Straight Up John Watanabe

 While it is still the year 2025 as I write this, I must say that one of my God-given highlights of 2025 was my participation as one of the celebrities at the 65th annual Garden Grove Strawberry Festival (thanks again to Andrea Perez, Wendy Ellis and the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival Board of Directors for choosing me and welcoming me). The photo above (taken by Michael David) features me signing an autograph for a fan at the Celebrity Meet & Greet outside the Garden Grove Courtyard Center (which took place after the Celebrity Breakfast, the Strawberry Festival Parade, and the VIP Celebrity Lunch). My wife April was sitting several feet behind me, as folks lined up for autographs in front of me. Some of my fellow celebrities sitting near me at the Celebrity Meet & Greet table included our Celebrity Grand Marshal Kate Linder (aka Esther Valentine on the TV soap opera "The Young & The Restless"), Wing Lam (co-founder of and TV commercial spokesman for Wahoo's...

 Before the year 2025 ends very soon, I just want to say that I am honored to be a full-time on-air personality on a radio station that is celebrating its 40th year anniversary, KWVE/"K-WAVE" FM 107.9 & AM 1110/Los Angeles. As K-WAVE celebrates 40 years on the air this year, praise God that I have been working at this radio station (owned by and on the campus of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa) during the last 14 years. It's an honor for me to be one of the chosen ones to carry on 2 legacies...the legacies of AM 1110 in Los Angeles and the great Calvary Chapel founder Pastor Chuck Smith (who was portrayed by Kelsey Grammer in the movie "Jesus Revolution").  Back on April 15, 1985, Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa took over 107.9 FM (fulfilling a vision by Pastor Chuck Smith to start a radio station that would spread the gospel and equip believers in Christ Jesus), and in 2023, Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa bought the powerful 50,000-watt AM 1110/Los Angeles from the Walt Dis...

Just hours ago, my wife April & I enjoyed serving at one of the booths at Calvary Chapel Azusa's Harvest Fest (featuring games, candy and all sorts of family fun), which included praying for people asking for prayer, and it was a delight meeting and getting to know one of my very loyal radio listeners at this event (Ms. Andrews of Rialto), after she heard me announcing on KWVE/"K-WAVE" Christian Radio (FM 107.9 & AM 1110/Los Angeles) that my wife & I will be serving at this event. The turnout for this Los Angeles County event was surprisingly good, considering that the Los Angeles Dodgers were playing a "need to win" Game 6 of the World Series vs. the Toronto Blue Jays as our harvest festival was taking place (as a side note, Toronto is the home of one of my old FMW Wrestling co-hosts, Dan "The Mouth" Lovranski from Live Audio Wrestling). While moms, dads and their kids were having fun at this Harvest Fest, some of these folks were frequent...

The photo above was taken at the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival "VIP Celebrity Lunch" (which took place in between the Strawberry Festival Parade and the Celebrity Meet And Greet), featuring me with our parade's Grand Marshal, Kate Linder, aka Esther Valentine on the TV soap opera "The Young And The Restless" (Kate and yours truly were two of the festival's featured celebrities this year, invited by the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival Association Board of Directors). My lovely blonde wife April is sitting in the background in this photo...we ate lots of delicious food at this buffet lunch, including, naturally, a strawberry dessert that was berry good! Before and during her run on TV's "The Young And The Restless" (she's been on the show for 43 years now), Kate has maintained her weekend job as a flight attendant for United Airlines (which she says keeps her grounded). This reminds me of an in-flight video for United Airlines that I acte...

The photo above (taken by Michael David) features my wife April in the front passenger seat (next to our friendly and capable driver Scott) and yours truly in the back, "K-WAVE's own John Watanabe...one of the celebrities riding in the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival Parade on May 24th at 10am!", as mentioned for weeks on the website for my full-time on-air radio home during the last 14 years, KWVE/"K-WAVE" Christian Radio, FM 107.9 & AM 1110/Los Angeles.   Almost every year, going back to 2012, April & I made appearances at the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival via the K-WAVE radio booth (under a tent, next to other festival sponsors and vendors), but this year, in what was our final Garden Grove Strawberry Festival appearance (more on that down the road, as our retirement plans draw near), thank God that April & I really went out with a bang, by being featured in the festival's parade and other events involving me being chosen this year as one ...

  Praise God, on Saturday, May 24, 2025, my wife April & I will be riding in the parade (representing KWVE/"K-WAVE" Christian Radio FM 107.9 & AM 1110/Los Angeles) at the 65th annual Garden Grove Strawberry Festival (a free family festival which attracts hundreds of thousands of people every year in Southern California), and then I will be one of this year's celebrities signing autographs at the celebrity autograph signing table outside the Garden Grove Courtyard Center. The parade will start at 10am, and the autograph signing will start at approximately 1pm (for more details, go to the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival website and click on "Celebrities"...strawberryfestival.org/celebrities). About 6 years ago, a wrestling fan named David Samuel Blain from Florida tweeted, "I'd truly wish I would have met John Watanabe in person, as an FMW Japan wrestling fan." Well, just as the apostle Paul sincerely wrote words of encouragement to people w...