On Location, it's the Todd Alba Show.
And now, pursuing truth wherever it may lead, here's your host,
Todd Alba.
Good afternoon, everybody.
We are live on location at the studios of W F H R and W I R I in beautiful Wisconsin Rapids.
It is Wednesday, the 20th of August 2025.
It is a great day to be Wisconsinite and it is home day.
That's right.
The camel is made all the way here to Central Wisconsin in Wisconsin Rapids.
Welcome everybody.
Aaron Zommer is our producer and engineer back at the World Headquarters of Civic Media in downtown Madison.
Zommer is not sure what it's like back home, but here in Rapids it is a party overcast skies.
We had a little rain on the way up here coming up on the interstate, but that has since cleared up and it's a beautiful day.
We got the music of WIRI in the background, some country.
music.
I've got news director Melissa K sitting next to me.
Melissa, how the heck are you?
I'm great.
How are you, Todd?
I couldn't
be better.
I can't thank you enough for inviting us up here today.
This is great.
It's just when the second time we've done the show here and why don't we bring in our coworkers for the for the hour here this afternoon?
He was with us last year.
This is very spot.
He is from originally from the River Falls area.
Graduate of UW Eau Claire.
Now a senior advisor with the Lincoln Project in Washington DC.
Trigby Olson much, much warmer than when we.
We were here late October of last year.
But now we can't hear you.
It looks like he accidentally muted himself.
Trick be muted himself, which is a rarity.
We told him to turn his volume up, and the rebel that he is.
All right.
Well, until he gets that figured out, our other.
I'm
unmuted now.
I'm back.
I'm heating up.
I need to get my battery powered stuff out like I was wearing last time I was in
Rapids.
I know.
Reed Galen, president of the union and I were traveled with Trigvie and we were sitting here freezing.
Poor Melissa was in a snow suit being the human anchor for our canopy tent because it was so windy and terrible.
Trying to pull away.
And Trigvie is over there like in a turtleneck because he bought himself a $200 battery operated vest.
No, it wasn't
$200.
Honestly, I've had that thing for a long time.
I used to deer hunt near Rapids.
And if you're going to go deer hunting, you got to have battery powered stuff to
keep you warm.
Who wants to be freezing?
No, nobody wants to be freezing.
And speaking of being warmed up or ready to go, he was on the mound from six until nine this morning, throwing heater after heater.
And now he's all the way back to Lake Wissota, joining us from his studios there, the one that only Mr. Pat Krightlow-Patrick are.
that that place looks so much nicer now with the sun up as opposed to you know pre six a.m.
in the dark where I worried people might think I was an intruder there the WFHR studios but but I got there the crew there could not have been more hostile I mean hospitable they they rolled out the red carpet as if I were Vladimir Putin in Alaska
No, it was they were they were wonderful and I'm sorry to be missing the party But I am happy as always to be your warm-up act for for the real kegger just now getting underway
I'm just here for cleanup duty.
That's what I'm here for but you can for those watching the stream YouTube Facebook Twitter X the like you can see right over my shoulder right over right over there is the authentic Mexican food truck Let me tell you I had a carnita street taco along with
with my Mexican Coke here
in
a glass bottle.
Melissa, I'm not just making this up.
Those are the best tacos I've ever had, and I've had a lot of
them.
That's why I invited them.
El Sambrador.
They make fantastic food.
I had a tortoise that was just, yum.
It was great.
Well, there's always a reason for a party, and all of us, Pat, Trigby and I, we love a good party, but tell folks the real reason that we're here, you guys have a big, big anniversary.
We are gearing up for our 85th anniversary.
anniversary in November, so we're kicking it off with the parking lot party because we want to appreciate our listeners.
Well, it's warm out.
And we've invited a lot of as many of our nonprofit groups in the city as we could invite down here.
We've got the Family Center.
We've got ADRC, ODC, all of the acronyms, the Humane Society, the VFW.
We also have a couple of businesses that are a little newer in town that we invited to come down to hopefully bring the kids out.
Edge VR is here.
and then evolution throwing.
So if you wanted, did you try the axe throwing?
Not
yet.
There's axe throwing guys
here.
There's axe
throwing today.
Sarah's sweet trucks is here.
Peeps just pulled up.
They got Chicago hot
dogs.
We don't want Chicago hot dog.
We don't want to celebrate the Cubs today.
Okay,
sorry, my bad.
We also have brats and hamburgers and all the good stuff.
So many delicious things.
And of the dessert taste test inside, did you get in there?
I did, guys.
The staff here, everybody made different desserts and there's a table.
You can go around.
Anybody can come in.
If you're in the Rapids area, come on down to WFHR, WIRI Studios.
You can do a suite.
dessert tasting, and then you vote for your favorite one.
Yeah.
Should I say what my vote was?
Yeah, I want to
hear.
Was it the grasshopper or the mint?
The mint dirt cup?
The dirt cup, that was very
good.
Yeah, they were good.
We also have like a banana, chocolate chip, crazen cookie.
That was
also very
good.
There's a, oh gosh, what was it?
A cinnamon toast crunch cheesecake.
Chocolate covered fruit.
Yep, chocolate covered blueberry with some dried strawberry sprinkles on it and a rhubarb juice.
It was awesome.
I mean, I had a tough time, but I'm a sucker for mint.
So I guess that's why I went with that.
You got a
good stuff out there.
I know.
You should
have stuck
around.
I got half of a dated glazer with some purse dirt that Laura pulled out of a bag.
Sorry
about that.
We tried.
No,
no, it was
great.
We chilled the water for you.
Yes.
Oh, you give Pat chilled water.
Is that is that his thing?
Did he send a request and like some stars want like only red M&Ms?
Pat have chilled water.
Oh,
yeah.
I'm real.
I'm real demanding that way.
You can tell what a high class operation this is.
Well,
he was on television.
I think they still talk
about that at WEAU.
I'll bet that's why there's
ice in his
water.
guys, I mean, you both have been here before today.
Of course, Trigby said you hunted over here and Pat you've been in the area.
But I mean, one of the things that really strikes me about this station is the focus on community and also just the variety of groups as Melissa ran through them.
You have the VFW folks here sitting right next to an ecumenical church group that has a pride flag that says we accepted love everyone with axe throwing with Mexican food.
I mean, I think it's as
Terry Barr would say it's a slice to Wisconsin, showing how diverse Wisconsin is.
But at the end of the day, if we focus on community, we can all get along, Pat.
Yes, and Melissa was wonderful this morning talking about that, that the similarities between Wisconsin Rapids and Eau Claire, where the big industry in town really downsizes or closes up, and then you have to essentially reinvent the local economy.
They've risen to the challenge out there and have come out stronger for it, more diverse, not just in their population, but in their employment opportunities.
Melissa, you talked a bit about the
the technical college education that people are getting there for all the various trades
and
making sure that Wisconsin Rapids doesn't just, you know, wither there on the river.
No, our technical college here is doing a great job.
Mid-state technical college.
We've got branches in a lot of our, our, um, outlying areas as well.
Marshfield's got one.
Um, even as far out as almost to Abbotsford, they have, and then of course in, um, Plover and Stevens Point, Wausau, and then the Meta Center that they just built.
that just opened within this last year is an amazing hands-on opportunity for them to do some of the bigger, like the welding and the technical jobs that we need.
We need people in those positions and you can get that.
career opportunity with a technical education.
Don't have to go to a four year college.
Right.
Trevi, give us a minute here.
Give us your thoughts on the Wisconsin Rapids of the area just from our trip here last year.
But as you said, you spend time here deer hunting as well.
Well, if I only talk about Wisconsin Rapids when I was deer hunting in the rear there last year, I'd just say how cold it is.
But
Wisconsin Rapids, I've been there in the
summer too, Todd.
It's not like I haven't ever been to Rapids when the weather is good.
It's like all the central Wisconsin when the weather is bad, not necessarily the greatest place to be.
But Wisconsin Rapids is a fantastic town in the summer.
And in fact, they have a great summer festival in Wisconsin Rapids.
I might have one strength at a beer tent in Wisconsin Rapids.
shocking.
I know.
Very shocking.
No, it's it's
a
great town.
Yeah, it really is.
Melissa, tell us a little bit more for those that might not be familiar.
If you don't live in the central part of Wisconsin, you can listen to FHR and WIRI on the Civic Media app anytime.
Tell us a little bit about the programming of both the stations.
Well, we have our morning shows on both stations on the the country station 1055 FM WIRI.
We have a morning show from 7 to 9 and then a morning show on WFHR from 9 to 11.
And then we have
What we've now kind of changed it to become the Rapids Report.
It was our midday magazine, but now it's just in podcast form, but that's where our listeners are.
So the Rapids Report is where a lot of these nonprofit groups that are here today come and update us on what programs they're working on or what they're doing.
The mayor comes, actually the mayor was in this morning and gave an update on the city.
And then we also have great music programs.
We've got voices.
Katie Cruz is here today.
Did you meet her?
Yeah, just briefly.
Yeah,
she's on a one does voice over voice tracking on WIRI Seth and Laura and Beth all have shows that they do Trail tunes and burn before listening is one.
I think you would really appreciate before
listening.
Yeah, Laura's got that one and then Red Folk and blue.
So we're doing a lot.
I'm hoping to bring back community stories at some point, but you know, we gotta we're gonna work out some kinks and I was talking with
James earlier on he was kind enough to have me on and
And again, I think you all, like so many of our stations across Wisconsin, you focus on community.
These community organizations out here that are doing good for rapids in the surrounding area, your cover in the school board, your cover of the high school sports, you're bringing people together.
That's one of the big things too I didn't mention is the high school sports.
We have a lot of, and we also have our local rafters and our river kings.
So those are, I'm sorry, I'm not a sports person, but those are not, you know, major leagues, but whatever that.
other level of
pro stuff.
Absolutely.
Yay sports.
Yay sports.
But yeah, we focus on that a lot in bringing community and our listeners.
You know, we wouldn't be here for 85 years without all our listeners.
And that dessert cookoff that we were talking about, our Stap Sweet Off, is kind of also playing into what we're planning for our 85th anniversary, which is a cookbook.
Oh, really?
Yes, we're putting together an 85th anniversary cookbook because that is something that we used to do.
And the most recent one for the 50th anniversary, Milt Steele, who was here earlier and
met him.
He was our celebrity judge, and he was on the cover of the 50th anniversary one.
Really?
Yeah.
Well, that's fantastic.
I just think it's a great community station.
You guys, Pat and Trigby, have both been here.
And Trigby, you remember last year where the same spot, the parking lot, I think you and Reid were just really impressed with the amount of community people.
that we're stopping by to give lost and found notices to bring in food.
This station is really a part of this community.
I think I said it then, you know, it's like the it's it's one of the things it's kind of thing that makes towns like Wisconsin Rapids great.
It's like the high schools in all these places, right?
I guess that's the community that you just don't find in other places.
Yeah.
Also, Todd, I want a copy of the cookbook.
OK, sounds good.
Stay tuned.
We'll come back with more on the other side with the Pat Crichtlow Tricky also alive at the FHR Wisconsin Rapids across Wisconsin on the Civic Media radio network.
I'm guessing it will have a good meat.
have a good,
need a good, need a good,
need
a good, need a good, need a good, need a
Oh it's...
Woke up this morning with light in my eyes And then realized it was still dark outside It was a light coming down from the sky I don't know who or why
Welcome
back to Tellable Show.
We
are live on location here at WFHR to the IRI in beautiful Wisconsin Rapids.
There's a parking lot party now until six o'clock.
If you are in the area or hey, maybe you want to do something this afternoon.
Get in your car.
It's a lovely drive here to Central Wisconsin.
Stop by.
We have great food trucks.
As I said, I stopped by the taco truck and honest to God, one of the best street tacos I've ever had.
Little Mexican Coke as well.
We've got desserts here.
We've got a nice sample.
for example, the
Elephant ears, the all kinds of great stuff here behind us and we have some great community organizations as well joined by Pat Crite low of host of up north.
Pardon me.
Host of mornings powered by up north news radio every morning from six until nine joins us here.
He was here earlier.
He is already back in his studios.
Link with soda in the Chippewa Valley and Trig V Olsen senior advisor at the Lincoln Project, which joins us from the outer suburbs of the occupied region better known as Washington DC these days.
And here at the table, honored to have one of the great hosts of WFHRI here at Central Wisconsin, James Mailoff.
He is here at the table.
James, how in the heck are you?
I'm doing all right.
My eyes started to water as soon as I came outside.
Oh man, I don't know what happened.
I got all emotional, I guess.
It happens
to us around Todd too.
Don't worry about it.
When you're with
the
most popular man in Wisconsin from three
to five
every day, I can add two to four every day.
I see how that happened.
It's like
meeting Taylor Swift.
It's
tough.
It's tough.
It's, uh, you know, I already got emotional earlier and I thought I'd be okay the second time, but no, it all, all over again.
It hits me.
That's weather.
It's always,
it's, it's nice for him to get a taste of his own medicine because that's what people in Rapids, they come to the station, James is going to interview them.
First, there's some genuflecting and then the show goes on.
For those that I haven't heard before, James and other parts of the state tell us.
a little bit about where you grew up and how you got into radio and here at IRI FHR.
I am a Fib.
I was born and raised in Illinois, moved around a lot as a kid.
I had 10 different addresses before I was 10 and ended up, I was a knucklehead as a kid I'll say it that way and got kind of sent up here to Wisconsin to kind of straighten out and I did oddly enough but
This area has given me and my family a second act, a second home.
I've really appreciated this area.
I spent a lot of time, my high school years here, kind of grumbling about being in a small town and everything and some of that.
When I moved out to California and I came back, I had an appreciation of this area.
And I never thought I'd get back into radio and Bob, look, gave me a job.
I was just going to run sports.
I was just going to produce those and everything.
I never thought I'd be talking on the air again or anything.
In the time of doing that we had some losses around here with Carl and and some others and it was kind of next man up and I was the last man standing so somebody had to keep the station float somebody had to keep things going and so I just I would there were times a years there where I would be on the air from six until one you know usually just non-stop doing shows just making sure that we were still on the air we were still able to keep things afloat and the hope was during all of that time okay one day
There's going to be an owner that comes around.
There's going to be a business that comes around.
They're going to pick up this station and it's going to be in good hands.
We were fortunate to have a Heart of Wisconsin media by us for a little while there, put us in these new digs and invest in us.
And because of that investment, I think we were seen by civic media as an possibility.
And I know that talking to Sage about this in those early days, it was very important to him to have a central station, a station in the middle of the state.
And for him,
Well, you could talk to Sage more about this offer, but he wasn't going to take no for an answer.
He wanted this particular station, and a big part of what he wanted was Pam, Chuck, myself, and a lot of that.
And just saying it out loud humbles me in thinking about it.
this area, I've had all three of my kids are born in this city.
My brother was born here.
Being able to do this job and give back to this area that has given me and my family so much, it's one of the more humbling things I'll ever experience.
I hope I didn't ramble too much.
I feel like I already did that earlier in the past.
I'm not used to being on this side of it.
It's a little almost uncomfortable.
I got a lot of feedback on that going, he was really good.
That was one of our best segments, which was their way of saying, at what point can he replace you?
But I was very
thankful to have him there.
So no, thank you, James.
I think it's great that people continue to hear the stories of local radio and the importance of it, but also that it can be a little ragtag behind the scenes sometimes.
But
that's part
of the magic in the end.
One of the things that I appreciate about modern radio and the free-form nature of it and everything is when we share these, most people I don't think in general, especially people in radio, necessarily want to talk about themselves.
But when we do share these stories, we find that we connect with our audience that much more.
It's one of those things.
I'm a pretty private person.
And it took me a while to push through that.
And the way I look at it as I kind of share it,
I have a PG-13 version of me that I put out there.
The R-rated version, very few people get that and very few people want it.
But as far as putting yourself out there, it's a part of how we connect with our audience and how we do those things.
And so I share my background a little bit and everything.
Well, that gives more credence to when I'm on the air and I'm giving breaking news or I'm giving stories or important information that they can trust me.
I've built that relationship already.
It's very important, especially when we were going through the pandemic.
information was at that time and how so many people were struggling about what is real, what isn't.
They were able to trust us.
They were able to trust us because of that bond that we built early on by sharing personal stories and all that.
30 seconds left, James.
So when can people hear you and what's your program like here at the show?
Well, our morning show, I kick off with the sunrise show.
We go do that from seven to nine on 105.5.
And then I go right across the hall from 97.5 and do two hours over there.
We have the rapid support that you can catch online, our podcast, our sports show, playmakers from four to five, Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
I mean, turn on the station.
I'm probably
on James Mail.
Well, thank you so much for stopping by.
We appreciate you and congratulations on the 85th anniversary.
Thanks,
but thanks for
having our pleasure.
James Mail off everybody.
Pat, can you stick around?
Maybe like 10 more minutes because I want to get your take on something.
Absolutely.
Yeah, James is
the best.
James is the best.
Yeah, absolutely.
All right, stick around.
Pat and Trig V9 discuss little third district politics.
Don't go anywhere.
We're going to come on back and discuss that.
We are live in Wisconsin Rapids, the home until the FHR and WIRI on their.
85th anniversary.
It's the title ball show across Wisconsin on the civic media.
Ready
Network.
Where the whiskey grounds and the beer Chances my blues
or what?
And I'll be okay.
Welcome back to the Town of El Show, live on location here at Wisconsin Rapids, the home of WFHR, which is celebrating...
their 85th anniversary this year.
They're having a big street parking lot party.
Stop on by for the Rapids area at WFHRWIRI.
We're all out here.
There's food trucks, there's vendors, there's local community people.
It's really a true party, so stop on by and please say hello.
You will find all kinds of friends here with you on the show today, including our very own friends that join us every Wednesday.
Pat Critello, host of Mornings of Pat Critello.
from six until nine who joins us from his Lake Rosetta Studios doing extra time and we appreciate that.
And also Trig V. Olson, a River Falls boy who now is out in Washington D.C., a senior advisor at the Lincoln Project.
Guys...
really fun to be here.
And again, besides the community, lots of important politics.
And I know most people, do you think the third congressional district in Wisconsin, they won't run along the Mississippi River?
And that's true.
But some years ago, it was redrawn, use the word gerrymandered, and I think a lot of people forget this.
And it wasn't
original lines.
Pardon because of me.
partly because of Pat Critello.
They didn't want him to be elected, quite frankly, and to Congress.
And so they had this tale that goes out from Western Wisconsin and it picks up Rapids and it picks up Stevens Point.
And part of that was, quite frankly, to keep Pat Critello out of Congress.
But the other part was to protect Ron Kind, who was the incumbent Democratic U.S.
Congressman in the Third District.
And it also protected at the time.
of our Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House in the in the first and Tammy Baldwin, who was a Congressperson at the time in the second and so on and so forth.
So that's kind of why you have this weird tale, I call it, that comes out into Central Wisconsin.
Nonetheless, guys, we're here in Wisconsin Rapids, part of the third congressional district.
And I wanted to have thanks for sticking around, Pat, because I think it's really important not just to have two former Republicans takes, but a Democratic take on this as well.
incumbent congressperson Derek Van Orden, the Republican, who was in his second term here, is an interesting guy to understate it, has had lots of problems.
The three of us have talked about this on our show.
On the Democratic side, last time around, you had a really tough primary between Katrina Shanklin that represented this part of the Third District and the State Assembly, and Rebecca Cook, a political newcomer, she calls herself a waitress, a server from the Eau Claire area.
and grew up on a farm.
Cook won that even though kind of the the main folks like Mark Polkan, a lot of the Madison Democratic Party people were shanklin.
And now Cook is back and trying to win politics.
We call it clearing the table and the National Democratic Party has endorsed Cook already and my question to you.
Let's start with Pat and we'll go to Trigby.
And I've given Ron Johnson, Republican U.S.
Senator Ron Johnson a lot of grief because he said, hey, we don't want a primary on the Republican side for governor.
We should just have this over with now.
But Pat, on the Democratic side, look, there's Emily Berg, the president of the Eau Claire City Council, and Laura Benjamin also from Eau Claire announced candidates for the third congressional district.
Shouldn't Democrats also be willing to have primaries and let the voters decide instead of the party?
The short answer is, yes, at least there will be a primary here.
The Republicans, the primary is a primary and name only.
There is only one primary now and its name is Donald Trump.
And whoever Donald Trump says he wants as the Republican candidate for governor is going to win that primary.
Full stop.
Period.
End of sentence.
So, you know, for there, the primary is a sham.
The other candidates who don't get Trump's endorsement will move forward.
They'll try their hardest not to upset Donald Trump, and it won't matter one bit.
Whereas in the Third Congressional District and in other races, Democrats will compete in primaries.
And specifically to the Third District, I would direct folks to come listen to my show tomorrow morning at 6.30.
because I'm going to replay part of yesterday's interview with Dan Schaefer from the Reconbobulation Area.
We had him on at 8.30 yesterday, so sometimes we'll play something back at 6.30 a day or two later for people that might have missed it.
And I asked Dan all about the fact that here's Becca Cook positioning herself as the moderate.
She literally filmed a commercial with herself standing in the middle of the road, which is smart politics overall for the third district.
but in a primary where you've got people on the left just chomping at the bit for a candidate who's shall we say more aggressive you know that was very frustrating to them and yet who is Bernie Sanders coming to Wisconsin this weekend campaign for but for Becca Cook
And you'll hear me laugh at poor Dan.
He used the word interesting many times because there's no other way to put it.
That Bernie Sanders coming here on Becca Cook's behalf when there's two other candidates that want to run to her left for Emily Berge and Laura Benjamin, that's interesting.
You grew up in the third.
You've run congressional races in the third district.
What do you make of the Democratic Party in DC anointing Rebecca Cook a year out from the election?
And what about bringing Birdie Sanders to Verrocco, Wisconsin and Southwest Wisconsin between Madison and La Crosse where we did this show with Reed Galen and you last year.
So what I would say from a.
It depends on what hat you have on right like if you have the national hat on and you're sitting at the at the Can you hear me guys?
Yeah, I turn
my
mic off because I got stuff behind
the block party going on there, you
know, I know if you have the
If you had the hat on, you're sitting at the DCCC.
You want to try and get these things settled as fast as possible because it helps with national fundraising.
And that's critical because that race against Van Orton is going to be really expensive.
So I get why they did that if you're sitting with that on.
If you're sitting in the third congressional district.
You're probably not happy about that because it really puts up obstacles, which is kind of the point from a nationalist strategy is just standpoint puts up obstacles for anybody to challenge her.
So now, as far as Bernie Sanders coming in, if I were Derek Van Norton as campaign manager, I would be pleased as punch that that's happening.
I would hang that around her head.
And I just wonder if Bernie Sanders really is going to raise enough.
resources in Verroqua to offset the
the
tactical ramifications long term of her palling around as Bernie Sanders and I will tell you I've told this story before my buddies in River Falls you know did not vote they voted for Ron Johnson a lot of them rather than Mandela Barnes in large part because he was palling around at Bernie Sanders and
It just said to them, not one of us.
They also all voted for Tony Evers for governor, so there's that.
So what about this Pat from Pat Crite Low?
You were a former state senator on the Democratic side.
You ran for Congress in this area as a Democrat.
I mean, what's your take on bringing Bernie in?
Because to trigger these, I grew up, my family farm is 20 miles from Veracruz.
I lost a primary for state assembly on the Republican side because I was too moderate in Veracruz.
When your take
on that
I
was gonna say just say it's interesting because it is it's very interesting.
Um, I think it's a mistake You can act and like Trini said you can totally see why that might be the case But let's again, let's put our strategist hat on here Becca Cook's hesitancy with our the voters who are hesitant to vote for Becca Cook right now
in the third congressional district are people who believe that she's too much of a blue dog, that she's too moderate, that she will not fight for them.
So she's bringing in Bernie Sanders, thinking, figuring, well, he's going to vouch for me that while I'm, I'm, I'm moderate and that's what the third district votes for.
This guy's still showing that I'm going to stand with you when the going gets tough.
And you just want to make sure that it happens.
very early in the campaign, like it is right now, so that by a year from now, the Bernie Sanders visit will be old news.
Let me ask you
each this question.
I would do it a different way, Pat.
The way you do it is you have Bernie Sanders and her do something outside of the three congressional district that you can get on tape and send to those people.
I just think,
and some of this gets
into the difference, gets into the difference between how Republican strategists and Democrat strategists look at it.
I mean, I come out of the Mitch McConnell school where you would just be like, you know what, where are they going to go?
What you lose in potential with the voters who are really going to decide it, those who vote for Evers and Ron Johnson or Tammy Baldwin.
and Donald Trump and a lot of them are in the Third Congressional.
This is quite frankly.
Yeah, it's just not worth it.
It just isn't worth it.
Let me ask you this question.
A quick answer.
If I can, I want your opinions.
Start with Pat, then Trig V. Let's break this down into a state Senate district.
All right, take the Third Congressional District, every state Senate district.
Who in your opinion, Pat, is the most influential, most powerful elected official in each state Senate district?
Tony Evers and Mark Pokan.
But are you talking in terms of locally and each one of those?
Yeah,
I'm talking about local voters in each state senate district.
And who do you think the most powerful politician is in each one of those?
I'm not talking about names, I'm just talking about position.
Oh, no, I'm not I'm not sure I'm not sure I follow you because it comes with familiarity because in the Eau Claire part of the district, you know, you've got Jeff Smith in the lacrosse part of the district.
You have Brad path in the central Wisconsin part of the district.
It was Katrina Shanklin before that.
I'm not trying to be I'm not totally play gotcha.
I just want to ask Trigby quick.
What would your answer be to that trick me?
In Wisconsin 10 probably Tim Walls in
Alright, I'm gonna do a John McLaughlin style.
You're both wrong.
The correct answer is the local sheriff.
In each county, the most
powerful
position is the local sheriff.
They're the most respected.
They usually get the most votes.
They're the most powerful.
And you know who has most of the local sheriff's endorsement in the Third Congressional District?
Derek Van Orton.
And if Democrats or Rebecca Cook of the eventual Democratic nominee want to actually beat Derek Van Orton, they better get on law enforcement side and start courting local sheriffs and getting these endorsements.
Look, Derek Van Orton just it was in the news.
He say he helped save.
a kid's life in a major accident in Iowa.
And you know what?
I'm thankful he was there.
I'm thankful he had the training and I'm thankful that he saved that kid's life.
But it's just going to go to help his image of, hey, here's a guy who helps people.
And I don't think that just calling them names, and he and Pocahont having a Twitter war, that ain't going to work.
And trying to bring Bernie Sanders in, that ain't going to hunt in Verroqua and Vernon County.
That's
my
opinion.
Well, I will disagree with you.
I don't think what the sheriff thinks in your local area is as relevant, especially with Democratic voters.
I think that Derek Vanuent is good Samaritan.
that he and about 10 other people did.
I think that's laudable, but that too is gonna be old news by then.
Really, Derek Van Orden just needs to have his feet held to the fire, and Becca Cook and the others are looking for ways to do that, because Donald Trump's name is not gonna be on the ballot next year, and Republicans have not done well when Donald Trump's name is not on the ballot.
But Pat, you remember Ron Brown, that represented what?
Trampolo County, that area.
He got elected, or he got endorsed
by local shares.
He was the fire chief, yeah.
I mean, I'm not saying that it's for nothing, but he won, he narrowly won a race there and he served with distinction.
But that's not what today's Republicans are.
Ron Brown would not be welcome in today's Republican
party.
100% agree.
100% agree.
Here's how I think you got to handle it if you're cooks with the
old
Ben Orton.
Got one minute.
Thank you Pat.
Thank you for
your extra time.
Thanks for your opinion every morning from six until nine packed quite low.
Come on back.
Drake and I talk about slavery and Trump as well.
Don't go anywhere with the title ball show.
Yeah!
Meet the new boss, the same as the old boss.
Welcome back to the terrible show, Lime.
on location in Wisconsin Rapids and the home of the FHR and the IRI on their 85th anniversary.
Many congratulations to them more on their great stations and Wisconsin Rapids and our two going to talk to more of their great staff.
Right now we're joined by Trig V. Olsen, Senior Advisor to the Lincoln Project.
He picked out the song choice.
I love that song, Trig V. Don't Get Fooled Again.
Great moniker, maybe for third district congressional voters in the state, but also one of CBS's all-time
best shows, in my opinion, the theme song to that CSI Miami.
You ever see that show?
No, I never watched CSI Miami.
I didn't watch any of the CSI shows.
I don't watch that much television.
I know.
I watch on
television, Todd.
What?
Only one thing I watch really on television.
Packers.
Packers and.
Packers and we don't watch the Brewers.
What?
Ice hockey.
Oh ice hockey.
All right.
Well, yeah Exactly how many things to pack quite low for sticking around because I love his I love his voice on this I love his opinions love his takes and and trivia I think this is really healthy to have these honest discussions on the third congressional district of both Republican and Democratic side and I Thanks Pat for doing that and it should be noted that we reached out
to Rebecca Cook's campaign directly to have her on day.
We invited her to come on the show and we have yet to hear back and and and I just don't think this is healthy to my knowledge.
Rebecca Cook never came on one civic media show her entire campaign last time around and so far is playing the same thing.
I'm not saying this show is is a maker break type of thing, but you would think a network that covers basically the majority of her district.
She would want to come and have a discussion on I mean my goodness.
Josh showman Republican candidate for governor came on this show and he was great.
And Pat and I didn't bite him.
I don't understand it either, but whatever.
It makes her a little bit like my badger voice state buddy Scott Walker.
Scott, if you're listening,
which I
know you have your lackeys listening anytime.
Any time we love to have a governor, former governor, come on.
All right, Craig, I want to take a turn here.
By the way, you're sticking around a little bit for a second hour or no, you're going to go today.
Well, if we're going to play this or that, I'm definitely
sticking around with that.
But then
I have an important, I have an important task I have to take care of.
Kaia is making dinner tonight,
so I have to take her to
the store.
Let's start this discussion and we'll finish it up in the first part of our two president Donald Trump put on his true social media Yesterday and he went on after the Smithsonian Institute museums, which I have been to a number of times I'm sure you have taken your daughter's tube living in the outer parts of DC and he said he wanted to Unwoke them and specifically said, you know all they talk about are these down these these depressing things, you know like slavery and never talk about a
our successes.
I found it particularly offensive for the record slavery is bad period and full stop and I just think that there's a larger context here that people need to think about historically and before I use words that are going to throw people off the wires I would like to
have you give us, and we got what, about three minutes here before the break, start us out with a little historical context, your work in Eastern Europe against authoritarian governments.
This is really dangerous when leaders start trying to change history in museums, is it not, Dravy?
Well, it isn't just history in museums.
I mean, the thing you got to understand about people with autocratic personality disorder
And it was true not just in Eastern Europe, it was true all over the world where I work, quite frankly.
They all want to rewrite history because they want to put themselves at the center of everything and they want to rewrite history to a narrative that puts them in the best possible light.
Putin's done this, Chavez did it, Hitler did it, Mussolini did it.
Every autocrat goes about doing it and they want uncomfortable truths to never be spoken about.
You know, I just think that's what he is trying to achieve with this is it's again Anything that's uncomfortable for Donald Trump he wants to make people afraid to talk about and that starts by going after academic institutions museums culture media, I mean The playbook is the same everywhere.
So it doesn't really surprise me.
I do think
Most Americans probably those who pay attention to what he's saying if they actually spend some time thinking about it Rather than rather than just reacting out of habit are gonna be like what is he talking about?
Of course slavery was not a great moment, but here's the thing all these people who love this site We the people forget what comes after it in order to form a more perfect union people on the left do it now people on the right had started to do that and
You know that's the reality is a democracy that doesn't understand or an America that doesn't understand that what the founders put together in Philadelphia is an idea in the form of a nation and That idea and ideals is ever evolving.
It's to be more perfect and We still are evolving from slavery to to get to that point
I think that's such an important point.
And as someone who's gone through many, I won't say all, but many of the Smithsonian Museums, they make you think.
They unlock something, oh wow, I didn't know that happened.
I didn't know this sequence.
And it puts a context, current events.
And it makes us think about the future.
I don't know too many museums who are saying, hey, here's what the future's gonna hold.
It's to know our history so that we can hopefully learn from it to your point, Trevi, to make us grow.
and learn, and I think that's what, that's one of the key to American exceptionalism.
It's not that we're better than anybody else, but we've always been willing to look at our past and to learn from our mistakes.
Yeah, and to try and, you know, better ourselves in terms of what we're trying
to.
Yeah, I think it's really dangerous what Trump is doing because the fact is,
Adolf Hitler, the same thing in Germany before World War II, which was to change history to make the German race look like the superior race.
And we all know what happened there.
So I think this is a very, very dangerous place for America to go under the Trump administration.
Come on back more in hour two, bring me also more politics and what's worse for today.
Don't go anywhere.
It's the title ball show live from Wisconsin Rapids.
On location, it's the Todd Alba Show.
And now, pursuing truth wherever it may lead, here's your host, Todd Alba.
A cross with Gunson on the Civic Media Radio Network.
and streaming worldwide on the Civic Media app.
Good afternoon, everybody.
We are live on location in Wisconsin Rapids, the HOMA WFHRI on their 85th anniversary.
Our producer and engineer, Mr. Aaron Zommer is back at the World Headquarters in downtown Madison, Wisconsin and joining us via stream yard from our nation's capital or just outside.
Mr. Trig V. Olsen, the senior advisor on the Lincoln Project.
It is Wednesday, the 20th of August, 2025.
and it's a great day to be Wisconsinite, and it is
home day.
That's right.
We packed up the cable, put him in the back of the old Dodge Ram, and we made it here safe and sound and happy to be on location.
We get to what's worse here in a moment.
Trick V, but we are being joined by another one of the great staff members here at WF HR Laura Berg, who is voice talent producer, cohost of a couple of different shows is at the table here with us.
Laura, welcome.
Yes, hi.
Hello.
How
the heck are
you?
I'm good.
I'm tired, but I'm good.
I've been here since seven.
Wow.
That's incredible.
Congratulations on your 85th anniversary.
Very, very excited.
Not yours, but the station.
No, I personally have not been here for 85 years, but it is really, really cool to be able to celebrate 85 years at the station that I'm working at.
It's really kind of neat.
Tell folks a little bit about yourself, Laura, where you grew up, what led you into radio and here at WFHR.
Well, I grew up in Nassida.
Wisconsin about an hour from here.
I grew up in such a rural town that we only really got a couple of radio stations and despite that I still fell in love with radio and went to school for it right out of college and then I got a little distracted getting married and having kids and you know a few decades later here we are.
Hi.
It's great to have you
here.
I've been here for a year and a half.
I'm the head of production at the talk radio side at WFHR.
I'm one of the regular voices on air on WIRI.
I have my own shows that I produce and voice myself one on FHR, one on IRI.
And yeah,
give us the the low down to a minute each.
If you could, I have two two different shows on burn before listening.
Love the title and red, folk and blue.
Well, Burn Before Listening is on Sundays at 9 p.m.
on WFHR, and it is basically a millennial music show.
I cover music from 2000 to 2009.
This past Sunday and this coming Sunday, it's a country music playlist.
I just went ahead and made a two-parter because there's a lot of millennial country music out there that's worth covering.
And then Red, Folk, and Blue is an Americana show that I do Saturday nights at 7 on WIRI.
I focus on bluegrass, folk music.
lose a little bit of soul.
You know, if it's American ish, I'm playing it.
Trigby, I know you were here last year with our friend Reed Galen on the President of the Union.
And you know, I think what Laura, we hear these stories, Trigby, as you and I travel around Wisconsin or what makes Wisconsin great tours.
I mean, here's somebody Laura who grew up not that far away in Nicosia.
It's hometown people committing to where they grew up to make it better.
Yeah, 100% right like I mean and that's what's great about small communities like that.
It's the it's the It's the continuation of generational understanding and knowledge and and knowing people and knowing their families and
And I mean, that's what makes Wisconsin great.
One of the
things I still agree.
Intrigued by Laura, like I said, we've been all over the state and lucky to have that opportunity.
But your story is is unique to you in this place, but it's not necessarily there are different lawyers in every community where they're like, hey, I want to give back and I want to I don't want to go away to Milwaukee or Madison or whatever.
And, you know, I grew up Richland Center.
I went back to Richland Center.
I still am fortunate enough to get to go back once a while.
What is this part of the state?
The Cusa Rapids, the central part of the state.
As you talk to people right now around the state of Wisconsin that aren't from here, what do you think people miss about the Cusa Rapids and this part of the state?
What are they not understanding?
The thing about Central Wisconsin is.
It's just about the land here.
People.
aren't caught up in a lot of things.
They're here because they love what it looks like
here.
They like being within a 10-minute distance from the nearest state park.
They like being within walking distance of the Wisconsin River so they can go fishing.
I grew up, like I said, in Nassita.
I was right by the Nassita Wildlife Refuge, which is a huge deal.
It's where the whooping cranes come back every summer.
People in Central Wisconsin love the
the nature of Wisconsin.
They love Wisconsin.
Yeah, I totally agree.
And the other thing that captures me when we talked about at the top of the show is that you've got folks here, community service organizations.
You got the VFW next to an ecumenical table of pastors who have rainbow shirts on.
This is everybody is accepted.
You have a Mexican food truck back here, which are the tacos were fantastic.
By the way, I had
one.
I highly recommend great stuff.
But I think this to me is someone who also grew up in a smaller town.
Rapids bigger than Richland Center by about 5000 people or so.
But I think that there's this misnomer that we can't have diversity in small towns.
We can't all get along.
But what brings us together or agree or disagree?
I agree, Laura, what you said, the outdoors, the conservation, the land.
I'm gonna echo what Mel said this morning on Mordings with Pat Kratlow.
She said, we have a lot more in common than we have that's different.
And in Central Wisconsin, we learn that every day because
I mean, I'm sorry to break it to everybody, but it's already diverse here.
I mean, we don't have this taco truck by coincidence.
These people are from town, right?
They're at all of the events and they're just as much a part of this community as everybody else and they make excellent tacos.
Great taco.
Yeah, absolutely.
Like it.
You realize that what really matters is that your neighbors.
are okay and you're okay, no matter what your neighbor is.
And if you reach out that hand and get to know them, it's the cold town is going to be better for it.
The whole community is going to be better.
You nailed it, I think.
Understanding our friends and neighbors is a trick.
We've talked about that so many times.
You got to take time to listen to people that might be a little different than you, but you can find commonalities triggering if we just listen to one another.
Yeah, 100%.
And you know what?
Most people want to do the right thing and I just think you know People most people don't go about their daily lives consumed with where they what kind of hat they wear most people in Wisconsin wear green and gold not red or blue
hats
Packer fans through and through.
Laura, anything we haven't asked you yet?
You want to make sure people know anything about you at the show, FHR?
Oh gosh, probably not.
Also, my brain is dead today,
so.
You've been here a long time.
Yep.
And people are listening to us on FHR or any of our other stations.
I want to make the trip over.
You're here until six o'clock tonight.
We are here until six o'clock tonight.
And I also would just like to say thank you for listening.
Yeah, absolutely.
And thank you for stopping by.
Thank you for what you do, Laura.
Absolutely.
You're a part of what makes Wisconsin great and part of what makes
media great.
So thank you so much.
So are you
Todd.
Oh, two nights on Laura Berg.
Everybody would have a great voice tell producers and co-hosts here at WFHR and WIRI here in Central Wisconsin.
Thanks Laura.
We appreciate that.
I just now 14 minutes past the hour of three o'clock.
Time once again for what's worse.
Let's
go.
time was again for once worse.
Nothing give away, no prize, but evolved.
It is your chance to have your voice heard on all 10 news, talk and sports states stations across the Pacific media ready to work.
We are live on location here in Wisconsin.
Rapids for their 85th anniversary.
Trig V. Olsen joining us from the nation's capital.
Alright, Trig V, the category today as we got on the road, as people say, wasn't it?
What did then Tommy used to say?
There are two kinds of seasons in Wisconsin, winter and road construction.
So, today's category is, what's worse, road construction or potholes.
Road construction or potholes.
855-752-4842.
855-752-4842.
You can also text us on the Civic Media app.
What's worse, road construction or...
Potholes also Terry Barr the one the only the Emmy Award winning Terry Barr co host of Max Inc radio every Saturday night from six until I believe nine now or six until 10 on WMDX also available on the Civic Media app.
Terry weighs in says 85 years of local radio.
Congratulations to WFHR.
Course you can hear Terry Barr slice of Wisconsin stories on WFHR across the Civic Media Radio Network as well.
All right, what's
road construction or potholes.
TrekV, do you want to go first?
I'd like to hear from some listeners.
I already know my
answer.
Okay, very good.
And I'm just happy Terry Barr is still listening to us after I had her on.
You know, I had her on for a whole hour when I co-hosted.
I heard that.
These guys were magical together.
Oh my god, she's a rock star.
She is a rock star.
She knows
her music,
too.
She knows her own
music.
Aaron, did we have a good conversation about music?
Yeah, it was great.
I want to go on her show and talk music.
I'm sure she would love
it.
In fact, it was such a great thing because not only do we get talking about big bands, but then she knows so much about the Wisconsin music
scene.
Oh yeah, definitely.
I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone more connected to the local Wisconsin music scene than Terry.
Yeah, absolutely
knows.
She knows it so well.
Yeah, really cool.
What were spec bottles and road construction
road construction was worse 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 Let's go to mark in prayer to sack mark is on the phone mark road construction or potholes.
What's worse?
First off, I'll say potholes, you know, and that's really not the reason I called it.
This is that I wanted to
You guys are all rock stars.
But as Trigby was pointing out, it is just shocking to me the absolute failure that Donald Trump's education apparently was when it comes to the Constitution, because the preamble of the Constitution lays out that three of the people, in order to form a more perfect union, which is different from the Confederate Constitution preamble, which is each state in its own sovereign nation,
actually the actual union of the united states is actually stronger because we recognize that it's really the people forming a governing union rather than the southern states were supplying a permanent government but the media is just shocking that Donald Trump does not seem to grasp the whole constitution.
His admiration of dictators is telling that
Well, thanks for the call, Mark.
I really appreciate it because the clock right now.
But yeah, I mean, we know that you know, you have to copy a mine comp on his on his bedstand.
So when you're reading that at night, I mean, it's no wonder that he wants to talk less about slavery in the Smithsonian and American museums and this tribute I said the first hour totally disagree with that.
I think it's a dangerous road to back to matters of hand.
So mark is in for potholes is worse.
What's worse road construction of potholes 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 8 5
752-4842.
Brett, listening in Brown Deer, Wisconsin on AUK says potholes are worse.
I like it when they are fixing the roads and I can slow down and prepare for construction.
Potholes can really mess up your car.
Well, that's certainly true, right?
Well, hold on.
I have a counterpoint on that.
Construction can really mess up you getting to where you need to go by the time you need to get
there.
Well, that's true too, right?
That can slow you down.
I'm
not
tipping my hand, though.
You're going to give your answer after the
break.
No, I'm still waiting for listeners to give
me something to come.
We only have 35 seconds, so.
You see what I'm saying?
Potholes are worse because road construction is about fixing the potholes,
so I
don't even understand this question again.
It says, the grumpy old man, get off my lawn.
All right, thank you, Trigby.
We appreciate you as always, my friend.
Wish you were here.
Hope to get on the road too with you.
All right, see you Todd.
All right, that's trivial.
I texted the person you wanted me to text.
God love you.
That's what I am, your executive assistant.
So not true.
All right, come on back.
What's more, what's worse,
live from Wisconsin Rapids.
On the road again Just can't wait to get on the road again The life I love is making music with my friends And I can't wait to get on the road again
Willie Nelson for you.
We are indeed on the road again coming at you.
The title of all show live from Wisconsin Rapids today on the 85th anniversary of W F H R our great news talk stations up here in Wisconsin Rapids as well as W I R I the great country station here as well.
So thankful to have the hosts here to let us do the show.
Big parking lot party going on until six o'clock.
Tonight, if you're in the area listening to us on FHR or if you want to take a little drive this afternoon, come on in here to Wisconsin Rapids and you can get a great taco, street taco behind us.
You can get an elephant ear, a funnel cake.
You can throw an axe.
There's brats and hamburgers.
Also the VFW people are here.
We got a family center tables for the aging or senior citizens.
All kinds of great community things to learn.
fund that be had here at the parking lot party for the 85th anniversary of WFHR.
23 now past the hour of three o'clock.
Todd here on location in Rapids and Zommer is back at the World Headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin.
Many thanks to Trig V. Olson for sticking around for hour two.
We're doing a little what's worse for you today.
Road construction or potholes.
road construction or potholes.
What's worse?
855-752-4842.
855-752-4842.
My youngest niece, my favorite youngest niece, Isabel, watching.
And this is very big summers because, you know, she doesn't watch me on the regular.
She doesn't tune in.
on the regular.
By the way, I was on the way up here.
I had to pull over for gas and I pulled over next to an Arby's.
And this is this.
It was a a sign for my youngest niece.
It said the sign said, quote, low key are cordon blue slaps.
I thought that was pretty good.
Low key are cordon blue slaps.
All right.
Isabel says.
I think construction is worse because it slows down traffic.
Potholes are kind of fun to dodge.
I like playing Mario Kart.
Or it's like playing
Mario Kart,
yeah.
Oh yeah, it's like playing Mario Kart.
Don't tell that to Grandma Linda.
She will not approve of that.
All right, Isabelle?
Yeah, I would say no.
My sister, her mother thinks potholes are worse because they can surprise you.
Usually, there are signs for construction.
Keyword,
usually.
That's also the point of Tyler in Columbia County, who, listening on WMBX, who texted him, if we add the word surprise in front of both, surprise potholes are worse than surprise road construction because one of them is going to cause damage to my car.
Well, that's true too.
All right, what's worse road construction or potholes 8557524842 8557524842 Jim listing in beautiful Brookfield says you could avoid potholes, but not road construction.
So road construction is worse.
Plus I've hit fresh tar through road construction.
It splashed on my car.
I've had that do that.
That's terrible.
That's not foot at all.
Sean, one of our great drivers and friends in Richland Center, listening on WRCE says potholes are terrible, but the construction can ruin my route.
Construction is worse.
Well, yeah, if you're trying to make deliveries and kind of clock, do you mean you don't want construction?
Roger in Stevens Point, not too far away from where we're at here in beautiful Wisconsin Rapids.
Roger in point says potholes are worse.
Never know when you're gonna hit one.
He says, I tuned into 97.5 FM here in point, but a 50 year old plus listener of WFHR.
Well, thank you very much.
We appreciate that, Roger, for your longtime listenership of WFHR, where we are at today.
Len in Madison not listening on WM DX says potholes are worse than road construction Potholes won't go away without road construction road construction will go away when the job is completed Do we do Tommy New Berlin saying Scott holes are worse.
Yeah, I like that Walker That's pretty good Yeah
All right, now we're caught up.
All right.
So yeah, so what's worse, road construction or potholes, Erin Zummers?
I think I am going to have to go with road construction because potholes, I mean, both of them are effective life in Wisconsin because,
you
know, water gets into the roads and then it freezes and it cracks.
And that's just going to happen every year.
It sucks, but that's how it works.
Potholes, unless the road is just a series of potholes, you can usually drive around.
Road construction, as some people have said, usually takes a long time and you can't drive around it without changing your route significantly.
And so unless it's well signed ahead of time and you have time to plan and know when you need to leave early for stuff, I think road construction is worse.
All right.
I'm going to say opposite, actually.
I'm going to say potholes are worse because oftentimes I don't see them in time.
And then you get that where you just it knocks the filling out of my teeth.
And it can mess up the alignment in your car.
And yeah, I'm not a fan of road construction, but you deal with it.
It's just one of the things you deal with in Wisconsin, where potholes, I mean, it could just, you know, you can blow out a tire or misalign the car or truck or whatever.
So I would I would rather see the the construction work being done.
That's that's why
it does need to be done.
However, I can't help but respond in a way I imagine your niece might to you saying potholes are worse and say get good.
Skill issue
is that what they say all right get good
get good
is
probably falling out of favor in in in favor of skill issue
as Gen X or Gen Z and Gen Y Speak here on the on the all ball show today What's worse road construction or potholes 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 also of note today by the way
Well, we wait for any more responses.
And many thanks to Dave and New Berlin for reminding us that today happens to be George Web... I'm sorry, Jim and Brookfield.
Jim and Brookfield.
George Web delivering on their free hamburger giveaway today for our listeners in Milwaukee area on WAUK says, I just collected mine with two friends.
The line was only 20 minutes long.
George Web was very organized.
Well, congrats.
And a reminder, other people are saying this.
If you go to George Webb for that free burger, buy something else from them to say thanks and tip generously.
It's going to be a tough day for those people at George Webb.
We thank them for making good on their burgers.
Come on back to Wisconsin Rapids.
It's the title of our show on location at WFHR on the Civic Media Radio Network.
wherever it may lead and having fun doing it.
Welcome back to Tahleball Show on the Civic Media Radio Network.
We're alive on location in beautiful Wisconsin Rapids in the central part of the state at the studios just outside of WFHR VIRI.
It's the 85th anniversary of WFHR.
Going to talk to Kagan Kelly.
in just a moment from Cracked.com on Stephen Colbert being canceled.
There's all kinds of television news.
There's political news will sort of all out with Keegan in just a minute, but first sitting here at the table and already Roger watching on Facebook says.
Pam is a legend, unquote.
Also our own Carol, our traffic director back at the World Headquarters and Civic Media says hello.
We have at the table Pam Hilke, who is the traffic manager here at the FHR, the IRI in Wisconsin Rapids.
Pam, welcome.
Well, thank you.
Thank you.
It's a pleasure to be on your show this afternoon.
Well, it's great to be here.
You were on with us when we were up here last fall in late October, much warmer today.
That's what I was thinking.
I was thinking.
Nice beautiful day of the sun.
coming out here and what a better day to have a party, right?
Absolutely.
For people that didn't listen last year, tell folks a little bit where you grew up and what led you to the FHR.
Well, I grew up right here in Wisconsin Rapids, lived here all my life.
I just kind of stumbled into radio.
I was not planning a radio career.
I had just received a degree in accounting.
two year degree in accounting and a month later here is an opening and WFHR is a little hometown radio station and rapids for a traffic manager.
And
tell people who aren't familiar with radio whether you're traffic or stop lights.
Tell people what traffic means in radio land and how it's changed in your time here at FHR.
Well traffic is managing
are making sure that all the commercials that are scheduled to air on our radio stations actually do get scheduled and logged.
We have official logs that we create in the afternoons for the next day, and the next days, and the next days, and I'm making sure that the commercials are logged, that they're copied, which is the audio part, which is synced to...
Certain they're all identified by a copy number all that is all synced together and lands on the official blog for the next day and Make sure our systems play the commercials and yes, it has changed over the years
Yeah, we're talking before the show when we both started radio everything was on on paper and And now there might be some paper used but now it's all of course digital and computerized
That's for sure right right when I first started it was
Totally different and everything was
but and very quickly here.
What's your what's your best memory or what?
I guess I'm quite hard to choose the best one but give us a memory of your time here at FHR and in terms of what this station means to you and the community Pam
You know, I think it's just being part of the community and Just the people the listeners are what make your
Station successful and
just
being part of that community and know that you're you know, you've got listeners out there and and doing things hopefully that they enjoy putting our entertainment on our sports on our music I guess that and for me just all the people that I've worked for right with it will work for and work with over the years.
That's
That's a lot of good memories.
Well, you're certainly a part of what makes Civic great, what makes WFHR great, and we could not do our job on the on air side without you and all the people behind the scenes because literally you're making sure that our sponsors, our partners who are paying the money to have their ads put on the air, which pays all our salaries and keeps us on the air.
You're making sure all that lines up.
So thank you Pam for what you and all the folks in traffic do for this company.
We really appreciate you.
Alright, thank you very much Pam.
Thank you.
Nice to talk to you.
My pleasure.
Pam Hilki, everybody, one of our great people here at WFHR, the 85th anniversary of this fine station.
We'd like to talk to one more person here before the end of the show in terms of FHR as well.
But right now, we turn our attention to the entertainment world.
No better person to keep us up to speed on that.
He is a writer editor for Cracked.com.
Mr. Keegan Kelly, who joins us via StreamYard.
Keegan, welcome back to the show.
Hi, Todd.
Thanks for having me back.
It's always a pleasure and you know you've touched on one of my all time favorite subjects in terms of late night television.
As you know, I'm a huge Letterman fan, certainly a Colbert fan as well.
And you know, recently Paramount Global.
VS CBS decided to cancel the late show with Stephen Colbert and this came shortly after Colbert had gone after Trump and his own company Paramount and CBS for doing a settlement with the Trump administration over and we don't need to get too far down the politics but it was over a 60 minutes piece in which Trump Acclaimed that the interview with Kamala Harris on 60 minutes was edited to misrepresent that
When all came out, it was clear that didn't happen.
But yet, Paramount decided to pay $16 million to Trump's so-called presidential library, quote, unquote, because they needed the merger with Paramount and Skydance to go through Trump's FCC.
And so the allegation is that this was essentially a bribe by Paramount to get Trump to do this.
And not too long after this went through, Paramount said, hey, Stephen.
You're done.
Do I have that about right, Keegan Kelly?
You do.
The timeline is a little iffy there on when exactly the FCC approved this merger.
I believe that, I believe that the Colbert cancellation came shortly before that.
And you know, depending on who you're talking to and who's connecting the dots, that timeline is very important because
A lot of people speculated that the FCC was, as Colbert suggested, doing Trump's bidding and holding up this multi-billion dollar acquisition deal by Skydance Media to acquire Paramount Global and, thus, everything underneath its umbrella, including CBS.
But beyond that, yeah, that's basically what happened.
Colbert criticized Paramount.
He criticized Trump for years.
Weeks later, he gets the ax as does the entire Late Show franchise, disappointingly for Colbert fans and for Letterman fans, because that, of course, was where we fell in love with him.
And it's a huge blow to his legacy as well.
Yeah, absolutely.
Letterman's spoken out of this and it's not been particularly kind when it came to his former employer at CBS.
We can't say all the words on broadcast radio, but he said you can't have CBS without BS, basically.
So we know where Letterman stands with this.
How long did Speaker Keegan Kelly at Crack.com?
How long did Colbert have left on his deal, Keegan?
So he and the late show are gonna stick around in their time slot until May 2026.
And that was a big part.
Industry insiders had been speculating for a long time leading up to the cancellation that, you know, the extension talks between him and CBS.
were going to play a part in this acquisition deal that may be in a move to appease Trump and the FCC that they were going to end that contract and what do you know that's exactly what happened just as the insiders predicted.
The CBS claim, Paramount claimed that the late Joe Krupp, if I'm wrong on the figure, was losing 40, 40, 40 million dollars a year.
And as this had nothing to do with the merger with Skydance, it was all about that they just couldn't lose 40 million dollars a year.
What is your reporting found on that Keegan?
Is there some truth to that?
Is it in the middle?
What's your
thoughts?
hard to nail down the exact number because they don't, you know, they really have no reason to release the real numbers.
But I find it hard to believe that the late show was losing $40 million a year because I find it hard to believe that the late show was spending $40 million a year.
I mean, this is, they own the soundstage, they own all the cameras already.
It's
in the
same place every night.
I mean that that that number to me is a little ludicrous and other members of the late night community have been similarly critical like Jimmy Kimmel for example was like there's no way that just that makes no sense because it's it's no secret that the late night industry has been kind of lagging behind the rest of the entertainment world but Colbert was one of the top performers leading up to this cancellation decision so it doesn't make sense that
Colbert would be the big failure, the big loser there.
When guys like Kimmel himself, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon, all these people are chugging along business as usual.
Well, yeah, and correct me if I'm wrong.
I mean, over the late night franchise on NBC, Seth Meyer, I mean, Universal basically said, look, we got to cut costs here.
And so they got rid of his live band, right?
Yeah.
And I find it hard to believe that Colbert's musical accompaniment is costing them eight figures a year.
So I don't really understand how.
Yeah, I mean, I know that and you follow this stuff a lot closer than I do in the industry.
But I mean, I know that if you look at, say, maybe Jimmy Fallon on on the tonight show or even Kimmel, they have a larger digital footprint.
So that was the big thing with James Corden, right?
Well, he had the late, late show after after Colbert.
He had this huge with the carpool karaoke and the the broad the the the.
crosswalk Broadway stuff.
I mean, that was very Instagrammable, very TikTok-ish.
I'm probably using all these in the wrong context.
But he had a large digital footprint, Colbert not so much.
That's true.
He was definitely a more button-down, traditional late-night host.
He still is.
I shouldn't talk about him in the past tense just yet.
But it's definitely true that he kind of resisted that urge to
play to the YouTube channel, to play to Twitter, and they didn't have the kinds of segments that the people who did succeed in this modern era of late night had.
So there's certainly some truth that Colbert was maybe of a different era of late night, but going forward CBS is pulling out of the late night game entirely.
So they're not trying to modernize, they're just giving up.
Yeah, and that's what I find so very interesting because As you know, and maybe our listeners don't follow this stuff as much as you and I do I mean for a long time.
I mean CBS flirted with Pat Sajak back in the 90s that lasted what one or two years at most and then they had nothing and then you know less moon Vez at CBS made the big deal for Letterman because NBC passed over Letterman when Johnny Carson retired for Jay Leno and Letterman in the historic thing when they brought back their
the Ed Sullivan Theater that was in disrepair.
They fixed it up for Letterman.
They brought on Milwaukee native Tom Schneider to follow Letterman on the Late Late Show.
So you're absolutely right.
It was Letterman who re-energized Late Night at CBS.
And of course Letterman for a while was number one, then dipped down below Leno.
And now how many years has it been?
I mean, it's been quite a run for Colbert at the top of Late Night, right?
Yeah, I think it's been 10 years now.
I might not have that timeline correct.
He's been successful in that time slot, and he's been competitive on a nightly basis.
And it really does, it concerns me that even a frontrunner like this, someone who's leading the ratings night in, night out, maybe not in late night as a whole, but in his time slot specifically, that the prevailing narrative coming out of CBS is even that's not enough.
that even that is somehow this huge burning, this huge hole in their pocket, which as we've already discussed, I don't know if that figure is reliable, but it's not good for late night that even that can't stick
around.
I mean, you're a big Conan fan as well.
I mean, Conan said here this week on some podcast or program, he thinks that late night as a whole will be gone within five years.
Agree or disagree?
I disagree.
Maybe late night as he knows
it.
Welcome back to the Taliban show live on location in Wisconsin Rapids.
The Hobo WFHR to be IRI.
It's the 85th anniversary coming up to be FHR.
We've been here on location.
The block party, the parking lot party goes until 6.
6 o'clock tonight.
So if you're in the Rapids area or you want to get in the car, the truck, whatever it is, the SUV, the UVV, the horse, whatever you want to do, come here to Rapids to the studios.
We'll be in the parking lot until 6 o'clock.
Great food, great community activities and tables.
Learn about all kinds of different community events here and stop by and meet the staff of the FHR and have some great sweet treats as well.
Right now we're talking to Keegan Kelly, editor.
writer and editor at crack.com on the late show cancellation and Stephen Colbert.
He got asked right before the break there.
Conan O'Brien and said he's predicting the former host of late night and also the tonight show.
He thinks within five years or so there won't be any late night programming on network television or maybe even any television at all.
You said you disagreed.
Why?
I disagree for a few reasons.
First of all, despite the financial problems that shows like the late show have been having in recent years and maybe their struggle to adapt to the digital age, they provide a value to not just their channel, but their parent company that doesn't show up on the balance sheet.
And that is four or five times a week, they get two or three big stars from
you know, movies, TV shows, whatever it is, and they get to promote their movie, their TV show, tell a little anecdote, and provide this very valuable marketing.
Now, all of these channels at this point, they're owned by Disney, they're owned by Paramount, whatever it is.
those companies still need that cross brand synergy.
They still need to be able to get the word out about their movies about all of these non-late night projects.
So even if they do lose money at the end of the day, there's value there for these giant companies that can frankly afford to lose a couple million for some extra marketing.
And another reason why I don't think late night as a whole is going to disappear just a little darker is that while
critics of Trump like Colbert and maybe even Kimmel if Trump gets his way might be falling off of network television.
There's another big name that's only been rising and that is Greg Gutfeld.
Fox has been a major power player in the late night comedy industry.
Greg Gutfeld, as he'll remind everyone who will listen, he leads the ratings in the late night genre.
What he won't say is that his show is an hour and a half before everyone else's, so he doesn't have to compete in the time slot, because his viewers are already asleep when Colbert comes on the air.
But Fox is actually doing very well in their foray into late night, and I don't think that's disappearing anytime soon.
All right, he can give us one minute if you can.
Where do you feel that Stephen Colbert is going to land after a late night or the late show goes off the air in the spring?
He's going to have a podcast.
I promise you now you're going to be competing with Colbert.
He's going to have a podcast at a radio show.
If
I'll say right now on behalf of this company, if Colbert wants to join Civic Media, he's got a home.
He's got a home.
I'd love that.
I think that's perfect.
Keegan, we love having you on.
Thank you so much for your time and adjusting with our all-location situation here.
You can find all of Keegan's work at Crack.com.
Thank you very much.
Keegan, we'll have you back on soon.
Thank you, Todd.
Take care.
Always a pleasure.
Keegan Kelly, everybody.
And now turning our attention closer to home, literally next to me here at the table at WFHR.
She is one of the great voice talents here.
Beth Halfhager is at the table.
Beth, thanks for joining us.
How are
you?
I'm doing well.
How are you?
I am absolutely great.
Got about three minutes left here.
Tell us a little bit about you and also about your experience at FHR.
I started with the company in October and I started on WIRI as .ED and I hope
the weekend, 8 a.m.
to 12 noon.
It's a show called Week in Wake Up, and on Sundays from 10 to 11, I put together the Gospel Country Music Hour, so I try to celebrate the roots of gospel and country as they blend together.
And then on the FHR side, I host a segment of the morning show on Monday mornings called The Kitchen's Open.
which has been a lot of fun.
Do you actually cooking on the show or?
I don't actually cook, but I pick a topic and I research the topic and then I do try to include recipes and things like that.
Some of the things I do make at home and just to test it out.
I was part of the sweet off that was going on today.
I made to make some cookies.
They
were the cooking were fantastic.
Thank
you.
They were they were really, really.
I mean, there was nothing bad there on the table,
by the way.
Right.
What did you grow up on this area or?
I am a nomad.
My father is a retired.
So we had lived in this area just outside of town.
My dad served two congregations that were yoke together.
But that was when I was one year old to five years old.
And
so I moved back to the area with my family about six years ago.
I'm also a full-time pastor.
And so that church brought me into the area.
My husband happens to work for the company as well.
It's Seth Habhager.
So he's been working and when he said that they needed some voice talent for...
I said, well, you know, we met doing theater.
It's something I wanted to try.
And so I auditioned and was able to get the job and have been having a ball doing it.
I think it's what you just said is so important.
Bringing people's faith, community, cooking.
theater.
I mean, I mean, FHR to me is the quintessential community radio station because it brings folks together who might not always come together.
And we are proudly, I mean, we're locally grown radio is what we'd like to promote ourselves as because we really are a part of the community.
And I love what James does with the Rapids report.
He's intentional about making sure that we get our nonprofits on the air so that we can advertise what's going on in our community at WIRI on the weekends.
I'm always talking about these are the events that are happening in our area.
Go check
this out.
Go check this out.
Here's a blood drive.
Consider giving the gift of life at that.
So it's great the way that we interact with our community and the community is coming to interact with us today.
Well, Beth, I can't thank you enough for joining us.
Congratulations on the 85th anniversary.
You can listen to Beth and everyone here at FHR and IRI on the Civic Media app for free, by the way, or if you're in Central Wisconsin dial it up over the terrestrial radio.
That's right.
Terrestrial.
I heard you talking about that yesterday.
news to me.
It's good to know that.
Well, thank you.
You're part of what makes Wisconsin great.
And thanks for joining us today.
Thank you for having
me.
Our pleasure.
Beth Halfmager, one of the voice talents here at WFHRI.
Thank you to the entire staff.
Congratulations on 85 years.
Many thanks to Pat Crichtlow, Trigvie Olson, Melinda Kay, Pam Hilke, who else we have?
Who else?
Oh, James.
James.
Mailoff.
Mailoff as well.
Thank you, Pam.
And all of you for listening.
Maggie Dawn is next.
whatever you're fighting for, whatever you believe in, keep banging your drum.
Thanks to Zomers as well.
We'll see you tomorrow.
