I want to thank my very last Here Weed Go! (At least when it comes to the Arizona Daily Star edition) guest Sean Williams for coming onto the show. Read his story Purple Haze in Harper's Magazine too!
We actually spent most of October and the beginning of November trying to figure out how to make our interview work, because Sean lives full-time down in Australia, and of course, on top of walking around upside down, the Aussies are like 18 hours ahead in the future, or something like that.
But it was great to finally get to sit down and talk with Sean, and hear about what it takes to really get into reporting there, on the spot, on the scene. Not to make a direct comparison to what Sean does, because he has to travel to far away lands into literal war zones or occupied territories, but I’ll be doing a lot of on the spot reporting in my new job.
To start, beginning on January 16, I'll begin my new broadcast television career as a multimedia reporter for KGUN9 here in Tucson. That means pre-recorded stories and live-on-camera look-ins for me. I'll be making my living off the evening news, as Don Henley might say.
So, if you live in the Tucson area and have cable television, you'll actually be seeing a lot more of me. It just won't be all weed, all the time.
And I am OK with that. But I will miss this job, this role, forever. There won't be a day that I won't have some memory of this magical one year and eight months jogged.
My move to TV of course means that, as of 11:01 p.m. on January 11, 2024 I am no longer an employee of Lee Enterprises or the Arizona Daily Star, and thus no longer the host of Here Weed Go! and curator of TucsonMarijuanaGuide.com.
At least, for now, anyways.
While the name "Here Weed Go!" and all the episodes, content and stories I created under that name will forever be the property of Lee Enterprises, I haven't completely closed the door to producing, hosting, editing and distributing an interview-based podcast focused on the cannabis industry on my own.
In fact, I have a few episodes saved I will eventually release, perhaps here under the Here Weed Go! banner or under a new, spiritually related banner.
When I’m ready to establish that new show back in the cannabis space, you’ll know about it. Especially if you follow me on Instagram at @ReporterEddieTravels.
In the meantime, for the next few months, I just need to commit myself to some other moving parts in my new role on television, reporting live and making mini-news-documentaries 3-to-5 nights a week before taking on the podcast mantle again, though I love it dearly.
But to all my friends out there in the Tucson and Phoenix cannabis community, don't worry: I'll still be out at all the AZCannafriends events and vendor fairs that I can, and I will still be looking for a great story to let Tucson know about.
Before I close this out, I want to give a shout out to a few people, the ones who really made this crazy experiment possible.
To my mother (and first real guest!), Samantha Longenbaugh, thank you so much for always being a fan of the show and everything I do. There were many phone calls you told me to keep my head up and spirit high, and they all paid off with, what is up to now, the best job I've ever had. And you were the best guest I ever ended up interviewing.
To Yvanna Cancela, I owe you so much for introducing me to the Las Vegas cannabis community before MJBiz in 2022. You were the first person to really give me the idea to mix my weed and travel stories, and I will forever be grateful for that.
To Chris Law and Pascal Albright, your efforts to edit my rambling question/answer sessions into coherent, cogent interviews will always be appreciated. Especially now that I do all that editing of said rambling myself! The industry is small, so here's to working together again sometime in the future.
And finally, my biggest thanks are reserved for my former editor-in-chief and biggest professional advocate: Jill Jorden Spitz. Jill, thank you so damn much for taking a chance on cannabis content here at The Star, and thank you so much for taking a chance on me.
Before I somehow stumbled into what I once called "The Best Job in The World," I was working the breaking news beat, the very same beat I'll be leaving Thursday.
I had pitched an idea for a pot podcast earlier, but word about development on such a project seemed to have stalled.
Dissatisfied with the role at The Star, I pursued an offer to become a business reporter in Austin, Texas, and was deciding between staying or leaving.
A few hours after being offered the job in Texas, Jill called me to let me know she had approval from corporate to run with the podcast idea. It was all a go, if I wanted it.
Although the pay in Austin would have been higher, and the nightlife more my speed, I knew what my answer was going to be. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to cover cannabis becoming legal in my home sate.
It was going to be the best job in the world.
"We're gonna change the world," I told her.
I hope, with this crazy project of mine, I at least changed your world in some way.
If I did, or you want to hear what I'm up to in my new job, you can email me at [email protected]
And don't forget, keep smoking and proving them wrong. Here Weed Go!
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