The Rise of Bucky Badger (Hour 1)

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Broadcasting live from the Civic Media Studios in Green Bay, this is Night Light with Peach Wabba.

Your inside source on everything entertainment from Wisconsin to Hollywood.

A guy who appreciates a nice hot meal at a fair price.

Pete Schwabba.

Welcome to Night Light, ladies and gentlemen.

It is finally Monday, folks, and we are here to talk about the things in life that make us happy, like TV and movies and comedy and song and dancing.

Right, Aaron Zamers?

All of those beautiful things that make life worth living.

That is the voice of my good pal Aaron Zommers who is filling in tonight for the K-man Conrad is in Florida for a week now and Week in a day Aaron he left us here in Wisconsin in the pretty mild weather for the most part, but yeah, he's not coming back for a while He's gonna be soaking up those rays

that man likes to get around on vacation and you know what good for him

Absolutely.

I was like, wait, you're going to be gone when?

And then I look, I'm like, oh, I got all these vacation days I got to use too.

But I don't, I've kind of said this before on the show.

I don't know what to do with myself when I'm on vacation or even on weekends.

So I like having a place to go.

Um, and I don't know, I think I just function better when I, when I'm working.

Does that make sense?

I do too.

Honestly.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's well.

I appreciate you filling in buddy.

It's great to work with you as always Usually it's when I'm in Madison, but I appreciate you doing this long distance.

I'm in the studio here in Green Bay holding down the fort It's a gorgeous night here on Washington Street And Aaron is what are you looking at temperature wise there Aaron?

What are we looking

at?

I think it's in like the 50s.

It was a lot colder for a few days

Last week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, we're all like 30, 34, maybe, but now

we're

in high 40s, low 50s.

That's not too bad.

I mean, right?

For late November?

Not bad at all, no.

I'll take that in a heartbeat.

That's fantastic.

So we'll do, did you have a good weekend?

I did.

What did I do?

I mostly just hung around at home, worked on some projects for work.

with something that we're going to talk about later, most likely with board games.

Listen, I'm so excited because we just one of our questions of the night.

I think it was probably last week was about board games and what we asked people what their favorite board games were.

And you just happened to be.

Was it a board game night or like some kind of?

Yeah, I

hang out with friends and play board games every other week ish.

And I

didn't

realize that was one of your questions, but I recorded asking my friends.

the same question, like, what's your favorite board or card game and why do you like it?

Dude, I love that.

So what is your favorite board game?

Oh, I asked other people because it's hard for me to pick.

There's

so many,

like, but I mean, if I had to pick one, like my favorite card game is definitely Magic the Gathering, but that's, you know, that's a whole can of worms.

It's not something that's super easy for people to get into.

So I mean, it can be, but it's.

There's a higher barrier to entry a lot more rules to learn so if I was gonna pick a self-contained board game You can just pick it up and play it.

I would probably pick I guess wingspan.

Have you ever played that one?

No You have a mostly played

the classics.

I don't know some of the newer

ones wingspan is basically Competitive bird watching the game which is a lot more fun than it sounds if you're not into bird watching

It's a

beautiful game a lot of gorgeous bird art

And you basically try to lay different eggs and get birds with different powers and build up your collection of birds and get more points than everybody else.

See, OK, I mostly know the classics.

And sometimes I'm fascinated because when I play poker with some guys, I like the typical games.

Whenever there's a guy that tries to describe a new game.

In this day and age with phones, it's like in 30 seconds, you can see people's eyes glassing over.

So I don't know how you, you take time to describe something like that.

Like you have to be a serious fan of games to want to learn something which sounds kind of complicated.

Yeah.

It's the thing about wingspan in particular is that it sounds complicated and it looks complicated when you open it up and everyone has their own board and there's all these different cards.

But once you play it, it actually is very simple to figure out.

Okay.

Well, that's cool.

All right.

Well, we're gonna play Aaron was nice enough to ask some of his fellow game.

Are they gamers if they're board gamers or is that only applied to video games?

That works.

I think that works for board games, too.

Gamers, right?

Okay, cool.

So we'll do that.

He put some audio together.

We're gonna hear that later in the show.

A really fun show here tonight, folks.

I'm almost sorry Conrad is on vacation because he is gonna miss an absolute blast tonight.

We have some great guests.

Grant Fenster is going to be here.

He's one of the producers of the new documentary, Bucky, which will debut December 2nd on PBS Wisconsin.

And it's about the Bucky, the mascot of UW-Madison.

So there's this whole history.

He put this whole film together.

Charlie Barron's is the narrator.

So it's gonna be really fun.

I'm really looking forward to talking to him.

He's done some great work Grant has and we'll talk about his new documentary Bucky at 535.

That's a nice homegrown story here for us.

And then in the second hour, our buddy Paul Vandenplatz will be here.

Paul is taking off in social media circles.

He created a platform called Wonderfully Wisconsin and he travels around our state.

And he finds places that have good food or great scenery or something like that.

And if you want to be proud to be a Wisconsinite, uh, Paul is the guy and you should definitely give him a follow on wonderfully Wisconsin because he's really good and very talented at what he does.

So Paul will be here.

He's been here several times before.

He's also Aaron.

I don't know if you're, do you like hamburgers?

I do.

Okay.

Kind of a silly question who doesn't, but you might be a vegan or a vegetarian.

Um, but Paul is, uh,

Compiling a list of the top, I think it's the top 100 hamburgers in Wisconsin.

I mean, I

remember hearing about that and I had a discussion about it with who did I all talk to?

I don't remember exactly, but you know, how do you go about that?

That's a lot of hamburgers.

You know, at this point, Zomers, I'm just guessing he's probably like, why didn't I just do the top 10?

Because 100 places like.

Think of the gas money he's burning, all the different places he's going to around the state to find the best hamburger.

And he was in Marinette at a place we have called Mickey Luz.

It's like an old style diner.

It's just a great little place with a ton of charm, a ton of retro charm.

And so anyway, Paul will be here.

We'll talk to Paul and some wonderfully Wisconsin in hour number two.

And then this is exciting.

And this is a great time to mention we have this really fun screening coming up.

here next week, December 4th.

The Godfather of Green Bay, a film I made about 20 years ago, will be screening at the Atwood Music Hall, a beautiful facility on December 4th.

That's a Thursday.

Doors open at 6.

The show starts at 7.

Sponsored by Downerans Distilling, great company right there in the Madison area.

Also sponsored by the John and Gordy Morning Show on WMBX here at Civic Media.

It's going to be great.

Like I said, doors open at six, shows at seven.

Oh, and this is cool, too, folks.

Not most of the proceeds.

A portion of the proceeds, I should say.

Go to the Dane County Humane Society.

So it's for a good cause.

It's going to be a really fun night.

The film is a comedy that stars Tony Goldman, Lauren Holly, Lance Barber, Tom Lennon, me, Eric Price, Rob Martin, Steve Seger, and Mike Segel.

All these guys you've heard on Nightlight before.

Tracy Thorpe is this phenomenal actor we found in Chicago.

And we're going to talk to Tom Lennon at 7.35 tonight.

He is in the cast.

Many of you might know Tom from Reno 911.

He plays Lieutenant Jim Dangle, and he created the show, and he is one of the stars of the show.

And I don't know if you know this, Aaron.

Tom is accomplished of an actor as he is.

He's equally or maybe even more so prolific as a writer.

Like he wrote Night at the Museum, The Pacifier, all these great movies, Balls of Fury, Hell Baby.

And in addition to the TV shows, he's also as an actor.

He was on the Odd Couple reboot with Matthew Perry.

The two of them were the lead actors, so Tom has had just an amazing career.

And he is a Wisconsinite now.

He makes his home with his wife and family in Lake Geneva.

So Tom will join us at 7.35 tonight.

We'll talk about The Godfather of Green Bay a little bit.

and hear from Tom a little bit about his experience.

We shot up in Marinette, which is an hour north of where I am right now, and brought all these great actors to my little hometown of Marinette.

It was an absolute blast.

It's a feel good, fun comedy.

So hopefully you can join us out at the Atwood Music Hall on December 4th.

Should be a really fun night.

You going to be there, Aaron?

I am going to be there.

All right.

So there you go.

You get to meet Aaron Zommers, Conrad Kriegel.

For whatever

that's worth.

Listen, that's a dollar the ticket should go into your pocket for making an appearance.

I can't promise that's gonna happen, but I do appreciate it heading out there.

Conrad Krieger will be there getting sound bites and taking pictures and that kind of stuff.

So you can be Conrad.

I know you can put... How many people do you think are curious?

Because Conrad is kind of behind the scenes, right?

He's sort of a man without a face to some.

I think, you know, he still does have a face because of the stream, but he does not always have his camera on.

And I've had definitely, not that I go out and meet the people all that often, but the few times that I have met people who are listeners of the show, they're usually surprised how tall I am.

I'm six-two, which, you know, not that tall, but tall enough.

I would have thought tall enough.

I gotta

be

honest.

You're only six-two?

Yeah, I'm six-two.

Can you dunk?

No, most definitely not.

So there you go.

That's the show folks and tonight.

I think do we have time to do the question of the night?

I think we do right

um I Think we could do it after

the

break to either way, but I don't have the music up right now.

So

Well, let's just do it and then if we come back after the break, you know, I want to play the music.

I got it.

I got

it.

Let's

go.

Oh Fantastic Aaron Zahmers in the house ladies and gentlemen is time for the night like question of the night.

Let's talk about the question question

Question.

Question.

Pregunta.

Question.

Question.

Here, I have a question.

Questions.

This question.

Domanda.

Question.

Question.

Questions.

All right.

The big day is right around the corner, folks.

Thanksgiving is three days away.

I'm excited.

On some level, it's my favorite holiday.

It's up there with Christmas, but either way, we are going to put away a few calories in a few days.

So my question of the night to you is what is your favorite Thanksgiving side?

We all like the turkey.

But to be honest, the turkey kind of has less taste than the sides.

Turkey's kind of boring, unless you load it up with gravy, salt, whatever.

But I'm going to say mashed potatoes.

I love mashed potatoes with melted butter, especially the way my mom makes them.

So that is my favorite Thanksgiving side.

But I want to know yours, 855-752-4842, 855-75 Civic.

You can also text us on the app, the Civic Media app, folks.

Very easy to use, very easy to download.

I highly recommend it.

And if you're watching the radio on YouTube, Facebook, or X, you can leave us a stream comment too.

Either way, get ahold of us, be part of the show, we'll read it on the radio.

What is your favorite Thanksgiving side?

Mr. Zomers, what do you say?

It's not going to make for the most interesting discussion in the world, but I'm going to have to agree with you and say that mashed potatoes are the best.

They just are.

Again, there's something about, especially if, you know,

One of your parents is really good at making mashed potatoes.

My mom's

mashed potatoes are so creamy.

She adds a lot of milk and butter, and it is delicious.

You almost don't even need the potato at that point when you have that much milk and butter.

Yeah, it just starts to hold the butter and milk together.

That's really all you need.

That's right.

I was kind of going back and forth because I love good stuffing as well.

I love a good dressing with the potatoes.

Honestly, I almost don't need the turkey.

All right, we are coming right back, folks, and I'm going to tell you why you should not make your bed first thing in the morning.

It's Pete Schwabba and Nightlight.

Text us.

Answer the question.

Be part of the show.

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Visit civicmedia.us slash email to get started.

That is awesome.

That's the

Baudin's, buddy.

Good pull.

Well, yeah, I haven't seen your film, The Godfather of Green Bay yet, but I looked up the soundtrack and saw that there's a bunch of Baudin's in it.

Yeah, Kurt Newman wrote a great score, and I was blown away because he had never written a score before, so he said.

But they've had their music in other movies.

One of their songs, Closer to Free, was the party of five theme song.

And then they had, I think it was still the night was in the color of money with Paul Newman and Tom Cruise.

So their music is well represented in movies, but it was great of Kurt to give us some songs to use because music is so expensive when you make an independent film.

It really is.

Yeah.

So that was a huge help.

And unfortunately, I could not get Kurt to this event on December 4th.

because of his touring schedule, but I would have loved to have had him there playing some music and Just sort of you know be part of the evening.

So this is Pete Schwab and nightly great to have you with me folks It's a Monday a short week here.

I'm on tomorrow night and tonight Aaron Zomers is riding with me while Khan is on vacation Then we are off but still have great shows lined up specially put together shows Wednesday Thursday Friday, so

You can still be hopefully entertained and then we'll be back live on Monday.

But in the meantime, let me please try to entertain you and entertain me.

I love your texts, folks.

Our question of the night is, what is your favorite Thanksgiving side?

And, you know, Zomers and I both said mashed potatoes with butter, melted butter.

You can't beat that.

But I also thought of one Zomers, pumpkin bread.

I love my mom's pumpkin bread.

Have you ever had pumpkin bread?

I don't know if I have.

Oh,

I have, but

not in a long time.

Just because I have, with baked goods, I often play it safe, having nut allergies.

And a lot of times people like to pair pumpkin stuff with pecans.

Okay.

Oh, wow.

Okay.

Well, that's pretty cool.

And you got to be careful.

You know, like my sister's gluten-free.

She's making the meal this year just because of that, because she wants to be able to see what goes in.

And I totally don't blame her.

Like, if you have...

you know, ciliacs or even like a nut allergy can be deadly, right?

Have you ever had a reaction like that?

I have.

I've only had to use my EpiPen once, and it was very weird.

My leg

just

kept twitching for a while, but hey, I lived, so.

There you go.

Hey, folks, just a quick reminder.

Giving Tuesday is right around the corner here.

It's December 2nd.

It is a global movement celebrating the power of generosity, a reminder.

that every act of giving matters.

Civic media believes this day is special, impactful, and essential.

Our stations across the state will be highlighting and raising money for local organizations, making a real difference.

Be listening on December 2nd to learn how you can support your community on Giving Tuesday.

That is a week from tomorrow, so that's exciting.

Be sure to tune in then, folks.

This is interesting.

I saw this today.

Have you ever heard people say you should make your bed right when you get out?

of bed in the morning.

Like that's the way to start your day and get things.

And a lot of people said that can affect your whole day.

So start off with something where you take control and something small like even making your bed.

Have you ever heard that?

I have heard that, but I don't always do that.

I don't always do it either.

There's some days I don't even make my bed.

So then I'll just pull the covers up and still crawl in like I made it, like I'm fooling myself.

But I saw this today.

It said, don't make your bed first thing in the morning because you shouldn't.

At least as soon as you wake up when you sleep your body gives off heat and sweat that soaks into your bedding So if you make the bed right away like a lot of people do maybe a lot of military people I think that's the thing.

I know it is with my dad They say you seal in all that grossness So you're supposed to let your bed air out for 30 to 60 minutes before making it that seems excessive

Maybe but I don't know

Maybe you just don't sweat as much as the average sleeper, or maybe I sweat a lot more than the average sleeper.

I don't know.

Maybe I don't care because it's my sweat, right?

I mean, I guarantee you, if I don't make my bed right away, I'm not going in.

The next time I go in there is probably going to be midnight when I'm going to bed.

I guess

for me, I

usually do leave the covers open a bit.

So I guess maybe I've been unintentionally following this advice and I'll go eat breakfast and all that good stuff and shower.

And then when I come back into my room to get dressed, then I'll flop the covers back over.

when

I make my bed.

There you go.

You and I were talking about this earlier, AZ.

The Slender Man stabber was captured after a nationwide manhunt.

She wasn't gone.

She didn't escape for that long.

But I didn't know there was a manhunt underway, did you?

I

did just because this weekend one of my roommates saw the story and was all over it and kept giving us updates.

And for those of you listening who

might not remember what exactly happened.

Several years ago, there were a couple of middle schoolers who went together to try to kill one of their friends in the woods to appease the made-up entity, the Slender Man, who was just a spooky made-up ghost story, basically.

Luckily, they did not succeed, and this girl got medical help, and then these individuals ended up in jail.

Now, one of them's out, was living in a group home.

And got out

over the weekend in Madison right right in Madison and took off and was caught in Illinois didn't make it very far But that is a miracle that the girl lived.

Yeah, she was stabbed 20 times I think oh my god, it's terrible so and this you know this perpetrator of the crime sounds like she's in the perfect Atmosphere where she should be but how do you get away from something like that?

That's what I don't know

and how

I don't know.

Yeah.

How do you get away from something like that?

Just remove your ankle monitor and people not figure it out and track you down.

I don't know.

I don't know how you get one of those off anyway, but I guess I've never had to wear one.

So, and I should be thankful for that.

Industrial grade scissors.

But you cut it off and then you've still got to escape the facility, right?

Like that's serious.

I don't know.

It's like escape from Alcatraz.

Anyway.

All right.

We're going to read some text.

When we come back, folks, we're going to talk about the new.

documentary, Bucky, that you can see on PBS December 2nd.

We're going to be talking with producer, Grant Fenster, that is coming up next on Nightlight with Beachwaba on the Civic Media Radio

Network.

Well done.

Very well done, Mr. Zomers.

You know, I almost said peas, just to be different.

This is side, like is my favorite side for Thanksgiving.

This is Peach Wabba in Night Light.

Great to have you with me, folks, on this Monday night.

Aaron Zommer is filling in for Conrad Krieger, who is vacationing in beautiful sunny Florida.

I hope he sends pictures.

So there you go.

Do you have a second favorite side?

Ooh, I mean my favorite thing to do with the sides honestly is to combine them I know some people are very staunch food separationists But I am not of that opinion.

I feel okay You set up a meal where all the sides taste good together.

I want to eat them together So I'll like take a roll put some mashed potatoes on it add a little bit of corn to that Maybe a piece

of turkey or ham

some gravy and eat it as a little sandwich

So I really like, you know, I like the combinations, but I would probably say that stuffing might be the next favorite just because, you know, you only really get to eat it on Thanksgiving and right after.

Right.

Nobody ever makes stuffing throughout the year.

Like you'll have potatoes throughout the year.

You'll have peas, maybe even pumpkin bread for like.

Morning and turkey and a sandwich, but nobody I don't think people just don't eat stuffing Certainly doesn't seem that

way.

No

I Never sit down with a big plate of stuffing when I'm watching a game or something.

I

think maybe we should

change that wish we should start a campaign

a little stuffing party with our board games

All right, folks, that's our question of the night is, what is your favorite Thanksgiving side?

Let me know at 855-752-4842-855-75 civic.

Be part of the show, and I will read your text on the radio.

You can also text us on the app or on the stream.

If you're watching the radio on YouTube, Facebook, or X, X Twitter, whatever they call it.

Fun night tonight glad you're here.

Tom Lennon will be here Tom played Jim dangle on Reno 911 and he wrote movies like the pacifier Night at the museum and he was also in the godfather of Green Bay, which I wrote and directed and that we will be showing December 4th at the outward music hall Tom is gonna drop by tell us a little bit about his experience on the movie It was sure fun having him a part of it.

He is a comedic an actual comedic genius So that'll be fun and then Paul Vanden plus from wonderfully, Wisconsin will be here in the hour number two

Paul has this great platform where he celebrates Wisconsin with food and scenery and iconic places that he visits and does such a great job.

We love having him on the show.

But right now, it is my pleasure to welcome a very talented producer.

He is one of the creative minds behind the new documentary, Bucky, which tells the story of the Wisconsin mascot, Mr. Grant Fenster.

Hi, Grant.

How are you?

I'm doing great, Peter.

How are you doing, man?

Doing very well.

It's great to have you here tonight and congrats on the documentary.

That's a big accomplishment.

Anytime you can finish a film, that's something to be said for that.

Yeah, that helps.

Absolutely.

Do you have a favorite Thanksgiving side, Grant, before we move

on?

Oh, my wife's sweet potato dish.

It's

like

mashed sweet potatoes with like oatmeal and brown sugar and marshmallows on top of the dessert.

Oh my gosh.

Yeah.

I'm literally salivating right now.

That sounds great.

So it's good to meet you.

Why don't we just jump right in, Grant?

Tell us a little bit about, I mean, the title kind of speaks for itself, and it's one of those movies that lends itself to a one-line logline.

But take us a little deeper.

Tell us about the documentary and how it came to be.

Sure, yeah, Bucky.

I mean, that name says it all in Wisconsin.

You know, he's the symbol of our state.

Obviously, the mascot for the sports teams.

But I think what's great about Bucky is he kind of embodies.

you know, what Wisconsin's about.

And so, you know, we got the idea to do a doc on Bucky.

It was just, you know, we're always looking for Wisconsin stories for PBS Wisconsin.

And

looking

around, I just, you know, I'm from Wisconsin, like Bucky has always been a part of my life, but then you try to generate ideas and just like.

when you start looking around like his face is everywhere like even on the horse radish jar at the grocery store so we thought hey let's uh let's dig into his past see what's there and see if we can give it that

historic PBS look, but then also kind of captures some of the fun cultural stuff with Bucky as well.

So that's what we try to do is dig into his past and how he's tied to state identity from, you know, even why we are the Badgers to begin with, why Wisconsin is the Badger state and how it had formed into Bucky as the symbol of all

that.

Was there an era grant as to or a time period when Bucky

actually became iconic, like I know that he's been around longer than I think the beaver or not the beaver, the badger was our state animal or state mascot or whatever you want to call it.

When did Bucky become the iconic Bucky, if you will?

Yeah, the past gets a little sticky because you think it's going to be just this one roaring thing that's going to bring him on the scene, but it's kind of a collective group of things that

will grow.

So the first like Bucky drawing that we know of Bucky was drawn in 1940 and then that showed up on an athletics department publication in 48 and then two UW students originally from the Sheboygan area decided to bring Bucky to life and then turned him into the mascot and then it just grew from there and 70s and 80s I think you know with

We have to dig through a bunch of old newspapers and stuff to find all this information on them.

That's when you really started seeing him on merchandising.

And people are selling Badger and Bucking t-shirts in the newspaper.

And then obviously, when we hit the 90s and then that first 94 rolls bowl, that's when I went to the stratosphere.

Oh, that's great.

You say in the trailer I was watching, you call Bucky a symbol of hope and pride and an example of what the state is all about.

Can you elaborate on that?

Sure, yeah.

Bucky's, you know, his personality, I mean, obviously he's quiet.

He doesn't say much, but

what is it he just to clarify?

I, well, there's been female Bucky's, but I think, you know, it's a

It's a made-up character.

I think he is fine.

We know of at least three women that have portrayed Bucky, and that we're part of the Bucky team, which is exciting.

We actually interviewed one in the doc, Roseanne Donovan.

So we're excited to have her, and then she'll be with us live when we do this on December 2nd, when we air it for our pledge night.

So I'm going to share some stories with us.

But yeah, he's Bucky.

is he's whimsical.

He's fun loving.

He works hard.

He just has all these kind of like quintessential Wisconsin lunch pail qualities, you know, and he's reflective of the sports teams, the same kind of thing.

It's not flashy, but it's getting the job done.

And I think it's just really indicative of Wisconsin.

So let's talk about that.

You said some women have been bucky.

Some men, it sounds like there have been more than one periodically or during.

What are the qualifications like if I want it to be Bucky?

Do I have to be a student at Madison?

Do I just have to have a great personality or be able to do pushups after a touchdown?

Like what are the records?

requirements.

So

all of those.

So you have to be a student

at UW.

They hold a tryouts in April and the Bucky team.

So it's they usually have between six and eight kids or students that portray Bucky Badger.

So they're a team and then they switch who's going to be the mascot at any given time.

And that falls under the spirit squad director.

So Josette Haushen, she's in charge of the cheerleaders, the dance team, and then the Bucky Badger team.

So in April, she holds

for Bucky at the Field House, and then a bunch of Bucky, former Bucky's Bucky alum that are still in the area to come out and help her do the judging.

So they do like a push-up station, they do an elevator where the trillers pick you up and then after they lift you up in the air, they do an improv thing with props where you have to take a prop and you can't use it for its intended use.

So like, say there's a broom, you can't

start sweeping with it.

You can play it like a guitar, that kind of thing.

You want to see how you can improv.

And then there's a dancing section.

Since Bucky's got so many dance moves, they'll have some music on and they'll put that through and they do that the first night and then they kind of went down from there and then they

do another round of interviews and then even skating because they always want to have hockey that can skate so that way they can do the women's and men's hockey games.

So yeah,

so then they pick them in April and then start training them over the summer and then by the fall it's all go.

I absolutely love this.

My guest is Grant Fenster.

He is one of the producers and creative minds behind the documentary Bucky.

Which tells the story of the Wisconsin mascot you can check this out December 2nd on PBS Wisconsin Grant it's nice to be speaking to a fellow PBS Wisconsinite I've been hosting there for several years now

and

it's always nice to meet my PBS Wisconsin brethren because I blow into town do my stuff and get out

so I never

get to put a face with anybody so it is great to have you here What if I wanted to be Bucky and I crushed the audition and I'm a student

but I can only do one push-up.

Is that a problem?

Yeah,

you're probably out.

I

appreciate your honesty.

They

need Bucky to, like Bucky cannot fail at those push-ups at the football game, right?

So, and then just talking, you know, we interviewed some of the Buckeys that are on the Bucky team and they were saying, you know, ramping up through the summer, they try to do 100 push-ups a day, right?

So they're trying to.

be informed when they, you know, get to those football games.

And then there was a game against Indiana in 2010 where the Badgers won like

83

to like 17 or 20 or something like that.

And I don't know the exact math.

But it was like 570 some odd push ups that yeah, you don't know, you don't know what's gonna happen a little, little less this year, but they're ramping it back up.

So,

oh boy, I hope so.

So is this a big competition every year like when they do these tryouts?

Do they have to recruit people or is that not an issue at all?

Like you've got a hundreds of guys and girls showing up trying to be bucky.

How does that work?

There was about 50.

We filmed this last April at the tryouts.

There's about 50 UW students that showed up and Josette seemed pleased with that turnout.

So I think it kind of depends on the year and how they're giving the word out.

I think they're always actively trying to recruit because obviously you want the

the best kids on the team.

So yeah.

Yeah.

Um, is there like, if you were around all these people, do you notice the similarity in their personality types or are they, they all come from like a, you know, parkour background or are they good students?

Are there similarities or themes in the personality?

Yeah, the, I think that's fair.

Um, the, the Bucky team, they're very, I don't know how to describe it beyond they're just, they're just good kids.

Um, yeah.

they care about what they're doing, they're responsible.

Anytime we'd film with them, we'd go through Josette, their boss, and then they would take it over.

So like scheduling and where we needed to get them, you know, responding to emails, like she's training them beyond just being bucky.

It's just how to operate in the world, if you will.

And it's just, it's fun because, you know, so many times when you do documentaries, you got to interview the historian and the guy that wrote the book and you need that, you need those parts.

But a lot of times,

is that can be a little slower, right?

So then we interviewed a series of bakis from like the 70s, 80s and 90s in the dock.

And what was fun was that...

You know, I didn't expect that I should have thought about it, but it's obviously these people are extroverted, right?

So the interviews are just a ton of fun to sit down and and gab with them and one of the the Bucky's we interviewed from the late 70s was Mike Koval, who used to be the chief of police in Madison.

So

while

Madison Bucky was the chief of police in Madison.

Let me ask you this.

Okay.

So is it tough?

You've got Bucky.

You got this great brand.

You've got UW Madison.

And... Oh, Aaron, are we going to break Aaron already?

We got about 50 seconds.

Oh, okay.

All right, I'm going to let you soak this question in, Grant.

How you made this fresh?

Because it'd be probably easy just to tell the story of Bucky.

But as a filmmaker, how did you add things into it that would take it to another level?

Because that's always a challenge for any filmmaker.

So my guest is Grant Fenster.

He's one of the producers of Bucky, which you can see.

December 2nd on PBS Wisconsin, a fine outlet.

We're coming back to talk more with Grant after this.

It's Pete Schwabba and Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio Network.

You're listening to Civic Media.

Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website, civicmedia.us.

This is Night Light with Pete Schwabba, coming up later in the show folks.

Thomas Lennon will be here for Meno 9-1-1, and he was also in The Godfather of Green Bay, which we are screening next week.

On the fourth, he'll talk about his experiences with me directing him, even though he didn't really need any direction whatsoever.

And then Paul Vandenplatz from Wonderfully Wisconsin will be here at 635, a great platform that Paul created.

And he will make you proud to be a member of the Badger State, as will the film Bucky, a great documentary that you can check out December 2nd on PBS Wisconsin.

And joining me now on the stream is Grant Fenster, one of the producers of this really fun sounding documentary.

So, Grant, before the break, I ask you to...

What were your challenges other than just saying, here's Bucky, here's how it started.

Like, what did you do to try to keep it fun as a direct or as a producer, I should say?

Sure.

Yeah.

We wanted to obviously get into Bucky's history and go straight to the source as best as we could.

And then we also wanted to make sure we tapped into like, what is the heart of Bucky?

Why do we all love him and how is it kind of transcend generations?

So.

On the history end, we interviewed the son and the daughter of the student who decided to turn Bucky from a drawing into a mascot and then the daughter of the first Bucky badger.

And so the creator of Bucky, if you will.

Bill Soxie, his son did an audio interview with him in probably like 2003 and he has since passed away.

So we were able to use that audio in the documentary and we hear about how Bucky came to life, you know, from the first person.

And then as far as like getting to the heart of Bucky is stuff that Bucky does and represents.

we'll interview these Bucky's from different decades.

Again, 70s, 80s, 90s, current, and they all have a shared experience, right?

So it's like, as Bucky, they'll experience some of the same things.

So if it's like obviously being at sporting events and how exciting that is, but other stuff where the stuff that we usually don't see, it's like doing a visit at the children's hospital, right?

And like how important that is that a symbol that Bucky can be and, you know,

But every one of them to his teeth said that that was the best part about being bucky was doing that.

You know, obviously they're not talking, you know, from different generations, but they all landed on that same thing.

So it's, it's fun seeing that shared experience from their point of view.

That's pretty cool.

We have a text here on the stream.

I don't know if you can see it, brand from Terry Barr, who does kind of everything here at Civic Media, including writing great features.

And she says, I love this.

I created a slice of Wisconsin about bucky.

That's something Terry does here at the network.

She says,

One minute feature of this documentary is going to be amazing.

I agree, Terry.

We're

excited to share it.

We're excited to get it out there.

There's stuff with Bucky's past.

You hear different stories, but trying to drill down on what's what.

So we get behind where his name came from.

There's different stories about that, but from the guy who named him, we've got that story in the doc.

So there'll be some enlightening things about that, and then just hopefully make everyone proud to be a Badger.

Let's talk about that.

Like this was interesting.

I have it here in my notes somewhere.

It sounds like Bucky was the mascot before the badger was technically our state animal.

Did I get that right?

And if so, why or how did that happen?

Nope, that's actually not correct.

Okay.

It was the state animal.

So like why we are badgers, right, is because in the minor.

So like in the 1820s in Southwestern Wisconsin,

There were lead ore miners there, and they would dig into the ground, obviously burrow into the ground to get the lead ore.

And they were kind of basically transient.

So a lot of times they weren't building homes.

So they would live in the mine shafts, right?

So

they got coined the Badgers.

And then by 1848, we become a state.

And then on the state seal is the Badger on top of it.

So it's always been linked to Wisconsin.

And then the university, their first football team was in 1889.

And then shortly thereafter, they're known as the fighting Badgers right away.

And then the furthest back we can find a student from 1901 named.

Babe Lloyd Spencer, and he would bring live Badgers to football games.

So we have

it on

a leash, and we found photos of this guy.

He's from Evansville, Wisconsin, and he was a heck of a character.

He was basically the first mascot and then that continued into the 40s.

They'd randomly bring a Badger to Camp Randall, but it's not a domesticated animal by any stretch.

Sounds like a recipe for disaster.

Yeah, there were

some

incidents.

They ended up retiring him in 48 and then 49 is when the Bucky as we know him today.

The mascot obviously visually he's changed over the years because it was a paper mache head and they put it on a cheerleader and at that time it was just all male cheerleaders.

So the head of the cheerleader squad Bill Segal was the first Bucky badger.

So then he wore the

head.

They debuted at a pep rally for homecoming in 1949 and then camp around on the next day.

That is so great.

Grant, can we keep you for a few more minutes after the news?

Would you mind sticking around?

I want to close up on this.

Then I want to ask you about another really cool documentary you made about Supper Club.

So we'll do all that with our guest Grant Fenster, who is the producer of Bucky, which you can check out December 2nd on PBS Wisconsin, the history of the Wisconsin mascot.

It's narrated by

The one and only Charlie Barron sounds like just an absolute blast of a documentary and something to make you feel great about Wisconsin.

Our question of the night is, what is your favorite Thanksgiving side?

Melissa from the 608 says, all the desserts from Turkey Day are my favorite.

All right, that's a good answer, Melissa.

Thank you very much.

Tom in the 262 says strawberry rhubarb pie.

Oh, that's another.

I forgot about pie, Aaron.

I could have said pumpkin pie.

Yeah, you know, I guess I was thinking of desserts as separate from.

uh, size, but that was a mistake.

It was a dire

mistake.

All right.

Uh, Jim from Appleton and the nine two zero says cranberries.

Number one side, tart tangy, the perfect counter to all that turkey and clop.

And Brett from the nine two zero says my favorite Thanksgiving.

Uh, Trump's impeachment.

I mean stuffing.

All right.

Keep those texts coming folks.

We will read them on the radio.

We're coming back, uh, with more with Grant Fenster.

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