Good morning, Wisconsin.
Morning, world.
It's a new day.
Thanks for kicking it off with us here at 975 FM, WFHR.
Got your host, James here, joined by Melissa.
Good morning.
And the best listeners in radio.
Thanks for hanging out with us, everybody.
We hope you're having a great day out there.
We're going to have some fun.
Getting some entertainment a little bit later.
We also got a couple of fun topics for you.
We're going to dive into.
But we kick off this hour with assistant GM Jake Adams joining us.
From here, Wisconsin rapids rafters.
We got a couple of events going on.
Going to talk to the end of the season here in a little bit.
But Jake, how's it going?
Oh, I'm doing pretty good.
James, how are you, my friend?
Doing well.
Melissa, Jake's got the headphones on.
So we can hear you if you want to jump in at all.
Perfect.
Jake, right away, I know that for you in the front office,
a lot of you were in your first years in doing this and everything.
I know for me in the community, us here as a staff,
we've really enjoyed working with you guys.
We think you guys have done a fantastic job this season.
How have you felt?
How have you enjoyed it?
I mean, really appreciate those words, James.
And this season's been really special.
I know it isn't exactly what you want to see out of the rafters on the field.
But off the field, we feel like we've done a lot more to kind of beam out in the community.
And just be out there and be special this year.
Like we've done, we've had some really great moments.
And I've really appreciated learning a little more about this team,
more about this community.
And it's been a really special season.
One of the things that I appreciate about, especially rapid spans and fan bases.
And I know this going to high school here and seeing it the way they treated a lot of their high school teams.
Wins and losses are here and there and people care about that stuff.
But they want to see effort.
They want to see people trying.
They want to see people caring about what's happening.
Whether there's wins and losses.
And I think that that is a big part of where the rafter fan has been in 2025.
I know from me personally, and I've talked to many other fans about this.
Whether this team is down 10 runs or two runs.
They're trying.
Last night is a perfect example of the rafter season in many ways.
Where they're getting knocked out in the first couple of innings.
And then they're just gangbusters after that.
And just rallying and the team getting behind itself.
And it wasn't enough, maybe.
But they give you a game.
They give you excitement.
They give you a trying and effort.
All the things that I don't know, to me at least, I can't ask for much more out of an athlete.
I can't ask much more.
And make them fun to watch.
Yeah, yeah.
And we've had that all season long.
Every game that I've caught every game this year, at least a couple of innings.
And they're every game these guys are doing that.
And it's just as impressive when you think about it's not the same guys.
There is such an interchanging of the roster that goes on in the Northwoods league
that I don't think we give enough credit to, especially fans.
Don't think about enough.
How difficult it is.
If I grab two people in our audience, put them on a diamond and say,
have perfect chemistry.
Understand each other's in and out.
Understand where you need to throw that ball to first base to get that runner.
Where you need to tag or the catcher needs to throw for the second basement to catch us.
There's so many little things that guys have been playing together.
Their whole lives are still working out.
Yeah.
Let alone just throwing these guys out there and hey, go make a work.
It's a credit to the coaching staff and the thing and these athletes
and what they've accomplished this year.
Oh, absolutely.
I mean, the biggest thing I can say for the testament of the team is
if you look back last Friday when we had that extra innings thriller.
It's great.
There was no giving up.
There was no quitting any of them.
Like Shorescorder run, we scored two.
They came back every time and they kept fighting and fighting.
It didn't go our way in the end, but it was a testament.
When you're down and out, you're never out.
They kept fighting.
Yes.
They kept fighting and they kept making it interesting for us.
So I think that's a huge testament for the rafters this season is they never quit no matter what.
I want to wrap up talking a little bit about the promotions this year.
But before we get to that, I did want to talk about some coming up.
We are going to be our friend Laura over on 105 5WRI and works over here as well.
She's going to be live and direct at the National Night out tomorrow night over at Winterfield.
We're going to have a police department down there.
We're going to have some community partnership going on down there.
Police squad, ballpark food, fun activities for all ages.
And if you tend the game, you're going to receive a free rafter ticket for the game that night.
Yes, sir.
I mean, we're looking forward to that one.
We want to fill Winterfield for this last home game of the season.
But looking forward to partnering with the Wisconsin Rapids Police Department to put on National Night out.
It's going to be a lot of fun, a lot of displays, a lot of booths.
And then yeah, if you show up, come to the pregame, come to all the activities.
You get a free ticket to the game that night.
And it's a great night for families.
Like I was there last year and it's just fabulous.
There's so much to do, so much to see the kids have so much fun.
Oh, yeah, that's that's the biggest thing we look for and all this is just how can we have a lot of fun with the families
and the community.
So we're open to see a lot of families out there tomorrow.
And I have to say the hosting this event is one thing.
Doing all these things is awesome.
It's great.
I really do think putting that free ticket out there is a really nice added bonus to this.
I think that's very cool and above and beyond by the rafters to do something like that.
And I think being a part of something like this is such an integral part of what we're talking about.
Whether we're talking rafters or river kings.
Again, wins, losses, championships.
That's really cool.
We love that stuff.
I do not want to skate past that.
We like to win around here.
But this is what it's all about.
These events, these kind of things.
This is why you have teams in your city if you're fortunate enough to.
It's another thing that I think it's lost a little lost after 16 years for some fans sometimes.
This is still a privilege.
I mean, this is still, you know, I mean, not a privilege,
but something that is really like a fortunate not every community has something like this,
like the rafters and everything.
So it's a nice reminder of that events like tomorrow.
And on top of all that, it is our final home game of the season.
So let's make sure to show these athletes, these coaches.
Everybody involved with this organization.
What home-filled advantages?
Let's really fill that park.
Let's show them how much we appreciated having them this summer.
And enjoy ourselves and get on out there.
And if you go to the again, the National Nightout thing, getting a free ticket to the game.
Absolutely.
And we're going to do some fun stuff during the game as well.
We got our biggest fireworks show the season.
And we're auctioning off the rafters home jerseys from this year.
Nice.
So if you win a jersey, you can go down on the field and get it from the player themselves.
They'll sign it for you, take a photo.
Just want to give that interactive option where you're with these people.
You're meeting these kids and being able to do something a little more interactive.
That's an awesome idea.
I love that idea.
I immediately wanted to be a fan.
I immediately just want to have no ties to you guys and just be a fan to be in on that.
That's awesome.
So I'll expect a couple of bits from James.
Yes, absolutely.
That's awesome.
That's a really cool idea.
And another great idea.
And one of the things that I think that comes with the rafters have a couple of things that are so unique to them.
And only them in the Northwoods league.
They are one of the few teams that owns their ballpark.
That means so much for us as fans, for us as a community, as a city, economically, and so many other factors.
As well, of course, for ownership over there.
And with that, you can do a little bit more fun things from time to time.
And we got one of those coming up next week, August 9th, Saturday, August 9th, this Saturday, August 9th.
Get ready to rock Winterfield.
Glamband is coming to town.
That is a fun band.
I've been watching some of their videos, some of the things online.
This looks like a blast.
Yeah, we're really excited to welcome the Glamband and Monroe out to Winterfield.
We wanted to, we talked at the beginning of season about doing a fun concert out at the ballpark.
But we wanted to make a difference as well.
So we partnered up with folds of honor and a couple of businesses in the area.
And we're donating $8 of every ticket to folds of honor so that we can make a difference in the community.
So we're excited to partner with them.
But overall, we just want to have a night of fun out at the ballpark.
Come out, listen to some great music and just have a good time.
And we should all bring our, you're like Aquinette, our hair before we can, right?
Yes, absolutely.
Bigger hair, the better.
Absolutely.
You got an 80s fire that you 85 that that wardrobe of yours and that hair and that makeup.
Come on, we all still have it in our wardrobe.
Yeah, if anybody needs any tips or anything like that as a child of the 80s, I will help.
I am willing to help whatever you need.
I know the fashion very well from that time.
Very bold eyeshadow.
Yes, yes.
The above and beyond part of this of adding to the cause part of this.
The rafters could have just brought this band of town, take money at the gate and none of us would blink tonight.
That's business.
That's understandable.
And we'd all be attending this event and having fun.
I want to make sure that we don't skip past that part of it that the donation to this amazing fund and the great work that they're doing over there.
That is a really cool thing to add on to this.
And then, of course, bringing a cool band of town like this and giving us an excuse to bring out that wardrobe that Melissa's talking about that though.
Some of us have been worn quite some time.
The fishnet gloves.
Yes.
The fingerless fishnet gloves.
If people are looking to get tickets for this send to the website northwitzleague.com.
Yep, raftersbaseball.com.
Give us a call at the ticket office 715-424-5400 or just stop on down to the ticket office at Wetterfield.
We're closed up today.
We're doing a group outing heading out to Green Bay to watch the rafters take on the rockers.
Right on.
We'll be in tomorrow.
We'll be in Thursday, Friday.
Just stop down.
Get some tickets and enjoy a night at the ballpark.
Listen to some great music and have some fun.
Yeah.
Keep in mind there are VIP tickets available for that event as well.
And I love going to music.
I love going to concerts.
I've never seen a concert at a ballpark.
It's a really cool way to do it.
I like to see a band.
That's going to be awesome.
I can't imagine how cool that's going to be to be in the stands for that.
That's a good one.
Be sure to check that out.
Everybody will give you the information before wrap up as well.
And as we are wrapping up with you, Jake, we'll be talking again sometime this summer and stuff.
We're going to keep up to date with our rafters and get updates from you guys throughout the fall season and the winter and all that.
For you, I know how much the promotions meant and how much you were locked in on those.
What stands out to you about the promotion work this season for the rafters?
And is there one that highlights it stands out more than others for you?
I think I might be recency bias.
I think when we changed everything up and went under the central Wisconsin mashers moniker,
that was kind of special for me because as a assistant GM, I helped tire all of our intern staff.
I helped tire all of that.
And one of our interns actually made the logo for the jerseys for the whole night.
We asked her in the off season, hey, can you make a logo for us?
And to see that come to life where we pretty much flipped the script for one night where it felt like a whole new team, a whole new fan base.
And a lot of people came in asked, is this permanent? Is this forever?
I'm like, don't worry, the rafters will be back tomorrow.
But for tonight, we're going to be the mashers and everyone kind of got into it.
The jerseys were awesome.
Everyone kind of just loved being a part of it.
We worked with some great companies on it, Food and Farm Exploration Center.
Huge shout out to them, McCain Foods.
It was just, it was fun.
For one night, we didn't have to worry about going by the norm.
We kind of shifted and went down another road.
It was everything you could imagine, potato themed and fans loved it.
I loved it too.
It was our biggest crowd of the season thus far.
And to me, that just felt like it was a home run.
There's something about going by the moniker too of Central Wisconsin and that and how that brings everybody almost on the same team kind of thing.
Or just representing these Central Wisconsin areas so well like that.
And that that's not taking anything from any of the other teams.
It's just certainly really highlighting that for the for our area and for this in particular.
Especially when you're in the middle of the state like we are here that they really stands out.
That's awesome. I couldn't agree with you more, man.
That was a fun promotion.
Really good one.
You guys weren't short on those this year.
It felt like pretty much every week we were talking about a different promotion that had our community excited and fun.
It has been a really fun season.
I don't know. I hope you guys are all.
You guys enjoyed it as much as we did.
We loved it.
We loved seeing everyone out at the ballpark for every game, win or loss, no matter what.
It was a pleasure working with everyone this season.
And I know I'll say it again.
It wasn't exactly what the fans expected for on field performance.
But we hope at the very least you had a great time at the ballpark.
And we know that the rafters are going to come back strong.
Yeah.
We're already looking forward to it and looking forward to it.
Certainly, of course, covering it and having those games right here at WFHR where they belong and they always have been.
And you can catch those games tonight.
Rafters are in Green Bay.
You can listen in and see if you can hear or maybe if you watch the game or something like that.
You can see if we see Jake and they're gang over there.
Enjoy yourself.
Safe travels, by the way, for them.
Six, twenty rafters taking on Green Bay tonight and same time for tomorrow.
But we hosting Fonda Lacas, of course, will be getting ready for national night out in our final home game of the season.
We'll talk more about that on playmakers tomorrow.
But Jake, really good hanging out with you.
Thanks so much for joining us.
Thanks. Always a pleasure, my friend.
Again, find out more information at rafterbaseball.com.
And be sure to head on over to northwoodsleague.com as well to find out more information about our northwoods league.
We'll take a quick time out.
We'll come back and have some entertainment news for you on the morning show at WFHR.
Strawberries, cherries and the angels kissing spring.
Welcome back, everybody.
Morning show here at WFHR, some time edition of the show.
Melissa and James hanging out with you.
Send in a big shout out to assistant GM of your Wisconsin rafters.
Jake Adams for joining us. That was great.
It's a lot of fun. Enjoy that.
We got some entertainment news we want to touch on here before we get to our news break.
Some parents love Bluey and most parents do.
And I think all kids do. I don't know many kids that don't like Bluey.
And to the point where even if your kids are older, you probably know who Bluey is.
Well, who I'm talking about.
I love Bluey. I think it's a cute cartoon.
It's a fun kids cartoon.
And it's I think that they do a really good job with that writing on that show.
The little bit I've seen and everything.
And the characters are fun.
And you usually TV a cartoon dog is usually a hit.
You know, you usually can't go wrong with that.
Well, according to a new study, the character Bluey, who's a six-year-old dog,
may teach kids how to be resilient.
Yeah.
And resilience helps kids manage stress.
Regulate their emotions, build better relationships, and even perform better at school.
And if they don't learn how to properly deal with these things,
that can lead to anxiety, depression, and poor coping skills.
So the idea of them being realizing this earlier in life is one of the things
that they're saying that kids are learning from Bluey that they didn't really plan on this happening,
but it's kind of something that has happened in the process.
Yeah.
When you think about some of the factors, like if you were able to give a child,
if you're able to give your child certain qualities, resilience I would think
would be one of those qualities you would think about.
But how to give that to them?
Like how to teach your kid to be resilient.
I don't know.
I'm sure there are a billion books about it or whatever out there and everything.
But again, going back to the case-by-case basis, every kid is different.
Every kid learns differently.
I'm not sure myself how you necessarily teach.
And I think one of the things you do certainly is example.
Most things in life, kids are going to learn by seeing you doing it.
By seeing how you would handle it.
They're going to learn some of those things that you don't want them to do by seeing you do it.
Exactly.
I could go to a restaurant and get the worst meal I've ever gotten in my life
and I'm not going to insult the chef.
I'm not going to take it out on the waiter.
I'm not going to do it.
That's something my dad, I've seen this happen to him.
And he would not do it.
Did not lose his cool.
There's certain things that you learn from your parents.
On the other side of that, there's a number of things I learned from my dad.
I'm definitely never doing.
But the resilience part, like whatever work ethic I have,
and I do, that's one of the few things I do take pride in.
There are things like that.
It's all from osmosis.
It's all from seeing my mom and dad do it.
It's not from that sitting down.
Now Jimmy, a good work ethic is.
Well, and some of this is like, you know, we like to say,
to raise a child, it takes a village.
And that just means that it takes a lot of different people
and a lot of different avenues to teach some of these things.
Because there are, there's just so many things that you need to learn growing up
to help you become a productive member of society
and a caring empathetic, you know, kind person.
Utilizing a cartoon like Bluey, which is just fun.
I love the Australian accents.
The family is cute.
All the characters are, they have their own, like, little quirkiness.
And just being able to help in still some of those morals and values
in a fun way that kids are, it's easy for them to take in.
I feel it makes our, our job as parents and mentors and aunties easier.
Yeah, that's right.
Good point, very good point right there.
I think the only catch, the only problem I have with a show like this,
it's not even the show's fault necessarily.
It's the idea of not pushing kids creatively.
When we, we just name things what they are.
But we put a Y at the end of it.
Oh, he's blue. He's a blue dog.
Bluey.
Hold on, what's the name of your car?
Blue.
Moving on.
Point made.
Moving on.
I had no silly way to add the segment.
And you found it.
You found it.
I love working with you.
Shep Ron is one of the bigger artists out there right now.
She has had quite a run off of her first album.
Shep Ron has released two singles this year, The Giver and The Subway.
So an album must be on the way.
Some are thinking or expecting.
And that's also kind of how this usually works for an artist,
especially when they've got a good run going.
They want to keep that going.
They don't want to wait too long in between albums.
It took Shep Ron five years to put together her first album,
The Rise and Fall of Midwest Princess.
And the next one might take just as long.
She says, quote, the second project doesn't exist yet.
There is no album.
There is no collection of songs.
I'm not the type of writer that can just pump them out.
I don't think I make good music whenever I force myself to do anything.
Yeah.
And see, I think that's the thing that's going to be a little different with this artist.
She is very much her own, her own self.
She's not going to just do it because, well, you know,
the record label wants this.
And, you know, at this timeline,
you better hit those, you're saying, nah, nah.
I'm going to do it at my pace.
I, you know, every once in a while,
most artists will tell you, I don't care about fame.
Only a good portion of them actually believe that.
And it's not about putting their face out there or something like that.
I think you see this with a number of artists in different ways.
I use Laney Wilson as an example oftentimes,
because most people don't know her face that well.
She usually has her hair and her cowboy hat covering it up.
I know that the bell bottoms thing has been a big thing for her and everything,
but outside of that,
you don't really know what her body's like, her appearance is like.
Whereas a lot of other, you know, pop stars,
that's one of the things you know what Sydney Sweeney looks like.
You know what certain, you know, artists, they look because they lean on that more.
Shaperone is kind of gone that other way,
where she puts on a lot more of a lady Gaga thing in a way.
And I mean, the type or anything like a drag star,
like a drag queen,
because she does definitely have kind of that vibe.
Well, it is certainly I'm sure about presentation.
Some of that is also giving her a little bit of shelter.
She doesn't go by her real name.
She has some cover to this.
I think we're going to see this a lot more with younger artists.
I think we'll have to just because everything is so up in your business now.
I watched a documentary about the Viper Club,
a bar on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles.
And it was something that Johnny Depp owned.
It was a bar that he owned with another person.
And this is before Pirates of the Caribbean.
And he's a household name and all that.
And a lot of late 90s early,
hot stars would go there.
And unfortunately, it's remembered for the place where we lost River Phoenix.
He died right outside of the Viper Bar.
But they were talking about it.
And Adam Dertz, or I always mess up his name,
the lead singer from the County Crows.
Okay.
The County Crows, they have this big hit.
And they get on the cover of Rolling Stone.
And they're just a literal, like pretty much overnight or over a week sensation.
And he could not handle it.
It was way more than he bargained for it.
Not what he wanted.
And he's dating Courtney Cox and all these things.
And before he knows it, he doesn't, he doesn't feel it himself anymore.
Yeah.
He starts, he started out as a bartender.
So at this Viper Club, he starts bartending.
And while he's, you know, the lead singer of the County Crows,
they're a huge band.
And the Viper Club are a billion people that are 20 times as big as he is.
So he's not really a big star in the around these people.
And he just starts, like, pretty much live in there.
And not even wanting to leave.
Because he leaves the Viper Room and he's starting,
then all of a sudden he's the famous Adam Dertz and all that.
Where inside the bar, he's just a bartender.
It's interesting how some people handle this and deal with this stuff.
There are other people that seem like they've been famous their whole lives.
And, you know, they seem to handle it, they seem to handle it.
I don't know if they handle it well or not.
That's for their name, but.
Yeah. And it's just their way of, it's just a way of life for them.
I really hope that the producers, whatever record company she works with,
that they, they, they lean into this with her.
And realize that if you want really good art, you got to let her do this.
In the writing world, this happens from time to time.
Even Stephen King is beholden to deadlines.
And he can sit there and say, well, I only want to write when I'm feeling it.
That's all well and good.
You got paid a lot of money to finish a book.
You got to do it.
There are.
Oh, that's the guy from Game Throne.
I was just going to say Georgia or Martin, the way that his fan base turned on him.
It's, it's like few things I have seen before where you have such a fan base
for years and years and years.
Oh, if you read these books, if you read these books, you got to see these books
to where now it's, yeah, they got, they got some choice words for that guy.
It's a very interesting thing to have happened.
No, I don't think that'll happen to musicians.
I think music is a different thing, but it's just noteworthy.
That case is a little special, I think, because of what they did with the show.
Yeah.
How the show then surpassed the books and then it became this whole, I just, and I'm not a fan
so that should be noted.
But I just, like I tried to listen to the audio books and I couldn't even get through those.
So it's not a series for me, but I think in the actors, I know I've been seeing a lot
of clips lately of as they read season eight, watch their faces.
Yes, yes.
Yeah.
We will take a quick time out.
When we come back, I want to talk a little bit about some auditions going on here in town.
I also want to talk about our open house a little bit and a revenge story for the ages.
All coming up for you after our news, sports and entertainment break with Melissa and James in the morning show on WFHR.
Welcome back, everyone.
Morning show at WFHR.
Melissa and James hanging out with you.
Thank you so much for joining us.
We hope you have a great Tuesday out there.
Got some fun stuff.
We'll get into in a moment.
But first, Melissa growing up now, there are certain stories and certain movies, TV shows that I like,
but I have no interest in real life.
Like a, like a heist movie.
I have no interest in heisting anything or whatever, but I love heist movies.
I love them.
I can't get enough.
As a little kid, one of my favorite things about Westerns was when they'd jump on a moving train.
Oh, yeah.
I've talked to Sheriff Becker about this many times.
If I could ever do that in real life with like, you know, everybody knows that I'm doing it.
So it's not really like that.
I'm not really breaking any laws or anything.
I would try to work that out.
And he said, he laughed and they said no, James.
And it's similar to me is Revenge.
Now, one of the earlier books I read as a kid was the Count of Monte Cristo.
And it's an amazing book about Revenge and all this and everything.
But I think most of us in life, if you don't know it, you learn really quick.
Oh, and I, for an eye, leaves everyone blind.
Oh, Revenge doesn't really work like that usually.
And it never ends.
Revenge is endless.
And nobody wins.
And by the hack half of the time, people don't even remember what they're revenging for or anything.
But then there's stories like this.
There's a woman in Ohio named Tia McCreary, who went to a Taylor Kia dealership in February of last year to buy a 2022 Kia K5.
They helped her finance it through a lending company.
And Tia was pre-approved for a loan.
But a month later, the company decided that they didn't want to finalize the loan.
So the dealership went out and repossessed the car while Tia was at work.
What?
She was not happy about this.
I mean, this is a pretty low thing that, you know, I don't think a lot of people talk about with dealerships and everything.
While Tia was looking into her legal options, she discovered that the car dealership failed to renew the registration for their business name, Taylor Kia of Lima.
So Tia registered it under her name.
She sent the, she's then she sent the dealership a cease and desist letter telling them they couldn't use the Taylor Kia name because it was not registered to her.
They sued her and the case is still tied up in the courts, but the most significant ruling so far was has gone Tia's way.
So she's at least succeeding in being a thorn in their side.
No matter how it turns out, it's kind of like a pretty, you know, boss move.
I've never heard of a red revenge story like this before.
Even if there is some legitimacy to the loan being rejected or what have you there, there's going to be a lot going on with that.
The next hearing is August 18th.
But I mean, that's just a move right there.
Yeah, well, because if they approved, you know, like if everything was good to go and she left the dealership with the car, like that's a process to buy a car as a process.
And they do those checks. That's all that's on them and they said, okay, take your car. You're good to go.
Take that to just go and repossess it.
Take a look at what is certainly what happened, you know, what 20 years ago now or whatever when they were just a pre-approving anybody for a home.
And the darkness that went on with some of those things and stuff.
This is a bit of a modern equivalent of a current equivalent, I should say, of what's going on with a lot of the car dealership industry.
And this is one of those things, too, where sometimes, sometimes nobody's wrong.
It's just a matter of, you know, over over budgeting or over overextending.
Yeah, I don't know. I kind of feel like this was justified because they, she was pre-approved for a loan and a month later they changed their mind.
Yeah, that's completely different, especially considering nothing for her financially changed.
That's not on her if they decided to change it because of finances on their end.
That's bad business as they're showing here that they're not a very good bit. They didn't keep up on their website name.
There's certain things that they, you know, really stand out to me about this as far as the business goes.
And the only thing I would, if I was writing this as a TV show, as an episode, the only thing that I could think that would top it is if she opened her own car dealership with that name.
Using that name, yeah. That's the only thing that would top it. I'd love to see that.
Yeah, I'm going to follow this story. I'm going to keep up on this one.
Sure, that's funny. I did want to take a moment before we talk about our open house, Melissa.
Yesterday, we had our first night of auditions for Angold and Pa.
Oh, how to go.
Really, really good. I cannot tell you how humbling that moment is.
I have been leaning into this and doing this as something wanting to give back and wanting to be a part of things. That's how this all started.
As I've lost my final grandparent, I've looked at this and as somebody, I have none of my grandparents left.
And they're, they're who I think of with this play, they're who I've always thought of.
I saw the movie as a young age with both sets of grandparents and Angold and Paan for people who don't know.
Yep, should have mentioned that more than once.
That's right. I got it. I got you.
It's, sorry. It's, take a breath.
When I got out on the stage last night, I had an idea of, oh, I'm going to try to lighten the mood.
So I went there and I walked in like I was going to audition.
And then I, oh, I forgot that I'm actually directing and blah, blah, blah, oh, funny James.
And I get on that stage and I look out and there is a great mass of people out there auditioning.
And I said this to them and I didn't think about this beforehand or anything.
The whole world is a stage, but not everybody is willing to act on it.
Yep.
And everybody last night was willing to do that.
Everybody who has ever performed once, I don't care if it was a grade school play you did, well done.
And keep, keep auditioning, keep going at it, keep doing it.
I am very thankful. I hope we have a, just as much more people turn out or the same people come on down.
If I was casting it today, we got a show.
We got a show people.
We got some great actors that came on down and we want more people to.
We are going to be having our final night of auditions tonight, six to eight over at the WRCT Auditorium.
I will let everybody know that auditions ended a little bit earlier last night.
So if you are planning on coming a little later, I would try to get there as soon as you can.
And if you are, if you are not going to chance to audition last night, you will be one of the first people to audition tonight.
You will definitely audition.
I will give everybody an opportunity on that stage.
And just thank you again, not only to everybody that auditioned, but I just a special thank you to Gretchen and Bethany,
who are my right and left arm here in this, and really my right and left brain and all that.
I felt like a mess last night.
Everybody else seemed like everything went fine, but I don't know, I was really excited.
James is building your team and having those people around you that you can trust too.
Okay, you can ask questions of, and be like, okay, I missed this. Can you help me remember?
And you had a team that's got your back, which is one of the awesome parts about being involved in theater.
It really, this is, I haven't directed in quite some time maybe, but the people behind me are all vets.
I got nothing but knowledge and vets behind me, and I could not have a better team.
I'm very excited about that.
I'm excited for you. This is fun.
We're really going to do our best to even hammer out the cast tonight.
I like to do that for actors.
I know I always appreciated that when I was able to find out the night of.
We'll see, but we're going to try to do that.
And we are looking for three men, two women.
One early teen, I'm not really, you know, a boy girl doesn't matter to me.
We can make either work. Just come on down and let's see if it works.
Yeah, it's going to be fun. Find out more and get your tickets for the show at wrctheter.org.
Wrctheter.org. We'll meet you down there, everybody.
Yeah, that's also where you can fill out your audition form if you want to get it done ahead of time.
Do so. Yeah, get that in everybody.
And thank you so much to everybody who came last night. We're looking forward to seeing you tonight.
Okay, wait a year. How it goes.
And we are looking forward to a couple of Wednesdays from now meeting you guys here at our open house.
We got parking lot, parking lot, parking lot party.
We're very excited about this.
And the studio because there's stuff going on everywhere.
We have food trucks book to come. We've got games for the kids.
We've got opportunity. Have you ever wanted to be on the radio kids?
Because this is your chance to do it.
We're going to have different opportunities for you to you could try being a sports director.
A morning show host, a news reporter.
I mean, we got all the options.
DJ for one of our music stations.
So come try it out.
We're going to have a dessert competition between the staff members that you get to taste test and vote on your favorite.
And that there's just we're still we're still getting things together.
There's going to be nonprofit groups and and local community members there with information and booths.
And it's going to be fun.
So we're really looking forward to all that.
We're going to be playing music and broadcasting from the about the event on both of our stations.
We'll have a broadcast going on live remote from noon to two here at 97 5 FM W F H R.
And five to six are one over one of five five W I R.
Looking forward to that.
And keep in mind as well everybody whether you can come to the event or not.
We are looking for your recipes.
We are putting together something very fun and exciting around here.
Yeah, it's going to be the 85th anniversary of W F H R.
And to commemorate that and to celebrate it, we're going to be putting together another edition of a W F H R cookbook.
Because it's happened in the past, right James?
Yeah, yeah.
This is something that we we've done a couple of these in years past.
And it's been a long time since we did one.
And as a staff, everybody just you know started chewing on this I think.
And I really really appreciate.
I didn't see what I did there.
Didn't mean to do that.
I am so proud of this team and everybody really taking the ball and running with it with about with about doing this with this cookbook.
Our long time listeners are going to love this.
The ones that I've talked to are so excited about it.
And it's all of this just to get my face on the cover of a cookbook.
I mean, that's really, no, no, that's not what's going to happen.
We are we are looking forward to.
When I when I smash your peanut butter and jelly sandwich in it.
Actually, that might be a good cover.
Good.
But whatever we put on it, we'll be letting you know ahead of time.
And we're looking forward to putting this together.
But we need your recipes to do it.
I love the fact that we're doing that because you know this station is here because of our listeners.
And it's because of all of you that we're here.
And so we want to highlight you and your family recipes or you're just your favorite recipe or something you like to cook.
Something you think James should learn how to cook.
And send it to us because we want to include those in our cookbook.
Yeah, we're looking forward to seeing those submissions everybody.
If you'd like to submit them and you want to do it online, I think info at WFHR.com is fine.
You can direct message us on our Facebook pages as well.
But feel free to drop off your recipes, you know.
That's a that's a fine idea too.
If you yeah, even bring it like you're the recipe card that your grandma wrote out.
And it's it's in grandma's handwriting.
Pam will make a copy of it.
Yeah, yeah.
And I think if you want to stop by any time eight to five Monday to Friday, that's fine.
Or you can stop by during the open house and drop it off.
That's true too.
Because we're going to be doing this on the at what we'll have.
Hopefully have the the cookbook done by the actual anniversary, which happens in November.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, November.
We're heading up to our 85th year.
It's just I'm so excited.
Yeah, and as as Melissa said, you know, 85 years doesn't happen without every one of you out there.
We really do appreciate you guys.
I'm not trying to shine you or anything when I say best listen is in radio.
I can back that up scientifically actually.
I've got a bunch of I got the numbers.
If anybody wants to see I've got it's a pie chart.
Yeah, we'll keep moving.
And if you want to come see James try to beat me in hula hooping again.
Yes, absolutely be there because I'm bringing the hoops James.
It's the hoop match 2025 the the the sequel.
Yeah.
Melissa doesn't know this, but all the whole year since then all I've been trying to do is put weight on my hips.
That's all I've been focusing on.
Okay, well, if he shows up with one of those donuts around his hips.
Yeah.
We're going to patch you down before we start the hula hoop contest.
The first person to ever cheat at hula hooping like this.
We will.
He's packing under there.
Find out find out if he does at the open house coming up Wednesday, August 20th.
We'll meet you here.
Everybody will be talking more about this.
It's going to be blast going to be a lot of fun.
We'll take a time out.
We'll come back wrap up the show morning show at WF HR.
Welcome back everyone.
Morning show here at WF HR locally grown radio.
Melissa and James hanging out with you.
Thanks so much for hanging out with us.
We have had a lot of fun today.
I want to say a big thank you to our callers who have called in and everything.
And certainly assistant GM Jake Adams over at the rafters for joining us.
It was blast.
We're going to get into our schedule a little bit.
Talk about some things going on here in town as well.
We do want to start out though, thinking the people who dropped off the school supplies for the United Way stuff the bus event over here.
So great.
Love seeing communities come together to help build each other up.
Really do appreciate you.
Thanks so much for doing that and thank you to Pam for putting some stuff in there as well.
And all of you that have been doing that all around town.
Thank you so much for doing that.
Find out more by going to uswac.org and find out how you can impact your community today.
Rafter baseball on the radio dial for you tonight.
Everybody be sure to join us at 620 right here at 97 5 FM.
Boys the summer up in Green Bay to take on the Green Bay Rockers.
It's so weird to cry.
I want to call on the bull.
I know.
You'll get over it.
See them win against the Rockers tonight.
Listen to it right here on 97 5 FM.
Looking forward to it.
And then tomorrow of course we'll have playmakers four to five and one of five W.I.
Right.
Will be your tailgate leading into the final home game of the season for your rafters as they take on the fondle act dock spiders at 620 as a part of national night out.
It's going to be a lot of fun.
Be sure to join us for that.
That's going to be a great time.
Laura's going to be down there.
Pam was saying that she's going to try to get down there for a little bit.
I know I'm going to wrap up playmakers and run down there to help pick things up and all that and say hi to you know.
Kiss some babies and all those things.
No, no, no.
It's going to be a really fun time.
National night out happening at Winterfield tomorrow night.
Three to six.
Join us.
They're going to please squats down there.
Ballpark food, fun activities for all kids.
And if you attend the event, you receive a free ticket to that game and taking on the dock spiders.
Yeah, it's a good time.
I was there last year for national night out and it's just fun.
Yeah, it's a great one.
That's a good one.
Be sure to make plans for that everybody and enjoy what we have of a rafter season left.
Yeah.
Also wanted to remind everybody that free meals are available to all children 18 years of age and under.
This takes place and it's just going on for another week or so.
Over at Lincoln High School over on 16th Street.
They got breakfast served from 730 to 830 and then lunch 11 to 1230.
At Mead Park near the splash pad, they got a great sign over there for it.
You can't miss it on 14th Ave.
They are serving lunch from 11 to 1230 and breakfast for the next day will be provided.
And at Winter Park over near the shelter by the aquatic center, they do this from 11 to 1230.
You can go over there and also pick up not only a meal a lunch for today, but breakfast for tomorrow.
Big thank you to everybody involved with that.
Again, meals are provided to all children regardless of age and where they go to school.
It just appreciate you being able to be a part of this and help out and spread the word about this if you can.
And if you have any questions, you can contact them at schoolnutrition at WRPS.net, schoolnutrition at WRPS.net.
And our Wisconsin Rapid City Band are wrapping up their 160th season.
Oh, tonight's the night.
Yeah, yeah.
Get on over to a beautiful Robinson Park and check out their theme concert, benefit concert, colors.
That is going to be interesting.
I'm going to have a lot of good stuff with that, I bet.
Oh, I bet.
Concert kicks off at 730, get on over there, get a good seat and cheer them on.
And if you get a chance when they're done, thank them.
We appreciate the Wisconsin Rapid City Band.
They've been doing this for a long time and do a really good job with it.
That's wonderful.
That's going to be fun.
Check out that concert tonight, everybody.
Also, a couple of other great things in the world that I wanted to touch on.
And this story in particular, I want to make sure we had time for.
A brother and sister separated his kids just found each other 80 years later.
Wow.
Their names are Donald Hefke and Marion Griffin.
She is 80, he is 81.
Their mom had mental health issues and their dad couldn't take care of them.
So they ended up in foster care as babies in the 1940s.
He found out about her when he reached out to his foster care agency in 63
and tracked down her adoptive parents.
But they told him to get lost so he did.
He didn't want to push anything and I could understand.
I don't even know how I would handle that situation.
Donald's daughter ended up spending two decades trying to track Marion down for him.
And finally, she did last year.
Wow.
She realized Marion's son did a DNA test through ancestry.com and she got in touch with him.
Donald is in Florida and Marion lives in California.
So they've talked on the phone a bunch but haven't been able to meet in person.
She's planning to fly to Florida to see him soon.
That, I mean, good luck topping that story today, everybody.
Yeah.
That's a beautiful story.
It's something about, you know, separated at birth and being able to find each other 80 years later.
It just makes my heart warm.
You know, we've been fortunate to hear some stories like that in our lifetimes.
I don't know I've ever heard or ever will hear one like that.
That's really, really something.
And as we are gearing up for National Night Out tomorrow night, I thought this was a good one.
A police department near San Francisco shared a video after an animal control officer saved a baby squirrel that fell out of a tree.
A wildlife rescue group has taken care of it until it's old enough to survive on its own.
But this was above and beyond by this officer going really far and helping this animal.
And while this story is noteworthy, good luck picking one because there are like 1800 stories of officers helping animals.
Like I have one here, a Texas dog removed 11 caps from plastic bottles.
Oh, no, no, sorry, that's a different one.
That's just one I want to do later.
Sorry.
Preview.
So I've got a couple of different stories about a newborn squirrel that they helped and escaped monitor lizard.
Firefighters rescuing a bobcat that was stuck in the grill of a vehicle.
I've got 18 different stories here.
I could go to about police officers helping out animals or saving them.
And we haven't even gotten to winter yet where we all know that there are many stories of them getting a deer off of the ice or something along those lines.
And then there's escape goats.
They didn't even touch on this.
And escape goat led police in a chase through a Colorado neighborhood.
Now, maybe not your typical.
This isn't the scenes from bullet or the matrix or anything.
This isn't necessarily a big high speed chase, but it was a chase.
It was still counts.
Goats can run fast.
Yeah, police in Colorado ended up hoofing it in a chase with a goat.
The Wheat Ridge Police Department shared body camera footage from a chase involving a goat kid and community service officers in the North Wheat Ridge.
And it is both as entertaining and fun as you would think.
And cute.
Yeah, boy.
The goat kid and another juvenile goat were returned to their home to their owner as we helped identify a gap in their fencing where the goats escaped.
Now, the goats were very frustrated about this.
As far as I could tell, but they are back home at least.
That's good.
My dad, my dad has goats.
And he actually sent me a video the other, just yesterday of he's trying to measure to add to the fence.
And Kelly, one of his goats, keeps sticking her head through the fence hole and grabbing onto the measuring tape with their mouth.
Trying to help.
There are not many animals that are more curious than goats.
They are just a fun and fascinating animal.
Yeah.
Another quick reminder, everybody.
We would love to see you come down for auditions for our on-golden pond tonight.
We'll be auditioning from six to eight over at the Wisconsin Rabbits Community Theater Auditorium.
And also one thing I forgot to mention before.
If you want to come down and watch, if you just want to get a feel for things or maybe you want to work backstage or something, feel free to come on down for that too.
Wow. All are welcome.
That's awesome.
Yeah. We're looking forward to meeting you there tonight.
And a great show today, Melissa.
You too, James.
Be good to each other out there.
We'll talk to you soon and then later right here at...
