Mr. Rogers Says Fund PBS (hour 1)

Live from the Civic Media World Headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, it's the Todd Alba show.

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

Across Wisconsin on the Civic Media radio network and streaming worldwide on the Civic Media app.

Good afternoon, everybody.

Todd Alba along with Mr.

not Aaron Zombers today, a special producer engineer Parker Olson on the board.

It is six minutes past the hour of two o'clock.

Welcome in everybody.

TGIF, it is Friday.

I got it wrong yesterday.

I was a day early, but today really is Friday.

It is August 1st, 2025.

Welcome in everybody.

It is a great day to be Wisconsinite and Parker Olson.

Welcome to the show.

Well, thank you, Todd.

I'm glad to be here.

It's a fun place to be.

It's, uh, thank you very much.

We always like you having to fill in in.

Zomers is, is out today.

A little, nothing, nothing major, but he's taking the day off.

That's fantastic.

The traffic was slow.

Parker.

Yes.

The traffic was slow where he was coming from, but not to worry.

Parker Olson, a seasoned vet that he is now on mornings and packed quite low producer for Mr. Crite low every morning between six and nine.

Now normally Parker, would you be taking a nap during this time of the afternoon?

You know, usually I try to watch your show, Todd.

I really enjoy the Todd Alba show.

However... Wow, nice.

Thank you.

Nephtime does usually cut into my Todd Alba intake.

In other words, I have a great antidote to put him to for sleep deprivation.

I put him to sleep.

I may have fallen asleep to this show once or twice before.

Several people do.

You're not alone in that.

Well, we'll try to keep you awake.

Do you need anything I should have offered before the show?

We can send somebody out.

Luke Mathers is here.

We can have coffee.

Do you need donuts?

I'm not a coffee guy.

That's right.

I forgot about that.

How do you do morning radio without coffee?

What's your drink of choice in the morning?

I just slap myself in the face.

That's all.

It's quick and easy.

It's quick and easy.

There's that.

But water, tea, what do you drink in the morning?

Water, just straight

up water.

Yeah, I don't even know.

Man, you're

healthy.

I have water and I have a bag of fruit snacks in the morning.

That is my.

What a

healthy guy.

I don't know

if

that's quite what we'd call it.

Well, regardless, glad to have you here.

Thank you very much for filling in for Zommering.

He'll be back on Monday.

Big show for you today coming up in hour two.

And what's worse addition is a liquor.

or liqour edition today.

So we'll be playing what's worse in hour number two.

Also talking the state fair kicks off this weekend underway right now down in West Dallas.

Most people would say Milwaukee, but it's West Dallas proper is where the state fair grounds are at.

We'll be talking about your favorite part of the state fair.

What's your favorite fair food?

at the State Fair, talk a little bit about that.

And other, if you're not down in the Southeast Wisconsin, if you're not driving down there, there are plenty of other festivals this weekend.

I'm gonna be talking about some of the other big festivals.

We're in August now, Parker.

I can't believe it.

And this is kind of the transition month, right?

From summer kind of into fall-ish.

I hate to even say

that.

Ah, don't use the F word.

Geez.

You're right, I shouldn't.

Out of the

air.

Yes.

It's, uh...

It's yeah, but it's the dog days of summer.

You ever hear your grandparents or parents use that term?

I think I've only heard dog days of summer in terms of baseball.

Oh, really?

I think

it's kind of a it's kind of an old time term for August.

meaning that you get hot, although today it's not bad at all, but hot and kind of sultry and you hear the frogs or the crickets and it's just long days as those dog days or somewhere where the dog just sits on the front porch and sits there and sits

in a hard days night.

That's

right.

It certainly has.

So we'll talk a little bit about the the dog days of summer.

Oh, now we're getting people are saying there is no sound.

I

will work.

Well, my sister, we're here.

She could do a sign language.

I don't know sign language.

So we're on top of it.

We're on top of it, folks.

We're working on the sound.

Thank you very much for that input.

So that's going on today.

Also coming up here after the first break.

So right around the 22 minute mark here in this hour, I'm going to give away some or start to give away some.

Milwaukee Brewer's tickets.

It is free ticket Friday.

That means that it's your opportunity to text in via the Civic Media app after the upcoming break.

Gonna give you a word and you have until four o'clock to text in the word.

And if you're the lucky person drawn by the computer randomly, you will get four beautiful tickets in our club level seats.

Cushions air-condition concourse right behind you the concessions are dedicated just to the club level.

It's fantastic and It'll be for the game next Friday week from today August 8th the Brewers against the Mets 7 10 in the evening

for this for these tickets we're going to give away here after the break so stay tuned going to give you some tickets for that brewers back in action after being off yesterday they traveled out to Washington DC the nation's capital and the nationals taking on the nationals this afternoon first pitch at five forty five that means that pregame she'll get underway and run around that

515 marks.

So Brewers try to get back on the winning track.

They won two of three from the Cubbies in Milwaukee in the middle of the week here.

Still, I believe a half game ahead of the Cubs.

I'll double check on that for you, but.

They're still ahead of the Cubs in the central race.

They had off yesterday after losing to the Cubs on a Wednesday and trying to get back on track against the Nationals.

You can hear those games.

That game on many of our civic media stations on the Brewers radio network, including W R C E and Richland Center, W I S S and Oshkosh and W B Z H in beautiful Hayward.

Many of the channels.

I like when we expand our Brewers.

That's what I

need.

Absolutely.

Very good.

Matt Egger.

watching on the YouTube channel.

We have sound.

So well done, Parker.

Thank you very much.

We appreciate

that.

It was all thanks to the Handsome and Capable Luke Matters.

Oh, you see, he's very capable indeed.

So we thank you, Luke, for helping us.

Now, some people would say, well, actually, I was going to say some people would say I'm better off without sound, but then they got to look at me and that would not be good at all.

So thank you, Luke.

Thank you, Parker.

We have sound now on the old stream.

So anyway, the Brewers tonight or this afternoon.

545 first pitch in Washington, DC against the Nationals.

But you're a Brewer's fan, aren't you, Parker?

That I am.

I am a very proud Brewer's fan who is OK with the fact that we didn't do much at the trade deadline.

I am perfectly fine with

that.

You know, there was some saltiness on the online.

People were getting a little, they were a little angry at the Brewer's that they didn't do more.

But I'm with you.

I'm with you.

I'm right.

I was saying to.

Right.

Well, the other day, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I don't need anything to disrupt how the clubhouse is going.

Josh Hater trade.

Right.

Exactly.

I just checked the stand is brewers are indeed a full game ahead of the Cubs right now, 64 and 66.

The Cubbies are at 63 and 45.

So there you go.

But we're still in first place in the NL central.

I like

it.

Yeah, absolutely.

So anyway, we'll be giving those tickets away here and just are starting to.

your ability to text in, I should say, and win those tickets.

So if you haven't got it, here's what you need to do.

Download the Civic Media app.

Go to your favorite Apple or Android device.

Go to your search bar for apps.

Type in Civic CIVIC media.

It'll come up, takes less than a minute.

It's free.

It's what Gayle King at CBS calls a deal.

There we go.

At least that's she used to call the CBS this morning app that.

And I feel like if we knew her, she has an open invitation to come on this program anytime, and she's welcome to bring her best friend, Oprah, as well.

Yeah, I love to meet Oprah.

We would love to have them here.

I bet if Gail knew about the Civic Media app, I feel like she would call that a deal as well.

I would think.

It seems like a good deal.

I didn't know that she called things a deal until you started doing it.

I think you might be making it up.

No,

I am completely 100% serious.

That's what she that's what she calls it.

All right.

Anyway, it's coming up on 15 minutes now past the hour of two o'clock here on a Friday afternoon.

I want to start here.

This was breaking.

Oh, I guess I should say quickly.

Many thanks again to Phil Knee and all the crew at WRCO WRCE in Richland Center.

I did the show there yesterday.

And wow, what a what a great time we had.

And they were raising money.

I have the t-shirt on right now, speaking of Euker.

This year, the Grace, the Grand Original Area Cancer Elimination Team, raises money for this organization locally in Southwest Wisconsin every year.

This year's theme in honor of the late great Bob Euker, who himself was fighting cancer, is cancer.

Get up, get up, get out of here.

And this morning, they concluded their radio auction, which we talked about yesterday.

We participated a little bit before our show yesterday.

And the final numbers today in the WRCO to be RCE radio auction in Richland Center to fight cancer.

Pertner, as my granddad would say, almost 28.

thousand dollars.

Wow.

How about that?

That's awesome.

So congratulations to not just the the team up there at WRCO Richland Center, but also to all the great sponsors, all the folks that bid on on those items as well.

But $28,000 is what WRCO folks up there raised to fight cancer.

So congratulations to them.

Anyway, we did the show up there yesterday.

So I was driving back to Madison this morning and this broke.

On the way back from CBS News, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting said today it would begin winding down its operations after its funding was eliminated by the Trump administration and Congress.

The CPB is a private nonprofit founded in 1967 that serves as a steward for funding for public media.

It provides funds to 1,500 local public radio and television stations, as well as PBS and NPR.

It employs about 100 people.

President Trump signed an executive order in May instructing the organization to cease federal funding for PBS and NPR.

In June, the House approved a White House request to claw back 1.1 billion

in already appointed federal funds from the CPB.

The Center of Appropriations Committee and committees 2026 appropriation bill eliminated funding for the CPB for the first time in over 50 years.

Step it away from the story for a second.

So just to clarify, it wasn't just in Trump's bill.

That they took the money away they clawed back in the words they went back to monies that were already approved and signed into law to the tune of 1.1 billion dollars Now I don't know if you know anything about public broadcasting or the corporation of public broadcasting But these folks it's it's not a bloated agency.

That's not really agency But it's not a bloated organization.

They do a lot on a little and over a billion dollars in clawbacks

Let alone no new funding is a huge deal And well the dramatic effect and just to be clear the corporation for public broadcasting provides funds to public radio and television stations so PBS and NPR, but it's not the exclusive funding have reached out to a couple of folks here locally in Madison

that are involved Wisconsin Public Television and Wisconsin Broadcast is broke very, very late, but an hour before the show started.

So we're still waiting to hear back from them.

But having worked a little bit with those folks, but around them, this is going to have effects right here in Wisconsin on Wisconsin Public Radio and Wisconsin Public Television.

We've already seen Wisconsin Public Television, pardon me, Wisconsin Public Radio, eliminate programs based in Wisconsin.

and also eliminate staff.

It was so sadly ironic to me is that public television, public radio, which does provide, is provided some funds, but largely from private funding, but it provides a small amount, but a very important amount of public funds is being eliminated essentially by government.

And when I say a little bit, I don't mean Wisconsin public radio and television are eliminated or going away yet.

But here now news today that the corporation for public broadcasting says it will begin winding down its operations.

Gonna come back, give you the word of the day, your chance to win free Milwaukee Brewer's tickets, four of them.

And then also here from the late great Mr. Fred Rogers on the other side.

Don't go anywhere.

It's the all ball show for a Friday on the Civic Media Ready Network.

truth wherever it may lead and having fun doing it.

Welcome back to the Tahleball show and the Civic Media running at work.

Twenty two now past the hour of two o'clock.

Glad to have you along with us on a TGIF edition of the show coming up a little bit later.

A liqueur edition on a Friday appropriately enough of what's worse today and talking about this breaking news story over the last 90 minutes or so that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has announced this afternoon.

It's shutting down.

Done, gone.

Organization said in a statement, it told employees that a majority of staff persons will quote unquote conclude when the fiscal year ends on September 30th of this year.

The CPB did not say exactly how many positions that was, quote, a small transition team will remain through January of 2026 to ensure a responsible and orderly closeout of operations, unquote, according to the organization.

Gonna have dramatic effects across the country on both public broadcasting services, national public radio, and ultimately we'll have some kind of effect.

yet to be seen exactly how deep and far on Wisconsin public television and Wisconsin public radio already struggling, by the way.

Can you hear from Mr. Rogers from years ago via the miracle of digital editing and videotape?

But right now it's 24 past the hour of two o'clock.

Time once again for Milwaukee Brewer Free Ticket Friday.

Let's go Parker.

That's

right, it's free ticket Friday your chance to win four Milwaukee Brewer tickets this one for a game and remember now Luke Mathers the keeper of the brew he goes down to Milwaukee County Stadium

I.E.

Miller Park, I.E.

Ampham Field, and he meets at home plate with, uh, Bud Selig, who still does the ticket, give you the way.

And, uh, former commissioner Selig gives Luke Mathers an allotment of tickets for the year.

He takes all the tickets and he puts them in a well-worn leather satchel, which he...

which he rubs with synthetic mink oil to keep it in good shape.

And he stores it under Funkin' Waggles' porch and has been there since noon.

Is that the secret?

And occasionally he pulls out some and he gives them.

So here's that that's a long way of saying this is for a specific game.

You can't you can't trade this out.

You can't say, oh, Luke, I won these, but I can't.

No, no, no, he doesn't want to hear it.

You understand?

And so this is for a game next Friday, August 8th.

against the Mets at 7.10 in the evening.

Again, for August 8th against the Mets at 7.10 in the evening, you must be able to go to that game.

This is for four tickets in the club level seats.

Download the Civic Media app, open it up.

The first 10 stations are the ones that we are on.

Click on one of those in the lower right hand corner.

It will say text.

You click on that.

And now I'm going to give you a word

and you have until four o'clock to text it in.

The word is gold.

The word is gold.

G-O-L-D as in green and gold.

All right, the word is gold.

G-O-L-D.

Text the word gold right now to the Civic Media app.

Somebody at four o'clock, the computer will randomly draw it.

Somebody's going to win four.

Tickets to the club level seats for the Milwaukee Brewers next Friday August 8th against the Mets at 7 10 the word is gold g old make sure that you uh uh Text correctly because if you misspell something the computer doesn't like it.

It will say no way All right gold g old the word is gold text it on the civic media app

right now for it to be eligible for those Brewer tickets.

All right, back to the story at hand here, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting announcing is going to wind down their activities by the end of next month in September.

Let's go to the phone line, 855-752-4842, 855-752-4842.

Matt in Middleton calling in.

Matt, thanks for calling.

We'll see you.

Hey, Todd, thanks again for what you do.

This is just another part of the retribution.

The owning the libs has nothing to do with money.

And I'm tempted to say that a lot of this stuff, this gaslighting that Trump constantly does on his social media and this NPR funding, everything to hurt the left hurt anyone who isn't MAGA.

I feel like they're trying to provoke

Not so much a civil war but for us to overreact so that he can bring in martial law and fully have the dictatorship that he dreams about What do you think?

Yeah, I appreciate the call Matt.

Thanks for listening as always Yeah, I think there's a little bit of the cruelty is the point he knows that the Trump administration knows that this is something that's near and dear to a lot of folks heart and Unfortunately, I think he miscalculates that some of the things that

Everybody who likes Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, and great television and Ken Burns, that somehow those people never vote Republican or never vote Trump.

And that's just not true.

I mean, how many people like Wisconsin Badger Hockey Games?

There's also oftentimes on Wisconsin Public Television.

A lot of people get their news and information from Wisconsin Public Radio.

They don't all vote a monolithic Democratic or liberal or progressive.

But I think the cruelty is the point and I think Matt is right to a degree Matt.

I think that there is a certain amount of hang on Let's let's let's gin these people up a little bit and they'll start they'll start going off about this and that will take away to some degree from the bigger headlines the the Epstein files not being released And Trump going off and saying he basically wants a coup against Jerome Powell at the Fed this afternoon By the way, the stock market is down jobs reports coming in below expected

inflation on the rise.

Trump doesn't want us to talk about that.

Wants us to get angry, like Matt said, to a degree and fire people up.

But I think this deserves some time spent on breaking this down because I do think that this is an issue that cuts across partisan lives.

We're going to come back, going to hear this clip from Fred Rogers.

It's really great.

It cuts to the heart of what.

American values should be.

Don't go anywhere.

Pam Yankee, Farm Report, up next.

We'll be back after this on the Civic Media Radio Network.

Wherever it may lead and having fun doing it.

Welcome back to the title of all show on the Civic Media Ready Network 35.

Now past the hour of two o'clock on Friday, August.

Yes, it's August 1st, 2025.

I cannot believe it.

Think about it, Parker.

By the end, I saw this on one of the morning shows, Madison Morning TV this morning, Channel 3.

We lose like 80 minutes of daylight between today

and the first is September.

Is that crazy?

No, Tom told me that.

I know.

The sun rises later than it sets earlier.

And all I get to think about it, Wisconsin Badgers football team, they're practicing right now down at the University of Wisconsin Platteville.

It's because Parker went, he's a proud graduate recently of UW Whitewater.

It's a fine institution.

Back in the day, Whitewater and Platteville were bitter, bitter rivals.

Are they still?

Not really.

They have more actually now.

Really?

You

think

so?

Yeah, Platteville's beat Whitewater in football a couple of times.

That's true.

In the last like four years they hadn't beat Whitewater in like 20 years.

Right, right.

Yeah.

All right.

There you go.

Anyway, but the Badgers are doing their summer or whatever camp it is down there.

preseason camp at Platteville.

And by the end of this month, they're in one of those first games on a Thursday night.

That should tell you where ESPN takes the Badgers this year.

They're opening their Badgers are their season on a Thursday night.

at Camp Randall.

So by the end of this month, we'll have already had one full game of regular season Badger football on the air.

And don't forget, many of our stations across Wisconsin, once again, carrying Badger football, as well as basketball.

So, yeah, that time of year, already starting to talk about that.

All right, don't forget, we are right smack dab in the middle of three ticket Friday giveaways for four, one, two, three, four.

Club level seats at and fan field for the Milwaukee Brewers is for a game on Friday week from tonight August 8th against the New York Mets at 7 10 in the evening You must be eligible and able to go to that game You may not trade it in for a different day or night have people to go next Friday August 8th at 7 10 if you are Either open or download the civic media app if you don't have it

on your Apple or Android device.

It's free.

Open it up.

The first 10 stations are the ones that we are on.

Open one of those up on the lower right hand corner.

It says text.

Click on text and then click or rather text the following word, gold, G-O-L-D is in David.

As in green and gold, but the word is gold, just gold.

G-O-L-D.

Text that right now to the Civic Media app and at the

four o'clock mark, the computer will randomly select somebody who texted in the word gold correctly and you will be on your way to the Brewers a week from tonight.

You and three of your friends, family, just pick somebody up off the street.

Maybe you can take your dog.

I don't think so.

No, that'd be funny, though.

We've we've we've discussed that Parker on

this

show.

Wouldn't it be kind of fun?

I think it'd be a fun bit.

Oh boy, if I were on the on the street one day and we randomly chose somebody from the street and say hey Do you want to go to the brewer game with Todd tonight?

And then and then you film it and you do a whole bit of a random fan or a random person going to the brewers game with the Now as my former broadcasting partner Kevill Conner is fond of saying it has great potential

great for potential for disaster.

It could go either way, because if you get the wrong person, you're stuck with them for like six hours, which could go very, very poorly.

This sounds fantastic.

Item to you, yes.

Yeah, I think I would love to be a spectator of this.

Right.

I don't know that I would want to be the one with the rando.

You don't want to be in the truck with the rando and Todd.

All right.

That's why it's never happened so far.

But maybe, maybe, maybe in the future.

All right, text the word gold, G-O-L-D.

You can take somebody you actually know, you and three of your friends.

Next Friday, August 8th, text the word gold, G-O-L-D to the Civic Media app and you will be eligible to win at four o'clock.

All right, back to the story.

I want to play this, this is Roger's cup for you.

Earlier we talked about breaking over the last 90 minutes or so, the corporation for public broadcasting.

The funder of one of the funders of NPR and PBS says it will end operations by the end of September after federal budget cuts.

This all stems from Donald Trump signing the executive order in May, instructing the organization to cease federal funding to PBS and NPR.

Then in June, the House approved a White House request to claw back.

an additional 1.1 billion in already appropriated federal funds from the Corporation of Public Broadcasting.

The Senate Appropriations Committee's 2026 appropriation bill eliminated funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for the first time in over 50 years.

Sometimes you can learn a lot by history, most of the time you can.

Our friend Matt Flynn

Always fond of saying you're not woke.

If you don't know history, you're not woke until, and unless you know history.

So let's go back to a little bit of history for you.

Back to May 1st of 1969, Fred Rogers, host of the new program at the time, Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, appeared before a Senate committee in front of Senator John Pastore, Democrat of Rhode Island.

And Pastore served as the chairman of the U.S.

Senate Subcommittee on Communications, and is well remembered for taking part in this 1969 hearing involving a $20 million grant for funding for PBS and the Corporation of Public Broadcasting, proposed by former President Lyndon Johnson, fellow Democrat.

Then President Richard Milhouse Nixon a Republican wanted to cut the proposed funding in half to 10 million due to demands of the Vietnam War Mr. Rogers We said the host of mr. Rogers neighborhood appeared before the committee to argue for the full 20 million We're gonna pick this up at this point there's been introductions made Fred Rogers and if I read this to you mr. Chairman's gonna take 10 minutes, so I just want to talk

And Senator Pastore says, well, it'll make you feel better if you just do it.

He didn't seem real thrilled.

And Fred Rogers said, no, I just want to talk to you if I could, Mr. Chairman.

Yeah, go ahead.

And Fred Rogers said, look, there's a lot of things out there, these cartoons that really don't serve educational purpose.

But what our show does is talk about real issues with children.

Here is Fred Rogers' testimony before the United States Senate from 1969.

We deal with such things as getting a haircut, or the feelings about brothers and sisters, and the kind of anger that arises in simple family situations.

And we speak to it constructively.

How long a program is it?

It's a half hour every day.

Most channels schedule it in the noon time as well as in the evening.

WETA here has scheduled it in the late afternoon.

Could we get a copy of this so that we can see it?

Maybe not today, but I'd like to see the program.

I'd like very much for you to see.

I'd like to see the program itself or any one of them, you see.

We made a hundred programs for EEN, the Eastern Educational Network, and then when the money ran out,

people in Boston and Pittsburgh and Chicago all came to the fore and said, we've got to have more of this neighborhood expression of care.

And this is what I give.

I give an expression of care every day to each child to help him realize that he is unique.

I end the program by saying, you've made this day a special day by just your being you.

There's no person in the whole world like you, and I like you just the way you are.

And I feel that if we in public television can only make it clear that feelings are mentionable and manageable, we will have done a great service for mental health.

I think that it's much more dramatic that two men could be working out their feelings of anger.

Much more dramatic than showing something of gunfire.

I'm constantly concerned about what our children are seeing.

And for 15 years I have tried in this country and Canada to present what I feel is a meaningful expression of care.

this is fred rogers from the testimony to the united senate in 1969 when richard millhouse nixon wanted to cut the funding for corporation of public broadcasting in half rogers appeared before the senate committee to get the full funding i'm going back in time because about an hour and a half two hours ago it was announced that the corporation for public broadcasting is shutting down in light of donald trump's cuts

to the program.

Parker Olson on the board today for Zawbers.

Parker, ever watched Mr. Rogers grow it up?

No, I don't think at all.

It wasn't a big deal when you were that big.

My generation was huge.

No, I mean, I don't know when it stopped airing, but yeah, I will say though, in that...

like was genuinely kind of moved there when he was talking about mental health and well this is in the 60s

right and that's thank you because I was kind of one of the points in playing this is that Fred Rogers was so ahead of his time in in as a child psychologist as a teacher as educator who knew that hey you know it's better to help kids children work these feelings and emotions out when they're young so they grow don't grow up to be men and women that have

Suppressed repressed feelings and don't know how to deal with their feelings and maybe we can actually Stop some of this even back as you said the 60s gunfire gun gun assaults we can stop Abuse we can we can understand one another if we learn as children the fundamentals of how to deal with our emotions And it was so far ahead of his time and it was and it was groundbreaking and for many of us who grew up in this era it

I don't want to go too far, but it really was your television friend.

If you felt like you had no one, you knew that Mr. Rogers was there to watch.

And I think it undoubtedly saved a number of people from death by suicide or from alienation or feeling like they don't belong.

It was groundbreaking.

Let's continue this.

This is Fred Rogers finishing up his testimony from 1969 in front of the U.S.

Senate subcommittee on communications.

I'm the host, yes.

And I do all the puppets, and I write all the music, and I write all the scripts.

Well, I'm supposed to be a pretty tough guy, and this is the first time I've had goosebumps for the last two days.

Well, I'm grateful, not only for your goosebumps, but for your interest in our kind of communication.

Could I tell you the words of one of the songs which I feel is very important?

Yes.

This has to do with that good feeling of control, which I feel that the children need to know is there.

And it starts out, what do you do with the mad that you feel?

And that first line came straight from a child.

I work with children doing puppets in very personal communication with small groups.

What do you do with the mad that you feel?

When you feel so mad you could bite.

When the whole wide world seems oh so wrong.

and nothing you do seems very right.

What do you do?

Do you punch a bag?

Do you pound some clay or some dough?

Do you round up friends for a game of tag or see how fast you go?

It's great to be able to stop when you've planned a thing that's wrong and be able to do something else instead and think this song.

I can stop when I want to.

can stop when I wish, can stop, stop, stop anytime.

And what a good feeling to be.

We're going to stop right there

for a second.

We're going to pick up.

We'll finish it up when we come back.

Fred Rogers testified before the Senate in 1969.

And the results from the Senate are fantastic.

Stay with us.

Finish up after this.

Welcome back to the Town Hall Ball show on the Civic Media Ready Network.

Here we go.

Here's a little bit of Mr. Rogers.

Here we go.

Coming through the door, about to come through the door in the wonderful set of PBS's Mr. Rogers.

And

here he is.

It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood.

A beautiful day for a neighbor.

Would you be mine?

Could you be mine?

It's a neighborly day in this beautiful neighborhood.

A neighborly day for a beauty.

Would you be mine?

Could you be mine?

I have always

wanted to.

And was that?

None of us who grew up in the 70s and 80s, I think even into the 90s, saw Mr. Rogers come through that door every afternoon or evening at Mr. Rogers neighborhood.

So it was a, for those of you who might not have seen it.

Mr. Rogers live real person on this show and they had a series of puppets and there was a trolley in the house a little plate large like scale trolley like a Train and would kind of go back behind the behind the The wall and that was the neighborhood of that the trolley where they would take you to the neighborhood of make believe

which was a set of a castle and a neighborhood and the trolley, the same trolley would go through the neighborhood and all the people there or most of the people would be puppets.

And Fred Rogers did all the puppets and all the voices to the puppets and then there were a couple of live characters that would appear in the neighborhood I may believe and also appear in Fred Rogers house as well.

So that was kind of the people that kind of made it go together.

and he dealt with these issues, such as getting a haircut, which can be really, really scary for a little kid the first time you get a haircut, or perhaps, I'll stay correct if I'm wrong, but I believe I'm right, insane, that Mr. Rogers' neighborhood was the first time that a black person and a white person had their feet, bare feet together in a swimming pool.

And the character of the

Uh, uh, I believe delivery person.

Oh, what?

That was Mr. McFeely.

Maybe it was the mailman.

I don't know.

It was, it was, it was a character in the neighborhood.

No, I know.

It was the cop.

It was the neighborhood police officer on Mr. Rogers' neighborhood.

It was a black man.

And it was a hot day, and Fred Rogers had a little kid's pool out in front of his house, and he has pants rolled up on his feet in it, and he invited the black police officer to come, and he's like, are you sure it's okay?

And he said, yeah.

And they put their feet in there, and he's like, look, our feet are exactly the same, except your skin is different than mine, but isn't nice.

We can have our feet in the water together.

And it was a very subtle way of saying it's okay to chill out around people that don't look like us, or don't act like us, or something.

They were all humans.

And it was just a great program.

And so I want to finish up Parker back this up.

And I appreciate it, Parker.

This is Fred Rogers concluding his testimony in 1969 to the U.S.

Senate because.

They had asked for 20 million a former president Johnson appropriated 20 million dollars for PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting by this time Richard Milhauss Nixon Republican was president and wanted to cut it to 10 and The senator John Pastore and Democrat was the Senate chairman of the subcommittee listening to Fred Rogers Trying to decide whether it should be 10 million or 20 million.

It was stuck at 10 one another another 10 Fred Rogers did and this is in light

of the news today that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has announced it's going to close down by the end of September, essentially, because of the Trump cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Here is Fred Rogers concluding with this song that he had written called What Do You Do with the Mad That You Feel from 1969.

What do you do with the mad that you feel when you feel so mad you could bite?

when the whole wide world seems oh so wrong and nothing you do seems very right.

What do you do?

Do you punch a bag?

Do you pound some clay or some dough?

Do you round up friends for a game of tag or see how fast you go?

It's great to be able to stop when you've planned a thing that's wrong and be able to do something else instead.

and think this song.

I can stop when I want to.

Can stop when I wish.

Can stop, stop, stop anytime.

And what a good feeling to feel like this.

And know that the feeling is really mine.

Know that there's something deep inside that helps us become what we can.

For a girl can be someday a lady.

And a boy can be someday a man.

I think it's wonderful.

I think it's wonderful.

Looks like you just earned the $20 million.

And the Senate room erupts in applause.

Chairman, Senator John Pastore, I think it's wonderful.

I think it's wonderful.

Looks like you just got $20 million.

After that, that appearance, after Pastore and the senators heard that,

The following year's appropriation increased PBS funding from 9 million to 22 million It was a day and age when words mattered when intent mattered When people are willing to listen and say I don't need a report to just hear something like that and say that's innately good

We need to take a relatively small amount of money in Washington DC and put it towards our kids.

And today, because of pettiness, because of spite, just to be mean, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced that it is shutting down operations by the end of September after the Trump cuts, not just the cuts, but clawing back.

Trump and Senate Republicans Congressional Republicans clawing back 1.1 billion dollars in Federally already approved and made into law federal funds from the corporation for public broadcasting Look, I If there are large issues out there that you think are important, that's one thing

But we can't we just come together for our kids for good and sake?

It's a sad day in America sad day indeed and Donald Trump and congressional Republicans are responsible for the end of the corporation for public public broadcasting Stay tuned hour two is next.

Don't worry.

We're the civic media

Live from the Civic Media World Headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, it's the Todd Alba Show.

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

Across Wisconsin on the Civic Media Radio Network and streaming worldwide on the Civic Media app,

Good afternoon, everybody.

Ta-da, along with Mr. Parker Olson on the board.

It is six minutes past the hour of three o'clock on this Friday, T-G-I-F, August 1st, 2025.

It is a great day to be Wisconsinite.

Glad to have you along.

Old World Headquarters back here in Madison, downtown, above State Street.

Parker in for Mr. Zomerans today.

Parker, glad to have you along.

A little overcast.

The smoke.

It's the smoke,

Parker.

It's the

smoke, man.

I don't like it.

It's just, I was going home the other day and I was like, hey.

Why am I squinting so much?

Because it's smoky.

It hurts my eyes.

I have a headache, dude.

Now, see, Parker is a certain age.

He just graduated from college here this last spring.

So you probably do have any recollection, probably not, when people could smoke at restaurants and bars in the state of Wisconsin.

No.

It baffles me that you could smoke on a plane.

I

know

that's just such a

weird there was there was smoking and non-smoking sections on a plane as if You know you're locked inside of a tube nothing could possibly you'll be transmitted Yeah, those were the days, but I remember going to restaurants and asking for no smoking sections or yeah, you know going into a bar and people were just lighting up

You know, the smoke was just hanging above the bar like that.

Oh,

God.

I

know.

Bar as

bad enough as is.

Geez.

It was a big deal when all this went through.

But see, I'm glad this year generation has no memory of those days.

Me

too.

Things are better.

But yeah, wildfires out west still creating some...

hazards or some concerns.

If you're someone who deals with asthma, that sort of thing might want to consider staying inside or limit your outdoor activities, supposed to clear out of here, I guess, by the weekend.

Give me a beautiful weekend Parker.

Any big weekend plans this weekend?

The big weekend plans include a Mallard's game that I am working tonight, a Mallard's game I am working tomorrow, and a Mallard's game I am working on Sunday.

Parker is one of the hardest working men in the show's business because not only does he get up in the morning and board and produce for the wonderful The Tale to Pat Critello, and Morty's to Pat Critello from six until nine, then he gets pulled in to help out with our little dog and pony show in the afternoon, and then he's got to go work another.

legit game or job as a camera operator for the Mallards baseball team here in Madison.

Yeah, I mean.

It's

okay.

How are the ballers doing this season?

Um, I frankly, I only pay attention to how they're doing while I'm there.

So I'm not a hundred percent sure.

I think they're okay.

They're they're not as good as they were last year because last year they were like historically good.

Oh, yeah.

I think they were like 50 and 22 or something

like that.

The Northwoods

League.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Um, I don't even know if they're on track for playoffs this year.

They're fighting.

Now, here's a question because I just came to me because.

There's this big controversy recently at a Coldplay concert where this executive

and his sweetheart, his, let's just be honest, his hookup was

with

him and he was an attached married man and they got caught on the kiss cam and all hell is broken loose at the company and they've had to triage the guy lost his job.

Now Parker, you operate the cameras and these things for the kiss cam.

This is true.

I have gotten the man, the myth, the legend, Luke Matters.

I have gotten him on the video board before.

Have you really?

Yeah.

With his wife?

I believe so.

Maybe that's not who she was.

I don't know what she was.

I'm sure it was.

But so he gave you a heads up and you got him on the kiss cam.

Yeah, if you tell me about where you're sitting, I'll, hey,

I might be able to get you on.

Is it just a kiss cam or do you do other things like the Lion King hold up your kid cam?

We do Simba cam,

yes.

Simba cam, that's what

it's called.

I love, I try to get more beers than I get babies.

I think it's far funnier to watch a man hold.

up a beer lovingly than it is to watch a man hold up a baby lovingly.

That is my point in life right now.

What's your favorite of all the cams that the mallards do?

What's your favorite one to capture people?

Oh,

that's a good.

That's a really good question.

I don't know.

There's no there's a couple.

You know what?

We do a race.

Everyone has their own version of the raising sausages, of course.

We have because it's a sponsor, the airport sponsors a race.

Oh, Dane County Regional Airport.

Yeah.

And they do.

They put kids into inflatable mascot costumes of a cactus, the Statue of Liberty, and I believe the other one is a cowboy riding a horse, which is just like half of your body is a horse and the other half is a cowboy with the little hat on, and I always root for the cowboy.

That's great.

It's like, what's the Disney movie Buzz Lightyear?

You know, the cowboy character.

Yeah.

There you go.

That's great.

Well, that's good.

So if you go to a mallards game, watch out.

Parker is going to be watching for you on cam.

So that's great.

How long how much longer is the season?

Very I believe they've

got less than

a

week or so.

Oh jeez.

So get out there if you're in the area Support those local minor league baseball programs because they're really important to the guys as they come up through development We've had people that played here in Madison and then went on to play for the Brewers or other major league teams as

well Peter Lonzo.

There you go.

Yeah, there

you

go Meet the Mets.

Hey free ticket

Friday.

Go see the Mets Peter Lonzo

Look at that.

Look at that.

Talk about a transition.

Well done Parker.

We are a free ticket Friday your chance to

See, Peter Lonzo and the entire Mets team next Friday.

You have to be able to go next Friday at 7 10 in the evening.

We are giving you a chance to go to that game for free for tickets up for grabs in our club level seats.

Parker was there recently, right?

Right.

Oh, it was Dom.

Dom was there.

Dom was there recently.

Dom was there

recently.

Dom, John, Gordy, the whole MDX

crew was there.

They're beautiful.

These club level seats are padded.

You have air condition in the concourse behind you.

Your own kind of concessions area.

Your own bathrooms to that session section.

So it's really, really nice.

Here's how you win.

Download the Civic Media app if you don't have it and then open it up if you do or if you download it and go to the first 10 stations.

We're on those.

Click on one of those at the lower right hand corner.

It'll say text.

Click on that.

Now you're all set to go.

I'm going to give you a word.

Text the word.

Gold.

G-O-L-D.

The word is gold.

G. O. L. D. Text it right now.

And the computer randomly at four o'clock at the end of this program will choose one lucky entry who spelled the word correctly correctly.

That's important.

Now, Parker and I are going to do it.

We'd say, ah, it's close enough.

We don't, but no, no, no, the computer is not that kind.

So you have to text the word gold G O L D. Spell it correctly to the text app right now.

And then you're.

You're going to be eligible and somebody at the end of the hour will win four tickets to next.

Friday's contest, the Brewers Against the Mets at 710 in the afternoon.

Don't forget the Brewers gonna get back underway against the Nationals out in Washington DC this afternoon.

Pre-game show around 5.15, first pitch around 5.45.

You can listen to the Brewers across many of these stations on the Brewers radio networks over the air, including WRCE and Richland Center, WISS and Oshkosh, and our new station up in Hayward, WBZH, the Buzz.

It's buzz like like mosquito not like we drank so much we

got buzz

Although if you're in a why if you're if you're not driving just chill out get buzz both ways.

I guess all right The logo is I believe a car.

No, I think it's like what used to be a mosquito.

Oh

Maybe they changed it.

I don't know.

I could just be making stuff up.

I'm new here.

I don't know.

Parker, as a matter of fact, he's buzzed on this program right now.

All right.

It's coming up on 15 past the hour of three o'clock.

Time was buzzed.

Who was buzzed?

Todd is.

It's time once again for what's worse.

Let's go.

Time once again for what's worse.

No prize money to give away in this.

No big prizes or money.

Just your chance to have your voice heard on all 10.

All 10.

Civic Media News Talk Sports Networks.

We've lost one to the music side park.

You know, every doctor, you can't have every patient survive.

Once occasionally you lose one.

We lost one to the music side.

That's fine.

That's fine.

Everything's fine.

Uh, so all 10 Pacific media radio stations.

All right.

Now here's the deal.

Have you ever, Parker, have you ever heard we should have Dom here because he's a Chicago boy.

He

is.

Uh, have you ever heard of Malort?

I have heard of it.

I've never had it.

Really?

All right.

So today's category is what's worse, Malort or Blackberry Brandy.

Malort.

or Blackberry Brandy, you can text us your answers on the app, or you can call us at 855-752-4842.

855-752-4842.

All right, so here I found this video, right?

Because I didn't know what, I've never heard of it, I never had it.

And I'm like, what is this?

Here is a video on, was it YouTube?

I don't know who this guy is.

I'd credit him if I did.

Doka

Ryan?

Doka Ryan, all right.

This is Dolca Ryan explaining what is Malort.

This is Malort.

The worst tasting liquor ever made, hailing from Chicago.

Let's make poor decisions.

Open it up.

Here we go.

That's not a bad pour.

Sniff test.

Gin, iced tea, cigarette butts.

They even market this as undrinkable.

What is this gonna be?

Does Malort hurt?

Dibosha!

Oh my god.

Oh

god.

He's

drinking it.

It's like biting into a bush.

What is this flavor, dude?

It almost tastes like poison.

Let's validate our parking.

Double Dibosha.

It tastes like a dainty grandmother's ashtray.

What the hell's going on in Chicago?

Is it good?

No, it's not good.

Is it worth 28 American dollars?

If you're from Chicago, final rating two out of ten!

Is that fantastic?

I wish I'm so I'm so glad I didn't get to watch that until right now.

I sent it to him during the break.

He was laughing.

He was tired.

Everything okay.

I said, this is fantastic.

Malort.

Who is that guy again?

Let's credit him.

He was he was great.

Doka Ryan.

I love the

energy.

Yeah.

Doka Ryan doing a review there.

So what's worse?

Malort or Blackberry Brandy.

Malort or bad Blackberry Brandy 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 off the text line listening up at WCFW beautiful station up there the tap in Eau Claire Chippewa Falls Tyler I'm listening actually in Columbia County, but via WCFW says I don't drink but Malort with my friends is a challenge Blackberry Brandy is just desperation when already drunk

Oh, that's that's really good.

Our friend Rob Wheat listening on to the RCE in Richland Center.

I was just up there Robert.

Fantastic town, isn't it?

Rob says, dear God, it's horrid.

Our friend's CP writes these.

So maybe maybe Wheaty and CP have had some malort together.

I'm not sure.

So Rob says malort.

Definitely worse.

Definitely worse, he says.

What else we got here on the old text?

What's worse, malort?

Or blackberry brandy the Lord or blackberry brandy 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2.

Oh Tyler says I'm traveling He's from Columbia County, but he's up in you know, beautiful Eau Claire.

So

hopefully he's not drinking more right

now No, you don't want to be drinking the Lord or blackberry brandy while you're driving What's worse?

Have you had had you said you didn't have the Lord have you had a blackberry brandy?

I haven't

had blackberry brandy.

I've had brandy

Yeah,

I think I tried Blackberry Brandy years and years ago in college.

I don't know, I can't remember.

That's

usually when you

try.

Worse, I've said this before this show.

I've been very, very drunk, only less than a handful of times in my life, but the worst was Goldschlager.

I can't drink Goldschlager ever again.

That was really bad.

I

had a

Jack and Coke that put me out.

Really?

Yeah.

We're gonna come back, talk Malort or Blackberry Brandy.

What's worse, 8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2.

After this, on the Civic Media, ready a network.

Pursuing truth wherever it may lead and having fun doing it welcome back the title bowl show on the Civic Media Ready Network 22 now past the hour of three o'clock Zombers off today

Parker Olson in the production chair.

We appreciate him being here.

He can hear him every morning with Mr. Pat Crite low and mornings of Pat Crite low six until nine AM.

You've been up for probably 12 hours now almost getting close.

What time is

it?

It's almost four.

Uh, it's two, three, 30.

Yeah.

What time you get up in the morning?

Four.

I see.

Yeah.

He's, he's put in a day and a half already folks.

And he's

still going.

We appreciate it, Parker.

That's why

I don't sit.

I don't

sit.

I stand.

I stand.

When I fill in for the

show, I stand.

You stand.

Standing on business,

baby.

So he won't fall asleep.

8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2, the category of what's worse.

This is fascinating to me.

I had never heard of Malort.

I told Parker during the break, it sounds like a middle-aged evil woman saying, Malort, Malort.

I'm sorry, Malort.

It's Malort.

M-O-M-A-L-O-R-T, Mallort.

So what's worse, Mallort or Blackberry Brandy?

855-752-4842, 855-752-4842.

Let's go to the phone lines.

Tom, listening in Madison on WMDX, Tom, Mallort or Blackberry Brandy, what's worse?

WMDX, Tom, Mallort or Blackberry Brandy?

Yeah, turn down the radio job.

Go ahead

Okay, so I am an ex Chicago it I spent great years in Chicago.

I never had my Lord in my life until

I

had it once and with constant and It's I think it's the best marketing in the world.

You have a horrible product Can you imagine if you did the same thing with bratwurst or something

We have an inedible bratwurst.

Come and try it.

Come and spend a lot of money.

But there's nothing wrong with Blackberry Brandy, and it's definitely Wisconsin.

There is a beautiful thing Lewis Black did about drinking in Wisconsin.

You won't be able to play it on the radio, but I think you would absolutely love it.

I love it.

Definitely Blackberry Brandy, guys.

Trust

me.

Appreciate it, Tom.

Thank you very much.

Thanks for the Chicagoan aspect of this.

So Malort and somebody, Julie, or Jules, in Mosene, listed on WXCO says, are you sure it's not pronounced Merlot?

I actually looked it up, Jules, because I didn't know.

And that's why I found that video of this guy reviewing it.

And no, this is, it's spelled differently than Merlot.

It's M-A-L-O-R-T, and it's pronounced Malort.

You know, I was thinking, we shouldn't be calling Dom.