Good morning, Wisconsin. Good morning, world. It's a new day. Make sure you get it off
with us right here at WFHR, locally grown radio. Got Seth, Melissa, and James here with
me. Hope you're having a fantastic day out there. Good things coming up for you. Get some
entertainment news in a little bit. But it's a Monday in the 9 o'clock hour, and you know
what that means, everybody. Hello and welcome to The Kitchen's Open on WFHR.
Today, we're going to talk about an interesting thing that I didn't know about. And that is
the labeling on our meat products. Do you guys know anything about it? A little bit. Not much,
really. I got to say. Yeah. Yeah. Well, if you didn't know, let's go back in history just a
little bit. And in 2015, Congress, our Congress here, repealed the country of origin labeling,
which the meat industry was using to label things of what country our meat was coming from,
or meat products. They repealed that. So since then, the meat industry has been allowed to label
imported meat repackaged in the US as a product of USA. What are your initial thoughts on that?
Not great. That doesn't sound overly safe. I've worked really hard to not have one of my first
instincts be go right to anger, but it makes me go right to anger. Yeah.
Well, because if you bought something that says product of the USA, you think, okay,
for instance, let's say a ground hamburger. It says product of USA. I mean, you would think,
okay, so it was, you know, born, raised, slaughtered, processed here in the United States.
Since 2015, that has not been true. That animal could have been born, raised, processed even in
Mexico, sent over the border to the US repackaged, and then it could say product of USA on it.
So in 2021, President Biden, his executive order on promoting competition in the American
economy, they wanted to the Department of Agriculture said the increased clarity and transparency
provided by this proposed change would prevent customer confusion and help ensure that consumers
understand where their food comes from. Now, I pulled this from the foodsafetynews.com
with a couple articles. This one came out last year, March 7, 2023, when they started talking
about this again. President Biden proposed this rule change in 2021. Okay. So now the good news
is that this change will come into effect. Yeah. Guess what year?
I already looked at this. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, like, let's take a look at the
the slow wheels of government as they turn. Right. Yeah. So that part is definitely frustrating.
But I do think that bringing attention to this, making people more aware of it is going to help
in the meantime, you know, kind of bridge the gap a little bit there. Melissa, another great thing,
and thank you so much for sending the articles that you did. This is something that I have actually
joked about with my dad for a very long time about these things, about the labels on it. We've
bought a lot of ground beef, a lot of meat over the years, like many American families. But this
is a topic that we didn't know much about. And I really, my dad and I went down a rabbit hole with
this one. Wow. Just researching it a lot of it. And one of the things that I thought was really
interesting coming out of the article, including the, especially the AP one that you sent over,
was how this is going to help with existing, the existing role also penalizes small domestic
producers. I thought that part stood out to me too, that this should benefit, this should help them
as well. Yes. Because their food has always been, you know, our small producers here in the
United States, they produce meat that they grow. Right here. Yeah. Right here. They can't
import stuff. Yeah. No. And they can't compete with these larger, bigger companies that are in
cheap, you know, importing their meat cheaper from these other places. And then labeling it as
product of USA, our small processors here can't compete price-wise with that. No. Yeah. Yeah.
Well, go ahead. Using this, this product of USA is voluntary though.
Under the new rule, they don't have to put this label on there. Okay. But they can. Right.
But they cannot. And end the one, you know, caveat to this change that it took place in 2015,
the meat that has been labeled as product of USA would still have to have been
examined by... Right. Are you inspectors? Yes. Inspector here. No. Maybe this is a bit of a throwback,
but remember our conversation about slaughtering houses and processing plants. Right.
Several weeks back. And the amount of time that they have to examine each of these products.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the amount of people, we don't have enough people to keep an eye on the
infrastructure in this country. Exactly. We let alone this, you know. Right. That we need more
people in these industries. We need more people in these jobs. And we need more funding for these
positions. Right. Yep. So according to this article now that's from this foodsafetynews.com,
titled USDA offers to close product of USA loophole in, but not until 2026, that in the title.
This came out on March 13th of this year. So Secretary of Agriculture Tom Villasac has promised
a new system. It won't exist for a couple more years. He rolled it out as a new rule on March 11th
for labeling meat, poultry, and egg products that if born, raised, slaughtered, and processed
in the US, may be labeled as a product of the USA. Okay. So this will not be implemented until January
1st of 2026, which is long after the 2024 general election. Exactly. Yeah. This also speaks to,
you know, what we let politicians get away with, not just all the time, but every year, especially
every four years around this time. The idea of one party, not making moves, not making bills pass
because it benefits them in an election year politically, politically. Yeah. Because when this comes
into effect, who's it going to benefit? The head games that are being played. When did politics
become that, that relationship that you look back on and like, man, I really dodge a bullet there.
Like, when did that become the thing, you know, that I should have noticed those red flags.
Yeah. Yeah. All right. Like, I feel like we should have noticed the red flags with our politicians
a long time ago, and it's on us. It's on us, you know, at that point. The idea that you can,
like we need to demand, and I mean demand more out of our politicians. They need to get more
done. They need to work harder. They need to work through vacations like we do. They need to put
in the same hours we do. They need to be working their tails off, not for the people, the money in
their pockets, not for the people lining their pockets, but for the people that got them the damn
job. Us. Yeah. They need to remember who their boss is. Yeah. The American people. That's right.
Right. It should be noted as well. The label proposal is open for a public comment before it
becomes final. Yep. And you've got plenty of time because they don't get nothing done.
So you got plenty of time to get those messages to them and everything. Right. Right. Now,
one excuse that they did say, I'm sorry, the excuse that slipped out.
The list said implementation won a curve for almost two years. So food companies already labeled
products won't suffer economic harm in the transition. And one agriculture expert said the
lengthy implementation period raises the possibility that groups opposed to the rule may try to
stop it before it starts. Right. Now, the National Farmers Union and the National Cattleman's
Beef Association, the US Cattleman's Association, the North American Meat Institute, NAMI,
and the organization for competitive markets, they're supporting this new rule.
USDA made some common sense, changes to address some of our concerns. NAMI statement said,
we appreciate the adherence to the uniform compliance date for implementation and we'll
continue to support our members in complying with labeling regulations. So they're, this is a
positive. It isn't even a long process is taking a while, but it's not okay to straight up
fool, you know, and mislabel products. Yeah. With, with, I don't know, I don't know, shaky,
isn't the right word, slimy politics. Shady. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of S words right there. You can use
that, right? No. Now, I think that for some, in some ways, we as consumers are able to
counter some of these things and correct them by not purchasing them and those companies die,
die out or are able to make it. But it, it means something a little bit more here and companies
take advantage of that and we need to be aware of it. I'm talking to friends of mine out in Europe,
talking to people, you know, hearing from people around the world, buying products like made in
China or made in England or something like that, that's not really a thing in other countries.
They take some pride in it, sure, but they don't think much about it. Here it matters so much.
Here it means so much. I, for a lot of reasons, but a main one is some, we, we are still a young
country. And I think it gets forgotten sometimes in the shuffle of things and in the way the time
just moves so fast and so forward and all as it does. But, you know, growing up in Chicago,
we used to get teased all the time that we had a chip on our shoulder because we weren't considered
a big city, as big of a city as New York or Los Angeles somewhere, right? Yeah, exactly. America is
in that position when it comes to the rest of the world, Europe, China, India, these countries
have been around thousands of years longer than us. And it's important to remember that and keep
that in mind that we are still a teenager of a country. And so when it comes to some of these
things, these, you know, some of the, the, um, the growing pains that we're, we're still experiencing
them. We're still going through them. And it's important to have some patience, some has some
understanding, give some grace when it comes to that. And at the same time, get to work, get to work
politicians. We put you in office. We can take you out of office. Right. Right. Yeah. Well,
and I think that for this particular thing we're talking about here, they're, they're really
needs to be tying it in with what Melissa said earlier about inspection and food safety.
Is there really needs to be like a two-pronged attack on this? There needs to be, like you said,
we need a truth in labeling about exactly where our food is coming from. But at the same time,
we need to beef up a beef up our inspectors. You know, we need more.
Okay. How is that eating tainted food? That should be a universal thing. Yeah.
We don't want to get sick. No one wants that. Let's make sure everything is safe, especially
what comes, but we can, what we can handle. Yeah. In this country that we process, okay, no,
this is good. This is good stuff. And we know it because we have strong laws that say you have
to have good food. No, you know, we have good inspections. That kind of thing. That makes
the most sense to me anyway. And not only that, but building up our farmers and our rigenchers.
Yeah. I mean, multinational corporations have exploited this loophole to import me, repackage it,
and pass it off as products of that may by USA farmers and regions. And that's not what,
that's not okay. No, it's not. Joe Maxwell, one other quote here, I want to pull from,
from one of these articles, truthful labels protect consumers and keep the playing field fair.
That's Joe Maxwell, president and co farmer co founder of farm action. He said, and this was
published last year after a five year fight, we're pleased to see the USDA stepping up to stop the
cheaters and picking the pockets of America's farmers and rangers. Very good. Well, that's a good
one. Good quote. And a great segment, Melissa. Thank you so much for bringing that to our attention
and another amazing segment of the kitchen's open. Appreciate you. Woo. Thank you.
We'll have another kitchen's open segment for you soon. Be listening for that. And of course,
be listening for some more great new stuff coming, great stuff coming up in this hour. Good
things on the way right here on the morning show at WFHR.
Welcome back everybody. Morning show here at WFHR locally grown radio rocking into the
entertainment segment here. Melissa set in James. I don't know about you guys. I think that still holds
up. I think that sounds good. I think it's still a decent song. It is. Good dance to it.
Loved to hear a remake of that, but like, but like by like a one of our heavier bands,
like, you know, what a really, really like a, I want a jazz remake of it. Oh, I like that.
Yes. Elsa Kraus maybe do it. Yeah. Something like that. I think that'd be fun. Yeah.
Robert Plant, Nelson Kraus doing rock, rock, rock, rock. That would be cool. Let's get up.
So it turns out, Seinfeld wasn't a show about nothing. It was about money.
So much money that Jerry is now a billionaire. The most, most of his fortune came from the show.
Yes. Jerry Seinfeld over the weekend was announced is a billionaire. He's also made more than
100 million from touring since the 1980s and owns 40 million in real estate. The estate
assumes that Jerry invested his money beginning in 1990. Jerry's rep called it inaccurate,
but didn't say how much Jerry is actually worth. Now, why is that? Why are we talking about this?
Why is this noteworthy and everything? This is a stand-up comedian. Yeah. This is a stand-up
comedian, man. Well, and he actually worked for his money. Right. He sure did. Thank you, Melissa.
Yes, I can. I am so sorry, but you get it. Yes. This is the American dream. This is an American.
This is somebody who worked his tail off to get to this point. Did he do it in blue collar
factories? No. I'm not saying anything like that. And I'm not at all saying that it's on the
same level of that. Right. But it is, we gave it to him. It feels like when these things happen,
like Jeff Bezos, like the Jeff Bezos story was supposed to be beautiful. Was supposed to be
this American dream. Look, look, he started in his garage, man. And look what he did. Look at how
big this competency American dream. That's that's capitalism. Now we hate him. We hate him with
everything we are. None of us know him. We don't even know much about him, but what we do know,
we dislike it. We can't stand him. And why? Because he's rich and because he made capitalism work.
It's funny how this happens, but we get you at some point that you were cheering for you.
America dream. America dream. You suck. It's at some point that happens. And I don't necessarily
understand our society when it comes to that, but I get it to a degree with a Jerry Seinfeld,
somebody like this. Obviously, it's very easy for us to poke holes at this to make fun of it,
to get angry about it and everything. Plenty, but anybody can do any of those things. How many people
are looking at this story and being like, all right, now it's my turn. Now I'm going to make that
because that's what this means that other people can do this. All it takes is once and others
can do it. It's not impossible. I think that's kind of cool. I think that's kind of a cool story.
Well, and again, it's not about specifically about Jerry Seinfeld. He just, I mean, part of it is
he's a very intelligent man. He figured out what he was doing, but who could have predicted when
Seinfeld started? It was going to be what it was. The show, I mean, the television show. No one
could have predicted that. Not NBC. No, not at all. And so I mean, part of it has luck and part
of it is just figuring out what people want to see. And that's happened at the time in the 90s.
That's what people wanted to see. And they got really want to see it. Yeah. And that's why
Jerry is so rich syndication. It's played, you know, how many, how many local stations play this
every single day? Have a Seinfeld episode? Yeah. Jerry gets paid for all of every single one of
those because of because of the royalties on that. And so blaming someone for, he's he just
did what he was supposed to do. Like you were saying, James, you know, he did what he, you know,
I'll do the show. Wow, look, it's popular. Now I'm going to do this with it syndicated. Wow,
it's even more popular now. And so now I'm a billionaire and I'm wrong. Yeah. I feel like
how many other things did he do that didn't pan out? Exactly. He didn't make him money. So
I think that there's another noteworthy part of this too, where for those don't remember,
Seinfeld was lucky to get to this point. This show was doing bad in the ratings. And it was
an idea that the execs at NBC did not feel great about. They went ahead with it just to give it a
shot. They gave them no budget. They had nothing to work with. And they gave the show a couple of
months. They gave it a time to grow and build an audience and everything. They didn't just cancel
it right away. And they gave a shot, they gave a show, a show a shot that nobody really thought
would work. Yep. They took a chance is what I'm saying people and entertainment. I hope you're
paying attention to entertainment world. You can take chances. You don't have to have the $200
million film that lasts three and a half hours. You can take chances on things. You just don't
know what can happen. You might get the next Seinfeld. Yep. And which is anathema right now in
the entertainment industry. What show has given a chance? Yeah. Nothing. Nothing. Zero.
Zip. You don't give me the numbers in three episodes. Seasons. Nope. You're done. Yeah.
And heck, especially when it comes to the streaming, I'll say Netflix in particular.
There's nothing since I was seven years old. All I've wanted and fought for and been relentless
about is getting this break. If Netflix offers me a gig, I don't know how I feel about it.
Because it doesn't even matter if you're show successful on Netflix, they're going to cancel you.
So, I mean, you know, you think about what this show has done. It's Seinfeld. It's really
impressive. And I don't know if we're ever going to see something like that again.
It's weird. I'd be surprised. Very surprised. We might be seeing another happy Gilmore.
In the era of sequels and reboots, this news is not surprising. But Adam Sandler is reportedly
working on a script for Happy Gilmore 2. The first one came out in 96. Christopher McDonald or
Shooter McGavin who plays Shooter McGavin, a great character actor. I love Chris Donald. He's
so good. He says, Adam showed him the first draft of the script a few weeks ago.
Quote, McDonald, you're going to love this. I thought, wow, that would be awesome. So, if it works,
fans demand it, dang it, demand it. It's unclear if it's part of Adam's deal with Netflix. The
platform declined to comment. So, I'm guessing that it probably isn't. I think this is something he's
working on for his project after Netflix. So, we'll see, we'll see where that goes. About 20
years after the original. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Is he? I'm not sure where he's at with his.
Because I know they sign up for a number of movies to make. Yeah. Where is he in that contract?
I don't even know. That's got to be close. Yeah. Pretty soon now. Yeah. And more power to him. I
don't know. I get a little bit like we've talked about how tired we are of remakes,
prequels and all that. The younger people have really come out and droves about this and said,
we're done with this. We're done with this. Yeah. I think it's, I feel like it's a little different,
they'll decide. But to me, I think it's a little different when we're talking about comedies.
Like comedies, we don't take it seriously. And I feel like a sequel to that is just, you know,
for fun. It's just for, it's not, it's just for nostalgia and fun. I don't see a big issue
or getting betta to shape about it. When it comes to dramas, it's a little bit heavier. I think it
takes a little bit more. Well, and it's also, I actually just did the math. It would be closer to
30 years after the original. So people who went to the, you know, who, if this comes out in,
you know, the next year or two, people going to the theaters to watch it, young people,
a lot of them maybe wouldn't have even seen the first one. Oh, no. Oh, no. Yeah. Yeah.
Well, James and I were talking something similar. Last week, I think, when we talked about
the sequel thing and we also tied into that, the comments that were made at the Academy Awards,
you know, like, why can't we do, you know, 10, 10 million dollars instead of 100 million on one
movie? Yeah. This is different. This is a, a, a, any inexpensive comedy film that, yeah, if it
succeeds, whatever, you know, it's kind of a fun thing for, it sounds like for Adam Sandler. He's
like, no, let's do have to do this kind of thing. There's the stakes aren't that high.
You can do this kind of stuff. And it's okay. We don't have to do, you know, I think we're
pushing back against the 150 million dollar sequels, you know, the 100 to 200 million dollar sequels.
And that's what people are getting sick of. This is, this is not much really in the scheme of things.
And I think if he was smart, he wouldn't call it happy, go more to. Yeah. He'd call it something
completely different. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. That way, when people go to see this, they're not like, well,
I got to watch the first one first, you know, or I don't, I got to know what it's about. They would
go watch it, not knowing anything about the first one. And then at the end, but like, wait,
there was a first, there was another one. Let me watch that one. Yeah. Yeah. And then they'd go
rent it. Sadly, sadly, no Bob Barker. Yeah. That's a reprises for all. That part is going to be a
little said. Maybe I'll have Drew Carey do it. That would be a funny time. That would be good.
Oh, excuse me. Sorry. I did, I don't know if you guys could hear that or not. I was just trying to
take a drink of my cup out of my cup by what the muppet cup that I just got this week. And I
apologize. That's really tacky of me. A lame of me to just accidentally mention that I have a
coffee cup with the logo, what the muppet on it that you've seen on Etsy. I am so sorry I did
that everybody. It's a muppet Monday. I do what I remind everyone. We dropped a new episode of
what the muppet, the wonderful podcast of my daughter Bri and I work on so hard, Bri, it does an
amazing job on this one. And every episode you get to do with your daughter is special.
This one we actually called the one we've been waiting for. This is one of our biggest episodes.
This was one of our funnest episodes. We had a blast with this one and it's a really unique and
special one. I appreciate you checking it out. Go ahead and wherever you get your podcasts,
download what the muppet and be sure to check out the YouTube page, what the muppet. It's a lot of
fun. This just proves that your show is random because if like any other show that you like
would done done this the one first. Yeah. But now it's one episode 40, whatever, whatever,
whatever. 34. 34. 34. Wow. It's been a blast. Bri and I have been working really hard on this
for months and months and months. We realized we have not been hanging out very much. So we got
together this week in a watching movie. At first time, we've gotten to watch a movie together by
the way. That's a really fun. How about that? It does not matter. Well, how old your kid is
watching a movie with your kid is always amazing. It is fun. And well, we're doing that. We're
talking about how much fun we've been having this and how great it's been with the listeners and
her Etsy page. She created an Etsy page with a bunch of shirts and this coffee mug and stickers
on there of what the muppet with the muppet logo. She did a really good job with this, everybody.
If you are curious, if you'd like to support her, like to support the work that we're doing,
if you just want some fun new shirts, go ahead and check it out. An Etsy just typing your search
bar and Etsy, what the muppet it'll pop right up and a big shout out to Bri. She did a great job.
I think she may have a new career at the end of this. You know, whenever the show wraps up,
if it doesn't, whatever, you know, she could be a consultant to how to do like podcasts and then
purchaseizing it and stuff. She's got an all set up now, man. She can just tell, she can hire
herself out to let people know how to do it. I know that it comes across as bias because of my
position with this and everything. It doesn't mean I'm wrong. She isn't good at this. She's good at this.
All this is grassroots. She doesn't have any help. She doesn't have anybody. I mean, I'm barely
help. It's me. You guys know me by now. I have a, I'll ramble. I'll say a bunch of stuff,
but that's about it. Uh, she does, she does such good work on this. You're not only supporting
and having fun with it, but you're supporting a local artist. You're supporting a Wisconsin
item here. That's fun with everybody. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You have a new, you have a new
nickname James barely help me lost. It's work. It's work. It's work. It's a work of progress. James
rambles endlessly. Malone. It's not a bad one. It doesn't fit on my, my, uh, call my sheet, my, uh,
boy, boy. That was bad. That was bad. I was trying to think of my cards, like, yeah, your business cards.
Security card, but my, yeah, yeah, the way I'm sounding here, I might want to find that.
ARP call. Yeah. That would be a lot to write in though when you're going to write in on your
presidential election. It would, it's, it's the, it's a whole reason I don't run from politics.
It's, it's a, it's a really long. That mail-offs hard to spell. It's, it's not easy. It's, we, uh,
we have some great stuff coming up for you throughout this hour. Keep in mind, everybody at 950,
we're going to have Jeff, uh, Jeff Penskova join us. Wisconsin Rabbits Alderperson District 4
candidate as we continue our candidate series. And I want to remind you, of course, of the civic
media ride in the spring, text, uh, text to win statewide contests. Your chance to win
Chulavista Getaway as well as grand prizes, include a brand new bike, this amazing blender,
patio love seat, be listening every day, uh, from now until the 29th at the 7 o'clock, 10 o'clock,
1 o'clock and 3 o'clock hours. We will give you a special keyword. You download the civic media app,
choose your local radio station and then text that word to us and you're in on the running.
You got it. Easy peasy. Yeah, full chances of day. That's right. I mean, you should be listening
to us all the time anyway. Yeah, so you might as well. Might as well play along. Yeah. Why go through
all the hassle of flipping radio stations back and forth and everything. Just keep it right here.
And on the civic media app, you never get out of range. That's true. Yeah, you'll be able to take
us with us. We'll take us with you wherever you go. Uh, we're going to go to break. Check
in with our news. We'll come back and have some more fun on the morning show here at WFHR.
Welcome back, everyone. Morning show here at WFHR locally grown radio. Got shows James
behind the mic, joined by Melissa and Seth. We hope you're having a good one out there.
Thanks for joining us, everybody. Got a fun one to get into in just a moment. Do you want to remind
everybody we just got a note here from our friends over at Focus. It was a difficult decision,
but due to poor road conditions this morning focus will be closed today. Please keep that in mind
everybody. And if you know anybody that uses the services at focus, let them know spread the word,
help them out if you can. Big, big thank you to our friends over at Focus and all the vital work
that they are doing in our community. And thank you to Aaron Wells and our friends at the ADRC
CW. They let us know late last night that they are senior dining and meals on wheels are closed
for today. So once again, if you know anybody who uses those services, please check in on them,
see how they're doing and make sure that everybody's doing all right up there and everything.
We appreciate that everyone. Today's a good day to make a big pot of soup.
Yes. Yeah. Good day for us. I was going to say chilly, but you know,
you can't go wrong either one either one. We had this topic. We are going to do the last week
Melissa was with us and we weren't able to do it. So I've hung on to it. And we're finally going
saved for two whole weeks. Yes, I did because it's a fun one. The 10 most nostalgic snacks of all time.
That's a good one. What's your favorite snack from your childhood? Here in 2024, some of
these you might wish are still around. Some of them are still around. So let's go ahead and this
isn't in any particular order. They're just kind of here. So we'll go ahead and go right down the
list. But we do want audience participation. Many, many years ago, we made sure that everybody out
there in our listenership had a play at home version of the morning show. We did. So you can call
up anytime of 424-2600-715-424-2600. Of course, if you're listening on the internet media app,
you just touch or two away from calling up and joining the conversation. We want your favorite
snacks, your favorite snack as a kid. What was your favorite snack as a kid? That's a good one.
Duncan Ruse. Were that one of them? They're one you can still get. They got discontinued in 2012,
but General Mills brought them back in 2020. Oh, really? Oh, wow. That's good. That's a good one. Yeah,
I remember those. Yeah. Let's see what you remember. Good morning. What's on your mind?
Yeah, as a kid, I remember I loved three muskets, your bars. Oh, those are my favorites too.
Such a good one. That's a great one. Yeah. Yeah. And thankfully, still around too.
Yes, still very popular. Yeah. That was a good one, sir. Good one. Thank you for the call.
That's a good one. They're also good frozen. Oh, yeah. You're right. Oh, I never tried it with
a whole one just like the mini ones. Yeah, they are. Oh, yeah, that's right. Oreo cake stirs,
like Oreos, but softer. Basically, a whoopee pie. Oh, yes. I remember those small ones. Yeah,
like a small pie, right? Yeah. Miss Nabisco brought them back in 2022. I don't know if they
if they discontinued them since then or not, but they didn't bring them back for a little while.
Bagel bites. They never went away, except in Canada. Our friends up north haven't been able to
get them for the past two years. Oh, yeah, they're like little pizzas. Yep. Oh, my gosh,
are they upset about that in Canada? I'm curious. I don't know. Do we have any Canadian listeners
can tell us? I don't know. How about oh, this is a fruit topia. Oh, I remember those. Yeah.
Was a lot of fruit favorites drinks Coca-Cola put out in 1994. They step selling them in 2003.
Well, they lasted that long. Yeah, almost 20 years. Wow. Fruit topia, man. I do remember that, though.
I don't think I ever maybe once or twice tried that. I don't know if I ever tried it. I just
remember the commercials. Yeah, I don't think I ever had it. I definitely remember trying
Crystal Pepsi. Oh no. It debuted. It debuted in 92 and bombed almost immediately.
It's still got some diode fans out there. They brought it back for a limited time in 2016, 2018,
and for the 30th anniversary in 2022. I gotta tell you again, this is ad things. I tried Crystal
Pepsi one very good. But it's the you know, I cannot associate. I cannot disassociate a certain song
they had on the ads with Crystal Pepsi right now. Oh, that's right. So every time I hear that,
it's not all I think about is Crystal Pepsi. Thanks a lot, by the way. Yeah, that's funny. That's
funny. I think a lot of the reason that it doesn't taste the way you expect it to because it doesn't
look the way you expect it. Absolutely. Absolutely. Because the taste is probably if you did a blind
taste test, you probably wouldn't be able to tell. Again, they changed the ads because it didn't
taste exactly like Pepsi so that people are like, there's doesn't taste like Pepsi. They're like,
oh no, no, no, it wasn't supposed to. No, no, it wasn't supposed to taste just like Pepsi. No,
it tastes different. Coca-Cola had the new Coke thing. Pepsi had the clear Pepsi thing.
I remember at the time people wondering if the companies would fold because of these things. That's
how damning they were. That's how damaging they were and stuff. Obviously looks silly in hindsight.
But do you remember those headlines? I do remember stuff like that. It's the biggest flop in
soft drink history. I mean, it's the water world of drinks. It's a huge bomb. Kudos,
granola bars, discontinued in 2017. They are basically candy bars masquerading as a health
net. Exactly. Absolutely. Similar to fruit topia. Very fake. Nothing good about them. Orbits,
drinks. Yes. Flavored water with little edible balls floating in it. They came out 96 immediately
flopped and were done by 98. I remember those though. I think I had one or two of them.
I remember those two. I think I did too because it was so weird. Yeah. I had to try it.
You had to try it. Everyone tried it and then they were like, nah, I'll pass. Yeah.
No, if you really want floaty bits in your drink, get coconut water. Yeah, orange juice with pulp.
I don't know. Yeah. Waffle crisp cereal. Yes, I had it. That was actually a good cereal.
I like that cereal. It was a good cereal. I like it too. We all liked it. Why'd it go way
ahead? Yeah, you're exactly. Yeah. Came out 96 got discontinued in 2018, but post brought
it back in 2021. Oh, the outcry. One of their waffle crisp, man. Rice crispy treats cereal.
They came out in the 90s, but got pulled from the shelves at the same point. Someone launched a
petition on change.org in 2019 to bring them back around 30,000 people have signed it.
Trying to get this, the rice crispy treats cereal back. Yeah. Yeah. Right.
A little more sugar. I guess. Melt marshmallows. I don't know. You can probably make it yourself.
Melissa, that's change.org in case you were wondering any one of the Taco Bell.
If you wanted to start the petition, do it now. And the final one on this list is a throwback.
All throwbacks. I think it might be the best one. Tab. It came out in 63. It was one of the first
diet sodas on the market. It got discontinued three years ago. Just three years ago.
That's incredible. I had no idea. It had to have gone away at some point for a while and then
come back before that. It seems that way. Or was it just so under the radar that we didn't even
think about it. Maybe I don't know. I don't say this. We talked about it a few times. Yeah.
And I don't say this with pride. But I don't think there's had any stage of my life since I've
been able to buy things for myself that I haven't had soda in my diet. And I go to soda aisles
all the time. And I could not tell you the last time I saw tabs. So I don't know. This leaves me
to a question. Is tab an acronym for something? What does tab mean? Because there's nothing
obvious about it being a soda without any sugar in it. What? It seems to me it's probably an
acronym. Not marketed as a diet free, you know, a diet soda. It says tab. Yeah. One theory behind
the iconic name states that tab is actually an acronym standing for Totally Artificial Beverage.
Alluding to its controversial recipe snoops report. Oh. Yeah. But there's no
concrete evidence on that. It's just speculation. Yeah. Yeah. Totally Artificial Beverage. Why would
you call it that though? Yeah. That doesn't make that from a marketing standpoint. That doesn't make
sense. So it could also be marketed to consumers who wanted to keep tabs on their weight.
Interesting theory. Interesting theory. That's a good one. Yeah. Or can you put it on my tab?
That could be I mean, they're all legit. I mean, who knows? Interesting though. Yeah.
Yeah. Interesting. That's interesting one. We will come back with actually, you know what,
we're going to keep going here because we're going to go to break in a moment so that we can just
go right to the top of the hour with our candidates. So we'll have that coming off at 9.50. So
let's get to then a right story in and this is a doozy. It's one of the for the ages. This would
be a cute idea from a kid. Not, not, but not so cute in the eyes of the law. The California
highway patrol posted to let people know. Imaginary friends don't count in the car pool lane.
California has fast track monitors. You set yourself according to how many people are in the car.
If you set it to two or three, you get a discount on tolls. Some guy was using the express lane
near San Francisco last Wednesday and when his monitor scanned through it said he had three people
in the car, but a cop saw him driving alone and pulled him over. He had a t-shirt wrapped around
his passenger seat with a bucket hat on the head seat. So that's passenger number two,
but there was no passenger three at all. So we didn't even bother to try that.
The highway patrol posted an image set to the song, you got a friend in me from Toy Story.
And they said, quote, imaginary friends don't count as occupants when setting a fast track
transporter. Yesterday, the driver thought he could go, he could, he could outsmart the officers
on the patrol, but got, but failed. The standard fine was setting is about $238.
Oh, that's not worth it. No, totally not worth it. Yeah. Now, your imaginary friend ain't helping you
pay that by the way. We occasionally do stories like this if people try to, you know,
game the car pool lane or whatever thing like that. All that makes me, it makes me feel sad.
Yeah. Because these people don't have any friends. They have to come up with these weird,
you know, things to try to get into the express lane. It's, I don't know, it makes me
all sad. I tend to think of the, I love the idea, say this person's, you know,
setting this up in a standard, you know, in neighborhood, then you know, call to sack or something.
It's six in the morning and you look over at your neighbor's house and you see him in his driveway,
setting up a fake person. Like, it is like, and like he's trying to get it right,
make sure he's the hair right. You know, he's trying to get all set up. You just sitting there,
drinking your coffee, just watching this, like, is it really going through all the set up?
Exactly. How much time do you really save on the road if it's taking you all that time to
sit up this fake person? Like, what are we doing? Well, and Seth, maybe it speaks to why they don't
have any friends because they're dishonest. Yeah. Maybe that's it. They just lie in everybody. It's
all coming together. It is. We are going to continue our candidate series when we come back.
Wisconsin Rapids, Alderperson District 4, Representative Jeff Penscover is going to join us,
looking forward to talking with Jeff. I do want to wrap up with you too, though. Thank you so
much for a great show, you guys. Fantastic to have you back, Melissa. Yes, it is. I will
reluctantly admit that it's good to have her back. I would, I would. I have a great day, you too.
You too, man. And we'll be back with more of the morning show coming up right here at WFHR.
Welcome back, everyone. Two mornings here at WFHR, locally grown radio. Have your host James
Jay Mailov with you right now. We're going to continue our candidate series. What we've been doing
for the last couple of weeks is welcoming on all of our local candidates in our candidate series,
interviewing them, asking them a handful of regular questions that we ask all of the candidates,
and then kind of moving on and letting you get to know these guys a little bit better. Right now,
we have in with us Jeff Penscover, Wisconsin Rapids, Alderperson District 4, Representative.
Jeff, thanks for being here. Yeah, appreciate it, James. Jeff, one of the things that we are using
with this time is trying to encourage more and more people to be in the public service,
beyond boards like yourself, run for office like yourself. So that's the essence of my first question.
How have you enjoyed this experience? Well, this has been new for me. I got put on the Wood County
board two years ago. I was appointed by Lance Plemble. And I kind of got the scheme of things pretty
quick. It's interesting to me, the procedures, the way people operate. And I kind of thought that
the city could use a little bit of a boost in our area over there. I think sometimes an aldermen
needs to listen more to its constituents. You know, stay a little bit more in touch with them
and focus and hear what they got to say. And I just didn't feel that the constituents were being
represented as good as they should have been over in our neck of the woods. Jeff, next question,
what do you see as the, in Alderperson's responsibilities? Aldermen's responsibility is to listen to
the constituents to get their message across the city hall. Communication is very important for
an aldermen, not only with the constituents, but with the department heads and some of the
business leaders I think in town or left out in the mix. It's my intention if I do win
to tap in to some of this existing talent we have and meet with some business leaders and
get some of their ideas. They're kind of the movers and shakers and just see what we might be
missing and not to miss any opportunities for rapids. Jeff, how do you plan to include the
community and decision making as an alderperson if elected? If I get elected, what I'm going to do
is hold listening sessions. We happen to live directly across from Robinson Park. Three, four
times a year, we're probably going to rent the shelter house there and just sit over there and put
it out on social media that we're there and listen to people. Come on over, sit down, have a hot
dog in a soda and just kind of make a small picnic out of it and find out what their thoughts are,
what could be better, what they like, what they don't like, you know, kind of a different idea,
but I'm all for it. We're speaking with Wisconsin rapids, alderperson, district four,
representative Jeff Pennscover and Jeff, what distinguishes you from other candidates?
I've been a small business owner here in rapids for about 20 years. Me and my wife have owned
10 rental properties. We kind of call it jaffy enterprises. My wife does not like that name,
but that's between me and her. Like I said, I'm a wood county board supervisor. So we kind of
can mix the county with what the city does and come up with some solutions. I've been for 35
years. I work for Bridgestone as a sales manager, troubleshooter. We sold a lot of the big tractor
tire stuff, service that madden. It's kind of juggling a ball too. You got people coming and going
and we've kind of got a management style. That does seem to work.
Jeff, final question for you and then we'll let you get back to your day. Appreciate the time.
Why should voters cast their ballot for you? Any final thoughts?
I'm a newcomer to politics. I've been on the board for two years. I think sometimes James,
people need a fresh set of eyes on stuff. Not to say that I'm going to solve a lot of problems,
but I'm going to work with the economic director, Kyle Kerns, just to see what we can do to get
some business coming down here. Kyle's been doing a great job. Shane Blazer has been doing a
fantastic job and we got to build upon what they've got going over there. The announcement of the
New Petco store coming in is great news and they got the ball rolling and I intend to work with
them and keep it going. Appreciate the time, Jeff. Thanks so much for joining us. I wish you
well out there. Okay, I appreciate it James. Thank you. Thank you again for the time and a big
thank you to all of our candidates for joining us throughout this candidate series. People like
Jeff and many, many other people out there like yourselves are your neighbors are your your
fellow colleagues out there and we appreciate more and more people being involved in public service
and we appreciate you being informed when you get out or get out there and vote April 2nd.
You can find out all the information you need to know at myvote.wi.gov. Myvote.wi.gov encourage
you to go ahead and bookmark that page. Find out about where you can where if you are registered to
vote where to vote find out more about your candidates. You can even track your ballot and myvote.wi.gov
encourage you to do so everybody. We are going to take a very short break. We'll come back and I
will I will have a little bit more fun here on the morning show at WFHR where we are locally grown
radio. Welcome back everyone. Morning show here at WFHR locally grown radio. Yeah, your host James
here and just got a minute or two left to wrap up the show. I want to remind you we got great
stuff on our civic media dial throughout the whole day today. Stick around for Matt and air on the
air. An amazing show with the amazing voice Jane. Go ahead and check that out. We're looking forward
to that one coming up in just a little bit. Also got some good stuff on the radio dial a little bit
later tonight sports wise. Be sure to join us for playmakers from three to four. We're going to
have a great one for you today. Tyler Miller from the rafters is going to join us in part one.
We'll have head coach and GM coach Paul Peckman joining us in part two at around three thirty
and we'll be taking your phone calls of course four to four twenty six hundred. Call up and join
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