An Army of Normal Folks - John Norman: 160 Platelet Donations (Pt 2)

Episode Date: May 27, 2025

John Norman is a normal dude who made a blood platelet donation one day. When his colleague told him that donated platelets helped save her life, John decided to keep rolling with the donations. He donates every other week, which is now over 160 times! Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Everybody is Bill Courtney with an army of normal folks. We continue now with part two of our conversation with John Norman right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. The American West with Dan Flores is the latest show from the MeatEater Podcast Network, hosted by me, writer and historian Dan Flores, and brought to you by Velvet Buck. This podcast looks at a West available nowhere else. Each episode I'll be diving into some of the lesser-known histories of the West. I'll then be joined in conversation by guests such as Western historian Dr. Randall Williams and best-selling author and meat-eater

founder Stephen Rinella. I'll correct my kids now and then where they'll say when cave people were here and I'll say it seems like the Ice Age people that were here didn't have a real affinity for caves. So join me starting Tuesday, May 6th where we'll delve into stories of the West and come to understand how it helps inform the ways in which we experience the region today. Listen to the American West with Dan Flores on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your

gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this Taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley, comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company

dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Inc. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. and episodes four, five and six on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple podcasts. I'm Michael Kassin, founder and CEO of 3C Ventures and your guide on Good Company, the podcast where I sit down with the boldest innovators shaping what's next. In this episode, I'm joined by Anjali Sood, CEO of Tubi for a conversation that's anything but ordinary.

We dive into the competitive world of streaming, how she's turning so-called niche into mainstream gold, connecting audiences with stories that truly make them feel seen. What others dismiss as niche, we embrace as core. It's this idea that there are so many stories out there, and if you can find a way to curate and help the right person discover the right content, the term that we always hear from our audience is that they feel seen. Get a front row seat to where media, marketing, technology, entertainment, and sports collide. And hear how leaders like Anjali are carving out space and shaking things up a bit in the most crowded of markets. I'm Jake Hanrahan, journalist and documentary filmmaker.

Awadeyes is my new project, reporting on countercultures on the fringes of society all across the world. Live from the underground, you'll discover no rules fighting, Japanese street racing, Brazilian favela life and much more. All real, completely uncensored. This is unique access with straightforward underground reporting. We're taking you deep into the dirt without the usual airs and graces of legacy media. A way that showcases what the mainstream cannot access. Real underground reporting with real people,

no excuses. For the past decade, I've been going to places I shouldn't be meeting people I shouldn't know. Now you can come along too. Listen to the your way days podcast, reporting from the underbelly on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Bob Pipman, Chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia.

On this week's episode of Math and Magic, I'm sitting down with the one and only Bobby Bones. We're exploring the power of audio. The word on the street then was, he's too country for pop. But then once I got to country, it was he's too pop for country. So I kind of never really had a place to fit in, but that's exactly how and why I fit. I just embraced that. Like, yeah, I don't fit into one specific hole.

I think that is what endeared me to listeners. That's why I'm here now because I talk to people that grew up like me, have sensibilities like me, and have loyalties like me. Listen to Math and Magic, stories from the frontiers of marketing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The YouTube video, I've seen a five minute YouTube video. Who made that? Actually, the blood center that I go to. To give you as an example of a guy

that's constantly given play. Yeah, exactly. And I don't remember exactly. I had been contacted before. I take that back. Years ago, as one of their campaigns, they said, tell us your story. And this I'm like halfway through this journey now. And I'm like, I've been telling stories. So I'm going to tell you about me telling stories. And I got contacted and they did a little blurb on me on their website, which is great. But you have to be somebody like, I'm going to go to the blood center website today and look around, look, there's Sean Norma.

How many people are hanging around looking at the bloodsider website, unless you need blood. Nothing against them, because people do go there. But it was nice to be featured a little bit. I went out for a couple of photo shoots with them for some other things that didn't end up happening. And then a couple of months ago, their media guy called me up and said, Hey,

we're looking to do some new promotional videos. The cool part, it wasn't just for external, they're using it for internal uses. And the first place that they showed that video was in their all hands meeting with all of their employees to remind them why they do what they do. All those vampires got into one room and watched the video about John Norman doing this stuff. So I was like, wow, that's pretty cool. That is cool. But here's the thing. Here's the reason I asked. The very last three seconds, it comes up and it says over a period of eight years, John has donated. 165 now, or it'd be 165 on Friday. 165 times. I've donated 165 times in eight years.

And that is about 500 units. So I never counted it that way until you asked me that just a little bit ago. I don't know how I would calculate those units, but 160 times is, for me, I just counted as once going in, but it might be three times that. I'm not sure. And I think of some of the people that I've talked about, one in particular, who just passed away in November, she needed 90 as just as part of her cancer treatment. One of the other people that I shared about had leukemia also, and she needed 300 units of blood and platelets or blood products to finish getting through her treatment. So it's without them,

she died. Yeah. Or isn't able to take treatment. Well, I guess that's the thing is, do you have you taken the time to translate that eight years, 165 times, which is 500 units, probably translates to three, four, 500 lives. That's what they tell you. You can save up to three lives with a blood donation or platelet donation. So yeah, I guess that's pretty good math. What's it make you feel like? Well, it feels great.

And frankly, just after eight years, you talk about commitment and opportunity and passion. It's become a passion for me. I'm committed to do it. The opportunity came once at my office, right, with this blood drive. And then that walk with my friend where I learned how important it was. I'm really excited because, look, I'm here with Bill doing a podcast that other people might hear and that might increase that 3% to 4%. And if telling other people's stories and my story can convince some other people to

do that, then that's cool. That feels really great. I was excited to come here just because of that. Tell me a few of the stories that you've highlighted that our listeners will be like, wow. Wow. Not that any of them are more important than the others. I've not, we're not trying, it's not a competition at all, but you've got to have a couple that are near and dear to you. There are several that are near and dear to my heart.

One of the first ones that kind of, it got a little bit bigger for me was, so I told you earlier before we started today, I was in the biking community ones that kind of, it got a little bit bigger for me was. So I told you earlier, before we started today, I was in the, the biking community and one of falling off your bike and hitting trees. That was real impressive. John don't know if I'd want to be part of that community, but go ahead. The bicycle community. It's amazing. And we, we did cyclocross races. We did mountain bike races and especially the

mountain bike races. These are on, on the weekends and it's everybody from six year olds through 70 year olds racing these races out in the woods. But it's like a big family camp out and it becomes a family for you. We take care of each other. In fact, when I did have that crash, it was the biking family that picked up the pieces, hooked up my camper, and drove it over to the hospital while Michelle and my kids were there with me. One of the fathers of a kid that raced with my son contacted me and said, you know, we're doing a charity event

for best friend of my son, Peyton Alexander, who has discovered that she's got Ewing Sarcoma cancer. How old? 17 at the time, I think, maybe. That just breaks my heart. Just, you're already breaking my heart. I didn't even hear the story. Just lining up the words cancer and 17 years old

when you're supposed to be embarking on. You're finishing up high school. You're about to go to college and you're about to start your life. And cancer. Yeah. So we're gonna do this event called Peddling for Peyton. Like, well, that sounds cool.

Could do that. And unfortunately I was not able to make the event, but it did become sort of a, it became sort of my first story or several stories, but I did get to meet her later. I had never met her. This was the best friend of his son. And our bicycle community was from all over the state.

So he didn't even live near us. But Peyton didn't only care about herself. She as a buyer of her treatment discovered the Ronald McDonald House and the fact that they needed blankets, just fleece blankets. Because when people come and stay there, the Ronald McDonald House will give them blankets while they're there that they can take home with them and keep.

And she said, you know what, I'm gonna do a blanket tying event down our local library. If you can come, bring some blankets, go by Walmart and get a bunch of $5 blankets and we'll cut them up and tie them together and make some more blankets for Ronald McDonald House. Like, so I couldn't make your your event, but I want to come meet you and learn more about you. And I show up and it was Peyton and a bunch of her high school friends and her parents and a couple of other people.

And this weird old dude. And this weird old dude. Exactly this weird old dude, exactly. Who is this now 50 some year old guy just wandering in, can I tie blankets with you? I know you've never met me before. I had asked ahead of time, I was like, this might sound weird, but because of your friend, I wanna know a little bit more about you.

It was a fun day. I don't tie blankets very well either. So, but it was, but she over the years a little bit more about you. It was a fun day. I don't tie blankets very well either. But she, over the years, ended up tying, with her friends and community members, hundreds of blankets that ended up going to Ronald McDonald House. She, her cancer went into remission, really exciting.

But then it came back. She underwent a stem cell transplant, her own cells. I can't remember exactly what type of stem cell treatment that is, but my dad had it too. Same thing my dad did. He's going through his cancer. But basically that stem cell treatment, they take your platelets for a while. The patients take platelets and they keep them. And then they zap you with a super high dose of chemotherapy with the plan of killing all the cancer cells. But because it's so high dose, it kills all your blood,

your bone marrow and everything else that needs to be in place for you to survive. So as soon as that's done, they put stem cells back in you with the hopes that your bone marrow will kick in again and start producing everything to live. And it works for some people. It worked for my dad for a while, too. Lance Armstrong did this. He's still alive. So, it's a treatment that sometimes works. Unfortunately, she was in remission for a little while longer, but came back and Peyton passed away a number of years ago. That was the first funeral that I ever went to of somebody that I had connected with, told a story about. But I had been talking

with Kim, her mom, before coming here. And I'm like, I hope you're okay with me mentioning your daughter's name because I want to honor her as part of why I still do. So that's important for me. I'm missing the, they're doing a golf, not a golf outing, barbecue fundraise for the Peyton Alexander Foundation now that they've started. And I'm missing it because I'm here. But I said, this is pretty cool reason to miss your barbecue. I'm going to Memphis and I can have some barbecue there. Where barbecue? Where, where, where are they? This is in Milwaukee.

They don't know what barbecue is. Oh, they're calling it a barbecue. They can call whatever they want to. If they should have a barbecue fundraiser here. We'll host. Please go to the fundraiser. That is heartbreaking. It is.

And Peyton connected me through Ewing Sarcoma as a childhood cancer, mostly childhood cancer. And I was like, I'm going to go to the fundraiser. I'm going to the fundraiser. I'm going to the fundraiser. I'm going to the fundraiser. I'm going to the fundraiser. I'm going to the fundraiser. I'm going to the fundraiser. I'm going to the fundraiser. I'm going to the fundraiser. I'm going to the fundraiser. Yeah. That is heartbreaking. It is. And Peyton connected me through Ewing Sarcoma as a childhood cancer, mostly childhood cancer. It's the same cancer my dad had as an adult, but it's only maybe 1% of adults.

One of Peyton's, I was connected to Katie, who is another one that I've really connected with and the family. Again, virtually, I have not met Katie. She lives in Reno, Nevada. I live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. But Katie was an amazing person who was also a giver and an advocate for cancer research. She just passed away in November, but I wouldn't have known about Katie

or the amazing things that she did. And if you look her up, I'll give you a link later. If you look her up, you can see. Give us the link now. If you look up Katie's Collective on Instagram, you'll find everything you need to know. You'll see videos of that. She was highlighted quite a bit because of how amazing she was and how she lived with her cancer. Her hashtag now that was created when she died is live life like Katie. She loved national parks and it was her goal to visit everyone. I think she made it to 20 some and several of them, a

lot of them after she started getting cancer because she didn't want to skip out on life just because this disease was in her. She wanted to live life. She didn't want to skip out on life just because this disease was in her. She wanted to live life. She didn't know when her last day was going to be. We'll be right back. The American West with Dan Flores is the latest show from the Meat Eater Podcast Network, hosted by me, writer and historian Dan Flores, and brought to you by Velvet Buck. This podcast looks at a West available nowhere else.

Each episode, I'll be diving into some of the lesser known histories of the West. I'll then be joined in conversation by guests such as Western historian Dr. Randall Williams and bestselling author and meat eater founder, Stephen Rannella. I'll correct my kids now and then where they'll say when cave people were here. And I'll say it seems like the Ice Age people that were here didn't have a real affinity for caves. So join me starting Tuesday, May 6th, where we'll delve into stories of the West and come to understand how it helps inform the ways in which we experience the region today.

Listen to The American West with Dan Flores on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this Taser the revolution.

But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley, comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Inc. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad.

Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes one, two, and three on May 21st, and episodes four, five, and six on June 4th. Ad free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. on June 4th, ad free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Michael Kassin, founder and CEO of 3C Ventures and your guide on Good Company, the podcast where I sit down with the boldest innovators shaping what's next. In this episode, I'm joined by Anjali Sood, CEO of Tubi, for a conversation that's anything but ordinary. We dive into the competitive world of streaming, how she's turning so-called niche into mainstream gold, connecting audiences with stories that truly make them feel seen.

What others dismiss as niche, we embrace as core. It's this idea that there are so many stories out there, and if you can find a way to curate and help the right person Discover the right content the term that we always hear from our audience is that they feel seen Get a front-row seat to where media marketing technology Entertainment and sports collide and hear how leaders like Anjali are carving out space and shaking things up a bit in the most crowded of markets I'm Jake Hanrahan, journalist and documentary filmmaker. Away Days is my new project, reporting on countercultures on the fringes of society all across the world. Live from the underground, you'll discover no rules fighting, Japanese street racing, resilient favela life and much more.

All real, completely uncensored. This is Unique access with straightforward underground reporting. We're taking you deep into the dirt without the usual airs and graces of legacy media. A way that showcases what the mainstream cannot access. Real underground reporting with real people, no excuses. For the past decade I've been going to places I shouldn't be meeting people I shouldn't know. Now you can come along too. Listen to the Your Way Days podcast, reporting from the underbelly on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hi, I'm Bob Pipman, Chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia. On this week's episode of Math and Magic, I'm sitting down with the one and only Bobby Bones. We're exploring the power of audio. The word on the street then was, he's too country for pop. But then once I got to country, it was he's too pop for country. So I kind of never really had a place to fit in, but that's exactly how and why I fit. I just embraced that. Like, yeah, I don't fit into one specific hole.

I think that is what endeared me to listeners. That's why I'm here now, because I talk to people that grew up like me, have sensibilities like me, and have loyalties like me. Listen to Math & Magic, stories from the frontiers of marketing on the iHeart radio app apple podcasts are wherever you get your podcast So we could say Wow, give all this blood and give all this cancer all these platelets and these people still succumb to cancer my answer would be quality the life they get living with cancer could happen without

blood. Even if they don't survive and go into remission, their lives are still enriched and prolonged by this gift, this simple gift of sitting on your for 20 minutes for blood, or two hours for platelets, and giving so that you or someone you love will have what they need. So here's another statistic. 100% of us are not gonna live forever. But so if by giving blood or platelets, you can let somebody live another day,

or a week, or a month, or years, it's all the same thing. I mean, we just need to let people live. And if this can do it, then why not? It's so simple. An army of normal folks, candidly. I mean, we're not, we're, nobody's ever gonna mistake Alex

for being particularly right. So, or no one's ever going to say, well, my goodness, look at, look, look at the, look at the, I mean, we should do with theses on building this army. I mean, this is just simple stuff. It's normal people, seeing areas of need, filling it, celebrating those stories and hopes of surviving, hopes of inspiring more to do more. Right? This is so simple that we have had on some guests with some pretty complex things and that they would have to have a certain skill set to actually go do

those things. So while we celebrate them and hopefully inspire them, there's really a small community of people that can do what some of those people. Everybody can do this. Pretty much. As long as you pass, but at least everybody could go get tested to do it. And then two thirds of us can do it. You know what else I'll tell you too, if you can't do it,

they have volunteer drivers to drive this blood to the hospital. There's a volunteer that whenever I'm done, he gives me cookies and a can of cranberry juice when I'm done. You get cookies and cranberry juice? That's enough reason to do it right now. You guys have Panera Bread here?

Yeah. Panera donates their day old bread. There's boxes of Panera Bread that I can pick up, pick from. Do they really, they do that? Yeah. There's always boxes of that there. Good for Panera Bread, by the way,

a little plug for them. Yeah. But sometimes that's what shapes the meal. I'm going to cook that Friday night while I'm not exerting myself. Everybody should be doing this. Yeah. And you don't have to have any skill set. You don't have to have anything. Just have a willingness and a heart. If somebody wants to follow, I'm not a social media person. Okay. I mean, I'm on it and all that, but I don't know. I use the wrong words all the time and Alex gives me crap about it. You're not really on it. You're on it. You have an account, but you haven't been on it yourself.

See? I get it. There you go. So how does somebody find your stuff? So you can find an, on Instagram, my Instagram handle is PortNorman. So port like Port Washington, Norman, like my last name, JPN or my initials, so PortNormanJPN. And it's your pictures and the stories and the people that you're celebrating while donate. Yep. You can read the stories and see the pictures. I always put pictures of them because I, there's always a picture of me at the beginning. So if you see me sitting in a

chair, that's a trigger that this is going to be one of my platelet posts and actually looking through it. There's more of those than a lot of my other, because I'm 60 years old now. I'm not really good at social media either. I struggled to get it shared on Instagram and Facebook at the same time. And Facebook, I think if you just look up John Norman, don't know what, there's probably a ton of them, but you could probably, Instagram is going to be more easy because I don't, on Facebook, I share more to my friends and not public and Instagram. I leave it public because I want,

if I share about somebody and it can, and it triggers somebody to say, Hey, I want to try this or you should read this story. I don't want them to send a link out to somebody and have it get blocked. I want to continue the story. I get it. So when you go there, it's a picture of you first, and it's a picture of the person you're thinking about that day. Yep. And then the their story of their fight with whatever they're afflicted with and why their strength inspires you to continue to do this all the time.

All of which, if you ball up, is intended to inspire others. Yep, that's pretty much it. Sometimes it's a short story, sometimes a little longer. After the Shop Talk episode with Army member Keith B-A-U-C-H, he wrote us. And I'm telling you this, because he gives Keith thank you, all respect, your post was wrong. You sit over there, hushed. Bill and Alex, good morning from tropical cold Minnesota. Clearly this came from a few months ago.

That's one of my neighbors. I wanna be part of the army that moves the amount of blood donors from three to four percent, even three to three and a half. I've given blood in the past, but never on a consistent basis. I'm going to do my best, try and give once a month from now on. Your guest has inspired me to do this. It was interesting because about a week after your episode, I was listening to another podcast about the need for blood, plasma and platelet donations. Another reason for me to give. I have a daughter in college that gives plasma twice a week.

I think she gets- That's for beer money. I think that's for beer money. Yeah, it is for beer buddy. But I shared your podcast with her to reinforce the benefits of what she is doing guys Keep doing what you're doing inspiring us normal folks. Here's why I'm calling that out just a little bit We don't deserve the credit for doing what we're doing inspiring normal folks one at a time It's all of the stories and all the people that are inspiring all All we are is the conduit.

I read that to you because this gentleman has clearly been inspired to do this very thing because of you. It's awesome, it's awesome. Is this guy your neighbor, do you know him? I have no idea who Keith is. Never heard that name before. But he's from your neck of the woods.

He's Minnesota, we don't talk about that. I'm a Packers fan, he's a Vikings fan. I'm sure you don't know You might have to reach out to this guy. It's right. I might I might lightly suggest that Part of your Instagram stories could be about guys like him to inspire others as well It doesn't just have to be the people getting the play. Absolutely someone who's been inspired by your story could maybe inspire someone else. When I read that, we do, we get lots of emails and correspondence. I read every bit of it.

I respond to every bit of it. But when I read this and then I think about how you reached out to us, And then I think about how you reached out to us. I think about your story and the connectivity of it all. Kind of makes the fact that Alex about a year and a half ago made me start doing this dumb thing all worth it. So respectfully, I don't feel like we're inspiring anybody to be one normal folk one at a time.

I think you should give yourself a little more credit though, too. I stumbled on your podcast and what are you doing that's different than me? You're sharing other people's stories. So are you. It inspired me to reach out to you because I think the army of normal folks idea is it's so easy. Like you said, you do what you can do for one person. Uh, one of the books that I meant to bring, I work at Harley Davidson. This is, so this is a bike, a book that kind of reached out to me literally from a Minnesota used book store as I was walking through and it's called nice bike.

Nice nice bike. And it's, it's a collection of stories that the author put together, Mark Scherenbrock, I think is his name. And I want to read, I wrote this down because I had to go look it up again. But what he focuses on in his theory is the three things that you need to do to make people's lives better is to acknowledge them, honor them, and to connect with them. By acknowledging, honoring, and connecting with people, you can change the world one

person at a time. That's always been in the back of my head too, ever since reading that book, also at the beginning of this whole thing. I think that goes a long way. It's simple, acknowledge, honor, and connect. And that's, that's what we do. That's what you're doing. You're, you're honoring people for the cool stuff that they do, even if it's normal. It is cool. And it's also only three rather than 12. So it's a lot easier to remember than that scout.

I still had to write it down though. You're 60, give yourself a break. Maybe they suck some memory in the platelets. I don't know. So there you have it folks. It's so easy to be an army of normal folks. And Alex, some months ago made the really good point that I've kind of tagged on and I continue to say, which is you can serve without even leaving the house. There's typically people down the hallway that need service. You can serve without starting some massive organization. You can go sit for two hours every two weeks with a needle in your arm and save three lives. You have taken it to a whole other level by honoring and acknowledging the stories of these people that you hope will inspire others to give. And it's worked because

Keith from Minnesota sent us an email saying the very same thing. Keith, I hope you are listening and we'll reach out to John and y'all connect. You're too close to one another not to because apparently that's the third activity of iSpyke is to connect. Yep, yep for sure and I would I would love to get messages from people. If you want to learn more, I'm happy to talk. We'll be right back. The American West with Dan Flores is the latest show from the Meat Eater Podcast Network, hosted by me, writer and historian, Dan Flores,

and brought to you by Velvet Buck. This podcast looks at a West available nowhere else. Each episode, I'll be diving into some of the lesser known histories of the West. I'll then be joined in conversation by guests such as Western historian Dr. Randall Williams and bestselling author and meat-eater founder Stephen Rinella. I'll correct my kids now and then where they'll say when cave people were here and I'll say it seems like the Ice Age people that were here didn't

have a real affinity for caves. So join me starting Tuesday May 6th where we'll delve into stories of the West and come to understand how it helps inform the ways in which we experience the region today. Listen to The American West with Dan Flores on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.

Across the country, cops called this Taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Inc. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad.

Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Inc. on the iHeart Radio app, Apple really, really, really bad. podcasts. I'm Michael Kassin, founder and CEO of 3C Ventures and your guide on Good Company, the podcast where I sit down with the boldest innovators shaping what's next. In this episode, I'm joined by Anjali Sood, CEO of Tubi for a conversation that's anything but ordinary. We dive into the competitive world of streaming, how she's turning so-called niche into mainstream gold, connecting audiences with stories that truly make them feel seen. What others dismiss as niche, we embrace as core.

It's this idea that there are so many stories out there, and if you can find a way to curate and help the right person discover the right content, the term that we always hear from our audience is that they feel seen. to curate and help the right person discover the right content. The term that we always hear from our audience is that they feel seen. Get a front row seat to where media, marketing, technology, entertainment, and sports collide. And hear how leaders like Anjali are carving out space and shaking things up a bit in the most crowded of markets.

Listen to Good Company on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jake Hanrahan, journalist and documentary filmmaker. Away Days is my new project, reporting on countercultures on the fringes of society all across the world. Life from the underground you'll discover no rules fighting, Japanese street racing, Brazilian favela life and much more. All real, completely uncensored. This is unique access with straightforward on the ground reporting. We're taking you deep into the dirt without the usual airs and graces of legacy media. Awadey showcases what the mainstream cannot access. Real underground reporting with real people, no excuses.

For the past decade, I've been going to places I shouldn't be, meeting people I shouldn't know. Now you can come along too. Listen to the Aw way days podcast, reporting from the underbelly on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Bob Pippman, chairman and CEO of iHeart Media.

On this week's episode of math and magic, I'm sitting down with the one and only Bobby Bones. We're exploring the power of audio. The word on the street then was, he's too country for pop. But then once I got to country, it was he's too pop for country. So I kind of never really had a place to fit in. But that's exactly how and why I fit. I just embraced that. Like, yeah, I don't fit into one specific hole. I think that is what endeared me to listeners. That's why I'm here now because I talk to people that grew up like me,

have sensibilities like me, and have loyalties like me. Listen to Math and Magic, stories from the frontiers of marketing on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I've got to share too. I've hit 160 donations. There are some people that, there are people there every other week when I go that are the same people. Joe and Chris and a few other people that I've met and they're kind of my platelet buddies every other week. There's not the same people because you go on a trip and all of a sudden

you're every two weeks it's awful. But I know there's a person I've connected with in Sweden who is he's at 200. There's a guy at Bersedi, the blood center that I go to that is close to 500 donations. He started donating platelets when in like 1980 or something like that. Now he's 83 years old and he's still going in every other week to donate platelets. But see, as beautiful as those people are, that story is a little bit of the problem that you see the same people over and over again. Oh, this is true.

There need to be enough people giving that you don't know all of the people giving. So hopefully we can look, if this conversation moves the needle just a little bit, it's more life saved. And you are a beautiful example of what we are trying to inspire people to do, which is just give where you can. And you've turned it into a passion and a story and everything else and that's awesome. But it's so easy, give when you can. And by the way, I think the Red Cross receives almost 40% of the blood given.

Very possible, yeah. Not very hard to find the Red Cross. Nope. Not very hard to find a blood center. If somebody wants to reach out to you and connect, what's the best way to get in touch with John? You can DM me through Instagram or if you wanna just use his regular old email,

that's easy too. So my email address is johnjohn at portnormans.com. So port like Port Washington, Norman like my name with an S at portnormans.com. So port like Port Washington, Norman like my name with an S at the end.com. One thing that John and I talked about in advance of the interview too is listeners could reach out and share story ideas for him too. So people who are going through cancer,

have been cancer, people who have been beneficiaries of blood products, it could be great for Army members to share. That is a really good point. If you have somebody dealing with this right now, and you want to do one of the three steps and honor them, do another one of the three steps with and connect with John, and then John will do one of the three steps and maybe share their story.

Or hey, if you feel like doing, just doing the same thing I'm doing, sitting there in your chair, you got one arm free, grab your phone and tell your story and, or tell someone else. And then you can somehow connect you to it. Absolutely. You can share it. Absolutely. Yeah. Share and share.

Kind of spread this around a little bit. That's right. One more thing before you wrap up, your routine beforehand is pretty funny. So it has become a habit and now it's also a routine. Right. One more thing before you wrap up, your routine beforehand is pretty funny. So it has become a habit and now it's also a routine. It's always a Friday morning at six o'clock. I've tried going in in the afternoons before, but as it turns out, I'm a coffee addict and I will drink coffee all day.

And you know there's a problem if you drink coffee all day and then you go and sit in a chair and are expected to be still for two hours. It doesn't work. I'm over hydrated and I'm going to need to pee. Well, one, the caffeine, you're jumpy and two, you got to pee. That's true. It probably does jump up your blood pressure too. Are you telling me while they do your thing, you got a catheter? Are you going to say that? They would offer one, I'm sure, but I'm not interested in going there. Don't blame me.

One of the things that our blood center used to do is it's similar to platelets. It's called granulocytes and these are not universal. They're very specific to a person and the types of proteins that they have in their blood. And I was asked, actually twin brother thing, they called me up and they said, your brother sent us your way because we need somebody with exactly your blood type and this protein combination to donate granulocytes for a cancer patient that is in the hospital waiting for your granulocytes. Literally.

Literally. So it's one time where you knew exactly what you're doing and exactly where it's going. Yeah. I mean, and they were calling because this particular therapy, this is like a last ditch effort when they get to the point where they need granulocytes like this. And they were lining up, not just me, but five or six other people to donate every day for a five or six day period. And for that one, they literally told me, I don't care if you have to pee, we'll get

you the pens or something, but you're gonna stay here until we got everything that we need to get out of you. And with platelet donations, if they have trouble getting the needle in and it doesn't work, then you just try again another day. With the granulocysts, they're like, we'll keep sticking the needle in there

until we find the right spot. This arm doesn't work, we'll use the other arm. If that doesn't work, we'll pry a leg or something. And there's a person literally right there that if you don't give, they die. Good chance of that, yep. Cause they line you up in a string. Is Ampere able to find out?

No, for privacy reasons, you never know. But do you wonder? I would love to meet a recipient someday. I have actually, but not mine. I mean, I've met all these other connections. Sure. So it's, I, I, it's pretty darn close to being your morning routine. John, you got on a side track.

Hey, so my morning routine now on Friday morning, I get up at four 30. I hit the snooze maybe once or twice, I grab a shower. Then the blood center's about a half an hour drive from my house. I stop at McDonald's, I always get a sausage McMuffin with egg and a hash brown and a small coffee. So clearly you don't have to eat healthy food to give platelets.

Well they do tell you to eat, but they don't say healthy and I'm figuring, you know, if I'm gonna save three lives today I can have a sausage McMuffin. That a boy. It's not that many calories, I actually love it. It's like healthy and I'm figuring, you know, if I'm going to save three lives today, I can have a sausage McMuffin. That's a point. It's not that many calories. I actually love it. It's like 500. That's right.

I'm sorry. The first thing they do when you get there though, is they take your blood pressure. And I'm like, I often blame the hash brown because it's pretty salty and stuff. I don't know. Maybe it's a health check basically every two weeks. And if I can pass and I'm like, yeah.

Yeah, great. So that's it. That's it. if I can pass and I'm like, yeah. Yeah, great. So that's it. That's it. Then I go in and I mark the box that says, I've done this before. And your twin brother doesn't confuse them anymore. No, and they, yeah. So it is a health check.

They'll do, there's a questionnaire that you have to fill out so that they can tell you whether you're eligible or not. And it's 50 questions every time. And it's, and you saw, you noticed this when you did your blood donation, right? It's everything. It's.

What John's getting at is they asked your sexual history. Have you ever been paid to have sex? Have you had sexual contact with, I mean, it's probably 15 questions just about. I think there's time Lisa would pay me not to have sex. Do you want to know the truth? Add on question, depending on how you answer the first one, but, but it's because they want your, your blood product to be healthy for the recipient. Of course. It also gets tested.

So I figure I'll be the first to know if I end up with something, place. Yeah, if you end up with something, you'll be the first to know. Yeah. Anything else you want to cover, John? Not that I can think of. I, the only, the only thing that I was reviewing some of my notes this morning that, and I think I may have mentioned this to you, Alex, later on, after our pre-interview was that my dad passed away from cancer in 2004 of Ewing sarcoma. My mother-in-law died also, they both died at the age 63. My mother-in-law died of cervical cancer and

I didn't start this donation habit until 2017. So, what was that, 13 later? I didn't start telling the stories until after that. And I think that for me, the reason I have this Beyond Grief book here too, because it's a double whammy sometimes. And I got introduced to the grief community through this same habit by meeting these two people. And it has allowed me to process some of the grief of me losing my dad. And it's allowed me to dig in a little bit deeper to what he went through with cancer and what I got out of being his son for 63 years. 63 years, I'm 60 now, I was born, you know. Just for being his son. And as I was reading through my notes,

I did an Instagram takeover for a week where I shared about my dad. This was in 2020. And it was so cathartic for me. Part of it was about the cancer, but part of it was about him living life like Katie. He was, he was the first example of live life like Katie. Katie just was a reminder for me. I, I revisited this and got into these stories. So it's interesting. The storytelling process that all this is actually healing for survivors. A hundred percent very much. So it actually healing for survivors. 100%. Very much so.

It's healing for me. Like you've said so many times in your guest too, I get 10 times as much out of this as anything I'm giving. I mean, I'm donating my platelets, but this is, it's healing for me to tell somebody else's story and to learn more about my dad just because. It's a beautiful side benefit to the whole gig. 100%. Yeah.

It could be you too. Go give it a try. That's it. John, thanks for taking the time to come down here and share your story. Thanks for what you're doing. Thanks for bringing me. Thanks for being an inspiration. And I really hope against hope that people listening us today will say, OK, this is an easy one.

I'm going to go. Hope so. And let me know if you do. Yeah. I want to let John know he'll tell your story. Yeah. There's a pyramid that's getting built. And email us and let us know. Because who knows, we might read your name one time and Alex may call you up and bother you. You never know. Thanks for being here buddy. Yeah, thank you. Appreciate it. And thank you for joining us this week. If John Norman has inspired you in general,

or better yet take action by donating blood, platelets, or something else entirely. Please let me know because I am really interested in seeing if our country can move the needle beyond 3% pitiful. I'd love to hear about it. If you donate blood or payments, plasma or any of it, let me know. We gotta do better. You can write me anytime at bill at normal folks dot us and I promise I will respond. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with friends and on social subscribe to the podcast, rate it and review it. Join the army at normal folks dot us, consider becoming a premium member there. Any and all of these things that will help us grow, an army of normal folks. I'm Bill Porter, until next time, journalist and documentary filmmaker.

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