I think when people meet me, they think they're giving me a compliment.
They go, that's your name, Rocky?
And I go, yeah, they go, I got a dog named Rocky.
Oh, my father gave me that name, and I had a typical Italian dad, you know, like every
day for high school to school, he was listening to me, he was, you don't run on nobody.
Yeah.
He was, you don't know nothing, he was, you don't see nothing, and you didn't do nothing.
So we're in history class, and a nun comes over there, and she's like, Rock, I want you
to tell me who killed President Kennedy.
I didn't do it.
Because I know you didn't do it, tell me who did.
I didn't see nothing.
So she calls my father up to school.
She says this kid who killed Kennedy, he told me he didn't do it.
Oh my gosh, hey, the kid said he didn't do it, he didn't do it.
You're just a heartache in this guy, and won't you keep my heart from breaking it?
It's only for a very short time.
It's six away to WRJ and radio.
I'm Don Rosen, thanks for joining me today.
Just getting over a cold cold is gone.
This is the aftermath of the voice.
Yeah, you know, it's like every seven years, this happens like the locust hell.
And what's that bug that comes?
Seven years, the whatever that beetle is that shows up every seven years.
That's how I get the colds.
Colds gone and feeling good just the voice a little bit this morning.
Hey, got a full show for you today.
We got a lot of stuff going on, Beth Heindor, and they checked it at director.
Now the recene zoo is going to stop by at 6.30.
We're going to talk to her and find out that some programs going on at the recene zoo
that I think your family is going to want to know about.
All right.
And at 7.06 this morning, we'll have Sergeant Christine Wilcox and the recene police department.
They have a program going on too that I think you're going to know about as well.
Plus, we've got tickets to give away to the state fair.
CCM powerhouse that's contemporary Christian music artist casting crowns is going to be at the state fair.
And we've got tickets to give away this morning.
So a lot of stuff going on.
Let's get going.
This morning started off fine.
I set off the alarm this morning.
I started on the code.
I had to call Stuart.
That's Stuart Wattles.
I said, you know, to do this.
I just eventually got it to shut off.
But it's a lot screeching noise in here.
So it's not walked in this morning.
That was the other thing.
Oh, the temperature.
It's like in the mid 70s in here.
I have to try to turn to thermostat that who turned it up.
I made it so warm outside.
Now it's 37 degrees.
It's nice.
It's going to be 52 today.
I believe that sunshine 52 degrees.
Let me say it again, sunny and 52 degrees today.
Now that's nothing tomorrow 59.
We're going to hit near six.
They couldn't say 60.
They had to say 59.
They could have just said 60.
I made a sound.
Oh, wow.
Six degrees.
And so that's good.
But here's the bad part.
Chance of showers and thunderstorms tonight and tomorrow.
But 59 tomorrow.
I don't think I need my winter coat tomorrow morning going with that spring jacket out
there.
Uh, my wife set up a camera in the backyard to catch the wildlife back there.
There's so much activity going on in their backyard when we don't know about it.
As soon as we show up, they scatter.
But there were squirrels, possums.
Who knows what's back there?
All I know is when it snows, there's tracks going in every direction in our backyard.
So for Christmas, our son gave us this outdoor camera.
It's a motion detected camera.
You can just set it up outside anywhere you want.
And when the critters start running around, you catch them on it.
It just shoots a few seconds of it so you can catch them.
So we caught some squirrels back there, which we knew were back there.
But I want to catch the critters at night.
I want to see what's going on there because there's a lot of activity in our backyard
in my front yard, too.
And there are tracks everywhere.
I think they wait for us to go to bed.
They see the light go out and they say, all right, they're asleep now.
Let's get going.
Uh, so we're finally going to get a chance to see him out there.
You know, one morning, my son took a picture.
There was a possum on the fence right outside his door.
He took a picture.
All you see these two jewel eyes and how they eyes get Julie when the light hits them.
They see this possum just staring at him.
It looked kind of evil, although possums, they're not going to bother you.
But anyway, so we're going to find out what's going on in that backyard.
All right, I got a list of things here.
You should probably never do it work.
They don't seem that horrible, but it could probably annoy your fellow co-workers.
He's according to HR professionals, okay?
They say, don't overshare.
It's easy to get comfortable with your co-workers when you're around them
for eight hours a day, but that doesn't mean they're automatic friends
over sharing too much of your life with them.
Could cause issues like gossip and rumors starting.
Don't be home by do that too.
I overshare all the time.
Always oversharing comes from being on the radio
because people like what you overshare on the radio.
They like to hear about your life.
Because it makes their life seem better.
I tell them about mine.
Don't be humbles.
Successful people tend to be very direct about their accomplishments
and more vocal.
Don't stick around too long at parties.
Negative things can come from hanging around too long at company functions.
Whether it's the alcohol talking or just being with your co-workers
in a different environment when it's time to leave.
It's time to leave.
What did you used to get from the tooth fairy?
It was so exciting for me to when I lost a tooth when I was about six years old
whenever it was five, six years old.
I used to put it under the pillow and I used to try to stay awake
because I wanted to see the tooth fairy come.
I actually thought there was a tooth fairy.
And so I used to put the tooth under there on the morning of 25 cents.
A quarter was there.
I used to tell my parents and the morning, look what I found.
Look, look, look, look.
Oh, the tooth fairy left you a quarter.
Well, that was then.
This is now the tooth fairy has been hit with declining wages payouts dropped.
They dropped to $5.84 a tooth.
Whoa.
That's down 39 cents from the year before.
So you tell me it was over $6 a tooth.
Kids in the West get the most get this $8.54 a tooth.
And I thought a quarter was something.
First of all, what do you think you get like a paypal thing under the bed on the
your pillow?
How do they do that little gift certificate gift card?
How does that work under that?
But you can't put $8 when you put an envelope full of cash.
Now, I think what do you give me like a little gift card, right?
A visa gift card or something like that under the pillow?
Okay.
Would you be more excited about going back to the office of the smell of Indian
sandalwood was wafting through the air.
The Wall Street Journal says some employers are pumping fragrances into the
workplace now to improve workers moods and move them back into the office
by making it an environment that smells amazing.
When I get them back in, but the smell of French fries wafting through the
office, I'll get them back.
The odds are long that a person's wallet that has gone overboard on the
ocean would be found almost a year later on the beach.
What are the chances, right?
The odds are really long that you would find your own wallet on a beach
a year after you dropped it in the water.
But that's exactly what happened to one woman in Canada.
She said everything was in good shape, too, except the zipper was corroded.
Imagine finding your own wallet a year later after it fell overboard in the
ocean.
The odds have to be astronomical about something like that.
Wow.
Okay, into movies.
All right, the company is looking to pay someone $2,000 to watch all 10
best picture nominees.
You will get a 65 inch 4K TV and a $500 door dash gift card for snacks.
After watching the movies, whoever they choose will have to predict the
Oscar winners for best picture, best director, best actor, best actress,
best supporting actor, best supporting actress.
Check out testcacinos.com for information how to apply.
Have to apply by March 3rd.
Well, I could do that.
This year's going to be pretty easy.
Yeah, this will be this will be an easy year to do what I think it will be anyway.
If you're a fan of Yellowstone in reality TV peak contest to show for you.
It's called the big B dynasty real American cowboys.
It's about the real life ranch family, not the family from Yellowstone.
That was made up, but close to it.
So if you're into that, I tried to watch Yellowstone once.
I got to the first episode and I couldn't get through it.
Just wasn't Mike WT.
Hey WRJM pleased to welcome the CCM powerhouse.
That's contemporary Christian music powerhouse cast and crowns to the Wisconsin
State Fair main stage Monday, August 5th.
Join us for an evening filled with powerful soul.
Sturing artistry that will lift your spirits.
Also joining cast and crown to the main stage.
August 5th is fellow CCM star Turin Wells.
Tickets go on sale at W I state fair dot com all this week.
And I've got tickets for you right now.
You want a pair of tickets to go see cast and crowns at the Wisconsin State Fair.
I got a pair waiting for you right now.
Yeah, give us give us a call 262 634 975 6262634 WRJM.
Open up the phone lines and what button we have to hit.
All right.
That's button.
All right, they're open.
262 634 975 6262634 WRJM.
Somebody said I said your phone number way too fast.
I think I do.
Best you when you're trying to remember what all the numbers are.
But our phone number is really easy.
634 WRJM.
But then you got to look at the letters on the phone.
262634 975 6 all right.
Give a call right now.
Phone lines are open.
I'll give you a pair of tickets to go see casting crowns at the Wisconsin State
Fair main stage.
We're talking August to your Monday August 5th.
Got tickets to give away for the next few weeks.
So all these acts that was gone to stay fair.
It's got a nice.
All right, coming up in about 10 minutes, a little over 10 minutes from now.
Well, make it 14 minutes from now.
We're going to be talking to Beth Hindorn from the.
We're seeing Zeus got the big programs coming up there.
She has to tell you about.
The zoo is really the place to be.
So that's coming up just a few minutes here.
Sunshine today with a high air 52 chance of showers and thunderstorms tonight.
Loads around 47.
Looks like partly sunny tomorrow.
Chances showers and thunderstorms.
Highs near 59.
618 WRJM home town Brady over fresh to civic media station.
Easy lever you get a hold on you believe it.
Like the weather before you know it you'll be on your knees.
She's an easy lever you take your heart but you won't be late.
She's like the weather and I'm just trying to make you see.
She's the kind of girl you dream of.
Dream of keeping hold up.
Sex 21 at WRJM radio.
Home town radio.
Refresh.
She will play around and leave you.
I'm Don Rosen.
Thank you.
Joining us here this morning on a Monday morning.
Hope you weekend as well.
Have a good weekend.
I spent the whole weekend in bed getting over this cold is gone.
But I wanted to rest it out just to make sure.
I got rid of it.
I got rid of it faster than I usually do because this time it was on a weekend.
So I can just relax a weekend.
I didn't go outside.
Didn't do anything.
Just vegetative vegetated weekend.
All right.
Got a bit of sad news here.
I was a big fan of the Wendy Williams show.
I didn't watch it all the time but if it was on I would turn it on and watch it.
There were hot topics all that kind of stuff.
Wendy Williams has some health issues now.
Her team issued a statement the other day saying she has frontal temporal dementia.
Also aphasia which affects the ability to understand or express speech.
Basically the issues Bruce Willis is dealing with now.
I guess they did a documentary on her recently when she was going through all this.
And it didn't look well for her.
I mean she's very forgetful.
And she just didn't do well.
It's too bad they're going to air it because it doesn't put her in a very good light.
He's an unpleasant thought.
One in four Americans have dropped their cell phones, keys, wallet or purse into the toilet
of a public restroom.
If I drop my wallet in there, I throw out the white, take out the credit cards and sanitize them,
but I throw out the wallet.
Same thing with the phone.
I get rid of the phone.
You really want to ever put that phone to your face?
They did drop in a toilet bowl.
Come on.
No way am I going to use that phone again.
How can people drop in all their stuff in public toilets?
I mean don't you watch that stuff when you go in there?
I hear something we should have known years ago.
A place in India has banned cotton candy.
After a lab discovered a cancer causing substance and samples,
it could be used to give cotton candy its bright pink color
and used to dye textiles, cosmetics and inks.
The chemical is banned in California and the European Union.
It's like it's banned in California.
What about the other 49 states?
I don't care if we have cancer causing cotton candy.
I think about all the years eight cotton candy that's been cotton candy.
Uff.
Yuck.
Now they tell us that it's no good.
Show up his news.
Peter Frampton says he was tricked into being in the movie Sargent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club ban.
Remember that film?
It was terrible.
He said Paul McCartney was supposed to be involved in it and he wasn't.
That was a bad movie.
The BGs were in there.
They actually played I think Sargent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club ban with Peter Frampton.
It was terrible.
And ladies and case you're interested, Tom Cruise is apparently single once again.
Back on the market.
I didn't know he was off the market but he's back on.
All right.
Here are three reasons you should never let your dog lick your face.
Everybody does.
My dog's been licking my face all my life.
He can get tapeworms if your dog's been in contact with a dead animal.
He can get salmonella poison if it's gotten into the trash.
He can get a parasite called cryptospiridium.
We know that, don't we?
It attacks your intestines and causes diarrhea.
Now they tell us.
After all these years, the dog's been licking my face.
Now they inform you of this.
Remember Cryptospiridium hit Milwaukee?
It was called a great bug on a great lake.
Remember that?
Odd but true.
The first person to show their belly button on TV was...
Now everybody thinks it was I dream of Jeannie and it wasn't.
They had hers covered up.
Barbara Eden never showed her belly button on that show.
And all the years was on.
I dream of Jeannie.
Now they had it covered up.
It was shared in 1975.
She was the first person to show a belly button on TV.
Hmm.
I think would have been shown before that.
Hey, you know what the first TV show ever to show a toilet bowl was?
Everybody thinks it was all in the family.
Now that's one of the first shows you actually heard the flush.
But you never saw the toilet bowl on all in the family.
It was leave it to beaver.
Wally and the beaver in the bathroom one day doing something, you know,
where they shouldn't have been doing.
You know, maybe dirtying up the sink or something, dirtying up the bathtub
and in the background was the toilet tank.
That was the first time it was ever shown on TV.
Leave it to beaver.
All right.
What annoys you most on the road going to a survey.
People who tech to the most annoying drivers.
Nope.
People who tailgate of the most annoying drivers.
I came in second.
People who try to cut in front of you.
Of a line at an exit.
Oh, yeah.
Because they don't plan.
They don't plan ahead.
How about this morning?
I'm coming to 16th Street.
This guy.
Now I'm going 30 miles an hour.
This guy's zoomed past me.
Must have been 40, 45.
Just to get ahead of me.
And he had to stop at the light right in front of me anyway.
So he wasn't even in front of me one car length.
But he had a risk it.
By zooming around me at 45 miles an hour.
By the way, passed me on the right.
I had some questions for Sergeant Christy Wilcox this morning.
And I figured what they were.
On Friday, I said, I got to remember to ask her,
Oh, I know it.
Oh, this woman.
I don't have it with me now.
I've left it home.
All right.
What will happen next time with those?
Oh, I got.
Oh, I wish I can have those now.
I don't have them in front of me.
I wouldn't have been good to ask her, OK.
Odd but true.
When Sarah Michelle Gillard was five years old.
Remember the actress Sarah Michelle Gillard.
I think he's on some werewolf.
Show her something like that buffy the vampires layer.
It's up like that.
She did a bergooking commercial that made
fundamental tam burgers to McDonald sued bergooking
and named her in the lawsuit.
She was just an actress on the convention.
An actress on the commercial as she was banned
from going to McDonald's when she was a kid
because she was an actress on a commercial reading some lines.
And that's something.
BabyNames.com says that searches for barbie
blew up 300% last July when the movie came out.
Searches for kin increased 200%.
I've to wait and see how many people actually went through their plan
and then their kids Ken and Barbie.
It happens every time.
They could be worse names than Ken and Barbie.
I got news for you.
There's some bad names out there.
People name their kids.
Let's see.
It's six 28 WRJ on a radio.
All right.
One more thing here for you for we have to bring you the news.
There's apparently a new scam where thieves are replacing
QR codes on parking meters with codes that they create.
Center money to their wallets.
Maybe more of a problem in private lots and public ones.
There's always someone to corrupt new technology, isn't there?
Always some bad people out there.
I never played by credit card in the meters.
It's got to be cash only.
I'm not giving anybody my credit card.
Sunny today with a high air 52 degrees.
Chance of showers and thunderstorms.
Close around 47 tonight.
Partly sunny.
Chance of showers and thunderstorms tomorrow.
Highs near 59.
Currently a clear sky.
37 degrees in Racine.
Beth Hindorn, Executive Director of the Racine Zoo.
Come it up next.
Keep it here.
WRJN.
All-town radio.
Refrenched.
A civic media station.
I guess we have some extra time.
Okay.
All right.
Now we're ready to go.
Let's do it.
I always thought doctors didn't know what they were doing,
but now I got proof now, because if you've been watching TV lately,
you have certainly noticed that every other commercial on TV
is one of those prescription drug heads.
Right?
Apparently we're supposed to tell our doctors what they're prescribed for us.
Like that prevesit commercial.
They're like, ask your doctor about prevesit.
Now shouldn't your doctor know about prevesit?
Isn't that the guy's job?
It's like, yeah, there's nothing we can do for you.
How about prevesit?
You know, you're right.
That's a good point.
I hadn't thought of that.
Now, how many milligrams is good?
Did it say in the commercial?
I didn't see the commercial.
That's a good point.
I hadn't thought of that.
Now how many milligrams is good?
Did it say in the commercial?
I didn't see the commercial.
I didn't see the commercial.
I didn't see the commercial.
I didn't see the commercial.
I didn't see the commercial.
You've got a lot going on with the zoo.
But before we talk about that, how are the residents of the zoo doing these days?
Doing great.
This weather has been phenomenal.
It must be beautiful today and then tomorrow and then a couple of cold days.
And back up, I love this above average temperatures.
This month, February has been just great.
And youuced the Lions from a Rome of the Grounds when it's nice outside, right?
Well, it depends on the temperature.
Every animal has a threshold of when they can be out.
But this weather has been great, so everyone's out.
And they enjoy seeing the millions of guests that we have coming in.
You know, when I used to walk my dog up and down Michigan Boulevard,
I was able to hear the Lions roar in the morning.
They are very good in the morning.
They should start to...
I mean, the dusk is coming out here.
So Don's hitting the sun's coming out.
We should start to hear him pretty soon.
That's great.
You know, you have obviously full-time vets and everything on staff there.
I'd love waking up with animals in the morning.
I mean, dogs all my life in cats and hamsters and parakeets.
But, you know, those animals must be great to wake up with and see them in the morning.
Ah.
Exactly.
When we have our sleepovers in the summertime, our guests really enjoy waking up to that.
I mean, sometimes they forget that they're at the zoo when they wake up in the morning after camping out here.
But I think it's a great experience and just really adds to that special activity here at the zoo.
All right.
A couple of events coming up.
Call me old-fashioned.
Let's start it for that one.
Yeah.
So that is Wednesday, March 20th.
And as Wisconsin, I believe that has considered the official drink of Wisconsin.
So it is for two hours.
It's on Wednesday, the 20th.
It's six to eight pm.
Red onion is...
We're going to be making a variety of...
Or dirt for everybody to enjoy.
And we're going to have anywhere from five to eight different call me old-fashioned that people can taste.
And these are going to be ready to drink because that's like one of the new hot things that's out there.
So we're going to have a variety of things for people that taste.
They can hang out here at the zoo on a Wednesday and enjoy that.
They'll be greeted with an animal ambassador.
We already have a lot of people booked for that event.
So we're very, very excited for folks to come.
I mean, it's a hump day.
So, you know, what else are you going to do?
You're going to go somewhere.
You might as well come to the zoo.
Absolutely.
Call me old-fashioned.
That's on Wednesday, March 20th, from six to eight pm.
All right.
Right.
This one I can almost tell.
It's an Easter vid.
Egg Stravaganza.
Yeah.
This is like one of those tried and true events that we have here.
This is for all family members.
I mean, it tends to be one of those generational days where you've got grandparents and their parents.
And then the grandchildren.
And everyone is hanging out because Easter is a very special time for many people.
And it's our version of an egg hunt where we have clock-clock doors.
So instead of kids, you know, all banging into each other and getting eggs,
we have clock-clock doors throughout the zoo.
And the kids can go knock on the door.
And we have a wonderful volunteer that will be handing out candy to the kids from the clock-clock doors.
And we already have over 20 businesses, local businesses in the area that will come here and be able to, you know,
kind of talk to the parent about their business.
And then they also hand out candy or pencils or little toys for the kids.
So it's really a great opportunity.
We call that a trunk hunt.
Our Easter style of a trunk or treat.
And it works out great.
And word has it that Easter Bunny will be here.
He does love the zoo.
And there's cookie decorating and egg decorating.
And of course, our amazing animals.
And what date is that again?
That is Saturday, March 30th.
It's always the Saturday before Easter.
And then it is from 10 in the morning until 4 o'clock in the afternoon.
That's right. Easter is in March this year, right?
Easter is early, yeah, yeah.
So.
All right.
Okay, that's the egg strap again.
Egg strap again.
Saturday, March 30th.
Now again, I'm going to remind people as these dates come closer.
Of course, I appreciate that.
Because people's minds in the morning are kind of mushy to begin with.
A little bit.
Then we have why, by the way,
I got to talk about this thing because every Easter,
our next door neighbor growing up when I grew up in New York,
he was an egg and chicken guy.
He delivered eggs and chickens.
That's what he did.
But this big smelly truck in front of our, in the next door to us.
Anyway, so on Easter,
he used to take out dozens and dozens of dozens of eggs
and color them with his family.
I was over there coloring some of them two at times.
And then about three or four o'clock in the morning,
he used to go through the entire area in the neighborhood
and put them on people's lawns.
So when you woke up in the morning,
all these colored hard-boiled eggs were all over your lawn.
Oh, super fun.
And so he did that for years.
His name was Bill Richard.
He just turned 101 years old.
Oh, my goodness.
I don't think he's doing it anymore.
But he, good, good for Bill.
He was a nice man next day.
He still was a nice man.
All right, next up is Wild for Wine.
Yeah, you know, we like to showcase the zoo
in a variety of different ways.
And sometimes if it's wine tasting that gets people out here,
well, that's what we want to do.
So what's, when I like about Wild for Wine,
it is, it highlights our Eastern Black rhinos,
Timo and Kianga.
And we talk about the conservation of our rhinos
as well as their wild counterparts.
What is, what we do,
it's a five-course meal paired with five wines
for the five species of rhinos.
So we do a little edutamen out here.
One of our wonderful animal care specialists
will be talking about each of the five different species of rhinos
and then they're paired with a part of the meal and wine.
And then after that, then we go on to the second species.
And we just continue it until all five species have been talked about.
The food is going to be amazing.
It's from Danny's this year.
Okay.
And then we're up at our pavilion area,
which is on the north side of the zoo.
Not too far from the rhinos.
And of course, you're just right on Lake Michigan.
It's Saturday, April 13th.
It's from six to nine.
It's really, it flows really well.
Everyone loves this particular event.
Because who doesn't want to help our Eastern Black rhinos?
And then food and wine,
and you just can't ask for anything better.
So you have rhinos at the zoo, huh?
We do. Eastern Black rhinos.
Timo and Kianga.
Now what's an Eastern Black rhino?
Hey, so that's one of the species.
So they are, they look more like,
not like an armored,
but they have a pre-hungful lip.
They have two horns in the front.
And they are, I mean, all rhinos have a nice thick gray skin.
And that's just the species that we happen to have here.
They are endangered.
And you know, one of these days we'd certainly like to have a baby with them, too.
That's our goal, so we'll see.
They keep practicing, but nothing's taken yet.
And what do you bring within the studio here?
Should have a lot of fun with them.
Now here's, and what day is that in that wild for wine?
I'm writing these out.
Yeah, that's Saturday, April 13th,
from 6 to 9 p.m.
And all the tickets are already on sale on our website at RacineZoo.org.
There's a green bar at the top.
If you go to events and do the drop-down,
you can find anything that you and I are talking about today for events.
And then people could just buy their tickets.
But those have been on sale, and folks are already buying tickets for that event.
Let's talk about two camps, which this is the first time I'm hearing about these.
Spring Break Camp and Summer Camp.
Let's do Spring Break Camp.
Now what is that?
So Spring Break Camp is taking place this year on April 1st through 5th.
It is the, when RUSD is on Spring Break,
that tends to be the week that we do Spring Break Camp.
So it's an all-day activity.
We also have a prior before and after camp care.
So that the parents can drop their kid off as early as 7.30.
Pick them up as late as 6 o'clock.
And then the event is during the day from 9 in the morning until 4.
So we have camp classes for kindergartners through kids in 5th grade.
So it's just a way for, you know, not every parent can take off for that Spring Break time.
And this is just a great way for continuing education for the kids.
It works out great. They get to feed giraffes.
They meet new keepers.
There's always crafts and snacks and lots of hands-on learning.
For about animals and wildlife and just environment in general.
And it's just a great way to send your kids to camp
when you still got to work on those days.
It's either one of two things you can hear when you walk through the zoo either.
Oh, good. The kids are coming in again from the animals.
Oh, you'll hear those kids are back again.
Oh, you stop.
I don't know. I guess they're happy to see children.
They are. They're happy to see you too. You just need to come and visit them.
Oh, I will. I love it.
I grew up right near the Bronx Zoo.
The Bronx Zoo was only like walking distance for my house when I lived in the Bronx.
Yeah, that's a great zoo.
And we have the Central Park Zoo. We had a lot of zooers growing up.
But now summer camp.
Yeah, so by the way, before we go to summer camp, give me the dates again for spring camp.
Okay, spring break camp is April 1 through 5, April 1 through 5.
Okay. And summer camp.
Yeah, so summer camp has been going on for quite a while here.
It starts this year, the week of June 17.
So it's similar to spring break camp, but you have...
It's a little bit warmer, so there's a few more things that the kids get to do.
They also get to go down to the beach, penning upon the class.
Everything is grade specific for meeting this local, state, and national science standards.
And then this is for ages 3 to kid entering seventh grade.
So it's a little bit more expanded on the age range for the kids.
But there are, you know, there's families we want to take care of everybody.
So there could be a third, a three-year-old, and then a kid in first grade.
So everyone can come to camp, which is great.
Not every camp is done every day of the weeks, but we do have nine weeks of camp.
And the three and four, ages three and four is a half day camp from nine until noon.
And then, kids that are getting in kindergarten through kids entering seventh grade are nine to four.
Again, these also have that, you know, before camp care, after camp care,
because everyone's schedules are so different.
We want to make sure that we can take care of all the parents, or all the grandparents, or the guardians,
as watching the kids. And it works out great. They enter the zoo. They hang out all day.
They come to visit me sometimes. We go see them. They have animal encounters.
They feed the giraffes. Some of the older kids in, like, junior zookeeper.
They get to help the keepers, you know, take care of an exhibit, make some animal diets.
I mean, it's just really a full enriching class. And last year was our largest attended summer camp.
And we are well on our way to surpassing that this year.
How do you feed a giraffe, are you to hold your hand out with the food, or how does that work?
Yeah, so they're getting fed some leaves. So the kids will be,
and we have encounters for regular guests that come into the zoo too.
We do those 11, 1 and 3 every day in the summertime.
And you would have your, so they're up at the north end.
You would be able to stand. There's a gate. And you literally stand at the foot of the gate.
And you put your arm out because that's, and then they can come over.
They've got a lot of dexterity in their neck. So they'll come over and grab the leaf.
And then go ahead and eat it and that closeness of being able to know that you also helped in animal care.
It puts smiles on these kids and faces. And it's just, it's an amazing experience.
Beth Heindor, an executive director of the Racine Zoo, is here.
Beth, hang in there just a moment. Don't move. Stay right where you are.
More to talk about. I want to find out more about the residents of the zoo.
That's coming up at just a moment, 649 WRJN.
hometown radio refreshed a civic media station.
650 at WRJN radio Beth Heindor is here, executive director of the Racine Zoo.
You know, when I was growing up, when we moved that to Long Island, there was a,
the Massive Equal Park Zoo. I don't know if you remember, but there was a guy,
I got his name already. Bring him back alive. I forget the guy's name.
He was a big African safari guy. They did a TV series and a couple of movies called Bring Him Back alive.
Frank Buck was his name, Frank Buck. And he was a big African explorer.
And he brought all these animals back. And my father's friend started the Massive Equal Park Zoo with these animals.
And it was crowded, always crowded. Now here's the problem.
The Massive Equal Drive in Theater was right next to it.
And when you got online with your car, it was right next to the monkey mountain.
And I mean this mountain. It was huge. And the monkeys would scream and throw things at the cars.
Not all the time. If you would taunt them, they would do it. And of course the kids in the car would taunt them.
And they throw stuff at the car, like rocks, little tiny rocks at the cars.
And it was science. Don't bother the monkeys.
Right. It would be respectful of wildlife and wild places.
Yeah. And if you start screaming at them, they throw things at you.
Which I would probably do it too. If somebody was screaming at me, I'd throw something at them as well.
But that's where I got my first, well, the Bronx Zoo when I was a little kid.
But that's you wish to go to the Massive Equal Park Zoo all the time.
But yeah, that was Frank Buck. Bring him back alive.
I don't I don't think I ever saw that show. It was a TV show.
And Bruce Bruce box lightener was the star was on CBS. Bring him back alive.
And they also had a movie in the 1930s with about Frank Buck. I think he was actually in the movie.
And he brought all these animals back from Africa and zoos across the country were able to house them and give them a home.
So that was it. I want to hear about some of the residents there.
Give us some of the ones we don't know about now that giraffe we know about.
But give us some of the other residents you have there at the zoo.
Well, we have orangutans. We have a foosa.
We have emperor tamarins, which is what we're kind of known for in our field.
They are their small primate. They look like they have a white mustache.
And we are very successful in breeding our emperor tamarins.
And we have probably between us and another zoo are the most successful in that species.
And our primary primate keeper, Crystal is the SSP coordinator.
So species survival plan. So she her part of her role is any zoo that has those animals that are credited.
So she can match them up and you know move, tell someone they need to move an animal to so and so that they can now have a new mating pair or breeding pair or those types of things.
So SSPs are incredibly important and we are really fortunate to be able to have an SSP coordinator here at the zoo.
There's a lot of people involved are running a zoo.
People have realized that the vets, the caretakers, and this is 24, 7, 365 days a year.
That is correct.
You can't leave these animals alone.
It's like you wouldn't leave your dog alone for a couple of days and you can't leave animals alone because they're totally dependent on the caretakers.
Now how much food you go through with these animals and everybody eats something different I assume, right?
Yes, they all have different nutritional needs and we have our nutrition, our vets, our animal care staff, and the expertise within aquariums or zoos and aquarium professionals help the diet plans for the animals.
And so we have everything from fish to carrots to grains to meat for the big cats and everything in between.
We have the largest little grocery store right here in order to take care of all the nutritional needs of the animal.
So we take it very seriously and if they have some of them get vitamins, it's supplements like we would depending upon what they need.
And we take care of that each and every day for all 77 species and all 300 individual animals that make up that are collection here.
So it's a big deal and our staff does just a phenomenal job.
Let's talk about some of the sponsorships available in the zoo.
Yeah, so we have people that organizations and businesses that sponsor specific animals.
We have sponsors that do events like animal crackers which is coming up this summer.
We have 20 different business sponsors that support that concert series and many of those sponsors also support other events that we have.
So whether a company or a person wants to support us with a $500 sponsorship or a $10,000 sponsorship, everything in between we're able to take care of those people.
And we're really, really good to our sponsors.
So sometimes they get tickets to the zoo, they get events, they get stuff, you know, every sponsor should be something for.
But it supports us a lot and we have people and businesses that are just, they just love this zoo.
This is a community zoo, we were 100 years old last year.
So we're working on our next century and the support is not going down, it's going up.
So it's nice, we've been able to support our, because they've been a sponsor of us and how we help market them, they've become more successful as businesses too.
And so it's a really big win win for everybody if you put your support to the rescindoo.
And the other things animal crackers is there every year.
We've got the lineup, we've been selling, we've probably sold, well we sold a thousand tickets last year at the last concert of the year.
We always sell the season tickets for the next year.
So we've got a great series coming up, we're very excited about it.
That's all online as well and you can get individual as you know or you can get the season tickets either way and then I know you're part of the
Racine concert band and they're coming here again this year and those dates are setting they're on our calendar.
So you know, I just love music outside in the summer anyway and then music outside right by the lake.
It just makes my heart melt, I just love it.
This is the 102nd year for the Racine concert.
Oh yes it is for the concert band, I know right?
100 years, holy mackerel.
Beth, I want you to do me a favor when we get closer to these dates, I need to come back and refresh people's memories.
Okay, let's a quick, quick review here.
Call me old fashioned Wednesday.
That's March 20th.
The egg Stravaganza for Easter is Saturday, March 30th.
Yep.
And while for wine Saturday, April 30th, April 13th.
He says, April 13th right here in front of me, one of my tongue.
A spring break camp is April 1st and June 17th will be summer camp.
But we'll talk more about those when we get closer to the morning.
Sounds great.
I'd love to.
Thanks so much for letting me come on your show today.
I love it.
And give all your residents a big kiss for us at the zoo, all right?
I promise.
All right.
Thank you, Beth.
Thanks. Have a good day.
Bye bye now.
Beth Heindor, an executive director of the Racine Zoo.
What a great zoo to him.
The WRJN.
We're talking about Love Week.
Coming up next with Sergeant Krista Wilcox here at WRJN.