Popcorn Pick and Sad Grocery Store Songs (Hour 1)

Pete and I are enjoying one more Friday night of summer with our family and friends, and we'll be back live Monday with a brand new week of Nightlight.

But in the meantime, here is a show featuring WGBW's new host, Dan Marcus, Laura McKenna, and Eric Westphal.

Hope you enjoy, and have a great weekend.

It's time for the Nightlight Popcorn Pick of the Week, where we recommend a movie that you'll either enjoy or won't.

Here's your host, Pete Schwabba.

All right, this is exciting, folks.

One of my favorite segments we do every week here at Nightlight is the Popcorn Pick of the Week where we give you a recommendation for a movie that maybe you've seen it and you want to rewatch it or maybe it's something you haven't seen and it's just kind of an information exchange here that we do every week on Thursdays at 6.35 and we always have fun personalities to make said pick and joining us this week is brand new WGBW morning host Dan Marcus and you are a radio legend.

You've been around for decades.

Cast a blank.

All

right.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Thank you.

Dan Marcus, everybody.

I'm outta here, thank you.

No,

I've had that happen.

I'm sure you have too.

Like you have a whole list of questions planned and then the guest, you ask them, how are they?

And they answer every question that you've got in like three minutes.

All right, I guess we're done here.

Okay, thank you very much.

Well, thank you for saying that about me.

I don't, I get uncomfortable with that word.

I heard it once before and okay, if you wanna call me that, I don't.

Okay Conrad asks me to refer to him as a radio legend when there's like cute girls around and I always help him as his wingman But

he pays you for that right sure.

Okay

So,

but it's great to have you here.

This is

exciting.

And you have, how's

it going here at WGVW so far?

I mean, I'm having a blast.

Yeah.

I'm working with you and Laura McKenna is back, Eric Westfall is back and working with Conrad every day.

It's a bit much.

Yeah.

But I like the guy, you know, is he grows on you.

Sure.

It's a good group of people.

It is a very good and a very good company.

And I'm just thrilled to be here.

I really

am.

Well, we'll talk more about your, actually, let's do that now before.

Before we get into the movies, tell us a little bit about your background, Dan.

Like I called you a radio legend.

You've been around for decades.

You've worked at a lot of cool stations.

Tell us a little bit about how you, the path that got you here.

Oh gee, I started at my college campus radio station, WSUW at Whitewater.

Okay.

And just to volunteer, it was a non-commercial.

I walked in, they let you play whatever you wanted to play, free form radio.

I was learning what this switch does and how to say that and how to pronounce the letter W. W. W didn't work.

That was day one.

And I gave myself a year to get that first job, right?

If I don't get it in a year, I'll try.

become a lawyer like my dad wanted me to.

Oh, there you go.

Yeah.

And I got a job working for cable TV in Janesville, doing directing and camera work and sports and all.

I was Uncle Dan.

Nice.

I had a kid show.

And it was just a hoot.

And I did that for like three, four years and then got my first radio job in Duluth and started my radio gypsy years.

Wow.

But always gravitated back to

the music of the 60s.

It's my favorite.

Okay.

It's great because what I like about what you guys are doing here at WGBW is it's almost not fair to other radio stations.

When you play

oldies,

every song is great.

They were all

hits there's no there's no weak link whereas if you turn on other stations it's like ah maybe i like that song maybe i don't like you really can't go wrong with old should i stick around and

wait

maybe

the next song will be better you know exactly but yeah there's there's no lag with the music

we

play uh and and all that music is so recognizable today and what people don't realize is that yeah if you grew up in the 60s that was your music

But then in the 80s and 90s, oldie stations came on the radio.

And the parents, you know, by now you're 30, 35 years old, but you're listening to your high school music in the car with your kids who are learning your music.

They start to love it.

They start to love it.

And that's what we see a lot of now.

We see two and sometimes three generations of listeners.

It's such a great soundtrack too, because most of the memories we have in life, we remember the good stuff.

And my kids will say that to me.

you had this music of the 90s, what a great time.

And I went to high school in the 80s and I'm like, it was, but so is this.

You'll remember this

is being

great.

But the fact that oldies are the soundtrack to all of it, whether they're oldies from the 60s or the 80s or 90s, cause those are oldies now too.

How far do you guys go up with the oldies here at

WTJ?

In terms of what's the newest song we play?

Oh, I probably.

You know, that's a good question, but I'd say probably 74 or 75.

Oh, wow.

Okay.

And there's just a smattering of songs from that era.

Most of them stop at about 72.

Okay.

So we'll do Chuck Berry from the very early days.

And you'll hear Bill Haley, the very first popular rock and roll record rock around the clock.

And then we'll go up through Rocket Man.

I love it.

And you guys, and you and we had Laura on last week, she was great.

We have Eric on tomorrow night, actually we'll meet Eric, that'll be fun.

He's an interesting guy.

So is Laura, an interesting person.

When people say interesting to me, sometimes I can take that as, it's like when I hand someone a script and they'll go, it was interesting.

You

mean he really is an interesting guy.

He is, there are a lot of facets to that guy.

And if you dig dig dig dig deep enough into my background, you'll find out that I spent four years working in a playboy club.

Really?

Yeah.

Where?

And I have

pictures.

You're

in

pictures you are in or

that you confiscated somehow.

Both.

Nice.

No pictures I took.

Okay.

Pictures of me with some of the girls.

We called them girls.

They were.

Yeah.

That's what we called them.

They nicknamed them the girl bunnies.

They were playboy bunnies.

And I'm friends with many of them to this day.

Okay.

Where was the was at the Playboy Club in Lake Geneva?

Lake

Geneva.

I knew my wife's family used to go.

He was a family.

They had families

there.

It was on

the

Playboy Club.

It

was a family resort.

Yeah.

Yeah.

The kids would go swimming or skiing, golf with dad, maybe.

Yeah.

Horseback riding.

It was the

same.

It's like,

it's

like, you know,

Hooters

now you go out, you have a fun family day, then you stop off for

boobs and wings at night.

It's fun for the whole family.

I can neither confirm nor deny.

All

right.

Well, this is great.

Conrad, we have something on Dan now.

He

just admitted over the airwaves that he's got some skeletons in the club.

No, I'm kidding.

I'm sure you have a ton of stories just because you've had this great career and we'll have to have you on periodically where you can drop these little nuggets like here.

Yeah, but a lot of interesting experiences.

Let's get to some movie talk, Dan, because we're doing the popcorn pick and I thought, you know, it would just be fun to talk to you and get to know you, but also to talk about some movies.

So how does Dan Marcus like to watch movies?

Mostly

at home.

Okay, mostly at home a lot of DVDs Yeah, and I it's what am I in the mood for I'll pull out that kind of DVD Do I want a John Wayne war movie or do I want the ghost and mrs. Muir?

No, okay, you know, I've got a wide it's what am I in the mood for and that's what movies do They teleport you back and I like a lot of old black and whites.

Yeah, because I like that culture and I like remembering that people were

kind and considerate and you know, it's a harsh world now compared to the 1940s and 50s.

Absolutely.

So classic, classic rock, classic tunes, classic, you're just a classic guy.

I'm a nostalgic kind of

guy.

So all right, so you like those, do you like film noir?

Yeah.

Yeah, me too.

I've been really into that the last few years.

Yeah, there's some interesting stuff out there because it takes so many twists and turns so often, most of them do.

Totally.

Okay, so how do you, when you watch movies at home, what is your snack of choice?

Does it differ than when you go to the theater?

I make popcorn.

Okay.

Extra butter, thank you.

Milk duds.

Sure.

You get milk duds at home?

Yeah.

Conrad loves milk duds.

I absolutely hate milk.

He just told his boss he hates milk.

I don't know what

to do with it.

No, it's... What do you... Conrad, what do you like?

Good and plenty.

How about good and plenty?

Anything that really takes a long time to chew and then it'll get stuck in your teeth.

I don't like

it.

Oh.

Well, that's fair.

Good and fruity.

Remember that?

That

was like the

spinoff of good and plenty.

Those were good.

Good and plenty is like liquor.

It's like that anise flavor.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I never got into good and plenty.

You know what I'd like to find?

Sensen.

What's that?

Somebody on the network has to know Sensen.

Please explain it to Pete.

If you know Sensen, text us and see if you

can beat Conrad on the Google.

We'll figure this out Dan.

Yeah, but but that's not a movie treat That's just a that's just a haven't seen it for years kind of treat.

Well, there you go That kind of plays into our question of the night too is an outdated product that we kind of miss talking about me again We miss the outdated Dan Marcus So all right, so popcorn at home that that's good.

Yeah, I get more exotic when I'm at home Food-wise I don't do anything.

I don't wear like you know

Anything exotic.

But I was trying to make a bad joke there.

Conrad, we got something

on Pete now.

Oh, it might have got me kicked off the air.

I got too

much stuff on

Pete.

Christmas party stuff.

Save it for then.

But I like to make a meal.

I'll make like a steak or order pizza, get something you can't always get at the theater.

One of a

home.

I guess

it changes

that.

Well, and I make a wicked...

Cheese dip.

It's my mother's recipe.

I can't tell you what's in it because I want to patent it and sell it and retire with it.

Wow.

My money, but it's that good.

And everybody I play it for guesses, oh, is it got this in it?

It's got beer in it.

And I'll tell them it's a cheese dip.

I bet it has beer in it.

I'm not going to try to get you to say the recipe in here, but it's Wisconsin, it's cheese.

I bet there's beer in there.

Keep betting.

I'm not telling you.

Cheese dip.

You're homemade cheese dip.

Okay, that works.

My mother's

recipe

and I've

been

eating it since I was five.

Outstanding.

My guest is Dan Marcus, folks.

He is the morning guy here at WGBW and the station manager.

And he plays the oldies every morning.

There's so much fun to listen to.

And Dan has made his career in radio and he knows his stuff.

And it's great to have him here doing the popcorn pick of the week.

Dan, what kind of movies do you tend

Do you lean to genre wise?

You kind of gave us a couple of examples before, but do you have a

specific?

I like war movies.

I don't like gory movies.

I don't like scary movies.

Okay, but I like Well, let's see the that thing you do with Tom Hanks Yeah, I like and I've mentioned many times the ghost and Mrs. Muir you asked me off air What movie has made me cry?

I did Brian's song.

Oh great

movie.

Yeah, are you a Packer fan?

Yeah, you can still say that about a see that Conrad that's being open-minded I'm a bear fan too.

I you know, I kind of congratulated Conrad on the Michael Parsons

move.

Yeah, that's

a great move, huh?

That

is a

really that is a sad film though and a great story Brian's

song and I told you about the Playboy Club when I was working there in the early 70s They had the Brian Piccolo golf tournament.

Oh, yeah, right two consecutive summers and

Packers and Bears, especially, were there.

Ray Nitschke, Dick Buccas.

Dick Buccas, yeah.

You know, all those people were there in front of my eyeballs.

And they were palling around, hugging each other.

But they were on the golf course, not a football field.

You know what's funny?

You just reminded me of something.

When I was in college, I was watching a Bears game.

I grew up the first part of my childhood in Chicago when I lived there, and I'm a Bears fan.

I'm sorry.

Me too, the last 30 years.

This is our decade then.

My roommate and I were

so- From both the Bears fans.

We

were so mad.

I lifted a chair and I like wanted to throw it through the wall.

Yeah.

19 year old idiot.

And then I look at the TV.

And they're all laughing the players that just they're playing the game and they're laughing like what a loser am I That I'm like taking it this

person.

Yeah, this is so silly is that reminded me when you said well, I am on sports I think people take sports way too.

People have forgotten that sports is entertainment.

Yeah.

Oh, it's totally entertainment Yeah, we talk about sports here on a semi regular basis.

I would say all right

Dan Marcus is here folks.

We're gonna we're gonna wait after this very short break Then he's gonna give us his popcorn pick of the week and I'm gonna give you the night light end of summer getaway Keyword again,

so

you could text that in on the app and be eligible to win a night at you

Can

I win?

You know what if Conrad and I can't win I saw Dan slipping you 20 bucks earlier.

We're coming right back with Dan Marcus.

This is peach wabba and nightlight on the civic media radio network

Welcome back.

Hi, I'm Pete Schwab.

This is Nightlight.

Great to have you with me on this Thursday night.

Okay, ladies and gentlemen, get ready.

It's Nightlight's last chance summer getaway, and I'm about to give you the keyword.

All you have to do is text it in using the app, and you're eligible to win one night at Chula Vista Resort, and you also get a dining voucher.

It's $175 value.

That's more than I make in a week, Conrad.

You know that?

I mean, that's good value right there.

You don't care.

No comment.

No comment.

Tonight's keyword is Dell's as in Wisconsin Dell's D-E-L-L-S.

So text that in on the app and you will be eligible for our nightlight last chance summer getaway.

Summer is dwindling, but the good news is.

Dan Marcus is here.

He is the morning show host here on WGBW, and he is showing me a picture.

Is that you?

That's me.

Wow, what a great getup,

man.

I'm 17.

You got the bowtie.

Conrad, this is Kismet.

How old are you there?

About 18, 17.

And who's the, that's a playboy, playmate.

Do

we know who this is?

Well, it's a

bunny, not a playmate.

There's a difference.

There is.

Okay.

Playmate was in the magazine.

Bunny was in the club.

Like the waitresses.

Yes.

Okay.

Yeah.

And that's Bunny, Marcy, and me hugging.

She looks lovely.

And were you guys good friends or?

We're still good friends.

Really good friends.

No kidding.

Yeah.

This is Marcy again and me.

Oh, doing a piggyback.

I'm giving her a piggyback ride.

That's very, and you look very happy with a body on your face turning back to the camera.

That's

fantastic.

These are not going on the internet.

No, well, they're

not

too.

She's obviously being modest.

She's trying to.

Well, yeah.

And there was nothing immodest about the club at all, really.

But I just, I don't want them to go on the internet because, well, frankly, I look like a dork.

I think you look cool, Dan.

Well,

maybe

now.

We did

find one of the snacks Dan likes that is an outdated snack called Sen Sen.

And Conrad, just put it up on the stream if you're watching on the stream.

Sen Sen, confection.

Oh, that just means sugar, right?

Sugary or sweets, probably.

You know, I don't know.

It just tastes like nothing has tasted since then.

Oh, that's too bad.

Is it like a mint

or something?

No, it's not minty at

all.

It's actually almost kind of tart and sour.

Everett from Sun Prairie, Texas at St.

Saint's, and the lilac flavored candy.

Kind of weird, but I kind of liked it.

Yeah, it is kind of weird.

And thank you for texting that in.

I appreciate it.

That's...

Yeah, I don't get the...

The packaging is not great.

I understand it's very old, but like you got it's like a toffee fairy or something like something that's technically a candy, but I would never want to eat It's like eating candy flavored charcoal

Okay You know that's fair.

It was very different and but Does anybody listening know if they still make that I'd be curious and

where can you get

it?

Conrad

is I'm with a Google?

I am looking on you know on Google and these packages that I'm looking at are seem really old

Conrad likes to look at packages on Google Promo, baby

You know you can buy actually you can buy sense and a brand new box 12 pack on eBay for $500 Oh, so it's like been sitting around What's like how many chemicals are

in it to keep it fresh

if you want an old vintage roll of it?

It's a hundred bucks.

Gee, that is crazy.

I don't want it.

I don't want it

that bad

There's like in a tic-tac container that one's still 30 bucks Okay, that one I

would go for I

don't know man

Hey, we've got, all right, I've got one more question for you, Dan, regarding the popcorn pick of the week.

When it comes to snacks, you watch movies at home.

I assume that's the safest place to have a cocktail.

Do you have a favorite cocktail?

I grew up drinking 7-7s.

Oh, yeah.

But I... It's a big Wisconsin drink.

But I also like Harvey Wabangers.

What's in a Harvey Wahlbanger?

It's a screwdriver with galley on all the core.

Okay.

It's really good.

Very tasty.

Yeah, I remember that.

That is very sweet.

But rum, what is it?

Rum chaka?

Is it something like that now?

Rum chada.

Rum chada.

Yes, thank you.

Wow.

I have a big bottle of that in the fridge.

That's delicious.

It's kind of like Baileys.

Oh, nice.

Okay.

Yeah, so that's a good

one.

Yeah, and I do like beer.

I like Patosi beer.

I like my favorite beer is Schlitz.

Oh my, my uncle used to be a salesman for Schlitz

like in

the 70s and 80s.

Yep.

And I grew up with Schlitz all over the place.

Yeah.

Is it a good beer?

It wasn't.

Okay.

In the 70s, that was my college beer.

Okay.

And but then they changed the formula and

they lost a lot of the market.

But then about 2000 or so, they went back to the original formula and now I'm back drinking it.

That's fantastic.

Yeah.

So they did like a new Coke thing.

They switched the formula.

Yes.

All right.

We are almost out of time in this segment.

So we've got to get Dan's popcorn pick of the week.

I'm going to ask you one more quick question.

Do you

ever sneak booze into a theater?

No, I never have.

Never have.

No.

Okay.

Nope.

Good for you, Dan.

Dan's a good citizen, Conrad.

We need more upstanding members of society to be on this show.

We've got Dan and Emerson on the same night.

Based on that one question.

I mean, he's got a lot of Playboy Playmate stories and

stories and

pictures.

Stories and pictures.

We were going to believe you.

You didn't have to bring the photos.

I mean, I would have believed you.

Well, aren't you glad I did?

All right.

It is time to get Dan Marcus, Morning Show host here at GBW, Popcorn Pick of the Week.

Conrad, if you please.

Let's go with Butch Cassidy and Sundance.

Oh, that's

a great one.

Butch and Sundance.

Can you ever get tired of that movie?

I gave that, here's, you know what's funny?

I gave that a rewatch about, I don't know, four years ago

maybe.

I'm like, is this as good as I remember it?

Cause my older cousins would watch it and stuff like that.

So I watched it.

And what did you think?

I liked it.

There is that weird scene where they play raindrops keep falling on my head in the middle of the movie.

And I'm like, what is that?

Like it just kind of doesn't fit, but I still liked it.

It was just

weird.

The reason it doesn't fit is that movie doesn't have a soundtrack.

There are three songs in the entire movie.

Okay.

And so that kind of comes out of nowhere.

And it's like Paul Newman riding around on a horse and they just played this.

Like Conway twos.

I can't even remember who sings that was BJ Thomas BJ Thomas.

Yeah, and I love the song Yeah, and I was like, well, this is kind of a departure for the rest of the movie But that's a great pick Dan Marcus popcorn pick

of the week for

having me be Schwabba and nightlight the popcorn pick of the week is butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid ladies and gentlemen.

We're coming right back

Pete and I are enjoying one more Friday night of summer with our family and friends and we'll be back live Monday with a brand new week of Nightlight.

But in the meantime, here is a show featuring WGBW's new host Dan Marcus, Laura McKenna and Eric Westphal.

Hope you enjoy and have a great

weekend.

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, oh, 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 Menominee, 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,

yeah.

It's huge.

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

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.

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 nice that you have a working relationship already.

You guys already knew each other.

You all obviously love oldies.

So that's exciting.

Tell us, first of all, I have to, 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 this would have been an Appleton.

I guess I grew up over in Greenville 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 had a limited, like Marinette has the pine tree mall.

It's still there.

but it's not like as exotic as like 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.

That's how

he described, like a 12 year old

is gonna

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.

Maybe back off on that.

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 wearing all your

chest

chest King clothes No,

you had to 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 chest King was a little bit too fast It was very

80s.

That's true.

All 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 in here in Green Bay.

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

She was

in the

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

So she was on a different station, but we're the same company.

And they decided to make some

changes, you know, as radio companies do.

And it's interesting, you know, 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 know, you are a live night guy.

There's

no

night guys anymore.

That's

going away.

Yeah.

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

Okay, I can understand that sort

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

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.

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.

Eric Westfall is my guest.

You can hear him afternoons here at WGBW play in 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 two to five a.m.

So I show up at 1.30 and the other guy that was there from like 10 to two, 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, you know, took care of that.

In each market, so here

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 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, 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 of times, but nothing

really.

But I was a theater.

Person and so I like the performing aspect of it.

Yeah, I've got 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 decided, 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 Milwaukee and Gateway Technical College in Kenosha.

So I drove three days a week from Milwaukee to Kenosha taking classes there to get that associate's degree.

I already had a lot of credits transfer over, but you know, get that internship and all those things that are how you get 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 interned on the country station there at the time.

I'm 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 music.

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.

Yeah, 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 Stephen'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

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.

Look at

this marching band now.

Oh, they must have 30

kids out there.

And you're like, 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 sound to it.

It's almost like a homogenization sort of.

I like when they genre mix.

I think that's cool, but just pure new country.

Give me the old stuff.

And if it's on too long, I'm just like, we gotta change this up.

Cause they never really rock.

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

Yeah.

No,

I

know what you

mean.

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 seventies, early eighties, when it first became a format, that's what my parents listened to.

Cause obviously it was the music of them before that.

It was country.

Back

when it was

country and western.

And, you know, Willie Nelson and all those.

And then

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 and a good tempo.

And yeah, I'm usually pretty

happy.

I love that.

I just noticed, excuse me one second.

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

Yeah.

All

right.

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

I thought that's how I said it, but 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 in fine.

Can they be eligible or?

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

Thank you for the legal advice Conrad.

Does he have a great voice or what?

Like Eric should just be like, did you, 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.

Okay.

I completely forgot.

So I went to Hortonville High School.

Go Polar Bears, class of 92.

And our, 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 like 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, you know, 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.

Sweet.

So you're like, okay, 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 to this career.

All right, Eric Westfall is here, folks.

He is the afternoon on air 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.

you

Welcome back.

Happy Friday, everybody.

This is Pete Schwabba, and you've got Night Light 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 music land Conrad said Best Buy Because he hadn't

been there since this

morning.

Yes, and then he changed his answer to blockbuster.

Do you have one Eric?

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 Lormons and Marinette had that too.

They had, I love those stores where they were like, they had stereos, men's clothes.

Food.

Even Kmart.

Even Kmart.

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.

New

music, but then also nicer stereo

stuff.

Nice.

That's a great one.

Thank you, Everett.

Here we've got 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 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.

Just 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.

Oh, that's, I'm sorry to hear that.

He really squeezed us into his schedule here, Conrad.

I took the whole evening off for 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-air parts.

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 and me.

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 in the studio and you're

making

and

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 gotta kind of catch myself and oh yeah, you know, make sure this is interesting.

At the very least, 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 or 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?

Could 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.

So, marketing and all that stuff show 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 show.

I'll even.

I applied at the Green Bay Botanical Garden.

Oh,

nice.

To be their membership and development coordinator.

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

I came close, but something like that,

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.

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

I think I could work in a museum.

Yeah.

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

Yeah.

No, I

don't

know.

What about you,

Con?

I mean, a museum would be cool.

Yeah.

You could be like Ross from French.

Yeah.