Legendary journalist Bruce Johnson's story is one of grit, survival, grace and ultimately perseverance. He grew up poor in a racially segregated Louisville but never one to view himself as a victim, Johnson pushed through obstacles that could've killed him, to became a 22-time EMMY award-winning, Edward R. Murrow award-winning, Society of Professional Journalists & Washington D.C Hall of Fame inductee among many other accolades in his 44-year career at WUSA in Washington D.C.

Johnson chronicles his remarkable life and career in his new book Surviving Deep Waters: A Legendary Reporter's Story of Overcoming Poverty, Race, Violence, and His Mother's Deepest Secret.

In episode 32 of the Becoming Storytellers Podcast, Johnson gets candid about it all-- Drugs, discrimination, rejection, mistakes, family, navigating the news business and how it all came together in serving as a journalist for the people in the nation's capitol for more than four decades.