Q&A with Koloff #44

Hello this is Willa Hardy with man talk radio.

We all about breaking down the walls of race and denomination your chosen Truth Network podcasts is starting in just a few minutes. Enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening to the truth.

Podcasts network. This is the Truth Network Unico welfare questions and answers they would go off the doubles in studio with me is a special guest.

Well, you know, I think I said that every week, but that again every guest to special in my eyes anyway. But I got the man of the hour, the Tower of power and are not talking about my former superpower I'm talking about Mike Goldfarb. All CLO all truth radio network. Michael, welcome to the mat up show appreciate being here. Sounds like you've never lost the art of cutting a promo I don't know when the last time I was the Tower of power will do the Tower of power to see because you hold in my view, you hold all of truth radio you hold it to get you the glue that holds this place together.

The Tower of broadcast organization that while they go that that works for me as well, but no offer on a series of great bag in the short furry theories.

Thank you.

Appreciate and so what you know what I want to do is just… Have a conversation and as I got to know you over the course of the last. I guess year year and 1/2 for his or just thereabouts anyway. Let's for our listeners.

Let's tell them who Michael Carbone is like what were to grow where I know your wrestling fan we get into that a little bit but all come together yeah of Youngstown Ohio born and raised to spend a few years in Cleveland before I moved here to North Carolina which is where our studio is here and steel town tough guy town bare knuckles you know you meet every problem for first okay things, my, my family background. I grew up with the Mafia family, my Micah and I have cousins that are comparable I could see that all of the ever saw the movie the Irishman. Apparently the Irishman also featured. It was about the Dini green car bomb murder in Cleveland in the late 70s. Okay, the guy who ordered the hit was my cousin and he okay he spent 26 years in the Mansfield reformatory for said act of aggression was at the polite way to put it like I was a way.

It was interesting in that my father wouldn't participate in it. They you would do odd jobs for them now and again. But when the finally told him it's time for you to decide whether you want to go deeper, stay out, and yes, I dinner out for dinner you out yet and he decided to stay out so we we were kind of on the periphery of it. But you know obviously weddings and funerals and everything is they know we were all of it. The gold chains that how you doing this all of it. No kidding, or just picture that in my minds eye like so was that Kenneth Russo, Youngstown and then up the cleat was that kind of through all your youth teenage years right yeah I I went Youngstown State University.

Go Penguins. Okay, now there is a mascot that will scare the op is scared out right or some of the good old England that once this is the Pittsburgh Penguins right the team. So now set up what's up with the Penguins in Pennsylvania so you live in Ohio mostly local gimmick okay Ohio and Pennsylvania. The Penguins right so it was a steel town when I grew my father was a steelworker when I graduated from college I went to work for steel company okay up in Cleveland spend several years in Cleveland and then move south here to to buy into a fabricating company that my uncle owned at the time and spent quite a while there and then moved over to broadcast or back to broadcasting actually started in broadcasting at a high school radio station.

I was 14 years old wow and not by the time I was 15 I was the junior manager of the station. Don't be full by the title. It was a trick just to get somebody to come in at 6 o'clock on Saturday morning and turn the radio on. Like if the title is not met you I was a junior manager junior manager, aggressive president of you and I think they are right and to sit through the Slovenian hour the Irish hour the Polish hour the Ukrainian hour than we were in was all ethnic music because it was an educational radio is okay so might my introduction radio was was born, dropping and having people call in to request songs in several languages that I didn't speak will that that's that's pretty fascinating.

Let me let me just little bit more, but of the back story so your family involved in that other world size.

As a teenager as a youngster. Did you mean I was you know some of the stories now that you realize all back in those days are not really from you, and you know I think other people knew it more than I did and we kinda had a we knew that our family was involved in.

My cousin had an inordinate number of Jordache jeans in the back of his van that he sold out of the back of his van at the high school okay and you know in the teeth student admitted the administration didn't do anything about it so I'm looking back I can see what was going on but at the time it just seem like your family just what you knew right right so so so okay random question. So this the name Michael Francine mean anything.

Not at all know that if those folks were the folks that we knew that we were dealing with were the Pittsburgh faction in the Cleveland action. So you had Joey Naples and you had Jimmy Prato so those were the guys in the Sheriff Jim trafficking and who later became a US Congressman. He was, how shall we say is, he was allegedly holding money for both sides to allow Suzanne. He was right to allow certain activities to go on his Youngstown halfway between Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Yeah, he didn't want war all the time. They kinda split Youngstown a bit interesting stuff. Do you know the name Michael Francine are not identical at all. He is, he was far I'm not sure which. Not sure which crime family.

He was associated with my distant prison ministry with him in the eye. The islands on the Caribbean islands couple year times of years and in her summer historian and we look at the time like he was the youngest like crime mob boss in the history of the crime family and pretty proud of you for for real, from a standpoint. Pretty impressive from a sample of what he did although it was all illegal votes. Honestly, if you think of crime families as local promotions right if your arrest and think of as local promotions and you know you would have a certain territory in your guy didn't go over to the next territory, and in less you had an agreement with the promoter in the next territory probabilities can keep something so it was very territorial, so there were a lot of crime families, you know, people know they watch the Godfather they think one-family control of the entire family and controlled 15 minutes.

See you know, an area like millions know it was there was a lot of local control and a lot of local family so Michael could have been in any large city back in the 70s.yeah I you know that… I really get that email because my era of wrestling when I broke in 1984.

That's all. Once there was, I think, like thirtysomething territories to exactly dear point with with promoters of each of and would visit me and it was was like break what we got here is Abdul see was the Michael Corleone he he consolidated all the five families. Yeah, I crossed over those lines with if you want to say, without permission, and eventually ran all of those other promoters out of business, essentially in an and at one point controlled all for himself and so interesting parallel there actually so she started broadcasting at age 14. You go to Youngstown you graduate from college you go into them in the steel mill.

How many years you work it will not. Might my father worked in the steel mill.

I worked as a sales representative for stainless steel companies that was not out of college. Okay gotcha so but I am you spend a little bit of time in the plants which are were incredible places, at the time. With the technology of the day the rolling mills and things like that but I know I worked in sales. I was an office guy office guy ship show you so I will point it will point to two parts to question what point did you get married in and begin to raise your family and of course that family had nothing to do with the other family brightness right out of college I got married I got married to the my smoking hot Italian wife, the former Mr. Cini right out of college. She was 19 and I was 23, fresh out of college, moved up to Cleveland took the first job okay and in children and we went about 10 years trying to have kids and not being able to, and eventually adopted one child in I think about it.

You have met. I think he's arrested for two days in incredible wrestling fan. He knows wrestling front and back side to side is in ways that I will never know. He knows matches.

He he I say to wrestlers names and he'll say oh that was at, you know, whatever was rattling the 17 oh my God, she is she's a plethora of information is what how I would phrase it is that well and and and on that note, I mean adoption is so important, I will. I wish more would consider you know if if if there not wanting to have a child that they would consider putting that child for adoption because there's lots of lots of families out there who are able to have children. For whatever reason, but I have a real desire to want to have a child got one for right now they've actually they have adopted father of multiracial family adopted five different children in this case, out of foster care is a did you drop out of foster care just outside Olea we adopted we were actually set for an international adoption we were going to Guatemala but things just weren't falling in place were falling and falling in place and we didn't know the time it was God working something different. At the time was very very disappointing, but eventually the county knowing that we were going overseas and were willing to adopt you know different ethnicity right had an abandoned baby at the hospital from eight from a migrant migrant couple and asked us if we would come down and take a look so you know he had all the strikes against them. You know, there were there were some birth defects. There were no a lot of problems genetic Magaly a lot of medical issues in his is parents were migrants, they they abandon him.

He had everything against him but God had a different plan for a man is you. He's a wonderful young man enjoyed talking with him and know him that his wealth and and he's here at the station work ideas. He works right down the hall good. That's awesome and stuff like that from a God had a different plan to go out on a limb here and I could be way off target, but I'm thinking there might've been some Catholicism in the family there.

Think just dog to tell you what we hear when you're in your understanding your name's Carbone, you're going to be a role would gather you a Roman Catholic, and we were in the and we were for for my formative years. Case it was in 19 altar boy. The holding all of it all the way. My mother was in the altar and rosary society. My father played guitar because they were starting to allow guitar into the wall into the Catholic Church is that this is the old days when they were in no if it is let the nuns play blown in the land or something like that.

My designated laced in the actually my family got saved in a more surreal crusade in 1976, 26th in Youngstown and it was actually Cleveland okay Maurice Cirillo and it was. I I've never seen anything like it in my life. I was sitting on yeah and in we went with another. We know part of our family, not my mother, sister and her family and we we went with them and wish this guy was yelling and shouting and talking about Jesus and I was comfortable with that because I was an altar boy and I know we were good Catholics we we did our hands daily in our math. We were all of that. He said things that you know we really hadn't heard before and know when he gave the invitation are our whole family went to get saved in while my my father who was angry inquiry man angry young man just kind of had just a real rebel streak in an angry streak in him changed overnight overnight transformation from a hard man to a soft man.

He was just we never look back from it. So I was 12 years old for that and and so he was playing. You know he was playing folk music before that event instantly converted that the church music started playing courses and you know this is the 70s and 80s. So it is just all those old Scripture courses that you remember in and that led him into music ministry. And so my my father played for me still doing ministries is 82 years old and every once in a while if you can get somewhere where the know have guitar will minister while shamus get really kind of pine. It reminds me, I shall recently review familiar with at the Jesus music movie.

I have not seen it yet, but I need to because it's just it is telling a story that I'm familiar, especially that that what you just described. Is it on hot you know how how through the Jesus movement of the late 60s early 70s and musicians and guitars been allowed in church all the men talk about you know you know you want your typically not very popular when you're in high school and your your friends are listening to AC/DC and Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath and you're listening to glad servant and Petra. I know I learn something from that movie of the ideal striped burger and it might be either still play.

I just found out they still tour striper soap tours and met I was watching the movie away while others are like like a Christian version of the citizens are very but I was pretty pretty fascinating movie.

Just plug out there for the Jesus music movie, go see it. I think you appreciated so certainly you will with with your dad's background on on using again. His heart for it. I just how it evolved how how you know from that hippie movement and in the well West Coast Christian music movie cry was just fascinated a picture of the Atlanta picture. My first Communion. My father's hair was down on his shoulders somebody who is just the picture of the hippie movement and then the Jesus movement.

Yes, no, I did a cut express after watching the movie I dedicate you a letter like weight with where's their shoes.

You know how to walk it and bear fruit with beards and long hair in either cylinders did not care. Nikita did not care did not care what denomination you are from, what your background was what you race was that it was about the Jesus movement and we were we were going to preach the word and we were to be together and I can't tell you how many folks came through my house and how many people, my parents went to minister to them and it didn't matter. It was about the ministry about the message it was about Jesus and in what Michael what I love is is that he meet with use of the for him the immediate transformation right is an angry man. Go to this this this Cirillo Crusader say that I have a loss for words there and it had the whole family was done. He gets immediately Trent transformed like like overnight and then that by the way that'll happen when you see people standing up on the wheelchair right to know when you see people who are on crutches with Cass who are throwing their crutches down. I mean, that was a it was at that time in the mid-70s late 70s was a genuine time of miracles, but in and just things that we haven't seen in America for quite a while on on that kind of a widespread scale just be just a sovereign move of the Lord right just to soften with the Lord. So show what point down okay so so your family is is had this whole premise of this transformation. It what point did you get back into radio broadcasting or just it was 911 and I I was working for a company that part of my territory is Washington DC in and out here. I am a young father with a three-year-old and he might've been for the time and I'm spending long chunks of time away from home. You know drive up Sunday evening stay there till Thursday afternoon. Kind of right: on all these government agencies to homeless and I was in DC on 9/11 and know when the planes were coming down. I was in a house nearby in it just it was difficult know for my family to process being out of communication with me not knowing what happened because all the cell phones went out.

Nobody could get phone calls through so was hours before I was able to communicate with my family okay and in that said it wouldn't. After that I told my wife next job I have the make it no travel and so the next job I there is nothing that is less travel than a local radio station because he they only could only travel as far as the signal goes is all your customers get to be inside the signal so I said you know what maybe I'll go back to radio and and I got a job at a radio station here in Winston-Salem and that was 2002-ish thousand two that sought what point did you meet the man himself Stu Epperson Junior and and and connect with three been here about about 10 years I've been here about 10 years I guess to a few years before that used to come to me all the time and say when you leave Pharaoh's court over there at the secular radio station and for a lot of things todo you know these people need Jesus to it's okay that they were true statement. He eventually wore me out toward you download to life. Uncle OUT media without so he did. He wore me down.

I I was by vocational pastor at the time for about eight years. We had a small local independent congregation here okay and it fit real well to be able to come here so I actually came here to work part-time okay.

I was supposed to work part time and then I almost immediately was full-time and then within a couple of months. Stu figured out that he had a guy who understood radio and he elevated me after just a few months here and we been working on growth and expansion imprisoned gospel ever since and and and you have done what I can see and what I have learned phenomenal job, and in doing that and grow and growing the does the message signal the towers that in the cities and in the message. So Holy Ghost does the work and we had a fill in the background. I wish he had and real quick. I want to in our last couple minutes to just about your wrestling background. But what is with this is that she expanding the station to see expanding it more studios and write in more locations, more studios we just picked up a few more in Ohio and mosques keep growing awesome back in the old stomping grounds area self okay so so let let's just totally shift gears here to to wrestling and half how long I had had you been arresting for, I was her I was going to wrestling shows when I was 14, 15, 16 years old my local high school had one of the largest Littlefield houses in the area is at about 2600 2701. So when the WWF or anyone else would come to town and he would they would rent that facility okay so I've see. I saw big Johnston didn't I mean a Col. Sam Martino not. I never saw Bruno.

I grade the hammer Valentine in Bruce beefcake were tag in Barry Barry with Mike redundant. Everywhere he went down the up and so those are the kind of guys that would show up and in the sky.

Grahams Bret Harte and Jimmy have an overnight. Are they were together tonight at Mitch's summer to all that he was the Pittsburgh diarrhea and I'm from Pittsburgh knows the name Sam Martino right now is a little and I was a little bit after that because I would do you have to have one short and and if you don't it's okay like my favorite Nikita coal off story that well actually my favorite Nikita call off story is my son was about five, six, seven years like you remember exactly how does this is maybe 2005 and our church in Louisville had Nikita coal off come and go do list reach and do a little bit of history okay and and so you know my son, whose you know he had some medical difficulties and no so he was a bit undersized and he's not really going to be sports, athletic, never be big enough to play or you know it in any of the fuel sports so he really took to wrestling as a sport. So is very cool to have Nikita call off into do preaching in the be able connect the gospel with the wrestling in it, he just took to it and I mean he took to the wrestling so he is so that was that. That was a cab that was in there. That was a catalyst at the beginning that was you know, at the very beginning when you know we had bought a few little wrestling toys and little figures in whatever and he just don't college all Michael please that's got all action figure.

Thank you. Thank you.

I said toy. Glad your jaw like a know you that my doll unit. I'm sorry.at my doll anyway so they got is about Bobby the rating the little rig all that so we have and he's got you got a collection now. He's probably got you know his room is just stuffed is probably got your 70 autographed photos on the wall is good hundred or two. No action figures and all that J collectibles is got a he he has a signed turnbuckle from WWE from about three years ago HIG styles signed and in probably about 30 guys sign the turnbuckle so is get some real neat stuff that's pretty cool that's pretty cool well and speak a J styles of back in the early days of TNA when there just launch a natural tendency what he was was with them I was. If you live in there for couple years and in doing Bible studies before their life.

Every Wednesday night in a J styles was one of the ones who faithfully came Bible study every single time seal as there are no yup.

He has a genuine relationship with with the Lord and were all at different points walks in our journey. You know, but I do know that he has genuine. He admitted genuine decision letter a lot more people in the wrestling business that are Christians, then you would imagine it has some are more outspoken about it and that than others, but well you were almost out of time and and believe it or not.

See your probably shocked by that. I am then thank you Milford for real for sharing similar for real. What a fascinating story. Thank you for sharing some of the strata know I know I are our listeners will will will be certainly entertained by well we are enjoying we are really enjoying our partnership with you in the ministry with you and of course I'm enjoying it exceptionally because I love the wrestling side of it. Also so that we don't preach the gospel in the people in the kingdom. A man well and is just a privilege to be up a part of truth radio network just you know to say that publicly and and just look forward to you each time a mean studio and all the interviews that that I get to do with yourself and many other and I'm I mean there's many other just fasten. I love people stories love to hear their stories as there is no end to that to the kingdom well. We want to thank you for tuning in dial-in into the man up show today Michael Carbone you will you know to mean valued on the door and Michael Carbone are you doing okay good enough good no great to have you see all radio network. Hey, if you're not really with radio stations plus it was sent. This is the Truth Network