Winter Blues & Festive Tunes (Hour 1)

Broadcasting live statewide from the Civic Media Studios in Green Bay.

This is Night Light with Pete Schwabba, your inside source on everything entertainment from Wisconsin to Hollywood.

And now a guy who's had a paper route for 25 years but never collected, Pete Schwabba.

All right, welcome to Night Light, ladies and gentlemen.

We are live tonight from beautiful downtown Madison, just above State Street, doing the show from here, as we periodically do.

Conrad is back in Green Bay, holding down the fort.

And what a show we have here tonight.

Mr. Aaron Zahmer is assisting with all the technical and all the assistance we need when it comes to the cameras.

And did you ever think...

Conrad there would be this much work or Aaron for that matter and radio for pictures.

It's like we're on TV really

Yeah, I mean, it's it's great though because we get other outlets not just the radio.

So I think it's I think it's cool It

means you can you could get a few of the visual gags out there.

You can't fully rely on it I should have brought the rubber chicken

See if Gordy's got his ostrich puppet.

Oh my god.

Remember that does he keep that in the studio?

I don't know

I'm gonna find it.

If it's here, I'll find it, damn it.

Great to have you with me tonight, folks.

A really fun show on the agenda here this evening, as we always do.

Whether we're in Green Bay or Madison, or one of us is where, Aaron Zommers is nice enough to stick around for a few minutes.

As I mentioned, he just produced the John and Gordy show.

It was good to see those guys.

And are they tough on you, Aaron?

I'm actually,

I

can't really

talk

about that on the air.

Okay, save it.

That's good, we'll talk.

And then you and Conrad can exchange war stories, because I know I can be a real SOB too.

Yeah, there's some

stories I could tell you.

Conrad is an awkward laughter.

There's some

stories.

Tonight is a really fun show, folks.

And I, you know, Aaron, did you put a Christmas tree up this year?

A really little one.

One of

my roommates has a maybe foot.

to foot and a half tall Christmas tree that is decorated with Chicago Cubs stuff.

And we let him put that up because it's easy.

That's like barely a Christmas tree.

Oh, barely.

Yeah.

It just sits in the windowsill.

And that's really it.

See, I don't I don't know what to do because mine is

still up.

Con, did you get a new apartment?

You probably didn't put a tree up.

No, I never put a tree up.

Yeah, you never put a

tree up.

That's a spirit.

Since my

since my parents moved, I haven't had a tree in any of my places.

Is that in some kind of protest or what?

I just don't want to buy a tree.

I don't know.

You can hate the holidays.

It's okay Mine is still up and it's depressing.

I left yesterday And I came down here a day early because of weather and I know I'm not gonna get it down until next weekend And that's just gonna really bum me out.

It's it's hard enough to take down Christmas decorations And as always folks the phone lines the text line is open.

Let us know.

What do you think?

Do you keep your tree up?

There was a time I went through a period where I would keep it up through most of January Kind of in protest of winter like I wanted it to still seem like the holidays because I don't like January or February But then that got depressing So I got in the habit of just taking it down right away, but now I don't know It's gonna be up a solid two weeks

after Christmas and that's kind of depressing.

I know at my parents house We usually left it up for the whole month of January pretty much just because it we

The location of the tree required that we move a bunch of other furniture.

And so it was a huge pain in the butt, you know, pull

the giant

box upstairs because it was a huge tree.

Move all the

furniture to where it needs to go, get everything else cleaned up, get all the decorations out, decorate the tree.

You got people yelling at each other, screaming and throwing punches.

Not really for those last parts, but it was always an ordeal.

And so we would just leave it up and put off taking all that back down for as long as possible.

I think, see, that's the thing too, is you want to put your room back together.

And that's what I don't like right now.

We're still living in Christmas mode.

And you just got to make a clean break.

It's like a breakup.

Get it over with.

Don't drag it out.

Don't try to remain friends with Christmas.

Take the stuff down.

And that's what I'm dealing with when I go home.

So, but in the meantime, we got a show to do tonight.

I got some fun stuff to do tomorrow.

It is great to be in Madison, our beautiful state capital.

Yesterday at my hotel, guys, I'll appreciate this.

I was nobody there.

And I said, I go, it's kind of dead tonight.

They said, yeah, and I stay at this hotel a lot, and it's usually a jump in place.

So I thought, oh, this is awesome.

I'll go tomorrow.

I'll do the hot tub maybe, get a sauna, maybe a little workout or something.

I come back this afternoon.

There is a line for the elevator 100 feet long.

There's some kind of theater convention in town.

And I mean, the Thespians were packed in the lobby of the hotel.

I had to like...

It was like being at a concert.

It took me 15 minutes to get back up to my room.

And now I just know that that's going to be a hopeless cause.

I mean, if I go to the hot tub, they're going to be doing like Hamlet or something in the suds.

And I don't want that.

So it's just going to be me watching TV again.

You know, what's the deal?

No, it's not too bad.

I'll get through it Lots of stuff going on.

We've got news sports and weather folks coming up in just 20 minutes here at the bottom of the hour Can you saw this article?

I thought was interesting the first part of December or this was the darkest December in 21 years or something like that

Yeah, you know, I I really like the sites, you know the shepherd express they have some Like it's I believe it's in Milwaukee and they have some like news of the weird.

It's cold

Right.

I found this article.

It said, yeah, the first half of December was the darkest since 1934 for Stockholm, Sweden.

And it reported that there was like a half an hour of sunlight in the first like 15 days of December.

Oh my gosh.

That sounds terrible.

That is awful.

You know what?

Here's the silver lining, though.

We're already like two weeks past Christmas, almost.

And we're a solid two weeks past the shortest day of the year.

So even though it's January and we're in the dog days of winter, so to speak, it is going to start getting lighter sooner.

We get like 30 seconds of extra daylight a day, which isn't too

shabby.

I can feel it.

Yeah, can you?

It's, you know, vitamin

D. I can't wait till it's it's sunny at seven again.

You know, that's what I'm looking forward to.

Well, don't hold your breath.

We got a way to look at me building

us

up.

I'm trying to go positive and then I go back.

Don't get your hopes up, kid.

A lot of fun on tonight's show.

I am very excited because my good friend, Dr. Kristin Lierly, and I don't just say that about her because I seek free medical advice on a regular basis.

But it doesn't hurt.

No, it doesn't hurt.

I just, every once in a while, I look past the messages she sends me back saying, stop texting me.

But she will be here at 535 to discuss, well, a couple things.

She was in a very serious accident.

We'll ask her about that and see how she's doing.

And then we're going to ask her about the flu because the flu is like all over the place.

This is the worst flu year in 25 years.

Like 10% of all doctor visits deal with the flu.

And frankly, I read that on the CNN website.

I thought that was kind of low because everybody I know has the flu.

It seems like it should be like 50% or something.

But we'll talk to Dr. Lierly about that at 535.

And then Madison's own Mike Gamal will be here.

He's the founder of Joey's Song, a really cool event that takes place here in Madison every January.

And this year, it's become a music festival, the freezing man festival.

And he brings in artists from all over the world, some of the best in the industry.

They all play for free in order to raise money for epilepsy.

Mike has a great story.

I'm going to let him tell it when he gets here.

But the festival is just a couple of weeks away, and it's a really

I'm literally a rockin' time and it's like four days long now, so that's gonna be fun.

And then in hour number two at 6.35, Mike will be here in the studio, by the way, Conrad, so you won't get to meet him personally.

You know, I felt like I've met him personally, you know, just...

Feel like you know him?

Yeah, I feel like it, yeah.

Okay.

How about you, Aaron?

You ever meet Mike Amal?

I have not, no.

No?

Oh, this is gonna be... How long are you sticking around?

Well, I might have to stick around longer than I intended to.

No pressure.

Mike will be here.

And then Rob Thomas will be here at 635.

Also in the studio, Rob and I are going to talk about award shows, what movies are kicking butt during award season, which we are in the throes of.

The Critics Choice Awards just happened last weekend.

The Golden Globe Awards are coming up this weekend.

And then Oscar nominations are announced shortly after that.

So lots to discuss.

Rob has seen a lot of movies.

And he has reviewed a lot of movies.

And he is also the city cast Madison newsletter editor.

So we'll talk to Rob about some things going on in Madison too.

Then this is exciting.

All right.

The Bears and the Packers play again this weekend.

It's the rubber match.

The third time they will have met this year.

They're one and one.

And I've

mentioned before on this show that I am a bear fan living in Wisconsin.

I moved here in junior high up to northern Wisconsin where you think Packer fans are intense all over the state and they are, but I would say within an hour radius, especially in small towns of Green Bay, they are literally fanatical.

And I experienced this firsthand in junior high and it scarred me.

But I've gotten over it.

Some of my best friends are Packer fans.

But Jim McHugh, on the other hand, is a comedian living in Chicago, and he is a serious Packer fan.

So we talked to Jim a little bit about this a couple weeks ago, but we're going to have him back on and have just a quick fun discussion at 7.35 about the upcoming game.

And it'll give him and Conrad a chance to gang up on me.

So that'll be exciting.

That's in hour number three, some Bear Packer talk.

We'll do that as we get closer to the game here this weekend.

We'll try to work in some Bears Packer stuff.

The other news I thought was interesting, and I can ask Dr. Lierly about this as well, Ozympic, you

guys

know what Ozympic is?

Yeah.

Yeah, the injectable drug to help control weight loss and people for diabetes, people use it to help with diabetes.

Correct.

What

Charlie?

It is

now,

yeah, go ahead, Con.

I was saying what Charles Barkley uses.

Does he really?

I saw an ad today that he was, yeah, he was trying to sell it for this company.

He's like...

You want to lose

weight?

Go on this.

Everybody.

I mean, it's become like Tylenol or something.

Everybody uses it.

And now it is available in pill form.

The only problem is the pill is really big and it tastes like a pizza.

So that should be interesting.

We'll ask Dr. Liarley about that.

Really, guys?

Nothing for the pizza joke?

I thought you were serious.

Sorry.

I figured it's a really big thing I was with you.

And then you said, but it tastes like a pizza.

And then I just got thinking about different pizza flavored foods.

Like, is it more like a real pizza?

Is it more like pizza Pringles or pizza combos?

That's where

my mind

went.

Papa John's?

I just got you thinking about pizza.

That's fair.

So we'll talk to Dr. Lierly about that too.

I know a lot of people have taken Osempic and a lot of people you don't, you think wouldn't even really need it.

Take it just to lose a few extra pounds.

So we'll talk about that too, and the flu, so much going on.

Conn, I have to ask you, you know what, before we go any farther, let's get to the question of the night.

This is a fun one.

It is time for the Civic Media Nightlight Question of the Night.

Let's talk about the question.

Okay, question.

Question.

Question.

Pregunta.

Question.

Question.

Okay, I have a question.

Questions.

This question.

Domanda.

Question.

Questions.

What is your favorite soap opera?

or cheesy drama.

We don't talk much about the cheesy dramas, but one of those big soap operas, I want to say it was Days of Our Lives, had a big anniversary.

It started in like 1950 or something like that.

It's been on like 75 years and it got me thinking, I'm not a soap opera guy, but a lot of people are and if I'm cutting the audience in half, I wanted to include cheesy dramas too because there are so many of them out there.

your hour-long network dramas, your soap operas.

So let us know what is your favorite soap opera or cheesy drama, 855-752-4842-855-755 Civic.

You can also text us on the app.

Very easy to use.

If you don't have the Civic Media app, I highly recommend it.

You can just click the little text icon and fire away and we will get it and read it on the radio.

If you're watching the radio on the stream on YouTube, Facebook, or X, you can drop us a stream comment.

Always fun to read those as well.

So however you need to get ahold of us, folks, just please be part of the show.

It's always more fun that way.

We've got Jim and Appleton in the 920 says Christmas tree takedown.

I try to follow the 12 days of Christmas rule.

That would mean taking it down on January 6th.

My wedding anniversary is January 13th.

So the tree must be gone between the 6th and the 12th.

Most years that works.

some others, and then a really long ellipses.

We also have a text from Mark.

We'll read that too after the break.

It is great to have you with me, folks, coming to you live from Madison tonight.

It's Night Light with Pete Schwabba.

What is your favorite soap opera or cheesy drama?

Be part of the show.

It's Night Light with Pete Schwabba on the Civic Media Radio Network.

The storm and its furies rage today.

Crushing hope that we cherish so deep.

The cloud and storm.

This is Pete Schwabba and Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio Network.

I'm very excited to have you here tonight because I'm in Madison and it is always fun to do the show from Civic Media headquarters and I get to see my pal Aaron Zomers who sticks around for a few minutes to make sure we're up and running and all kinds of fun people here at Civic Media.

Conrad is back in Green Bay holding down the fort and in our haunted studio.

So no events yet, Conrad, I take it.

The light's still on, so as soon as the light goes off in the hallway, I might get a little scared.

That's when you wet yourself.

Yes,

yes.

Very good.

So, all right, so I was talking about Christmas decorations and when to take them down.

I feel like, I like to get them down quicker now.

I used to leave them up to kind of kid myself into thinking it was still Christmas.

But then that got depressing.

So now I try to get them down.

Now I'm in that sweet, weird, not sweet, awkward spot where I'm not taking them down early and I'm also not leaving them up too long.

So when I get back this weekend, it's like the 10th, 11th, that's even too late, I think.

Mark from Prairie to Sack says, oh wait, where am I?

I had another one.

Where's that text with the Christmas?

Where are you?

I'm at.

I'm using different equipment.

Oh, it's a mark from Prairie to Sack.

There we go.

It says, I took my outside holiday projection light down today.

Oh, those are kind of cool.

It is Epiphany, the feast of the Magi, the traditional end of the 12 days of Christmas.

So I probably should have waited till tomorrow.

I don't think anybody's going to give you a hard time about that, Mark, but sure, whatever.

He says, still have the little plastic-lighted Christmas tree up, so tomorrow that will come down.

All right, that's sensible.

I think, like, taking him down now is still kind of...

Not that there's an etiquette to it, but that works.

Thank you, Mark.

Jack from Merrimack, answering tonight's... Oh, dear.

Wait a minute.

Jack's got... I don't want to get Jack in relationship trouble.

He says, years ago, my girlfriend was a horticulturist.

We cut our tree two days before Christmas, spent a lot of time trimming it and wanted to enjoy it a while.

We celebrated New Year's around the tree and got pretty busy.

I don't know what that means, gone red.

Uh, he got busy around the Christmas tree.

I think

just always busy with life.

You

should say anything.

You're blushing.

Um, and that's fine.

Uh, he says, so he celebrated Valentine's with it.

It was still green and not dropping needles.

Although I think she put it on some kind of life support.

Her March birthday and mine in April with the tree still up We finally took it down during Easter break and I've got to admit it was looking pretty scraggly by then I would imagine it was Jack.

He says she and I are still good friends and whenever we talk about that time We refer to our Easter tree Is that like some sort of a sin getting busy around the Christmas tree?

No, no, I don't think so because Santa, you know did it with you know, Sam I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus, you know by the tree

That's not really Santa Claus though.

Match from Richland Center in the 608 says, in response to our question of the night, which is, what is your favorite soap opera or cheesy drama?

He says, guiding light.

One of my early childhood memories was Riva driving off the bridge.

I'm coming bud.

So cheesy and great.

Sadly, I don't really watch soap operas, so I'm just kind of letting people vent, but I don't have a lot to contribute.

You watch him con you've watched those are way before your time.

Well, I mean I can give my answer if you want Absolutely.

Well, alright, so I really don't have a show Okay, but I have a character Who is it dr. Drake remori?

Okay, the question does not involve the parody of a soap opera.

It's

actually

it's from days of our lives days of our lives.

Yeah, so dr. Drake You know that Joey Tribbiani was

not

really on days of our lives.

I mean, he was on there for a little bit, but then he died going down the elevator shaft.

He killed him

because he ran his trap.

Mark from Prairie to Sack in the 608 says, never really got into the soaps.

When I was in college, I sort of remember classmates following Luke and Laura and Palmer Courtland as the evil father.

I also remember some parody titled as the stomach turns.

There you go.

That's like along the Drake or Moray lines.

Thank you, Mark.

Melissa from Willy Street in the 608 says, hi, Pete.

Question right up my alley.

I was a forever viewer of guiding light.

I died a little the day it was canceled But I have found new soap love beyond the gates beyond the gates.

Oh, it's beyond the gates Okay, and I assume he she means uh, well, I have no idea actually it would it has all the drama and stories You can think of gotta check it out if you are a soapy.

I am not but Beyond the gates, I feel like I know what that is Maybe I'll give it a chance Melissa

just because she's such a good listener.

Maybe I'll watch her favorite soap opera.

And then John, her better half or equal half or, I don't know, lesser half, I don't know what goes on in that household.

In the 608 John says, yeah, soap operas I remember enjoying soap in the late 70s, edgy and still more relevant than ever.

That was a great show.

And I'm glad you brought that up, John.

Soap with Richard Mulligan and Catherine Hellman and Billy Crystal, a young Billy Crystal.

was a really funny show.

Now, I have no idea if it holds up, but I gotta give it another watch.

That's a great text.

Thank you, everybody.

Keep those texts coming.

Kristen Lyrely is coming up after news, sports and weather, which is just around the corner.

We're going to talk to her about the flu and this, I don't know if it's an epidemic, but it's really bad this year.

The worst it's been in like 25 years.

We'll talk to her about maybe get some tips about how to avoid it other than a flu shot.

I don't think a flu shot is all you need, but it definitely helps.

We'll talk to her about that though and see how she's doing.

She was in a bad car accident.

So we'll talk to Kristen Lyrely, doctor Kristen Lyrely.

It's how you should refer to her, Conrad.

That's

how I always do.

She's board certified.

Wouldn't you love to be able to say you're board certified at something?

I mean, that would be pretty cool.

I think it would be, too.

What is this cat burglar story?

You keep showing me this cat burglar story, and I read it, and

I go, it's interesting.

I can't remember if I sent that to you or not before.

You sent it to me again.

I'm like, wow, he really wants to talk about this cat.

And it's a

courier, somebody kidnapped a cat.

That's not fun.

That's horrible.

Okay, maybe my sense of humor is a little weird.

All right, folks.

Our question of the night is, what is your favorite soap opera or cheesy drama?

Mine is the following.

I will elaborate as the show goes on, but I thought that was a really cheesy show about serial killers that was on about 10 years ago, and some people loved it.

including our own Amanda Nimmer.

So we'll discuss as the show goes on.

Dr. Kristin Lierly is next.

Afternoons, sports and weather, so great to have you here, folks.

It's Night Light with Pete Schwabba on the Civic Media Radio

Network.

This is Night Light with Pete Schwabba, coming to you live from Madison tonight.

Folks, it is great to have you with me.

Our question of the night is, what is your favorite soap opera or cheesy drama?

It was actually all my children that debuted in 1970, which was sort of the inspiration for this question.

It's been on 55 years.

But there are soaps that have been on even longer than that.

I've never really gotten into them, but they are still around, and I know people love them.

And that's the kind of guy I am, folks.

I want to put this out there.

Even though Melissa from Willy Street says, beyond the gates, I've never heard of it.

I wanted her to have a forum and soap opera people to feel included, because that's what I like to do here is build bridges.

And I'm about to do that with one of my favorite guests.

It's my pleasure to welcome back one of our best chums who joins us from the comfort of her own home tonight because she is recuperating and we will get all the details and ask her all kinds of fun questions.

Dr. Kristen Lyrely.

Hello, Dr. Kristen.

Hey, Teed, how are you?

I am well.

The question is, how are you?

Look, for our viewers who can see, just wait, I gotta shift around.

Hold on.

Wait, I gotta move my

mic.

Don't hurt yourself.

If you're on the stream, look at that hoof.

Holy smokes.

I got to do a pink

cast.

That's a pink cast for a broken ankle, right?

Yeah, I have a broken ankle.

My other leg is broken.

What?

I know.

I survived a really bad car accident.

I got t-boned by a semi in the fog.

But

I

know it was crazy.

And I remember every moment of it and all the sounds and all of the fantastic people who took care of me.

But I am.

incredibly lucky to be alive and to be cognitively well.

And I get all this time off now because I have to recover.

So watch out.

I'm going to be everywhere.

Not good for your patients, but we are reaping the benefits of that.

Thank you for being here tonight.

Look at the wall.

OK, if you're watching on the stream, folks, I talked about you earlier, Dr. Lirely, and I said you were board certified.

I was making an assumption.

I don't even really know what that means.

I just said I would love I would love to be board certified at something and I don't know if is it only doctors that can be board certified?

I'm sure there are other boards in other like professions, legal or whatever.

Right.

Okay.

I'm

sure.

And for us, what it means is you go through medical school, you do that piece, and then you do your residency training, which is like the specialty training.

So for me, it was OBGYN.

And then you have to actually sit and do this grueling oral exam where you get grilled by these famous people in your field, people who have written all the papers that you studied, who you're

really kind of afraid of.

They grill you on some of your own cases because you have to record all of your cases.

And

they also grill you on like a lot of theoretical stuff.

It is so hard.

But that's what we do in order to be

good and ready and sure that we can stop the bleeding and get the baby out and do all the important things.

Plus, manage your menopause symptoms and help with that painful sex and all of those other things that we deal with.

So, yeah.

That's what I mean.

Let's just back up a second there.

You said painful sex.

Dysporonia.

Yes.

Ooh.

Do I want to ask what that is?

I want to make Conrad

blush.

It's painful.

Whether you have a partner involved or not, can it be painful?

Yeah.

I mean, if you're having pain, yeah, you got to figure

it out.

I'm asking for Conrad.

It's not me, Kristen.

I'm asking for Conrad.

I have kind of had this discussion already

today, and

we decided that we were going to focus all of the embarrassing stuff on you.

Oh, well, that sounds like enough.

Well, listen, I love talking about all that stuff with you because I love how you don't blush.

You're like all scientific and clinical and board certified, whereas I'm all that stuff you were saying before, I would be certifiably bored, B-O-R-E-D, if I had to listen to someone else talk about medicine.

But you make it exciting.

What I heard you say, Pete, is that you are sort of fly.

But I don't have a pink cast.

And I just want to say, I'm glad you're OK because I was telling John and Gordy before I came on to their show at the end of it.

And I texted you about coming back on the show.

And then the next day, or you texted me back and we're having like this back and forth.

And then the next day on Facebook, I see your car.

And I'm like, that had already happened.

She was like responding to text after she had been in this accident.

I think if I got the timing right.

So it's kind of a miracle that you're OK and that you seem to be OK.

trauma aside, I'm sure right after.

So good for you.

Oh, I was so lucky and the emergency medicine technicians.

I work in a rural area.

I am always trying to find an ambulance to take my sick patients away from the hospital.

We

can't provide all their care and get them to a higher level of care.

And it's a challenge because a lot of these people are volunteers.

And when I personally needed people down in random lake down by Sheboygan, these guys showed up so fast and they were

so incredibly kind and it treated me with respect and professional.

And only one of them was actually an employee.

Everybody else was a volunteer.

And as they were wheeling me into the hospital, the guy who had been driving the ambulance was walking next to me and we were chatting a little bit.

And he was so happy.

He said, it's my birthday.

I'm 70.

And I was like, this is amazing.

He said, I've been doing this for decades.

I love volunteering.

But, you know, we need these people, especially in rural areas where there aren't a lot of people and things like this happen and we all need a neighbor, a helping hand.

I've been so honored by that and just the outpouring of support that I've received.

It's been, it has restored my faith in humanity.

Wow.

It has helped to make so many beautiful new connections and I've heard so many stories from other people about things that have happened in their lives.

So, you know, just at a time when you're feeling like the world is on fire, everything is heavy.

I know

We're going to talk about some of that later.

But when it comes down to your neighbors, we're still here for each other.

And

that's everything.

Absolutely.

And you don't ask someone their political preferences before you help them.

You just help them.

And that is kind of a saving grace.

There's a great documentary called, I think it's called The Providers and it's about doctors that go into rural areas and the crisis in rural areas.

You'd probably love it.

I introduced it on PBS a few years ago and a great watch.

So I highly recommend it because it kind of goes hand in hand with what you're saying.

Oh, I love that.

I also love how you just slipped in there.

I also introduced it on PBS.

Hey everybody, Pete's famous on PBS too.

Listen, the one time I was on TNT, I had a really cool thing happen.

No, check out Dr. Liarly.

She is the host of the Dr. Kristen Liarly show, which you can hear on weekends here at Civic Media.

She also delivers babies and does all kinds of fun stuff.

And she's recuperating, as we just heard from what sounded like a horrifying accident.

Pete, can I tell you what the show is going to be about this weekend?

Because we

just taped it today with

Conrad.

It's so good.

Nikki Sappiro Vinkier and she's an OBGYN PA.

So she is like part of my team, not my personal team, but like part of our team.

So it's, you know, doctors and nurses and PAs and nurse practitioners.

We all work together and she does the same kind of stuff that I do, but her focus is empowering patients so that when they go to the doctor, I don't know if this happens to you, but when you're a patient and you go to the doctor, you.

kind of don't know what to say.

You know your story, and you know what you think you're supposed to do, but there's such a power differential there.

And so

many of these

exams can be invasive, traumatic, depending on what your history is.

You may not know which questions to ask.

And she is all about empowering us all as patients, especially women, because there's a lot of tender stuff that we talk about as women.

And getting the most out of your relationship with your doctor.

It's going to be, I love this episode.

I think y'all are gonna love it

too.

Oh, that's fantastic.

How is the show going otherwise?

You've been on now for several months and you're just great at it.

It keeps getting bigger and bigger.

We're on in Chicago as well, on broadcast.

Wow.

We're on

YouTube, but Dr. Christoph Meyer, Lisa Vic Media's been incredible, doing a lot of shorts.

We're trying to combat the misinformation that is rampant.

And the less people can get access to health care, the more they're turning to social media to get their health care information.

So that's what we're pushing back

on.

Well, we're lucky to have you.

Thank you so much for doing that.

That's entertaining and providing really necessary information.

So that's outstanding.

Let's talk about the flu.

What is going on?

You know, I told this story earlier.

My daughter, I picked her up from college.

She had the flu.

I couldn't get sick and I don't want to leave her there too long.

So I wore a mask.

She wore a mask in the car.

We both had flu shots.

I didn't get the flu, but man, she was in a lot of, it kind of ran through her whole department in college.

What is it about this year's flu?

Knowing that our kids go to college together, I'm just breathing a sigh of

relief that my

son does not have it.

And they're in the same department.

They're in the same department too, yeah.

Crazy.

So

flu

is on the rise right now.

And I'm just going to refer to the CDC's weekly US influenza surveillance report.

just a little caveat here.

The CDC is compromised and it's hard to know whether the data is good and reliable or not.

But there are still some really good people who work there.

And I believe that this is a good report.

So that's where I'm getting this information from.

Influenza is up.

It's up 33% in the last week in December.

That's the latest data that we have available.

And the most frequently reported virus is one that we didn't necessarily plan for when we put the vaccine together because they

have to plan so far in advance.

So the vaccine isn't awesome, but it's good.

It still offers protection.

And if you do get influenza and you are vaccinated, you are likely to get a lesser version of it.

So that's really good.

Another number that really stuck out to me was 33,000.

Over 33,000 people were hospitalized in that last week of December with the flu, which was a lot.

And nearly 1% of the deaths in this country.

in that last week of December, we're due to influenza and we see that it's trending upward.

So it's getting worse.

We are stuck inside.

We've all been exposed to each other.

If you haven't gotten a flu shot, it is not too late and they are effective.

You know, it's interesting you say that because like we were saying we heard it was going to be bad this year.

My daughter got one, my wife and I got one and my son, we said, you know, get your shop before you come home, get the vaccine.

Well,

Of course, he doesn't.

My daughter's home.

So we had to keep her on one floor, him on the other.

And we managed to circumvent the flu, at least in his case.

But everyone that got it in her department that didn't have a flu shot, it really kicked their butt.

Like couldn't get out of bed, that kind of stuff.

So I have every reason to believe that's totally true what you're saying.

So what else can people do, Dr. Lierly?

How can they prevent, aside from just isolating, how do you...

Is there food you can eat?

I assume rest is good.

What is the best way to beef up your immune system?

Stay healthy.

Rest is always good, getting a proper amount of sleep.

exercise, eating good for you foods, always great advice, washing your hands.

It seems so simple.

I know.

But

washing your hands, using a hand sanitizer, not touching your face, your nose, your mouth, because we carry germs around all the time.

We all do it.

And you know, if you are at risk, or if you're concerned, or if you're going to be in a crowd, it's never a bad idea to wear a mask, especially if you are vulnerable.

And I know that there are a lot of political things that go along with that, but we've got it.

to set that aside.

This is about health.

It's about your health and your family's health.

So just please take care of yourself.

You have to reach a point to where you don't care because the people judging you.

You don't even know them.

They could be the biggest idiot in the world.

They could just be, you know, ideologically opposed to any kind of face covering for religious, who knows what the reason is, but you got to do what's right for you.

I mean, I wore one when I was with my daughter in the car.

Like I said, I went into the store with her and I'm not getting the flu and I don't care what you, you know what I mean?

Like we have to get over that, right?

Yeah, I wear a mask when I operate.

all the time.

I wear a mask in public when I need to.

Yeah, we've got to leave the politics behind.

We've got

to get

politics out of medicine because it is affecting so many of the decisions that we're making.

I mean, look at the changes in the vaccine schedule that just happened yesterday.

RFK Jr.

and his department have reduced the number of preventable illnesses that we vaccinate against from 17 to 11.

They've totally changed the schedule and they've offered

really no reason, no evidence, no data, other than Denmark does it.

I

mean, I haven't

heard anything.

Do you know how long it takes to put this stuff together and how much information and how many smart people make these decisions?

And just

with a magic wand, be like, boom, we're done.

Dr. Larely, I'm going to keep you for just two more minutes, OK?

We'll be right back.

And then you can go back to recuperating.

It's Peach Wild by Nightlight.

We're coming right back.

Welcome back.

This is Nightlight IMP Chwaba.

Coming up after the news in just a few minutes is Mike Gamal, the founder of Joey's Song.

a really outstanding music event that's turned into a full music festival.

It's happening in just a couple weeks here in Madison at the end of January.

We will talk to Mike about that.

Rob Thomas at 635 to talk movies and award shows.

And then Jim McHugh, a Packer fan living in Chicago, is gonna talk with me, a Bear fan living in Wisconsin, and he and Conrad are gonna gang up on me, so that should be fun.

Right now we have a few more minutes with one of our best chums, Dr. Kristen Lierly, who is telling us...

What we can do to prevent the flu.

The flu is up this year.

It's the worst outbreak of the flu in 25 years.

Dr. Lierly, what do you attribute to all these respiratory issues and RSV?

Is there something in the air?

Do they have any idea what's causing it?

Well, they've always been there.

All of these respiratory things have been there, but now we have a vaccine.

actually more than one vaccine for RSV.

So if you're an older adult, a vulnerable adult, a little tiny baby, this affects kids.

There are things that we can do to prevent it if you can get those vaccines.

depending on what's happening with the vaccine schedule, which is challenging to follow.

So, I mean, RSV, I think is one of those things that we just didn't talk about a lot because we couldn't do anything about it.

But now that we can do something about it, you're hearing it more.

And then also COVID, you know, we're all, it hasn't been that long since COVID

took

over our lives and then just kind of slowly petered off, but it's still present.

People are still getting sick with COVID and COVID does make you

vulnerable, it does kind of prime the pump for future respiratory issues and other problems.

So COVID is still a problem, still recommended that you get that vaccine as well.

I don't mean to sound like the vaccine queen, but vaccines are one of the greatest public health victories in the last century.

And if we could go back 100 years and see what it was like to die from diphtheria and tetanus and all of these preventable diseases, I think we'd have a very different perspective than where we are right now.

Is that a thing like, do we have enough information about COVID that it does cause or it can make you more susceptible to respiratory illnesses?

It can make you more susceptible to many things in the future.

I can tell you from an obstetrical perspective,

when you look at the placenta of somebody who, we look at placentas after the baby comes out, that's like all part of it.

So when you look at the placenta, which is just a big

mass

of blood vessels, I know, I'll bring you along sometime.

I'll send pictures.

I can send you pictures.

Please.

But because COVID is a blood vessel disease, the placentas of people who have had COVID tend to be smaller and less healthy.

And we know that people like pregnant people who have had COVID tend to have more

of vascular issues down the

road.

So COVID is not just a one and done.

Like when you're cured, you're better.

It can absolutely have lingering effects.

Are you familiar with Osempic?

Do you know much about Osempic?

I noticed today it's now available in pill form.

And my joke laid flat.

I said, and it's a huge pill, and it tastes like a pizza.

And I got just crickets from Conrad.

So what do you think about Osempic, Dr. Lyle?

You should be used to that reaction by now, don't you think, Pete?

Not just from Conrad, sadly,

yeah.

The ozempic pills, the same medicine that's in ozempic has been available as pills for a long time.

But they didn't see the same kind of effect with the pills that they saw with the shot.

So let's go back a little bit.

Osemic was not originally a weight loss medicine.

It was a medicine used to treat diabetes and the side

effect

was people lost weight.

So people started saying

Boy, if you lose weight, like good enough for me.

So people started using it off label as a weight loss drug.

So now we're kind of coming back around to do the pills work as well as the shot.

And, you know, I'll be really honest, I don't know what the data is on the pills.

The last thing I saw was that the pills didn't work as well as the shot, but I'm sure for some people they work just fine.

That's amazing how I love when they do research and they stumble into something else.

It's just like, it's kind of, Exactly.

It was a hair treatment, right?

It was a blood pressure medicine.

Or blood pressure medicine.

I knew it was.

No,

monoxidil.

Monoxidil was a blood pressure medicine that actually grew hair.

So now it is a hair treatment.

Wow.

I know.

And then you have to play that game.

Well, if I take this, this will happen.

And then I have to take a pill for that.

My friend used to do a joke.

He's like, if I take hair stuff, I can't get erections.

And then if I take erection pills, I can't do this.

Like it's just a circle of.

And I tell him just drink more water because that's the kind of guy I am and that's my medical expertise.

Never a bad idea

to make

sure you're drinking

enough water.

So you're doing better.

You're on the men.

That's exciting.

Have you watched any TV or movies like since you've been sort of laid up?

I'm sure you're still working because that's just how you are, but you must have moments where you're watching some TV or a movie or something.

What can you recommend?

I don't love watching TV, but I do love the Beatles.

And the beetles always make me feel good.

So I've been watching a lot of the beetles.

Let it be.

I watched

it.

Oh

gee, yeah.

And then I sang while I'm watching it.

And my kids were like, mom, stop.

Now you have four boys.

Are they taking good care of you?

Yeah, they bring me things.

That was not a ringing endorsement of your sons.

They're not nurturing, but they definitely do things as asked.

And they are honestly, they're wonderful.

And they listen to me talk.

And that's been like, you know, recovering from something like this requires like, there's a psychological aspect to it as well.

And I recover by talking and they listen.

So maybe that's the most important thing.

That is huge.

And just remember, if you need anything,

Conrad is a hop skip and a jump away there in Green Bay.

He can be over there like that.

I know how to find Conrad.

Dr. Lirely, glad you're on the mend.

Thank you so much, Kristen, for your time tonight.

You come back.

We'll do this when we have more time.

And when you, I don't think I've ever known you without crutches because you just had surgery before and you came in on crutches.

There will be a day when you are out there and at it again.

I promise you that.

I'm going to ride my bike to the studio and then we're going to go for a bike ride on the Fox River Trail, Pete.

You know what?

My Shlun varsity is in the shop at the moment, but whatever you want.

You get through this, we'll do whatever.

That sounds great.

I have my handlebars.

You can be on my handlebars.

We'll have to take the basket off, but sure.

Tom from New Brilance says, Dr. Lylee Rocks.

Agreed.

Tom, you rocked you.

And I think Tom rocks too, exactly.

So all right, Kristen, thank you so much.

Get better soon.

We'll talk soon.

Thanks.

Have a great night,

fellas.

Kristen Lyrely, check out the Dr. Kristen Lyrely show here on the weekends on Civic Media.

We are coming right back after news, sports, and weather with Mike Gamala from Joey's Song.

It's Pete Schwabba in Nightlight on the Civic Media radio network.

Broadcasting live from the Civic Media Studios in Green Bay.

This is Night Light with Peach Waba.

Your inside source on everything entertainment from Wisconsin to Hollywood.

And now a man barely six feet tall, but a mountain of muscle, Peach Waba.

You know it.

Welcome back, folks.

This is Nightlight, a Tuesday night edition, and we are broadcasting live from beautiful downtown Madison, our state's capital, just above State Street here.

It was really fun.

If you missed hour one, we talked to Dr. Lylee, not necessarily a great subject matter, talking about the flu, and this year's outbreak, which has gotten really bad and some respiratory issues happening around the country that's gotten

out of hand.

Conrad, have you had the flu?

Yeah, I've had it.

This year?

Not this year, not this year.

Okay.

All right.

Well, I'm

hoping not to get it.

Really?

Yeah, I don't want it.

He's not the best color man in the business for nothing, folks.

Do you like what I say that and compare you to Bob Yooker's sidekick and just a bit outside?

I mean,

he's great.

So I love it.

You like any connection to Wisconsin sports.

That's why I know I could say those things to you.

That's Conrad Krieger, folks.

He is working the board tonight back in Green Bay.

Coming up at 6.35, Rob Thomas is here.

He is a Madison-based film critic and the CityCast Madison newsletter editor.

We'll talk to Rob about what's going on around town in January here in Madison and movies and award shows.

That will be fun.

Then at 7.35 tonight, my pal Jim McHugh, a very funny Chicago-based comedian and Packer fan.

will join the show and he will represent Packer fans in Chicago and I will represent Bear fans here in Wisconsin and he and Conrad can gang up on me.

It'll be a fun discussion about the big game this weekend.

Our question of the night is what is your favorite soap opera or cheesy drama?

I said the following because it was really bad.

It was a Kevin Bacon show a few years ago where they had like a big mansion that serial killers could hang out in and they play ping-pong.

It was just a very strange world.

that seemed, I don't know, really made up in Conrad Lake's days of our lives because of friends, because of another TV show.

Dr. Drake or

Maury?

Dr. Drake or Maury.

So let us know what your favorite soap opera or cheesy drama is tonight, folks.

That is tonight's question.

855-752-4842-855-757.

You can also text us on the app.

Or if you're watching the radio on the stream, go ahead and drop us a stream comment.

we have some comments we'll get to in just a bit.

Right now, I'm very excited to welcome my next guest.

He was on the show a few weeks ago and I thought, we should have Mike back on when I'm in Madison, because he could come into the studio and we can make a proper case for this really cool event that is literally just around the corner here.

Mike Gamal, the founder of Joey's Song, joins me in the studio.

Hey, buddy.

Pete, how are you, man?

Great to have you here in person.

You are a rocker, man.

You look like...

Well, you got that rock and roll thing going, and I'm kind of disheveled too, but I can't claim to the fact that I'm this great musician.

But you're here and playing the part, and you look like a rock and roller who is putting on a really cool rock event for a very good cause.

Well, part of the reason I can do this is I spent...

25 years working for IBM when I was a grown-up.

Wow.

And I didn't get to do this.

Okay.

Wow.

So now that I'm retired, I get to let it grow, baby.

I don't have to be a grown-up.

I put my tattoos and all that other stuff that I couldn't do back in the day.

So yes, it is a really cool event, Joey's son.

All right.

So tell us.

Tell us about Joey's song.

You started this this event in honor of your son and now it's become a full-blown music festival Tell us how it started and about Joey and and how this wonderful event came to

be Well, you know the evolution of it Pete is is actually kind of mind-boggling to be really honest.

There was no master plan You know, I didn't sit down and crafted all out.

We started out my son had a really terrible form of epilepsy called Dravet syndrome Epilepsy is like a lot of

illnesses, it's a spectrum disorder.

There's tons of causes, tons of ways that manifests itself, some severe, some not.

And unfortunately, Joe got on that really far end of that bell curve.

And when we lost him in 2010, just shy of his fifth birthday, we thought we need to, we actually thought about trying to do something before he had passed his prognosis was really bad.

He was going to need care all of his life.

But we felt like maybe there's something we could do.

And I had spent a lot of time here in Madison.

Long time ago, back at a club called Headliners, which was down on University Avenue.

And we had a lot of the, I describe it as the MTV bands on the way up and the sixties bands.

So we had you two and the police.

Oh my gosh.

You know, all of them when they're first and second albums were coming out and then, you know, Savoy Brown and all these bands on the way down.

Yeah.

Um, but the key to all that is there was this guy kicking around Madison at the exact same time called Butch Vig, right?

And so Butch and I, we weren't.

particularly close.

We hung around with the same group of folks, right?

And then Butch went on to win Grammy Awards, MTV Boon Man.

I mean, you win a Grammy Award for producing Paul McCartney.

You've pretty much hit the top or most of the pop.

That's some street cred right there.

Yeah, let me get you.

So anyway, when we were trying to hash out exactly what we were going to do, because we still wanted to help, we say help the next family, right?

And that's what we're here to do.

Somebody is sitting in.

Was in a neurologist's office today with their child getting a really crummy diagnosis and they're scared.

They're scared and they don't know what to do and They need to know that somebody's out there doing what they can't right?

So Joey's song is our attempt to use some of my and then through osmosis butchers musical connections and now it's kind of grown to turn into this this two-night music Festival we change it up every year last year was four nights this year It's two nights because we try to make it a little bit different every year

get all these amazing people that come from all over and play music that they don't normally play.

It's like the world's greatest live jukebox as opposed to anything else and it's all in the name of trying to raise money.

It's a beautiful thing.

And I love what you said when you were on the show previously that they don't take money to do it.

They come here

They play music, they get to play music, they don't always play, so you make it fun for them.

Rock

camp for musicians.

Yeah,

I mean, what a fun thing.

It really is, I mean, as tonight's Tuesday, and they'll start coming into town tomorrow.

Wow.

Almost all of them will be in town as of tomorrow.

They'll rehearse, because even though it's kind of ramshackle, it's also, they're still professional, right?

They want to do a good job.

And they come and...

Two beers and a ham sandwich is what I say their fee is.

I don't know what... It's a good Wisconsin pavement, right?

There's some cheese curds in there.

But, you know, just look at some of these people.

I know what, like John Resnick of the Goo Goo Dolls gets for a show.

Yeah.

It's... There's many zeros after that.

He's, you know, he's not taking a penny for it.

I know what Butch gets to produce a record.

He's, you know, and go right down the list.

The go-go's, the bangles.

you know, Kurt Smith from Tears for Fears, Matt Sorm from Guns and Roses.

I mean, all of these people make a lot of money doing what I'm asking them to do for free, and they come in willingly and do it.

I can't really, down to Swithy Pete, get my mind around it sometimes.

I

can't even imagine.

Like, it's so funny.

I'd like to sit here and tell you.

I mean, I've pretty much been, in some form of show business, my entire adult life.

And I'd love to say, oh, I'm not starstruck, but...

John Resnick, you mentioned.

When I moved to LA, I was there probably a year, and I was going into a convenience store, and he came out with a big gulp.

I'm like, that's the guy from the Google.