From prison to publishing

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MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, April 30th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: A redemption story.

Bryan Dawson heads up 1819 News, an unapologetically conservative upstart media organization headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama.

BROWN: Looking at him today, you’d never guess Dawson spent more than five years in prison. But it was there that he gave his life to Christ, and everything changed.

Here’s WORLD Senior Writer Kim Henderson.

KIM HENDERSON: Bryan Dawson has an incredible testimony. And he’s told it to all kinds of audiences.

Christian radio…

DAWSON: I was working for some very unsavory characters that were organized crime, cartels…

College campuses…

DAWSON: 23 years old, I was facing 384 years in prison for attempted murder, aggravated robbery, and extortion…

Podcasts with national reach…

DAWSON: I believe God put me through quite a bit of turmoil in my past to prepare me for what I’m doing right now…

What he’s doing now is shaking up the Alabama media scene. 

The married homeschooling dad with 7 kids started and leads Alabama’s thriving state-focused media organization, 1819 News.

DAWSON: We see it as our job to tell the truth so that we can have a free and flourishing Alabama. That's our goal, that's our heart.

So just how did the Colorado convict overcome his criminal background to become a Christian and head of a conservative news organization that drew more than 6 million viewers to its website last year?

TOUR: We're 1819 News, and this is our home office, yes. And so our radio show, which is News Talk, 93.1, they are live daily, nine to noon…

1819 News is named after the year Alabama gained statehood. The state-centric branding extends all the way to offices in a historic building in downtown Birmingham.

TOUR: And then this is Bryan's office, who is our president and CEO…

Dawson sits behind a solid wood desk in his Birmingham office as he speaks easily about his tough upbringing and turn to crime. He says he hit rock bottom when he was 23.

DAWSON: I was sleeping in a car and I had, like, open wounds that were from overuse of meth, open sores in my arms and my legs and my chest and my body and my armpits…

But even then, Dawson wasn’t willing to make a change. It took the threat of 384 years in prison to finally get his attention.

DAWSON: When I got sentenced to 16 years, I knew that God had moved, and I made a decision that I'm going to look at prison as an opportunity to change, not as a punishment.

First he tried New Age philosophy. Then Dawson met a fellow prisoner who had a different message.

DAWSON: He walked up, big dude with the Semper Fi tattoo... And he begins to just, you know, become my friend and plant gospel seeds.

But it took time for the seeds to grow. Three years. Dawson is still amazed by his conversion.

DAWSON: Just seeing the grace of God in every aspect of my life and His kindness, and just deciding to find a piece of, you know, human refuse, if you will. Like I'm you know, in prison, going nowhere fast, and Him deciding to just show His kindness and bring me out of that.

Dawson continued to see God’s hand as he reentered society as a felon.

DAWSON: My story post-prison is a bunch of people giving me a chance. Tim Maranville and his wife Beth Maranville wanted to mentor me and they did, and discipled me. And he got me my first job at USA Radio Networks. Floyd Brown, when he bought USA Radio, he was very good to me. And then Lee Habeeb, the guy that created Laura Ingraham's radio show, found me, gave me a job.

Dawson had a knack for marketing nationally-syndicated content to radio stations. He took Habeeb’s new show from 80 to 330 stations. 

Then he did a stint fundraising for Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign. By then, Dawson was a staunch conservative, and he was ready to wage the culture war closer at home at 1819 News.

These days, he also speaks at conventions, churches, political gatherings.

Here he is telling the crowd at a Turning Point USA event the secret to overcoming his criminal background.

DAWSON: First and foremost, Jesus Christ saved me, gave me a new heart, a new mind, a new, you know, way of looking at things. And I leaned into that and I've been blessed from that.

And back in his office, Dawson continues to reflect on God’s goodness.

DAWSON: He just hands me this career path, and He has saw that it would succeed, despite my shortcomings, despite my feelings, He just saw fit that it would succeed, and I'm just going to try and do my best to be faithful.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kim Henderson in Birmingham, Alabama. 

BROWN: There's more to Bryan Dawson's story: how he built 1819 News, the influence it's having in Alabama, and the pushback that's followed. You can read Kim Henderson's deeply reported piece in WORLD Magazine's May issue. We'll link it in today's transcript. 

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