Good morning, Wisconsin. Good morning, world. It's a new day. Thanks for kicking it off.
That's right here at WFHR, locally grown radio. Got your host, James J. I'm joined by Melissa
K. Good morning. And we have him with us to kick off the 9 o'clock hour. Our great friend
executive director of the Southwood County, Maine Society, Madison Rafter. Good morning.
Morning, Madison. How are you doing? I'm good. How are you? I'm doing a lot better once
I saw your car pull up. She doesn't have to call it. All right. This is awesome. Yeah,
because our phones are working. Yeah. We appreciate you being here, Madison. Thank you
so much. I'm looking forward to Madison was telling us in her pregame here a little bit.
She's going to have some great numbers for us. The next time she joins us, looking forward
to that. We'll be able to dive into a little more of that then. I'm excited. When it comes
to right now, Madison, we don't like to make the audience wait too long. Who is our pet
of the week? Our pet of the week this week is Frosty, the orange cat. Frosty came into
us as a stray. I'm not a very one much for the big holiday spirit. So that was my input
of naming an animal was that was my holiday. Nicely done. Frosty, the orange cat. So way
to get the despair. That's a good idea. Frosty came into us as a stray. We age estimate
him to be about two years old. He is neutered up to date on vaccines and microchipped. He
is kind of just a little talker. He will tell you all about it when he's got feelings
and what's going on. He will tell you, but he's just a little left bug wants to be cuddled.
He definitely takes a little bit to warm up once he warms up. He wants to just sit in
your lap and he does not want to move. He is that he has claimed his place and that is
where he will stay all day. I am a sucker for orange cats. I love orange cats. That
code is beautiful. That's true that all orange cats are male. No. So it is true that most
orange tabbies 80% of the time are going to be male, but we just had it where one of
our orange cats that was a tabbie that came as a female. So it used to be the stereotype
was a lot more couple years back. So it used to be like 90% were male and then 10% were
female. But no, the orange tabbies are now starting to be getting diversified. Good
on the tabbie community. They can't only call Garfield anymore. Do they all hate lasagna?
You know, they might. It's worth a test. Cheese. Come on. Outside of Mondays. Is there
anything else that this cat should avoid? It should stay away from us. You know, not
really. He seems to be pretty good with cats. No concerns there. Haven't dogtested him
so much or how he do in a home with dogs. So obviously very slow introductions. I do
know where we picked him up from. There was a dog in the house and he was in there for
a couple little while, but he didn't seem to mind too much, but can't really give you
a good guarantee on that part. He seems fine. Like he do good in a home with kids. So not
really any restrictions for Frosty. That age two seems like a perfect age four kids
for families. Are they still kitten like at two? Yeah. I mean, even puppies kittens,
rabbits, anything usually in between the age of two months to about three. They're still
got that personality growing. Like my puppy is almost two now. I still call him a puppy,
but it's because he acts like a puppy. So usually anywhere in between that two months to
three years old, they still have that personality growing. They're still a toddler still trying
to learn the world, learn personalities, how to be a person, how to be an animal, but they're
fun and they're interesting now. But you know, we're interactive. Yeah, I know a rabbit
that's two, two years old that acts like a 13 year old teenage, like a teenage, like
yeah, yeah. It's interesting that it was as we're talking about this maturity of mature
enough to be able to know when to where to go to do its business and all these other things
while still, you know, fun and silly enough to just have fun with the kids, have fun with
the family. It's a great age. Yeah, they still get that young personality where they're
very playful, still want to be around, don't really have crabby antics. I'm like, oh,
I don't want to do this today. They're always usually pretty optimistic to new things. So
very similar to kids. Seems like that frosty here would be a good fit for just about any
family. Certainly the dog thing, consider that. If you do have a dog in the family, it's
something you might want to test that out first or figure that out first. But otherwise
seems like a good fit for most of any family. Yeah, he's a really good cat. So I love him.
If I needed another one, I would take home on a heartbeat. I look at him and I'm very
tempted myself. He's a handsome cat. That's a very cool cat. Medicine outside of that
news, how are things going over at the shop? How are things happening at shelter? Thanks
are going good. Building renovation sir, moving along, trucking along. We're very excited
to see the unproduct. They're hopefully should be doing epoxy later this week for the
floors. They started building our playroom later this week. So we're very excited to
see how everything's going to keep going. And hopefully we can be done with this by mid
January. Your fingers crossed. That's where we're all progress. Yeah. Everything's going
on time, the construction. It's all happening. So far. Yes. Good to hear. Good to hear.
And that's all you can hope for, especially construction. You know, everything says stay
God time. That's great. Shout out to those workers out there doing great work. How can
we work for you? How can we help you medicine in the main society? Yeah. Definitely always
in need of donations. We're still in kitten season. We just I think we've got maybe three
litters left in foster care. So we've got a couple of kittens coming back, cat litter,
cat food, even just sharing our animals too. We have lots of animals, especially some
of our long length of stays that are still sitting here that we're looking to get adopted.
Quite a few dogs. We luckily got our two long length of state cats adopted last week.
So we were very excited to see them go home. But just sharing our animals, getting the word
out there, that kind of thing. It goes a lot farther than we realize. Every one of us
have friends on our feed that we may share mutual friends. And then there's like the 80% of
the other people. And you put this, you just put a simple post up or repost something and
you just don't know who's going to see that. And especially with something like this,
like a little later, I'm going to put frosty out on my page and share it with the WFHR
page. Who knows? Somebody sees that and maybe by the end of the day, frosty has a home.
Good. Oh, man. It's one less thing that you guys have on your plate.
Yeah. I think we had an adopter come up all the way from Ohio last hour just to come
adopt an animal. So it was a really, it's very again, sharing is one of those things that it's
fantastic because it gets to a different crowd of people that they may not normalize here.
Again, the power of social media. The good things we can do with it.
Yeah. One of my favorite relationships I will ever have was with this blue healer,
Chloe, who we got from Texas. Like, they shipped her up here and everything. It was,
it was crazy. And so you're so right about that. And that's another good point about sharing
it on social media. We all have friends out of state, out of town. That's not a bad idea.
Either to be able to spread the word about these things and see medicine.
If people have follow up questions, want to know more about frosty or any of the great things
you guys are doing over there at the end of the mean society. How can they get in touch with you?
Yeah, they can fill out an application on our website at SWCHS.com. They can shoot us an email
at SWCHS at SWCHS.com or give us a call over at the shelter at 715-423-0505.
This is kind of wrapping up almost our first year doing this with you in the main society.
Again, we've of course, for a long time, WFHRs had petted the week, but you and us working
together. I just want to thank you for the time everything you put into this community,
everything you've helped this station with. We really appreciate your medicine.
This community has made better because of you. We appreciate that.
And your team over there, so say hi to them. Wish them a happy new year. We'll see you next year.
Sounds like a plan. Thanks, Madison. Thank you.
Well, you can find out more at SWCHS.com, SWCHS.com. Be sure to follow the South of
County Main Society on social media. Great way to follow up and keep up the day,
and all the great work they're doing. Take a break. We'll come back. We got fun,
weird, silly New Year's traditions around the world to celebrate on the morning show at WFHR.
Welcome back, everyone. Morning show here at WFHR. Mellon James here with you.
We're going to dive into a little entertainment news now, but we do want to send
a gigantic shout out to our great friend, Madison Rafter from South of County
Main Society joining us there. That was a lot of fun. That's a lot of it. It's always fun.
Head over to their website to check out Frosty. He's a pretty handsome dude.
Yeah, you definitely want to do that, everybody. And there's maybe a new furry friend for you
over there. I think that if you have a situation in your home that fits,
you a great way to start the new year with a pet. Or a great suggestion to make to a friend.
Share your social media share the not only Frosty, but any of these great pets you come across.
We get into a little bit of entertainment news now, Melissa. We have to start on a melancholy spot,
saying goodbye to another legend as we did earlier in our show with her Cole. We lost another
legend yesterday. Not as maybe local, but still as impactful and important. Tom Smothers,
one half of the famed comedy duo passed away at the age of 86 yesterday.
I love the Smothers Brothers growing up. Big fan. They do sarcastic,
darkish type of humor with music. Which totally works for you.
Yes, with music. Two of the most talented individuals I think I've seen and some of the greatest
chemistry any of us will ever seen. comedian, Tommy Smothers, who with his brother,
performed as the singing comedy duo, the Smothers Brothers, passed away according to a
family statement. Dick Smothers, Tom's younger brother and professional partner said his brother
was at home at the time of his death related to cancer.
Quote, Tom was not only the loving older brother that everyone would want to want in their life,
he was a one of a kind creative partner. Dick Smothers said in a statement,
I am forever grateful to have spent a lifetime together with him on and off stage.
For over 60 years, our relationship was like a good marriage. The longer we were together,
the more we loved and respected one another. We were truly blessed.
The folks singing brothers became pioneers with their biting satirical comedy at the
forefront of the CBS variety show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, which ran from 67 to 69.
The show would have lasted longer, but they got canceled. They got black balls because of some of
the things that they were talking about, some of the things that they did with comedy,
that not everybody was doing, and nobody like them was doing. You didn't see two white guys
up there singing talking about Vietnam or talking about certain things that they were.
Roses on it. Yes, yes. Be censored on television.
Now, whether you agree with them or not is here or there. All of us should be thankful they
were doing it because everybody should care about free speech. Everybody should care about being
able to talk about these things. They like to certain sides of the aisle like to take words and
like snowflake or woke or things and like rebrand them and turn them into something that they
were never intended for. And I think of these guys with that because these guys right now,
if the The Smothers Brothers show was on right now, we'll be having a field day with some of the
stuff that's going on right now. They were the John Oliver and the Colbert of their day.
Yeah. Long before.
Comedians who were actually taking situations that are happening in real life, real day,
making them, yes, funny, but also stating what's really going on and saying it like it is.
Yeah. CBS famously yanked the show from the air after they ran a foul with the network for
their political critiques, defensive civil rights and their opposition to the Vietnam War.
Quote, 50 years later, I look back at on us being fired and I'm still ticked off. That's not what
he said, but that's what I can say on the air. Tom Smothers said to laughs in a 2019 interview we
shared on all arts TV. It was the younger brother, I'm sorry, the older brother Smothers was
born in 1937 a year before his brother Dick and the pair grew up in California and began performing
after attending San Jose State University. Because of a lot of that other stuff, because of the
canceling of the show and some of the conversations they would have with some of their stuff, I feel like
we lose sight of the fact of how darn musically talented they were. Well, when they started out,
they wanted to be folk singers. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, really. That's why they're so musically
talented. Huh, I didn't know that. Yeah, they found success weaving comedy into their act,
which is how they got on CBS. I just, I will go back and I did last night, I'll go back and watch
a number of their bits. I'm incredibly funny. Just gigantic names and comedy to me. I don't know if
they're seeing that way by most. I will say when I bring them up with my students and everything,
they know who the Smothers Brothers are. I'm talking like 1918 year olds. Yeah, yeah, that's it.
I don't know that sticks in your head. Yeah, the mother's brothers. It does. Yeah, it works.
It's good branding. Good brand. Yeah, yeah. He will be missed. We'll be missed.
I wanted to touch on this one too, Melissa. I thought this was pretty interesting. You can find
the article at CNN.com. Fox.com also has an article very similar to it. Just the two
sources I pulled for for this conversation. Not long ago, Latin artists had to make crossover
albums in English if they wanted to win over big in the US. Now experts say something significant
is shifting in music and the chart ranking of Spanish language songs from stars like Bad Bunny,
Carol Kay, reveal a lot more about changes in the music industry and the US.
The first Spanish language song to make it into the top 10 of Billboard's Hot 100 chart was a
version of the classic Cuban song Guadalajuan performed by the sandpipers, an American folk group
back in 1966. Okay. Back then there were only about 8.5 million Latinos living in the United
States. Now there are about 64 million making up roughly 19% of our total population.
And there are far more Spanish language songs making it into the Billboard top 100 now.
So we're seeing a huge shift of this and no longer do artists like Bad Bunny or any of these
artists feel like they have to change the record their songs. Yeah. Now they're just doing them as
is. Yeah. And what's very interesting about this to me is similar to what we saw with country
music and the rise of that. What we saw with and very similar from that to the rise of hip hop.
You're not seeing it where you might say you might say country music. Well, I'm sure that's really
big in rural communities and it's got a group really big and in small towns what have you or
anything down in the South made it really big and a lot of that is true. But what really got
country music over was it being big in cities. Very similar with hip hop. You would say well
urban communities made hip hop popular. No white kids in the suburbs made hip hop popular.
That's that's gen that's where all their album sales came from. That's where all that that's
how it got on MTV. That's how it got because they saw white kids in the suburbs listening to it.
It's similar with this. It's not just the Spanish community did spying this. It's everybody that's
buying this music. Black, white, Latino. It don't matter. Everybody's buying the Spanish music.
Doesn't matter what language you speak. Right. They like the beat. They like the sound of it.
They're just going to jam to it. They don't. I mean, how many times do you like a song and you
don't know any of the lyrics? Even even when it's in your own language. Right. Right. How many of us
have it wrong? Yeah. I know. I'm raising my hand. There's about 90 songs. I sing along too.
As soon as they come on in the car and all the idea of them, I get the lyrics wrong.
And the person next to you that that's not what they're saying. I don't care. That's what I think
they're saying. That's all about it. It's just fascinating. Interesting kind of change of
this is going on. It's one of those things where I think it's so cool when these things happen
organically. You've got people right now being paid thousands and thousands of dollars sitting
in music studios or production meetings, trying to figure out what the next big thing is,
trying to create the next big thing, trying to make this happen or that happen. If you just sit
back and let it happen organically, the audience will tell you what they want. And this is one of the
things they want right now is more of this or certainly celebrating and promoting a lot of these
artists. Well, and the thing to remember to James and my opinion when you're talking about this
is diversity makes life interesting. It makes it fun. It makes it colorful. If we all speak the same
language, that's boring. God yeah. Oh my God. And I say this from the viewpoint of I don't know
another language. Like I want to learn Spanish. It's on my bucket list. I've spent money on it.
I have a subscription that I don't use because I haven't done it. And also I'm as guilty of it as
every other American that doesn't know another language. But there are so many places in the world
where people learn other languages and it enriches their life. Being able to listen to music,
actually I spoke with there was a Latino woman that I worked with years ago who she's giving me
Spanish music CDs. She's like, this is the best way for you to learn it. Listen to the music.
You will start to recognize words. I mean, there's an immersion into the culture that's going to
help you with that. But it broadens your horizons so much from what I've heard because I can't speak
to it personally because I don't know another language. That is my broken Italian telling you,
you have beautiful hair. Thank you. All my all my Italian is like that. It's all it's all very it
feels like if if somebody that actually knows the language was listening to me like it was like I
was stopping like somebody was recording just every word and snipping it into things like you're
using Google translate. Right. Yeah, exactly. It's just like that. I think that not only are the
languages fun other cultures are fun. And for me, when I read about like I read about Indian culture,
I read about Native American culture or any of these things. While I don't have any ties to those
things, it makes me think of my own and brings not only pride of my own, but seeing a connection or
seeing how so much wow. Well, even as an Italian culture, I see a connection to Native American
culture. I see these little things and these parallels, which make us show human and how we are
all connected. And we have more in common than not. But those differences in cultural upbringings
are amazing. Should be embraced. Should be empowered. And then fun. They're good. They're wonderful
things. Yeah. We got a wonderful thing coming up with our friends at Wisconsin Ravits Community
Theater. The Glassman Nazari has their audition date set. That's right. Next Tuesday and Wednesday,
I believe. Right? The third and fourth. Yeah. At 630 over at the WRCT Auditorium. If you are
looking to audition for this show, keep in mind the production dates will be in March. So if you
have any plans for the first two weeks of March, that might not be able to audition, but we encourage
everybody too. Or if you can help out backstage, you know, they need people to help build the set. They
need ushers during the show. They need people to help with hospitality. So always forget to mention
ushers. Thank you. Yeah. But the building and the production leading up to that doesn't tie you
in for the first two weekends of March. Right. Right. Yeah. You can be a part of things and help out.
You can also be a part of our friend Seth Habeggers, a debut for directorial debut. Don't tell him
we cheered him on. Oh, no. Don't tell him I cheered him on. Yeah. Yeah. We really are excited for
Seth. I really wanted to be a part of this. I got to be honest with the audience. I actually was
training for it. I was working on Tom's monologue and everything. I was warning Seth. I'm like,
I'm going for this man. Is that opening monologue of Tom's is one of my top 10 favorite monologues of
all time. I love it. Got too many other things going on. Got too many things in the fire. I've
actually, it looks like I may have some actual paid work coming up with acting. So I'm looking
forward to that. I encourage everybody and their mother and father and their kids to audition for
this show. There are only four parts. There are two men, two women. If you are unable to be on
stage, or if maybe you're not ready to be on stage, as Melissa touched on, there are a billion
other jobs for you there. Join our friends at Wisconsin Rapids Community Theatre when they have
these auditions and when they have all their shows, buy local support, local support, local arts,
find out more at wrctheater.org, wrctheater.org. Taking a break, getting to our state local news,
be back more fun. Let me see. Oh, yeah, we got the weird new year celebrations. We got to get
into it. It's coming up on the morning show here at WFHR, locally grown radio.
Welcome everybody to the morning show here at WFHR,
locally grown radio. Melissa and James with you. Now here's some enya. Or is it a digba?
Is it a digba or eggba? It is enya, it is enya, it is.
Stop talking. Welcome.
No.
Okay, you can talk now.
It, she really does have a beautiful, you know, I always, I don't, I like the music,
but I don't listen to the lyrics very much. I don't know if
her... It's because you're busy talking. Oh, yeah, that doesn't help. It's talk radio. It's 20 years of
talk, or years and years of talk radio. Getting you duct tape for your birthday.
You and all my loved ones would appreciate that. We dive into weird traditions from around the
world as we are looking at new years and our own new year celebrations here. And while we have
some interesting ones, like tomorrow, I want to, one of the things I want to get into a Katrina
who's going to join us on the morning show tomorrow. We used to draw, where the dropping of the
balls comes from with new years. I want to get into that a little bit. That's one of our American
traditions here. But what about around the world? What do they have for traditions when it comes to
this? Well, the other ones I'd just like to mention for here that I'm aware of is what clinking
of glasses and drinking and a kiss. Yes, yeah. I kissed a lot of people in bars on New Year's Eve
when I was in a band. Oh, I bet. Oh, I bet. Yeah. I did, and that wasn't even in the band.
Yeah. I, um, yeah, that's a, oh, interesting. Oh, yeah, I got a follow up questions on that one.
That's a good one. Nope. In Scotland, Hogmanie, Hogmanie is an end of the year. Hogmanie.
Hogmanie. Thank you. Hogmanie is it end of the year New Year's Eve party that starts on
December 30th and ends on New Year's Day. There are many various dim from ways they celebrate.
People gather in a circle to link arms and belt out the lyrics after the clock strikes 12,
eating 12 grapes. Oh, yeah, yeah, we also sing all Langzain. Yes. Yeah. There we go. There's
another one that we do. Yeah. They eat grapes. In Spain, they eat grape, 12 grapes at midnight.
In Spain, eating grapes at midnight is a big tradition. Okay. Cool. I kind of like that. I think
that's cool. Well, for the number of months in the year. Yeah. Yeah. That's where it comes from.
Or midnight. Um, yeah. But I believe it's from what I've read. It's 12 months of the year.
Each grape represents one of them and it's supposed to you pick each one up and eat it. And if you
get a sour one or a rotten one, that month's going to be bad. Yeah. Yeah. I'm avoiding March.
Well, it's going to be a bad June this year. Sorry, everybody.
We go to my my my my my mother country, Italy. In parts of Italy, such as Naples, the motto is
out with the old where on New Year's Eve, it is tradition to throw old unwanted furniture out
balconies. Whoa. Yep. Whoa. They don't hold back. They clear the streets. They make sure
the streets are clear. Um, and they actually, if you live on the first floor, you will talk
to your neighbor upstairs. Can I borrow your balcony? I got this couch. Which also means I need
your help. There are families that will get together that live in like apartment complexes or
things like that. They will get together. They will have a party. And then they will do this at
the end of the party where they just throw their old furniture out. Wow. Uh, if you if you are
looking for work and you are a carpenter, uh, I feel like Italy, like would be a good.
January is a great time for you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you're you're you're making
buco box on this like, or if you're a scrapper. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Nice. Nice. That's good.
Going and get what you need out of the streets. In Japan, bells are rang at ring at a one
a ring, 108 times in Buddhist tradition that is believed to be to banish all human sins.
It's also a good luck to be smiling or laughing, going into the new year. So, uh, similar to our,
I think I maybe it's not, but you know, we, uh, you kiss at midnight. Mm-hmm. I've always thought of
that as not only as a foolish romantic, but as a beautiful way. Oh, every year, like you're
start the year this way with, you know, kissing someone or kissing someone you love or whatever.
Yeah. I don't know. There's something really cool and beautiful to me about that.
It's a poignant moment. Seems a little similar to this. Like, uh, if you're smiling or happy
at right as the clock strikes midnight, it's supposed to be a good thing. The 108. Was it 108? Yes.
Bells, that's that's cool too. It's interesting. I'd like to look more into that. Yeah. And why that
number? Yeah. Why? Yes. Yeah. Exactly. Um, um, it just, uh, all I'm reading is the the Buddhist
belief that it brings cleanliness. We've kind of covered that. But, uh, I'm curious about the 108.
Yeah. I'm with you on this. Uh, let's see. There is red lingerie and turkey. Okay. Those who want
to find love wear red underwear for new years. Well, let's go. Uh, yeah. Uh, just don't advertise it.
Apparently that'll get you fired. Uh, otherwise, uh, people wear yellow underwear, which brings wealth
and go and look. Okay. All right. Uh, don't own any yellow underwear. I don't own either of those
colors. I don't. Well, apparently you need to diversify. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I definitely do. I
definitely do. That's a good one. I like that one. Uh, about scarecrow burning, uh, scarecrow burning,
um, that is big and Ecuador to to banish any ill fortune or bad things that happened in the past
year. Ecuadorians set fire to scarecrow's filled with paper. That sounds like fun. Yeah. I like
that one. That's an interesting one. Of course, uh, another one that we, uh, maybe didn't mention
Melissa that is pretty big here in the States, but also very big over in, uh, over across the pond
in England, polar bear plunges. Oh, polar bear plunges. It's a very big one over in, uh, Europe,
uh, in Canada, uh, apparently, uh, charitable or in Canada and Europe, uh, uh,
for charity or for just the fun of jumping in cold water. It looks like in Canada,
it's mainly a, uh, combined with charitable organizations, um, in the UK, it seems a little bit.
Okay. I mean, there is the health aspects of, of ice bathing, apparently, or is the thing, um,
yeah, uh, I'll, I'll take a cold shower. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I, I feel like that I can control
a lot better. I can get out a lot quicker. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. As long as you don't fall.
In Romania, they'll be talking to animals. Over in Romania, farmers spend their new years
communicating with their livestock. Apparently, if they succeed, good luck comes.
How do they know if they succeed? Well, I guess if they're lucky during the year, then,
then they know. That seems rough. That's like, you don't know how that one's going to go.
Oh, we talked about how difficult it is to actually know what animals are thinking. Yeah.
A side of what, you know, we personificate upon them. Right. Right. Uh, smashing plates and
jumping off chairs in Denmark, uh, this may be my favorite in jumping off chairs. Yeah.
It is customary for residents of Denmark to celebrate New Year's Eve by throwing old plates and
glasses, uh, jumping off chairs in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is tradition to jump off a chair at the
stroke of midnight. It's supposed to bring good fortune and good luck. Jump off a chair. Okay.
All right. I, I, I, how many twisted and eight holes are seen? Exactly. It's the first thing I
thought of. Because how much champagne or, or whatever they drink in Denmark is, is consumed more
than I don't know if it's a good idea to be. Yeah. Maybe after, after the jump, maybe, uh,
you know, hit the sauce. Throw the plates in the cups. That sounds messy. Uh, it's again,
another one of those things. Uh, you, you want to be working in the, that industry. Yeah.
In these countries, like, you know, yeah. Oh, another New Year's glass sales go up.
I mean, the January 2nd got to think that it's a good gig to have banging bread in Ireland.
Another superstition, a hailing from the emerald aisle is banging specially baked Christmas bread
against the walls on New Year's Eve. The Irish used to bang loads of bread against the wall
when the clock struck midnight. It was supposed to ward off bad spirits while welcoming good ones.
Interesting. Uh, I couldn't smash this loaf against the wall. I couldn't find, uh, why bread.
I couldn't find that what, what the reason with the time to that probably because it was easy
to come by. Yeah. Uh, it also though does make me think a little bit of like, well, they didn't have
a ton of like food back then. So you really got to really believe in what you're doing. If you're,
you wait, I want to say wasting it, but, you know, you hang on to it, James. You don't just throw
it. I suppose I, as I was saying it, I was realizing, banging against it's like, you know,
it's like a drumstick. Yeah. Yeah. You can still eat it. I just, I'm an idiot. Um, we go to
Chile for our next one where, uh, interesting camping they're doing while they eat at midnight
in Spain, what they hit against the wall in Ireland, but in, uh, but they are doing it kind of a
comment or a weird combination in Chile where they have graveyard camping that they do.
graveyard camping. Uh, locals in a taco central Chile, like to see, see in the new year in the
company of their dead relatives and bring them with them, bring the spirit of them with them.
Interesting. Uh, the relationship with the dead in Latin countries, I think, is, is
something that's admirable to me in many ways. Uh, it's very different than what we do here.
Yeah. It reminds me a little bit of the like your, your, your typical New Orleans funeral,
uh, where it seems to be more of a celebration of life than a morning of the loss.
And, uh, to each the wrong, however you mourn you mourn, that's, uh, it's yours.
It's a private thing. I've always really appreciated that though. The celebration of life.
I feel like you can do both things. You can, you can chew gum or walk at the same time. You can
mourn and feel, but also celebrate. And I think that we're migrating away from that a bit here,
you know, it's not obligatory to wear black to a funeral anymore. Yeah. They're more often
called celebration of life than funerals. Yeah. Yeah. So I think in some ways we're starting to
move away from that, but honoring the dead, I think, is another, another step in that process.
Dropping ice cream. Uh, while dropping ice cream on the ground was sent, uh, sent countless
children to cry, it is a New Year's tradition in Switzerland. Really? They dropped that,
then the floor to, uh, bring, uh, to get rid of the messiness of the last year and to bring in
cleanliness, cleanliness to the New Year. So let's create a mess. I guess. Yeah. That's it.
Yeah. Right. I, I'm, and then you clean it up, I suppose. So you're, you're just demonstrating
both things. I feel like my mother would not, I would have a lot of problems with that.
Can I drop it on a plate? Yeah. It seems like I can still eat it.
It seems like a better way of doing this. Yeah. Uh, smashing pomegranates. Pomegranates.
Pomegranates, uh, in turkey, uh, local smash pomegranates. So another tradition out of turkey.
You're too expensive here to do that. Yeah. Yeah. I don't, you don't see many people. I don't
think you're gonna see many people doing that one. Uh, interpreting molten tin. Uh,
we send a shout out to our fin friends out there. Uh, finland will melt a mini tin horseshoe
in a pan until it completely melts before pouring the, uh, resulting metallic goo into a cold bucket
of water. Mm hmm. It is believed that people are able to predict the coming year by casting
molten tin into the container of water and interpreting the shape. Okay. So it's the finished
version of reading your tea leaves. Yeah. Well, wasn't there something that kids used to do, uh,
with this where they drop like, uh, candle wax into water or something and see what it formed? And
I don't know. That wasn't something I ever did, but I've seen or remember like TV shows talking
about or something. I've never heard of that. But I've heard of, you know, like parties where you
peel off a, uh, apple peel in one long strip and then you throw it over your shoulder to see
what letter is formed. So that's gonna be the name of your, the person you marry. Hmm. Okay.
Prediction. All right. Hmm. Uh, yeah. And the, the smashing of plates in Denmark, I think, is a,
is a, is a, is one of the more popular ones. I think the people know about and there's a couple
of countries that do similar things to that. Uh, so I mean, there's some really interesting ones.
Traditions are interesting. They're fun. I wonder too. If any of these, uh, get people, get like
spurring ideas and people's brains to either incorporate them or Americanize them or, you know,
make a, make them my own. Uh, I, I, I think we got great traditions when it comes to New Year's.
But I also think that, uh, people are looking for something else, looking for a new one or something
more or something to make fun about it. This happened years ago with Christmas with the
elf and the shelf thing. Hmm. Where now it seems like that's been around since we were kids,
but it hasn't. It hasn't been around that long at all, really. Uh, I believe, uh, certain,
certain traditions, like they're bringing incorporating new ones with the old, um, I like the idea
of that. I've got one. Instead of smashing plates, why don't we banish Styrofoam plates?
No, I like that. Get rid of them. Stop making them. Yeah. Yeah. They're not good for the environment.
Oh, that's, it seems like a great tradition. Carrying about the planets. How about suitcases
in Columbia? Let's wrap up in Columbia over in Columbia. There's a tradition or a bit of a legend
that carrying an empty suitcase on December 31st is good luck. As the clock inches towards midnight
in Columbia, family and friends gather at home to enjoy homemade feast and lots of Argentinian meals
and walk and have this empty suitcase with them. You carry in an empty suitcase. Look,
walking around with an empty suitcase. Okay. Uh, they, uh, easier than a full one, I guess.
Very true. Very true. Uh, that's a good one. There's a lot of countries that do high jumps,
uh, you know, uh, like into water like that. There's a lot of those things. There's some interesting
ones out there. Uh, and we encourage everybody to do, uh, you know, uh, if you explore, yeah.
See if you want to incorporate a new, new year's tradition into your family.
And I want to open this up while we have phones aren't working. Of course. Uh, you can message us.
Yes, you can email us and we encourage you to email us. I want to know your family's traditions.
Do you have any fun family traditions and everything? Um, as we, if we can collect some of these,
we'll do them a next Tuesday on the show. Uh, well, that'll be fun. But I'd love to know.
For my family, I, I don't think we really had anything so much. My mom and dad really didn't
do too much as an old, my older Mary couple didn't do too much on New Year's. It was mostly,
I remember I really think I celebrated New Year's better when I was a kid. Yeah.
Where, uh, when me and my friend Chris, we, we, uh, New Year's and we knew we got to stay up late.
And it just had fun. It was, it was an adult plan. Like we're going to play video games
until this time. And then we're going to watch this movie. And then we're going to eat this.
Were you there? Like exactly. Like it was just like that. And it was a former life.
It was a blast. It was so much fun. I look at like all the New Year's. I've celebrated as an
adult. And I've had some good ones. But even those good ones had like a headache or two in it.
Like it seems like it's not when I woke up. A literal headache.
Take it a break. We'll come back with some more fun for you on the morning show here at WFHR
locally grown radio. Welcome back to the show everybody. Morning show here at WFHR locally
grown radio. Seth, uh, Melissa and James here with you and Shania and Shania. I was going to
try to say Shania and I said, because they sound so much alike. You just miss Seth in what
she was here with us. Be real. Not at all. Come on. And I hope you don't have to wonder who's
your bed your boots have been on here on your years morning. You know, we hope that for all of you
out there. We got some, uh, note any right story today. We're just going to have some good.
We want to go into the New Year with some good stuff and, uh, good stories for you and got a lot
of local good ones we want to get to right now. This one, more of a state good story on the day.
The annual first day hike event, uh, is scheduled at about 20 state-owned properties around Wisconsin.
Yeah. Uh, this is always fun. Um, one of those is in North, uh, Northern Door County. And that's
part of how WI live. Even on a damp late December morning, Pensilla, uh, Penn, Penn, Penn,
Peninsula State Park, Deputy Superintendent Jennifer Burkoltz says this section of the Hidden
Bluff Trail is an inviting place for a walk. Quote, everybody has that first year, uh, that first
year New Year's resolution thing that they want to do. And everybody talks about getting out more,
says Burkoltz. The trail runs near the White Seater Nature Center, where, uh, Monday's 10 AM
hike begins. So keep that in mind, everybody. And then, uh, they'll have cookies and hot cocoa and
hot beverages. Also, uh, in the amphitheater, there is a fire pit. They'll also have a fire going
there too. Um, they, they told, uh, Friends of Penn, Peninsula State Park. So if you're curious,
may want to check that out. Everybody is invited. And we really hope friends and family and children.
So it's a family affair and nice to be out. Park leaders say, uh, all, it's an all terrain. There
is an all terrain wheelchair that is scheduled to be available to. So are those that may need it.
Quote, it provides them an opportunity to use a mobile device that allows them to get to places
that they normally wouldn't be able to, says Burkoltz. And there's a lot more of that adaptive equipment
coming into our state parks. I just reported, um, Buckhorn State Park got an adaptive wheelchair
here, a grant for one. They don't have it yet, but they will. Yeah. And I, I wouldn't have known
about that story without you reporting on it. I really appreciated that. I thought that was,
that's a really cool aspect of this. So what's going on with our national parks and, uh, local
parks. And this is fun. Uh, learn more about it. Go ahead and take a hike this, uh, to start off
the new year. I think that's a good idea. Yeah. And I was trying to look here to see what our
forecast is for New Year's days since we did not get our weather today. Um, but yeah,
you know, the temperatures have been nice. Monday looks like it's going to be a little bit cooler
than we have been having in the 40s, but it should be around 32. There's a low-percent
chance of precipitation in the Wisconsin Rapids area on Monday. But so a good day to get out and
hike says, I don't know, 32 is about the perfect temperature in the winter to hike. Agreed.
A hundred percent. Berkolt says the 1.5 mile hike could draw 50 to 100 people.
Quote, we obviously promote being outdoors, camping and hiking and the sorts of activities.
So this is kind of the start of the new year. Come out and go for a little hike. We've actually
had really mild weather. So it should be an enjoyable hike. Yeah. We might get some snow on Sunday,
but otherwise the forecast looks pretty clear. Uh, the first day hikers are free, but a Wisconsin
State Park admission sticker is needed to enter the park. Daily and seasonal passes are available
at Peninsula State Park. I got to get there. Well, and if you don't have your sticker yet,
even if you purchase it now and you're obviously not going to get the sticker in time,
but as long as you print out your receipt, you're good. Good call. Yeah. Yeah. Good thing to mention
that. Yeah, I look at the pictures of this and I just I got it there. So beautiful. Our
state parks are beautiful. They really are. Yeah. Got some really, really beautiful state parks in
this state. We do. Uh, it was some really beautiful state parks in this state. That's a sense I
actually said that that I mean state parks in this state versus county parks in this state.
I think it makes perfect sense James. I get paid to talk for a living. Um, we're going to go
ahead and dive into some local good stories of the day. If you want to get your new years Eve
on early, you can have a new year's Eve Eve at Lake Arrowhead. They're celebrating at the clubhouse
on Saturday, December 30th. They're moving their celebration up one day. Uh, they're going to close
their regular restaurant service at three and then reopen for reservations only from 430 to
830. So you need to contact them. Uh, you can call them at the office or email them at bankwits
at Lake Arrowhead Golf.com to make your reservation today. They will have a limited menu and you can
see that under their discussions tab, discussions tab, not menus. Yeah. Okay. Pre-ordering is
recommended to make sure you secure your favorite items. Be sure to check that out. Also a really
cool thing going on in San Valley. Yeah. They've got also a Saturday, December 30th through Monday,
January 1st. They are celebrating New Year's Eve as well. Uh, so celebrate the start of 2024
with a festive and intimate dinner in Central Wisconsin. Our culinary team has crafted a tasteful
and seasonal menu to enjoy with family and close friends. Only close friends don't bring not
indulge in a gourmet meal featuring locally sourced ingredients and creative dishes. You can
pair your meal with their expensive, I'll probably also expensive, but this says extensive.
Find list or craft cocktails and raise a glass to the New Year. You can visit San
Valley's website or call them to reserve your spot. A big happy New Year's to all of our friends
at Lake Arrowhead at San Valley. These are businesses. These are establishments to put back into their
community. They are. And the exciting things coming up for San Valley here with scoring, you know,
like securing some of those PGA tours coming up junior tours, amateur things doing well in San
Valley makes this whole such a Wisconsin area better. Like it all bleeds into each other and
everything. That is a pretty cool thing to look forward to in 2024. This is a great one. We're
going to be talking more about this tomorrow in the at 330. We're going to welcome in our friends
to talk about the Wayne Wilson Benefits in this family. Nobody fights alone. We all fight together.
The Wayne Wilson Benefit is taking place December 31st from 1 to 11. Part party to continue
after to ring in the New Year. This is by Brothers Choice Clubhouse at 7561 Bethel Road in Arpen.
It'll have raffle, music, food, 50, 50 cash drawings throughout the night. This is a big event
and an important one and an opportunity for us to help a local, for us to help Wayne and his
family in this time of need. He's been out of work for quite some time and struggling with the
cancer diagnosis and they need the help. So we'll talk more about this tomorrow with members from
the Wayne Wilson Benefit. But again, the Wayne Wilson Benefit happening December 31st,
1 to 11 over Brothers Choice by the Choice Clubhouse 7561 Bethel Road in beautiful Arpen.
The ported where it's basketball alumni game, you were invited to the annual alumni recognition
basketball game. For the males side, it'll be January 2nd, female side, January 15th,
alumni basketball players attending will be given admission to the games,
be treated to on-court introductions, at halftime, and after-game social. Please invite your
teammates and people that may not see the announcements spread the word about this. You never know,
it'll show you some local basketball. Yeah, yeah. And Melissa, we had one other thing that I
wanted to make sure to mention that this 4-H foodie thing coming up next week. This egg delicious
from devil eggs to fratadas, you can join Jasmine in exploring fun egg-centered recipes. This is
Saturday, January 6th, from one to two at the first Presbyterian Church in Marshfield.
For youth in third grade and older, it's just $5 to participate. And you can register,
hit up their Facebook page and you can find the link to register there. This is through the UW-Madison
Extension in Wood County. Learn more about eggs. They're amazing. Yeah. We encourage you to stick
around throughout the day. We've got great shows here at Civic Media on Wisconsin coming up after us.
Looking forward to that. Jane's been doing such a great job with that show. Yeah, I love it.
Melissa and Jane. Did you just Kristen? We certainly missed Kristen. But she's enjoying her new baby.
Yeah, yeah. And more power to her for that. Very happy for her for that. I've been enjoying Jay
a lot. I've been getting more Jay to that. I love that voice. She may be my favorite voice in
radio. So we've been really enjoying that. Stick around for Asgos, Wisconsin coming up in just minutes.
And a little bit later, today we'll have Midday Magazine from three to four. Be sure to join us.
Steven and Katrina Hinton are from Family Natural Foods in part one. It's going to be a lot of fun.
Katrina will be co-hosting with us tomorrow during the morning. Daily dose of Katrina today and
tomorrow. It's going to be fun. Looking forward to it. And in part two, we're looking forward to
talking with Emma Palm, president of the Snyder 4-H Club. Emma's also going to be bringing in some
friends. Looks like Stacy, Bella and Richard are also going to be with. Nice. So it should be a
lot of fun. A great conversation to get a chance to talk a little 4-H. And sports wise tonight,
right here at WFHR at seven Wisconsin men's hockey versus Air Force. This is part of the
quick trip holiday face off at Pfizer forum and Milwaukee. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Puck drops at seven,
everybody. And on our sister station, WIRI at 1225, our pregame will kick off for girls basketball,
Lincoln High School host going up against Fondalek as a part of the 52nd annual century classic
basketball tournament in UWSP. Wow. 52nd annual. That's a great one. I want to send a big,
big shout out to our friends of the station here. Our friend Phil Hartley from Quality Plus Printing.
Who tried desperately to call in? Sorry, Phil. Yeah. We apologize for that, Phil, but we are looking
forward to talking to you next Wednesday. We're getting our wicked awesome word of Wednesday.
Appreciate Quality Plus sponsoring playmakers as well. Getting your words out here in Wisconsin
rabbits. Visit them at 3515 A Street South of Wisconsin Rabbits. Their doors are open right now.
Be sure to follow along on their Facebook page. And Madison Raffer, executive director of the
South of County Maine Society joining us. Talking about Frosty, the orange cat. He was our pet of
the week. Handsome dude. Yeah. Good to check out Frosty and other great animals in your new
future furry friend over at SWCHS.com. SWCHS.com. And sorry, we couldn't talk to Paul Tronley today.
We miss you, Paul. We're looking forward to talking to you. Hopefully tomorrow or hopefully soon.
Yeah. We appreciate you. Appreciate you, Melissa. Yeah, it was a good day. Really good day.
Really good show. Enjoy the new year. We'll hang out again next year. Next year.
Oh, that's it's crazy. Have a good day. Everybody be good to each other. We'll talk to you soon
and later right here at W F H R Wisconsin Rabbits 1320 AM and W248 DE broadcasting at 97.5 FM.
