1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - LIVE from 2026 Wordstock: August 22nd, 11:00am

Episode Date: August 22, 2026

LIVE from 2026 Wordstock: August 22nd, 11:00amAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Sponsored by the Downtown Lincoln Foundation on 937 the ticket. Saturday, work stock 2026, Annalope Park. And spectacularly, let me say this about you. Lincoln Arrestons today, you're gorgeous, gorgeous, I say. Spectacular weather. We'll let it run again. We'll let it run again, Wyman. because it does require a full-on Saturday.

It is, this is impressive. A couple of things, young Wyman, and I think make a note that as this thing grows and expands from year to year, that our excitement about it and our conversations about it expand and grow, because this event in its fourth year has surpassed even the greatest, grandest vision of what the Board of Directors for Link to Literacy thought was possible. And in that, moved from one portion of Antelope Park to the pavilion.

And to tell you that there are two lines leading into the space that is where the books are being held and distributed and chosen, hundreds of books are finding their new home today for families and otherwise. Come on up, young man. Come on up. Yeah, you get yourself. We've got balls. We've got bags. Help yourself.

Help yourself. The headband is your move, though. For all the bracelets are there. Get yourself another bracelet as well. Books, and it's called a book share, but it's more in line with come and give your kids books.

Pick out books for your kids to read at home and take them with you. And the idea of the beauty and power behind literacy to put books in the hands of young people along the space. Lots to talk about 402, 4-6-4-5-6-8-5-star. or hit me text line. You want to be a part of what we're doing. We invite you into the conversation. And we would say this, that the lines, there are two lines from either side of the building that holds the books. And I will tell you to get here and give yourself time. Finding parking for

this many people is a task, and it's a good task and a worthy task. There are some transition between folks who are getting here, getting theirs. During the full tour, they're partnering with the full community of nonprofits and the food trucks who are all here providing everything from muchotchos to snow cones, et cetera. Like literally whatever you want, coffee trucks, all of it is in play and all of it available to you. But the mission behind this in Wordstock 26 again fourth year for this particular event through the fine folks to link to literacy and what I will tell you about linked to literacy is this identifying the power of literacy and getting books into the hands of young people whether it be from from infancy to all the way up to high

school and college but getting books the sooner you get the books into the hands of your young people and get a curiosity about reading often with the parents sitting down and actually doing the reading and it's important for that time to spend and that bonding that takes place when a parent sits in proximity to their young person and reads to them it is the power of imagination it's the power of being able to transport yourself to know how big the world is and so small at the very same time, reading and the imagination behind it is what connects us. That you can take the same group of 5,000 words and give them to 5,000 people and you'll get 5,000 different stories and interpretations. But that's the power of literacy and that curiosity, that innate curiosity,

which is where intelligence and aptitude gets measured as you move forward in life, is your curiosity and where it takes you. Does it lead you to read more, to investigate more? Does it inspire you for better? Do you want to do you hear of places that you've never heard of and making you curious about those places and wanting to visit? It introduces you to people, most of them superheroes of some sort, and makes you ponder, makes you wonder. I go back to my grandmother reading to me where the wild things are. She really, read to me amongst everything else. My grandmother was a woman of high faith.

And let me tell you, my grandmother would sit with me and the book that we read that she read to me was the Bible. Listen, we sat at that, let me tell you, we sat. And I knew that the lesson was different. We would sit at my grandmom's kitchen table and she would read and she would, she had her Bible that had all the markings and book pages turned and folded. And then my having my own, so I could read along. Like that's when the game changed for me was the reading along.

And I tell the story as well that learning to read was the advantage. I'll say, I didn't learn to read. I would not be yesterday. I'll say this. I had, there were eight kids in my family. Eight, seven kids, one TV. Eight kids, one TV.

So my mom was a genius and figured out pretty early that, well, only one thing could be shown at a time. The best way to do this was just to allow every kid to pick the shows that they want to watch each week. and we'll watch them together. But somebody got to read and got the lead. And in order to have the advantage, I'm old enough. Todd Euler was probably old enough to remember the days of TV guide

coming in the Sunday paper. Right? So the TV guide would come in the Sunday paper. And that was the only way. There was no internet. That was the only way you knew what was coming on TV that week. Now, it wasn't that much. It wasn't that big because in those days

there was only three public channels and then you had public TV as you joined. So you got NBC, ABC, CBS, and public TV. But you got the report, the TV guy that told you, okay, here's what we're watching this week, here's what you can watch.

And I figured out pretty early with four sisters that they were going to pick some things that I didn't necessarily want to watch. And then the light bulb goes on that if I learn to read the TV guy, I can figure out when football is going to be on. And in finding out when football, when the football games were going to be broadcast, I could pick each week that my selection of choice was going to be the game of the week.

Monday night football, Sunday afternoon, the same for baseball, the same for basketball, the same for basketball that I could pick first things first, right? And my sisters would go through their TV shows. But listen, Monday night football, Sunday afternoon football, I needed those. I could watch what they were watching. But I needed my Monday night baseball.

We don't even do Monday night baseball anymore. But that was the thing back in the day. So in learning to read and learning to put these things together, it was important to me. Those TV guides led me to books that took me down paths that I couldn't even imagine. And I tell the story, one of the games that I picked many, many years ago was I picked Nebraska versus Oklahoma. I picked the game of the century. and everybody had to watch.

Everybody in the family had to watch. Because I took this thing on. And here's what happened. When I moved to Lincoln, and I've been put on speakers' tours and the speaker's circuit, and often I'm asked about how and why. Shout out to Marnimand

for being a superhero, bringing water as the sun rises and gets itself in place. Another fine member of the board of linked to literacy. But I got to pick what we were going to watch. And it was the game of the century. It was Nebraska of Oklahoma. It was Jerry Taggy, Rich Glover, Johnny Rogers, Jeff Kenny.

It was everything. And let me tell you, at that age, I did not know what Nebraska was. And I didn't know what a cornhusker was. As a kid in Northern Virginia, I'm in Virginia. I did not know where Nebraska was. I couldn't identify it on a map, but I knew. I knew the colors. I knew the Nebraska Scarlet.

I knew. It was the first time I had heard scarlet as a color. I did not, I could not identify what Scarlet was. And they said, oh, it's the Nebraska red. Gotcha. Gotcha. I understand it. And then you start to understand that, wait a minute.

There were people that looked like me that played for Nebraska. Because back in the early 70s, that wasn't always the case. There were programs that didn't have black players. And here was Nebraska, this place in the middle of the country. Again, if I watched Alabama, they didn't have black players. Well, I turn on the TV in Virginia, and there's Johnny Rogers. And he's the star. And he's the first one that they put on the TV.

And then there's Taggy and they look like best friend. And Jerry Taggy looked like my best friend. So we're sitting there watching this thing going, hey, that's us. That's us. And then they show Coach Devaney. And I went, he looks like my little league coach. How did this, what is happening here? And Johnny Rogers ran like I wanted to run.

He was the first college football. player who ran the way I wanted to run. And let me tell you, we watched the game that day, and we watched Rich Glover. And my friend, some of them were linemen. And they, Rich Glover had pads from his knuckles all way up to his helmet. He had a neck roll. He had pads all the way up his arms. Rich Glover looked like he was, he had full armor on to take on Oklahoma. And it was amazing. And it was constantly, Rich Glover with the tackle. Rich Glover with the tackle, which 20 plus tackles. And the biggest game in the history of college football.

And there's this guy in this place called Nebraska. And there's this thing called a whole courthouse. Listen, I didn't know what a sooner was either. But guess what? Because I could identify it in that TV guy, I learned to read early so that I could get football games. I could fight my sisters over the TV. and the power of learning. If I went back in time and talked to nine-year-old me

and said that one day, you're going to live in Nebraska. You're going to work in Nebraska, and you're going to get to talk about Nebraska football, and Johnny Rogers, Bob Devaney, Jerry Taggy, Jeff Kennedy, Rich Glover. If I said that to nine-year-old me, I would have looked at me like,

You have bumped your head, man. You have bumped your head. But this is the beauty of what literacy allows. Getting a book in the hands of young people. You begin to dream. You begin to imagine. You become more curious. Curiosity leads to more curiosity.

And that's what the books. And again, there will be thousands of books with new owners today. Thousands of new books in the hands. parents if you're out there listening and you're in the car put Annala Park in your GPS and get over here there's the thing that's

happened as well that this event over four years and shout out to Kathleen Alci Ashley Larson Marty mom here's Joe Sheets

Doug Gans a full collection of folks And when I tell you that this was just a dream four years ago, that there was a space, there was a hole in the vacuum that would be getting books to young people. And here's the phrase that I walk with. Good people make good communities. Good communities make good people. I can identify the community by the people.

I can identify the people by the community. That when I say this out loud, if you want to know who Link in Nebraska is, come to Annalog Park today. Because it's parents who care, parents who are connected, kids who are being, listen,

the kids being connected to the parents in this way, I can guarantee you this. There's no other place in the state of Nebraska today where the parents are this connected and this caring for their young people. people. I guarantee. And this event has out, it outgrew the smaller space that we were in in years one, two, and three. And now at the full pavilion, there are, there is a community of food trucks. There is a community of nonprofits. And they're everywhere. And it's as far as the eye can see. And shout out to Mother Nature for a hook at us up today in a perfect day, right?

But the beauty, hi, young lady, how are you? Hi. There we go. I, here's a, and it should be a regular thing, a normal thing. But let me say this to Lincoln and the state of Nebraska. Be proud of yourself. You will, listen, the news will give you everything that a community and its people do wrong. But it's the responsibility of the media and social media to tell you the good things, too.

And here's the thing. Bad news will find you. But this good news business where you get to sit on, they ask, will you be here? Yes. There's no place I'd rather be today than Annalo Park at Wordstock. There's just not. There's just not. I was offered.

Come to UFC. How are you? There's an alumni. We're so proud of you. Can we say that? Bella, we're proud of you. We're proud of you to watch our interns grow up. Rudy can speak to it and understand what we're talking about.

That a community that constantly builds good people and to have a path for them. To have a path for them to come and live their life and learn. and grow and excel. This is exceptional. But if you want to know, listen, my friends from around the country who often ask, what's it like to live in Lincoln, Nebraska? Well, I sent young Rudy around the park today

to take pictures and get video of the people. Of the people. Because I'm telling you, if you look around, I can look to my left, and there are two young people on a blanket in the grass reading books. They've got lollipops and reading books. If you look, there's families in strollers. There's families with wagons pulling books.

There are two extremely long lines, snake lines of people in both directions, trying to get in to the main facility and get books. But the number of parents holding hands, with the young people. Shout out to the Lincoln High School Cheer Squad. They're here. They're giving out prizes and toys. Link

Delivery, of course, is here. There's for child care services. Pete Ferguson in the rally for youth, they're over there. Lincoln Public Schools is over there. Teammates is over there. When I tell I know who you are as a community,

come here and see who you are. How are you, young man, come here. Come here. Dad, grab him. There we go. Let's get him. Let's get them locked up. You're a handband dude. Oh, you're definitely a handband dude. We'll get you some bracelets. We'll get you some books.

What do you think? Right? You're a dog person? You like dogs? Yeah, that's, that's for you. That's for you. We have, Rudy, did we run out of basketball? We ran out of sports balls because there's that many people. Dad, well done. Mom, well done. How are you?

It is help yourself. If you need bags, please take the bags, bracelets, anything on those things you can do. I'll say this. And again, we're live at Wordstock, 26, the fourth annual event. And I now tell you that, yeah, the likelihood that there's a year five is absolute, that this event has grown and expanded. Let me say this as well. Lincoln, if you want to know who you are, you're very diverse.

This event is very diverse. Everybody is here. Everybody looks like everybody. Everybody feels like somebody. I'm just telling you, I've lived all over this country. And this doesn't happen without good people simply outworking the other. this when I tell you how much I mean there's a board of of seven people and to tell you that to organize this event have it grow to feed it to manipulate the system right to get permits and having wonderful donors who will donate cash donations of folks the non-profits who want to be in the space and choose to be in the space for the families that on a day when you could choose

anything to do, you choose to be here and share books and to tell the story of what a good community does. Listen, man, I'm not a native Nebraska, but what I can tell you is this. I chose to be here. I choose to be here. There's not a day. My hand of my hand of goodness, there's not a day where somebody doesn't offer ATP, can you come and do for us what you did what you did here in Nebraska. It's not one day, not one, not one business day has gone by in the last three years. I choose Lincoln, Nebraska. I choose you. I choose you folks because you're good folks. And there are people that are tell you they're good folks, but when you sit in a space and just, if I just look in front of me, parents holding the hands of the young people, loving on them,

and connected to them, getting them books, getting them treats, getting them swag, whatever. Listen, if this sounds like hype, you don't know Lincoln Nebraska. If this sounds like this is how good this is, that's a great hat. That is a spectacular hat. Yeah, that is a spectacular hat, sir. that listen if you don't know who link in Nebraska is i'm just going to tell you we're going to broadcast from here until two o'clock uh young kela star from bowling's going to come down uh Ray leecho from from tennis she's going to come down how are you come on up here young man

how are you give me a fist bump there it is anything you take a table you need a bag for your books going to gather some stuff you got you got any brothers and sisters then you want to take some stuff for your little sister? All right, you do that. Greatly appreciate it. Yep. Yep. There we go.

There we go. Thank you. Have a good day. I was just asked how I feel about the season. Here's the beauty of day one. Everybody starts in the same place. Everybody has the opportunity to have a mind-blowing season. Everybody can put in the work.

Everybody can excel. Nebraska currently is in the same position to win a Big Ten title as everybody else in the Big Ten. And I love that. I love that you, if you're purposeful, if Nebraska's purposeful, and I don't want to speak for Nebraska football, I don't want to speak from that rule. But as a coach, when I look at players, I listen to the things that are said because what happens is players start to repeat the things they hear the most in the work that they do. your son will hear your voice in his head more than anything else and he will repeat what you pour into him and it's important to say those things and to understand Nebraska football has the opportunity to be great the door's been kicked and the ceiling's been removed because Indiana has said it doesn't matter what happened before it doesn't matter what the legacy is Indiana kicked the door it and said, we can be as great as we want to be. And if I told you that you have the possibility of being a 4.0 student, a straight A student, and I tell you that every day,

then there's some accountability to it, right? Right? So I'm going to shake your hand in advance for that perfect student season. You just started, right? You determine how this thing's going to play out. And then nine months from now, you're going to find me,

and we're going to fist bump over. how well you did. That's the power of what happens, the beginning of a season, beginning of a school year. It's a clean slate. It's a wonderful, it's an opportunity.

And the opportunity is the word that probably should be used more than it does, and that every opportunity is an opportunity to love. And if you love what you do and you love why you do it and you love who you do it for, good things happen. Good things happen. So I look forward to this football season because, again,

The coaching staffs put it in the work, and the players will tell you, we like, we like what this looks like. We like how we feel. It's an opportunity. And September 5, it's beat Ohio. There's nothing else. Beat Ohio. We'll take the first break. Again, Wordstock, 2026, DP.

Live here at Antelope Park. We'll be back right after the break here on 937, the ticket. Download our app by searching 93.7 a ticket in your app store. You're listening to one-on-one with DP. on 93-7 the ticket. And the ticket after.