Cuts Hit Local Farmers, Pantries, Schools (Hour 2)

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Wisconsin from Civic Media.

This is Up North News Radio.

Now, live from our Lake Minnesota studio, here's the founding editor of Up North News, Pat

Breidlo.

Hey, good morning.

Welcome back.

One last time to Up North News Radio.

Unabashedly, Wisconsin brought to you by Courier Newsroom and carried by our friends here on the Civic Media Radio Network at 7.06 on a Tuesday morning, April 22nd.

And no.

The show isn't actually going anywhere, except the name.

It's getting a new name starting tomorrow.

It's getting longer hours starting tomorrow.

Instead of six to eight, we'll be going from six to nine.

We're looking forward to that.

Coming up later this hour, our friend Hans Brighton Moser, who's a dairy farmer up in Lincoln County, will join us along with a farmer from Marathon County.

And they're going to talk about a program that helps ensure that locally grown food

gets to local schools and local food pantries.

It's a great way to support local agriculture so that not everything, you know, on the lunch tables, not everything in the pantries is from some big corporate thing trucked in from a thousand miles away.

It's a good deal.

And it's being wiped out.

not for any kind of budget savings, but to pay for tax cuts for billionaires.

And so we'll be talking about that later on this hour.

We'll also have Chad Holmes who is talking about the final edition of the Chad Holmes program coming up in the next hour, as well as the Earl Ingram show.

But Earl's not going anywhere and Chad's not going anywhere.

We will hear from them during our new morning show starting tomorrow and of course throughout the whole revamped Civic Media lineup, which again, premieres tomorrow.

Head over to the Civic Media website, civicmedia.us to learn more.

Meteorologist Brittany Merleau is with us now.

She will be with us at this time every morning, tomorrow again as well, but then again at

eight o'clock, right after the eight o'clock news.

So Greg, we must mind our P's and Q's because we, right now it's like, well, if Brittany, you know, if she's uncomfortable or whatever, that's, it's a one and done.

If we cheese her off at, you know, 707, we're not going to see her at 807.

So I don't know that we should like sing to her anymore because it's like embarrassing, harassing as I, because I noted in the last segment that

Glenn Campbell was born 89 years ago today.

Wait, Glenn

Campbell?

Glenn Campbell.

The

same guy who has the official song of linemen?

Of linemen

everywhere.

Oh, my gosh.

There's not a lineman out there that doesn't know.

He hasn't left the room yet, so we're good.

He doesn't want us to sing this song.

Oh, that's so sad,

because I am a lineman for the county.

We are so insane.

I'm gonna miss that.

We can't help it.

It's just so good.

It's an amazing song.

So anyway, no more of that.

So that's that's that's done.

But I hope you never again and never ever again.

Well, we've been we've been having discussions.

about music licenses and whether we want to get in trouble with the licenses for any longer for our bad singing of Wichita alignment.

Glenn Campbell people come at me bro.

Rob and Tigerton makes clear the best meteorologists deserve more time.

So yes, of course you should agree.

While we while we got Rob, here's this good morning from Tigerton, partly cloudy and 32.

Last night, I had supper at my sister Lori's house in Caroline.

I had brats and sauerkraut.

It was great.

Today, I've got to take Molly in my car for grease and oil change and break job by my mechanic Todd for Brittany.

I've got got to give Glen Campbell song sunflower from 1977.

I don't sunflower.

is a Glen Campbell song that I had forgotten.

And Rob, I love you, but I wish I could keep forgetting it.

I do

not like that song.

Oh,

then I will, I will, I will close my YouTube.

There we go.

Oh, now I'm going to go look it up after.

So we have had some, there were like snowflakes, a little bit more than snowflakes in parts up north yesterday.

So that, that whole spring thing still continues to be fussy as

it

works its way in.

But

it sure does.

How are we looking

for today?

Well, we've got rain working its way across the state, especially south right now.

A pretty moderate rainfall bringing about a quarter of an inch this morning up north northwest.

We're looking at some more light showers pushing through the state and those are going to keep working their way east throughout the day today.

We look drier at night, especially up north.

But if you're down south, you have a small chance of a few thunderstorms popping up later on this evening and into the night.

Now I think a lot of those storms are going to stay into Illinois, but of course a few of them could cross the.

state line.

So keep an eye out for that.

They're not supposed to be severe, but they're going to be on the stronger side of things.

Otherwise today right now we're waking up to temperatures in the upper 20s far northeast to the upper 40s far west.

We've got spots of sun.

We've got spots of clouds and of course spots of rain still ongoing.

High temperatures today will make it to the mid 60s far south.

but northeast you're going to stay stuck to the mid forties.

So a lot of fifties throughout central Wisconsin today and of course tomorrow we've got another wave of storms moving in this low pressure system wants to dampen our day tomorrow also into Thursday and also into Friday morning before the system leaves.

So we do have a wet next few days so thunderstorms are still likely again tomorrow morning.

and then the soaker moves in Thursday night into Friday morning before we clear things out for a bright and beautiful Saturday and Sunday.

Those temperatures are rising before they fall a little bit for the weekend.

Why'd you say no?

Thursday night, a soaker on Thursday night

for the draft?

I know.

Okay.

it's it's not snow but you know what snow might have at least been romantic in green bay

for the

draft

but if

it's oh if it's a soaker that's not going to be great oh well i mean

i

know we can't change it but i feel bad for them

maybe we can push it just so it only rains during the evening and at night and overnight who knows but on my fingers are crossed that maybe the system speeds up and moves out of here but

okay well it is what it is kids and if you if you came if you decide to come to green bay wisconsin

This time of year and you didn't bring the proper gear.

Well, guess what?

There's a there's a packer pro shop probably with ponchos for sale and you for

$30 and

you folks coming from Kansas City or Indianapolis or wherever, you're just gonna have to wear some packer gear if you didn't dress appropriately for the weather.

How's that?

Exactly.

I like that better.

Brittany, thank you so much.

Have a great day.

We'll talk to you tomorrow.

Twice.

Crazy.

I know.

Hey, speaking of the draft at 713 right now.

Look, it's gonna be a big deal.

Whatever the weather gonna be a lot of visitors and That's going to increase the need for security But here's the thing We already knew that the draft was coming.

We already knew that security was gonna be needed We already knew it was going to cost taxpayer resources and most people were fine with that I'm fine with that.

It's it's a big deal.

It's gonna bring at least 10 million dollars into the local economy The thing that I think is funny though

is that the legislature is about to be asked to pony up another one and a half million dollars for security costs.

And so to, to listen to one of the representatives from the area, one of the state assembly reps talk about this.

I just want you to listen to this sound bite from representative David Stefan.

He was on upfront from WISN TV.

And he's talking about the security costs.

And of course, this is in his backyard.

And so he's rather nonchalant about, you know, how much these things cost.

But let me, let me just raise a point on the other end of this sound bite for the next, you know, 90 seconds or so from Representative Stefan on WIS ends up front.

It's 1.25 million that'll be covered two-thirds of the public safety expenses related to hosting this event.

Two-thirds of the economic benefit of this draft is happening outside of Brown County.

And so it's a reasonable ask when two-thirds of the benefits from outside Brown County, the two-thirds of the expenses also outside Brown County.

Well,

I

don't think any of the local agencies expected the price tag associated with this.

We've had, for example, our fire department has been working for months already servicing and protecting

and those who have been working all around this area to keep this area safe.

And so the expenses have really ballooned in terms of the cost to keep this area safe.

I mean, who would have thought that to host this just from a public safety perspective that would be looking at roughly $2 million?

And so that's a lot of expenses.

So once in a lifetime experience.

but that means there's also a once in a lifetime expense.

Everyone knows when you host a party, it always costs more than you expect, and that's certainly true here.

Any specific reason for that that the prices or the costs have increased from maybe what was initially thought a couple years ago?

I think there's also a reality that because the footprint is a little larger than some expected, the amount of activity that's been required over a longer period of time have increased.

And to be honest, this just has a lot of high expectations.

We have to keep this.

We can't promise that the pack

will have a successful draft, but we can't ensure that our community and state has a safe draft.

And so we're going to do everything we can to ensure that happens, and that comes at a cost.

Greg, that comes at a cost.

I mean, these things happen, expenses go up.

All I ask is that now we, in some parallel universe, hear the same comments from...

you either that Republican representative or some other if the draft were being held in Milwaukee and they needed another million and a half dollars and you try the line of well two-thirds of the economic benefit is going to be outside of Milwaukee and so you know the the rest of the state should pony up two-thirds of the cost.

Imagine what lawmakers from the Northwoods would have to say about that.

And that's all I'm pointing out is how nonchalant.

Well, you know, it's a party.

Things come at a cost.

What are you going to do?

Yeah, because it's on your watch in your backyard.

Please don't think we didn't notice.

That's all, that's all I'm

saying.

It just sounded so odd at the time.

I'm like, yeah, that is not what you would be saying if it were somewhere other than your backyard.

No.

And I want, look, I want them to approve the money.

I absolutely do.

And do I, do I think two thirds should come from outside of Brown County?

You know, I can, I can live with that.

I just, just remember this in the future when there's something happening in the state's largest city in its economic engine.

That's all I'm asking.

Yeah, I think it's fair to ask other counties to pony up some money.

Two thirds, I can't, I would, I would want to see reports first.

I would want to see like projections and forecasts on costs and costs.

Oh, they,

they'd want every little thing itemized.

Yes.

Yes.

Oh gosh, without a doubt.

But they don't have a problem pushing the cost when it's a county stadium that wants to be built.

They'll, they'll give it to every other county.

That's fine.

Don't worry about that.

That's, that's a whole other topic that me and my mother-in-law talk about.

Oh my God, I'll bet it

is.

One more note quick from the state capital and that is that Republican leaders are holding off for the moment on introducing their own tax cut plan separate from the state budget.

They've been talking about doing that because they don't want Governor Evers to take any credit if the next state budget happens to have an tax decrease.

I mean, seriously, last year he agreed to sign a budget.

He signed the budget.

That's what governors do.

So guess what governors get to do?

They get to take a little bit of the credit because they could just as easily veto it or partial veto it and send it back.

And Republicans were so unhappy that he would dare take some of the credit for tax relief that they've already

put in the waste basket, his $2 billion plan for tax relief.

And they want to come up with their own separate from the state budget.

Well, now it appears that negotiations with the governor's office are going well enough that they're for the moment, not going to try that trick.

But again, kids, how can we make this a win win?

We can have tax relief and a state budget all together.

More after this, you're up north.

You're listening to Civic Media.

Stay up to date on the latest news and information for your local community and Wisconsin by signing up for our free email newsletter.

Visit civicmedia.us slash email to get started.

If you missed it in today's history lesson, today Paul Carrick is 74 years old and he was part of Squeeze there.

He was part of Ace.

He was part of Mike and the Mechanics.

He had his own solo hits.

He was actually, remember that, that, uh, SCTV skit about Michael McDonald?

Yeah.

And he's got to run into the booth, you know, to sing background and all these different songs.

That was actually more like Paul Carrick was like running from record studio to record studio, you know.

being on all these records in these bands.

Spoiler alert, Michael McDonald references that sketch, too, to talk about how busy he was in the 80s.

As well as he should.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We spent the one of the top of the art commercial break.

I don't know how we got on SNL casts.

Oh, because today was also the anniversary of the show in 1978 with both the premiere of the Blues Brothers and Steve Martin performing King Tut.

Yeah.

And we get to talking about how, as you first put it very well, you know.

Saturday Night Live has always been funny.

It has its ups and downs as phases and shows, but we were going through the recent cast members here, and I did not know that you knew one of the more recent cast members.

Yeah, Molly Cardney is a friend of mine.

We worked together on shows, booked her on shows.

They're incredibly, incredibly funny.

Actually, I'm very lucky.

This is going to be way for me.

Like, watch your toes.

I'm about to drop some names.

I'm very lucky to know several people who work there.

So like, uh, my friend Steve is, is now a writer again there.

My friend Katie was a writer, uh, gotten some, gotten some controversy.

If you look up Katie rich SNL, there's some controversy there, but, and then, um, uh, even though I don't, I, I don't want to call him a friend.

I've worked with Michael Longfellow at the club and he is just one of the nicest human beings alive.

And it was very, very gracious when he was here.

And I love that because you, like, you look at, you're like, oh, you are on a nationally, you're on a national show, you are on national television, you are on SNL.

You could have the biggest attitude and you do not.

And he was just lovely to work with.

Mm-hmm as I'm looking through the the list of how many seasons everybody's been on and everything Do you know what's how many seasons is this is for Keenan Thompson?

21 22 this 22 second season

he there's no sign of wavering and he know he speaks of it just like I love this job I'd why would I want to leave it and He's still amazing.

He's still

Halle the big anytime the camera cuts to him and he's got big eyes of disbelief.

It's fantastic.

Yes, he's still as far as I'm concerned still pulls it off.

Yes, it's a done.

Love it.

Yes.

Today is Earth Day.

Gaylord Nelson, former senator, the the Pride of Clear Lake, Wisconsin started it.

So here's where I get to tell my Gaylord Nelson story.

again, because Dr. Kristen Lierly confirmed it.

And I will mention this in every budget cycle until this legislature controlled by Republicans finally does something about it.

Let's go back to the 2009 state budget.

I was in the state Senate, the Great Recession was underway, you know, the markets had crashed, the housing bubble had burst, and legislators right now

are still fighting over a $4 billion surplus.

It was even more than that in the last session, a multi-billion dollar surplus.

We were looking at a deficit, a shortfall of $3 to $6 billion to fill.

And as we were working on that state budget, of course, the last thing we could really be asking for was any kind of earmarks.

There was no money for these things.

But I also had brought to my attention,

that there was an omission out there on the roads of Wisconsin, and that there was not yet a road named for Gaylord Nelson, the father of Earth Day.

And so the highway that travels up through Clear Lake and up toward the Ashland area, we had designated as the Gaylord Nelson Memorial Highway.

But the only way we were allowed to put something in the budget like that,

is if we earmarked zero dollars for it.

So we could not put up any markers.

Private groups could raise the money if they wanted, but it is primarily a state job to make sure that we mark these things for our historical figures, for our history, for our geography, what have you.

And then I wasn't in the legislature and honestly just didn't think much about it.

Just kind of assumed that at some point these things would be dealt with.

But you go back to Dr. Lierly making a trek out to Clear Lake as part of like a, like a camping trip throughout Northwest Wisconsin and everything.

And I asked her to check it out.

And I looked online as well.

And near as I can tell, somebody can please let me know if I'm wrong.

But to this date, even though that stretch of 63, I believe it is, is the Gaylord Nelson Memorial Highway, there's still no marker saying as much.

And so I would hope that once again in this cycle, especially since there are Republican representatives in that area, whatever you think of Earth Day, maybe there's enough respect there for a former governor and US Senator to finally put the markers up about that.

Again, it's a small matter.

I get that in the big scheme of things, but I feel like if I don't remind people of that story, people will eventually look back and go, how could they name this for somebody?

And this is like the one road that doesn't have any markers up.

Well, now you know.

In our newsletter today, we talk all about it being Earth Day, also World Climate Change Day, and there's a story in there about what Wisconsin's climate could look like by the year 2080 if trends continue.

And then there are five great spots where you could celebrate Earth Day in Wisconsin.

I'll link to that story as well.

So take a look for that one in our newsletter.

Sign up for it at UpNorthNewsWI.com.

Also in our mailbox today, press release from the governor's office.

Governor Tony Evers giving an Earth Day update on planting trees.

There's this thing called the Trillion Trees Pledge where

Wisconsin pledges to plant trees that that help combat the effects of a warming planet to get, you know, the trees help remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, things like that.

And the governor, Noting Earth Day, Arbor Day and Forest Appreciation Week, released the annual report that says Wisconsin planted over 10 million trees

and conserved more than 57,000 acres of forest land in 2024 alone as part of the Trillion Tree Pledge.

It was back in 2021 on Earth Day that the governor signed an executive order joining the pledge and committing to plant 75 million new trees by the end of 2030.

It's just again, one of those ways it's such an easy way to make a difference.

It doesn't solve everything, but it stops making the problem worse and even mitigates it in some ways.

So I wanted to call your attention to the ongoing effort to be part of the trillion tree pledge on this Earth Day.

When we come back, we're going to talk about the impact on Wisconsin family farmers of Trump and Musk cuts to an important agricultural program.

On Up North News Radio, I'm Pat Kraitlam.

More

from Paul Carrick, the birthday boy, turning 74 today here on Up North News Radio, which is Up North News Radio for one more day.

Starting tomorrow, we get a new name, we get a new

time, still six AM, but instead of six to eight, it'll be six to nine as part of a whole new lineup of shows starting tomorrow here across the Civic Media Radio Network.

Some things are going to change.

For example, Joseph Hecke is often heard here on Thursday mornings at six thirty.

We'll hear him at eight thirty instead.

Tomorrow in our eight AM, our new eight AM hour, we'll be talking to William Garcia.

who, like Joseph Peckie, is a candidate for state superintendent of public, no, I'm sorry, state chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.

You see these campaigns, these elections, they last so long that you're still stuck in some of the old ways.

No, they're running for state chair of the state Democratic Party.

That'll be William Garcia tomorrow, Joseph Peckie on Thursday, and we're nailing down a date with Devin Remaker, one of the other candidates for state party chair.

to get him in.

New guests, Kristen Lierly who has been here Monday mornings at 6 30.

He's going to add a visit Friday mornings at 8 a.m.

We'll still have our regular weekend review panel on Friday mornings at 7 20 and here's something else that isn't going to change.

Every other Tuesday or so at 7 30 you're going to see the bright smiley face of Hans Brighton Moser a dairy farmer from up in the Merrill area.

helping to introduce us to issues that are important to the entire state from a rural and an agricultural perspective.

Hans, you are a rock of the lineup.

Thank you for continuing to put up with us every couple of weeks or so.

How are you doing up there?

Happy to do so.

And the intro music, I thought this was an allusion to, you know, if there's ever going to be a farm bill.

It could have been it really could have been we're still waiting on that however many years now that it appears to be overdue but and yet in the meantime lacking a farm bill there's still ways that you know this congress and this administration can have an impact on farming positive or negative and it appears we're just we're just going

We're just going for the negative here and the slash into a particular program.

So Hans, why don't you introduce the guest you brought along today and then we'll talk about the particular program that's being cut.

Well, our guest today is my dear friend, Tenzin Botsford from Red Door Family Farm over at Athens.

And I'll let him introduce himself.

Tenzin, how are you?

I'm good.

Thanks for having me on, Pat.

Yeah, tell some more about Red Door.

We're an organic vegetable farm in northwest corner of Marathon County in Athens here.

We grow about 10 acres of diversified vegetable crops.

We sell at the Wasa Farmers Market.

We sell the Saturday Market specifically.

We sell to...

a variety of restaurants and grocery stores and things of that nature.

Then we also have our CSA program, which is sort of a subscription service.

People sign up at the beginning of the season to get weekly deliveries throughout the growing season.

And we deliver those in Wausau Marshfield and points between here on the farm.

And we've been here for starting our 11th

season.

Look, let's get into this particular program that's being cut because, again, Hans, these things are not cuts that are going to save money.

This isn't money that's going back into farmers' pockets.

So when you want to approach the idea of a segment about the local food purchase assistance cooperative agreement program,

Again, folks don't necessarily know much about it, but it is definitely a program that brings value to family farms and what, pantries and school districts all across the state, right?

Absolutely.

And again, Tenzin can explain way more about this than I can, but just speaking broadly, it's a means by which local food can get to local people.

And you talked about it earlier in the show when you were talking about this segment in between renditions of

the Wichita alignment, I think was, the importance of being able to have local food get to local people.

I mean, it reduces our dependence on, you know,

farmers wave, you know, in other areas, it reduces our dependence on sort of corporate ag.

It reduces our dependence on, you know, the Walmarts of the world.

And it's good for local economies because Tenzin and I can speak to this all day long.

Give a farmer a buck.

I'm going to tell you right now, it is not going under his mattress.

It is going straight back into the community.

So those dollars bounce around when farmers get ahold of them briefly.

And if we can kill two birds with one stone and get food to local

and schools and so forth, this seems like a win-win.

So Tenzen, talk about the value of it from your standpoint individually, but also from a community standpoint and why this is a good investment of taxpayer funds.

Absolutely.

It was one of the highlights really of our farm getting to participate in this program basically the way it works and it kind of went through a few iterations, but the

It was either giving food directly to pantries or hunger relief organizations or giving food directly to farmers in To be used to purchase food So in our case the first couple of years we would receive essentially a grant for the deliverables of X amount of Product up to that dollar value.

So it wasn't

You know, it wasn't a handout.

It was just they were essentially purchasing food and they had set rates for different products and that sort of thing and then the only Cap on there was that we had to communicate with the hunger relief organizations that were also that we were paired up with to ensure that they were

wanting that amount of food at that time so that there wasn't piling up or jumbling up.

So make sure that that was flowing through and getting to people who need that food in our community right away.

What was that partnership like when you're having to communicate with the community?

Did it help you as a local food producer feel like you were more a part of the community, more integral, being able to provide this locally grown produce?

Yeah, absolutely.

It was it was lovely working with the pantries.

We worked primarily with Hunger Coalition of Marathon County, which is under the United Way umbrella and then we would deliver directly to the neighbor's place in wasa and Both of those are organizations that we have worked closely with in the past on other projects and so that was really easy we have

easy communication there because we were already kind of focusing on that with our farm before this came up and this came up as a way to just really bolster and blossom that work that we were doing and made it a lot easier to add on little bits of other things too.

So that worked really well.

It put a lot of food from our farm and

almost 300 other Wisconsin farms into the hands of pantries and other hunger relief organizations.

That food was in high demand.

I think there's often a misconception that what people need is really easy, shelf-stable food, but the reality is that the nutrient density and the quality of that produce is one of the things that are the most often missing and one of the things that really can help.

get people back on their feet.

And so I think that this program worked really well that way, and it opened up lines of communications.

And part of the idea was for farms and hunger relief agencies to, or not agencies, programs to work together and really get those lines of communication open, making that sort of stuff happen.

Another program, local food to schools,

suffered a similar fate and we've had you know back during the pandemic we had schools reaching out to us saying hey Cisco won't show up anymore because they've got too many drivers out sick or whatever the case may be but we still have a need can we get food and the way our operation works is we're on very thin margins and we we plant to to an end you know we're we deliver directly

to our customers and so we don't plant something until it has a place to go.

So that doesn't work.

We don't have a lot of extra things on hand we plant for the markets that we have.

So for those who aren't shall we say knowledgeable about this and see it as you know some kind of a handout your business model does not depend upon you know that those particular programs but they do

help augment not only your operation, but again, keeps dollars in the local economy.

Yep, absolutely.

And, you know, I would say our business doesn't depend on it.

But it was a significant portion of our income over the last couple of years.

And it's sorely missed and having it having the rug just kind of yanked out from it.

from underneath.

We already had seeds started.

We already had our crop plan in place.

We already have our staff hired for the year planning on that money, which was already agreed to and arranged and set up.

And that's the thing that I think is especially galling to a lot of folks is, look, you can make the case if you want that this program should not continue.

fine in the next budget it will not continue but to have made a contract and then to yank it out for you know for no non-emergency reason whatsoever this this breaking of a contract you can see why there's global instability now about the full faith and credit of the u.s government hans when it can't keep its word and does this to its own farmers it's

very understandable why there is a certain skittishness about anything that this administration might say to folks, farmers or

otherwise.

There's no excuse for it.

There's no excuse for it, Pat.

And this impacts not just the farmers who are on the other ends of those contracts and it impacts their lenders.

And as I said earlier, it impacts everybody in the community because those dollars don't get shoved under the mattress.

They get moved around.

So, you know, you're talking local credit unions who are being impacted and so forth.

And then just the, you said it, the full faith of the government, you know.

There was a time when any lender and any farmer said, well, you can complain about the government.

But by God, if I write my signature on a contract, I'm going to get exactly what the contract says.

And everybody felt comfortable if that was the case.

That comfort is gone.

And I don't know.

Hopefully we can get that back again in the future.

But right now, it's just not a guarantee the way it used to be.

no it's not and you know again that that's going to make it hard you know for

whoever the next president is, whoever comes in next to make the case that, what they're doing is they're living up to the old joke, trust me, I'm from the government, I'm from the government here to help you, which was always kind of an old saw, but now it's become a self-fulfilling prophecy with these folks.

Tenzin, I can't ask you to speak for the schools or for the food pantries necessarily, but I figure you can give a pretty educated answer.

you've talked about the impact for you as a as a producer.

But what does it mean as well now that these local school cafeterias and these local food pantries can't, you know, can't necessarily be assured of getting local food.

They have to rely on, you know, big producers and big semis and things like that, I would imagine.

Yeah, well, I happen to know that demand is still increasing.

And

In the wasa area that can speak to that.

I know that there are, you know, double digits new People signing up each day that the neighbor's place is open Brand new accounts people who haven't been in there before and that's just right in our little community here So demand is continuing to go up people are in need of food.

They're in need of the high quality food and

By the time that a person is needing to reach out and jump through the hoops to get food from these different Organizations, they don't really have You know weeks and months worth of reserves to fall back on and this sort of interruption really Really presents a challenge to the people who were counting on this food And the TFAP

supplies, which is where they get most of their sort of federal food deliveries to hunger relief organizations.

Those are down as well.

So those have dropped off 50% here since in the past year.

So they're really scrambling.

They're looking for food and they have a lot of people who need it.

a very unstable situation here, but we appreciate you telling us about it.

Hope that folks will see how they can help support Red Door Family Farm, Tensen-Botsford, and of course, Hans Breitenmoser.

Gentlemen, thank you both very much for all you do.

Take care, we'll talk again soon.

All

right, when we come back, we will talk to Chad Holmes about his show coming up next on 98.9 WXCO.

You're up north.

You're listening to Civic Media.

Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website, civicmedia.us.

All right, well with the new lineup change, we'll also come some new tunage on many of the shows across the Civic Media radio network.

It's been a while since I've talked about the the theme for my show is Stevie Ray Vaughan's Crossfire and that the the lyrics of it kind of help illustrate the way that we feel today.

A lot of times we feel, you know, caught in the crossfire, often a political crossfire.

Plus, I like Stevie Ray Vaughan.

I like the song.

All of these, all these many months, couple of years, whatever it's been, we've been playing this song from Genesis that kicks off Chad's show.

on 98.9 WXCO.

You're going to give me the generic Dick Clark answer.

It's got a good beat.

I can dance to it.

Or is there a story behind picking that tune?

Well, like you, I like the band.

I've always been a big fan of the band.

I like the song.

I like the energy that it brings.

It has a media take to it.

It's called Turn It On Again.

So start of the show.

turning things on and getting ready to roll.

So I think if you do listen to the lyrics, it could be a little stretch.

I don't think there's a perfect, you know, in terms of lyrics, but I think it kind of sets the tone that I want to try to do at 806.

Really quick question for Mr. Holmes.

Are you a fan of all Genesis like the Peter Gabriel years or are you a Phil Collins guy?

I'm a fan of all of it because

I really am it because when I grew up in the 80s, that's when they kind of went to the the Phil Collins everywhere all the time kind of His career where you know, you couldn't turn left or right

to their Phil

Collins doing something and then that got me into the old stuff and I to be honest with you when I first got into Genesis I was a teenager at the time I had no idea that Peter Gabriel was the original lead vocalist for it and I delved into it and I and I mean supper's ready and some other

from that early era.

I just love.

I had a boss who once said to me, he just said, he goes, I liked Genesis better when Peter Gabriel was a singer and I, with all my non-googleable 17 year old confidence, stuck my heels in and said, he was never in that band.

Oh God,

just such a fail.

Yeah, those moments you look back at, you just wince.

Yeah.

I was like, why did I open my

mouth?

And that's one thing about doing this for what we do.

Oh, I got it.

When you do open your mouth,

you

better be sure that you know what you're talking about or else there's going to be some consequences on the other end.

Yep.

Hey, let's do something really awkward here with Chad.

We have not really had the discussion yet.

Well, the new show starting tomorrow, 6 to 9 AM.

But you're going to be a part of it.

And Earl's going to be a part of it.

And you're going to get to do other projects and other things as well.

but it occurs to me that I don't know that we've nailed down that for the one thing that people can definitely count on they're going I want my Chad Holmes like I want my MTV you want to keep doing 750 or so on Tuesday mornings like this do you want 850 instead are you sleeping in more now with with the new schedule you're going to be on sporadically throughout but I mean

Right now, if I'm looking at a wide open showboard here, you were throwing a dart, when could people count on getting a dose of spicy Chad?

I'm not

sure.

I told you it'd be awkward.

But the thing about it is, and frankly, I think that, you know, looking behind the curtain a little bit.

I got to make sure I know what my local segments are at this point.

You want to get awkward?

I kind of thought 750 was one of my segments.

It is supposed to be eventually.

Let's do a little behind the curtain here is that eventually there will be

like these local segments where all the stations across specific media, radio network have the option to pull out of this show and do, you know, like in this block about eight

minutes.

And you better believe I'm pulling out very quickly when

I have

my.

Okay.

Well, so Chad Holmes will be, I just like, welcome to how the sausage is made with

Chad.

Hi.

No, no, no, I mean, no, I don't mean that.

It's just that I hope to be able to still add to what's going on.

And I got folks that I enjoy talking to that I know that the folks around here want to continue to hear from.

So yes, definitely going to take my opportunities, not to take away any of the.

No,

no, no, no,

no.

The package right low segments, but at the same time, I think the whole idea is to have the best of what you're doing and hopefully.

best of what I'm doing and really put it together in a nice way.

And that's exactly what it is supposed to be is that during these local breaks and we're not the only reason we're not given the details now is we're still working out a few of the you know the the details here but we need the details.

So we're going to start with the new lineup first and then we're going to build the local breaks in but and that's what I'm saying is you're still going to have these local breaks but I'm saying from a network wide standpoint people that are

that are going to want to hear you talking about the issues of the day, we're going to have to nail that down because I know

and think about it.

I think that is something that we definitely need to do.

And and yeah, I hope that I guess the way I'll put it is, you know,

I am here.

My plan is to be, you know, in our lovely downtown Wausau Studios and back in call, sort of like, you know, get your bat phone ready.

You know,

I like that.

When you, when you put out the bat signal, I will be right to the little morning's program.

I'll give you a good example.

We have Kristen Lierly for a time had two slots.

The one on Thursdays was kind of the serious Newsy women win Wisconsin or health care part.

And the one on Monday mornings.

at 630 was just to kind of kick around the headlines.

How are things?

Well, she had to pay her back for a while when she was running for Congress.

But now she's going to be adding a segment Friday at eight, so that she can talk more about serious things, health care things, things in the news.

And so again, we're going to some things are going to change some things like Hans Bright and Moser are going to stay the same.

So let's just tell everybody to stay tuned.

for coming attractions of Chad, not only with local updates from 98.9 WXCO, but continuing to join the show informally as well.

We will be very lucky to have that whenever we can.

And Chad, thank you for that.

I look forward.

Hope you enjoy one more show before you get to do all the stuff that doesn't require shoveling coal into an engine for two hours every day.

So, all right.

Have a good show.

We'll talk to you later.

Thank you, gentlemen.

Meanwhile, Greg Bach is back for Matt Nairnair.

Yes, sir.

With

Pac Rightlow at 1030.

Well, and other people that you should tune in for as well.

So, yeah, look for that coming up.

And then their new lineup, 9 to 11, across the Civic Media Radio Network, starting tomorrow.

I'm Pac Rightlow.

Have a great day.

See you tomorrow.

Up

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