Weekend Vibes and Radio Jives(Hour 1)

Transcript

Weekend Vibes and Radio Jives(Hour 1)

Nite Lite with Pete Schwaba and Greg Bach · Fri Aug 29, 2025

Kathryn Lake

You're listening to Civic Media.

You can tune into any of our live shows on any radio station across the state with the Civic Media app.

Find us in your phone's app store and listen anytime,

anywhere.

A guy who gives edible undies as gifts just because they taste good.

Pete Schwabba.

Pete Schwaba

I forgot about that one.

Welcome to Nightlight ladies and gentlemen.

Happy Friday everybody.

You have made it to a long weekend and what better way to go into the weekend than to listen to the radio and talk about the things we love in life and the things folks that bring us together.

Movies and TV and music and comedy.

and some sports, all kinds of stuff.

We cover it all here at Nightlight on a nightly basis, and it is so great when you're part of the show, so thank you for being here.

Conrad Krieger is on the other side of the glass tonight.

How you doing, buddy?

You know, I wish I could say better after that Wisconsin,

Pete Schwaba

huh?

What

the heck?

Game last night.

Pete Schwaba

I mean, I'm not trying to be, like, I don't know a ton.

I just think you went out and got this high-profile coach that was in demand three years ago in year three.

On your home opener, you should be able to handle Miami of Ohio a little better.

See, I remember the days where we'd get those games and we'd win like 65 to like three or something.

Right.

Hands off to the defense, they played, they played pretty well.

But the offense, even, you know, Billy Edwards, when he was in, it just, it didn't look good.

And I just got disappointed.

I turned off the game when it was three zero at halftime.

So I was like, there's, we should be winning by at least 20 right now.

Pete Schwaba

It's funny.

I didn't turn the game off.

I was following it and reading it I didn't turn it on because it was three to nothing by the time I got home

So I'm like

Pete Schwaba

why am I gonna I'd

rather watch a

Pete Schwaba

movie.

I'm not watching this.

I'm just It doesn't look like we're gonna win a lot of games this year after

Pete Schwaba

tough schedule to

yeah, so gotta face Alabama which That's gonna be I think they're gonna win by a handsome

Pete Schwaba

amount.

Yeah, we'll see well anyway

not to bring everybody down, but we've got a great show for you tonight.

Get over your Badger Blues and join the fun tonight, folks.

Fun show at 6.35 tonight, WGBW afternoon host, Eric Westfall is here tonight.

Very excited to meet Eric and introduce him to Nightlight listeners.

If you haven't heard him yet, you should.

He does a great job here at WGBW.

Spinning the oldies, it's so much fun to listen to.

He's also an actor, I found out recently.

So we'll talk to Eric about all kinds of stuff.

And then it is Friday.

And that means it's a bar band Friday night, folks.

Terry Barr, co-host of Max, Inc.

Radio right here on Civic Media, or I should say on WMDX Saturday nights from six to nine PM will be here.

She has got an excellent band.

You see who she sent?

Yes.

And, you know, should we, should we not say it?

I don't want to say it because

Pete Schwaba

we've talked about this band on the air before.

They're great.

The lead singer has been on the show and has played

And I'm very excited to have them featured tonight.

And Terry, they have new material that we will be premiering tonight.

It's very exciting.

It's 735.

Terry Barr, our Wisconsin music expert, will join the show.

And she does every Friday.

So that will be fun.

We've got, I'm taking this nightlight window-love thing we've been doing.

We've been getting some really fun people.

We had a family that we took a picture of.

I took a picture of earlier today.

It's just been a lot of fun.

Emerson was a good sport last night and if you're wandering by the window folks at WGVW here in downtown Green Bay, there is a chance you might be asked to have your picture taken through the glass so we can post it on social media.

That's been kind of fun.

We have a great question tonight as well.

The phone lines are open as they always are.

Join the show and talk about anything that's on your mind, folks, that we're discussing.

If you have an opinion about a movie or a show or whatever, we'd love for you to weigh in as you guys, you all know the rules, so don't be shy.

If we got to do this first, because this is kind of a cool thing, this is our first, as I mentioned the last couple of nights.

Typically, when we do contests here at Civic Media, they've only been kind of promoted during the day.

But this week, we've got the Nightlight Last Chance Summer Getaway Contest, which is really cool.

You can win a free night at Chula Vista.

That kind of doesn't really make sense.

You can win a free night.

You can win the opportunity to pay big bucks to stay at a hotel.

Of course, it's free.

That's the grand prize, right?

Yeah.

All right.

It's the Chula Vista Overnight Stay and a dining voucher.

The value is $175.

Chula Vista is a great place.

We had our civic media party there one year, Christmas party.

It was a blast.

It's beautiful.

It's the Wisconsin Dells.

How can you go wrong?

So it's the Nightlight Last Chance summer giveaway and we will be giving away the keyword tonight right after our first break.

We will give you the keyword.

All you have to do is text in.

On the app so you have to have the app to play text in the keyword and you are enrolled and eligible to win the free night stay at Chula Vista Good luck everybody.

Let's play.

Let's have some fun.

I we missed out today.

I tried to get You ever you know a cow chip throwing is

No,

Pete Schwaba

okay, that's You know I should Google that because I don't want to selling an idiot.

I'm not a farm guy, but I think it's when you throw you know what a cow pie is

Well, I know

the the candy

Pete Schwaba

Should not be a candy named

you never had a cow pie a

Pete Schwaba

cow

tail a cow there's a it's like a little Carmel inside and I think there's there's nuts in there too a little bit of corn

Pete Schwaba

Yeah,

that's you know

Pete Schwaba

I have to Google this quickly because I don't want to give false information.

I think listen.

I'm in the dark on this

Cow chips refers to two very different things, dried cow dung used historically as fuel or for soil enrichment.

Those are two very different things.

And in the modern American West, we're a competition called cow chip throwing.

So what is it?

Okay, you're throwing cow poop.

And they have this contest in sock prairie.

And I call there and every once in a while, it's usually pretty easy to get people to want to come on the radio to talk about their

cool event or whatever, but sometimes people like, they act like you're up to something.

And that's what this woman was like today.

I called and I said, Hey, I'd like to talk to someone.

I love to interview you on the air.

I think it could be fun.

Tell us about your cow chip throwing contest.

And they're like, what are you trying to do?

I'm not up to no good here.

I'm trying to promote your event.

And I think it could be fun because I, that's something I would never, like I wonder who the person who invented cow chip throwing was.

Talk about board

They must have a boring day

Pete Schwaba

but I could

pick one of them there

Pete Schwaba

piles up and throw it yeah, and there you go And it started a phenomenon folks if you will it's it makes lawn darts look healthy So I was unable to to land a guest for the cow chip throwing contest in sock prairie But it sounds fun if you want to go you like throwing around cow poop half hazard Lee go for it I have to do

All right.

What is your favorite music Conrad?

If you were to eat somewhere, what kind of music would you hope the establishment is playing?

Well, is it live or is

Pete Schwaba

it?

No, I mean, just like on the radio or serious or something Spotify, something like that.

Like,

oh, well, I mean, if I'm just eating at a restaurant and it's, you know, just classic topics, probably or something.

I don't know that because I'm not going to be like listening what I mean, you know,

Pete Schwaba

that's kind of my point.

I, in Marinette, I ate at a Subway recently.

I made reservations ahead of time.

And they had like this heavy metal head banging music on.

I wanted to kill myself.

I'm like, what are you doing?

Are you trying not to have customers?

Like, I love classic rock.

I don't know that I want to hear classic rock while I'm trying to eat like a decent meal.

You know, give me some jazz or some, some cool, I don't know something, but like,

Yesterday I went to the dentist and they were playing country music and I'm not a country music fan.

I'd like some old country But I'm sitting there in the chair waiting for my mouth to numb and I'm listening to these tunes.

I Just got really depressed.

I'm like, I know some people like country.

I respect that.

I Don't think I necessarily would have wanted to hear rock and roll either.

Give me something easy.

I'm like I'm at the dentist.

I'm about to hear a drill in my head.

I

I don't know, I think it's crazy that people commit to these.

It should be something ambiguous, I think.

You know, Morgan Wallin, while you're getting your teeth drilled, it's pretty nice.

Pete Schwaba

You're a Morgan Wallin fan?

I'm a fan of his chair throwing.

Pete Schwaba

Okay.

He's had some issues.

Whatever.

What do you like him or not?

I don't care.

I don't know anything about Morgan Wallin.

I'm just saying, put on, in one place I was in, I went to get a fish fry about six months ago at this local place in Marinette.

They have the news on.

Oh, there

Pete Schwaba

we

go.

It's like a

Pete Schwaba

bar, and they're blaring news.

I'm like, wow.

Are you trying to kill the party, honestly?

Yeah, I feel like having a beer and listening to the news is not that... Play some smooth jazz, get you in the mood.

Exactly!

Something to...

Pete Schwaba

Have a scotch?

Set the mood, exactly.

That's all I'm trying

to say.

I

Pete Schwaba

see a question of the night in the future regarding this music choice.

But I think it's time, folks, speaking of questions that we get to our nightlight question of the night.

Let's talk about the question.

Pete Schwaba

OK, question.

Question.

Question.

Question.

Question.

OK,

I have a question.

Questions.

This question.

Domanda.

Question.

Question.

Questions.

Pete Schwaba

All right, keeping with our nostalgia theme this week on Nightlight, what store do you wish you could still browse in?

Like online shopping is efficient and you still kind of browse You tool around with the cursor you click on this you click on that you can get through things faster, but there's Something I really miss about going to a mall and I'm saying a mall because when malls were the thing and it kind of killed a lot of downtown's I was like I miss downtown's now I miss malls because malls are not as popular as they used to be but I do miss going into a store and just kind of browsing

And now the only place I do it are like secondhand stores.

But I used to love to go into music land and look through the records and tapes, see what's on sale, see what the new releases were, just take all the vinyl and slide it back and forth and check out what was new.

I really miss music land.

So what do you miss?

What store do you wish you could still browse in?

So many.

You remember things remembered Conrad?

You too young for that?

Things remembered?

That was like a little kiosk

at

Pete Schwaba

the mall and they sold little trinkets.

I mean, you got a bunch of those at every mall you go to.

There's a lot of kiosks, yeah.

But

Pete Schwaba

things remembered was like a staple, like Orange Julius was in

a lot of

Pete Schwaba

malls.

Even the gap, I don't think there are any gaps anymore.

I used to like to walk into the gap.

OK.

Get a nice pair of jeans.

Pete Schwaba

Get some slacks.

Get

some

Pete Schwaba

floods.

Get some floods in a nice collared shirt.

There you go.

You can't go wrong with that.

Stereostores, though.

Video stores.

I used to love to go into video stores and just look through the movies.

And you end up walking out with like two or three, because there's a lot I haven't seen, but I do miss video stores.

I miss driving by a place and seeing it and going, there are other movie fans in there right now.

Except I got to tell you this, this was funny.

There's a family video in Menominee that just closed a couple of years ago.

And I went in there and someone pointed out the Godfather of Green Bay on a shelf.

And just like a couple rows down was a guy thing.

I don't know if they're both Gs or how they were aligned.

And I also co-wrote a movie called The Guy Thing.

So I got two movies on the shelf at this video store.

And I live in this tiny town.

I have no ego.

But the guy says, the woman, he's got two movies right over here.

And she goes, huh, all right, would you like that to go?

She could not have cared less.

I'm like, this is a video store.

Not even a, oh, that's cool.

It was more like, don't annoy me.

You're stupid.

Oh my God, it was very strange.

You know, I could see you at that video store just standing by those and be like- Standing by my titles, yeah.

You looking for a movie tonight?

Pete Schwaba

Hey, right here.

What do you

Pete Schwaba

say?

You looking for a movie?

Just kind of leaning on the shelf doing that.

You

point

Pete Schwaba

it and

be like

Pete Schwaba

star Just like a lot of the guys in the adult film back in the adult section.

Yeah,

there you

Pete Schwaba

go, you know, they had an adult section at family video They did I swear to God they

had

Pete Schwaba

an adult section.

I don't think that's right.

Finally

Pete Schwaba

pornos for the whole family

All right, folks, the keyword is coming up after this very short break.

Don't go anywhere.

It's a Friday night version of Nightlight.

That's the best kind.

We are coming right back.

This is Pete Schwabba on the Civic Media Radio

Network.

Kathryn Lake

Stay up to date on the latest news and information for your local community and Wisconsin by signing up for our free email newsletter.

Visit civicmedia.us slash email to get started.

Pete Schwaba

Welcome back to Nightlight folks.

I am Pete Schwabba.

Great to have you with me.

Conrad Krieger running the board tonight, lamenting his badgers.

Hey, it's the Nightlight Last Chance Summer Getaway Contest, folks.

Join the fun, have the Civic Media app, and all you have to do is text in the keyword I'm about to give you, and you are eligible for a free night at the Chula Vista Resort in the Wisconsin Dells, and you also get a dining voucher.

It's worth...

About 175 bucks, not too shabby for texting in one word.

And tonight's keyword is dine.

D-I-N-E, dine.

So remember, you can't spell diner without dine.

So text in dine and you will be all set and enrolled in the contest.

Good luck, everybody.

Tonight is the last night, so get those keywords in.

You texted a picture of a cow pie of the candy.

Yes, and it's

doesn't look appetizing

Pete Schwaba

it does not really you know what it looks appetizing if you don't call it a cow pie If you just call it chocolate with nuts and caramel

well, how

Pete Schwaba

that's not fun Well, give it a snazzy name, but Here's here's the thing here's what we have we got this great invention.

It's delicious.

It has pecans caramel milk chocolate.

You can't go wrong Why don't we name it after poo?

I, you know, it's just a Midwest name.

You gotta, gotta find something.

Gotta find something unique.

No other candies ever.

That name before?

For

Pete Schwaba

reasons.

We've got a text that came in last night.

We don't like to miss texts here.

It's from our pal, Bud, who delivers papers between 4 and 6 a.m.

and listens to the rebroadcast.

He says, hey, Pete and Conrad.

In response to your question, I wish the telephone party line would come back.

Oh, that's right.

Last night's question was something outdated that you miss, and it was in honor of the bow tie.

I remember these party lines because they were all over late night TV.

They wanted you to get on the phone.

It's probably just like cyber sex on the phone, I guess.

And you had to make sure someone else in your house was not on the other line because that would be awkward.

But he says, I wish the telephone party line would come back when my girlfriend and I were on the phone and we would hear the click of someone joining, we would start our sexy talk.

The person was usually one of my nosy aunts.

Love your show bud from Janesville Like if you knew someone was doing that in your family, would you pick up and listen in?

It would terrify me that reminds me of a I've seen from high mature mother.

Yeah Lily was on the phone with Marshall's mom.

Pete Schwaba

Okay,

and She thought she hung up and then and she didn't and They had sex right there right next to the phone

and her mom just kept listening.

Oh,

Pete Schwaba

they had actual sex with the phone unhooked.

That's different to phone sex, yeah.

She thought it was hung up, but the mom was just there listening.

Pete Schwaba

That is just horrible.

If you just heard something like that, would you be like, well, let me hang up right there?

Pete Schwaba

Listen, I've heard a story a friend of mine told me about someone he knew who was hiding in the parents' room.

The family was playing a game or something, or the kids were playing a game, and the mom and dad go in and they go to town.

And this kid is like in the closet listening and probably seeing stuff you never want to see under any circumstances.

And if they don't know anything about it, they're like.

Pete Schwaba

Why

is he hurting her?

What is he

Pete Schwaba

doing?

It's terrible.

All right, so if you have a response to tonight's question, what store do you miss browsing in?

Let's go back to the 80s and 90s and early 2000s.

I say Musicland, Conrad, you got one?

Yeah, I'd probably say Best Buy.

I mean, when I was younger, we'd go to Best Buy.

But they

Pete Schwaba

still have Best Buys.

Or not, sorry.

I meant to say Blockbuster.

Pete Schwaba

Oh, Blockbuster,

yeah, of course.

I was at Best Buy earlier today, so that's why I

Pete Schwaba

said that.

Oh, I really miss when I was browsing at Best Buy earlier this morning.

Yeah, Blockbuster, I miss going to the stores and picking up a couple movies.

It's nothing beats it, you know?

Pete Schwaba

Absolutely.

Totally agree.

Now you just got all of it at your fingertips.

Pete Schwaba

8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2-8-5-5-7-5-CIVIC.

Text us.

Let us know what store you miss browsing in.

I see Musicland.

Conrad says Blockbuster.

John in the 608 says Terry, in reference to Terry Barr.

Our pal coming up at 735 says, has a voice like a siren that hypnotizes me every time.

There's something going on there.

John makes it like a nefarious thing.

John also says, ever play mud volleyball on a farm property.

Did it.

Serious cow pie mud slush.

Never again.

Yeah, that sounds like a really, not a very fun time, I will say.

Tom from New Berlin says, Pete, no matter us stupid humans have existed, we create competition.

I mean, there's everything.

You could name one thing and there's probably a competition from

Pete Schwaba

it.

Absolutely.

John also says, I could listen to you and Conrad at the dentist.

Food for thought.

Oh, yeah.

Put on the nightlight podcast, which you can check out at civicmedia.us.

That's a great idea, John.

I think I'm going to suggest that to my dentist.

He says, elevator music, but informative and fun.

That might be the best thing anyone's ever said about nightlight.

Love it, John.

Thank you, buddy.

John also, John again, his thumbs are busy tonight, people.

He says, ever go behind the curtain at a video store.

peaked in once, made eye contact with a dude, ran.

I remember I did that once.

I was in the adult section looking for like some movies for a bachelor party.

I really was, but I felt like I had to over explain to the guy while I was

there.

Pete Schwaba

I was like 23.

I felt so stupid.

I know what John is saying.

Like you make eye contact with a guy.

You don't want him to start.

talking to you like, hey, what do you like?

You just don't want to do that.

Looking for recommendations, please help me.

Yeah, let's put our heads together here.

Come up with

Pete Schwaba

some

ideas.

Pete Schwaba

The keyword tonight.

Dave, you might want to retext.

The keyword is dine, D-I-N-E.

Dave Kunich on the stream says, Mormons, that is a Marinette department store that was like...

My friends the Boyles own that store or were one of the owners and I always say they were like the Marshall Fields of Marinette, Wisconsin But you could say that Marshall Fields is the Mormons of Chicago and Milwaukee, but that's a great one Dave.

Thank you.

He also says good fellas best in town in Twin Cities best something as a typo I can see He tried to type it again, and it still said the same.

Can you understand the comment?

I think I maybe no

Alright, we'll noodle it.

We're coming back with Eric Westfall, new on-ear host here at WGBW, and we're going to read some of your texts and have a blast.

It's Nightlight with Pete Chihuahua on the Pacific Media Radio

Network.

Pete Schwaba

This is Nightlight with Pete Schwabba.

I am Pete Schwabba.

It is great to have you with me, folks.

We've determined that Dave's word was porn, is what he was trying to say.

It's a place called Good Fellows in Marinette, and he misses browsing in there because they had the best porn in the Twin Cities, which is also, it's not Minneapolis, St.

Paul.

People very arrogantly call Marinette Menominee...

the Twin Cities.

So, and that's where Dave, Dave's a native.

So I knew what he was talking about.

He says, uh, oh, in, in regard to the cow pie festival, it's a big festival.

They used sun baked poop, low moisture, but not too dry or the poop gets, I can't even say that word.

I'm so grossed out right now.

Ronnie Daniel Barry sports highlights says happy Friday.

Hello everyone.

Hello, Daniel.

Great to have you and Dave Cooney says it's a pot shop now the family video that sold pornography in the back like every family video sure should Is now a pot shop.

There's about 12,000 pot shops in Monomony, Michigan

So, all right, I'm excited now.

We're gonna pivot here and get to our first guest of the night.

He is new meat here at WGBW, but he's not new to radio.

But if you listen throughout the day, you probably know this guy.

And if not, you're about to meet him.

His name is Eric Westfall.

Hey, buddy.

How's it going, Pete?

It's going great.

I love that you came in to the studio.

Yeah,

Pete Schwaba

yeah.

That's huge.

Let's assume you don't live in too far away.

Oh, yeah, yeah, that's not too big.

Well, and you know, I mean, it's nice to be over on this side of the glass.

So

Kathryn Lake

usually

I'm sitting in Conrad's spot over there.

And I try to get out of there fast enough so that he can, you know, get everything ready.

I know you guys have a little more preparation than I have.

I get the music doing all the heavy lifting for me.

Pete Schwaba

Do you?

Well, I got a lot of questions to ask you about radio.

I think you have a really cool gig and I'm excited for you and Dan was on the show last night Dan Marcus and we had Laura on last week So all three of you guys are new here and it's it's it's nice that you have a working relationship already You guys already knew each other.

Yeah, you all obviously love oldies.

So that's exciting Tell us First of all, I have that most importantly.

Do you have a story you missed browsing in Eric?

That, oh yeah, I heard you talking about that, so I was trying to think a little bit.

When I was younger at Prangeway.

What's one that I liked over a this would have been an Appleton I guess I grew up over in Greenville

Kathryn Lake

So

at the Appleton Prangie way on College Avenue Because I video games and stuff like that.

They always had sales on and I

try to talk

my mom into getting me something So I miss Prangie way and then as a little bit older, you know as junior high and high school Eric in the mall

Chess King.

Oh, nice.

I love it.

They had, I forgot about chess

king.

Yeah.

Are there no more of those?

Oh, I

don't think so.

I couldn't tell you the last time.

I mean, I don't really go into malls anymore, but I don't think chess king's around.

We

Pete Schwaba

had a limited...

like Marinette has the pine tree mall, it's still there, but it's not as exotic as the Appleton or Green Bay or certainly not Milwaukee or Chicago, but we had a Prangie way.

And I remember when we moved to the area when I was in junior high and my dad was pointing out these Wisconsin stores we had never heard of, he said, that's a Prangie way.

That's kind of like Kmart, that's Prangies, that's a little more upscale like Marshall

Fields.

Kathryn Lake

That's how

Pete Schwaba

he described, like a 12 year old's

Kathryn Lake

gonna

Pete Schwaba

stop at Prangies.

And I have another story about the Prangie family.

One of the sons,

was running the Marinette Store.

And I had a holiday gig where I was trying to get people to sign up to donate money for kids.

And he said, ask people if they want to buy an ornament and then the proceeds go to charity.

But I came out of the gate swinging and I said, do you feel like helping a needy child this holiday season?

So they had to say, if they said no, they felt terrible.

He pulled me aside.

He goes, yeah, let's not approach people like that.

You're going for the

juggler kid.

This is so funny you said Prangie way.

Well Prangie's was what I actually worked at.

Prangies in high school in the men's fashions to men's men's wear departments.

Pete Schwaba

We're

in all your

chess chess King

clothes No,

you

had to wear like they have made why don't you our actual suit and tie?

Yeah,

they

didn't have to be from Prangies, but you know chess King was a little bit too fast It was very 80s.

That's true.

All

Pete Schwaba

right, that's great So how's it going here at WGBW what I don't know like what kind of stuff are you doing on air at your last gig?

You're so good at this, I assume it's not something new to

you.

Yeah, so previously, I worked for six and a half years on another station here in Green Bay.

And Laura used to be right across the hall from me.

She was in

Kathryn Lake

the

mornings, and I would see her usually when I was coming in.

She was on a different station, but we were the same company.

And they decided to make some...

changes as radio companies do.

And it's interesting, I've been in this business about 20 years now, and I've lost my job numerous times.

But previously, it was always like, oh, well, you are a live night guy.

There's

no

night guys anymore.

That's

Kathryn Lake

going away.

That's sad.

Yeah.

Or the station is making a format change, and so we're going to get rid of their staff.

OK, I can understand that sort

Kathryn Lake

of

thing.

But I was doing very well.

So I was getting ratings bonuses and I had some endorsements and things like that.

Those aren't things that if you're

Kathryn Lake

doing terrible

that you get.

So it was a corporate decision made by somebody in Georgia or wherever.

And it happened to people all across the country.

So it didn't really matter how good I did.

But I was very excited though to get the call.

And I was actually thinking of getting out of radio.

I was

like, man.

Fool me once, shame on me, fool me 15 times.

Pete Schwaba

But I've heard like you hear of these legendary radio guys that have all been fired multiple times.

Oh, sure.

It just comes with the territory, right?

And it's not even necessarily that you're doing anything wrong.

Yeah, oftentimes it is.

I mean, it can be any number of things.

Sometimes, and I don't know that that happens as much these days, but sometimes it could be a personality clash, you know, with the management or whatever.

Pete Schwaba

Eric Westfall is my guest.

You can hear him afternoons here at WGBW playing the oldies and he's had a long career in radio.

And it's funny, you were talking about how at night it's different.

I used to love listening to the radio when I was a kid and knowing that there was somebody there playing songs and connecting with the audience.

And the first time I did radio, I was trying to get, I had a student show at DePaul University and then I came home to Marinette in the summer.

And the radio guy there, Jim Callow, gave me a job from 2 to 5 AM.

So I show up at 1.30 and the other guy that was there from like 10 to 2, he's got like a Colt 45.

He's sitting back smoking a cigarette and just playing tunes.

I'm like, look at this guy, man.

He's got the life.

He's just chilling.

And that just isn't the case anymore.

No, automation pretty much took care of that.

In each market, so here

Pete Schwaba

in

Green Bay, one station does have to have somebody there all.

hours of the day.

But on air?

I mean, generally, they will have them be an on air person.

They'll have them do it live because they might as well.

You gotta have somebody be there.

There's always somebody who want to cut their teeth with that 12 a.m.

to 6

Pete Schwaba

a.m.

shift.

Absolutely.

So how did you, what made you want to go into radio?

Like how old were you and what made you go, I gotta do this?

I was actually a little bit older than most people.

Dan, I think he got into it just out of high school.

Yeah.

Maybe even in high school.

I was a little bit older.

I had sort of, I went to college at Lawrence University and I did a little, I was in the studio there a couple times, but nothing really.

But I was a theater.

person.

And so I like

Kathryn Lake

the performing

aspect

Kathryn Lake

of

it.

Yeah, you know, acting and all that.

And so I really liked the performance element.

And when I graduated from school, I was actually going to become a teacher.

I was certified to become a theater teacher.

And you know, they should probably put you in front of the kids.

Like day one instead of like at the end and I just I love kids I have so much respect for teachers now after going through that But I just I didn't really want to you have to do so many things that has nothing to do with teaching and I just that

performing aspect and I thought well you know radio seems like and at that time I was living down in in Milwaukee and Gateway Technical College in Kenosha so I drove three days a week to from Milwaukee to Kenosha taking classes there to get that Associates degree I already had a lot you know a lot of credits transfer over but you know get that internship and all those things that are how you get your started in the business so I wanted to make sure that I did that and in Milwaukee obviously is a very large market so I

turned on the country station there at the time, FM 106.

And, you know, I knew eventually I would have to leave the area if I wanted to get on

the

air.

And yeah, I went, you know, it wasn't in country music.

I got my start and I heard you earlier say you didn't care for country.

I'm not a big fan either.

So I try actually working on a country station and nothing to learn all these artists names and, you know, country USA and all that stuff and be excited about that.

It was tough, but there were a few artists I liked.

But anyway, so.

Yeah, I moved up to Wausau and that's where I was the night guy there and then went to Steven's point after that and did mornings on the station that then decided to flip and then I was in Shano for a little while and I have family there and a lot of good people in Shano but I would never work for that small of a market again.

They broadcast parades on the radio in Shano.

I never thought that was a thing

before

but

Kathryn Lake

I'm

like, a parade is a very visual event.

You can't really

get a lot out of

it

on the radio, but they sold sponsorships.

So you make it work?

Yep.

Wow.

Pete Schwaba

Look at

this marching band

Pete Schwaba

now.

Oh,

they must have 30 kids out there.

And you're like,

Pete Schwaba

if only I was playing country music again.

And listen, I'm not a hater.

I really don't dislike country music.

I do feel the new country has kind of a...

kind of a sound to it.

It's almost like a homogenization sort of.

I like when they genre mix.

I think that's cool.

But just

in

Pete Schwaba

pure new country, I just give me the old stuff.

And if it's on too long, I'm just like, we got to change this up because they never really rock.

And they never, it's always kind of, I don't know.

Yeah.

Pete Schwaba

No, I know what you

mean.

Pete Schwaba

What is your favorite kind of music?

Like, I assume you like oldies, but.

Yeah, I do like oldies.

I enjoy

that.

Yeah.

And I first

you know, listened to oldies when I was, you know, late 70s, early 80s, when it first became a format, that's what my parents listened to, because obviously it was the music of them.

Before

Kathryn Lake

that,

it was country.

Kathryn Lake

Back when it was

country and western.

And, you know, Willie Nelson and all those, and then

Kathryn Lake

the oldies came

up.

But me personally, you know, I actually,

I'm a pretty big fan of bluegrass music, which especially like the really like upbeat and give me banjos and fiddles and mandolins and love

Pete Schwaba

and

a good tempo.

And yeah, I'm usually pretty happy.

Pete Schwaba

I love that.

I just noticed, excuse me one second.

Conn, did you notice people are texting in the word fine?

Yeah.

Pete Schwaba

All right.

Sorry.

Folks, the keyword is dine, D-I-N-E.

I thought that's how I said it, but if I

If I misspoke earlier, I apologize.

But the keyword tonight is dine, D-I-N-E.

And that's why I said you can't spell diner without dine.

But like three people texted and fine.

Can they be eligible or...?

Well, just text and dine and then you're...

Pete Schwaba

Thank you for the legal advice Conrad.

Does he have a great voice or what?

Like Eric should just be like... Did somebody ever tell you you should go into radio?

You got that voice.

Yeah, honestly, actually, how did I forget this?

So my first like...

taste of radio was in forensics in high school.

I completely forgot.

So I went to Hortonville High School, go polar bears, class

of

92.

And our forensics coach, Cliff Morton, he came to me, it was my sophomore year and they had a brand new category called radio speaking.

And basically, you would pull some news stories out, and then you'd put them together.

They wanted you to put a commercial.

Sometimes they would give you a little newspaper clipping, and you had to create something in there, kind of the middle, then some weather, some sports, and put it all together with your transitions.

And he said, I think you'd be good to give this a try.

Prior to that, I usually did some acting categories.

And I said, sure.

And the first one, man, I got into the power round,

took second place.

Oh, sweet.

So you're like, OK, I think I could do this.

Yeah.

And so then I ended up coming back to it years later and like, oh, that's right.

I kind of enjoyed this.

Just enough to suck you in

Pete Schwaba

to this career.

All right.

Eric Westfall is here, folks.

He is the afternoon on your host here at WGBW.

Every day you can hear him from two to six.

So definitely tune in if you haven't already.

We're coming right back and we'll do the keyword again just to be safe.

If you haven't heard the keyword yet, folks, it is coming up.

I'm Pete Schwab.

This is Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio Network.

Kathryn Lake

you're listening to civic media find the latest news information and archives of all your favorite shows on the civic media website

Pete Schwaba

Happy Friday, everybody.

This is Pete Schwabba, and you've got Nightlight here on the Civic Media Radio Network.

Our question of the night is, what store do you miss browsing in?

Take yourself back, folks, to the 80s or 90s or early 2000s.

I know there's still malls, but what about those stores that don't exist anymore?

I said Musicland.

Conrad said Best Buy.

Because he hadn't

been there since this morning.

Pete Schwaba

Yes.

And then he changed his answer, too.

Blockbuster.

Blockbuster.

Do you have one, Eric?

Did you give us one?

Yeah.

That was Pragyway and Chest King.

Pragyway, yes, of course.

Chest King.

Chest King for a mall store.

I love it.

That was great.

Steve from Florida says, I miss the old Five and Dime store, Woolworths.

Oh, that's a great one.

Best burger, fries, and milkshake located in every downtown.

Woolworths had that great lunch counter.

And Mormons and Marinette had that too.

They had, I love those stores where they were like,

They had stereos, men's clothes, food.

Yeah, even Kmart.

Even Kmart.

Yeah, those were all great stores.

Everett from Sun Prairie in the 262 says, what store do I miss browsing at?

Say it with me.

The exclusive company.

Is that American?

No, what was that?

The exclusive company was Mr. G. Right down just across the river, just off of Broadway, was the Green Bay store.

There was one in Green Bay, there was one in Appleton at Northland Mall.

The stereo stuff,

right?

Yes.

Music, but then also nicer stereo stuff.

Pete Schwaba

Nice.

That's a great one.

Thank you, Everett.

Here we've got that Melissa from Willy Street.

Hi Pete.

I think I know why John really likes Terry's voice because I have a deep voice as well.

Have a good night.

Oh, thank you.

Melissa you have a good night too with your your deep sultry voice that your husband seems to love and one more here before we get back to Eric Judy from East Troy Says my email.

Oh, I'm sorry.

I'm reading the wrong thing Judy.

I almost gave Judy's email address out in the air She would have become very popular.

Yeah

She's getting emails from everybody.

All right, my guest is Eric Westfall.

He is the on-air host here during the afternoon at WGBW, and he is a radio veteran.

I have to ask you, I want to get into some of your acting stuff too, but I hope you can stay through the news if that's okay.

Yeah, man, I got no place to be.

I'm sorry to hear that.

He really squeezed us into his schedule here, Conrad.

I took the whole evening off

for

Pete Schwaba

you.

We'll make it a miniseries.

What is your favorite part of the day?

Because I haven't been in radio as long as you, and I know I have kind of a different show here, but a lot of my day is prep, which I don't mind.

But for you, what is your favorite part of your radio day?

You're on the air.

I'm sure that's fun, prepping, research, picking songs.

What's the best part of

it?

Yeah, on the air part.

Although I really, and we haven't gotten to do too much of that yet since we're still new.

And it's probably because of the actor.

I mean, I really like getting out in the public and

seeing

the people out at events and things like that.

But on air is fun because the one thing,

You're one person, you know in the studio and you're

Kathryn Lake

making

all this stuff and I find myself every now and then I will You know when the mic is cracked I'll start forgetting oh yeah, there's people out there listening and I'm almost like I'm talking to myself and then I got to kind of catch myself and oh yeah, you know make sure this is interesting Right at the very least

Pete Schwaba

brief and interesting.

That's great and you mentioned before You said you almost got out of radio because you had just lost a job you liked

What would you do like I feel like I've kind of been in show business in one form another my entire adult life And I've just accepted this is what I do if I'm unemployed.

I will eat canned soup Whatever, I'm not doing any I'm not going to work in a store.

You know,

are you like that?

Or are you like what else would you do something else?

Well, I will tell you the things that I was looking at

so

As I mentioned before liking to get out and amongst the public and you know now we have to wear a lot of hats and radio there aren't

people doing all the different things unless you're really big time and some of the big markets, New York City or something.

Marketing and all that stuff and relationship building and networking and that's really all a part of it.

People don't realize that and those are skills that I was able to develop.

And so I was really looking at jobs that would help that.

So I'll even...

I applied at the Green Bay Botanical Garden.

Oh,

Pete Schwaba

nice.

It used

to be there

Kathryn Lake

a

membership and development coordinator.

Maybe if the person who got the job is listening, I hope they're doing good.

But I came close, but something like that,

Kathryn Lake

where I'm

still involved in the community and something that I believe in and help making it

good.

I'm really a firm believer.

And I chose to become the Green Bay.

It was a city I was born in, but it's not the place I've lived all my life.

And I want to do something that makes it better.

Pete Schwaba

See, that's really interesting you say that and I take back what I said before because I think maybe I could work and like Greg Vadney is on the show Tuesday and he's the director of the Rar West Museum in Manitowoc.

I think I could work in a museum.

Yeah.

There's some cool place where you're like, you have stimulating things around maybe?

Yeah.

No, I

don't

Pete Schwaba

know.

What about you,

Con?

I mean, a museum would be cool.

Yeah.

You could be like Ross from Friends.

Yeah.

Pete Schwaba

You know.

It's probably nothing like that, right?

Depends on the museum.

You're the guy that

Pete Schwaba

gets to build the dinosaur displays.

That's like the Primo Museum.

Oh, yeah.

That's the coolest thing.

That

Pete Schwaba

would be a great one, though.

All right, so Eric Westphal is here, folks.

We'll have more with Eric.

He's going to tell us all about the Evergreen Theater and some of the cool stuff he has going on as a local actor as well.

And if you are interested in that kind of stuff, you want to stick around and hear it.

I'm curious myself.

Since I've been doing this show, Eric, I've never lived in Green Bay.

or really any other city other than Marinette in Northeast Wisconsin.

And I'm amazed at how many creative people there are here, how many actors, how many great bands, how many filmmakers.

So I'm excited to talk with you about that too, after the, after intermission here.

John Murray in the 608 says, TGNY was an awesome department store in Freeport, Illinois.

Tons of best hobby and toys.

Mom loved it too.

TGNY, that must have been like a local thing.

Does that sound familiar?

No.

Fine, it's fine.

Judy also says, did you get my email address that I sent?

Yes, Judy, I almost sent it to the entire listening public.

So I apologize for that.

And then Everett and Sun Prairie says, Pete, I did the 10 p.m.

to 2 a.m.

shift for a couple years at WWSP.

I think he means UWSP in college.

can confirm just playing tunes, a couple beers, as well as other enjoyables.

We don't need to get into that.

And just enjoying sharing the stuff we dug and with an audience of drunk college kids and other random local college radio supporters, really good times.

Everett, it was a really good time reading that text, so I can imagine actually doing it was very cool.

So thank you.

Keep those texts coming, folks.

We are coming back for Act 2 after intermission.

Eric Westfall will be here.

It's a bar band Friday night.

Terry Barr is coming up at 7.35 with a great band with new material.

It's Peach Wabbit Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio

Network.

Kathryn Lake

The national news cycle never stops, but it can be hard to find news about your local community.

Civic Media is dedicated to providing quality local and state news coverage across Wisconsin.

With the Civic Media app, you can get notifications about local stories that matter to you and your community.

Find the free Civic Media app in your phone's app store and choose notifications from the menu to tell us what kind of news you want to hear about.

0:00