 Hi, I'm Rusty Komori and this is Beyond the Lines on Think Tech, Hawaii. I was the head coach of the Putahoe Boys Varsity Tennis Team for 22 years and we're fortunate to win 22 consecutive state championships. My book Beyond the Lines is about leadership, creating a superior culture of excellence and finding greatness, which is what this show is all about. My special guest today has been in the TV news broadcasting industry for decades and is the very popular anchor on KHON2. He is Howard Dachevsky and today we are going beyond the news. Hey Dash, welcome to Beyond the Lines. Hey Rusty, thank you for having me. It's been a while, you know, it's like my goodness, you know, Lauren Dade, who's been at the station for six months, you got her before you got me. I was thinking, what the heck man? Well, you know, ladies first, I was trying to be polite. Fair enough, fair enough. Now Dash, regarding the coronavirus situation, what are some of the positives you think is going to come out of this? Wow, I mean, hopefully more dogs are going to have new families because all the humane societies are empty and that's something that warms my heart as an animal lover. You know, I just think that hopefully all the things that you kind of like, you know, a better sense of teamwork, a better sense of understanding, a better sense of empathy and a greater sense of aloha. You know, we always experience that here in Hawaii people coming together, giving, just doing such a great job of just helping your friends and your neighbors and complete strangers. So, you know, I hope that's what will be the silver lining is at the end of it, people are just going to have a little bit more empathy for their fellow man. Totally agree with you Dash and, you know, not a lot of people know that you played baseball for the University of Hawaii and you guys were awesome back in the day. How was it back in back in those years? Oh, I mean, baseball, baseball been very, very good to me. Still an old Saturday Night Live line. I was recruited to come play for the University of Hawaii and coming from Southern California. And I ultimately narrowed it down to the University of Hawaii and USC. And just for many reasons, just mostly just wanting to get away and like, wow, Hawaii. Oh, my God, look at that young kid with that cutie hair. But anyway, I chose to come to Hawaii because they were this up and coming program. There was this picture named Derek Tatsuno. And the reality is USC was a great program, but they were kind of on the decline. And so I came here. My freshman year, we had an amazing year. And then my sophomore year, you know, we went to Omaha to the College World Series. And I wound up, you know, playing for a national championship event. I apologize, someone just tried to call in, so I had to decline the call. See, the wonders of technology dash. Now, why was Coach Les Murakami so effective back in the day? You know, I'm sorry, I couldn't hear it. One more time, Rusty. Why was Coach Les Murakami so effective as a coach? You know, I think it was just a whole team work. You know, he had a great recruiter and Coupe Durand, who was one of the assistant coaches. And Coupe's father, Al Durand, was actually a, he was a scout for the major league scouting bureau. So he kind of, his area of expertise was the whole West Coast. And so he basically, as he scouted these people, I think he kind of fed Coupe a lot of the prospects. He said, these are some of the great players that are out there. And so it's just this incredible mixture of players from the main line. But more so these players, the local players, you know, from Derek Tatsuno to, you know, all the way across the infield, you know, and I think Derek took an agate for Watanabe and Ron and Laura and, you know, just these great, great Goniate. Just a perfect combination of mainland players, the local players, and it just worked, man. It came together. We just had, we had some great years. Yeah, I remember back in the day, I mean, you guys were awesome. And, you know, your mom, your mom is such a great woman. What's the most important thing you learned from your mom? Tolerance, tolerance, tolerance. You know, I'm one of three boys and I remember growing up. We used to beat the living of the Jesus out of one another. And I remember one time my mom took us to a counselor and she sat us down and she says, I don't know what to do. They're all they ever do is just beat up at each other. The guy laughs and says, get out of here. They're boys, they're normal, fast, but they do. And, you know, it's my parents growing up in California in the 70s, I mean, it was very liberal back in the day and they were just very loose with us. They didn't put a lot of rules on us. They just wanted us to all do our best and find our way. And as a result of that, you know, what we ended up with was three boys that all went to college that all graduated that are all doing great. So, you know, I guess if there's something that I learned is don't over-pair it, you know, set expectations, oh, mom, love mom. And my dad was the best too. I mean, sadly he lost him about 10 years ago. But, you know, they were just so good to us and this was how it was growing up at my house after a high school football game on a Friday night. We'd have 75 people come to my house and they would buy pizza and everybody would hang out. And my friends, consider this, you're having a bunch of people over a party in high school and if my parents weren't there, everybody would say, where's Marvin Jones? We want Marvin Jones to be here. So that's how much my parents were loved by all my friends and they were just, you know, my place was the place to go, it was the place to visit, it was the place to hang out. And even when football season was done, I went into baseball practice. I would come home from baseball practice and some of my football teammates would be at my house hanging out, my mom would be feeding them. So my house was kind of the gathering place and I wanted to create kind of like that same vibe for my daughters. Well, speaking of your daughters, I mean, they're all grown up now. Are they here in Hawaii or on the mainland? No, sadly, they're both on the mainland. You know, they're all there. And, you know, I'm just so blessed with my daughters because again, I had a lot of people tell me that, you know, when you have daughters, your daughters are gonna leave you. They're gonna kind of go sideways on you when they're about 13, 14, and by the time they're about 23 and they realize you're important and they need more money, they'll come back. And I'm really proud to say my daughters never went sideways. They never, I never lost my daughters. We've always had a beautiful relationship. And, you know, they're all two, they're all college graduates. They're doing great. You know, it funds me out that they're living on the mainland. But, you know what? They found their path. And if they come back one day great, but if they don't, that's okay too. And Howard, I know you love your dogs. I mean, you are a big time dog lover. What are your dog's names? So I'm looking down because I got one of my feet right now, Jameson. He's the big lab. He's just, he's kind of the king of the castle, but he's not the old one. Guinness is my older dog. You would think there's Guinness, the black and tan. You would think with dogs named Guinness and Jameson, I'm Irish and I drink too much. But the fact of the matter is I'm neither. I don't have any Irish in me despite the red hair. And, you know, maybe a beer and glass of wine every now and then, but I'm not a big drinker. But I don't know, it just kind of happened that my dogs all end up named after alcohol. Don't ask me how. But they're, you know, they're a lot of fun coming home to an empty house at the end of the night would probably be pretty disappointing, but they're always here and here to greet me and always happy to see me and always hungry. Now, Dash, when did you first get started into TV broadcasting? Wow, you mentioned at the beginning of the show that I've been doing this for decades. And I don't know how it happened because I've become one of the dinosaurs in this market. But I played baseball and when I was done playing baseball, Don Rods, who up until about a handful of years ago was still broadcasting you each baseball, you know, he was a good friend of mine as I was playing. And when I graduated with a degree in communications and broadcast journalism, I said, hey, Don, if you ever need a partner in the booth, let me know. And he was with Jim Hackleman. And as fate would have it, Jim Hackleman in the fall after I graduated said, hey, Don, you know what, I got an opportunity and my kids are on the main line. I'm gonna leave. And Don had been working with this guy, Jim Hackleman, I think for a decade or two. And so Don called me and said, well, if you're serious about that offer that you gave me many months back, let's do a tryout. So I showed up the first game of the University of Hawaii baseball season as kind of like, let's see how it goes. And after the opening segment, we went to the first commercial break. He said, the job's yours. And I was able to put a sentence or two together and obviously had a knowledge of the game and the players, because I played with many of them. And so baseball was kind of the launching pad. And a couple of years later, Gary Sprinkle had reached out, he was a KGV, that if you ever thought about television, he says, why don't you come on down? And he gave me my first opportunity. I started off as an intern and Gary was the number one guy in Larry Beal and then left for ESPN and was down in San Francisco was the number two guy. And then eventually Gary transitioned to news and Larry Beal became the main sports guy. And I was the number two weekend anchor and that kind of launched a funny little story when Larry Beal and I were, he was the number one, I was the number two. Our two interns at the TV station at KGV were Robert Cahola and Neil Everett. And now of course, Neil is a big star at ESPN. So yeah, it was a, it was quite a world but that was a, you know, in the heyday of KGV when everybody in the world was there, you know, Bob Seavy and Bob Jones and Leslie Wilcox and Kirk Matthews and Linda Kobell and, you know, Doug Wu and Alyssa Yadow. And I mean, the list just goes on and on and on. You know, it was the place to work. And of course, Joe Moore, he was doing sports, you know, there before I started there but then he left to go to channel too. I think in about 1977 or 78. Wow, you're a natural dash, very, very natural on TV. And I want to ask you about, you know, working with your co-anchors, Lauren Day and Bridget Namatha, Justin Cruz. You guys, why do you guys have such great teamwork together? You know, I think at the end of the day, we're all professionals. We all really care about what we do but we don't take ourselves too seriously off camera. And we have fun because, I mean, it's like any other relationship. You go to work, you know, we spend more time with each other than some of our colleagues do with their children or with their spouses. And, you know, and when I look at Lauren here and when I look at Bridget and your friend Justin, he's always kind of a bit of a class clown as am I. You know, these two girls are kind of almost my daughter's age but in my eye, you know, I don't think of it in those terms. You know, I just think of it as, okay, I have a partner here and, you know, once we go on set and that red light comes on, you know, we're equals and nobody has egos and nobody has attitudes. And, you know, at the end of the day, I mean, you need to be professional, you need to work hard, you need to contribute because, you know, we may be the front of the station, we may be the face of the people at home. See, my goodness, you know, we're only four or five of a team of 100. And, you know, it's a big responsibility and, you know, the reporters and the producers and the editors and the photographers, I mean, everybody puts in so much effort during the course of the day so that we can go and deliver that newscast at four or five or six or nine. And, you know, so we're just kind of, you know, we're the end result of an incredible amount of work hours that go into putting together newscasts, many newscasts seven days a week. Dash, you know, you mentioned Joe Moore earlier. Why has Joe Moore been so good for so long? You know, Joe Moore, we, between Joe Moore on the TV side, and, you know, no longer is Larry Price working for Perry and Price, you know, they on the radio side were probably the longest-running successful duo. Oh, and Joe also on the TV side. And, you know, Joe's just got that, if you remember back in the day when, you know, NBC, channel two was NBC, and, you know, whether they were coming out of LA Law or whatever, I don't remember what some of the shows are. ER, and then later when it became Fox 24, you know, Joe would come out and he'd use a little dialogue about the show. And, you know, Joe's just Joe and Joe has a way of connecting in a very kind of funny, unique way. I mean, maybe it's a way that may not fly in every market, but in Hawaii, we're a very kind of hope-see market, and our viewers kind of look at us as family members. And so if you save the fame so you act the way that we would all say is if we were home and he would come out of the show and the cliffhanger's like, wow, can you believe that so-and-so said that? And oh my God, what's going to happen next week? I mean, that's what we're all thinking is viewers at home, right? So he made that connection and he was able to relate on a very kind of one-on-one basis with the viewer. I mean, at the end of the day, I've always been a firm believer that, you know, plus or minus, all the stations are going to run the same main top level storage, right? You know, the coronavirus story and the on down. The meat and potatoes of every newscast will be the same, whether it's us or AI TV or Hawaii News Now. And then, you know, when you get into the second block and the third block, there's different variation and you start to do different things. But at the end of the day, you know, I think it comes down to connecting with the viewer and viewers want to watch somebody that they like. It's like, hey, I like her, she's fun or he's handsome or she's cute or they're funny and that's why you watch somebody because it's just, I don't think it's something that people overthink and as much as I give credit to our photographers and our editors and our reporters and the same goes for them. They just like you and so they watch you and they like our team of reporters and so they want to see them. And especially now, when you see Minola Morales or Sarah Madison and even Bridget and Lauren and I rotating, you know, you see our homes, you see where we live and again, I think the viewers are like really kind of, I don't know if they're relishing this time but clearly we're getting more viewership because of what's happening with the whole COVID-19 story. But at the same time, people are getting a glimpse into our personal lives, seeing where we live. Wow, you know, that's their living and that's their artwork. So I think it's kind of, you know, it's across the board, right? It's CNN and the networks and you know, it's a really unique time certainly for the media. Well, that's so true. And Howard, you know, when you were talking about 24 and Joe, I mean, I was watching 24 during that time and 24 is the greatest show and watching Joe's comments was amazing. Now, Dash, we're gonna take a look. You're up to the LA law curve or the ER curve. Yeah. Dash, we're gonna take a quick break and then we're gonna continue going beyond the news, okay? Yeah. I'll be here. You are watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech, Hawaii with my special guest, Howard Dyshevsky. We will be back in 60 seconds. Hello, Howard. I'm Lillian Cumick, host of Lillian's Vegan World, the show where we talk about veganism and the plant-based diet located in Honolulu, Hawaii. I'm a vegan chef and cooking instructor and I have lots of information to share with you about how awesome this plant-based diet is. So do tune in every second Thursday from 1 p.m. Aloha. Welcome back to Beyond the Lines on Think Tech, Hawaii. My special guest today is the very popular news anchor on Keicho N2. He is Howard Dyshevsky and today we are going beyond the news. A dash in my books, you know, Beyond the Lines and Beyond the Game, I talk a lot about character and like you were saying with your news team, you know, you guys all have such great character. I mean, people trust you, people like you. You guys are genuine and honest. How, what are your thoughts about character? Well, it's everything, right? It goes kind of back to what I said initially that people just need to like you and when they see you up there for a half hour or an hour or an hour and a half every day, you know, over time your true self is gonna show itself. You know, when you're reading the news, you're reading the news but there's always those little moments when you're transitioning to sports or weather or coming out of a story that, you know, you have that little opportunity, maybe only three seconds or seven seconds to do a little ad-lib or to share a thought. And you know, and it's those moments where the human side of your news anchor or reporter comes out. And so people get to know you over time and, you know, if you're not a person of character and then you mentioned another keyword, trust. You know, they couldn't like you but if they don't trust you, hmm, we got a problem. Or, you know, I trust that guy but I just don't like watching him. You got a problem. You know, I mean, viewers are very fickle and we understand that. You know, you have many, many choices. You can go right across the dial and I mean, when I'm home on a weekend, that's the way I watch TV but we're different preachers being in business. You know, I'm going back and forth. I want to see what everybody's doing. You know, and then the news room, we watch all three TVs at once to see what everybody's doing. But, you know, I think at the end of the day it's just that simple human connection along with that trust. As you mentioned, if you don't have that combination of all of it, it's going to be a pretty tough hole for you. Hey, Dash, you had an opportunity to meet and talk with President Obama. What did you guys talk about? You know, he's just, he, again, it's, I think, part of his great success and never mind politics, but whatever you think, whether you're red or you're blue, you're left or you're right, he's just a cool dude and he actually happened to join Mid-Pac Country Club where I played golf on the Winnerwood side and we were here on the driving range and it was just, he and I were the only ones there for about 20 minutes and he knew who I was. I was pretty sure I recognized and knew who he was and he just said, hey, how are you doing, buddy? Hold my old friend Joe Moore. And then we started talking and I didn't ask him anything as a reporter. He wanted to know about Kunahou sports, high school sports. He wanted to know about the University of Hawaii. We talked a little bit about golf and I would have loved to ask him what did he think about what's happening now in the White House. That photo was probably about eight months ago but I've seen him many, many more times since because he's there every time he comes around. And, you know, he's just a, it's just a dude. It's just like when he's out there at the golf course he wants to be a regular guy except he's the guy that, you know, Secret Service is still protecting but not for the levels of before and everybody wants to take his picture and he's always gracious but you know what he wants to do is I think what all my buddies wanted to do he just kind of wants to talk sports and say, hey, what's going on, man? Yeah, and eat shave ice. Yeah, exactly, right? Go down to Island Snow, right? Which he does pretty much every year when he's here. So, you know, he's going to fixture at Mid-Pak and, you know, we haven't seen him through the whole quarantine situation but then again golf courses are closed. So, you know, why come? Now, Dash, you also had a chance to golf with the great Michael Jordan. What did you learn about being with him on 18 holes? What I learned about from Michael Jordan is Michael Jordan is the biggest, greatest competitor on the planet. He will take any bet and it doesn't matter because he came up to me and says, okay, what are we playing for? And, you know, if I would have said 100,000 on the front, 100,000 on the back, 200,000 overall, he would have said sure. If I said $5 on the front, $5 on the back, $10 overall, he would have said sure. It doesn't matter the number, he could afford it, you know? The money was irrelevant to him. It's all about the competition. How many strokes? What's your handicap? What am I giving you? What are you giving me? And, yeah, that was an opportunity on Maui many years ago to play but that was an interesting time because that's after he won that last championship which is what everybody's watching right now on ESPN, right, the whole Michael Jordan years. And he was transitioning into baseball at that point. And, you know, he had a couple of bodyguards that were around him and they kind of came up to me and the other guys that had met him before because a friend of mine Roy Dunn on Maui called me up, says, what are you doing tomorrow? Can you come over to Maui? If so, we'll play golf with Michael Jordan, so. I called my boss and said, I'm not coming to work tomorrow. I'm just going to Maui to play a place to golf. I'll tell you who, with who later. But the first thing the bodyguard said is, hey, you know what? He doesn't want to talk about basketball. He doesn't want to talk to them as much as you want about baseball or sports in general but the only thing that's kind of off limits is don't talk basketball like, wait a minute. I got it. It was like, it was like sitting there on the driving range with Barack Obama not being able to talk politics. That was more my choice, I'll respect again, because I know he was on his leisure time. I got to play golf with Michael Jordan. I can't talk basketball, but you know, he's such an avid baseball fan and me being a baseball guy, it was still a great experience. The other thing about him that blew me away, the size of his hands, his grips on his golf course, his golf clubs were about the same size of the grips that I had on my baseball mat. And when I shook his hand, I mean, his fingers came three inches up my wrist because they were just so big when I shook his hand. I mean, but he was just a super nice guy. And again, you know, he loves playing golf and when he's not Michael Jordan out there, he's just a guy playing golf and let's be competitive then. Like I said, you want to bet a million dollars to five dollars. It's all the same to me. It's just, it's a matter of, I'm going to win. That's the way he thinks. Well, that's why he's the greatest. And Dash, you had a great opportunity to cover the volcano eruption on the big island. I mean, you got to see it up close and personal. What was the experience like? You know, that was really something because it was two things. It was spectacularly beautiful and it was a horrible disaster because we can't forget almost 800 people lost their homes and the beautiful ponds, the inkling ponds down there gone forever. And so that's how I refer to it is that is a beautiful disaster. And in fact, it's a, wait, this side. This picture over here, over my shoulder is a bit of the volcano that I had already taken. But you know, at first it was just, it was kind of like whack-a-mole because if you remember, fishers would just start coming up everywhere and we would give it access very limited with the Hawaii National Guard. And this was one of those times like, I'm right on the edge of a lava flow. And the only reason we were that close without our masks on, as you can see, the trays were blowing and the smoke was going in the other direction. Otherwise, you know, we're wearing our full masks but they gave us, they let all the network guys because everybody from ABC, NBC, CBS, I mean, the whole world was there covering about one night. They're like, okay, everybody jump in, grab a picture, jump out. You know, so, you know, we all wanted to memorialize it and have photographs but I, you know, but we would also go out, we would talk to people who they lost their childhood homes or Mayor Harry Kim lost his family's vacation home down in Papahoa that they have enjoyed for generations and now his grandchildren won't be able to swim down there in the ponds like he did and his kids did and their kids did. So, you know, it's just, it was one of those stories that was just so overwhelming, I think, and, you know, you got the emotion but you also had to be impressed by just the geological scientific nature of it all. And I've come to the volcano many times over the years and, you know, you stop and think that this is earth creating itself right in front of your eyes and, you know, geologically speaking, even though the big island is the youngest of all Hawaiian islands, you know, that four month, five month eruption in the grand scheme of Mother Earth, I mean, that's just such a speck in time but to the people whose lives were destroyed and homes were lost, you know, so you got to stop and kind of look at all those different aspects of that story and, yeah, it was just, it's still, when I think about being there, I think I spent about 30 nights there. It was a pretty overwhelming experience. Dash, you know, we've all been on teams before, whether it be in business or sports, what do you feel the best leaders do? The best leaders give you the tools you need to succeed and then allow you to go, you know, and I've talked to several different leaders about this. Give them the proper training, give them the proper tools, all the education and knowledge they need and then give them the confidence to go out there and then give them the trust to let them go and do the job. And if something goes wrong or if they fail at something or they make a mistake, you go back, you circle back and say, okay, what went wrong? How do we want to correct it? If this happens again, what are you going to do next time differently? And then let them go again. You know, I've worked for all kind of managers. I've worked for ones that kind of allow you to do your thing and I've worked for micromanagers that think that their way is the only way. And I think at the end of the day, leaders inspire, you know, bosses tell you what to do. Leaders inspire you to do a great job. And then when you do that great job or the team does a great job, the leader deflects all the credit, but takes all the blame. Says, hey, I'm responsible for this team. I need to get them better. But when they succeed, he says, it's all them. They're the ones that did it. And, you know, it's growing up and I've expressed to my daughters, you know, they say, oh my God, this boss or this person or this teacher. And I just said, you know what? Accept it for what it is and actually embrace it because the one that you're saying right now, this boss that you're saying is the biggest jerk. Learn from that because guess what? You're going to be a boss. And now my youngest daughter is an assistant manager at the unfortunately presently shut down poor seasons down us, but she's on her way to a managerial career in the hotel industry. And I said, oh, and I told you about every boss that you had, even if you didn't like them or didn't believe, learn from that and choose to not be that person, but also take the little nuggets of goodness that you learn from them because I think there's goodness in everybody and, you know, pick and choose and, you know, put that all together and become that person that's the best of everybody that you've ever been around. Well, Dash, you definitely go beyond the lines, which is why you are very successful. And I really appreciate you taking time in your schedule and to share your insights on the show today. No, my pleasure. I'm just glad that the Guinness and Jameson they've both been down here perfectly quiet at my feet for the last half hour. So thank you guys. I appreciate that. Not a single bark out of it. Yeah, my pleasure. And keep doing what you're doing because, you know, we gotta inspire the next generation of leaders because you know what? Leaders is right now from the White House to Washington Place to Honolulu Hallway to the legislature, to individual families and households, I mean, we need good leadership to get through this. Holy agree. Thanks, Dash. You got it, buddy. Aloha. And thank you for watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. For more information, please visit RustyKamori.com and my books are available on Amazon, Barns and Noble and BooksHawaii.net. I hope that Howard and I will inspire you to create your own superior culture of excellence and to find your greatness and help others find theirs. Aloha.