Latest / Ron Verb / Tuesday 6pm hour 06/23/26

Transcript

Tuesday 6pm hour 06/23/26 · Ron Verb

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Now, Ron Verb on NewsRadio 570 WKBN.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Hi-dee-ho, 6.05, NewsRadio 570 WKBN. And Ron Verb going to
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: be here until 7 tonight. Guardians are playing the White
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Sox in Chicago. So, needless to say, the pregame starts
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: tonight at 7 o'clock. First pitch around 7.40 tonight on
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: NewsRadio 570 WKBN. And then tomorrow is Guardians of the
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: White Sox. 2.10 in the afternoon is the game time.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: So around 1.30 is the pregame show. So let's see.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Tomorrow is Wednesday. So we'll probably get a late start
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: on the broadcast probably around 5 o'clock tomorrow or so
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: until 7 o'clock tomorrow night. So keep that in mind.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: And then Thursday is the Guardians are off. And Friday
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: is They take on the Mariners. 6.30 pregame. Here on
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: NewsRadio 570. You're on the air.
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: Hey, Ron.
• 1:07
  Speaker 4: I retired from Schwebel's. And I know it was probably
• 1:11
  Speaker 4: about four years ago, and I kept in touch with
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: a lot of people. In fact, I just talked to
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: a couple of shop stewards a couple weeks ago. And
• 1:18
  Speaker 4: the full-time employees down there, they're not surprised that this
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: is going to happen.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: Explain it to me.
• 1:23
  Speaker 5: Good.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: I'm so happy you called so I can get some
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: insight here.
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: Well, what happened is, number one, I had 18 years
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: in a Wonder Bread at a depot at the end
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: of Mahoning Avenue, and they decided to break the union
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: and shut it down. A man named Cooper was..
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: Now, that was a Wonder Bread building that's... I know
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: right where you mean, that big building on Mahoning Avenue,
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: almost prior to coming into Youngstown, right?
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we loaded the trucks and everything. Some of us
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: would come down there. 18 years, I got in there,
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: and then they..
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: Did they make bread there?
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: They stopped making bread there in 73. All we did,
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: we got it shipped in from Akron and Toledo and
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: Indiana and all kind of places.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: But they initially made bread at that facility.
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: Most definitely. They made the buns and everything for McDonald's
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: at the time. Oh, yeah.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: And then it just became a distribution hub.
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: That's exactly right. So when they closed that up, and
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: I only had 18 years, I knew a shop there.
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: The union, I was fortunate enough to get an issue.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Well, pause a second. Why did they close that up?
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: Wonder Bread?
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: They wanted to break the union.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: I mean, is it still in business or not? I
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: don't even know.
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: Wonder Bread?
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: Yeah, one year later. They have to wait one year,
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: and then everything's back in business. And Limbo picked up
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: a lot of it, and they're all union, so it
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: didn't make sense. None of us got our severance pay
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: because they were in bankruptcy. They ruled against it. All
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: the supervisors got their severance pay, but not the thousands
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: upon thousands of regular workers, which doesn't surprise you, right, Ron?
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: But so anyway, with this Cooper, well, he was the
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: CEO down there when it closed up. A year later,
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: Schwebel's hires this nut.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: Well, don't say, don't, don't, the name call. So they
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: hired him.
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: They hired this guy. I don't understand it. But once
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: the family sold out, Ron.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: Then did you go to work at Schwebel's, too?
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I was off one week, Ron, and an agent
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: up at the union got me into Schwebel's, and I
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: finished my time there to retire.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: All right. How old were you when you retired, then?
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: Sixty-seven.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: All right, when you retired there. And that was, what
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: was that, Teamsters?
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: No, Cleveland Bakers and Local 19 in Cleveland.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: All right. Now, just help me out as I go
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: along here. Is that a decent-paying job? I mean, was
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: it a good job over the years with Wonder and
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: then with Schwebel's because it was a union job, I
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: would assume?
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: Well, yes and no, because the older-tier people that had
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: time in there were on a higher-tier wage. whereas the
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: other people coming in after 1995 or, I don't know, 2000,
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: they were on the lower tier wage. So, yeah, you know,
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: and the retirement's less for me than it was for
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: the guys that had the big time. So it was
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: like a two-tier wage system, but it paid decent. You know,
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: when I left there, when I left the Wonder Bread,
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: I don't know, I think I was up to close
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: to $ 18 an hour or something like that. Then you
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: go over to Schwebel, and, of course, you know, you
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: start out at $ 14, $ 15, but you work your way up.
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: But the writing was on the wall. See, the family
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: sold it, corporation and everything like that. They got a
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: lot of COVID money, too, Ron. A lot of people
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: don't realize that. They got a lot of COVID relief
• 4:45
  Speaker 4: money and did very little to the inside of the facility.
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: They fixed up the offices and everything in the front.
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: They did put a new bread cooler in. They put
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: no new ovens in. They... It's all the same equipment.
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: The trucks were breaking down and everything like that. They
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: could have. They could have. Head-to-head with bimbo, nickels, and
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: all that. They could have if they would have ran
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: away because that bakery put out a lot of bread.
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: Oh, hell yeah.
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: First they shut the Cuyahoga Falls plant down. That made
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: all the Schwebel's giant bread run. Then about a couple
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: years after that, they shut it down.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: Don't go so fast, because I've got to take all
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: of this in. So there was a plant, and where
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: was the other plant?
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: They had four plants, Cuyahoga Falls.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: And they closed that down?
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: They closed that down. That made all the giant wonder.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: Why did they close that down?
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: Ron, I don't know.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: I don't know. In fact, it was in the old
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: Kroger building up there. They shut it down. They figured
• 5:46
  Speaker 4: the other three bakeries could do it.
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: So then after that, a couple few years after that,
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: maybe many years, they had a plant in Solon, which
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: made the giant Schwebel's bread. Well, they had so many
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: problems with that facility, we always had a, we always
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: had a, they broke down so much that we always
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: had to bake it down in Youngstown. So I guess
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: they said to heck with it, Ron, and they closed
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: the Solon plant. So all that left was the Youngstown
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: plant to take up All the bread and the Columbus
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: plant only does the buns.
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: Okay, so at the plant on Midlothian, that doesn't do buns,
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: that just does bread?
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: That just, no, they do buns too. No, no, they
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: do buns too.
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: All right, and do they make all the different, like,
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: you know, the honey wheat and all that at the
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: facility on Midlothian?
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: The bread?
• 6:41
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: Yeah, they're the only ones that was left to make
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: the bread. Yeah, they took all the giant, the honey wheat.
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: all of it, and they were just making it down
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: there in Youngstown, the only facility.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: All right. So you were there and making the bread there,
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: and do you need to update the equipment? I mean,
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: obviously the equipment's working because they go to the store
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: and the bread's still there.
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: Well, most definitely you have to update the equipment. The
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: ovens were sold, and... They had so many maintenance problems.
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: The mixers were always breaking down. The bread cooler was
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: always breaking down. They did put the new bread coolers in,
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: but they did very little to the mixers and the
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: proof boxes and all these things. It was just crazy.
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: And their rye bread, this is what people are going
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: to miss the most down there. They made the best
• 7:36
  Speaker 4: rye bread in the world. Now, here's what I know.
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: They supplied the Cleveland Guardians, well, and the Indians, too,
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: with the buns up in Cleveland. They supplied Burger King
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: at one time. They supplied Giant Eagle. Now, my shop
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: steward I talked to said they got wind that they
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: had Giant Eagle for a very long time. They got
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: wind that Giant Eagle... might break off with them and
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: go to somebody else so that's one of the things
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: i i heard and the last book of the swables
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: man to go with paul swables and then it was
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: all corporate greed i guess they got millions of dollars
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: from the covert relief fund and it just uh... they
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: didn't do nothing with it and then pittsburgh you got
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: you know you got bimbo you got a super bakery
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: down there don't get me wrong if swables played their
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: cards right and have somebody know what they're doing down
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: there they could have competed with bimbo now When I
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: was at Wonder Bread and Schwebel's, all I heard, Ron,
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: all I heard was Nichols is going to shut down.
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: Nichols is as good as shutting down. No, that's false.
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: Nichols is going good. Wonder Bread shut down. Schwebel shut down.
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: It's really a shame because you've got a lot of
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: people down there that are just missing their... They need
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: maybe five years. They need maybe six years, four years
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: to retire and... And, you know, if you go to
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: Cleveland and work for Bimbo's, their union, if Nichols will
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: pick up again, you're not only talking about the workers inside,
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: you're talking about the truck drivers, the kinksters, the semi-truck
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: drivers losing their jobs, too. So, you know, it's a shame.
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: I mean, I don't know. It's just a shame. I mean,
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: I talked to a couple guys down there, and they
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: said this ain't no surprise.
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: Really? So what is this?
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: One of my callers said, and I don't know if
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: you would know or not, they said they had as
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: many guys on pensions as they had working, or more
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: guys on pensions than were working or something.
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: Yeah, but I don't know about that. I mean, what
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: does that mean, Ron?
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: You've got 300 workers in Youngstown, so, you know, you
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: get to the time you retire. I mean, it's, you know,
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: the thing about..
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: I was just reading on the paper where they're saying
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: the reason for their closing had to do with union contracts,
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: the pension obligations, and outdated equipment. But wait a minute,
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: those are all management things. You're basically saying, well, you
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: got all this money during COVID. Why didn't you use
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: that when you didn't have to pay your employees? and
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: you were getting the money from the government? Why didn't
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: you update the equipment then? Right? That's what you're asking.
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: What I'm hearing, they got a good pretty millions of
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: dollars from the COVID refund, but I guess a lot
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: of people, you know, I mean, the company just didn't
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: do it. As far as the wages and that goes,
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: I told you the other people had to hire at
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: your wage. We all did. We used to have our
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: meetings and, okay, well, we're going to give you 40
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: cents more an hour for the next three years or
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: something like that. We never got no big raises or
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: anything like that. And then when they couldn't find no
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: people to work because they had a hard time finding
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: people to work, a lot of the guys that ran
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: the bread wrappers and all that, they upped their wages
• 10:42
  Speaker 4: up to $ 20, $ 22 an hour just to keep them there.
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: And then there's some people, there were some people there,
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: my friends found out, they said, well, I'm going to
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: try to find something else. And, you know, some got
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: out of it. But like I said, Ron, you've got
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: a lot of them that are just going to miss
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: their pension and everything by a couple years if they
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: don't get a job with a baker's union. And don't
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: get me wrong, a local 19 baker's union in Cleveland,
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: they have a lot of companies in that union. And
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: we're talking grain millers, tobacco, bakeries, and everything, and I hope.
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: You know, I hope nickel picks up some and everything
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: like that. But it could have been avoided. It's a
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: shame that this had to happen.
• 11:22
  Speaker 6: I don't know.
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: It's crazy.
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's got to be interesting, though, to see.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: I mean, it had to be kind of interesting to
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: make all that different bread.
• 11:31
  Speaker 4: Oh, Ron, when I first started down there after Wonder Bread,
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: I just walked around that place. And, you know, that's
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: an old bakery in Youngstown. It was just amazing to me.
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: How they did that, that big glob of dough coming out.
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: Then it goes, gets proof. Then that little roll goes
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: in the pan. Then it's coming around. They're just hundreds
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: of them over and over. It was really amazing. And
• 11:52
  Speaker 4: the rye bread was... They sold their rye bread directly. Kravitz, Cleveland,
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: their rye bread is Jewish rye and all their rye bread.
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: People love Schwebel's rye bread. It was the best. Now
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: it's going to be gone.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: It's hard to imagine, isn't it?
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: Oh, very hard.
• 12:07
  Speaker 7: Yes.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: I mean, you know, and it's like... That building's been
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: there forever. You could always smell the bread when you'd
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: be anywhere near it when they were making it.
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: Exactly right.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: And you... Getting people, I'm sure... Why was it difficult
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: to get people or keep people? I mean, it seemed
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: like it was a decent-paying job.
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: It was a decent-paying job. I don't know the reason
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: for that. In fact, the shop steward told me, he goes...
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: And he wasn't kidding around. They get a lot of this...
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: part-time help and stuff like that. And he said to me,
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: he said, listen, he says, I don't know if I
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: could say this, if ICE comes down there, he says,
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: I don't think they could keep the building going. They
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: had to have an interpreter down there, two interpreters to
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: help them work and help them to know what they
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: were doing. But they were all part-timers there. I feel
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: bad for the full-time ones that are going to miss
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: it by a little bit and not getting their pension.
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: Well, I read on the air earlier today where There's
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: a baking company that's called Orlando.
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: Orlando's big in Cleveland, yes.
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, in Cleveland it has offered any of the people
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: down here jobs.
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: Yes, I heard that, too. I'm hoping between Nichols, Orlando's,
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: even Bimbo. I mean, Bimbo's got their bakery in Pittsburgh,
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: and they come... I don't know how far. I think
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: they come just into the neck of Ohio, the line.
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: I don't know, but I sure hope they get something,
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: because I really feel bad. You know, I was fortunate.
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: I really feel bad. I have a lot of friends
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: down there who still do.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: Now, who makes... Who do you think will fill that
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: void in the grocery shelf? Nichols is out of Canton,
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: isn't it, to that area?
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: Canton or Norwalk or something like that.
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: Somewhere down there, yeah. So do you think they will
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: be the ones that will fill the void that Schwebel's
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: will leave?
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: I think they will try. I think Bimbo's filming at
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: the Mottu to get in there, too. I mean, Schwebel's
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: had a lot of customers out there.
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. That's why you sit back and you go
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: to the grocery store and you see that brand and
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: people have bought it for years. I mean, you're here
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: long enough to hear the, I guess, it was just,
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: how do I describe it? Hard to believe. I mean,
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: people were kind of, really set back by the announcement
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: that they were going to close up after 120 years.
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: Oh, yeah, but like, yes, yes, sir. But like I said,
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: inside the plant, even when I was down there, all negativity,
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: all negative. I said, well, everything's going good now. Everything's,
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: you know, they're not upgrading. They're not putting no money
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: into a bing-bang booth. I don't know. But, yeah, you
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: didn't think anything like this. You think they would have
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: been there forever, really.
• 14:43
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: Really, I don't. It's corporate greed or what I don't know.
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: It's Then I heard a rumor that they lost the
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: Giant Eagle contract. Did you hear that?
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: Well, I talked to a shop steward just before this happened,
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: and he heard about it. And that's what he said.
• 14:58
  Speaker 4: He said they heard that they were going to lose
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: Giant Eagle.
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: 570 WKBN. Ron Verbe at 624 here tonight until 7
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: on a Tuesday, June 23rd. Perfect evening out there, 73 degrees.
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: Glad you tuned in, and you're on the air.
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: Is that you, Ron?
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: Yes, sir.
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: Hey, definitely the Schwebel. That's sad. Dora Schwebel was a
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: neighbor to my grandmother. Great family. That'll all come out
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: on that, you know, whatever went on there.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: Well, let's see there. She was the founder of it then?
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: She, at that time, because I'm about 20 years younger
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: than you, so... She was probably like family lineage. You know,
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: they were the Schwabels, you know what I mean?
• 15:52
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: But somewhere along the line, and they all ran it
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: for years, but apparently they weren't running it lately, so
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: I don't know if they'd... No, I don't know.
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: I moved it, yeah. I don't have any understanding on how...
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: You know, Ron, it's sad. It's definitely sad. I mean,
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: we had a shop up in that area.
• 16:10
  Speaker 6: My uncle..
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: Anytime you went up there, you smelled the bread, yeah.
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: It was just like such a..
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: You could smell it. Back then our studios were at
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: 3930 Sunset with the TV station.
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: Hey, you guys were on Simon Road? Were you up
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: on Simon Road there?
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: No, no, no. We were at WKBN building at 3930 Sunset.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: And so when you'd walk out in that parking lot,
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: you could smell the Schwebel's bread all the way up
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: basically where the Shell station is. You could smell it
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: out in the parking lot just standing there. Now, obviously,
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: we're down here on Tiffany Boulevard in Boardman now at
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: these studios, and there's no way you're going to smell
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: it down here. But man, that had just a great
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: smell to it.
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was just It's iconic. You know, growing up,
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: you used to go to the skating rink. I think
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: they bought that. And they'd buy that, and, like, we're
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: starting to do bread in there.
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: Is that what that building is? You would know. It
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: looks like it could have been an old skating rink.
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was a skating rink, you know, in the 90s.
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: You used to, like, back then, you know.
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: So that's the building they're on on Midlothian Boulevard.
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, right next door. To the bakery.
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: I didn't know that that was a skating rink.
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: I think they ended up buying that. I think Schwebel's
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: bought that years ago.
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: It looks like it could have been a skating rink
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: just based on the design of it.
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was. Hey, I got one other thing for you.
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: Yes, sir.
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: Don't take it the wrong way now.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: I'll take it. You know, I'm a very..
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: Avalon pizza.
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: I'm a sensitive man. I want you to know that.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: I'm very sensitive.
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: Ron, you and I both are.
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: Avalon pizza. Yes. You got to always remember the original
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: Avalon pizza that you were with Gil Martin up on Belmont. Yes.
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: That all originated... That was the bar, the Avalon.
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: When Nick Levaney closed Levante Pizza, Smitty came over across
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: the street, started cooking pizza at the Ave.
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: Yep, Smitty was the man, yes.
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, and he was there downtown with them, but when
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: you bring up the focaccia crust and all that, when
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: they were cooking pizza out of Belmont, the original Ave,
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: that was original, that was like, it was actually Levante.
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: It was, you know, Smitty brought over Nick Levante Nicolini,
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: you know what I mean?
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: Yes, yes.
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: He brought over that style pizza, and, you know, people
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: in the bar were loving it. Yes. So they weren't
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: doing focaccia at that time in the Belmont Avalon. Now,
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: how are the people that own it now? I know
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: the one owner definitely had something to do with the
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: Belmont one.
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think Schmitty went to the– he left Belmont,
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: and then he went to the one downtown. He was downtown, Macon.
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he was definitely– Schmitty was– until he passed recently,
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: he was definitely cooking for the downtown one.
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: But the recipe of– stand by. Let me do my headlines.
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: I'll come right back to you, all right?
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: All right, thank you.
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: I know what he's talking about, and I know the
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: people he's talking about. I'm on top of things for
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: a change. We'll come back. We're here tonight till 7.
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: Ron Verb, NewsRadio 570 WKBN. NewsRadio 570 WKBN. Good afternoon.
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: 633 NewsRadio 570 WKBN. Ron Verb with you till 7 tonight.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: Go back to my caller.
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: Are you there?
• 19:41
  Speaker 5: Yes, sir.
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: All right. So Smitty, I remember when I first met
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: him at Avalon on Belmont Avenue, and that's where– but
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: they had the focaccia crust back then because it was
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: that same light, airy crust. And he made– I got
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: a Briar Hill at that time. Casey introduced me to
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: the Briar Hill sausage pizza. And you could sit there.
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: And I kid you not, the sausage was so good,
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: the crust was so good, you could eat a whole pizza.
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: I mean, you couldn't stop eating it. It's like addictive.
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: Well, without a doubt. My father was a doctor, Ron,
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: so when Levante had it across the street, he used
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: to always buy the nurses. They'd do, like, night shift. He'd, like,
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: order 100 pizzas for St. E's, and Smitty was the dude, man.
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: He was... Guy just nailed it.
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: Now, somebody told me, so you're saying... that that's where
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: that pizza originated from?
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: Well, let's get this correct, because I want... And people
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: are going to call in, they're probably hearing this. Levani's
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: Pizza was across the street.
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: Then you had the Avalon. I'm not sure who the
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: owners were at the time. Could have been the Sabella family.
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: I'm not exactly sure who owned it. But when Levani
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: closed and opened Nicolini's and went out to Austintown..
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: He, uh... Smitty didn't want to go there, and they
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: have said, let's bring an oven over and cook pizza.
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and God, we were great at it.
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: Smitty did, and that's when it was basically a tie-in cross.
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: When they shifted to focaccia, I'm not exactly sure.
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: I thought the family that owns it now was kind
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: of the original owners of it, if you will.
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: Well, that's something you'd have to dig into, Ron. Masulo
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: is the one that's downtown.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: And then she's married to Michael Sabella. Somewhere along the line,
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: there's some connection to the Avalon there, but there was
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: a long time on Belmont Avenue where the Avalon... You
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: always want to remember Joey Marsco. You know who that is?
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: He owned Joey's Restaurant on Belmont. No, you..
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: I was with you up until that point in time.
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: But I will say this when you're talking. Have you
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: ever tried, like if you go to the Nicolini's in
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: Austintown and get a Briar Hill pizza there, it's very good.
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: Nicolini's nails it. That's the family.
• 22:15
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: They've got the hidden recipe, Ron.
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: I mean, if you ever go to that, the one
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: in Austintown, and have you ever seen how busy the
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: one is over by in Canfield? That place is slammed.
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: Is that like the actual restaurant?
• 22:32
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: Such good. You know, Ron, not only we got a
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: great guy in you, I mean, just radio, lots of
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: big one with Dan when he left, but You're such
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: good pizza, such good... Like the Youngstown Pizza guy, you
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: know who that is?
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: I'll tell you, I do not, but there is good pizza.
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: When you talk, I mean, I tell you, Avalon's unique.
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: You have Cornersburg, the original Cornersburg in Cornersburg.
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: Oh, absolutely.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: A great pizza. So if you go from Cornersburg, of course,
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: people love Wedgwood Pizza. people like Bruno Brothers. I mean,
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: these are all local pizza shops. So you've got Bruno Brothers,
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: you've got Wedgwood, you've got Elmton, you've got Avalon. What is– oh,
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: I forget the name of it. Gia Angelos. You ever
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: have a pizza from Gia Angelos?
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: Oh, that is phenomenal. That is like so underspoken, Ron.
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: Nobody even knows about that.
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I do.
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: Well, you need to tell your listeners.
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, like that's a restaurant on 224 by the– Yeah.
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: If you get like a half a sheet.
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: How about Red Plum? Have you had theirs yet?
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: No, I have not. I have not.
• 23:56
  Speaker 7: I think they.
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: Moved out to– I've had the one in Howland, but
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: I think they moved out to 224. You should try
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: it if you get a chance. It's pretty good.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: I mean, one thing we got, I mean, we got
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: a lot of great pizza.
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: Great food.
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: I mean, it is. And I tell you, I miss
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: so much when you talk about food and missing stuff.
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: Nicky Petrella and the pan-fried fish that he made at
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: the Boulevard. Boy, do I.
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: I was actually on Southern Boulevard yesterday, and I don't
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: even get it. You had the Boulevard, and then you'd
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: roll right by the oven.
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but I mean, the boulevard when Nick was alive
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: and he died way too early. Friday fish. Oh, that
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: Friday fish was the best. I've never had better fish
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: ever than he had that pan-fried fish. what was it,
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: haddock pan fried?
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: I think it was a cod or a haddock. Oh,
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: my God. They nailed it.
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: It was great. And then the coleslaw was great. There's
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: another thing where I would look forward to Fridays. We
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: would do some remote. We do commercials on the Dan
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: Ryan Show, live commercials from down there. And I look
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: forward to every Friday being there and having that pan
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: fried fish and the coleslaw.
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: Dan Ryan was great friends with George Shutrump, and that
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: was my boss when I got out of college.
• 25:23
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: He gave me a job, and he would always take
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: me there on Friday. We got to have Friday fish.
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: Oh, wasn't that great?
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: Dan was always there.
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: It was fantastic, wasn't it? Oh, it was.
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: You know, it's like that's not around anymore.
• 25:38
  Speaker 5: Yep.
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: So fun.
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: I mean, as you get older, the things that you miss,
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: because a lot of these local restaurant guys, they're all
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: getting older, and they want to retire at some point.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: And it's just never the same. I mean, like I
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: talk all the time, you go to the fireplace, it's
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: been consistent for 40 years, for as long as I
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: can remember. Where is that now?
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: Because I used to go on South Avenue.
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: Right, on Western Reserve Road, just prior to the roundabout.
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: But Tommy and Karen still own it. It's consistent recipes
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: for 40 years.
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah, they've got great food.
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: I mean, in so many ways. I don't understand. The
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: one thing that I don't understand is, incidentally, I was
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: at Springfield Grill the other night, and it was excellent.
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: It's a good restaurant.
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: I really enjoy Swenson's over here on Tiffany Boulevard. You know,
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: you drive up and sit in your car.
• 26:34
  Speaker 4: Is that open?
• 26:35
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: Talking about Swenson's?
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: Swenson's, yeah.
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: How do you pronounce that?
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: Swenson's.
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: How do you pronounce it?
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: Swenson's. And it's huge in Akron. It's absolutely huge. And
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: I was, like, thrilled when they decided to put one here.
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: And this one doesn't do as– I mean, there's successes everywhere,
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: as I understand. Everywhere you go. And this one isn't
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: as successful as the rest of them. But I'm telling you,
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: if you haven't been to Swenson's to get, like, a
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: double cheeseburger, I don't know what they put in the meat,
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: but it's terrific. I mean, it's really– it's just a
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: different kind of hamburger.
• 27:13
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: It's really good.
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah, they're in a bad location. They're trying to get
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: in and out.
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but they used to be Nicolini's, if you remember.
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: Then they ripped that down and put in Swenson's.
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: I mean, you know, it's not a bad location.
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: You definitely nail it. I mean, not only do you
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: nail it on, like, food and that, but also what
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: you talk about. You bring in... A lot of like
• 27:34
  Speaker 3: what's going on in the real world where most people
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: don't listen.
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: The real world.
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, we're not going to get into that
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: right now. I hope Trump's got his head on straight here.
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: Let's hope so.
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: I've got to tell you, man, I've been listening to
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: you in and out because I've left the town and
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: I've come back. I've been listening to you for 30
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: plus years. I've got to tell you, man, you're really
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: something special, Miller. You're special to this city. And I
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: hope you, you know, stay the course. You know, sometimes
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: you might get up one morning and say, I don't
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: want to do it anymore. That'll be a loss to
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: the city, boy, if you leave.
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: It'll happen because, you know, I'm not getting younger. I
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: never hide it when I tell people I'm 68 years old.
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: And I used to think I would... retire when I was..
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: That's amazing.
• 28:32
  Speaker 5: You're 68.
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I used to think..
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: 68 years young.
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah. And I've been thinking about retiring since I was 60.
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: But it is what it is.
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: I'll tell you, Ron, I don't know if you can
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: do it or if Dan's even trying to do it,
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: but they need to... There's got to be somebody that
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: can come up and fill that void eventually. I'd like
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: to do it.
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: Unfortunately, the... The industry's not going in that direction. It's
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: like so many things that have changed.
• 29:07
  Speaker 3: Talking about local radio?
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, just radio in general because, you know, radio in
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: general is owned by large companies anymore. All these radio
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: stations are huge companies anymore. And in many cases, like,
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: you know, when we run Sean Hannity or when we
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: run Clay and Buck, those programs are owned by iHeart.
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: That's their network. And they're very successful. And they put
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: them on and they... do quite well across the country.
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: Local talk shows are expensive to do. But you do
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: pretty good.
• 29:39
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
• 29:41
  Speaker 3: Dan did pretty good.
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: You've got to have the person that is going to
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: step in has to understand what they want to talk about.
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: They've got to bring in the audience. They've got to.
• 29:55
  Speaker 3: You know, you could talk about everything. If it's going
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: to be a local show, you want to bring in
• 30:00
  Speaker 3: local because, you know, Youngstown's got a lot to offer.
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: You're damn right it does. It's a terrific place, it
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: really is.
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: Oh, that's why I moved back. Youngstown, and they got
• 30:12
  Speaker 3: this young mayor who's kind of green. He's going to
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: figure it out, I hope.
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: It seems like he's a step in the right direction
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: to me.
• 30:20
  Speaker 3: I think so. He's better than Tito.
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: There you go. All right, my friend, thank you for
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: your call. I appreciate your time.
• 30:25
  Speaker 3: Hey, Ron, I'll be talking to you. I'm going to
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: be calling back. I've got to tell you again one
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: more thing. I do really appreciate you. Your longevity is, like, unquestionable.
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: Thank you, my friend.
• 30:37
  Speaker 3: I appreciate it. You're a fantastic individual, Ron.
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: Thank you. You as well. Thank you. You're on the air.
• 30:43
  Speaker 5: Hey, Ron, how are you doing today?
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: Good, sir.
• 30:45
  Speaker 3: Go ahead.
• 30:46
  Speaker 5: I'll be quick. I retired from Schwebel's back in 2022.
• 30:49
  Speaker 5: I was in route sales. And if you're interested, there's
• 30:53
  Speaker 5: a couple of things I'd like to tell you. First
• 30:55
  Speaker 5: of all, the rollercade was right next to Schwebel's. Schwebel's
• 30:58
  Speaker 5: bought it and they turned half of it into HR
• 31:01
  Speaker 5: offices and the rest was the... mechanics garage. I don't
• 31:04
  Speaker 5: know if you were ever in a rollercade when it
• 31:07
  Speaker 5: was a roller rink, but when you went in there,
• 31:10
  Speaker 5: up in the ceiling was your DJ. Big glass window
• 31:14
  Speaker 5: in the front. You could see him spinning the record.
• 31:16
  Speaker 5: I mean, that's still there. That's still in that building.
• 31:20
  Speaker 5: But yeah, that used to be the rollercade. The second
• 31:22
  Speaker 5: thing was back during COVID, when I worked there, there
• 31:25
  Speaker 5: was rumors going around that Troubles was closing up. Then
• 31:29
  Speaker 5: COVID hit, and they got a ton of money out
• 31:31
  Speaker 5: of that. And then we couldn't find anybody to work.
• 31:35
  Speaker 5: Nobody wanted to work, so they put a trailer out front,
• 31:37
  Speaker 5: and they had a sign on it, Hiring $ 2, 000 Signing Bonus.
• 31:41
  Speaker 5: And they interviewed our vice president of sales on Channel 27,
• 31:45
  Speaker 5: and he said, you know, it's a shame that our
• 31:47
  Speaker 5: main competitor in finding employees is our own government. And
• 31:52
  Speaker 5: what he meant by that was, I would tell people,
• 31:54
  Speaker 5: go to Swables.
• 31:55
  Speaker 7: They're hiring employees.
• 31:57
  Speaker 5: You know, $ 17, $ 18, $ 19. Why should I do that,
• 32:00
  Speaker 5: they'd say. The government's going to pay me $ 950 to
• 32:03
  Speaker 5: sit on the couch a week. A week. So they
• 32:07
  Speaker 5: couldn't find anybody to hire. You know, there was just,
• 32:11
  Speaker 5: everybody stayed home during COVID. Biden gave everybody all that money.
• 32:15
  Speaker 5: Nobody wanted to work. So they had a rough time
• 32:16
  Speaker 5: finding people. The other thing about that, too, was they'd have.
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: A hiring event.
• 32:21
  Speaker 5: They'd get 30, 40 people, fill out your application, take
• 32:23
  Speaker 5: a small math test. Then they tell them, here, here's
• 32:26
  Speaker 5: your appointment for a drug test. They never came back.
• 32:31
  Speaker 5: They never went for the drug test because they knew
• 32:33
  Speaker 5: they weren't going to pass it. So, I mean, there
• 32:37
  Speaker 5: was a lot of things going on. I mean, you
• 32:39
  Speaker 5: had good things and you had bad things. But the
• 32:42
  Speaker 5: one thing I wanted to tell you, my grandmother and
• 32:44
  Speaker 5: grandfather came over here in 1899, 1900. They opened a
• 32:46
  Speaker 5: grocery store in Struthers. In 1908, Schwebel's opened up in 1906.
• 32:56
  Speaker 5: According to my uncle, my grandmother and grandfather were the
• 33:00
  Speaker 5: first ones to put Schwebel's Jewish rye on a retail
• 33:04
  Speaker 5: shelf because they went door-to-door, and all they sold was
• 33:07
  Speaker 5: the Jewish rye. That's all they baked was Jewish rye.
• 33:10
  Speaker 5: They went door-to-door with that. Then my grandparents opened up
• 33:13
  Speaker 5: their store, and they were the first ones to put
• 33:15
  Speaker 5: the bread on the shelf retail, which I thought was
• 33:20
  Speaker 5: pretty interesting because I ended up working there. And it
• 33:24
  Speaker 5: was a good job. Believe me. Let me tell you,
• 33:26
  Speaker 5: it was a good job. I was in sales. I
• 33:28
  Speaker 5: wasn't in a bakery. I was in a bakery one time, long,
• 33:30
  Speaker 5: long time ago. But I ended up getting into sales.
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: No, you wouldn't drive the bread truck then, would you?
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: Or would you?
• 33:40
  Speaker 5: No, I was the bread guy. I would go into
• 33:42
  Speaker 5: the grocery stores and fill the shelves. I didn't drive
• 33:45
  Speaker 5: the semis. I had a box truck.
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what I meant, the trucks that I'm familiar with,
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: the box trucks.
• 33:50
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, you have the regular Schwebel trucks that
• 33:54
  Speaker 5: look like UPS trucks.
• 33:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah.
• 33:57
  Speaker 5: My route was bigger than most, so they ended up
• 33:59
  Speaker 5: giving me a box truck, 24-foot box truck. But, yeah,
• 34:03
  Speaker 5: I was a bread guy. I would go into the
• 34:04
  Speaker 5: nursing homes, and I'd go into the grocery stores. and
• 34:07
  Speaker 5: schools and little mom-and-pop grocery stores. It was a good job.
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: You had to love that job. You're out. You're going
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: to different places. You had to enjoy that. Was that
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: five days a week? Five days a week.
• 34:22
  Speaker 5: We were off on Wednesdays and Sundays. That was kind
• 34:25
  Speaker 5: of tough to get used to, but it ended up
• 34:27
  Speaker 5: okay on a Wednesday because you can make your appointments
• 34:30
  Speaker 5: on a Wednesday.
• 34:31
  Speaker 6: You can do everything.
• 34:32
  Speaker 5: Go to places that aren't busy like a weekend would be. But, yeah,
• 34:36
  Speaker 5: I would go up there. I'd start at 4 o'clock.
• 34:39
  Speaker 5: I'd load my truck, and I'd be gone. I'd take
• 34:41
  Speaker 5: off at 5 o'clock, and I'm on my own. There
• 34:44
  Speaker 5: wasn't a supervisor hanging over me. There was nobody telling
• 34:48
  Speaker 5: you what to do, when to do it. You just
• 34:50
  Speaker 5: did your job. Because you know what? We were paid commission.
• 34:53
  Speaker 5: So you can dictate how much money you want to make.
• 34:57
  Speaker 5: If you wanted to make big bucks, then you could.
• 34:59
  Speaker 5: If you wanted to just skate, then you could do that, too.
• 35:03
  Speaker 5: And what I mean by, you know, you could go
• 35:05
  Speaker 5: on the Giant Eagle and say, hey, listen, I got
• 35:07
  Speaker 5: hot dog buns on sale. Can I have a display?
• 35:09
  Speaker 5: You put up a display, you start selling hot dog
• 35:11
  Speaker 5: buns off, and you start making more money. Some people
• 35:14
  Speaker 5: wouldn't do that. Some drivers didn't want to go through.
• 35:17
  Speaker 5: But it was a good job. It was good people.
• 35:21
  Speaker 5: I'm upset that they're closing.
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: It's so damn sad.
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: But it is.
• 35:28
  Speaker 5: It's sad. It's really sad because, like everybody's saying, even
• 35:33
  Speaker 5: on the news, it was just a staple. It was
• 35:35
  Speaker 5: a staple of the community. And Joe Swable, who ran it,
• 35:39
  Speaker 5: until he passed away. I mean, he was just one
• 35:42
  Speaker 5: of the nicest guys you'd ever want to meet. You know,
• 35:45
  Speaker 5: they would have company vans, little Dodge vans that they
• 35:48
  Speaker 5: give to the supervisors to drive and the accounts managers.
• 35:53
  Speaker 5: And after so many miles, they'd sell them. He would
• 35:55
  Speaker 5: sell them to the employees and just take $ 25 a
• 35:58
  Speaker 5: week out of their paycheck to pay for the van.
• 36:01
  Speaker 5: You know, it was a good family. It was a
• 36:03
  Speaker 5: good job. I'm glad I worked there, and I'm glad
• 36:07
  Speaker 5: I retired from there.
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: God bless you. God bless you.
• 36:11
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I loved it.
• 36:12
  Speaker 3: I loved it.
• 36:13
  Speaker 5: Thanks, Ron.
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: Thank you. Appreciate you. You're on the air.
• 36:16
  Speaker 6: Yeah, how are you doing, Ron?
• 36:17
  Speaker 3: Good.
• 36:18
  Speaker 7: I spent 10 years in that place from.
• 36:21
  Speaker 6: 79 to 89.
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: And?
• 36:23
  Speaker 6: And it was a.
• 36:24
  Speaker 7: Pain in the ass to work in. It was hot.
• 36:28
  Speaker 7: It was real hot.
• 36:29
  Speaker 6: And the biggest, probably a necessary evil was probably the union.
• 36:36
  Speaker 6: They were a pain in the butt to deal with.
• 36:39
  Speaker 6: And we never had any representation until two weeks after
• 36:45
  Speaker 6: an incident, and that did us no good. But guys
• 36:51
  Speaker 6: that I worked with who just retired probably maybe five
• 36:56
  Speaker 6: years ago, I had 10 years in, so I got
• 36:59
  Speaker 6: a partial pension. They were telling me that they were
• 37:01
  Speaker 6: having a lot of turnover and help, and But when
• 37:05
  Speaker 6: I was there, too, one of the problems that they
• 37:08
  Speaker 6: had was they were stuck in their ways about the production.
• 37:12
  Speaker 6: And they tried, and rightfully so, because when people tell
• 37:17
  Speaker 6: you about how well they like the bread, you know,
• 37:20
  Speaker 6: I tell them, well, that's sparkle bread, the same bread.
• 37:22
  Speaker 7: No, no, no. Yes, it is. I worked almost every
• 37:26
  Speaker 7: job inside the bakery. And we'd be wrapping bread.
• 37:30
  Speaker 6: We'd be wrapping giant.
• 37:30
  Speaker 7: Eagle bread on one machine. We'd be wrapping sparkle on
• 37:33
  Speaker 7: another machine. We'd be wrapping somebody else on another machine.
• 37:38
  Speaker 7: But the one thing about it is that.
• 37:43
  Speaker 6: They wanted to..
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: Stand by for one minute. Call us in line. Hang on.
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: Back after this. News Radio 570 WKBN. Youngstown's news, weather,
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: and talk station. 570 WKBN. I was just looking at
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: a picture of what used to be The original rollercade there.
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: So then that was a maintenance division, I guess, for
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: the trucks and that kind of stuff.
• 38:04
  Speaker 7: Yeah, they worked on all the trucks back there. And
• 38:07
  Speaker 7: then they expanded the shipping dock. Great before I left,
• 38:11
  Speaker 7: they expanded the shipping dock. I don't know, doubled the
• 38:14
  Speaker 7: size of the shipping dock. I got hired in there
• 38:16
  Speaker 7: because of the Giant Eagle contract. They hired a whole
• 38:20
  Speaker 7: bunch of us that one summer. It was supposed to
• 38:24
  Speaker 7: be a summertime job for me. It ended up being
• 38:26
  Speaker 7: a 10-year summer. I was going to school at YSU.
• 38:30
  Speaker 6: And I did get my degree while I was there.
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but I mean, Teamsters, good job. Good union job.
• 38:36
  Speaker 6: Well, you know, the good thing about the Teamsters is
• 38:39
  Speaker 6: it was the fact that, you know.
• 38:42
  Speaker 7: Like the previous caller, we had pensions. We would never
• 38:46
  Speaker 7: add a pension from the family if we had to deal.
• 38:49
  Speaker 3: With the family.
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: They cite that as one of the reasons why it's
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: closed down, pension obligations.
• 38:55
  Speaker 7: That's one of the things. Wow, their pension is running
• 38:57
  Speaker 7: pretty tight on what their obligations are, I can tell you,
• 39:00
  Speaker 7: because we get a report every year. But there's two
• 39:04
  Speaker 7: things that were going against the company really bad. Number
• 39:07
  Speaker 7: one was..
• 39:07
  Speaker 6: The kids from the family did not want the business.
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: That's the first problem, yeah.
• 39:13
  Speaker 7: Because they had.
• 39:14
  Speaker 6: Enough money that they didn't want to be having to
• 39:17
  Speaker 6: do it.
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: Once you lose a family, yeah.
• 39:19
  Speaker 7: The other problem was modernization. Swables, when I was there,
• 39:23
  Speaker 7: tried very desperately in order to be competitive. They tried
• 39:27
  Speaker 7: very desperately to come up with what we call legalization. dough. Okay,
• 39:32
  Speaker 7: they mixed dough just like you'd mix it.
• 39:35
  Speaker 6: In your home.
• 39:36
  Speaker 7: Big dough mixers and all stuff.
• 39:40
  Speaker 6: Piped in each mixer.
• 39:42
  Speaker 7: But the problem was is they could never get the
• 39:44
  Speaker 7: flavor and taste that they wanted out of any texture.
• 39:47
  Speaker 7: from liquid dough that the hand-mixed or machine-mixed dough would
• 39:52
  Speaker 7: come out. And that takes time because after they kicked
• 39:56
  Speaker 7: them out of the mixer, they'd have to sit on
• 39:59
  Speaker 7: the floor in a big block like that on wheels.
• 40:02
  Speaker 7: They had to sit on the floor for like an hour,
• 40:04
  Speaker 7: hour and a half, and then they'd dump them back
• 40:06
  Speaker 7: in and mix them again, depending on whether it was
• 40:09
  Speaker 7: bread or buns.
• 40:10
  Speaker 6: But buns was right out of the mixer into the
• 40:16
  Speaker 6: machines and make the buns. The bread got way up
• 40:18
  Speaker 6: to the rollers, and we went through a big proof box.
• 40:21
  Speaker 6: It was about an hour through the proof box.
• 40:24
  Speaker 7: And that was like 120, 130 degrees in there, 100%.
• 40:30
  Speaker 2: Well, they got the taste down perfect, however they made it.
• 40:34
  Speaker 5: Oh, yeah, absolutely.
• 40:35
  Speaker 6: I mean, you know, the best way to have a
• 40:37
  Speaker 6: bread dough, and I used to do it occasionally, would
• 40:39
  Speaker 6: be put it in a brown paper bag, take it home, unsliced.
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: There you go.
• 40:43
  Speaker 6: Just something, you know. When we worked in the wrapping department,
• 40:46
  Speaker 6: we used to get it right out of the cores.
• 40:48
  Speaker 6: The cores were big.
• 40:49
  Speaker 7: Conveyors above our heads. We'd get it out, and.
• 40:52
  Speaker 6: When the guys would grab a loaf, and we'd go
• 40:54
  Speaker 6: around the corner in the refrigerator, get half a pound
• 40:58
  Speaker 6: of butter.
• 40:58
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: I've got to pause. I've got to try to get
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: one more on. Thank you, David. You're on the air.
• 41:06
  Speaker 9: I don't want you to think that I'm a smart
• 41:08
  Speaker 9: guy all the time, but the people that worked inside
• 41:10
  Speaker 9: the bakery, they belonged to the bakers and confectionery workers
• 41:14
  Speaker 9: out of Cleveland. And then the guys that were the drivers,
• 41:18
  Speaker 9: they belonged to the tinksters.
• 41:20
  Speaker 3: Gotcha.
• 41:21
  Speaker 9: There were two different unions down there. But I know
• 41:24
  Speaker 9: this guy that lives over in Struthers. He was a catcher.
• 41:28
  Speaker 9: I had Donald Schwabels on the oven. He did that for.
• 41:32
  Speaker 4: 30, 35 years.
• 41:33
  Speaker 3: I'm out of time.
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: I'm out of time. Sean's next.
• 41:42
  Speaker 10: From ABC News, I'm Dave Packer. President Trump is threatening
• 41:46
  Speaker 10: to cancel negotiations with Iran if they do not agree
• 41:49
  Speaker 10: to long-term nuclear inspections.
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: Iran's reasonable if they're smart.
• 41:53
  Speaker 5: Otherwise, we'll have to finish the job, which will take
• 41:55
  Speaker 5: about maybe less than a week.
• 41:58
  Speaker 10: While the president says Tehran already agreed to those inspections,
• 42:01
  Speaker 10: Iran insists it's made no such promise. Today on Capitol Hill,
• 42:04
  Speaker 10: the Senate delivered its strongest rebuke yet. Four Republicans joined
• 42:08
  Speaker 10: Democrats to say the war must stop unless the White
• 42:11
  Speaker 10: House seeks congressional approval. Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal.
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: I hope we can avoid a restart of this disastrous,
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: unnecessary conflict. But it will depend on smart, strategic negotiations.
• 42:27
  Speaker 10: The White House says that vote has, quote, no significance.
• 42:30
  Speaker 10: The Supreme Court has issued a new ruling on religious freedom.
• 42:33
  Speaker 10: In a 6-3 decision today, the court rejected former inmate
• 42:36
  Speaker 10: Damon Landor's bid to sue for damages after he was
• 42:40
  Speaker 10: forcibly shaved bald in prison. Landor is a devout Rastafarian.
• 42:44
  Speaker 10: ABC News legal contributor James Sample.
• 42:46
  Speaker 8: In this particular context, as in many other contexts, there
• 42:50
  Speaker 8: is no dispute. as to the right at issue and
• 42:53
  Speaker 8: there is no dispute that the right at issue to
• 42:55
  Speaker 8: not have his head shaved in this way was violated
• 42:58
  Speaker 8: but it is all about the remedy not whether his
• 43:02
  Speaker 8: rights were violated and in this case the court essentially
• 43:05
  Speaker 8: says yes he has a right but no he doesn't
• 43:07
  Speaker 8: have a remedy if the remedy is monetary damages.
• 43:11
  Speaker 10: Police in chico california say the suspect in a deadly
• 43:13
  Speaker 10: library shooting wanted to carry out a quote columbine style massacre.
• 43:17
  Speaker 11: He has no known connections to any of the victims
• 43:20
  Speaker 11: in the library And based on information revealed during the interviews,
• 43:26
  Speaker 11: our detectives believe the suspect was influenced by the Columbine
• 43:31
  Speaker 11: High School shooting.
• 43:33
  Speaker 2: Chipwreck on Wall Street.
• 43:34
  Speaker 10: The Nasdaq falling 580 points today. You're listening to ABC News.