbikes. Yeah. It's got the pipes that still go. So I got that going for me, which is nice. So exercise, golf, your charitable work that you'll be doing. Do they have something special planned for you tomorrow? Do you have a last broadcast? Do you know when it is? My last show is from four to five. And all this week they've been running special stories today. I've seen something. Today the piece runs at 4 o'clock and at 10 o'clock tonight. They interviewed Barb. My wife. Oh, how nice. And she does not like being on TV. No. She's still giving me flack about it. But she's so beautiful. And I'm just so proud of her. But she was great. I've seen the piece. It's pretty good. But like, yeah, I did a piece on her flight this week, too, that this brought me to tears. Yeah, we've done some nice stories. I've seen some of the pieces. Well, the Honor Flight stuff has really got a kind of like with me, I mean, you know, I was here 40 years or more before I ever heard of the Buffalo Soldiers. But the most rewarding part, and I tell people now when I introduce myself, I said, you know, I'm the morning show host at WSPD, but the most rewarding part of my job is what I do outside. Yeah. Outside the studio, you know, with the Buffalo Soldiers. Going out, I don't think, and you've probably seen this. Most people in this city have no idea how many people are in need and how many groups are out there helping to do that need, do they? Yeah, it's overwhelming. It is. There's a lot of different. And the Buffalo soldiers are doing just such an amazing job. And the problem is.

The problem is so big, you're just chipping away at it. Yeah, yeah. And there's a lot of us chipping away, though. Tremaine Rayford with the program and the big brothers, big sisters, and the boys and girls club. And there's a lot of places that are chipping away. Even the honor flight people are chipping away at a problem that our veterans are dealing with PTSD and unable to talk about their experiences. And I'm guessing guys probably opened up. you know, on that flight, not just with each other, but with the people who were, you know, helping them alone. We had a guy last year on honor flight who had been a prisoner. He was a Rogers High School graduate, a Marine. He'd been a prisoner in Hanoi almost five years. And he was like 19 or 20 when he was captured. He had just been there a few weeks and he was, they were overrun. And his unit pulled out and didn't let him know. And he and his partner got. got captured. And he spent five years in a POW camp. And he has some injuries from getting beaten. Why they beat you up typically? Well, I took a swing at the commander, the commandant. I mean, he's, to this day, he's still a cocky Marine. Still a bad ass. Yeah, he really is. And it was just an honor to meet a guy like that. And that was called Hanoid Hilton. Hanoi Hilton. Yeah. Oh, man. You've got some good stories. Now, do you have any plans? Because a lot of people, when they finally retire, put together a little book and things like that. You're going to do a podcast, the Dan Cummins podcast or write all this down someplace to your kids? I'm hoping that Dan Cummins becomes Dan Cummins. I'm just, I'm just, look, you guys know me. I miss a guy. And I'm just a guy with a really, really interesting job and I get to do fun stuff. Yeah. But I am just a normal person and people come up to me all the time. I'm very approachable. to a certain extent I'm approachable until you overstay, you're welcome. Yeah, yeah. But I'm just a regular guy. And so I've just had a wonderful career, so much fun. I'm just going to go back into the woodwork and just do my own thing. Yeah, see, and that's how I think, too. You know, if you see me out in public, I'm just pretty normal. Yeah, and I don't know how much time I have left. None of us do. Yeah. And I want to spend time with my wife, and I want to enjoy life and do some fun stuff. We will travel probably more. We do travel a lot, but mostly it's in the winter. This is a great place to live in the summertime. Spring and fall is okay, but I like summertime. But man, winter, get me out of here. Snowbird, a new snowbird was just born. Well, listen, thanks a lot for coming in. I appreciate it. I didn't suck, apparently. No, you didn't. I got three segments for Fred. You did just fine. And, you know, now that you're retired, anytime you want to come in and just bloviate, those of you and Bono can look that. If you want to blowviate, just feel free. Give me a call. Come on in and we'll talk about stuff. I'm busy.

That's perfect for somebody who's retired. Thanks a lot, Dan. Appreciate it. Looking for a little Hollywood-style fun? Check out Ryan Seacrest, 10K Ways, exclusively at Chumba Casino. There's 10,000 ways to play. Get spending for free at Chumbacasino.com. No purchase necessary. VGW Group. Voidware prohibited by law. CTs and Cs, 21 Plus. Sponsored by Chumba Casino.