Boston, Massachusetts- September 2021
I met Jimmy up in Boston a couple of years ago in the media lounge during MJ BizCon. He is very well known for cannabis. There was a certain buzz in the air and the long line of well-wishers greeted him as an old friend. He is well-liked.
My college degree is from Emerson, literally right down the street. I’m a film school graduate who did go on to work in television in NYC for a short time and I knew we had much we could talk about.
Cannabis included.
Jimmy had his microphone in hand, and he was interviewing cannabis luminaries from the area and around the world. He speaks with a knowing smile and people are naturally attracted to his comfort in the journalistic interview methodology. Being in front of a camera does that for you. It’s easier to talk to people when you know not to be afraid of speaking in public. Those of us who are trained in media get over that fear immediately- our teachers would have failed otherwise! Jimmy is a class act. I’m proud to know him.
Jimmy contacted me the other day and asked me if I would be interested in catching up with his current successes. Of course, being a person long accustomed to interviewing intriguing people in the cannabis industry I said yes. And when I let him know, I wanted to write this piece for Skunk Magazine? Let’s just let his Boston-tinged voice- via his words, speak for themselves.
Warren Bobrow: Please tell me who you are? Why cannabis? Where are you located in the world?
Jimmy Young: Maybe it was the Boston Tea Party where the rebel in me was born? (I’m starting my 65th year now, not 248 years old!)
Maybe it was the 12 championships among my favorite pro sports teams in the first 20 years of the 21st century?
Or maybe it was legalizing medical cannabis in 2013 in Massachusetts after 4 major surgeries on my arthritic athletic body, or the fact that I find out later in life I’m allergic to hops and can’t drink beer?
No matter how I spin it, I’ve been a regular partaker in the precious herb of cannabis for 38 years of my life with ten years off from 1990-2000 (a story for another day!).
Not quite sure if that gives you an idea of who I am since I don’t think after 25 years as an Emmy Award-winning talk show host, and full-time TV sportscaster, 35 years as a teacher and soccer coach, parent, and mentor to hundreds of young people in their broadcast careers, my life can be defined by my use of cannabis.
Do I like to party? Yes!
Do I preach responsible use of cannabis and alcohol, yes! I end every show with the same line, now trademarked, “It’s a whole new world of weed out there, use it responsibly.”
Do I freak about the fact that the most abused drug in our society is caffeine, and no one cares because 91% of Americans drink coffee every day! Yes!
WB: What kind of stigmas do you face in your field?
JY: As far as facing down the stigma, well that’s why I started Pro Cannabis Media in the first place! Back in 2018 I watched a CNBC TV network interview with a CEO of a Multi-State Operator, and I was so disgusted with the reporter’s preparation regarding their line of questions, I realized the industry needed a cannabis-friendly media outlet, and when Nick Gelso of CLNS Media, (a podcast aggregation network) urged me to attend the New England Cannabis Convention in Boston in March of 2018 to start a cannabis podcast, In The Weeds with Jimmy Young was born.
Now after over 250 episodes of that interview show on video and shared as an audio podcast, we continue to produce pro-cannabis media content by treating the people I meet with the same respect I treat all people.
I mean how many people on Earth have interviewed Pele’, Hank Aaron, Earvin Magic Johnson, Reverend Jesse Jackson. Been thrown in the Charles River by Bobby Orr, and partied with the late Brent Mydland and Bill Kreutzman of the Grateful Dead, Larry Miller, Carole Liefer, and Jerry Seinfeld?
Throw in interviews with the Last Prisoner Project’s Steve DeAngelo, the founder of Canopy Growth Bruce Linton, Mara Gordon of Aunt Zeldas and Weed The People, Curaleaf’s Vice-Chair Joe Lusardi, Nick Kovacevich from Kush Co, Max Simon of Green Flower, Chris Walsh from MJBiz, Jamie Pearson from Bhang Corporation, longtime incarcerated inmate Michael Thompson, and many others. You can understand why I feel so blessed, and am so proud that we now live stream our content 24-7 on our website procannabismedia.com and our ROKU and Apple + PCM TV channel. we also produce four original shows per week, and syndicating content from seven other producers!
Best of all, we are just beginning!
We already produce a weekly Weed Talk News show for release on Fridays at Noon with contributions from 7 other correspondents from coast to coast. Those reporters we call “Canna Casters” are a take on Cannabis Broadcasters. Our training webinars to be introduced in the Fall of 2021, will feature workshops on hosting your interview show, writing for the spoken word, public speaking basics and presentation skills, interview techniques, and how to tell a story with audio and video.
We produce a weekly live business of cannabis talk show on Fridays at 4 PM EST. It’s called The Green Rush Live and we are about to launch a series of “Grow” shows and educational webinars for people who want to become part of history reporting on the end of prohibition in the US (no matter how long it takes)!
Our talented staff has recently been joined by a former NBC Sports, CNN, FOX news, and Turner Sports anchor named Dave Briggs. Who courtesy of Hub Craft, has already interviewed NFL Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson (Megatron) and his teammate Rob Sims. As well as NBA Hall of Famers Paul Pierce and Gary Payton, Stanley Cup Champ, Darren McCarty, and Olympian Dr. Joanna Zieger for his Cannversation Show, and available on-demand on PCM TV’s channel on ROKU, YouTube, Apple+ platforms.
We also just launched a live 30 minute morning show at 8 AM EST with the Green Nurse Group of Nurse Mark Worster and Sherri Tutkus RN.
WB: Please tell me about your six and twelve-month goals? What is your favorite way to introduce your company to others?
JY: Over the next year, we are hoping to identify a visionary team of like-minded business people and self-starting producers, who understand that the consumer is in charge of their use of media and information, and we want to give them options to consume news, talk, and educational content about cannabis in different forms that fit the media platform they choose whether that’s traditional TV, radio, social media, or even text blogs or print.
When asked what Pro Cannabis Media is, we answer: We tell the stories of the cannabis industry in their own words. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the line, cannabis has saved my life, cannabis has changed my life. I do believe that God put this plant on Earth to bring people together, improve the wellness of people, and clean the environment with an acceptance of plant-based medicines, and industrial materials (hemp).
WB: What is your passion?
JY: I was a rebel as a child (and some might even say as an adult). I was fortunate to have two wonderful parents who raised me with a silver spoon offering privileges that I am grateful for but recognize how lucky I was and how fortunate.
Now I recognize what a mess my generation has made of our environment and judicial systems and the role that cannabis has played in a failed war on drugs that was driven by hatred and race. I feel so guilty that young people have to undo what my generation, and others before it, have created, but I will do everything I can to give a voice to those who are trying to make changes in the world to make it a better place so we all can live together in harmony and peace. The late Lenny Zakim (NE ADL Director, Richard Lapchick (Racial Conscience of Sports), and Mohammed Ali (The Greatest) all believed in one family of humanity where our diversity is our greatest strength. Now we have a chance to make an everlasting change if power and greed don’t get in the way.
As Bobby Kennedy used to say… “Some men see things as they are and ask why. I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”
Thank you, Jimmy!