Good morning, Wes Katz.
Good morning, world.
It's a new day.
Thanks for kicking it off with us right here at WFHR, locally grown radio.
Got your host, James.
Here I am joined by Melissa Kaye.
Good morning.
And the best listeners in radio.
Thanks for joining us, everybody.
Good stuff on the way for you.
Got some entertainment news.
We're going to talk a little bit about a bar in California, suggesting a tip that turned
to do with that ain't right, Stork.
It's the end of an era at Target, considering checks.
Saw that one coming.
And it's peanut collada day.
So we got to talk about that one, too.
But we're here to get a peanut collada.
Yeah, there's a.
Yeah.
Yes.
That's a good question.
That's a very good question.
They serve them at 904 in the morning.
Mm-hmm.
Go ahead and call up and let us know 7-1-5-4-2-4-2-600.
And this is something, so we have entertainment section.
I let in the audience know a lot of this is about us being able to talk about local
theater or local artists, musicians, and acts, and different events that are going
on locally.
So I try not to spend too much time on bigger stories.
And I really, part of how I edit that is, well, I'm not going to talk about relationship
stuff.
I'm not going to talk about, you know, tabloid stuff or anything like that.
If that interests you to each their own, you got millions of sources to find that information
out.
But ever once in a while, there is a story that has some legs to it, and I am curious
of what you or the audience thinks.
And that's where we land here.
In Touch magazine claims that, so Will Smith still has eight years to go before his 10-year
Oscar band for slapping Chris Rock is over.
But apparently, according to sources, he is trying to get his sentence commuted early.
In Touch claims that he is, quote, begging the Academy to lift the band, in part because
he apologized.
But also because the success of Bad Boy's writer, Die, has proven he can still be a huge
movie star.
But there are two big obstacles standing in his way.
First, not all members of the Academy have forgiven Will, and some still think he should
have been arrested for what he did.
And second, Chris Rock hasn't forgiven him.
The source says, quote, the moment everybody is waiting for is for Chris and Will to publicly
and genuinely bury the hatchet.
That's going to give the Academy the confidence to revisit their decision.
Now, there is no word that Will Smith has actually done this.
This is just being reported on by a couple of people that they're reporting it.
And that's going to call them journalists, though.
So that they're doing it for attention.
Yeah, I feel like that's what this is.
Because I don't see Will Smith doing this under any circumstance.
Why would he?
He's got his Oscar.
He got the he got the he got the Yacht's or the one and what is he going to get an
Oscar for Bad Boy's what for?
I doubt it.
It would even try.
Right, right.
And honestly, he's kind of like a lot of actors, especially an actor like Will, who have
something to prove to be honest.
He didn't come into acting naturally.
He worked at it.
He struggled to to be get respected as an actor.
Did a movie six degrees of separation back in the day.
It was one of his first movies, this very serious role.
He plays a man who cons a family into believing that he is the son of Sidney Poitier.
And he's not.
And it's a incredible movie and he does an incredible job in it.
And if you see it, you're like, okay, this kid's a thespian.
He can act.
And then of course later on, we would see him in Malca and Ali and some other the pursuit
of happiness and some incredible performances, including the one he won an Oscar for playing
Serena and Venus's dad.
And he's a good actor, but he's kind of shown, okay, now you see a big Willie style.
I can do this.
I can act with anybody.
I am Mr. Fourth of July, maybe even more than Tom Cruise had a longer stretch of Fourth
of July success and the big box office summer movie.
What does he have to prove?
What does he have to, to anybody except for maybe to himself who still may have that chip
on his shoulder?
I don't know.
If that's the case, then maybe there is a little bit of, you know, hey, I want to be invited
to the party.
Everybody's invited too.
And maybe a little bit of that.
I don't know.
I don't know him well enough.
I don't think anybody really does other than him.
But I will say, though the one thing that nobody's talking about with this, man, this was
a blessing in some ways.
The Oscars are a drag.
The Oscars are, now would I turn down it?
No, of course not.
Obviously.
Have you heard me talk for five seconds on the air?
Of course I wouldn't.
But if you told me, hey, you can go to one award show and that's it in your lifetime.
I think that I would probably, as much as I don't really have a lot of love for them,
I might choose the Grammys or something like that just because of the music.
But I would want to go to the Saga Awards.
I'd want to go to the Screen Actor Guild Awards.
That's the biggest award.
To me, that is bigger than an Oscar.
I cannot say that with more confidence.
That is a bigger award to receive than an Oscar.
If I got one Screen Actor Guild Award and I got no Oscar nominations of my whole career,
you would see me dying with a big smile on my face.
To me, there is nothing bigger than having your peers nominate you, let alone win something
that they agreed on.
The Oscars are so political and they've messed this up so many times from left to right
over the decades.
They've been doing this since the beginning.
It's been a popularity contest for a long time.
We've got plenty of examples of that.
It could be a drag.
You're sitting there for three hours.
Open your name is called.
If you aren't even winning, if you're just a presenter, then you're just sitting there
for the whole thing.
It's a little bit like how sporting events have become for a lot of people.
I could go to the game and I could experience it and not really see the field or the court
very well.
I have to pay a billion dollars for parking and concessions and all this or I can sit
at home.
With my beautiful 12K TV, 50-inch or whatever half of us have nowadays and everything.
If I will Smith, maybe I'm kind of in conversation and interviews and everything, yeah, I'm learning
my lesson.
I understand what the academy did, but in my head, woo, I got that day off.
I ain't got to be there.
Jada, you go ahead.
I can't go.
I can't go.
Oh, I want to go.
I do.
I really do.
Why are you in your slippers?
I'm just, I might as well, right?
I'm sitting back and watching.
I don't see this as a legitimate thing until we actually hear it from him.
We have heard him say he's sorry and I do think that there was a legitimate apology in
him, but I don't think that it matters.
Chris Rock's opinion is the one that matters.
Well, yeah, he was the one that was hit.
Yeah, yeah.
And I can't believe that was two years ago.
How did that?
Maybe two years.
How did that happen?
Time's live when you haven't fun, James.
Yeah.
So have you seen Anchorman, Melissa?
No, I haven't.
Okay.
I wasn't sure.
It's a fun movie if you like these kind of movies.
I'd like to see it at some point, but not enough to actually like seek it out.
The first one was better than the second one, and the first one I will say has the greatest
set of like cameos I've ever seen in one scene in any movie ever.
It's like a billion cameos like in like two scenes.
It's crazy.
That scene alone is actually kind of worth it to me, even if you just watch that scene.
I'll send it to you if you want some time.
But the movie Anchorman had to be completely rewritten and reshot.
Whoa.
Yeah, the ending had to be the whole semantic, climatic scene where okay, so there, I don't
want spoiler alerts.
Okay, everybody.
There's a panda and if you've seen the movie, you know how it ends.
I don't have to actually say it.
In a new interview, Will Ferrell says that the movie originally ended with Christina
Abligate's character getting kidnapped by a radical vigilante group, and the rest of
the news team coming to her rescue.
But when they tested it with audiences, it flopped bad.
Will Ferrell said, quote, we just lost the audience.
We had to basically reshoot the ending.
I think that's kind of cool that he talked about this and admitted it, but I also think
it's just a good note to people out there about how as much as there's a lot of these producers
and a lot of people in these rooms making these decisions that haven't talked to a real
person in years, a lot of this still comes down to audience participation.
They tested this like they do 99% of movies now, all right, 95% of movies nowadays have
a test audience and how that audience responds is what they go with.
That isn't necessarily fair because that audience is usually in a big market, a California
New York or something like that.
But even with that, I think that there is almost still some innocence or some personal
inner inner, you know, it gives the audience a voice.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it should be about that.
The audience should have the number one voice, but I do think that it shouldn't be about
what the critics think or like.
Yeah.
Oh, God.
There is not one point in my life.
I have ever cared what one critic has said, not one point mentioned already today.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The opinions of critics don't really matter.
It's what the public likes.
If you need a better example of this, look at Rotten, the success of Rotten Tomatoes.
Like nobody has cared what a critic has said in decades as far as music or movies.
And when a critic like slams a movie, that's usually my sign to say, oh, I'll probably
like this one.
I should check it out.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Because 99% of the time, that's my reaction to one that critics have completely slammed.
Yeah.
I have the time.
I don't agree with them either.
And in the other half of the time, I wonder, well, who's in their pocket?
Because that's what's happened to the critic game.
Well, when we were kids, it started to happen.
And we didn't even know.
But I'd wonder why Jean Chalet would like this horrible movie or something like that.
Or, you know, one of these big-name critics, and sure enough, you find out, oh, yeah,
they're being paid.
They're somebody's in their pocket.
I will say, Cisco and Ebert never took a penny from anybody.
And those two, those are the last critic opinions I cared about.
And I didn't even agree with them half the time.
But I respected where they came from and what they were talking about.
There's a big difference of hearing somebody out and like, okay, I don't agree with them,
but I'm glad they've heard their side of it.
I like their angle on it.
And these people that just, you're silly if you listen, if you watch this movie or listen
to this song.
Like that goes back to what we were saying.
They're telling you how to feel or think.
That's not okay.
That is not a critic.
And that is, you know, and your opinion is only important to you.
And you should be able to form your own opinion not because somebody told you how to feel.
Yeah, yeah, I don't think it's asking a lot either.
Yeah.
And we're all critics.
Like, we're all, we're all, that's different.
I think.
We have critical minds because we can think.
I would rather ask my best friend, Chris, what he thinks of something, then find out
what some quote unquote professional thinks, you know, of something, personally.
You know, I'll take my friend's opinions over any of these particular voices out there.
And I say this being told by my agent all the time, you know, one day they could be
critiquing a movie of yours, good, go ahead and let them try to say something bad about
my performance.
Before I head, go right ahead.
I could care less about that.
I do care about our rafters though.
Yeah.
Did they just get a win?
Yeah, yeah, they did.
Yeah, yeah.
It is.
And a nice win too.
A very nice win in Green Bay against the Rockers.
Woohoo.
We're looking to keep that going tonight as we invite the Rockers to Witterfield.
Yeah.
620 start time for that game.
Keep in mind, we got a perfect, you know, lead into it for you.
We have a tailgate, if you will, playmakers, tailgate addition.
Five to six will be here with playmakers today live and direct, taking your sports
calls and feelings, looking forward to talking with you today, a Misty on Monday.
It'll be fun to hang out with you guys today.
Set the being with us, looking forward to that.
That's going to be a fun show.
Yeah, Seth.
Keep in mind, we got some fun things going out with your rafters from promo wise.
Tonight, Point Brewery presents the Boogie Bros.
Woo.
Back for another year, Tiki Time is ready to provide the in-game entertainment for the
evening, promising to have you leave the race with a smile on your face.
Nice.
It's also winning Wednesday.
If the rafters win, a Wednesday home game fans that stick around until the final out will
receive a voucher for a free bleachers seat to another game.
That was a lot of rhyming in that all of that.
Yeah, there was.
Keep going.
It was kind of fun.
Thursday, let's play two.
We got a double header for you on Thursday.
Woo.
11.50 and boy, it's a big one too, because we're playing Wasa.
Oh.
Yeah.
All right.
Come on, boys.
Yeah.
It's a double header against Wasa.
We'll be hosting Wasa.
Hit her at Winterfield.
11.50 will be the first game.
And then you can look at, I'm sorry, I'm trying to, I was trying to do something.
And the next game will be at 6.20 given that the first game ends, you know, at the normal
time and everything.
So I wanted to look at the standings real quick for the Northwoods league.
I thought I had this pulled up, but it is not on my computer.
And I'm just pulling it up real quick here, everybody, hoping that the computer will work
with me very fast and it's not.
So looking at the Great Lakes West Division that we sit in, the, in this is the second
half of the season, keep in mind, everybody.
The Wasa Woodchucks have already guaranteed a playoff spot for them after finishing first
in the first half of the division.
So now it is on the, the rafters to finish in first place in this second half in order
to make it into the playoffs.
The Wasa is five in one on the season, Madison is five in two.
The rafters are four and three sitting in third place.
All right.
So a game and a half behind, you can make some big dividends right now in this, in these
next two dynats.
Not only taking on Green Bay tonight, but those, that double header against, yes, they
already got one under their boat, keep going.
That double header against Wasa is that much more important.
It's a great opportunity.
And Thursday is also going to be a fun night at the ballpark.
Not only because of this double header, but the Wisconsin Rapids Convention and Visitors
Bureau presenting sports commission night.
Nice.
And they just moved to their new location.
Yeah.
Shout out to them.
I hope they're enjoying the spot.
I got to go over there and check it out.
Meredith, Meredith and the gang over there have always been so good to me in this station.
We love our friends over there.
Yes, me.
The Visitor Bureau come out to Winterfield to see all the area sports organizations from
youth to adult clubs will have them all there for you.
It's also free tuition Thursday.
Top of the third inning.
One lucky mid-state student has a chance to win free tuition.
That is so cool.
I love that they do that.
And then Friday, Mo Hill returns to Winterfield.
Join us in welcoming Midwest League legend and Wisconsin Rapids twin player Mo Hill, whose
number 24 is going to be retired at Winterfield.
If you don't know the story of Mo Hill, I encourage you to look it up.
Not only for sports fans out there, but just people that like history and local history.
Yeah, incredible individual, Mo Hill, incredible.
We're going to talk a little bit about him on playmakers today.
Looking forward to that.
We'll get you ready for and get you understanding a little bit more of why the rafters are doing
this and why they're so excited to invite Mr. Hill to Winterfield.
Winterfield, yeah.
Yeah.
We'll have more on that for you today on playmakers.
Be sure to join us from five to six for playmakers every Monday, Wednesday and Friday brought to
you by Quality Plus printing.
Take a time out when we come back.
We're going to talk some local theater and we're looking forward to that coming up on
the morning show at WFHR.
Welcome back everybody.
Morning show at WFHR locally grown radio.
Well, listen, James here with you.
Some ZZ top playing us in.
One of my favorite things in music is hearing singers that can harmonize so well.
I always think of the Almond brothers.
That's a classic example to me, but there's a lot of great ones and R&B history and everything.
But there's the idea of two guitar players being able to harmonize together too.
I don't think many bands did it better than ZZ top.
Yeah.
One of the better bands at that, if being able to work together so well, two amazing guitar
players and just being able to play well together.
There's a lot of good examples out there that.
Oh yeah.
I want to get into some local theater with everybody right now.
And coming to Fitzville is the 10 woman by Sean Grennan.
This heartwarming dramatic comedy inspired by a true story of a young woman's life is
given an unexpected jump start through the gift of a donated heart.
Her yearning to meet the still grieving family who made the donation results in an
ending surprising to all.
They've been working hard at this one.
They are ready to go.
They open on Friday.
Yes.
And very excited for them about this.
I would love to, I am trying to zoom into the picture and I can't.
I'm trying very hard to because I wanted to give a shout out to the cast here.
It got a really nice cast.
And yes, they have shows July 12th, 13th, 19th, 14th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 19th, 20, 21.
And the print is too small, I'm sorry.
Friday and Saturday shows are at 730 and the Sunday shows are at two.
I encourage you to support the Pitzville area community theater.
They're good friends of ours.
We support the work that they are doing and we encourage to support local arts.
The performances will be at the Margaret Warchall, Gronsky, oh my goodness, I slaughtered
that so bad.
I'm sorry, Margaret.
Fine Arts Center.
She was doing her best James impression.
It's not her fault.
It's a very good impression.
Did a nice job.
I want to say real quick that I have mentioned many times since the article was published
about Wisconsin finishing last in the union when it comes to funding the arts.
They have heard us, not just us talking about it, of course, but others talking about
this.
I have talked to some of our representatives and some that necessarily won't go on the
air with it, but have talked about this and talked about how they feel this as a black
eye.
They feel this as that's a mark on us.
You don't want to be last in anything in the union, especially when it comes to this.
You're right.
Wisconsin has such a incredibly rich history of the creative arts and our community theaters
are trying their best to keep it alive with very little funding.
And look at this.
There's a lot of things we ask you to support or back and some of them cost a lot or some
of them take time out of your day or what have you.
This one all you got to do is go take in a show like that's it, spread the word, share
it under your social media feeds and go and take in a show.
So for the price of that, you can not only sit there and be entertained and take in a great
show from locals, people that you walk past or maybe know even and you can know that in
the back of your heart and the front of your mind and either way that you are supporting
local, that you are supporting the arts and you are putting into it.
You are being a positive in this otherwise rough time.
And I do believe that this is their 40th season.
Yeah.
I see that somewhere.
Yeah.
I want to say that it is their 40th season.
Let's make sure they get to a 41st and let's support this show, the 10 woman and not
for nothing.
Sounds like an incredibly original show.
Well, and I do have to say there's a couple of trigger warnings here with this one.
It does deal with, you know, obviously death and loss of a child and because this woman
receives a heart transplant and it is dealing with, it's a heart-rending show, but very,
very good.
Yeah, and acted to perfection.
This cast is doing an amazing job, I encourage you to check this one out.
Does have some comedy, they lighten it a little bit, but it deals with some pretty heavy
topics.
Yeah.
Find out more at pittsville, at pittsvilleact.org, pittsvilleact.org and support our friends
over there.
You can find them on Facebook at P-A-C-T.
Yeah, be sure to like that page and spread the word and share their posts on your social
media feeds.
And while you're at it, be sure to share the posts of Wisconsin Rapids Community Theater.
They open on Thursday.
Yes, news is coming.
I got my ticket for Friday, I'm so excited.
Oh, right on, very cool.
Yeah.
Oh, and a nice job by Gretchen the Gang.
They got a great picture up right now of the cast from Newsies Jr. that looks great.
Some action shots.
I mean, Gretchen's an amazing photographer.
Yeah.
But these kids look so good.
For many, many years, long before she was in the executive director position, Gretchen
was basically our photographer at WRCT.
And she's so good at it.
Yes.
I honestly, I've actually talked to her about doing headshots for me before and stuff.
That's how good she is.
She can make me look good.
She's Newsies Jr.
Again, as Melissa said, premieres tomorrow, they also have a show on the 12th and the 13th.
The shows are a great show.
They are seven.
Seven, I believe.
Yep.
And you can go ahead and get your tickets at WRCTheter.org or right there at the front desk.
They are.
And the Saturday show is at two.
But I would recommend buying your tickets ahead of time because there's not many left.
Yeah.
This is a fantastic time to get them.
And as Melissa said, not only that, but they're running out quick.
People love to see these shows.
And it's a big cast.
It's a huge cast.
All these kids' parents and family members are probably coming.
So you know those tickets are going to go up quick.
Be sure to get those tickets and support local and especially support these kids.
As well, everything I said about supporting local theater, you get to feel.
When you're doing this with a kid show, you can also feel confident investing in the future.
You are helping build the confidence of kids, which is only going to make our kids stronger
going forward.
Yes.
Indeed.
And looking at Gretchen's post, one day ago, she said there's about 30 tickets per show
left 10 hours ago.
She posted Fridays almost sold out.
So yeah, get your tickets.
Get your tickets, everybody.
WRCT's Hopo production for the youth is next up.
It's a madhouse directed by the great Stephanie Horth.
That's right.
Auditions are on the 15th, I believe, right?
Yeah.
Five to seven over at the WRCT Auditorium.
Bring the kids on over and check it out and see if they enjoy.
And now's not a bad time to get your season tickets for the 25th.
For what will be the 50th season for WRCT season, that's so crazy.
I have been fortunate to be a part of almost, God, since 90, 98, I want to say, 97, 98, I've
been doing shows.
My corpse, I think, was 97 or 98.
So I've been a part of the theater since then.
And it's one of the greatest humbling experiences.
That's my home.
I love that place.
So I have no journalistic integrity on this one.
But I will say.
It is a beautiful theater.
You've got a 50th season coming up.
You want a banger of a four main stage shows.
And boy, did they do a great job at a tip of the hat to the script, the selection committee.
Yeah, the lineup is awesome.
Drinking habits kicks off the whole season.
That's going to be a fun one directed by John Young.
Their Christmas show is going to be White Irving Berlin's White Christmas.
They're going to be doing a musical, which is so exciting.
They haven't, I think, done one, at least for quite some time.
Get those voices ready, everybody, and bring yourselves down to audition for that one.
More the merrier.
It's going to be great.
Their winter production will be arsenic and old lace.
And I know I've been joking about this one that, you know, don't bother auditioning.
I got this role.
But I'm kidding.
I'm just joking.
Everybody should come out to audition and look, I might be too old to play Mortimer.
I don't know.
You know, I mean, come and try out.
I know it's a dream role of mine.
And I'm not going to ever lie to the audience and well, I hope the best man wins.
No, I want to win.
I want that role.
Of course.
But Stephanie is much smarter than I am and much better at this.
And she is directing it and she will make the right call and she's going to have so
much fun with that show.
And Stephanie gets a lot of people auditioning for her show.
So it's a classic.
Because she is so much fun to work with.
As a side note, I will say, if you have not gotten to see her, it's been a while since
you've watched the Carrie Grant movie, Arsenic and Old Lace, do yourself a favor, watch
it.
It holds up.
It's still such a beautiful, funny movie.
And it's my favorite Carrie Grant performance.
And that's saying something because I love every single thing that man ever did.
And we wrap up the WRCT 50th season with Noises Off.
A classic.
One of, honestly, if it wasn't for Arsenic and Old Lace, that would be the one I'm auditioning
for.
It's a feather in the cap on your resume.
And it's such an amazing show to be a part of with all the stage stuff and everything
else.
And they have got the perfect director for this one, Melissa Kay.
I am so excited to make my directorial debut with Noises Off.
I actually saw this show, James, on a stage in London.
Oh, wow.
Oh, nice.
When I was, I think I was 19, 18, 19, around there, or maybe I was 20.
I went to London for a week with a friend who, our third friend, all my friends from high
school.
This is the two I keep in touch with.
One was studying abroad.
And so we went and spent a week there with her in London and got to see so much amazing
theater.
And Noises Off was one of them.
And that is such an amazing show.
It's funny.
It's fast paced.
You're going to be on the edge of your seat the whole time trying to keep track of what's
going on.
It's an incredible show.
There is nothing but fun in that show.
And it's still holds up.
It's still one of those ones that people are doing still and enjoying and audiences love.
This is going to be fun.
We'll talk a certainly more about it as we get closer to it, Melissa.
Yeah, that's a long ways away.
Yeah.
And yes, keep that in mind.
Don't know.
Don't have you written out just that.
But get your season tickets now because it's such an amazing season and you're not
going to want to miss a single show.
Yeah, get those tickets.
Now you can pick your seating a little bit better.
You can really choose where you want to be in this one and enjoy.
And again, you are supporting local and we appreciate that.
We will take a time out.
Check it with some news.
When we come back, we're going to talk a little bit a little bit.
Do you like Pina Coladas?
Do you like Pina Coladas?
I can't think of how the song goes.
Do you like it in Con the Rain?
Do you like it in Colton the Rain?
Actually.
I like Pina Coladas.
I do.
I like both.
Yeah.
I'm with you.
I'm with you.
I'll come back and have some more fun.
WFHR.
Yeah.
All of our bumpers should be like this.
Little Steely Dan to play Melissa and James in.
I almost had Seth.
I know I did.
I know.
I was going to shout out Seth for putting it in the bumpers and I mushed it together.
Seth is with us in spirit.
Yes.
Yes.
I'm so sorry for that, Melissa.
We appreciate the audience, Jordi.
Thanks so much, everybody.
And I do, before we dive into Pina Colada Day, I do want to send a big shout out to our
great friends, our civic media family members, Jane Mettner and, of course, Greg Bach, hosting
the co-host of Mettner on air show that you can catch every Monday through Friday right
after our morning show from 10 to noon.
Yes.
They do an amazing job and I love both of them very much.
I'm a big fan of both of their works for very individual reasons that come together
when they work together.
I think they're a great fit.
We started something yesterday that we're going to be doing on director's cut, the civic
series, where we're going to let the audience kind of get to know a lot of us in our civic
media brethren a little bit better.
Oh, it's so it's not a civics class.
Dang it.
I knew I'd mess that up.
That's why all those people were asking me if they could sign up for that client.
Oh, man.
No, it's, um, we, you got to, if you're going to do something like this, you got to come
out the gate hot.
They're going to come out the gate strong.
No way better than when Jane and Greg yeah, yeah, and they were amazing.
Everything, every expectation or hope I had for that interview was blown away in the
first couple of seconds.
Got to know a couple of things that even doing my homework.
I didn't know about either one of them and it was a lot of fun.
Yeah.
We're looking forward to that episode of director of cut premiering this Sunday and look
for that five to six this Sunday and directors cut every Sunday with our amazing Sunday line
up that we've been getting a lot of positive feedback on everybody.
We appreciate.
Just want to thank Jane and Greg for joining us looking forward to having more guests on
as we go forward.
We're going to interview our staff here.
We'll have a episode where we have a Chuck and Pam on with us.
And then we'll have Melissa and Seth and we will have, it was the only way to keep you
guys, you know, busy and separated at the same time because it's separate interviews.
It's a great thing that you bring up because each interview will be separate.
We'll spend 20 minutes half an hour with one guest and another half an hour with the
other.
Okay.
Okay.
And then we will have, of course, we'll have Laura, our newest team member around here and
we're going to have Tim Hubble, the polka guy on with us.
All right.
And we're looking forward to this.
And of course, I'm going to reach out to other civic media personalities and see how if
we can get them on.
We're going to try to get Sage on with us.
See how that goes.
Sage has joined us on the air before so it would be that far fetched.
We're looking forward to that.
It's just that he's so busy.
That's the catch.
Yes.
Trying to get the owner of the company who is literally up at night, trying to help us
with text.
Answering emails and texts.
Yeah.
Yes.
I don't like to distract him.
I don't like to bother him anymore that we have to.
Yeah.
So we're looking forward to this and appreciate the audience's feedback on that.
Even before an episode is premiered, I've heard some really good feedback from you guys
and we appreciate that.
Doing our mind you, director's cut is your creative palette.
It is your ability to go ahead and send us your creatives or if you're creative, reach
out to us and we'll get you on the show.
Absolutely.
We'd love to talk to you.
They'd love to talk to you.
I'm not part of that.
Reach out to us.
James.mailup at civicmedia.us and I'd love to have you on the show, everybody.
It is peanut collada day and a survey for it found almost everyone thinks it's a relaxing
drink option.
But only on vacation.
That was the catch.
I can't say that that's one I typically order.
And not a lot of us are unwinding with one at the end of a long work day.
Sixty only time I did that was when I was in Hawaii, but I was on vacation.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That doesn't count.
Sixty percent say a tropical drink puts them in a vacation state of mind, but just
thirty-five percent would order a peanut collada when not on vacation.
So it really is a vacation drink.
Mm-hmm.
I think I've ordered a peanut collada once in the last year at a Mexican restaurant, just
like having dinner on a Friday night.
I did this once to annoy a friend of mine.
He was sitting here talking about how this is a manly drink and only men drink this and
blah, blah, blah.
And we're looking at it.
Orders the most fruity drink he can buy.
Yep.
Yep.
Look, I come from a cheesemo family.
I understand this mindset and everything and I always look for opportunity to push back
at it.
Like, I find it be one of the more silly things in life that something is more, it makes
you a more of a man because you drink this kind of drink.
Oh, like, get out of here, man.
Like, you know what a man is?
Somebody that doesn't need that stuff to prove that they're a man.
Somebody that doesn't have to prove that they're a man.
Oh, and does the things they want to do just because they like something?
Because you like it because that's who you are.
Yeah.
I don't think there's anything more manly than being an individual.
Yeah.
The poll was done by Hilton because they invented Pina Coladas back in the 1950s or one of
their bartenders came up with the recipe in theory, a ton of cocktail books mentioned
the drink as far back as the 1920s, though, but a bartender named Ramón Mariano came up
with the official, quote, official recipe for a blended one at a Hilton resort in Puerto
Rico in 1954.
This is the pushback I have with Pina Coladas is that they are blended.
That's why I usually pick a margarita because you can get it on the rocks.
Oh, yeah.
The poll also asked about the song and there are more than a few Pina Colada haters out
there.
Given the option, 82% would take a Pina Colada while only 18% prefer getting caught in
the rain.
I guess I'm part of that 18%.
Me too.
Me too.
Yeah.
I enjoy that.
I mean, it depends on the day.
It's been a long time on my hair.
I don't want to get caught in the rain, but I also keep two umbrellas in my car for that
very reason.
And this is interesting.
If you're under the age of 40, you might not believe this, but there is a time when
personal checks were all the rage before you could pay with your phone or watch.
Member personalized checks.
Yeah.
Or you could get like Disney characters on your check.
Yes.
I remember my mother and father kind of not really fighting, but debating.
No, I want this style of check.
I want this one on my jacket, but now the world's slowest method of payment is dying
out.
And I disagree with that that is not the slowest method of payment.
The slowest method of payment is change.
As somebody who has worked in customer service, I will take a check over, yeah, the paying
and change is the slowest way to pay.
I think they mean slowest as in for the business to get their money.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Because it has to clear the bank.
Yeah.
Although they have gotten away from that where you can run, they run a check through
a reader and it does it automatically.
That's true.
I didn't think about that.
Yeah.
Target has just announced that they will no longer accept personal checks starting next
Monday.
Whoa.
They say it shouldn't upset too many people because they were taking in extremely low
volumes of checks anyway.
They didn't elaborate on the decision, but obviously no one likes seeing someone pull
a checkbook out of their pocket.
So that probably played a role.
I honestly, this is, I've been in a hurry plenty of times and seen this happening and
it has never bothered me once.
No, it doesn't take that long to write.
It really isn't that pretty.
Anybody who has a checkbook still knows how to write in cursive.
I honestly think that some of these things are either a kind of like a cultural or a media
produced thing or some of it is just, you know, personal and people just, you know,
having let's start a campaign to get rid of checks.
Yeah.
You still have their place, especially in rural areas.
Yes.
Yeah.
Because you then made that these targets are not in rural areas for the most part.
They're in bigger cities.
Well, and we don't even have a target in Wisconsin rapids.
You know, we ask our, our you a lot of our youth.
We ask a lot out of our seniors and the world is changing every second and we ask them,
hey, adapt.
Hey, go ahead and adapt right now.
Go ahead.
It's tough that you've never even thought of or heard of before that you probably didn't
even think we're possible in your lifetime.
It is.
And not only that, but we're all changing to it.
So now you have to like now we want you to pay for stuff with your cell phone.
Yeah.
It's as if these people don't realize that they one day will be seniors themselves and
in these situations.
I think we can, I don't, we're America, baby.
We can do it all.
I don't believe that we have to do one or the other.
I think we can do what I think a lot of businesses are doing a slower transition.
There may be a day where nobody's right in personal checks, wait until then as long
as there's two people still doing it, I think it's still worth keeping around as silly as
that might sound.
Well, and target itself cannot just get rid of checks across the board.
They can no longer accept.
I'm sure there are plenty of businesses that don't accept checks.
They stayed it right there.
There's businesses that don't accept credit cards and all they'll take is cash or check.
So you know what I mean, I think it's up to each business individually what they want
to do.
And if a giant big corporation like Target wants to say no more checks, well fine, I'll
go somewhere else.
Yeah.
And to that point, Melissa, there are plenty of places like Walmart that do still accept
checks.
It is probably a matter of time before they are phased out, but that is down the line.
A recent survey of about one in five people over 66 right several checks each month,
but about half of the people under 55 don't write a single check every year.
So eventually this will phase out.
And when it does, then we can all agree, okay, we don't really need this anymore.
But there's a lot of people over 66.
None of us are here without that generation or generations without those people.
One of the least things we can do is try to give them a good ease into the next act.
I don't think that's asking a lot and I don't and it's not because we can do it.
We're doing it currently.
We know we can do it because we're currently doing it.
I don't understand the pushback on some of this stuff, this quickness to get rid of certain
things.
It's not it's not messing with life that much.
If it is, I question how you run your business because that shouldn't be target.
Yeah.
I'm a big fan of target actually.
Usually when I could shop there, I don't shop there very often anymore, but when I lived
in Illinois, I shop that target more than Walmart or anything else.
And out of the three big, well, I consider them the three big ones because they're kind
of big around us.
I would choose coals first and foremost because of their history and the things that the
good things that they've done for employees in this state, they don't carry food.
But for the other things, when I can, I choose coals.
I'm with you.
I'm a big fan of coals and I like this.
I think a good story of the day is what's happened with coals and I haven't looked necessarily
at their stock prices.
But I know that during the pandemic, during the pandemic, they were struggling a bit and
it does seem like things have improved there.
They did some changes.
They did some things and it does look like it has somewhat.
I couldn't give you the actual numbers on that or anything.
I haven't heard myself, but I just know that the more we patronize a business, the better
they do.
I try to buy local as much as I can from mom and pop shops, but if I got to pick a bigger
department store, usually I try to go to coals when I can.
I am with you and I really try my best, especially locally in town.
I buy from places that put back into this community.
I like supporting those that support this community and that's a big deal to me.
I have to tell you, I had a really amazing lunch at Shawlee downtown Wisconsin Rapids.
I got their bento box.
It comes with two entrees.
Nice, nice.
And egg rolls and rice.
It was so good, James.
It was amazing.
That's out.
I've never been blown away by a Chinese dish the way I was by there.
I don't even know how to say.
I think it was Japanese, but it was the beef started with a D. That's all I got, but
it was so good.
Very cool.
Very cool.
Go check that out, everybody.
And we'll come back and you can check out of that a right story.
It's some good stories of the day and some local good stuff.
When we come back, Melissa and James are going to wrap up the show.
A morning show at WFHR.
Welcome back, everybody.
Morning show here at WFHR, locally grown radio.
Melissa and James here.
Gotta have that a right story to touch on before we wrap up with some local good stuff.
A man in California went to a bar in San Diego area called the Cantalina Lounge a while
back.
And when he was closing his $24.50 tip, the screen gave him four suggested tips, 20%, 25%,
50%, and 100%.
Whoa.
There were also buttons for a custom tip and no tip.
The guy was so appalled that he took a photo of it and it's going viral.
Naturally, some commentators say that that's a little messed up because if someone is looking
closely or thinking clearly, they could invert, invertly tip a lot more than they meant to.
No one from the lounge has commented, so it's unclear if those choices options or if
they were somehow pre-programmed that way or something else.
For what it's worth, the guy posted his actual receipt as well as which shows that he
ended up tipping 20%, but he also said that he doesn't know why he even tipped at all
and the rest of the night, he tipped 0% in response.
Well, yeah, because if you're paying every time, you buy a tip every time on your card.
And this is the thing that really bothers me about this, everybody asking for a tip thing
is that now it's getting, the people that are already on the fence about tipping, which
is messed up, but we'll move on.
Now they're like, okay, so I don't tip the gas station attendant, but now I'm also going
not going to tip the waitress.
And that's messed up.
There are two very different worlds going on here.
There are people that are paid minimum wage or better, which obviously isn't enough to
live on as we've touched on many times.
Which a lot of places have increased themselves, which is great.
Yes.
But then there are the people that are also in dire need and survive on these tips in
its part of their income from their employers.
They take that in consideration when paying them.
So you're not, it's not the same thing, not tipping them.
And that is the true, that ain't right story.
Yes.
Agreed.
I agree with that.
It needs to change.
Yeah.
And we've all got to adjust on that and be better about it.
If you have never been a waiter or a waitress, try it sometime.
Mm-hmm.
I couldn't do it.
I'll tell you right now, I couldn't do it.
It's hard work, James.
Yeah.
I would not be good at it.
I might at Marion do it for 30 years and marvel at her the whole time.
Talk about the job you're doing right now being spinning plates.
It's literally.
It literally reaches his spin plate.
Yeah.
You're absolutely right.
I worked in my first, technically my first real job was working at KFC.
And yeah, I was not good at it.
I could cook, but I couldn't keep up the pace.
And I couldn't clean as fast as everybody, either.
CC, what I was saying earlier, of being a neat freak.
And some of that stuff.
I have such admiration.
My sister worked in the service industry.
She worked at Calverse for many years.
I have a lot of respect for anybody that can do that work and know that-
You can kind of service jobs.
They're hard.
Mm-hmm.
And they don't get enough appreciation.
A couple of local good stories I want to talk about.
The breakfast only meals that are being available for free meals for kids.
These meals are available to all children 18 years of age and under.
The breakfast available is only going to be available today and tomorrow.
Okay.
Those will be the final days for that.
That is available over at Lincoln High School at 1811 16th Street South from 730 to 830.
So today's might have wrapped up, but you got one more chance tomorrow.
If you know anybody that could use that meal, please make sure they're there.
Yes.
And lunches will go on till August.
Lunches are available Monday through Friday at Mead Park near the Splash Pad until August
16th from 1130 to 1230.
And over at Winter Park near the shelter outside of the Aquatic Center up until August 16th,
1130 to 1230.
Mm-hmm.
It's awesome that they're doing this.
Yeah.
Big thank you to them for doing it.
That's some of the best work being done in this community.
And it's Bingo.
Bingo.
Wednesday.
Wednesday.
That means Bingo at the Wisconsin Rapids Elk Slodge number 693.
The doors open at five.
Bingo kicks off at 630, joined them at 430 West Jackson Street in Wisconsin Rapids.
I mentioned supporting those that support us, man, the Elk Slodge.
They sure do that.
And you know, James, we've talked about these team building things we're going to do.
We're going to do them.
We're going to do it.
I'm holding your feet to the fire.
Please do.
Like I told them over at Edge VR, we're doing that.
And we should do Bingo.
Oh, yeah.
Because how fun would that be?
That would be a lot of...
Oh, we got it.
You're right.
That would be a lot of fun.
We definitely got to do that.
Our good friends at Milkweed Market in the ODC have a great summer, a creating, create
and connect series where you can pick your project, pay and paint.
Every Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 2, they do this.
All ages are welcome.
Just drop in or reservation required.
Eat the boredom blues this summer and go create with them.
How fun.
We provide everything, right?
Yeah, yeah.
They're at 11.91, Huntington Avenue, right here in Wisconsin Rapids.
And when you're doing this, you're also supporting the ODC and the amazing work that
they do in this community.
If you'd like to find out more, reach out to our friend, Brooke.
You can reach her at B Porter at odcinc.com.
B Porter at odcinc.com and keep in mind that website of the odcinc.com.
We got, we're after baseball coming up a little later.
We've got, before that, a midday magazine, a really good one lined up for you.
In part one, our good friends from family and natural food, Steven and Katrina, are going
to join us?
Awesome.
And in part two, Kim Shields from Encourage will be with us and we're going to be talking
about investment in Wisconsin's 2019 Distinguished Foundation Partner.
And we'll also have some of the, some kids from Girl Scouts joining us as well.
Oh, fun.
Yeah, it's going to be a great interview.
We're looking forward to that.
That's a great show today.
Have a good one.
You too, James.
Take care.
Be good to each other and we'll talk to you soon and later right here at Pad Cry Blow.
Thursday morning includes our Women, Win, Wisconsin segment powered by us.
That is not what I meant.
Good.
This week with state assembly rep, Francesca Hahn.
Up north news with Pad Cry Blow, weekday morning starting at six.
This is locally grown radio WFHR 1320 AM W24 ADE Wisconsin Rapids and always streaming
on the Civic Media App.
