Don’t Copy Todd’s Bracket with Bradie Ewing (Hour 1)

Live from the Civic Media Studios at WRCE in Richland Center, Wisconsin, it's the Todd Alba Show.

And now, pursuing truth wherever it may lead, here's your host, Todd Alba.

on Cross Wisconsin on the Civic Media Radio Network and streaming worldwide on the Civic Media app.

Good afternoon, everybody.

I'm Todd Albault along with our outstanding producer, Mr. Aaron Zommers on the board.

It is Thursday, the 20th of March, 2025.

It is a great day to be a Wisconsinite.

And yes, even though it doesn't feel like it much of Wisconsin, it is actually the first day of spring.

Welcome in, everybody.

We are on location here.

at the beautiful WRCE Studios in the old hometown of Richland Center, Wisconsin, also the sister station, WRCO.

where it all began for Toddster back in the ancient times of 1987.

No, always great to be back here.

Saw station manager Phil Knee.

A little while ago, the great staff here and many thanks to Phil for allowing us to be here and setting up for a couple of days.

Mr. Zamas, we are on location.

You are back at the World Headquarters in downtown Madison in the engineering studio, but our main broadcast studios are undergoing an upgrade.

Look at that.

Oh my goodness.

Look at the construction work going on back home.

That's incredible.

The

giant table is now set up.

Everything else is still being worked on, but I'm sure that was a big enough project in and of itself that they did all last night.

So good job to the engineering team.

Well, yes, many thanks to our wonderful and fine engineering team.

And they're, yeah, they're remodeling the studios, upgrading it.

So we look forward to being back there on Monday.

But we're up here in Richland Center for a couple of days and always glad to be here.

Lots going on today in the second hour of the show.

We'll turn our attention to a little state politics.

Of course, the April 1st spring election coming up in Wisconsin.

The chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, Ben Wichler, will be here and talk a little

bit of strategy and what he anticipates and the state of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, but right now we turn our attention to what I think most people in the state of Wisconsin are thinking about right now and that is

when I hold in my hot little hands.

An NCAA bracket, it is tournament time, March Madness time, the Wisconsin Badgers get underway here in less than a half an hour at 12.30.

And just in case folks are wondering, if you're used to streaming the Badgers on the Civic Media app, and I think I might have messed this up earlier in the week when I plugged it, because of the NCAA and their contracts and...

the dollar sign in Westwood.

Westwood One has the exclusive rights to stream the NCAA games during the tournament in March Madness.

So therefore, we at Civic Media are not able to stream the Badger game on the Civic Media app as you have put it custom to throughout the regular season and the Big Ten tournament.

The good news is if you live here in Richland Center or Southwest Wisconsin, you can hear it on AM 1450 or 107.7 on the FM dial.

It's also being broadcast over the air.

on WFHR up in beautiful Wisconsin Rapids and also up in AMRI up on our station up there.

So if you're in those communities, you can hear it over the broadcast air otherwise.

You got to turn on the old TNT or like I have got it on right now on YouTube TV and here to talk about the the big tournament coming up or the already underway here and the Badgers he joins us normally on Fridays, but by golly.

He's such a nice guy He's a rearranged his schedule to join us today on Thursday, and he's just across town.

He's a very busy Three-time champion of the Wisconsin Badger football team spent three years in the NFL mr. Brady Ewing

Brady, how the heck are you?

Doing great, Todd and Aaron.

Good to see you guys.

It's always great to

see you.

Yeah, I couldn't, I couldn't handle the five minute drive across town to get to RCO amidst my busy schedule today.

So thanks for, thanks for making it work over stream yard.

Thank you for making it work.

We appreciate you checking.

I wanted to check in with you because this is such a busy time of the year, of course, as a badger alum on the football side.

We've talked about this briefly before, but you actually had a kind of a tough choice to make because Bo Ryan and then assistant Greg Guard, they were actually recruiting you.

You were a walk on in football, but they were recruiting you to be a walk on for Wisconsin basketball, correct?

They were.

Yeah, it was something that I'd say early in my high school career, if I would have said I had that opportunity, it was something I would have thought I would have jumped at.

And as I got more and more exposure to football and recruited in that realm, I just felt like I had more of an opportunity to succeed and contribute to the Badger teams there.

But no doubt, I think I could have probably figured out a way to get on the court for the Badgers, given their walk on tradition there and some of the others that had come before and laid a great foundation.

Tough decision.

At one point they were talking about trying to do both.

That was something I didn't necessarily want to take that endeavor.

But yeah, happy with my decision and really cool to see how that helped develop relationships with Graegard and some of the coaching staff there now.

Pretty

cool.

I know you stay in touch with Coach Guard, some of the people at the basketball team.

I mean, they had a heck of a run this year.

They were picked by the preseason media folks to finish 12th in the conference.

They ended up finishing just outside of fourth at fifth at the very end.

They got that fifth seed in the Big Ten tournament.

When I'll beat the number one seed, Michigan State also beat UCLA

in

Northwestern along the way and came up, I think, what was a five or six point short against Michigan in the championship game there, Brady.

But boy, four games in four days, I just thought by the end by Sunday, I just thought the Badgers looked gassed.

Yeah, I'd agree.

I was thinking about what we'd likely talk about today.

And that was what came to my mind, too.

It is so hard to sustain that level of play.

And it's something that I haven't necessarily had to do in the football realm, but to play top tier talent, where it's a winter, quote unquote, go home type situation.

back to back to back.

That is a tough run.

And I think it would have been really, in hindsight, it would have been really awesome to win a couple of those conference games down the stretch and get that first round buy that we didn't end up getting.

I think that would have been huge for the Badger given how things.

Transpire

yeah, totally agree.

I mean Jen just think about that.

I mean they they don't drop the home loss At the end of the season to Penn State, maybe they get the 4c they get that double by they're playing three games instead of four Could have made the difference, you know, as I said, you'll never know but I mean I think as I look at this bracket here And I feel we have a civic media pool bracket I will disclose to you what my final four are and how far I have the Badgers going but I think in as a look at some of these teams that they're set to play

you look at an era or you look at a potential Alabama a matchup in the sweet 16 and then if they would win there potentially a Duke matchup I think if you said hey during the normal course of the season could the Badgers match up on any given night

I think they proved by beating Michigan State, which I think is one of the best teams in the country, that they can play with anybody on any given night.

It's just a matter of coming off that four game streak or that four game in a row in Indianapolis.

Now, a lot of people thought they got the three seed.

Oh, great.

They'll be at home.

One of the regionals is in Milwaukee.

But no, the NCAA sends them out to Mile High City in Denver.

Did you ever play in Denver, Brady, in your NFL career?

I did not, but I spent some time out there at a Christian camp that I did and spent some time at altitude with that.

And it was a crazy adjustment for like three to four days.

So I'm interested, I haven't heard anybody report on it, but I'm interested as the Badgers tried to get out to that area quicker than normal, get a couple of days to acclimate to that altitude.

I'm not sure if that's the case, but a lot of teams in the NFL do that as well.

And then you'll always see the

oxygen tanks on the sideline too for guys after they have a big run or a big defensive stand.

You know, typically they show them sucking down oxygen.

Yeah, right.

As you look at the potential matchups here, the Badgers got sent to the East region and they match up today against number 14 seeded Montana, the Grizzlies.

If they would win today, they would play then against the winner of BYU, VCU.

I saw that VCU game where they won their conference at the last minute.

VCU.

to me is a dangerous one of those.

It looks like a quintessential Badger killer.

They're quick.

They play without abandon.

They can shoot.

Just I'm nervous, Brady.

Was that the game right ahead of the Badgers?

Yes, I believe.

Yeah, it was.

Sunday or maybe Saturday.

Yeah, I forget who they play.

VCU beat, but it was what it would write down to the last 40, 30 seconds, whatever it was.

Yeah, I mean, those.

You look, you start looking at the bracket and you, you know, everyone looks at the ranking numbers and you can usually click in depending on which service you're using to get more details on points allowed per game and, you know, different stats that help you make your decision.

But there are no gimmies this time of year, whether it's a six versus 11 with BYU or three versus 14 like Wisconsin and Montana, there are no gimmies because everybody is coming in with their head held high.

They know that it's going to be a dogfight game in and game out and it's going to come down to who shows up.

You know, we struggled in that championship game with the big 10.

Tonya didn't show up.

People were a little bit flat.

Didn't have their legs underneath them.

And it just ended up being a battle.

And, you know, hopefully Tonya and Blackwell and others can have a good run here the next few

games.

Yeah.

Did you do a bracket this year, Brady?

I did.

I did.

I got the

badgers going to the sweet 16.

Very good, very good.

So I filled out the bracket for the office and for the show and then there's also kind of like, so maybe that's slightly unrealistic and then there's like, well, how far does Todd really think they're gonna go?

So on my bracket, just for the fun of it, I have them facing Tennessee.

in the semifinals of the final four losing to Tennessee.

And then I have Michigan State versus Tennessee with Michigan State winning it all by the Badgers all just because how rich would it be for for Wisconsin to get some some cold revenge against Duke?

Oh man, we're due for it, right?

We're due for it.

So yeah, I have the badgers in the final four, but because again, I think on any given day, they can play with Alabama.

And here, let me ask you this real quick.

As a professional athlete, as a college athlete, you look at officiating.

A lot of people have said that in the SEC, by the way, they got 14 teams in the tournament or record this year.

And the SEC officials are letting their guys play this year.

They're not calling these games tight.

And there's a theory out there that these SEC teams like Alabama, Tennessee, when they get into this tournament, these officials are going to call this game tighter and they're going to run into foul trouble.

Is that just nuts or is there something to that, you think?

I think there could be something to it.

I haven't watched a ton of SEC games to make that kind of observation myself, but I'd say if you're used to whatever way end of the spectrum, the officiating is calling the game.

Yes, to go in and I think each game you kind of readjust to what the officials are doing early on.

So no doubt maybe I'd say four or five minutes up into that first TV timeout may have an impact, but my thing with officiating is.

As long as you're calling it consistent across the board, obviously both sides of the ball, but across the board for the duration of the game, I think that's the biggest thing to adjust to that throughout the game.

So I don't see it being a huge impact, but maybe just the beginning of the game.

So you're saying, Brady, if I don't put words in your mouth, but if officials would call a game saying against Duke one way in the first half and then completely different in the second half, that would be frustrating to you.

That would be very frustrating.

You do see that a lot.

I feel like the officials get together at halftime, they come out, they make adjustments, they start tightening it up or there's been like a little scuffle.

And they want to get the game back under control.

Of course, I refer to the 2015 game where the officials hosed Wisconsin against Duke because Mike Czesci threatened them at halftime.

Only Todd's assumption.

We'll come back, ask Brady what athletes go through in postseason versus the regular season and more.

We're live from Richland Center.

WRCE is the town of all show on the Civic Media Radio Network.

everybody get up it's time to slam now we got the real jam going down welcome to the space jam here's your chance do your dance at the space jam all right

Welcome back to the Teleball Show on the Civic Media running that work we're live on location in Richland Center, the beautiful studios of WRCE.

The old hometown here joined by my fellow Richland Center native Brady Ewing, a three time Big Ten champion with Wisconsin Badger football also as a captain of the team during that time and spent three years in the National Football League for Atlanta and Jacksonville respectively.

He normally joins us every other Friday, but working is into a schedule this week and we appreciate that timely time.

indeed as the NCA tournament is underway.

Brady, as we were talking about over the break there, my bracket already in trouble is I have Louisville because I thought, well, they got kind of, I thought got a raw deal on their seed.

They got a nine, no, an eight seed and they're playing against number eight Creighton.

And I thought, well, you know, they got Chuckie Hepburn, former Badger who's

played

pretty well this year.

So I have Louisville in the elite.

eight taking on Michigan State with Michigan State beating them there.

Creighton leads Louisville, 49-34 at the half.

Yeah, your bracket might be blown up like a lot of other peoples.

Not looking good.

So yeah, I have my final four is Michigan State, St.

John's, Wisconsin, and Tennessee.

And you?

I like it.

I got Michigan State, Florida, Duke, and Kentucky.

Yeah,

I got I got Duke winning it at all.

Do you unfortunately?

Yeah,

I think that's actually a pretty good pick and you know, I don't have any money on the line But you know that that's another thing people there are huge amounts of money I mean Vegas just does millions and millions of dollars this time of year People are betting on everything right like who's gonna which team's gonna score first which player, you know Every single thing in sports now.

There's some kind of bet for it

Yeah, it's crazy.

I haven't dabbled in that world at all, but it's even the Super Bowl to see all the different things they bet on from the national anthem length to the coin toss to the Gatorade at the end of the game.

I guess it keeps people engaged and having fun with this as one

positive.

You're right about that.

Talk to us for a couple minutes, Brady, as someone who played in three Rose Bowls who spent time in that postseason for the Wisconsin Badgers who are traveling out to Denver and get ready to play here at the bottom of the hour against Montana.

What is that mindset like for an athlete from a preparation standpoint?

How does it change from the regular season into the postseason?

I mean, the NCAA tournament is unique in itself, but the mindset from an athlete standpoint is, especially if you're an underclassman, you want to give that upper classman the best experience possible.

You want to send them out on a high note.

I know that was the case for bowl games.

And so everybody's competition, not only for yourself or the team, for the university, that's all pretty standard, but you're playing for your person next to you.

And so I look at some of those key guys on the basketball team now.

And some of the younger tier guys is I'm sure they're going to be playing their butts out, obviously for Wisconsin, but for their teammates like Tonya and others that this is their final run at it.

And that brings the level of competition up and let alone the national stage, everybody living out there dreams of playing in the NCAA tournament.

It's a pretty special time here.

Yeah, that really is.

And we talked about Gilmore last time and some of these Badgers have been around for a while.

They earned these, you know, as you did, went from a walk on to a scholarship player and now are these leaders.

I'm just so happy to see those guys.

And again, we talked about this before, but teams where it's now all about one and done basically with NIL and transfer portal.

Wisconsin and Greg Guard have found a way to do a hybrid of that, at least for now,

bringing

a guy like Tanji and for John Tanji for probably the best transfer of the entire year in the entire league.

Absolutely.

But keeping guys like Klesmit and Gilmore and those guys around and bringing them up.

Yeah, that's huge.

I think that it's cool to see that because we've talked a lot through our times together talking about

the football team and NIL, transfer portal and how that's changing and evolving college sports.

And I feel like Wisconsin has done a good job recruiting and finding talent that can come be plug and play, but still maintain that culture of development, the culture that the team has and the identity that's been Wisconsin basketball.

It still feels like we have that.

It's been so fun to watch those guys go compete this year as a team.

There's guys that shine.

Sometimes it was Gilmore, sometimes it was Tony, other times it was McGee and Blackwell.

I mean, you can go down the line, they all had their games, but they found a way to keep a team and you can tell they're having fun doing it together, which as a fan and I guess a former athlete myself, that's really cool to see because that's what college athletics is all about.

And I feel like we're still seeing a glimmer of that with Wisconsin basketball.

Yeah, totally agree.

About three minutes left.

We're talking to Brady Ewing, former Wisconsin Badger football player and spent three years in the NFL.

Also is still involved here locally in Southwest Wisconsin in helping youth in their sports as well.

Badgers play Montana at the bottom of the hour in select stations over the air.

We cannot stream it due to NCAA rules on the Civic Media app.

But Brady, let's bring it back the last three minutes or so a little bit closer to home here.

Exciting time of the year.

It is state tournament time.

We had

the

girls up in Green Bay last week.

I was up in Seanal and my stepmom went into Green Bay and she said, it

is

nuts around the Rush Center.

And this weekend, it's time for the boys down at the Cole Center.

Yeah, just wait till the NFL draft up there in about a month.

It's going to be a madhouse.

But yeah, it's super cool time of year to see those high school athletes that have worked so hard throughout their careers throughout this year to get a chance to play in the state tournament.

And that's actually why I can't come on the show with you tomorrow, Todd, is I'm taking a couple of our boys down tomorrow morning to take in, I think, Division Five games.

I believe they are in the morning session.

So excited to see that, excited.

That'll be their first experience in person doing that.

And just an awesome stage.

Yeah, it really is.

I think it's so cool that you're taking a couple of your boys down there because, you know, it's just it's nice for them to see that atmosphere.

I mean, for me, I've had the privilege over the years of getting to broadcast some state wrestling tournaments and been involved in basketball playoffs and to see the atmosphere, not just the kids playing, but the atmosphere that the bands and and the community turn up.

It truly is.

I think what part of what makes Wisconsin great, this community spirit is one of the things Brady that

still brings us together.

It is and I never had the awesome opportunity to play in a state championship, I guess outside of track and field in a way, but to see my sister when she was in school, their team went to state a couple of times and to see that from Richelon Center and this greater Richelon County area to rally around that team.

Everybody rocked their t-shirts, welcoming them back and celebrating what they were able to accomplish with fire trucks and different things like that and just so moving to see how everybody comes together.

to encourage and support something in the community that is pretty important.

Yeah, that's super important.

Brady, I appreciate you taking time in your busy schedule for us.

And maybe I'll see you around the neighborhood.

I'll appear for a couple of days.

So who knows?

You know, I'll I'll be I'll be a Los Amigos.

Oh,

that's our that's our go to.

Very good.

Brady, we thank you very much.

Have a wonderful day, my friend.

All right.

Come on back.

We'll take a look at news headlines after this.

We're in Richland Center.

We're on Civic Media on the Civic Media.

Ready to work.

you

Pursuing truth wherever it may lead and having fun doing it.

Welcome back to the title of all show on the Civic Media Network.

Glad to have you along here.

Mr. Zahmer is on the board back at the World Headquarters in Madison.

We are on location at WRCE.

One of our great stations here in Southwest Wisconsin in Richland Center while the home station, the home studio back on State Street undergoing some remodeling.

Very excited about that.

So we'll be back home with Somers on Monday.

At least that's the anticipation, Aaron.

Yes, that is the anticipation.

Many thanks to Brady Ewing for being here.

Always does a great job.

We appreciate him fit in the schedule this week, a day early on Thursday.

And by the way, again, for those that might be tuning in on the stream on certain channels on the Civic Media app, looking for the Badger game.

Unfortunately, due to NCAA rules and other agreements, legal legalities always comes down to the lawyers, right?

And also money.

Well, a civic media is not allowed to stream the Badger game on the civic media app.

However, if you live in Southwest Wisconsin here in Richland Center or also up in Wisconsin Rapids for WFHR or in AMRI for LAK, you can tune into those stations over the.

air over the air on the broadcast station and we are carrying the Badger game over the air there otherwise you'll have to find it on you know YouTube TV or whatever they're playing on TNT the game is just underway right now we'll bring updates throughout the throughout the afternoon I can tell you that right now with about 17 minutes and 45 seconds left it is Cretan

leading Louisville by a score of 56 to 37.

Ouch.

Time's bracket is already going to take a hit there in another game.

A lot of people were looking at thinking maybe a big upset Purdue versus high point number four seeded Purdue number 13 high point and That one is just at halftime right now can tell you tell you that Purdue leads high point by a score of 37 to 27 So Purdue has a 10 point lead at the half games just about to get underway as we said, Wisconsin number three seed in the

takes on number 14 Montana no score there yet and also SIU Edwards the 16 seed taking on number one seed Houston that game was going to get underway here in just a bit we'll give you updates throughout the show here oh no this is a lot of people as we say are following brackets today but mr. Zomers some exciting news for for those of us who like

Contests, games, and the like.

It looks like we have another text-to-win contest coming up very soon

here, right?

We sure do.

And we finally have details to share with people.

That's awesome.

Here we are now.

So get ready for this because starting on Monday, Civic Media's next statewide text-to-win contest.

We have to tell you, by the way, it is a statewide contest.

It's right around the corner.

So be sure to tune in at 7 AM.

on Monday for your first chance to listen for a keyword to enter in for your chance to be an hourly winter winner or enter to win the grand prize.

You'll have four chances to enter.

You can listen at 7 a.m.

at 11 a.m.

on Jane McNair show, McNair on air and then at 1 p.m.

right here on our show and at four o'clock throughout the both of or two weeks.

Try that again, Todd, throughout the next two weeks for the statewide text to win contest.

Now, get this.

Going to be daily chances to win a Chula Vista getaway.

And we had that before.

I mean, who doesn't like that?

It's in the Wisconsin Dales.

They have indoor water parks.

They have golf courses.

Every activity you can imagine for the family.

Also going to be giving away Milwaukee Brewer Club level tickets.

Those are nice tickets.

And again, as Omron's and I have been there.

we're not talking about and really there's no bad seat at Ampham Field but what we're talking about here these are the club level which is sits right below the suites and so you have a private entry up into the club level guess what

It's air conditioned on the inside behind the seats.

You can go in.

There's concessions and bathrooms just for the club level section where it is air conditioned.

It happens to be super hot.

And, you know, it's just it's just nice.

The seats are cushiony.

They have arms on them.

You're sitting right on the third baseline.

You can see into the Brewers dug out their fantastic seats.

So I'm going to be giving a chance to win Milwaukee Brewer club level tickets.

Get this also.

a hundred bucks a hundred bucks in cash who doesn't like cold hard cash these days plus every entry for the next two weeks puts you into our grand prize drawing and here it is a brand new queen size mattress set from Verlo mattress that's fantastic right i know fantastic i cannot wait because really i mean you know

We've been talking about this for a while.

Everybody needs a good night's rest.

So I think that's a fin, right?

We mean, we were talking about this trivia yesterday.

Yeah, we've also talked about like what's worse, neck pain and back pain.

You know what helps both

a good mattress, a great verlo mattress, and that is going to be the grand prize this time around.

You can download the Civic Media app and be listening starting at 7 a.m.

on Monday, March 24th for your first chance to text in the hourly keyword and be entered to win.

And here's something that's not on the given text, but I'll tell you anyway.

If you enter during our show, you actually have a better chance to win.

The lawyers are staring daggers at me right now.

And if looks could kill through computers, they would be affecting you.

What is that?

This

is not true.

No,

it's not true.

It's equal odds.

It's equal odds.

I just like to think that people's chances are better when they enter during our show.

But no, it's equal odds.

Tune in throughout the entire day.

And remember, because keep me honest, your zombers, people can enter on each show, right?

Oh, yeah, you can get four entries a day.

And there may be other alternate ways.

In the past, we've had follow certain accounts on social media.

By certain accounts, I mean civic media accounts, not completely random things.

Or registering to vote or things like that.

So at least four entries every day that you can make.

See, I think that's fantastic.

So tune in.

There's going to be another great text to win contest.

Looking forward to that.

How about a birthday, Mr. Zommerz, as we're here at Richland Center?

This will be great.

Talk about birthdays today.

Fred Rogers, a.k.a.

Mr. Rogers, was born on this day, the 20th of March, back in 1928.

Guess, you remember Mr. Rogers?

I mean, you certainly had to like see him growing up, right?

How long ago did he pass away?

Take a guess without googling it

up.

I remember when it happened.

So it wasn't that long ago.

Um I am going to guess 20 2016 2016

so that would I can't do math in my head.

That's nine years ago.

I know right.

Thank you.

Um I would have said I would have said I would have said like eight to ten years ago.

I went to the past away.

He died

22 years ago.

Okay, so I don't remember it, but I was

alive.

But his legacy is still making life better for the whole, a lot of us.

I can't believe Mr. Rogers had been gone 22 years.

Oh, you know what

I was thinking of?

I was thinking of when the movie with Tom Hanks playing him came out.

Right.

Yeah.

No, I mean, I think it's because he's so ingrained in American culture.

We just like to think that he's always with us, right?

Right, right.

Of course, he was best known as the host of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.

He was also a songwriter and author.

He left us with some great truths such as these.

I have a few quotes here by Fred Rogers.

The first one, there are three ways to ultimate success.

The first way is to be kind.

The second way is to be kind.

The third way is to be kind.

That's pretty good, isn't it?

And it's true.

We need more of that.

What do you remember about Fred Rogers?

If you if you remember him watching him on the public television network, perhaps you saw him other places.

But memories of Fred Rogers today.

Give us a call 855-752-4842.

855-752-4842.

Fred Rogers, a lasting indelible mark on American society.

A few more of these quotes while we wait for calls here.

When we love a person, we accept him or her exactly as is.

The lovely with the unlovely, the strong with the fearful, the true mixed in with the facade.

And of course, the only way we can do it is by accepting ourselves that way.

Fred Rogers.

So I'm reading on a different screen here.

So if you have a call, just jump in.

I'm not looking at you right now.

Give us a call.

Memories of Fred Rogers.

You know,

one of my biggest takeaways of seeing that show when I was younger, once I was, you know, conscious enough to know the difference between what's on the screen.

A lot of shows made for kids when I was growing up and now are super overstimulating.

They just put so much stuff on the screen and so many sounds to keep kids' attention.

And Mr. Rogers' neighborhood kept my attention because it was the opposite.

It was such a quiet show, not

just

in matter of noise, but...

in tone and quiet and gentle and it was captivating in a different way.

That's such a great point and there's so much truth to that that he spoke quietly but directly and you always felt as a kid, at least I did, that he was talking to you.

And so I thought that's a really great point.

Mr. Sommers.

Memories of Fred Rogers, who would have been celebrating a birthday today, but he left us 22 years ago, 22 years ago.

Memories of Fred Rogers, 855-752-4842, 855-752-4842.

You can also text us on the Civic Media app.

Dave in New Berlin asks, any chance Mr. Rogers ever cursed?

I say absolutely not.

I don't you know, I mean he was also a lot of people didn't know this He was actually a ordained minister.

Yeah as well not to say that ministers don't ever cuss but I just don't think it was in his vernacular Day in and day out Chris mr. Casper that is also Tuning in on WMDX saying mr. Robinson's neighborhood on Saturday night live was hilarious, right?

That absolutely was.

Eddie Murphy playing Mr. Robinson on Saturday Night Live.

By the way, Casper, one of our fine engineers is working on the studio back home.

We appreciate all of our great engineers.

Lama, listening on WMDX in Madison, said Mr. Rogers was amazing.

He showed me it was okay to feel.

That's another great point, right?

Give us a text or a call.

855-752-4842.

855-752-4842.

A few more quotes here from Fred Rogers, who would have celebrated a birthday today.

Here's another one.

Quote, when I see a boy, pardon me, when I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, look for the helpers.

You will always find people who are helping.

That's something we've said to this show quite a few times and it's so true, especially in these troubled times.

If you want to find hope, if you want to feel a little bit better about a tragedy, look for people who are helping EMTs, firefighters, law enforcement, volunteers, World Food Kitchen, people who are just out there being humans to each other.

And

we have another friend.

We have Barbara in Madison calling with her thoughts on about Mr. Rogers.

Fantastic.

Barbara Madison on

WMDX.

Barbara, thanks for calling in.

What do you got?

Well, I love I just love mr. Rogers, but particularly because my daughter was Halecki and she would keep me up all night long and I would be exhausted and we would sit on the couch and we would watch mr. Rogers and she would finally stop screaming

Wow,

so I don't know

if that

was coincidence, but

it sure

was a lifesaver for me

Absolutely, I think but again it goes to Zahra's point He just had one of those voices where it was soothing and healing and you felt better just by listening to it, right?

Right and my daughter would

like she would just stop crying and she would just be looking at the TV and I thought, all right, Mr. Rogers, you go.

He was doing a little babysitting for you as well.

That's great.

Thank you.

I appreciate the call.

Thank you so much.

Have a wonderful afternoon.

855-752-4842.

If you want to weigh in on thoughts of Mr. Rogers, 855-752-4842.

Remembering him today, a few more quotes here as we approach the break.

We'll come back and update you on the Badgers as well as give you some more good

good news.

We have Ben Wickler coming up at the bottom of the next hour, the chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party.

Here's another Mr. Rogers quote for you.

The connections we make in the course of life, maybe that's what heaven is.

Wow, that's a good one, right?

Maybe it's just all the good people around us.

Sometimes there's a phrase, you know, there is heaven on earth, and it's all those helpers, all those great people around us.

We're live from Michelin Center on a Thursday, the first day of spring, March 20th.

Come on back.

It's the town hall ball show on the Civic Media Ready Network.

My neighbor.

My neighbor.

I'm glad we're together again.

Pursuing truth wherever it may lead and having fun doing it Welcome back to title ball show on the civic media.

We're glad to have you along with this nine before the hour of one o'clock coming up an hour number two a little what's worse for you involving risk and money

Casinos in the lottery will be talking about that now or two also at the bottom of the hour if you want something a little more meaty in terms of politics we have the chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party Ben Wickler will join us via stream yard at 130.

Steve Milwaukee by the way is saying he wanted more passion out of me today more outrage and then he said I'm only half kidding.

Well you know look if we

I think it's appropriate that we spent a lot of time this week on a lot of serious issues and we're going to at the bottom of the 130 hour as well.

But also sometimes just nice to talk about things that bring us together, not always dividing us.

Speaking of that, Wisconsin basketball tends to bring folks together.

They are leading the Montana Grizzlies right now by a score of 21 to 13.

21 to 13 in the in the first half We'll continue to update that and again if people are tuning in on select stations on the stream

thinking, well, I spend all season listening to the Badger basketball on the civic media app.

Where is it?

Why am I having to listen to Todd right now?

I'm sorry to disappoint.

It's because the NCAA and Westwood radio, they have the exclusive streaming rights.

So we're unable to stream the games now for the remainder of the season to hover along that last in the playoffs here or the NCAA tournament on the app.

However, if you live in Richland Center,

Wisconsin Rapids or AMRI you can listen to those games live over the air over the broadcast Broadcasting channels in your local area otherwise could have to watch it on TNT on your cable or youtuber or whatever so I won't keep you updated as the game goes along but right now Badgers lead 21 to 13 over Montana in the first half right now talking a little bit about Fred Rogers who uh

I think it was influential to a lot of Americans.

His birthday is today.

Of course, he left us.

I can't believe this.

Fred Rogers died 22 years ago.

It's just Bastilla's legacy.

The last time he was born on this date in 1928.

What are your remembrances of Fred Rogers?

How did he impact your life on Wisconsin Public Television?

855-752-4842.

855-752-4842.

for two.

A few more quotes from Fred Rogers here.

Here's one.

If you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet, how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of, unquote.

So well said.

I think sometimes we look at our own lives and we get down, get depressed, but we don't stop and think.

how much we mean to those around us who we interact with.

And we think, well, it doesn't really matter.

You know, I think that's why it's a wonderful life as one of my favorite movies, particularly holiday movies, because it shows us the impact we all make, even though sometimes we don't realize it.

Another Fred Rogers quote for you, quote, love isn't a state of perfect caring.

It's an active noun like struggle.

To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is right here and right now unquote Fred Rogers Another great one, right?

How many times do we want to try to?

Get along with people on our terms Instead of accepting whatever they're going through the struggles that they have and trying to understand them.

We've

got a

call

All right, very good numbers.

Who we got?

We have Bill and Madison.

All right, Bill and Madison on WMDX thoughts on Fred Rogers.

Bill, thanks for calling and listening.

Go ahead.

Well, a couple things.

The first was, I think, I hope it was the 70s or the 60s, but they were going to cut some public broadcasting money and Fred Rogers went in front of Congress and testified and one of the senators said,

you convinced me it changed my mind and so he got uh got the funding for it before they shut it down by testifying in front of congress and i think you can watch that on youtube if you look it up

i'm just gonna say i yes i've seen it on youtube and i would just google it fred rogers before congress or something and i encourage everybody to do it because the he doesn't yell he doesn't swear he doesn't talk down

but he explains the benefits and in such a way that it almost makes it irrefutable.

And this congressman, this chairman, this committee, this senator, he's like, well, you know, I'm not sure what to say to that.

You convinced me.

I mean, you're absolutely right.

It's amazing to watch that.

And I am so glad you mentioned this because I think it's a great template of how you can actually change minds.

And it's not by yelling and demeaning, but explaining the benefits in a way that people understand.

With a dash of empathy in there.

Yes.

Yes.

Well said with a dash of empathy.

You're absolutely right.

Thanks for calling.

Have a great day.

I appreciate you all listening in and calling in and

we also have LA Tom on the line.

Very good.

LA Tom, beautiful Los Angeles, California, listening on the app LA.

What do you have?

Hey, Todd, can I actually wait until the next hour just because I'm not may take a

More longer than one second.

Sure.

Sure.

We can do that.

We can do that.

Yeah.

To stay on the line to the break.

We'll we'll get back to you here after the top of the hour.

855-752-4842.

Memories on Fred Rogers impact he's had on your life.

Here's somebody at David New Berlin saying here probably a fun thing.

Some.

Let's see.

Oh, there was he was saying.

I missed.

I misread that one.

Sorry about that.

What else do we have here?

I guess that's pretty.

pretty much it for the text line right now.

I'll share a couple more quotes with you here as we get ready to wrap up things and move into our number two.

Let's see.

Love isn't a state of perfect.

We already did that one.

Everyone longs to be loved.

And the greatest thing we could do is to let people know that they are loved and capable of loving.

And finally, imagine what our real neighborhoods would be like if each of us offered as a matter of course, just one kind word to another person.

The words of Fred Rogers.

Stay tuned.

Hour number two is next.

We're live at Richel Center on the Civic Media Ready Network.

You always make each day such a special day.

You know how?

By just your being you.

Only one person in the whole world like you.

That's you yourself.

I'll be back next time.

Bye.