Iowa Ain't Dead: Iowa contributes more than most believe
6th of April 2015
Most people by now know that Seth Rollins won the WWE Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania 31 on Sunday, March 29, 2015. What some people might not know is that Seth Rollins is from Davenport, Iowa, and he wrestled in the independent circuit under the moniker Tyler Black. He even wrestled in Des Moines' very own 3XWrestling. So why isn't it known that he's from Iowa? Iowa has contributed more to the country than Iowa is given credit for since we're just a state full of farmers that complain. I assure you that Iowa is more than that. Let's not forget that Herbert Hoover, even though he ran for President of the United States out of the state of California, was born in West Branch, Iowa. Of course, so was his wife, Lou Hoover. However, Herbert Hoover was blamed for the Great Depression, so Iowa for the most part distanced itself from Hoover. The King of Late Night, Johnny Carson, was born in Corning, Iowa, but most know him from living in Norfolk, Nebraska. He grew up in Iowa until he went to college in Nebraska.
John Wayne, born in Winterset, Iowa. He is one of the best known names in Hollywood history with movies like True Grit, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, just to name a few. Shawn Johnson and Lolo Jones, both Olympians born in the Des Moines area. I never hear that they're from Iowa. I don't have a problem with people moving out of state to get where they want to be in life. That's the whole purpose of life....to pursue happiness. What I don't understand is why, whether it's the media or the person him or herself, that hides the fact that they got their start in Iowa. Some also get a continuation in Iowa as well. Almost any baseball player that played for the Chicago Cubs has had a stop in Des Moines. Ryne Sandberg played for the Phillies affiliate in the early 80s before the Phillies brought him up to the majors and traded him to the Chicago Cubs. Greg Maddox, one part of one of the greatest pitching rotations in MLB history, got his start at Sec Taylor Stadium. I can go on and on about how many famous people have made stops in Iowa or were born in Iowa. My question is why don't we hear about how Iowa helped them along the way? This question wouldn't apply to Lolo Jones or Shawn Johnson, or even Ashton Kutcher (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) for that matter because they've given back to Iowa. I can't really say that the celebrities are embarrassed about being from Iowa or gaining knowledge from Iowa. I don't know that for sure. I do feel that some credit should be given to Iowa to show that this is more than a farming state or a pork industry state.
Part of the blame should go to the State of Iowa government, who insists on making Iowa look like it's nothing but a farming or pork industry state. I also blame them for letting outside city corporations come into this state and dictate what goes on here. I used to work at Citadel Broadcasting until it merged with Cumulus Broadcasting. Citadel was based out of Las Vegas, and our branch, located in Urbandale, Iowa, was one of the few branches that was making money for Citadel. When Cumulus bought them out, it would take a turn for, what I feel, the worst. Cumulus is based out of Atlanta, Georgia. Some changes that they made were to lay off a few people much to the displeasure of the public. Some names included deejays on the air. Cumulus also moved the Classic Rock Morning Show to the Talk Show station making room for Bob & Tom on the Classic Rock Morning time slot. This caused the morning show deejays that just moved to the Talk Show station to quit. Now, most of their listeners are tuning into other stations. We'll leave the inclusion of Loveline at 9pm out of this.
What works in another city doesn't necessarily work here. I'm not convinced that Cumulus was interested in the wants of the listeners as they were the bottom line.
Iowa isn't the greatest state, and I couldn't tell you what I think the greatest state is. I don't know that answer because I don't know how each one works. I do know that California has a lot of problems, and they're even talking about splitting the state into two separate states (at least they were at one point). Texas has given this country more problems than solutions, and I don't want to get into that (think of the last two presidents from Texas). Texas just has more power than they need. I probably should go into it more, but I'll save that for another blog.
