Good morning, Wisconsin. Good morning, world. It's a new day. Makes for kicking it off
with us right here at WFHR, locally grown radio. Got your host, James J. I'm joined by
our head of news, Melissa K. Good morning. And we have with us our good friend,
Mr. Paul Trauma from the Weather Eye Weather Center. Good morning, Paul. Yeah, good morning
you guys. How you been, Paul? How you doing? We're doing all right here. How are you guys?
Doing good over here. Not bad. Good. Pretty sunrise this morning. Yeah. Yeah, I had to get
a picture of it. It's just beautiful. The way it was coming up over the lake there was
really nice. Yeah, definitely had some pretty nice mornings lately. Paul, what is Mother Nature
got in store for the rest of the day? Yeah, you're still looking at kind of a break
since some clouds out there for us here on our Tuesday temperatures continue to back up
to about 33 with the South Southwest wind 10 to 15 quiet rolling into midweek here with
mid 20s tonight. Partly cloudy skies and then hardly sunny on Wednesday, 37 more clouds
moving Wednesday night, 25 cloudy but quiet Thursday. Highs at 39 maybe an isolated shower
early Thursday night than not about 30 and isolated shower chance or a sprinkle Friday.
40 still warm and still rather cloudy for the weekend 43 Saturday and then Sunday's
highs at 47. This point looks like more rain shower chances built into the area as we
get more towards Sunday night in the Monday, some shower chances with high skill from the
upper 40s Sunday to mid 40s on Christmas day here looking at. I'm dreaming of a rainy
Christmas and round. That's right. It doesn't really, it doesn't ring. No, it doesn't
sound right. It doesn't sound right, but we'll make it work. We'll make it work. Can you
make a rain snowman? Can you make a rainy man? Can you know, it doesn't work? It doesn't
work, but we'll figure it out. We'll figure it out. I see you make plenty of cotton men
or styrofoam men on the hallmark Christmas movies. There we go. Cotton men. Way to be
fall nice. We appreciate you, sir. You have a great one. We'll talk tomorrow. All right.
Don't give it a go. Appreciate our friends over at the Weather Eye Weather Center. Good
to talk to Paul Lois. Absolutely. Listen, I got some fun stuff lined up for you this morning.
We're going to get into America's favorite Christmas cookie. We've got that mammoth pole
for you. We'll get into that. Noise. That is coming up for you in a little bit. Also
got to talk about the easiest way to find cheap flights anywhere. That one. Important
this time of year. We've got some leftover kind of Christmas stats for people that we want
to get to. We have some time and things people are tired of rebying. Socks and underwear.
Could you fix that one for me? That should be on the list. If it's not, we should definitely
be out of the list. All of that coming up for you. In the 9 o'clock hour, we're going
to kick things off. Talk with Vice President of FRM Friends of Rapids Music. Bill Lois
is going to join us. Oh, cool. Looking forward to talking to Bill. We'll talk a little
FRM Friends of Rapids Music. Talk about all the kind of things that are going on with
them and any chance to talk with those guys. You know we love to. Famously for a long
time around here. We had FRM Fridays. Thanks to our friend Connie. Looking forward to
talking to Bill. It's going to be good. Oh, it'll be good. Love to hear from our local
musicians. After that, we are going to get into the five erudous things you can do at
a holiday party. Oh, good. I need to know this. I am taking notes.
I am. We are definitely going to have some of that. We want to be the ones not invited
back. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. It's a great way to make sure that you have your holidays free.
You're great. See. We're helping you. I want to start off with another good story of
the day. Firefighters of Wisconsin came to the rescue of a deer stranded on the ice covered
covering the St. Louis River. Oh, no. The Superior Fire Department said platoon three crews
responded to a report of a stranded deer on the river and Don, their protective ice rescue
suits. The rescuer is used in inflatable rescue craft to safely traverse the ice to reach
a deer and bring it back to shore. The deer was not seriously injured. It was released
safe into the wild moments later. Oh, good. After being checked out and everything, certainly
like to take any opportunity we can to shout out our firefighters wherever you are. We
appreciate all of you. But I came across this story this morning and I saw the headline
firefighters rescue deer from frozen river in Wisconsin. And I caught myself because
if it wasn't for being in Wisconsin, I don't know if I would have let our show with
it. Not because it's not one of the more amazing things and brave things that we hear,
but because it's kind of been normalized in some ways. Every winter, we hear stories
like this of a dog, a deer, a some animal being stuck on the ice. And either it's, you
know, citizens or it's firefighters or somebody going out there and rescuing these animals.
And it's gotten so much to a point where I feel like in some ways, the society, we've
kind of normalized it a bit that there's nothing normal about this. It's amazing. It's
an act of rescue. Imagine that. It's scary. You break through it. Yes, they have some
protective equipment that only protects you for so long. There is a little pond over
at our old stomping grounds here on the east side of Rapids that a friend, I used to live
by and my friend Craig and I used to go hang out on and especially in the winter when
it was frozen over. One time we went out there and there was a trap out there. We went
there to look at it and everything because it was weird. There was never traps out there
or anything. We'll go out there to look at it. We got, I swear on my name, this happened.
We got out to about the middle of the ice and started here in noise and crackle crackle
and Craig's eyes, I'd never seen eyes get bigger. They're like cartoon characters. His
eyes got big. I'm starting to turn around and start making my way to the shore. As we
were running, we could feel the ice breaking under our feet. It was intense. It was intense.
It was awesome. It was awesome in the sense that we made it. You survived. Yeah, yeah.
It wouldn't be saying that if otherwise. Obviously not. You wouldn't be here. I mean, just
even a little tiny, tiny, tiny feeling of that to compare to what these incredible human
beings do. It's just awesome. It's really incredible and very impressive. I don't ever want
us to normalize this. No, no. Obviously not to not say, you know, pick on you for what
you did. That was the wrong thing to do. It was such the wrong thing to do. It was so
raw. It was so. Spread out. Spread out. Lay on the ice. Lay flat. Cover as much surface
as possible and inchworm your way to the shore. Yep. Do not do what the city boy did. And
just to be right. Yeah, right. Which is you to my defense as city kids. That's usually
the answer to everything. That's usually the right answer. I'm not picking on your
poor city cell. But no, you know, it's a strong point to make, especially if we're talking
about this as somebody happens to find themselves in that situation. In that situation. Yeah,
yeah. Glad you mentioned that. I do want to mention this as well because a Virginia woman
stopped on her way home from work to buy some doughnuts for her kids. And she ended up
winning over $100,000 lottery prize. Oh, nice. Mary Hargis of Lynchburg told Virginia
lottery officials she was on her way home from working at the late shift when she decided
that just, you know, she should be working a lot, hasn't gotten to be around her kids
as much. So she wanted to do something sweet for them and nice. And so she stopped that
Timberlake road to get some treats for her kids and decided, you know, I'm here. Why
not just, you know, go ahead and try. And I'm going to buy a ticket. Yeah. It feels
unreal. I never in a million years thought that today I would be cashing in a winning lottery
ticket. Oh, man. Hagger said her winnings will go towards buying a new car and taking care
of her family. And I imagine she's going to get to spend a lot more time with those
kids. Oh, yeah. Now, that's a beautiful story of a single mom working her tail off, doing
something nice for her kids and being rewarded, I think by karma. I think maybe just in general,
maybe she's a good person and something like this happen. But again, and you're going
to see a theme here, I don't want us to normalize this. Donuts are amazing. Look at what leads,
look at what donuts do. Look, look people. Look at always stop for donuts. Always, always
stop for donuts. Only out of place that sells lottery tickets, apparently. Yeah, apparently.
Watch Dunkin' Donuts start getting out of the lottery tickets. Get your tickets here and
your donuts. We'll try anything. We will take a quick break right there. We're going
to go ahead and come back with this piece menu birthday and anniversary club. And a little
bit later, we're going to get into a couple of fun topics. We've got things people are
tired of rebying and a little later in the nine o'clock hour, the five root things you
can do at a holiday party. Those are, you know, listener encouraged calls. We want you
to call up during those segments and everything. So what have people done at your parties that
you consider rude? Yeah, yeah. We're also going to get into our favorite Christmas cookies.
So you go ahead and feel free to join the conversation then too. We will take a break, come
back and have some more fun on the morning show at WFHR.
Happy birthday. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday. Happy birthday to you. What's
sound? Celebrate your birthday. It happens every year. We eat a lot of broccoli and drink
a lot of beer. You heard weird Al. It's time to do some celebrating. It's getting into
some fun with Misty's menu birthday and anniversary club. What we encourage you to do is treat
yourself, get on over to Misty's. They're open six days a week, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday,
Saturday, Sunday, Monday. Don't bother Wednesday's. Not, not, not so, not for now. Just for
now. Just for now. Just for a couple more weeks. Yep. Head on over to Misty's and enjoy
yourself, treat yourself and say good morning to the gang over there. Wish them a great day
from all of us here at WFHR. Get us those birthdays and anniversaries. We want you to encourage
you to get them to us. We want you to celebrate with us. So you can go ahead and direct messages
on our Facebook pages. You can do it that way. You can go ahead and send us emails, info
at WFHR.com or james.mailofetsificmedia.us. And encourage you, of course, to call up on the
show here. 424-2600. You can call right up and wish you were a special
someone a happy birthday. I have two today, James, to add to the list. Well, not to add
to the list, but to mention it is my, would be my mom's birthday today. And then, surprisingly
enough, arbitrarily chosen by the shelter, it's Kevin the cat's birthday. Oh, really? Oh,
wow. Oh, yeah. So he is two today. Hey, happy birthday, Kevin. Happy birthday. Happy
second birthday to Kevin. I'm going to send you some catnip just to drive your mother
to the race. Well, it wasn't my catnip. He isn't at the catnip. I find he isn't up to
getting it. Oh, right. Kevin, we're getting some special catnip coming in. That is, I'm
sorry. That is beautiful, Melissa. Yeah. It's this is kind of funny that it worked out
that way. Right. Right. That's beautiful. Thank you for sharing that. I really do appreciate
both of those. She's sharing both of those. That's great. It's a great start to our birthday
list. We got another honorable mention we want to get in here that a person that can't
win, but we appreciate love and care very much about around here. Wendy Barnett, Wendy
is Tim, the polka guy's lady. You were here. You may be heard her on the show a couple
of times. Wendy has got one of the quickest wits you will ever come across. That woman
is hilarious. Gosh, she's funny. Happy birthday, Wendy. Sweetheart of a person. Wendy,
enjoy your day. Hope it's a really good one for you. Say hi to Tim for us. Be sure to
check the sun. Check out the sunrise polka show. Sunshine polka show. Get your morning
show's confused James. Every, every Saturday at seven. It's right here for you at WFHR
Mainstay here at WFHR. We got a greatest polka show ever. It really is. We got two other
birthdays for you. We can have actual people that can qualify. So Melissa, I need a one or
a two from you. Let's go with one today. All right. Give us that. Qualifier. First up. Happy
birthday to Toby Johnson. Happy birthday, Toby. And joy your day. Hope it's good one for
you. And our qualifier, Kaylyn McKee. Happy birthday, Kaylyn. Hope it's a good day for
you. Kaylyn. Enjoy your day. And again, keep getting us those birthdays and anniversaries.
Everybody, we love celebrating with you. Yes, we do. Take a quick look at some celebrity
birthdays here in no particular order. Actress Jennifer Beals is 60 today. Was that the
Ally McBeal actress? I didn't see Ally McBeal very much. So I'm not sure. But I know
she won a Golden Globe for Flash Dance. That's really where she got her big break. Was the
movie Flash Dance? Okay. Christy Swanson is 53. Christy Swanson was that strong actress?
Another good actor. Here's one you might remember. Alyssa Milano is 51 today. Alyssa Milano.
Yeah, Alyssa Milano. She was in a, she was a big. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I like her a lot.
A big supporter. She was in Charmed. That's it. Yeah. I forget. She was a child actor too.
I think she was on who's the boss, I think. Yep. She was on who's boss. She's here.
Amanda. Oh, that 80s knowledge is strong. She's also released some albums, I guess. I didn't
know she was a musician as well. One of my favorite actors of all time, one of the best actors
in the game today. If we had an Olympics for acting, this young man would, he young man.
This man would represent America, I think. Jake Gyllenhaal is 43 today. Oh, yes. Incredible
actor. He did this movie. Nightcrawler. Does this movie Nightcrawler? It's kind of an independent
movie, low budget, not a lot press or pop, you know, pop it circumstance to it or anything.
It is one of the most disturbing performances you will ever see. And he doesn't really
do anything. He doesn't really do anything. He doesn't really, he doesn't hurt anybody.
He doesn't blink in the movie. I've watched it twice and I counted just for the heck of
it. I think maybe once or twice he blinks in the whole movie. It's these little things
that actors think of that stand out. That another another performer wouldn't think of.
Jake Gyllenhaal is known for this. He's done this on a many, many, many occasions, some fantastic
actor. So he also played in Donnie Darko. Haven't I heard you guys making fun of that movie?
I love that movie. No, it definitely not made fun of it. No, that's one of my, I love
that movie. That's one of my favorite like independent, you know, kind of cult classic
movies. Bubble boy now. Bubble boy. Maybe we made fun of that. It's his first role. And
that's actually a sneaky good movie. Like nobody wants to admit it. I'll admit it. It's
a sneaky good movie. It's not bad. I'm not saying it's going to, it should have won
awards already. Like like that. Well, neither should of the day after tomorrow.
Right. Yeah. Which he was also good at. I've never seen his performance was good. Yeah.
That movie though. Yeah. That movie. Well, most recently he's been in the covenant. Yes.
Yeah. Guy Richie's the covenant. Yeah. That was good. Yeah. That was good. He's darn
good. He's a great one. Okay. There was a movie he did where he played a police officer
a couple of years back that was one of the best performances I've ever seen of somebody
playing a police officer. He's really good. He's been in quite a few like that jar head
demolition brothers. Yeah. He's got, he's got a number of those roles. I hadn't thought
about it before. But yeah, he has played a quite a few of those roles. Hmm. Also would
have been celebrating a birthday today. Mean Jean Okerland, one of the greatest announcers
in human history. I mean, Jean was the announcer for WWE for many, many years. Fantastic.
Just a fantastic announcer and an improvist. Okay. It doesn't get the credit of course
for that being in the industry. But anytime I'm talking about wrestling, I like to start
mentioning that more and more. I don't think we've touched on that enough when it comes
to wrestling and the uniqueness of that. And what it takes to be able to be a great wrestler
doesn't just come down to being able to pile drive somebody or something. Somebody's
got to announce it. Yeah. And they don't have scripts. No. So they get like five, ten
seconds beforehand. Sometimes otherwise they do practice and plan some of these things
out. But what they're saying is not planned. Right. Because the wrestling is choreographed.
Yeah. Mean Jean's got one of the tougher gigs to me. He did. An announcer's to do where
you're interviewing. They don't do this really anymore. But they'd be back in backstage
and they would interview the wrestlers. And mean Jean would interview junkyard dog
or, or, you know, Tito Santana or Jimmy the Superfly Snooka or some of these guys. And
they would just, you know, act crazy or whatever. And mean Jean would have to balance off
of that and play off it. And he just always, it always seemed like he was in control.
Like he always had even with the wildness and insanity of all that that was going on
and everything. This is really good. Really good at what he did. He was inducted into
the WWE Hall of Fame in 2006 by Hulk Hogan. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah. You can't have
a Hall of Fame if you mean Jean's not in it. You can't. I love that his nickname was
Mean Jean too because it seems like one of the nicest people. Yeah. He seems pretty
jolly looking. He was, I don't ever remember him being beat. Not one time. Like I think
he got stirred. But he's in wrestling. Yeah. So he's got to have some kind of sound.
Yeah. I don't have that name. I think he's been, I think you remember him a couple
times being pretty stern. So a stern gene doesn't sound the same. He doesn't roll off
the tongue the same. No, not the same. We want to again wish a very happy birthday to
Wendy Barnett. Happy birthday, Wendy. Yeah. Happy birthday, Wendy. I want to say a very
happy birthday to Kevin. Happy birthday, Kevin. Talk to you later. The cat nips in the
mail. Happy birthday. Happy birthday, Toby Johnson. Happy birthday, Toby. And happy birthday
to our qualifier, Kaylyn Mickey. Happy birthday, Kaylyn. Enjoy your day. Hope it's a great
one for you and everybody celebrating a birthday or anniversary out there. Even if you
didn't get it to us, we encourage you to have a great day and joy and celebrate with
our great friends over at Misty's menu. Yeah. They're open right now. Open till two,
six to two, six days a week. They will be closed tomorrow. But they'll be back open on
Thursday. So bring your birthday or anniversary or your fund over to Misty's on Thursday.
And I'll meet you at 9041. Stay that way. 13 South of Wisconsin rapids. Big thank you.
Our friends over at Misty's menu. Yeah. Get over and get some of Brian's pie while you
still can stick absolutely. Yeah. Well, we're going to get into we're going to get into
that announcement that Misty's made tomorrow. And we'll touch on that at least a couple
times before the end of the year. You can get that update right away and find out more
about Misty's following along on their Facebook page. Encouraging to do so. Time now for
some state and local news. We'll come back and have some more fun talking Christmas
cookies. Coming up on the morning show at WFHR. Oh, no. Oh, we've been whammed. Oh, this
is it. We apologize to our wonderful, wonderful listeners. This is the first time I've
heard this song this year. So yeah. Okay, almost made it to the 19th. Made it to the 19th.
Not bad. That's the best. Better the most. I don't know. Do we decide if that counts or
not if it comes up on the bumpers. I'm not sure. I think I think it does. It's random. It's
random. It's according to Seth's rules. It's it counts. Oh, well, we've been whammed. Let's
let's so sorry. We apologize, everybody. But if you like the song that we don't apologize at all,
let me do. You probably enjoy your welcome. Yeah. Let's talk a little. Let's continue the
Christmas conversation here. Let's talk Christmas cookies. First one is sent a shout out to
the heart of WFHR Pam Hilke sent this order to us a little while ago.
Mammoth University does this poll every year of America's favorite Christmas cookies.
Okay. And we're going to start at number five here at number five chocolate at 4%.
Chocolate. Just chocolate. Just chocolate. Just chocolate. Yep. Just straight up chocolate cookies.
Peanut butter. Peanut butter came in next. All right. Snicker doodles at number three.
Yeah. Snicker doodles are pretty good. I can't say it, but they're good.
Can you not say Snicker doodles? I didn't. Just then. Snicker doodles. There we go.
They look every every segment. I say a word wrong. So I'm not picking on you. I know.
I'm just joining you, James. Yeah. Well, thanks for making me not feel so alone. I appreciate that.
Yeah. Let's see here. Snicker doodle. Then chocolate chip. So chocolate and chocolate chip in two different categories here.
Yeah. Well, they're different. Gingerbread cookies coming in next at and the number two spot.
Okay. Little I would have thought Snicker doodle would have been ahead of
a gingerbread. Okay. And at number one. It's Christmas time though. Yeah. Yeah. Frosted sugar cookies.
Number one. That's my number one. Yeah. Actually, James, I just pulled out during one of the
breaks here. I was in the kitchen making my second cup of coffee and I pulled out my mom's cookbook
to look for her white Christmas sugar cookie recipe because I really want to make those. I might
make them today. I don't know. That's a good idea. I like that. That's a very good idea.
Just some other Christmas stats here for you. There are certainly Americans are being a little more
careful with their wallet this year. At least that's what they're telling us. At the same time,
they're not slowing down on holiday activities. Christmas music is at one of their highs,
76% of people listening to Christmas music decorating their homes, 75% of Americans doing that.
Christmas candy and cookies, 69%. But maybe my favorite stat, more than four in 10,
43% will also say that they will volunteer this Christmas, this season. That's wonderful.
That's good to hear. That's very good to hear. In fact, that number has been pretty consistent
over the years. That's nice to see as well. If you have a limited amount of time, consider
donating blood. That is something that is very needed this time of year. There's a blood drive
going on today at the East junior high school. We're going to talk more about that in our good
story of the day. Be listening for that. We will get you the details. That is a great opportunity
to be a hero right there. Melissa, I wanted to extend the segment a little bit here. It was
encouraging listeners for 24, 2600. Call up. Let us know your favorite Christmas cookies.
What is your favorite maybe debate? What's your favorite cookie to make? That might be an interesting
question as well. But I did think that it'd be fun to look at a little history of the Christmas
cookie or cookies in general. I never really did this. I've never done a deep dive on this subject.
Culinary historians say cookies as we know them today were first made not to eat, but to test
the temperature of an oven. Okay. Cooks would take a small piece of, quote, cookie or batter and bake
it to see whether the oven was ready or not. That makes sense. I'm really glad that we didn't have
the greatest of ovens. And we had to do this. The cookie was born. What happens if we had these
amazing ovens that we never had to do this with? We might not come across the cookie.
And I don't even know if I'd be here without cookies. At least a quarter of my body weight is
cookie, at least. Yeah, that marinara.
Families were so I can't even fight around that one. Yeah, you're so right. Families were not
leaving cookies and milk out for Santa Claus until the 1930s. Okay. The great to be that. Yeah,
I guess that sugar was not cheap. Yeah. Yeah. The great depression is the main reason why we
leave treats out for Santa. Parents encouraged children to share and be charitable during a tough
economic depression. 90 years later or 100 years later, really. We're still doing this.
How cool is that? It's one of the main, you know, for me, at least one of the main wonderful
things about this time of year is the sense of giving, doing for others, volunteering,
all the things that make Christmas wonderful. It is the heart of Christmas. It's the essence of it.
And it's one thing to do that when things are good. It's another to do it at arguably the most
one of the hardest about the hardest time our country's ever had. Certainly one of them
and what was brought of that, what was born out of that is this. Yeah. And that's wonderful.
Yeah, we need to celebrate that more. That's pretty darn cool. Would you have to admit? I mean,
if Santa didn't finish all the cookies, you know, this was kind of probably just the parents
side idea of, well, you know, Santa's probably not going to eat them all. There's going to be
some left for us. I don't, I think you're right. And I actually wish I would have thought of that.
You're welcome. We can thank Queen Elizabeth the first for cute little gingerbread people.
Oh, really? She invented gingerbread men. Interesting. One day, she requested that her royal
bakers create created gingerbread cookies shaped like visiting dignitaries so that she can honor them.
Oh, and I wanted noted that I said dignitaries right. Okay. I wanted that job.
And that's another story. That's fantastic. That's amazing. I never knew that. That is pretty
cool. And we still make them. Yeah, right. And for fun, 300 million cookies. That's how many
cookies Santa Claus eats on Christmas Eve. Oof, Santa visit. I wonder he's rather rotund. Yeah,
Santa does the start out like that. He starts out looking like me by the end of the trip as
what he got the belly. Santa visits over 500 million homes where he encounters about a billion cookies.
Oof, he is pretty much eating over 336 million cookies. That is pretty cool. That is a pretty cool
stat though. What do you think about it? You know, I got it, but I wouldn't get tired of it.
I wouldn't get tired of cookies. I'll tell you that. There's different ones. There's different
ones everywhere, man. I would love to, if we could finally get him in for an interview,
Santa, love to ask him what his favorite cookie is. I'm thinking something with something that
doesn't get like, we would think usually like sugar cookies and things like that. But I'm
thinking that Santa doesn't want stuff that's going to get all over his jacket, especially if he's
eating 300 million of these. I'm thinking of playing cookies or something that doesn't make as
many crumbs or something. You're wrong James. It's chocolate chip. Oh, there you go. Yeah,
it's got to be chocolate chip. I guarantee it. I'm with you on this. Yes, yes. I think you're
right about that one. Yep, that's got to be it. We will get to some commercials. We'll come back.
We're going to talk about the easiest way to find cheap flights anywhere. Talking about that.
We'll have some walking by and we'll do some gathering. Welcome back to the show, everybody.
Melissa and James here with you. Hope you're having a great Tuesday out there. Thanks so much
for joining us. Got good stuff lined up for you now until 10 o'clock. We're going to be talking
to Bill Loas from FRM. Bill's going to join us at the top of the nine o'clock hour. Looking
for talking little friends of Rapids music with Bill. Yeah, celebrate our local musicians.
We're also going to have to get this hint out there to people, Melissa, because this mischievous
merchant Merlin Elf is still out there. Yeah, he's still making ruckus and the quality foods.
Yeah, yeah. Today and Friday, we got hints for you and these will be the last days. This will wrap
up the the the fun that we've been having with our friends of quality foods with the on the shelves
at quality foods IGA. That's great. We tell you a hint. You go ahead and run over to quality foods
IGA and find this elf. You take a picture of him and put it on your our Facebook pages with the
hashtag WR quality foods. We will collect those submissions and then on the 21st, we're going to draw
a winner and then they are going to win a holiday ham celebration basket. No, nice. So that's
only a couple days away. Yeah, on Thursday. Thursday. Man, that got here fast. Yeah. Yeah, that
really did. Okay. So we'll go ahead and get that hint out to you in a little bit, everybody.
Looking forward to it. It's going to be a lot of fun for now. Melissa, let's go ahead and dive into
something else here like flying. Now, I imagine that if people are replying, well, no, no, unfortunately
not. But I wouldn't mind. I miss flying. I love flying. Do you like flying? I do. I like flying.
It's exciting. I mean, every time every time you take off, it's like, yeah, it's fun. I just,
yeah, I enjoy it myself. I imagine that most people right now if they are going to be flying for
the holidays, probably already have their tickets. But maybe you are looking for something to do for,
you know, coming up in the new year or for spring or something like that. We got a good hack if you
are looking for a chance to break away and looking for a vacation. Some women's TikTok video
was blowing up after she realized there's an easy way to find the cheapest plane ticket possible.
The key is to you is you have to be very flexible about your destination.
I mean, did you come out? Okay. All right. Yeah. Go to Google flights, enter the dates you want to fly
and the airport you want to fly out of. Then for your destination, just type the word anywhere.
Okay. A map of the world pops up with ticket prices for every major city on earth.
You can dial it in by price too. So it only shows flights that fit your budget.
Okay. If you click the calendar to change your dates, there's also a flexible dates option that shows
the cheapest flights for specific months or any time in the next six months.
I mean, that is cool if you don't care where you're going.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think that I can't be the only person. I'm sure lots of people
have thought before. Man, I would love to have the time, money, resources, go to O'Hare. To me,
it's always been O'Hare. Go to O'Hare Airport. And just, you know, look at the tellings,
look at the calling numbers and everything and see, you know, what? I'm going to Zimbabwe.
That's where I'm going. I'm going to New Zealand. I'm going, you know, something like that and just
just go zero plans. Yes. Just a packed bag off you go. 100%. That's a complete fantasy.
It is a complete fantasy. It is never going to happen. But it's something I've
dangerous about since I was a little kid. I think that's such an awesome idea.
It is really cool. I would just have a lot of anxiety. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
You ain't to not plan anything and land somewhere far, far away. Like, I could do that if I was going to,
you know, I don't know, Arizona or Oregon or Maine, but another country. Yeah. Yeah.
Another country would be a bit of a big jump. And I talk a good game, but anybody that knows
me is laughing right now because I'm such a planner. And I can't do two things without, you know,
go two moments without planning something or anything. So yeah. But I didn't want to try this.
I went to Google flights and we're flying out of Warsaw for this particular test. Perfect.
I'm clicking anywhere. And let's see where it sends us. Probably going to send you to Florida.
Let's see. Yeah. Actually, Chicago comes up right away as the cheapest flight then Las Vegas,
Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Boston is not too bad. Interesting. Yeah. Okay. I'm not
seeing that the cheapest flights here, but then again, I have probably haven't looked at how much
plane tickets cost in a while. So yeah. But when I start seeing $1,000 plane tickets, I'm done.
I'm done. Yeah. Yeah. I'm done. Unless you're blessed you're flying like, you know, to New Zealand.
Right. I can say pan or Hawaii. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Some like it.
Depending if it's an 18 hour flight, I can see spending $1,000 on it.
Yeah. Then I could. Yes. Definitely. Yeah. Yeah.
We are going to take a quick break. We'll come back and talk about I got some other random facts
I wanted to get to some last some last Christmas stats. Just a couple of handful more. We'll touch
on those and we'll have some more fun. And we got to find this merchant elf everybody.
Be the keep on listening. Might have that hint for you coming up.
The morning show here at WFHR where we are locally grown radio.
Welcome back everybody.
Melissa James here with you. Got some Christmas jams playing us in.
Pentatonics. We hope you're having a great day out there everybody. Thanks for joining us on
this beautiful Tuesday. It's nice out there today. I mean, temperature ain't that nice, but it's
looking nice. It's looking all right. It looks pretty. It looks good from here. We're going to have
some more music conversation to kick off the nine o'clock hour. Bill Lois is going to join us
from Friends of Rapids Music. We will have Bill with us to talk a little FRM and get you an
update on what's going on with our friends at Rapids Music. Looking forward to that. That's going
to be a lot of fun. Right now when I get into a handful of Christmas stats just kind of got left
over here. Wanted to make sure we got to. This is interesting. 35% of people say coming up with
gift ideas is the most stressful part of the holidays. It can be. Yeah. I could see that. I could
see that's actually a fair percentage. I would think for something like that. It depends I guess
on, you know, who you're buying for. If there are people you don't spend a lot of time with,
I'd say that's more stressful because you just don't know. Yeah. Yeah. 28% say it's the crowds and
20% say it's finding good deals. Yeah. Also important things. I think knowing if something is a
deal to like. Yeah. I don't like. I got two daughters and I shopped for them at places that I
normally would not shop for myself. And I. Therefore you're not familiar with the prices. Yes. I have
found I don't have no idea what a t-shirt for a young woman costs. I have no idea. I've done.
Well, and then we've also talked we talk about this more on Black Friday of is this actually a deal.
Right. Or did they just put a on sale now and put the same price on it. Yeah. Yeah.
So as far as a deal, it seems like everybody has sales and deals right now. But if it's an actual
deal, it's a little bit tougher to figure out sometimes. Well, and then to have to do your research
to be watching the prices over the course of the year. Yeah. That sounds like a lot of work.
Yes. Yeah. 23% of people are planning to make a holiday purchase based on social media. It's
unclear if that take that's taking the bait on ads, influencers, or just copying family and friends.
That's where I go for my shopping tips. Yeah. I would not have thought of that one.
Yeah. I don't know. That's a high percentage to me of 23%. Or is it looking through social media
for things that your friends and family have either talked about or liked or commented on?
Yeah. Ideas for purchases? I can see that. I could also see, okay, I want to get them this. Do
they have this? Oh, they got it. I see it on their Instagram. I see, you know, that kind of thing.
I don't know. That seems like a good idea too, though, to be able to plan these things out.
Yeah. I will say, though, I'm not going to pick on this too much, though, because this has
always been the case. We've always been keeping up with the Joneses and that kind of thing.
Yeah. Timmy has Nike's. I want some.
All right. Yeah. It's not that different. It's just a mod. Influencers and this kind of
stuff is just a modern equivalent of that, really. And 53% of people say that they won't let
inflation affect their charitable giving. That's good. That's over half. That's pretty impressive.
That is impressive. The other 47% admitted that they might have to make cuts, but they are still
making charitable donations. That's good. Tying that in with our stat from the last segment as
far as people going out and volunteering. I think those are all really cool, important stats right
there. Those are really interesting. Absolutely. And I hope, I know for me, I didn't fill out this
survey. So I read something like that and I immediately think, okay, what have I done this month
or what am I going to be doing this holiday season to give back to put back?
I don't think of these things as charity. I think of it as investments. And that's just my
silly brain. I don't expect others to do that or anything, but I think it's a better way to
think of it because it's an investment in the future of our communities, of society in general.
And some of this may even be a little bit of my own background, a backstory. I'm used to,
I know what it's like to see my mom or dad have to accept something with their head down
in their dignity, take it. And charity often comes up in that work and with those things.
And not to say that it should. If you're receiving charitable goods, that's that is there's
nothing to hang your head about that. There's nothing to feel bad about. No reason to be ashamed.
But when you hear somebody is investing, that sounds a little bit more. There's a little more
weight to it. It carries a little bit of a different, you know, interpretation, our brains.
And I think that there's just something a little bit more to that to encouraging others to do.
So I encourage others to invest in their community wherever you live and find out more ways to help.
Well, you hit on a really important point there, James, that I think gets overlooked.
Now and then is words matter. And the way that we say things, the way we frame things matter,
to our brains. Yeah. Yeah. Can we please, I mean, in 2024, can we at least agree
that words mean what the dictionary says they do? Can we just get back to that at least?
I'll settle for that. I'm done expecting, you know, grown adults to act like adults. I've
done with that one. That would, I feel like the bar's too high with that. Yeah, just about.
But if we could at least agree that when you see something that that is actual science or
that is actual fact that we, that that is a true fact. And little little things mean what they,
you know, the definitions of things actually mean what we say they do, you know, that they have
for hundreds and hundreds of years that only in the last couple of years have we decided,
oh, that doesn't mean what it used to, that doesn't mean what it means anymore.
Get back to that. That'd be great. And I agree. I don't mean to ask so much of the audience,
but if I could just ask for one more thing, could you please help Melissa and I,
this mischievous merchant, Merlin Elf has been bugging our friends over quality foods,
IGA knocking down cookies and things like that. We don't have it in the aisles. And we're going
to catch this guy. All right. We're going to catch it. And we need your help. Yep. We're going to
give you a hint to help you do that. You take that hint and you track him down over quality foods,
IGA. Take a picture of the guy on the shelf and post it on our Facebook pages, either WFHR,
WIRI, with the hashtag WR Quality Foods. We will collect these submissions and then we will
announce the winner and give you that winner a holiday ham celebration basket.
Ham in a basket. And I'll bet you that's not the only thing. Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot more in
there. I bet you you're right. Yeah. And our friends of quality foods do an amazing job. If you
have holiday needs, get on over to quality foods. And be sure to check out their deli and their
great donuts. And their donuts. Yeah. Yeah. So here is a little partial. A little bit,
a little bit. Here is your hint, everybody. A spirited elf with a twinkle in his eye has turned the
cold cases into a festive culinary workshop. Oh, cold cases. A spirited elf with a twinkle in his
eye has turned the cold cases into a festive culinary workshop. I bet I know where that is.
I think I think that was a pretty good one. It doesn't give a good one. It doesn't give it away,
but it's also not too hard. Great. It's not completely hard. I mean, there's a lot of cold cases,
but there's a couple of their hints in there that can lead you to where that mischievous elf is.
Real quick, Melissa. Have you ever had to write riddles or anything like that?
Infrequently, but not often now. And we had to do it at Second City as one of our projects
in improv. And oh my god, I'm horrible at that. I'm really, really bad at that. I'm not good at
that one. It takes a certain certain thought process for sure. Really does. Really does. One of our
congrats to whoever wrote that. Yes, yes. We appreciate our writers of these. And one more time
for everybody. A spirited elf with a twinkle in his eye has turned the cold cases into a festive
culinary workshop. Take that picture. Post it on our Facebook page with the hashtag
WR Quality Foods, right? Yep. You got it. WR Quality Foods.
Get your chance to win this holiday ham celebration basket from our wonderful friends of
Quality Foods, IGA. Visit them. They're right over in West Grand. We'll meet you over there,
everybody. Yeah, head over there to get some donuts or maybe pick up lunch from the deli.
Hmm. Good. Good ideas. I'm going to go do that during the break.
No, probably not. Probably not. But we will be back with a lot of fun in the 9 o'clock hour
right here. Oh, I like the way you do a cat. You do it.
W F H R Wisconsin Rapids 1320 AM and W248 DE broadcast