Good morning, Wisconsin. Good morning, world. It's a new day. Thanks for kicking it off
with us right here at 97 5 FM 13 20 AM W F HR locally grown radio. Got Beth and James
here with you. We hope you're having a great start to your day out there. Thanks so much
for joining us. We were hoping to be joined by Craig Manka for Wisconsin Rabbit School
Board candidate. We will see if Craig is still able to join us in this hour if he gets
here in time and under the right amount of time. We'll make sure to get him on the air with
us. Otherwise we will keep moving and we were going to do some entertainment in this section.
So let's go ahead and dive into a little bit of entertainment news. All right. Splash.
Yes. Splash. Splash. Nev Campbell is returning to screen the screen franchise for the upcoming
seventh installment. Seven. I didn't realize there were seven of the I thought there were
like three or four. I had no idea there were seven of those. Wow. She after skipping
the sixth one due to salary dispute. She announced it on Instagram yesterday as well as
the return of the original writer Kevin Williamson. Kevin wrote the screen pay for the first
second and fourth movies. But this time he's stepping in as director here probably says
Christopher Landon. Nev says quote my appreciation for these films and for what they have
meant to me has never waned. I'm very happy and proud to say I've been asked in the most
respectful way to bring Sydney back to screen. I've dreamt for many years of how amazing
it would be to make one of these movies with Kevin. And this was his baby and his brilliant
mind and dreamt up this world to the amazing screen fans. I hope you're excited as I am.
This is the first positive news for screen seven and months. Melissa Barra was fired in November
which didn't help out very well. And Jenny or take it dropped out shortly after that which
was supposed to be a big get for the franchise. So I do think that this was one of the this
was not originally planned. Nev Campbell was not going to be in this installment. But with
those other things happening that especially the Jenny or losing a Jenny or take one of
the bigger young stars in the game right now for those that don't know she started as Wednesday
last season. She's been in a ton of movies since then and everything like that young lady
star is rising. Oh yeah. You miss out on somebody like that. How are you going to bring
Nate? What can you do to keep the franchise alive and rejuvenated? You're going to pay Nev
Campbell that money. The money you didn't pay her for the last one. Now you're going to pay her.
Yeah. And good for her. Good for them. That's that if you're a fan of the franchise. That's awesome.
And I would think if you're a fan of the franchise. Well, you don't have less Craven directing
one of the greatest directors of all time. One of the you one of the top three greatest horror
suspense directors of all time. That that's going to be well. Oh, he's not a part of it. But then I
see the original writer is a you got the vision. Yeah. The writer is going to be able to project
onto the screen. What has been going on in their mind. The way the characters are developing.
I'm not a horror movie guy. I don't mind suspense. I can if it's the right storyline with the
right actors. It pulls me in. I grew up watching those movies with Alfred Hitchcock movies with
my Nana and everything. And I it really got me to love those movies. But I remember my
one of my best friend Steve. He wanted to go see screen. We go and see it. There's nobody in
the theater. It's just him and I in the movie theater. And we had a blast. It was it was a different
type of horror movie. It was it was it was it was the first one. Now this is very common with TV
shows and movies. But it was the first one where oh, Drew Barrymore is in this. That's going to be
great. Wait, Drew Barrymore's gone like 10 minutes into the movie and the biggest star in the movie
is out. Spoiler alert. Yeah, which you know, to me, and I hate spoilers. I hate doing that.
But if you haven't seen the movie screen by now, I mean, chances are yeah. But I do like that you
did that. So they do that. This this writer Christopher Landon writes that what's Craven agrees
with it goes all in on it. Drew Barrymore to her credit signs up for that and it changes the game.
Yeah. Now you've got shows like the walking dead where don't like any of the characters.
Because you never know which one's gone. Yeah, they're gone. In other TV shows where they use
this as a trope. One of them being the walking dead where there were plenty of times where
you could tell they were running out of storyline. We got to do something. Let's kill off a character.
Like that's that's a trope now. Right. Like it is back in old sitcom days of of the guy having two
dates on one day and stuff and everything. Or bringing on a baby. Yes. Yes. Yes. It's kind of a
trope now and it all started with this. It's kind of interesting to see. It's kind of cool.
And if you're a fan of the series, you're going to be able to be excited about this one.
This is another interesting end of things. As an actor, you're supposed to stand by your work
even when it sucks. But there are plenty of stories of actors talking trash about a role or a movie
or a director or anything like that. To me, I don't disagree with that. And I think that there's
a way that you can build a bridge to your audience, to your fans with that and gain some respect for
that. I think in some ways. Right. But the problem with that is the biggest problem with that is
is how unprofessional you seem. Yeah. And and you are not alone. Like if you as an actor were also
the you were the caterer, you were the editor, you were the director, you were the writer,
you were the extras in the background, like all of that, like then okay. But if you're not,
then you're not just talking trash about the movie and your work. You're taking everybody else's
work that works so hard on that film. And and saying that nobody should see it. Right. And that's
that's not cool to me. No, it's not. There's a lot of people that work their tails off on these
movie sets and on these TV shows. And I I know a lot of them and I know so many of the people in
the industry that are not in unions that don't have anybody speaking up for them. There was no
actors writer strike for them or anything like that. And these people deserve representation. They
deserve to be respected. They they are in this job. You don't see their pictures on posters.
You don't see their names above titles. They're in it because they love the game. They love acting.
They love being a part of this world. And when you take down a movie, you're taking them down with
it. And I have been a fan of Dakota Johnson, what little bit I've seen of hers. I think she's a
good actress. And I think she's got a great, a great, a great future ahead of her. At least I
thought she did. Recently, she was in the movie Madam Web DC or a Sony movie. Yep. And it didn't
do very well. And it wasn't what she signed up for. Okay. Now at this point in the game,
I'd like to think that if you say that now you can say stuff like that in interviews. Well,
I signed up in the script said this and actually went a different direction. Everybody respects
and likes that. I've never heard a writer or anybody really have issues with that. But it's when
you take it the steps further. So not long after Madam Web hit theaters, it was critical. And she
was critical and commercial discipline, critical and commercial discipline movie bombed.
She started talking trash about it. And Sony is not happy. And they are not the only ones.
Yeah. Particularly with the way she dragged the movie without taking any responsibility for
its failure. A source says, quote, lots of people at Sony are questioning her star power and how
she reacted to this failure will likely come back to haunt her. Not every movie is going to work.
But a lot of hard work is put towards even bad movies. And for you to for your star to talk
trash about it is a very bad look. Every actor worth their salt from the beginning of the first
movie star to the last one is going to have hits. And they're going to have bombs. Oh, yeah.
And did you ever hear George Clooney or or Tom Hanks or or Melanie Griffin or
Meryl Streep or I keep going like any of them. If you heard them ever say, boy, that George Clooney,
the George Clooney famously has joked about the costume that he wore for Batman. And that was
probably his biggest bomb, if not one of them and stuff. And you you've never heard him talk
trash about it. George Clooney actually, one of my favorite things George Clooney ever did was
in an interview when he was first getting his big star. They tried to put him on the spot.
Hey, George, I know you I see your first role was Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. And they
were trying to embarrass him. Right. George puts in this big smile. Lean's on there to see I had
so much fun in that movie. Yeah, it was such a blast. I'd never been on the movie set before. He
was talking about it and everything like he completely flipped it on them. That's what you do.
Exactly. Like you're a part of something bad. Everybody can see it's bad. Everybody knows it's bad.
You don't have to you don't have to say it. You don't have to actually bring attention to that.
It's all a matter of perspective. It may have been bad in that interviewer's eyes. And they
didn't like it. But you know, in George's eyes, that was fun. It was great. And not everybody agrees
on every single thing. I happen to see Madame Webb. I enjoyed the movie because I'm not familiar with
that storyline. I did not grow up reading comic books. So I don't know who's in which cinematic
universe and all of that. And the storyline brought me in. I thoroughly enjoyed it. And the
three young ladies that Dakota worked with. Yeah. They did a great job. And their chemistry was
great. So for Dakota to say, oh, it was terrible. And that discredits their ability and their
partners. Yeah. Yeah. And and I'm looking forward to seeing it. I'll see you too. I for me,
it's just the last thing you like a teamwork is all about like you see this in sports all the time.
And we give we give a sports stars a lot of heat for like giving the traditional answers and
the boring answers. But they do that because it's the 90% of them believe it. It's true. No,
no game is one by one person or one play. And no game is one or lost by one person or one play.
Right. And no movie is done, you know, one way or the other for just one thing or one person.
And to not take any personal responsibility, that part really hits hard for a lot of people.
You know, there's been plenty of times where actors have maybe mentioned something or said
something bad about a movie, but they also take a letter of personal responsibility with it.
Right. Or at the very least, you know, what? I get to paint. I get to play make believe for a
living. Exactly. Like I get to I get to do this. And it's not to say acting isn't hard. Okay,
acting can be difficult on many layers for many reasons. But you're also not working in the factory.
Right. You enjoy the experience of working with these other actors. You know, when you've,
you and I have done theater together and you can go out and you can give your all. And sometimes
the audience just isn't reacting. And you don't know what it is. And it's not anything different
than you've done. And 10 other audiences may have really appreciated it and laughed and done
things. But that one, and you never know when that one's going to be. But you don't discredit
what you've done because of that one audience or that one time.
To that point too, but if I can piggyback on that, you also don't know what can become a cult classic.
Right. Imagine if Tim Curry or Susan Sarandon come out after Rocky Horror instead,
movie sucks. That was a horrible movie and all of that. Maybe it doesn't become the cult classic
it is now. Focus. When it first came out, nobody, I mean, very few, I happen to be one of the big
focus, focus fans. When it first came out, I loved that. And I kept wanting to see a sequel.
It took them over 20 years, 20 years to do this sequel. And the actresses all said how much they
loved it. And they knew what it was there. But at the time, it just didn't have the following. And
now people are clamoring for it. So you never can tell. Right. The cult classics, the ones that are
going to bomb the one you just enjoy the work. Yes, just enjoy doing it. How many actresses would have
love to have that part? Yeah. Right. I mean, that's that's such a key part of this. Not only
there were a hundred other actors that wanted that role that probably wouldn't have talked to
Ash about it. But it's again, they understand it because this screams a privilege to me.
And I don't any time that's being done, nobody likes that. No, you've never heard anybody say,
boy, I love when they talk about so privileged or they don't have any perspective.
You know, like if she had come out and say, man, I'm lucky to be doing this for a living.
Yeah. I don't know if the movie's good or not. But I was really happy to work with so-and-so
and so-and-so. And I really enjoyed my time. And again, I get to play, make believe for a living.
I could pay millions of dollars. I am the son of Hollywood royalty and everything. And just the
privilege that this screams of and everything. It's a shame because I think again, she's a solid
actor. I think she does a good job. And I really was looking forward to her getting better as an actor
and what else she might do. This is definitely putting us-and that's saying it's going to end her
career. Right. But it's going to be very different now going forward. And I think the industry is going
to start treading a little bit more lightly with her. Yeah. She may not get some roles now because
of this. Absolutely. If we have time a little bit later, if we're not going to have time today,
we will definitely do it tomorrow. We've got five things that can torpedo your chances in a job
interview. And just a part of that is what is the one-one of the things they always tell you.
Don't talk bad about your previous employer. Exactly. Don't talk-like they tell you that even on
that level. On this level where there's a billion microphones and everybody's waiting to print out
anything controversial, like you just basically did that to go to Johnson. Because I don't
need to tell me this and I'll never ever forget it. You said, you work your tail off. I love seeing
you going over your lines. I know you got them down already, but I love seeing this and this.
That's great. Give you're all right now. But acting is all about the next gig. It's all about that.
Everything you do as an actor, you're giving everything you got to this performance and what you're
doing. But in the back of your mind, if not your agent's mind, you were looking at the next gig
because there is no guarantee for work. There's a hundred actors I can give you the name of right now.
They were supposed to be having movies come out this year that are not going to because they got
canceled or because they messed up this or what have you. It can go on like that. There is no
star. There's no outside of politicians get away with this. Politicians just double down,
nowadays, nobody owns up to anything. Nobody has any accountability. I agree. I agree.
But if you are a any type of star, that star can be taken so quickly. Oh, absolutely.
So quick. And if there is one thing that we as a society and I mean the world likes to do
is rise somebody up and tear them down. And so there's waiting for these kind of things and
everything. I don't know. I kind of, she shot herself in the foot here. She did it to herself.
I just I feel for the other actors and everybody else. It was a part of it. I do want to take
a moment to before we get to what's new on your small screen tonight. Just remind everybody that
post-mortem auditions are going on tonight. Over at 29.52 Minnesota Avenue in Steven's point. Be
sure to check out this play. Get down there in audition if you can. Great play being directed by
a wonderful human being. Mm-hmm. Carries is great. You'll have a lot of fun working with her.
Yeah. Yeah. You can find out more at cwack.org. That's cwact.org cwact.org. Encourage you to do
that by local support, local support, the arts. And also keep in mind that our friends over at
Wisconsin Rabbits Community Theater are still looking for directors for next year. Maybe you don't
feel comfortable being on stage. But boy, you could get behind us talking about telling people what
to do. You get a lot more work than that. As Beth can tell you. Yes. Get in again, a shout out to
you in Seth and the amazing job you guys did directing the Glass-Managerie. I heard nothing
but positive things about that show and specifically about the stage work. Not just with the actors,
but with the I was talking to Seth about this. If you told me on paper, I'm going to have a big
screen out there. Mm-hmm. And we got to get it on and off stage and not be distracting to the actors
or the audience or anything like that. I have no idea how you would do that. Like I have a very
creative mind. I like to think that I have an out-of-hand imagination and I don't know how I do that.
You guys did that seamlessly. Your idea of this flipping door. Oh, I loved it. So good. Yeah,
rotating set piece. Yep. Those are the kind of things you get to do creatively as a director.
And when you are, you get to be behind it. I think too, it also not only helps you understand and
appreciate acting and directing a little bit more, but it's fun. Yeah. And it's a paid gig. I mean,
you're not for nothing. You know, it's something there. So directors needed for WRCT's 24-25
season. Find out more and reach out to them at wrctheter.org. And congratulations to everybody
who ever gets cast in rumors. We'll be rooting for you. We'll be cheering you on and looking forward
to seeing you on the WRCT stage and looking forward to having you in studio here when we talk
with you. Mm-hmm. New on screen to on your small screen tonight. The mass singer at 7 on Fox.
Group B premieres for Wizard of Oz night. I don't know what any of that means.
Survivor at 7 on CBS. And the 36 season of the amazing race kicks off at 9 30 on CBS.
You're going to be seeing a lot of reality shows for a while here. Probably not going to be getting
a lot of new network TV right away just because of the strikes and everything. Right. So we'll see
how that pull up plays out. For now, we'll take a quick time out. Come back and have some more fun
on the morning show at WFHR. Welcome back everyone. Morning show here at WFHR.
Locally grown radio. Beth and James here with you hanging out. A little seal to play us in.
This is a song that you may end up hearing on Unplugged. Yeah. Unlabeled, I made.
I wrote the show. We got the name right. Looking forward to listening to that show.
Yeah. Unlabeled is going to be back this Sunday after Seth Faces of Music. Be sure to join us
from 6 to 9 for nothing but great music and conversation and fun. Seth Faces of Music from 6 to 8.
Great show. Seth takes a different theme every week and surrounds that with songs and ideas
and just commentary and sometimes other fun things. That show just gets better and better and more
and more popular. He does an amazing job with it. And our new show that we will be having after
that. We premiered last week. We're going to play it again for you this week because not
I didn't give a lot of fanfare. It was kind of a pilot episode. It was kind of we wanted to see
how it would work. But we are back with it this Sunday from 8 to 9. Join us for Unlabeled,
your 90s mixtape. It is an opportunity for us to not only celebrate the 90s but have some fun
with our audience because we take your requests and we are going to be having some fun contest ideas
and everything with it. I want to have some guests on with me and do the show with you guys. I want
to let the audience pick the playlist. That kind of thing. One of the other things we're going to do
with that show is feature soundtracks songs. The 90s I believe were you can make the argument maybe
the 80s but I think the 90s were the king of soundtracks. Like soundtracks were gigantic there.
There were so many of us that owned CDs or of soundtracks of movies we didn't even see.
Or cassettes. Or cassettes. Yes. I think it's a fun thing about it. So we'll feature that
that song that we just played right there was actually on the Batman Forever soundtrack.
Yes. Which the movie didn't do as well but the song was huge. Yes. That song was huge.
Has a waiter or a waitress ever drawn a smiley face on your receipt?
Like they think you're you know like they just a smiley face or something like that for whatever
reason. Well a new study in the Journal of Hospitality Management found people do tip more if they
see a smiley face on the receipt. But the kind your but the kind your server draws wasn't really
what they looked at. They printed different tip suggestions on people's receipts like 15, 20,
25%. You see a lot of this nowadays. Right. And each one had a different emoji next to it.
So they basically wanted to see if the emojis would shame people into tipping more.
Okay. Interesting. Yeah. The lowest percentage had a neutral face emoji. The rest had
smiley faces and the smiley the smile got bigger and bigger as the percentages went up.
The average tip without emojis on there was 22.9% and rose to 25% with them and 11% increase
just from the smiley face. Well it presumably just from the science. They also tried it with
delivery orders and saw a 10% bump and take out orders. So the biggest increase with 33%
bigger tips. Wow. I for me tipping like I always tip. But how much I tip depends on what I'm asking
of the person delivering or the server or anything. In person, I always tip more because I can see
the person. It's very rare for me. Like you got to be really, really bad for me not to tip you
at least something. Right. I grew up in a family of blue collar people. My aunt Marion was the
greatest waitress I've ever seen. Like she did that for like 20, 30 years. It was amazing that
that the horror the people I saw her put up with and the way she just do like bounce off of it
and everything. It's impressive work. Now I'll be honest. I can do a lot of things in this world
that I'm pretty darn good at and radio is one of them. But I could never be a server. I could never
do that job. Every time I go to the gas station, I make sure to tell them, look, I did this job for
two and a half years and never got it down. I was never good at by the end of it. They had me going
in the back and working it back and everything like that. Like I give such a credit to the people
out there. A retail industry. The people that are working as our wait staff and everything.
You're doing a job that I couldn't do. And I give you all the credit in the world for it.
And they're not getting paid what they should be to do that work.
Especially in states where minimum wage hasn't changed. It's like the 1600s. Which is just ridiculous.
Again, you really want people to move to the state. You really want to keep people in this state.
You want to you want to keep your talented people. This is how you do it. It is not a flat tax.
It is not okaying other, you know, certain things or whatever. It is the simplest of things.
Peep people what they're worth. There you go. And if we did that, then we wouldn't have to worry
about tipping. Yeah. Well, and if we did that too, how much would it help child care industry?
How much would it help this industry? How much would it help? It bleeds into everything.
And look, we've talked about this with Representative Kruk and even he's owned this.
Like the idea of letting these businesses self-manage this. Oh, well, there's the argument. If
you're going to bring new, they're already paying people well. We don't need to have the government
set a standard. Are you kidding me? You're expecting businesses to run things morally.
We're going to leave it on businesses to do that. What else do we have a government for other
than situations like this? Like get to work, get it done. You really want to keep this state
thriving and keep it healthy. You've got to change the minimum wage. Like it's not that hard.
This isn't rocket science. And to push back on this of, well, what about a business to
can't afford that? I hate that. And I feel for that business very much with all the empathy in my heart.
But that's business. That's business 101. What about the family that can't afford not to have?
I mean, if you just simply do the math and you only have one person in a family because there
are some out there. And I'm not saying all, but I have heard the argument that women need to stay
at home to raise the kids. Okay. Well, if that's your expectation, then pay enough for that to
happen for the family. Yeah. Hey, you can't, you can't have it both ways. You can't be telling
women what to do with their bodies and not allowing this or that. And then at the same time,
children matter. Children are so important. But as soon as they're bored, oh, we're born. Oh,
we don't care. Like it's not my business. Well, and especially if one person in the family is
doing their being responsible and does have a job, but if that job doesn't pay or have the right
benefit, they're still going to be in poverty and they're still going to need help. We got off
on a great tangent, didn't we? We're not a side street there. We're down a side street there. So
when you tip your radar, realize that they may only be getting $7 an hour, which if they're the
only ones making the income, if it's a single mom, and that's the only income, they need to rely
on those tips. So think about that when you're tipping, not just on how well did they serve me, but
is this what they need for their income? Is this how I can help support that?
Beth and I will be back with five things that can torpedo your chance in a job interview. We'll
have that coming up. We're also going to be speaking with Wisconsin's Rapids and Merrill candidate
Matt Zacker at $9.50 looking forward to that. For now, let's get to some state and local news
and we'll back a more fun on the morning show at WFHR. Welcome back, everyone. Morning show here
at WFHR, locally grown radio. Beth and James hanging out with you. We hope you're having a good,
good Wednesday out there. I had to think about it for a second. I don't think everybody,
forgot it was Wednesday for a second there. I didn't forget the next conversation, though,
the next topic for us. This is a good one, I think. A recent poll found the worst thing you can do
in a job interview will get into. There's a couple of things here that are important to note.
The biggest one they say is, the biggest thing you could do is showing up late. That's the worst
thing you can do. Using filler words like um or too much can also be part of it. And forgetting
the name of the company. Wow. I have had some bad interviews. I've never done that one,
though. I've never done that. So here are five other things that can torpedo your chances.
Managers see them more often than you'd think. Number one. And we will hear from the audience on
this one too. I love you guys. Call in and let us know some other ones. Other things that you
think are bad to do in an interview or what have you or maybe you've seen in the interview. If you've
done hiring, we'll get into that. 424-2600. Yeah. 424-2600. Asking them to cover interview-related
expenses. Things like parking or tolls. Companies will commute up front if they're covering stuff
like that. Otherwise, assume they're not. And think of it as an investment in your future.
Exactly. I mean, yeah. I've seen this in the city a lot. Hey, do you guys cover parking?
Because you know, you're interviewing. I was going to say auditioning. You're interviewing at
a job and a business. You park in the parking area that usually costs money. And oftentimes,
they will reimburse you for that. If they do that, they'll tell you. Yeah. I mean, they'll let
you know right away. Oftentimes, at least for me and my experience, they let me know even before
I showed up for the interview. Hey, go ahead and pay for the parking. We'll cover it when you come
up and leave. That's what I've had done twice, I think. So I could see that, but boy,
don't go asking for money before you even got it. You can't do that. You can't do that.
Talking about your personal life too much, broad strokes are okay. It shows that you are willing to
show a little bit of yourself employers like that. They want to get to know you. More and more
jobs are being handled in Zoom or on Skype or on the phone. So when you get a chance to be in person,
Ben, you got to take it and you got to make the most of it. Yeah. So sharing a little of yourself
isn't so horrible. Just don't waste their time by rambling on and on about this trip you took
last year or what it's like to go fly fishing in Wyoming or I don't know anything. So oversharing.
Yes. Yeah. Well, and I think being specific to the job, things that are apt towards that or
something like that. Well, you know, I've always wanted to get into truck driving. Actually,
you know, my, my papa, my grandfather was a truck driver for 40 years and then you move on.
Right. Stuff like that. That, that is okay. But to, yeah, my papa was a truck driver for 40 years.
Man, there was this one time where he did this thing. No, okay, stop. Stop. Nobody wants to hear that
story as I should tell myself before I go in the air. Too much name dropping. Another thing I
should tell myself before I go out there. Yeah, I picked this up for you. Thank you. Thank you for
that. You did it last day. Yeah. It was very nice. I was wondering where that went.
And that's the name. Here you go. Have a pack. Yes, I'm wondering where that went. I'm
gonna put it right in my box. Too much name dropping. If you know someone at the company,
mention it once. You don't need to pepper their name in eight different times. I do think that
it's a great thing to have on your resume. Certainly with references, that certainly is that,
but you already got it on your resume. And if they're any good at their job as employers,
they've already looked at the resume and seen that you know said person. Right. And make sure
that it's a person that's connected to the job that you want to just say, well, I know so and so
who has nothing to do with it just because it's a big name that somebody might know. You know,
I could say, well, I know Mickey Mouse. Right. And if it's not a Disney related thing, who cares?
Right. I do. There is an interesting thing to this to me about. Society is really like turn
their back on nepotism. Like there is such a privileged tone to that and such a negativity
nepotism. And I kind of get it a little bit. I understand it, especially the industry I'm in.
I can't tell you how many times I've been up for a role. And the person with the famous last name
got it before I did or got an opportunity I didn't get got an extra audition or something like that.
How many times have I ever complained about that? How many times will I ever complain about that zero?
Zero. Because that's life. That's just how things work sometimes. I'm not saying it's right or
wrong. But how many jobs have I gotten because I knew so and so when they got me an interview?
Those that have intentionally not had their name, you know, think about Nicholas Cage because
they wanted to get the job on their own merit. And then if you do get the job because of that
association with somebody, it takes whether or not people think you can do the job.
I'll tell you anytime I overworked with my dad would I probably got a job where I know I did
working a lot of construction. My first jobs in this state were doing construction and it was
because of my dad because my dad was on construction sites working and everybody he had a good reputation.
Everybody knew how hard he worked. So I got to get make a couple bucks for our family doing that.
So I'm not, you know, somebody who hasn't gotten some opportunities because of this,
I think the majority of people out there have gotten opportunities because of this.
For me, that just made me work harder. Like I felt like I had to prove myself to the rest of them.
Not only was I the youngest guy on the lot, but I was also, you know, there's my dad and they all
know I'm only here because of him. So I got to make sure that when they're giving me measurements,
I'm running that stuff up and down as fast as anybody's ever done it. Like I'm that when I'm
cutting stuff, it's accurate. To me, that's that that's part of this. I would think that there's
a flip to this, this pushback to nepotism where a lot of people are like, hey, yeah, maybe I got
this job because of this and this. I'm going to prove that I belong here. Exactly. That got my
foot in the door. Now I'm going to show them why I'm really here. Yeah. As far as the name dropping,
this comes back to the same thing as anything. If you're good at something, you don't have to
breath. Right. You know, other people do it for you. And if you know a connection, if you have a
connection at this business, it'll come up. Oftentimes organically, if not on your resume,
exaggerating things like I'm perfect for this role came can come across as in an inauthentic
or like you're trying too hard. Just keep things factual and focus on why you're a good fit
for the job. There's I get I get pushback from this one. And I don't I know that a lot of people
don't agree with me on this. And I don't mind. I completely understand that. And you email me
anytime james.mail if it's civic media. US. I am not a believer in fake it till you make it in
the workforce. I think there's things in life that you do that with that you're feeling it out
and just finding out as it goes and everything. But in the workforce, not only are you wasting the
employers time, not only are you wasting the other employees time, but you're wasting your own time.
Say you take a job. I you've never done janitorial work before. But you say that you have and
you take the job and you're there for a couple of weeks and they see that you can't do this job
and you're fired. So great job. You've just wasted your time at where you could have been getting
into a job where you're actually going to be there for months, if not years. Now you're back
where you started and you just wasted three weeks. Like it doesn't make any sense to me.
The exception is if it's something that you think you would like to do and have never done before.
And so you try and but if you realize in that three-week period yourself that oh this isn't what
I thought it was going to be. This is not something that I do have the qualifications for. Then step
back and say you know thank you for letting me have this position. It's obviously it's not a good fit.
Yeah, I agree with that. I think I'm thinking of it more of the person that lies on the resume
and says they they're yeah I went to school for a nuclear science and then they're working in a lab
at NASA and like I don't know what I'm doing. That's an extreme case. Possibly life-threatening.
Please don't do that. Please don't do that. But that's like I know at least when I was first
coming out of high school in that I had people that were actually teaching resume work
suggesting things like that. And I can't imagine the horror that comes from that and the wasted time.
Well and then if it's found out that you did lie you've now lost any integrity. Yep yeah and
especially in rural and small towns people talk. No you're not it's no different than what we
were saying about Dakota Johnson. She didn't just burn a bridge with Sony. She burned a bridge with
Warner Brothers with you know MGM. She with everybody. It's not like Sony was the only ones
watching and listening to what she said. It's no different than what we said about job interviews.
You go in for a job interview and talk trash about your former employer. That current possible
employer is just wondering how soon till they turn on me. You know exactly exactly. So what I'm
hearing from this is just be authentic be who you are. And finally asking too many questions at
the end of the interview. One or two just might be seem eager but more than that and it starts to
feel like you're grilling them. Like we'll let things wrap up and again don't waste their time.
You can find this complete article online. I see the New York Post here which is not something I
usually recommend. But I guess that's where this is. That last part there is a tricky one I would
think. Right. Because I think some companies want you to ask questions. They're waiting for you to
and it gauges your interest level. I think that's how one of the tools they use to gauge your
interest level. Do you have questions? So having and I've heard you should come to an interview with
questions prepared. I'm thinking 15 might be a little extreme. But you know that three you know three
four I think would probably be that sweet spot beyond that. And chances are your other questions
are going to be answered in the midst of the interview itself anyway. What do you think the toughest
question to answer in a job interview is I think that it's when you when they ask you you know
what are some of your your negatives. What do you know what is something that you would consider a
negative or something like that. That's always a tough one for me for two ways. One I I'm always
worried about how I answer it. And then I'm going to say the wrong thing like most of us out there.
Right. But the other part of it is there's a lot there for me. I'm way too hard on myself. So
when you ask me that interview I don't know how to self edit enough and that could go onto
ramble. And some companies are great about camouflaging that question to gauge it. When I
interviewed to go on the college program at Walt Disney World the way that they approach that type
of a question is what character do you see yourself as most and why. Oh interesting. And so that
allowed them to start to see okay what do you see as your strengths what do you see as your
challenge is kind of thing. And I will admit my age here a little bit. I interviewed in in 1994
the position. So think about where the Disney archive was at that point. We've had a lot of great
characters come since then. So I didn't have the wealth to to dive into. So my response was does
it have to be just one. Which intrigued them. They've never had that before. And I they said okay. I
said I kind of see myself as a combination of Aladdin and Snow White. Oh I like that. I'm like a
Aladdin. I can think fast on my feet and get myself out of sticky situations. But in
like Snow White because I'm kind caring and concerned for others. So it's that blend kind of thing.
Oh I'd hire you. Oh that's a great answer. That's a great answer. Much better than mine. Goofy
and Pluto. Oh okay. Yeah that's that's who I kind of feel I relate to. So you think you're a dog.
Yeah yeah. But you're loyal. Doctor loyal. I'm loyal though. There you go. I got that
for me. Let's we'll take a time out. We will come back. We're going to have Matt Zacker was
concentrated. It's Merrill candidate joining us coming up. That does probably take us at the
top of the hour. So Beth thanks so much for hanging out with us today. It's great. Looking
forward to tomorrow. Yeah. We'll see you tomorrow. And thanks again to you and everybody in your
team. We appreciate you. We'll take a time out. We'll come back and have some more fun. On
the morning show at WFHR. This is welcome back everybody to the morning show here at WFHR
locally grown radio. We got your host James J. Mail off here. We're continuing our candidate
series where we're interviewing and talking with local candidates for a lot of our local offices.
Right now we have our final candidate for Wisconsin Rapids Mayor Matt Zacker in with us right now.
And Matt I want to do real quickly. Make sure people know that they can find out more information
get registered the vote. Find out where to vote at WI of my vote WI dot com. Be sure to check that
out. Matt thank you again for being here. I want to remind everybody that we ask our candidates
for these positions. The same questions as we did the other candidate. And there is this
in a debate. It isn't a conversation. I ask a question. You answer. We keep moving.
So Matt you know as we you and I have actually talked about this a little bit off fair.
We are always encouraging of people in our community and local communities to be more and more
involved with boards and getting on boards and running for offices. So I asked the question to
start off. How has this experience been for you? Yes. Thank you for having me again. I appreciate
the time together. So I've always said three years ago I wanted to get off the armchair
quarterback position and get into the real world of governing and understanding better what was
actually going on versus making things up in my head and then complaining about them to other
people and getting into my own like echo chamber of you know but really in the end not knowing
what's actually going on behind the scenes. So three years ago I got in as an alderman.
I think it's been great. I think I've learned a great deal as to all the ins and outs. I just
finished reading a book about you know all the positions that the mayor role actually has. And
this is the same roles or responsibilities that every mayor has for every city in pretty much
the Wisconsin area but also in the United States of America just different according to the states.
And it's been great and it's not always easy because you're following a lot of the things that
are put in place for you already. And then outside of that you're expected to be the more that
politician type person of you know who likes who better for what their stances are. But in the end
our big part of our job is management. That's what we're doing. We're being hired to manage people,
to manage a budget, to manage everything that's going on that makes the city work. And then outside
of that we get to you know we have to play the role of building the spirit of the community and
having excitement for the future. Because in the end the city doesn't build the future of the
community. The people of the community build the future of the community. And that's what I always
wanted to work on. I'm learning a lot about that now outside of the government side running for
mayor. I'm learning all sorts of I guess realities of what it's like especially with the new
social media out there that plays a role in you having no control over anything that's
happening. And how do you respond? How thick is your skin and how much of a leader are you?
Asking our community and talking to our listeners and polling them if you will. Jobs are one of the
main questions being asked. How can we bring more business to this area? How can we attract
really good jobs? So my take on this is twofold. One we we have the people set up and the
program set up to be able to respond when people come from the outside and want to learn about
what we have to offer. And we have a lot to offer in terms of the river and the school systems
and the electricity the power grid that is huge you know that's been great because we lost
we have a lot of power and it's not all being used because of things that have changed over the
last decades. So that's important and we have the things in place and yes we want to make sure
that anybody who's curious about moving their business or expanding their business to our community
we are set ready to go bringing that in. But at the same time they're they're looking for the best
deal. So they're looking throughout the state or the region or the state or really the country
to say who's going to give me the most or how are we going to work this out in order to
for it to be hopefully a win-win for both but ultimately it's going to be a win for the
for those businesses coming in if we're going to get them in the door and that's just the way it is.
My take on it is we have to invest in our young people and our children and we have to develop
more programs which everybody as I'm branching out I already see more and more things happening
because I'm saying over and over again an entrepreneurial spirit built into our kids into
the school systems at a young age where they get to middle school and they're already thinking
this way in high school and when they go out to college or they go out and work in bigger
businesses that that we don't have here they learn that but we can incentivize them to come back.
If we're giving incentives anyways then let's incentivize our children want to come back
with a vested interest and I really love the spirit of the kids in high school right now
they really do love this community there's there's there's a lot of great things coming in the future
so that's how I see building that economic base from the ground up.
What do you see as the role and responsibilities of a mayor?
Well as I stated before I kind of see it threefold and I don't think it's an even 33 and a third
on each side but the managing of the municipal corporation it's a business it's a business design
to do business with all the other businesses in the world and that's foremost what you have to do
and that's kind of how you have a lot of people you know kind of arguing back and forth that the way
you're doing business is not as good as the way they would do the business you know and again
that's the way it's designed so that we are representative of the people in the community that
live here so so I think that's important and the system that's been designed is great you know
we we have people that go out into the community and are paid to go out into the community and
talk to the residents and get ideas and bring them back to the municipal corporation the mayor
being the CEO of that corporation and you talk about it and you figure out what what can be done
to help people do a better job accomplishing their goals and we call these people alderman and
they sit at the table and we work together to make that happen quickly the the second thing is
just as important is with the citizens and the businesses what do you need how can I help you how
can we help you as this corporation because if you succeed we succeed and if we do a good job it
sets it up for you guys to succeed better so we have to do that and then the third thing I think is
a little bit of and in the end I think the the amount of time you have to actually do this is your
own platform ideas and that's why they say all people say anything they can during a campaign
and then they don't follow through on their promises it's kind of because you're so busy taking
care of the municipal corporation and the people in the community you don't really have time to
necessarily take care of those platform ideas so if you can mix those in with the community stuff
and the and the uh managing the the city then I think that's how you reach your platform goals
speaking with Wisconsin Rapids mayoral candidate mad sack or met what distinguishes you from
other candidates what in your background leads you to believe that you will be an effective leader
as mayor I've spent a lot of time again it's been more of a service oriented and never planned on
it but even in recycling it's the question is always what can I do to help you and it goes to a
business what do you need help with in order to reach your goals of being more environmentally
friendly for the future stuff like that and it's employees how do I help you how do you I want you
to succeed at home we're only here to work so we can survive at home and build our families
and our futures how how can I help you and I see that as what I'm bringing to the city as an
older man and what I would bring as a mayor if I'm elected is how can I help everybody else succeed
I'm only here for a short period of time there's way more things I'm going to accomplish in my
life after this is done this I'm here to help and I my big thing is be able to help us transition from
the mill economy or the mill chapter that we've been in and move into the next phase which is
going to be a mixture of small businesses growth from ground up a lot of data a lot of tech
and those things that are out there that we need to bring back to Wisconsin rapids
have a minute left Matt what what with our last minute why should voters
cast their ballot for you your final thoughts again I'm here I'm here to help you guys I put it out
there my phone number 715 321 0727 anybody whether you like me or you don't like me give me a call
I'm open to any conversations my goal is to just help you reach your goals in the future
whatever they may be so thank you thank you for the time Matt appreciate and appreciate
you taking the time to run for office to put yourself in there appreciate all of our candidates
doing this we need more good people in public service and we appreciate every candidate running
for every position that they are I agree and I would just like to say I have nothing but the
utmost respect for everybody who comes out and into the the public realm and puts themselves
in a position to be analyzed and and scrutinized and it's it's not easy not always fun but I
appreciate everybody who's doing that thanks Matt be sure to join us today from three to four
for midday magazine in part one our friends from family natural foods will be with us in part two
encourage with Kim shields and our friends at the boys and girls club and a little later today
we've got the great guard show at 605 right here on 97 5 FM 13 20 AM WF HR locally grown radio
