Holiday Hijinks and Christmas Critiques (Hour 2)

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92.7 WMDX.

It is the John and Gordy show.

Good morning, Madison.

How are we doing today on this Wednesday, December 3rd?

My name is Aaron and right next to me here.

Hi.

How are you?

I'm Jamie.

Hi.

We are not John and

Gordy.

Not at all.

We're not at all John and Gordy whatsoever.

Thank you to everybody who's going to be watching a live stream here.

We got producer Dom in the production room.

How are you doing?

I'm not doing too bad.

It's nice and early

morning, guys.

I'm excited for the show.

Me too.

I was a little apprehensive.

I'm like, I don't know if I really want to get up and do this at this time of the day, to be honest with you.

And I don't know about you, Jamie, but we...

We're headed into work ironically at the same time because we passed each other on East Washington, but I didn't realize How there is absolutely no coffee shops open before 6 a.m.. In Madison

this is a big deal for you

because you're a coffee drinker.

I am.

And as we've talked, I am not.

I've been doing morning radio a really long time, and I just go on the nature of life.

I have no caffeine in me whatsoever.

But for you, this is a really big deal.

And what we also realized is that a lot of the coffee shops, as we were talking about it, don't actually open until we'll be off the air in a couple of hours.

We're just so wild.

So I'm like, I live on the east side, so I was driving in.

And I'm like, okay, so I drove past my coffee shop, you know,

the one

in your neighborhood.

That one I know isn't open.

Okay.

Because I'm there every time, you know, it's like 738 o'clock when I do go there.

And I was like, okay, well, I'm going to just Google the next coffee shop that I know of at the next stoplight.

Nothing.

Nope.

All the lights are off.

Nope.

I get to the Sylvie.

Nothing.

That intersection and I quickly pulled out my phone and tried to Google again.

I'm like, let's do a couple of state street options.

Nope.

So is this where you have to do like the quick trip coffee?

Because any gas station is going to be open this morning.

Or are you connoisseur and a snob about those things?

I don't mind.

Okay.

Gas station coffee.

I really don't.

Shout out to quick trip.

I love quick

trip,

right?

I love gas station coffee.

It's like a Mecca.

They're keeping the lights on for us, but I need the comfort of that.

local coffee shop cup.

The person who knows your name doesn't spell it wrong when they give you your cup.

And they know exactly what the flavor is and how many squirts of the flavoring you need or cream or sugar.

That's what you need in the morning.

I do.

Okay.

I can't do Red Bull.

Okay.

That makes sense.

Not

doing energy drinks?

Tom, I think you

do, right?

See, that's been an issue for me for a while.

I've been hooked

on energy drinks.

No, those are so bad.

And

Red Bull, like you said, Erin, Red Bull is... Red Bull gives me wings.

Truly.

I mean...

I saw

him.

Dom's livin' the slogan.

Yeah, you know, I'm shakin' right now, you know?

It is really great to be here.

So just a little backstory.

We

should probably give ourselves, you know, give the listener some backstory.

Oh, it's like a dating

profile.

Yeah.

I work here at Civic Media.

I've been fillin' in for Pete Schwab.

I oversee some of the programming here, and I don't want to make a big deal out of that, but I used to do...

Radio here in Madison for a very long time.

I went by the name of Aaron Rodgers for a long time.

I think it was a ridiculous name and it's dumb.

I don't use it anymore It

was his

birthday yesterday, and I just refused to acknowledge it the actual quarterback, but I have been in Madison poi I mean majority of my career was across the street at the big top 40 station for a while and It's really fun to be back on the airwaves

here in Madison and you're no stranger to Morning Radio either.

I am not, I am not.

So I've been at Civic for like three years, only because Civic came about and bought the station we owned in Baraboo, where I did Morning Radio there.

I've done some syndicated radio over the years, grew up in South Dakota, where did Morning Show on a station there.

So no, definitely not a stranger to Morning Radio, which is why going back to the coffee conversation,

you were appalled yesterday when you found out that I am not a coffee or caffeine drinker.

I don't know how

you do it.

There's something wrong with her.

I don't understand either.

It's unnatural.

My husband will tell you it is completely unnatural that anybody should be this happy this early in the morning for any reason, especially without some caffeine.

How do you get through the morning without coffee?

If you want to text us through the Civic

Media

app, I would love to understand that because I wouldn't mind not spending money on coffee.

Right.

Yeah, absolutely.

But I'm not a

happy guy, unless I have it.

You don't want to work with me and do the show unless I have it.

The rest of the world thanks the coffee.

All of us have to work with Aaron.

But we have a lot planned for this morning.

We got your chance to win in our grown up

gift

list multi-state text to win contest.

We'll give you that keyword just after 7 AM.

And we've got some great guests on the way.

We're going to talk a little bit about the film.

that we're gonna be presenting tomorrow night.

Pete Schwabba and the Godfather of Green Bay, you may have heard him before we hopped on the air here, but he's our host of Nightlight across the state of Wisconsin.

and he's got a film that's celebrating his 20th anniversary, and we're gonna have a performance, a performance, that doesn't make

sense.

Of the

viewing of it.

Viewing, of showing, a screening.

A screening of it.

Is that the official name?

I think screening is the official name.

A

screening of it.

Yeah, it's gonna be great though, and if you've had a chance to listen to Nightlight over the last couple of weeks, he's had some amazing guests, some of the stars from the movie, including Tony Goldwyn, who you might also know from Scandal, which was a TV series, and from the movie Ghost, he played the bad guy.

just in case anybody's wondering.

And Thomas Lennon, who you might know from Reno 911, he wore the short shorts.

Love it.

Yeah, that guy was the

best.

And tonight, you definitely want to be listening to Pete because Lauren Holly is going to be his guest on Nightlight.

She's also a star in The Godfather of Green Bay.

And you know her from Picket Fences, which was such a great show back in the day.

Dumb and Dumber as well, if you're a fan of silly comedy.

And this is going to be tomorrow night.

at the Atwood Music Hall.

It is such a cool venue.

It was my first time there.

Two weeks ago, I saw a country star.

Do you know what Kathy Matea is?

Oh, yes.

Hello.

18 wheels and a dozen roses,

baby.

It's a great song.

Right?

It's a fantastic song.

I

was living my childhood dream, and it was cool.

It was there with my mom.

It was just a really, really beautiful place.

I've never

been in there before.

So Atwood Music Hall tomorrow night, tickets are only $10, and you're going to.

This is a great film.

Pete's going to be there if you want to meet him.

If you want to meet.

John and Gordy and some of the other people

that work here, that's the place

to be.

And I'll tell you, what else?

Words this morning.

Get the words out.

See, it is early.

If you buy your tickets, $1 from Emory Ticket actually goes to help the Dane County Humane Society as well, which is a great cause.

So just in case anybody's wondering, we had some tickets that we gave to staff here.

I purchased them because I want to help puppies and kitties.

Oh, that's great.

You are way nicer than I am.

I will give you that.

of a risk, you got to help where we can.

I

just got to text your mocha opens at 530.

That is really good to know.

Thank you, Don and Wild Rose.

Oh, that's good information for you.

Yeah, I wouldn't know that because I'm never up this early.

So there's

also that.

But again, we're going to give you your shot at winning the growing up gift list multi-state text to win contest that keyword.

The first one of the day, make sure you have it.

Civic Media app, 7 AM.

We're going to get to that.

And we're going to check in with our producer here after the break and.

In case you missed it, it was a rough, rough weekend.

We're glad he's here.

For producer Dom.

We're glad he's here.

I don't want to talk about it.

Yeah, you know, we'll get into it a little

bit later, but you

know, it's a tough, it's a touchy subject.

It's also a special day for him too.

It is a special

day.

We'll talk about that too.

All right, yes, yes.

Lots, lots going on in Dom's world, not just morning radio.

What a busy morning here in Madison on 92.7 WMDX.

Thank goodness Dom has his wings.

You may need to go get a Red Bull.

You're going to need those wings if

that happens to you again.

Or to muster through with us this morning.

What are the two?

Now, let me tell you.

Wow.

What a day.

OK, we got a minute.

See, this is the thing.

I'm still getting used to this right now.

Right, exactly.

So compare with us.

By the end of the show, we're going to sound like pros.

We're supposed to already be pros.

But we'll sound like pros by the end of this.

We're getting

there.

We're brushing off some of the dirt

because we haven't had to do this in a while.

We haven't.

Yeah, live shows are a lot different than some of the things we do on a day-to-day basis.

You know, I produce things on this network throughout the entire network.

So doing a live shift, little, little, little different, little

different.

Yeah, I'm usually sending the one sending emails So we'll do that if you're calling hang on we're

gonna get to you here

We're gonna get to you here after the break

Matt we see you over hanging on the line there.

John and Gordy are on in the afternoon

You

can catch them right here at ninety two point seven WM DX and across the state on the civic media radio network two to five o'clock a Fresh reminder.

My name is Aaron.

I'm Jamie

and we are so happy to be guest hosting with you this morning

here on 92.7 WMDX with producer Dom.

So we will get to Dom's story here.

You want to talk about it?

Well, how much time do we got?

We

got four minutes.

Oh, we got time.

We

got four minutes.

OK, we're good.

All right.

I was reading the cue's

rod.

Do you see, you know what's really neat?

In front of us, we have this huge chart that tells us when things start and when things end.

And then we have a big clock in front of us.

For the record, I'm used to hosting.

I'm used to filling in for Pete.

And when I see the cues.

Yes.

it's usually that I have to wrap it up.

So

why don't I just follow this?

Matt from

Middleton, can we put him on?

Yes.

Well, we'll see what's going on here this morning.

We're going to get a little conversation.

Matt, good morning.

Good morning, guys.

Thanks for coming in for the guys.

But I just want to make a comment about independent cinema.

And as an artist myself, I always appreciate the

the kind of style differences and uniqueness of when directors and actors and everyone involved has to work on a very small budget, you often come up with very exquisite unique styles and things in film that I think AI will be revealed as being what it is, which is basically just

Stealing from a lot of things to make something that in the end is kind of bland and without soul

Sure,

and I'm hoping that in the future maybe Because right now it's forming a bubble and the only way for them to pay off all the money that's going into it is to Get rid of all the workers so the companies can make that money back So it is going to collapse on itself, but

I think independent cinema may survive because people want to see that uniqueness that comes from people putting their souls into something and working really hard at it and not just giving it off to the computer to do all the work, right?

So

yeah, no, absolutely.

I agree.

Yeah.

No, thank you so much for the call this morning, Matt.

We appreciate it.

And I think that's important.

I mean, we live in an AI world, right?

And AI is scary.

I find it super scary.

I'm freaked out.

And Matt, that is a good point.

I really hope that we can use AI responsibly.

Yes.

Right.

And it's going to be interesting these next couple of years.

I mean,

it's

already ramped up to the point where AI is.

Right.

taking

jobs and making, I don't know,

making it difficult to see what's real.

It's the good versus evil thing, right?

And I don't see a lot of people, like Matt said.

holding it responsibly.

So, you know, you got people like Pete Schwabba.

Even though this movie was an independent film 20 years ago, I mean, it hits home right to Matt's point.

So yeah, so definitely come check that out if you're in the Madison area.

Tomorrow night, seven o'clock at Wood Music Hall, the godfather of Green Bay.

If you want to grab your tickets, go to WMDXradio.com and a dollar for every ticket

that's sold

will be donated.

to the Dane County Humane Society's pet food pantry.

Yeah.

Isn't that cool?

That's really

cool.

I have a rescue puppy, so I'm always going to support that when I can.

Oh, now it's break time.

We did it.

We got there.

We

made it there.

We survived the first segment.

What happened to producer Dom?

And we're checking in on that plus a big milestone for him.

Yes.

That is on the way in minutes.

Stay with us.

It is the John and Gordy Show with Aaron, Jamie, and Dominic.

Good morning, Madison.

It's 92.7

WMDX.

I feel like that's aimed at me.

Maybe not.

92.7 WMDX.

It is the John and Gordy show.

My name is Aaron.

I'm Jamie.

And we're filling in for John and Gordy.

That was a very delayed response in my part because I was reading texts and then you pointed at me and I was like, oh, I'm supposed to be doing something right now.

I wonder that all the time every time I'm doing anything on the air here.

We're really good to be here.

Again, we're filling

in for

John and Gordy.

You can catch them in the afternoon in the interim from two until five o'clock across the Civic Media Radio Network and here on 92.7 WMDX.

Producer Dom is working away over there.

We're

glad.

Thank you for keeping us on track, man.

That's all I gotta say.

No worries.

We appreciate it.

And we're glad that you're working away because this is what we wanted to talk about.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, while the rest of us were enjoying some football and leftovers and maybe a little shopping, getting all those great deals, by the way, you had kind of a scary incident.

I did.

Let me refresh the memory for all

listeners

listening.

Saturday morning I went up to, it was from Chicago to West Bend and it was during that blizzard, that Saturday morning.

And I was on the expressway and I did a full 360 and I hit my car into the barrier and I had a flat tire during a blizzard.

So I had to call AAA, it was a whole thing, I didn't have a spare tire.

And yeah, it was bad.

Now was that a 994?

It was.

Yep.

That's a scary place to spin out.

What one that's

scary to spin out anywhere?

But what were you thinking as you were doing 360s?

Were the cars around you like?

Luckily, they were gonna die.

Like what was the thought process

there?

The one good thing is there was no one on the road.

So since it was a blizzard, they were like, oh, yeah, I'm not gonna drive during that.

But for me, I was like, let's do it.

And it turned out it just, I was doing full three six.

I felt like I was muscle man in regular show where they were doing, yeah.

I thought it was like Mario Kart and you spun out on a banana or something like that.

That's what it felt

like.

Well, we're glad you're okay.

Now if my memory serves correct.

Did you get into another did you have another incident on the way to a brewer game or was it a the pride parade or it was

yes It was okay.

It was the pride parade and I was going to Milwaukee and my car just had a check engine light and it started rumbling and so I parked on the side and it was

For a half an hour, I just didn't know what to do.

I was calling my parents, and it was another whole ordeal.

I got to start checking out new cars or something.

What kind of car do you drive?

I was just going to say, do we need to start a pool for a car?

See something?

You got to talk

to

human

resources.

He's got reliable transportation.

Nissan Centra.

So whatever you do, don't buy that car.

Drink a Red Bull and fly

here.

Use your wings for that.

Use your

wings.

Oh,

yeah.

Levitate all the way here.

Take pilot lessons.

Well, we're glad that you're here.

I mean, these are scary incidents.

I'm a mom, OK?

I'm pretty sure I'll say this.

I'm the oldest one in this room right now.

I know this.

But that scares me.

That terrifies me.

Let me tell you, my kid, he's 21.

He has a girlfriend in Ohio.

And he calls me one day from Chicago.

And I said, where are you heading?

And he goes, oh, well, I didn't.

tell you this, so I'm telling you now, I'm going to Ohio to spend the weekend with my girlfriend.

And I was like, oh, I see what you did there.

You called me just far enough away that I couldn't say anything.

I mean, 21.

It's not like I was going to say anything anyway.

Make your own decisions, kiddo.

But just far enough away that he was already too far to turn around.

But

there's no going

back.

There's no going back.

Right.

But that's a scary thing.

So what do your parents say in these incidents?

They just, I called them and they were, and my mom was frantic.

She was frantic.

Just like you were

talking about.

And my dad was like, oh, is it okay?

And I said, yep.

And that's, yep.

And then he went into the call and that's it.

Wow, we're glad you're here, man.

I mean, hopefully the car's okay.

Glad you got in today.

Yeah, especially.

We'll pass around the.

The boot.

The jar.

Yep, any donations

is nice

too.

The donation

jar.

Yeah, that's right.

That's right.

And

it's also a big day.

Is it today?

Is this the big day for you today?

This might be the big day.

We don't even know.

We're just going to celebrate it today.

Because we're filling in, and John and Gordy are taking a couple of weeks to do their afternoon show.

By the way, Doug from St.

Francis, thank you for that text.

But this is your six-month anniversary here?

This is my

six-month anniversary here.

There we go.

That's a long time in radio.

That's an eternity.

I'm blushing right now.

Yes.

I appreciate you guys.

Thank you so much.

And I appreciate being here.

Well, we're glad you're here.

Thank you.

I mean, in multiple ways.

We just heard the two car stories.

So we're glad you're here.

Six

months of radio.

I'd be celebrating that all day

long, man.

All

day

long.

But I bought myself a cake.

I'm going to buy myself a cake, go home, eat it all.

It's going to be good.

Just don't take it in the center.

We don't know where you'll end up at that point.

Real quick, what's the longest time you've ever spent at a job?

Let's start with you, Jamie.

Go.

Oh my gosh.

The longest time I spent at a job, so...

Oh boy.

I'm a long-termer.

When I get somewhere, I don't want to go anywhere.

So my first radio gig ended up being seven years.

I did my syndicated show for four years, and then we had the Baraboo station where I did mornings for seven.

Wow.

I know.

You beat me.

I think I got six and a half.

My nuts?

I might be nuts.

You're nuts.

I am.

You're like

a stage four clinger with the job.

I am, I am.

I'm kind of wondering if.

Doug and St.

Francis wondering where John and Gordy, if he's, he's just wondering or if he's like, God, get these people off the radio

now.

What about our listener?

You know, if you're, if you're in a job for more than six, how's, what's the longest time you ever spent in a job?

You

can

text us right now through the civic media app find 92.7 WMDX and text us or leave a comment on the live stream.

I want to see like,

Do we have somebody who's been at one job their whole time listening this morning?

Is that when you retire with the gold watch and the plaque, when you've been at a job that long?

They used to do that, right?

That used to be a thing.

The nicest present ever,

because they don't do

anything like

that.

They used to be a thing.

You used to get a retirement present.

Now we're just like, get out, go home.

Coming up in moments, the most fun cities in America and where we stand on that list,

We're going to break it all down for you this morning as we approach 6.30 here at 92.7 WMDX in for John and Gordy, Aaron, Jamie, and Dom.

Glad to have you with us this morning.

Thank you.

92.7 WMDX.

Good morning, Madison.

This is John and Gordy Show.

My name is Erin.

I'm Jamie.

And we are filling in for John and Gordy who are happily taking over the afternoon on WMDX and throughout the state

on

our Civic Media Radio Network from two to five.

That's where they're going to be for the next couple of weeks.

So there's going to be some special guests.

There may be us again.

I don't know if they allow us back on here.

Probably not.

But we're really happy to be here and really just really fun to wake up the city that I've spent so much time in.

I'm

so happy.

happy to be here.

I'm serious.

And I know you've lived here for a long time.

And when we were in Baraboo, we spent a lot of time also in Madison.

It's something special to be here.

We were talking about it coming in this morning, right?

We were coming down Washington because you and I live on the same side of town.

And one of the best sites is just coming down Washington and seeing the Capitol illuminated.

And there was a little haze over it this morning and it was glowing.

It's just an absolutely incredible

site.

I agree.

It was really special.

And I normally didn't have that drive because I did morning radio on...

the mix here before the pandemic.

So I

was on

there, I was on Z 104 for a while for a long time.

That's actually my longest job, which we'll get to here

in a minute.

We got a lot of tax.

Thank you.

But those studios were in Fitchburg and on the west side.

Yeah.

And it was like.

OK, well, there's nothing to see over there.

No

offense to that part of the town.

But this is really pretty coming into work

down here.

Yeah, no.

It's special coming into downtown Madison.

And as we're watching the state street from these huge windows in the studio, Madison's starting to wake up.

We're starting to see more traffic out here this morning.

Coffee shops are open.

And the coffee shops are opening.

They are.

They'll be ready for you when we are done at 8 o'clock.

But no, it is.

Madison's a really special place.

It's cold, it's wintry, but it's, you know, you gotta get down here and enjoy all of it.

It feels seasonal.

It does.

And there's a

lot to do this time of the year here in Madison, and we're gonna talk about where we rank in the Wallet Hub survey of the most fun cities in America.

But a question this morning, and I wanna get to a couple of these texts.

You can open up the Civic Media app, you can text us anytime when you find 92.7 WMDX.

You can also give us a call, 608-879.

8255, but reading some of these texts, what is the longest job you've ever held?

Because we know that people switch jobs left and right here.

Matt and Middleton, seven and a half years of the post office, still there.

after working in video games for 14 years

with multiple layoffs.

Yeah, that's awesome.

So now I got questions, because my kids are gamers, like design, tester.

I have questions about this format.

And I'm assuming that's Call of Duty, right?

Yes, absolutely.

Don't I make that here?

They do.

They do, right?

Yep.

It would have to be, wouldn't it?

Anyway, so we have questions for you, Matt, because that's pretty cool.

And then we've got Steve from Mount Horrib, 36 years working at the University of Wisconsin.

Congratulations.

That's amazing.

I think that one is the

record breaker here.

That beats your six months, Dom, sorry.

Although in radio, that feels like 36 years, so you're on a roll.

But in Janesville, good morning, Erin, Jamie, and Dom, in response to your question about the length of time.

Good job.

Been delivering newspapers in Madison for 30 years, bud.

That is a feat.

That's amazing.

Congratulations on that.

I love that.

Now, I know Bud also likes to, because of how early his schedule is, and because he texts other shows once in a while, and I've had a chance to communicate with him through text, he listens a lot in the overnight.

So sometimes he gets all of the fabulous replays that we have here on Civic Network, and that's how he keeps up with everything that we're doing.

Look at that.

I know, I know.

On the ball.

I know.

We're building community people.

That's what we're doing this morning.

Mark from Priority Seven.

Back retired from the DNR in 2017 after nearly 36 years at the Madison office.

Congratulations.

He's got a competitor now.

He does, he does.

Congratulations.

Anybody got

40 years on a job?

Oh gosh, I don't know.

Ooh, ooh, I see Matt from Middleton on the phone.

Dom, I know you're working hard over there, so let us know when we're ready, because I want to know more about this video game stuff.

All right, all right, Matt, are you there?

Do we have that?

Oh, there we go.

What would you like to know?

Well, where did you work?

What was the video game process?

What did you do?

I seriously have kids who are gamers.

Well, I was always a graphic artist drawing, painting, sculpting.

That's what I like doing.

Okay.

And in the late 90s was the heyday of video games as a job for an artist.

You can make really good money.

Studios were growing.

There's a lot more.

Studios popping up in the early 2000s is when I started I started at Raven software in Middleton and in 2008 there were major layoffs of course because of the crash but after that after 2009 a game engine called Unity came out and soon after that it was open platform and there are tons of independent games being made

And then you had the clickbait free to play games so the whole industry contracted and Layoffs were common.

You'd get hired for a project Cross your fingers if you're still there once it releases, right?

Right, but now it's basically you only have the big guys and and through my career there.

I saw the technology changing really fast and

Became more and more competitive and with AI it's going to be at the point where a major studio will only need 15 people to make a huge game as opposed to 80 some people right took in the early 2000s, right?

Yeah Well, thank you so much for for telling us that this morning see people think radio

like jocks have good jobs and or have interesting jobs.

I think that's super interesting.

You know?

How do you even go about doing that?

I mean, it really is fascinating

all the

different types of work out there, right?

It is.

Matt, appreciate that phone call.

Absolutely.

Now, this kind of, that conversation kind of leads us into what we wanted to talk about, right?

This segment, this block, what's the official word?

Whatever.

Whatever.

That's all jargon.

Whatever.

It's fine.

So, um

Apparently, Wallet Hub just put out one of their surveys ranking the most fun cities in America, right?

And I don't think this is a big surprise that Las Vegas and Orlando topped the list.

So sinning and disneying, disneying is not a word.

I just made that up this morning.

That

sounds right to

me.

It's fine.

They have their own entity, so you can make up words around them.

They based this on 65 different metrics.

Wallet Hub did, right?

Putting out this survey.

Like how many bars, restaurants, festivals there are.

I'm sure coffee shops were probably included in that too.

They'd have to be.

I would assume

so.

Yeah.

And they also factored in how far you travel to get to your closest bowling alley or even your favorite frozen yogurt shop.

Oh, now we're talking.

Is Froyo

still popular?

Is that still a thing?

Froyo, I think it is.

I don't know.

We live in the heart of like Dairyland, right?

So everything's ice cream.

I don't see a lot of Froyo.

So Vegas Orlando top this list, which I feel like happens every year.

Yeah.

Where do we fit into the puzzle here?

Are we as fun as Vegas and Orlando?

Is Madison as good as those two

cities?

There were 182 total cities on the list.

So we didn't do too badly.

Madison came in at number 77.

So that's not horrible out of 182 cities, right?

We're not at the bottom.

I think it could be better.

I mean, if they would have factored in more bars, then we probably would have jumped right up to the top.

This is going to be the point of contention.

Okay,

yes, okay, so

Right all the big cities around this top 10 list New Orleans.

Yeah, it's fun San Francisco.

It's fun.

Austin's fun Madison's in at number 77 But the the the point that's gonna drive Madisonians crazy, which I don't understand this at all I've never understood this since I've lived here sir Milwaukee's in at number 36 and that's gonna rub people the wrong way here Because

there's a bigger it's just I don't

know.

I don't know

I mean, there's a lot to do here, which we're gonna talk about later in

the

show, especially this time of the year.

But you know there's gonna be somebody listening who's gonna say, Milwaukee, I don't get it.

Yeah, yeah, no.

And you know, and here's the thing, my kid lives in Milwaukee.

So honestly, in the scheme of things in life you never thought you would do, I spend way more time in Milwaukee than I ever humanly thought.

was possible.

But it's fun and we do a lot of things.

And he lives just a couple blocks off Brady Street in Milwaukee.

So there's always places to go, food, but we find a lot to do here, honestly.

I would agree equally as many things to do here as there is to do there.

Minus professional sports, which we don't have here.

Whatever

and we won't talk about the Badgers football see

the least fun.

Yeah, we won't talk about that at all.

It's

a

subject

But nobody was jumping around too much this year

the least fun city on this list is Pearl City, Hawaii Yeah in at number 182 and I just think

If you're going to Hawaii, that's gotta be good no matter what,

right?

Right, I was just gonna say, and maybe Pearl City comes in last just because of the Pearl Harbor Memorial, and maybe when you go there, you're going more to pay tribute, to pay homage, to be respectful.

You're not going there for the beach scene necessarily.

I don't know.

I don't know what the reasoning for Pearl City coming in at 182

was.

It says because it has high noise pollution.

Very, very high noise pollution, but...

Interesting.

So does every other city, so.

I live on the east side of Madison and there's a lot

of noise pollution from

the jets flying over my condo every single day, so.

The jets are a little loud.

They're a little, you know, I love that we have an airport that you can take off from, get places really quickly, but yep, yep, if you're on that east side, you know exactly what Erin's talking about.

I

love the Dane County Regional Airport.

Shout out to everybody working there

this morning if

you're listening.

It's my favorite little airport to fly out of.

By the way.

It's glorious.

No lines, hardly ever.

Jamie Madison isn't cheap when we know that.

Right.

The cheapest cities for fun on this list don't sound fun at all.

No, they don't.

They say

it says the five cheapest cities for fun on this list, and they don't sound fun whatsoever.

Let's start with this one.

Oklahoma City doesn't sound fun.

Nope.

Nope.

Been there, in fact.

Nope.

That's all I got.

I've been there.

And I have, I didn't even buy the t-shirt to prove it.

Let's be honest.

That is really bad then.

El Paso, Texas, not fun.

Nope, been there too.

Not, didn't have a

good

time.

Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Never

been.

Never been.

Doesn't sound fun.

Nope, doesn't scream it.

I'm good.

Wichita, Kansas.

Go ahead.

I lived in Kansas City.

Never once went to Wichita.

It doesn't sound fun.

Now, we own a storm chasing company.

So we have a lot of chasers who are in Wichita.

They would beg to differ on the Wichita.

Now, I'm going to be honest.

In Kansas, one of the most exciting things that you can do is go through Bob Dole's childhood home.

That is actually one of the top tourist destinations in Kansas.

I don't think it's in Wichita.

And Nebraska Furniture Mart.

If you've never been to a Nebraska Furniture Mart.

I'm telling you, that is an experience.

If you think going to Menards is fun, go to a Nebraska Furniture Mart and you will walk out with a U-Haul.

I

swear on it.

Do I get meat pulse when I go to an Ikea?

Maybe, I don't know.

The one in South Dakota, there was a South Dakota Furniture Mart.

They had a coffee bar with cookies and...

treats and all of that, which made that a spectacular shopping experience

for me.

I gotta go.

I gotta see your home town here.

Last on this list of the five cheapest cities for fun does not also sound fun at all.

Who wants to go to Amarillo, Texas?

No, I don't want to go to a place that sounds like Armadillo.

It sounds like Armadillo.

The only thing that Amarillo, Texas has going for it.

is the George Straits song, Amarillo by Morning.

This is true.

Good one.

Classic.

I'll give you that.

I'll give you that.

That might be the only positive, absolutely, that Amarillo has going for it.

You are listening to 92.7 WMDX.

I am Jamie.

I am Aaron, and we have your chance to win in our grown-up gift list, multi-state text to win contest.

Open up that free civic media app.

The keyword to text is coming up just after 7 o'clock here on 92.7.

WMDX.

92.7 WMDX.

Good morning, Madison.

It's 6.52.

John and Gordy show, Erin and...

Die, I'm Jamie.

And we are not John and Gordy.

We're not.

Obviously.

We just introduced ourselves.

There they are behind us, though.

Look at those suave debonair dudes.

It's

a great...

It is a great photo.

Wow.

All right, so.

It's

like they're staring at us right now.

Maybe

I don't

like it.

Don't mess.

I'm so used to

that photo.

I'm so used to it.

And by now it's just.

It's just like pierced through your soul because they're facing you.

They're facing you.

Yeah,

they're staring right into my

soul.

And they're looking at us like, don't screw this up.

Right.

Producer Dom, celebrating his six month anniversary with us this morning.

So

good to have

you, dear.

Been talking to producer Dom for like two years, pretty much at like every job fair on the face of the planet.

It was

every

job fair in Green Bay.

It was even a virtual one too that we talked.

So it's been, it's been, it's been quite a while, Aaron.

It's been quite a while.

Well, I won't tell you what I was doing when I offered you the job.

I was

at a bar in Green Bay for the NFL Draft.

And I told my mom, I gotta put the beer down here and I gotta.

Give a job offer.

That's so much better than I thought where that might

be.

Honestly, I respect it, you know, I actually appreciate that even more than if you were just at home.

So thank you.

Yeah, I do some of the hiring here is why I did that.

But that was great.

John and Gordy are great.

They're on in the afternoon right now, holding down of some some serious real estate from two to five o'clock.

So

shout out to

them.

You can catch them here.

They're going to be back on the air here in the morning as well.

So.

In the meantime, we're going to have some fun.

We're talking about

the longest job you've ever had this

morning in

the text line?

Yeah, and we've had a lot of people.

I mean, we've got some people who are close to 40 years who have texted in this morning at their respective position, which I think is amazing.

I mean, we come from a broadcast background where in the current state of things, probably why Dom had to go to so many job fairs at 1.2 because companies are hiring and firing like crazy all the time, right?

And you don't get that longevity.

Plus, there's a thing in a lot of radio markets called ratings.

So then at some point when your ratings start going down, they're going to take you right off the air and put in somebody else who can maybe bring those ratings back up.

So we live in kind of a cutthroat environment as far as radio, which is why Civic is awesome, right?

It really is.

Yeah, there's support here.

I'm really proud to be here.

I mean, I'm not going to lie.

let go at the pandemic.

Because I was working across the street at another radio station in this city doing a morning show for a couple of years.

And it was just kind of demoralizing because I just thought like, I don't want to have that happen to me again.

And being able to be back, I worked for a marketing agency for a while, learned so much, wouldn't trade it for the world.

I'm on TV in the morning on Fox 47.

I do multiple segments throughout the day.

I do a lot of our client interviews.

I do a

lot of our

community stuff.

TV's been great.

The team over at Fox 47 has been awesome.

But working here has been equally as fulfilling.

And I have a new lease on this business.

And I don't know if

you've ever felt this way, but I look at this as if I rent the job.

And I tell our team members that I rent the job.

It's not mine to keep.

It's not my company.

But

while

I'm here,

I'm going to maintain the place the best I can

and have

the most fun.

No, and I totally get that.

I mean, coming from an environment where we owned our own station.

You know, it's a privilege to do what we do.