Good morning, Wisconsin.
Morning, world.
It's a doomed new day.
Welcome to WFHR's Morning Show.
Got your host, James Byron Mike.
I am joined by our head of news, our co-host, Melissa K.
Good morning.
And the best listeners in radio.
Thanks for joining us, everybody.
We're going to kick things off with our good friend, Brittany Merlot, talking a little
mother nature.
Good morning, Brett.
Good morning.
We're about zero.
Get us celebration all around.
Oh, the term warm means something very different right now, but I'm looking at nine
degrees outside.
I've never been happier to see the number nine.
I've never.
I know, right?
But the dollar and wind have to slow flap a negative right in front of that nine.
It does feel like nine below with the wind chill right now.
But either way, huge improvement from what we went through.
Now we are finally claiming out of it.
So look good news all around.
Breezy today.
Still highs will reach 20 degrees.
So with the wind, it'll still probably feel like the single digits.
But cloudy out there, some light scattered flurries on and off throughout the afternoon.
We could see a few more scattered snow showers this evening, which could put down about a
trace or so.
Otherwise, all of the clouds clear and out of here overnight tonight.
We fall to around zero degrees.
And for tomorrow, it's a little chilly highs in around 10 degrees.
It will continue 20 again for Friday, but a beautiful bright sunny end to the week after
a little bit of snow today.
Wow.
That doesn't sound too bad, you know?
And had you given us that forecast a month ago, and then like, Burr, Brittany, we'll get
out of here.
Never like, hey, yay.
We will take it.
We will settle.
We will settle when it comes to weather and we are happy with it.
Brittany, is this last time you're joining us this week?
Yes, it is.
We're actually going to Florida where they got more snowfall yesterday than pretty much
a lot of our areas have seen all season.
So Brittany, I'm not a snow bird, just a snow chaser, how Brittany?
Right.
There you go.
There you go.
Enjoy yourself safe travels.
We're looking forward to hanging out with you again real soon.
Thank you.
You guys have a good one.
You too, Brittany.
Best in the business right there from Brittany Merlot joining us.
We're looking forward to hanging out with her again real soon.
We're looking forward to hanging out with you for the next couple of hours, everybody.
We got the LKF A birthday and anniversary club right around the corner.
We will get into what is the most trusted profession?
We will get into that one.
We've also got a fun one about it being National Hot Sauce Day.
What is each state's favorite type of hot sauce?
Ooh, oh, that's a good one.
Coming up, we will also talk to our friends over at Quality Plus printing with our Wicked
Awesome Word of Wednesday.
Oh, it's Wednesday.
Wicked awesome.
We got all that coming up.
We will get into some entertainment news.
We have America's favorite TV shows and movies of 2024.
We'll go over that.
Netflix, our knuckleheads again, and we've got some local theater to talk about.
Melissa and I love talking local theater.
We'll do that in a little bit.
Excellent.
And in the 9 o'clock hour, we will also have the 10 most unusual 9-1-1 calls of 2024.
Oh, boy.
We'll see how we can dance around that.
What did see?
How we can make it for radio.
We'll get it done.
Yeah.
But right here, an interesting one, and this goes against everything my father has ever
taught me.
If you want to sit in your car and listen to us a little bit longer, we're not complaining,
but you don't necessarily have to.
The headline for this article is, you don't need to warm up your car in cold weather.
Ah, yes, yes, the eternal argument.
All the cold weather across the US has the topic trending, and you don't actually need
to let your car warm up, according to experts.
Here, years ago, it was a good idea when the temperature dipped.
Old-fashioned carburetor engines had to warm up, or they could stall.
But unless you've got a classic car or a bit of an older car, there's no need to anymore.
carburetor engines got phased out in early 90s, and modern cars with fuel injectors warm
up really fast, like five seconds, according to AAA.
The only reason to let newer cars warm up is comfort.
If you need to crack the heater and let the windows defrost, go for it, you know, those
sorts of things.
Yeah, being able to see is a safety thing.
It seems like it.
Being warm is just a comfort thing.
I am no driving expert, but vision does feel like a key part of the built-in process.
You know, it should better.
It should.
So other than all that, it just waste gas and causes more wear and tear on your engine.
Yeah.
But this is something I don't believe this is common knowledge.
I would actually say it's the other way around still in a lot of culture.
Yeah, I think it's just, because it's just been a common thing, like what you got to
warm your vehicle up, and when you think about it, it's like all of those fluids going
through a very cold engine and a very cold, you know, function in car, you think, yeah,
sure, it needs to warm up.
I had a car mechanic teacher actually tell me, no, just start out slow.
Start it up, let it run for what, five, ten seconds, and then don't hit the gas and
go gangbusters, you know, just start out easy.
That's the best way to warm up your car.
Does this kind of the same as we've learned with people in exercising?
Right, right.
Does this eliminate the awkwardness of starting your car in the winter, then like, you know,
having to wait a little bit before, you know, like you say goodbye, and then you go warm
your car up, and it's not warm enough yet, so you can't leave yet, so you got to come
back in.
I feel like it, I guess it eliminates that a little bit.
It changes our midwest goodbye, what, no, yeah, that's, that can't do that.
It's a little awkward, it's a little weird, which is weird because the midwest goodbye is
a little awkward, so it adds to it.
That's interesting though, I wonder how much this is going to become more and more common
as we go forward.
Well, if gas prices go up, it's definitely going to be something that we can say, you
know, yeah, you don't need to warm your car up, you don't need to waste gas, save it.
What?
Is it going to want to?
I predict many things in this world, but I feel very comfortable saying the gas prices
will rise, and then they will come down again, and then they will rise, and then they will
come down again.
That's my prediction for 2025.
Good one, James.
And that that coincides a little bit at least with the, the upcoming increases that gas
buddy is predicting, which they are the gas experts in my opinion, so.
Oh, yeah, I agree, I agree.
And that's, that's seasonal, you know, that, that always happens this time of year.
So it's nothing to be surprised about.
Of all the arts, Melissa, singing musicians, it's always been one that I've probably admired
maybe the most, just as somebody who can't do those things really.
And I find, next to that, you know, artists, painters, you know, all these things, but
I've forgotten group to me, and one that I admire very much is photographers.
I think a good photographer and any legal wits, these type of people that can frame a photo
and tell you a story with it.
And I've always kind of admired it.
Now that nowadays with our phones, all of us are amateur photographers.
But with that being said, I'm curious to know what you, the audience think of this one.
And if you were a photographer, if you would make an attempt like this, a photographer
in a model broke their own Guinness World Records with the help from a diving expert by conducting
a photo shoot at a depth of 163.38 feet under, a thousand feet underwater off the floor
to coast.
Oh, wow.
Canadian Steve Hanniton and Sierra Antikoski with the help of U.S. diving and safety expert
Wayne Fryman originally set the record for the deepest underwater model photo shoot at
a depth of 21 feet back in 2021.
They went 163 this time.
Yeah, 163 feet is quite a bit more than 21.
That's incredible.
They earned a lot of months of technical training, gas blending, and decomposition practice
so that they could break this record.
And they did it off of the Hydro-Atlantic Shipwreck off the coast of Boca Ratan.
Wow.
Beautiful place from what I've seen.
Handing snap photos while Antikoski served as the model at a depth of 163.38 feet.
Wow.
And the photos are amazing.
Like what I can see of these in the video and what little bit I've seen online and everything,
they are pretty cool.
It's an interesting medium to take photos underwater.
Yeah.
And the fact that we have the technology that allows us to do that is really also really
cool.
There is something haunting but beautiful about some of these photos.
There's one with her next to a ship, the shipwreck, where she's got her arm stretch out
on the bow.
It's just art.
Just art.
Yeah.
Just art.
It's really good.
It's really well done.
To do that, to pose underwater, I mean, they obviously had oxygen down there, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And because I haven't gotten to see the photos yet, the video is playing, but they're
not all the way to the actual photos yet.
Just kind of gone through the photo shoot itself.
But yeah, she's in a kind of a white, flowy dress.
So they can get that, you know, like artistically draped in the water and cool.
I can't wait to see the actual photos.
That's really, it's just art.
It's just beautiful, really well done.
I love the idea of them training for this too, that that seems like a, just a, a smart
shows.
Yeah.
Yes, definitely.
Definitely.
First and foremost, smart.
Yeah.
But it just shows the dedication to the craft, to wanting to make this right and to do this
even, to attempt this.
And it also sits the bar because good luck having, you know, topping that one.
That's the, right?
Yeah.
It is some really cool photos.
But again, if you would like to look at this up online, a model, a photo shoot underwater,
you know, a photo, things like that.
I've typed in a whole bunch of different ones and they popped up.
Yeah.
So it's on UPI.com.
Yeah, you can find it right there, everybody.
For now, we will take a quick time out.
We'll come back with, do some celebrating with our great friends over at El Café and
the birthday and anniversary club.
It's Melissa and James taking me through your morning here at WFHR.
You heard the boys.
It's time to do some celebrating with our great friends over at El Café and the birthday
and anniversary club, by local support local support our friends over at 221 Market Avenue
and beautiful Port Edward.
We appreciate you doing so.
And if you go over to their Facebook page, you just type into your search bar, El Café,
it should pop right up.
They got a great post on there talking about this time of year and it being really tough
on smaller businesses and, you know, they understand that money can be a little bit tighter this
year.
But there is ways that you can help out without spending that single penny.
You share that they're, you share their posts on your websites, your Facebook pages and
everything.
You can invite friends to like their page as well.
That's another way to do it.
And certainly promoting them, you know, commenting on their pages and leaving good comments
and everything are another great way of doing that.
There's a lot of ways to promote and support local.
We encourage you to do that.
Yeah.
And, like you said, James, just even putting a comment down there page, it helps boost
their posts in the algorithm.
I don't know how all that stuff works.
I really don't.
No, it really does, though.
For every comment you leave, like, share whatever, it pops up and it adds to their algorithm,
you know, popping up more and more.
The more action they get, the more that this happens.
And certainly sharing the posts or inviting friends to like El Café.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
It's a very easy way to help out and it feels good, too, to be able to do.
I encourage you to do that.
And you can go to their page and watch them assemble a death by chocolate pie.
God, God, yeah.
Who doesn't want to see that?
Yeah.
But now I'm, I'm, and obviously a lot of people like it because the one I went there yesterday
to get pie for our staff meeting, there was no death by chocolate because it was all
gone.
Oh, that's rough.
That was so rough, but it was really nice of you to do that.
Thank you for doing that a little.
And the pie was delicious.
Yeah.
Yeah.
They don't make anything bad over there.
I'm just going to say it.
They don't.
Everything's great.
They don't make anything bad about yourself.
One of the more unique and fun menus and just some of the best people you're going to
meet.
Go ahead and check out and me and join our friends over at El Café today.
And we encourage you to get us your birthdays and anniversaries, everybody.
We love celebrating with you.
Send them to info at wfhr.com, you're going to course direct message us on our Facebook
pages.
And I believe you can call up.
That's right.
715, 424, 2,600.
I thought so.
I thought they could.
Yeah.
Go ahead.
Call up.
Join the conversation, everybody.
We love to hear from you.
We love to hear from you.
Today we got two possible qualifiers.
Need a one or two.
Oh, let's go with one.
All right.
We get right into it.
And first up, we get to wish a very happy birthday to a very good friend of ours and
our communities.
Joel Goodness.
Oh, happy birthday, Joel.
Joel has not only entertained all of Wisconsin, but really all of the world.
This man has performed everywhere from Broadway to Star Trek.
He has done commercials both local and worldwide.
Joel is one of the, my favorite people I've ever worked with in any industry, anything.
Love working with Joel.
Love talking with Joel.
It's so much so that we brought him on director's playhouse a couple of times in our actor's
spotlight that we've done.
And Joel has given us some insights, some wonderful stories, some on air, some off air.
But one of the most charismatic people you will ever meet as well, like just genuinely,
organically, naturally.
He's a fun guy.
Yeah.
Just love him.
And we wish a very happy birthday to John Hillstead.
Happy birthday, John.
John is our qualifier.
He is a retired educator from the Wisconsin throughout its area of schools.
We appreciate his work in our area for our kids and our futures.
And we appreciate you getting us this name, everybody, so we can get John our qualifying.
Yeah.
Congratulations.
Gratz, John, I encourage you to brag to all your former students, but for sure, yes,
we take a look at our celebrity list.
Evan Moody is 44, former Evan Sense guitarist.
Okay.
I don't know much about Evan Sense.
I know a little.
Evan Essence, you mean?
Evan Essence, thank you.
Evan Essence.
Evan Essence, yeah.
That's how little I know.
Amy Lee is the lead singer of that group, and she is fantastic.
She really is.
I know that much.
I know she is a great singer, and that's about all I knew of the band, but I see the
name Ben Moody.
It just seems to fit for that band.
It seems like a great name for the guitarist for the band.
Yeah, they definitely have a Moody mood.
Olivia De Abo is 56, Fred Savage's oldest sister, Karen, on Wonder Years.
Guy Fieri is 57, celebrity chef and host, and just all around, I think, fun personality.
His, yes, and his story is interesting with how his look came about to be because it's
a look specifically for his shows.
I think he's actually a very good example of not judging a book by its cover.
When I was living out in California, my buddy Will, the comedian loves cooking shows more
than anything else.
We just sat there.
That's all that was on half the time, is chopped in all those shows, and Guy Fieri had
I think two different shows, the one that he normally did, and I think he did like
it's some supermarket show or something.
But I would see this guy, and he was charismatic.
He was very natural on the mic and everything, and I was like, okay, but looking at him, I'm
like, all right, that ain't my kind of guy.
I saw an interview with him years later, where he was talking about how his look, as you
were saying, Melissa, wasn't really his design.
It was something that they threw together in his first episode.
He goes out there, and then he kind of gets known for it.
It's a little like the band corn, not wanting to be called corn, but they didn't have a
better name, so they just set it for fun, and then they get stuck with it.
Same thing happened to Hoody and the Blowfish.
They didn't want to go by the name Hoody and the Blowfish, but they needed the name, and
that boom, they just came up with one of the last seconds.
Which as a side note, how are you a band, and you don't think about a name?
How do you get that far in the process?
You have to focus on the music.
Yeah, that shows you.
That shows how little I understand of music.
But Guy Fieri is actually one of these guys that his personality on camera and who he is
in real life are starting to merge a little bit more, where you're actually seeing more
of him, and not just this personality, which I think is really cool.
And it's a good example of the progression that people who are, to be able to get in that
position, to get in that spotlight, they can't just be themselves, which is kind of sad.
Yeah, it really is, yeah.
But now that he has gained the fame that he has, he is able to just be himself, which
is good.
Do you know that his real name is Guy Ramsey Fieri?
Oh, no, I did.
Oh, wow.
Well, that had been weird if he had gone by that with Gordon Ramsey out there.
Exactly.
Yeah, it's like he had to go with something else.
And Guy Fieri is such a, I don't know, I think it's a good name for him.
I want to say David Bowie's real name is David Jones, or Dave Jones or something like
that.
And of course, couldn't go by that because of the other Dave Jones.
DJ Jassy Jeff is 60 today.
DJ J, of course, along with Will Smith, bringing us a lot of 80s and 90s hits, summertime,
parents don't understand.
One of the greatest actresses I've ever seen, Diane Lane is 60 today.
Wow.
Diane Lane, you might not remember.
She's only done a couple of films like Unfaithful, The Perfect Storm, Rumble Fish, The
Outside, or Studge Dread.
Man, I'm stealing Batman, Batman, Superman, Justice League, Highlander.
She is just all over the place.
Incredible career.
Yes.
And certainly, I mean, her arc is interesting now to look at because she was just kind of
pigeonholed into a lot of rom-coms early on, because she does do that very well, but she
is far more of an actress than just to be pigeonholed into one type of show.
Speaking of getting pigeonholed, Linda Blair is 66 today, the star of the actressist.
And just one of the better examples we have in the acting community of getting labeled
and not getting a chance to ever do anything else, really.
She worked her tail off in that movie.
That movie is nowhere in, there is no other actress that plays that role as good as her
and gives what she does to that performance.
And what she got for it was, you know, we're not going to use you anymore.
Maybe if we do a second exercise movie, we'll use you.
It's this weird thing of acting where you could be so good at something and then you
get stuck, that's all you're going to get a chance to do.
It's a show because she's a good actress.
And she was also injured because of what was asked of her in that role.
Ted Gentry is 73 today, one of the great harmonizers from Alabama.
One of the better things to happen over at West Country, 105 Doing The Sunrise Show,
was getting the chance to listen to some music that I don't, I didn't grow up with
and I didn't get a chance to listen to very much.
But even I knew who Alabama was.
Oh yeah.
Oak Ridge Boys, Alabama, I mean, growing up when we did, you heard these bands.
But I never really, I understood that Alabama was big and knew that they were good musicians
and everything had a couple songs I didn't mind.
Being over there and really getting a chance to sit there in the studio, listen to this
music more, the harmonies, whether you like their music or not, just take a step, it's
the same thing with like the almond brothers.
You don't have to like their music, but take a step back and listen to those harmonies.
You are not going to hear much more like chemistry like that very often.
There's a lot more musicality in country music, classic country music than it I think is
given credit for today because of how pop country has kind of taken over, you know, the
top 40 hits.
Yeah, I'm going to be real and I've been honest with everybody about this one.
I'm not a broke country guy.
I don't get it.
It sounds like pop music.
It just sounds like pop music to me.
And I would say a majority of our WIRI listeners would agree with you James.
Yeah, they do.
Yeah, they do.
Embattically.
Mm-hmm.
One of the more unique voices any of us have heard, Steve Perry is 76 today, original
journey singer, rock and roll hall of famer.
I don't know all of Steve Perry's song, you know, playlist, but if I hear one of his songs
I'm going to know it's him.
You know that voice, very unique voice.
You see here, some people no longer with us, John Hurt, one of the greatest born in
1940.
The one maker in the Harry Potter movies, he was the voice of the dragon in Merlin and
the elephant.
He was John Merrick and the elephant man, maybe his greatest work.
A lot of people remember him from Alien because he had the alien pop out of his chest and
all that.
But just you really want to see acting at its finest.
The elephant man is one of those movies and John Hurt is a major part of it.
And he's, I don't know, for me being, you know, seeing him in his older years of acting
specifically, he takes craggy to an appreciable level.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
And I wish women could also enjoy having that distinction.
Yes.
Yes.
100%.
Yes.
Because we're human and we age and that's what happens.
We have skin.
Yeah.
And, you know, what 30-year-old actresses are just as good as 20 and 40-year-old actresses
like it.
I mean, it's insane that in 2025, we're still talking and dealing with this.
But thankfully, there's good work being done.
There's a lot more opportunities being created, but that still, there's work to be done.
One of my favorite singers of all time, Michael Hutchinson, was born in this day in 1960,
passed away way too young in 97, in excess lead singer and songwriter.
Just, you know, I mean, my youth is not the same without in excess.
I don't care if it's cool, if it sounds funny or not.
I love that band.
That was a great band.
Oh, they're great.
I enjoy them as well.
And he shares a birthday with Sam Cook, born in this day in 1931, one of the most soulful
singers you'll ever hear.
You send me chain gang, twist in the night away another Saturday night.
But I love Cupid, especially this time of year.
I am sorry, but the, what is left of my romantic heart loves the song Cupid always will.
That's a good song.
It's a good song.
Sam Cook.
Just every word it felt like he made rhythmic.
I don't know many soul singers that could do what a lot of what he did there.
Quite a singer.
Quite a singer.
And quite the, the compendium of songs too.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Especially, you know, all things said, kind of a short career, short life, short career
and still with multiple many, many heads.
One more time, we should have the birthday to our friend Joel Goodness.
Happy birthday Joel.
Enjoy the day, sir.
And we wish you a good one as well to John Hillstead, our qualifier today.
Happy birthday and congratulations.
Enjoy your day.
Stick around everybody.
Melissa and I got our, we could also order Wednesday coming up with our friends from
Quality Plus Printing.
It's coming up right here on the morning show.
Welcome back everybody.
Morning show at WFHR, locally grown radio.
Melissa and James hanging out with you.
We hope you're having a fantastic day out there.
Happy Wednesday.
Happy hump day.
Mm-hmm.
Gonna be joined by our friends from Quality Plus Printing any moment now with our wicked
awesome order Wednesday.
Looking forward to that one.
That should be a lot of fun.
But got an interesting one here.
It is a national hot sauce day today.
Okay.
All enjoy the your favorite hot sauces.
And what is your favorite hot sauce wherever you might be listening to us?
Instacart released a big report that looked at which states used the most hot sauce per
capita based on last year's sales.
And New Mexico topped a list with 31.9 ounces per customer, followed by Alaska and Colorado.
How many ounces?
31.9.
Wow.
Mm-hmm.
That's quite, that's several cups.
Yeah.
Especially when you look at like in fourth places Alabama at 16.
That's almost four cups James.
That's a lot.
They also looked at each state's favorite hot sauce brand taking a look at this list.
Frank's Red Hot is the top in the Northeast and the Midwest and a bunch of other states across
the U.S.
Number one in 28 states overall.
Hmm.
That kind of surprises me.
Me too.
Yeah.
Burnums hot sauce is popular pick at all these basically Frank's kind of lower brand.
Like a generic brand.
Like a more of a generic brand.
I've never heard of it.
I haven't either to be honest.
That one tops the list in Florida, Alabama, Oklahoma, Missouri, Iowa, South Dakota, and
Wisconsin.
Hmm.
Okay.
And I haven't even heard of it.
So yeah, that's weird.
That's weird.
Well, I'm not a big hot sauce.
Same.
Yeah.
Louisiana's brand hot sauce has five states, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee,
and Louisiana, of course.
Of course.
Yeah.
That would be weird if it wasn't.
It would be very weird.
Chuala, Chuala, I'm not sure about that one.
Four states, Utah, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana.
All right.
Okay.
And Texas Peats.
Three Texas Peats, three states, Virginia, and both of the Carolinas.
Now, despite the name, it's actually been made in North Carolina since 1929.
That's kind of funny.
Three different sauces got one state each, Tabasco Tabasco got white.
I was going to say, how is Tabasco not?
On that list.
It's on every restaurant table, not every, but that's the one you see on most restaurant
like tables.
Mm-hmm.
You know what, Melissa?
I feel pretty confident saying you're right.
Every single restaurant in the world has, it feels like it at least a little jar of Tabasco
sauce on the table.
I don't know that I've been in one that does it.
I mean, or maybe I just assumed that it's, that's what it is.
I don't know.
It does seem like one of the world.
And only one state.
Yeah.
Five Southwestern in New Mexico.
That's another big one.
Okay.
Also when I haven't heard of.
And Tapatio in California, Tapatio.
That one I've tried, but I don't remember much of if I'm not a big hot sauce guy like
you.
But I do like it from time to time.
What do you like hot?
If I have to use a hot sauce, I like Sriracha.
Yeah, there you go.
Good stuff.
I think it has more flavor than other hot sauces.
And it adds more than just heat.
Yeah.
That's what I, that's exactly what I'm looking for, although I wouldn't have been able
to figure it out or word it.
I appreciate you putting it that way.
I'm looking for some flavor, not just burn my, burn my taste buds off.
Right.
The other one I like to use is like a garlic chili sauce, because it adds heat and flavor.
Right on.
Now, there is the, what is that, the hot ones, the interview show that is incredible.
Yeah, hot wings are hot.
Yeah, I don't know exactly what it's called, but I like to watch this every now and then.
When it's a celebrity, I enjoy like Jennifer Lawrence, that one is classic.
That was a good one.
I watched the cone and one.
That was good.
Okay.
I love when they're answering these questions and then in the middle of it, they're so angry
at the guest.
Right.
Is it Melissa McCarthy?
Oh.
First was good too.
Yeah.
Like, I real quickly before we go to our friend here, Phil, would you do that if you were,
if you were asked to be on that show?
Oh, man.
I don't tolerate heart real well.
So it would be a train wreck if I went on that show and I don't think anybody would want
to see it.
My, I just, I just got recent new representation a couple of weeks back and Wendy, my new agent,
a wonderful human being.
And she asked me all these wild questions because to her, for her opinion, she has to be
able to know if she's getting a, see something across the wire or she gets a call and hey,
do you have anybody interested in this role?
Seconds are ticking and she needs to know if this client or this client or this client will
be interested.
So she's asking me all these weird questions and she brought things you're willing to
do.
Yeah.
She brought it up the other day.
And immediately I was like, well, yes, but I'm with you.
I'm 100% with you.
I don't like hot stuff.
I don't think I'd be very good on the show, but there's something in me.
But you're not going to say no.
Yeah.
I couldn't imagine being like, you know what?
No, it just seems like it's the same regardless of anything.
I think it would be fun.
And I like the idea of doing more, I think it's a fun idea.
And there are things to draw the line on.
Would you recover from being on that show?
Probably.
Mm-hmm.
I don't know if my internal organs would, but I feel like I would.
I feel like overall.
We are joined every Wednesday by our great friends over at Quality Puzz printing, getting
our words out here in Wisconsin, Rapids, and beyond.
Phil, how are you doing this morning?
Yeah, I'm doing really well.
How about you guys doing pretty good warmer today?
Yeah, see how it's played lately.
Enjoy that part.
I have a daughter.
I'd love to go in there.
On the hot ones.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's awesome.
We found in Texas in the army right now, but there's nothing she doesn't put hot
sauce on.
Oh, wow.
Look at her.
Yeah.
Is that something that you're into, Phil?
Do you like hot stuff?
I don't think I can stand the really, really stuff that she goes after, but I don't
mind having a little kick in there.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah.
A little goes a long ways.
Oh, kick me down.
Yes.
Trim on the pain or anything.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
A little body down there.
I like that.
Yeah.
Phil, what are you guys up to over at Quality Puzz?
What kind of work you have going on?
Well, again, we've been doing fine work for the schools again because they're fired back up
after Christmas.
So that comes to us.
So I was trying to think some of the other ones we've worked a lot with local veterinarians.
So we got some orders from a couple of veterinarians, I just say that we do work with tall-grossed
rulers and other great customer of ours, ordered envelopes to be put in a lot of envelopes
to local companies and agencies and schools, schools, so that's another little avenue of
our business.
I don't know if everybody knows.
Nice.
Yeah.
And stand busy.
That's really cool.
I don't know if the audiences caught this or not, but almost every time Phil joins us,
you're talking about not just a different business, but a different industry that you're
working with Phil.
And I note that and I hope the audience does, too, if you're a business out there or a
school or a nonprofit, and you're not sure, we work well with, yes, you will.
Yes, I can answer that for you right now, yes, you will.
There's really such a wide range of things that you guys offer over there.
And I love the idea, just similar to what I was talking about with interviewing and accepting
a challenge.
You guys love to accept a challenge, you know, if you, well, can you put this on a shirt
or can you do this?
You guys are going to talk it out and see if you can.
Oh, yeah.
99% of the time we can figure it out.
I just have a great team here that's very creative and also very, you know, customer
centric.
It's just fun to watch just for me to sit back and listen sometimes to the interactions
going on when people come in here asking us to do different projects.
I mean, we have someone that wrote a book that came in here and wants to help us, you
know, get materials to promote it postcards that they're going to send out and, you know,
and letter has and things that they promote for a new book that she's going to put out.
And that's just a neat thing and you get to hear about it, you know, and get the story
behind it.
And so not only is it good for business, but it's just good for the soul to hear all
these people or local people doing some really neat things.
Yeah.
Yeah, really is.
Phil also wanted to mention, of course, a subsidiary.
Another part of quality of printing is a way I'm incorporated and they were recently
named our Hardware Scotch and Chambers Business of the Month Congrats on that.
I don't know.
One of the cool things that we're doing, you guys are doing over there, Phil, is doing
this.
It's not not swear words, but what does your go to word, you know, when you can't say
a swear word?
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's pretty fun.
We just started that.
We just started getting the word out on that too.
This is a swear shirt.
So on the front, we have a little logo with on the back, we put what creative words you
say not to say a swear word.
And we get some fun words and bring it on, come on over and we'll help you.
It's a great idea, Phil.
It's a really good idea.
I appreciate mine on the back says what the what, which is my favorite go to, it works
very well and encourage you to get what everybody.
I have to say incredibly comfortable, very comfortable shirt, that's a really nice
added bonus of it.
Phil, I didn't even think about that until I put it on.
Yeah, you know, we learn and we're new to this and it's been growing fantastically.
And we've looked, we've tried a couple of different materials to find the ones that we
think we're starting to like more and more and that was one of them.
So thanks to that feedback, I really enjoy it.
I guess, picture come on my email while we're talking, a manual Lutheran Cougars, we did
the basketball jerseys and when I say we, I give a lot of credit to Heather for doing
them mostly.
But anyway, she just sounds a picture of the team of the jerseys on and they look awesome.
So that is really cool, or he's especially the younger ones like that and they look great.
Very cool to hear and cool to hear about you doing jerseys, that's awesome, that is
very cool.
That's in the box next, pretty close.
Right on, right on.
Phil, we have made the audience wait long enough.
What is our Wicked House Award of Wednesday?
I guess I went with this because I had enough of the vitriol over the last few days and
just, oh, the crazy thing.
So I want to let a little bit of a more fun word and I'm going to use the word hygiene.
Oh, I love that word.
Yes.
Oh, one of my, I don't know if it's one of my favorites, but certainly one of the words
that I have encompassed most of my life, that is a good one.
Right.
Me too.
H-I-J-I-N-K-S and it means that, that have a little boisterous, according to this definition,
boisterous fun.
So I think we could all use that and then fix that back and hopefully have a great smile
today and do some hygiene.
Yeah.
It's not funny.
I don't know if that's the way my mom and dad would have defined it, but they definitely
use that word with me, quite a bit growing up.
That definitely is a different one.
That's a great word, Phil.
It's a fun one to say too.
I love that.
I love it too, so let's open it up.
Thanks.
It can mean that you're getting yourself in trouble, but not serious trouble.
Yeah.
In this case.
That's the difference there.
So, yeah.
You have a lot of things today.
You know, don't get anybody heard or anything, but let's have a little formality here and
yeah, see if you can make some smiles.
Exactly.
Yeah.
That's really good.
And that's a great word, Phil.
We appreciate that.
Appreciate talking with you.
Looking forward to having you in studio again real soon and talking more with you next week,
Phil.
Sounds good, James.
Take care.
You guys have a great day.
You too, Phil.
You too.
One of our favorites.
We can talk, Phil Hartley every Wednesday, right here in our Wicked Awesome Word of Wednesday
spot.
And thanks to our friends at Quality Plus Printing.
Not only getting your words out here in Rapids, but being a major sponsor of things like Play
Makers and working with us and other projects.
We appreciate our friends over there by local support, local support.
Our friends over at Quality Plus Printing, 3515 A Street South, right here in Wisconsin
Rapids.
We'll call it 715-423-740.
It's 423-740, and be sure to follow them on social media, their Facebook page is fantastic.
They are a great follow.
We will be back with more.
Melissa and I are going to come back and we'll talk a little bit about the ATV-UTV ordinance
that you covered last night, Melissa.
Yes.
And we also have a great one about, well, Vietnam possibly doing something interesting that I'm
curious how Americans would feel doing something about bad drivers.
We're going to get into that one too.
That's all coming up for you on the morning show at WFHR.
Welcome back everybody.
Morning show here at WFHR.
Melissa and James here with you, thank you so much for joining us.
We appreciate the time.
We're going to take you right to the top of the hour, 9 o'clock hour.
We'll have some entertainment news for you.
We'll get into some fun there.
We've got America's favorite TV shows of 2024, we'll be touching on.
We have America's most, in the world's most trusted profession as well, we will get
into it.
But we have a lot to talk about, but let's go ahead and take a phone call.
Good morning, you're on the air.
Good morning guys.
How are you?
Hey, good.
How are you?
Well, you know what, you guys are around to get you guys to bring out a different topic.
You guys want to feel right away, like I'm the hot one, say the hot wings, the talk.
I would do it.
We've brought it as, we've talked about it as a group of ordering, because they do have
a website where you can get their, their sauces, that we've talked about doing it ourselves.
I'm doing the hot wings now.
Oh, I like that.
You've thought this through, so you need to, you train for kind of, you try out the
sauces firsthand.
I like that.
Well, you know, and the one thing that I know, this has probably been gotta be to be
15 years since the last year, maybe it's not as long, that sure would lie down in
Rome.
They actually had some weights down there that were, they were hot, as long as you could
keep them off your lips.
So, yes, I was like, I was a pantheon, and I got a fork out, and you'll build it off
with a fork, trying to avoid to put the sauce on your lips, but I don't think there's
anything wrong with that.
No, my papa loved that place.
That's a great place.
Shout out to the Sherwood Lodge.
That's a great place.
Okay, but Kevin, if you do this, I ask that you record it.
Like video record it, please, because I want to watch it.
Okay, that's a plan, I mean, I mean, we've talked about it for a while now, we just haven't
had the, had the tombs to do it, but I think it's getting closer and, okay, good.
For the audience, it isn't aware.
Kevin joins us sometimes on Midday Magazine to talk scouting, really do appreciate you
joining us in the work that you and your team do for our kids and covering scouting and
bringing life to that around here so much.
Our next interview, we will be doing this way, Kevin.
We are looking forward to that, man, thank you so much for joining us, Kevin, safe travels
out there.
All right, guys, have a great day.
You too.
You too.
Best listeners radio.
Absolutely.
Best listeners radio.
Take a look above anybody else.
We also have the best reporting in Central Wisconsin and a lead part of that is the work
that Melissa Kay does.
I cannot express to you all how much she works behind the scenes for you guys and to
get good information, trusted sources and information for you.
And Melissa was hard at work last night, updating us on the ATV, UTV ordinance, a little
behind the scenes so that you could cover, of course, on the scenes.
I don't know how else to put that.
Melissa, I want to back away from the mic here a little bit, could you catch us up for
those?
It might not hurt your great news break on this subject.
Well, first a huge shout out to Wisconsin Rapids community media for making these meetings
accessible to people.
You can watch them live on the city of Wisconsin Rapids Facebook page when the meetings are
happened.
So you don't actually have to go to city hall to be able to end.
You can watch them after the fact as well, but this was a long common council meeting
and they spent a solid, over an hour talking just specifically about this ATV, UTV ordinance
because it is a big deal to the voters.
The voters voted down the initial ordinance that complied to state regulations, which
allowed 12 to 15 year old drivers to drive on trails.
And if the city were to pass an ordinance that was proposed on the November 5th ballot,
it would have allowed unlicensed drivers on city roads and all the person, mental and
palm quest is saying that that is what voters voted against.
And so the common council is trying to look at another ordinance that aligns more with
what voters are telling council people that they want or what they don't want.
And so that is what the common council is attempting to do.
They're getting a lot of feedback, both positive and negative from people and some council
people believe that it's too soon to bring it up again.
People just voted it down a couple months ago.
And then there is also the argument too that this is an opportunity for economic development
in our area.
Wisconsin Rapids is a bit of an island right now, being that all of the county roads are
open in Wood County.
And also there's trails in Marathon County, there's trails in Portage County.
And there is the concern from city officials that Wisconsin Rapids is missing out on the
ability to cash in, so to speak, on this economic development opportunity.
It reminds me a bit of Wisconsin being the island state that doesn't have some form of legalized
marijuana and how that affects our ag industry and affects our tourism, affects our economy
and all these things.
This whole thing that's been going on has been reminiscent to me of that.
There are two very different subjects while also not being very different.
There's a lot of work that needs to be done.
And with both topics, regardless of where you fall on these things, I hope that people
could take a beat, take a step back, one, take a breath and act like an adult, two, have
some appreciation of our board members.
How many of you are willing to be on a board?
How many people are doing this?
We need to be thankful for this.
And be thankful that you live in a county in an area that is not just going to jump and
do whatever it's told.
They're going to do their homework on this.
This is something that needs to be thought through.
This is something that needs to be talked out and it needs to be the details of this ordinance
need to be perfect.
They need to be right.
The state is mayor, mayor Matt is right about this.
The state is watching.
And even in an ordinance, it's not going to get pat, wouldn't even go through if it isn't
right.
They got to get this right.
And the pressure from the state, if you think about the last decade of, you know, the,
how our tourism industry in this state has been affected by our lack of snow, snowmobiling
is huge industry, tourism industry in the state, and they have been suffering.
They they've had multiple bad years in a row.
They just had to cancel the Arpan X vintage snowcross race that's supposed to happen the
first week in a February because we don't have the snow, you know, and that's the second
year in a row that's been canceled.
Yeah.
It's a big deal.
And so we need to find other avenues to, and sorry, I just the way that things are going,
I don't know if the snow is coming back.
I was just going to end this all trying to make a joke that we ought to do.
We got to get this past before we lose, even having any ability to have ATVs and everything.
And in all seriousness, your point is I think one of the strongest here, there's nothing
stronger than human life and valuing that and making sure that we are keeping the roads
safe.
But I think that everybody can concede that this is a matter of time thing, that it's just
a matter of time that this probably does get past.
They just got to get the wording of this right.
Well, and it's not only the wording, it's also trying to, they're trying to take into
account everything that the citizens are saying.
So do not hesitate to reach out to your old persons and express your opinion in your views.
I just urge you to also please try to be respectful.
They are doing the job and they're trying to do the job for the people who voted them
into office on both sides of this issue.
Yeah, I mean, being blunt, and I've talked about this a lot, if you're going to act like
a child, you're going to get the respect of a kid.
You're going to get the treated that way and not saying we shouldn't listen, we should
be listening to kids more.
But as an adult, in this setting, you're not going to hear it and you just sound like
a dog barking.
If you want to be heard, if you really do care and are passionate about what you have
to say, treat people like an adult, you're going to get heard.
You're going to actually be heard.
And the older persons appreciate hearing from you.
Yeah, it's their job.
They want to hear from you.
We got Lance Pumel coming in and just a little bit here and I guarantee you that I'm not
to speak for Lance, but I know he has said many times he wants to hear from you also.
And he was at the meeting last night and spoke up about this as well.
We'll be talking about that later, we'll be talking to you more coming up.
This is locally grown radio WFHR 1320 AM.
